Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 2, No. 2, 2003, Page 102
there are two motives for its existence. On the one hand, it is the starting-
point for a renewal of education based on a spiritual knowledge of the whole
man (the teacher‘s vocation as such). On the other hand, and at the same
time, it is the working model for a social community, it is an institution of the
free life of spirit. Remember that the Waldorf School was founded in 1919 as
part of the larger movement towards a threefold social order after World War
I. When this large-scale effort to renew the social order, nourished as it was
by Rudolf Steiner‘s impulse, found itself thwarted, the Waldorf School itself
remained, as a sort of ―living relic‖ after the storm, but also as a seed bearing
in itself the potential for the renewal of social life in our times. The school—
with its various examples of cooperation among different segments of its
community and with inhering self-determination as a faculty-run institution,
since 1919—has been a full-working model for an organization rooted in the
free life of spirit and as such it stands as a continuing impulse to re-awaken
awareness of the threefold social order and put it into practice. (Leist, 1987,
p. 13)
Anthroposophy doesn‘t proselytize directly belief in karma and reincarnation leads
Anthroposophists to believe that people who are destined for Anthroposophy will ask about
it when they encounter it. Waldorf parents who show interest in Steiner are invited to join
―study groups‖ that read and discuss Steiner. Often this leads to Waldorf teacher training.
As we have seen so many times, the school becomes a parent‘s first
introduction to anthroposophy, and this is happening in our greater
community, as more people become interested in participating in festivals and
attending study groups. (Leopold, 2001)
Waldorf brochures will claim that the school is based on child development. What isn‘t
explained is that Steiner‘s theory of child development differs radically from other theories
(see Steiner, 1960). Steiner‘s child development theory is based on what he calls an
understanding of the ―true nature of man.‖ Reincarnation and karma are essential tenets of
this doctrine. Humans have four interpenetrating bodies that incarnate in stages. The
physical body is born at birth. The ―etheric body‖ is born at age seven, signified by the
change of teeth. The ―astral body‖ is born at age fourteen (numerology dictates seven-year
periods), and the ―I,‖ the eternal part of the human that is reborn forever, is born at age
21. The web site of the Pedagogical Section of the Goetheanum, headquarters of
Anthroposophy, describes what the child is ready for in each period, with reference to
Steiner‘s three-system physiology:
Let us now take a closer look at specific ages. To that end let us consider
Rudolf Steiner‘s discovery of three functional systems in the human being:
Our motor activity happens in what can be called our metabolic/limb system.
Every movement is a bodily expression of will. Our rhythmic system –
breathing and circulation – is a bodily expression of experience and feeling.
Fear, joy, pain, etc., affect the breath and pulse. Our nerve-sense aspect, the
actual consciousness pole, which is centered in the region of the head (the
brain), corresponds to the activity of knowing. A person is healthy only when
these three systems work together and form a whole. Anyone can experience
the benefit of taking a walk after doing strenuous computer work, which uses
only the head. When we are digesting our lunch, we have to overcome a fair
amount of resistance to do concentrated thinking. A person is healthy when
none of these systems suppresses the others for too long.
We can relate these three systems to three phases of childhood development.
Before the change of teeth the child lives chiefly in motor activity, as a being
there are two motives for its existence. On the one hand, it is the starting-
point for a renewal of education based on a spiritual knowledge of the whole
man (the teacher‘s vocation as such). On the other hand, and at the same
time, it is the working model for a social community, it is an institution of the
free life of spirit. Remember that the Waldorf School was founded in 1919 as
part of the larger movement towards a threefold social order after World War
I. When this large-scale effort to renew the social order, nourished as it was
by Rudolf Steiner‘s impulse, found itself thwarted, the Waldorf School itself
remained, as a sort of ―living relic‖ after the storm, but also as a seed bearing
in itself the potential for the renewal of social life in our times. The school—
with its various examples of cooperation among different segments of its
community and with inhering self-determination as a faculty-run institution,
since 1919—has been a full-working model for an organization rooted in the
free life of spirit and as such it stands as a continuing impulse to re-awaken
awareness of the threefold social order and put it into practice. (Leist, 1987,
p. 13)
Anthroposophy doesn‘t proselytize directly belief in karma and reincarnation leads
Anthroposophists to believe that people who are destined for Anthroposophy will ask about
it when they encounter it. Waldorf parents who show interest in Steiner are invited to join
―study groups‖ that read and discuss Steiner. Often this leads to Waldorf teacher training.
As we have seen so many times, the school becomes a parent‘s first
introduction to anthroposophy, and this is happening in our greater
community, as more people become interested in participating in festivals and
attending study groups. (Leopold, 2001)
Waldorf brochures will claim that the school is based on child development. What isn‘t
explained is that Steiner‘s theory of child development differs radically from other theories
(see Steiner, 1960). Steiner‘s child development theory is based on what he calls an
understanding of the ―true nature of man.‖ Reincarnation and karma are essential tenets of
this doctrine. Humans have four interpenetrating bodies that incarnate in stages. The
physical body is born at birth. The ―etheric body‖ is born at age seven, signified by the
change of teeth. The ―astral body‖ is born at age fourteen (numerology dictates seven-year
periods), and the ―I,‖ the eternal part of the human that is reborn forever, is born at age
21. The web site of the Pedagogical Section of the Goetheanum, headquarters of
Anthroposophy, describes what the child is ready for in each period, with reference to
Steiner‘s three-system physiology:
Let us now take a closer look at specific ages. To that end let us consider
Rudolf Steiner‘s discovery of three functional systems in the human being:
Our motor activity happens in what can be called our metabolic/limb system.
Every movement is a bodily expression of will. Our rhythmic system –
breathing and circulation – is a bodily expression of experience and feeling.
Fear, joy, pain, etc., affect the breath and pulse. Our nerve-sense aspect, the
actual consciousness pole, which is centered in the region of the head (the
brain), corresponds to the activity of knowing. A person is healthy only when
these three systems work together and form a whole. Anyone can experience
the benefit of taking a walk after doing strenuous computer work, which uses
only the head. When we are digesting our lunch, we have to overcome a fair
amount of resistance to do concentrated thinking. A person is healthy when
none of these systems suppresses the others for too long.
We can relate these three systems to three phases of childhood development.
Before the change of teeth the child lives chiefly in motor activity, as a being
