Today I return to Rudolf Steiner, philosophical materialism and the viper’s sting. That is, Steiner call to vividly **feel** as though we are attacked by a viper! I am thus going to begin quoting from a lecture given by this Christian master in 1920 …
In reading this, I beg readers to bear in mind what has been said from the start of this webblog, about the dangers of one-sidedness. That is, what Bohr had in mind when he said: “The opposite of one great truth may well be another great truth …’
Inherent, then, to what commences today are many paradoxes. For example, that regarding Steiner’s position on Catholicism. Now I have no wish to mislead readers in anyway. Although Steiner could appear respectful of Catholicism in what I will be quoting – it must be said that the overwhelming mass of his material is decidedly negative regarding the Catholic faith. At least, the Catholic faith of his era …
I will not enter into this matter in detail. It is already well documented and – as far as I can see - has given rise to a tragic situation. Thus I have no wish at all to echo Steiner’s condemnation of the Holy Church. Nonetheless, I do not want to mislead and a little more is said in a comment to this entry.
Still more apparent contradictions abound. Thus, it might appear that either Rudolf Steiner or myself condemn the rise of Natural Science. But that is not the case, at all. Rudolf Steiner certainly celebrated this rise.
To appreciate Steiner, one must think deeply and endeavour to hold the opposites continually in mind. Similarly, Steiner’s horror of Communism here should not in anyway be read as a sympathy for Capitalism. And now I quote the master:
“I should be interested to know how many people felt as if stung by a viper when they read a certain sentence [which had recently appeared in the press]. I should really like to know how many people, when reading this felt stung by a viper! The sentence runs:
‘Religion, which represents a fantastic reflex in the minds of human beings concerning their relations one to another and to nature, is doomed to natural decay through the victorious growth of the scientific, clear and naturalistic grasp of reality which is bound to develop parallel with the establishment of a planned society.’ This sentence is to be found in an article on the measures taken by Lenin and Trotsky against the Russian Catholic Church …
One knows for a certainty that the number of Lenin’s opponents who feel as if stung by a viper on reading such a sentence is very small.
I want to emphasise this as not being without significance, because it brings out to what an extent modern humanity passes **lightly** over things, usually **asleep** – how it passes over the weightiest facts, facts which are **decisive** for the life of humankind on this earth …
But the Roman Catholic Church is awake, **she ALONE in fact is awake**, and is working systematically against the approaching storm …
What is it that is to bring about the decay of the old religions one and all? It is all that has arisen during the last three to four centuries as modern science, enlightened science in the educational institutions of civilized humanity.
Bourgeois teaching and bourgeois methods of administration have been adopted by the proletariat. What the teachers of the universities and high schools have put into the souls of humanity, comes out through Lenin and Trotsky. They bring out nothing but what is already taught in the institutions of civilized humanity.
My dear friends, today … the primary necessity is no longer to allow our children and youth to be taught what has been taught right up to the twentieth century in our universities and in our secondary and elementary schools …
That is why one has to say that whoever reads a declaration such as the one I have just quoted, even if it only appears in a few lines of an article, should feel as if stung by a viper; for it is as if the *whole situation of present day civilization* were illumined by a flash of lightning (Emphasis mine).”
I beg friends to delay judgment, while I unpack more from Steiner in the days to come. Again I wish to stress many polarities in his thinking. Rome, he claims, is not the answer, though Rome alone is awake to the heartbreaking trajectory he depicts. Materialistic Communism is decried here- but Steiner was equally lucid about the alternate threat posed to the world by Materialistic Capitalism.
And even though he felt that certain consequences of the development of natural science had had the most tragic of effects, he certainly also celebrated humanity’s growth through reason, the Enlightenment and natural science …
6 comments:
This is quoted from a lecture of 3rd June 1920 given in Dornach, Switzerland. It has not been published in English to the best of my knowledge.
The lecture itself, I believe, is out of copyright. I doubt the uncredited translation is in copyright. But if I err, and objections exist, I can supply a translation myself.
