Rudolf Steiner
The School of Spiritual Science
“Only that is true which proves to be fruitful.”
—Goethe
Perhaps only a future generation will fully realize how endlessly specialized modern universities have become in almost all the fields they encompass. In place of the universities that, as recently as about a hundred years ago, attempted to provide a comprehensive education through a few faculties, we now have institutes that bear the name “university” only out of tradition, and where even the division into faculties largely belongs to this tradition. How many general and specialized sciences are currently taught within the framework of a single faculty! How little connection there is between the sciences themselves; how little the faculties are connected to one another: there is little or no trace of universality left. A constant striving to penetrate as deeply as possible into the individual specialized field has replaced the attempt to understand everything from a central and universal perspective. The pursuit of external totality has replaced an inner experience of universality.
Alongside the traditional universities, a large number of other institutions dedicated to specific fields have emerged. Engineering and agriculture, music and the visual arts, even the fields of commerce—all are taught in universities specially established for this purpose. All of this should still be connected in an inner way, through a unity of purpose. The opposite is, however, the case. Not only are the various universities completely independent, but so are the faculties; indeed, even the different subjects within a faculty are often completely isolated from one another. Which doctor, for example, is still capable of mastering or even knowing the various specialized subjects in his field? Often he will even have difficulty understanding the publications appearing there. A study on brain anatomy, an essay on psychology or psychopathology is often completely baffling to him, right down to the terminology. It is then no wonder that universities are increasingly viewed as technical colleges. In certain circles, this is even seen as an ideal for the future. The university would then have to become an institute for training in almost all fields. Anyone who wishes to assume a more or less leading position in social or cultural life would be compelled to study at such a technical college for a shorter or longer period of time.
Such an ideal is very far removed from the ideal pursued at the School of Spiritual Science. There, the primary aim is to learn to recognize the true relationship between human beings and the world. In ancient times, this relationship was imparted to those seeking wisdom with the help of the mystery priests. The preparation the student had to undergo was of a moral nature. Then, in a state of deep sleep, his soul was brought into contact with the spiritual world. When he awoke, he had become a new person. In our time, no higher development can be achieved in this unconscious manner. The path that must now be taken may only be entered in the light of full consciousness. Only then can one speak of true freedom, when every stage of this path is accessible to the thinking consciousness.
Such a path was made possible by Rudolf Steiner’s "Philosophy of Freedom". The ideas for this work matured during years of great inner solitude. Not a single one of the many significant people he encountered during that time fully grasped the significance of the "Philosophy of Freedom". He had to walk this arduous spiritual path entirely alone. Yet the book was to form the foundation for the spiritual liberation of future generations. In it, the very essence of thinking was revealed.
Human beings and the world are outwardly separated from one another. In the soul, however, the two meet. This encounter becomes conscious only in thinking. If a person lives in the world of thoughts, into which they can enter upon spiritual awakening, and trains themselves in the "Philosophy of Freedom," then they take their first steps into this all-pervading world. Usually, one experiences only its sensory image. But whoever becomes acquainted with thoughts born of the spirit penetrates into the world that is kept hidden from us by sensory perceptions. “If you truly live within thinking, you live, albeit initially in an indefinite way, in the universe.” Rudolf Steiner calls this thought the “central nerve” of his "Philosophy of Freedom." In other words: “If one grasps thinking within oneself, one grasps the divine within oneself.”
It is evident that from this starting point, true universality can once again be attained. The thinking human being enters into the entire universe; not only does he become aware of the laws of the world in the form of ideas, but he also connects, through feeling and will, with the beauty and morality that speak from them. The following words, spoken by Rudolf Steiner at the opening of the first “University Course” (September 1920) in the first Goetheanum, express this new spiritual striving: “We wish to creatively bring to light three new forces from spiritual sources: a visual art once more, a knowledge of the supersensible for the rebirth of the soul and the spirit in that religion whose mood must take shape from this art and this science.
What is to be born as such a force—we not only have the conviction, but we who work here an awareness that we can carry into the individual branches of human cultural life, into all the details of our present-day turbulent social life, that which can emerge for the living existence of humanity from the new triad: the art of vision, the science that grasps the spiritual, and the religion that experiences rebirth in the supersensible.”
