Lecture 1
Dornach 15th February, 1919
In some of the lectures
I have recently held here I have dealt from several aspects with the
now urgent, burning social question. Everyone who does not sleep through
the events that weave themselves into his life, can be aware that this
so-called social question has long been, and continues to be, an urgent
and burning one for all mankind. From lectures I have held here and
also from extracts of some given publicly by me in different parts of
Switzerland, it can be seen how far in man's modern necessities of life,
and in his most recent development, this social question has taken a
definite form, a most incisive form, for life. In our Anthroposophical
Movement, therefore, it behooves us to arrive, from our point of view,
at a judgment about human destiny especially in regard to the social
question, a judgment which in a way possible to us could be put into
actual effect.
For a considerable time
certain of our members have endeavoured to make their powers of use
in our difficult times. Many things have been considered and put under
review. Naturally for each of us it is possible to intervene in affairs
only in the way his fate, his karma, and his position in life allow.
As a result of the various aspirations among us, the following has now
evolved. Three well-known members, who set themselves the special task
of working in Stuttgart to meet the demands of modern life, Herr Mott,
Dr. Bock, and Herr Kühn, came to me early in February and decided
to put into practice, as far and as suitably as possible, what we have
been able to learn from our world-outlook and conception of life. When
we are dealing with a matter not of mere consideration but of practical
application, the question can only be what at a definite point of time
is suitable, what answers the purpose, what in a certain relation is
the fitting thing with which to begin. If one does not make a suitable
beginning one will rush in where angels fear to tread and, as a rule,
accomplish nothing. For us at the present moment it is a matter of doing
something in accordance with what has gone before, something the hard-pressed
German people will find justified. In the events of the present day,
above all appears one thing that is most significant — the existence
of a deep gulf between the classes of men. On one side of this gulf
stand the circles that have hitherto more or less led men's destiny;
on the other side, the proletariat pressing forward with the reality
of their social claims. The proletariat, it is true, appears to the
observant in two forms, the workers themselves, and their leaders. I
have often shown here how all the thoughts, aspirations and impulses
in the heads of the leaders, by the help of which they gain their influence
over the workers, are fundamentally a legacy from the middle-class thinking
of the previous century. We have spoken of this here from various points
of view, and sought to confirm it.
Now one of the most significant
phenomena is this deep gulf between the two human groups. In recent
days this has been clearly visible to those who follow the history of
the times; on the one side Paris, where the standpoint of the formerly
leading circles of mankind prevails, where man's destiny and that of
the present time are dealt with; on the other side, Berne with its Conference
in which lives everything that is divided from the other by the deep
gulf. Whoever has carefully followed what has issued from Paris and
what on the other hand has been attempted in Berne, at the socialist
Congress, could not but confess that the essential thing, the significant
and lasting thing, that will make itself felt in human evolution, is
not the result of what is thought and hoped for in Paris or Berne, but
the fact that in these two places two such very different social languages
have been spoken. To be really honest one has to confess that here we
have two totally different languages, languages up to now mutually incomprehensible.
On due consideration this
significant phenomenon may strike everyone as justifying what I have
so often said here, namely, that if we are to understand these things
and share in the working out of possible solutions, many root causes
must be looked for that are deeper than those sought today by either
side. Time and again we have the opportunity of seeing what I referred
to two days ago in a public lecture at Basle — that the social
question, the social movement, is already an actual question, a question
of present events for a great part of civilised mankind, in as deeply
decisive a way as anything in the history of mankind. It presents itself
in this way to all those of insight. And how often have I pointed out
here that the deeper causes are to be found only through those considerations
of reality that result from the Movement here for Spiritual Science,
Anthroposophy — the deeper causes also for the social study of
life and of things.
At the beginning of the year
[ Note 1 ]
I pointed out something I believe
to be significant, namely, that today it is possible for mankind to
be thoroughly pessimistic not just from emotional reasons but on actual
social grounds. At the time, I read to you an excellent article by a man
[ Note 2 ]
who in this way is really able
to estimate social matters. I have told you that it is profitable to
think pessimistically only when one is not conscious of the other side
of the fact — that help can be found by turning to the spirit.
