Journal Journalfor Anthroposophy NUMBER 69 MICHAELMAS 1999 Look to the real, practical, material life, but look to it so that it does not dull you to the spirit which is at work in it. Look to the spirit - but not for the sake of transcendental enjoyment or out of supersensible egotism, but look to it because you want to apply it selflessly in practical life, in the material world. Make use of the ancient saying: “ Spirit is never without matter, Matter, never void of spirit,” in such a way that you say: We want to do all material things in the light of the spirit and we want to look for the light of the spirit in such a way that warmth springs up for our practical activities. Rudolf Steiner (translation by Joanna van Vliet) ISSN-0021-8235 Front Cover: A Michaelmas Motif by Kevin Hughes EDITOR Sherry Wildfeuer ASSOCIATE EDITORS Philip Graham Donna Sturgis The Journal for Anthroposophy is published twice a year by the Anthroposophical Society in America. Subscriptions are $15.00 per year (domestic); $18.00 per year (foreign). Authors’ opinions do not necessarily reflect those of the Anthroposophical Society or of the editor. All correspon­ dence should be sent to: Sherry Wildfeuer P.O. Box 155 Kimberton, PA 19442 Journal for Anthroposophy, Number 69, Michaelmas 1999 Copyright ®1999 The Anthroposophical Society in America All rights reserved. Produced by Altair, Inc. CONTENTS Autumn Grandeur......................................................................................6 Notes from an Experience of Illness and Aging................................. 7 Evening Primrose......................................................................................10 by M. C. RICHARDS What is Anthroposophy? ............................................................. 11 by STEPHEN SPITALNY Is There a Method for Studying Anthroposophy? ............................15 by PAUL SCHARFF, M.D. Who Has Stolen Our Holidays? .......................................................... 25 by BERNARD WOLF Art as a Threshold Experience ............................................................. 31 by VAN JAMES Materialism, Humanity, & the Future World: .................................. 40 The World-Conceptions of Jesaiah Ben-Aharon and Ray Kurzweil Contrasted by BEN BINGHAM The Goals of Materialism: A Spiritual Perspective .......................... 45 by WALTER ALEXANDER Choosing America as a Place for Incarnation ....................................53 or Immigration in the 20th Century by VIRGINIA SEASE Educating for Life: ..................................................................................62 A Look at the Foundations of Waldorf Education by EUGENE SCHWARTZ Turn .......................................................................................................... 69 by CHRISTY BARNES A Psychology of Body, Soul & Spirit ...................................................70 by RUDOLF STEINER • Reviewed by William Bento Because of Yolande ................................................................................. 75 by DORIT WINTER • Reviewed by Fred Paddock America’s Way .......................................................................................... 76 by DIETRICH V. ASTEN • Reviewed by Stephen Usher A New Kind of Actor ..............................................................................78 by HANS PUSCH • Reviewed by Gertrude Teutsch Science Between Space and Counterspace .........................................80 by NICK THOMAS • Reviewed by Jim Kotz Cosmic Harbinger, an Astroclimatic Journa ..............................................83 by DENNIS KLOCEK • Reviewed by Hubert Zipperlen Dear Friends, When Hilmar Moore retired after 10 years as the editor of this Journal, one of those special moments occurred, when there is a pause between an ending of one thing and a beginning of another. It was a time of reflection and ideas of what could be. During this time the newly formed Collegium for the School for Spiritual Science in North America realized that the Journal for Anthroposophy should become their responsibility. A member of the Collegium, Sherry Wildfeuer, was asked to be the new editor. The idea of the Journal as a common publication for the work o f the different Sections of the School for Spiritual Science began to inspire us. It wasn’t long after we started working with this picture that we felt the presence of our friend Joanna van Vliet (1939 - 1993). For those of you who knew her, we don’t need to say more. For those who never had the good fortune to meet her, Joanna was an example of how one person could embrace many, if not all, of the Sections and find the paths from one to another. Her presence confirmed for us this new task. She is very much a part of this issue. Anthroposophy has much to offer for the healing of our materialistic civilization. First, individuals must understand it and bring it to life. A second step is taken when such individuals cooperate in community and collegial endeavors that address actual needs and become beneficial on a larger scale. In this way life