The Rudolf Steiner Archive

[ 1 ] John Maynard Keynes has just had a book published in London on the economic consequences of the Peace of Versailles (The economic consequences of the peace by John Maynard Keynes C. B. Fellow of King's ColIege, Cambridge. Macmillan and Co, London). He states in the preface that he worked temporarily in the British Treasury during the war and was its official representative at the peace conference until June 7, 1919. He resigned from this post when he lost all hope that a prosperous development of economic life in Europe could result from what came about as "peace" under the influence of the leading personalities at this conference. He speaks as an Englishman. But as one who soberly asked himself the question: Is it possible that from the will of Wilson, Clemenceau, Lloyd George, something could result which would carry within itself viability as the economic organization of Europe? The remarks in his book show that on June 7, 1919, he said to himself. June1919: Wilson is a man who, living in abstract terms alien to life, can have no decisive influence on the intentions of Clemenceau and Lloyd George; Clemenceau is a personality inspired solely by the passionate will to dictate a peace to Europe which, disregarding developments since 1870, will enable France to feel as a "nation" in the world as it wanted to feel before 1870; Lloyd George is clever and gifted with knowledge of human nature, but only concerned with momentary successes. And Keynes answered the above question with the thought: What can happen under the influence of these three personalities must bring about the economic destruction of Europe. And he resigned from his post. I cannot find in his book any prospect of something that gives hope for a reconstruction of these economic conditions, but I do find a sentence at the end that says that salvation can only be expected if those forces of knowledge and outlook on life are set in motion that transform the prevailing opinions. One is probably not misunderstanding Keynes if one says that the book arose from the concern and fear that England had collaborated on a work that would lead to the destruction of Europe to such an extent that England itself could suffer badly as a result.

[ 2 ] Keynes' remarks are full proof that nothing of what the future of civilized mankind needs can emerge from the political views which have prevailed up to the present day and which have been carried into the so-called "work of peace" by the leading personalities still in power.

[ 3 ] In this hour of the world, the members of the German people are experiencing in the most bitter way imaginable what has come about under the prevailing impulses of modern civilization. Something is being demanded of them, the realization of which cannot be thought of for a moment. Those who demand it would pile up mountains of hatred against which the ones built so far would be tiny hills if the German people had thought of such a thing after their success in power. So we have reached the point where the apparently quite impossible can be regarded as a condition of a work of peace.

[ 4 ] People who want to maintain a sober view say that the leading personalities are working on the destruction of Europe; these leading personalities devise something as part of their "work of peace" from which measures are derived that are intended to bring about the complete spiritual self-destruction of the German people in addition to the economic destruction. (It makes no difference to the assessment of the "spirit" at work in such measures if amendments are made later. And it is this "spirit" that matters.)

[ 5 ] Have we not reached the point where a sufficiently large number of people might finally realize that the way out of Europe's impasse must be found by means quite different from those resulting from a continuation of the public ideas that have been rejected? Will people continue to believe that "peace" can be made if the public views that ushered in the twentieth century are to remain decisive for the shaping of the civilized world? It will not be possible to "sign" anything that ushers in "peace" as long as a new spirit does not lead to a different judgment than that which has been made up to now in the ordering of public affairs. A discussion about whether such a new spirit is necessary should actually already be ruled out today among those capable of judgment in view of what is happening in the old one. The courage, the determination for this new spirit should be instilled in a sufficiently large number of souls. This would have to lead to a work of reconstruction which could be effectively directed against the destructive spirit. The objection that in its present situation the German people alone could not stand up to the powerful victors with such a spirit should be seen through in its insignificance. For what is good will be accepted by the whole world in the end, if the insight into the merits prevails over prejudices.

[ 6 ] In reality, it is not this objection that drives the opponents of a new spirituality to reject it. It is the lack of courage which they do not admit to themselves and which they want to disguise with sham judgments. It is the low opinion that many have formed of the effectiveness of the spiritual in recent times and which is now bearing the worst fruit. The materialistic utopia, which has become reality, and which, as utopia, must live itself out in destruction, makes the truly practical, which today can only be drawn from a new spirituality, appear to wide circles as "utopia".

[ 7 ] For many, the situation is such that the external successes of this latest era have brought them an experience that was all too congenial to them. This prevents them from seeing that at the bottom of the development of these successes was the evil spirit that brought about the horrors of the last five years. They would like to make a "peace" out of these horrors, which would make them appear as mere episodes and put the old conditions back in the place of chaos. But only action based on a judgment that sees through how the external successes of the latest era were built on a destroyed foundation of lack of ideas, and how any return to the old without spiritual renewal would also have to sow the old seeds for a return of the horrors, can be promising for the future. Without the effective help of this judgment among a sufficiently large number of people, we will not emerge from confusion and chaos.

[ 1 ] When the Central Powers made their peace offer to the Entente in December 1916, it contained nothing that expressed the war aims in a specific way. And even in the period that followed, the Central European statesmen did not allow themselves to express a clear will to the world. They only wanted to create the opportunity to "sit down at the assembly table". Then, they probably thought, they would find what they could or should want. Anyone who reads the publications of these statesmen today, which have swollen to such large numbers, can see why this was the case. These men could not develop anything out of the thoughts that moved in their heads while they occupied leadership positions that could have shed light on the chaos they saw breaking in. And so they waited for a future in which they would find what they needed to think.

[ 2 ] The sad circumstances of the present teach us how far we have come with this waiting. But they have taught very few people that this kind of behavior must finally be broken with. That it is necessary for a specific, clearly outlined objective to emerge, especially in hard-tested Central Europe, if the confusion is not to become even greater.

[ 3 ] Just look at the international consequences of this lack of an objective. It is becoming increasingly clear that leading figures in the Western powers are gripped by a real fear of what may yet become of the countries they have defeated. It causes them nightmares when they think about all the things that could still come to the surface in Germany. For this Germany seems to them like a great unknown. They fear that it could become something that shakes the foundations of their own countries, after they have had the opportunity through victory to enforce a "peace" that has given them the "safeguards" that one can imagine according to the old art of statecraft.