For that, a consciousness must be cultivated more and more that there
is only ground for belief in destructive forces, which can produce terrible
results in the coming decades, if men refuse to turn to the consideration
of the realities arising from Spiritual Science. Naturally we do not
mean by this the dogma of some spiritual movement or other, what we
mean is an appeal to any forces of the spirit that alone can heal and
help at this critical juncture in human evolution.
Thus, in a particular way,
because it is not called forth arbitrarily but by observation of the
forces of the times, the spiritual knowledge of Anthroposophy becomes
in the anthroposophical members the needed healing power in the highest
sense. It is not indeed the programme of one individual or of several
individuals, but the result of observing what the spiritual leadership of
the world dictates as necessary for mankind's present progress. It is on
that account only that we can speak of Spiritual Science, of Anthroposophy,
otherwise it would obviously be presumptuous. But what springs from
true modesty need not be deterred when making itself felt, by the reproach
of the presumptuous.
What has come from Paris
can be said to be in keeping with an attitude towards life that in the
last four-and-a-half years has led ad absurdum. From Berne
has streamed what seems salvation to many, but has originated in an
insufficiently deep source. From Paris there flows what occasions fear
in almost all mankind; from Berne was meant to stream what in a great
number of men can arouse hope and belief. And these two things speak
quite different languages; there is no possibility of mutual understanding
across the abyss. That will come only from the soul's inner appeal to
Spiritual Science.
From such impulses arose the
thought first at least to speak to the understanding of part of mankind.
For it is a question of understanding. I have continually emphasised
that in our social chaos we shall make no headway until we succeed in
our appeal to the understanding of a sufficiently large number of men
before instincts become too uncontrolled. This is what inspired my lectures
in Zurich, Berne and Basle. Recently, various people with whom I have
talked have given frequent opportunity for discussing how to approach
the understanding and whether it be possible to discover the way before
there is complete disaster? Now the latter question is one that cannot
be raised by anyone who thinks in realities. For anyone thinking in
realities does not speak with hypotheses about what is possible or not
possible, but seizes on what he considers necessary to be done. When
one one sets out on some road, a first step has to be taken; and we
should not think, when the first step seems incompatible with the desired
goal, that this step is useless. On a long road the first step can only
take us a very short way. When going towards a specified goal it is
first simply a question of not going in the wrong direction, either
to right or left of the goal. Secondly, having once started on, the
path, it is a question of having the will to keep to it and not to stumble
against anything either left or right. If we would take our stand on
realistic ground, we must also be in touch with what is happening at
the time, what is already there, and not build castles in the air. Our
though must be linked with something showing that from a certain direction
a real stream is flowing. The first step may often seem most unfortunate,
and only after a time perhaps turn out to be otherwise.
Now the three men previously
named — Herr Mott, Dr. Boos, Herr Kühn, have discussed this
matter with me. Since a spiritual appeal is to be made to the understanding
of mankind, it must first be asked where anything of the sort has been
seen to have an effect on men's thinking. You may remember an appeal
made to the so-called world of culture, issued by ninety-nine German
personalities, for the most part professors, or so I believe. Judged
from the point of view of reality and not of emotion, this appeal can
only be considered very clumsy. Yet for the most part they were professors:
The appeal made an impression, however, and influenced thought in an
unfortunate way. And it still haunts us. Being in a certain sense a
reality it was a reality that had a worse effect than many others for
it set waves in motion.
This makes one wonder how
it might be in the present urgency to send out an appeal in contrast
to this untimely set of antiquated notions, an appeal to man's understanding,
arising out of the real conditions of modern human life. First, arising
out of the facts themselves, an appeal to the German people, who have
experienced the fate of seeing swept away the whole framework of a State
in which they had hoped to realise their appointed task. They should
be appealed to in a way to make them see that facts are speaking to
them and not just a collection of words or some particular opinion or
idea. Whereas perhaps the greater part of mankind would be loath to
listen as long as old forms still remain, it can be assumed that the
Germans would be more likely to listen, because no longer able to remain
on the old ground they must perforce seek out a new basis for their
life's task. For men are like that; so long as anything of the old remains
— when it is not just a matter of clothes — they will unquestioningly
hold firmly to it, unconscious of any sign that this is no longer possible.
No one believes what a part love of comfort plays in the inner life
of man.
