16 March 1924
TO ALL MEMBERS • IX
Individual Formulation of Anthroposophical Truths*
I have written the above
thoughts for members in the hope that they may give rise to further
thoughts among anthroposophists everywhere. I think it will be well
for the active members of the Society to take these thoughts as a
starting-point, so that, in connection with them, they may lift all
the members to a common consciousness of what the Anthroposophical
Society truly is.
It
is certainly right that the discussion of Anthroposophy and its
application to life should be the main thing in the activity of our
Group Meetings. And yet in many a Group Meeting there is surely room
for the discussion of such things as have been indicated in these
columns ― no matter how small a portion of the time is allotted
to it. If this is done, it will be found that many a member is
stimulated to become a true representative of the Anthroposophical
Society even in the non-anthroposophical external world.
It
will not do to imagine that the essence and the task of the
Anthroposophical Society can be contained in a few statutes, rules,
or paragraphs. Not only does Anthroposophy carry its impulses deep
into the thinking, feeling, and willing of man, but for this very
reason Anthroposophy itself is strongly influenced by the inner life
of the human being. Certainly its main substance can be described in
general statements, principles and the like, as is done in so many
spheres of spiritual life. But necessary as this may be, we must not
stop short at this. Our general statements will be made alive and
richly coloured when each one who bears them in his heart and mind is
able to express them out of his own experience of life. Every such
individual expression will contribute something of value towards an
understanding of the truths of Anthroposophy.
If
we attach the right importance to this fact, we shall make a
discovery; we shall find ourselves continually becoming aware of
fresh aspects revealing the real nature of the Anthroposophical
Society.
Every
active member in the Society will often enough find himself in the
position of being questioned about one thing or another. The
questioner hopes to receive instruction through the answer he
expects. But he who is asked may also look to receive instruction by
the way the questions are put to him. We should not be heedless of
this latter kind of teaching. For by questions above all we learn to
know the fullness and variety of life. Often the particular concern
that underlies the question will emerge, and we should always be
grateful when our questioners can speak to us in this way. Their help
will enable us to grow better and better in the manner of our
answers. The feeling, above all ― the note which we strike in
our answers ― will grow better; and this is essential in the
imparting of anthroposophical truths. The point is not merely what
we say, but above all how we say it.
After
all, from a certain point of view anthroposophical truths are the
greatest of all things that men can communicate to one another. To
impart such things to a fellow-man without a deep inner feeling of
what one is imparting is in fact already to distort them. Now this
inner feeling is deepened when we perceive, in a whole variety of
human beings, the background of real life from out of which they ask
their questions. We need not make ourselves examiners, psychological
vivisectors of one another; we can be perfectly content with what the
questioner of his own accord puts into his questions. But no active
member of the Anthroposophical Society should ever be content to
answer all questions by a hard and fast, ready-made scheme.
It
is often emphasised, and rightly, that Anthroposophy must come to
life in mankind and not remain a mere teaching. But a thing can only
come to life when it takes a perpetual stimulus from life.
If
we cultivate such conduct in Anthroposophy, Anthroposophy will become
a stimulus to human love; and indeed all our work in its sphere
should be steeped in love. Anyone who has kept his eyes open in the
Anthroposophical Society will know that many people come into it
because, when the truths of life are presented to them in other
quarters, they miss the fundamental note of human love. The soul of
man has a fine sensitiveness to perceive this note in what is spoken;
and this in the very highest degree becomes a medium of
understanding.
It
may perhaps be said, Why should love be brought into a description of
the evolution of the Earth? But when we have once come to understand
that the evolution of the Earth and of the Universe is only the other
side of the evolution of Mankind, we shall no longer doubt that the
soul of these truths too is love.
* The asterisk denotes a title given by Frau Marie Steiner.
|