Rudolf Steiner in the Waldorf School
GA 298
24 July 1920, Stuttgart
Address at the assembly at the end of the first school year
My dear children! Today, now that we are at the end of our first school year here in our dear Waldorf School, let us inscribe on our souls something of why we are actually in this school. What does it mean that our dear friend Herr Molt, together with Frau Molt, founded this Waldorf School for you, my dear children, and for humankind? What does it mean that you come here every morning in order to learn something good? What does it mean, above all, that there are people who are taking great pains to guide you into life so that you will grow up to be good and capable people?
You know, my dear children, that I have often come here during this school year, and in each class I always asked you a question, a question that comes straight from my heart. I often asked you, “Do you love your teachers?” [“Yes!” shout the children.] And you know, you always answered me as warmly as you just did today.
Now there will be weeks in which you do not see your teachers for a while, and so now I want to say something different to you. I hope your hearts will often answer this question during vacation. Now I would like to say to you, “Now that you are not going to see your teachers, learn to be grateful to them.” In the same way that you have learned, tried hard to learn to love your teachers, now learn to feel firmly in your heart that you are grateful to your teachers, so that when you ask yourselves, “Am I grateful to my teachers?” you can honestly and heartily say, “Yes, I am grateful.”
Now there is something else I want to say to you. You see, my dear children, here with us it should not happen that as Waldorf School students you say, “Hey, school is over now; it’s vacation. When we'e in school, we have to work hard and learn, but now we can be lazy. We don't have to do anything. We'e glad that we can be lazy.” You know that is not what we want to say. We should say something else; we should say, “Yes, it's a beautiful day. During the day we experience many beautiful things along with some that are sad and painful, but what would human beings be if they could not experience through their senses everything that divine spirituality has put into the world, everything that is so great and beautiful and true.”
But unless we can also sleep and rest, we cannot use our ears and eyes properly to hear and see all the beautiful things divine spirituality has put into the world. Think about how after enjoying the day, you have to rest at night, and then in the morning you are strengthened again. Your eyes see better and your ears hear better. If you had to stay awake all the time, you would surely not be able to enjoy and learn about life in all its truth and beauty the way divine spirituality made it.
This is also how it is in life as a whole. You should not think, “Now that it’s vacation we can be lazy;” you should think, “All of what we received from our dear teachers, everything that humankind has learned so that individuals can know it—we received all this, and now we need a little rest, so that when we have rested, we can go back into our classes and be fresher and more lively. In fact, we will each go into the next grade; with new forces we will once again take into our hearts what our teachers will give us through their love and hard work, what humanity has learned in service to humanity.” This is how we should think of it—that we are resting during the vacation to get strong again for the whole new school year.
Then, my dear children, I would like to tell you a little about what it means that this Waldorf School of ours exists, and what it means that we are here in this school. You see, the person you are going to grow up to be, this person has a physical body, a soul and a spirit. You each have a body, a soul, and a spirit. And when a person is very little and is born into the world, this body and soul and spirit are all very incomplete. In you, they are still incomplete, but they are supposed to become more complete. Here in the Waldorf School your body will be shaped to become skilled at everything a person has to do in life. Your teachers have worked hard at this on your behalf; you have been introduced to eurythmy, for example, which works to make your body very skillful in life, and many other things have been brought to you so that you will become people who are skillful and capable and strong in their bodies. When you are small, you are fairly clumsy. You have to become more skillful. It is the same with the soul which is in each one of you. But it has to be developed so that it can send out threads in all directions for life. This is like unwinding the strands from a tangled ball of yarn—the threads for your life have to be untangled from your soul. This is how the soul develops, and this happens for you so that you become good and capable with regard to your forces for life. Good strong forces for life have to be fetched up out of your souls. And your spirit—yes, my dear children, if we did not educate the spirit, we would not be human beings at all. The spirit must be educated so that we become very good and capable human beings.
Now you see, when a person has worked all day or when a child has played and learned well and then sleeps, sometimes dreams come to them from their sleep. Most of you have experienced dreams. Sometimes they are very beautiful dreams, sometimes ugly dreams. And now you are going to go rest during vacation. Then something will come to you that can be compared to a dream. You see, during vacation, when you think back to when you were in school, it may be that you think, “Oh, I had nice teachers, I learned a lot, I was glad to be able to go to school.” And when you think that, those are beautiful dreams during your vacation. And when you think, “Oh, I should have been less lazy; I didn' like to go to school,” and so forth, then you are having bad dreams during vacation. Think back often during this vacation to when you were in school; for example, think like this: “My thoughts are drawn back to the Waldorf School, where my body is shaped for skillful activity, where my soul is developed to be strong in life, where my spirit develops so that I can be truly human.” When you think often like this about how your body is being shaped, your soul developed and your spirit educated, you will send yourself a good dream for your time of rest, and then your vacation time will also contribute something to making you a good and capable person in life.
You know, when I came in today, one of your good little fellow students gave me something. Let’s see what it is. Look, this is what he gave me—a washcloth and a flower! Now I guess I must wash myself and dry my hands, and perhaps the flower is meant to say that your lessons are something that blooms as beautifully as this nice little white flower. [Rudolf Steiner holds up the washcloth.] And perhaps this could remind us that what we learn here is also something we can use to wash away everything in our souls that is incomplete, all bad thoughts and feelings that want to make us be lazy and not pay attention. I would like to give you each a little spiritual cloth so you can wash away all the laziness and lack of hard work and inattentiveness, and so on. So I am very glad that you have given me this little symbol and that I can show you how to use it to wash away a whole lot of what should not be in your souls.
