McKenna i

Eurythmy and the Cultivation of Living Thinking

Marguerite McKenna

Submitted in partial fulfillment of

the requirements for the degree of

Master of Arts from Prescott College

in Humanities: Spiritual Philosophy

May 2010

Patrick Wakeford-Evans, MA Jane Hipolito, PhD Priscilla Stuckey, PhD

Graduate Advisor Second Reader Third Reader

McKenna ii

Abstract

Spiritual philosopher Dr. Rudolf Steiner asserts that the current activity of human thinking is

compromised. He states that this is so because it functions in only a limited capacity.

Specifically, he contends that today‘s popular mode of thinking—which he calls ―scientific‖ or

―materialistic‖ thinking—is limited to the application of matters pertaining only to material

phenomena. Steiner purports that this limited epistemological approach compromises a human

being‘s ability to fully experience and live in the world. To experience life fully, Steiner states,

an additional epistemology is needed. This additional epistemology will be a cognitive method

through which to comprehend matters concerning the spirit. Steiner calls this spiritual

epistemological method ―living thinking.‖

This thesis explores Steiner‘s definition of living thinking and its relationship to the art of

eurythmy. Through a discussion of writings by Steiner and other thinkers, this thesis specifically

examines how the art of eurythmy contributes to the cultivation of living thinking within the

human being. To accomplish this goal, both Steiner‘s conception of living thinking, and the art

of eurythmy are examined in depth.

This thesis concludes that eurythmy contributes to the cultivation of living thinking by

virtue of its unique relationship to language. Specifically, the language expressed through

eurythmy is concluded to be an activity that employs building blocks by which living thinking

can ultimately be developed. In particular, it is through the artistic performing of eurythmy that

these building blocks are engaged most effectively.

Keywords: eurythmy, evolution of consciousness, language

McKenna iii

Copyright © 2010 by Marguerite McKenna

All rights reserved

No part of this thesis may be used, reproduced, stored, recorded, or transmitted in any form or

manner whatsoever without written permission from the copyright holder or her agent(s), except

in the case of brief quotations embodied in the papers of students, and in the case of brief

quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Requests for such permission should be addressed to:

Marguerite McKenna

1283 Linden Dr.

Boulder, CO 80304

McKenna iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE……...……………………………..…………………………………………………. i

ABSTRACT…………………………………...…………………………………………………… ii

COPYRIGHT……………………………………………………………………………………… iii

BACKGROUND .……………………………….…..……………………………………………… 1

METHODOLOGICAL LENS .…………………..… …..…………………………………………….. 7

DISCUSSION OF LITERATURE

Foundational Thinkers………………..………………………………………………..…… 10

Evolution of Consciousness………...…..….……………………………………………..… 14

Eurythmy………………………………..….…………………………………….…………. 20

Living Thinking …………………...……………………………………………..………… 29

How Eurythmy Supports Living Thinking……………………………...……………..……. 33

CONCLUSION .…...………………………………………………………………...…………… 40

WORKS CITED ……………………………...…………………………………………………... 44

APPENDICES

Appendix A: A Brief History of the Anthroposophical Society ……………………………47

Appendix B: Developments in Modern Dance…...…………………….……………………48

McKenna 1

Eurythmy and the Cultivation of Living Thinking

BACKGROUND

Austrian spiritual philosopher and seer Dr. Rudolf Steiner (1861−1925) asserts that

human beings currently possess the potential to develop a new capacity of consciousness. This

new consciousness, he states, will enable a human being to perceive and interact with spiritual

reality.1 This would be useful for humanity because it would equip the human being with a more

complete epistemology through which to comprehend and relate to the world.

Steiner contends that the current popular epistemology is confined to an exclusively

materialistic approach (Materialism and the Task of Anthroposophy). He further contends that

this approach is limited because it does not include a method of knowing through which to

understand and relate to the spiritual world.

Steiner identifies materialistic thinking as the kind of thinking that began around the time

of scientific revolution in sixteenth-century Europe. For obvious reasons, he also refers to the

epistemological methods that emerged at this time as “scientific.” Steiner recognizes the value of

employing these methods for the purpose of understanding material phenomena (Materialism

and the Task of Anthroposophy 1−19). He also acknowledges, however, the ineffectiveness of

these methods for discerning truth in matters of the spirit.2

1 “Spiritual reality,” for Steiner, refers to the domain of activity that takes place beyond

the physical realm. This activity is carried out by metaphysical forces and beings, who collectively make up what is understood to be the spiritual world.

2 “The spirit” refers to a vast organization of non-material forces and beings, working in harmony with each other to maintain health and balance throughout the cosmos. Steiner describes and discusses his understanding of the spiritual world within which the spirit operates in numerous sources, most notably in his books: Outline of Esoteric Science; Theosophy; Cosmic Memory; and How to Know Higher Worlds.

McKenna 2

Scientific thinking, he argues, is the correct method for considering phenomena that are

of a material nature. For phenomena of a metaphysical nature, however, Steiner indicates that a

separate—and additional—epistemology is required. For Steiner, this additional epistemology is

called living thinking.

Steiner gives numerous indications regarding how to cultivate living thinking. These

indications range from artistic activity to meditative discipline. In this thesis, I explore the

question of how the specific art of eurythmy supports the cultivation of living thinking.

Because eurythmy is little known, presenting a brief overview of eurythmy in the

introduction is appropriate. This initial overview will serve as a general starting point from

which to approach the more detailed discussion of eurythmy in the Discussion of Literature

section. This initial overview will serve to acquaint those who are entirely unfamiliar with

eurythmy, with the basic elements of what eurythmy is, and where it exists in the world.

Figure 1. Performance-eurythmist.

In Figure 1, a eurythmist performs gestures to a piece of eurythmy choreography.

Eurythmy is an innovative art of movement conceived in Austria during the early twentieth

century. The art grows out of an anthroposophical3 perception of reality and involves performing

3 The term anthroposophical refers to a specific esoteric and metaphysical viewpoint that

is based on the insights of Rudolf Steiner. This anthroposophical view is laid out in lucid form in Outline of Esoteric Science; Theosophy; How to Know Higher Worlds; and Intuitive Thinking as

McKenna 3

specific gestures in space, which give visible expression to the audible experience of speech and

music.

In Figures 2 and 3, respectively, a eurythmist performs gestures for the consonant sound

“t” and “shh.” In Figure 4, the eurythmist performs the vowel sound “o.”

Figure 2. The consonant “t.” Figure 3. “Shhh.” Figure 4. The vowel “o.”

Eurythmy enjoyed spectacular success in the first four decades of its development (Else

Klink zum 100. Geburtstag: Historische Filmaufnahmen) but has since become lesser known and

more rare. In its current form, it is performed in professional and amateur groups throughout the

United States and Europe. These groups create programs ranging from symphonic

choreographies for adults to traditional fairy tales for children.

The performance of eurythmy is carried out in harmony with the sounding of musical

instruments or the human speaking voice. Eurythmy performed to the human speaking voice4 is

called “speech eurythmy.” Eurythmy performed to live music is called “tone eurythmy.”

a Spiritual Path among other places. This anthroposophical viewpoint is also discussed at greater length in the Methodological Lens section of this thesis.

4 Speech that occurs for eurythmy is called “the art of speech formation.” It is a particular kind of vocalic activity that takes into account the etheric movements inherent in the activity of speech. A trained speech artist undergoes full-time four-year training, which is in some respects similar to the training of a eurythmist. A fuller description of etheric movement is addressed in Discussion of Literature.

McKenna 4

In both these forms, the eurythmist artistically performs gestures that correspond to the

sounds of speech that are heard; alternatively, performance is to the tones and intervals of music

that are heard. In a large symphonic choreography, for example, one eurythmist will artfully

perform gestures that correspond to the tones and intervals that come from a particular

instrument within the symphony. Other eurythmists around him or her will simultaneously

perform gestures that correspond to the tones and intervals from surrounding instruments in the

symphony. In this way, the tones and intervals of the entire symphonic pieces become visible

through embodied movement.

Likewise, in a eurythmy fairy tale, one eurythmist will perform gestures that correspond

to the sounds of language from one character; other eurythmists respond by performing gestures

that correspond to the sounds of language from other characters. In scenarios such as these, a

trained speech artist stands on stage—though outside the main area of performed movement—

speaking the entire story. Thus, it is the individual eurythmist’s artistic responsibility to give

unique expression to the individuality of each character in the story.

Eurythmy is taught as an artistic subject in private Waldorf schools in the United States

and abroad. It is taught in American public charter schools that base their curriculum on a

Waldorf-inspired approach. As it appears in Waldorf education, the art often is referred to as

“pedagogical eurythmy.” In addition, eurythmy has been adapted for therapeutic purposes; it

exists as a supplementary curative approach within the anthroposophic medical and curative

education movements.

The birth and development of eurythmy in Europe occurred concomitant with the birth

and development of modern dance in the United States. Although there are significant

differences between eurythmy and modern dance, nonetheless, the two share in the exploration

McKenna 5

of certain themes. Both early modern dance and the art of eurythmy, for example, were born

from an impulse to bring artistic expression to metaphysical reality.5 While modern dance began

as an attempt to achieve this through the artful expression of the human physical body in

movement, eurythmy seeks to achieve this through the artful expression of what Rudolf Steiner

calls the human “etheric” body in movement. The definition of etheric body is discussed in detail

in the Discussion of Literature in this thesis.

In 2004, I began a thorough study of eurythmy. I enrolled in a full-time, four-year

eurythmy training in Fair Oaks, CA, and graduated in 2008 as a professional eurythmist

recognized by the State of California. As I entered more and more deeply into the experience of

eurythmy, I noticed subtle shifts in my experience of consciousness. In an effort to understand

this experience more fully, I explored texts by Steiner pertaining to the phenomenon of thinking.

In so doing, I came to recognize a correlation between the art of eurythmy and the

anthroposophical conception of living thinking. It is this correlation, and the development from

one into the other, that I strive to illuminate, in academic form, within this thesis. I will

accomplish this through a presentation of Steiner’s ideas, interwoven with a discussion of how to

understand his ideas in a new way.

