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The Rudolf Steiner Archive

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251. The History of the Anthroposophical Society 1913–1922: From Thinking to Artistic Experience 03 Aug 1922, Dornach

I think this parallelism is what you wanted to point out? Isn't it true that if we now understand this in such a way that in the course of human development certain links or elements, let us say, within human nature are detached from the whole of human nature, then such parallel phenomena are extraordinarily significant.
Here you have to think, and it is not at all easy for you to understand that a straight line – to put it synthetically – only has one end point, not two. With a curve, you will feel that a circle has a different equation in the coordinate system than an ellipse.
Perhaps some of you here today remember a lecture I gave here a long time ago, in which I pointed out how certain Near Eastern pre-Greek buildings can only be understood if they are seen as representing people lying on the ground and raising themselves up with their heads – naturally translated into the architectural – certain Near Eastern buildings.
252. The History of the Johannesbau and Goetheanum Associations: To the Members of the Theosophical Society (German Section) and their Friends, regarding the Johannesbau (Brochure) 31 Oct 1911,

When we ask for the reasons for this attitude, we unfortunately have to confirm what sounds so harsh to our ears at the foundation stone laying ceremony in Stuttgart: there is still a lack of understanding of the importance and necessity in many cases. And when the JohannesbauVerein was founded, it saw its most important task as creating and awakening understanding.
For the Johannesbau should be an act of the freest and highest understanding and most devoted love. Today it is only possible to teach a few things about the ideas underlying the Johannesbau; for its forms have only been given to us in sketchy outlines.
Since the days of the Gothic cathedrals, the temple culture could only work “underground”, that is, in secret. Our time sees the culture of the initiate come to light, and it is only logical that the “underground temple” be elevated to a “sun temple”.
252. The History of the Johannesbau and Goetheanum Associations: The Origin of Architecture from the Soul of Man and its Connection with the Course of Human Development I 12 Dec 1911, Berlin

I will now try to say something about the nature of this matter from a completely different side and from a completely different point of view: In the course of my theosophical work, I have repeatedly encountered artists in a wide variety of fields who had a certain fear, a certain shyness, of theosophy, and this was because theosophy attempts to open up a certain understanding of works of art and also of the impulses on which they are based. How often does it happen that what confronts us as saga and legend, but also as a work of art, is interpreted by theosophy, that is, it is tried to be traced back to the underlying forces.
So closely connected with all theosophical feeling is what we are to do, and what we believe that the JohannesbauVerein will open up an understanding of. I hardly need to say any more to make it clear that this Johannesbau can be a matter close to the heart of the theosophist, of the kind that is felt to be a necessity in the course of time. For in answering the question of whether Theosophy is understood in a certain broader sense today, an extraordinary amount depends first on an answer that we cannot give with words, that we cannot express with thoughts, but rather on our act and that each, as far as possible, contributes in one way or another to what our JohannesbauVerein, so understandingly and beautifully placed in the evolution of humanity, wants.
252. The History of the Johannesbau and Goetheanum Associations: The Origin of Architecture from the Soul of Man and its Connection with the Course of Human Development II 05 Feb 1913, Berlin

Architecture is actually bound to a very specific premise if we understand architecture in the sense that man wants to create a shell, as it were, using some material, through some forms or other measures, be it for profane living and working, be it for religious activities or the like.
Those who, as anthroposophists, gradually find their way into such an understanding of these terms, as our esteemed friend Arenson has very beautifully explained in these days, will not be able to stop at the words sentient soul, mind or consciousness soul and only seek to find one or other definition for these words , but as a true anthroposophist will long to gradually develop in his mind many, many concepts, feelings and insights, which the one feeling leads to the other and so on, in order to arrive at a more comprehensive understanding, which in the case of these concepts is structured in the most diverse directions.
No one who is familiar with the nature of the intellectual soul or the soul of feeling, as it has just been characterized, can doubt that Greek and also Roman architecture can be understood as an external image of the life of the soul of intellect or soul of feeling. Let us consider Greek architecture, for example Greek temple architecture, as we have often done before, by understanding it as the house of the god himself, so that the god dwells within it and the whole house presents itself as the dwelling of the god, the whole inwardly rounded as an inward totality.
252. The History of the Johannesbau and Goetheanum Associations: To the Members of the Anthroposophical Society Regarding the Johannesbau 18 May 1913, Stuttgart

