Education

World War I destroyed the structures, values, and self-confidence that created the seeming greatness of the nineteenth century. In its place stood ruins and the shards of a civilization. In response to this, Emil Molt―the director of the Waldorf-Astoria Cigarette Factory and a student of Rudolf Steiner―decided to establish a school to educate people who could create a new culture. Thus, the Waldorf school movement was begun. Rudolf Steiner agreed to act as the school’s consultant, and his insights guided the school in accomplishing this ambitious task.
The goal of this education was that, through living inner work guided by the insights of Rudolf Steiner, the teachers would develop in the children such power of thought, depth of feeling, and strength of will that they would emerge from their school years as full members of the human community, able to meet and transform the world.
These lectures occurred around the opening of the first Waldorf school. They serve as an excellent, inspiring introduction to Waldorf education as a whole. Here Steiner outlines―with freshness, immediacy, and excitement―the goals and intentions of a new form of education and speaks to parents of prospective students. He explains the school's guiding principles and describes how parents must participate, with understanding and interest, in the awakening of their children's creative forces so that a healthier society can come about.

These lectures follow from those presented in Soul Economy. Given during a conference on spiritual values in education and life and attended by many prominent people of the time, Steiner’s Oxford lectures present the principles of Waldorf education at the highest cultural level.
The Manchester Guardian reported: “Dr. Steiner’s lectures...brought to us in a very vivid way an ideal of humanity in education. He spoke to us about teachers who, freely and unitedly, unrestricted by external prescription, develop their educational methods exclusively out of a thorough knowledge of human nature. He spoke to us about a kind of knowledge needed by the teacher, a knowledge of the being of man and the world, which is at the same time scientific and also penetrates into the most intimate inner life, which is intuitive and artistic.”
These lectures form one of the best introductions to Waldorf education.

Steiner begins this work by pointing to our awareness of a second self that guides us through life. It guides us as infants and children as we attain vertical balance in space, learn to communicate in community, and begin to think in the world. Through this initial wisdom (which is still connected to the spiritual hierarchies) we enter the physical realm and then, as we grow, we exchange it for self-awareness and memory.
What―or who―is this wisdom? Steiner suggests that it is connected with the “higher self” of humankind that lived in Jesus between his baptism and the Crucifixion. Even if there were no Gospels to tell us of the Christ, we can know of it through human nature. Looking within ourselves and at human history, we are able to understand the spiritual guidance of humanity and human beings. Christ’s sacrifice for humanity is only part of the cosmic, spiritual participation of beings of every level and kind in human evolution.
Steiner’s written works differ from his lectures in their directness, depth, and ramifications, and it was rare for him to take time from his busy schedule to rewrite any of his numerous lectures for publication. However, Steiner considered these lectures essential and important for our understanding of the foundations of spiritual science.

Theosophy is a key work for gaining a solid footing in spiritual reality as described by Rudolf Steiner. It is organized into four parts. First, Steiner builds a comprehensive understanding of human nature: physical bodily nature; soul qualities; spirit being, or “I”-being; and the higher spiritual aspects. This leads us to Steiner’s description of the human being as sevenfold:
• Material, physical body
• Ether body, or body of life forces
• Sentient soul body
• Mind soul
• Spirit-filled consciousness soul
• Life spirit
• Spirit body

This is the first of two previously untranslated volumes of Steiner's public lectures on Waldorf education. Readers familiar with Steiner's lectures for teachers will discover here how Steiner presented his ideas to the general public with surprising directness.
Teaching, Steiner says, should be artistic, creative, and improvisational―not dogmatic. Nonetheless, he is clear that “the great battle” has to do with the spiritual nature of children. He discusses themes such as understanding the role of health and illness in education, as well as the three major phases in child development: imitation, authority, and freedom.
Also included are also two lectures Rudolf Steiner gave in England on Shakespeare and new ideals in education.

The Waldorf school movement was gaining increasing recognition by the time these public lectures on Waldorf education took place. In this collection, as in the previous volume, Rudolf Steiner is outspoken about the spiritual nature of human beings and the world―including the spiritual nature of Waldorf education.