[ 4 ] Imagine what could happen in this international situation if, at least now, something were to come to the fore in Germany that did not amount to waiting and letting events take their course, but rather revealed a clear will. The historical development of the German people justifies the belief that understanding can be awakened in this people for impulses that aim at the reconstruction of the devastated Europe, if the thoughts that speak of such impulses are not shouted down by those who are incapable of recognizing the developmental necessities of humanity.

[ 5 ] Everything that presents itself to the world as a movement for the threefolding of the social organism is based on this belief. The first step was the appeal "To the German people and the cultural world!" published in the spring of 1919. This appeal was based on the belief in the power of the German people's forces. It could not have been written without it. But it could even be argued that the content of this appeal offended German sensibilities. It could be seen as an insult to the German people. Others, who were less short-sighted, found it "incomprehensible". But that meant nothing more than that they had read it superficially and then asked themselves whether it agreed with what they were used to thinking about spiritual, national and economic conditions. They found that he said something different. Then they answered: "Incomprehensible". No one wanted to consider that the old familiar thoughts had ultimately driven Europe into the most terrible struggle and that within this struggle there was nothing but "waiting" and "letting oneself be driven" by events.

[ 6 ] This terrible war has brought chaos to Europe. In the chaos are unions of nations that now want to live on. But they want to do so with the forces of ideas that led to the chaos. Before the war, an economic life developed in this Europe that was led by the state powers, which had formed themselves from national-spiritual and all kinds of legal foundations. These formations have proved and are proving anew every day that they cannot lead the economy of Europe. But the spiritual and legal conditions cannot develop if the economic life they lead collapses under their influence. The devastating events speak the clearest possible language: give economic life to the forces growing out of it! Create a legal life whose content is not determined by the economic powers! Free the administration of spiritual affairs from the shackles of the economy and the state so that, left to their own devices, they can fertilize the other branches of life! People shout "utopia" and call reality what, for anyone who wants to see, is driving them to their own destruction.

[ 7 ] Those who want to be leaders now are the faithful disciples of those who, with the beginning of the twentieth century, drifted into an impossible world situation. They saw the "upswing" and thought that it could continue; and their disciples see the destruction and want to work against it with the thoughts that brought the "upswing", that is, drove it into destruction.

[ 8 ] How often has the writer of this essay emphasized that there is no presumption that the ideas of threefolding presented to the world are meant to be something that does not require improvement. The more experienced people work on this improvement, the better it will become. What is meant, however, is that the idea of the threefold organization of the social organism is based on the real necessities of life in the public existence of the present. And that these necessities of life can only be seen by those who see through how the traditional ways of thinking have actually been refuted by the horrors of the present. What matters today is the will to gain such insight. All "waiting" can bring nothing but events that refute anew what has already been refuted enough. But every new refutation will be accompanied by a new wave of impoverishment.

[ 9 ] The construction of Europe must be based on healthy ideas. Healthy ideas, if they are to be effective in public life, require a sufficient number of people who understand them to such an extent that their will is transformed into a real life force. Without this there can be no progress. Negotiations lead to nothing if the necessary will is not at work in the negotiations. Where human will is at work, there are no utopias, for everything that has developed in human existence is ultimately the result of human will. Such results are the spiritual communities that have ever arisen, the states, and the economic relations of production. As long as people who do not have the strength to see through this are shouting down ideas based on this insight, we will not make any progress in overcoming Europe's confusion.

[ 1 ] While the war of arms was raging, one could see how leading personalities in Central Europe repeatedly turned their political acumen to finding out that there was disagreement here and there among their opponents. They wanted to build on such disagreements in order to ensure the favorable progress of their own "state business". This kind of diplomatic thinking gradually made it impossible to see how almost the whole world agreed to overcome Central Europe.

[ 2 ] Like so many other things, this kind of "diplomacy" is now being perpetuated by people who do not want to learn from events. One can see how England does not want to respond to France's desire for a precisely defined military alliance treaty; one notices how London is not inclined to meet the economic and financial demands emanating from Paris without further ado, and how England does not treat France's request regarding the Rhine border with unconditional benevolence. One turns one's attention to Wilson's political behavior after the conclusion of peace and to similar things more.

[ 3 ] They now want to let these disagreements show them a way forward for what they have to do in Central Europe. You are again so wise that you cannot see how united the others will be when you yourself are preparing to follow the path that you think is marked out by their disagreement.

[ 4 ] How long will it take to see through the fruitlessness of such a way of thinking? In the depths of European humanity, forces are at work that make it impossible to continue this way of thinking. In the countries of the West, the provisional outcome of the war has created conditions that allow leading personalities there to keep their thinking on the old lines for a while longer. It will be some time before these areas are confronted with the demands of human development which are already pressing in Central Europe. It will still be possible to keep economic life linked to state life there for a short time.

[ 5 ] In Central Europe, only one thing can lead to a salutary progress: the insight into the reorganization of the entire social organization. Through their union and their victory, the Western countries have won the possibility of preserving the old social organization for a time. This preservation is tied to their victory. The countries of Central Europe are in a situation that makes such preservation impossible. Here it must be recognized that the old social formations have no institutions that can lead out of chaos.

[ 6 ] Social structures become obsolete; from the depths of human souls must come the driving forces for new forms. Without trust in what is at work in these depths, no progress can be made. We should not count on those who present this trust as an outgrowth of a fantastic idealism and preach as the practical only what they have become accustomed to thinking as the usual. If today in London the French government's request for a military alliance is not received with an open mind because of British traditions, if England does not quite willingly open its coffers to French economic needs, these are things that only the "clever" disciples or followers of the old diplomatic way of thinking look at. Those who understand the "signs of the times" should realize that there is as little to be gained from these things for the progress of Central European relations as there was to be gained before the war by the fact that it was "incompatible" with England's customs to enter into a military alliance treaty with France. The eyes of those who, according to Czernin's views, were to sit in the palaces of ambassadors of the world with a "European education" were focused on this. But this "European education" has resulted in the horrors of recent years. This "European education" has researched "moods" in salons and noticed nothing of how the world is collapsing while it is making policy. For certain people, these old mood-listeners have been dismissed, but their method should not give way to a new way of thinking. If we do not stop paying attention to such "practitioners", we will continue to dream about what Central Europe should do at the moment when a "deep gulf" opens up in the West between the need for credit on the one hand and the willingness to borrow on the other. All that will be achieved is that the dream will one day lead to the awakening that will show how we ourselves have fallen into the "deep chasm".