From that side, I would still have found resistance understandable. I do not mean to say that there were no moods – there were! – but they did not get in our way.
Instead, resistance arose, and one could see what was asserting itself under the flag of artistic insight as artistry, the kind of artistry that calls itself that and that has not the slightest understanding of what should be achieved through the artistic evolution of humanity.
In order to carry out this idea, knowledge of the underlying ideas and construction concepts, which have emerged over the course of a long collaboration, is of course necessary.
252. The History of the Johannesbau and Goetheanum Associations: The Laying of the Foundation Stone of the First Goetheanum and Subsequent Address 20 Sep 1913, Dornach

My dear sisters and brothers! Let us understand each other correctly on this festive evening. Let us understand each other to the effect that this act, in a certain sense, signifies a vow for our soul.
If we show understanding for the present moment, then we will also understand that a fifth gospel can be added to the four.
Let us take with us the macrocosmic Lord's Prayer, feeling that we are beginning to gain an understanding of the Gospel of Knowledge: the fifth gospel. Let us carry home into our soul with earnestness and dignity our will from this important moment.
252. The History of the Johannesbau and Goetheanum Associations: The 3rd General Assembly of the Johannesbau Association 22 Sep 1913, Basel

This cry is like a question from a frightened humanity. It is not always understood, my dear friends. But it can be understood, my dear friends, in the most diverse symptoms, which need only be viewed in their true light.
People read the beautiful phrases, which sometimes sound quite theosophical, but one must read such things a little more deeply if one wants to understand their significance for spiritual life. And there I would like to suggest with a few words how one can read them.
We know that he has descended into these deep spheres, and we must try to understand how a person works his way out in the course of earthly evolution - works out as an ego - in the way that must be out of freedom, in order to once again gain an understanding of the divine spiritual powers that are weaving through the world.
252. The History of the Johannesbau and Goetheanum Associations: Aspects of the Architectural Design of the Anthroposophical Colony in Dornach 23 Jan 1914, Berlin

Of course, my dear friends, the words I would like to say at this moment, following on from what I have just said, are not meant to imply that I would like to interfere in any way with what these colonists are undertaking around our Johannesbau in Dornach. It is self-evident that, given the way we understand our anthroposophical movement, the freedom of each individual member must be preserved to the greatest extent.
by saying, “Go to such and such a person who has this or that method”, so too, just as we would be compelled to seek our own way in eurythmy, we must also learn to understand how to seek our own in other art forms and thereby create something for those who want to understand, something that is perhaps only possible from such a productive spiritual current as the humanities provide.
And what is created there will be a test of how well or how poorly our cause has been understood. A house built by any old architect will be seen as further proof of how little our anthroposophical movement is understood in today's world!
252. The History of the Johannesbau and Goetheanum Associations: About the Johannesbau in Dornach 14 Apr 1914, Vienna

This building is giving us more work than one would normally imagine, and you will therefore understand that personal meetings have had to be canceled for a certain period of time. For our dear Austrian friends, it has certainly not been easy in many respects to come to terms with the fact that the Johannesbau is so far away.
The aim is to achieve something that everyone inside can gradually get used to, to understand these forms, not allegorically or symbolically, but in a living sensation, to have something like a view of the world we are talking about, simply by experiencing the form.
And in this respect, the willingness of some of our friends to make sacrifices was so accommodating that we can say: this willingness to make sacrifices is, in a way, a symbol of how our spiritual movement has penetrated the understanding of souls. I just wanted to mention that you take this building into your heart, that you feel it as the center of our movement, so that you can imagine yourself united with it, and that you allow your personal presence to be there as much as the opening in the future will allow.
252. The History of the Johannesbau and Goetheanum Associations: On the Outbreak of the First World War 13 Aug 1914, Dornach

We who are gathered here around our building, which is to become a symbol of the spirit, are undoubtedly all under the impression of the events that have befallen Europe while we were still fully occupied with our building.
This is the thought of - it need not be misunderstood, but it may be expressed and can be understood - the present physical weakness of what can be done for the spirit. To put it before our minds, let us think of a contrast that may weigh dreadfully on our hearts at this time: let us think that we have three principles, and that the first of these principles must be to cultivate in ourselves a spirit of brotherhood that transcends all nations.
The more harmony we can muster in our hearts, the more these forms and means of expression, which our building has in itself, will be imbued with them. If we really understand this, then it may be possible for us to imbue ourselves with the attitude that is the ideal of our spiritual striving.

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