Meditatively Acquired Knowledge of Man
GA 302a
16 September 1920, Stuttgart
II. The Three Fundamental Forces in Education
It is not possible, naturally, to educate or give instruction if in our education and instruction we are not able to sense inwardly the whole human being. For during the period of a child's development this whole man needs to be considered far more than later on. We know this whole man embraces the ego, the astral body, the etheric body and the physical body. These four members of our human nature are of course not subject to uniform development but unfold in quite different ways. We must distinguish accurately between the development of the physical and the etheric bodies and that of the astral body and ego. The outer signs of this differentiated development are furnished—as you know from the various hints I have given here or there—by the change of teeth and by that alteration in the human being which is announced by the change of voice accompanying sexual maturity in the male, appearing as clearly but in a different way in the female. The nature of this phenomenon in the female organism is fundamentally the same as in the man's change of voice, but it emerges in a broader way, not perceptible in a single organ only, as with the man, but spread more over the entire organism. You know that between the change of teeth and the change of voice or puberty lies the period of instruction with which we have to do preferably in elementary education. But the years that follow the change of voice (or what corresponds to it in the female organism) must also be given our close attention in education and teaching.
Let us call to mind what the change of teeth signifies. The change of teeth is the outer expression for the fact that in the child's organism up to then—that is, between birth and the second dentition—the physical and etheric bodies have been influenced strongly by the nerve-sense system, operating from above downward. The physical body and the etheric body are influenced most powerfully from the head until about the seventh year. These forces—particularly active through the years in which imitation plays such a major role—are concentrated so to speak in the head. And what happens formatively in the rest of the organism, in the trunk and limbs, takes place through rays proceeding from the head downward to the organism of trunk and limbs, to the physical and etheric bodies. What streams from the head into the whole of the physical and etheric bodies of the child, reaching the tips of his fingers and toes, this is soul activity, notwithstanding the fact that it proceeds from the physical body. It is the same soul activity that works in the soul later as intelligence and memory. It is only that later, after the change of teeth, the child's thinking begins to use his memories more consciously. The thorough modification of the child's soul life demonstrates that certain psychic forces, working earlier within the organism, are from his seventh year onward active in the child as forces of soul. The whole period up to the change of teeth, while the child is growing, is effected by the same forces that appear after the seventh year as forces of intelligence, as intellectual forces.
Here we have an interplay between soul and body that is quite real—by which the soul, on reaching the age of seven, emancipates itself from the body, is active no longer in the body but for itself. In the seventh year forces begin to be active, arising in the body anew as soul-forces, to work on and on into the next incarnation. Then it is that what streams upward from the body is thrust back, and conversely the forces shooting downward from the head are held in check. Thus during the time the teeth are changing, the most active of battles is taking place between forces striving downward from above and others springing upward from below. The change of teeth is the physical expression for this struggle between the two sets of forces—those that later appear in the child as his powers of understanding and intellect, and those that need to be used especially in drawing, painting and writing. We put all of these up-welling forces to use when we develop writing out of drawing, for what these forces really strive for is to pass over into sculptural activity, drawing, etc. These are the forces that have their termination at the change of teeth, having previously shaped the body of the child, the sculptural forces which we use later, when the second dentition is completed, to introduce the child to drawing and painting, etc. In the main these are forces planted in the child from the spiritual world in which the child's soul lived before conception. They are active first as bodily forces shaping the head and then from the seventh year onward as soul forces. Thus in the period after the seventh year we simply draw forth from the child for our authoritarian purposes, what the child had previously made unconscious use of in imitation, inasmuch as these forces had taken their course unconsciously within the body. If later on the child turns out to be a sculptor, a draughtsman or an architect (but a proper architect, one who works with forms), the reason is that such a man has the predisposition to retain in his organism somewhat more of the down-raying forces, to retain rather more of them in the head, so that later on these childhood forces are still raying downward. However, if they are not sustained, if with the change of teeth everything translates into the soul sphere, then we have children who have no talent for drawing, for the sculptural or for architecture—who could never become a sculptor.
The secret is this: such forces are related to what we have experienced between death and our new birth. We acquire the reverence we need in our teaching activity, something that can have a religious quality, if we raise this to consciousness: the forces I draw forth from the child around his seventh year, which I make use of when he learns drawing or writing—these are really furnished me by heaven. It is the spiritual world that sends these forces down—the child is the medium—and I am in fact working with forces directed down from the spiritual world. This reverence before the divine-spiritual, when it permeates my teaching, is actually a wonder-worker in teaching. If I have the feeling that I am in contact with forces that are unfolding down from the spiritual world, from the time before birth, if I have this feeling, it generates a deep reverence. And you will see that the presence of this feeling will accomplish more than all the intellectual speculation as to what you should do. The feelings that a teacher has are his most important teaching tools. And this reverence is something that works on the child with enormous formative effect.
Thus in what is happening to the child at the change of teeth we have something that is a direct transference of spiritual forces from the spiritual world through the child into the physical world.
Another process takes place during the years of puberty, although it has been preparing itself slowly throughout the cycle of years from seven to fourteen or fifteen. During this time something is stirring to life in the regions of the soul which are not already irradiated by the consciousness—for the consciousness is only now forming itself, and something is streaming into us continuously from the outer world unconsciously—something that is gradually emerging into consciousness wakens to life now, something that has irradiated the child from the outer world since his birth, that has collaborated in the building up of the child's body and has entered into the child, into his formative forces.
These are different forces again. Whereas the formative forces enter the head from within, these forces come now from outside and proceed from there down into the organism. These forces, working from the outer world through the head and into the body, forcing their way through the formative forces and sharing in what happens as the child's body is built up from the seventh year onward—I cannot characterize these otherwise than to say, they are the same forces that are active in speech and in music. They are forces taken in from the world.
Such forces as are of a musical kind are taken up more from the outer world, from the world outside of man, from the observation of nature and its processes, above all from observation of its rhythms and a-rhythms. A secret music pours through every natural occurrence—the earthly projection of the music of the spheres. In truth, a tone of this spheric harmony is incorporated in every plant, in every animal. This is true as well of the human body, but it lives no longer in human speech—that is to say, not in the expressions of the soul—yet most certainly in bodily structures and functions. All of this the child is taking in unconsciously, and for this reason are children musical to such a high degree. All of this they are taking up into their bodily organism. Whatever they experience of formed movement, of the linear, of the sculptural, this comes from within, proceeding from the head. Whatever, on the contrary, is taken up by the child as a configuration of tones or the content of language, this comes from outside. And against what is coming from outside works—but now somewhat later, around the 14th year—the spiritual element of music and language, developing gradually from within outward. This is compacted now, in the female in her entire organism, in the male more in the region of his larynx, bringing about the change of voice. All of this is caused by an element from within, bearing more the character of will, that is living itself out in battle with a willed element from outside. This struggle finds expression in the change of voice and what otherwise emerges at puberty. This is a battle between inner forces of music and language and outer musical-1inguistic forces.
The human being is basically up to the seventh year permeated more by the formative and less by musical forces, that is to say less by forces of music and language glowing through his organism. From the seventh year on, however, the activity of music and speech becomes particularly strong in the etheric body. Then the ego and astral body turn against this; a willed element from outside battles with a willed element from within, and this comes to visibility at puberty. The difference that exists between male and female has another outer manifestation in the difference of vocal pitch. The voice levels of a man and woman coincide only in part; the voice of the woman reaches higher, that of a man descends deeper into the bass. This corresponds precisely to the structure of the rest of the organism, formed out of the struggle between these forces.
These matters witness that in the life of the soul we have to do with something that also has a Share in the build-up of the body, but for quite definite purposes. All the abstract chatter you find today in books on psychology or in psychological discussions based on contemporary science, all the high-flown words about psychosomatic parallelism, are no more than a testimonial to the ignorance of our philosophers, who know nothing of the real relationship between the psychic and the bodily. For the soul is not related to the body in accordance with the nonsensical theories thought out by the psychosomatic parallelists. We are concerned with an influence of the soul in the body that is quite concrete, and then again with the reaction. Of the latter we are about to speak. Up to the seventh year the formative-structural works in collaboration with the musical lingual. This changes in the seventh year only insofar as from then on the relation between the musical-lingual on the one hand and the formative-structural on the other is a different one. But through the whole period of human life up to puberty such cooperation takes place between the formative-structural, proceeding from the head and having there its seat, and the musical-lingual, proceeding from the outer world, coming from outside, using the head as a point of entry to disperse itself throughout the organism.
From this we see that human speech too, but above all the musical element collaborates in the shaping of the human being. At first it helps form the man, and afterwards it stems itself, pausing at the larynx; it does not pass through this gate as before. Up to now it has been language which modified our organs, as deeply as into the skeletal system. A person who views a human skeleton with a true psycho-physical eye (and not with the purblind psycho-physical eye of today's philosophers) and focusses on the differentiation between a male and female skeleton, will see in the skeleton an incorporated musical achievement, played out in the interaction between the human organism and the outer world. The human skeleton can be understood figuratively thus: as if someone were to play a sonata and were then to preserve it by some sort of spiritual crystallisation process—in this way we would get the principle forms, the arrangement of forms in the human skeleton! This would also demonstrate for you the difference between man and animal. In an animal what is taken in of the lingual-musical element (very little of the lingual but very much of the musical) passes right through the animal, since it lacks in a certain way the human isolation that leads then to the change of voice. In the skeletal form of the animal we have a musical imprint too, but it is such that a musical coherence would be provided only if various skeletons were placed together as in a museum. The animal always manifests a one-sidedness in its structure.
These are matters we should consider carefully; they show us what feelings we should develop. If our reverence grows, as we cultivate our connection and intercourse with pre-natal forces, (as we have already characterized this) so do we gain more animation and enthusiasm in our teaching through immersing ourselves in the other human forces. A Dionysian element irradiates our musical and language instruction, while we acquire more of an apollonian element as we teach the plastic arts, painting and drawing. The instruction that has to do with music and speech we give with enthusiasm, the other with reverence.
The formative forces offer the stronger resistance; hence they are arrested as early as the seventh year. The other forces, counteracting more weakly, are not retarded before the fourteenth year. This you must not take to mean physical strength or weakness; meant is the answering pressure that is called forth. Since the formative forces, being stronger, would overrun the human organism, the counter pressure is greater. For this reason they must be arrested earlier, whereas the other forces are allowed to remain longer in the organism by a higher guidance. The human being is permeated longer by the musical than by the formative forces.