[ 7 ] The idea of the "threefold structure of the social organism" is addressed to people who recognize with an impartial eye how the world catastrophe has emerged from views of the kind described above. Those who hold these views believe today that the world war would have been avoidable if the relationship between Germany and England had developed according to their ideas before 1914. They only forget that this relationship could not have developed in this way in a world that was dominated by their habits of thought. The world has now listened to this kind of "practitioners" long enough; they have also been allowed long enough to decry as "utopian" and "fantastic" anything that attempted to break with their habits of thought. The time should have come to see through the fantasy that lives in such practitioners and turn to the real, which reckons with the demands of the world-historical moment.

[ 1 ] Can the dissemination of an idea such as the threefold nature of the social organism bring about a fruitful public will in the face of economic hardship today? This question is asked by many. And all too often the answer is: first you have to fight for the bare bread; then, when you have achieved this, you can turn to ideas again.

[ 2 ] It is precisely against this view that this journal has had to speak again and again. The fact that we lack bread is really only due to the fact that the ideas through which we have tried to acquire it up to now have proved incapable of providing it for us. It is not the bread that has eluded us and to which we can appeal; it is the work that must be summoned in order to bring the bread to light. But the work cannot be done fruitfully without the idea that gives it direction and purpose. One does not want to admit a simple fact: The leading personalities up to now have given the work directions and goals based on ideas in which the workers have lost confidence. As a result, we have collapsed. If we do not want to admit this, the decline will continue. If we make this admission without reserve, then we must realize that the only way to save ourselves from decline is to grasp new ideas.

[ 3 ] Today, things are such that there is really no particular reason to take a keen interest in whether Erzberger has the worse things to say to Helfferich or Helfferich to Erzberger. The main thing is that both have grown out of circumstances and continue to think in terms of those circumstances that have brought about the collapse of our public life. It is important that the ideas that haunt the minds of the Erzberg and Helfferichs are replaced by others. Heliferich has raised the battle cry: Erzberger is a pest of German public life; he must be removed from it. There is no reason to doubt the content of this call. But its representation by people with Helfferich's ideas leads nowhere. We will only get further if we can cultivate ideas of a social order that will do away with all Helfferichian and Erzbergerian politics. Whether one or the other is more guilty is certainly of great legal interest; a new insight must leave no doubt that the ideas of both are to blame for the decline of public life.

[ 4 ] What prevents the germination of such a new insight? It could easily be obvious to anyone who wanted to learn from the facts. But how many have learned from the facts of war; how many are inclined to learn from those that first emerged after the war of arms? The "genuine" Marxist and also the weakened Marxist socialist doctrine are deeply imbued with the idea that the remedy for a prosperous future must be sought in the economic basis of the social order. At the moment in world history when the bearers of socialism are advancing into the places formerly occupied by people who oppose them, the management of a substantial part of economic life is being taken care of by Erzberger alongside socialists.

[ 5 ] We will not get beyond these things as long as we do not gain confidence in ideas that no longer want to have their practical implementation taken care of by the old routiniers, but that are capable of approaching this implementation themselves. Those who speak of the threefold nature of the social organism want to cultivate the will to practice life that results from new ideas. They are often asked: Yes, how do you think this or that should be carried out? They must answer: First of all, it is necessary that the idea of the threefold structure itself be grasped as a practical basis and acted upon. Then they point out what form this or that institution must take if threefolding is to become effective in public life. When they speak in this way, those who do not want to judge for themselves according to what they have said call on the old "practitioners" in some field or other for help. They have "not had time" to deal with the new ideas. They listen on the fly to what the bearers of these ideas actually want, quite naturally do not understand the slightest thing from a detail that has been torn out and pass judgment: - "utopia", "well-intentioned idealism", but insubstantial for practice.

[ 6 ] We must look these facts in the eye without prejudice if we want to recognize the basic conditions under which an idea such as that of the threefolding of the social organism can advance, and if we want to evaluate the obstacles that this idea encounters. No matter how practical the individual proposals of the proponents of the idea of threefolding may be, they will be fought on the side of those who do not respond to this idea themselves. It is therefore necessary at the present time that the understanding of this idea be spread as widely as possible. All special measures taken by the promoters of this idea must first of all serve to spread the idea.

[ 7 ] The real realization of fruitful new ideas alone can enable us to find the ways in which we can find bread again. Fleeing from these ideas will leave us completely breadless. The only thing that can help is the realization that the lack of bread was preceded by the lack of ideas, that the latter is the cause of the former. The path we have taken is: Lack of ideas, lack of bread. The path we must take is to find in ideas the will to shape work. In this way - bread will be produced.

[ 1 ] There is no doubt that among the so-called intellectuals of Europe there is a sufficiently large number of people who would see something fruitful in the path that is to be attempted from social chaos to a reorganization through the threefold structure of the social organism, if only they would first allow themselves to adopt the basic ideas of this attempt. It has often been said here that those who support these ideas cannot believe that what has been presented so far contains irrefutable truths down to the last detail. Certainly, some things will prove to be in need of improvement once more circles of competent and knowledgeable people work together seriously and with practical sense. But the social school of thought that expresses itself in the demand of the threefold structure is formed from the unbiased developmental necessities of humanity in our time, so that what is currently needed lives in it and through the neglect of which the problems in which we live have arisen.

[ 2 ] Whoever as an intellectual compares what was before the onset of the world catastrophe with what is demanded for recovery by the idea of threefolding, must realize how this idea is a reproduction of what the facts themselves express. But only a few are able to make this comparison and to consider this idea in any depth.

