To: waldorf-critics@topica.com
From: baandje <bangus nb.sympatico.ca>
Subject: RE: response to Gabriel
Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2005 18:20:26 +0000
Lisa wrote: "Question: do you think that students of any
religion/spiritual path who are classroom teachers in other
religious/spiritual schools suffer from the same illusions of
grandeur/insecurities/maladjustments?"
*
That's an important question. Anyone trapped in any dogmatic system of
spiritual or religious belief will exhibit the same anti-social and
alienating behavior anthroposophists often display. And I think most
people would agree with that.
On the other hand, Nicole Foss in her last post pointed toward something
that's of real significance when it comes to understanding the spiritual
psychology particular to Anthroposophy, to some other esoteric Christian
groups I've come across, and to a degree the New Age movement in
general. Nicole quoting Catherine MacCoun:
"Tibetan Buddhists have an expression to describe life in a spiritual
community. They call it 'the Feast of Dharma'. In this Feast, what gets
eaten is you. One's whole being in all its redeemed and unredeemed
aspects is offered up to the sangha to be torn to shreds and devoured.
This is my body: take and eat of it. This is my blood: drink of it. Each
member of the community is chewed up, swallowed and processed in the
digestion of the others. It is a Eucharist both savage and ecstatic."
Anthroposophy is an apocalyptic philosophy, and anthroposophists are
quite consciously preparing the groundwork for the incarnation of
Ahriman, for the development of Sorat and accompanying demonic entities,
for the far-future war of all against all, etc. And Steiner's New
Jerusalem can't come about without spiritual conflict (think Warrior
Michael); without those who of their own accord, or by virtue of someone
else's (often unwanted) spiritually-directed input, sacrifice and suffer
in the name of this cosmic vision -- the evolution of the 10th hierarchy
(the collective spiritual us) as infinitely more important than the
well-being of the transient human ego-individual.
And this is why that typical, never-ending community conflict dynamic in
a Waldorf school is accepted and intellectualized away as necessarily
preferable to happy, healthy and balanced (normal) human interaction.
Conflict is a particular type of ecstatic union: the spiritual feast. I
witnessed many teachers who literally went out of their way to create
issues if it happened to be too slow a month, problem-wise.
And so anthroposophists welcome and allow themselves and others to be
chewed up, swallowed and processed via conflict, which is why for
instance a teacher who is approaching emotional and psychic breakdown
status is still supported by his / her colleagues and allowed to teach.
It's all seen and understood as part of the great spiritual sacrifice --
and you can't fault or fire someone so deeply spiritual and
ultra-committed, can you?
And it's why parents who remove their children and leave are hardly if
ever given the time of day afterwards. Those families are looked upon as
uncommitted to the great spiritual task at hand, or as karmically
incompatible and so forth.
All my humble opinion of course ;-)