First, I will introduce the lens of anthroposophical inquiry. The ideas in this thesis are

born from an anthroposophical view of the world and are explored through an anthroposophical

approach. A description of this lens will provide the intended framework through which to

consider the ideas and their treatment.

5 For a more complete discussion of the beginnings of modern dance—especially the

contributions of Ruth St. Denis, Isadora Duncan, and Martha Graham, as well as their relationship to eurythmy—see Appendix B.

McKenna 6

Next, I will present a brief historical context of the major philosophical contributions by

which Steiner fashioned his original ideas. This will serve as the entry to an introduction of

Steiner’s conception of living thinking. This introduction will lay the groundwork the more

complete and precise definition of living thinking that appears later on in the Discussion of

Literature.

Following, I will outline Steiner’s understanding of the evolution of human

consciousness from primeval times to the present. This understanding is the foundation upon

which Steiner’s conception of living thinking is established. Specifically, Steiner understands

living thinking to be a continuation of the developments in consciousness that occurred from

primeval times to the present. This story of evolution will provide the context needed to gain an

informed perspective on Steiner’s conception of living thinking.

The following section provides a detailed description of eurythmy and its esoteric roots.

This detailed description includes an overview of the ancient Greek concept of logos. This logos

plays a major part in the described reality of eurythmy on one hand, and of living thinking on the

other.

This section then leads directly to the next, in which a lucid definition of living thinking

is provided. Once this definition has been made explicit it will be possible to consider the

specifics of how living thinking relates to eurythmy.

In the final section, the relationship between eurythmy and living thinking is discussed in

a comprehensive manner. This discussion illuminates detail how eurythmy operates as an art and

as a process through which the beginnings of living thinking can occur. In this way, it is shown

how eurythmy is as an activity that supports the ultimate development of living thinking within

the human being.

McKenna 7

METHODOLOGICAL LENS

The arguments in this thesis are built on an anthroposophical point of view. The term

anthroposophical refers to a path of spiritual striving informed by Steiner’s insights and the

insights of those who work with Steiner’s indications. The term “indication,” as it appears in

anthroposophical literature an commentary, refers to anything from a concrete suggestion offered

by Steiner relating to a specific query, to a general conception arrived at through

anthroposophical research. The works and ideas discussed in this thesis are the result of

anthroposophical research.

In part, anthroposophy today is maintained through the efforts of the Anthroposophical

Society.6 This society is responsible, among other things, for supporting the health and integrity

of practical anthroposophical initiatives worldwide. It is also responsible for upholding the

standards of anthroposophical research.

According to Steiner, the spiritual world is an objective and knowable reality that one can

perceive by means of spiritual “sense organs.” These sense organs enable one to perceive

spiritual reality that is “hidden from the physical senses” (How to Know 157). In his book How to

Know Higher Worlds, Steiner discusses various exercises designed to encourage the cultivation

of these sense organs.

In the same way that physical sense organs enable one to perceive the material world,

according to Steiner, one’s spiritual sense organs enable one to perceive the spiritual world.

Consistent with this premise is the understanding that one’s physical sense organs are part of

one’s physical body, while one’s spiritual sense organs are part of one’s spiritual body. Steiner

asserts that one comes to understand and relate to the material world via the material body;

6 For a brief outline of the birth and development of the Anthroposophical Society, see

Appendix A.

McKenna 8

likewise, one comes to understand and relate to the spiritual world by means of the spiritual

body.

It is understood within anthroposophy that Steiner successfully developed these organs of

spiritual perception. When those around him sought help in developing these organs on their

own, Steiner offered guidance to this effect. Transcribed conversations between Steiner and

individual students, as well as with groups of students, serve as ongoing support for those

seeking to understand or adopt his epistemological method.

In addition to individual conversations about inner development, Steiner also gave

voluminous lectures and lecture cycles throughout Europe on topics such as agriculture,

education, art, medicine, and the social sciences, among others. These lectures address the

application of Steiner’s spiritual-philosophical views as applied to practical life. Inherent within

his views is the idea that human beings inhabit a central position with respect to the harmony

between the spiritual and material worlds. This view is implicit in the discussion of

anthroposophical literature throughout the thesis.

Anthroposophical literature consists largely of transcriptions of Steiner’s many lectures.

All of his documented work—including transcriptions of individual conversations as well as

published books—involve his accounts of spiritual reality. These accounts serve as indications

regarding the foundations of the first anthroposophical initiatives. Today, people other than

Steiner offer their own accounts on which new initiatives are based.

From an anthroposophical point of view, Steiner’s reported observations of the spiritual

world are considered evidence of spiritual fact. In this respect, evidence then is available for

consideration and scrutiny by others who, following the same process and procedure of

McKenna 9

examination employed by Steiner, can arrive at their independent conclusions. These conclusions

can be tested alongside reports from Steiner.

Steiner’s indications, gleaned from research into the spiritual world, play a significant

role in this thesis. For example, the art of eurythmy is based on the idea that human beings

possess what is referred to within anthroposophy as an “etheric body.” This etheric body exists

as a member of one’s physical-spiritual constitution. The arguments in this thesis assume the

existence of such an etheric body and its potential for artistic expression through eurythmy.

There are a number of additional assumptions that become evident within the discussion

of literature within this thesis. As a whole, this thesis considers specific anthroposophical

evidence and explores the value of its practical applications toward one of the movement’s stated

goals: the development of living thinking. The practical application here referred to is the art of

eurythmy.

McKenna 10

DISCUSSION OF LITERATURE

Foundational Thinkers

Steiner’s stated conception of human consciousness grows out of his thorough study of

German idealism. German idealism itself is a response to the medieval battle between realism

and nominalism,7 which argues for and against, respectively, the existence of universal truths

that are present above and beyond their particular manifestations in space and time.

The nominalist perspective holds that universal ideals and archetypes, including divine

beings, do not exist and are, accordingly, irrelevant factors in the quest for knowledge. The

realist perspective, by contrast, asserts that knowledge can be achieved only through a

consideration of the very universal ideas that the nominalists reject. The nominalist view

maintains that to know the world, one must seek its revelation only in an exploration of

particular phenomena. Furthermore, for the nominalist, these revelations can occur only through

an empirical method of inquiry. The realist view, in contrast, argues that to know the world, one

must seek its revelation through an understanding of universal ideas behind the phenomena. The

realist view asserts that such understanding can be achieved only through an intellectual method

of inquiry.

This ideological battle began in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and ended around the

fifteenth century with the breakdown of the medieval conception of the problem. German

idealism exists as a response in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to the abandonment of

this debate. In particular, German idealism explores the possibilities of whether or not it is

possible to know the existence of such ideals (Stegmann 56-57).

7 The roots of the realist/nominalist debate reaches back to ancient Greece philosophy. This debate was revived in the medieval era.

McKenna 11

In his 1914 book Riddles of Philosophy, Steiner explores the school of German idealism

through the works of Hegel, Kant, Fichte, Shelling, and others. In so doing, he illuminates the

academic groundwork upon which he is able to articulate his own original ideas. Steiner

considers his own contribution to be a further study of the philosophical principles explicated by

the thinkers of German idealism. In particular, where the German idealists address the question

of whether or not it is possible to discern the existence of absolute ideals, Steiner addresses the

question of how such a discernment would take place.

Although Riddles of Philosophy was not published until 1914, Steiner’s grasp of the ideas

within it were clearly formed roughly twenty years earlier. In 1891, Steiner completed his

doctoral degree with a dissertation based on Fichte’s conception of the human ego. This

dissertation was then expanded and published in 1892 as Truth and Knowledge.

In 1893, Steiner’s preeminent work, Philosophy of Freedom, was published, in which an

amended reiteration of his dissertation again appears as Part I of the book. In Part II, Steiner

moves beyond a discussion of German idealism and enters his own unique discussion about the

nature of human consciousness. Specifically, Steiner builds the central argument upon which the

entirety of his anthroposophical approach later came to be based.

In addition to studying the ideas of German idealism, Steiner also explored the work of

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. According to Steiner, Goethe’s epistemology unites the

nominalist view of empirical necessity with the realist understanding of the importance of

supreme ideals. Goethe does this by developing an epistemology through which one strives to

directly and empirically perceive the world of universal ideals through a scientific method.

Goethe asserts that through a scientific means of observation, one can learn to perceive

the universal archetype that exists behind a particular manifest phenomenon in time and space.

McKenna 12

Goethe’s scientific writings are a deeper examination of this method. These scientific writings

play a significant role in the articulation of Steiner’s own conception of human consciousness

(Steiner, Goethe’s Theory of Knowledge).

In 1882, at the age of twenty-one, Steiner was working on his first advanced degree in

mathematics, physics, and philosophy at the Vienna Institute of Technology. He was hired to

write the forewords and edit a large collection of Goethe’s scientific works for an edition of

German National Literature. His introductions for these various works appear today as the book:

Nature’s Open Secret: Introductions to Goethe’s Scientific Writings. In this book, Steiner

articulates that unlike the German idealists who believed purely in the value of absolute ideals,

Goethe was a proponent of an empirical method of observation. This empirical method, however,

was intended to serve as a window of understanding into the universal truths, and the spiritual

substance, behind material phenomena. Goethe suggested that by observing material processes of

nature in a particular way, one would find access to an understanding of the spiritual reality

inherent within it. Goethe further asserted that this process would lead to the cultivation of an

“organ of perception,” through which would one would ultimately be able to directly perceive,

via empirical means, the living spiritual reality inherent within material phenomena (Nature’s

Open Secret 78).

Steiner shares the view that it is possible to cultivate this organ of perception, capable of

perceiving spiritual reality, through scientific means. In his own intellectual career, Steiner

successfully developed this idea, placing the necessary steps for its ultimate fruition within a

larger historical context. Specifically, Steiner put forth a picture of the evolution of human

consciousness from primeval times to the present. This evolution addresses the stages of

McKenna 13

development in human consciousness that, Steiner contends, were necessary for the cultivation

of such an organ.

The picture that Steiner offers also contains an understanding of important developments

in human consciousness that took place concomitant to the scientific revolution of sixteenth-

century Europe. In particular, the picture considers the birth and development of Cartesian logic.

