Crossfields Institute
Education, Training and Research inspired by Anthroposophy

RSA Forum Newsletter





Number 3 May 2010




CONTENTS

Editorial 2

Crossfields Institute Research and Scholarly Activities Forum:
Report of Inaugural public meeting 3
Simon Reakes

Crossfields Institute update 7
Charlotte von Bulow

New Centre for Research on Social Climate at University of Kent 9
Ulrich Weger

International Steiner Research Database 10
Jennifer Gidley


Editorial

A central aspect of the Crossfields RSA is to address the fact that contemporary mainstream thinking is unable to understand the problems faced by the world. It remains locked into the thinking of the past and hinders our capacity for acting out of imaginations coming from the future.

This goal is reflected in the various contributions to this newsletter. The item about the inaugural meeting of the RSA on 23 October explored the problems facing academic life today and began to suggest some solutions and new ways forward. The work of Crossfields Institute generally, as also reported in this issue, has made significant progress in regard to becoming an awarding body at a further education level as a result of its new partnership with Edexcel and at a higher education level as a result of its partnership with Rudolf Steiner University College in Oslo and Alanus Hochschule in Alfter/Bonn. As its credibility increases it can become a vehicle for new ways of thinking about current problems.

The fundamental aims of the Crossfields Forum are strengthened by members’ involvement in a variety of activities – for instance, the Centre for Research on Social Climate at University of Kent, as described by Ulrich Weger, and the scoping of the knowledge base of anthroposophical scholarship and research being undertaken by Jennifer Gidley. These activities can influence the context, and ultimately the climate, in which the Crossfields Forum operates.

The period since the last newsletter has been a fertile time for the development of Crossfields Institute and the RSA Forum. Let us continue to build on this.



Best wishes.
John Lees.
Crossfields Institute and the University of Leeds.   more »

Crossfields Institute Research and Scholarly Activities Forum: Report of Inaugural public meeting

23rd October 2009, 10:30 – 16:00, Rudolf Steiner House, London

Present: Ken Gibson, John Burnett, Martin Large, Adriaan Luijk, John Lees, Fergus Anderson, Owen A. Barfield, Stephen Farrow, Frances Zammit, Ulrich Weger, Sue Reed, Fumiko Chikami, Charlotte von Bulow, Simon Reakes

John Lees and Charlotte introduced and gave a background to the RSA. We then looked at the broader brush of history within the context of the Christmas Conference in 1923. Since this time there have been cycles of 33-year periods (reference from Paul McKaye).

1. 1923 – 1956 Pioneering period
2. 1956 – 1989 Community Building period
3. 1989 – 2022 Meeting the World period

We are now in the third period where we are meeting the world. This is a time where Crossfields Institute and the RSA come in. We can say that we have something of value, not for the sake of proselytising, but rather with a different impulse. The key question now is: What does the world need? Holding the thought that we have something wonderful to share with the world mostly leads to proselytising.

The anthroposophical way of answering such a question would be through research that is individual led. Conventionally this is considered to be too unreliable. How far have we evolved in approaching our problems? Can we say that we have really evolved since in the last few hundred years? For instance, the understanding of mental illness has not improved at all. Our conventional systems offer containment and management but not healing. Identifying the problem is fine but you also need the tools to change the problem. Mental health problems can only increase unless there is another way of thinking.

There is a great need for new ideas to solve world problems. What this necessitates today is a renewal of consciousness. The very nature of this call for renewal is that it is a threshold challenge and as such it is not easy – of necessity you give up your illusions and deceptions as you cross the Threshold. Cognitive problems call for cognitive answers and therefore cognitive questions. If we want to solve things then we have to adopt an integrative approach to solve things – talking is simply not enough. If we say that currently there is a lack of reality-based ideas, then what is the consequence for the next generation?

The current situation is that there are a substantial number of people to connect with - anthroposophists and beyond - to respond to the crisis. Despite the fact that there is a fragmentation in the world, there is a lot of energy to engage with the work. We can try to face the realities and collaborate on ways that are integrative and holistic.

In the present University model, research trickles down and remoulds practice and methods. Letting people know you are important to the future; this is something not just to believe but also to really think. If we bring in work this will complement the etheric/formative forces in research. Writing in the public domain is not very easy, and through peer review can be very challenging. We are now very much in the collaborative world of work, working with people whose ideas are fundamentally different to ours. In the academic field a seriousness and urgency is being recognized.

It is important to get to know what others are doing – even in the same institutions, as there is fragmentation. This is true even in the anthroposophical society. There are many people working out of Rudolf Steiner’s ideas up and down the country, and more networking can highlight and strengthen this.

Applying for funding for academic research is a possibility for the RSA. This would need to be actively taken up and managed.

Owen A. Barfield

We were privileged to have with us Owen A. Barfield, the grandson of the British philosopher, author, poet, literary critic and lawyer, Owen Barfield. Owen gave a illustrated presentation with photos from his private collection. We were treated to insights, anecdotes and remembrances of the life of this renowned anthroposophist.

Group Discussion

Back in the 1940-50’s there was an academic group of anthroposophists, but this has all gone ‘soggy’. Our cultural systems (for example the media) have become more bullying and dismissive of a non-mainstream approach.

Reports by political systems are no longer respected from the academic world. Why is it that academia/universities are so surprised when it comes to submitting research to the political system?

• How can we get into real research as academics? Much research is taking place outside academic, e.g. Schumacher College.
• How do we define and measure academic research?

Currently, academia tries to squeeze out as many publications as possible. Hence, success is measured by being published. Yet, publishing must be meaningful. So, what can we do to show that we are productive as academics? One suggestion was that we can draw up a manifesto to highlight problems, but also offer solutions to current publishing by quantity equals success paradigm.

There is a full range of research possibilities from way-out qualitative approach to fixed, limited. By bringing this to light we can redress the belief that research can only be done one way. Permission can then be given to employ a wider scope. Research can have broader relevance rather than be for a specific group.

It was also highlighted that there is a fear in academia: fear of loss of job or position. It is not easy to go against the mainstream.

There have been two wrong turns in the academic world:

1. Academy has lost contact with real human concerns
2. Speaking a language that is non-comprehensible to anyone outside academy

RS Symposium event details

• Inviting along critical friends will make this event a success
• Can we invite a fruitful collision and clash?
• Taking place in 2010 April, Plymouth, with 200 people, a 2-3 day residential, with 3-4 keynote speakers

John Lees’ list for Symposium discussion

Academy
• Cancer that is spreading
• Interior doesn’t exist
• Lost contact with real human concerns
• Academy tired

Potential
• People
• Open door
• Collaboration
• Language which is comprehensible

Actions
• The first Steiner Symposium
• Manifesto
• Raising funds

Questions

How do we carry this forward into actions?

• Public events in learning places e.g. seminars
• Countering, scientifically, the questions thrown at Steiner education
• Owen A Barfield giving lectures at Cambridge and Oxford
• Defining areas that need exploration
• Submitting ideas and papers on Crossfields Institute website
• Working on dissertations
• Raising money to support Plymouth Symposium
• Series on talks on Institution in Academia, followed by paper submission

www.crossfieldsinstitute.com/RSA.html   more »

Crossfields Institute update

Dear Readers

At this moment of writing there are a wealth of developments to report on. It is a time of much change in the education sector at large and our greatest challenges currently include an eternal battle to keep up with the shifting sands of Home Office requirements as well as getting courses submitted and accredited before the UK Border Agency takes away the licenses they have granted providers.

