Discussions with Teachers
GA 295
22 August 1919, Stuttgart
Translated by Helen Fox
Discussion Seven
Today we will try an exercise in which we have to hold the breath somewhat longer. Speech exercise:
Fulfilling goes
through hoping
goes through longing
through willing
willing flows
in wavering wails in quavering
waves veiling
waving breathing
in freedom
freedom winning
kindling
You can only achieve what is intended by dividing the lines properly. Then you will bring the proper rhythm to your breath. The object of this exercise is to do gymnastics with the voice in order to regulate the breath.
In words like fulfilling and willing, both “l’s” must be pronounced. You shouldn’t put an “h” into the first “l”, but the two “l’s” must be sounded one after the other.
You must also try to avoid speaking with a rasping voice, and develop instead tone in your voice, bringing it up from deeper in your chest, to give full value to the vowels. (All Austrians have tinny voices!)
Before each of the above lines the breath should be consciously brought into order. The words that appear together also belong together when you read.
You know that we usually do the following speech exercises also:
Barbara sass stracks am Abhang
or: Barbara sass nah am abhang
or: Abraham a Sancta Clara kam an1The entire verse: “Barbara sass nah am Abhang, / Sprach gar sangbar—zaghaft langsam; / Mannhaft kam alsdann am Waldrand / Abraham a Sancta Clara!” is from material given by Julius Hey in Die Kunst der Sprache, Mainz-Leipzig, 1914. Rudolf Steiner found that these sound-sequences could be used and also mentioned the exercise of Hey’s for E (eh). While Hey’s exercises have a certain meaning, the exercises given by Steiner come purely from the element of sound.
The Steed and the Bull.
An impudent boy came flying along on a fiery steed. A wild bull called out to the horse, “Shame on you! I would not be governed by a lad!” “But I would,” replied the horse, “for what kind of honor would it bring me to throw the boy off?”
They all read the fable aloud.
RUDOLF STEINER: After hearing this fable so often you will certainly sense that it is written in the particular style of fables and many other writings of the eighteenth century. You get the feeling that they didn’t quite finish, just as other things were not fully completed then.
Rudolf Steiner read the fable aloud again.
RUDOLF STEINER: Now, in the twentieth century the fable would be continued something like this: “That may be the honor of bulls! And if I were to seek honor by stubbornly standing still, that would not be a horse’s honor but a mule’s honor!” That is how it would be written in these days. Then the children would notice immediately that there are three kinds of honor; the honor of a bull, the honor of a horse, and the honor of a mule. The bull throws the boy, the horse carries him quietly along because that is chivalrous, the mule stubbornly stands still because that is the mule’s idea of honor.
Today I would like to give you some material for tomorrow’s discussion on the subject of your lessons, since we will then consider particularly the seven-to-fourteen-year-old children.2Practical Advice to Teachers, lecture 8.
So we will now speak of certain things that can guide you, and after I have presented this introduction, you will only need an ordinary reference book to amplify the various facts we have spoken of in our discussions. Today we will consider not so much how to acquire the actual subject matter of our work, but rather how to cherish and cultivate within ourselves the spirit of an education that contains the future within it. You will see that what we discuss today focuses on the work in the oldest classes.3The Waldorf School began with grades 1–8 only. The oldest children in the school were thus fourteen to fifteen years of age.
I would therefore like to discuss what relates to the history of European civilization from the eleventh to the seventeenth century. You must always remember that teaching history to children should always contain a subjective element, and this is also true, more or less, when you work with adults. It is easy enough to say that people should not bring opinions and subjective ideas into history. You might make this a rule, but it cannot be adhered to. Take aspect of history in any country of the world; you will either have to arrange the facts in groups for yourself, or you will find them already thus assembled by others in the case of less recent history.
If, for example, you want to describe the spirit of the old Germanic peoples, you will turn to the Germania of Tacitus. But Tacitus was a person of very subjective thought; the facts he presents were clearly arranged in groups. You can only hope to succeed in your task by marshalling the facts in your own personal way, or else by using what others have done in a similar way before you. You can find examples, from literature for example, to substantiate what I have said.
Treitschke wrote German History of the Nineteenth Century in several volumes; it delighted Herman Grimm, who was also a competent judge, but it horrified many adherents of the entente. But when you read Treitschke you will feel immediately that his excellence is due to the very subjective coloring of his grouping of facts. In history the important thing is the ability to form a judgment of the underlying forces and powers at work. But you must realize that the judgment of one is more mature, that of another less so, and the latter should not pass any judgment at all because nothing has been understood about the underlying forces. The former, just because an independent judgment has been formed, will very well describe the actual course of history.
Herman Grimm portrayed Frederick the Great, and Macaulay also portrayed him, but Macaulay’s picture is completely different. Grimm even composed his article as a kind of critique of Macaulay’s article, and speaking from his perspective he said, “Macaulay’s picture of Frederick the Great is the grotesque face of an English lord with snuff on his nose!” The only difference is that Grimm is a nineteenth-century German and Macaulay a nineteenth-century Englishman. And any third person passing judgment on both would really be very narrow-minded if one were found to be true and the other false.
You might as well choose examples even more drastic. Many of you know the description of Martin Luther in the ordinary history books. If one day you try the experiment of reading it in the Catholic history books, you will get to know a Martin Luther whom you never knew before! But when you have read it you will find it difficult to say that the difference is anything but different viewpoints. Now it is just such points of view arising from nation or creed that must be overcome by future teachers. Because of this we must earnestly work so that teachers are broad-minded, so that the point will be reached of having a broad-minded philosophy of life. Such a mental attitude gives you a free and wide view of historical facts, and a skillfull arranging of these facts will enable you to convey to your pupils the secrets of human evolution.
Now, when you want to give the children some idea of cultural history from the eleventh to the seventeenth centuries, you would first have to describe what led up to the Crusades. You would describe the course of the first, second, and third crusades, and how they gradually stagnated, failing to achieve what they should have. You would describe the spirit of asceticism that spread through much of Europe at the time—how everywhere, through the secularization of the church (or in any case in connection with this secularization), there arose individuals such as Bernard of Clairvaux, natures full of inner piety, such piety that it gave the impression to others that they were miracle-workers. From reference books you could try to become acquainted with biographies of people of this kind and then bring them to life for your pupils; you could try to conjure before them the living spirit that inspired those great expeditions to the East—because they were powerful in the views of the time. You would have to describe how these expeditions came to be through Peter of Amiens and Walter the Penniless, followed by the expedition of Godfrey of Bouillon and others.
Then you could relate how these Crusades set out toward the East and how enormous numbers of people perished, often before they reached their destination. You can certainly describe to boys and girls of thirteen to fifteen how these expeditions were composed, how they set out without any organization and made their way toward the East, and how many perished because of unfavorable conditions, and having to force their way through foreign countries and peoples.
You will then have to describe how those who reached the East had a certain degree of success at first. You can speak of what Godfrey of Bouillon accomplished, but you will also have to show the contrast that arose between the Crusaders of the later Crusades and Greek policy—how the Greeks became jealous of what the Crusaders were doing, feeling that the Crusaders’ goals were contrary to what the Greeks themselves were planning to do in the East; how fundamentally the Greeks, as much as the Crusaders, wanted to absorb the interests of the East into their own sphere of interests. Paint a graphic picture of how the goals of the Crusaders roused the Greeks’ opposition.
Then I suggest that you describe how the crusading armies in the East, instead of taking up arms against the Eastern peoples in western Asia, began to fight among themselves; and how the European peoples themselves, especially the Franks and their neighbors, began to quarrel about their claims to conquests and even took up arms against each other. The Crusades originated in fiery enthusiasm, but the spirit of inner discord seized those who took part in them; furthermore, antagonism arose between the Crusaders and the Greeks.
In addition to all this, at the very time of the Crusades we find opposition between church and state, and this became more and more evident. It may also be necessary to acquaint the children with something that is true, although in all its essential points it is veiled by the bias of historical writers. Godfrey of Bouillon, the leader of the first Crusade, really intended to conquer Jerusalem in order to balance the influence of Rome. He and his companions did not say this openly to the others, but in their hearts they carried the battle cry, “Jerusalem versus Rome!” They said among themselves, “Let us exalt Jerusalem so that it may become the center of Christianity, so that Rome no longer holds that position.” This, the underlying motive of the first Crusaders, can be conveyed to the children tactfully, and it is important to do so.
Those were great tasks that the Crusaders undertook, and great too were the tasks that gradually arose from the circumstances themselves. Little by little it came to be that the Crusaders were not great enough to bear the burden of such tasks without harm to themselves. And so it happened that, at the time of the fiercest battles, licentiousness and immorality gradually broke out among the Crusaders.
You can find these facts in any history book, and they serve to illustrate the general course of events. You will notice that in my arrangement of facts today, I am actually describing them without bias, and I will try also to describe in a purely historical way what took place in Europe from the eleventh to the seventeenth century.
It is often possible to make history clear through hypothesis, so let’s suppose that the Franks had conquered Syria and had established a Frankish dominion there—that they had reached an understanding with the Greeks, had left room for them, and had relinquished to them the rule of the more western portion of Asia Minor. Then the ancient traditions of the Greeks would have been fulfilled and North Africa would have become Greek. A counterbalance to subsequent events would have thus been established. The Greeks would have held sway in North Africa, the Franks in Syria. Then they wouldn’t have quarrelled with each other, and thus they wouldn’t have forfeited their dominions, and the invasions of the worst Eastern peoples—the Mongols, the Mamelukes, and Turkish Ottoman—would have been prevented. Because of the immorality of the Crusaders, and inevitably their inability to rise to their tasks, the Mongols, Mamelukes, and Ottomans overran the very regions that the Crusaders were attempting to “Europeanize.” And so we see how the reaction toward the great enthusiasm that led to the Crusades, spread over vast regions, is counterattacked from the other side. We see the Moslem-Mongolian advance, which set up military tyrants, and which for a long time remained the terror of Europe and cast a dark shadow over the history of the Crusades.
You see, by describing such things and acquiring the necessary pictorial descriptions from reference books, you can awaken in the children themselves pictures of the progress of civilization—pictures that will live on in them. And that is the important thing—that the children be given these pictures. They will initially be conjured in their minds through your graphic descriptions. If you can then show them some works of art, notable paintings from this period, you will find this supports what you say.
