The Rudolf Steiner Archive

31. The Goetheanum and the Voice of the Present

[ 1 ] The Goetheanum in Dornach near Basel, Switzerland, is intended to be a school of spiritual science and a place for cultivating an artistic life in the spirit of this science. Its construction began in the spring of 1914. Work on it continued during the war. The enclosing walls with the double dome have been completed. Its architectural and sculptural forms, the paintings of the interior, the stained glass windows produced using new methods already show the visitor what kind of envelope is intended for the scientific and artistic work that is to be carried out in this place.

[ 2 ] Not a building in a historically traditional art form has been erected in Dornach; what can already be seen today shows that a new style and form of artistic realization is being attempted. The whole of the building and every detail have flowed from the same spirit that wishes to create a center of its activity in this place.

[ 3 ] And this spirit wants to serve the rebuilding of scientific, spiritual and social life. It has grown out of the conviction that the human constitution of the soul, which reached its peak at the beginning of the twentieth century, is internally interwoven with the destructive forces that have revealed their true form in the world catastrophe.

[ 4 ] Just as the building in its design aims to represent a unity with everything that is to be accomplished within it, so it is hoped that the spiritual work emanating from Dornach will develop the spiritual impetus that can be formative for a true moral, social and technical practice of life.

[ 5 ] For modern man there was an abyss between his spiritual experience and the practice of life. Through illusions he deceived himself about this abyss. He believed that he could draw science and art from the reality of life and permeate this reality with his spirit. These illusions are the true causes of the devastating world catastrophe and the social hardships of the present. Modern man did not find the spirit in science and art; therefore his life practice became a spiritless routine.

[ 6 ] The social practice of life, the mechanically oriented technology, the externalized legal life lack the impulses that can only arise when the souls within people experience the spirit.

[ 7 ] The spiritual science to be cultivated at the Goetheanum in Dornach has driven out of itself a social view of life, the impulse of the threefold organization of the social organism, which wants to gain genuine life practice from real spiritual knowledge. Who wants to avoid everything utopian by creating out of the reality of the spirit.

[ 8 ] What souls need in order to experience their full humanity is to be cultivated in Dornach just as much as the technical aspects of outer life. The school of thought that wants to form its center here wants to create a workshop for life-enhancing technology, for the social shaping of human work as well as for the development of the life of the soul. It needs the cooperation of all those who are impartial enough to see that modern life lacks what it wants to create.

[ 9 ] In order to complete the Dornach building, almost as much sacrifice is still necessary on the part of such unbiased people as has already been revealed in the possibility of bringing it to its present state. But even with the completion of this building, nothing has yet been achieved for the goals that are to be served with it. Parallel to this completion must go practical institutions of life that are designed in the direction of the spiritual work it represents. Very practical institutions of life, such as technical and social undertakings, must prove the life-promoting nature of its powers. It must come to the point where it no longer seems ridiculous when the spirit that wants to create a world view is also active in the founding of technical enterprises, financial institutes and scientific research institutes.

[ 10 ] The spiritual direction meant here is already at work in the Waldorf School in Stuttgart. Even people who still tolerate it there, because it is active in the "spiritual" field, will still demand today that it "keep its hands off" institutions about which only the "practitioner" should be able to judge.

[ 11 ] In this area, one of the most powerful prejudices must be overcome. The personalities who have already been found today to contribute to this overcoming through practical work expose themselves to the accusation of unrealistic enthusiasm. They believe they know that humanity will only get out of some of its troubles when the enthusiasm of those who falsely accuse them of enthusiasm today has been seen through. But the number of such personalities who, despite such accusations, are currently putting their energies at the service of genuine life practice is still small. Institutions are in the making that want to lay the foundations for this practice of life. Whether it can succeed will depend on whether as many people as possible can be found who want to join forces with the few.

[ 12 ] Only on an international basis can something favorable be achieved in this direction. For the spirit meant here is, by its very nature, far removed from the narrow-minded erection of barriers to humanity. What is necessary for it, however, is the unified embracing of spiritual and practical-material life. It is on this basis that he would like to carry out his work on overcoming the "social question". He believes he can say in all modesty that he was already working in close circles on this basis before his opponent showed his true face in the outbreak of the world catastrophe. He understands that before this loudly speaking fact he could only be heard by a few. He believes that now, out of the needs of the times, he should be met with understanding. The growth of the new life will not be promoted by alliances of nations based on the old spirit; the League of Nations will grow out of the new spirit as something self-evident. The old constitutions of the soul will not support a new social life; from the renewal of the life of the soul the social structure will arise with inner necessity.

[ 13 ] Some people are already saying today: A revival of dead or dampened human forces from the spirit is necessary. But if we take a closer look, the question remains unanswered: What is the content of the new spirit? At the Goetheanum in Dornach, however, one would like to speak of this content, one would like to work for this content. For it is not the mere appeal to the spirit that can help at this time, but only the spirit that is recognized and incorporated into the work of life. But this spirit wants to be worked for itself. It wants to permeate all scientific research; it does not merely want to be tolerated as a side effect of a science that keeps its distance from itself. It does not want to be there so that those working in the factory can find it when they leave the factory; it wants to live in the work of the factory itself, in its economic and technical orientation. He does not want a practice of life that also "leaves time for spiritual interests"; he does not want to leave time in which he does not work. He does not want an art that embellishes "sober" life; he is aware that real life is naturally artistic.

[ 14 ] This is how Dornach and everything connected with it is conceived; it can become a full reality when it is recognized how this "thought" wants to work out of the roots of real life.