[ 3 ] The reason for this fact lies in the way our schools have educated these intellectuals. In the course of recent times, the pursuit of science has taken on a form that has virtually undermined independent, comprehensive thinking. Those who have been forced to pursue a profession that requires higher education have been forced to acquire specialized knowledge that does not give them any stimulus to consider their "subject" in the context of real life. As a recipient of knowledge in a specialized field, one can even become an important inventor, a trailblazer, without acquiring the ability through this field to see through a larger area of reality in sustainable thoughts. Those who learn to think through chemistry are led to understand the significance of the thoughts that live in this subject for the whole of human life. For the thoughts of all areas of reality are connected; and if one has those of one area, they awaken an understanding of life in its entirety. If one is merely a chemist without having learned to think in chemistry, one can be as incapable of judgment as a child in the face of the demands of life.

[ 4 ] The understanding of the basic ideas of the threefold structure depends on the ability to penetrate social facts by thinking. You can do this at the same time, whether you have learned to think in a summarizing way in chemistry, biology or politics. But you will not achieve this understanding if you have only practiced politics as a voter or even as a statesman in the same way that people have become accustomed to practicing chemistry or biology in schools in more recent times.

[ 5 ] Whoever sees through these circumstances will recognize the part played by the misguided intellectual life in the decline of European civilization. And he will only be able to expect recovery from a transformation of this spiritual life.

[ 6 ] But this is least thought of. For in the circle of intellectuals, the present lack should be felt above all. For example, there should be an urge to grasp the way of thinking through which the threefold structure arrives at its ideas, instead of simply superficially comparing these ideas with one's own opinion and, if they do not agree with it, rejecting them. If one has not trained oneself to think in a summarizing way, this is, however, the only position one can take towards a system of ideas that owes its origin to such summarizing thinking about genuine realities.

[ 7 ] There are probably people who say that those intellectuals who are of mature age today will no longer find themselves ready for the necessary self-knowledge. They are too accustomed to thoughtless specialization. We have to wait for the youth. But a large part of this youth bears the fruits of misguided spirituality in the state of its soul. This part of the youth will only be persuaded to repent when it will see from the complete disintegration of social life how necessary it would have been in the past to think in a summarizing way that draws on reality. And the part of the youth that does not need such proof is small.

[ 8 ] Should we therefore let the work rest? No, it must be regarded as an iron duty in the present emergency. Powerfully call out into the world those ideas from which we expect recovery. Perhaps at first there will only be a few who will meet them with understanding. But these few must exist. They will preach to deaf ears as long as complete disintegration has not yet arrived. But the closer it approaches, the more of the others will reveal their helplessness; the more the day will come when it will be seen that the few are needed. Until then, many politicians will still be pushed into leading positions with the old party slogans; many old "practitioners" will stumble along the well-trodden tracks through the disrupted economic life; many editorialists will rave about the disunity of foreign countries, which the home country should exploit, or also about the fact that the war would not have come about if relations with this or that country had been established in the way they were - after the war.

[ 9 ] Unperturbed by all this, those who are able to recognize the fruitfulness of the threefold idea must work to spread it. For only through this work will it be possible to ensure that enough spiritually enlightened people are available at the right moment. Spiritual enlightenment in all areas, which leads to comprehensive thinking, which leads to insight into the real power of this thinking: this is necessary. It alone can be built upon; but it can also be built upon.

[ 1 ] Few people today still strive for a clear insight into the changes that have taken place in all public affairs since 1914. People experience the hardship of the times. People hope for this and that. But we are far removed from any real reflection on what is happening before our eyes. There is an insurrectionary movement behind us in Germany. We fear new similar movements. - But can anyone say clearly what those behind such a movement actually want? They call it a movement of right-wing parties. Well, not so long ago, the word "right-wing party" had a reasonable meaning. This party had a precisely defined program. It was contrasted with the program of the left-wing parties.

[ 2 ] One should finally admit to oneself that these programs have become completely meaningless since 1914. Those who once stood on the right can no longer seriously speak of their program in the face of changing facts. If he has a sense of reality in him, he must realize that he can no longer want what was the content of his program only a short time ago. Nor can the leftist. For decades he has expressed his hopes for the future in his program. He must now see that this program could be talked about politically as long as one wanted to oppose another; but that it proves to be a phrase, since one is supposed to shape a social reality out of it. Do parties still fight against each other today in the spirit of their old programs? No. The programs have become phrases and only the people who once had something to do with these programs remain. There are no longer any "right-wing" or "left-wing" parties, only their shadows. Because parties are void without party programs.

[ 3 ] People who only a short time ago were united under the factual content of a certain direction of will still stand together out of old habit. They form groups. But their cohesion is basically only personal. The former reactionary has lost the content of his will, but he still holds together with those who were also reactionaries. He hopes that he will come to power together with them. He who was a Marxist a short time ago still clings to his Marxism because he has to talk about something in order to express himself. He does not draw any rational meaning from his Marxism. But he comes together, more or less radically, with others who were also Marxists; he forms groups with them that are held together merely by the personal kinship that stems from their earlier Marxism. The people in these groups also hope that they will come to power with people who have such personal kinship with them.

[ 4 ] The struggles of public life today have the same character. The judgments that assert themselves in these struggles also bear this character. Certain people get excited when they talk about the "militarist coup". They don't even realize how much nebulousness flows into their ideas. Basically, if the putschists came to power, they would know as little today about what to do as their opponents would know in the same case. One cannot really be afraid of any particular will of such a group; one can only have an indeterminate fear of the people who once had a particular will.

[ 5 ] When viewed correctly, the situation is substantially different from how it is usually viewed at present. The people who once exercised power are characterized by the fact that they acted out of a direction of will that was rendered impossible by the years of horror that Europe has gone through. The other people who want to replace them have not yet found ideas from the life situations in which they have been so far, which could provide possible social conditions in the realization.

[ 6 ] Groups of people, held together by old habits, by sympathies and antipathies, are fighting for power today. What both have in common is that they cannot do anything with power when they have it, because they lack an objective that has grown out of the facts.

[ 7 ] This situation is taking on ever greater dimensions. Public battles are increasingly losing their intellectual content. Democracy, conservatism, liberalism, socialism are words that used to have content but have lost it. Under these circumstances, life becomes directionless and barbarized.

