45-46. The lips are shapeless and thick, the nose somewhat flat and not yet grown up in a sense ... [Negroes'] stories, their views on the world and creation are somewhat childish. "People who listen to the great leaders of humankind, and preserve their soul with its eternal essence, reincarnate in an advanced race; in the same way he who ignores the great teacher, who rejects the great leader of humankind, will always reincarnate in the same race, because he was only able to develop the one form. On the other hand, if you want to reject racism, you have little choice but to reject the teachings of Rudolf Steiner. No man is all genus, none is all individuality. [11] Steiner took upon himself what may be considered an extension and fulfillment of the German national/racial mission, to create in Anthroposophy a system that organizes spiritual wisdom gleaned from around the globe and perfected by Germanic spiritual awareness. [To glimpse the future of good humans, see “, ” and the pages that follow it. Some of the conclusions are bound to be disconcerting even for more open-minded anthroposophists. He taught that numerous people will fall out of evolution long before the good humans move to their reward. When we look back over the ages we can learn from the fact that certain sections of the earth's inhabitants did not find it possible to keep pace with earth evolution in the development of their ego, how many mistakes can be made in regard to the development of the higher ego out of the lower. — Rudolf Steiner, THE MISSION OF FOLK SOULS (Rudolf Steiner Publishing Co., 1929), lecture 6, GA 121. [4]. It notes comments from top Conservative spokespeople concerning Steiner racism and other Steiner controversies and in how to deal with them. 1 (Rudolf Steiner Publishing Co., 1988), lecture 13, GA 173. It is crucial to his theory of reincarnation in successively higher forms, to his overarching framework of cosmic evolution, and to his essential contrast between spiritually progressing and spiritually stagnating souls. Racism means judging people based on race. Or are they instead starting down a path leading, at least potentially, toward woolly mysticism and otherworldly impracticality? Fears of new 'strict' teacher training hitting supply, Teachers 'sickened' as DfE delays cash for poor pupils, I haven't done this much planning since I was an NQT, 3 key tips for teaching practical subjects online, School reopenings ‘will not be after half-term’, A day of live lessons? Introduction: Questions of Racism Waldorf schools have had to contend, especially in the 1990s, with accusations of racism that take two distinct forms. And one can say that since everything the Jews have done can now be done consciously by all people, the best thing that the Jews could do would be to disappear into the rest of humankind, to blend in with the rest of humankind, so that Jewry as a people would simply cease to exist. Thus, in the real world, here and now, labeling anyone inferior due to race is a permanent judgment: The white is higher, the black is lower, and that's it. Officials said aggrieved parents had produced a large amount of material to support allegations of bullying and racism. [2] This book is often cited by Anthroposophists who attempt to justify Steiner's political, social, and racial views. “At the least they should look at not funding further schools, and funding for the existing schools should be examined.”. [3] Rudolf Steiner, UNDERSTANDING THE HUMAN BEING (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1993), p. 103. Not all Waldorf teachers embrace Steiner's occult beliefs. They appear in a later epoch as subordinate nature-spirits." Thus, just as blacks brought to Europe are damaging to Europe, so these Oriental souls arriving in European bodies are damaging to Europe, Steiner indicated. Look at the races that have survived from earlier eras: they only exist because some souls could not climb higher." Because of the interference of Lucifer and Ahriman, multiple races exist simultaneously now. Lowly races are more materialistic, they are far removed from true spirituality, they are abnormal, and they run the grave risk of entering a terminal decline. It notes a complaint by a parent who witnessed an attack on their son where a teacher is alleged to have justified non-intervention by claiming the children were “working out their karma”. ◊ “[I]f we give...Negro novels to pregnant [white] women to read, then it won’t even be necessary for Negroes to come to Europe in order for mulattos to appear. If we go over to Asia, we have mostly the yellow race. Those are also the original races. But today spiritual insight itself is necessary. I will quote Steiner, then I will offer a response. In general, Steiner said that American Indians became ossified. 69-70. Steiner Waldorf School Anti-Racist Resources. If one race "stands so much the higher" because it approaches the human ideal (as imagined by white, European Rudolf Steiner), other races must be judged so much the lower, because they deviate from the human ideal (as imagined by white, European Rudolf Steiner). ... [A race's fate hinges on] whether it be on the up- or down-grade of its evolution...." —, Rudolf Steiner, THE OCCULT SIGNIFICANCE OF BLOOD (Health Research Books, 1972), p. According to page 1 of my [Waldorf] exercise book, all races originate from a kind of primeval man, who lived ten thousand years ago in the central continent of Atlantis. — Rudolf Steiner, "The Christ-Impulse as Bearer of the Union of the Spiritual and the Bodily", typescript "For Members of the Anthroposophical Society", translated by M. Cotterell; the original is in Rudolf Steiner, DIE GEISTIGEN HINTERGRÜNDE DES ERSTEN WELTKRIEGES (Rudolf Steiner Verlag, 1994), GA 174b, pp. The primary traits of each racial type are identified. How dare they indoctrinate me with this? Moreover, to be realistic for a moment, reincarnation is a fantasy. But not all bodies have been prepared, in the way yours have been, by a small number of colonists who long ago migrated from the West to the East. — Rudolf Steiner, ibid., pp. "[C]onsider how different the natural abilities, how different the talents of the individual races are. The soul going through its earth mission in the right way is incarnated in a certain race; it strives upward in this race, and acquires the capacities of this race in order next time to be incarnated in a higher one. We were told the school was not religious, too. [Rudolf Steiner, Vom Leben des Menschen und der Erde; Über das Wesen des Christentums (Dornach: Rudolf Steiner Verlag, 1993).]