Rudolf Steiner in the Waldorf School
GA 298
26 December 1921, Stuttgart
Address at the foundation-stone laying of the Waldorf School’s new building
To you, my dear friend Emil Molt,1A night bombing in 1943 damaged this building extensively, filling in but not completely destroying the first floor, which served as the basis for the school’s reconstruction in 1945. The foundation stone containing the verse was well protected under the main entry. The original building, which had been acquired and remodeled by Emil Molt, was not damaged.who first conceived the idea of this school, founded it, and have been involved with it ever since its founding; to you, dear Herr Weippert, who have placed your architectural skills in the service of this building; to you, my dear friends on the faculty, who decided at the very beginning to devote yourselves to working here in this school; to all of you from the Waldorf School Association and the Board of Directors of the Kommenden Tag2Magazine, The Coming Day. who have pledged your care, collaboration and guidance to this place which is dedicated to the salvation of humanity; to you members of the Bund fiir Dreigliederung des sozialen Organismus [Association for Social Threefolding] who have accepted the task of protecting the seed of a free spiritual life here in this school; and to you, my dear children, pupils of this school, who have been privileged to enjoy its first lessons and its education toward humanity, so to speak; to all of you I turn in this moment when, with hearts that are grateful to destiny, we gather to lay the foundation stone for this school building that has come about, through the concern of all involved, for our children and the student body. In laying this foundation stone, we send with it these words, which according to age-old custom are inscribed on the document that will be buried in it:
May there prevail in young human beings
what spirit power can furnish in love,
May there work in them
what spirit light can furnish in goodness,
Out of certainty of heart
and firmness of soul
For the body’s ability to work,
For the soul’s inwardness,
For the spirit’s brightness.
To this end let this place be dedicated.
May young sensibilities find here
a human caring endowed with strength,
devoted to light.
Those who place this stone
Are mindful in their hearts
Of the spirit that is to prevail here,
That this spirit may secure the foundation on which
liberating wisdom,
strengthening spirit power,
and the manifest spiritual life
Shall live, reign, and work.
To this there would bear witness
in Christ’s name,
in pure intent,
and in good will:3No copy exists of the version of the verse that was sealed up in the foundation stone. It is reproduced here according to the stenographic record of what Rudolf Steiner read at the ceremony. An apparently earlier version, different in minor details, has been found in a notebook of Rudolf Steiner’s. See Wahrspruchworte—Richtspruchworte, second edition, Dornach, 1953. [Translator’s note: Neither version is included in Arvia MacKaye Ege’s translation of selections from the Wakrspruchworte, ( Truth-Wiought-Words).]
(signatures of Emil Molt, Herr Weippert, Rudolf Steiner, Marie Steiner, and members of the faculty, the Waldorf School Association, the Board of Directors of the Kommenden Tag, and Association for Social Threefolding.)
We place this document in the pentagonal dodecahedron, which is the symbol of the active power of the human heart and spirit, of the power that we will apply with all our strength to what is to come about in this school. Let us now place the pentagonal dodecahedron with this document into the ground.
My dear friends, dear children, dear students of the Independent Waldorf School!
The Waldorf School was born out of the spirit of our times into a time of great trouble. A great misfortune broke in on humanity in the form of a terrible, catastrophic war, and after this catastrophe had subsided outwardly, it brought on times in which we had to consider how to begin to prepare a future for humanity in which forces of further evolution, of progress, of ascent out of great need and out of humanity’s decline, could be nurtured. The school is among the things that can be most effective in carrying the forces of the present—which may in fact be able to do little good at present—over into a future in which they will be able to have a greater effect. And in these difficult times, when humanity had to turn to such thoughts of the future above all else, the idea came to our dear friend Emil Molt to take the initiative to let the Waldorf School come about. Today, on the day when this building that will expand the Waldorf School receives its foundation stone, let us recall this fruitful idea most heartily and most thankfully. At the time when our friend Emil Molt set about founding this school and conceived this idea, such an idea encompassed all the great issues of the present. There will come a time when it may be possible to see the founding of this school in a more objective light than is possible at the present moment with all the incredibly complicated and confusing circumstances that are still confounding humanity and preventing it from seeing in all clarity that such a place for young people, which proceeds from an independent cultural life, is above all else an absolute necessity for our times. That Emil Molt was able to conceive this idea out of his feeling for these great issues of our times will never be forgotten and will always be given due recognition wherever people have any understanding of such needs of humanity and of the great impulses of human evolution in general.
