Waldorf Problems
Welcome. This site consists of several essays I have written about the Austrian/German mystic, Rudolf Steiner; the bizarre religion he concocted, Anthroposophy; and that religion's stalking horse, the Waldorf or Steiner school movement. You will also find many links that will take you to other sites dealing with these subjects.
My name is Roger Rawlings. I attended a Waldorf school from second grade through high school. My mother was secretary to the headmaster at that Waldorf. Because I was in the school for so long, and because I occasionally questioned the headmaster, I gained some insights into the school's secret, mystical agenda. More to the point, as an adult I have studied approximately one zillion books, booklets, and essays about Steiner's doctrines and about Waldorf education. (It feels like a zillion, anyway.) Some of these materials were written by my old headmaster, but the great majority were either written by Steiner himself or they contain transcripts of lectures, meetings, and private conversations conducted by Steiner.
My objective is to share the fruits of my research with anyone interested in understanding the educational program Steiner laid out.
For a listing of all the materials on this site,
please click on the tag "CONTENTS"
on the left-hand side of this page.
A few preliminary notes:
• I maintain three Web sites, all consisting of essays about Steiner and his works. The other sites are steiner-predicts ( http://steiner-predicts.com ) and nonlevitating ( http://homepage.mac.com/nonlevitating ).
• Taken as a whole, my essays deal with the bulk of Steiner’s esoteric and educational doctrines. Subjecting those doctrines to rational evaluation, I find much to criticize. Steiner claimed to value rationality, but he also taught that real thinking does not occur in the brain — he championed clairvoyance, which he said becomes possible when one develops “organs of clairvoyance.” So Steiner began from a profoundly irrational position, which led him to irrational doctrines. To use a modern shorthand: Steiner’s teachings are an example of “garbage in, garbage out.”
• I quote Steiner extensively, but because he was long-winded, I have made excisions, clearly marked by ellipses (...). In all cases, I cite the source from which I quote, so you can easily check whether I have altered Steiner’s meaning. I haven’t. Steiner’s own words are the best refutation of his claims to wisdom.
• Many people find Waldorf schools attractive, at least initially. Waldorfs are generally small, cozy, attractive, and free of problems like physical bullying. However, any schools that abide by Steiner’s teachings are necessarily devoted to the occult, specifically Anthroposophy — although they often disguise this. Understanding what goes on in such schools requires peering beneath the surface. I’ve peered.
• In my work,I intentionally hop back and forth between past and present tense. Using only the past tense would diminish the continuing threat Steiner poses to Waldorf students. Steiner is dead, but his influence lives on: The danger is very much alive.
• Especially important passages crop up in more than one essay. If you come upon something you’ve read before, please just skip ahead.
• In some of my essays, I employ a satirical tone. I do this because, in my opinion, many of Steiner's doctrines are preposterous, and some were inadvertently hilarious. They should be hooted off the face of the Earth, blown away by gales of derision.
• Please excuse any typos. I'll correct them as I find them.