As is shows in the following section, Steiner understands the conception of Cartesian duality to

have begun in primeval times.

McKenna 14

Evolution of Consciousness

As noted, Steiner asserts that humanity currently possesses the potential to cultivate

organs of spiritual perception that are capable of perceiving spiritual reality. This potential exists

by virtue of specific developments in consciousness, which took place over time. One can mark

the history of this development from numerous points in the history and pre-history of human

thinking. One entry point into an understanding of these developments is a consideration of the

transformations in human thinking that took place before and after the scientific revolution of

sixteenth-century Europe.

Steiner argues that developments in human thinking8 in the fifteenth century

subsequently laid the groundwork for the birth and development of the sixteenth century’s

scientific revolution. These developments mark the beginning of a new kind of thinking for

humanity: Cartesian logic.

This new kind of thinking stands in contrast to the modern scientific approach, which

requires one to separate from one’s object of inquiry in order to know it. In the scientific model,

there is a distinct separation between one’s self, as subject, and one’s item of inquiry, as object.

This separation of subject and object is called “Cartesian dualism,” named after the seventeenth-

century philosophy giant René Descartes.

Descartes gave voice to the ultimate expression of this dualism with his statement: “I

think, therefore I am.” Descartes is recognized as the first to argue for a discrete separation

between subject and object. Within Cartesian duality, the activity of thinking about any object of

8 Steiner reported to have been able to understand elements of consciousness that applied to all humankind. Therefore, when he spoke of developments in “human” consciousness that occurred within the context of the European scientific revolution, he understood those developments to apply to all humanity irrespective of the particular ethnicity of any individual human consciousness.

McKenna 15

inquiry—that is, the activity of thinking in and of itself—necessitates the existence of a subject

distinct from the object. Cartesian logic, by definition, requires both a subject and an object.

The unique import of Descartes’s Discourse on Method and its modern maxim, “I think,

therefore I am,” is that it documents the experience of thinking as a distinctly dualistic activity.

Modern scholar Dr. Morris Berman presents this in a lucid manner: “To Descartes, this mind-

body split was true of all perception and behavior, such that in the act of thinking one perceived

one’s self as a separate entity ‘in here’ confronting things ‘out there’” (35). In the paradigm of

Cartesian reasoning, the activity of thinking is evidence of the existence of a thinker or self.

Inherent in the Cartesian paradigm is the cognitive split between subject and object. This

duality necessitates the experience of self-consciousness. Self-consciousness, Steiner suggests, is

the result of an awakening of divine intelligence9 from within the human being. It is this

indwelling divine intelligence that will ultimately empower humanity to cultivate an empirical

perception of spiritual phenomena.

In Saving the Appearances, anthroposophical philosopher and renowned twentieth-

century thinker and author Owen Barfield discusses the process through which this divine

intelligence awakened from within the human being. Barfield’s book serves as an inquiry into

the circumstances surrounding this process. As such, it also serves as an introduction to a deeper

consideration of Steiner’s assertions.

Barfield states that self-consciousness was once an experience that belonged exclusively

to the divine world. He writes that, over time, this divine self-consciousness became integrated

into the human experience. When this happened, divinity itself—in the form of self-

consciousness—became accessible to the human being. Barfield names the kind of thinking that

9 For Steiner, divine intelligence refers to an omnipotent wisdom that permeates the

physical and metaphysical world (Steiner, Outline of Esoteric Science 49).

McKenna 16

humanity engaged in before the subject/object split—that is, before the birth of self-

consciousness—“original participation.”

Original participation was a method of knowing whereby one gained an experience of

the world by participating in that world in a unique way. “Participating,” in this sense, refers to

an activity of observing phenomena through a process of becoming one with it. In this paradigm,

one seeks to understand by virtue of uniting with it, thereby gaining knowledge of its being-

hood.

Barfield maintains that before the development of Cartesian logic, the experience of an

individuated self was non-existent. In the world of original participation, the subject (as thinker)

is united with the perceived phenomenon (as object). In the pre-Cartesian world, the activity of

thinking “occurred only via the union of subject and object” (Berman 73). In this respect, one’s

very identity was made up of the world around self. With original participation, one did not

possess a consciousness of one’s self. Rather, one’s sense of self belonged to the world of

phenomena in which one was constantly engaged.

Barfield acknowledges the vast difference between the modern epistemology of today

and the world of original participation. Addressing this, he writes:

To ask how the primitive mind [people living through original participation]

would “explain” this or that natural phenomenon is a wrongly formulated

question. . . . It is absurd to imagine such a mind thinking in terms of cause and

effect, and of inference from the one to the other. Rather, we are in contact with a

different kind of thinking and a different kind of knowing altogether. (29)

McKenna 17

Addressing this further, Barfield calls on the words of early anthropologist Lévy-Bruhl

(1857−1939) who said of ancient peoples that they “see with eyes like ours, but they do not

perceive with the same minds” (Saving 30).

Barfield asserts that this different kind of thinking and knowing grew more dim as self-

consciousness grew more radiant. He writes: “We have seen how original participation, which

began as the unconscious identity of man with his Creator, shrank, as his self-consciousness

increased” (169). For self-consciousness to emerge, one’s unconscious unity with the world

around self needed to dissolve.

Barfield states that original participation continued to dim until it vanished entirely with

the advent of the scientific revolution. With the scientific revolution came Cartesian logic; with

it, a development in the experience of one’s self, which possesses an individuated an independent

consciousness of self. Barfield also points to the scientific revolution as that time when divine

self-consciousness became fully absorbed into the human constitution (165).

With the development of self-consciousness and the necessary loss of original

participation, humanity no longer possessed an immediate experience of oneness with the

phenomenal world. Humanity no longer possessed an immediately perceptible experience of

oneness with an external source of wisdom. The subject/object merger had dissolved and, with it,

the experience of being held within the womb of cosmic knowledge. This cosmic knowledge, for

the typical fifteenth-century European, was connected to the idea of a Christian God.

Barfield notes that one effect of the transformation from a pre-Cartesian to a post-

Cartesian paradigm is the feeling that God had disappeared. Such sentiments are evident in the

words of nineteenth-century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche: “God is dead.” Barfield remarks

that the experience of God, in its traditional external form, indeed, had died.

McKenna 18

Barfield continues, however, that the wisdom and consciousness of one such God had

simultaneously been reborn from within the human being. Barfield refers to this transition as

“the retreat of the Gods from nature into man” (139).

In this way, Barfield offers the picture that divine intelligence entered into the human

being. Both Barfield and Steiner recognize “the Gods” that have retreated “from nature into

man” as the essence of what is needed for a present and future development of living thinking. In

this sense, the term “God” does not refer to a religious god but rather to a spiritual entity that

contains and facilitates the experience of consciousness.

Steiner and Barfield contend that it is the presence of such a consciousness within the

human being that enables participation with the spiritual world in a new way. Steiner writes:

“We can only find nature [and the spiritual wisdom within it] outside us if we first know her

within us. What is akin to her within us will be our guide” (Philosophy of Freedom 25).

Steiner states that as this divine intelligence entered more deeply into the bodily nature of

humankind, it gradually took on increasingly materialistic characteristics. Being clothed in the

material organism of a physical human body, Steiner purports, thinking itself began to operate

according to materialistic laws. From the seeds of this inborn consciousness, rooted in humanity

in roughly the fifteenth century, a plethora new ideas and technologies, designed from an

exquisite understanding of the material world, began to flower in the sixteenth century, marking

the advent of the scientific revolution.

Steiner attributes the development of scientific thinking to the activity of divine

consciousness embedded in the physical organism of the human being. However, Steiner asserts

that this grounding of divinity within humanity was the beginning of what can now become a

flowering of new consciousness. This new consciousness has its roots within the human being,

McKenna 19

but it will only become whole when it blossoms and seeks its completion by reaching back

toward its original source. Far from marking an end point in the development of human

consciousness, Steiner proclaims that the scientific revolution marks a turning point from which

a more complete mode of human cognition is possible.

Barfield points to this same picture. As discussed at length in the next section, both

Barfield and Steiner refer to this inborn divine consciousness as the “Word.” The idea of Word

has its roots in ancient Greek philosophy, and has been further developed by numerous thinkers

and schools of thought since that time. The Word refers, among other things, to a ubiquitous self-

consciousness that flows through all existence. Employing this concept Barfield writes, “The

scientific revolution marked the crucial stage in that evolution from original to final

participation, which is the progressive incarnation of the Word” (Saving 165). He goes on to

describe “a final participation, whereby man’s Creator speaks from within man himself” (Saving

170).

Steiner explicitly remarks on this same transformation and does so by means of utilizing

a poetic referent to the Word. He remarks on the transformation from that which once spoke into

the human being into that which now has an opportunity to speak back. In a meditative verse,

Steiner writes:

The Stars spake once to Man. / It is World-Destiny / That they are silent now. /

To be aware of this silence / Can become pain for earthly Man. / But in the

deepening silence / There grows and ripens /What Man speaks to the Stars / To be

aware of this speaking / Can become strength for Spirit Man. (Verses and

Meditations 97)

McKenna 20

This “speaking [back] to the stars” is an indication of what a new living thinking will

look like. It is an indication of the organ of spiritual perception—capable of perceiving thought

content. A consideration of eurythmy offers an understanding of how this is possible.

Eurythmy is an experience of the inborn Word speaking back “to the stars,” brought into

artistic form. Specifically, it is the enactment of gestures performed with the entire body that

correspond to sounds of speech. These gestures originated from the divine intelligence referred

to above. These gestures are further understood to have become a part of the human experience,

now available for use in artistic works. As I will discuss, the enactment of these gestures

facilitates a perceptive activity that relates to speech and thinking. Before this discussion can

take place, it is necessary to give a more complete introduction of eurythmy and the assumptions

inherent within it.

