The Course of My Life
GA 28
Translated by Steiner Online Library
Chapter XXXVI
[ 1 ] Not really within the scope of this presentation is an institution that arose within the Anthroposophical Society in such a way that no thought at all was given to a connection with the public. However, it should now be characterized because it has also been the source of attacks on me.
[ 2 ] Some years after the beginning of the activity in the Theosophical Society, Marie von Sivers and I were asked from a certain side to lead a society of the kind that had been preserved with the preservation of the old symbolism and the cultic events in which the "old wisdom" was embodied. I was not even remotely thinking of working in the spirit of such a society. Everything anthroposophical should and must emerge from its own source of knowledge and truth. This aim was not to be deviated from in the slightest. But I always had respect for the historically given. In it lives the spirit that develops in the becoming of mankind. And so I was also in favor of linking, if at all possible, the new to the historically existing. I therefore took the diploma of the society indicated, which was in the current represented by Yarker. It had the Masonic forms of the so-called high degrees. I took nothing, but really nothing at all from this society except the purely formal authorization to establish a symbolic-cultic activity in historical connection. Everything that is presented in the "actions" in terms of content
[ 3 ] which were practiced within the institution I created were without historical connection to any tradition. In possession of the formal diploma, only that which resulted as a visualization of anthroposophical knowledge was cultivated. And this was done out of the need for membership. In addition to the processing of the ideas in which the knowledge of the spirit was wrapped, something was sought that spoke directly to the view, to the mind. And I wanted to meet such demands. If the offer from the society indicated had not materialized, I would have set up a symbolic-cultic activity without any historical connection.
[ 4 ] But a "secret society" was thus not created. Those who approached the institution were told in the clearest possible way that they were not joining a religious order, but that as participants in ceremonial acts they would experience a kind of sensualization, a demonstration of spiritual knowledge. If some things took place in the forms in which members were admitted or promoted to higher degrees in traditional orders, then this also did not have the purpose of leading such an order, but only to illustrate spiritual ascension in soul experiences through sensual images
[ 5 ] The fact that this was not a matter of activity in any existing order, or of transmitting things that were transmitted in such orders, is proven by the fact that members of the most diverse religious orders took part in the ceremonial acts I set up and found in them quite different than in their orders.
[ 6 ] Once, a personage who had taken part in an action with us for the first time came to me immediately after it. This personage had graduated from a religious order. Under the impression of what she had experienced, she wanted to transfer her insignia to me. She thought that now that she had experienced the real content of the spirit, she could no longer participate in the formal. I put things right. For anthroposophy must not tear people out of the contexts in which they live. It should add something to these contexts, but not take anything away from them. So the personality in question remained in her order and continued to take part in the symbolic acts with us.
[ 7 ] It is only too understandable that misunderstandings arise when institutions such as the one described become known. There are many people for whom the outward appearance of belonging to something seems more important than the content that is given to them. And so some participants spoke of the matter as if they belonged to a religious order. They didn't understand how to distinguish that we were demonstrating things to them without a religious context that were otherwise only given within religious contexts.
[ 8 ] We also broke with the old traditions in this area. We worked as one must work when one explores the content of the spirit in an original way from the conditions of the fully contemplated soul experience.
[ 9 ] The fact that people later wanted to use the certificates signed by Marie von Sivers and myself in connection with the historical Yarker institution as a starting point for all kinds of slander is something that, in order to forge such slander, treats the ridiculous with the grimace of seriousness. Our signatures were given under "formulas". The usual had been observed. And as we gave our signatures, I said in no uncertain terms: this is all formality, and the establishment I am arranging will take nothing from the Yarker establishment.
[ 10 ] It is, of course, easy to consider after the fact how much "wiser" it would have been not to build on institutions that could later be used by the detractors. But I would like to say, in all modesty, that at the age in question I was still one of those people who expected others with whom they had dealings to be straight and not crooked in their ways. Spiritual vision did not change this belief in people. This should not be misused to investigate the inner intentions of fellow human beings if this investigation does not lie in the desire of the people concerned themselves. In other cases the exploration of the inner being of other souls remains something forbidden to the spirit-knower, just as the unauthorized opening of a letter remains something forbidden. And so one faces people with whom one has to deal in the same way as anyone else who has no knowledge of the spirit. But there is a difference between taking the other person to be straightforward in his intentions until you have experienced the opposite, and being inimical to the whole world. Social cooperation between people is impossible in the latter mood, because such cooperation can only be based on trust, not mistrust.
[ 11 ] This institution, which gave in a cult symbolism what spirit content is, was a blessing for many participants in the Anthroposophical Society. Since, as in all areas of anthroposophical work, everything that fell outside the framework of prudent consciousness was excluded, there could be no thought of unauthorized magic, suggestive effects and the like. - But the members received what on the one hand spoke to their conception of ideas in such a way that the mind could follow in direct contemplation. For many, this was something that led them back into the formation of ideas. With the beginning of the war, the possibility of continuing to cultivate such institutions ceased. Although there was no evidence of a secret society, the institution would have been taken for one. And so this symbolic-cultic section of the anthroposophical movement fell asleep from mid-1914 onwards.
[ 12 ] The fact that out of this institution, which is absolutely impeccable for anyone who looks at it with good will and a sense of truth, such personalities who have participated in it have become slanderous accusers is one of those abnormalities in human behavior that arise when people who are not genuine inwardly approach movements with genuine spiritual content. They expect things that correspond to their trivial soul life, and by not finding such things, of course, they turn against the institution to which they have turned in the first place - but with unconscious insincerity.
[ 13 ] A society such as the Anthroposophical Society could not be shaped in any other way than out of the soul needs of its members. There could not be an abstract program that said: in the Anthroposophical Society this and that is done, but it had to be worked out of reality. This reality is the soul needs of the members. Anthroposophy as a way of life was formed from its own sources. It came before the world as a spiritual creation. Many of those who had an inner attraction to it sought to work together with others. This resulted in a shaping of society from personalities, some of whom sought the religious, others the scientific, others the artistic. And what was sought had to be found.
[ 14 ] Because of this working out of the reality of the soul needs of the members, the private prints must be judged differently than what was sent to the full public from the beginning. The contents of these prints were meant as oral communications, not intended for printing. And what was spoken about was eavesdropped on the spiritual needs of the members as they arose over time.
[ 15 ] What is written in the published writings corresponds to the demands of anthroposophy as such; in the manner in which the private prints developed, the configuration of the souls of the whole society worked together in the sense indicated.