[ 8 ] The idea of the threefold structure of the social organism takes this situation into account. It speaks of impulses that originate from the essence of humanity itself; impulses that want to shape themselves into social reality from the depths of human nature. It speaks again of a reality, one that reveals itself quite clearly in the facts of present life. For this idea it is obvious that the old party programs have lost their content and that only the memories of them remain in the people who had previously committed themselves to them. "Right-wing and left-wing" does not mean a reality today; the idea of the threefold structure seeks such a reality. We can strive to understand them, regardless of whether we still carry around an insubstantial "right-wing" or an insubstantial "left-wing" in our bodies from old habits, like a dead foreign body in a living organism. The bearers of the threefold idea have to fight with old habits, with the shadows of the past. In the midst of public instinctive actions that increasingly degenerate into striving for personal power, they want to set the direction of the will borne by the idea. They want to give life direction not in the sense of old shadowy phrases, but in the sense of the reality demanded by the times.

[ 1 ] About half a century ago, materialism flourished as a world view in Europe. Human beings were to be recognized down to the depths of their souls according to the same laws that had been established for natural events. Ideas such as Goethe's were probably also invoked: "According to eternal, iron laws, we must complete all the circles of our existence." However, it was not noticed how the laws that Goethe wanted scientific knowledge to be based on brought him into the fiercest battle with the natural science that prevailed at the time. He strove for a natural science which, if developed consistently, could lead to an understanding of the human being as a spiritual-soul being. However, it was not his scientific approach that the materialists had in mind, but essentially that of his opponents. It was the mindless view of nature, which can never lead to a grasp of the human being.

[ 2 ] From this mindless view, some consistent personalities also spoke out about the moral nature of man. Half a century ago one could hear quite strange judgments in this direction. In the correspondence of one such consistent thinker with a materialist scholar, for example, we find the view that the criminal acts according to the laws of nature as well as the so-called moral laws. And that anyone who is naturally predisposed to be a liar, murderer and so on can only become a self-contained, perfect character if he lives out his lying, murderous disposition. Such thoughts were not uncommon at that time of materialistic theories.

[ 3 ] These moral and social consequences of the materialistic way of thinking were not viewed with the necessary seriousness by many. They were seen as quirks. They are not. Rather, they are proof of the fact that the scientific way of thinking that developed in the last third of the nineteenth century cannot produce moral-social ideas. It was therefore under the influence of these ideas that an age arose which substituted completely meaningless moral-social phrases for ethical-social ideas. With these moral-social phrases, civilized mankind lived into the twentieth century.

[ 4 ] A certain branch of science is trying to deceive itself and its followers about this fact. From this side one can hear: Nineteenth-century materialism is scientifically dead. But it is not dead. The difference between those who talk like this today and the materialists of the nineteenth century consists merely in the fact that the latter had the full courage to confess their materialism; but those of today who reject it think just like them; only they imagine that their mindless explanations of nature are not materialism. The dangerous consistency has been replaced by the much more dangerous inconsistent half-measure. Our public life is characterized by this half-measure. There are no moral-social impulses in the thoughts that are considered capable of founding a world view. Attempts have been made to construct a social world view from natural science. This was possible as long as people habitually lived in accordance with the old socio-ethical traditions and their thoughts had no influence on the development of public life.

[ 5 ] The catastrophe of war has already cleared up this situation; with every month it clears up more and more of what has happened since this catastrophe. The people in whom the old traditions have died are gaining more and more influence. Only ideas that are unfruitful for a socio-ethical world view live in them.

[ 6 ] An unbiased look at the public life of the entire civilized world reveals this fact. It must first come to the consciousness of a sufficiently large number of people before a possibility of reconstruction of the destroyed social conditions can occur. This improvement depends on the world view alone.

[ 7 ] Whoever today still insists on the view that worldview is something that abstract thinkers may make up, that it has nothing to do in practice, is collaborating in the destruction, no matter how strongly he may believe that he is working for a social reconstruction. It is necessary today, even for the smallest economic institution, that those who play a leading role in it should be able to think about how this institution fits into the overall process of human development. Such thoughts can never arise in an honest, sincere way in those who more or less consciously orient their thinking towards the materialistic direction of the new age. For the most part, he does not even notice how this materialistic thinking works into the impulses of his social activity.

[ 8 ] It cannot be emphasized strongly enough that the facts of public life today must be seen precisely in this light. Only those who see them in this way are thinking in the direction of recovery. It must seem natural to them not to compromise with that which has led to the destruction of social life out of the materialistic way of thinking. Many find it difficult to think in this way because they believe that If one should wait until the improvement comes from the way of thinking, one will have to wait a long time. Those who think this way must be told that their thinking is among the worst. For it is important that through such fatalistic thinking we do not first put on the shackles that cause us to "have to wait a long time". Anyone who says to himself: I will bring about social transformation right down to my way of thinking, shortens the waiting time that makes him so alarming.

[ 9 ] That is why it must be emphasized again and again: It depends today on that inner courage which can summon itself to see in the path to a new spirit a true practice of life and in the deviation from this path the causes of our decline. Those who can judge in this way are alone the men of the future; the others are the reactionaries, however Marxist-radical they may be. But judgment must be ready to become action, energetic life practice. - The "practitioners" will ask: "Can one go to Spa with such views?" Oh yes, one could go; one could wait and see what would happen if one went with them; but one will certainly come back with unfruitful results if one goes there with the old thoughts. One should have a judgment today that these old thoughts in Spa will lead to nothing other than what they have led to for decades.

[ 1 ] Those who prepare for the profession of teacher in today's educational institutions take many good principles about education and the art of teaching with them into their lives. And the good will to apply these principles is undoubtedly present in many of those to whom this task falls. Nevertheless, there is a widespread lack of satisfaction in this area of life. New or seemingly new objectives are constantly appearing; and institutions are being founded which are supposed to take better account of the demands of human nature and social life than those which have emerged from the general civilization of modern mankind. It would be unwise not to recognize that for more than a century the science of education and teaching has had the noblest personalities, borne by high idealism, as its nurturers. What has been incorporated into history by them represents a rich treasure of pedagogical wisdom and inspiring instructions for the educator's will, which the prospective teacher can absorb.