Eurythmy

Eurythmy is a unique art of movement that began in Germany during the early twentieth

century. It is rooted in the spiritual-philosophical principles of anthroposophy; it strives to bring

visible expression to the movement of what Steiner calls the “etheric body.” Where dance is an

art form of the human physical body in movement, eurythmy is the art of the human etheric body

in movement.10

The term etheric body refers to an organization of specific movement-patterns that weave

together within the human constitution, the result of which is a kind of “body” that “continually

arises and again passes away” (Eurythmy as Visible Speech 30). Steiner emphasizes that this

body should not be confused with any kind of material body; rather, it is merely a convenient

reference to the understanding that there exists a collection of etheric movements within one’s

10 For a contextual outline of the development of modern dance, which emerged at the

same time as eurythmy, see Appendix B.

McKenna 21

physical body. When wishing to refer to this organization of movements, one can then employ

the term etheric body (Esoteric Science 33).

Figure 5. Movement as form.

The movements that make up one’s etheric body constitute invisible forces that guide the

organization of one’s physical body. Etheric movement pulses through one’s physical organism

as a “life-filled spiritual form in addition to the physical form” (Theosophy 35). Steiner adds,

“Since we need a name for this spirit from, we will call it the ether body or life body”

(Theosophy 35).

One strives, in eurythmy, to give expression to this invisible body. One way is through

the movements of one’s eurythmy veil. Figure 5 shows a eurythmist performing movement, by

virtue of which a specific form is created with her veil. Creating subtle movement-forms with

one’s veil in eurythmy is a significant part of a eurythmist’s artistic discipline. The combination

of the movements of one’s physical body in relationship to the movements of one’s veil is also a

part of this discipline. Figures 6, 7, and 8 show different possibilities for how this relationship

can be carried out.

McKenna 22

Figure 6. Example of veil use. Figure 7. Example of veil use. Figure 8. Example of veil use.

This life-filled spiritual form is a collection of movement-gestures according to which the

physical body maintains life and to which it is shaped. Throughout his work Steiner refers to the

Goethean concept that form is movement that has come to rest. From this standpoint, one can

understand that form is a picture of movement that is caught in a momentary snapshot of

stillness.

In Goethe’s worldview, the form of organic substances comes to manifestation when the

living movement pulsing through it comes to rest or, rather, when substance comes to rest within

which exists a continuously pulsing flow of movement (Goethe, The Metamorphosis of Plants

10-16).

Thus, one’s etheric body is the movement-body according to which one’s material body

is shaped. Steiner writes, “All form in human beings is striving perpetually to become

movement” (Eurythmy 54). He also writes, “The human form is only truly understood as arrested

movement, and only the movement of the human being reveals the meaning of his form” (Visible

Singing 1).

The movements that live within the human form are the movements of one’s etheric

body. In performance-eurythmy, one aims to bring these living movements into visible

McKenna 23

expression. In so doing, one’s physical form dissolves, and one’s movement-body remains. In

this way, the living etheric body itself begins to speak.

The Speaking Body

The individual movement-forms that make up the etheric body correlate to a specific

sound of speech or musical tone. These forms of speech and tone are related to the forms enacted

by the larynx and surrounding speech organs when human speech or singing is produced. Speech

and music, when uttered by the human voice, produce movement-patterns in the air. Each of

these movement-patterns can be identified as inhabiting a certain form. In eurythmy, these forms

are characterized by a particular movement-gesture. These movement-gestures are then related to

the gestures that make up the human etheric body.

The human etheric body is made out of the same etheric forces that weave through the

world. One’s individuated etheric body was formed out of this larger etheric substance (Steiner,

Cosmic Memory 121-124, 189). In similar fashion to how human consciousness emerged from a

cosmic consciousness, so, too, is the individual human etheric body considered to be a

personalized collection of etheric forces, the larger collection of which ultimately weaves within

the world.

Each movement-gesture in the etheric realm carries a unique piece of the mystery of life.

When these gestures are woven together, they create a harmony such that life is possible. The

world of living matter is understood to be a living picture of the speaking, singing Word. In this

way, each flower is a poem sprung from the earth, and each singing blade of grass a voice in

nature’s symphony.

The Word of Nature

McKenna 24

The ancient Greeks conceived of a self-conscious Word. This Word permeated the

universe and was the power through which all life came into being. This is the same Word to

which St. John referred some five hundred years later in the opening lines to his prologue: “In

the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God. And the Word was God” (John 1:1).

To the ancient Greeks, this Word was called λόγος, which is logos.

This logos is related to the anthroposophical idea of an etheric realm. This is shown

below in a presentation of the numerous and varied ways in which logos is defined and an

overview of the vast content of meaning to which the term logos refers. Ultimately, the etheric

realm represents a particular dimension of the logos, the dimension concerning the movement-

rhythms that sustain life.

The definitions and descriptions given below are intended to provide an outline of logos,

within which to comprehend the relevance and meaning of an etheric Word. For a more complete

treatment of these varied definitions of logos, see Appendix C.

The Encyclopedia Britannica defines logos as “the divine reason implicit in the cosmos

ordering it and giving it form and meaning.” According to Jungian analyst Dr. John Sanford, it

has also been “likened to a divine fire” by virtue of which the universe is “stirred into constant

motion” (19).

The concept of logos began with ancient Greek philosopher, Heraclitus (535 BC–475 BC),

and the idea continued to develop throughout Greek history as numerous individuals and schools

of thought deepened an understanding of its meaning. Anaxagoras (500 BC–428 BC) referred to

the logos as a “Divine Mind” (in Sanford 19). He understood it as something that “pervade[d] the

coarse material realm [and] shaped, harmonized, and interpenetrated all things” (Sanford 20).

McKenna 25

For the Stoics of 300 BC, the logos was the “guiding principle . . . motive force” working

within the operations of material phenomena (Gottlieb 46). This guiding principle was then

synonymous to an “‘ever-living’ world-soul” (Gottlieb 46). Gottlieb describes that in the same

way that an individual human soul can be recognized as the guiding principle or motive force,

driving one’s actions and behaviors, so, too, can the guiding principle and motive force behind

the operations of nature be the soul of the world. Gottlieb adds that for the ancient Greek person,

it was natural to comprehend this indwelling soul as divine (46).

This world-soul is woven within the human constitution. The human soul was thus part of

the larger world-soul. Sanford acknowledges this when he describes Aristotle’s view of the

human being:

Human beings, he [Aristotle] said, consist not only of a material body but also of

a soul in which there resides a divine spark that the soul shares with God. This

spark of divinity in human nature is an element of the divine logos. (20)

This divine logos was also understood to possess the seeds for self-consciousness.

Sanford writes, “This [inborn divinity] was nothing less then an intelligent, self-conscious world-

soul, an indwelling logos” (20).

This indwelling-logos was considered the source of creative potential dwelling within the

human soul. It was also a reflection of an inner aspect of God. God’s own inner activity was said

to be the original creative source from which life came into being. The innermost activity of the

logos, reduced to its sublime essence, was the original creative deed through which the universe

was conceived. This conception of existence relates to the process of conception in thinking.

In Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon, logos is translated as “a word yet not in the

grammatical sense, but language, vox, i.e., a word which uttered by the living voice, embodies a

McKenna 26

conception or idea” (3053). The idea is that language is a process that facilitates the activity of

conception. When one places an idea or a feeling into words, one fashions the vague interest or

sentiment of a mood into a formed concept. This forming is a deed of original creation.

Barfield points to this process in his book History in English Words. In this book, he

acknowledges the “tremendous effort . . . of turning a vague feeling into a clear thought” (19),

which is, itself, the essence of language. Through the activity of language, one is empowered to

give expression to one’s inner soul-activity. When God is said to have spoken The Word, the

meaning is that He expressed the content of His soul in such a way that the first conception of

life became manifest. Sanford articulates this understanding when he writes:

For John, the logos referred to that expression of God’s innermost nature which

poured forth to create and be immanent in the world, giving the world order and

expression, and which was most closely to be experienced within the human soul.

. . . It can be seen from this how inadequate modern translations of the word logos

are and why it can be argued that it would be better to leave the word untranslated

so the modern reader would know that she must dig deeper for its meaning. But if

the word logos, as used in John’s Prologue, is to be translated into English,

perhaps the best of all translations is by J. B. Phillips, “In the beginning God

expressed himself.” (21)

This self-expression is connected to self-awareness. If language brings vague feelings

into clear thoughts, then it also brings one’s vague awareness of general existence into a clearly

conceived conception of self. The logos is the Word. This Word became manifest when self-

expression occurred. When self-expression occurred, a realization of self was born. This

McKenna 27

realization of self is considered part of the origin of existence. Hungarian philosopher Georg

Kühlewind writes, “The first primal beginning was the Logos becoming aware of itself” (25).

The language element of the Word refers to the self-realization through which

consciousness and being-hood were born to existence. The mechanism through which this

realization occurred, on the other hand, is represented by the etheric-movements aspect of the

Word. For the self-conscious Word to be expressed—in other words, in order for the Word to

have been spoken—a sophisticated organization of forces would have woven together in a

uniquely creative way.

As noted above, the Word is made out of a collection of movement-gestures, each one

corresponding to a sound of speech or musical tone. These etheric movement-gestures, which

weave through living organic substance, collectively engender the mystery of life and serve as

the original template for the movement vocabulary of eurythmy.

In The Four Ethers, physician and author Dr. Ernst Marti acknowledges this:

Rudolf Steiner describes the totality of these forces, which penetrate nature in

order to create organic form] as The Word, the cosmic word, which sounds in and

through the stars. He [Steiner] discovered and reported the individual sounds of

this Word and uncovered their meaning through eurythmy. (9)

Eurythmy, as noted above, is the artistic embodiment and expressions of sound gestures,

which are the movements inherent in the forms of nature and, at the same time, the movements

inherent in the processes of life. Eurythmist Gioria Falk writes, “Eurythmy is not intent of

transmitting emotions or thought. . . . Eurythmy attempts to bring to artistic expression ‘the song

that lives in all things’” (8). This “song that lives in all things” is the Word.

The Word Reborn

McKenna 28

In Saving the Appearances, Barfield articulates the connection between human speech

and the Word of nature. In so doing, the origin of the eurythmy gestures also becomes evident.

Specifically, Barfield suggests that movement employed by the limbs was the vehicle through

which the “song that lives in all things” found its way from nature into the human mind.

