The Life, Nature, and Cultivation of Anthroposophy
GA 260a
Member Newsletter, 17 February 1924
5. Anthroposophical Leading Thoughts
In future there will be found in these columns something in the nature of anthroposophical ‘Guiding Lines’ or ‘Leading Thoughts’.1See the volume, Anthroposophical Leading Thoughts (Anthroposophical Publishing Company, London, 1927). These may be taken to contain advice on the direction which leading members can give to the lectures and discussions in the several Groups. It is but a stimulus and suggestion which the Goetheanum would like to give to the whole Society. The independence of individual leading members in their work is in no way to be interfered with. We shall develop healthily if the Society gives free play to that which leading members have to offer in all the different Groups. This will enrich and make manifold the life of the Society.
But it should also be possible for a unity of consciousness to arise in the whole Society—which will happen if the initiative and ideas that emerge at different places become known everywhere. Thus in these columns we shall sum up in short paragraphs the descriptions and lines of thought given by me in my lectures to the Society at the Goetheanum. I imagine that those who lecture or conduct the discussions in the Groups will be able to take what is here given as guiding lines, with which they may freely connect what they have to say. This will contribute to the unity and organic wholeness of the work of the Society without there being any question of constraint.
The thing will become fruitful for the whole Society if it meets with a true response—if the leading members will inform the Executive at the Goetheanum too of the contents and manner of their own lectures and suggestions. Then only we shall grow, from a chaos of separate Groups, into a Society with a real spiritual content.
The guiding lines here given are meant to open up subjects for study and discussion. Points of contact with them will be found in countless places in the anthroposophical books and lecture-cycles, so that the subjects thus opened up can be enlarged upon and the discussions in the Groups centred around them.
When new ideas emerge among leading members in the several Groups, these too can be brought into connection with the suggestions we shall send out from the Goetheanum. We would thus provide an open framework for all the spiritual activity in the Society.
Spiritual activity can of course only thrive by free unfoldment on the part of the active individuals—and we must never sin against this truth. But there is no need to do so when one group or member within the Society acts in proper harmony with the other. But if such co-operation were impossible, the attachment of individuals or groups to the Society would always remain a purely external thing—where it should in fact be felt as an inner reality.
It cannot be allowed that the existence of the Anthroposophical Society is merely made use of by this or that individual as an opportunity to say what he personally wishes to say with this or that intention. The Society must rather be the place where true Anthroposophy is cultivated. Anything that is not Anthroposophy can, after all, be pursued outside it. The Society is not there for extraneous objects.
It has not helped us that in the last few years individual members have brought into the Society their own personal wishes simply because they thought that as it increased it would become a suitable sphere of action for them. It may be said, why was this not met and counteracted with the proper firmness? If that had been done, we should now be hearing it said on all sides, ‘Oh, if only the initiative that arose in this or that quarter had been followed up at the time, how much farther should we be today!’ Well, many things were followed up, which ended in sad disaster and only resulted in throwing us back.
But now it is enough. The demonstrations which individual experimenters in the Society wished to provide are done with. Such things need not be repeated endlessly. In the Executive at the Goetheanum we have a body which intends to cultivate Anthroposophy itself; and the Society should be an association of human beings who have the same object and are ready to enter into a living understanding with the Executive in the pursuit of it.
We must not think that our ideal in the Society can be attained from one day to the next. Time will be needed, and patience too. If we imagined that what lay in the intentions of the Christmas meeting could be brought into existence in a few weeks' time, this again would be harmful.
5. Anthroposophische Leitsätze
Man soll an dieser Stelle in der Zukunft eine Art anthroposophischer Leitsätze finden. Sie sind so aufzufassen, daß sie Ratschläge enthalten über die Richtung, welche die Vorträge und Besprechungen in den einzelnen Gruppen der Gesellschaft durch die führenden Mitglieder nehmen können. Es wird dabei nur an eine Anregung gedacht, die vom Goetheanum aus der gesamten Gesellschaft gegeben werden möchte. Die Selbständigkeit im Wirken der einzelnen führenden Mitglieder soll damit nicht angetastet werden. Es ist gut, wenn die Gesellschaft sich so entfaltet, daß in völlig freier Art in den einzelnen Gruppen zur Geltung kommt, was die führenden Mitglieder zu sagen haben. Dadurch wird das Leben der Gesellschaft bereichert und in sich mannigfaltig gestaltet werden.