All of this and much more has necessitated a speeding up of the process of becoming an awarding body and since September of last year, we have been able to leap towards this status.

Following a period of consultation, we are pleased to report that the Institute has been offered a license to create and grant awards through a partnership with Edexcel, UK’s largest awarding body. With this license we are now in a position to offer awards and qualifications from entry level to level 5 (levels as per the National Qualifications Framework - or FHEQ equivalent to Certificate of higher education).

Benefits to affiliates includes:

1. Affiliates are able to co-design with us a flexible framework for the accreditation of their courses
2. All awards are managed by Crossfields Institute and we are able to take an individualised approach to assessment
3. Crossfields Institute will be responsible for all quality assurance and carry out the External Verification (Edexcel will only be assessing the performance of the Institute, not the provider)
4. Edexcel has offered to be the gateway for providers who wish to submit their units to the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) or the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF and also SQCF) - this may be necessary for some providers wishing to enrol students from non EEA countries
5. Edexcel offers coaching and assistance as we apply for QCDA approval to become an awarding body for Anthroposophical education and research
6. Edexcel has offices in a large number of countries worldwide and we are able to extend our collaboration to include international awards

As a contribution towards the development of higher education and research inspired by Anthroposophy, other developments include our new formal links to Rudolf Steiner University College in Oslo (Norway) and Alanus Hochschule in Alfter/Bonn (Germany). We are hoping to invite wider European collaboration around higher education course provision based on the method, practice and philosophy of Rudolf Steiner.

Yours sincerely,



Charlotte von Bülow Director

Dr John Lees Coordinator of Quality and Research
Anne Mansfield Accreditation Manager
Theresa Johnson PA to the Director and Internal Verifier
Simon Reakes Public Relations Coordinator and Internal Verifier
Fergus Anderson Project Coordinator and Publicity Manager

Academic Council:

Julia Wolfson
Dr Aksel Hugo
Sue Reed
Dr Arthur Zajonc
Angelika Monteaux
Martin Large
Michael Frosch
Dr James Dyson
Prof. Dr Marcelo Da Veiga
Andy Phipps

Trustees:

William Steffen
Aonghus Gordon
Isis Brook
Simon Fielding
Shaina Stoehr
Eric Kaufmann   more »

New Centre for Research on Social Climate at University of Kent

A new centre to investigate how social conventions frame and constrain human behaviour has recently been established at the University of Kent's School of Psychology.
As Dr. Ulrich Weger, the centre's director, explains: "The aim of this center is to understand how social conventions frame and constrain human behaviour. Such conventions are universal in daily life and they are anchored in a given social climate – the collection of opinions, experiences and values at a given time and in a given context. One example of such a convention is the way the human being is characterised and defined in scientific discourse. Various concepts and metaphors are used in such discourse today, for example the machine/animal/computer metaphor. Such metaphors have strong suggestive power - sometimes in a rather negative sense, as they focus attention on a selection of characteristics and thus often convey a one-sided picture. Moreover, these concepts tend to be a reflection of recent views or correlates of advances in technology and thus stand and fall with their public prominence at a given point in time. The centre seeks to investigate how such conventions and metaphors influence our view of the human being and how they inform and shape people’s behaviour."

The centre also provides room for various teaching and research activities, including internships, Masters and PhD projects. On 6th/7th August 2010, the centre will host an interdisciplinary conference, titled “Consciousness and Intentionality: New Questions and Approaches” . The aim of the conference is to "research into the methods of scientific discovery, in particular the opportunities and limitations of the experimental approach. Phenomena such as consciousness or intentionality, for example, are matters of first-person experience, yet the underlying understanding often is that they can only be properly explained through a third-person experimental approach. How do we arrive at such conventions and how do they shape and influence our understanding of a given phenomenon?", asks Dr. Weger. The conference will provide a forum to discuss these issues.

Further details can be found on the centre's Website: http://www.kent.ac.uk/psychology/research/crsc/index.html

Ulrich Weger, PhD
Centre for Research on Social Climate, Director
http://www.kent.ac.uk/psychology/research/crsc/index.html   more »

International Steiner Research Database

Steiner Waldorf education has carried an important educational impulse in the world for over 80 years yet has failed to have a significant impact on mainstream education. Steiner’s philosophical, psychological and educational writings have been marginalised academically. To add to the lack of information, much of the research that is disseminated by Steiner schools and colleges is not aimed at an academic audience. Two questions arise from this predicament: “What academic research has actually been done globally on Steiner Waldorf education?” and “How aware are Steiner Waldorf teachers of relationships between Steiner’s work and contemporary pedagogical theories?”

In 2008 the Rudolf Steiner Schools of Australia: An Association (RSSA) commissioned a pilot project to gather, collate and organise recent Australian academic research that drew on Steiner’s philosophical and/or educational writings. The completed project included 25 pages of data, a bibliography and a report locating Steiner pedagogy within “kindred” contemporary educational research worldwide. Much of this research is not to be found in standard university library databases. To read the reports see: http://www.steineroz.com/research

In 2009 the Pädagogische Forschungsstelle in Stuttgart provided some seed funding to begin extending the pilot project. The emphasis will be on Anglophone Steiner-related academic material and the next stage will focus on Europe (particularly the UK, and Scandinavia). It is hoped that further funding will be forthcoming to also extend the project to North America and elsewhere. The project is being initiated and managed by Dr. Jennifer Gidley who has over twenty-five years relevant experience: eleven years in Steiner education including school founding/pioneering/management, and fourteen years in academic research—building bridges between Steiner and contemporary academic discourse. She currently works as a research fellow in the Global Cities Research Institute, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia.

If you have completed any Steiner-related academic research, including Masters or Doctoral dissertations, or published refereed journal articles, conference proceedings, scholarly books and/or chapters, please send details to Jennifer.

Email: j.gidley@planetaryfutures.com.au

Crossfields Institute
Education, Training and Research inspired by Anthroposophy

RSA Forum Newsletter





Number 2 August 2009




CONTENTS

Editorial 2

Research based on educational principles 4
Kenneth Gibson

International Steiner Research Database 5
Jennifer Gidley

Supporting anthroposophical research 6
John Ralph

Steiner school pupils and their construction of ‘difference’ 7
Fiona Murray

Editorial

In many ways I find the academic world alien and strange. I am basically a practitioner, supervisor and trainer in the field of counselling and psychotherapy. Until September 2008 my academic work predominantly involved course leadership (an MSc in Therapeutic Counselling) and teaching. I saw the course as an opportunity for furthering the personal and professional development of the students as much as an opportunity for the usual academic pursuits of research and knowledge generation. I spent a great deal of time developing transformational ‘personal inquiry’ research methods to enable the students to use their research to further their development as practitioners using such creative methods as narrative research, heuristic research, autoethnography, with an anthroposophical perspective. I wanted to help them to illuminate their experience using rigorous methodologies rather than fit it into standardized, and often formulaic, methodological designs. I justified this policy on the basis that, in counselling training, the time given over to personal and professional development was inadequate and so this needed to be supplemented by using research for this purpose. I then began to call myself a practitioner-researcher but still did not see myself as an academic in the usual sense of the word.