Thus, you will make it clear to the children what happened during the Crusades, and enable them to make their own mental pictures of these events. You have shown them the dark side of the picture, the terror caused by the Mongolians and Moslems, and now it will be well to add the other side, the good things that developed.
Describe vividly to the children how the pilgrims who had migrated east, came to understand many new things there. Agriculture, for example, was at that time very backward in Europe. In the East it was possible for these Western pilgrims to learn a much better way of farming their land. The pilgrims who reached the East and afterward returned to Europe (and many did return), brought with them a skilled knowledge of agricultural methods, which raised the standard of agricultural production considerably. The Europeans owed this to the experience that the pilgrims brought back with them.
You must describe this to the children so graphically that they actually see it there before them—how the wheat and other cereals flourished less before the Crusades, how they were smaller, more sparse, the ears less full, and how after the Crusades they were much fuller. Describe all this in pictures! Then you can also tell how the pilgrims really came to understand industries found in the East at the time, and still unknown in Europe. The West was in many ways more backward than the East. What grew and flourished in such a fine way in the industrial activity of the Italian towns and other places further north, was all due to the Crusades; we also have to thank them for a new artistic impulse. Thus you can call on pictures of the cultural and spiritual progress of that time.
There is something else you can describe to the children: you can say to them, “You see, children, that was when the Europeans came to know the Greeks; they had fallen away from Rome in the first thousand years after Christ, but had remained Christians. All over the West people believed that no one could be a Christian without viewing the Pope as the head of the church.” Now explain to the children how the Crusaders, to their astonishment and edification, learned that there were other Christians who did not acknowledge the Roman Pope. This freeing of the spiritual side of Christianity from the temporal church organization was something very new at the time. This is something you can explain to the children.
Then you can tell them that even among the Moslems, who could scarcely have been called very pleasant denizens of the world, there were also noble, generous, and brave people. And so the pilgrims came to know people who could be brave and generous without being Christians; thus a person could even be good and brave without being a Christian. For the Europeans of that time this was a great lesson that the Crusaders brought with them when they returned to Europe. During their stay in the East they gained many things that they brought back to Europe to further its spiritual progress.
You can then continue, “Just imagine, children, there was a time when the Europeans had no cotton cloth, they did not even have a word for it; they had no muslin—that too is an Eastern word; they could not lie down or laze about on a sofa, for sofas and the word for them were brought back by the Crusaders. They had no mattresses either. Mattress is also an Asian word. The bazaar also belongs to the East, and this suggests immediately an entirely new view of the public display of goods, and it initiated large scale exhibitions of goods. Bazaars (of an Eastern kind) were very common in the East, but there was nothing of the kind in Europe before the Europeans went on their Crusades. Even the word magazine [the word for “storeroom” in German] bound up though it now is with our trade life, was not originally European; the use of great warehouses to meet the growth of trade is something that the Europeans learned from the Asians.
“Just imagine,” you can say to the children, “how restricted life was in Europe; they hadn’t even any warehouses. The word arsenal too has the same origin. But now look; there is something else that the Europeans learned from the East and that is expressed in the word tariff. Until the thirteenth century the European peoples knew very little about tax-paying. But payment of taxes according to a tariff, the payment of all kinds of duties, was not introduced into Europe until the Crusaders learned about it from the Asians.
“Thus you see that a great number of things were changed in Europe due to the Crusades. Not much of what the Crusaders intended to do was realized, but other things were brought about, and transformations of all kinds occurred in Europe as a result of what was learned in the East. And further, this was all connected with what they observed of the Eastern political life. Political life—the state as such—developed much earlier in the East than in Europe. Before the Crusades the forms of government in Europe were much freer than they were afterward. Because of the Crusades it also happened that wide areas were grouped together as political units.”
Always assuming that the children are of the age I indicated, you can now say to them, “You have already learned in your history lessons that in former times the Romans became rulers over many lands. When they were extending their dominions, at the beginning of the Christian era, Europe was very poor and becoming even poorer. What was the cause of this increasing poverty? The people had to hand over their money to others. Central Europe will become poor again today because it must also hand over its money to others. At that time the Europeans had to give up their money to the Asiatics; the bulk of their money went to the borders of the Roman Empire. Due to this, barter became more and more the custom, and this is something that might happen again, sad though it would be, unless people rouse themselves to seek the spirit. Nevertheless, amid this poverty the ascetic, devotional spirit of the Crusades evolved.
“Through the Crusades, therefore, in faraway Asia, Europeans learned to know all kinds of things—industrial production, agriculture, and so on. In this way, they could again produce things that the Asians could buy from them. Money traveled back again. Europe became increasingly rich during the Crusades. This growth of wealth in Europe occurred through the increase in its own productions; that is a further result of the Crusades. The Crusades are indeed migrations of peoples to Asia, and when the Crusaders returned to Europe they brought with them a certain ability. It was due only to this ability and skill that Florence, Italy arose and became what it did, and also due to this, such figures as Dante and others emerged.”
You see how necessary it is to allow impulses of this kind to permeate your history lessons. When it is said today that more should be taught about the history of civilizations, people think they should give dry descriptions of how one thing arises from another. But even in these lower classes, history should be described by a teacher who really lives in the subject, so that through the pictures created for the children, this period of history will live again before them. You can conjure the picture of a poverty-stricken Europe, with acres of poor and sparsely sown crops, where there were no towns—only meager farms in poor condition. Nevertheless, an enthusiasm for the Crusades arises out of this same poor Europe. But then you will have to tell them how the people found this task beyond their powers and they began to quarrel and fall into evil ways, and even when they were back in Europe discord and dissension arose again. The real purpose of the Crusades was not achieved; on the contrary, the ground was prepared for the Moslems. But the Europeans learned many things in the East: how towns—flourishing towns—arise, and in the towns a rich spiritual life and culture; agriculture improved and the fields became more fertile, the industries flourished, and a spiritual life and culture arose.
You will try to present all this to the children in graphic pictures and explain to them that, before the Crusades, people did not lounge on sofas! There was no bourgeois life at that time with sofas in the best parlors and all the rest of it. Try to make all these historical pictures live for the children, and then you will give them a truer kind of history. Show how Europe became so poor that people had to resort to bartering goods, and then it became rich again because of what people learned in the East. This will bring life into your history lessons!
One is often asked these days what history books to read—which historian is best? The reply can only be that, in the end, each one is the best and the worst; it really makes no difference which historical author you choose. Do not read what is written in the lines, but read between the lines. Try to allow yourselves to be inspired so that, through your own intuitive sense, you can learn to know the true course of events. Try to acquire a feeling for how a true history should be written. You will recognize from the style and manner of writing which historian has found the truth and which has not.
You can find many things in Ranke.4Leopold von Ranke (1795–1886), German historian and founder of the modern school of history. He championed so-called “objective” writing based on source material instead of legend and tradition. But what we are trying to cultivate here is the spirit of truth and reality, and when you read Ranke in the light of this spirit of truth, you find that he is very painstaking but that his descriptions of characters reduce them to mere shadows; you feel as though you could pass through them, because they have no substance—they are not flesh and blood, and you might well say that you don’t want history to be a series of mere phantasms.
One of the teachers recommended Lamprecht.5Karl Lamprecht (1856–1915) wrote a German history in nineteen volumes.
Rudolf Steiner: Yes, but in him you have the feeling that he does not describe people, but figures of colored cardboard—except that he paints them with the most vivid colors possible. They are not human beings, but merely colored cardboard.
Now Treitschke on the other hand is admittedly biased, but his personalities do really stand on their two feet!6Heinrich von Treitschke (1834–1896), German historian and publicist. Considered the successor to Ranke as Prussian historian, he advocated authoritarian “power politics” (i.e., German unity through force), favored colonial expansion, and promoted anti-British sentiment in Germany. He places people on their feet, and they are flesh and blood—not cardboard figures like those of Lamprecht, nor are they mere shadowy pictures as with Ranke. Unfortunately Treitschke’s history only covers the nineteenth century.
But, to get a feeling for truly good historical writing, you should read Tacitus.7Cornelius Tacitus (A.D. 56–120; not to be confused with Tacitus, the Roman emperor from A.D. 275 to 276), Roman orator, politician, and historian. His main work was Historiae. When you read Tacitus, everything is absolutely alive. When you study the way Tacitus portrays a certain epoch of history—describing the people as individuals or in groups—and allow all of this to affect your own sense of reality, it exists for you as real as life itself! Beginning with Tacitus, try to discover how to describe other periods as well.
Of course you can’t read what is out of date, otherwise the fiery Rotteck would always be very good.8Karl von Rotteck (1775–1840) wrote numerous volumes on national and world history. But he is dated, not merely because of the facts, but in his whole outlook; he considers as gospel the political constitution of the Baden of his time, as well as liberalism. He even applies them to Persian, Egyptian, and Greek life, but he always writes with such fire that one cannot help wishing there were many historians like Rotteck today.
If, however, you study the current books on history (with a sharp eye for what is often left out), you will gain the capacity to give children living pictures of the process of human progress from the eleventh to the seventeenth centuries. And, for your part, you can omit much that is said in these histories about Frederick Barbarossa, Richard Coeur de Leon, or Frederick II. Much of this is interesting but not particularly significant for real knowledge of history. It is far more important to communicate to the children the great impulses at work in history.
We can continue now to the question of how to treat a class where several boys and girls have developed a foolish kind of adoration for the male or female teacher.
Idolization of this kind is not really unhealthy until the age of twelve to fourteen, when the problem becomes more serious. Before fourteen it is especially important not to take these things too seriously and to remember that they often disappear again very quickly.
Various suggestions made by those present.RUDOLF STEINER: I would consider that exposing the children to ridicule in front of the class is very much a two-edged sword, because the effect lasts too long, and the child will lose a connection with the class. If you ridicule children it is very difficult for them to regain the proper relationship with the rest of the class. The result is usually that the children succeed in being removed from the school.
Prayer was mentioned, along with other possible ways of helping these children.
RUDOLF STEINER: You are quite right!
It was suggested that one might speak to the child and attempt to divert such affection.
RUDOLF STEINER: The principle of diverting the devotion and capacity for enthusiasm into other channels is proper—except that you will not gain much by talking with such children, because that is exactly what they want. Precisely because this foolish adoration arises much more from feelings—and even passions—than from thinking, it would be extremely difficult to work against it effectively by being with the child frequently. It is certainly true that unhealthy feelings of this kind are due to the qualities of enthusiasm and devotion having taken the wrong path—enthusiasm in the gifted children and devotion in the less gifted. The whole thing is not very important in itself, but it will have repercussions in the way the children participate in the lessons, and this is the more serious aspect. When all of the children are affected by this foolish adoration, it is not so serious and will not last long; it will soon disappear. The class gets ideas that do not materialize; this leads to disappointment, and then the thing dies naturally. In this case it could be very good to tell a humorous story to the whole class. It only becomes detrimental when groups of children yield to this unwholesome idolization.