receives impulses for further development from Rudolf Steiner's insights. This Journal is dedicated to the continuing expression of these insights by active students of Anthroposophy. We hope it will provide inspiration and support for those who have been working with Anthroposophy for many years as well as those who are meeting it for the first time. As editors we join forces with authors to create a journal which draws light from the wellspring of the Spirit to illumine the challenges of our time and help us see our way toward a more healthy future. Contributions are welcome from authors who wish to collab­ orate in this endeavor. We are also open to receiving responses from our readers which may be printed in a future “Letters to the Editor” section. With Michaelmas greetings, Sherry Wildfeuer Philip Graham and Donna Sturgis Autumn Grandeur From: Imagine Inventing Yellow New and Selected Poems of M.C. Richards Autumn grandeur lives in leaves From their first budding. Invisibly the colors layer Beneath the Green. When Cold breaks its hold, the old Leaf begins to die, disclosing As it goes, the red the yellow the bronze Array of dying. And so it goes With us as well: destined From our first life-filled shouts To die and the hour, the place, The final cause layered in our flesh As in the leaf - and all the brightness Of the life between, the gatherings. How wrongly we are taught: That death is enemy to life, when all our days Are in the palette of the dying green. Were it not for its loosening hold, There would be no theater Of color, no pageantry, no turning Leaves. 6 Notes From An Experience Of Illness And Aging by MARY CAROLINE RICHARDS (Mary Caroline Richards died on September 10, 1999-Editor.) have always been an active person - now, at 83, I am recov­ I ering from a serious illness that leaves me with low energy, disabled heart, and shortness of breath. It has been (and is) an interesting and surprising experience of a new way of "being" myself - inhabiting my body in a new way, no compulsion to be "creative" (painting, pottery, writing). When I woke up, after my heart attack, pneumonia, anemia onslaught, I was, in a way, a different person: weak, helpless, without energy or initiative, but INTACT, i.e. present to myself, in a subtle and sure way. Now I am quiet, slow, a bit unstable, and in good spirits. I like this new planet I am on - this new way of being. The doctors said I should rest (as if I had any alternative!) and I have enjoyed com­ ing to know the mystery and secret joys of REST - not diversion, not entertainment, not "relaxation" nor change, but REST: no sensory content, inhabiting myself as BEING, experiencing Being. Perhaps it is close to an I-AM experience. Before this illness, I had dreams of the I-AM. In the first one, I met I-AM and experienced myself for the first time without biography - for the first time, I knew myself not as a forever M.C. Richards, but free of identity, personality, and habits. In the second, I am slipping off my sheaths 7 8 • Mary Caroline Richards like loose garments: physical, etheric, astral, ego - and standing there as essential Being, I-AM. I recently came across a quote from Rudolf Steiner which seems connected to what I am describing: "When we raise ourselves through meditation to what unites us with the spirit, we quicken something within us that is eternal and unlimited by birth and death. Once we have experienced this eternal part in us we can no longer doubt its existence. Meditation is thus the way to knowing and beholding the eternal indestructi­ ble, essential center of our being." In the hospital I felt as if I were floating, on a raft, not adrift but softly buoyant, supported in empty space by the wishes and prayers of my friends, neither awake nor asleep, in what I came to call “cosmic doze!” Gradually, I was reincarnating, gradually becoming conscious of surroundings and people. Like Polaroid film, little by little some faint color, shape, more detail, landscape out of my window, trees, freeway, the bay, railroads, buildings, civilization and people with their bodies: four long appendages (arms and legs), head on top, hair in the back and face in the front, sounds, etc. At first I was in a private room. I like it - the quiet and isolation. Then I was moved to a room with one or two others. Different. I liked it, too. After a month in the hospital, I was moved to a Care Center for Assisted Living. I had my own spacious room, windows and flowers. It was a big institution - a hundred or more of us at meals in the dining room. I had breakfast alone in my own room. And sat alone in the dining room. I have been learning about energy. I have very little social energy. Talking and listening both take energy. Being present for other people’s energy discharge is tiring. I pace myself. I don’t go out - I can’t manage crowds and noise. I have few visitors now at Camphill Village Kimberton Hills where I have been welcomed in Kerria House - a room on the ground floor, easy access to bath- Notes From An Experience Of Illness And Aging • 9 room, back porch, and dining area.