My circumstances changed significantly in September 2008 when I moved to the University of Leeds. My reason for applying for the job in the field of mental health was solely because I considered the recently-appointed Head of School, whom I had known for several years (and I knew was familiar with anthroposophy), to be the most creative academic I knew. I also thought that, since I had run the course for 12 years, it was time to move on and find ways of more explicitly integrating my professional and anthroposophical interests. Since then I have been on a steep learning curve. My new job has involved bidding for research funding. I have been Principal Investigator for three proposals and Co-Investigator for two, and those for which I have been PI have all involved an anthroposophical element. Yet, it is difficult to establish a foothold in the research field since the competition is fierce – success rates for proposals varying from between less than 10% to about 20%. Even experienced professorial researchers who have great expertise in their field have difficulty. So, being seen as an expert in the field is essential, as Ken Gibson indicates in his article on research. Two of the PI proposals and both of the Co-I proposals have so far been unsuccessful although the two PI proposals reached the fundable threshold (one with an alpha rating). But it was not good enough – the research councils say that they cannot fund all that they would like to fund. However, I am not deterred. It has, as I have indicated, been an intensive learning experience. I am now, where possible, collaborating with more experienced researchers and thinking about Plan B as soon as I have submitted a proposal.

It is vital for the future of anthroposophy that we enter the mainstream of funded research. In my own field of anthroposophic medicine and therapy important research is being done by anthroposophists in such institutions as the University of Witten-Herdecke in Germany. However, this is mostly funded by anthroposophically-friendly funding organizations. Such funding streams do not have the same level of prestige or impact as major recognized charities, national funding councils or the European Union and so the work remains marginalized. It now needs to be supplemented by a broader range of funding. Ken Gibson suggests undertaking research in the field of higher education. I agree. As things stand we are subject to the effects of previous research which has been done in higher and further education. We need to be able to do research which will have an impact on policy and so, as a result of this, begin to have an influence on the future of further and higher education. Ken’s mention of the lifecycle is most synchronistic. I am still waiting for the result of a bid to the Arts and Humanities Research Council which I prepared on behalf of the University of Leeds and the University of Plymouth which was conceived as a study of the way in which the lifecycle is used both in Waldorf education and anthroposophic healthcare (the biographical principle). I am prepared for disappointment again with this one – especially as the bid was part of my learning curve and the education professor at Plymouth doesn’t think we will manage it, even though he supported it. So I am already thinking about Plan B.

The articles by Jennifer Gidley and John Ralph raise issues which are essential as back-up to our future research efforts. In order to make our contribution to the struggles facing humanity at this moment in time we need all of the help we can get. So I hope we can support these initiatives. We also need to consider the future generation of researchers. This is why the article by Fiona Murray, a PhD student, is also an essential part of the process of capacity building which we need to undertake and which will extend far beyond our lifetimes.

All of the articles in this issue request a response. Please give them your careful consideration and respond if you can.

Best wishes.
John Lees.
Crossfields Institute and the University of Leeds.

Research based on educational principles

Kenneth Gibson
University of Derby

The research that I think we should be doing is something that should be based on educational principles. Most, if not all, of the research associates at Crossfields are in one way or another doing some kind of teaching, learning or assessment activity. Moreover, if they are not teaching then they are in some way involved in the development of varied aspects of education. I therefore suggest that we start an educational focus group with the sole remit of finding a shared interest so we can pool our knowledge and find a way to forge ahead on a collaborative research project. We could in the very near future publish the results of our research, either in book form or more easily in academic journals. This would then give us the basis for bidding to one or more of the funding bodies for a larger and more ambitious project. As you probably know, published research can be crucial when bidding for ‘external’ funding and with our own individual research profiles and qualifications plus the results of collaborative research we would stand a better chance of gaining funding.

I suggest two topics below that are current in both further and higher education in order to give us a staring point.

· There is some research being done on the concept of the ‘life cycle’. Here the focus is mainly underpinned by taking a psychological perspective and investigating why adults enter education at a specific time in their lives. Linden West in his book Beyond Fragments, address this question and although he looks predominantly at motivation he also looks at the question of Life Cycle.
· Another ‘popular’ area of research is in on the interface between FE and HE. There are currently projects which are looking in to the transitional period between leaving college and starting university and institutions can make this transition easier for the students. For example the Higher Education Academy is funding a project called Flying Start, which focuses on assessment and writing and a special focus on academic writing in the transition to HE. The central research question is how to equip students to deal with the transition from academic writing at 16-18 level to academic writing at university level? Other questions asked are: What is the best stage of the transition life cycle to engaging students in academic writing and do students understand assessment criteria? Although it is probably too late to join such projects (and they do have specific agendas) we as ‘spiritual researchers’ who take another perspective on these things could make a significant contribution to the debate and also find others who are sympathetic to our approach.

These are just a few ideas and I would welcome a discussion, either by email or on a one day seminar where we could share ideas and start working together.

International Steiner Research Database

Jennifer Gidley
RMIT University, Australia

Steiner Waldorf education has carried an important educational impulse in the world for over 80 years yet has failed to have a significant impact on mainstream education. Steiner’s philosophical, psychological and educational writings have been marginalized academically. To add to the lack of information, much of the research that is disseminated by Steiner schools and colleges is not aimed at an academic audience. Two questions arise from this predicament: “What academic research has actually been done globally on Steiner Waldorf education?” and “How aware are Steiner Waldorf teachers of relationships between Steiner’s work and contemporary pedagogical theories?”

In 2008 the Rudolf Steiner Schools of Australia: An Association (RSSA) commissioned a pilot project to gather, collate and organize recent Australian academic research that drew on Steiner’s philosophical and/or educational writings. The completed project included 25 pages of data, a bibliography and a report locating Steiner pedagogy within “kindred” contemporary educational research worldwide. Much of this research is not to be found in standard university library databases. To read the reports see:

http://www.steineroz.com/research

In 2008 the Pädagogische Forschungsstelle in Stuttgart provided some seed funding to begin extending the pilot project. The emphasis will be on Anglophone Steiner-related academic material and the next stage will focus on Europe (particularly the UK, and Scandinavia). It is hoped that further funding will be forthcoming to also extend the project to North America and elsewhere. The project is being initiated and managed by Dr. Jennifer Gidley who has over twenty-five years relevant experience: eleven years in Steiner education including school founding/pioneering/management, and fourteen years in academic research—building bridges between Steiner and contemporary academic discourse. She currently works as a research fellow in RMIT University, Melbourne.

If you have completed any Steiner-related academic research, including Masters or Doctoral dissertations, or published in refereed journal articles, conference proceedings, scholarly books and/or chapters, please send details to Jennifer. Email: jennifer.gidley@scu.edu.au

Supporting anthroposophical research

John Ralph
BA (Hons.) Curative Education
University of Aberdeen with Camphill School Aberdeen


I would appreciate your consideration and feedback on the following proposal in support of anthroposophical research. I perceive a frustrating need among English speaking students and researchers to be able to locate Rudolf Steiner sources. The situation may be different in the German language.

I suggest that a useful resource for the study of Steiner’s work would be an online search facility or database that included printed and online topics translated into English. I am not aware that anything like this exists beyond the online Rudolf Steiner Archive, which does not find the most significant indications about Life Processes – one of my research topics – because it indexes text not context. Only a thinker can do that. The heavy, incomplete and out of date indexes of Arensen and Mötteli (c.1980) is not helpful outside a library of English tomes, Ancient and Fading.

As the academic engagement in anthroposophical trainings continues to increase I imagine that not only students of Curative Education come to those of us with bulging bookshelves asking for “Steiner on fourfoldness” or some other topic after exhausting the Rudolf Steiner and SteinerBooks’ Archives or Google Books. If I do not know or remember a reference in a useful context for the student, they start to reinvent the wheel – or the reflective monocycle. For these students Steiner’s spiritual research remains occult. This is a task where computers could become much more useful in supplementing personal memory.

