The Life, Nature, and Cultivation of Anthroposophy
GA 260a
Member Newsletter, 16 March 1924
9. Individual Formulation of Anthroposophical Truths
I have written the above thoughts for members in the hope that they may give rise to further thoughts among anthroposophists everywhere. I think it will be well for the active members of the Society to take these thoughts as a starting-point, so that, in connection with them, they may lift all the members to a common consciousness of what the Anthroposophical Society truly is.
It is certainly right that the discussion of Anthroposophy and its application to life should be the main thing in the activity of our Group Meetings. And yet in many a Group Meeting there is surely room for the discussion of such things as have been indicated in these columns — no matter how small a portion of the time is allotted to it. If this is done, it will be found that many a member is stimulated to become a true representative of the Anthroposophical Society even in the non-anthroposophical external world.
It will not do to imagine that the essence and the task of the Anthroposophical Society can be contained in a few statutes, rules, or paragraphs. Not only does Anthroposophy carry its impulses deep into the thinking, feeling, and willing of man, but for this very reason Anthroposophy itself is strongly influenced by the inner life of the human being. Certainly its main substance can be described in general statements, principles and the like, as is done in so many spheres of spiritual life. But necessary as this may be, we must not stop short at this. Our general statements will be made alive and richly coloured when each one who bears them in his heart and mind is able to express them out of his own experience of life. Every such individual expression will contribute something of value towards an understanding of the truths of Anthroposophy.
If we attach the right importance to this fact, we shall make a discovery; we shall find ourselves continually becoming aware of fresh aspects revealing the real nature of the Anthroposophical Society.
Every active member in the Society will often enough find himself in the position of being questioned about one thing or another. The questioner hopes to receive instruction through the answer he expects. But he who is asked may also look to receive instruction by the way the questions are put to him. We should not be heedless of this latter kind of teaching. For by questions above all we learn to know the fullness and variety of life. Often the particular concern that underlies the question will emerge, and we should always be grateful when our questioners can speak to us in this way. Their help will enable us to grow better and better in the manner of our answers. The feeling, above all — the note which we strike in our answers — will grow better; and this is essential in the imparting of anthroposophical truths. The point is not merely what we say, but above all how we say it.
After all, from a certain point of view anthroposophical truths are the greatest of all things that men can communicate to one another. To impart such things to a fellow-man without a deep inner feeling of what one is imparting is in fact already to distort them. Now this inner feeling is deepened when we perceive, in a whole variety of human beings, the background of real life from out of which they ask their questions. We need not make ourselves examiners, psychological vivisectors of one another; we can be perfectly content with what the questioner of his own accord puts into his questions. But no active member of the Anthroposophical Society should ever be content to answer all questions by a hard and fast, ready-made scheme.
It is often emphasised, and rightly, that Anthroposophy must come to life in mankind and not remain a mere teaching. But a thing can only come to life when it takes a perpetual stimulus from life.
If we cultivate such conduct in Anthroposophy, Anthroposophy will become a stimulus to human love; and indeed all our work in its sphere should be steeped in love. Anyone who has kept his eyes open in the Anthroposophical Society will know that many people come into it because, when the truths of life are presented to them in other quarters, they miss the fundamental note of human love. The soul of man has a fine sensitiveness to perceive this note in what is spoken; and this in the very highest degree becomes a medium of understanding.
It may perhaps be said, Why should love be brought into a description of the evolution of the Earth? But when we have once come to understand that the evolution of the Earth and of the Universe is only the other side of the evolution of Mankind, we shall no longer doubt that the soul of these truths too is love.
9. Die Individuelle Gestaltung Anthroposophischer Wahrheiten
Die vorangehenden Betrachtungen habe ich an die Mitglieder gerichtet in der Hoffnung, dadurch einiges dazu beizutragen, daß sie den Gegenstand von Erwägungen an den verschiedenen Orten bilden, an denen Anthroposophen sind. Es erschiene mir gut, wenn die in der Gesellschaft tätigen Mitglieder sie zum Ausgangspunkte nehmen wollten, um an sie anknüpfend die gesamte Mitgliedschaft zu einem gemeinsamen Bewußtsein von dem Wesen der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft zu erheben.