In order to inscribe it on your hearts, dear children, dear students, I must also recall the people who have decided to form this school’s first faculty. You, dear children, who were the first to enjoy being taught in this school, should inscribe this on your hearts and souls: In the face of the immense great tasks that human beings have been given with regard to education for the sake of our human future and goals, becoming a teacher in this school was a great and significant decision. We must keep in mind, however, that for now the school has gained the confidence of people in the widest circles, we might even say throughout the world. If you look at what is happening, you know that there are human souls all over the world who not only know that there is a Waldorf school in Stuttgart, but are also actively interested in the question of what we are trying to accomplish with something like this. You, my dear children, should be mindful that you are the first to be taught in a school that is being looked at by people all over the world, and for good reason. Above all, you and all the rest of us should be aware with sincere gratitude that a momentous decision was needed to bring about this school’s faculty, which is the first to subject itself to such world-wide scrutiny. But this body of teachers is also imbued with the idea and the impulses from which this school took its start. These teachers know that they are working, although within a limited context, for something that ultimately concerns human evolution as a whole. They have demonstrated their ability to apply their full strength, to continue to apply their full strength, for the sake of what must happen for this school as a result of this attitude and these impulses. We have already seen many flowers as this school unfolds. This will not be forgotten by those who have dedicated themselves to cultivating what is meant to be nurtured here in this school in an all-encompassing sense. And when, as I have often done, I ask you children who are to be educated here in this school if you love your teachers, and you answer in the affirmative, then the whole relationship between students and faculty tells me that you are in the process of allowing this spirit to gradually enter the school.
Now I am going to ask you once again, so that you can answer from your hearts, how it stands with your relationship to your teachers. Once again, dear students, dear boys and girls, I am going to ask you, “Do you love your teachers, and are you grateful for what they are doing?” If so, then say “Yes!” [“Yes!” shout all the children.]
Dear students, dear boys and girls, this is what you should always feel. If you do, then the right spirit will be present in the school. Only in the light of this spirit can we bring about what must happen here.
This school, whose foundation-stone laying we are celebrating today, must also consider a second thing. In a certain respect, the school stands here as an example of how children should be taught today. As a single school, however, it cannot be more than a model. People look at this model in the way I described before. When I was in Norway giving lectures a short time ago, I could see that even at this distance there were numerous people who were watching this school and intimately participating in it. What has been founded here is seen as a model school. What is still lacking, however, is the more widespread insight that founding a model school is not enough. It is not enough unless an insight into the necessity of founding such schools spreads throughout the whole world. It is not enough unless hundreds and hundreds of people join together in an international school association to found schools like this everywhere. Otherwise, the most that can happen will be that this small student body will carry out into the world what humanity needs to see fostered for the sake of its evolution.4In the summer of 1920 Rudolf Steiner assumed that the founding of an International School Association was imminent. This Association was to awaken a feeling for independent spiritual life in the broadest possible circles and to create as quickly as possible the means for establishing schools independent of the state, wherever this was still possible under national laws. When people later set out to make the Association a reality, Rudolf Steiner said that the time in which an independent spiritual life could have been initiated was over.
However, we have not yet been able to find this second thing out there in the world. My dear friends, if we were in a position to found schools modeled on the Waldorf School in many places, if we were to receive the means to do so out of a clear blue sky, these schools would be filled all over the world. Not one of these schools, paid for with money from out of the blue, would stand empty. But what is lacking in the world today is the sense for social sacrifice. The impulse is strong enough to want to found schools like this everywhere, but it does not manage to move from outwardly acknowledging an idea that is necessary for our times in the strongest sense of the word, to actually summoning the will to accomplish what these times require. And the idea of the Waldorf School will not accomplish its task until this impulse is fulfilled in the world.
To accomplish this task requires many people who approach it with understanding. If it were possible for us today—we can only do it through thoughts—to establish inwardly as well as outwardly through this deep inner foundation we are laying in burying the foundation stone for this school building, to lay a foundation stone in the hearts of many people as a seed of what we hold necessary for humanity’s evolution and ultimate goal, then a lot would have been done.
Dear boys and girls of the Waldorf School, I speak to you all out of a heart and soul that are inwardly moved, so that in this solemn moment we can direct the forces in our hearts to what has just been described as necessary for humanity, to what has been indicated in the idea of the Waldorf School. When what is meant to live in human hearts actually is alive in them, they do possess a certain strength.
