The Life, Nature, and Cultivation of Anthroposophy
GA 260a
Member Newsletter, 25 May 1924
14. What is the Tone which should prevail in the Group Meetings?
By learning to observe a man in the way spoken of in our last number, the presence and effect of soul and spirit within the physical and etheric being of man will be recognised as a fact. When it has become clear that what the senses perceive of man is a picture, it will readily be understood that something more is at work within the picture than is contained in the material substance of it. Recognising man as a ‘picture’, we shall approach him with quite a different attitude of soul than we would if we considered only his material nature and constitution.
There is an awakening force in this attitude of soul and feeling. Through a vivid realisation of this difference of feeling within himself, a man becomes aware that soul-forces are awakened which in ordinary life are slumbering. Much depends upon whether a man, in the very reception of Anthroposophy, already perceives that other powers of cognition are slumbering in the human soul than those of which he was conscious before coming into Anthroposophy.
When he knows that he has a picture before him, he fixes his mind on what is not perceptible to the senses. The result is that, as in the life of external perception he is affected by what is perceptible to the senses, so now he is affected by something which is not perceptible to the senses.
If members of the Anthroposophical Society who give lectures at the Group Meetings become attentive to such things as these, anthroposophical teaching will acquire a really anthroposophical tone.
This tone, called forth by the real facts, will be the chief means of producing the spirit which ought to prevail in the Group Meetings. Those who take part will then feel that Anthroposophy does not merely contain theoretical communications about the spiritual worlds, but that it is in itself something vigorous and real which leads to the experience of the spiritual.
It is for the active members to think out in every positive way how this experience of the spiritual life can be attained in the anthroposophical work.
For only by this means can those who take up Anthroposophy without themselves being capable of direct spiritual investigations, be helped to overcome the feeling that they are only allowing themselves to be told theoretically what others, more advanced, can experience. If communications about what is experienced in the spiritual world are given in the right way, those who listen are able to share in these experiences.
If in the Group Meetings there is this spirit of sharing in spiritual experiences then everything built up on an unjustifiable feeling of authority will be dispelled. The opponents of Anthroposophy continually contend that anthroposophists profess obedience to authority in what is imparted to them. If in the Anthroposophical Society the right spirit were maintained, this contention would lose its meaning: for those who come to our meetings would not get the impression that a thing is so merely because someone has said it. They would learn the fact that consent is not enforced in one's own soul but that it arises from the experience itself.
When one meets a well-disposed person, one does not get an insight into his character because of some authority, but because the soul feels immediately influenced by his kindly disposition. So too one can become aware of the truth of Anthroposophy by the way in which it is communicated, by perceiving its real character.
In order for Anthroposophy to be able to work in this way, the leaders of Groups should do what is necessary. They should keep alive the spirit so noticeable at Christmas — not by the summoning up of feelings that things are being discussed which are mysteriously secret; for this is not essential to the esoteric nature of an anthroposophical meeting. Esotericism depends on the above-described deepening in the communication of truths; in this deepening one should see something of the impulse that the Christmas Meeting wanted to bring into the Anthroposophical Society. The never-ceasing intention of keeping our will alive and watchfully in tune with that Meeting, will enable the blessings of those days to be showered more and more on the Anthroposophical Movement.
14. Etwas von der Stimmung, Die in den Zweigversammlungen Sein Sollte
Die Betrachtungsart gegenüber dem Menschen, von der das letzte Mal hier gesprochen worden ist, führt zu einer sachgemäßen Anerkennung von der Wirksamkeit des Geistig-Seelischen in der physischen und ätherischen Menschenwesenheit. Hat man begriffen, daß das sinnenfällig Anschauliche am Menschen Bild ist, so erfaßt man auch leicht, daß in dem Bilde anderes wirkt als dasjenige, was in ihm an Stoffartigem enthalten ist. Man wird sich aber auch mit einer ganz anderen Seelen-Einstellung dem gegenüber verhalten, dessen Bildwesenheit man | anerkennt, als einem solchen gegenüber, das man nur in seiner eigenen stoffartigen Beschaffenheit ins Auge faßt.
Und in dieser anderen Seelen-Einstellung liegt etwas Aufweckendes. Empfindet man ganz lebhaft, wie man sich in einer solchen Einstellung innerlich verhält, wie man gestimmt ist, so fühlt man das Aufwachen von Seelenkräften, die im gewöhnlichen Leben schlummern. Und darauf kommt viel an, daß derjenige, der Anthroposophie aufnimmt, an diesem Aufnehmen schon empfindet: in der Menschenseele schlummern noch andere Erkenntniskräfte, als die sind, die er vor seinem Herantreten an die Anthroposophie anerkannt hat.
Weiß man, man hat ein Bild vor sich, so stellt man das Erkennen auf das Nicht-Sinnenfällige ein. Man wird dadurch von diesem NichtSinnenfälligen ergriffen, wie man im Wahrnehmungsleben von dem Sinnenfälligen ergriffen wird.
Wenn die vortragend tätigen Mitglieder der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft in den Zweigversammlungen die Aufmerksamkeit für solche Dinge wachrufen, so wird dadurch zu dem anthroposophischen Lehren anthroposophische Stimmung kommen.
Und diese sachgemäß hervorgerufene Stimmung wird erst den Zweigversammlungen den Geist geben, der in ihnen walten soll. Der Teilnehmer wird dann fühlen, daß Anthroposophie nicht bloß eine theoretische Mitteilung über das Geistige enthält, sondern daß sie ein in sich Kraftvolles, Wesenhaftes ist, das zum Erleben des Geistigen hinüberführt.