Out of these thoughts I
have composed a sort of Manifesto, and imagine it may be listened to
by those souls who, where our own particular cultural questions are
concerned, can be brought to an understanding based on reality. Above
all I hope it may be understood by those Germans who are intelligent;
to these it is addressed. But I mean it to be read by the enemies of
Germany also, as something that has been considered and found fit by
the people of Germany to be translated into reality. I thought of the
ninety-nine signatures; if another ninety-nine of the Germans of the
old Germany and of the old Austria can be found, and if the ninety-nine
could perhaps be increased by a few personalities having an understanding
of the present necessities of life — people in neutral countries,
in Switzerland for example, — then something positive might be
done in contrast to the former negative undertaking of the ninety-nine.
I beg you to understand
me aright. This is first and foremost an appeal to the German people.
But it is thought that what will be discussed in this form among the
Germans themselves should be heard by the whole cultural world. I shall
read this appeal here. The ideas will be known and familiar to you,
since we have often discussed them. It is not meant to give advice,
but it should show people that there is a way and how this way may be
found. Certainly the presentation can be criticised as too short. But
it is not a question of a textbook, it is an indication that there is
something within mankind that can be of help.
The Appeal is addressed:
“TO THE GERMAN PEOPLE AND TO THE CULTURAL WORLD”
The German people believed
the structure of their empire, set up half a century before, to be secure
for an unlimited time. At the outbreak of this catastrophic war, in
August 1914, they saw this structure firmly established and imagined
it would prove invincible. Today they see only its ruins. After such
an experience must come reflection, heart-searching. For this experience
has shown that the thoughts prevailing for half a century and more,
especially those holding good over the war years, to have been tragically
misleading. The question necessarily, arising in the souls of the German
people is: where lie the reasons for this tragic error? This question
must promote inner reflection in souls, and on their power for such
reflection depends the very survival of the German people. Their future
depends upon how far they are able to consider the question in all seriousness:
How did I fall into this error? If today they face this question, the
knowledge will dawn on than that, half a century earlier they founded
a realm but omitted to set it the tasks arising from the essential nature
of the German people. The realm was set up. In its early years all efforts
went to the adjustment, as far as life allowed, of demands remaining
over from the old tradition and yearly arising from new needs. Later
men went on to confirm and increase their outer predominance in material
strength. With this they combined measures concerned with the social
claims born of the times, measures that certainly took into account
the needs of the day but lacked the larger aims which should come from
knowledge of the evolutionary forces to which modern man must turn.
Thus the realm was established in a world-connection that lacked a real
goal to justify its survival. The course the catastrophe of the war
took has revealed this in a tragic way. Until the very outbreak of hostilities
the world outside Germany could not see in the conduct of the realm
anything to suggest that its rulers were fulfilling a world mission
of historic import, not to be lightly swept aside. The failure of the
rulers to find such a mission has necessarily given rise in the non-German
world to the opinions that to those of insight have been the deeper
grounds for the German downfall.
For the German people infinitely
much now depends upon their impartial judgment of this state of affairs.
In misfortune there must arise the insight which, in the last fifty
years, has not been willing to show itself. Instead of the feeble thinking
about day-to-day demands, a greater impulse must arise towards an outlook
on life that with vigorous thought strives to understand the forces
at work in evolution, and devotes itself to these with courageous will.
There must be an end to the petty desire to sweep aside as unpractical
idealists all those who pay heed to evolutionary forces. So too must
cease the pride and presumption of those who imagine themselves to be
practical people, who through their narrow vision in the guise of the
practical have brought about disaster. Heed must be paid to what the
truly practical men — decried as idealists — have to say
about the present requirements of evolution.
The ‘practical’
men in all directions have for a long time seen that quite new human
demands are being made, but they have tried to fit them within the frame
of ordinary traditional thinking end organisation. The economic life
of the day has produced demands that private initiative seems incapable
of satisfying. One class of men consider it necessary that private enterprise
should in individual spheres be transferred to companies; and this would
be carried out wherever it appeared profitable according to the outlook
on life of this particular class. The drastic transference of all individual
work to associations became the aim of another class who, through the
development of modern economic life, have no interest in retaining the
handed-down aims of private persons.