My dear friends, dear children, dear boys and girls of the Waldorf School! When people in ancient times prepared to lay the foundation for a building, they buried something living in the earth along with the document which stated the goal and purpose of the building and the names of those involved in its construction. This idea became more and more spiritualized. Today we exercise our sacred freedom in burying in the earth a symbol of the spirit, the pentagon dodecahedron that contains our promise, given in the name of Christ out of our pure intentions and our active working strength—however we may apply it. Today we place this symbol in the earth like a seed, having directed toward it the most beautiful thoughts of which we are capable.
And just as the forces of the world bring forth a living tree from a seed buried in the earth, let there come forth from what we have buried in the earth—steeped in our heartfelt wishes that the reason for this building’s construction may flourish, steeped in our inmost hopes and expectations for the future—let the flower of what we have buried in the earth, of the thoughts and feelings and impulses of will whose symbol is our foundation stone, be what we must again and again call the goal and impulse of the Waldorf School—that it may be a place in which to nurture everything humanity needs for new moments in its progress, its civilization and its culture. May this flower spring up from the spiritually living seed that we are burying in the earth today.
You, dear children, dear boys and girls of the Waldorf School, are to be the first to unite your feeling and good will and good intentions with what has been said to you on this festive occasion. It is the true foundation stone of the Waldorf School, of what is meant to grow and bloom here on this site and to evolve on behalf of the well-being and goal of humanity.
Ansprache Bei Der Grundsteinlegung Für Das Neue Haus Der Waldorfschule
Mein lieber Freund Molt, der Sie den ersten Gedanken zu dieser Schule als Begründer gefaßt haben und ihr seit ihrer Begründung auch Ihre Mitwirkung zugewendet haben, sehr verehrter Herr Weippert, der Sie Ihre baumeisterliche Kraft in den Dienst des Schulbaues gestellt haben, meine lieben Freunde von der Lehrerschaft, die Sie sich entschlossen haben, hier an dieser Schule, an ihrem Ausgangspunkte, in hingebungsvoller Weise zu wirken, Sie alle, von dem Waldorfschul-Verein, vom Aufsichtsrat und dem Direktorium des Kommenden Tages, die Sie Ihre Sorgfalt und Mitwirkung und Überschau widmen dieser der Menschheit Heil gewidmeten Stätte, und auch diejenigen, welche vom Bund für Dreigliederung des sozialen Organismus sich die Aufgabe gestellt haben, den Keim für ein freies Geistesleben in dieser Schule hier zu beschützen, und ihr, meine lieben Kinder, Schüler und Schülerinnen dieser Schule, die ihr den ersten Unterricht gewissermaßen und die erste Menschenerziehung hier in dieser Schule genießen dürft: an Euch alle wende ich mich in diesem Augenblick, wo es gilt, daß wir mit dem Schicksal dankbarem Herzen den Grundstein zu legen haben für den Schulbau, der durch die Sorgfalt aller beteiligten Kreise für unsere Kinder und die Schülerschaft hier zustande gekommen ist. Da wir diesen Grundstein zu legen haben, geben wir diesem Grundstein mit die Worte, welche hier auf der Urkunde, die in diesem Grundstein nach altehrwürdiger Sitte in die Erde versenkt wird, geschrieben stehen:
Es walte, was Geisteskraft in Liebe,
Es wirke, was Geisteslicht in Güte
Aus Herzenssicherheit
Und Seelenfestigkeit
In jungen Menschenwesen
Für des Leibes Arbeitskraft,
Für der Seele Innigkeit,
Für des Geistes Helligkeit
Erbringen kann.
Dem sei geweiht diese Stätte.
Jugendsinn finde in ihr
Kraftbegabte, lichtergebene
Menschenpflege.
In ihrem Herzen gedenken
Des Geistes, der hier walten soll,
Die, welche den Stein
Zum Sinnbild hier versenken,
Auf daß er festige die Grundlage,
Auf der leben, walten, wirken soll,
Befreiende Weisheit,
Erstarkende Geistesmacht,
Sich offenbarendes Geistesleben.
Dies möchten bekennen
In Christi Namen,
In reinen Absichten,
In gutem Willen:
Emil Molt, Weippert, Rudolf Steiner, Marie Steiner, die Mitglieder der Lehrerschaft, des Waldorfschul-Vereins, des Aufsichtsrats, des Direktoriums des Kommenden Tages, des Bundes für Dreigliederung des Sozialen Organismus.
