The Life, Nature, and Cultivation of Anthroposophy
GA 260a
Member Newsletter, 24 February 1924
6. The Quest for Knowledge and the Will for Self-Discipline
In the Anthroposophical Society men draw nearer to one another than they would do in other spheres of life. Their common interest in the spiritual life of the world unlocks their souls. The inner experiences one man undergoes in the course of his spiritual striving are full of living interest to another. A man becomes communicative when he knows that his fellow-man will be attentive and full of sympathy for the inmost things which stir him.
Thus it naturally comes about that members of the Society observe other things in one another—and in a different way—than men do generally. But this at the same time involves a certain danger. We learn to value one another when we meet in this way; we delight in the revelation of the inner life of our fellow-man. The loveliest influences of friendship and friendly intercourse unfold quickly under these conditions. But the same influences may intensify to an overweening and uncritical enthusiasm. This, with all its weaknesses, ought not merely to be met by cold and pedantic indifference, or by the superior attitude of the ‘man of the world’. Unbridled enthusiasm, when it has worked its way through many difficulties to a harmonious balance of soul, opens up the Spirit far more readily than placid equilibrium which passes stiff and unmoved by all that is great in life.
Still, it may easily happen that those who quickly draw near to one another no less quickly fall apart again. When one has learned to know one's fellow-man more fully, since he was unreserved and open, one soon begins to see his weaknesses, and then—negative enthusiasm may ensue. In the Anthroposophical Society this danger is perpetually lurking in the background, and to counteract it is one of the tasks of the Society as such. He who would be a true member should strive in the deepest places of his soul for inner tolerance towards his fellow-men. To understand one's fellow-man—even where he thinks and does things which one would not like to think and do oneself—this should be the ideal.
It need not mean an uncritical attitude to weaknesses and faults. To understand is not to make oneself blind. To a human being whom we love, we may speak of his faults and mistakes. In many cases he will feel it as the greatest service of friendship, whereas—if we lay down the law about him with cold indifference of judgment—he recoils from our lack of understanding and consoles himself with feelings of hatred which begin to stir in him against his critic.
In many respects it would become disastrous for the Anthroposophical Society if the intolerance of other men and failure to understand them—so widely dominant in the outer world today—were carried into it. Within the Society, such qualities grow in intensity through the very fact that men come nearer to one another.
These matters indicate most pointedly how the more vital quest of knowledge in the Anthroposophical Society must be accompanied by the unceasing endeavour to ennoble and purify the life of feeling. An intensified search for knowledge deepens the life of the soul and reaches down into those regions where pride, conceit, lack of sympathy with others, and many qualities besides, are lurking. A lesser quest of knowledge enters these regions only to a slight extent and leaves them slumbering in the deep places of the soul. But a life in knowledge that is keen and vital stirs them from their slumbers; habits which kept them under lose their power to do so. A spiritual ideal may well awaken qualities of soul which would have remained unmanifest without it. The Anthroposophical Society should be there to counteract, by cultivating nobility and purity of feeling, the dangers that are lurking in these quarters. There are indeed, in human nature, instincts which instill the fear of knowledge into man, for the very reason that these connections are felt to exist. But a man who would refrain from cultivating the impulse to knowledge lest it should stir up the uglier feelings in him, fails to develop the fullness of true manhood. It is humanly unworthy to cripple our insight into life because we fear weakness of character. To cultivate the impulse to knowledge and combine it at the same time with another striving—the will to self-discipline—this alone is worthy of humanity.
Anthroposophy enables us to do this. We need only perceive and reach the inherent vitality of its thoughts; for by their living quality the thoughts of Anthroposophy beget power of will, warmth and sensitiveness of feeling. It only depends on the individual whether he merely thinks Anthroposophy or makes it living experience.
And it will depend on the members who come forward actively, whether their way of representing Anthroposophy is only able to suggest thoughts, or to kindle the real spark of life.
6. Erkenntnisstreben und Wille zur Selbstzucht
In der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft treten die Menschen einander näher, als sie dies tun würden, wenn sie sich auf einem andern Lebensfelde begegnen würden. Das gemeinsame Interesse für das geistige Weltwesen schließt die Seelen auf. Es erscheint für den einen bedeutsam, was der andere in seinem Streben nach dem Geistigen innerlich erlebt. Der Mensch wird mitteilsam, wenn er weiß, er steht einem Mitmenschen gegenüber, der für das Innerste, das die Seele bewegt, ein aufmerksames Gehör hat.