If such a project is generally supported, it could encourage cooperation between anthroposophical publishers, research, study and trainings in the English speaking world. My initial thought is that an online keyword database could be compiled as a moderated online wiki by selected volunteers with a range of interests. Wikipedia stands testament to the problems of unmoderated wikis. I do not see access to this resource as being restricted or generating any income. It would stand in the public domain as an open door. There is no reason that it should be limited to Steiner’s research.

Although I tentatively explored this idea some years ago I have not been able to take this up in any practical way. My work commitments continue to hinder me from pursuing this alone.

Do the readers agree that such a project or something similar is needed and worthwhile? If two others were to join me in developing and piloting a prototype, its value would soon become self-evident to those who will be needed to fully implement it and keep it up to date. Even quicker might be a team without me! It could be hosted anywhere, but I suggest that a university website would lend the best context.

Steiner school pupils and their construction of ‘difference’

Fiona Murray
PhD Student
University of Birmingham


I am currently in the middle of a pilot study for my doctoral thesis about how Steiner school pupils perceive learning differences in the classroom, both in themselves and in others. The pilot study surveys students aged 11- 12 years in 3 schools and then interviews a smaller number of pupils from the same schools to produce case studies. The main study, starting in September 2009, hopes to survey all the schools in the U.K. with pupils of this age and produce a large number of case studies. This is a mixed methodology study which aims to produce papers suitable for publication in academic journals in addition to the thesis. The study is being supervised by Professor Ann Lewis at the University of Birmingham U.K.

The theoretical basis for the study is drawn from the capability theory developed by the economist Amartya Sen (1999) and further developed in the social justice work of Martha Nussbaum (2006) and the learning disability research of Lorella Terzi (2008). It parallels Sen’s search for the conditions which lead to human freedom with Steiner’s similar search in the economically challenged times of post World War 1 Germany, as outlined in his book Education as a Force for Social Change.

I would appreciate a dialogue with anyone who has looked at alternative methods of doing research with under-represented groups such as children. I am also particularly interested in exploring the ethical issues of doing research with participants who do not share mainstream values: e.g. human development can be measured in terms of how many dollars a day you earn.

I would like to hear from anyone doing doctoral or other level research in Steiner schools or other anthroposophically based organizations, which does not involve action research and would be very keen to hear of publications in peer-reviewed journals from 2007 onwards.

The hope is not only to explore the ‘child’s voice’ in Steiner schools but also to produce evidence-based research which can improve practice across the educational field. The research also aims to produce alternative instruments of measuring the effectiveness of services such as education, healthcare etc. based on the concepts of functionings and capabilities outlined in the capability approach. Please do get in touch via email or post:

References and bibliography

Nussbaum, M. (2006). Frontiers of Justice Disability and Species Membership.
Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.

Sen, A.(1999). Development as Freedom. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Steiner, R. (1997). Education as a Force for Social Change. New York: Anthroposophic
Press Inc.

Terzi, L. (2008). Justice and Equality in Education. London. Continuum.


Fiona Murray, FMAM@aol.com
Silver Birches, Quill Hall Lane, Amersham, Bucks. HP6 6LU.

RSA Forum Newsletter
Number 1 January 2009

CONTENTS

Editorial

Educating the human spirit
John Burnett

University of Stockholm rejects Waldorf teaching programme
Notes downloaded by John Burnett

Dialogue on historiography
John Lees and Monica Oliva

Entering the laboratory
Fergus Anderson

Owen Barfield Studies in European Universities
Owen A. Barfield

Annex 1: The Other Side of History
Monica Oliva


Editorial

This interactive dialogical newsletter is an activity of the Crossfields Institute Scholarly Activity Forum. It is meant to allow anyone who has anything to say about the features in this newsletter to add a comment (simply click 'leave a comment' under each article - and then 'post a comment' on the page which then appears). The underlying idea is to:

• Gather information that we receive that is relevant to the work of the Forum (see web page) and
circulate it in the form of a newsletter on this blog every four months or so.
• Invite readers to comment on, offer advice about, or engage in dialogue with, the various themes or strands.
• As the energy builds up and there is a strong interest in a particular theme we may arrange an event, or
events, or facilitate a publication, or publications, around that theme.

We want to gather the creative energy within our circle in relation to the basic principles which are outlined on the Forum web page and build on this in the coming months and years. We will use the newsletter to facilitate this process in a variety of ways. We can share completed articles (or articles in progress) for comment and feedback, share our initiatives (see Educating the Human Spirit and Entering the laboratory), initiate a dialogue (see Dialogue on historiography), ask for feedback (see notice by Owen A. Barfield, the grandson of Owen Barfield), share useful information (item on Stockholm University), share progress on any research funding bids, and so on. We are open to ideas. The newsletter is meant to be informative and inclusive and is intended to initiate debate in such a way that different views can be tolerated.

I will monitor and edit this process in order to maintain coherence. From time to time I will look at the comments from the point of view of the blog's dialogic principles. In so doing I reserve the right to remove contributions which are excessively long, disrespectful to others, or too frequent. (However, any deletions will be stored in a restricted access file in order to ensure editorial transparency and so, if anyone is interested in viewing them, they should contract Theresa Johnson: see Forum web page) The newsletter is intended to promote openness to, and engagement with, the views of others, as well as sharing one's own. Having said this if someone wants to share an article that they have written then this can be published in the next newsletter.

Our long-term aim is that the issues being discussed become so compelling that colleagues in universities and other non-anthroposophical institutions (as well, of course, as anthroposophists) who share similar concerns will find it difficult to avoid becoming involved. I look forward to hearing from you, building up the network and collaborating in some way in the future.

I'd like to emphasize that the views expressed on the blog do not necessarily represent the views of Crossfields Institute. The views expressed are thus the views of the contributors themselves.

Best wishes for 2009.
John Lees.

P.S. I’d be happy to have any alternative suggestions to Research and Scholarly Activity Forum – it was not really thought through and is a bit too Roman for my liking.

Educating the Human Spirit

The first ‘Human Spirit Education’ ‘mini-conference’ took place at the Centre for Sustainable Futures on the University of Plymouth campus. Martin Hardiman from Emerson College introduced the theme which was further developed by Charlotte von Bulow from Crossfields Institute and Trevor Mepham from the Hereford Steiner Academy. A flier advertising the event was broadcast on the University intranet to both staff and students. The term ‘Human Spirit Education’ proved an accessible and interesting term as it attracted somewhere in the region of 24 people from across the campus: academics from the Faculties of Architecture, Health & Social Work; Education and the Arts mixed with students and engaged in an on-going dialogue, led and guided by the three contributors. Although the three speakers were deriving their content and way of thinking from an overtly ‘anthroposophical’ background, the conference had its own dynamic and remained grounded in the interests and common commitment to the theme of the ‘human spirit’ and the question as to how this aspect of our lives could be properly served and nurtured through education, in its broadest sense.