[Alle hatten namentlich unterschrieben.]
Diese Urkunde wird hier in das Pentagondodekaeder versenkt, und mit diesem Pentagondodekaeder, welches ist das Sinnbild für die wirkende Kraft des Menschenherzens und Menschengeistes, die wir mit aller Kraft anwenden wollen auf alles das, was gewirkt wird in dieser Schule, in diesem Pentagondodekaeder wollen wir diese Urkunde in die Erde versenken.
Mein lieben Freunde, meine lieben Kinder, Schüler und Schülerinnen der Freien Waldorfschule!
Aus dem Geiste unserer Zeit heraus ist die Waldorfschule in einer Zeit der schweren Sorgen begründet worden. Das große Unglück, das über die Menschheit hereingebrochen ist in Form einer furchtbaren kriegerischen Katastrophe, hat, nachdem das Äußere dieser kriegerischen Katastrophe vorüber war, Zeiten heraufgeführt, in denen gedacht werden muß: Was ist zu beginnen, um eine Menschenzukunft vorzubereiten, in welcher Kräfte der Weiterentwickelung, des Fortschrittes und des Aufstieges aus schwerer Not und aus dem Niedergang der Menschheit gepflegt werden können? Zu demjenigen, was in wirksamster Weise hinübertragen soll die Kräfte der Gegenwart, die vielleicht in dieser Gegenwart selbst erst wenig wohltätig wirksam sein können, in eine Zukunft, in der sie wirksamer sein können, gehört die Schule. Und in jener schweren Zeit, in welcher vor allen Dingen auf solche Zukunftsgedanken der Sinn der Menschheit sich lenken mußte, hat unser lieber Freund Emil Molt den Gedanken von sich aus gefaßt, die Waldorfschule entstehen zu lassen. Heute an dem Tage, wo das Gebäude, das diese Waldorfschule erweitern soll, seinen Grundstein bekommt, wollen wir vor allen Dingen in allerherzlichster, dankbarer Weise gedenken jenes fruchtbaren Gedankens, den unser Freund Emil Molt faßte in einer Zeit, in der ein solcher Gedanke geradezu die großen Fragen der Gegenwart erfaßte, als er daran ging, diese Schule zu begründen. Es werden Zeiten kommen, welche auf diese Schulgründung vielleicht objektiver blicken werden, als dies in der heutigen Gegenwart schon möglich ist, wo alle die ungeheuer komplizierten, verworrenen Verhältnisse der Gegenwart noch die Menschheit zu sehr verwirren, um mit voller Klarheit zu sehen, daß vor allen Dingen eine solche Stätte für die Jugend, die hervorgeht aus einem auf sich selbst begründeten Geistesleben, eine absolute Notwendigkeit der Zeit ist. Daß Emil Molt diesen Gedanken aus dem Sinn für diese große Frage der Zeit fassen konnte, das wird niemals vergessen werden können und überall da in gebührender Weise gekennzeichnet werden, wo man Verständnis haben wird für solche Menscheitsnotwendigkeiten und für die großen Menschheits-Entwickelungsimpulse überhaupt.