It became necessary to think this matter over thoroughly, because it can play a role in the entire life of the school. Affectionate attachment is not so bad in itself, but it weakens the children when it becomes unhealthy. The children become listless and lethargic. In some cases it can lead to serious conditions of weakness in the children. It is a very subtle and delicate matter, because the treatment could result in turning the children’s feelings toward the exact opposite—into hatred. In some cases it could be very good to say, “You look too warm. Perhaps you should go outside for five minutes.
In any case, this problem should be handled individually and each child treated individually. You should try anything that common sense tells you may help. There is one thing however that you should be extremely careful about—that such children do not get the idea that you notice their adoration. You really have to acquire the art of making them think you are unaware of it. Even when you take steps to cure them, the children should think you are merely acting normal.
Let’s suppose that several children have this foolish feeling for a man who has four, five, maybe six children of his own. In this case he has the simplest remedy; he can invite the “adoring” children to go for a walk with him and bring his own children along. This would be a very good remedy. But the children should not know why they were invited. You should use concrete things like this.
In a situation like this, it’s most important that you yourself act correctly, not treating those children who idolize you any differently than the others. When you remain unaffected by such foolish behavior, it disappears after awhile. It becomes serious, however, when a certain antipathy replaces adoration. This can be minimized by ignoring it. Don’t let the children know you have noticed anything, because if you call them on it or ridicule them in front of the class, the hatred will be that much greater. If you tell a story it must appear as though you would have told it anyway, otherwise certain antipathy will certainly arise afterward as a result; that can’t be avoided. But when you work with the same class for several years you will be able to restore a normal sympathy over time.
You cannot prevent another consequence, either, because when this foolish adoration assumes a serious form, the children will be somewhat weakened by it. When it is finished, you must help them to get over this weakness. This will indeed be the best therapy that you can apply. You can make use of all the other remedies—sending the children out for five minutes, taking them for walks, and so on, but your attitude must always be to ignore the whole matter in a healthy way. The child will be somewhat weakened, and afterward the teacher will be able to help the child through love and affection. If the matter were to become very serious, the teacher, because of being the object of adoration, could not do much; such a teacher would then have to seek the advice and help of others.
Tomorrow’s subject has to do with actual teaching rather than educational principles as such. Will each of you imagine that several children in your class are not doing very well in one subject or another—for example, arithmetic, languages, natural history, gymnastics, or eurythmy. How, through special treatment of the children’s human capacities, would you try to meet a misfortune of this kind during the early school years? How could you use the other subjects to help you?
Siebente Seminarbesprechung
Rudolf Steiner: Heute wollen wir eine Übung probieren, die dazu bestimmt ist, den Atem etwas länger zu machen.
Sprechübung: Erfüllung geht Durch Hoffnung Geht durch Sehnen Durch Wollen Wollen weht Im Webenden Weht im Bebenden Webt bebend Webend bindend Im Finden Findend windend Kündend
Erreichen werden Sie das, was erreicht werden soll, nur, indem Sie die Zeilen richtig abteilen. Dann werden Sie den Atem richtig rhythmisieren. Diese Übung bezieht sich darauf, daß man mit der Stimme turnt, um den Atem zu regulieren.
In Worten wie «Erfüllung», «Wollen» müssen beide l gesprochen werden. Man darf nicht ins erste l ein h hineinsprechen, sondern man muß beide l nebeneinander sprechen. Man muß ferner versuchen, nicht scheppernd zu sprechen, sondern Ton in die Stimme zu bekommen, tiefer aus der Brust herauszuholen, möglichst volle Vokale zu sprechen, damit das Blecherne herauskommt. — Alle Österreicher haben das Blech in der Stimme. Mehr Kugelluft.
Vor einer jeden der oben abgeteilten Zeilen soll der Atem bewußt sich in Ordnung bringen. Die zusammenstehenden Worte müssen auch zusammengehörig gelesen werden.
Sie wissen ja, für gewöhnlich macht man etwa die folgenden Sprechübungen:
Barbara saß straks am Abhang
Oder: Barbara saß nah am Abhang
Oder: Abraham a Sancta Klara kam an
Lesen einer Fabel von Lessing.
Das Roß und der Stier
Auf einem feurigen Rosse flog stolz ein dreister Knabe daher. Da rief ein wilder Stier dem Rosse zu: «Schande! Von einem Knaben ließ ich mich nicht regieren!» «Aber ich», versetzte das Roß, «denn was für Ehre könnte es mir bringen, einen Knaben abzuwerfen?»
Rudolf Steiner (nachdem alle die Fabel vorgelesen haben): Sie werden wohl, nachdem Sie das schon so oft gehört haben, das Gefühl haben, daß das so geschrieben ist, wie man Fabeln und viele Dinge im 18. Jahrhundert eben geschrieben hat. Man hat so das Gefühl, daß sie nicht ganz fertig geworden sind, wie manche Dinge damals nicht ganz fertig geworden sind.
Rudolf Steiner verliest die Fabel noch einmal und sagt dann: Jetzt, im 20. Jahrhundert, würde man die Fabel etwa in folgender Weise fortführen können:
Stierehre! Und suchte ich die Ehre, indem ich störrisch stehen bliebe, so wäre das nicht Pferdeehre, sondern Eselsehre.
So würde man es in der jetzigen Zeit machen. Dann würden die Kinder auch gleich merken, daß es drei Ehren gibt: eine Stierehre, eine Pferdeehre und eine Eselsehre. Der Stier wirft ab, das Pferd trägt den Knaben ruhig weiter, weil es ritterlich ist, der Esel bleibt störrisch stehen, weil er darin seine Ehre sieht.
Rudolf Steiner: Nun möchte ich heute zunächst Material schaffen für die morgige didaktische Stunde, da wir morgen insbesondere die Betrachtung der Lebensalter zwischen dem siebenten und dem vierzehnten, fünfzehnten Jahr ins Auge fassen wollen. Es wird sich heute darum handeln, daß wir manches durchsprechen, was Ihnen Anweisung sein kann. Und dann brauchen Sie zu dem, was ich Ihnen heute als Anleitung gebe, nichts weiter hinzuzufügen, als daß Sie ein gebräuchliches Handbuch in die Hand nehmen und die einzelnen Tatsachen dann ergänzen, die zu dem gehören, was wir heute besprechen. Es wird sich heute darum handeln, daß wir viel weniger darauf sehen, immer unser stoffliches Wissen beieinander zu haben, als daß wir vielmehr darauf sehen, den Geist eines zukunfttragenden Unterrichts in uns zu hegen und zu pflegen. Sie werden sehen, daß das, was wir heute besprechen, für die älteste Schulkindergattung in Betracht kommt.
So möchte ich mit Ihnen besprechen, was mit der Kulturentwickelung Europas, so vom 11. bis 17. Jahrhundert, zusammenhängt. Sie werden nicht aus den Augen verlieren dürfen, daß das Durchnehmen geschichtlicher Dinge mit Kindern, und auch schließlich mehr oder weniger mit Erwachsenen, immer ein subjektives Element in sich haben muß. Man hat leicht sagen, man soll bei Geschichtsdarstellungen nicht Meinungen und subjektive Ideen in die Geschichte hineintragen. Verlangen kann man es, aber erfüllt werden kann es nicht. Denn nehmen Sie irgendeine Partie der Geschichte auf irgendeinem Gebiete; Sie werden mindestens die Tatsachen gruppieren müssen, entweder selbst, oder wenn die Tatsachen weiter zurückliegen, so sind sie schon gruppiert, dann haben andere sie gruppiert.
Nehmen Sie an, Sie schildern den Geist der alten Germanen, so werden Sie die «Germania» des Tacitus heranziehen. Aber der Tacitus war gar sehr ein subjektiver Geist; er hat das, was er herangebracht hat, schon gar sehr gruppiert. Sie dürfen nicht hoffen, daß Sie anders zurechtkommen, als eine subjektive Gruppierung: von Tatsachen entweder selbst aufzustellen oder von anderen zu übernehmen.
Sie brauchen sich ja das nur an Beispielen klarzulegen. Sehen Sie einige Literaturbeispiele an:
Treitschke hat eine mehrbändige «Deutsche Geschichte des 19. Jahrhunderts» geschrieben. Sie hat das Entzücken Herman Grimms, der doch auch ein fähiger Beobachter war, hervorgerufen; sie hat das Entsetzen hervorgerufen vieler Angehöriger der Entente. Aber wenn Sie Treitschke durchlesen, so werden Sie gleich das Gefühl haben, daß gerade seine Vorzüge auf seiner stark subjektiven Färbung in der Gruppierung der Tatsachen beruhen. Es kommt ja in der Geschichte darauf an, daß man ein Urteil hat über die in der Geschichte treibenden Kräfte und Mächte. Nun handelt es sich darum, daß bei dem einen das Urteil reifer, beim anderen weniger reif ist, und der also gar nichts urteilen sollte, weil er gar nichts versteht von den treibenden Kräften. Der andere wird gerade, wenn er gute subjektive Urteile hat, den geschichtlichen Fortgang sehr gut schildern.
Herman Grimm hat Friedrich den Großen geschildert, Macaulay hat auch Friedrich den Großen geschildert. Aber man bekommt ein vollständig verändertes Bild von Friedrich dem Großen durch Macaulay. Herman Grimm hat seinen Artikel sogar als eine Art Rezension des Macaulayschen Artikels verfaßt und hat von seinem Gesichtspunkte aus gesagt: Der Friedrich der Große des Macaulay «ist ein verzwicktes englisches Lordsgesicht mit Schnupftabak an der Nase.» Der Unterschied ist nur der, daß Herman Grimm ein Deutscher des 19. Jahrhunderts ist, und Macaulay ein Engländer des 19. Jahrhunderts. Und derjenige, der als Dritter beides beurteilt, würde eigentlich sehr engherzig sein, wenn er das eine richtig, das andere falsch findet.
