RUDOLF STEINER IN ENGLAND IN 1922
INTRODUCTORY NOTE BY THE TRANSLATORS
The
six lectures collected in this volume were given by Rudolf Steiner to
members of the Anthroposophical Society during his visits to England
in the year 1922. He came three times, giving altogether about thirty
lectures on educational, social and general anthroposophical
subjects. Nine years had elapsed since his preceding visit in May
1919 when he had spoken so significantly of the new Michael Age and
of Christ-event of the 20th Century. The intervening time was marked
by the catastrophes of war and social revolution. Meanwhile the first
Goetheanum had been built at Dornach, Switzerland, as a centre for
the world-wide movement,
During
the years of war, Rudolf Steiner had put forward his epoch-making
conception of Threefold Man and of the Threefold Social Order, on
which was based the attempt, in the years 191321, to give
shape to the social events of the time out of a deeper spiritual
understanding. It was in the midst of this attempt that many
practical activities, notably educational and medical, evolved
under Dr. Steiners guidance, bringing the truths of Initiation
Science to bear on the concrete tasks of daily life. Thus in the year
1913 the Waldorf School had been founded at Stuttgart by Emil Molt,
with Rudolf Steiner as its educational director. The quick
development of the school attracted the attention of thoughtful men
and women in England, many of whom had been impressed by Dr.
Steiner's book on the social and international problems of the time,
the first English edition of which. The Threefold State, had
been published by Messrs. Allen and Unwin in 1920.
The
sculptress Edith Maryon, one of Dr. Steiners closest and most
trusted fellow-workers at the Goetheanum, had in the past been linked
by ties of friendship and common spiritual endeavour with the
distinguished educationist Professor Millicent Mackenzie. Arising out
of their correspondence. Professor Mackenzie arranged for a party of
English teachers and educationists to visit Dornach at Christmas
and New Year, 192122. Here, in the famous Weisse Saal
of the Goetheanum, where the fatal outbreak of fire was discovered a
year later. Rudolf Steiner gave a course of sixteen lectures for the
special benefit of the visitors from England. Among those
present were Miss Margaret Cross of The Priory School, King's
Langley, and also some of those who were to form, three years later,
the College of Teachers of the newly founded school, now known as
Michael Hall.
Miss
Cross was a member of the New Ideals in Education
Committee, whose annual conference for 1922 was to be devoted to the
subject of Drama and Education, in connection with the Shakespeare
Festival. At her suggestion it was decided to invite Dr. Steiner,
both as educationist and as a distinguished Goethe scholar, to take
an active part. So then in April 1922 he spoke at Stratford-on-Avon,
side by side with eminent representatives of English life and letters
John Masefield and John Drinkwater among others, also
Professor Cornford and Sir Henry Newbolt. The interest aroused is
shewn by the fact that Dr. Steiner was invited to give a third
lecture in addition to the two original planned.
It
was decided to arrange a more extensive conference at Oxford during
the long vacation, where Rudolf Steiner would have the opportunity
to speak at greater length, both on the theory and method of the
Waldorf School and on the Threefold Order. Through the kind
hospitality of Principal L. P. Jacks, who found in
The Threefold State
ideas akin to his own, the Conference on
Spiritual Values in Education and Social Life was held
at Manchester College during the second half of August. The joint
organizers were Professor Millicent Mackenzie and Mr. Arnold Freeman
of the Sheffield Educational Settlement. Principal Jacks. was present
at the beginning and gave the address of welcome. Among other
well-known speakers who took part were Mr. A. Clutton Brock, Mr. C.
Delisle Burns, Professor J. S. Mackenzie and Dr. Maxwell Garnett.
During the morning sessions Dr. Steiner gave the course of nine
lectures since published under the title
The Spiritual Ground of Education
and three further lectures on the social question. A
group of Dornach artists gave Eurhythmy performances at Keble
and there was also a small demonstration by children, to illustrate
the part of Eurhythmy in education.
During
his three visits to England in the year 1922 Dr. Steiner gave a
number of other public and semi-public lectures on the
anthroposophical path of knowledge, on the knowledge of the
Christ-Impulse, and on education. Some of these have since been
printed. They include for example the memorable address on
The Mystery of Golgotha
given in Manchester College Chapel, Oxford, on Sunday evening, 27th August.
In
the midst of these many activities, opportunities were also found for
the members' lectures here reproduced. The different local groups
which had been working side by side throughout the war were joining
forces to create what afterwards became the
Anthroposophical Society in Great Britain.
In the autumn of 1921 a small
library-office and the use of a lecture-hall had been rented at
Grosvenor Street from the Royal Asiatic Society, and it was here then
that Dr. Steiner gave the first of these members' lectures. Meanwhile
a more permanent headquarters was acquired at 46 (now 116)
Gloucester Place. Save for the one at Oxford, the remaining lectures
were given here. Dr. Steiner gave every encouragement to the efforts
which were being made to enlarge the scope of the spiritual movement
in this country, and to the practical activities arising from
it.
We
have translated freely, believing that a free translation will be
most able to call forth an immediate impression of the words as
Rudolf Steiner spoke them. It should be remembered that all the
lectures to English audiences had to be interpreted as they were
given; Dr. Steiner generally divided them into three sections, each
of which was followed immediately by the interpretation. The
resulting breaks are in most instances apparent. The present written
translation is based on the full shorthand reports of the original.
Though of outstanding excellence, these reports themselves are
not free from occasional uncertainties.
The
titles here chosen, for the series as a whole and for the single
lectures, are not due to Dr. Steiner himself. All through the later
years of his life he was lecturing frequently to the members of the
Anthroposophical Society, at Dornach and wherever else he traveled,
no special subject being indicated, as a rule, beforehand, except for
conferences and other such occasions. We came to the lectures with
unbounded expectation, knowing always that some fresh
illumination would be given, some further insight awakened,
concerning the spiritual world and its relation to human life.
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