And look at this little flower! You have learned many things here that you needed to learn, and what you learned is so many little flowers like this in your soul. Think about this when you remind yourselves that your thoughts are hurrying back to the Waldorf School where your bodies are trained to be skillful, your soul is developed to be strong for life, and your spirit unfolds so that you can be properly human—and think about how flowers like this are being cultivated in your soul day after day, and how grateful you should be for that. Everything in life can be of service to us and help us think about what is right. That, dear children, is what I wanted to say to you.
Think about each other, too! You have gotten to know each other and also, I hope, learned to love each other. Think about each other very, very often, and think about how good it was that you came together so that your teachers could help you grow into good and capable people. Don't think, “Now we can be lazy,” but think, “We need to rest, and when we have rested we will come back and be fresh and ready to receive what our dear teachers bring to us.”
And now, although you will not yet be able to understand it, I would like to say a few words in your presence to your dear teachers, who have now put all the diligent work of the Waldorf School behind them, and I would like to shake their hands. First of all, I would like to shake hands with Herr Molt and Frau Molt for having created this Waldorf School for us so that we can try to do something for humanity in its dire straits. My dear friends—as I said, I am speaking to the teachers, but you children can also hear it and can remember it later—the years behind us have been bitter ones for humanity, years in which people beat and bloodied and shot each other. There are still other bitter things in front of us, for the times still look very bad. But then the Waldorf teachers were the first to find the courage to appear here and to start to believe something that I am convinced that people today must start to believe above all else. The Waldorf teachers came here and said, “Yes, we have to work on the children so that when we are old, something will have happened to the children that can prevent unhappiness and bitterness of this sort from overcoming people.” This requires a certain courage and it requires hard work, but above all it requires something that awakens in human hearts the possibility of not sleeping, but of staying awake. That, dear Waldorf teachers, is why I want to shake your hands so warmly. If many people would wake up and look at the decision you have come to instead of sleeping through it, if what happens here would find successors, then you would realize that you were the first to work at something that is so very necessary for our future as human beings.
Dear children, when your teachers came into school each morning, they were people who clearly grasped the task of our times and devoted themselves diligently to what was required of them. And it was always a warm moment for me when I asked you, “Do you love your teachers?” and you so heartily answered, “Yes!” During the vacation I will also wonder whether you are grateful to your teachers. But you, dear Waldorf teachers, let me warmly shake your hands. I thank you in the name of the spirit of humanity which we are trying to cultivate throughout our spiritual movement. In this spirit, I shake your hands for everything you have accomplished on behalf of the future ideals of humanity. Today is the day for us to be able to remember these things, and it is the day when you children should feel how grateful you ought to be to these teachers of yours.
There is still something I would like to say today. Alongside everything we have learned here, which the individual teachers have demonstrated so beautifully, there is something else present, something that I would like to call the spirit of the Waldorf School. It is meant to lead us to true piety again. Basically, it is the spirit of Christianity that wafts through all our rooms, that comes from every teacher and goes out to every child, even when it seems that something very far from religion is being taught, such as arithmetic, for example. Here it is always the spirit of Christ that comes from the teacher and is to enter the hearts of the children—this spirit that is imbued with love, real human love. This is why I want you children to feel that not only have you learned something here, you have also gradually learned to feel what it is for one person to love another. And so now as you are going on vacation, I would like you to think of all your schoolmates with a warm-hearted “Until we meet again! Until we meet again, when we come back strengthened into these rooms, when we can once again work with our teachers on what will make us into good and capable people.”
You see, dear children, you must consider how life here in this school is connected to the whole of human life. When people get old, they are seventy or eighty years old. Life brings joy and sorrow, beauty and ugliness. When we get old, we are seventy or eighty, as I said. We can compare our life to a day with twenty-four hours. If this day represents our life, then a year that we spend in this day of life would be about twenty minutes long, and your eight years in primary school would be something like two to three hours out of your whole life. So the time that you spend in the Waldorf School makes up two or three hours out of your whole life. And when we go through the other twenty hours we have for living, for working, for becoming aware of the spirit, for doing things with other people so that something good can happen in the world—when we go through these hours, it can be a real comfort for our hearts, a real strength for our lives, if we are able to realize that the two or three hours of life we spent in primary school gave us something for our whole life, gave us strength and spirit and the ability to work.
Let us say this to ourselves, my dear children, now on this last day of our first school year in the Waldorf School, but during the vacation, let us remember something else again and again. I would like to write it in your souls so that it blooms there like this cute little flower, so that you think of it often: “Let my thoughts hurry back to my dear Waldorf School, where my body is trained to work and to do good, where my soul is developed to be strong for life, where my spirit is awakened to be truly good and human.” We want you all to become such good and capable people someday, when you are grown up and out there in life.
I wanted to speak to you from heart to heart today. I wanted to say this to you out of love, and I say it to you so that you can take note of it. Once again, think of your thoughts hurrying back to your dear Waldorf School, where your body is shaped to work capably in life, where your soul is developed for strength in life, where your spirit is awakened to true humanity. That is how it should be. And so now we will leave each other, and when we come back, we will go on as we have done before.