As mentioned, the Word is made out of a collection of movement-gestures, which

permeates nature such that form and life are possible. Barfield suggests that, over time, human

beings came to mimic the movement-gestures that appeared in nature through the movement of

their limbs. He writes that they imitated these gestures at first only with their limbs but gradually

came to do so with their larynx and surrounding organs of speech. When this happened, he

asserts, oral language was born. Barfield writes:

The Semitic languages seem to point us back to the old unity of man and nature,

through the shapes of their sounds. We feel those shapes not only as sounds, but

also, in a manner, as gestures of the speech-organs—and it is not so difficult to

realize that these gestures were once gestures made with the whole body—once—

when the body itself was not detached from the rest of nature after the solid

manner of to-day, when the body itself was spoken even while it was speaking.

(Saving 124−125)

This first oral language was a reduction of the larger Word, which sounds through nature,

into a Word that could begin to resound through the human limbs and then ultimately through the

human larynx. When it penetrated into the larynx, oral speech arose. This speech, in turn,

provided the substance for the activity of thinking.

In The First Three Years of the Child, pediatrician and author Dr. Karl König discusses

the transformation of the young child’s ability to speak into the development of his or her ability

McKenna 29

to think. In the section “Speech as the First Prerequisite for Thought,” König addresses this in

detail (53−64). Specifically, he describes how the activity of speaking provides the substance

with which thinking is ultimately able to develop. König suggests that speech is the substance

out of which thinking can occur.

König’s work and conclusions support the idea that the origin of human thinking also

emerged through the activity of speech. Through the process of mimicking the Word gestures in

nature, speaking became a part of the human experience. This speaking facilitated the

development of thinking. In this picture, the first human concepts were the creative organization

of cosmic wisdom that had poured into the human experience, via the speech gestures.

The gestures now performed with the larynx during speech are considered to exist as a

kind of remnant of the original wisdom-filled gestures from nature. Eurythmy is the art of

transforming the gestures performed with the larynx during speech into newly formed gestures

performed again with the limbs. The gestures performed with the larynx serve as the new

template for the gestures in eurythmy. It is in this respect that Steiner writes, “In eurythmy, the

whole human being must become a kind of larynx” (Eurythmy as Visible Speech 29).

The eurythmy gestures today are not—nor are they intended to be—the same as the

original speech gestures from this ancient time. In the ancient time, the gestures were a picture of

those that would eventually turn into gestures of speaking. In eurythmy, the gestures are a picture

of how this speaking transforms into a new method of living thinking. To consider how this is

possible a more detailed description of living thinking is necessary.

Living Thinking

As noted, the conclusion of Steiner’s academic inquiry asserts the existence of a

cognition through which one is able to empirically perceive the content of thinking. As noted

McKenna 30

above, an amended version of his academic work appears as Part I of the book, Philosophy of

Freedom. Part II of the book then departs from a purely academic treatment of his ideas,

although remaining within the framework of a popular intellectual discourse.

In a subsequent lecture cycle, which appears in the book, Materialism and the Task of

Anthroposophy (1921) Steiner speaks more freely about the ideas portrayed in his scholarly and

intellectual publications. He begins by stating that his own intellectual arguments, which appear

in his academic works, can take a seeker of truth only to a limited end. To approach a complete

understanding of reality that consists of both physical and metaphysical phenomena, a system of

thinking beyond the purely intellectual approach is required. This non-intellectual approach to

thinking is living thinking (Materialism 173−190).

In his description of living thinking, Steiner refers back to the kind of consciousness that

he asserts was operational and in a diminishing degree until the awakening of full self-

consciousness. As such, he refers to the kind of consciousness that existed before Cartesian

dualism, a consciousness synonymous to what Barfield names original participation.

The world of original participation, as noted, was a world in which the individual felt his

or her own consciousness being completely submerged within the consciousness of a larger

cosmic mind. This is essentially identical to Steiner’s claim that in the time leading up the

fifteenth century, thinking was a process through which human beings “viewed themselves as

submerged with their soul in the overall cosmic intellect” (Materialism 178). This “cosmic

intellect” is the logos.

In Materialism and the Task of Anthroposophy, Steiner more concretely identifies the

particular aspect of logos that serves as the cosmic intellect, within which the individual human

McKenna 31

felt him or herself being submerged when engaged in thinking. This aspect of the logos is called

nous.

Nous is connected to what Anaxagoras calls the Divine Mind. In particular, nous can be

understood as a metaphysical substance that exists as divine intellect. This intellect, however,

flowed through the world and was accessible only when one reached out beyond self to engage

with it. This divine intellect necessarily resides outside the human being. Describing nous Steiner

writes:

Something developed among the Greeks, which Greek philosophers call “nous,”

namely a general world intellect. . . . However, if we speak of “intellect” in this

period, we really have to disregard what we term “intellect” in our present age.

For us, the intellect is something we carry within ourselves, something we

develop within ourselves, by virtue of which we comprehend the world. This was

not so in the case of the [ancient] Greeks. . . . People attributed to the human brain

no more than the fact that it shared in this general universal intelligence.

(Materialism and the Task of Anthroposophy 176)

To share in this general universal intellect, one needs to participate in its activity. One

participates in this activity through a movement of one’s etheric body. During this time, Steiner

asserts, one’s etheric body was capable of extending beyond the confines of one’s physical

organism (Wonders of the World 93). When one’s etheric body wove within the nous, thinking

occurred. Regarding this, Steiner writes:

Human beings predominantly employed their etheric body when they engaged in

thinking. It was not that they decided to activate the ether body. But what they did

sense—their whole soul mood—brought the etheric body into movement when

McKenna 32

thinking occurred. We can almost say: During that age, human beings thought

with their etheric body. (Materialism 179)

The nous was the etheric Word. When people reached out and perceived the movements

of this Word with their own etheric body, they gained an experience of cosmic intellect. The

Word itself was a collection of individual sound-gestures. In the process of perceiving the

individual sound-gestures, elements of wisdom came into contact with the human experience.

This was an early form of living thinking. It was “living” because one’s etheric body,

which is also called one’s “life body,” was engaged. It was thinking because, through it, one was

able to interact with the logos and participate in the larger cosmic intelligence. This former type

of living thinking serves as a picture for what present and future living thinking will entail (Roots

24−25).

The difference between the living thinking of primeval times and the living thinking that

is possible today is that in primeval times the etheric body perceived the Word as it entered into

human consciousness; in contrast, a modern living thinking will occur as one etherically

perceives the Word as it radiates, from within the human being, back out. With the birth of

Cartesian duality, and the awakening of self-consciousness inherent within it, this has not

become possible. The awakening of self-consciousness is an indication of the Word that has

come to reside within the human being. Now that this Word has arrived it is possible for it to

begin to speak back.

When it does, human consciousness will again have access to the nous. This will not be

the same kind of access that occurred with original participation however. In its modern iteration,

living thinking, which is itself a form of participation with the nous, will occur through the lens

of one’s own individuated and self-aware cognition. Instead of losing one’s self within the nous

McKenna 33

of cosmic wisdom, one’s access to this same wisdom will occur, instead, as an experience that

takes place within human thinking itself.

One way to understand the specifics of how this occurs is through a deeper examination

of the activity that takes place on an etheric level through the art of eurythmy. Eurythmy offers

the rudiments of a new etheric speaking. This speech exists as an activity through which one

perceives the Word.

The perceiving of the etheric Word-gestures served as the origins of thinking. The

perceiving and enacting of these gestures also served as the origin of language, as presented in a

preceding section. The following section will explain how perceiving and enacting these gestures

of speech are one in the same activity. This will show how the rudiments of speaking facilitate

the origins of cognition. In particular, it will show how the rudiments of a new etheric

“speaking,” made possible through eurythmy, facilitates the cultivation of seeds, which have the

potential to grow and flower into an activity of living thinking that is appropriate today.

How Eurythmy Supports Living Thinking

The art of eurythmy is performed either to the human voice in the art of speech formation

or to music performed live on one or more musical instruments. Eurythmy exists as an

expression of what is heard through either of these two audible forms. Unlike dance, however,

eurythmy does not seek to give personal commentary on what is heard, nor does it seek to reflect

the audible experience; rather, eurythmy undertakes the task of artfully expressing the experience

of listening itself.

Steiner asserts that in the activity of listening, the human being performs certain

movements of the larynx. The movements are performed not with one’s physical larynx but with

one’s etheric larynx. The movements of one’s etheric larynx serve as the activity through which

McKenna 34

the human being is able to perceive the Word. Steiner writes, “Hearing is always accompanied

by an activity of the larynx, even though a silent one” (A Companion to Rudolf Steiner’s

Eurythmy as Visible Speech 20). The larynx is silent because it occurs in the etheric realm.

Where one’s ear has the task of perceiving sound, one’s etheric larynx has the task of

perceiving the etheric Word. In Artemis—Eurythmy, Sprachgestaltung und Philosophie der

Freigeit, eurythmist Martin-Ingbert Heigl explains that there exists a unique and mysterious

relationship between the ear and the larynx. This relationship is at the heart of how living

thinking is possible.

Perhaps one’s etheric larynx might also be called an etheric ear, for it takes up the

activity of one’s physical ear, and utilizes it as a means to perceiving the etheric Word. Heigl’s

analysis of the relationship between the ear and larynx illuminates how this happens. For

example Heigl suggests that as one listens to speech one’s material ear receives the sound as an

acoustic experience. This acoustic experience then stimulates an activity of the etheric larynx. It

is the activity of the etheric larynx, stimulated by the material ear, through which the Word itself

is then perceived.

The perceiving of these gestures occurs by virtue of the movement that the etheric larynx

performs. The etheric larynx is a sense organ, which perceives by doing. One can imagine an

organism, a jellyfish is perhaps the most appropriate picture, that, in order to perceive its

surroundings, must extend its sensitized tentacles into the space around itself. Through the

movement of its tentacles the activity of perceiving its surrounding occurs. This is the kind of

movement that the etheric larynx is understood to perform in the activity of perceiving the Word.

