You see, one of the most essential things in the training of the Waldorf School teachers themselves is receptivity to the changes in human nature. And this the teachers have acquired relatively quickly for reasons which I shall explain. A Waldorf teacher—if I may express myself paradoxically—a Waldorf teacher has to be prepared to find a thing completely different tomorrow from what it was yesterday. This is the real secret of his training. For instance: one usually thinks in the evening: tomorrow the sun will rise and things will be the same as they are to-day. Now,—to use a somewhat drastic mode of expression which brings out my meaning—the Waldorf teacher must be prepared for the sun not to rise one day. For only when one views human nature afresh like this, without prejudice from the past, is it possible to apprehend growth and development in human beings. We may repose in the assurance that things out there in the universe will be somewhat conservative. But when it is a case of that transition in human nature from the early years of childhood into the 14th, 15th and 16th year, why then, ladies and gentlemen, the sun that rose earlier often does not rise. Here, in this microcosm, Man, in this Anthropos, so great a change has come about that we face an entirely new situation. As though nature upon some day should confront us with a world of darkness, a world in which our eyes were of no use.
Openness, a readiness to receive new wisdom daily, a disposition which can subdue past knowledge to a latent feeling which leaves the mind clear for what is new,—this it is that keeps a man healthy, fresh and active. And it is this open heart for the changes in life, for its unexpected and continuous freshness, which must form the essential mood and nature of a Waldorf teacher.
Rudolf Steiner, August 25 1922, Oxford
Spiritual Ground of Education, Lecture 9
Sometimes I wonder if we crave and expect sameness each day because the world around us is changing at speeds we cannot comprehend or keep up with.
As teachers, we not only need to expect change, but invite it. I may even be so bold to say we should joyfully anticipate it!
Being open to change helps us to meet change. In a different translation, the last paragraph quoted above was translated as such: “We need open minds, ready to receive new wisdom each day, and a disposition that can transform accumulated knowledge into a sense of potential that leaves the mind clear for the new. This keeps people healthy, fresh, and active. A heart that is open to changes in life—its unexpected and continuous freshness—must be the Waldorf teacher’s basic mood and nature.” Feels a little different than my original quote, but holds the same message.
How do you meet change?
Do you welcome it?
What feelings does change create within you?
How would your teaching change if you woke up each morning expecting change in your students?
How is your teaching affected by the notion that things WILL be the same?
My feeling about sameness is that when we expect something to be the same, we often look for it to be the same and miss out on all the new. I also feel when we expect or hope things will be different, it leaves more room for change to occur. We tend to see change as a positive or negative, but what if change is simply… different, and not one or the other?
(This post 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)
Until next time,
Marina
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