Gedenken muß ich ferner namentlich, um es in eure Herzen zu schreiben, meine lieben Kinder, meine lieben Schüler und Schülerinnen, gedenken muß ich fernerhin derjenigen Persönlichkeiten, die sich entschlossen haben, die erste Lehrerschaft dieser Schule zu bilden. Ihr, liebe Kinder, Schüler und Schülerinnen, die ihr zuerst Unterricht und Erziehung in dieser Schule genießt, ihr sollt es euch ins Herz, in die Seelen schreiben, daß gegenüber den großen, ungeheuren Aufgaben, die den Menschen gestellt sind in bezug auf Unterricht und Erziehung für die Menschenzukunft und Menschenziele, es ein bedeutsamer, großer Entschluß war, als Lehrer dieser Schule anzugehören. Es muß nur bedacht werden, daß fürs erste diese Schule heute so besteht, daß sie zwar das Vertrauen weitester Kreise, man darf sagen, in der ganzen Welt erregt. Derjenige, der hinblickt auf dasjenige, was geschieht, der weiß, daß man eigentlich über den ganzen Erdkreis Menschenseelen hat, die nicht nur wissen, in Stuttgart gibt es eine Waldorfschule, die auch mit regstem Interesse die Frage sich stellen: was will man mit so etwas, wie es diese Stuttgarter Waldorfschule ist? -— Ihr, meine lieben Kinder, sollt bedenken, daß ihr die ersten seid, welche in einer Schule erzogen werden, auf die man aus wohlberechtigen Gründen in der ganzen Welt sieht. Ihr sollt vor allen Dingen bedenken, und wir alle müssen es herzlichst dankbar bedenken, daß diejenige Lehrerschaft, die als erste sich aussetzt einer solchen Beurteilung der ganzen Welt, eines großen Entschlusses bedarf. Aber diese Lehrerschaft ist auch durchdrungen von dem Gedanken, von den Impulsen, aus denen heraus diese Schule ihren Anfang genommen hat. Diese Lehrerschaft weiß, daß man, wenn auch in einem beschränkten Umfang, so doch wirkt für etwas, was zuletzt die ganze Menschheitsentwickelung angeht. Diese Lehrerschaft hat gezeigt, daß sie ihre ganze Kraft einzusetzen vermag und einzusetzen haben wird für dasjenige, was aus dieser Gesinnung heraus und aus diesen Impulsen heraus für diese Schule zu geschehen hat. Wir haben manche schöne Blüte in der Entfaltung dieser Schule gesehen. Unvergeßlich wird es denjenigen zukommen, welche sich gewidmet haben der Pflege dessen, was hier im umfassendsten Sinne in dieser Schule gepflegt werden soll. Und wenn ich manchmal die Frage an die hier in der Schule zu erziehenden Kinder gestellt habe: Liebt ihr eure Lehrer? - und ihr antwortetet in entsprechender Weise, dann empfinde ich aus dem ganzen Verhältnis von Schülerschaft und Lehrerschaft, daß sie daran sind, diesen Geist hier in dieser Schule nach und nach einziehen zu lassen.
Wiederum frage ich euch jetzt, damit ihr auch aus eurem Herzen heraus sagen könnt, wie es bei euch steht um euer Verhältnis zur Lehrerschaft, wiederum frage ich euch alle, meine lieben Kinder, Schüler und Schülerinnen: Habt ihr eure Lehrer lieb und seid ihr dankbar für das, was sie tun? — dann antwortete mir Ja! [Ja! - rufen alle Kinder.]
So, meine lieben Kinder, meine lieben Schüler und Schülerinnen, so sollt ihr immer empfinden, dann wird der Geist in der Schule sein, unter dessen Licht wir allein das bewirken können, was bewirkt werden muß.
Diese Schule, in der wir heute feierlich den Grundstein legen, hat noch ein anderes zu bedenken. Sie steht da als etwas, was in gewisser Weise ein Musterbild darstellen möge, wie heute unterrichtet und erzogen werden soll. Aber sie kann als einzelne Schule nicht mehr sein als ein solches Musterbild. Auf das Musterbild schaut man, wie ich es angedeutet habe. Als ich vor ganz kurzer Zeit in Norwegen Vorträge zu halten hatte, konnte ich auch in dieser weiten Ferne sehen, wie zahlreich die Menschen sind, die mit innigem Anteil auf diese Schule hinschauen. Als eine Musterschule wird das angesehen, was hier begründet worden ist. Nur das andere fehlt noch, die Einsicht in der weiten Welt, daß es mit der einen Begründung der Musterschule nicht getan ist, wenn nicht über die ganze Welt sich verbreitet die Einsicht, daß solche Schulgründungen überall notwendig sind, daß Hunderte und Aberhunderte sich vereinigen im Weltschulverein, um überall solche Schulen zu begründen. Sonst kann nichts geschehen, als daß diese kleine Schülerschaft das hineinträgt in die Welt, was gepflegt werden muß für die Menschheitsentwickelung.
Dieses Zweite allerdings haben wir in der Welt noch nicht gefunden. Wenn wir in der Lage wären, meine lieben Freunde, an vielen Orten heute Schulen nach dem Muster der Waldorfschule zu begründen mit Mitteln, die uns vom Monde herabfallen, wir würden solche Schulen überall in der Welt gefüllt bekommen. Keine einzige dieser Schulen, die mit Mondgeld bezahlt würde, würde unbesucht bleiben. Aber dasjenige, was heute in der Welt fehlt, das ist der soziale Opfersinn, der zwar überall solche Schulen gründen möchte, der aber es nicht dazu bringt, aus der äußerlichen Anerkennung einer im eminentesten Sinne unserer Zeit notwendigen Idee sich aufzuraffen bis zu dem Willen, der allein das wirken kann, was in dieser Zeit notwendig ist. Und ehe dieser Impuls in der Welt sich nicht erfüllt, eher kann der Waldorfschul-Gedanke seine Aufgabe nicht erfüllen.