The eurythmy gestures are a visible picture of this perceiving activity (Eurythmy as

Visible Speech 29). When these gestures are brought into artistic relationship with each other

McKenna 35

then the art of eurythmy begins to emerge (Eurythmy 283). The perceiving activity of the etheric

larynx serves as the starting point, and offers the building blocks, of eurythmy. In his book, Heigl

describes that the eurythmist models her movement not after the physical larynx, which speaks,

but rather after the etheric larynx, whose activity is, rather, one of listening. The “speech”

gestures performed by one’s etheric larynx are the gestures enacted to perceive, as opposed to

utter, the sounds of speech.

In this way, the gestures in eurythmy are a kind of inversion of the gestures that one

performs with one’s physical larynx during speech. As mentioned ealier Steiner writes, “In

eurythmy, the whole human being must become a kind of larynx” (Eurythmy as Visible Speech

29). This is the etheric larynx that has been turned inside out.

To summarize, the larynx to which Steiner refers is the etheric larynx, which listens and

perceives. The etheric larynx performs movements that enable it to perceive the Word. These are

the same movements undertaken in the art of eurythmy.

As noted above, eurythmy is an art of the human etheric body in movement. The artistic

discipline of the eurythmist is to cultivate the movements of one’s etheric body so that they are

an accurate and artful expressions of the movements normally carried out only by the etheric

larynx. Eurythmy is a picture of what occurs etherically when one listens to the human voice

(Practical Advice to Teachers 57).

Language itself exists as a complex organization of movements, intonation, and layers of

subtle meaning. The eurythmist’s task is to embody the listening speech gestures in such a way

that these various elements appear within his or her movements. The art of eurythmy is

concerned with discovering how to embody the complexities and subtleties of language as a

McKenna 36

whole, or rather the etheric Word as a whole, so that the whole human being becomes an artistic

expression of a new kind of speaking, which is itself an activity of perceiving.

The work of the eurythmist, in its ideal sense, is to condition his or her etheric body to be

capable of perceiving etheric sounds, which are then carried over into visible expression with his

or her limbs.

In actuality, it is difficult to discern which eurythmists are doing this successfully and

which merely mimic the movements provided them by a choreographer or teacher. This said, it is

only through a repeated practice of experiencing these movements in relationship to speech and

music that cultivation can develop. When successfully accomplished, a witness to the process

can recognize an intimate harmony between the eurythmist and the music or speech as they

interrelate onstage.

When this perceptive activity is successfully engaged, one witnesses how the music or

speech appears to play upon the eurythmist, whose sensitized response to this stimulus becomes

visible as an artistic experience. When he or she successfully perceives etheric sounds that are all

around, then the experience of this perception becomes visible in a beautifully artistic way. In

such scenarios, it appears as though the eurythmist is emanating the sounds of speech or musical

tones—that the sounds are singing through the movements of her limbs.

Thus, in eurythmy, one is afforded the opportunity to practice movements through which

to perceive the Word, a new kind of etheric speaking. When one’s whole body is engaged in this

perceptive activity, the perception is experienced completely. In eurythmy, the etheric

movements performed, that is, the movements performed with one’s etheric body, constitute this

“sense organ.” The reaching out of this sense organ occurs in the eurythmy gestures and is an

identical activity to the reaching out and perceiving of the nous. The eurythmy gestures are a

McKenna 37

picture of this organ as it reaches out to perceive the Word. It is in this respect that Steiner

writes, “In the movements of eurythmy, the whole human being becomes a sense-organ”

(Eurythmy as Visible Singing 16).

This sensing of the etheric Word is the beginning of a new thinking. As noted, through

König’s research of child development, speech provides the substance with which one is able to

form thoughts. When one begins to speak the etheric Word, one simultaneously gains access to

the building blocks needed for a new etheric thinking.

In the art of eurythmy, one begins to practice “speaking” these sounds through a creative

process. This “speaking” will need to be developed before it can flourish into a true experience

of living thinking. Eurythmy itself is in the beginning phases of its own development; the

practicing of eurythmy today is akin to the beginning babblings of a child learning to speak for

the first time.

When a child learns to speak, he or she does so through a process of first discovering how

to form the sounds of speech with the mouth, tongue, larynx, and surrounding organs.

Eventually, the child begins to practice uttering these sounds in relationship to each other,

through which he or she can form words. Ultimately, these words are brought into relationship

with each other to form sentences and, finally, thoughts. Thus, what begins as babbling gradually

develops into an intelligent grasp of what can be called language itself.

This is the same process that students and performers of the art of eurythmy must

undergo. In eurythmy, one must first discover how to form the sounds of etheric speech. This is

the first part of the eurythmist’s training. Eventually, one is able to perform these sounds in

relationship to each other so that the quality of complete words begin to appear through

McKenna 38

movement (Eurythmy 52). The formation of words is possible through discipline and inspired

creativity.

Although indications from Steiner exist on how to enter a movement experience of

sentence structure, grammar, intonation, mood, and a myriad of other qualities inherent in

regular speech, these indications remain, for the most part, in an active process of development.

Just as speech is possible, regardless of the level of grammatical accuracy and overall eloquence

employed by the speaker, so is the art of eurythmy possible, even in its rudimentary form.

The development of speech—and likewise the development of artistic eurythmy—is not a

strictly linear process. One does not master perfect grammar, for example, before beginning to

utilize it in speech. Rather, it is through the continued practice and self-edification of correct

grammar that improvement occurs. Just as this holds true for the development and improvement

of spoken language, it also holds true for development and improvement of eurythmy.

Like spoken language, eurythmy is not a formulaic endeavor. Language is an inherently

creative process. To discover how to speak with grace, eloquence, and clarity, one must engage

in its creative employment. Through this employment, a knowledge of language can be revealed

to the speaker. This is also true for eurythmy.

Eurythmy will not arise from a mere practice of performing isolated speech gestures; the

speech gestures must be brought into creative relationship with each other so that etheric

language can begin to emerge. As one practices the creative process of etheric language, one

simultaneously begins to engage in the foundations of etheric thinking.

Etheric thinking is identical to living thinking; it is a thinking that occurs through

employment of one’s etheric body or life body. It is an activity through which one’s life body

endeavors to perceive etheric sounds, which collectively serve as the raw material for cosmic

McKenna 39

intelligence. Eurythmy offers an opportunity to participate in a creative, artful relationship with

etheric sounds. As such, eurythmy offers an opportunity to cultivate the beginnings of a new

living thinking.

McKenna 40

CONCLUSION

The art of eurythmy is one activity that supports the cultivation of living thinking. It does

this through the creative enactment of gestures, which themselves are born from an experience of

perceiving the etheric Word. The etheric Word is made up of a collection of etheric sound-

gestures, collectively serving as the raw material employed by cosmic thinking. When this same

raw material is employed creatively, he or she has the opportunity to begin to develop a unique

creative experience made out of this thinking substance. The artful crafting of the etheric Word

substance is an entry into a new kind thinking and to the process of eurythmy. In this way,

eurythmy is the experience of perceiving the etheric Word, brought into artistic form.

The gestures in eurythmy, before they become artistic form, are a picture of the

movements that one’s etheric larynx performs while listening to speech or music. One’s etheric

larynx performs in a manner opposite to the way one’s physical larynx performs. Specifically,

while one’s physical larynx engages in the activity of speaking, one’s etheric larynx engages in

the activity of perceiving speech.

To perceive speech, the etheric larynx performs gestures that serve as the activity through

which the perception occurs. The gestures are the result of a kind of “spiritual touching,” which

the etheric larynx performs of the Word, to perceive it (Roots of Education 25). By reaching out

to touch the Word, one is able to supersensibly perceive the Word. This activity of reaching out

is identical to the gestures performed by the etheric larynx.

The gestures performed by the etheric larynx are necessarily a direct inversion of the

gestures performed by the Word itself. The Word is comprised of a pantheon of gestures. To

supersensibly perceive these gestures, one needs to perform other gestures that will fit alongside

and around the original gesture. If the Word were to exist as an original mold, then the etheric

McKenna 41

larynx must enact gestures that are akin to an impression of this mold. In this way, the two

gestures—that of the Word and that performed by the etheric larynx—fit together to come into

harmonious and effectively communicable contact.

This same picture applies to the difference between the gestures performed in pre-

linguistic times and the gestures performed today in eurythmy. The gestures enacted by the Word

itself ultimately were performed by the human physical larynx as gestures that mimicked the

gestures performed by the Word. These were the gestures through which the “Stars spake once to

Man,” the opening line to the verse by Steiner, serving as a guide and indication for what living

thinking will look like.

The gestures that came to be performed with the physical larynx are a picture of the

“Stars” as they are speaking into the human being. In contrast, the gestures performed with one’s

etheric larynx are a picture of the Word, now dwelling within the human being, which can

“speak” back in a new way. This new way of speaking, as has been discussed, is, in fact, a form

of listening. This speaking back is an activity of perceiving the Word.

In the time before the scientific revolution, humankind was learning to receive the Word

and discovering how to speak. In the time since the scientific revolution, humankind has been

given the opportunity to “speak” this Word back out “to the Stars,” and with it, cultivate an

ability to listen.

In this picture, receiving the Word leads to speech, and sharing the Word back out into

the world leads to listening. The pictures in and of themselves are pictures of inversions.

Accordingly, these pictures present a “speaking,” which refers to something that is given to the

speaker, as well as a “listening,” which refers to something that the speaker gives back.

McKenna 42

This listening is a receptive activity and is a deed of active perception. To actively

perceive, something needs to flow from within the human being and silently connect with that

which he or she hopes to understand. The description of this activity is a picture of empirically

perceiving the content of thought. It is a picture of thinking that functions as an organ of

perception.

Steiner’s discussion of how thinking functions as an organ of perception grows out of

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s original assertion that thinking is an activity of empirical

perception. Within his own work, Steiner explores the circumstances within which such an

assertion is possible. For Steiner, Goethe’s epistemology unites the ideals of the nominalists with

those of the realists. This ideological battle was the basis for German idealism, which was

Steiner’s entry point into a formal study of these considerations. More specifically, the writings

of Kant, Hegel, Schiller, Fichte, and others serve to provide Steiner with a language and a

relevant discussion within which Steiner placed his original ideas.

