> If we accept biodynamics, do we have to accept Steiner's religious outlook?
>
Today almost all 'religious' thought is presented in the context of the
Cartesian split, i.e. those who hold religious beliefs do so while at the
same time accepting, or not critically questioning, science's claim that
'all causes in nature are physical causes'. People who uncritically accept
sciences causal premise, and try to simply 'add on' a religious belief
system of any kind, are by definition 'dualists' in the Cartesian sense.
> I've never heard of anyone describing their own
> personal experience of Steiner's
> spirit-world in exactly Steiner's Euro-centric terms
Steiner was an anti-dualist in the strongest possible sense, so it is very
misleading to think of his anthroposophy as a "religion." He often deals
with religious subject matter, but not in a 'religious' manner. He does not
ask for or expect 'belief' in what he says, or claim to be in any sense
infallible. He simply presents the things that he had experienced as a
challenge to our understanding, to accept or reject as we see fit. The
British philologist Owen Barfield, when asked why he placed so much emphasis
on Steiner's work, once stated succinctly "If one wanders in a barren desert
does one complain that water only comes from one spring". The desert that he
refers to, is that created over the past several centuries by the Cartesian
contradiction.
Steiner is unique in modern thought in that he is the only genuine
non-dualist (monist) thinker in modern times, and this includes most
proponents of a purely scientific (non-religious) outlook. If anyone wishes
to explore this dimension of Steiner's uniqueness, may I suggest my own
recently published work on the subject, 'Evolution and the New Gnosis'
(ISBN: 0-595-22445-8). This work does not touch on biodynamics per se, but
the subject matter that it does explore is, I suspect, vital to a true
understanding of the future role of biodynamics.
That biodynamics, Waldorf education and the very many other practical
aspects of Steiner's thought (including the Inversion mixer, System Schatz)
work so well, is not an accident. It is because Steiner was able to
consciously draw on the Cosmic wisdom in a way hitherto not possible. He was
a trailblazer on what for mankind as a whole may prove in time to be the
most important trail of all.
My wife Eve, who is a member of this list, has brought this question to my
attention, so I send this posting it in her name.
Don Cruse