Afterwards you will receive your reports.1At the end of the school year, instead of receiving grades, the children received brief characterizations of their behavior and of how they worked. Whoever gets a good report should not take it as an indication that it is now all right to be lazy, and whoever gets a bad report need not immediately start to cry, but should think about trying harder next year.
Out of the spirit of the Waldorf School, shake your teachers’ hands and say to each other, “We will be back in fall to learn to do good work, to develop our souls to be strong for life, and to awaken our spirit to true humanity.”
And so, until we meet again!
Ansprache Bei Der Feier Zum Abschluss Des Ersten Schuljahres
Meine lieben Kinder! Heute, wo wir am Ende unseres ersten Schuljahres der lieben Waldorfschule stehen, wollen wir einiges uns in die Seele schreiben von demjenigen, warum wir eigentlich in dieser Waldorfschule sind, welches der ganze Sinn davon ist, daß unser lieber Herr Molt im Verein mit der lieben Frau Molt diese Waldorfschule für euch, meine lieben Kinder, und für die Menschheit gegründet haben, und welches der ganze Sinn davon ist, daß ihr jeden Morgen hierherkommt, etwas Tüchtiges lernen sollt, und daß ihr vor allen Dingen hier durch Menschen, die sich für euch unendliche Mühe geben, als tüchtige Menschen selber ins Leben eingeführt werden sollt.
Seht ihr, meine lieben Kinder, wenn ich öfters während dieses Schuljahres hierhergekommen bin, dann habe ich in den einzelnen Klassen, ihr wißt es, immer eine Frage gestellt an euch, eine Frage so recht aus dem Herzen heraus, ich habe euch gefragt oftmals: Liebt ihr eure Lehrer? [Ja! - rufen die Kinder.] Seht ihr, und ihr habt mir immer so herzhaft geantwortet wie eben heute.
Jetzt kommen Wochen, wo ihr eure Lehrer eine Weile nicht sehen werdet; jetzt möchte ich euch etwas anderes sagen. Und ich hoffe, eure Herzen werden oftmals gerade auf diese Frage während dieser Ferien antworten. Ich möchte euch sagen: Lernt jetzt gerade, wo ihr eure Lehrer nicht sehen werdet, gegen eure Lehrer dankbar sein. Wie ihr gelernt habt, wie ihr euch bemüht habt, zu lernen eure Lehrer zu lieben, so lernt jetzt recht fest in eurem Herzen euren Lehrern dankbar zu sein, damit, wenn ihr euch selber fragt: Bin ich meinen Lehrern dankbar? - ihr dann aufrichtig und herzhaft antworten könnt: Ja, ich bin dankbar.
Nun möchte ich euch noch etwas sagen. Seht ihr, meine lieben Kinder, es soll bei uns hier nicht so sein, daß man sich als Kind der Waldorfschule sagt: Na, jetzt ist die Schule aus, wir gehen in die Ferien. Wenn wir in der Schule sind, dann müssen wir fleißig sein, dann müssen wir lernen; aber jetzt dürfen wir einmal faulenzen, brauchen nichts zu tun. Wir freuen uns, daß wir faulenzen dürfen. - Seht ihr, so wollen wir bei uns nicht sagen. Wir sollen ganz anders sagen; wir sollen uns sagen: Ja, der Tag ist schön, am Tag erlebt man vieles recht Schönes neben manchem Traurigen und Schmerzhaften; aber was wäre der Mensch, wenn er nicht durch die Sinne alles dasjenige erleben könnte, was die göttliche Geistigkeit so Großes und Schönes und Wahres in die Welt hereingestellt hat.
Aber wir könnten nicht richtig alles das mit unseren Augen sehen und unseren Ohren hören, was die göttliche Geistigkeit so schön ins Leben hereingestellt hat, wenn wir nicht auch schlafen könnten, ruhen könnten. Bedenkt, ihr müßt, wenn ihr den Tag genossen habt, in der Nacht ausruhen, dann seid ihr am Morgen wiederum gestärkt. Eure Augen sehen besser und eure Ohren hören besser. Wenn ihr immer wachen müßtet, dann würdet ihr durchaus das Leben nicht in seiner ganzen Wahrheit und Schönheit, wie es die göttliche Geistigkeit gemacht hat, genießen und euch erarbeiten können.
So ist es auch im ganzen Leben. Ihr sollt nicht denken: Wir werden jetzt in den Ferien faul sein können -, sondern ihr sollt denken: wir haben alles dasjenige, was wir von unseren lieben Lehrern bekommen haben, was die Menschheit erarbeitet hat, damit die Menschen es wissen können, wir haben das empfangen, und wir brauchen jetzt ein wenig Ruhe, damit, wenn wir diese Ruhe gehabt haben, wir um so frischer und lebendiger wiederum kommen können in unsere Klassen, ein jeder sogar in eine höhere Klasse, und dann mit neuen Kräften dasjenige wiederum in unsere Herzen hinein empfangen können, was von unseren Lehrern in Liebe und harter Arbeit uns gegeben wird, was die Menschheit zum Dienst an der Menschheit sich erarbeitet hat. Also wir fassen das so auf, daß wir während dieser Ferienzeit gerade ausruhen, um wiederum kräftig zu werden für das ganze neue Schuljahr.