Es ist gewiß richtig, daß in unseren Zweigversammlungen das Besprechen der anthroposophischen Weltanschauung und deren Einführung in das Leben den Hauptteil der Tätigkeit ausmachen muß. Aber es kann in so mancher Zweigversammlung doch auch ein — wenn auch noch so geringer — Teil der Zeit dazu verwendet werden, um solche Dinge zu besprechen, wie sie in diesen Betrachtungen angedeutet werden. Gerade dadurch wird manches Mitglied in rechter Art angeregt werden, auch der nicht-anthroposophischen Außenwelt gegenüber ein Repräsentant der Gesellschaft zu sein.
Über die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft wird man nicht so denken können, als ob ihr Wesen und ihre Aufgabe mit ein paar Statutenparagraphen erschöpft wären. Dadurch, daß Anthroposophie tief in das Denken, Fühlen und Wollen des Menschen Impulse bringt, wird sie auch wieder von dem Seelenleben der Menschen stark beeinflußt. Man kann ihren Inhalt in allgemeine Sätze fassen, wie man das auf den verschiedensten Gebieten des Geisteslebens tut. Allein, so notwendig dieses ist, man sollte dabei nicht stehenbleiben. Die allgemeinen Sätze werden lebensvolle Färbungen dadurch erhalten können, daß sie ein jeglicher, der sie in seinem Gemüte trägt, aus seinen eigenen Lebenserfahrungen heraus ausspricht. Und mit jeder solchen individuellen Gestaltung kann etwas Wertvolles für das Verständnis der anthroposophischen Wahrheiten gewonnen sein.
Legt man dieser Tatsache Gewicht bei, so wird man die Entdeckung machen, daß man in dem Wesen der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft immer wieder neue Seiten gewahr wird.
Jedes in der Gesellschaft tätige Mitglied wird oft genug in der Lage sein, über dieses oder jenes gefragt zu werden. Der Fragende sucht Belehrung durch die Antworten, die er erhält; der Gefragte kann Belehrung suchen durch die Art, wie die Fragen gestellt werden. Man sollte an dieser Belehrung nicht unaufmerksam vorbeigehen. Man lernt vor allem an den Fragen das Leben kennen. Es tritt oft der Anlaß zutage, aus dem heraus gefragt wird. Der Gefragte sollte dankbar sein, wenn Fragende so zu ihm sprechen. Er wird durch ihre Hilfe imstande sein, immer besser in seinen Antworten sich verhalten zu können. Was insbesondere sich bessern wird, ist der Gefühlston, der durch die Antworten hindurchklingt. Und dieser Gefühlston ist ein Wesentliches im Mitteilen anthroposophischer Wahrheiten. Es kommt dabei durchaus nicht bloß darauf an, was man sagt, sondern vor allem, wie man es sagt.
Anthroposophische Wahrheiten sind doch, von einem gewissen Gesichtspunkte aus, das Wichtigste, was Menschen sich mitteilen können. Solche Mitteilungen einem andern ohne tiefen innern Anteil an dem Mitgeteilten zu machen, ist eigentlich schon eine Entstellung derselben. Aber diese Anteilnahme wird dadurch vertieft, daß man bei den verschiedensten Menschen fühlt, aus welchem Lebensuntergrunde sie die Fragen stellen. Man braucht jedoch nicht zum Examinator oder seelischen Vivisektor des andern zu werden. Man kann ganz zufrieden sein mit dem, was er ganz von sich aus in sein Fragen legt. Befriedigt damit sein, auf alle Fragen nach einem zurechtgelegten Schema zu antworten, sollte kein tätiges Mitglied der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft.
Man betont — mit Recht — oft, Anthroposophie müsse Leben im Menschen werden, nicht bloße Lehre bleiben. Aber Leben kann nur etwas werden, das fortdauernd vom Leben angeregt wird.