The fruitfulness of this path has drawn ever more people to anthroposophy, all of whom were inspired by the desire to bring a true spiritual science to life within this spiritless culture. A new light has begun to shine in this darkness. It has arisen from the wisdom, beauty, and power of the ancient mysteries, which seek to be resurrected in a new form, with new content.
The path leading to them is quite different from what it used to be. A science of knowledge now stands at the starting point and makes possible a worldview in which the spiritually knowable and the religious-moral world order can unite in full consciousness. Through this, a “new spirit of science” can truly be born.
But the content, too, has changed. The ancient wisdom of the mysteries did indeed know of the coming of Christ to Earth in a distant future. This was symbolically expressed in various images for those seeking wisdom. But since the Christ Mystery has been fulfilled on earth, and thus the Godhead itself has appeared on earth as the great model for humanity, the path leading to this spiritual world can no longer be a symbolic one. Knowledge must arise as a reality experienced firsthand. The wisdom that was once bestowed upon humanity by the gods must now, in the deepest sense of the word, become human wisdom. The Mystery of Golgotha took place to reveal to humanity on Earth “how that which is born in the physical realm must be reborn in the supersensible realm in order to attain a fully human existence.”
This “rebirth in the supersensible” is the fundamental idea of the anthroposophical path of development. When a human being takes in the world of appearances into their soul and fixes it in images of memory, a process of death takes place. The living, flowing perceptions become memories that possess only an apparent reality in the soul. The thoughts constructed from such ideas and images of memory have no real life. They are “thought corpses.” It is quite different, however, when thoughts arising from intuition awaken in the human soul in response to the world of perception. Then an encounter takes place between the living stream of phenomena and the living human soul. This encounter leads to a connection between the human being and the world. “The realization of the idea in reality is the true communion of the human being.” These words, written by Rudolf Steiner when he was just under thirty years old, have always remained the guiding principle of all work at the Goetheanum. Through this spiritual communion, the human being connects with the divine creative forces. Through thinking, he enters the world of the spirit. The two great forces connecting the world and the human being flow together. Love and wisdom are united in the soul. Heart and head no longer need to go their separate ways, but can enter into a close mutual connection.
The path thus described is necessary for our century, for it is the path demanded by the spirit of the times. Rudolf Steiner spoke very often about this spirit of the times! From the concreteness of the anthroposophical view of the spirit, he was also able to describe the essence of this spirit of the times. The ancient Christian teaching called him Michael, a name we can adopt unchanged. Michael has always been the guardian of cosmic intelligence—that is, of the forces that act as creative spiritual forces in the cosmos and can appear in the human soul in the form of ideas. Thus, Michael was also the archangel who was to guide human thinking in its development.
Yet in the age when, under the influence of the great scientific discoveries, the entire worldview was dissolved into numbers and formulas, great dangers arose for humanity. On the one hand, such a worldview did indeed clear the path to a new cosmic spirituality. However, if humanity does not desire this, the opposing forces stand ready on the other side to lead the soul ever further down the path of abstraction. In our time, these forces leading to abstraction threaten to gain the upper hand. They have already almost completely entangled the human soul in a web of theories and phrases. Only by consciously turning to the spirit with all their strength can human beings break through this web. The struggle that must be waged to achieve this was depicted many centuries ago in the image of Michael fighting the dragon. Once, the dragon was an expression of that which is connected to the lower element of desire.
In our time, this element of desire operates within the realm of thought itself and must be fought there above all. The path to liberation can begin today only with a liberation of thought. Michael is the guide on this path to liberation. Therefore, he cannot in any way exert a direct influence on human striving. He can only point the way from the spiritual world, but must leave it to human beings to walk this path in complete freedom.In human thought, the connections of the world reveal themselves like a fabric of spiritual light. As thoughts become more abstract, this light grows paler and colder. If the human being of our time wishes to ascend to the reality of the spiritual world, he will have to penetrate this pale, cold light of thought with all the warmth that can live in his heart. From this inner warmth of the soul, thoughts can then be reborn, alive and glowing with the fire born of a true enthusiasm for wisdom, beauty, and love.