Dann, meine lieben Kinder, möchte ich euch ein wenig sprechen von dem ganzen Sinn dieser unserer Waldorfschule und dem Sinn unseres Daseins in dieser Schule. Seht ihr, der Mensch, zu dem ihr eigentlich erst so recht heranwachsen sollt, der Mensch hat einen leiblichen Körper, der Mensch hat eine Seele und hat einen Geist. Ihr alle habt Leib, Seele und Geist. Und alles das, was Leib, Seele und Geist ist, das kommt eigentlich, wenn der Mensch in die Welt hereinkommt, so ganz klein hereinkommt, recht unvollkommen heraus. Bei euch ist es auch noch recht unvollkommen. Es soll aber vollkommener werden. Hier in der Waldorfschule soll euer Leib gestaltet werden, damit er geschickt wird für alles, was der Mensch zu tun hat im Leben. Und eure Lehrer haben sich für euch bemüht, denkt nur, es ist euch zum Beispiel die Eurythmie herangebracht worden, die darauf hinarbeitet, daß der Körper recht geschickt wird im Leben, und manches andere ist an euch herangebracht worden, damit ihr an eurem Leibe geschickte, tüchtige, kraftvolle Menschen werdet. Wenn man klein ist, ist man ziemlich ungeschickt. Man muß erst geschickter werden. Ebenso ist es mit der Seele. Sie steckt in euch allen drinnen. Aber sie muß herausentwickelt werden, so daß sie überall hin Fäden spinnen kann nach dem Leben. Wie bei einem Knäuelchen, wie man da die Fäden herauswickelt, so müssen aus der Seele die Fäden fürs Leben herausgewunden werden. So wird die Seele entwickelt, und das geschieht für euch, damit ihr tüchtig werdet in bezug auf die Lebenskräfte. Aus eurer Seele sollen tüchtige Lebenskräfte herausgeholt werden. Und euer Geist - ja, meine lieben Kinder, wenn wir diesen nicht schulen, nicht unterrichten würden, dann wären wir überhaupt keine Menschen. Der Geist muß unterrichtet werden, damit wir ganz tüchtige Menschen werden.
Nun seht ihr, wenn der Mensch den Tag über gearbeitet hat, wenn das Kind gespielt und brav gelernt hat und dann schläft, dann kommen manchmal aus dem Schlafe heraus Träume — die meisten von euch werden ja schon geträumt haben. Das sind manchmal sehr schöne Träume, manchmal auch häßliche Träume. Und jetzt werdet ihr zur Ruhe gehen in den Ferien. Da soll auch so etwas kommen, was man mit den Träumen vergleichen kann. Seht ihr, wenn ihr da während der Ferienzeit an die Schule zurückdenkt, dann kann es sein, daß ihr denkt: Ach, ich habe liebe Lehrer gehabt, habe schön gelernt, habe mich gefreut, wenn ich in die Schule gehen durfte. Und seht ihr, wenn ihr das denkt, dann habt ihr schöne Träume während der Ferien. Und wenn ihr denkt: Ach, ich hätte eigentlich weniger faul sein sollen, ich bin nicht gerne zur Schule gegangen - und so weiter, dann habt ihr schlechte Träume während der Ferien. Deshalb denkt oftmals während dieser Ferienzeit an diese Schule zurück und denkt zum Beispiel: Zur Waldorfschule ziehen meine Gedanken. Dort wird mein Körper gestaltet zu geschickter Tätigkeit, dort wird meine Seele entwickelt zu tüchtiger Lebenskraft, dort wird mein Geist entwickelt zu rechtem Menschentum. — Wenn ihr dieses öfters denkt, wie euer Leib gestaltet, eure Seele entwickelt, euer Geist herangebildet wird, dann werdet ihr einen guten Traum hineinschicken in eure Ruhe, und dann wird auch die Ferienzeit etwas dazu beitragen, daß ihr tüchtige Menschen im Leben werdet.
Seht ihr, wie ich heute hereingekommen bin, hat mir euer lieber Mitschüler, der kleine, gute Häfele, etwas gegeben: wir wollen schauen, was es ist. Seht ihr, das ist mir gegeben worden - ein Waschlappen und Blümchen! Nun, ich denke mir, daß ich mich waschen und mir die Hände abtrocknen soll, und daß die Blümchen vielleicht ausdrücken sollen, daß Unterricht so etwas ist, was so schön blüht wie diese netten kleinen, weißen Blümchen. [R. Steiner zeigt den Waschlappen]: Das könnte uns daran erinnern, daß das, was wir hier lernen, auch etwas ist, womit wir in der Seele alles dasjenige wegwaschen können, was unvollkommen ist, was schlechte Gedanken und Empfindungen sind, was uns zur Faulheit, zum Unfleiß, zur Unaufmerksamkeit anspornt. Jedem möchte ich so einen geistigen Lappen in die Hand geben, damit er wegwasche, was Faulheit, Unfleiß, Unaufmerksamkeit und so weiter ist. Ich bin daher recht dankbar, daß ihr mir dieses Symbölchen gegeben habt und ich euch zeigen kann, wie wir es halten wollen, also: Recht viel wegwaschen von dem, was nicht drinnen sein soll in der Seele. - Seht einmal diese Blümchen! Ihr habt doch mannigfaltiges hier gelernt, und das ist notwendig gewesen für euch; denn was ihr gelernt habt, sind lauter solche Blümchen in eurer Seele. Denkt daran, wenn ihr euch sagt: Meine Gedanken eilen zurück zur Waldorfschule hin, dort wird mein Körper ausgebildet zur Geschicklichkeit, meine Seele entwickelt zu starker Lebenskraft und mein Geist entfaltet zu tüchtigem Menschentum — denkt daran, wie in eurer Seele Tag für Tag solche Blümchen gepflegt worden sind und wie ihr dankbar dafür sein sollt. Alles, was im Leben ist, kann uns dienen, damit wir so über das Rechte nachdenken. Das, liebe Kinder, wollte ich euch sagen.