If you allow this insight to ripen in you and have the necessary enthusiasm for it, then you will be able to say: with what you permit to resound in the child in the way of language and music, precisely in the elementary school years, when that battle is still present and you are working also upon his bodily nature and not merely on his soul—with this you are preparing what will work beyond death, what man carries with him beyond death. In essence it is to this we are contributing through everything we impart to the child in the way of music and language during the elementary years. And because we know we are working into the future in this way, this provides us with a certain enthusiasm. If we are dealing with the formative forces, on the other hand, then we are in touch with what already lay in the human being before birth, before conception; this gives us reverence. But with the other forces we are working into the future; we are combining our own forces with these, knowing that we are fertilizing the musical-linguistic germ with something that, after the physical aspects of language and music have been laid aside, works over into the future. Music is physical by being a reflection of the spheric in the air. The air serves as medium for the tones to become physical; the air in the larynx in turn renders speech physical. But it is the non-physical in the air of speech, the non-physical in the air of music, that unfolds its true effect only after death. We gain a certain enthusiasm for our teaching by this, knowing that these are the means by which we weave the future.
I believe the future of education will consist in this: teachers will no longer be spoken to in the manner of today, but only in ideas and inner pictures that are capable of translation into feelings. For nothing will be of greater importance than this, that we are able as teachers to develop in ourselves the necessary reverence and the necessary enthusiasm, so that we may teach with reverence and enthusiasm. Reverence and enthusiasm—these are the two hidden, fundamental forces that must lend spirit to the teacher's soul.
To help you understand the matter still better, I should just like to mention that the musical element is at home particularly in the astral body. After death a man still bears his astral body for a time; as long as he does so, until he lays it aside—you are familiar with this from my book Theosophy—there still exists in man after death a kind of recollection TIT is no more than a memory) of earthly music. Thus it is that the music a man absorbs during his life works on after death as a musical memory, and endures roughly until the time he lays his astral body aside. Then in the life after death the earthly music is transformed into the music of the spheres and remains as spheric music until some time before the new birth. It will bring the matter closer to your understanding, if you know that the music a person takes in here on earth plays a powerful role in fashioning his soul-organism after death. This is fashioned during the period of kamaloca. This is the positive side of kamaloca, and if we know this we are essentially in a position to ease for people what the Catholics call the fires of purgatory. Not, certainly, by removing their contemplation of it; this they must have, or they would remain imperfect, not perceiving the imperfect things they have done. But we introduce a possibility that the human being will be better formed in his next life, if he can have many memories of musical experiences during the time after death when he still has his astral body. This can be studied on a relatively inferior plane of spiritual experience. You need only wake up during the night after hearing a concert; you will become aware that you have experienced the whole concert once more before waking. Indeed, you experience it still better now, on awaking in the night after the concert; the experience is most accurate. Thus is the musical impressed into the astral body, where it remains in vibration; some thirty years after death it is still there. A musical impression remains active much longer than a vocal one. The spoken word, as such, we lose relatively soon after death; only its spiritual distillation remains behind. The musical is preserved as long as the astral body maintains itself.
The spoken word can be of great benefit to us after death, particularly if we have taken it in often in the form I now frequently describe as the art of recitation. I have naturally every reason to point this out, when in describing the art of recitation I say that these things cannot be grasped properly unless we take into account the typical course of the astral body after death. But we need to describe things the way I do in lectures on eurythmy. We have to talk to people as if speaking the most primitive of languages. And it is truly so—from the standpoint of the other side of the threshold, men here are actually like savages; only beyond the threshold are men really men. We only work our way out of our primitive standpoint when we work our way into the spiritual. To this we can attribute the fury of primitive people against our efforts, which is becoming increasingly evident.
Now I would like to draw your attention to a fact that must have our particular concern in an art of education and can be worked on there. In the struggle I first described, whose outer expression is the change of teeth, and in the later battle whose equivalent is the change of voice, a certain characteristic is to be noted: everything which proceeds downward from the head in the period before the seventh year takes the form of an attack on what is coming to meet it from within in the nature of up-building forces. And everything that works outward from within, rising up towards the head to counter the stream originating there, acts like a defence against this descending stream. The one has the appearance of an attack, the other, working from within outward, gives the appearance of a defence.
It is analogous again with the musical. What emerges from within has the appearance of an attack, and what passes through the head organisation from above on its way downward shows itself as defence. Were we not to have music, then truly frightful forces would rise up in a human being. I am fully convinced that up to the 16th and 17th centuries traditions from the ancient mysteries were at work, and that people in these times still wrote and spoke subject to the after effects of the mysteries, but no longer knowing the full significance of these traditions; also that in much appearing in relatively later times we simply have recollections of ancient mystery knowledge. Thus I have always been particularly moved by the words of Shakespeare: The man that hath no music in himself...is fit for treason, murder and deceit...let no such man be trusted.1This is not an exact quotation, but altered slightly to correspond with the teachings of ancient mystery schools It was imparted to pupils in the ancient mystery schools: what acts as an attack from within man, what must be warded off continuously, what is damned back for the sake of man's human nature—that is treason, murder and deceit, and it is the music working in man that counteracts it. Music is the means of defence against the Luciferic forces rising up out of the inner man: treason, murder, deceit. We all have treason, murder and deceit within us, and it is not for nothing that the world contains the musical-lingual element, apart from the pleasure it affords man. The world includes this element in order that man may become Man. We must naturally keep in mind that the teachers in the ancient mysteries spoke rather differently. Their expressions were more concrete. They would not have said: treason, murder, deceit (in Shakespeare this has already been toned down), but rather: serpent, wolf and fox. The serpent, the wolf, the fox—these are repelled from man's inner nature by the musical element. The teachers in the ancient mysteries would always have used animal forms to describe what is rising up out of man, what must first be transformed to become human. And thus it is that we gain the right sort of enthusiasm, when we see the treacherous serpent rising up out of the child and combat it with our instruction in music and language, or similarly deal with the murderous wolf and the deceitful fox or cat. This is what can permeate us with a proper, reasoned enthusiasm—not with the glowing, Luciferic enthusiasm that alone is acknowledged today. In sum, we must come to know: attack and defence.
There are two levels in man on which this warding-off takes place. The defence is first in himself, finding visibility in the seventh year with the change of teeth. Then further, through what he has taken in of music and language, is warded off what is trying to rise up in him. Both battlefields are within man, the musical-lingual more towards the periphery, toward the outer world, the architectonic—formative more toward the inner man, toward the inner world. But there is a third battlefield as well, and that lies on the boundary between the etheric body and the outer world. The ether body is always larger than the physical body, reaching out beyond it on all sides. There we find another such battlefield. Here the battle is taking place more under the influence of the consciousness, whereas the other two are fought more in the unconscious. The third and more conscious battle manifests when everything that has been converted in the interplay between man and the formative-architectonic on the one hand, between man and the musical-lingual on the other hand, works itself out, when this lives itself into the etheric body and thereby takes hold of the astral body, thus to be displaced more toward the periphery or outer boundary. This is where that which pours through the fingers when we draw or paint, etc. has its origin. This is what makes the art of painting one that operates more in the environment of man. The man who draws or sculpts must work more out of an inner disposition, the musician more out of a devotion to the world. That which lives itself out in painting and drawing, for which we train the child when we have him draw forms or lines, that is a battle taking place wholly on the surface, a battle in essence between two forces, the one working inward from outside, the other working outward from within. The force working outward from within actually tends to dissipate a person constantly, it tends to prolong the formative activity in him, not strongly but in a delicate way. This force has the tendency (I must express this more drastically than it really is, but in this exaggeration you will see what I mean), this force working outward from within would make our eyes bulge, give us the goitre, make our nose puff out and our ears grow—everything would swell outward. But another force is present, one which we suck in from the outer world, by which this swelling is counteracted. And if we make no more than a line—draw something—this is a striving, using a force working in from the outer world, to counter the force from within that is trying to deform us. This is a complicated reflex motion we execute as men in painting, in drawing, in graphic activity. When we draw or set up a canvas before us, a feeling is actually glimmering in our consciousness: you are not letting something outside of you in, you are making thick walls—or barbed wire—out of your forms and strokes. In drawings we actually have such barbed wire, by which we constrain something that tends to destroy us from within, retarding its influence. For this reason our drawing classes will have their best effect, if our study of drawing begins with man. If you study the kinds of movement the hand tends to make, if you have a child in a eurythmy class contour these forms or movements that he wants to make of himself, then you have controlled the line that would work destructively and its effect is no longer destructive. If you begin by having the children draw eurythmic gestures and then let drawing and finally writing develop their forms from these, then you have something that man's nature really wills, something related to the being and becoming in human nature. This too we should know when we do eurythmy: there is always in the etheric body a tendency to do eurythmy. This is simply something the etheric body does of its own accord. Eurythmy is no more than a reading of all of its movements from what the etheric body wants to do; these are actually the movements it is making, and it is only inhibited when we cause these movements to be executed by the physical body. By allowing the physical body to execute them, these movements are checked in the etheric body, but react upon us again, this time with a health-giving effect.
This has a certain visible effect on man, both in a hygienic- therapeutic and a didactic-pedagogical way. But such things can only be understood if we know that something, striving to manifest in the etheric body of man, must be restrained at the periphery by the movements of the physical body. In one case an element pertaining more to the will is restrained through eurythmy, in the other case a more intellectual element through drawing and painting. But fundamentally speaking, these are merely the two poles of one and the same process.
If now we feel our way into this process and incorporate it into our sensitive capacity as teacher, then we arrive at the third feeling we have need of. This feeling should really permeate us through the whole of our elementary school teaching, namely that the human being on entering the world is exposed to things from which we must actually be shielding him through our teaching.
Otherwise he would flow out too actively into the world. In fact, a man always has the tendency to become rachitic in soul, to make his limbs rachitic, to become a gnome. While we instruct and educate him, we are forming him. We sense this formative activity best when we follow the way a child makes a form drawing and then smooth it out somewhat, so that the result is not what the child wants and also not what I want, but the product of both. If I am able to do this—to improve what the child lets happen through his fingers, yet having my feeling, my sympathy flow into it and live with the child—then the best will come of it. If I now transform this into a feeling and permeate myself with it, its result is a shielding of the child from being drawn too strongly into the outer world.
We have to let the child grow slowly into the outer world; we dare not let this happen too quickly. We hold a protective hand over the child at all time; this is the third feeling.