Durch die Pflege eines solchen Verhaltens in der Anthroposophie wird diese zum Antrieb der Menschenliebe. Und in diese sollte alles Wirken auf anthroposophischem Gebiete getaucht sein. Wer sich viel in der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft umgesehen hat, der kann wissen, daß viele Persönlichkeiten in sie kommen, weil ihnen an andern Orten die Lebenswahrheiten so entgegentreten, daß sie des Grundtones der Liebe entbehren. Diesen Ton hört die Menschenseele aus dem Gesprochenen mit feiner Empfindlichkeit heraus. Und er bildet im höchsten Grade einen Vermittler des Verständnisses.
Man wird vielleicht sagen: wie soll man Liebe in eine Darstellung der Erdenentwickelung bringen? Hat man sich ein Verständnis dafür angeeignet, daß die Erd- und Weltentwickelung nur die andere Seite der Menschheitsentwickelung ist, so wird man nicht zweifeln, daß gerade für solche Wahrheiten die Liebe das Seelenvolle in ihnen bildet.
9. The Individual Interpretation of Anthroposophical Truths
I have addressed the preceding considerations to the members in the hope that they will contribute to the subject of deliberation in the various places where anthroposophists are present. It would seem good to me if the members active in the Society would take them as a starting point for raising the entire membership to a common awareness of the nature of the Anthroposophical Society.
It is certainly true that in our branch meetings, discussing the anthroposophical worldview and its introduction into life must constitute the main part of our activity. But in many branch meetings, even if only a small part of the time, can be used to discuss such things as are indicated in these reflections. This will encourage many members to be representatives of the Society in the outside, non-anthroposophical world.
One cannot think of the Anthroposophical Society as if its essence and mission could be summed up in a few paragraphs of statutes. Because anthroposophy brings deep impulses into human thinking, feeling, and willing, it is also strongly influenced by the soul life of human beings. Its content can be summarized in general statements, as is done in various areas of intellectual life. However necessary this may be, one should not stop there. The general statements can be given a lively color by each person who carries them in their mind expressing them from their own life experiences. And with each such individual interpretation, something valuable can be gained for the understanding of anthroposophical truths.
If one attaches importance to this fact, one will discover that one becomes aware of new aspects of the nature of the Anthroposophical Society again and again.
Every member active in the Society will often enough be in a position to be asked about this or that. The questioner seeks instruction through the answers he receives; the person being questioned can seek instruction through the way the questions are asked. One should not pass over this instruction inattentively. It is above all through questions that one learns about life. The reason for asking the question often becomes apparent. The person being questioned should be grateful when questioners speak to him in this way. With their help, they will be able to improve their answers. What will improve in particular is the emotional tone that resonates through the answers. And this emotional tone is essential in communicating anthroposophical truths. It is not just what you say that matters, but above all how you say it.
From a certain point of view, anthroposophical truths are the most important thing that people can communicate to each other. To communicate such truths to another person without a deep inner involvement in what is being communicated is actually a distortion of those truths. But this involvement is deepened by feeling, in the case of very different people, the background of life from which they ask their questions. However, there is no need to become an examiner or psychological vivisector of the other person. One can be quite satisfied with what they put into their questions of their own accord. No active member of the Anthroposophical Society should be satisfied with answering all questions according to a prearranged scheme.
It is often emphasized — and rightly so — that anthroposophy must become life in human beings, not remain a mere doctrine. But life can only become something that is continuously stimulated by life.
By cultivating such behavior in anthroposophy, it becomes a driving force for human love. And all work in the anthroposophical field should be steeped in this. Anyone who has spent a lot of time in the Anthroposophical Society knows that many people join it because the truths of life they encounter elsewhere lack the fundamental tone of love. The human soul hears this tone in what is said with great sensitivity. And it is, to the highest degree, a mediator of understanding.
One might ask: how can love be incorporated into a description of the development of the earth? Once one has come to understand that the development of the earth and the world is only the other side of the development of humanity, one will have no doubt that love is precisely what constitutes the soulfulness of such truths.