This is one of a series of three lectures in which Rudolf Steiner speaks at great length about Catholicism, from which I plan to quote further. Essentially he believes Catholicism was valid in an earlier era, but certain factors – including perceived limits to freedom - make it intolerable for the modern age.
Thanks for the referencing Roger. Great job. Exciting blog - really. I am so interested in this stuff, despite myself. Hey you know me. And you know what I mean ;-)
'Only Catholics are awake... wait, friends, before you respond'... Roger your new age friends are going to be aghast! I, however, am intrigued.
Just a thing about science. You are caricaturing things a bit, as was Steiner. *I* do science. *Professionally*. It's about systematic understanding not necessarily statistical results or predictive validity/reliability or whatever. Broader than anyone outside it knows. Like Catholicism maybe? ;-)
I was a Catholic. I rejected it at age 15 (now 46). I know the potential; but the church only partly communicated the meaning of God to me, and eventually I found the church inadequate to inform, illuminate or extend my experience. Somehow, what I understood about God, and still understand, seemed to come from elsewhere/inside. Why would I bother with a church? New agers will be with me on this. Why worry about these rituals like putting a bit of bread in your mouth and saying it is a bit of God's body? To this day I cannot understand this. Sacraments? Listening to Joy Division is a blessing, and I kind of know why. What is with all this Catholic Mystery? Why bother.
I don't mtan to ctiticise you Roger, just underatdn where you are coming frm and haty you need to communicate. I kind of understand what you are trtying to dop. And I am pretty sure you have good answers to ewat I have sdaid, too. Look forward to hearing them :-)
Thank you, dr John. I don't feel criticised at all. Only a partial response for now. One way or another more will be added.
First, I am not trying to say only Catholics are awake. I am unpacking a view of Steiner's that only Rome was awake to certain historical developments -regarding philosophical materialism and its soul destroying consequences - of the last centuries.
Even though Steiner *deeply* criticised Rome. And I mean DEEPLY. I hope this may become clearer in the following days.
Second I realise how my brief quotation from Steiner could seem a caricature. He certainly knew that science was about far, far more than "statistical results or predictive validity/reliability", as you say. He celebrated science and I do.
Nonetheless there is situation in which science it seems to me, becomes not a methodology - but a faith. Of course, it is no longer true science, then.
But nonetheless under the general heading 'science' we find different animals - everything from a pure shining, sober methodological search for truth - to an infatuation with that methodology to the marginalisation/exclusion of others, that as Steiner would say, I think, 'drives out spirit' - and then an end-product, again 'devoid of spirit' as Steiner would say.
People like Richard Dawkins and Carl Sagan strike me personally as gurus of a scientific *faith* that is psuedo-science. Nonetheless in the popular imagination at least, it all comes under the heading of "science".
'Strike me personally' ... I want to emphasise that in my comments to this blog I am not aspiring to quite the same depth of reflection as the blog itself. This is quite off the cuff, for now. But I hope it suffices to indicate I am listening, friend ...
Finally, very personally I hear your experience of the Eucharist (up to age 15?) would seem to amount to little more than 'putting a bit of bread in your mouth and saying it is a bit of God's body'
Clearly to me, it is far, far, farmore - as I suggested in my entry Grace on Tap - and linked to the teaching of Vatican II, that this is the 'source and summit' of the entire Christian tradition ...
And yes, how I know how aghast my old New Age friends are and will be. It is painful. But my own search for truth - careful and diligent, I trust - has led me to a place of being aghast at much that is passed off in even the finest New Age thinkers ...
More in time, dr john - and again, thank you. Most warmly.
Dr john - thank you again! Reread entry again and fixed something that may have caused confusion, when I suggested Steiner said only Rome is awake ...
I am very glad of your interest in my blog, 'despite' yourself :-)
For a remarkable response to Carl Sagan, I recommend Walker Percy's "Lost in the Cosmos."
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