In jeder sachgemäßen Art sollte von den tätigen Mitgliedern bedacht werden, wie dieses Erleben des Geistigen in der anthroposophischen Arbeit erreicht werden kann.
Denn nur auf diese Art kann in denen, die Anthroposophie aufnehmen, ohne selbst im Geistigen forschen zu können, das Gefühl überwunden werden, daß sie nur theoretisch sich mitteilen lassen, was andere, die es zum Forschen gebracht haben, erleben. In der rechten Mitteilung des im Geiste Erlebten liegt ein Mit-Erleben-Lassen des Mitgeteilten.
Herrscht dieser Geist des Mit-Erleben-Lassens in den Zweigversammlungen, so vertreibt er alles auf unberechtigtes Autoritätsgefühl gebaute Wesen. Die Gegner der Anthroposophie wenden gegen diese fortwährend ein, daß sich die Anthroposophen zu dem, was ihnen mitgeteilt wird, nur auf dieses Autoritätsgefühl hin bekennen. Wenn in der Gesellschaft Anthroposophie im rechten Geiste getrieben wird, so verliert diese Einwendung jeden Sinn. Denn die Teilnehmer an unsern Versammlungen fühlen dann gar nicht so, daß sie sagen können, sie erkennen dieses oder jenes an, weil dieser oder jener es gesagt hat; denn sie lernen wissen, daß in dem eigenen Innern die Zustimmung nicht erzwungen wird, sondern. daß sich diese im selbstverständlichen Erleben einstellt.
Man erlebt doch auch, wenn man einem gutgesinnten Menschen gegenübertritt, dessen innere Gütigkeit nicht deshalb, weil eine Autorität dazu anleitet, die Gütigkeit als wohltuend zu empfinden, sondern weil sich die Seele unmittelbar von der gütigen Art wohltuend berührt fühlt. So kann man die Wahrheit der Anthroposophie an der Art ihres Mitteilens, an ihrem eigenen Wesen gewahr werden.
Daß die Anthroposophie so wirken kann, dazu sollten die Zweigleiter das Notwendige tun. Nicht durch dieHervorrufung des Gefühles: da werden Dinge vorgebracht, die geheimnisvoll sind, soll der esoterische Charakter der anthroposophischen Versammlungen bedingt sein. Esoterik beruht auf dem charakterisierten Verinnerlichen in der Mitteilung von Wahrheiten. Man sollte in dieser Verinnerlichung etwas von dem Impuls sehen, den die Weihnachtstagung in die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft hat bringen wollen. In dem unaufhörlichen WachErhalten dieser Absicht und dieses Wollens von der Weihnachtstagung her wird der Segen liegen können, den diese Tagung gehabt hat und den sie weiter wird über die anthroposophische Bewegung ausgießen können.
14. Something of the Atmosphere That Should Prevail in Branch Meetings
The way of looking at human beings that was discussed here last time leads to a proper recognition of the effectiveness of the spiritual-soul in the physical and etheric human being. Once one has understood that what is perceptible in human beings is an image, it is easy to grasp that something other than what is contained in their material nature is at work in that image. However, one will also behave in a completely different way toward someone whose image one recognizes than toward someone whom one perceives only in terms of their material nature.
And there is something awakening in this different attitude of the soul. If one feels very vividly how one behaves inwardly in such an attitude, how one is disposed, one feels the awakening of soul forces that lie dormant in ordinary life. And it is very important that those who take up anthroposophy already feel, in this taking up, that there are other powers of knowledge slumbering in the human soul than those they recognized before approaching anthroposophy.
When you know you have an image before you, you adjust your perception to what is not immediately apparent to the senses. You are then seized by what is not immediately apparent to the senses, just as you are seized by what is immediately apparent to the senses in your everyday perception.
When the lecturing members of the Anthroposophical Society draw attention to such things in the branch meetings, this will bring an anthroposophical mood to the anthroposophical teachings.
And this appropriately evoked mood will give the branch meetings the spirit that should prevail in them. Participants will then feel that anthroposophy is not merely a theoretical communication about the spiritual, but that it is something powerful and essential in itself, which leads to the experience of the spiritual.
In every appropriate way, active members should consider how this experience of the spiritual can be achieved in anthroposophical work.
For only in this way can those who accept anthroposophy without being able to research the spiritual themselves overcome the feeling that they are only being told theoretically what others who have done the research have experienced. The right way to communicate what has been experienced in the spirit is to let others share in the experience of what is being communicated.
If this spirit of sharing experiences prevails in the branch meetings, it dispels everything based on an unjustified sense of authority. Opponents of anthroposophy constantly argue that anthroposophists only profess what is communicated to them on the basis of this sense of authority. If anthroposophy is practiced in the right spirit within the society, this objection loses all meaning. For then the participants in our meetings do not feel that they can say they accept this or that because this or that person has said so; for they learn to know that agreement is not forced upon them from within, but arises naturally from their own experience.
When we encounter a well-meaning person, we experience their inner kindness not because an authority instructs us to perceive kindness as beneficial, but because our soul feels directly touched by their kind nature. In the same way, we can become aware of the truth of anthroposophy through the way it is communicated, through its very essence.
Branch leaders should do what is necessary to enable anthroposophy to have this effect. The esoteric character of anthroposophical gatherings should not be conditioned by evoking the feeling that mysterious things are being presented. Esotericism is based on the characteristic internalization of truths in communication. This internalization should be seen as part of the impulse that the Christmas Conference sought to bring into the Anthroposophical Society. The blessing that this conference has had, and which it will continue to pour out over the anthroposophical movement, will lie in the constant preservation of this intention and this will from the Christmas Conference.