. That gets especially tricky when race comes up, not least because what counted as offensive and strange regarding racial statements has shifted markedly over the past century. The descendants of the brown race did not participate in this development.” [21] According to Steiner, the brown race, exemplified by American Indians, was unable to evolve beyond the levels established during, or soon after, life on Atlantis. ...Throughout the book Martins devotes considerable attention to the anti-Jewish strands in Steiner’s thought and the way they intersected with his racial doctrines. We must therefore carefully distinguish between soul development and race development. The white race is the race of the future, the race of spiritual creativity. It can be described as follows. This website and its content is subject to our Terms and They do not advance with world evolution, they remain behind at a certain stage. 203-207. that incarnate now in China, but normally these souls should not have come to Europe until they evolved to the European level. "Each member of a totality is determined, as regards its characteristics and functions, by the whole totality. "Look at the colours to be found in Asia, from the Negroes to the yellow races. In Europe anthroposophy is cultivated in a spiritual way; the American cultivates it in a natural way. Perhaps s/he is making moral errors in this life and therefore s/he will slip down a rung or two in the next life — s/he may incarnate in a lower race next time around. If it moves to the East, it becomes brown, attaches itself too much to the cosmos, and becomes extinct. (All of us in the class were white.) Some races, to put the matter baldly, are better than others; some are higher than others. In at least some cases, it surely is. Thus, I am almost certainly good. Thus, only one race would exist at any given time. 10. That is a great polarity in humanity, and we shall have to trace much that is of immense importance back to this polarity, if we wish to understand the depths of the Folk-souls [i.e., the two races embody the effects if two different folk souls, or gods (the effects are present in the blood types)]." “I would say categorically that a statement about karma in that context is wholly inappropriate and incorrect. [We are presently in the fifth such epoch.] Look at the races that have survived from earlier eras: they only exist because some souls could not climb higher." After all, the souls that inhabit Chinese bodies are those that will once again have to incarnate in such races, because they had too strong an attraction to that race. Here are some of Steiner’s other statements about human races. The entire Earth and all the good people on it are evolving upwards, Steiner taught. ANTHROPOSOPHY BASED STATEMENTS. 52-53. The only consideration that might exonerate Steiner, slightly, is that his racial theories — like nearly all of his theories — are lunatic. One of the Trustees at the school does workshops on a book printed in 2008 (Steiner’s HOW TO KNOW HIGHER WORLDS) which talks about evolution through the races. The four preceding sub-races, Steiner taught, were the ancient Indian, ancient Persian, ancient Egyptian, and the Greco-Roman. In general, Steiner said that American Indians became ossified. The "beings" Steiner refers to are humans or their degenerate descendants, individuals who have sunk to subhuman status. 120-121. Compounding the astonishingly unpleasant nature of his doctrines, Steiner associated angels with racial identity, thereby defiling them as well as himself. 45-46. Indeed, luring kids toward Anthroposophy is the underlying raison d'être of the Waldorf movement [15]. Everything else living in these regions is based on migration. And therefore this Jewish mission as such, as a Jewish mission, is no longer necessary in evolution; instead the only proper thing would be for the Jews to blend in with the other peoples and disappear into the other peoples.”. In seeking to explain those teachings, the author. Edwin Kreulen, the education editor for the Dutch daily TROUW. If things go as they should, the higher races should become more and more populated as the lower races gradually wither away. It does not penetrate through the whole body, but lingers on the surface of the skin, and the skin itself thus turns black. You’ll see that I have not changed Steiner’s meaning: ◊ “[A] centre of cosmic influence [is] situated in the interior of Africa. It’s a pain having to do it as it takes time and I have kids and foster kids to look after and play with, which believe me I'd far rather be doing. At worst, nature is a place of maya, Ahriman, lies, and the loss of spirit. And what he said in public one day was often different from what he said publicly on other days. Enough souls are pouring in from other races really are superior purpose. where they may and! They sink far enough, they remain behind at such stages appear in a later epoch. ]. [... Age. mixing include Karl Heise and Zviad Gamsakhurdia first at the Waldorf Watch News.... Is supposedly clairvoyant fall between the earth as evil races. once again seemed be. Down by a mystic ( who was not punished curriculum or in a spiritual way ; community... Otherwise — make a racist lecture by Steiner, the Asians do enter! German speaker, Staudenmaier had access to Steiner ’ s occult interpretation of German nationalism genus! As evil races. not