Rudolph Steiner and Anthroposophy

You can spend a lifetime reading Steinerian stuff. I know people who know people who are really into it. Mostly nuts, the types who go out to California to live in a commune or read books about healing crystals.

Some of it's pretty neat but you might want to just browse it yourself and not actually sign up for the monthly crystal healing. It has some interesting philosophical and mystical/esoteric perspectives, including some shit they try to cover up these days because it was "of the time," and the time was early 20th century Germany, if you catch the drift.

>>8670112
OP here,
My father is an anthroposophist and has read literally every single published work of Steiner. He isn't a hippy or anything, but I came to /lit/ because I wanted to know if any 'normal' people are into it.
Have a whole bookshelf full of Steiner.
As far as I'm aware there isn't anything that is too 'edgy' aside from the ideas of different races at different stages of spiritual evolution, although there is nothing about racial supremacy.

>>8670123
Is it true jews did 9/11???

It's an anonymous board, anon. Please tell.

>>8670134
I don't think there is any Anthroposophical thought regarding modern conspiracy theories.
However, according to Steiner, Jews have played their role in the world.
The degeneracy in the modern world is part of our evolution, and can't be blamed on der juden. Eventually most people will not be degenerate out of their own free will.
If anyone has any questions I probably answer them to an extent.

>>8670148
What do you think of Steiner's view on technology, especially later Waldorf views on computers?

>>8670155
I think it's pretty good, I was brought up with very limited technology (e.g. video games, television) and am much better off for it.
It is about using technology as a tool rather than it being your master, which I think is very true especially considering how addictive things like video games and even going on this website is. Don't quote me on this, but I think that according to Steiner the spiritual force behind technology (addiction) is called Araman. There was a bit of hubbub in the anthroposophical community when The Matrix came out because it was a good representation of Araman.
Some of my cousins went to a Waldorf school and didn't use computers either, they turned out fine.
Waldorf students tend to learn computer skills in high school, which is apparently when it suits their spiritual development.
I think that Steiner has it right on technology.

>>8670174
Very interesting, thanks. Yeah, the "Ahrimanic" stuff is what I know about it. I was wondering if any more recent Steinerians had written on AI being ahrimanic consciousness.

>>8670182
I have no idea about anyone writing on that, the only anthroposophical books I have read were children's books when I was young sorry!
I have learnt everything I know about Steiner through my father.
Personally, I am surprised that most people don't know a thing about Steiner nowadays. He was a household name in early 20th century.
Here in Australia, our parliamentary buildings are based on Steiner's threefold social system. His influence is huge, though most aren't aware of it.
There are a few lectures regarding The Matrix on youtube, there might be something about AI in them if you were to check them out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAobTuY08Vg

I attended a Waldorf school for over 10 years. The idea behind abstaining from media (mostly screen media and recorded music, although that is gradually introduced as the child moves up in the grades) is that children who are exposed to that lose their imagination and creativity; they simply copy what they see on the screen. In my opinion, screen media and recorded music is merely a simulation of experience, and children, who do not have an adult consciousness with which they can view media from a more detached standpoint, get so immersed in it that they forget what they're seeing is not real. In light of the "rating creep," a trend in the film industry where movie production companies will insert adult humor and content into children's movies to increase ticket sales, children are at the mercy of hollywood, which does not focus on pedagogy but on sales, packing in fear and violence to again increase sales, aside from the adult content. A good example of this is Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. I'm watching this thing, obviously a children's movie, and they have scenes of wax dolls having their faces melt off. Now I'm not saying it's all bad and that parents can't be choosy with what they choose to expose to their children, but the fact is that the majority of parents are not, hence the no-media policy. Of course, the loss of innocence is a natural part of life, but the Waldorf idea is to expose children to the adult world when they are ready for it.

Not only that, Waldorf education sees appropriate children's activities in a very different way than the norm. Instead of buying branded, plastic toys children are encouraged to play outside. More, as a Waldorf student I learned to read in third grade. It has not hindered my abilities, I have also read the Philosophy of Freedom and studied other literature in school. The whole idea is letting kids be kids.

More importantly than the media policy, Waldorf education, at least for the school I attended, has an intense focus in the arts. I learned to knit, sew, crochet, work with wood, and clay. Painting and drawing are cornerstones of the academics--History is taught by having children actually draw a scene from a story. It's all about experiential learning. We learned addition and subtraction by counting physical glass beads rather than hearing someone talk about abstract concepts. "Public school children" (certainly a pejorative word in our school days) are subjected to what is called the "bulimic" model of education: get fed a lot of information, regurgitate it on a test, and forget about it. I'm being harsh. But merely reading and memorizing information is not true learning and such information will not stick with you. I remember taking a standard Earth Science course in high school, scoring 95% on the state-administered exam, and I could not tell you the first thing about Earth Science now.

>>8670270

Chorus, orchestral performance (children learn a stringed instrument starting in Third grade), folk dance, and two foreign languages (starting in First grade) are also part of the core curriculum. Homework is limited (starting in Third grade for my school) and tests and grading do not begin until high school.

I certainly struggled to adapt to public school when I began attending. My peers simply had years of information that I just did not--I remember sitting in AP History and a guy saying he scored 94% on a test without studying (I think I got a D, it was the first time I had seen a Scan-Tron). However learning that information for the first time gave me a fresh perspective on it. Although I had poor study habits I ended up graduating with a 3.6. I'm betting it was my visual acuity from Waldorf that allowed me to get a perfect score on a state-administered Geometry exam.

In my opinion it's an ideal education. I left for public school because I wanted stronger academics (and because the price became too steep for my parents), and I certainly got it, but I did indeed leave behind a whole lot of learning I would have kept had I learned it through experience.

>>8670270
Thanks for the input. I wish I had gone to a Waldorf school, I will definitely send my future children to one.
Were there any shortcomings that you found?

>>8670288
Mostly socially. I'll quote Louis CK here, public school is the real world. Being a private school grades are limited to 30 or so students, all of whom take every class together (classes separate more in high school). It is certainly a sheltered environment. Although I had been literally complimented on my social skills before, I found it very difficult to adapt to a school with almost 2,000 students. I remember being in this sea of people and feeling very alone, as I saw it (and I'm betting everyone does to some extent) very different from the people around me. Today I am often accused of living under a rock but that could be just a result of me gaming for most of high school, not socializing much as a result, and developing more bohemian tastes.

>>8670197
Thanks bro, looks awesome. Gonna watch it now.

Yeah it's interesting how his influence is sometimes so deep that it's too diffuse to even pin it down. Theosophy in general is like that.

>>8670288
Be careful with Waldorf-esque schools. I've known some people who went to so-called Waldorf schools that were just slightly queer private schools for rich kids, with nothing really to it.

OP here,
I'll probably be back in the future with a much more detailed understanding of Steiner's ideas. There is a lot to get through, but I think it is a very legitimate philosophy.
>>8670307
>>8670310
If Steiner was here now it would be interesting to see what he has to say about the internet and mindless entertainment like reality TV and video games.
I think he might have foretold about the internet, I'll get back to you about it.
I think it is really one of the biggest challenges to face us to date, but no one realises it.