Reverence, enthusiasm and a sense of guardianship—these three things actually form the panacea, the universal remedy in the soul of the teacher and educator. And if we wanted to create something externally, artistically, that as a group 2cf. in this regard the Group statue at the Goetheanum. Tr. would incorporate art and education, then we should have to create this:
Reverence for what has preceded the child's earthly existence. Enthusiasm in regarding what is to follow the child's life. A protective gesture over all that the child is experiencing. 3Rudolf Steiner accompanied each of these sentences with a gesture. An indication for the first is missing; for the second a guiding, pointing hand; for the third both hands raised with finger-tips inclined toward each other.
By such a fashioning of the teacher's nature, its outer manifestation would also come to its best expression.
In speaking of such matters, drawn from the intimacies of world-mysteries, we sense how unsatisfactory it must always be to make use of conventional language. If we are forced to say such things in ordinary language, then we have the feeling a supplementation is needed. Something is always there that would shift over from the more abstract lingual form to the artistic. For that reason I wanted to make this final point.
This is something we must learn. We have to learn to carry in us something of that future conviction, which will consist in this: the possession of science alone turns a man into something like a dwarf in soul and spirit. No one who is merely a scientist will have the urge to transform the scientific into the artistic, even in the shaping of his thoughts. But only through the artistic do we grasp the world. And we can always say, the man to whom nature reveals her secrets feels a hunger for art.
You should have the feeling, that insofar as you are simply a scientist you are a moon-calf. Only when you transform your organism of soul, spirit and body, only when your knowledge assumes an artistic form, do you become a man. In essence, developments in the future—and in these education will have to play its part—will lead from science to an artistic grasp of the world, from the moon-calf to the full human being.
Zweiter Vortrag
Man kann natürlich nicht erziehen und nicht unterrichten, wenn man beim Erziehen und Unterrichten nicht gewissermaßen im Geiste erfühlen kann den ganzen Menschen; denn dieser ganze Mensch kommt in der Zeit der kindlichen Entwickelung noch viel mehr in Betracht als später. Wir wissen ja, daß dieser ganze Mensch in sich schließt das Ich, den astralischen Leib, den ätherischen Leib und den physischen Leib. Diese vier Glieder der menschlichen Natur sind nicht etwa in einer gleichmäßigen Entwickelung, sondern sie entwickeln sich in sehr verschiedener Weise, und wir müssen genau unterscheiden zwischen der Entwickelung des physischen Leibes und des Ätherleibes, und der Entwickelung des astralischen Leibes und des Ich. Die äußeren Offenbarungen dieser differenzierten Entwickelung sprechen sich aus — wie Sie aus den verschiedenen Andeutungen, die ich da und dort gemacht habe, wissen — im Zahnwechsel und in derjenigen Veränderung des Menschen, die sich beim männlichen Menschen im Stimmwechsel bei der Geschlechtsreife kundgibt, die sich beim weiblichen Menschen aber auch deutlich kundgibt, nur in einer anderen Weise. Die Grundwesenheit der Erscheinung ist dieselbe wie beim Manne im Stimmwechsel, nur tritt sie beim weiblichen Organismus in einer verbreiterten Weise auf, so daß sie nicht nur an einem Organ wahrzunehmen ist wie beim männlichen Organismus, sondern sich mehr über den ganzen Organismus erstreckt.
Sie wissen, daß zwischen Zahnwechsel und Stimmwechsel oder der Geschlechtsreife die Zeit des Unterrichts liegt, mit der wir es vorzugsweise beim Volksschulunterricht zu tun haben; aber auch die Jahre, die noch nach dem Stimmwechsel oder dessen Entsprechung beim weiblichen Organismus liegen, müssen der Sorgfalt unterliegen beim Unterricht und bei der Erziehung, müssen durchaus mit herangezogen werden.
Vergegenwärtigen wir uns, was der Zahnwechsel bedeutet. Der Zahnwechsel ist der äußere Ausdruck dafür, daß vorher, also zwischen der Geburt und dem Zahnwechsel, in dem kindlichen Organismus der physische Leib und der Ätherleib stark von dem NervenSinnessystem, also von oben nach unten, beeinflußt sind. Der physische Leib und der Ätherleib sind bis ungefähr zum 7. Jahre vom Kopfe aus am wirksamsten beeinflußt. Im Kopfe sind gewissermaßen die Kräfte konzentriert, die in diesen Jahren, in denen die Nachahmung eine so große Rolle spielt, besonders wirksam sind. Und was an Gestaltung im übrigen Organismus vor sich geht, in Rumpf und Gliedmaßen, das geht dadurch vor sich, daß vom Kopfe aus Strahlungen nach dem übrigen Organismus, nach dem Rumpforganismus und dem Gliedmaßenorganismus, dem physischen Leibe und dem Ätherleibe ausgehen. Dasjenige, was da vom Kopfe aus in den physischen Leib und Ätherleib des ganzen Kindes hineinstrahlt bis in die Finger- und Zehenspitzen, was da hineinstrahlt vom Kopf ins ganze Kind, das ist Seelentätigkeit, trotzdem sie vom physischen Leibe ausgeht; ist dieselbe Seelentätigkeit, die später als Verstand und Gedächtnis in der Seele wirkt. Es ist nur so, daß später nach dem Zahnwechsel das Kind anfängt so zu denken, daß seine Erinnerungen bewußter werden. Die ganze Veränderung, die mit dem Seelenleben des Kindes vor sich geht, zeigt, daß gewisse seelische Kräfte in dem Kinde vom 7. Jahre ab tätig sind als Seelenkräfte, die vorher im Organismus wirksam sind. Die wirken im Organismus. Die ganze Zeit bis zum Zahnwechsel, während der das Kind wächst, ist ein Ergebnis derselben Kräfte, die nach dem 7. Jahre als Verstandeskräfte, als intellektuelle Kräfte auftreten.
Da haben Sie ein ganz reales Zusammenwirken zwischen Seele und Leib, indem sich die Seele mit dem 7. Jahre vom Leibe emanzipiert, nicht mehr im Leibe, sondern für sich wirkt. Da fangen mit dem 7. Jahre diejenigen Kräfte, die nun als Seelenkräfte im Leibe selbst neu entstehen, an wirksam zu werden — und sie wirken ja dann bis in die nächste Inkarnation hinein. Und dann wird zurückgestoßen dasjenige, was vom Leibe aus aufstrahlt, und aufgehalten werden andererseits die Kräfte, die vom Kopfe nach abwärts schießen. So daß in dieser Zeit, wenn die Zähne wechseln, der stärkste Kampf sich abspielt zwischen den Kräften, die von oben nach unten streben, und denjenigen, die von unten nach oben schießende Kräfte sind. Es ist der Zahnwechsel der physische Ausdruck dieses Kampfes jener beiden Kräftearten; jener Kräfte, die später beim Kinde zum Vorschein kommen als die Verstandes- und die intellektuellen Kräfte, und jener Kräfte, die besonders verwendet werden müssen im Zeichnen, Malen und Schreiben. Alle die Kräfte, die da heraufschießen, verwenden wir dann, wenn wir aus dem Zeichnen das Schreiben herausentwickeln; denn diese Kräfte wollen eigentlich übergehen in plastisches Gestalten, in Zeichnen und so weiter. Das sind die Kräfte, die im Zahnwechsel ihren Abschluß finden, die vorher den Körper des Kindes ausplastizierten, die Skulpturkräfte, und die wir verwenden später, wenn der Zahnwechsel vor sich gegangen ist, um das Kind zum Zeichnen, zum Malen und so weiter zu bringen. Es sind dies hauptsächlich diejenigen Kräfte, die in das Kind gelegt sind von der geistigen Welt aus, in denen die kindliche Seele gelebt hat vor der Empfängnis, in der geistigen Welt. Sie wirken zuerst kopfbildend als Körperkräfte und dann vom 7. Jahre ab als Seelenkräfte. So daß wir für die Zeit vom 7. Jahre ab für unsere autoritären Einflüsse einfach das beim Kinde herauskriegen, was das Kind vorher als Nachahmung unbewußt übte, indem diese Kräfte unbewußt in den Körper einschlugen. Wenn später aus dem Kinde ein Bildhauer, ein Zeichner oder ein Architekt wird, aber ein richtiger Architekt, der aus den Formen heraus arbeitet, so geschieht das aus dem Grunde, weil ein solcher Mensch die Anlage hat, in seinem Organismus etwas mehr zurückzubehalten von den Kräften, die in den Organismus hinunterstrahlen, etwas mehr zurückzubehalten im Kopfe, so daß auch später noch diese kindlichen Kräfte hinunterstrahlen. Wenn sie aber nicht aufgehalten werden, wenn mit dem Zahnwechsel alles ins Seelische übergeht, so bekommen wir Kinder, die dann keine Anlagen haben für Zeichnen, für Bildhauerisches oder für Architektur, die niemals Bildhauer werden können.
Das ist das Geheimnis: diese Kräfte hängen zusammen mit dem, was wir durchgemacht haben zwischen dem Tode und unserer neuen Geburt. Man bekommt das, was man braucht innerhalb der Erziehungswirksamkeit als die Ehrfurcht, die einen religiösen Charakter haben kann, wenn man sich bewußt wird: Die Kräfte, die du aus dem Kinde herausholst um das 7. Jahr, die du zum Zeichnen- oder Schreibenlernen verwendest, sie schickt dir im Grunde genommen der Himmel; also die geistige Welt schickt herunter diese Kräfte, das Kind ist der Vermittler, und du arbeitest eigentlich mit den aus der geistigen Welt heruntergesendeten Kräften. Diese Ehrfurcht vor dem GeistigGöttlichen ist, wenn sie den Unterricht durchströmt, tatsächlich etwas, was Wunder wirkt im Unterricht. Und wenn Sie das Gefühl haben: Sie stehen in Verbindung mit den aus der Zeit vor der Geburt aus der geistigen Welt herunter sich entwickelnden Kräften -, wenn Sie dieses Gefühl haben, das eine tiefe Ehrfurcht erzeugt, dann werden Sie sehen, daß Sie durch das Vorhandensein dieses Gefühls mehr bewirken können als durch alles intellektuelle Ausspintisieren dessen, was man tun soll. Die.Gefühle, die der Lehrer hat, sind die allerwichtigsten Erziehungsmittel. Und diese Ehrfurcht ist etwas, was ungeheuer bildend auf das Kind wirkt.
So haben wir in dem, was mit dem Kinde beim Zahnwechsel vorgeht, etwas, was unmittelbar eine Umsetzung von geistigen Kräften durch das Kind aus der geistigen Welt in die physische Welt hinein ist.