Steiner reports that his understanding of the spiritual world is based on his own empirical

observation of it. With the support of Goethe’s scientific writings, Steiner was able to consider

his own experiences more thoroughly. Likewise, his study of German idealism provided the

language and intellectual framework by which he was able to discuss his own direct experience

with a general audience.

Steiner was a proponent of articulating one’s experiences of spiritual reality with as wide

and general a public as possible. For eurythmists, this means performing on one one’s own as

well as with groups of other eurythmists or with other types of artists—and performing for as

general an audience as possible. Just as one does not need to share in the beliefs of any particular

culture to appreciate artwork that is an expression of these beliefs, the esoteric principles upon

McKenna 43

which eurythmy is based are inconsequential to the appreciation and enjoyment of eurythmy as a

performing art.

The art of eurythmy is in the beginning phases of its development. For it to grow, there

needs to be an active, inspired effort to bring it before the public. When eurythmy is performed, a

new artistic experience is available. As a result, this new artistic experience has an opportunity to

live both within the performer and the witness. When this living artistic experience resides

within the human being, it awakens new possibilities for relating to the phenomenon of language

and the elements of consciousness connected to it.

McKenna 44

Works Cited

Barfield, Owen. History in English Words. Great Barrington, MA: Lindisfarne Books, 1967.

Print.

---. Saving the Appearances. Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 1988. Print.

Berman, Morris. The Reenchantment of the World. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1981. Print.

Else Klink zum 100. Geburtstag: Historische Filmaufnahmen. Produced by Sagrestano, Isolda

Stuttgart: Eurythmeum Stuttgart, 2008. Video.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang. The Metamorphosis of Plants. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2009. Print.

Gottlieb, Anthony. The Dream of Reason: A History of Philosophy from the Greeks to the

Renaissance. New York: W. W. Norton and Co., 2000. Print.

Guthrie, W. K. A History of Greek Philosophy: Vol. I. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,

1971. Print.

Heigl, Martin-Ingbert. Artemis—Eurythmy, Sprachgestaltung und Philosophie der Freigeit

Norderstedt, Germany: Herstellung und Verlag, 2006. Print.

König, Karl. The First Three Years of the Child: Walking, Speaking, Thinking. Stuttgart,

Germany: Floris Books, 2004. Print.

Kühlewind, Georg. Becoming Aware of the Logos. Trans. Freidemann and Jeane Schwarzkopf.

Ed. Christopher Bamford. Great Barrington, MA: Lindisfarne Press, 1985. Print.

Marti, Ernst. The Four Ethers. Trans. Eva Lauterback and James Langbecker. Roselle, IL:

Schaumburg Publications, 1984. Print.

Ogletree, Earl J. “Eurythmy: A Therapeutic Art of Movement.” Journal of Special Education 10

(1976): 305−319. Print.

McKenna 45

Poplawski, Thomas. Eurythmy: Rhythm, Dance, and Soul. Hudson, NY: Anthroposophic Press,

1998. Print.

Roseman, Janet Lynn. Dance Was Her Religion: The Spiritual Choreography of Isadora

Duncan, Ruth St. Denis, and Martha Graham. Prescott, AZ: Hohm Press, 2004. Print.

Sanford, John. Mystical Christianity: A Psychological Commentary on the Gospel of John. New

York: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 1993. Print.

Shelton, Suzanne. Divine Dancer: A Biography of Ruth St. Denis. Garden City, NJ: Doubleday

and Company, 1981. Print.

Stegmann, Carl. The Third Call. Carmichael: Rudolf Steiner College Press, 1992. Print.

Steiner, Rudolf. Eurythmy. Trans. Christian von Arnim. Forrest Row, East Sussex, UK: Rudolf

Steiner Press, 2006. Print.

---. A Companion to Rudolf Steiner’s Eurythmy as Visible Singing. Trans and Comp. Alan Stott.

Stourbridge; West Midlands, UK: The Anderida Music Trust, 1995. Print.

---. Eurythmy as Visible Singing. Trans. Alan Stott. Stourbridge, West Midlands, UK: The

Anderida Music Trust, 1998. Print.

---. Eurythmy as Visible Speech. Trans. Alan Stott, Coralee Schmandt, and Maren Stott.

Weobley, Herefordshire, UK: Anastasi, 2005. Print.

---. Materialism and the Task of Anthroposophy. Trans. Perspektiven der

Menschheitsentwicklung. London: Anthroposophic Press, 1987. Print.

---. Nature’s Open Secret: Introductions to Goethe’s Scientific Writings. Trans. John Barnes.

Great Barrington, MA: Anthroposophic Press, 2000. Print.

---. Outline of Esoteric Science. Trans. Catherine E. Creeger. Great Barrington, MA:

Anthroposophic Press, 1997. Print.

McKenna 46

---. Practical Advice to Teachers. Trans. Johanna Collis. Great Barrington, MA: Anthroposophic

Press, 2000. Print.

---. Roots of Education. (Trans. unknown). Ed. Helen Fox. Hudson, NY: Anthroposophic Press,

1997. Print.

---. Theosophy. Trans. Catherine E. Creeger. Great Barrington, MA: Anthroposophic Press,

1994. Print.

---. Wonders of the World. Trans. Dorothy Lenn and Owen Barfield. London: Rudolf Steiner

Press, 1963. Print.

---. Verses and Meditations. Trans. George and Mary Adams. Ed. D. S. Osmond and C. Davy.

Forest Row, Sussex: Rudolf Steiner Press, 2004. Print.

Vigier, Rachel. Gestures of Genius: Women, Dance, and the Body. Toronto: Mercury Press,

1994. Print.

McKenna 47

Appendix A

Brief History of the Anthroposophical Society

“Anthroposophy” refers to a path of spiritual striving that is informed by indications

given by Dr. Rudolf Steiner and subsequent anthroposophists regarding the nature of spiritual

reality. Throughout his life, Steiner (1861−1925) lectured widely throughout Europe on topics

such as art, education, medicine, science, agriculture, society, history, and philosophy.

Steiner initially presented his spiritual philosophy within the framework of the

Theosophical Society. He began lecturing in the German section of this Society in 1902 and

continued until 1913. During the latter part of his involvement with this Society, significant

ideological discrepancies emerged between Steiner’s understanding of the spiritual world and the

ideas proliferated by the leaders of the Theosophical Society. Steiner subsequently decided to

leave the Society, as did many of the Society’s German speaking members.

Later that year, in 1913, numerous students of Steiner’s decided to form their own society

in which the specific and unique nature of Steiner’s teachings could be cultivated. Out of this

impulse, a new society was formed with Steiner’s help and given the name of The

Anthroposophical Society. The Society was later dissolved and recreated as a new society,

conceived and directed by Steiner in early 1924 under the same name.

Anthroposophical teachings have since grown into an international movement. Steiner’s

indications have provided the basis for Waldorf education, biodynamic agriculture,

Anthroposophic medicine, and new artistic forms such as eurythmy, among other developing

practices. Anthroposophical initiatives have taken root throughout Europe, North and South

America, Asia, Africa, and Oceania. The administrative operations for the Anthroposophical

Society worldwide are carried out at the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland.

McKenna 48

Appendix B

Developments in Modern Dance

The movement vocabulary of eurythmy reflects various structural elements of speech and

music. The eurythmist’s task is to embody these structural elements in such a way that the

artistic aspect of each is carried into visible form. This is similar to a parallel development that

was taking place, also in Europe.

Eurhythmics

Between 1906 and 1914, Swiss musician and educator Émile Jaques-Dalcroze developed

a system of teaching music theory called “eurhythmics.” This system was designed as an

educational aid for musicians to help them understand the complexities of music theory. In

Divine Dancer: A Biography of Ruth St. Denis, Suzanne Shelton writes, “Dalcroze isolated key

elements of musical structure—tempo, dynamics, duration, metrical pattern, pitch, and so on—

and taught these concepts through a system of rhythmic exercises called ‘Eurhythmics’” (148).

Describing this further, Shelton writes:

Dalcroze devised an entire chart of music and movement equivalents that

included musical pitch translated into the position and direction of gestures in

space, musical intensity of sound equated with muscular intensity, and musical

counterpoint equated with oppositional movements. He applied his theories to

choreography for movement choirs, and in 1914 in Geneva organized a rhythmic

choir to interpret orchestral symphonies in movement. (148)

It goes without saying that a similarity exists between these eurythmy and eurhythmics.

Both were conceived in Europe in the early twentieth century. The similarity between the two

names—eurythmy and eurhythmics—also suggests an uncanny connection between the two. It is

McKenna 49

an enigma that no evidence exists for any correspondence or relationship between Steiner and

Dalcroze.

Among many, one significant differences between Dalcroze’s eurhythmics and Steiner’s

eurythmy is that eurhythmics was designed to teach music theory while eurythmy was conceived

as an art in its own right. In eurythmy, the dancer embodies structural elements of music, or in

speech-eurythmy structural elements of language, to create a form within which to express the

artistic quality of what is heard. In eurhythmics, the music student embodies structural elements

of music in order to augment her or his understanding of music theory.

Ruth St. Denis

American dancer Ruth St. Denis is presumed to have worked with, or at least to have

encountered, Dalcroze’s work while she performed and taught in Europe (Shelton 148−150). In

1914, with the outbreak of World War I, the school of eurhythmics that had opened earlier that

year was permanently abandoned. The same year, St. Denis returned to the United States. Shortly

after arriving in the United States, St. Denis began to experiment with an idea she called “visible

music” (Shelton 149), which was a more artful rendering of Dalcroze’s approach. The artistic

exploration of Dalcroze’s ideas resembles the art of eurythmy in many ways.

Visible Music.

St. Denis wanted to express the objective essence of music through dance. Her

choreographies were to be somatic revelations of the music itself “without intention to ‘interpret’

or reveal any hidden meaning apprehended by the dancer” (Shelton 150). Although St. Denis

wished her dancers to be expressive vehicles, she demanded their efforts be directed toward

revealing the essence of the music itself as opposed to their own personal tastes. Although St.