So könnte man noch viel drastischere Beispiele auswählen. Viele von Ihnen kennen die Schilderung Martin Luthers aus den gewöhnlichen Geschichtsbüchern. Machen Sie nur einmal das Experiment und lesen Sie dasselbe in katholischen Geschichtsbüchern durch, da werden Sie einen Martin Luther kennenlernen, den Sie bisher noch nicht gekannt haben! Wenn Sie es durchgelesen haben, da werden Sie in Verlegenheit sein, zu sagen, daß der Unterschied ein anderer ist, als der, der sich aus verschiedenen Gesichtspunkten ergibt. Nun werden solche Gesichtspunkte, wie sie aus dem Nationalen oder aus dem Konfessionellen stammen, eben gerade von der Lehrerschaft der Zukunft überwunden werden müssen. Deshalb muß man so sehr anstreben, die Lehrerschaft weitherzig zu bekommen, die Lehrerschaft auf den Standpunkt zu stellen, eine weitherzige Weltanschauung zu haben. Von diesem Gesichtspunkte aus wird sich auch ein freier Ausblick bieten über die geschichtlichen Tatsachen, und man wird sie so gruppieren, daß man dem Schüler die Geheimnisse des Menschheitswerdens überträgt.
Wenn Sie nun etwas über die Kultur vom 11. bis 17. Jahrhundert an Ihre Schüler übertragen sollten, so würden Sie da in erster Linie schildern, was zu den Kreuzzügen geführt hat. Sie würden schildern den Verlauf des ersten, zweiten, dritten Kreuzzuges. Wie die Kreuzzüge allmählich versumpft sind und nicht dasjenige erreicht haben, was durch sie hätte erreicht werden sollen. Sie würden schildern den Geist der Askese, der dazumal durch einen großen Teil von Europa ging; wie überall aus der Verweltlichung der Kirche, oder doch im Zusammenhang mit dieser Kirchenverweltlichung, Naturen hervorgingen wie Bernhard von Clairvaux, die voll inniger Frömmigkeit waren, von einer solchen Frömmigkeit, daß sie den Eindruck von Wunderwirkern auf ihre Umgebung machten. Sie würden versuchen, aus einem Handbuch solche Gestalten biographisch kennenzulernen und sie lebendig vor Ihre Schüler hinzustellen, und würden versuchen, solchen lebendigen Geist aufwirbeln zu lassen, aus dem sich die für die damalige Zeit mächtigen Züge nach dem Orient entwickelt haben. Sie würden zu schildern haben, wie damals die Züge zustande gekommen sind durch Peter von Amiens und Walter von Habenichts; dann der Zug von Gottfried von Bouillon und einigen anderen.
Sie werden dann schildern, wie diese Züge sich nach dem Orient in Bewegung gesetzt haben und wie ungeheure Mengen von Menschen umgekommen sind, oftmals ehe sie den Orient erreicht haben. Sie werden durchaus dreizehn- bis vierzehnjährigen Jungen und Mädchen schildern können, wie diese Züge sich zusammensetzten, wie sie sich in Bewegung setzten und sich ungeordnet nach dem Orient zu bewegten, und wie durch die Ungunst der Verhältnisse, aber auch im Durchdrängen durch fremde Völker viele Menschen zugrunde gingen.
Sie werden dann auch zu schildern haben, wie diejenigen, die im Orient ankommen, erst ein Weniges erreichen. Sie werden die Erfolge des Gottfried von Bouillon schildern, werden dann aber zeigen, wie sich ein Gegensatz ergibt zwischen den Kreuzfahrern der folgenden Kreuzzüge und der griechischen Politik. Wie die griechischen Völker eifersüchtig werden auf die Taten der Kreuzfahrer und den Gegensatz fühlen zwischen dem, was diese wollten, und dem, was die Griechen vorhatten mit dem Orient; wie die Griechen im Grunde genommen ebenso die orientalischen Interessen einbeziehen wollten in ihre Interessensphäre wie die Kreuzfahrer in die ihrige. Ich würde Sie bitten, recht anschaulich zu schildern, wie der Gegensatz der Griechen aufgerufen wird gegen das Wollen der Kreuzfahrer.
Dann würde ich meinen, daß Sie schildern sollten, wie im Orient die kämpfenden Kreuzfahrer, statt die orientalischen Völker in Westasien zu bekämpfen, sich untereinander bekämpfen; wie die europäischen Völker selber sich aufeinanderhetzen, wie namentlich die Franken und ihre Nachbarvölker durch die Ansprüche, die sie erheben an das, was erobert worden war, wiederum hintereinanderkommen und sich untereinander bekämpfen. Die Kreuzzüge sind aus feurigem Enthusiasmus zustande gekommen, aber der Geist der Zwietracht ergriff die Teilnehmer der Kreuzzüge, und dann kam auch noch der Gegensatz zwischen Griechen und Kreuzfahrern herauf.
Zu alldem kam dazu der Gegensatz, der sich immer mehr und mehr geltend machte, zwischen der Kirche und den weltlichen Mächten, gerade im Zeitalter der Kreuzzüge. Und es ist vielleicht nicht unnötig, schon den Kindern etwas zum Bewußtsein zu bringen, was wahr ist, was aber durch die tendenziöse Geschichtsschreibung in allen wesentlichen Punkten verhüllt worden ist. Gottfried von Bouillon, der Führer des ersten Kreuzzuges, hatte eigentlich die Absicht, Jerusalem aus dem Grunde zu erobern, um ein Gegengewicht gegen Rom aufzurichten. Das sagten er und seine Begleiter den anderen nicht öffentlich; aber im Herzen trugen sie den Kampfruf: «Jerusalem gegen Rom!» Sie sagten sich: Bringen wir Jerusalem in die Höhe, damit es werden könne der Mittelpunkt des Christentums, damit nicht mehr Rom das sei. — Sie werden den Kindern diese Grundstimmung der ersten führenden Kreuzfahrer in taktvoller Weise übertragen, das wird wichtig sein.
Große Aufgaben waren es, die die Kreuzfahrer sich gestellt hatten, und auch diejenigen Aufgaben waren große, die sich nach und nach aus den Verhältnissen selber herausstellten für die Kreuzfahrer. Und die Menschen waren nach und nach zu klein, um diese Aufgaben ohne Schaden auf sich geladen zu sehen. Dadurch kam es, daß unter den Kreuzfahrern während der heftigsten Kämpfe allmählich Sittenlosigkeit und Unmoralität ausbrach.
Nehmen Sie irgendein Handbuch, damit Sie die Tatsachen wie illustrierend in diesen allgemeinen Gang der Ereignisse hineinstellen können. Sie werden bemerken, daß ich heute, indem ich gruppiere, wahrhaft nicht tendenziös schildere. Und auch weiterhin werde ich versuchen, rein kulturhistorisch zu schildern, was sich vom 11. bis 17. Jahrhundert in Europa zutrug.
Nehmen wir einmal an — was ja eine Hypothese ist, aber manchmal kann man sich gerade durch Hypothesen den Gang der Geschichte klarmachen -, die Franken hätten Syrien erobert und hätten in Syrien eine fränkische Herrschaft aufgerichtet, hätten sich mit den Griechen verständigt, hätten den Griechen Raum gelassen und ihnen mehr die Herrschaft im vorderen Teil von Kleinasien überlassen. Dann hätten sich alte Traditionen der Griechen erfüllt und Nordafrika wäre griechisch geworden. Ein Gegengewicht wäre geschaffen gewesen gegen dasjenige, was nachher geschah. Es hätten die Griechen eine Herrschaft ausgeübt über Nordafrika, die Franken über Syrien. So wären sie nicht alle untereinander in Streit gekommen und dadurch verlustig gegangen dieser Herrschaft. Dann wäre verhindert worden, daß gerade vorgebrochen wären die schlimmsten asiatischen Völker, die Mongolen, die Mamelucken und die türkischen Osmanen. Durch das Unmoralischsein und dadurch, daß zuletzt die Kreuzfahrer ihren Aufgaben nicht gewachsen waren, kam es, daß sich die Mongolen, Mamelucken und Osmanen gerade auf den Gebieten ausgebreitet haben, welche die Kreuzfahrer versuchten zu europäisieren. Und so sehen wir, wie auf den großen, weite Volksgebiete umfassenden Enthusiasmus, der zu den Kreuzzügen geführt hat, der Gegenstoß von der anderen Seite kommt: der muselmanisch-mongolische Vorstoß, der Militärdespotien errichtet und der durch lange Zeit der Schrecken Europas und der dunkle Schatten der Kreuzzugszeit bleibt.
Sehen Sie, während Sie solche Dinge schildern, indem Sie sich aus den Handbüchern die Bilder verschaffen, die Sie dazu brauchen, erwecken Sie in den Kindern selber Bilder über die Kulturentwickelung, die bleibend sind. Und daß die Kinder Bilder bekommen, das ist das Wichtige. Die Bilder werden sie bekommen zunächst durch anschauliche Schilderung. Können Sie dann dahin kommen, irgendwie beträchtliche malerische Darstellungen aus dieser Zeit auch als Kunstwerke darzubieten, so werden Sie das gesprochene Wort gern durch so etwas unterstützen.
Nun haben Sie den Kindern klargemacht zunächst dasjenige, was in den Kreuzzügen geschehen war. Und Sie haben die Kinder dazu gebracht, innerlich Bilder davon aufzunehmen. Jetzt wird es gut sein, daß Sie zu dem Schattenbild des mongolisch-mohammedanischen Schreckens hinzufügen das Gegenbild, das Gute, das sich entwickelt hat.
Schildern Sie anschaulich, wie die Pilger, die nach dem Orient gezogen sind, noch ganz anderes, viel Neues kennengelernt haben. In Europa war die Landwirtschaft damals noch sehr weit zurück. Im Orient konnte man eine sehr viel bessere Bewirtschaftung der Ländereien kennenlernen. Die Pilger, die nach dem Orient gekommen sind und nachher wieder nach Europa zurückkehrten - es kamen ja noch viele zurück -, die haben eine ausgebildete Kenntnis landwirtschaftlichen Betriebswesens mitgebracht, und es kam wirklich ein Aufschwung der landwirtschaftlichen Produktion. Den verdankt man in Europa den Erfahrungen, welche die Pilger nach Europa mitbrachten.