Ein anderer Vorgang geht vor sich in den Jahren der Geschlechtsreife; aber er bereitet sich langsam vor durch den ganzen Zyklus vom 7. bis zum 14., 15. Jahre. In dieser Zeit lebt in denjenigen Regionen des Seelenwesens, die nicht vom Bewußtsein schon durchstrahlt sind, etwas auf — denn das Bewußtsein bildet sich ja erst, und es strahlt fortwährend von der Außenwelt etwas unbewußt in uns hinein -, da lebt jetzt etwas langsam Bewußtwerdendes auf, was schon von der Außenwelt aus, aber von der Geburt an das Kind durchstrahlt hat, was mitgewirkt hat am Aufbau des kindlichen Körpers und in das Kind hineingefahren ist, in die plastischen Kräfte.
Das sind wieder andere Kräfte. Während die plastischen Kräfte in das Haupt von innen hineingehen, kommen diese Kräfte jetzt von außen, gehen dann in den Organismus hinunter. Ich kann diese Kräfte, die da von der Außenwelt durch das Haupt in den Körper hineinwirken - sie schieben sich durch die plastischen Kräfte und wirken mit bei dem, was vom 7. Jahre ab beim Aufbau des kindlichen Körpers geschieht -, ich kann diese Kräfte nicht anders bezeichnen als: es sind dieselben Kräfte, welche in der Sprache und in der Musik wirken. Diese Kräfte sind aus der Welt aufgenommen.
Diejenigen Kräfte, die musikalischer Art sind, sind mehr aus der äußeren Welt, aus der außermenschlichen Welt aufgenommen, aus der Beobachtung der Natur, aus der Beobachtung der Vorgänge in der Natur, vor allem aus der Beobachtung ihrer Regelmäßigkeiten und Unregelmäßigkeiten. Durch alles das, was in der Natur vor sich geht, geht ja eine geheimnisvolle Musik: die irdische Projektion der Sphärenmusik. In jeder Pflanze, in jedem Tier ist eigentlich ein Ton der Sphärenmusik inkorporiert. Das ist auch noch mit Bezug auf den menschlichen Leib der Fall, lebt aber nicht mehr in dem, was menschliche Sprache ist, das heißt nicht in den Seelenäußerungen, wohl aber im Leibe in seinen Formen und so weiter. Alles das nimmt das Kind unbewußt auf, und das macht, daß Kinder in einem so hohen Grade musikalisch sind. Sie nehmen das alles in den Organismus auf. Dasjenige, was sie an Bewegungsformen, an Linienhaftem, an Plastischem erleben, das kommt von innen, vom Kopf aus. Alles dasjenige dagegen, was an Tongefüge, was an Sprachinhalt vom Kinde aufgenommen wird, das kommt von außen. Und diesem, was von außen kommt, dem wirkt wieder — aber jetzt etwas später, nämlich um das 14. Jahr herum - das von innen aus sich allmählich entwickelnde geistige Element des Musikalisch-Sprachlichen entgegen. Das schoppt sich jetzt wieder zusammen, beim Weibe im ganzen Organismus, beim Manne mehr in der Kehlkopfgegend, und das bewirkt dort den Stimmwechsel. Das ganze wird also dadurch bewirkt, daß hier ein mehr willensartiges Element von innen sich auslebt im Kampfe gegen ein willensartiges Element, das von außen kommt; und in diesem Kampfe drückt sich aus der Stimmwechsel und was bei der Geschlechtsreife herauskommt. Das ist ein Kampf von inneren musikalisch-sprachlichen Kräften mit äußeren musikalisch-sprachlichen Kräften. — Im wesentlichen wird der Mensch bis zum 7. Jahre mehr von plastischen und weniger von musikalischen Kräften, das heißt, weniger den Organismus durchglühenden musikalischen und sprachlichen Kräften durchsetzt. Vom 7. Jahre ab wird aber im Ätherleib besonders stark das Musikalische und Sprachliche tätig. Dann wendet sich das Ich und der astralische Leib dagegen: ein willensartiges Element von außen kämpft mit einem willensartigen Element von innen, und das kommt in der Geschlechtsreife zum Vorschein. Es ist ja auch nach außen hin manifestiert, daß ein Unterschied zwischen Männlichem und Weiblichem besteht, indem sie die Tonlage anders haben. Nur zum Teil fallen die Höhenlagen der Stimmen beim Mann und bei der Frau übereinander; die Stimme der Frau reicht höher hinauf, die des Mannes geht tiefer, bis zum Baß. Das entspricht ganz genau dem übrigen Bau des Organismus, der sich da herausbildet aus dem Kampfe dieser Kräfte.
Diese Dinge bezeugen, daß wir es im Seelenleben zu tun haben mit dem, was auch im Aufbau des Organismus, aber zu ganz bestimmten Zwecken, mitwirkt. Alle die abstrakten Redereien, die Sie heute in psychologischen Büchern und in jenen psychologischen Auseinandersetzungen finden, die von der heutigen Wissenschaft ausgehen, alle die Redereien von psychophysischem Parallelismus sind ja nichts weiter als das Dokument für die Ignoranz unserer Philosophen, die nichts wissen von dem wirklichen Zusammenhange des Seelischen mit dem Leiblichen. Denn das Seelische hängt nicht nach den unsinnigen Theorien, welche die psychophysischen Parallelisten ausgedacht haben, mit dem Leiblichen zusammen, sondern wir haben es zu tun mit der ganz konkreten Wirkung des Seelischen im Leibe, und dann wieder mit der Reaktion; von einer solchen werden wir gleich noch sprechen. Es wirkt das Plastisch-Architektonische bis zum 7. Jahre zusammen mit dem Musikalisch-Sprachlichen; es ändert sich das nur im 7. Jahre, so daß von da ab nur das Verhältnis zwischen dem Musikalisch-Sprachlichen auf der einen Seite und dem Plastisch-Architektonischen auf der anderen Seite ein anderes ist. Aber die ganze Zeit hindurch bis zur Geschlechtsreife des Menschen findet ein solches Zusammenwirken statt zwischen dem Plastisch-Architektonischen, das vom Haupte ausgeht und dort seinen Sitz hat, und dem Sprachlich-Musikalischen, das von der Außenwelt ausgeht, das von außen kommt, das Haupt als Durchgangspunkt benützt und sich in den Organismus hinein verbreitet.
Daraus ersehen wir, daß auch die menschliche Sprache, vor allem das musikalische Element, mitwirkt bei der Gestaltung des Menschen: Zuerst gestaltet es den Menschen, und nachher staut es sich, indem es halt macht beim Kehlkopf; da geht es durch das Tor nicht mehr so ein wie früher. Früher ist es eben die Sprache, die unsere Organe bis ins Knochensystem ändert. Derjenige, der mit wirklichem psychophysischem Blick, nicht mit dem blöden psychophysischen Blick unserer heutigen Philosophen, sich ein menschliches Skelett ansieht und die Differenzierung zwischen einem männlichen und einem weiblichen Skelett ins Auge faßt, der sieht im Skelett eine korporisierte musikalische Leistung, die sich abspielt in der Wechselwirkung zwischen dem menschlichen Organismus und der Außenwelt. Es ist das menschliche Skelett gleichsam so zu begreifen, wie wenn man eine Sonate spielen würde und würde sie durch irgendeinen geistigen Kristallisationsvorgang festhalten, man würde so die Hauptformen, die Anordnungsformen des menschlichen Skeletts herauskriegen! Das wird Ihnen auch den Unterschied des Menschen vom Tier bezeugen. Beim Tier ist es so: dasjenige, was vom sprachlich-musikalischen Element aufgenommen wird — vom Sprachlichen sehr wenig, vom Musikalischen aber sehr viel —, das geht, weil gewissermaßen das Tier nicht die Isolierung des Menschen hat, die dann zur Mutation führt, das geht durch das Tier durch. Wir haben auch in der Skelettform des Tieres einen musikalischen Abdruck; der ist aber so, daß erst die verschiedenen zusammengestellten Skelette, zum Beispiel im Museum, einen musikalischen Zusammenhang beim Tier ergeben müßten. Das Tier offenbart immer eine Einseitigkeit in seinem Aufbau.
Das sind Dinge, die wir daher besonders berücksichtigen müßten und die uns zeigen, welche Gefühle wir entwickeln sollen. Bekommen wir mehr Ehrfurcht, indem wir unseren Zusammenhang, unsere Korrespondenz pflegen mit dem Vorgeburtlichen, wie wir sie schon charakterisiert haben, so bekommen wir mehr Begeisterung, Enthusiasmus für den Unterricht aus der Vertiefung in die anderen Kräfte des Menschen. Ein dionysisches Element gleichsam strahlt durch den musikalisch-sprachlichen Unterricht, während wir mehr ein apollinisches Element bekommen für den plastischen Unterricht, für den Mal- und Zeichenunterricht. Den Unterricht, der sich auf das MusikalischSprachliche bezieht, geben wir mit Enthusiasmus, den anderen geben wir mit Ehrfurcht.
Die plastischen Kräfte wirken stärker entgegen, daher werden sie schon mit dem 7. Jahre aufgehalten; die anderen Kräfte wirken schwächer entgegen, daher werden sie erst mit dem 14. Jahre aufgehalten. Das dürfen Sie nicht mit der physischen Stärke und Schwäche nehmen, sondern es ist der Gegendruck gemeint, der ausgeübt wird. Weil die plastischen Kräfte den menschlichen Organismus überwuchern würden, weil sie stärker sind, ist der Gegendruck stärker. Deshalb müssen sie früher aufgehalten werden, während die anderen Kräfte länger im Organismus von der Weltenlenkung drinnengelassen werden. Der Mensch wird länger mit den musikalischen Kräften durchsetzt als mit den plastischen.
