Anyone here from the anthroposophical community?? i have a fairly recent tho quite deep involvement in this (i didnt go to a Steiner/Waldorf school) but it would be cool to talk with other smokers on this rich and sometimes strange subject

__________________
i'm not a role-player, i'm a grower. I no longer pay criminals for adulterated cannabis. The Police are welcome to kick my door in and stay for a cuppa, maybe even a biscuit.

Hi,

I gave up smoking some time ago.

I got into Steiner 20 years ago. After studying engineering, I went and did a teacher training, part-time at a Waldorf School, just because I wanted to find out everything I could about Anthroposophy.

I joined the society some ten years ago and I suppose I am a hard -core Anthroposophist.

How did you hear about it, and what in particular interests you?

well, i knew of Mdme Blavatsky and Theosophy as a teen interested in spirituality and the occult, but only in passing. i didnt hear of "Steiner Ed" untill my early 20's and then only as a mate's sis did 6th form (16-18yrs) at a Steiner/Waldorf school.
i actually entered "the Anthroposophical world" about 5 years ago through work in an unidentified institution within the movement that is best described as a cross between a waldorf school and camphill. i had a long standing interest in some of writers and thinkers who influenced the movement and the institution in which i work, which gave me an easy "in"... much of Anthroposophy enthralls me, though Steiner in many ways strikes me as a hit and miss figure - his influence on working with LD's is incredible and very much a part of my working day, though i have real difficulties engaging with Atlantis, some elements of Spiritual/Goethean science, the Akashic record, and how he introduces/sets the scene for his lectures.
however, i find myself drawn ever deeper, and i feel i'm really starting to get it...
hmm, this could be a long post and i'm waay tired.. could be the start of a very cool discussion tho, and i'll return to this in more depth in a day or three

__________________
i'm not a role-player, i'm a grower. I no longer pay criminals for adulterated cannabis. The Police are welcome to kick my door in and stay for a cuppa, maybe even a biscuit.

Ok,

I also spent some time in camphill. And yes, some of (much of) the prehistory is challenging.

ok, i'm back..
like i said before, much of "Anth" strikes a deep chord in me, and i have found working within an environment that is spiritual, intellectual and creative a real blessing - i have certainly found a home within this sphere, on many levels.
like a post i saw a couple of weeks ago, i guess i am at (something of) a crossroads - as my understanding of, and engagement in anth grows, i find myself wishing to go deeper, and i think i will.
i feel my decision to do this is already made, so i guess i'm not seeking advice, but discussing thoughts/opinions really appeals.
i'm guessing you (mercuryrules) are in the US? Perhaps anthroposophy is a little different there, but here in England, which i understand has one of the strongest communities, i find anth very inward looking. i dont feel that it reaches out into the surrounding communities effectively, it seems to me to make very little effort to expand the society or at least propagate some if it's ideas into the wider world, and this seems a failing to me, especially as i feel a lot of good could be done in this way. i see the whole network as a series of insular bodies, connected only to each other, and often held separate from the towns/communities in which they are based.
now there is ofc a fairly easy answer to this - join the society and start to effect a change myself, little acorns and all that i guess.
what are your feelings on Steiner's views of prehistory and history/era's of the world (atlantis, evolution/development of plants, animals and humans)? i have a very strong academic background in this and have lot of trouble with this when viewing it as literal description - i have had some very in depth talks with anth doctors/thinkers etc on this - i find it fascinating and can see the connections made and a hidden wisdom there that does educate, but i can't agree with them as factual events. i have however learnt just to say "oh" and never "no" tho
hmm, thats all for now - i never have enough time it seems, and these's a (non bio-dynamic) pizza in the fridge with my name on it too, i look forwards to reading a reply

__________________
i'm not a role-player, i'm a grower. I no longer pay criminals for adulterated cannabis. The Police are welcome to kick my door in and stay for a cuppa, maybe even a biscuit.

I'm in Edinburgh just now.

The society here is somewhat small- i think in scotland it numbers around 200. People often comment, though, on the ratio of initiatives/anthroposophists as being very high, i.e. two schools, camphill schools + villages, garvald farm + factory+ workshops etc etc, I could list more, but you know how it is,.. that there is actually quite a lot of "bang for the buck" as it were...
I once asked, many years ago, someone who i thought of as an anthro, "knower" - given anthroposophys importance- why were there not more anthroposophists- particularly in the UK? the person replied with the image of the ratio of mass of yeast to the bulk of dough that is to be raised, they said that anthroposophys' effectuality in the world is gauged in different ways.

it's late, I'll think about the prehistory and my attitude and get back.

I should give an answer, it's been long enough!

It would be very difficult to go into detail about my outlook regarding prehistory and the rather unorthodox picture of the world that can emerge if one really studies Anthroposophy and is serious about the path of knowledge. Basically, we are dealing with something that is occult, and I would have to leave it there.

I could say though, that for myself, the process of "learning about Anthroposophy" and the path of self-knowledge, in a way, is not so much about assimilating the contents of lectures in an intellectual way, but more, for me, as a conscious process of unlearning all the intellectuality that was given to me throughout childhood-youth-grammar school etc, as something just given to me, ready-made, and not really worked-through, by myself, (with my present state of consciousness), if that makes sense.

The question that is important for me is something like this "how is the attitude and consciousness that I can possess today different from how I experienced the world say at 6 years old, or 3 years old, or even the consciousness of a person in the 12th century, or even perhaps, the consciousness that people had in the times hundreds of years before Christ?" -"what is it, that I can do, and experience, today, as a "modern" Human being, that is essentially different from then?"

I think these days, there is a danger that knowledge is in state of undergoing a process of ossification, and that people do not really think anymore, where everything becomes mechanized, and even the thinking process itself is experienced as just running along on it's own.

For instance, I'm a die-hard anthro, as i've said, and in a certain way, reading Steiner's lectures is a pleasurable experience, no real problem for me. But I've never really gotten around to really mastering "The Philosophy of Freedom" because I've found it a real effort, intellectually, much like having to push a car with a dead battery, along a flat road, it's a real, conscious experience of having to bring will into thinking, and it is not easy or pleasant, sometimes. in fact I have been made aware of the real antipathy i feel regarding the task. And I now think that I can really understand the living experience of a person, say, like Dan Dugan, (P.L.A.N.S. guy, anthro arch-hater) who, when confronted with this threshold of being able to pursue a path of knowledge, and simply understanding something new, i.e., simply intensifying the scientific discipline he (knows?) and crossing the threshold of the sense world, into the supersensible, he simply refuses.

So I think that's -that. There's a gist to be got there somewhere! It's late, I shall end.

'kinda weird to be reaching out in a way through this very "ahrimanic" medium, but i attended steiner schools through 10th in both germany and the US. after uni, 'married (and divorced) a eurythmist. later had a brief stint as a subject teacher in a US school (bleh). 'been into and outof anthroposophy more times during my life than i can count. 'really interested in bd cannabis right now though... 'kinda brings a whole new meaning to Erkenntnisse der höheren Welten...



cheers
-g



ps to the subject of "prehistory"... cosmic memory, while undoubtedly poetic, is simply nuts!