Um diese Aufgabe zu erfüllen, sind viele Menschen notwendig, die ihm verständnisvoll entgegenkommen. Und wenn es sein könnte, daß wir am heutigen Tage - wir können es nur durch Gedanken -, wenn wir vermögend wären, nicht bloß äußerlich etwas zu begründen, sondern innerlich, durch diese tiefinnerliche Begründung mit dem Grundstein, den wir für diesen Schulbau in die Erde versenken, wenn wir könnten in vieler Menschen Herzen den Grundstein legen, damit aus diesem erwachse dasjenige, was wir für notwendig halten für die Menschheitsentwickelung und das Menschenziel, dann wäre viel getan.
Aus innerer bewegter Seele, aus bewegtem Herzen heraus, Schüler und Schülerinnen der Waldorfschule, spreche ich zu euch allen, daß wir in diesem feierlichen Augenblick in unseren Herzen die Kräfte auf dasjenige richten, was eben gekennzeichnet worden ist als für die Menschheit notwendig, und was in dem Waldorfschul-Gedanken angedeutet worden ist. Es haben schon Menschenherzen eine gewisse Kraft, wenn dasjenige, was leben soll, in ihnen lebendig ist.
Meine lieben Freunde, liebe Kinder, meine lieben Schüler und Schülerinnen der Waldorfschule! Es ist so, daß dann, wenn die Menschen in uralten Zeiten daran gegangen sind, den Grund zu legen für einen Bau, dann haben sie mit der Urkunde, auf der Ziel und Sinn des Baues gestanden hat, und die Namen derer, die tätig waren an der Errichtung des Baues, etwas Lebendiges versenkt in die Erde. Immer mehr und mehr ist die Idee vergeistigt worden. Heute versenken wir, was Sinnbild des Geistes ist, unser Pentagondodekaeder mit dem Einschluß unseres Gelöbnisses, das wir ablegen in Christi Namen, aus unseren reinen Absichten, aus unserer - wie wir sie anwenden mögen - tätigen Arbeitskraft, das wir versenken aus der heiligen Freiheit heraus in die Erde. Heute legen wir dieses Sinnbild in die Erde, wie einen Keim, auf den wir gerichtet haben die schönsten Gedanken, derer wir fähig sind. Und wie aus einem Keim, der in die Erde versenkt wird, durch die Weltenkräfte hervorwächst ein lebendiger Baum, so möge hervorwachsen aus dem, was wir in die Erde versenken, durchtränkt mit unseren innigen Wünschen für das Gedeihen desjenigen, um dessen willen der Bau unternommen worden ist, mit unseren innigen Hoffnungen und Erwartungen in die Zukunft hinein, es möge erblühen aus dem, was wir in die Erde versenken, was wir von unseren Gedanken, Empfindungen, Gefühls- und Willensimpulsen, deren Sinnbild dieser Grundstein ist was wir damit versenken in der Zeiten Schoß -, aus dem möge erblühen, was wir immer wiederum und wiederum nennen müssen als das Ziel, den Impuls der Waldorfschule, daß sie sei eine Stätte, in welcher gepflegt werde alles dasjenige, was die Menschheit braucht, um zu neuen Momenten ihres Fortschrittes, ihres Zivilisations- und Kulturlebens zu kommen. Das möge erblühen aus diesem geistig lebendigen Keim, den wir heute in die Erde versenken wollen.
Ihr, liebe Kinder, ihr Schüler und Schülerinnen der Waldorfschule, ihr seid die ersten, welche die Empfindung und den guten Willen und die gute Absicht verbinden sollen mit dem, was bei dieser festlichen Gelegenheit zu euch gesagt worden ist, und was den wahren Grundstein bildet für dasjenige, was an diesem Orte hier als Waldorfschule wachsen und blühen und sich für der Menschheit Wohl und für die Menschheitsziele entwickeln soll.