A further mini-conference with the same banner heading was held in early October. This time, the theme, which was introduced by Phil Forder from Parc Prison, was ‘The Art of Living Programme’ as it has been successfully run at Parc for a number of years. The group attending were from different backgrounds but a similar ‘running conversation’ format was used which again proved successful. Following this event, University staff involved in Prison education will visit Parc together with John Burnett and discuss the possibilities of designing and running a programme for would-be prison teachers.
The intention is to continue using ‘Educating the Human Spirit’ as a banner for future conferences. The title suggests that the human spirit needs educating, in itself an interesting question. Steiner’s remarks in the education lectures which preceded the opening of the First Waldorf School, implies that education towards a renewal of awareness of the spirit is certainly something appropriate for our time. He speaks about the:

after-effects of the Catholic dogma promulgated in 869AD which obscured an older insight based on instinctive knowledge-namely, the insight that human beings consist of body, soul and spirit. From modern psychology you hear almost nothing but talk of a simple two-part being. You hear that people consist of only of body and soul or flesh and spirit... (Foundations of Human Experience p.64)

In view of the abolition of the human spirit – as described in the above quote – it could be argued that the term has currency as it implies developing or re-kindling awareness of this element which has been obscured in the West for over 1200 years.

The attachment headed, ‘University of Stockholm rejects Waldorf teaching program’, contains a number of extracts from Waldorf-critical articles. From my own position in a university where critical thinking is part of daily work and life, I quite understand where these ‘attacks’ come from and, in some cases sympathise. I fully agree with the sentiments of the author who says,

With increasing pressure for more scientifically-based education, Waldorf teacher training programmes would be wise to support the theories of Waldorf education with more than faith-based spiritual theory from Rudolf Steiner’s lectures. I see part of our task as presenting Steiner’s theories in the appropriate terms of today’s modern scientific culture. If this isn’t done, the attacks will increase on Waldorf education and threaten its future.

My thoughts on ‘Educating the Human Spirit’ have developed a bit since the Stockholm event in that the imperative for getting something moving has become stronger. I’m clear that we have people in the anthroposophical movement who are very capable of presenting things ‘ in terms of today’s culture’ and an EHS initiative would primarily work to enable these people to do this effectively, particularly in a University environment where critical debate and new thinking should be fostered. The outcomes of such presentation, were it effective, could be conferencing which lay foundations for short term and longer term knowledge-building communities and publication which does the same.

To move things forward, I propose we do the following:

• Approach potential funders with a proposal that funds be ear-marked for a series of science-orientated lectures to be hosted by Universities such as Plymouth, Leeds, Lancaster where people like ourselves are working. These lectures would be promoted and advertised using internal university resources as part of University cultural life. (For example, I would undertake the internal promotion at Plymouth by talking with colleagues and approaching heads of schools with an invitation to attend and engage in discussion and debate. I would use my Centre for Sustainable Futures connection and aim to arrange the lectures with minimum expense.) I could see arranging a national lecture tour given by someone like Arthur Zajonc in conjunction with the AS in GB. In effect, Crossfields/EHS/RSA would initiate the tour and provide the core university venues which would be resourced internally. The AS in GB would be asked to sponsor the wider aspects of the trip. The aim would be to raise awareness in the UK of what we could broadly call, ‘Human Spirit’ issues. Zajonc and others have already been active in instigating The University of the Spirit in the US so this initiative could be viewed as a local UK branch, tailored to our own national needs.
• Identify a group of significant lecturers who could be approached for high profile presentations in university settings and work with the AS in GB in setting up lecture tours and seminar-workshops in the field of science and epistemology and identify other themes in addition ‘Science/Epistemology’ which need promoting.
• Identify and sponsor ‘local’ lecturers who would be able and willing to run smaller seminars in university settings, complementary and preparatory to the bigger lectures.

There would be a case for presentations on themes like:

'racism'
‘Atlantis’ (Spiritual Research)
‘The negative effects of early reading'
‘Artistic Therapy and Colour’
‘Elementals’

Some of the above themes e.g. ‘Atlantis’ and ‘Elementals’ might well call forth ‘mockery’ in the academic field but I think they would still be worth presenting if we found the right speakers. We certainly shouldn’t hide from such themes, especially if they provide ammunition for the critics. The nature of imaginative knowledge, as characterised by Steiner, needs to be articulated in today’s world and should be accessible to academic debate.

Fundamentally, I see EHS as promoting awareness of the human spirit and its education through a series of seminars, lectures and conferences (both mini-day-conferences) and bigger journal-based events. This is part of the stock-in-trade of University work but we couldn’t fund high profile anthroposophical speakers without sponsorship.

John Burnett
20/12/08

University of Stockholm rejects Waldorf teaching programme
Notes downloaded from the web by John Burnett


According to Brad Wise, President of the Alliance for Excellent Education, the United States is quickly losing ground in the "Educational Olympics." We have slipped from number one to number thirteen for High School Education and from number two to number 15 in our colleges. With the increasing pressure for a more scientifically based education Waldorf teacher training programs would be wise to support the theories of Waldorf education with more than faith based spiritual theory from Rudolf Steiner lectures. I see part of our task as presenting Steiner's theories in the appropriate terms of today’s modern scientific culture. If this isn't done the attacks will increase on Waldorf education and threaten its future.


Oct. 20, 2008

"Stockholm Institute of Education, a teacher training college, merged into Stockholm University in January, 2008. The merger included 700 employees and 14,000 students. It also included a Waldorf (Steiner) teacher training program, which was a separate program inside the Institute. After the merger, it appears that the University faculty became aware of its shortcomings, and canceled the eleven courses that constituted the Waldorf program."

"The University stated that the courses were not founded on relevant theoretical grounds, that the foundations of the subject matter were unscientific, and that the course material was not based on scientific knowledge. Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences Stefan Nordlund said "In parts the student course literature isn't just unscientific. It is dangerous, and it conveys misconceptions which are worse than muddled." University President Kåre Bremer said about the curriculum "Parts of the content are not only scientifically untenable, they are simply untrue."
(http://www.philosophyoffreedom.com/node/3210)


Waldorf charter - nurturer of the whole child or gnome/Atlantis-pushing cult?
October 29, 2008 by Caroline Grannan, San Francisco Education Examiner

"A proposed San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) charter school would bring the controversial Waldorf philosophy to our public schools in a Spanish immersion format. I know, lots of people think: Wow, sounds great. Or: Whatever floats your boat. After all, there are Waldorf private schools all over the world, and about a dozen Waldorf charter schools around California. Meanwhile, the Waldorf philosophy has both devoted fans and heated critics. I’m in neither of those categories, though I view it as decidedly goofball. I do question public funding for a school teaching a quasi-religious philosophy, though, and Waldorf founder Rudolf Steiner’s ideas were rather startling. Steiner (1861-1925) is described as a “clairvoyant occult scientist and mystic”; his philosophy is called Anthroposophy."

"I think the proponents of the SF Waldorf charter need to prepare themselves to answer questions – respectfully and thoughtfully – about Steiner’s philosophies and how they’re interpreted in Waldorf schools."

"Among Steiner’s views:
* Atlantis actually existed 9,000 years ago, and Atlanteans were the ancestors of modern humans.
* Their ancestors were “Lemureans” who lived on other planets .
* The heart does not pump blood through the circulatory system.
* Blond hair actually bestows intelligence.”
* Black represents the spiritual image of the lifeless." (Younger Waldorf students are generally not allowed to use black crayons.)
* Children shouldn’t start learning to read until their adult teeth have come in.
* Gnomes are real creatures."

Dialogue on Historiography

Letter from Mónica Oliva to Charlotte von Bulow, John Lees and Aonghus Gordon: 30 Nov 2008
Dear Charlotte, John, and Aonghus,

I write you to ask if there is any possibility to get engaged from Crossfields Institute in helping me in the necessary fundraising to publish the history book, that I have written during the last 3 or 4 years "The other-way-round of History". I thought that it could be made a shared edition by the publishing house and Crossfields Institute.