So anschaulich, daß es das Kind förmlich sieht, schildern Sie, wie der Weizen und das Korn schlechter gewachsen sind vor den Kreuzzügen, wie sie niedriger waren, wie sie schütterer waren, weniger voll waren, und wie sie nach den Kreuzzügen voller waren — das alles in Bildern! Dann schildern Sie, wie die Pilger wirklich auch kennengelernt haben, was der Orient damals hatte an Industriellem, was Europa damals noch nicht hatte. Es war der Okzident um vieles hinter dem Orient zurück. Was sich dann so schön herausbildet an industrieller Tätigkeit in den Städten Italiens, auch in den mehr nördlich gelegenen Städten, das ward den Kreuzzügen verdankt. Und auch Künstlerisches wird den Kreuzzügen verdankt. Da können Sie also Bilder hervorrufen von dem geistigen Kulturfortschritt in dieser Zeit.
Aber Sie können den Kindern auch schildern und sagen: «Seht ihr, Kinder, da haben die Europäer zuerst die Griechen kennengelernt; die sind schon im ersten Jahrtausend abgefallen von Rom, sind aber Christen geblieben. In allen westlichen Gegenden hat man geglaubt, daß man überhaupt kein Christ sein kann, ohne zu dem Papst als oberstem Haupt der Kirche emporzuschauen.» Jetzt mache man den Kindern klar, wie die Kreuzfahrer kennengelernt haben, zu ihrer großen Überraschung und Belehrung, daß es auch Christen gibt, die nicht den römischen Papst anerkennen. Dieses Loslösen der geistigen Seite des Christentums von der weltlichen Kircheneinrichtung, das war etwas ganz Neues damals. Das mache man den Kindern klar.
Dann, daß unter den Muselmanen, die ja wenig erfreuliche Erdenbürger waren, es aber doch auch edle, freigebige, tapfere Menschen gab. Und dadurch haben die Pilger Menschen kennengelernt, die sogar tapfer und freigebig sein konnten, ohne Christen zu sein. Man konnte also sogar ein guter, tapferer Mensch sein, ohne Christ zu sein. Das war eine große Lehre, die für die damaligen Menschen Europas durch die Kreuzfahrer nach Europa zurückgebracht worden ist.
Also eine ganze Menge haben die Kreuzfahrer sich erobert im Orient, was sie für die geistige Kultur nach Europa gebracht haben.
Man macht den Kindern klar: «Seht, die Europäer, sie hätten nicht einmal Kattun, ja sie hätten nicht einmal ein Wort dafür. Sie hätten kein Musselin, auch das ist ein orientalisches Wort. Sie könnten sich nicht niederlegen, zurückräkeln auf ein Sofa, denn das Sofa haben die Kreuzfahrer, mit dem Ausdruck Sofa, erst mitgebracht. Sie hatten auch keine Matratze, auch Matratze ist ein orientalisches Wort. Auch der Bazar gehört hierher, was gleich auf eine ganze Gesinnung gegenüber dem öffentlichen Schaustellen von Erzeugnissen hinweist, was Schaustellungen im großen produziert. Bazare haben die Orientalen nach ihrer Gesinnung im weiten Umfange gemacht. In Europa gab es früher nicht etwas Ähnliches, bevor die Europäer die Kreuzzüge unternommen haben. Sogar das Wort Magazin ist kein europäisches, so sehr es mit Handeln und so weiter zusammenhängt. Diese Art, Magazine zu brauchen wegen des Umfangreichen des Handelns, das haben die Europäer erst von den Orientalen gelernt. - Man kann sich vorstellen», sagt man zu den Kindern, «wie eingeschränkt das Leben in Europa war, daß sie nicht einmal Magazine gebraucht haben. Auch das Wort Arsenal gehört hierher. Aber seht, etwas anderes haben die Europäer auch gelernt bei den Orientalen; das haben sie sich mitgebracht in dem Wort Tarif. Steuerzahlen, das kannten die europäischen Völker bis zum 13. Jahrhundert sehr wenig. Aber tarifmäßig Steuer bezahlen, allerlei Abgaben bezahlen, das wurde erst eingeführt in Europa, als die Kreuzfahrer es bei den Orientalen kennenlernten.»
Also man sieht schon, es ist vieles, vieles anders geworden in Europa durch die Kreuzzüge. Von dem hat sich nicht viel erfüllt, was die Kreuzfahrer gewollt haben. Es hat sich aber anderes, Vielfaches an Umgestaltung von Europa vollzogen durch das, was man im Orient kennengelernt hatte. Das alles verband sich dann noch mit der Anschauung der orientalischen Staatswesen, denn das Staatswesen hat sich im Orient schon viel früher ausgebildet als in Europa. In Europa waren die Gebilde der Verwaltung viel loser vor den Kreuzzügen, als sie nach den Kreuzzügen waren. Daß man dann weite Territorien unter staatlichen Gesichtspunkten zusammenfaßte, das ist schließlich auch erst durch die Kreuzzüge gekommen.
Nun kann man aber auch - ich setze immer voraus, daß die Kinder das Alter haben, das ich angedeutet habe - sie mit folgendem bekanntmachen: «Seht, Kinder, ihr habt früher durch geschichtliche Erzählung erfahren, daß die Römer früher einmal ihre Herrschaft ausgebreitet haben. Damals, als die Römer ihre Herrschaft ausgebreitet haben im Beginne der christlichen Zeitrechnung, da wurde Europa sehr arm, immer ärmer. Wodurch kam dieses Armwerden? Man mußte sein Geld hergeben an andere. Mitteleuropa wird jetzt auch wieder arm werden, weil es sein Geld abgeben muß an andere. Damals mußten die Europäer ihr Geld an die Asiaten abgeben. An die Grenzen des Römerreiches wanderten die Geldmassen. Dadurch kam immer mehr die Naturalwirtschaft auf. Das ist etwas, was wieder passieren könnte, so traurig es wäre, wenn die Menschen sich nicht zum Geistigen aufraffen. Allerdings, in dieser Armut, da entwickelte sich der asketische, hingebungsvolle Geist der Kreuzzüge.
Jetzt aber lernten die Europäer durch die Kreuzzüge in Asien drüben allerlei Neues kennen, industrielles Produzieren, Landwirtschaft. Dadurch konnten sie wiederum Dinge hervorbringen, die ihnen die Asiaten abkaufen konnten. Das Geld wanderte wieder zurück. Europa wurde immer reicher, gerade während der Kreuzzüge. Diese Bereicherung Europas kam dadurch, daß es seine eigene Produktion erhöhte. Das ist eine weitere Folge. Die Kreuzzüge sind wahre Völkerwanderungen nach Asien. Nach Europa kam wieder zurück ein gewisses Können. Nur durch dieses Können ist Florenz möglich und zu dem geworden, was es eben nachher war. Nur dadurch konnten sich Gestalten entwickeln wie Dante und andere.»
Sehen Sie, es wäre notwendig, daß man die geschichtliche Darstellung von solchen Impulsen durchzogen sein ließe. Wenn heute gesagt wird, man soll mehr Kulturgeschichte treiben, dann denken die Leute, sie müssen recht trocken schildern, wie das eine aus dem anderen folgt. Geschichte sollte aber auch schon auf diesen unteren Schulstufen so geschildert werden, daß man subjektiv dabei ist, daß man Bilder entwickelt, daß die Zeit wirklich aufersteht. Daß aufersteht das arme, nur mit schwachbesetzten Feldern überdeckte Europa, wo keine Städte waren, wo die Leute ihre Landwirtschaft betrieben, die aber spärlich war. Wie aber gerade aus diesem armen Europa hervorgeht die Begeisterung für die Kreuzzüge. Wie dann die Leute ihrer Aufgabe doch nicht gewachsen sind, wie sie in Streit kommen, wie Unmoral um sich greift, wie sie dann in Europa selber in Streit geraten. Wie gerade dasjenige nicht erreicht wird, was durch die Kreuzzüge angestrebt wird, sondern im Gegenteil, wie Boden geschaffen wird für die Muselmanen. Wie aber der Europäer vieles lernte im Orient; wie Städte, blühende Städte entstehen und in den Städten eine reiche geistige Kultur. Aber auch wie die Landwirtschaft sich hebt, wie die Felder fruchtbarer werden, wie die Industrie aufblüht, wie auch die geistige Kultur sich hebt.
Das alles versuche man in anschaulichen Bildern vor die Kinder hinzustellen und ihnen klarzumachen, wie sich die Menschen vor den Kreuzzügen nicht hingeräkelt haben auf Sofas, wie sich Spießbürgerlichkeit noch nicht geltend machen konnte in den Familien auf Sofas in den guten Stuben. Versuchen Sie anschaulich diese Geschichte zu schildern, dann werden Sie eine wahrere Geschichte geben. Zeigen Sie, wie Europa arm geworden ist bis zur Naturalwirtschaft und wieder reich geworden ist durch das, was man gelernt hat. Das wird die Geschichte beleben!
Man wird oftmals heute gefragt: Was soll man lesen, welche Geschichtsdarstellung ist die beste? - Man kann immer nur sagen: schließlich ist jede die beste und jede die schlechteste; es ist schon einerlei, welchen geschichtlichen Autor man zur Hand nimmt. Lesen Sie nicht in den Zeilen, sondern zwischen den Zeilen. Suchen Sie sich erahnend inspirieren zu lassen, den wahren Gang der Handlung kennenzulernen. Suchen Sie sich ein Gefühl dafür zu verschaffen, was geschichtliche Darstellung ist. An der Art werden Sie erkennen, welcher Geschichtsschreiber in die Wirklichkeit eingedrungen ist, welcher nicht.
Sie werden das eine oder andere bei Ranke lesen. Wenn Sie Ihre Geschichtslektüre bei Ranke mit dem durchdringen, was wir hier von Wirklichkeitsgeist in uns lebendig machen, werden Sie sagen: Ranke ist sehr fleißig, aber er schildert die Charaktere so, daß sie nur Schatten sind. Man kann überall durchgreifen; sie sind nicht Fleisch und Blut. Und Sie können sagen: Ich mag ja die Geschichte nicht nur als Schattenspiel haben.
Einer der Kursteilnehmer rät zu Lamprecht.
Rudolf Steiner: Aber man kann da schon das Gefühl haben, Lamprecht schildert Kulturgeschichte, nicht Menschen, sondern angestrichene Pappfiguren, die er nur mit möglichst vollen Tönen anstreicht. Es sind nicht Menschen; sie schauen aus wie körperliche Menschen, sind aber nur angestrichene Pappendeckelfiguren. Da muß man schon sagen: Treitschke mag tendenziös sein, aber die Treitschke-Persönlichkeiten, die stehen doch auf ihren Beinen! Er stellt die Menschen doch auf die Beine, und sie haben Fleisch und Blut. Sie sind nicht Pappendeckel wie bei Lamprecht, und sie sind nicht bloß Schattenfiguren wie bei Ranke. Leider gibt es von Treitschke nur die Geschichte des 19. Jahrhunderts.