Denkt auch aneinander! Ihr habt euch kennen und hoffentlich auch lieben gelernt. Denkt oft, recht oft aneinander und denkt, daß es gut war, daß ihr zusammengekommen seid, damit ihr von euren Lehrern zu tüchtigen Menschen gemacht werdet. Denkt nicht: Wir dürfen jetzt faul sein, sondern denkt: Ruhe ist uns notwendig, und nach der Ruhe werden wir wiederum hierher kommen und dann mit Frische das entgegennehmen, was uns unsere lieben Lehrer entgegenbringen.
Und jetzt möchte ich in eurer Gegenwart, damit ihr es hört, obwohl ihr es noch nicht verstehen könnt, ein paar Worte auch an eure lieben Lehrer richten, die hinter sich die ganze fleißige Arbeit der Waldorfschule haben, ich möchte ihnen die Hände drücken. Ich möchte zunächst die Hände drücken Herrn und Frau Molt dafür, daß sie uns diese Waldorfschule geschaffen haben, daß wir versuchen können, für die so geplagte Menschheit etwas zu tun. Meine Lieben - wie gesagt, ich rede zu den Lehrern, aber ihr, liebe Kinder, könnt es hören und könnt euch später daran erinnern -, wir haben bittere Jahre der Menschheit hinter uns, Jahre, in denen sich die Menschen blutig geschlagen und geschossen haben. Wir haben noch manches Bittere vor uns; denn es sieht noch sehr schlecht aus. Da waren es die Waldorflehrer, welche zuerst den Mut gefunden haben, hier zu erscheinen und dasjenige in ihren Glauben aufzunehmen, wovon ich überzeugt bin, daß es vor allen Dingen heute in den Glauben der Menschen aufgenommen werden muß; da sind die Waldorfschullehrer herangekommen und haben gesagt: Ja, es muß an den Kindern gearbeitet werden, damit, wenn wir alte Leute sind, durch unsere Arbeit das an den Kindern geschehen ist, was verhindern kann jenes Unglück und jene Bitterkeit, die über die Menschen gekommen sind. — Es gehört ein gewisser Mut und Arbeitsfleiß dazu; aber es gehört vor allen Dingen das dazu - und deshalb möchte ich Euch, meine lieben Waldorfschullehrer, so herzlich die Hand drücken -, was im Menschenherzen die Möglichkeit hervorruft, nicht zu schlafen, sondern zu wachen. Würde das, was von Euch da als Entschluß gefaßt worden ist, heute von vielen Menschen nicht verschlafen, sondern wachend angeschaut, würde das, was hier geschieht, Nachfolge finden, dann würdet Ihr Euch sagen können: wir haben als die ersten mitgearbeitet an dem, was für die Zukunft der Menschen so notwendig ist.
Meine lieben Kinder, wenn die Lehrer des Morgens in die Schule hereingegangen sind, so waren sie solche Leute, welche die Aufgabe der Zeit wirklich begriffen haben und in fleißiger Hingabe sich dem gewidmet haben, was von ihnen verlangt worden ist. Und es war mir immer eine herzliche Angelegenheit, wenn ich euch gefragt habe: Liebt ihr eure Lehrer? - und ihr so herzhaft ja gesagt habt, und ich werde auch in den Ferien mich fragen: Sind die Kinder dankbar gegen ihre Lehrer? - Euch aber, Ihr lieben Waldorfschullehrer, drücke ich herzlich die Hand. Ich danke Euch im Namen des Geistes der Menschheit, den wir versuchen zu pflegen in unserer ganzen geistigen Bewegung; ich drücke Euch in diesem Geiste die Hand für alles dasjenige, was Ihr geleistet habt für die Zukunftsideale der Menschheit. Es ist heute der Tag, wo wir uns an diese Dinge erinnern können, und es ist der Tag, wo ihr Kinder fühlen sollt, wie ihr dankbar sein sollt diesen euren Lehrern.