[ 2 ] It can hardly be denied that for every deficiency that can be found in the field of education and teaching, leading ideas can be found in the leading great educators of the past, which could be remedied by following them. The dissatisfaction cannot lie in the lack of a carefully cultivated educational science; nor can it be due to a lack of good will on the part of those who are active in educating and teaching. But it is not unjustified. The experiences of life prove this to every unbiased person.

[ 3 ] Those involved in the founding of the Waldorf School in Stuttgart were imbued with such sentiments. Emil Molt, the founder of this school, and the writer of this article, who was allowed to give direction to the type of education and teaching, and who may continue to participate in the continuation of this direction: they want to solve a pedagogical and a social task with this school.

[ 4 ] In the attempt to solve the pedagogical task, it is important to recognize the reason why the good educational principles that exist do not lead to satisfactory results to such a large extent. - It is generally recognized, for example, that the developing individuality of the child must be observed in order to obtain the guiding ideas in teaching and education. This point of view is put forward as a correct one in all keys.

[ 5 ] But today there are major obstacles to adopting this point of view. In order to come into its own in true practice, it requires a knowledge of the soul that truly unlocks the essence of man. The world view that dominates contemporary spiritual education does not lead to this. This world view only believes that it has a secure foundation if it can establish universally valid laws. Laws that can be expressed in fixed terms and then applied to individual cases. One becomes accustomed to striving for such laws when one acquires one's professional training in the educational institutions of the present. Those trained for the profession of educator are also accustomed to thinking in terms of such laws. But the human soul being resists cognition if one wants to grasp it through such laws. Only nature yields to these laws. If one wants to see through the essence of the soul, one must penetrate the lawful with artistic creative power in cognition. The cognizer must become an artistic observer if he wants to grasp the soul. It has been lectured that such cognition is not true cognition, for it involves personal experience in the apprehension of things. No matter how many logical prejudices such lecturing may have in its favor, it has the fact against it that without the participation of the inner personal, the creative grasping, the spiritual cannot be recognized. We shy away from this involvement because we believe that it necessarily leads us into the personal arbitrariness of judgment. Certainly, one enters into this arbitrariness if one does not acquire inner objectivity through careful self-education.

[ 6 ] This, however, indicates the path taken by those who accept a true knowledge of the spirit in addition to the knowledge of nature that is justified in its field. And it is up to this to unlock the essence of the soul. It must support a genuine art of education and teaching. For it leads to a knowledge of man that has such moving, living ideas in it that the educator can translate them into a practical view of the child's individuality. And only those who are able to do this can give practical meaning to the demand to educate and teach according to the individuality of the child.

[ 7 ] In our time, with its intellectualism and love of abstraction, people will try to refute what has been said here with objections such as: it is self-evident that general ideas about the nature of man, which have also been gained from contemporary education, should be individualized for the individual case.

[ 8 ] However, in order to individualize correctly, so as to be able to lead the particular individuality of the child educationally, it is necessary to have acquired in a particular spiritual knowledge an eye for that which cannot be brought under a general law as an individual case, but whose law must first be grasped by looking at this case. The knowledge of the spirit meant here does not, following the example of the knowledge of nature, lead to the conception of general ideas in order to apply them to individual cases, but it educates man to a constitution of soul which experiences the individual case in its independence. - This spiritual science follows how the human being develops in childhood and adolescence. It shows how the child's nature from birth to the change of teeth is such that it develops from the instinct of imitation. What the child sees, hears etc. arouses in him the instinct to do the same. How this drive develops is investigated in detail by spiritual science. For this investigation, methods are needed which, at every point, lead the child from merely thinking in terms of laws to artistic contemplation. For what stimulates the child to imitate and the way in which it imitates can only be observed in this way. - In the period of the change of teeth a complete change takes place in the child's experience. The urge arises to do or think what another person, who is perceived by the child as an authority, does or thinks if he or she describes this action or thought as correct. Before this age, imitation takes place in order to make one's own being an imitation of the environment; on entering this age, imitation is not mere, but the foreign being is taken into one's own being with a certain degree of awareness. However, the instinct to imitate remains alongside the other instinct to follow authority until around the age of nine. If one proceeds from the manifestations of these two main instincts for the two successive childhood ages, the gaze falls on other revelations of the child's nature. One gets to know the living-plastic development of human childhood.

[ 9 ] Whoever makes his observations in this field from the mode of conception which is the correct one for natural things, indeed also for man as a natural being, will fail to grasp what is actually significant. However, those who adopt the appropriate mode of observation for this area will sharpen their soul's eye for the individuality of the child's being. For him, the child does not become a "single case" that he judges according to a general principle, but rather a very individual puzzle that he seeks to solve.

[ 10 ] One might argue that such a contemplative approach to the individual child is not possible in a school class with a large number of pupils. However, without wanting to speak out in favor of large numbers of pupils in the classes, it must be said that a teacher with a knowledge of the soul, as is meant here, will find it easier to deal with many pupils than another without a real knowledge of the soul. For this knowledge of the soul will reveal itself in the demeanor of the teacher's whole personality; it will characterize every word he says, everything he does; and the children will become inwardly active under his guidance. He will not have to force each individual to be active, because his general attitude will have an effect on the individual child.

[ 11 ] The curriculum and teaching method are appropriately derived from the knowledge of child development. If one understands how the instinct to imitate and the impulse to submit to authority interact in children in the first years of primary school, one knows how, for example, writing lessons should be designed for these years. If it is based on intellectuality, one works against the forces that manifest themselves through the instinct of imitation; if one starts from a kind of drawing that is gradually transferred to writing, one develops what is striving to develop. In this way, the curriculum can be derived entirely from the nature of the child's development. And only a curriculum that is developed in this way works in the direction of human development. It makes man strong; any other stunts his powers. And this atrophy has an effect on the whole of life.

[ 12 ] It is only possible to apply a principle of education such as the necessity of observing the individuality of a child's nature through a knowledge of the soul of the kind described above.

[ 13 ] A pedagogy that wants to apply in practice what is theoretically advocated by many as good principles must be based on a true spiritual science. Otherwise it will only be able to work through the few pedagogues who instinctively develop their practice through fortunate natural dispositions. The pedagogical and didactic educational and teaching practice of the Waldorf school should be fertilized by a true spiritual-scientific knowledge of the human being. I set myself the task of stimulating the teachers in this direction with a course in spiritual-scientific pedagogy and didactics, which I held for them before the school opened.