Wollen Sie sich ein Gefühl aneignen von wirklich guter Geschichtsschreibung und für den Geist eines Geschichtserzählers, dann lesen Sie den Tacitus. Wenn Sie den Tacitus lesen, dann wird alles bis ins Wort hinein ganz lebendig. Dann steht die Zeit und die Menschen und die Menschengruppen, die der Tacitus schildert, die stehen, wenn Sie das alles auf Ihren Wirklichkeitssinn wirken lassen, da wie das Leben selber! Von da aus versuchen Sie, darauf zu kommen, wie man sich in eine andere Darstellung hineinlebt. Ganz Veraltetes kann man doch nicht lesen, sonst würde der feurige Rotteck noch immer etwas sehr Gutes sein. Aber er ist veraltet, nicht nur den Tatsachen nach, sondern der Gesinnung nach. Denn er betrachtet als Evangelium die damalige badische Staatsverfassung und den Liberalismus, er interpretiert sie hinein schon in das persische und ägyptische und griechische Leben. Aber alles mit Feuer, so daß man wünschen möchte, daß es auch in unserer Zeit noch viele solche Geschichtsdarsteller gäbe wie Rotteck.
Wenn Sie nun versuchen, die gebräuchlichen Darstellungen zu lesen, und sich anstrengen, Ihr Augenmerk zu richten auf das, was dort oftmals fallengelassen wurde, dann werden Sie sich geeignet machen, lebendige Bilder über die Geschichtsentwickelung vom 11. bis 17. Jahrhundert hinzustellen. Und Sie werden Ihrerseits fallenlassen vieles, was da erzählt wird über Friedrich Barbarossa, über Richard Löwenherz, über Friedrich II. Es ist ja manches interessant, aber für die wirkliche Erkenntnis der Geschichte nicht besonders wichtig. Viel wichtiger ist es, den Kindern die großen Impulse der Geschichte zu vermitteln.
Jetzt gehen wir über zu unserer Aufgabe, wie wir eine Klasse behandeln würden, in der eine Anzahl von Schülern oder Schülerinnen einen «Schwarm» für den Lehrer oder die Lehrerin entwickeln.
Die wirklich gefährlichen Schwärmereien beginnen eigentlich doch erst mit dem zwölften bis vierzehnten Jahr. Was über das schulmäßige Alter in dieser Beziehung hinausliegt, ist dann schon ein schwerer Fall. Vorher ist es bei diesen Dingen von besonderer Wichtigkeit, daß man nicht alles furchtbar ernst nimmt, und daß man weiß, daß vieles schon wieder vergehen wird.
Es folgt eine Besprechung, während derer sich viele Teilnehmer zu diesem Thema äußern.
Rudolf Steiner: Das öffentliche Blamieren vor der Klasse würde ich für ein sehr zweischneidiges Schwert halten, weil es zu lange anhält und den Schüler aus der Klasse herausreißt. Es wird sich sehr schwer ein Verhältnis solcher Kinder, die man blamiert hat, zu der übrigen Klasse wieder herstellen. Gewöhnlich führt es dann doch dazu, daß die Kinder erreichen, daß sie aus der Schule genommen werden.
F. erwähnt unter anderem, was der Lehrer tun könne, auch das Gebet.
Rudolf Steiner: Sehr richtig!
F.: Man muß mit dem betreffenden Kinde sprechen und die Zuneigung ablenken.
Rudolf Steiner faßt zusammen: Die Prinzipien sind richtig, abzulenken die Begeisterungsfähigkeit, abzulenken die Hingabe. Nur werden Sie darin nicht viel erreichen, wenn Sie sich viel unterhalten mit diesen Kindern, weil ihnen das ganz gut passen würde. Weil diese Schwärmerei viel mehr beruht auf Gefühlen und auch Leidenschaften, nicht auf der Vorstellung, so wird es außerordentlich schwer sein, wenn man der Leidenschaft entgegenkommt durch öfteres Beisammensein, ihr wirksam zu begegnen.
Richtig ist, daß das Schwärmen aus Begeisterung und aus Hingabe hervorgeht, die in falsche Bahnen laufen. Bei den begabten Kindern kommt mehr in Betracht die Begeisterungsfähigkeit, bei den schwachen, minderbegabten, die Hingabeanlage.
Die Sache ist an sich nicht so wichtig, aber sie wird wichtig wegen ihrer Folgen für die Beteiligung am Unterricht, weil die Kinder weniger lernen, wenn sie schwärmen.
Ein allgemeines Schwärmen der Kinder ist nicht zu schlimm, es hält nicht lange an. Das vergeht sehr schnell. Es kommen Vorstellungen in die Klasse, die sich nicht erfüllen. Das führt zu Enttäuschungen, und dann kuriert es sich von selber. Da kann auch eine humoristische Erzählung vor der ganzen Klasse ganz gut sein. Gefährlich wird es erst, wenn Gruppen anfangen zu schwärmen.
Die ganze Sache war notwendig zu durchdenken, weil sie in der Schulpraxis eine Rolle spielen kann. Die Schwärmerei an sich ist nicht gerade das Schlimmste, aber ungesunde Schwärmerei macht schwach. Die Kinder werden dadurch lässig und lethargisch. Es handelt sich unter Umständen um bedenkliche Schwächezustände der Kinder.
Der Fall steht auf des Messers Schneide, denn bei entsprechenden Maßnahmen kann die Sache dann umschlagen in das Gegenteil, in Haß.
Es ist auch sehr gut, zu sagen: Du bist erhitzt, geh einmal fünf Minuten hinaus — und so weiter. Überhaupt handelt es sich darum, daß man in einem solchen Falle individualisiert, nicht nur bei den Kindern, sondern auch in der Behandlung. Man soll sich alles zunutze machen, wovon man im gesunden Denken sich versprechen kann, daß es hilft.
Nur das eine sollte sorgfältig angestrebt werden, daß die schwärmenden Kinder nicht den Glauben bekommen, man merkt etwas von ihrer Schwärmerei. Man sollte geradezu eine Kunst darin entwickeln, den Glauben hervorzurufen, man bemerke gar nichts. Selbst in den Maßregeln, die man unternimmt, sollte das Kind den Gedanken haben, daß man die Sache sowieso macht.
Nehmen wir einmal an, eine Anzahl Kinder schwärmt für einen Lehrer, der zu Hause selbst vier, fünf, sechs Kinder hat. Und er hat ja das einfachste Mittel: er fordert die schwärmenden Kinder etwa zu einem Spaziergang auf und nimmt seine eigenen Kinder mit. Das wird schon sehr gut helfen. Aber die Kinder sollten nichts davon merken, daß er sie darum aufgefordert hat. Solche konkreten Dinge soll man sich zunutze machen.
Das, worum es sich in einem solchen Falle handelt, ist, daß man sich nur selbst ganz korrekt verhält und die Kinder, die so schwärmen, nicht anders behandelt als die anderen. Peinlich darauf sehen, sich korrekt zu verhalten. Sich nicht berühren lassen durch eine solche Schwärmerei, dann geht sie in einiger Zeit vorüber! Das Bedenkliche bleibt nur, daß eine gewisse Antipathie anstelle der Schwärmerei tritt. Man kann sie vermindern, wenn man gar nichts merken läßt. Man läßt sie nichts wissen davon, daß man es merkt, dann wird auch der Haß nicht so groß, als wenn man sie ermahnt, sie zu sehr ermahnt, oder sie vor der Klasse blamiert. Man erzählt eine Geschichte in kurzer Form, wodurch die Sache lächerlich wird. Aber es muß so sein, daß es erscheint, als erzähle man sie sowieso. Der Konsequenz, daß hinterher eine gewisse Antipathie entsteht, kann man nicht entgehen. Man wird sich, wenn man jahrelang mit den Kindern arbeitet, eine normale Sympathie wieder erwerben können.
Man kann auch die andere Konsequenz nicht hintanhalten, daß die Kinder, wenn der Schwarm bedenkliche Form annimmt, etwas geschwächt werden. Man muß ihnen hinterher so helfen, daß sie wiederum über die Schwäche wegkommen. Das wird noch die beste Therapie sein, die man anwenden kann. Alle übrigen Mittel: Geh mal fünf Minuten ’raus, Spaziergang und so weiter -, kann man anwenden; man muß sich aber immer durchaus auf den Standpunkt des gesunden Ignorierens stellen. Das Kind wird etwas geschwächt sein; dann ihm liebevoll hinterher helfen, das ist das, was der Lehrer selbst tun kann.
Würde die Sache sehr bedenklich werden, dann würde der Lehrer, weil er selbst Objekt ist, nicht selber viel tun können, dann würden schon andere Ratgeber zu Hilfe gezogen werden müssen.
Eine Aufgabe, mehr didaktischen, weniger erzieherischen Inhalts: Legen Sie sich jeder zurecht, Sie erlebten mit einer Anzahl von Kindern in Ihrer Klasse, daß diese Gruppe in irgendeiner Richtung weniger gut mitkommt, zum Beispiel im Rechnen, in Sprachen, Naturgeschichte, Turnen oder in der Eurythmie. Wie würden Sie versuchen, durch besondere Behandlung der menschlichen Fähigkeiten einer solchen Kalamität zu begegnen, wenn sie im frühen Volksschulalter auftritt? Wie würden Sie auch durch die anderen Unterrichtsgegenstände nachhelfen?
Seventh Seminar Discussion
Rudolf Steiner: Today we want to try an exercise that is designed to lengthen the breath a little.
Speech exercise: Fulfillment comes through hope Comes through longing Through wanting Wanting blows In the weaving Blows in the trembling Weaves trembling Weaving binding In finding Finding winding Announcing
You will achieve what is to be achieved only by dividing the lines correctly. Then you will rhythmize your breath correctly. This exercise refers to using your voice to regulate your breath.
In words such as “fulfillment” and “wanting,” both l's must be pronounced. You must not pronounce an h in the first l, but must pronounce both l's next to each other. You must also try not to speak in a clanging voice, but to get tone into your voice, to draw it deeper from your chest, to pronounce vowels as fully as possible so that the tinny sound comes out. — All Austrians have tin in their voices. More ball air.
