Steiner claims that his own practice of ‘remembering’—of meditating upon these basic truths—had the result of developing his own spiritual powers, including the power of ‘vision’ possessed by such men as Boehme, Swedenborg, and Blake. These visions, it must be emphasized, were inward occurrences. Swedenborg did not imagine he saw angels in the streets of Stockholm; he had to withdraw into a peculiar inner state in order to become aware of them. Steiner admits that this faculty is a form of imagination, but immediately points out that the general usage of the word ‘imagination’ gives only the faintest idea of what he means. We might say that, in most of us, the faculty of imagination is like the picture on some worn out black-and-white television set, continually flickering and distorting and vanishing; by comparison, Steiner's imagination was like a new colour television with a large screen. And, according to Steiner, he used this faculty to amplify his visions of ‘spiritual reality’.
We are now in a position to grasp the real tragedy of Rudolf Steiner. He was one of the greatest men of the twentieth century, and it would be impossible to exaggerate the importance of what he had to say. But in order to make himself heard (‘Must I remain silent?’) he had to take the dangerous step of becoming a preacher and a ‘spiritual leader’. This is like hiring a carriage with a dozen powerful and uncontrollable horses. Even a politician finds it difficult to stop them from galloping around in circles. A ‘spiritual leader’ is lucky if he can prevent them from taking him in the opposite direction from the one he wants to go in.
Shaw expressed the problem with considerable insight in The Perfect Wagnerite. Wotan, the ruler of the gods, symbolizes pure idealism. But in order to translate his ideals into action, he has to form an alliance with the forces of the law, and to seal the bargain, he has to sacrifice one of his eyes. The man of pure genius always has to compromise when he wants to put his ideals into action.
Steiner's great compromise was to join the Theosophical Society. He can hardly be blamed for this. He had been an obscure academic, pathetically grateful when a group of working men offered him eight marks for a course of lectures. Then, suddenly, he had an appreciative audience who hung on every word he said. Within a mere decade, his teachings had reached remote corners of the world. The Goetheanum rose on its hilltop in Dornach, a symbol of the ultimate triumph of the spirit. Steiner did what he had to do, and it would be pointless to find fault with him.
Yet the Goetheanum is also the symbol of everything that stands between Steiner and his potential modern audience. It is the visible church of Anthroposophy, and its scriptures include Cosmic Memory, Karmic Relationships, Christianity as Mystical Fact, Rosicrucian Esotericism, The Reappearance of Christ in the Etheric, and a hundred or so other volumes with confusing titles and bewildering contents. For the Anthroposophist—and even for the open-minded sceptic—they are full of important insights. But their sheer quantity constitutes an enormous obstacle between Steiner and the intelligent reader. Steiner's incredible industry was self-defeating. The mountain of titles, the avalanche of ideas, obscures the clarity and simplicity of his basic insight.
Nevertheless, for the reader who declines to be discouraged, the rewards can be enormous. Once the basic insight has been grasped, we can begin to understand the source of those tremendous mental energies, and the sheer breadth of Steiner's vision. It hardly matters that there is a great deal that we may find unacceptable, or even repellent. What is so absorbing is to be in contact with a mind that was capable of this astonishing range of inner experience.
Steiner was a man who had discovered an important secret; his books are fascinating because they contain continual glimpses of this secret. We may read them critically, wondering where Steiner was ‘amplifying’ genuine intuitions, and where he was amplifying his own dreams and imaginings. We may even conclude that Swedenborg, Blake, and Madame Blavatsky had all developed the same power of amplification, and that Steiner's visions of angelic hierarchies are no truer than Swedenborg's visions of heaven and hell, Blake's visions of the daughters of Albion, or Madame Blavatsky's visions of the giants of Atlantis. But all that is beside the point. The real point is that this faculty of amplification is our human birthright, and that anyone who can grasp this can learn to pass through that door to the inner universe as easily as he could stroll through the entrance of the British Museum.
* * *
*See my Psychic Detectives, Chapter 7.