Dadurch bildet es sich wie von selbst, daß die Mitglieder der Gesellschaft anderes und dieses andere auch anders aneinander beobachten als andere Menschen. Das aber schließt zugleich eine Gefahr in sich. Man lernt einander schätzen, indem man sich trifft. Man hat die innigste Freude an der Seelenäußerung des andern. Alle edlen Wirkungen des freundschaftlichen Zusammenseins können sich rasch entfalten. Es legt nahe, daß diese Wirkungen sich rasch zur Schwärmerei steigern können. Man sollte einer solchen Schwärmerei, trotzdem sie ihre Schattenseiten hat, nicht nur das kalte, nüchterne Philisterherz oder die überlegene Weltmenschenhaltung entgegenbringen. Schwärmerei, die sich zur harmonischen Seelenhaltung durchgerungen hat, ist geist-erschließender als ein Gleichmaß, das an allen bedeutsamen Lebensoffenbarungen mit starrer Haltung vorbeigeht.
Es können aber leicht Menschen, die einander rasch nahe kommen, sich ebenso rasch wieder voneinander entfernen. Hat man den andern genau kennen gelernt, weil er sich voll aufgeschlossen hat, so bemerkt man auch bald seine Schwächen. Und dann kann die — negative Schwärmerei auftreten. Und diese Gefahr ist in der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft eine überall herumschleichende. Gegen sie zu wirken, gehört zu den Aufgaben der Gesellschaft. Innere Toleranz gegen den andern sollte daher jeder im Tiefsten seiner Seele anstreben, der rechtes Mitglied der Gesellschaft sein will. Den andern verstehen lernen auch da, wo er Dinge denkt und tut, die man nicht selber denken und tun möchte, das sollte ein Ideal darstellen.
Es braucht dies nicht gleichbedeutend zu sein mit der Urteilslosigkeit gegenüber Schwächen und Fehlern. Verstehen ist etwas anderes als Sich-blind-machen. Man kann zu einem Menschen, den man liebt, von dessen Verfehlungen reden: er wird in vielen Fällen darin den schönsten Freundschaftsdienst sehen. Man kann aber auch mit der Empfindung des gleichgültigen Richters den andern abkanzeln: er prallt zurück vor der Verständnislosigkeit und tröstet sich mit dem Haßgefühle, das in ihm gegenüber dem Kritiker aufdämmert.
Es kann in vieler Beziehung in der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft verhängnisvoll werden, wenn die Intoleranz und Verständnislosigkeit gegenüber andern Menschen in sie in der Form hineingetragen werden, in der sie gegenwärtig in weitem Umfange das Leben beherrschen. Denn durch das Nahe-Stehen der Menschen steigern sie sich innerhalb der Gesellschaft.
Das sind Dinge, die stark darauf hinweisen, wie das lebendigere Erkenntnisstreben in der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft notwendig begleitet sein muß von dem Ringen nach einer Veredelung des Gefühlsund Empfindungslebens. Das verstärkte Erkenntnisstreben vertieft das Seelenleben nach der Region hin, wo Hochmut, Selbstüberschätzung, Teilnahmslosigkeit mit andern Menschen und noch vieles andere lauern. Ein minderes Erkenntnisstreben greift auch nur schwach in diese Region ein. Es läßt sie in den Tiefen der Seele schlafen. Ein regsames Erkenntnisleben stört sie aus ihrem Schlafe auf. Gewohnheiten, die sie niedergehalten haben, verlieren ihre Kraft. Das Ideal, das auf Geistiges sich richtet, kann Seeleneigenschaften erwecken, die ohne dieses Ideal nicht offenbar geworden wären. Die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft sollte dazu da sein, durch die Pflege edlen Gefühls- und Empfindungslebens Gefahren entgegenzuwirken, die da lauern. Es gibt Instinkte in der Menschennatur, die zur Furcht vor der Erkenntnis treiben, weil sie solche Zusammenhänge wittern. Wer aber sein Erkenntnisstreben deshalb schlummern läßt, weil durch dessen Pflege seine häßlichen Gefühle aufgerührt werden, der verzichtet auch darauf, den vollen Umfang des wahren Menschen in sich zu entwickeln. Es ist menschenunwürdig, die Einsicht zu lähmen, weil man sich vor der Charakterschwäche fürchtet. Es kann allein menschenwürdig sein, mit dem Erkenntnisstreben auch das nach dem Willen zur Selbstzucht zu verbinden.