Aber es sollte ein einheitliches Bewußtsein in der Gesellschaft entstehen können. Das kann geschehen, wenn man von den Anregungen, die an den einzelnen Orten gegeben werden, überall weiß. Deshalb werden hier in kurzen Sätzen solche Darstellungen zusammengefaßt werden, die von mir am Goetheanum für die Gesellschaft in Vorträgen gegeben werden. Ich denke mir, daß dann von denjenigen Persönlichkeiten, die in den Gruppen (Zweigen) Vorträge halten oder die Besprechungen leiten, dabei das Gegebene als Richtlinien genommen werde, um in freier Art daran anzuknüpfen. Es kann dadurch zu einer einheitlichen Gestaltung im Wirken der Gesellschaft etwas beigetragen werden, ohne daß an einen Zwang in irgendeiner Art gedacht wird.
Fruchtbar für die ganze Gesellschaft kann die Sache werden, wenn der Vorgang auch die entsprechende Gegenliebe findet, wenn die führenden Mitglieder über Inhalt und Art ihrer Vorträge und Anregungen auch den Vorstand am Goetheanum unterrichten. Wir werden dadurch erst aus einem Chaos verschiedener Gruppen zu einer Gesellschaft mit einem geistigen Inhalt.
Die Leitlinien, die hier gegeben werden, sollen gewissermaßen Themen anschlagen. Man wird dann in der anthroposophischen Bücher- und Zyklenliteratur an den verschiedensten Stellen die Anhaltspunkte finden, um das im Thema Angeschlagene so auszugestalten, daß es den Inhalt der Gruppenbesprechungen bilden kann.
Auch dann, wenn neue Ideen von den leitenden Mitgliedern in den einzelnen Gruppen zutage treten, können sie ja an dasjenige angeknüpft werden, was in der geschilderten Art vom Goetheanum aus als ein Rahmen für das geistige Wirken der Gesellschaft angeregt werden soll.
Es ist ganz gewiß eine Wahrheit, gegen die nicht gesündigt werden darf, daß geistiges Wirken nur aus der freien Entfaltung.der wirkenden Persönlichkeiten hervorgehen kann. Allein, es braucht dagegen nicht gesündigt zu werden, wenn in rechter Art innerhalb der Gesellschaft der eine mit dem andern im Einklange handelt. Wenn das nicht sein könnte, so müßte die Zugehörigkeit des Einzelnen oder der Gruppen zur Gesellschaft immer etwas Außerliches bleiben. Diese Zugehörigkeit soll aber etwas sein, das man als Innerliches empfindet.
Es kann doch eben nicht so sein, daß das Vorhandensein der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft von dieser oder jener Persönlichkeit nur als Gelegenheit benützt wird, um das zu sagen, was man aus dieser oder jener Absicht heraus persönlich sagen will, sondern die Gesellschaft muß die Pflegestätte dessen sein, was Anthroposophie ist. Alles andere kann ja auch außerhalb ihres Rahmens gepflegt werden. Sie kann nicht dafür da sein.
Es ist in den letzten Jahren nicht zum Vorteil der Gesellschaft gewesen, daß in sie einzelne Mitglieder ihre Eigenwünsche hineingetragen haben, bloß weil sie mit deren Vergrößerung für diese Eigenwünsche ein Wirkungsfeld zu finden glaubten. Man kann sagen: warum ist dem nicht in der gebührenden Art entgegengetreten worden? — Wäre das geschehen, so würde heute überall die Meinung zu hören sein: ja, wenn man damals die Anregungen von dieser oder jener Seite aufgenommen hätte, wo wären wir gegenwärtig? Nun, man hat vieles aufgenommen, was kläglich gescheitert ist, was uns zurückgeworfen hat.