*See, for example, my contribution to King Arthur Country in Cornwall (Bossiney Books, 1979).
Bibliography
BOOKS ON RUDOLF STEINER
Rudolf Steiner: Recollections by Some of his Pupils (Golden Blade, 1958).
Ahern, Geoffrey, Sun at Midnight. Rudolf Steiner and the Western Esoteric Tradition (Aquarian Press, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, 1984).
Clark, Laurence, Coming to Terms with Rudolf Steiner (Veracity Ventures, Hertfordshire, 1971).
Davy, John, Work Arising From The Life of Rudolf Steiner (Rudolf Steiner Press, London, 1975).
Easton, S. C., Man and World in the Light of Anthroposophy (The Anthroposophic Press, New York, 1975).
——, Rudolf Steiner, Herald of a New Epoch (The Anthroposophic Press, New York, 1980).
Edmunds, Francis, Rudolf Steiner's Gift to Education - The Waldorf Schools (Rudolf Steiner Press, London, 1975).
——, Anthroposophy. A Way of Life (Carnant Books, East Sussex, 1982).
Freeman, Arnold, Meditation Under the Guidance of Rudolf Steiner (The Sheffield Educational Settlement, Sheffield, 1957).
Grohmann, Gerbert, The Plant (Rudolf Steiner, London, 1974).
Harwood, A. C., The Recovery of Man in Childhood (The Anthroposophic Press, New York, 1958).
Hemleben, Johannes, Rudolf Steiner. A Documentary Biography (Henry Goulden Limited, Sussex, 1975).
Mayer, Gladys, Behind the Veils of Death and Sleep (New Knowledge Books, East Grinstead, Sussex).
Nesfield-Cookson, Bernard, Rudolf Steiner's Vision of Love (Aquarian Press, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, 1983).
Palmer, Otto, Rudolf Steiner on his book The Philosophy of Freedom (The Anthroposophic Press, New York, 1975).
Rittelmeyer, Friedrich, Rudolf Steiner Enters my Life (Floris Books, Edinburgh, 1982).
Savitch, Marie, Marie Steiner-von Sivers (Rudolf Steiner Press, London, 1967).
Shepherd, A. P., A Scientist of the Invisible (Floris Classics, Edinburgh, 1983).
Steffen, Albert, Meetings with Rudolf Steiner (Verlag Für Schöne Wissenschaften, Switzerland, 1961).
Wachsmuth, Gunter, The Life and Work of Rudolf Steiner (Whittier Books, New York, 1955).
SELECTED LIST OF BOOKS BY RUDOLF STEINER
Ancient Myths. Their Meaning and Connection with Evolution (Steiner Book Centre, Canada, 1971).
Atlantis and Lemuria (Anthroposophical Publishing Co., London, 1923).
An Autobiography (Rudolf Steiner Publications, 1977).
Between Death and Rebirth (Rudolf Steiner Press, London, 1975).
The Case for Anthroposophy (Rudolf Steiner Press, London, 1970).
Christianity as Mystical Fact (Rudolf Steiner Publishing Co., London, 1948).
Cosmic Memory (Rudolf Steiner Publications, New York, 1959).
The Dead Are With Us [lecture, 10 February 1918] (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1964).
Descriptive Sketches of the Spiritual World (Anthroposophical Publishing Co., London, 1928).
The Four Mystery Plays (Rudolf Steiner Press, London, 1982).
Goethe's Secret Revelation, and The Riddle in Faust (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1932).
Karmic Relationships. Esoteric Studies, Volumes I-VIII (Rudolf Steiner Press, London, 1981).
Knowledge of the Higher Worlds (Rudolf Steiner Publishing Co., London, 1937).
Mystery Knowledge and Mystery Centres (Rudolf Steiner Press, London, 1973).
Friedrich Nietzsche (Rudolf Steiner Publications, Inc., New Jersey, USA, 1960).
The Occult Movement in the Nineteenth Cen
tury (Rudolf Steiner Press, London, 1973).
The Occult Significance of the Bhagavad Gita (Anthroposophic Press Inc., New York, 1968).