[ 14 ] This describes - albeit only sketchily - the educational task for which a first attempt at a solution was made with this school. In the Waldorf School, Emil Molt also created an institution that meets a contemporary social demand. First of all, it is the elementary school for the children of those working in the Waldorf-Astoria factory in Stuttgart. In addition to these children, there are also children from other social classes, so that the character of a unified elementary school is fully preserved. That is all that can initially be done by an individual. In a comprehensive sense, an important social task for the future can only be solved with the school when the overall social institutions integrate all schooling in such a way that it will be permeated by the spirit that is brought to bear in the Waldorf school to the extent that it is possible under the present conditions.

[ 15 ] The above explanations show that all pedagogical art must be built on a knowledge of the soul that is closely linked to the personality of the teacher. This personality must be able to express itself freely in its pedagogical work. This is only possible if the entire administration of the school system is autonomous. If the practicing teacher only has to deal with practicing teachers in relation to the administration. A non-performing teacher is a foreign body in the school administration, just like a non-artistic teacher who would be responsible for setting the direction for artistic teachers. The nature of the pedagogical art demands that teachers divide themselves between educating and teaching and the administration of the school system. In this way, the overall spirit, which is formed from the spiritual attitude of all individual teachers united in a teaching and educational community, will fully prevail in the administration. And only that which results from the knowledge of the soul will be valid in this community.

[ 16 ] Such a community is only possible in the tripartite social organism, which has a free spiritual life alongside a democratically oriented state life and an independent economic life. (On the nature of this tripartite structure, see the articles in the previous issues of "Soziale Zukunft"). A spiritual life that receives its directives from the political administration or from the powers of economic life cannot nurture a school in its bosom whose impulses emanate entirely from the teaching staff itself. But a free school will place people in life who can develop their full power in the state and in the economy, because this power is developed in them.

[ 17 ] Whoever does not subscribe to the opinion that impersonal relations of production or the like shape people, but recognizes from actual reality how people create social order, will also understand the importance of a school that is not built on party or other views, but on that which is brought to the human community from the depths of the world's being by the new generations constantly entering it. To recognize and develop this, however, is only possible for a view of the soul as it has been attempted to characterize here. From this point of view, the profound social significance of a pedagogical practice based on spiritual science appears.

[ 18 ] Much of this pedagogical practice will have to be judged differently than is currently done by educators. To point out only one thing in this direction, it should be mentioned that in the Waldorf School a kind of eurythmy has been placed alongside ordinary gymnastics as having equal status. This eurythmy is a visible language. Through it the human limbs are moved, the whole human being and groups of human beings are induced to make movements which express a soul content in the same way as spoken language or music. The whole human being is moved by the soul. If today gymnastics, which can only have a direct effect on the strengthening of the body and at most an indirect effect on the moral strengthening of the human being, is prejudicially overestimated because it focuses one-sidedly on the physical, a later time will recognize how the soulful art of movement of eurythmy brings the initiative of the will to unfold at the same time as the physical. It grasps the human being as a whole in body, soul and spirit.

[ 19 ] Those who do not allow the present crisis of European civilization to pass them by in a kind of slumber of the soul, but experience it fully, cannot see its origins merely in misguided external institutions that need improvement, but must seek them deep within human thinking, feeling and will. Then, however, he will also recognize, among the ways to improve our social life, that of educating the coming generation. And it will not completely ignore an attempt to search for means in the art of education by which good principles and a good will can also be put into practice. The Waldorf School is not a "reform school" like so many others which are founded because one believes one knows where the faults of this or that kind of education and teaching lie; rather it has arisen from the thought that the best principles and the best will in this field can only become effective when the educator and teacher is a connoisseur of human nature. One cannot be this without also developing a lively interest in the whole social life of mankind. The mind that is open to the essence of humanity also accepts all the suffering and joy of humanity as its own experience. Through a teacher who is a connoisseur of the soul, a connoisseur of humanity, the whole of social life has an effect on the generation striving into life. People will emerge from his school who can place themselves powerfully in life.

[ 1 ] Some time ago I said in this weekly that I have no inclination for polemics. I believe that I have amply demonstrated this by the fact that I have left unchallenged a considerable number of outrageous attacks, most of which degenerate into vicious personal insults. Above all, it seemed necessary to me to devote my time and energy to the positive development of the scientific research direction which I have been trying to present to the world through my writings for thirty-five years. What is available in these writings gives others today, as it seems to me, sufficient documentation to undertake the necessary factual-scientific defense of this line of research. Recently, this task has been undertaken by academically and artistically capable personalities. This line of research provides guidelines for the social question that has become so burning in our time. In Stuttgart, a number of personalities have come together who, convinced of the fruitfulness of these social guidelines, are working tirelessly through the Bund für Dreigliederung des sozialen Organismus. In other places, they have been joined by others who strive to work scientifically and socially with understanding.

[ 2 ] The recent experiences of two of these defenders of work, Dr. Walter Joh. Stein and Dr. Eugen Kolisko, with their lectures in Göttingen, are described in the previous and this issue of this weekly journal. I myself can only be grateful, in the interest of the cause, that they have accepted their not exactly desirable role.

[ 3 ] Unfortunately, one must conduct a defense even in matters that are brought to light in such a way as the allegations of Professor Dr. Fuchs in Göttingen. All my writings speak with absolute self-evidence against such absurdities as that my anthroposophy spiritually transports us back to the Middle Ages, for anyone who wants to read. For anyone who follows how my anthroposophy follows on in a straight line from what I already wrote in the 1980s, it is simply ridiculous to say that I am feeding my readers and listeners with oriental teachings borrowed in particular from northern Buddhism.