In all the endeavours in
connection with the modern demands of mankind up till now, there is
something in common. They press for the socialisation of private undertakings,
and count on the latter being taken over by the community (State, Commune)
that has sprung from conditions having nothing to do with modern demands.
Or men think in terms of newer associations, such as companies, that
are nevertheless not formed in complete accordance with these new demands
but copy old forms,out of traditional habits of thought.
The truth is that no associations
formed in the sense of these old habits of thought can take up what
one would like to see accepted. Prevalent forces press towards recognition
of a social structure of mankind having something quite different in
view from what is customary. Until now the social communities have for
the most part been formed out of man's social instincts; the task of
our time is to penetrate the forces of these instincts with full consciousness.
The social organism is membered
in the same way as the natural organism. And as the natural organism
must manage its thinking through the head and not through the lungs,
so in the social organism the membering into systems must be such that
no system can take over the task of another; all must work together
but maintain its own independence.
The economic life can thrive
only in developing as an independent member of the social organism in
accordance with its own laws and its own forces, and avoids creating
confusion in its structure by allowing itself to be absorbed by another
member, the political member, of the social organism. The member that
works politically must have a completely independent existence alongside
the economic life, just as in the human organism the breathing system
exists alongside that of the head. Their mutual work cannot be carried
on beneficially if the two systems are under a single set of laws and
administration; each must have its own, working, however, in a living
way with the other. For the political system must destroy the economic
life if it wants to take it over, and the economic system loses its
forces of life when it becomes political.
To these two members of
the social organism must be added a third, completely independent and
formed out of the possibilities of its own life. This member is all
that is produced spiritually, in which the spiritual part of the two
other spheres also have a share. The spiritual part must be given over
to them by the third member that is provided with its own laws and administration,
but this spiritual part cannot be governed nor influenced by the other
spheres more than member organs of a whole organism are influenced by
one another.
Already today what has been
said here to be necessary for the social organism can be quite scientifically
substantiated and developed. Here there can only be given the guiding
principles for all those who would follow up what is necessary.
The establishment of the
German Empire happened at a time when these necessities were first appearing
to modern humanity. Its Government did not understand how to give the
Empire a task through insight into these necessities. This insight would
alone have given it the right inner structure, it would also have given
its foreign policy a competent direction, and enabled the Germans to
live in common understanding with other peoples.
Insight must now ripen out
of misfortune. We must develop the will for a social organism that is
possible. It is not a Germany that no longer exists that should have
to face the world outside, but a spiritual, political and economic system
in its representatives must have the will to negotiate as independent
delegations with those who have cast down that Germany which has been
made into an impossible social form through the confusion of the three
systems.
One fancies one can hear
the ‘practical men’ becoming eloquent over the complexity of
what has been said and finding it troublesome even to think about the
working together of three corporate members. This is because they have no
wish to know of the real demands of life, preferring to fashion everything
according to the easier demands of their own thinking. They must come to
see that they must accommodate themselves in their thought to the claims
of reality or they will have learnt nothing from misfortune and in what
arises further, will go on repeating the past ad infinitum.
While I was lecturing in
Zurich, Basle and Berne, Herr Mott, Dr. Boos and. Herr Kühn were
busy in Germany obtaining signatures for the Appeal. And in Austria
others were similarly employed.
So far, although it is only
a short time since we began, we can be well satisfied with our progress.
For we have an Appeal as well supported as the former unfortunate one.
And in the lectures recently given in Zurich — held there because
Switzerland is the pivot for the connections of the civilised world
— my object was to show that here and there people were to be
found whose understanding was ripening. Thus, naturally it was important
to learn the results before the last Zurich lecture. By 11th February
I could make the happy announcement that about a hundred names had been
collected, exclusive of those in Switzerland and Vienna. The news came
from Germany where our fiends had been working everywhere, in a suitable
way, to make this thing a reality. At the same time I received the following
telegram from Vienna: “By midday 11th, 73 signatures, more certain
tomorrow”. And on the following day: “Total 93 signatures”.