Speech at the laying of the foundation stone for the new Waldorf School building
My dear friend Molt, who conceived the initial idea for this school as its founder and has also contributed to it since its establishment; esteemed Mr. Weippert, who has put your architectural skills to work in the construction of the school; my dear friends from the teaching staff, who have decided to to work here at this school, at its starting point, in a devoted manner, all of you from the Waldorf School Association, from the supervisory board and the board of directors of the Coming Day, who devote your care, cooperation, and oversight to this place dedicated to the welfare of humanity, and also those who, as members of the Association for the Threefold Social Order, have set themselves the task of protecting the seed of a free spiritual life in this school, and you, my dear children, pupils of this school, who are privileged to enjoy your first lessons and your first human education here in this school: I turn to all of you at this moment, when it is important that we lay the foundation stone for the school building with grateful hearts, which has come about through the care of all those involved for our children and the student body here. As we lay this foundation stone, we give it the words written here on the document, which will be buried in the ground in this foundation stone according to time-honored custom:
May the power of the spirit reign in love,
May the light of the spirit work in kindness
From the security of the heart
And the steadfastness of the soul
In young human beings
For the labor of the body,
For the intimacy of the soul,
For the brightness of the spirit
That it can bring forth.
May this place be consecrated to this.
May the spirit of youth find in it
Powerful, light-filled
Care for people.
In their hearts, may they remember
The spirit that shall reign here,
Those who sink the stone
Here as a symbol,
So that it may strengthen the foundation
On which it shall live, reign, and work,
Liberating wisdom,
Strengthening spiritual power,
Revealing spiritual life.
This we wish to profess
In Christ's name,
With pure intentions,
In good will:
Emil Molt, Weippert, Rudolf Steiner, Marie Steiner, the members of the teaching staff, the Waldorf School Association, the Supervisory Board, the Board of Directors of the Coming Day, the Association for the Threefold Social Order.
[All had signed their names.]
This document will be buried here in the pentagon dodecahedron, and with this pentagon dodecahedron, which is the symbol of the active power of the human heart and human spirit, which we want to apply with all our strength to everything that is done in this school, we want to bury this document in the earth in this pentagon dodecahedron.
My dear friends, my dear children, pupils of the Waldorf School!
In keeping with the spirit of our times, the Waldorf School was founded in a period of grave concern. The great misfortune that befell humanity in the form of a terrible war brought about, after the external aspects of this war had passed, a time in which we must consider: What must be done to prepare for a future for humanity in which the forces of further development, progress, and advancement can be cultivated out of grave hardship and the decline of humanity? One of the most effective ways of transferring the forces of the present, which may have little beneficial effect in the present itself, to a future in which they can be more effective, is through the school. And in those difficult times, when the minds of humanity had to turn above all to such thoughts of the future, our dear friend Emil Molt took it upon himself to conceive the idea of establishing the Waldorf School. Today, on the day when the foundation stone is being laid for the building that will expand this Waldorf school, we want above all to remember with the warmest gratitude that fruitful idea that our friend Emil Molt conceived at a time when such an idea truly captured the great questions of the present, when he set about founding this school. There will come times when this school's founding will perhaps be viewed more objectively than is possible today, when the enormously complicated and confused circumstances of the present still confuse humanity too much to see with complete clarity that, above all, such a place for young people, arising from a spiritual life based on itself, is an absolute necessity of the times. The fact that Emil Molt was able to grasp this idea from his sense of this great question of the times will never be forgotten and will be duly recognized wherever there is understanding for such human necessities and for the great impulses of human development in general.
I must also remember, in order to write it in your hearts, my dear children, my dear students, I must also remember those personalities who decided to form the first teaching staff of this school. You, dear children, pupils, who are the first to enjoy teaching and education in this school, you should write it in your hearts, in your souls, that in view of the great, enormous tasks that lie before humanity in relation to teaching and education for the future of humanity and human goals, it was a significant, great decision to belong to the teaching staff of this school. It must be borne in mind that, for the time being, this school exists in such a way that it inspires the confidence of the widest circles, indeed, one may say, throughout the world. Anyone who looks at what is happening knows that there are people all over the world who not only know that there is a Waldorf school in Stuttgart, but who also ask themselves with keen interest: what is the purpose of something like this Stuttgart Waldorf School? You, my dear children, should remember that you are the first to be educated in a school that, for good reason, is watched by the whole world. Above all, you should remember, and we must all remember with heartfelt gratitude, that the teaching staff who are the first to expose themselves to such scrutiny by the whole world need great determination. But this teaching staff is also imbued with the ideas and impulses that gave rise to this school. This teaching staff knows that, even if only to a limited extent, they are working for something that ultimately concerns the development of all humanity. These teachers have shown that they are able to devote all their energy to what needs to be done for this school out of this conviction and these impulses, and that they will continue to do so. We have seen many beautiful blossoms in the development of this school. It will be unforgettable for those who have dedicated themselves to nurturing what is to be nurtured here in the broadest sense in this school. And when I have sometimes asked the children being educated here at the school: Do you love your teachers? – and you have answered accordingly, then I feel from the whole relationship between the student body and the teaching staff that they are gradually allowing this spirit to enter this school.
