The Life, Nature, and Cultivation of Anthroposophy
GA 260a
Member Newsletter, 1 June 1924
15. Something more about the Tone which is necessary in the Group Meetings
The study of Anthroposophy ought not to lead to a depreciation of external life. True, in the case of many people it is the hard blows of fate, or a perception of the contradictions of external life, which lead them to a deepening of feeling and incline them to a spiritual understanding of existence.
But as the physical nature of man has need of sleep if, when awake, he is to be fit for life, so too, in order that he may stand rightly in the spiritual world, it is necessary that he should take an interest in physical experience if he is to develop firmness and assurance of soul. For the filling of man's inner being with spiritual knowledge means an awakening out of the life of sense-reality, and out of the impulses with which this reality animates the will.
Those of us who are working actively in the Anthroposophical Society should always bear this in mind. To those who seek to apprehend the inner by under-valuing the outer life, we should indeed give of the inner life in fullest measure. But it is necessary that at the same time they should learn to value the outer life and to be efficient in the fulfillment of its claims.
It should always be a matter for reflection that human life on earth, looked at from the standpoint of the whole range of human existence in its passage through births and deaths, has its own significance. During earth-life the human spirit is embodied in the material.
It is given up to an existence in matter. In no form of existence within the spiritual worlds can the spirit experience what belongs to the material life on earth.
Life in the material world is, for man, that stage of existence in which he can perceive the spiritual in a picture outside of its reality. And a being who is unable to experience the spirit even in a picture-form cannot come to desire the spirit freely, out of his own inner nature. Those beings also, who do not embody themselves in matter after the way of men, pass through stages of life in which they have to surrender their own being to another element of existence.
There lies in this surrender the foundation for the development of the love-impulse in life. A being who has never known what it is to withdraw from its own self, is unable to cultivate that devotion to another which reveals itself in love. And the apprehension of the spiritual by man can easily harden into lovelessness if in a one-sided way it is connected with a disdain for what is revealed in the outer world.
True Anthroposophy does not seek for the spirit because it finds nature devoid of spirit, and therefore worthy of contempt, but rather because it desires to seek the spirit in nature and can only find this by anthroposophical means.
This kind of spirit must permeate all that is done in our Group Meetings, then will the experience of members in these meetings be in harmony with the demands which life in its entirety must make of each of us. The remoteness from life which, like an unhealthy atmosphere, can only too easily enter our anthroposophical work, will be removed.
This too is one of the elements which should bring about a right feeling in the work of our Society. Members will not have spent their time in the Group Meetings in the right way if they feel a gulf between what they receive of Anthroposophy and what they experience in their outer life. The spirit that holds sway in the Group Meetings must be a light which continues to shed its rays even when members are immersed in the external requirements of their life. But if this spirit does not hold sway, Anthroposophy might make members not more efficient but less so in their outer life, which also has its just claims and rights. And if this were to be so, many of the reproaches which outside people make against the Society would be justified, in which case the Anthroposophical Society would be doing Anthroposophy much harm.
15. Noch Etwas von der den Zweigversammlungen Notwendigen Stimmung
Anthroposophische Betrachtungen sollten nicht zu einer Unterschätzung des äußeren Lebens führen. Es wird ja bei vielen Menschen so sein, daß entweder schwere Schicksalsschläge oder die Wahrnehmung der Widersprüche im äußeren Leben diejenige Vertiefung des Empfindens hervorruft, welche sich in dem Hinneigen zu einer geistgemäßen Auffassung des Daseins ausdrückt.
Aber wie die physische Wesenheit des Menschen des Schlafes bedarf, um im Wachen tüchtig zu sein, so hat ein richtiges Drinnenstehen in der geistigen Welt den Sinn für das physische Erleben nötig, um Festigkeit und Sicherheit der Seele zu entwickeln. — Denn die Erfüllung des menschlichen Inneren mit Erkenntnissen vom Geistigen ist ein Aufwachen aus dem Leben in der sinnenfälligen Wirklichkeit und aus den Impulsen, die der Wille aus dieser Wirklichkeit schöpfen kann.
Deshalb sollten die in der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft tätig wirkenden Mitglieder stets darauf bedacht sein, daß solchen Persönlichkeiten, die aus einer Unterschätzung des äußeren Lebens das innere zu ergreifen suchen, die Kraft dieses Inneren zwar in aller nur möglichen Stärke gegeben werde, daß aber mit diesem ihnen zugleich die Schätzung des Äußeren und die Tüchtigkeit für dieses erstehe.
Man sollte stets bedenken, daß das menschliche Erdenleben innerhalb des Gesamtdaseins des Menschen, das durch Geburten und Tode geht, eine Bedeutung hat. In diesem Erdenleben ist der Menschengeist in dem materiellen Sein verkörpert. Er ist an dieses materielle Sein hingegeben. Was er in dieser Hingebung erleben kann, das kann ihm in keiner Daseinsform zukommen, in der er als Geist im Geistigen sich selbst gegeben ist.