Sevak Gulbekian, the leader of the anthroposophical publishing houses in Forest Row, has read the first part of the book (it comprises 4 parts) and he told me that it is the kind of book that he would be happy to publish, to be confirmed when he sees the whole translated manuscript. Graham Rickett is working in the translation and he still has to translate parts 3,4 and 5. I have also written to Gene Golloghy from Steiner Books in USA but I still do not have an answer by him. I would also be open to another publisher house, I have just read a very good book entitled "The Secret History of the World", which has something to be with mine and it was a 2008 best seller. The author has a high esteem for Rudolf Steiner. I have no contact with Quercus, the independent editorial house, and they do not accept unsolicited submissions.

The book could be published either in one or in two volumes for making it cheaper. For me it is impossible to pay the costs or get the subsidy here and also in Spanish is difficult to have it published because the economical difficulties are bigger and readers are less than in the Anglo speaking countries.

It is a history, from the point of view of historical symptomatology, from Christ to the end of Second World War, making and account of all the non mainstreams currents and their historical contexts. Probably it is a book interesting for Waldorf teachers as well as for students of high school, and in general there is a lot of interest in those themes at the moment. It is not written only for anthroposophists because it does not presuppose knowledge of anthroposophy, although it is a good base to be able to read the Karmic Conferences.

I am attaching a short introduction and the index of my book "The other-way-round of History" (see Annex 1).

In spite of the financial crisis, I hope you can think on the possibility and perhaps to have a brilliant idea.

With best wishes
Mónica Oliva




Letter from John Lees to Mónica Oliver: 10 December 2008

Dear Mónica

I'm responding to your recent letter about your book and your request for help with funding and your previous letter re possibly coming in January and getting help to arrange a course. As regards the latter two points I have copied Crossfields in so that Theresa and Charlotte can deal with your request for help. My own view about this is that it is Crossfields which needs help at the moment since the funding that it has secured so far is for the development of Crossfields itself. However, it has only been running for a year and in this time has achieved an enormous amount of success and support and there is every reason to be hopeful that in the near future we should be able to develop capacity, expand the various networks and raise money specifically for dissemination (events and various publications) through both anthroposophical and non-anthroposophical funding streams (such as UK and EU funding councils).

On another note I am most interested in the summary of your proposed book (see Annex 1) and we could disseminate this for the time being amongst those people who have signed up for the RSA Forum so far - they might have some ideas. In general I notice that the scope of the book covers a wide sweep of history but is directed at a specialist market of historians who are interested in anthroposophical perspectives (i.e. a relatively specialist market). I also wondered whether, in addition to the longer work, you would be interested in a more focussed and much shorter version (which would be more economic) and would be orientated towards identifying the symptomological approach to history vis-à-vis the conspiracy view. The latter has had exhaustive 'press' coverage in the English speaking world in recent years (particularly the journal New View) by virtue of some Steiner lectures around 1917 but it is just a point of view and I am not at all sure that it fully takes into account the anthroposophical/Goethean/Manichean perspective that I am interested in. It is after all a theory (whereas Goetheanism eschews strong theorizing). It is also not inclusive in a Manichean sense as it tends to polarize. Last but not least I have to say that, although I find it attractive (even seductive) in many respects and have had long discussions with anthroposophists who are convinced about it over a period of over 20 years (and am not necessarily arguing that it is untrue) I find it unhealthy and paranoia inducing as you suggest. It is a useless theory to hold when working in a university for example since such an institution could be viewed as being central to the conspiracy and as a result of this I have found it has made me much more tentative in regard to some colleagues - especially when they start to play political games (resulting in a loss of my Manichean principles). So I think a robust approach to history which respects this view but shows that there are others which are perhaps more 'salutogenic', positive and hopeful (I am by profession an anthroposophical counsellor and psychotherapist) is needed. Symptomology with its openness to emerging phenomena seems to me to be more Goethean/anthroposophical since it doesn't prejudice our observations before we have made them. One question: isn't the notion of world government part of a conspiracy theory?

Whatever your view I think that the RSA Forum should be pluralistic and should induce thinking rather than blind acceptance of different views. I'm actually beginning to engage in such discussions as this with various people in order to build material which can be included in a RSA newsletter - hopefully before Christmas. I know of at least 3 Forum members who would be interested in it - if not all.

I'd welcome your views about this and also whether you agree to your material - and this correspondence - being disseminated amongst Forum and Crossfields members (limited access on the website).

All the best.
John.


Letter from Mónica Oliva to John Lees: 13 December 2008

Dear John

I quite understand that Crossfields is a new institution in need of financial help and I wish the best for its development. My thought in asking for help to get a subsidy is that the institution is also made by its members and a publication could be an academic achievement. Perhaps, if done in an imaginative way even the invested capital could be recovered. Yes, I quite agree you disseminate the summary of my book amongst the people who have signed up for the RSA Forum and all ideas are welcomed to imagine how to publish the book.

I do not think the book is only directed to a specialist market of historians who are interested in anthroposophical perspectives. In September I gave a lecture at Emerson and some youngsters have written me to see what can they read, I think that the understanding of history is a must in the individual path of self-knowledge, admitting that people today do not read much. Also Waldorf teachers could be interested.

I have written a sort of shorter version that is not focussed in the contrast between symptomatology and conspiracy theory, but on the basis of clarifying the symptomatological approach with a special emphasis in two examples of the English people history: the Thirty Years War in XVII century and the life of Lady Diana. "Candle in the wind" is the title. I myself have written that book in English, and I am afraid that my language is neither rich nor correct enough and, given the possibility, it is better for me to write in Spanish and be translated by a native speaker or the book be rewritten by a translator who is able to correct and enrich the language. Martin Large knows about that book. If you can apologise my writing, I can send you the introduction of that book, so you have an inkling on it .

I am convinced that all kind of problems finally are resolved between human beings seated around a table. The main feature of modernity is uncontrolled eagerness to accumulate capital, mainly because of subconscious fear, so in the case of important affairs the decision making processes do not happen in the open. In that sense conspiracy theory is a reality in this pyramidal and corporative world. Then for sure that all kinds of speculations are not inclusive of individuals, and less of all are dialogue promoting with universities and intellectuals. I agree with you that they tend to polarize in a non Manichean way and I prefer to be ingenuous rather than full of prejudices. I think that the problem is not so much the conspiracy or the path towards a world government, or "governance" in a softer way, but the lack of independent cultural impulses. The reality is that it is very difficult to succeed, either individually or institutionally, in a cultural movement really based on spiritual human evolution, because it is necessary to exert a very difficult to achieve real spiritual influence, to get the free economic support. That is the reason why I welcome Crossfields, I see that in the academic level there are not much anthroposophical examples of this kind of search and research. I consider that it is paramount important such institution be in England.

Again, I do agree that my material and this correspondence be disseminated amongst the Forum and Crossfields members and in the RSA newsletters.

All the best
Mónica

PS

I have been stated as architect and teacher in Crossfields website and I rather prefer to be stated as MA in political Science at Heidelberg, because it is closer to my present activity.

Entering the Laboratory

Franz Brentano, was among the first ‘psychologists’ who, towards the end of the 19th century, attempted to apply the principles of empirical science to the inner workings of the human soul. In his writings he frequently expresses the intention to establish a ‘psychological laboratory’. This was not an unusual intention and a number of 19th century scientists had established laboratories where ‘psychical phenomena’ were explored. However Brentano’s intention was never realised.