Once again, I ask you now, so that you can say from your hearts how you feel about your relationship with the teaching staff, once again I ask you all, my dear children, students: Do you love your teachers and are you grateful for what they do? — then answer me yes! [Yes! — all the children shout.]
So, my dear children, my dear students, this is how you should always feel, then the spirit will be in the school, under whose light we alone can achieve what must be achieved.
This school, for which we are laying the foundation stone today, has something else to consider. It stands there as something that, in a certain sense, may serve as a model of how teaching and education should be carried out today. But as an individual school, it can be no more than such a model. People look to the model, as I have indicated. When I had to give lectures in Norway a short time ago, I could see even from that great distance how many people look to this school with deep interest. What has been established here is regarded as a model school. Only one thing is still missing: the realization in the wider world that it is not enough to establish one model school, unless the realization spreads throughout the world that such schools are needed everywhere, that hundreds and hundreds of people unite in a world school association to establish such schools everywhere. Otherwise, nothing can happen except that this small group of students will carry into the world what must be cultivated for the development of humanity.
However, we have not yet found this second thing in the world. If we were in a position, my dear friends, to establish schools based on the Waldorf model in many places today with funds falling from the moon, we would have such schools filled everywhere in the world. Not a single one of these schools, paid for with money from the moon, would remain unattended. But what is lacking in the world today is the social spirit of sacrifice, which would like to establish such schools everywhere, but which cannot bring itself to rise above the external recognition of an idea that is necessary in the most eminent sense of our time to the will that alone can bring about what is necessary in this time. And until this impulse is fulfilled in the world, the Waldorf school idea cannot fulfill its task.
In order to fulfill this task, many people are needed who will meet it with understanding. And if it could be that today — we can only do so in thought — if we were able not only to establish something externally, but also internally, through this deeply inner foundation with the cornerstone that we are laying in the ground for this school building, if we could lay the cornerstone in the hearts of many people, so that from this might grow what we consider necessary for the development of humanity and the goal of humanity, then much would have been accomplished.
From my deeply moved soul, from my deeply moved heart, students of the Waldorf School, I speak to you all, that in this solemn moment we direct the forces in our hearts to what has just been described as necessary for humanity, and what has been indicated in the Waldorf School idea. Human hearts already have a certain power when that which is to live is alive within them.
My dear friends, dear children, my dear students of the Waldorf School! In ancient times, when people set out to lay the foundation for a building, they would bury something living in the earth: a document stating the purpose and meaning of the building and the names of those who were involved in its construction. The idea has become more and more spiritualized. Today we bury what is a symbol of the spirit, our pentagon dodecahedron, with the inclusion of our vow, which we make in Christ's name, out of our pure intentions, out of our active labor, which we may apply as we wish, which we bury in the earth out of holy freedom. Today we place this symbol in the earth, like a seed, upon which we have directed the most beautiful thoughts of which we are capable. And just as a seed buried in the earth grows into a living tree through the forces of the world, so may what we bury in the earth, imbued with our heartfelt wishes for the prosperity of those for whose sake the building has been undertaken, with our heartfelt hopes and expectations for the future, may it blossom from what we sink into the earth, what we sink into the womb of time from our thoughts, feelings, emotional and volitional impulses, symbolized by this foundation stone – may it blossom from this, what we must call again and again as the goal, the impulse of the Waldorf School, that it may be a place where everything that humanity needs to reach new moments of progress, of civilization and cultural life, is cultivated. May it blossom from this spiritually alive seed that we want to sink into the earth today.You, dear children, you pupils of the Waldorf School, you are the first who should combine feeling and good will and good intention with what has been said to you on this festive occasion, and what forms the true foundation for what is to grow and blossom here in this place as a Waldorf School and develop for the good of humanity and for the goals of humanity.