[ 4 ] Evidence for or against the scientific nature of anthroposophy must be presented from completely different angles than those that seem to be available to Professor Dr. Fuchs after his previous, merely invective-filled statements. If Professor Fuchs declares what he thinks about the natural facts known to him to be natural science, that is his private matter. Nowhere have I stated that anthroposophy agrees with what he and those spiritually like him think about nature and spirit. I have repeatedly tried to prove that the facts of nature do not demand what he and the naturalists of his ilk think, but what is demanded by anthroposophy. In this sense I speak of the harmony between natural science and anthroposophy. Anyone who, like Professor Fuchs, turns this fact into its opposite and makes insulting statements on the basis of this opposite is speaking an objective untruth.

[ 5 ] A researcher who is to be taken seriously must be required to have a sense of objective facts. Anyone who is presented with an anatomical specimen that speaks against an absurd assertion can only be taken seriously scientifically if he first looks at the specimen and considers its connection with other facts. Professor Dr. Fuchs hears that in Stuttgart my baptismal certificate has been produced against the stupid claim that I am a Jew. He says, like so many others who unscrupulously spread the lie that I am Jewish, that there are also baptized Jews. Well, my baptismal certificate contains data that speak so against my descent from Jews that they alone reveal the assertion of my Jewishness to be stupid nonsense. I need not say that I myself attach no importance to my ancestry from this point of view. For me it is merely a matter of the fact that it is a brazen lie to make me a Jew. But for me, anyone who talks about facts in this way, as Professor Fuchs does about my alleged Jewishness, even if only in passing, is not a scientist. I have a more serious view of conscientiousness in the scientific way of thinking. Whoever proves in one field that he lacks a sense of facts, I do not believe that he can have it in another field. An anatomy that seduces with its facts as Professor Fuchs did with my baptismal certificate would be devoid of any scientific character for me. For the time being, I will confine myself to these few sentences. What Professor Fuchs has said about priority and the like is something I can leave to those who really read my writings and can understand their questions.

[ 1 ] Those who want to form a political opinion today must bid farewell to the ideas and programs with which parties were formed and public discussions were held only a short time ago. And where such parties continue to exist, where such discussions continue, they fall far short of events.

[ 2 ] The powerful socialist movement that shook modern civilization should not be captured in the terms with which it was approached a decade ago. At that time, it was thought that it could be overcome with state policy. This state policy was shaped differently depending on whether one was conservative, liberal or socialist, but there was no doubt that state policy had to deal with public affairs in some way. But at present these affairs clearly show that everywhere they do not want to submit to state policy. And if one takes a closer look at the course of events, one will find that the views on the state that people want to assert today do not coincide anywhere with the overall aspirations of mankind. In the European East, fanatics want to carpenter a state in the form they have in mind as an economic community. They assure us that their distant goal is the abolition of any kind of state structure. For the time being, however, they want to create a militaristically organized economic state. It carries the seeds of decay. For there is currently a political-democratic drive at work in humanity that cannot come to the fore in a militarized economic state. The "dictatorship" of the proletariat could paralyze this drive for a short time; it cannot eradicate it. Nor can the purely economically oriented state create a spiritual life that could satisfy the needs of humanity.

[ 3 ] The latter is recognized by idealistically inclined people. That is why they strive to revive religious and spiritual ideas. Catholics, Protestants and people with free religious sentiments can be seen on the way to this goal. But their often powerful and well-intentioned efforts are powerless. They do not penetrate into the depths of people's souls, where the forces that determine war and peace or that create sustainable economic conditions are at work. In Switzerland, American representatives of intellectual life are speaking in order to lend support to the ideas of the League of Nations from their point of view. The unbiased person must come to the conclusion that they will speak in vain. For their words will find no access to the hearts of those whose instincts urge only a reorganization of economic life.

[ 4 ] In England, the miners' strike has stirred up emotions. Even if Parliament succeeds in getting it under control now, it will have to do so through institutions that will not be able to keep the economy going in a few years' time. What the parliament has done in this case shows with complete clarity that a state parliament can indeed discuss public affairs and, through discussion, order them in a provisional manner, but that it is nevertheless powerless to master economic life.

[ 5 ] Europe breathed a sigh of relief because Bolshevism did not succeed in defeating the Poles. Many would breathe a sigh of relief if they were to experience the "victory" of one power or another over Bolshevik Russia. Those who think this way have no idea that, if they continue to work in the old sense of "state politics", they will see another terrible entity rise up out of the declining Bolshevism in the not too distant future. One that would probably be closer to them than Russian Bolshevism.

[ 6 ] State policy, which has extended its sphere over the intellectual and the economic life, which wants to educate and instruct man at the same time and also take care of his economy, has brought it to educate in such a way that the intellectual life is powerless over the organization of social life. It lives through parliaments and administrative institutions which talk and act without regard to the real course of intellectual life. In the end, it leads the broad masses and their leaders to an ideal of the state that seeks to embody a tyrannical and, what is more, inadequate economic dilettantism.

[ 7 ] Why is spiritual life powerless? Because it must become powerless when states set the norms of education and teaching. For the spirit can only attain the power it deserves if it can pursue its own goals in complete freedom. The self-administration of intellectual life emancipated from the state, especially in its most important area, teaching and education, is the only way to open up access to the hearts of men for intellectual impulses. Schools that are completely independent of the state and economic life will produce people whose intellectual power can have a formative effect on the state and the economy. It is argued that this leads back to uneducation. For where there is no state-school compulsion, most children are not sent to school. Instead, we should be looking at the solution to the problem: how to get children into schools without state coercion?

[ 8 ] Economic life demands the same separation from the state and self-administration as intellectual life. The state can extend itself only over those matters in which all men who have come of age are capable of judgment as equals. Democratic parliamentarianism is its vital element. But this parliamentarism must be organically supplemented by a self-governing intellectual and an equally self-governing economic life. Both must be governed by forces other than those that can develop in democratic parliaments.

[ 9 ] The old state formations, which have incorporated intellectual life and the economy to a large extent, will not be entities of the human community in which the modern questions of humanity can be solved. The unrest of modern civilization has its origin in the striving of intellectual and economic life out of these state formations.

[ 10 ] The East is in chaos. In the West, there should be enough discerning minds who, through the liberation of intellectual and economic life, seek a way out of the increasingly widespread paralysis of public intellectual forces. As long as there are not enough people who can succeed with such views, modern civilization will shake in unrest, and the threat will remain that world chaos will develop from the chaos of the East.