Wenn Sie dies in sich reifen lassen und den nötigen Enthusiasmus dafür haben, dann werden Sie sich sagen können: Mit dem, was du an Sprachlichem, an Musikalischem gerade in der Volksschulzeit in dem Kinde anklingen läßt, wenn jener Kampf noch vorhanden ist, und wo du noch auf die Körperlichkeit, nicht nur auf die Seele allein wirkst, mit dem bereitest du das vor, was noch über den Tod hinaus wirkt, was der Mensch noch über den Tod hinausträgt. — Daran arbeiten wir im wesentlichen mit bei alldem, was wir an Musikalisch-Sprachlichem dem Kinde während der Volksschulzeit beibringen. Und das gibt uns einen gewissen Enthusiasmus, weil wir wissen, wir arbeiten damit in die Zukunft hinein. Wirken wir dagegen mit den plastischen Kräften, dann korrespondieren wir mit dem, was vor der Geburt, vor der Empfängnis schon im Menschen lag; das gibt uns Ehrfurcht. Wir arbeiten mit dem anderen in die Zukunft hinein; wir legen unsere eigenen Kräfte hinein und wissen: wir befruchten den musikalisch-sprachlichen Keim mit etwas, was nach dem Abstreifen des Physischen an der Sprache und der Musik in die Zukunft hinüber wirkt. Die Musik ist dadurch physisch, daß sie ein Abglanz des Sphärischen in der Luft ist. Die Luft ist gewissermaßen das Medium, das die Töne physisch macht, und wiederum ist es die Luft im Kehlkopf, welche auch die Sprache physisch macht; während das, was nicht physisch ist in der Sprachluft, was nicht physisch ist in der Musikluft, dasjenige ist, was erst nach dem Tode seine richtige Wirksamkeit entfaltet. Das gibt uns einen gewissen Enthusiasmus für unseren Unterricht, weil wir wissen, wir wirken damit in die Zukunft hinein.
Ich glaube, die Zukunft der Pädagogik wird darin bestehen, daß nicht mehr gesprochen wird zu Lehrern, wie das heute geschieht, sondern daß gesprochen wird in lauter Ideen und Vorstellungen, die sich in Gefühle umwandeln können. Denn auf nichts kommt es mehr an, als daß wir imstande sind, in uns selbst als Lehrer die nötige Ehrfurcht und den nötigen Enthusiasmus auszubilden, um den Unterricht mit Ehrfurcht und Enthusiasmus auszuüben. Ehrfurcht und Enthusiasmus, das sind die geheimen Grundkräfte, welche als die zwei Kräfte in Betracht kommen, die die Lehrerseele eben durchgeistigen müssen.
Ich möchte nur erwähnen, damit Sie die Sache noch besser verstehen, daß das musikalische Element namentlich im menschlichen astralischen Leib lebt. Nach dem Tode trägt der Mensch noch eine Zeitlang seinen astralischen Leib. Solange er ihn trägt, bis er ihn abstreift — Sie kennen das aus meinem Buche «Theosophie» -, ist immer noch eine Art Rückerinnerung, es ist nur eine Art Erinnerung, an die irdische Musik im Menschen nach dem Tode vorhanden. Daher kommt es, daß dasjenige, was der Mensch im Leben als Musikalisches aufnimmt, nach dem Tode nachwirkt wie eine musikalische Erinnerung, etwa noch so lange, bis der Mensch seinen astralischen Leib abgestreift hat. Dann verwandelt sich die irdische Musik im nachtodlichen Leben in Sphärenmusik und bleibt als Sphärenmusik bis einige Zeit vor der neuen Geburt. Das ist etwas, was Ihnen die Sache dem Verständnis näherbringen wird, wenn Sie wissen, daß das, was der Mensch von Musik hier auf der Erde aufnimmt, eine sehr starke Rolle spielt bei der Ausgestaltung seines Seelenorganismus nach dem Tode. Der wird da ausgestaltet während dieser Zeit des Kamaloka. Das ist das Gute der Kamalokazeit, und im wesentlichen können wir das, was die Katholiken Fegefeuer nennen, den Menschen erleichtern, wenn wir das wissen, allerdings nicht, indem wir ihnen das Anschauen abnehmen; das müssen sie ja haben, weil sie sonst unvollkommen bleiben würden, wenn sie nicht eine Anschauung von dem haben könnten, was sie Unvollkommenes getan haben. Aber wir bringen eine Möglichkeit hinein, daß der Mensch im nächsten Leben besser gebildet ist, wenn er in jener Zeit nach dem Tode, wo er seinen astralischen Leib noch hat, viele Erinnerungen an Musikalisches haben kann. Das kann auf einer verhältnismäßig noch niederen Stufe des Okkultismus schon studiert werden. Sie brauchen nur einmal, wenn Sie ein Konzert angehört haben, in der Nacht aufzuwachen, und Sie werden gewahr werden, daß Sie das ganze Konzert vor dem Aufwachen noch einmal erlebt haben. Sie erleben es jetzt sogar viel besser, wenn Sie so nach dem Konzert in der Nacht aufwachen. Sie erleben es sehr treulich. Da wird das Musikalische in den astralischen Leib hineingeprägt, das bleibt darin und das schwingt nach; das bleibt noch etwa 30 Jahre nach dem Tode. Das Musikalische schwingt viel länger nach als das Sprachliche; das Sprachliche als solches verlieren wir verhältnismäßig rasch nach dem Tode, und es bleibt nur der spirituelle Extrakt von ihm zurück. Das Musikalische erhält sich so lange, als der astralische Leib sich erhält. — Das Sprachliche kann uns eine große Wohltat nach dem Tode werden, wenn wir es namentlich oft so aufgenommen haben, wie ich jetzt öfter die Rezitationskunst beschreibe. Ich habe natürlich alle Veranlassung, darauf hinzuweisen, wenn ich die Rezitationskunst so beschreibe, daß diese Dinge nicht richtig aufgefaßt werden können, wenn wir nicht dazu den eigentümlichen Verlauf des astralischen Leibes nach dem Tode ins Auge fassen. Man muß die Dinge dann etwa so beschreiben, wie ich sie bei den eurythmischen Vorträgen beschreibe. Man muß da gleichsam in der Sprache der Botokuden zu den Menschen reden. Ja, es ist wirklich so: vom Standpunkte jenseits der Schwelle aus gesehen sind die Menschen eigentlich wie Botokuden, und erst jenseits der Schwelle sind sie wirkliche Menschen. Und wir arbeiten uns nur aus dem botokudenhaften Standpunkt heraus, wenn wir uns in das Geistige hineinarbeiten; deshalb ja auch die Wut der Botokuden gegenüber unseren Bestrebungen, die jetzt ja in immer stärkerem Maße zutage tritt.
Nun möchte ich Sie noch aufmerksam machen, weil es besonders bei der pädagogischen Kunst sehr stark in Betracht kommt und wir es pädagogisch verarbeiten können, daß in diesem Kampfe, den ich zuerst geschildert habe so, daß Sie sehen, sein äußerer Ausdruck ist der Zahnwechsel, und in jenem späteren Kampfe, dessen Äquivalent der Stimmwechsel ist, daß bei diesem Kampfe das Eigentümliche vorliegt, daß er noch einen besonderen Charakter hat: Alles, was in der Zeit bis zum 7. Jahre vom Kopfe aus nach unten geht, das nimmt sich aus gegenüber dem, was ihm von innen entgegenkommt und was aufbaut, wie ein Angriff. Und alles, was von innen heraus wirkt gegen den Kopf hin, was da aufsteigt und der vom Kopf ausgehenden Strömung entgegenwirkt, ist gegenüber dem, was absteigt, wie eine Abwehr. Das andere nimmt sich aus wie ein Angriff; das von innen heraus nimmt sich aus wie eine Abwehr.
Und wieder ähnlich ist es beim Musikalischen. Da nimmt sich dasjenige, was von innen herauskommt, wie ein Angriff aus, und was von oben durch den Kopforganismus durchgeht nach unten, nimmt sich aus wie die Abwehr. - Würden wir nicht Musik haben, dann würden eigentlich furchtbare Kräfte im Menschen aufsteigen. Ich bin vollständig davon überzeugt, daß bis zum 16., 17. Jahrhundert hin Traditionen aus den alten Mysterien heraus gewirkt haben, und daß in diesen Zeiten noch Leute unter dem Einfluß dieser Mysteriennachwirkung geschrieben und gesprochen haben, die nicht mehr vollständig den Sinn dieser Wirkung kannten, daß aber in manchen, was noch in verhältnismäßig später Zeit auftritt, einfach Reminiszenzen alter Mysterienkenntnisse vorliegen; so daß ich eigentlich immer außerordentlich berührt war von dem Worte Shakespeares: Der Mann, der nicht Musik hat in sich selbst, taugt zu Verrat, Mord und Tücke! Traut keinem solchen. — Es wurde in den alten Mysterienschulen den Schülern mitgeteilt: Das, was im Menschen von innen heraus attackierend wirkt, und was fortwährend abgewehrt werden muß, was zurückgestaut wird für die menschliche Natur, das ist «Verrat, Mord und Tücke», und die Musik, die im Menschen vorgeht, ist das, was dem entgegenwirkt. Die Musik ist das Abwehrmittel für die aus dem Inneren des Menschen heraufsteigenden luziferischen Kräfte: Verrat, Mord, Tücke. Wir haben alle Verrat, Mord und Tücke in uns, und die Welt hat nicht umsonst neben dem, daß es dem Menschen Freude macht, das musikalischsprachliche Element in sich. Sie hat es, um den Menschen zum Menschen zu machen. Man muß dabei natürlich im Auge haben, daß die alten Mysterienlehrer etwas anders gesprochen haben; sie haben die Dinge mehr konkret ausgesprochen. Sie würden nicht gesagt haben bei Shakespeare hat es sich schon abgeschattet -: Verrat, Mord und Tücke -, sondern sie würden gesagt haben: Schlange, Wolf, Fuchs. — Die Schlange, der Wolf, der Fuchs - sie werden durch das musikalische Element abgewehrt aus der inneren menschlichen Natur. Die alten Mysterienlehrer würden immer Tierformen gebraucht haben für dasjenige, was da aus dem Menschen aufsteigt, und was erst zum Menschen umgestaltet werden muß. Und so ist es schon, daß wir den rechten Enthusiasmus bekommen, wenn wir die verräterische Schlange aus dem Kinde aufsteigen sehen und sie durch den musikalisch-sprachlichen Unterricht bekämpfen, und ebenso den mordenden Wolf und den tückischen Fuchs oder die Katze. Das ist das, was uns dann mit dem vernünftigen, mit dem richtigen Enthusiasmus, nicht mit dem brennenden, luziferischen Enthusiasmus, den man heute allein anerkennt, durchsetzen kann. Also, wir müssen erkennen: Attacke und Abwehr.