Occult Signs and Symbols (Anthroposophic Press, Inc., New York, 1972).
An Outline of Occult Science (Theosophical Publishing Society, London, 1914; Rand McNally & Co., New York, 1914).
The Philosophy of Freedom (Rudolf Steiner Press, London, 1964).
Reincarnation and Immortality (Rudolf Steiner Publications, New York, 1970).
The Riddles of Philosophy (The Anthroposophic Press, New York, 1973).
A Road to Self-Knowledge and The Threshold of the Spiritual World (Rudolf Steiner Press, London, 1975).
Rosicrucian Esotericism (The Anthroposophic Press, New York, 1978).
Study of Man (Rudolf Steiner Press, London, 1966).
A Theory of Knowledge (The Anthroposophic Press, New York, 1968).
Theosophy (Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., Ltd., London, 1910).
World History in the Light of Anthroposophy (Rudolf Steiner Press, London, 1950).
Index
Ahriman, 110, 111, 145
Ahura-Mazda, 111
Akasa, 12
Akasic records, the, 12-13, 104, 118, 164, 166
Alexander the Great, 116-17
Anthroposophical Society, the, 144, 145, 153
Anthroposophy, 130, 146, 148, 152, 154
Archangel Gabriel, 112
Archangel Michael, 112
Arthur, King, 114-16
Artorius, 115, 165
astral body, the, 110, 127
astral world, the, 120
Atlanteans, 107-108
Atlantis, epoch of, 111
Bennett, J. G., 70-71
Besant, Annie, 109, 126, 133, 139, 143, 144
Blake, William, 36, 121-22, 171
Blavatsky, Madame, 12-13, 16, 18, 28, 55, 99, 101, 103, 109, 127, 130, 133, 152, 171
cosmology of, 107-108, 109
works of, 57, 104, 107, 108
Boehme, Jacob, 85
Brentano, Franz, 35-6
Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross, 134
Buchanan, J. Rhodes, 12, 38
Christian Community, the, 102, 152, 153
Christianity, Victorian, 57
Christianity as Mystical Fact, 102, 103, 104, 109, 170
colour, theory of, 50-51
Cosmic Memory, 9, 101, 105, 106, 109, 113, 123, 136, 166, 170
dead, communication with the, 42, 66-9
delle Grazie, Maria Eugenie, 45-6
Denton, William, 12
dowsing, 69, 104-105
Druids, the, 154-55
Duncan, Isadora, 140
Eckstein, Friedrich, 55-7, 62
ego, the, 127
etheric body, the, 104, 127
Eunicke, Anna, 64-5, 94
Herr, 65-6, 78
Eurythmy, 140, 144
Faust, 167, 168
stage version of, 148
Fichte, 34-5, 44, 79
First World War, 146
Friedrich Nietzsche, Fighter for Freedom, 86
From Buddha to Christ, 109
German Weekly Review, the, 53
Giordano Bruno Union, 97, 98, 125
Goethe, J. W. von, 37, 49, 50, 51, 52, 58, 89, 90, 97-8
‘Fairy Tale’ of, 98-9
Goetheanum, The, 157
Goetheanum, the, 145, 170
destruction of the, 153-54
Great Initiates, The, 103, 104
Gurdjeff, 11, 70-71, 105, 137, 167, 168
Haeckel, Ernst, 63-4
Hartmann, Eduard von, 47-8, 81
and Rudolf Steiner, 55, 63, 118-19
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the, 135
Hesse, Hermann, 167
hierarchies, the, 109
Lucerific, the, 110
Hitler, Adolf, 131, 151
Hurkos, Peter, 39
Huxley, Aldous, 40-41, 91, 120
Huxley, T. H., 34
Hudson, Thomson Jay, 71-3, 74
hypnosis, 41
Jacobowski, Ludwig, 97
Jaques-Dalcroze, Emile, 140
Jung, C. A., and active imagination, 121, 164
Kafka, Franz, 141-43