Noch etwas möchte ich heute sagen. Neben demjenigen, was wir hier gelernt haben - das haben ja die einzelnen Lehrer so schön schon hervorgehoben -, neben dem, was wir so vieles gelernt haben, liegt noch etwas anderes. Das ist dasjenige, was ich nennen möchte: Der Geist der Waldorfschule! Er soll wieder zur echten Frömmigkeit ausbilden. Es ist im Grunde genommen der Geist des Christentums, der durch unsere Räume weht, der, von jedem Lehrer ausgehend, zu jedem Kinde hingeht, auch wenn etwas scheinbar von der Religion Fernstehendes gelehrt wird, wie zum Beispiel Rechnen. Hier ist es immer der Geist des Christus, der, von dem Lehrer ausgehend, in die Herzen der Kinder einziehen soll, dieser Geist, der von Liebe, von wahrer Menschenliebe durchweht ist. Darum möchte ich, daß ihr Kinder empfindet, wie ihr nicht nur erwas gelernt habt, sondern auch nach und nach hier empfinden gelernt habt, was die Liebe des einen zum anderen ist. Und so möchte ich, daß, wenn ihr jetzt in die Ferien geht, ihr daran denkt: allen Mitschülern gegenüber empfinde ich im Herzen das eine Wort: Auf herzliches Wiedersehen! Denkt aneinander mit diesem schönen Wort: Auf herzliches Wiedersehen dann, wenn wir gestärkt wiederum hier hereinkommen in diese Räume, wenn wir wiederum mit unseren Lehrern zusammenarbeiten können an dem, daß wir tüchtige Menschen werden.
Seht, liebe Kinder, ihr müßt beachten, wie dieses Schulleben zusammenhängt mit dem ganzen Menschenleben. Wenn der Mensch alt wird, wird er siebzig, achtzig Jahre alt. Das Leben bringt Glück und Unglück, Schönes und Häßliches. Wenn wir alt werden, werden wir, wie gesagt, siebzig, achtzig Jahre alt. Man kann das Leben vergleichen mit einem Tag zu vierundzwanzig Stunden. Wenn uns der Tag das Leben versinnlichen würde, dann wäre ein Jahr, das wir zubringen in diesem Tag des Lebens, etwa zwanzig Minuten, und eure achtjährige Volksschulzeit wäre etwa so etwas wie zwei bis drei Stunden im ganzen Leben. So ist die Lebenszeit, die ihr in der Waldorfschule zubringt, so etwas wie zwei bis drei Stunden aus dem ganzen Leben. Und wenn wir die übrigen zwanzig Stunden, die wir zu leben haben, wo wir zu arbeiten haben, wo wir unter den anderen Menschen wirken sollen, damit Tüchtiges in der Welt geschehe, wo wir uns des Geistes bewußt werden sollen, wenn wir dieses andere durchleben, dann ist es für uns ein richtiger Herzenstrost, eine richtige Lebenskraft, wenn wir uns sagen können: Ja, die zwei bis drei Lebensstunden, die wir in der Volksschule verbracht haben, die haben uns etwas gegeben von Kraft und Geist und Arbeitstüchtigkeit für das ganze Leben.
Das, meine lieben Kinder, wollen wir uns gerade jetzt am letzten Tage unseres ersten Schuljahres an der Waldorfschule sagen, wollen uns aber während der Ferien immer wiederum daran erinnern - ich möchte es in eure Seelen schreiben, so in eure Seelen schreiben, daß es blüht darinnen wie diese lieben Blümchen hier, damit ihr es oft und oft denkt: Meine Gedanken sollen hineilen zu der lieben Waldorfschule; dort wird mein Körper gestaltet zu rechter Tüchtigkeit und Arbeit, dort wird meine Seele entwickelt zu starker Lebenskraft, dort wird mein Geist erweckt zu wahrem, tüchtigem Menschentum. - Solche tüchtige Menschen möchten wir einmal aus euch allen haben, wenn ihr draußen stehen werdet im Leben und groß sein werdet.
Heute wollte ich, daß dies mein Herz zu eurem Herzen spricht. Ich möchte es in Liebe zu euch gesprochen haben, und ich sage es euch, damit ihr es euch merken könnt. Noch einmal, denkt daran: Meine Gedanken sollen hineilen zu der lieben Waldorfschule. Dort wird mein Körper gestaltet zu tüchtiger Lebensarbeit, dort wird meine Seele entwickelt zu starker Lebenskraft, dort wird mein Geist erweckt zu wirklichem echtem Menschentum. So soll es sein. - So wollen wir auseinandergehen, und wenn wir wiederkommen, dann wollen wir es weiter so halten, wie wir es gehalten haben.
Nachher bekommt ihr das Zeugnis; wer ein gutes Zeugnis bekommt, soll es nicht etwa als ein Anweisung zum Faulenzen betrachten, und wer ein schlechteres Zeugnis hat, braucht nicht gleich zu weinen, sondern soll denken: Ich werde mich im nächsten Jahre noch besser anstrengen.
Aus dem Geist der Waldorfschule sagt ihr euch heute und drückt den Lehrern die Hand, sagend: Wir wollen uns finden wiederum im Herbst, zu lernen Tüchtigkeit zur Arbeit, zu entwickeln die Seele zu starker Lebenskraft und aufzuwecken den Geist zu rechtem Menschentum.
So auf Wiedersehen!
Speech at the ceremony marking the end of the first school year
My dear children! Today, as we come to the end of our first school year at our beloved Waldorf School, let us take a moment to reflect on why we are here at this Waldorf School, what the whole purpose of it is, why our dear Mr. Molt, together with his lovely wife, founded this Waldorf School for you, my dear children, and for humanity, and what the whole point is of you coming here every morning to learn something useful, and that above all, through people who make endless efforts for you, you yourselves should be introduced into life as capable human beings.