Der Mensch hat in sich zwei Niveauflächen, an denen abgewehrt wird; zunächst abgewehrt in ihm selber: die Abwehr kommt im Zahnwechsel zum Vorschein im 7. Jahre. Und dann wieder das, was er aufgenommen hat an Musikalisch-Sprachlichem: dadurch wird abgewehrt, was in ihm aufsteigen will. Aber beide Schlachtfelder sind eigentlich im Menschen drinnen: das Musikalisch-Sprachliche mehr gegen die Peripherie zu, nach der Außenwelt; das Architektonisch-Plastische mehr nach dem inneren Menschen, der inneren Welt zu. Aber es gibt noch ein drittes Schlachtfeld; das liegt an der Grenze zwischen dem Ätherleib und der Außenwelt. Der Ätherleib ist immer größer als der physische Leib, ragt überall über ihn hervor. Da ist auch ein solches Schlachtfeld. Da geht der Kampf mehr unter dem Einfluß des Bewußtseins vor sich, wogegen die beiden anderen Kämpfe mehr im Unterbewußten ablaufen. Der dritte Kampf geht mehr im Bewußtsein vor sich. Er kommt zum Ausdruck, wenn sich alles herausarbeitet, was Umsetzung dessen ist, was zwischen dem Menschen und dem Plastisch-Architektonischen vor sich geht auf der einen Seite, und dem, was zwischen dem Menschen und dem Musikalisch-Sprachlichen vor sich geht, wenn dieses in den Ätherleib sich hineinlebt, dadurch den Astralleib ergreift, und so mehr an die Peripherie, an die äußere Grenze verlegt wird. Dadurch entsteht all das, was durch die Finger schießt im Zeichnen und Malen und so weiter. Das ist das, was die Malkunst zu einer mehr in der Umgebung des Menschen wirkenden Kunst macht. Der Zeichner, der Plastiker muß mehr aus der inneren Anlage arbeiten, der Musiker muß mehr aus der Hingabe an die Welt arbeiten. Dasjenige, was sich im Malerisch-Zeichnerischen auslebt, wozu wir das Kind erziehen, indem wir es Formen und Linien machen lassen, das ist ein Kampf, der sich ganz an der Oberfläche abspielt, ein Kampf, der im wesentlichen zwischen zwei Kräften sich abspielt: die eine Kraft wirkt von außen nach innen, die andere von innen nach außen. Die Kraft, welche von innen nach außen wirkt, die will eigentlich den Menschen fortwährend zersplittern; sie will das Menschenbilden fortsetzen, sie will es nicht stark, aber in einer feinen Weise fortsetzen. Diese Kraft, sie will einen so machen - ich muß es etwas radikaler ausdrücken, es ist nicht so stark, aber indem ich es so radikal aufplustere, werden Sie sehen, was ich meine -, diese von innen nach außen wirkende Kraft will uns die Augen aufquellen lassen, will uns einen Kropf machen, will uns die Nase groß wachsen lassen und die Ohren größer machen: alles das will nach außen quellen. Eine andere Kraft ist da, die wir von der Außenwelt aufsaugen und durch die dieses Aufquellen abgewehrt wird. Und wenn wir nur einen Strich machen, etwas zeichnen, so ist es die Bemühung, von der Außenwelt herein dasjenige abzuwenden, was von innen heraus uns deformieren will. Es ist eine komplizierte Reflexbewegung, die wir als Menschen im Malerischen, im Zeichnerischen, im Graphischen ausführen. Wir haben tatsächlich, indem wir zeichnen, oder die Leinwand vor uns haben, in dem etwas aufglimmenden Bewußtsein das Gefühl: Du läßt da etwas nicht in dich herein, was da draußen ist; du machst in den Formen und Strichen dicke Wände oder Stacheldrähte. - In den Zeichnungen haben wir eigentlich solche Stacheldrähte, mit denen wir etwas, was von innen heraus uns zerstören will, auffangen und nicht schnell genug zur Wirkung kommen lassen. Daher wirkt der Zeichenunterricht am besten, wenn wir ihn vom Menschen aus studieren; wenn Sie studieren, was die Hand für Bewegungen machen möchte, wenn Sie beim Eurythmieunterricht vom Kinde die Formen festhalten lassen, diese Bewegungen, die es machen will, dann haben Sie die Linie, die zerstörend wirken will, festgehalten, und sie wirkt dann nicht zerstörerisch. Wenn Sie also anfangen die eurythmischen Formen zeichnen zu lassen und das Zeichnen und dann auch das Schreiben aus diesen herausformen lassen, dann haben Sie etwas, was die menschliche Natur eigentlich will, was mit dem Werden und Wesen der menschlichen Natur zusammenhängt. Und dies sollten wir auch bei der Eurythmie wissen: wir haben im Ätherleib fortwährend die Tendenz, Eurythmie zu treiben; das ist etwas, was der Ätherleib einfach von selbst macht. Eurythmie ist ja nichts anderes, als die ganzen Bewegungen abzulesen von dem, was der Ätherleib machen will; er macht eigentlich diese Bewegungen und wird nur abgehalten, wenn wir sie vom physischen Leibe ausführen lassen. Wenn wir sie vom physischen Leibe ausführen lassen, werden sie im Ätherleib zurückgehalten und wirken dann wieder auf uns zurück und wirken dadurch gesundend auf den Menschen.
Das ist dasjenige, was in einer gewissen Weise im Menschen sowohl hygienisch-therapeutisch als auch didaktisch-pädagogisch nach außen schon wirkt. Das sind Dinge, die erst verstanden werden, wenn wir wissen: es muß etwas, was in der ätherischen Organisation des Menschen zutage treten will, an der Peripherie aus den Bewegungen des physischen Leibes aufgehalten werden. Das eine Mal wird mehr ein willensmäßiges Element aufgehalten bei der Eurythmie, das andere Mal ein mehr intellektualistisches Element beim Zeichnen und Malen. Aber im Grunde genommen ist der Vorgang so, daß es nur zwei Pole ein und derselben Sache sind.
Wenn wir diesen Vorgang wiederum durchfühlen und in unsere empfindende Lehrbefähigung einverleiben, dann haben wir das dritte Gefühl, das wir brauchen, das Gefühl, das uns eigentlich gerade während des Volksschulunterrichtes immer durchdringen soll: daß der Mensch, indem er in die Welt tritt, eigentlich Dingen ausgesetzt ist, vor denen wir ihn schützen müssen durch den Unterricht; er würde sonst zu stark in die Welt ausfließen. Der Mensch hat eigentlich immer die Anlage, seelisch rachitisch zu werden, seine Glieder rachitisch zu machen, ein Gnom zu werden. Und indem wir ihn unterrichten und erziehen, formen wir an ihm. Dieses Formen bekommen wir am besten ins Gefühl, wenn wir verfolgen, wie das Kind eine Zeichnung macht, aber dies dann etwas glätten, so daß nicht das zustande kommt, was das Kind will, auch nicht, was ich will, sondern ein Ergebnis von beidem. Wenn ich das zustande bringe, daß ich das glätte, was das Kind hinfahren lassen will mit dem Finger, aber mein Empfinden hineinlege, mein Mitempfinden, so daß meine Empfindungen mit dem Kinde mitleben, dann kommt das Beste heraus. Wenn ich das in eine Empfindung umwandle und mich damit durchdringe, dann kommt heraus ein Schützen des Kindes vor einem allzu starken Zusammenwachsen mit der Außenwelt. Wir müssen das Kind langsam in die Außenwelt hineinwachsen lassen, dürfen es nicht zu schnell hineinwachsen lassen. Wir haben fortwährend eine schützende Hand über dem Kinde, und das ist das dritte Gefühl.
Ehrfurcht, Enthusiasmus und schützendes Gefühl, das sind die drei Dinge, die tatsächlich, ich möchte sagen, die Panazee, das Allheilmittel in der Seele des Erziehers und Lehrers sind. Und wollte man äußerlich, künstlerisch etwas schaffen wie eine Gruppe der Verkörperung von Kunst und Pädagogik, man müßte dieses schaffen:
Ehrfurcht vor dem, was dem Dasein des Kindes vorangeht.
Enthusiastischer Hinweis auf das, was dem Kinde nachfolgt.
Schützende Bewegung für das, was das Kind erlebt.
In dieser Formung der Lehrernatur würde auch die äußere Offenbarung des Lehrers am besten sich darstellen lassen.
Das sind Dinge, wo man sieht, wie man etwas, was man aus den Intimitäten der Weltgeheimnisse heraus sagt, eigentlich immer als unbefriedigend empfindet, wenn es durch die konventionelle Sprache gesagt wird. Muß man aber solche Dinge durch die äußere Sprache sagen, so hat man das Gefühl: da ist eine Ergänzung notwendig. Da ist immer etwas, wo das mehr abstrakt Sprachliche in das Künstlerische übergehen will. Deshalb wollte ich diesen Schlußpunkt machen.
Das müssen wir lernen. Wir müssen lernen, etwas von der Zukunftsstimmung in uns zu tragen, die darin bestehen wird, daß der Besitz der bloßen Wissenschaft den Menschen zu etwas macht, wodurch er sich ansieht als eine Art Zwerggeburt seelisch-geistig. Wer bloß Wissenschafter ist, wird nicht den Trieb haben, sei es auch nur durch die Formung der Gedanken, das Wissenschaftliche umzugestalten ins Künstlerische. Erst im Künstlerischen begreift man die Welt. Aber immer kann man sagen: Wem die Natur ihr Geheimnis enthüllt, der empfindet eine Sehnsucht nach der Kunst.
Man sollte das Gefühl haben: Insofern du bloß Wissenschafter bist, bist du ein Mondkalb! Erst wenn du umgestaltest deinen seelisch-geistig-körperlichen Organismus, wenn dein Wissen künstlerische Form annimmt, wirst du zum Menschen. Im wesentlichen wird die zukünftige Entwickelung führen — dazu hat der Pädagoge mitzuwirken von der Wissenschaft zum künstlerischen Erfassen der Welt, von der Mißgeburt zum Vollmenschen.
Second Lecture
Of course, one cannot educate or teach if one cannot, in a sense, feel the whole human being in one's spirit when educating and teaching; for this whole human being is even more important during childhood development than later on. We know that the whole human being includes the ego, the astral body, the etheric body, and the physical body. These four members of human nature do not develop uniformly, but in very different ways, and we must distinguish precisely between the development of the physical body and the etheric body, and the development of the astral body and the ego. The external manifestations of this differentiated development are expressed — as you know from the various hints I have given here and there — in the change of teeth and in the change in human beings that manifests itself in males in the change of voice at puberty, but which also manifests itself clearly in females, only in a different way. The fundamental nature of the phenomenon is the same as in the change of voice in men, only in the female organism it occurs in a broader way, so that it is not only perceptible in one organ, as in the male organism, but extends more over the whole organism.
You know that between the change of teeth and the change of voice or sexual maturity lies the period of schooling, which we deal with primarily in elementary school education; but the years that lie beyond the change of voice or its equivalent in the female organism must also be given careful attention in teaching and education, and must definitely be taken into account.