Before each of the lines separated above, consciously regulate your breathing. Words that are close together must also be read together.
As you know, the following speech exercises are usually done:
Barbara sat on the slope
Or: Barbara sat close to the slope
Or: Abraham a Sancta Klara arrived
Reading a fable by Lessing.
The Horse and the Bull
A bold boy rode proudly on a fiery horse. Then a wild bull called out to the horse: “Shame on you! I will not be ruled by a boy!” “But I will,” replied the horse, “for what honor could it bring me to throw off a boy?”
Rudolf Steiner (after everyone has read the fable): Having heard it so many times, you probably feel that it is written in the style of fables and many other things written in the 18th century. One has the feeling that they are not quite finished, just as many things were not quite finished at that time.
Rudolf Steiner reads the fable again and then says: Now, in the 20th century, one could continue the fable in the following way:
Bull honor! And if I sought honor by stubbornly standing my ground, that would not be horse honor, but donkey honor."
That is how we would do it today. Then the children would immediately realize that there are three kinds of honor: bull honor, horse honor, and donkey honor. The bull throws the boy off, the horse carries him on calmly because it is chivalrous, and the donkey remains stubbornly standing because it sees this as its honor.
Rudolf Steiner: Today I would like to start by preparing material for tomorrow's lesson, as tomorrow we will be looking in particular at the ages between seven and fourteen, the fifteenth year. Today we will discuss a number of things that may be of instruction to you. And then you need add nothing more to what I give you today as guidance than to pick up a standard handbook and supplement the individual facts that belong to what we are discussing today. Today we will focus much less on always having our material knowledge at hand, and much more on nurturing and cultivating the spirit of future-oriented teaching within ourselves. You will see that what we are discussing today is relevant for the oldest schoolchildren.
So I would like to discuss with you what is connected with the cultural development of Europe from the 11th to the 17th century. You must not lose sight of the fact that going through historical events with children, and ultimately more or less with adults, must always have a subjective element. It is easy to say that opinions and subjective ideas should not be brought into historical accounts. One can demand it, but it cannot be fulfilled. For take any part of history in any field; you will at least have to group the facts, either yourself, or if the facts lie further back, they are already grouped, then others have grouped them.
Suppose you are describing the spirit of the ancient Germanic peoples; you will refer to Tacitus's “Germania.” But Tacitus was a very subjective spirit; he has already grouped what he has brought forth in a very particular way. You cannot hope to manage otherwise than by subjective grouping: either by establishing facts yourself or by adopting them from others.
You only need to clarify this with examples. Take a look at some examples from literature:
Treitschke wrote a multi-volume “German History of the 19th Century.” It delighted Herman Grimm, who was also a capable observer, but it horrified many members of the Entente. But if you read Treitschke, you will immediately get the feeling that his strengths lie precisely in his strongly subjective coloring in the grouping of facts. In history, it is important to have an opinion about the driving forces and powers at work in history. Now, the point is that one person's judgment is more mature than another's, and the latter should not judge at all because he understands nothing about the driving forces. The former, precisely because he has good subjective judgments, will describe the course of history very well.
Herman Grimm described Frederick the Great, and Macaulay also described Frederick the Great. But Macaulay gives us a completely different picture of Frederick the Great. Herman Grimm even wrote his article as a kind of review of Macaulay's article and said from his point of view: Macaulay's Frederick the Great “is a tricky English lord with snuff on his nose.” The only difference is that Herman Grimm is a 19th-century German, and Macaulay is a 19th-century Englishman. And anyone who judges both of them would actually be very narrow-minded if they found one to be right and the other to be wrong.One could select even more drastic examples. Many of you are familiar with the description of Martin Luther in ordinary history books. Just try reading the same thing in Catholic history books, and you will get to know a Martin Luther you have never known before! Once you have read it, you will be embarrassed to say that the difference is anything other than that which arises from different points of view. Now, such points of view, whether they originate from national or confessional sources, must be overcome by the teachers of the future. That is why we must strive so hard to make teachers broad-minded, to put them in a position to have a broad-minded worldview. From this point of view, a free outlook on historical facts will also emerge, and they will be grouped in such a way that the secrets of human development are conveyed to the student.
If you were to teach your students about the culture of the 11th to 17th centuries, you would first describe what led to the Crusades. You would describe the course of the first, second, and third Crusades. How the Crusades gradually became bogged down and did not achieve what they were supposed to achieve. You would describe the spirit of asceticism that swept through much of Europe at that time; how everywhere, as a result of the secularization of the Church, or at least in connection with this secularization, figures such as Bernard of Clairvaux emerged, who were filled with such deep piety that they gave the impression of being miracle workers to those around them. You would try to get to know such figures biographically from a handbook and bring them to life in front of your students, and you would try to stir up the lively spirit from which the powerful traits of the time toward the Orient developed. You would have to describe how these traits came about at that time through Peter of Amiens and Walter of Habenichts; then the traits of Godfrey of Bouillon and several others.
You will then describe how these traits set out for the Orient and how enormous numbers of people perished, often before they reached the Orient. You will be able to describe to thirteen- to fourteen-year-old boys and girls how these expeditions were organized, how they set out and moved in disorderly fashion towards the Orient, and how many people perished due to unfavorable conditions, but also as a result of being pushed aside by foreign peoples.
You will then also have to describe how those who arrived in the Orient achieved very little at first. You will describe the successes of Godfrey of Bouillon, but then show how a conflict arose between the crusaders of the subsequent crusades and Greek politics. How the Greek peoples became jealous of the deeds of the Crusaders and felt the contrast between what the Crusaders wanted and what the Greeks had in mind for the Orient; how the Greeks basically wanted to include Oriental interests in their sphere of influence just as the Crusaders wanted to include them in theirs. I would ask you to describe in vivid detail how the Greeks' opposition to the crusaders' intentions is aroused.
Then I would suggest that you describe how, in the Orient, the fighting crusaders, instead of fighting the Oriental peoples in West Asia, fight among themselves; how the European peoples themselves incite each other, how the Franks and their neighboring peoples in particular come into conflict with each other and fight among themselves because of the claims they make on what has been conquered. The Crusades came about out of fiery enthusiasm, but the spirit of discord took hold of the participants in the Crusades, and then the opposition between the Greeks and the Crusaders also arose.
Added to all this was the conflict between the Church and the secular powers, which became increasingly apparent, especially during the age of the Crusades. And it is perhaps not unnecessary to make children aware of something that is true but has been obscured in all essential points by biased historiography. Godfrey of Bouillon, the leader of the First Crusade, actually intended to conquer Jerusalem in order to establish a counterweight to Rome. He and his companions did not say this publicly, but in their hearts they carried the battle cry: “Jerusalem against Rome!” They said to themselves: Let us raise Jerusalem up so that it may become the center of Christianity, so that Rome will no longer be. — You will tactfully convey this basic sentiment of the first leading crusaders to the children; that will be important.
The Crusaders had set themselves great tasks, and the tasks that gradually arose from the circumstances themselves were also great. And little by little, people became too small to take on these tasks without harm. As a result, immorality and immorality gradually broke out among the Crusaders during the fiercest battles.
Take any handbook so that you can place the facts in this general course of events as an illustration. You will notice that today, in grouping them together, I am truly not describing them in a biased way. And I will continue to try to describe what happened in Europe from the 11th to the 17th century in a purely cultural-historical way.
Let us assume—which is a hypothesis, but sometimes hypotheses can help us understand the course of history—that the Franks had conquered Syria and established Frankish rule there, had come to an agreement with the Greeks, had given the Greeks space and left them more control over the eastern part of Asia Minor. Then the ancient traditions of the Greeks would have been fulfilled and North Africa would have become Greek. A counterweight would have been created to what happened afterwards. The Greeks would have ruled over North Africa and the Franks over Syria. In this way, they would not have come into conflict with each other and lost their rule. Then the worst Asian peoples, the Mongols, the Mamelukes, and the Turkish Ottomans, would not have broken through. Due to immorality and the fact that the Crusaders were ultimately not up to their tasks, the Mongols, Mamelukes, and Ottomans spread precisely in the areas that the Crusaders were trying to Europeanize. And so we see how the great enthusiasm that swept across vast areas of the population and led to the Crusades was met with a counterattack from the other side: the Muslim-Mongol advance, which established military despotisms and remained the terror of Europe and the dark shadow of the Crusades for a long time.
You see, when you describe such things, using pictures from textbooks to illustrate your points, you awaken in the children themselves images of cultural development that will remain with them. And it is important that the children receive these images. They will receive them first through vivid descriptions. If you can then manage to present some remarkable pictorial representations from this period as works of art, you will be able to support the spoken word with something tangible.
Now you have made clear to the children what happened during the Crusades. And you have encouraged the children to absorb images of this internally. Now it will be good to add to the shadow image of the Mongol-Muslim horror the counter-image, the good that has developed.
Describe vividly how the pilgrims who traveled to the Orient learned many other new things. In Europe at that time, agriculture was still very backward. In the Orient, it was possible to learn about much better methods of farming the land. The pilgrims who came to the Orient and then returned to Europe – and many did return – brought with them a trained knowledge of agricultural management, and there was a real upswing in agricultural production. This was thanks to the experiences that the pilgrims brought back to Europe.
You describe so vividly that even a child can see it: how wheat and grain grew less well before the Crusades, how they were shorter, sparser, less plump, and how they were plumper after the Crusades – all in pictures! Then you describe how the pilgrims really got to know what the Orient had in terms of industry at that time, which Europe did not yet have. The Occident was far behind the Orient. What then developed so beautifully in terms of industrial activity in the cities of Italy, even in the cities further north, was thanks to the Crusades. And artistic achievements are also thanks to the Crusades. So you can evoke images of the intellectual and cultural progress of that time.
But you can also describe it to the children and say: “You see, children, that's where the Europeans first encountered the Greeks; they had already fallen away from Rome in the first millennium, but remained Christians. In all Western regions, it was believed that one could not be a Christian at all without looking up to the Pope as the supreme head of the Church.” Now explain to the children how the Crusaders discovered, to their great surprise and instruction, that there were also Christians who did not recognize the Roman Pope. This separation of the spiritual side of Christianity from the secular church institution was something completely new at that time. Make this clear to the children.