You see, my dear children, when I have come here often during this school year, I have always asked you a question in the individual classes, a question that comes straight from the heart. I have often asked you: Do you love your teachers? [Yes! – the children shout.] You see, and you have always answered me as heartily as you have today.
Now there are weeks coming when you will not see your teachers for a while; now I would like to tell you something else. And I hope that your hearts will often answer this very question during these holidays. I would like to tell you: now that you will not be seeing your teachers, learn to be grateful to them. Just as you have learned, just as you have tried to learn to love your teachers, now learn to be grateful to your teachers in your hearts, so that when you ask yourselves: Am I grateful to my teachers? – you can answer sincerely and heartily: Yes, I am grateful.
Now I would like to tell you something else. You see, my dear children, it should not be the case here that as children of the Waldorf School you say to yourselves: Well, now school is out, we are going on vacation. When we are at school, we have to be diligent, we have to learn; but now we can laze around, we don't have to do anything. We are happy that we can laze around. You see, that's not what we want to say. We should say something completely different; we should say to ourselves: Yes, the day is beautiful, during the day we experience many beautiful things alongside some sad and painful ones; but what would human beings be if they could not experience through their senses all that divine spirituality has brought into the world that is so great and beautiful and true?
But we would not be able to see with our eyes and hear with our ears all that divine spirituality has brought so beautifully into life if we could not also sleep and rest. Consider that after enjoying the day, you must rest at night, so that you are refreshed in the morning. Your eyes see better and your ears hear better. If you always had to be awake, you would certainly not be able to enjoy and work for life in all its truth and beauty, as divine spirituality has made it.
It is the same in life as a whole. You should not think: Now we will be able to be lazy during the holidays – but you should think: we have everything that we have received from our dear teachers, everything that humanity has worked out so that people can know it, we have received this, and now we need a little rest so that, when we have had this rest, we can return to our classes refreshed and revitalized, each of us even to a higher class, and then, with renewed strength, receive into our hearts what our teachers have given us with love and hard work, what humanity has worked out for the service of humanity. So we understand this to mean that during this holiday season we are resting in order to regain our strength for the whole new school year.
Then, my dear children, I would like to talk to you a little about the whole meaning of our Waldorf school and the meaning of our existence in this school. You see, the human being that you are actually supposed to grow up to be has a physical body, a soul, and a spirit. You all have a body, soul, and spirit. And everything that is body, soul, and spirit actually comes out quite imperfectly when a human being enters the world, enters it so small. It is still quite imperfect in you. But it should become more perfect. Here in the Waldorf school, your body should be shaped so that it becomes skilled for everything that a human being has to do in life. And your teachers have made an effort for you. Just think, for example, eurythmy has been introduced to you, which works towards making the body quite skilled in life, and many other things have been introduced to you so that you may become skilled, capable, powerful human beings in your bodies. When you are small, you are quite clumsy. You must first become more skilled. It is the same with the soul. It is inside all of you. But it must be developed so that it can spin threads everywhere in life. Just as with a ball of yarn, where you unwind the threads, so the threads for life must be unwound from the soul. This is how the soul is developed, and this is done for you so that you become capable in terms of your life forces. Efficient life forces must be drawn out of your soul. And your spirit – yes, my dear children, if we did not train it, did not teach it, then we would not be human beings at all. The spirit must be taught so that we become completely efficient human beings.
Now you see, when a person has worked all day, when a child has played and studied well and then goes to sleep, dreams sometimes come from sleep — most of you will have already had dreams. Sometimes these are very beautiful dreams, sometimes they are ugly dreams. And now you are going to rest during the holidays. Something similar to dreams should also come. You see, when you think back to school during the vacation, you may think: Oh, I had lovely teachers, I enjoyed learning, I was happy when I was allowed to go to school. And you see, when you think that, you will have beautiful dreams during the vacation. And if you think: Oh, I should have been less lazy, I didn't like going to school – and so on, then you will have bad dreams during the holidays. Therefore, think back often to this school during the holiday season and think, for example: My thoughts turn to the Waldorf School. There my body is shaped into skillful activity, there my soul is developed into capable vitality, there my spirit is developed into true humanity. — If you think often about how your body is being shaped, your soul developed, your spirit educated, then you will send a good dream into your rest, and then the holiday season will also contribute to your becoming capable people in life.
See how I came in today, your dear classmate, little, good Häfele, gave me something: let's see what it is. You see, this is what was given to me—a washcloth and flowers! Well, I think that I should wash myself and dry my hands, and that the flowers perhaps express that teaching is something that blooms as beautifully as these lovely little white flowers. [R. Steiner shows the washcloth]: This could remind us that what we learn here is also something with which we can wash away everything in our souls that is imperfect, that are bad thoughts and feelings, that spur us on to laziness, to sloth, to inattention. I would like to give everyone such a spiritual washcloth so that they can wash away laziness, sloth, inattention, and so on. I am therefore very grateful that you have given me this little symbol and that I can show you how we want to use it, namely, to wash away much of what should not be in the soul. Look at these little flowers! You have learned many things here, and that has been necessary for you; for what you have learned are all such little flowers in your soul. Remember this when you say to yourselves: My thoughts rush back to the Waldorf school, where my body is trained to be skilled, my soul develops a strong vitality, and my spirit unfolds into capable humanity — remember how such little flowers have been nurtured in your soul day after day and how grateful you should be for this. Everything in life can serve us so that we think about what is right. That, dear children, is what I wanted to tell you.
