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Not to diminish the value of these words, but just to set the record
straight, I merely point out that--similar to the popular "Genius has boldness"
verse attributed to Goethe--this verse has origins in Steiner's work, but is not
actually directly from his pen or mouth as such. For those who are interested,
I'll paste below exerpts from three emails that appeared on the anthropos-science list this time last year
that spelled this out.
On Mon, 28 Oct 2002 09:55:14 -0500 Jane Sherry <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
writes:
> > Subject: a 9-11 reminder... > > For the Michael Age > > We must eradicate from the soul > All fear and terror of what comes towards Man > Out of the future > And we must acquire serenity > In all feelings and sensations about the future > We must look forward > With absolute equanimity to everything that may come > And we must think only that whatever comes > Is given to us by a world directive full of wisdom > It is part of what we must learn in this age, > Namely to live out of pure trust > Without any security in existence. > Trust in that ever present help of the spiritual world. > Truly, nothing else will do > If our courage is not to fail us. > And we must seek this awakening within Ourselves > Every morning and every evening. > > Rudolph Steiner, from a lecture given in 1910 > ------ End of Forwarded Message [first exerpt]
This "trust meditation" is one of several translations of several versions
that are in circulation. The editors at the Rudolf Steiner Archive, however, have pointed out that none of these versions were ever given as such by Rudolf Steiner. They were created by unknown persons by patching together and modifying various passages from Steiner's lectures (or possibly from elsewhere). The first six lines in the above version, for example, are an abbreviated passage from Steiner's lecture "Cognition and Immortality" (Bremen, Nov. 27, 1910), which has been published only in the Archive newsletter (Beiträge zur Rudolf Steiner Gesamtausgabe, #98, p. 10). The remaining lines come from the end of Emanuel Zeylmans' biography of his father, "Willem Zeylmans van Emmichoven. Ein Pionier der Anthroposophie" (Arlesheim 1979, p. 358). The son relates that at his father's death he found a slip of paper in his father's wallet with these lines, which supposedly came from Rudolf Steiner. Although this is entirely possible (Willem was a friend of Steiner's and became the General Secretary of the Dutch Anthroposophical Society), the editors at the Rudolf Steiner Archive have not been able to independently verify the source of these words. The foregoing facts do not necessarily affect the truth of the whole "verse," but readers should be aware that it was not given as such by Rudolf Steiner and that it therefore probably does not have the occult power inherent in Steiner's other meditative verses. [exerpt two]
I think the reference everyone is looking for is 27th November
1919.
Where Steiner said. "....First, however, everything that remains of the old will have to be reduced to nothingness. The clouds will have to gather round the human being, and he will have to find his freedom - find his own power, his own strength out of this nothingness. Outer material need will change into soul need, and out of this deep need of the soul will vision be born. We must tear up by the roots every trace of fear and shrinking in face of what the future threatens to bring to human beings. All our feeling about the future must be permeated with calm and confidence. Absolute equanimity in face of whatever the future may bring - that is what man has to acquire, knowing as he does that everything that happens, happens under an all-wise cosmic guidance. Our part is to do what is right in each moment as it comes - and to leave the rest to the future, That indeed is the lesson we have to learn in our time, to base our lives on simple trust. without any security of existence, to have trust in the ever-present help of the spiritual world. That is the only way for us if our courage is not to fail. Let us then set to work to discipline our will....." (based on a translation by Mary Adams) [exerpt three]
Steiner did not say this on Nov. 27, 1919; this is another amalgam of out
of context passages. In this amalgam the first paragraph is extracted from the end of Steiner's lecture of Oct. 30, 1920 (GA 200, p. 120), which is published in English as lecture 6 of "The New Spirituality". The second paragraph is a different translation of the first paragraph of the "trust meditation" that I commented on earlier (the date is Nov. 27, 1910, not 1919). I don't know where the first sentence of the third paragraph comes from. The remainder of the last paragraph is a different (and incomplete) translation of the material from Emmichoven. _______________________________________________________________________ Barry Lia \ [EMAIL PROTECTED] \ Seattle WA |