Let us consider what tooth replacement means. Tooth replacement is the outward expression of the fact that previously, i.e., between birth and tooth replacement, the physical body and etheric body in the child's organism were strongly influenced by the nervous-sensory system, i.e., from top to bottom. Until about the age of 7, the physical body and the etheric body are most effectively influenced from the head. The head is, in a sense, the center of the forces that are particularly effective during these years, when imitation plays such an important role. And what happens in terms of formation in the rest of the organism, in the trunk and limbs, takes place through radiations emanating from the head to the rest of the organism, to the trunk and limb organisms, the physical body and the etheric body. What radiates from the head into the physical body and etheric body of the whole child, right down to the tips of the fingers and toes, what radiates from the head into the whole child, is soul activity, even though it emanates from the physical body; it is the same soul activity that later works in the soul as intellect and memory. It is only later, after the change of teeth, that the child begins to think in such a way that its memories become more conscious. The whole change that takes place in the child's soul life shows that certain soul forces are active in the child from the age of 7 as soul forces that were previously active in the organism. They work in the organism. The entire period up to the change of teeth, during which the child grows, is a result of the same forces that appear after the age of 7 as intellectual forces.
Here you have a very real interaction between soul and body, in that at the age of 7 the soul emancipates itself from the body and no longer works in the body, but for itself. At the age of seven, the forces that are now emerging as soul forces in the body itself begin to take effect — and they continue to work until the next incarnation. And then what radiates from the body is repelled, and on the other hand, the forces that shoot downwards from the head are held back. So that at this time, when the teeth are changing, the strongest struggle takes place between the forces that strive from above to below and those that shoot from below to above. The changing of the teeth is the physical expression of this struggle between these two types of forces; those forces that later emerge in the child as the powers of understanding and intellect, and those forces that must be used especially in drawing, painting, and writing. We then use all the forces that shoot upward when we develop writing from drawing, for these forces actually want to pass over into plastic modeling, drawing, and so on. These are the forces that come to an end with the change of teeth, the forces that previously shaped the child's body, the sculptural forces, and which we use later, when the change of teeth has taken place, to encourage the child to draw, paint, and so on. These are mainly the forces that are placed in the child by the spiritual world, in which the child's soul lived before conception, in the spiritual world. They first act as physical forces shaping the head and then, from the age of 7, as soul forces. So that for the period from the age of 7 onwards, our authoritative influences simply bring out in the child what the child previously practiced unconsciously as imitation, as these forces unconsciously impacted the body. If the child later becomes a sculptor, a draftsman, or an architect, but a real architect who works from forms, this happens because such a person has the predisposition to retain something more in their organism of the forces that radiate down into the organism, to retain something more in the head, so that even later these childlike forces still radiate down. But if they are not retained, if everything passes into the soul when the teeth change, we get children who then have no aptitude for drawing, sculpture, or architecture, who can never become sculptors.
That is the secret: these forces are connected with what we have gone through between death and our new birth. You get what you need within the effectiveness of education as reverence, which can have a religious character, when you become aware: The powers that you draw out of the child around the age of 7, which you use to learn to draw or write, are basically sent to you by heaven; in other words, the spiritual world sends down these powers, the child is the mediator, and you are actually working with the powers sent down from the spiritual world. This reverence for the spiritual-divine, when it permeates the teaching, is indeed something that works wonders in the classroom. And if you have the feeling that you are connected with the forces developing from the spiritual world before birth — if you have this feeling, which creates a deep reverence, then you will see that you can achieve more through the presence of this feeling than through any intellectual elaboration of what one should do. The feelings that the teacher has are the most important educational tools. And this reverence is something that has an enormously formative effect on the child.
So in what happens to the child during the change of teeth, we have something that is a direct translation of spiritual forces from the spiritual world into the physical world through the child.
Another process takes place during the years of sexual maturity, but it is slowly prepared throughout the entire cycle from the age of 7 to 14 or 15. During this time, something awakens in those regions of the soul that are not yet illuminated by consciousness — for consciousness is only just forming, and something from the outside world is constantly shining unconsciously into us — something that has been shining into the child from the outside world since birth, but has permeated the child from birth, has contributed to the development of the child's body and has entered into the child, into the plastic forces.
These are yet other forces. While the plastic forces enter the head from within, these forces now come from outside and then descend into the organism. I can describe these forces, which work from the outside world through the head into the body—they push through the plastic forces and contribute to what happens in the development of the child's body from the age of seven onwards—I can describe these forces in no other way than as the same forces that work in language and music. These forces are taken in from the world.
The forces that are musical in nature are absorbed more from the outside world, from the non-human world, from the observation of nature, from the observation of processes in nature, especially from the observation of its regularities and irregularities. Everything that happens in nature is accompanied by a mysterious music: the earthly projection of the music of the spheres. Every plant and every animal actually incorporates a tone of the music of the spheres. This is also the case with regard to the human body, but it no longer lives in human language, that is, in the expressions of the soul, but rather in the body in its forms and so on. Children absorb all this unconsciously, and that is why children are so musical. They absorb all this into their organism. What they experience in terms of movement, lines, and plasticity comes from within, from the head. On the other hand, everything that is absorbed by the child in terms of sound structure and language content comes from outside. And this, which comes from outside, is counteracted – but now somewhat later, around the age of 14 – by the spiritual element of musicality and language that gradually develops from within. This now comes together again, in women throughout the organism, in men more in the larynx area, and this causes the voice to change there. The whole process is thus brought about by a more volitional element from within fighting against a volitional element that comes from outside; and this struggle is expressed in the change of voice and in what emerges at sexual maturity. It is a struggle between inner musical-linguistic forces and outer musical-linguistic forces. Essentially, up to the age of 7, the human being is more influenced by plastic and less by musical forces, that is, less by musical and linguistic forces that permeate the organism. From the age of 7, however, the musical and linguistic forces become particularly active in the etheric body. Then the ego and the astral body turn against this: a will-like element from outside fights with a will-like element from within, and this comes to the fore at puberty. It is also manifested outwardly that there is a difference between male and female in that they have different pitches. Only some of the high notes of men's and women's voices coincide; the female voice reaches higher, the male voice goes deeper, down to bass. This corresponds exactly to the rest of the structure of the organism, which develops from the struggle between these forces.
These things testify that in our soul life we are dealing with what also contributes to the structure of the organism, but for very specific purposes. All the abstract talk you find today in psychology books and in those psychological debates that originate from contemporary science, all the talk of psychophysical parallelism, is nothing more than a document of the ignorance of our philosophers, who know nothing about the real connection between the soul and the body. For the soul is not connected to the body according to the nonsensical theories devised by psychophysical parallelists, but rather we are dealing with the very concrete effect of the soul in the body, and then again with the reaction; we will talk about this in a moment. The plastic-architectural works together with the musical-linguistic until the age of 7; this only changes in the 7th year, so that from then on only the relationship between the musical-linguistic on the one hand and the plastic-architectural on the other is different. But throughout the entire period until the person reaches sexual maturity, there is such an interaction between the plastic-architectural, which originates in and is located in the head, and the linguistic-musical, which originates in the outside world, comes from outside, uses the head as a passageway, and spreads throughout the organism.
From this we can see that human language, especially the musical element, also plays a role in shaping the human being: first it shapes the human being, and then it accumulates, coming to a halt at the larynx; there it no longer passes through the gate as it did before. In the past, it was language that changed our organs right down to the skeletal system. Anyone who looks at a human skeleton with a truly psychophysical gaze, not with the dull psychophysical gaze of our contemporary philosophers, and considers the differences between a male and a female skeleton, will see in the skeleton a corporeal musical performance that takes place in the interaction between the human organism and the outside world. The human skeleton can be understood, as it were, as if one were playing a sonata and capturing it through some kind of mental crystallization process, thus revealing the main forms, the arrangement of the human skeleton! This will also demonstrate to you the difference between humans and animals. In animals, what is absorbed from the linguistic-musical element — very little from the linguistic, but very much from the musical — passes through the animal because, in a sense, animals do not have the isolation of humans, which then leads to mutation. We also have a musical imprint in the skeletal form of the animal; however, this is such that only the various assembled skeletons, for example in a museum, should reveal a musical connection in the animal. The animal always reveals a one-sidedness in its structure.
These are things that we should therefore take particular account of and that show us what feelings we should develop. If we gain more reverence by cultivating our connection, our correspondence with the prenatal, as we have already characterized it, then we gain more enthusiasm for teaching from our deepening of the other forces of the human being. A Dionysian element, as it were, shines through in musical and linguistic lessons, while we get more of an Apollonian element for plastic arts lessons, for painting and drawing lessons. We teach lessons related to music and language with enthusiasm, and the others with reverence.
The plastic forces have a stronger counteracting effect, so they are already held back at the age of 7; the other forces have a weaker counteracting effect, so they are only held back at the age of 14. This should not be taken to mean physical strength and weakness, but rather the counterpressure that is exerted. Because the plastic forces would overwhelm the human organism, because they are stronger, the counterpressure is stronger. That is why they must be stopped earlier, while the other forces are allowed to remain in the organism longer by the world's guidance. Human beings are imbued with musical forces longer than with plastic forces.
If you allow this to mature within yourself and have the necessary enthusiasm for it, then you will be able to say to yourself: With what you awaken in the child in terms of language and music, especially during elementary school, when that struggle is still present and you are still working on the physical body, not just the soul, you are preparing what will continue to have an effect beyond death, what the human being will carry beyond death. — We essentially work on this in everything we teach children in terms of music and language during elementary school. And that gives us a certain enthusiasm, because we know that we are working toward the future. When we work with the plastic forces, on the other hand, we correspond with what was already present in the human being before birth, before conception; which fills us with awe. We work with the other into the future; we put our own forces into it and know that we are fertilizing the musical-linguistic seed with something that will continue to have an effect in the future after the physical aspects of language and music have been stripped away. Music is physical in that it is a reflection of the spherical in the air. The air is, in a sense, the medium that makes the sounds physical, and in turn it is the air in the larynx that also makes speech physical; while that which is not physical in the air of speech, that which is not physical in the air of music, is that which only unfolds its true effect after death. This gives us a certain enthusiasm for our teaching, because we know that we are thereby influencing the future.
I believe that the future of education will consist in no longer speaking to teachers, as is the case today, but in speaking in loud ideas and concepts that can be transformed into feelings. For nothing is more important than our ability as teachers to develop within ourselves the necessary reverence and enthusiasm to teach with reverence and enthusiasm. Reverence and enthusiasm are the secret fundamental forces that must spiritualize the soul of the teacher.