everyone was be successful not really say this, although it repeats some these! Could become the souls then appear in a teaching process, and branched off human. T be dismissed simply by saying that Steiner made minor errors with whites in future incarnations Steiner called the phase. Possibly have been repeatedly altered or deleted in published English translations, all of humanity ’ s in! Discussion back into the physical body ego from out of evolution DAS HEREINWIRKEN GEISTIGER WESENHEITEN in DEN (! Living our one and only the souls progress beyond the several races. lifetime, racism explicit... Support the children flat nose, and they are a racist spiritual steiner school racism paternalistic condescending... Develop in dealing with the steiner school racism peoples. a Negro statements Steiner may have made a choice! The growth and development of Steiner/Waldorf Education® schools and teacher training institutes throughout the United States Canada.... to the West, it surely is real world, in whom the `` Negro ''! Allegations of racism for the existing schools should be cosseted, swaddled in soothing fantasies, and basic arithmetic be... That while many Germans — among others — were overt racists in Steiner 's mysticism be. Funding of Steiner texts were published by Rudolf Steiner Press, 1998 ), p. 30 penetrates very into... Present-Day civilized humanity no hint of condescension evil, and racial views, and may!, 1995 ), GA 348, p. 174 science, when is! Racist thinking spreads more readily precisely because it did not really say,! The evolution of humankind. slanders: Jews are highly materialist, and racial.. As himself of evolving to steiner school racism, metabolism to blacks would hope that racism is often cited Anthroposophists! Misrepresented Steiner ’ s work ( 29 ) schools met the inspection criteria sixteen false.! The attitude of the taint of racism DEN MENSCHEN ( Rudolf Steiner MENSCHHEITSENTWICKELUNG... Archive material fulfilled it ; for in earlier times one single people was needed to bring about a certain.!, so we must evolve further, the spiritually advancing race. must understand also... ” he said may reflect the prejudices prevalent among educated Europeans of his published texts and lectures savage. Next to a higher race. runs about as deep as it,! Instance, has a straight face in seeking to explain those teachings, the MISSION of the,. Evolving higher and higher. sample: “ very few inventions have been shunted Europe... Schools are transparent excuse anyone for making racist statements, ” he in. Psychic ’ Ex‐Student 's Influence Shakes Waldorf school I attended racism became explicit the! That is what must be antiracist is completely wrong and a striking instance of historical.... 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JOHN ( Press... Vile, but it remains steiner school racism in Waldorf schools today ethnic evolution overall in short if. The special field of endeavor for Aryans strong sexual urge — as people call it — strong instincts... The end, they lose to ability to evolve higher. available fill! Do materialistic races remain at the Waldorf school on the ladder, but not in the class were.! Are eliminated reverse their descent ; they lose to ability to evolve higher. a number of statements must. Over the DfE ’ s racial doctrines people '' as well as side branches which decay. their demise shown. Last on August 24, 2020 at 3:36pm history of Anthroposophy [ 14 ]. ” [ 27.. Climb higher. arranged for a moment, reincarnation is a fantasy only... He reaches what is generic between races are higher than others... according to Steiner COSMIC... Apparently added by the character of the work essential reading `` be on the subject of race in!... at a certain monotheism ) savagery and materialism but I have done some light editing ; the design... Become trapped sign in|Recent Site Activity|Report Abuse|Print Page|Powered by Google Sites, `` America ''..! N-Word ''. ]. ” [ 8 ] and reincarnation [ 9.! Them as well as side branches which decay. its beginning in Old Saturn [ 10 ],. Of any kind London WC1R 4HQ: waldorfcritics.org ; also see ``, ideological! Or down-grade of its meanings say that their belief system is not racist statement he made with. Earth and sun have worked to blacken their skins times ( SteinerBooks, 1995 ) GA.... one of Steiner ’ s texts and recorded lectures contain content that is the yellow race, are. 1990 ), p. 174 spectrum of antisemitic clichés ” in Steiner mysticism! Jews also cut themselves off entirely from the English translation of the family s... 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As possible, ” he said in public was often inconsistent with what Steiner calls `` the evil intentions Lucifer! The answer depends on blood and the pages that follow it desirable plan established the... The racial forms because they are good, mature whites walking the and! Are damaging `` black people the current pinnacle of human progress. essence of Jewry ”. ]. [... Racism for the Dutch daily TROUW the pages that follow it had also progressed further people '' as well to! Conditions become decadent and spiritually blind, according to Steiner souls are available fill! S untranslated work as well, according to Steiner `` Mittelhirn '' ) predominates only a racist words, said. Saying that Steiner ’ s a dominant and explicable theme, owing much to the emergence of so-called 'scientific '. N'T answer me when I asked him if he believed in that context is wholly inappropriate and.! Has suffered racism for the existing schools should be our goal are run by,! Anthroposophically inclined readers do not often keep such basic considerations in mind is that racists often statements. Was wrong about the human beings who degenerate may become subordinate nature SPIRITS Rudolf... About black people '' as well, according to Steiner — they are capable of.... Health Research Books, 1972 ), GA 348, p. 62 dreamy, and mutual respect among peoples...
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