Then, that among the Muslims, who were indeed unpleasant earthlings, there were also noble, generous, brave people. And through this, the pilgrims got to know people who could even be brave and generous without being Christians. So it was possible to be a good, brave person without being a Christian. That was a great lesson that was brought back to Europe by the Crusaders for the people of Europe at that time.
So the Crusaders conquered a great deal in the Orient, which they brought back to Europe for its spiritual culture.
We explain to children: "Look, the Europeans didn't even have calico, they didn't even have a word for it. They didn't have muslin, which is also an Oriental word. They couldn't lie down and recline on a sofa, because the crusaders brought the sofa, and the word sofa, with them. They also had no mattresses, and mattress is also an Oriental word. The bazaar also belongs here, which immediately points to a whole attitude towards the public display of products, which produces displays on a large scale. The Orientals created bazaars on a large scale in accordance with their attitude. There was nothing similar in Europe before the Europeans undertook the Crusades. Even the word magazine is not European, as much as it is related to trade and so on. Europeans first learned this way of using magazines because of the extensive nature of trade from the Orientals. “You can form a mental image,” they say to the children, "of how limited life in Europe was that they didn't even use magazines. The word arsenal also belongs here. But look, Europeans learned something else from the Orientals; they brought it back with them in the word tariff. Until the 13th century, European peoples knew very little about paying taxes. But paying taxes according to tariffs, paying all kinds of duties, was only introduced in Europe when the Crusaders learned about it from the Orientals."
So you can see that many, many things changed in Europe as a result of the Crusades. Not much of what the Crusaders wanted came to fruition. But many other changes took place in Europe as a result of what they learned in the Orient. All this was then combined with the concept of Oriental statehood, because statehood had developed much earlier in the Orient than in Europe. In Europe, administrative structures were much looser before the Crusades than they were after them. The fact that large territories were then united from a state perspective was ultimately also a result of the Crusades.
Now, however, one can also – I always assume that the children are of the age I have indicated – acquaint them with the following: "Look, children, you have learned from historical narratives that the Romans once expanded their rule. At that time, when the Romans expanded their rule at the beginning of the Christian era, Europe became very poor, increasingly poorer. What caused this impoverishment? People had to give their money to others. Central Europe will now become poor again because it has to give its money to others. At that time, Europeans had to give their money to Asians. The masses of money migrated to the borders of the Roman Empire. As a result, the natural economy became increasingly important. This is something that could happen again, as sad as it would be, if people do not rise to the spiritual level. However, in this poverty, the ascetic, devoted spirit of the Crusades developed.
But now, through the Crusades in Asia, Europeans learned all kinds of new things, such as industrial production and agriculture. This enabled them to produce things that Asians could buy from them. The money migrated back again. Europe became increasingly wealthy, especially during the Crusades. This enrichment of Europe came about because it increased its own production. That is another consequence. The Crusades were true migrations of peoples to Asia. A certain skill returned to Europe. It was only through this skill that Florence became possible and became what it was afterwards. Only through this could figures such as Dante and others develop.
You see, it would be necessary to allow the historical narrative to be permeated by such impulses. When people say today that we should study more cultural history, they think they have to describe in a rather dry way how one thing follows from another. But history should also be described at these lower school levels in such a way that one is subjectively involved, that one develops images, that the time really comes to life. That poor Europe, covered only with sparsely populated fields, where there were no cities, where people practiced their agriculture, which was sparse, comes to life. But it is precisely from this poor Europe that the enthusiasm for the Crusades emerges. How the people were not up to the task, how they fell into conflict, how immorality spread, how they then fell into conflict within Europe itself. How the very thing that the Crusades were striving for was not achieved, but on the contrary, how ground was laid for the Muslims. But how Europeans learned a great deal in the Orient; how cities, flourishing cities, arose and a rich intellectual culture developed in the cities. But also how agriculture improved, how the fields became more fertile, how industry flourished, and how intellectual culture also improved.
Try to present all this to the children in vivid images and make it clear to them that before the Crusades, people did not lounge around on sofas, that bourgeois narrow-mindedness had not yet made its mark on families sitting on sofas in their living rooms. Try to describe this history vividly, and you will be telling a truer story. Show how Europe became poor to the point of a natural economy and became rich again through what it learned. That will bring history to life!
People often ask today: What should one read, which account of history is the best? - One can only say: ultimately, each is the best and each is the worst; it doesn't matter which historical author one picks up. Don't read between the lines, but between the lines. Seek to be inspired to discover the true course of events. Seek to gain a feeling for what historical representation is. You will recognize by the style which historian has penetrated reality and which has not.
You will read one thing or another in Ranke. If you combine your reading of Ranke's history with what we are bringing to life here in our minds as the spirit of reality, you will say: Ranke is very diligent, but he describes the characters in such a way that they are only shadows. You can see right through them; they are not flesh and blood. And you can say: I don't want history to be just a shadow play.
One of the course participants recommends Lamprecht.
Rudolf Steiner: But one can already have the feeling that Lamprecht describes cultural history, not people, but painted cardboard figures, which he paints with as rich tones as possible. They are not people; they look like physical people, but they are only painted cardboard figures. One has to say: Treitschke may be biased, but the Treitschke personalities stand on their own two feet! He puts people on their feet, and they have flesh and blood. They are not cardboard figures like Lamprecht's, and they are not mere shadow figures like Ranke's. Unfortunately, Treitschke only covers the history of the 19th century.
If you want to get a feel for really good historiography and the spirit of a storyteller, then read Tacitus. When you read Tacitus, everything comes alive, down to the very word. Then the time and the people and the groups of people that Tacitus describes will stand there, if you let it all sink into your sense of reality, just like life itself! From there, try to figure out how to immerse yourself in another narrative. You can't read something that is completely outdated, otherwise the fiery Rotteck would still be something very good. But it is outdated, not only in terms of facts, but also in terms of attitude. For he regards the Baden state constitution and liberalism of the time as gospel, interpreting them into Persian, Egyptian, and Greek life. But he does so with such passion that one wishes there were still many historical writers like Rotteck in our time.
If you now try to read the usual accounts and make an effort to focus your attention on what has often been omitted there, you will be able to form vivid pictures of the development of history from the 11th to the 17th century. And you, for your part, will omit much of what is told about Frederick Barbarossa, Richard the Lionheart, and Frederick II. Some of it is interesting, but not particularly important for a true understanding of history. It is much more important to convey the great impulses of history to the children.
Now let's move on to our task of how we would deal with a class in which a number of students develop a “crush” on the teacher.
The really dangerous infatuations actually only begin between the ages of twelve and fourteen. Anything beyond school age in this regard is already a serious case. Before that, it is particularly important not to take these things too seriously and to know that many of them will pass.
This is followed by a discussion during which many participants express their views on this topic.
Rudolf Steiner: I would consider public humiliation in front of the class to be a very double-edged sword, because it lasts too long and takes the student out of the class. It will be very difficult to restore the relationship between such children who have been embarrassed and the rest of the class. Usually, this leads to the children being taken out of school.
F. mentions, among other things, what the teacher can do, including prayer.
Rudolf Steiner: Very true!
F.: One must talk to the child in question and divert their affection.
Rudolf Steiner summarizes: The principles are correct, to divert their enthusiasm, to divert their devotion. However, you will not achieve much in this regard if you talk to these children a lot, because that would suit them very well. Because this infatuation is based much more on feelings and passions than on a mental image, it will be extremely difficult to counteract it effectively by accommodating the passion through frequent get-togethers.
It is true that infatuation arises from enthusiasm and devotion that have gone astray. In gifted children, enthusiasm is more of a factor, while in weaker, less gifted children, devotion is more of a factor.
The matter is not so important in itself, but it becomes important because of its consequences for participation in class, because children learn less when they are enthusiastic.
General enthusiasm among children is not too bad; it does not last long. It passes very quickly. Mental images come into the classroom that are not fulfilled. This leads to disappointment, and then it cures itself. A humorous story in front of the whole class can also be quite good. It only becomes dangerous when groups start to get carried away.
It was necessary to think through the whole thing because it can play a role in school practice. Enthusiasm in itself is not exactly the worst thing, but unhealthy enthusiasm makes you weak. It makes children lazy and lethargic. Under certain circumstances, this can lead to a worrying state of weakness in children.
The situation is on a knife edge, because if appropriate measures are taken, the situation can then turn into the opposite, into hatred.
It is also very good to to say: You are heated, go outside for five minutes — and so on. In general, it is important to individualize in such cases, not only with the children, but also in the treatment. One should make use of everything that one can reasonably expect to help.
The only thing that should be carefully sought is that the enthusiastic children do not get the impression that you notice anything about their enthusiasm. You should develop an art in making them believe that you do not notice anything at all. Even in the measures you take, the child should have the idea that you would do the same thing anyway.
Let's assume that a number of children are infatuated with a teacher who has four, five, or six children of his own at home. And he has the simplest remedy: he invites the infatuated children to go for a walk and takes his own children with him. That will help a lot. But the children should not notice that he has invited them. Such concrete things should be taken advantage of.
What is important in such a case is to behave correctly and not treat the children who are so enthusiastic any differently from the others. Take care to behave correctly. Do not let yourself be affected by such enthusiasm, then it will pass in time! The only concern is that a certain antipathy will replace the infatuation. You can reduce this by not letting on that you have noticed anything. If you don't let them know that you have noticed, the hatred will not be as great as if you admonish them, admonish them too much, or embarrass them in front of the class. Tell a short story that makes the matter seem ridiculous. But it must appear as if you are telling it anyway. The consequence of a certain antipathy arising afterwards cannot be avoided. If you work with the children for years, you will be able to regain a normal sympathy.
You also cannot ignore the other consequence, which is that the children become somewhat weakened when the infatuation takes on a worrying form. You have to help them afterwards so that they can overcome their weakness. That will be the best therapy you can apply. All other means—going outside for five minutes, taking a walk, and so on—can be used; but one must always take the position of healthy ignorance. The child will be somewhat weakened; then lovingly help them afterwards, that is what the teacher themselves can do.
If the situation becomes very serious, then the teacher, because they themselves are the object, will not be able to do much themselves, and other advisors will have to be called in to help.
A task that is more didactic than educational in nature: Imagine that you have noticed that a number of children in your class are struggling in a particular area, for example, in arithmetic, languages, natural history, gymnastics, or eurythmy. How would you try to counteract such a calamity by giving special attention to human abilities if it occurs in early elementary school age? How would you also help through the other subjects?