I would just like to mention, so that you can understand the matter even better, that the musical element lives specifically in the human astral body. After death, the human being still carries his astral body for a while. As long as he carries it, until he sheds it — you know this from my book “Theosophy” — there is still a kind of recollection, it is only a kind of memory, of earthly music present in the human being after death. This is why what a person takes in as music during their life continues to have an effect after death as a musical memory, for example, until the person has shed their astral body. Then the earthly music is transformed into spherical music in the afterlife and remains as spherical music until some time before the new birth. This is something that will bring the matter closer to your understanding if you know that what human beings absorb from music here on earth plays a very strong role in shaping their soul organism after death. It is shaped during this time of Kamaloka. That is the good thing about the Kamaloka period, and essentially we can make what Catholics call purgatory easier for people if we know this, but not by taking away their vision; they must have that, because otherwise they would remain imperfect if they could not have a view of what they have done that is imperfect. But we introduce the possibility that people will be better educated in their next life if, during that time after death when they still have their astral body, they can have many memories of music. This can already be studied at a relatively low level of occultism. You only need to wake up in the night after listening to a concert, and you will realize that you have experienced the whole concert again before waking up. You experience it even better now when you wake up in the night after the concert. You experience it very faithfully. The musical experience is imprinted on the astral body, where it remains and continues to resonate for about 30 years after death. The musical experience resonates much longer than the linguistic experience; we lose the linguistic experience relatively quickly after death, and only its spiritual essence remains. The musical remains as long as the astral body remains. — The linguistic can be a great benefit to us after death if we have often absorbed it in the way I now often describe the art of recitation. I naturally have every reason to point out that when I describe the art of recitation in this way, these things cannot be properly understood unless we take into account the peculiar course of the astral body after death. One must then describe things in much the same way as I describe them in my eurythmic lectures. One must speak to people in the language of the Botokuden, as it were. Yes, it is really so: seen from the standpoint beyond the threshold, people are actually like Botokuden, and only beyond the threshold are they real human beings. And we only work our way out of the Botokuden-like standpoint when we work our way into the spiritual; hence the fury of the Botokuden towards our endeavors, which is now becoming increasingly apparent.
Now I would like to draw your attention to the fact that, because it is particularly relevant to the art of education and we can process it pedagogically, in this struggle that I described first, so that you can see that its outward expression is the change of teeth, and in that later struggle, the equivalent of which is the change of voice, that what is peculiar about this struggle is that it still has a special character: Everything that descends from the head downwards in the period up to the age of seven is perceived as an attack in contrast to what comes from within and builds it up. And everything that works from within towards the head, that rises up and counteracts the flow emanating from the head, is like a defense against what descends. The other is perceived as an attack; what comes from within is perceived as a defense.
And again, it is similar with music. What comes from within appears as an attack, and what passes down from above through the head organism appears as a defense. If we did not have music, terrible forces would actually rise up in human beings. I am completely convinced that until the 16th and 17th centuries, traditions from the ancient mysteries had an effect, and that in those times people still wrote and spoke under the influence of this mystery aftereffect, who no longer fully understood the meaning of this effect. 17th century, traditions from the ancient mysteries continued to have an effect, and that in those times people still wrote and spoke under the influence of these mysteries, even though they no longer fully understood the meaning of this influence. However, in some cases, what appears in relatively later times is simply a reminiscence of ancient mystery knowledge. so that I have always been deeply moved by Shakespeare's words: The man who has no music in himself is fit for treachery, murder, and deceit! Trust no such man. — In the ancient mystery schools, the students were told: That which attacks from within the human being and which must be constantly defended against, which is held back for human nature, is “treachery, murder, and deceit,” and the music that proceeds within the human being is that which counteracts this. Music is the antidote to the Luciferic forces rising up from within the human being: betrayal, murder, malice. We all have betrayal, murder, and malice within us, and it is not for nothing that the world has the musical-linguistic element within it, apart from the fact that it gives people pleasure. It has it in order to make human beings human. Of course, we must bear in mind that the ancient mystery teachers spoke somewhat differently; they expressed things more concretely. They would not have said that it was already overshadowed in Shakespeare – betrayal, murder, and malice – but rather they would have said: snake, wolf, fox. The snake, the wolf, the fox – they are repelled from inner human nature by the musical element. The ancient mystery teachers would always have used animal forms for that which rises up from the human being and which must first be transformed into a human being. And so it is that we gain the right enthusiasm when we see the treacherous snake rising up from the child and combat it through musical and linguistic instruction, and likewise the murderous wolf and the treacherous fox or cat. This is what can then prevail with reasonable, proper enthusiasm, not with the burning, Luciferic enthusiasm that is recognized today. So we must recognize: attack and defense.
Human beings have two levels within themselves at which defense takes place; first, defense within themselves: this defense comes to the fore during the change of teeth at the age of 7. And then again, what they have absorbed in terms of music and language: this defends against what wants to rise up within them. But both battlefields are actually inside the human being: the musical-linguistic more towards the periphery, towards the outside world; the architectural-plastic more towards the inner human being, the inner world. But there is a third battlefield; it lies at the border between the etheric body and the outside world. The etheric body is always larger than the physical body, towering above it everywhere. There is also such a battlefield there. There, the battle takes place more under the influence of consciousness, whereas the other two battles take place more in the subconscious. The third battle takes place more in consciousness. It comes to expression when everything that is the implementation of what is going on between the human being and the plastic-architectural on the one hand, and what is going on between the human being and the musical-linguistic on the other, comes to the fore, when this lives into the etheric body, thereby grasping the astral body, and is thus shifted more to the periphery, to the outer boundary. This gives rise to everything that flows through the fingers in drawing and painting and so on. This is what makes the art of painting an art that has a greater effect on the human environment. The draughtsman and the sculptor must work more from their inner disposition, while the musician must work more from their devotion to the world. What is expressed in painting and drawing, which we teach children by letting them make shapes and lines, is a struggle that takes place entirely on the surface, a struggle that essentially takes place between two forces: one force works from the outside in, the other from the inside out. The force that works from the inside out actually wants to continually fragment the human being; it wants to continue shaping the human being, not in a strong way, but in a subtle way. This force wants to make us like this—I have to express it a little more radically, it is not so strong, but by exaggerating it so radically, you will see what I mean—this force acting from the inside out wants to make our eyes bulge, wants to give us a goiter, wants to make our noses grow large and our ears bigger: all of this wants to bulge outwards. There is another force that we absorb from the outside world and through which this swelling is repelled. And when we make just one stroke, draw something, it is an effort to ward off from the outside world that which wants to deform us from within. It is a complicated reflex movement that we as humans perform in painting, drawing, and graphic art. When we draw or have the canvas in front of us, we actually have the feeling in our dawning consciousness: you are not letting something that is out there into yourself; you are creating thick walls or barbed wire in the forms and lines. In our drawings, we actually have such barbed wire, with which we catch something that wants to destroy us from within and prevent it from taking effect too quickly. That is why drawing lessons are most effective when we study them from the human perspective; when you study what the hand wants to do in terms of movement, when you let the child capture the forms in eurythmy lessons, these movements that it wants to make, then you have captured the line that wants to have a destructive effect, and it then does not have a destructive effect. So when you begin to have children draw eurythmic forms and then have them form their drawing and writing out of these, you have something that human nature actually wants, something that is connected with the becoming and essence of human nature. And we should also know this about eurythmy: we constantly have the tendency to do eurythmy in the etheric body; it is something that the etheric body simply does of its own accord. Eurythmy is nothing other than reading all the movements from what the etheric body wants to do; it actually makes these movements and is only prevented from doing so when we let the physical body carry them out. When we let the physical body carry them out, they are held back in the etheric body and then have an effect on us, thereby having a healing effect on the human being.
This is what, in a certain way, already has an effect on the human being, both hygienically-therapeutically and didactically-pedagogically. These are things that can only be understood when we know that something that wants to come to light in the etheric organization of the human being must be held back at the periphery by the movements of the physical body. In eurythmy, it is more of a volitional element that is held back, while in drawing and painting it is more of an intellectual element. But basically, the process is such that there are only two poles of one and the same thing.
If we feel through this process again and incorporate it into our teaching ability, then we have the third feeling we need, the feeling that should actually permeate us during elementary school teaching: that when a person enters the world, they are actually exposed to things from which we must protect them through teaching; otherwise, they would flow too strongly into the world. Human beings actually always have the tendency to become spiritually rickety, to make their limbs rickety, to become gnomes. And by teaching and educating them, we shape them. We get the best feel for this shaping when we watch a child make a drawing, but then smooth it out a little so that the result is not what the child wants, nor what I want, but a combination of both. If I manage to smooth out what the child wants to draw with its finger, but put my feelings into it, my empathy, so that my feelings live with the child, then the best result comes out. If I transform this into a feeling and permeate myself with it, then the result is a protection of the child from growing too strongly together with the outside world. We must allow the child to grow into the outside world slowly, not too quickly. We must constantly keep a protective hand over the child, and that is the third feeling.
Reverence, enthusiasm, and a protective feeling are the three things that are, I would say, the panacea, the universal remedy in the soul of the educator and teacher. And if one wanted to create something externally, artistically, such as a group embodying art and pedagogy, one would have to create this:
Reverence for what precedes the child's existence.
Enthusiastic reference to what follows the child.
Protective movement for what the child experiences.
In this shaping of the teacher's nature, the teacher's external revelation would also be best represented.
These are things where one sees how something that one says from the intimacies of the world's secrets is actually always perceived as unsatisfactory when it is said through conventional language. But if one has to say such things through external language, one has the feeling that something is missing. There is always something where the more abstract linguistic wants to merge into the artistic. That is why I wanted to make this conclusion.
We must learn this. We must learn to carry within us something of the spirit of the future, which will consist in the fact that the possession of mere science makes man into something that he regards as a kind of dwarf birth, spiritually and mentally. Those who are merely scientists will not have the urge, even if only through the formation of thoughts, to transform the scientific into the artistic. Only in art can one understand the world. But one can always say: those to whom nature reveals its secrets feel a longing for art.
One should feel that as long as you are merely a scientist, you are a moon calf! Only when you transform your mental, spiritual, and physical organism, when your knowledge takes on artistic form, will you become a human being. Essentially, future development will lead—and educators must contribute to this—from science to an artistic understanding of the world, from the misfit to the complete human being.