That could be announced from Vienna, and more signatures were reported
later. Results so far have been satisfactory. What we need next will
be to find among them a number of signatures of well-known personalities
capable of making the Appeal public, so that it is seen by those it
concerns. For in a case of this kind much depends upon this. It actually
concerns everyone today. And it may indeed be said that in the subconscious
of man's soul something is calling upon him to understand such an affair
as this. As I have told you in the course of these lectures, the idea
appearing in this form is no new one to me. At the time when this catastrophic
war was taking a decisive turn, I tried to help, on this necessary impulse
towards reality wherever it came to my notice. I have described to you
how this took place. I told those who had to do with the matter that
this is not just a programme, not just an ideal, but that it should
be considered as something having evolutionary force for modern mankind,
something that certainly will be made a reality in the next ten, twenty
or thirty years. It is not a question whether it is realised but solely
how it is realised. I said to many of these people: You now have the
choice either of having recourse to reason and of bringing about something
through that, or of undergoing cataclysms and revolutions. It did not
take long for people to be convinced that this was no false prophecy.
It is hard, however, for the easy-going man of today to find the way
from a certain understanding to that courage in life which, in accordance
with his situation, is necessary for him to carry on the matter into
the realm of reality.
Here in Switzerland, too,
several signatures have already been obtained. We have always to consider
here that in the first part of this Appeal something is said of the
necessity for the German people to reflect about themselves and the
errors in which they have been implicated. Thus, it has been said that
it is impossible for the Swiss to give instructions across the frontier
to the Germans. I do not believe that today we should still think like
that. Before 1914 such things might have had a certain significance
as old mummified thought, but now they have lost that significance.
In these times the narrow-mindedness that comes from judging on national
grounds must cease. The misfortunes of the last four-and-a-half years
should have taught men this. Today even in Switzerland one should be
able to think differently from the way one did four-and-a-half years
ago. For here, too, something should have been learnt if thinking is
to correspond to the picture we get by following the last four-and-a-half
years with a little insight. They really appear like centuries which
have been poured over mankind. And it seems most remarkable that people
today have been willing to set up a new world-order, a new map of Europe,
out of old national prejudices of a former age, or out of mummified
thought, which really by 1914 should have come to an end. This map-building
in Europe will be very quickly upset by other forces, the only ones
with power at the present time and the only determining forces for what
is called politics, that is, the social factors. For today all the rest
is a mask. That, however, is the reality. The Europeans will very greatly
deceive themselves if they form their judgments and criticisms out of
ancient mummified, thinking.
Of course the objection
can be made — I myself could easily give you a whole catalogue
of objections — that with this impulses are given to all the States;
that this can only come to pass when all States make a beginning. No!
One single so-called State can make a beginning; it is indeed so, one
single State can begin. And the beginning once made, the State will
have done something for all mankind. It is indeed a misfortune for the
German people that its Empire should have been set up at the start of
more modern history, when at the time of its foundation the necessity
already existed for the Empire to be given this as its task. And because
the Empire did not accept this task it has never been understood why
it should have any place in the world. Had it undertaken the task everything
would have happened differently, for then men would have had before
their very eyes the conditions of their existence and seen this existence
justified.
Today people make their
decisions out of mummified thoughts. There are many in Europe who cannot
free themselves from mummified thinking and today regard the world-famous
personality, Wilson, as a savior— perhaps out of some fear, it
is difficult to express it. Nevertheless, if people should think without
condemning Wilson, and put their question on a basis of fact, they must
ask themselves why he has become such an influential man in his own
country. This is because he is against all other Parties, and out of
sound American instinct has carried out a policy utterly opposed to
that of a great part of Europe. A great part of Europe wants to steer
towards a community, the politics of a social community, in which the
individual forces of liberty will go under. Wilson owes his election
and his influence entirely to the circumstance that as an American democrat
he has contributed to the release of the individual forces in economic
life.
Let us suppose that Europe
realised the ideal of Bolshevism, the ideal of the Berne social democracy,
which means the social democracy of the Socialist Congress. What would
be the consequence should these people achieve what they are dreaming
of? Europe would take on a form so that despite every national prejudice
all free forces would of necessity flood over into free America, where
Wilson has become great by means of his opposite policy. Between Europe
and America terrible competition would have to arise, making it impossible
for anything to happen but pauperism in Europe and wealth in America
— not from any injustice but out of the foolishness of European
social politics. That would be the shape of things if Europeans do not,
in accordance with their task, interpret and bring to realisation the
social forces so that they meet the demands of a healthy social organism.