Rudolf Steiner, who attended Brentano’s lectures in Vienna, commented on Brentano’s proposed ‘psychological laboratory’ during a lecture given in 1917,

…Just because of his attitude to psychological questions he (Brentano) would have produced, with the help of such a laboratory, results of great importance. If the object is to establish the best conditions for obtaining results in the field of anthropological psychology (which extends just as far as those “boundaries of knowledge”, where anthropology and anthroposophy encounter one another), then the answer is the kind of psychological laboratory Brentano envisaged. In such a laboratory there would be no need to hunt for ways of inducing manifestations of “intuitive consciousness” experimentally. The experimental techniques employed there would soon show how human nature is adapted for that kind of “seeing” and how the intuitive is entailed by the normal consciousness.

Exactly what kind of laboratory Steiner (or Brentano) had in mind I have not been able to establish, but the work that would have gone on there is, as above quote suggests, the revealing of ‘intuitive’ consciousness through the investigation of ‘normal’ consciousness. It is this that I would like to briefly explore here as I think it points to something of great importance.

There are many schools of thought and approaches to the investigation and understanding of consciousness, and when someone first becomes interested in the subject they normally start reading and acquainting themselves with what other people have said. This is absolutely understandable, but as long as the investigation goes no further than this it is not consciousness research as such, in my opinion. Actual consciousness research- a person’s investigation into their own experience- is, I suspect, something very rare.
I think that the laboratory that Steiner had in mind would have had the actual investigation of consciousness as its goal. And this investigation cannot start with the theories or schools of thought that maintain something about consciousness, it has to start with the phenomena itself (what is actually happening when I see that yellow raincoat over there?) This activity is an unusual one because it requires a shift of attention from the things of which we are conscious to the constituting activities of consciousness that normally escape our attention.

One of the implications of this is that the researcher has to undergo a transformation. And in this sense the laboratory that Steiner had in mind might have had more in common with the alchemist’s laboratory than the bricks and mortar type with Bunsen burners and white coats. This transformation is necessary because to be aware of how things are constituted by consciousness requires a different type of awareness than that required for a consciousness of things. This shift in experience is vital because it can lead to the concrete realisation that the fundamental experience of ‘normal’ consciousness- isolated subject in here, independent objects out there- is a state of mind, not a physically constituted necessity. This realisation has massive consequences for just about everything, not least a complete re evaluation of how the physical world appears as it does.
But as theory all this is, well, just another theory. It takes on significance beyond that only when the researcher begins the enquiry into their own experience. Hence the analogy of the laboratory is applicable because it is a place where the researcher begins their own discovery rather than the study and collation of what others have already discovered. Taking on the responsibility to experience for ourselves, rather than leaving it in the hands of specialists burdened by theory, is particularly important in the field of consciousness research. In my view it is something that has to happen if our understanding of consciousness is to progress.

As a way of a practically offering something towards this, I am running a pilot event at Emerson College 13th to 15th March 2009. The aim is to develop a consciousness studies course for actual consciousness research. The map we will be using is that given by Rudolf Steiner, but the work will be practical and experiential. Because it is a pilot, there will be no course fees for invited participants, only food and accommodation fees if needed. Participants will be asked to engage with the course development process and provide feedback as to what works and how it can be improved. Hopefully it will become a comprehensive longer course to run sometime in 2009 or 2010. If you are interested, let me know and I will send you more information and an invite.

Fergus Anderson
fergus@livingthinking.com

Owen Barfield Studies in European Universities

Please let me know if any of the 'Research and Scholarly Activities Forum' members have an academic interest in the work of Owen Barfield. I am keen to encourage OB research and scholarship to link in with two initiatives that are currently taking place:

· Reading University - participation in a Knowledge Transfer Partnership, which has the backing of the Regional Development Agency.
· Oxford University - the production of an electronic catalogue of all the OB papers held at the Bodleian Library.

These two schemes are starting in the New Year and I am keen to widen the network of participants, both within these two Universities and elsewhere.

More news and details about the OB Literary Estate can be gathered from: www.owenbarfield.org

Please contact me if you would like further information about, or wish to get involved with, the Knowledge Transfer Partnership at Reading University.

Many thanks,

Owen A. Barfield
owen@livinglets.com

THE OTHER SIDE OF HISTORY
A Symptomatology of History from the 1st century to the 2nd World War
MÓNICA OLIVA

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
PART 1
1. THE EVOLUTION OF CONSCIOUSNESS AND HISTORICAL EPOCHS
2. THE TRANSITION FROM ANCIENT MYSTERY CENTRES TO GREECE AND ROME
3. CHRISTIANITY, GNOSIS AND THE EMERGENCE OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
4. MANICHEISM
5. THE DEBATE BETWEEN ATHANASIANISM AND ARIANISM
6. ISLAM
7. THE ORIGINS OF CHARLEMAGNE
8. THE ARTHURIAN STREAM ARTHUR AND THE GRAIL
9. CHARLEMAGNE AND HIS ALLIANCE WITH THE POPE
10. THE FILIOQUE DEBATE
11. THREE HISTORICAL STREAMS
12. THE 8TH ECUMENICAL COUNCIL OF CONSTANTINOPLE

SECOND PART
13. THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE
14. SANTIAGO OF COMPOSTELA
15. THE CRUSADES
16. THE CATHARS AND THE CRUSADE AGAINST THEM
17. THE TEMPLARS
18. SOME IDEAS ON THE RELIGIOUS ORDERS
19. SCHOLASTICISM – THOMAS AQUINAS AND AVERRHOES
20. RAIMUNDUS LULLIUS AND SOUTHERN SPAIN
21. THE CRISIS AT THE CLOSE OF THE MIDDLE AGES
22. JOAN D´ARC AND THE BIRTH OF NATIONALITY

THIRD PART
23. THE AWAKENING OF THE CONSCIOUSNESS SOUL IN XV CENTURY
24. ALCHEMY
25.THE REDISCOVERING OF AMERICA
26.THE JESUITS AND THE COUNTER REFORMATION
27.THE ELIZABETHIAN TIMES – JOHN DEE
28.A CHARACTERIZATION OF JAMES I AND HIS TIME
29.THE WEDDING OF THE RHIN WITH THE THAMES
30.ROSACRUCISM AND THE 1614 AND 1615 MANIFESTS
31.THE CHEMICAL WEDDING OF CHRISTIAN ROSENKREUTZ AND THE THIRTY YEARS WAR
32.FRANCIS BACON AND THE INSTAURATION OF SCIENCE
33.AMOS COMENIUS AND THE STANDARDIZATION OF EDUCATION
34.ISAAC NEWTON AND THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF SCIENCES
35.A GENERAL VIEW OF FREEMASONRY AND WOMEN ADMISSION
36. FREEMASONRY IN ENGLAND
37.THE FOUNDATION OF THE UNITED STATES
38.FREEMASONRY IN FRANCE AND THE REVOLUTION
39.KASPAR HAUSER
40.JESUITISM IN XVIII CENTURY AND ITS EXPULSION
41.FREEMASONRY IN CENTRAL EUROPE