Think of each other too! You have gotten to know each other and, hopefully, have also learned to love each other. Think of each other often, very often, and think that it was good that you came together so that your teachers could make you capable human beings. Do not think: We can be lazy now, but think: Rest is necessary for us, and after the rest we will come back here and then receive with freshness what our dear teachers offer us.
And now, in your presence, so that you can hear it, even though you cannot yet understand it, I would like to say a few words to your dear teachers, who have all the hard work of the Waldorf School behind them. I would like to shake their hands. First, I would like to shake the hands of Mr. and Mrs. Molt for creating this Waldorf School for us, so that we can try to do something for humanity, which has been so afflicted. My dear ones—as I said, I am speaking to the teachers, but you, dear children, can hear it and remember it later—we have bitter years of humanity behind us, years in which people fought and shot each other bloody. We still have many bitter things ahead of us, for the situation still looks very bad. It was the Waldorf teachers who first found the courage to appear here and to take into their faith what I am convinced must be taken into the faith of human beings today above all else; the Waldorf school teachers came forward and said: Yes, we must work with the children so that when we are old, our work with them will have prevented the misfortune and bitterness that has come upon people. — It takes a certain amount of courage and diligence, but above all it takes — and that is why I would like to shake your hands so warmly, my dear Waldorf school teachers — what awakens in the human heart the possibility of not sleeping, but of waking up. If what you have decided upon were not overlooked by many people today, but were viewed with alertness, if what is happening here were to be followed, then you could say to yourselves: we were the first to work on what is so necessary for the future of humanity.
My dear children, when the teachers entered the school in the morning, they were people who truly understood the task of the time and devoted themselves diligently to what was required of them. And it was always a heartfelt matter for me when I asked you: Do you love your teachers? – and you said yes so heartily, and I will also ask myself during the holidays: Are the children grateful to their teachers? – But to you, dear Waldorf school teachers, I shake your hands warmly. I thank you in the name of the spirit of humanity, which we try to cultivate in our entire spiritual movement; in this spirit, I shake your hands for all that you have done for the future ideals of humanity. Today is the day when we can remember these things, and it is the day when you children should feel how grateful you should be to your teachers.
There is something else I would like to say today. In addition to what we have learned here – which the individual teachers have already emphasized so beautifully – in addition to what we have learned so much, there is something else. That is what I would like to call: the spirit of the Waldorf school! It should train us again in genuine piety. It is basically the spirit of Christianity that blows through our rooms, that goes out from each teacher to each child, even when something seemingly unrelated to religion is being taught, such as arithmetic. Here it is always the spirit of Christ that, emanating from the teacher, should enter the hearts of the children, this spirit that is imbued with love, with true human love. That is why I want you children to feel that you have not only learned something, but also gradually learned here what love for one another is. And so I would like you, as you now go on vacation, to remember this: I feel one thing in my heart toward all my classmates: See you again soon! Think of each other with these beautiful words: See you again soon, when we return here to these rooms, strengthened, when we can work together again with our teachers to become capable human beings.
See, dear children, you must note how this school life is connected with the whole of human life. When a person grows old, they reach the age of seventy or eighty. Life brings happiness and misfortune, beauty and ugliness. When we grow old, as I said, we reach the age of seventy or eighty. Life can be compared to a day of twenty-four hours. If the day were to symbolize our life, then a year that we spend in this day of life would be about twenty minutes, and your eight years of elementary school would be something like two to three hours in your whole life. So the time you spend in Waldorf school is something like two to three hours of your whole life. And when we live through the remaining twenty hours, when we have to work, when we have to interact with other people so that good things happen in the world, when we have to become aware of the spirit, then it is a real comfort to our hearts, a real source of vitality, when we can say to ourselves: Yes, the two to three hours of life we spent in elementary school gave us something of strength and spirit and ability to work for our whole lives.
That, my dear children, is what we want to say to ourselves right now on the last day of our first school year at the Waldorf School, but we want to remember it again and again during the holidays – I want to write it in your souls, write it in your souls so that it blossoms there like these lovely little flowers here, so that you think it often and often: My thoughts shall rush to the dear Waldorf School; there my body will be shaped to true efficiency and work, there my soul will be developed to strong vitality, there my spirit will be awakened to true, capable humanity. We want you all to become such capable people when you stand outside in life and grow up.
Today I wanted my heart to speak to your hearts. I want to say this to you with love, and I say it so that you can remember it. Once again, remember: my thoughts should rush to the dear Waldorf School. There my body is shaped into capable life work, there my soul is developed into strong vitality, there my spirit is awakened to true, genuine humanity. So it shall be. - So let us part, and when we return, let us continue as we have been doing.
Afterwards, you will receive your report cards; those who receive good report cards should not regard them as an invitation to be lazy, and those who receive poorer report cards should not immediately start crying, but should think: I will try even harder next year.
In the spirit of the Waldorf School, you say to yourselves today and shake hands with the teachers, saying: We want to meet again in the fall to learn diligence in work, to develop the soul into a strong life force, and to awaken the spirit to true humanity.
So goodbye!