Das Leben im materiellen Dasein ist für den Menschen diejenige Daseinsstufe, auf der er das Geistige außerhalb von dessen Wirklichkeit im Bilde wahrnehmen kann. Und ein Wesen, das den Geist nicht auch im Bilde erlebt, kann kein freies, aus der eigenen Wesenheit entspringendes Hinneigen zum Geiste entfalten. Auch diejenigen Wesenheiten, die sich nicht nach Menschenart im materiellen Dasein verkörpern, machen Lebensstufen durch, in denen sie ihr eigenes Wesen an ein anderes Daseins-Element hinzugeben haben.
In dieser Hingabe liegt die Grundlage für die Entwickelung des Liebes-Impulses im Leben. Ein Wesen, das niemals in eine Entfremdung von dem eigenen Selbst eingeht, kann nicht diejenige Hinneigung zu einem andern in sich erbilden, die sich in der Liebe offenbart. Und das Erfassen des Geistigen durch den Menschen kann leicht in Lieblosigkeit verhärten, wenn es in Einseitigkeit mit einer Verachtung des in der äußeren Welt sich Offenbarenden sich verbindet.
Wahre Anthroposophie sucht nicht den Geist, weil sie die Natur geistlos findet und deshalb der Verachtung wert, sondern deshalb, weil sie in der Natur den Geist suchen will und ihn nur auf anthroposophische Art darinnen finden kann.
Wenn eine in dieser Richtung wirkende Gesinnung dasjenige durchwaltet, was in unseren Zweigversammlungen getan wird, so werden diese den Mitgliedern ein Erleben bringen, das mit den Anforderungen, die des Menschen Gesamtdasein an diesen stellt, im Einklange sich befindet. Und die Weltfremdheit, die so leicht wie eine ungesunde Atmosphäre anthroposophischer Arbeit sich ergeben kann, wird vertrieben werden.
Auch dieses gehört zu den Elementen, die die rechte Stimmung in der Arbeit unserer Gesellschaft bewirken sollen. Die Mitglieder werden ihre Besuche in den Zweigversammlungen nicht in der wünschenswerten Art verbracht haben, wenn sich ihnen ein Abgrund auftut zwischen dem, was sie durch Anthroposophie vernehmen und dem, was sie im äußeren Leben erfahren müssen. Der Geist, der in den ZweigversammJungen waltet, muß zum Lichte werden, das fortleuchtet, wenn das Mitglied den äußeren Anforderungen des Tages hingegeben ist. Waltet solcher Geist nicht, so wird das Mitglied durch Anthroposophie für das Leben, das doch seine Rechte hat, nicht tüchtiger, sondern unrüchtiger. Dann aber wären manche Vorwürfe, die von Außenstehenden der Anthroposophischen Gesellschaft gemacht werden, berechtigt. Und die Anthroposophische Gesellschaft würde Anthroposophie nicht fördern, sondern schädigen.
15. Something Else about the Mood Necessary for Branch Meetings
Anthroposophical considerations should not lead to an underestimation of outer life. For many people, it will be the case that either severe blows of fate or the perception of contradictions in outer life will bring about that deepening of feeling which is expressed in the inclination toward a spiritual conception of existence.
But just as the physical being of the human being needs sleep in order to be efficient when awake, so a true standing within the spiritual world needs a sense of physical experience in order to develop strength and security of the soul. For the fulfillment of the human inner life with spiritual knowledge is an awakening from life in the sensory reality and from the impulses that the will can draw from this reality.
Therefore, members active in the Anthroposophical Society should always be mindful that such personalities, who seek to grasp the inner life out of an underestimation of the outer life, should be given the power of this inner life in all its possible strength, but that at the same time they should develop an appreciation of the outer life and competence in it.
One should always bear in mind that human life on earth has a meaning within the total existence of the human being, which passes through births and deaths. In this earthly life, the human spirit is embodied in material existence. It is devoted to this material existence. What it can experience in this devotion cannot be attained in any form of existence in which it is given to itself as spirit in the spiritual realm.
Life in material existence is the stage of existence in which human beings can perceive the spiritual outside of its reality in images. And a being that does not also experience the spirit in images cannot develop a free inclination toward the spirit that springs from its own essence. Even those beings who do not incarnate in material existence in the human way go through stages of life in which they have to surrender their own being to another element of existence.
This surrender is the basis for the development of the impulse of love in life. A being that never enters into alienation from its own self cannot develop within itself the inclination toward another that is revealed in love. And the human being's grasp of the spiritual can easily harden into lovelessness if it is combined with a one-sided contempt for what is revealed in the outer world.
True anthroposophy does not seek the spirit because it finds nature spiritless and therefore worthy of contempt, but because it wants to seek the spirit in nature and can only find it there in an anthroposophical way.
If an attitude working in this direction pervades what is done in our branch meetings, these will bring the members an experience that is in harmony with the demands that human existence as a whole places on them. And the unworldliness that can so easily arise as an unhealthy atmosphere of anthroposophical work will be dispelled.
This, too, is one of the elements that should create the right atmosphere in the work of our society. Members will not have spent their visits to the branch meetings in the desirable way if a gulf opens up between what they hear through anthroposophy and what they have to experience in their outer lives. The spirit that prevails in the branch meetings must become a light that continues to shine when the member is devoted to the external demands of the day. If such a spirit does not prevail, the member will not become more capable through anthroposophy for the life that has its rights, but rather less capable. Then, however, some of the accusations made by outsiders against the Anthroposophical Society would be justified. And the Anthroposophical Society would not promote anthroposophy, but rather damage it.