FOURTH PART
42. ARRIVAL OF ORIENTALISM IN EUROPE
43. OCCULTISM FROM THE MIDDLE OF THE XIX CENTURY
44. THE PUBLIC OPENING OF OCCULTISM
45. THE PATH TOWARDS 1ST WORLD WAR
46. 1ST WORLD WAR
47. THE THREEFOLD SOCIAL ORDER
48. FROM LIBERALISM TO BOLSHEVISM
49. ZIONISM, PROTOCOLS OF SION AND THE GREAT INQUISITOR
50. NAZISM ORIGIN AND ITS OCCULT BASIS
51. RACISM, BLOOD, ENDOGAMY AND EXOGAMY
52. THE PATH TOWARDS 2ND WORLD WAR
53. SOME DEBATES ON SECOND WORLD WAR
54. SOCIO-POLITICAL THEORIES
55. THREE STREAMS IN THE FUTURE
56. EPILOGUE
BIBLIOGRAPHY

INTRODUCTION: A Symptomatology of History from the 1st Century to the Second World War

This book traces a path through the most important events of the Christian era in the Western world, viewing them from a perspective that differs from the one usually offered to us by official sources both in the Anglo-American world and in Catholicism. It is a symptomatological study of historical phenomena, which sees them as consequences of the processes of development of human consciousness. The spiritual evolution of man’s consciousness does not contradict in any way the evolution of the body but is, at the same time, its cause and its natural consequence. The methodology of the study of history from this point of view was developed by Rudolf Steiner (a philosopher born in 1861 in what it was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire), in the cycle of lectures given in 1919 in Dornach, Switzerland under the heading “From Symptom to Reality in Modern History”. The title implies that the reality of phenomena cannot be found externally as in the natural sciences, but that one needs to grasp the evolutionary spiritual process underlying every event. This way of approaching history creates, on the one hand, a bridge between the external nature of historical facts and the inner nature of the process of individual and social self-knowledge, where otherwise they may be experienced as a cold and indifferent chronological listing of events to which people -especially those of the younger generation- can find no inner connection. And in addition to this it creates a natural, living relation between the history of ideas and the facts themselves.

Our first task is therefore to grasp, if only in a preliminary way, the inner necessity and the quality of the different stages in the evolution of consciousness, and also to develop a universal picture of human life, as a parameter of health that can stand in contrast to the symptoms. The conceptual basis of this book lies in Anthroposophy, the spiritual science developed by Steiner at the beginning of the 20th century. However we are not assuming a prior knowledge of this, but will outline a number of basic elements and invite readers to undertake a deeper study if they feel the need to do so. It presents a bird’s eye view of the history of the Christian era that is also accessible to those with limited knowledge of history as a whole.

The consciousness of man evolves gradually from regions of the soul that are more simple, to other that are more complex, through whose free and individual unfolding the bridge is built to the realm of spirit. The differentiated concept of soul and spirit needs to be rediscovered by humanity, as it was watered down by the Catholic Church in the 8th Ecumenical Council of Constantinople in 869. This brought to an end the threefold conception of man as a being of body, soul and spirit which enables one to grasp by means of reason, and with no need for an intermediary, the relation between the human being and the Christian Trinity itself, whose representatives in the natural world were seen by the ancient cultures in Earth, Moon and Sun.

After the Great Flood, an event described in many mythologies, a structuring of the historical epochs begins, which has been the basis of the world-view of a number of different spiritual streams. According to this scheme, the epochs correspond to the seven candles of the Hebrew candelabrum, in which the first three are metamorphosed
into the last three as they move through the middle candle. Steiner referred on many occasions and in connection with different subjects (the bodily members of man, the colours, notes of music, planets, etc) to the scheme of seven elements and, in the case of history, he went much further than traditional historiography through postulating a cosmic and evolutionary causality with regard to the earth within the cosmos and also to man himself: the seven post-diluvian epochs of history, which bring to expression the evolution of the Occidental world, are, regarding the first two as forming a transition: the First Ancient Indian epoch, the Ancient Persian -both of which have left no remains of temples or writing; then the third epoch which embraces three contemporaneous cultures -the Egyptian, the Hebrew and the Babylonian; then the fourth Greco-Roman epoch, which occupies the central position on the candelabrum; the fifth Anglo-Saxon epoch of the present day; and finally the sixth Russian and the seventh American epoch. In the First chapter of the book we describe the historical epochs and provide, at the same time, a basic concept of the regions of the soul that they bring to development. For the fact is that in the third, fourth and fifth epochs the evolution takes place of the three different regions of the human soul, which are referred to by Steiner as the sentient, the intellectual, and the consciousness soul respectively. The candelabrum is not a scheme to be taken hold of only with the intellect; it is a basic structure that gives us the clarity with which to grasp the evolution of consciousness in the flow of time. But it can then be abandoned as an outer support, thereby enabling one’s concepts to come into movement and greater fluidity to enter one’s experience of other epochs. It is an organism that need to be tested in one’s own process of self-knowledge, and can help, out of an understanding of the past, to bring about an understanding of the present and the ability to imagine the future. It was not vainly, but with a remarkable degree of prescience regarding the importance of that manipulation of the past, which builds up the power that controls today’s media, that Orwell said in 1948: “Whoever controls the present controls the future. Whoever controls the past controls the present”.

The most important content given by Steiner while he was travelling throughout Europe giving lectures in the last months before his death in 1925, is what is called the karma of history, or karma in a concrete sense, which means an understanding of the causal threads in history as seen in terms of the responsibility and the actions of individuals who reincarnates in successive periods of time. He was not asking for belief in the truth of his statements, but for a practice of observation, which by way of an understanding of such lives as these, would enable one to grasp the causal threads in history with greater certainty. This book, however, does not deal with the karma of history, but it is our hope that it will extend the reader’s knowledge so that his/her understanding of this realm can be deepened. In this sense it may also be able to fill a gap for some readers already familiar with Anthroposophy -a gap with respect to the need for a synthetic and structured view of the historical context on the level of politics, economics and culture, within which those individuals lived and those esoteric streams unfolded, whose threads of development were followed up, step by step by Rudolf Steiner. These streams were persecuted by the powers prevailing at the time, as was the case with the Manicheans, the Cathars, the Templars, the Rosicrucians and also, though in a different way, the Freemasons; and generally speaking, writings of their time relating to them to their respective historical contexts are very few in number, by reason of the intimacy required in the cultivation of spiritual contents and the persecution to which they were subjected.

In order to fathom the complexity of the modern world, an understanding of the past is absolutely essential, because this provides a basis for reliance upon one’s own judgement. Today we must learn how to separate the wheat from the chaff, standing as we do amidst a host of conspiracy theories, the dissemination of which in an uncontrolled and contradictory way is the method used by the prevailing system in the age of the Internet in order to confuse us -in face of the undeniable reality of the dark and incredible conspiracies which are discovered and come to light with great frequency. Both poles: namely, the paranoid obsession with conspiracy which mixes together indiscriminately in the imagination all kinds of phantastic speculations, and the position generally held in the academic world -asserting that conspiracies does not exist and is an invention of persecuted people in search of a scapegoat- are ways of manipulating consciousness in order to prevent the human being from awakening and confronting the seriousness and difficulty of our present situation with his own independent thinking. Meanwhile, a hidden leadership based exclusively on special economic interests operates behind the scenes of official governments institutions and private economic institutions, placing the big universities and think-tanks in the service of interests of various kinds. It moves forward in this way in pursuit of the goal of establishing a world government, which is in harmony not with the needs of man’s evolution but with the interests of the elite groups who hold the power of finance in their hands and wish to remain in control.