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RE: Welcome – Striving after truth
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Pete Karaiskos
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Jul 17, 2005 08:22 PDT
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baandje wrote:
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PK wrote: “I both agree and disagree. I think what Steiner was saying,
of course, had do do with truth versus untruth in one's inner life. But
I think there was an implicit expectation that included a warning that
this should be *especially* true of teachers - that teacher should
attain this inner truth, more importantly that it should, perhaps, be a
prerequisite to teaching. I don't believe Steiner took the role of
teachers lightly - he expected a lot of them…”
*
That’s what I’ve observed, sure. Now, from what I’m reading, your taking
all that in a different direction, and implying Steiner approved of
‘deceit in the name of anthro truth’ or something – which of course
anthros (some I’ve met and worked with, anyway) would rephrase and term
‘truth of the sort the uninitiated are unable to fathom’. Maybe if you
could list some quotes where Steiner specifically stated that it was
appropriate to say one thing while meaning another, or something…?
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I've always read the quote the first way - i.e. that teachers should be
truthful above everything else. But that sets up a conflict with some
of the stuff Steiner has said. I'll supply the LK quote in a minute.
The thing that I find interesting is that it is possible to take the
quote two (conflicting) ways - as is often the case with Steiner's
material.
OK, so here's the LK quote:
*** "The girl L.K. in class 1...is one of those cases that are occurring
more and more frequently where children are born and human forms exist
which actually, with regard to the highest member the ego, are not human
at all but are inhabited by beings who do not belong to the human
race...They are very different from human beings where spiritual matters
are concerned. For instance they can never memorise sentences, only
words. I do not like speaking about these things, as there is
considerable opposition about this. Just imagine what people would say
if they heard that we are talking about human beings who are not human
beings. Nevertheless these are facts. Furthermore, there would not be
such a decline of culture if there were a strong enough feeling for the
fact that some people, the ones who are particularly ruthless, are not
human beings at all but demons in human form.
"But do not let us broadcast this. There is enough opposition already.
Things like this give people a terrible shock. People were frightfully
shocked when I had to say that a quite famous university professor with
a great reputation had had a very short period between death and
re-birth and was a re-incarnated negro scientist.
"But don"t let us publicise these things." (Steiner, 1923, CT-4 pp.
36-37) ***
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And even then, the anthro position with that would no doubt be – and I
would tend to agree – that Steiner wasn’t condoning untruth. He would
have been recommending that some things are simply better left unsaid,
until others are capable of ‘spiritually hearing’ or what have you. And
all of us do that every day, already. We don’t blurt things out without
taking into account what’s appropriate in the given situation.
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Yes, I don't disagree with this. But then the question we always arrive
at is - With regard to Waldorf schools, and Anthroposophy's role in
them, is it OK to leave things unsaid until others are capable of
"spiritually hearing"? Do Waldorf schools have the right (moral right,
not anthroposophical right) to deny parents information about the
underpinnings of the educational system they are enrolling their
children in? As a parent, do I have the right to know in advance if I
am enrolling my child in a Christian school, a Quaker school, a Morman
school, a 7th Day Adventist school, a Jehova's Witness school or a
Scientology school? If parents have the right to know about these,
don't Waldorf schools have a responsibility to "publicise these things"
to parents who are enrolling their children.
And there is even another question here - this time in the 2nd quote.
When Steiner says "But don"t let us publicise these things" - is he
talking about keeping these things from the parents of Waldorf schools
or the general public? Is Steiner suggesting that these things should
be kept from the parents (as Waldorf schools tend to do) or ONLY from
the public?
Pete
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