In this Appeal we have not
to do with something merely thought out, but we are indicating forces
everywhere present in what is reality, forces that must be brought to
realisation, without which the fate not only of Germany and Austria
but of all Europe can be simply a fall into poverty, suffering and alienation.
from the spirit. We are living in serious times from which we cannot
escape by trivial thinking. In men there lives something that attracts
them to what is said in this Appeal, something that can already be observed.
Because this is so, because one can hope to find the way to the hearts
and souls of men, we are seeking now to reorganise what, as I said,
was a necessary form to be sought during the catastrophe of the war,
into the form necessary for present-day conditions.
I only hope no one thinks
that this kind of Appeal has a significance that is absolute. I spoke
of this to someone — concerned with it later — in January,
1918, as it was then drafted, and ended by saying: This can of course
take on many different forms according to the different conditions prevailing
at the time. It has nothing to do with a theory, nor a programme, nor
an ideal, but with what has been thought out of reality. I said further
that because the thought comes out of reality, for me it is nothing
Utopian. Utopians who set up their programmes imagine everything to
be bad that is not carried out according to their plan. It does not
strike me at all in this way. It may happen, for example, that such
a matter touches men's souls, and because they consider it practical
they begin to put it into practice. And today it can be said quite clearly
that a beginning has been made to put it into a practical form, suitable
for life everywhere. I can quite well imagine that nothing may remain
of all I have said here and in the lectures in Zurich, Berne and Basle,
but that everything will take on a different form. For anyone who thinks
in realities it is not a matter of his forms and phrases being put into
practice, but that they should somewhere be laid hold of by reality.
Then it will soon be seen what becomes of it. Perhaps it will go another
way, there is always that possibility, but it is certain that the result
must be in conformity with the conditions. For it is not any abstract
ideal, any programme striven for, but simply a seizing hold of the forces
of reality. What we are concerned with here should be as far removed
as possible from all fantasy, from all dogmatising. Therefore I was
much astonished when a well-known personality, whose signature one of
the three friends mentioned above had undertaken to procure, let it
be known that he would have thought, in making the appeal, I should
have addressed it more to men's spirit, and went on to say that mankind's
salvation could only come by their finding the way back to the Spirit.
Thus people want one always
to be repeating spirit, spirit, spirit! But that is not what is of importance;
what matters is that the Spirit should be shown and proved able really
to give form to the facts. They are fundamentally dangerous who keep
on speaking of the spirit without giving any indication of its reality;
for they refer to it simply in the sense of an ideology. We have reason
to be thankful that in the midst of our society personalities have been
found with understanding, active understanding, at what is aimed at
here, so that they will also actually do something. One hears constant
echoes of this.
Our friend, Dr. Boos, after
in my last lecture in Zurich I had referred to the results of our Appeal,
issued an appeal on his own account that, from among the audience, people
willing to take a practical part in this matter should come forward
and give their addresses. The result of that evening, too, was extraordinarily
satisfying. There were of course objections but I could well understand
them. They were, however, of a nature to make one see that men today
do not take their stand upon reality, they are carried away by enthusiasm.
And this applies precisely to those considered the most practical. Hence,
at Zurich, in a lecture when speaking of enthusiasts, I gave General
Ludendorf as a good modern example. That is the type, the representative,
of an enthusiast, a man who may be good or bad, but to my thinking bad
at understanding strategy, and in regard to everything else remote from
life and all reality, having no idea of the conditions of the reality
in which he should have been active. He was an abstract idealist in
a way that only a socialistic utopian can be. One should pay good heed
to this insane concept of the ‘practical man’ which has
done such harm to mankind. This being practical, up to now in such favour,
is nothing but enthusiasm carried into actual fact through brutality,
an unrealistic way of thinking, and it is above all this that must vanish.
What has to come must be created spiritually, and the bearer of this
will be the Anthroposophical Movement.
This is what I wanted to
tell you on this eventful evening of our Lecture Cycle, as something
that has proceeded out of the inner being of our movement.
Notes:
1.
Lecture of December 31, 1981 not translated
2.
Walther Rathenau
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