In the year 2000

52 Weeks of Steiner – Week 6 (This is part of a weekly serial started on Michaelmas 2023. To see the other entries, please see the post linked HERE and scroll down to the bottom for individual links)

We might say that the present time is doing very well compared with that which will come in the future when the Western development blossoms more and more. Very shortly, when one will have written the year 2000, there will come from America not a direct prohibition, but a kind of prohibition against all thinking, a sort of law which will have the aim of suppressing all individual thinking. On the other hand there is the beginning achieved in this direction of suppressing all individual thinking into pure materialistic thinking where one does not need to work upon the soul on the basis of external experiments, in which the human being is handled as if he were a machine…  Now, in the Future you will not get a law passed which says you must not think. No. What will happen is that things will be done, the effect of which will be to exclude all individual thinking. This is the other pole to which we are proceeding. This is connected with the development of the West.

Rudolf Steiner
THINGS IN PAST AND PRESENT IN THE SPIRIT OF MAN
GA 167
Lecture 4

My good friend Annie Haas of The Child is the Curriculum posted the beginning of this quote on Instagram last week and it has been sitting with me ever since. This whole lecture is a lot to digest, not one of his easier reads with many topics I am unfamiliar with (Freemasons? I’ve heard of them but honestly had no clue so there was much googling to be had). This is definitely a lecture series that makes you ponder.

I’ll not get into any details of what is going on in the world right now, both politically and religiously, because no matter which side you are on, it is the same thing. Silencing those who believe differently. As a society we are living on the poles and certainly not seeing the other. Seeing the other is not for the purpose of agreeing, it is for the purpose of SEEING and HEARING. I can see another’s point of view, their experiences, the path that led them to where they stand. And I can do so without judgement and without agreeing. But seeing the other also has the ability, when we are open to it, to deepen our understanding of our own beliefs and help them to grow. And maybe that means we believe with more conviction, and maybe that also means we start to see a new way of believing. Seeing the other leads to freedom to consciously choose our beliefs instead of blindly following the ones we currently hold.

Steiner goes on in this lecture to say that what we need is a counter-force to the silencing and suggests that spiritual science, Anthroposophy, is such a counter force.

I will say that over the last three years, I have been comforted by anthroposophy’s view of human evolution and how we need to go through these growing pains to continue our development as human kind. To know that our collective development will move us forward, and that each small ripple we make as individuals creates waves that touch others. Studying history also helps to illustrate patterns in human behaviour and the bigger picture. The history of humankind as we know it is but a blip in time as it relates to the cosmos. What anthroposophy has also given me is a challenge to my beliefs. I do not blindly agree with everything Steiner wrote and lectured about, and there are some things I downright disagree with, but everything I read always gives me cause to review my beliefs and where they grew from.

I think a lot about raising free thinkers, children who will grow to adults and be willing to hear different perspectives before coming to a conclusion. And then, after coming to a conclusion, still feeling comfortable enough with their own selves that they can again change their views when new information becomes available.

I see this as a counter force.

We must first start with ourselves. By further developing ourselves towards conscious, judgement free thinking as adults, we can then support that same development within the following generations. Your work need not follow the tenets of anthroposophy, there are many ways to higher thinking. But I do believe that our quiet work on that quest is the counter-force needed in the world.

I will be pondering this lecture series for a while. So much to think about!

Until next time,
Marina