Und durch die Anthroposophie kann man das. Man muß nur auf die Lebendigkeit ihrer Gedanken kommen. Diese Lebendigkeit macht, daß sie auch Kraft im Willen, Wärme in Gefühl und Empfindung erzeugen können. Es liegt durchaus an dem Menschen, ob er die Anthroposophie bloß vorstellt, oder ob er sie erlebt.
Und es wird an den tätig auftretenden Mitgliedern der Gesellschaft liegen, ob durch die Art, wie sie Anthroposophie entwickeln, nur Gedanken angeregt werden können, oder ob Leben entzündet wird.
6. The pursuit of knowledge and the will to self-discipline
In the Anthroposophical Society, people come closer to one another than they would if they met in other areas of life. Their shared interest in the spiritual world opens their souls. What one person experiences inwardly in their pursuit of the spiritual becomes meaningful to another. People become communicative when they know they are facing a fellow human being who has an attentive ear for what moves the soul most deeply.
As a result, it goes without saying that the members of the Society observe each other differently than other people do. But this also carries a danger. People learn to appreciate each other by meeting. They take the deepest joy in the expression of each other's souls. All the noble effects of friendly togetherness can quickly unfold. It stands to reason that these effects can quickly escalate into enthusiasm. Despite its downsides, such enthusiasm should not be met with a cold, sober philistine heart or a superior cosmopolitan attitude. Enthusiasm that has developed into a harmonious state of mind is more spiritually enlightening than a uniformity that rigidly ignores all significant revelations of life.
However, people who quickly become close to one another can just as quickly drift apart again. Once you have gotten to know the other person well because they have opened up completely, you will soon notice their weaknesses. And then negative enthusiasm can arise. This danger lurks everywhere in the Anthroposophical Society. Counteracting it is one of the tasks of the Society. Anyone who wants to be a true member of the Society should therefore strive for inner tolerance toward others in the depths of their soul. Learning to understand others even when they think and do things that you yourself would not want to think and do should be an ideal.
This does not have to be synonymous with a lack of judgment regarding weaknesses and mistakes. Understanding is not the same as turning a blind eye. You can talk to someone you love about their mistakes: in many cases, they will see this as the greatest act of friendship. But you can also rebuke others with the attitude of an indifferent judge: they will recoil from your lack of understanding and console themselves with the feeling of resentment that dawns in them toward their critic.
In many respects, it can be disastrous for the Anthroposophical Society if intolerance and lack of understanding toward other people are brought into it in the form in which they currently dominate life to a large extent. For through the closeness of people, they intensify within the society.
These are things that strongly indicate how the more lively pursuit of knowledge in the Anthroposophical Society must necessarily be accompanied by the struggle for a refinement of the life of feeling and sensation. The intensified pursuit of knowledge deepens the soul life toward the region where arrogance, overconfidence, indifference to other people, and much else lurk. A lesser pursuit of knowledge has only a weak effect on this region. It leaves it sleeping in the depths of the soul. An active life of knowledge awakens it from its slumber. Habits that have held it down lose their power. The ideal that is directed toward the spiritual can awaken qualities of the soul that would not have become apparent without this ideal. The Anthroposophical Society should be there to counteract the dangers that lurk there by cultivating a noble life of feeling and sensation. There are instincts in human nature that drive people to fear knowledge because they sense such connections. But those who allow their striving for knowledge to lie dormant because cultivating it stirs up their ugly feelings also renounce developing the full scope of the true human being within themselves. It is unworthy of human beings to paralyze their insight because they fear weakness of character. It can only be human to combine the pursuit of knowledge with the will to self-discipline.
And through anthroposophy, one can do this. One only has to discover the vitality of its ideas. This vitality means that they can also generate strength in the will and warmth in feelings and sensations. It is entirely up to the individual whether they merely imagine anthroposophy or whether they experience it.
And it will be up to the active members of the society whether the way they develop anthroposophy merely stimulates thoughts or whether it ignites life.