kamaloca, 56, 127
Kant, Immanuel, 31
Kardec, Allan, 71, 130
karma, 127, 165
Karmic Relationships, 113, 114, 118, 166, 170
Kleeberg, Ludwig, 130
Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and Its Attainment, 128, 136
Koguzki, Felix, 43
Krishnamurti, Jiddu, 144
Leadbeater, The Revd Charles, 143, 144
Lemuria, continent of, 107
Lemurians, the, 110
Lethbridge, T. C., 69-70
Lucifer, 126, 131
Lucifer, 110, 111
and Christ, 111
Maeterlinck, Maurice, 113, 117, 136-37, 164
Maslow, Abraham, 25
materialism, scientific, 14, 33, 80, 166
Maxwell, James Clerk, 50-1
mediumship, 129
Mysteries, the ancient, 102-103, 129-30
Mystery Knowledge and Mystery Centres, 112
Mystics of the Dawn of the Modern Age, 109
Newton, Sir Isaac, 50
Nietzsche, Friedrich, 86-9, 91, 119, 122
Order of the Star of the East, the, 144
Outline of Occult Science, An, 10, 105, 136, 139
paranormal, the, 38
Penfield, Wilder, 20-1, 25-6
Philosophy of Freedom, The, 49, 78, 80-1, 83, 105, 143, 165
Portal of Initiation, The, 137-38
Proust, Marcel, 162
psychologism, 35
psychometry, 11-12, 104, 164
Ramakrishna, 84
reductionism, 78-9
reincarnation, 56
Review of Literature, The, 92, 98
Riddles of Man, 147
Riddles of the Soul, 147, 148
Rittelmeyer, Friedrich, 83, 139, 153
Road to Self-Knowledge, A, 119
Romans, the, 111
Rosicrucianism, 133-35
Rosicrucians, the, 112
Rudolph, Alwin, 94-5, 125-26
Sacred Drama of Eleusis, 132, 138
Sartre, Jean-Paul, 19-21, 23
Schröer, Karl Julius, 36, 44-5, 49
Schuré, Edouard, 43-4, 64, 103, 132, 138
Scriabin, Alexander, 140
Sinnet, A. P., 55-7
social reconstruction, Steiner's ideas of, 149-51
Socrates, 22
Soul's Awakening, The, 144
Specht, Otto, 47
spiritual world, the, 43
spiritualism, 12, 129, 130
‘split brain’ physiology, 73
Steiner, Rudolf, and Christianity, 101-102, 122
and education, 47, 97, 152
and Hitler, 129, 130
and medicine, 156-57
and Nazism, 151
and the ‘celebrity mechanism’, 16, 17
Christology of, 122, 139
cosmology of, 109
legacy of, 17
philosophy of, 18-26
‘psychic faculty’ of, 37-8
slow development of, 51
Steiner movement, rise of the, 101
Steppenwolf, 167, 168
supersensory perception, 18
Swedenborg, Emanuel, 68-9, 122, 169, 171
Theory and Knowledge in the Light of Goethe's Weltanschauung, 52, 90, 166
Theosophical Society, the, 16, 98, 108, 113-14, 125, 126, 133, 137, 143, 144, 170
Theosophy, 55-8, 99, 139
Theosophy - An Introduction to the Supersensible Knowledge of the World and the Destination of Man, 109, 126-29, 136
Threefold Commonwealth, The, 150
Threshold of the Spiritual World, The, 119, 122, 123
Tintagel castle, exper
ience at, 114-16, 165
visualization, 120-21
Vollrath, Dr, 135
von Moltke, Commander-in-Chief, 147-48
von Sivers, Marie, 99-100, 103, 125, 132, 133, 135, 146
von Stein, Heinrich, 62-3
Wagner, Guenther, 130
Wagner, Richard, 131-32, 139
Webb, James, 11, 13
Wells, H. G., 14, 37, 75-6
Wilberforce, Bishop, 34
Wordsworth, William, 39-40, 74, 77
Yeats, W. B., 15, 57, 135
Zarathustra, 82, 86, 89
the Persian prophet, 102
zeitgist, the, 112