Aber nun ist es genug. Die Probe auf das Exempel, das einzelne Experimentatoren in der Gesellschaft geben wollten, ist gemacht. Man braucht dergleichen nicht ins Endlose zu wiederholen. Der Vorstand am Goetheanum soll ein Körper sein, der Anthroposophie pflegen will, und die Gesellschaft sollte eine Verbindung von Menschen sein, die sich mit ihm über ihre Pflege der Anthroposophie lebendig verständigen wollen.
Man soll nicht denken, daß, was angestrebt werden soll, von heute auf morgen erreicht werden kann. Man wird Zeit brauchen. Und es wird Geduld nötig sein. Wenn geglaubt wird, in ein paar Wochen könne verwirklicht da sein, was in den Absichten der Weihnachtstagung liegt, so wird das wieder von Schaden sein.
5. Anthroposophical Guiding Principles
In the future, a kind of anthroposophical guiding principles should be found here. They are to be understood as containing advice on the direction that the lectures and discussions in the individual groups of the society can take under the guidance of the leading members. These are intended only as suggestions that the Goetheanum would like to offer to the entire Society. The independence of the individual leading members in their work should not be affected by this. It is good if the Society develops in such a way that what the leading members have to say is given full expression in the individual groups in a completely free manner. This will enrich the life of the Society and make it diverse.
But it should be possible for a unified consciousness to develop within the society. This can happen if people everywhere are aware of the suggestions made in the individual locations. For this reason, the presentations I give at the Goetheanum for the society will be summarized here in a few short sentences. I imagine that those personalities who give lectures or lead discussions in the groups (branches) will then take what has been given as guidelines and build on them in a free manner. This can contribute to a unified structure in the work of the Society, without any kind of coercion being involved.
The matter can become fruitful for the whole Society if the process also finds corresponding approval, if the leading members also inform the Executive Council at the Goetheanum about the content and nature of their lectures and suggestions. Only then will we move from a chaos of different groups to a Society with a spiritual content.
The guidelines given here are intended to raise certain topics. One will then find points of reference in various places in the anthroposophical books and cycle literature to develop the topics raised in such a way that they can form the content of the group discussions.
Even when new ideas emerge from the leading members of the individual groups, they can be linked to what is described above as a framework for the spiritual work of the Society, inspired by the Goetheanum.
It is certainly a truth that must not be violated that spiritual activity can only arise from the free development of the personalities involved. However, there is no need to sin against this principle if, within the Society, individuals act in harmony with one another in the right way. If this were not possible, the membership of individuals or groups in the Society would always remain something external. But this membership should be something that is felt as something internal.
It cannot be the case that the existence of the Anthroposophical Society is used by this or that personality merely as an opportunity to say what one personally wants to say for this or that reason. Rather, the Society must be the place where anthroposophy is cultivated. Everything else can also be cultivated outside its framework. It cannot be there for that purpose.
In recent years, it has not been to the Society's advantage that individual members have brought their own desires into it, simply because they believed that its expansion would provide a field of activity for these desires. One might ask: why was this not countered in the appropriate manner? If that had been done, the opinion would be heard everywhere today: yes, if the suggestions from this or that side had been taken up at the time, where would we be now? Well, many things were taken up that failed miserably and set us back.
But now it is enough. The test of the example that individual experimenters in the society wanted to set has been done. There is no need to repeat such things endlessly. The Executive Council at the Goetheanum should be a body that wants to cultivate anthroposophy, and the society should be an association of people who want to communicate with it in a lively way about their cultivation of anthroposophy.
One should not think that what is to be strived for can be achieved overnight. It will take time. And patience will be necessary. If it is believed that what is intended at the Christmas Conference can be realized in a few weeks, this will again be detrimental.