Easter Saturday and Easter Sunday
From: Tarjei Straume
Date: Sat Apr 10, 2004 12:50 pm
Subject: Easter Saturday and Easter Sunday
In a previous message, I quoted an excerpt
from an Easter lecture by Rudolf Steiner 84 years ago in Dornach:
"The Blood-Relationship and the Christ-Relationship"
(3rd April, 1920, GA 198). In this lecture, Steiner said that
Nationalism (racism, fascism, chauvinism) and Leninism (intellectualism
void of spirit, dialectical materialism) are two stones that
have been laid over the grave of Christianity. And then he says:
"It now behoves humanity
to inaugurate the epoch of Easter Sunday, when the stone or the
stones are rolled away. Christianity will not rise from the grave
until men overcome nationalistic passions and false forms of
socialism; until they learn how to find, out of themselves, the
forces that can lead to an understanding of the Mystery of Golgotha."
The complete lecture is available online at
http://wn.elib.com/Steiner/Lectures/Easter/19200403a01.html
I am grateful to Diana and Peter for contributing
to "Anthroposophy Tomorrow" with their arguments. When
these arguments are juxtaposed vis-à-vis ordniary threads
about Anthroposophy and comments about such arguments, the casual
surfers are given the opportunity to judge for themselves the
validity of the major claims coming from so-called "Waldorf
Critics". I wouldn't write "Waldorf Critics" in
quotation marks if these people were critics. Anthroposophy needs
criticism, and Waldorf education perhaps even more so. These
"Waldorf Critics," however, have proven themselves
to be something quite different from "critics" in the
ordinary sense.
According to Merriam-Webster Online, there
is one definition of "critic" that may fit the PLANS
people, but it's obviously very inadequate:
1 a : one who expresses a reasoned opinion
on any matter especially involving a judgment of its value, truth,
righteousness, beauty, or technique b : one who engages often
professionally in the analysis, evaluation, or appreciation of
works of art or artistic performances
2 : one given to harsh or captious judgment
As you can see, definition 2 almost fits,
but not quite. "Harsh or captious judgment" does not
cover smears, lies, intellectual dishonesty, vindictiveness,
and promises to expose "the moral bankruptcy of the Steiner
cult" (Dan Dugan) and to "bust a system of institutionalized
racism" (Dan Dugan). With pronouncements like these, the
PLANS-WC people are no longer "critics" at all, but
something closer to what was recently aptly described by Jan
in a recent post where Rudolf Steiner was quoted:
""As regards human shortcomings,
our forbearance may be unlimited. Only where the substance of
spiritual science is falsified and destroyed, can there be no
forbearance."
With this in mind, I believe the name-calling
that has taken place here from time to time is understandable,
but far from the ideal reaction. On the Christian initiation
path, there is something called "the crowning of thorns."
This is a test we have to go through where what we hold most
sacred and holy is ridiculed, mocked, jeered and attacked in
the worst possible manner. We haven't exactly passed this test
with flying colors, but I believe we've done better than many
others would have done. This kind of thing takes practice.
Further comments on messages by DW and PS
are hardly necessary. On the contrary, we're better off starting
up regular threads about Anthroposophy, Rudolf Steiner, literature,
art, poetry, movies, history etc. and let these threads stand
side by side with rants from the "critics." PS has
exposed himself here, and I feel a sigh of relief because of
it. In one of his latest stunts, he asks why I'm confused, and
when I say I'm not confused, he declares that I am indeed confused
about his being an amateur historian and not a professor, although
he makes various editors of publications think he is a professor
etc. etc. He says something like "What's puzzling you is
the nature of my game, oh yeah!", but I've heard that song
too.
Some of my listmates have diagnosed PS and
offered him remedies, and it may be argued with a certain justification
that this implies an attack against person rather than argument.
But we're not talking about normal argumentation here. We're
talking about a frenzied, obsessive addiction to one doomed endeavor
under the auspices of Dan Dugan: To link Rudolf Steiner and Anthroposophy
to Adolf Hitler and Nazism by any conceivable means. This has
to be accomplished step by step, of course, beginning with a
valiant attempt to prove that Anthroposophy is anti-Semitic and
racist, and that racism is the central element in the anthroposophical
Weltanschauung.
Extreme intellectual acrobatics are called
for in the pursuit of this formidable task. So he coaxes people
into dialoges with him by various means, throwing in a lot of
senseless questions to deflect the attention from weaknesses
in his own arguments; then he proceeds to coach people about
how to dialogue with him. He tries to push on others his own
definitions, his frames of reference, his personal dictionary.
He even explains how they should approach subjects and what arguments
to use. He likes to point out how naive somebody is for not "knowing"
this or that, when "this or that" is often one of his
own personal paradigms.
Naturally, this may easily confuse anyone
not sufficiently familiar with PS' tactics. This confusion is
like a puff of smoke brought about by the magician on stage when
he performs his trick, so the audience won't see his secret.
And this is why PS wants to know how well his puff of smoke is
working when he asks, for assurance, that the other party confesses
his confusion or ignorance or insecurity. The amazing thing about
this particular puff of smoke, however, is that once you get
a few little glimpses through it, it disappears altogether, and
the tricks of PS become transparent. And when that is recognized,
you realize that the show is over.
Tomorrow is Easter Sunday, commemorating the
Risen One whose Deed made possible the event of Anthroposophy
two millennia later. Anthroposophy was born a hundred years ago
and is destined to expand dramatically in the 21st century. There
is so much we need to talk about.
Good Easter to all of you,
Tarjei
http://uncletaz.com/
Tarjei's
confusion
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