Denis felt this dance should be a “scientific translation into bodily action of rhythmic, melodic,

McKenna 50

and harmonic structure of a musical composition” (Shelton 149−150), she also felt there must

always be “a constant compromise between the spirit and the form, and it is always a matter of

taste and not of scientific argument as to whether to choose content of a chord as against the

mathematical arrangement of figures relative to the notes” (Shelton 153).

Toward the end of her career, St. Denis experimented in addition with the idea of

performing dance to the spoken word. She worked with Craig Ward, her partner at the time, who

would speak poems while she endeavored to put them into movement. Very little information

exists on these “poetry-dance duets” (Shelton 154), yet their existence is significant with respect

to how St. Denis’s work is parallel to the emergence of eurythmy. It is a remarkable fact that

there appears to be no evidence of a correspondence existing between St. Denis and anyone

connected to eurythmy.

It is clear that St. Denis’s “visible music” and “poetry duets” share a common theme with

the art of eurythmy. The significant difference between the two forms is that Steiner modeled the

eurythmy gestures according to what he understood to be a direct perception of etheric

movement. Specifically, eurythmy gestures are meant to reflect the etheric movement that takes

place when one listens to speech and music.

Although St. Denis agreed that some kind of movement existed behind the auditory

experience of speech and music, she did not identify anything resembling an etheric realm.

Rather, St. Denis seemed to have worked out of an abstracted understanding of music theory, in

much the same way as eurhythmics itself. She experimented artistically with how such abstract

ideas might appear when presented onstage. Steiner, on the other hand, reported to have had a

direct perception of the movements that take place in the etheric realm when one listens to

speech or music.

McKenna 51

Sacred Dance.

Beyond her artistic explorations of “visible music” and “poetry duets,” St. Denis was a

revolutionary artist of her time and one of the great pioneers of modern dance in the United

States. St. Denis advocated for a new understanding of dance that would allow audiences to

remember what she considered to be the ancient mystery wisdom inherent in the art of dance. To

this effect, she referred to herself as a “self-elected prophet” (Roseman 88) and felt her primary

task was to deliver the ancient wisdom of sacred dance to the modern public.

Regarding St. Denis’s spiritual views, Roseman writes, “Although, she was profoundly

influenced by a wide variety of metaphysical and religious teachings, Ruth claimed that her

philosophy was focused on the burning light—referring, of course, to the Divine Spirit, God or

Christ” (Roseman 90). St. Denis herself remarked on what she understood to be a revelatory

experience: “I had seen the divine Image, and heard the Immortal Word” (Roseman 126).

Explicating this further, Roseman writes, “When St. Denis refers to the ‘Immortal Word,’ it is

symbolic for the mystical encounter according to St. John: ‘In the beginning was the Word, and

the Word was with God, and the Word was a God’” (126).

For St. Denis, dance was a sacred activity. St. Denis asserted that contemporary forms of

dance, such as vaudeville and burlesque, were a decadent regression from the once-sacred form.

St. Denis also felt that dance—indeed, all the arts—carried a tremendous healing potential.

However, this would occur only when their spiritual potential was realized.

In her efforts to re-enliven the sacred aspect of dance, St. Denis initiated a number of

projects that had tremendous influence on the birth and development of modern dance. She

directed a dance company called Denishawn, which she co-produced with her then-partner Ted

Shawn. Together, the two also published a dance magazine by the same name, which hosted

McKenna 52

articles about dance, choreography, technique, metaphysics, and the spiritual task of artists

(Roseman 100).

In addition, St. Denis erected a “temple” to serve as the headquarters for what she

envisioned would be a society of artists, named The Society of the Spiritual Arts. Her aim was to

create a “sanctuary” (Roseman 110) where artists could practice their craft for purposes of self-

healing and divine communion. This vision of art as a method of self-healing existed for

St. Denis decades before the advent of art-therapy and the self-help movement.

She also envisioned this temple-impulse expanding into society at large. She imagined

smaller temples arising for the same purpose throughout the country, which would encourage

and support the artistic life of all citizens. She further imagined a world in which artistic activity

would become a vital aspect of societal life for the common person.

It is unclear whether the Society itself was born. In 1934, the temple was completed in

Hollywood with the help of wealthy donor, but beyond its existence, little can be found

regarding the activities it was meant to house. In addition, St. Denis was closely associated with

Samuel Lewis, the father of Dances of Universal Peace. Perhaps St. Denis’s vision of a

nationwide artistic movement concerned with healing and divinity found expression in this

similar impulse.

The majority of St. Denis’s work was enthusiastically received by her audience. She

sometimes achieved this by reverting to the very forms from which she argued were essential to

break away. Poplawski writes:

Hers was a dance embedded in crowd-pleasing stagecraft, where lighting, incense,

elaborate costumes, and stage sets helped to evoke a mood. Her first impulse was

a search for the primal source of the dance but she also insisted on making hers a

McKenna 53

popular art—the sight of her bared midriff in those Victorian times was said to

have brought in as many viewers as the dancing. As with Isadora Duncan,

sexuality and sensuality were inextricably linked with the dance in the

imagination of the public. (22)

Accordingly, it appears St. Denis was not able to entirely remove herself from the

vaudeville style of dance she strived to replace. Nonetheless, her efforts to inspire a new

understanding of dance and a new appreciation for art as a spiritual endeavor were instrumental

in what continued to develop as modern dance. St. Denis was a trailblazer not only with respect

to her artistic contribution but also with respect to the idea of reviving ancient sacred forms in a

modern way. This latter contribution finds expression, for example, throughout the entirety of the

new age movement.

St. Denis was also influential in the life and work of Martha Graham. Graham danced in a

number of Denishawn production pieces in her early career but ultimately left to develop her

own incredibly successful technique. Where St. Denis aimed to re-enact ancient sacred dances,

Graham utilized ancient, sacred principles, to develop a new form of dance.

Martha Graham

Channeling the Omphalos. Central to Graham’s technique is the idea of omphalos.

Omphalos is an ancient Egyptian concept that refers to one’s “Center.” Omphalos also translates

from ancient Greek as “navel” and simultaneously refers to a particular sacred stone from

Delphi, which supposedly enabled direct communication with God. In addition, Graham spoke

of an “animating spark,” which scholars of her work associate with “the energies that rest inside

the body in sacred space” (Roseman 134−140).

McKenna 54

It is clear that omphalos shares some of the same qualities as the concept of logos. Both

evoke a picture that a “spark” of the great divinity rests within the human being. For Graham,

omphalos, one’s center, is the source of a dancer’s creative potential. Her technique utilizes

concentrated breath work and disciplined physical rigor. This is done for the purpose of training

one’s body to consciously release this creative energy from the omphalos toward an artistic end.

Although eurythmy utilizes a different technique than Graham’s, both eurythmy and the

Graham technique work out of the principle that one’s inner reflection of a divine “spark” can be

utilized and transformed into an outward artistic expression. For Graham, this means exercising a

physical discipline through which to release an energetic core; for eurythmy, it means exercising

an etheric discipline through which to release one’s inner Word. Both forms work with the idea

that an inner connection to a larger spiritual force is the initiating impulse for their respective

forms of artistic movement.

Like St. Denis, Graham also worked with the idea that ancient sacred dance could find

expression on the modern stage. St. Denis and Graham worked with this idea in different ways:

St. Denis sought to reconstruct various sacred dances themselves, complete with ethnic

costuming, use of incense, lighting, and so on, while Graham developed a new form of dance

that was based on certain mystical understandings.

In addition to St. Denis and Graham, a third American dancer, Isadora Duncan, initiated a

style of movement that bears a noteworthy semblance to the art of eurythmy. Like St. Denis and

Graham, Duncan had tremendous impact as a dancer of her time. She contributed a tremendous

amount of initiative to the origins of the new age movement, and sought to rediscover a modern

experience of sacred dance.

McKenna 55

Isadora Duncan

Duncan’s style of movement seeks to give expression to the “patterns of nature” that are

“running through all natural phenomena, including the human body” (Roseman 37). Duncan’s

philosophy was that dance could be a means through which to “translate the knowledge of nature

passing through her” into “creative human expression” (Roseman 37). For Duncan, dance was a

means through which one could commune with nature.

Unlike eurythmy, however, Duncan’s approach emphasized a formless, whimsical style

that was both celebrated and criticized for its apparent lack of structure and decidedly

improvisational affect. It is unclear how much of Duncan’s dancing was actually improvised and

how much of it was choreographed. What is clear, however, is that Duncan strived to artistically

glorify the idea that natural movements of the human body were beautiful and sacred.

Duncan took her inspiration from various drawings and carvings of ancient Greek temple

dancing. Duncan felt that ancient Greek dance was an expression of organic human movement

elevated to the level of art. She also felt these ancient dances to be a natural expression of the

human being in harmony with nature. Mimicking the movements from ancient Greek sculptures,

therefore, would lead one back to an experience of this harmony.

Duncan did not believe that intense physical discipline was necessary in order to achieve

this successfully. For Duncan, it was the carefree style itself that allowed one access to what she

understood to be the rhythms of nature undoubtedly inherent in the ancient temple dances.

Audiences were “struck by the spontaneity and self-abandonment” of her dance, yet noted what

seemed to be a “glossing over [of] the technique that went into the articulation of her

movements” (Vigier 48).

McKenna 56

Critics of her work asserted that her style was nothing more than an amateur enthusiasm

for the experience of movement. Furthermore, they asserted that her dancing lacked technique.

She countered that the technique she employed was difficult for modern audiences to perceive

because it was unlike anything they had seen. Duncan claimed her technique was a process of

discerning movement rhythms within the body, which she came to “identify and refine” through

the course of various somatic meditations (Vigier 47).

Duncan had students within the Irene Popard School in Le Havre, France, to whom she

taught this technique. She also had a stage group, The Isadorables, who worked with her

technique and gave performances.

The philosophical ideals behind Duncan’s style of movement are consistent with some of

the ideals that also inspire eurythmy. For example, both Duncan’s style of movement and the art

of eurythmy strive to give visible expression to the invisible movements that permeate nature.

Both artistic forms also recognize a transformation from the ancient Greek temple dances into a

modern form of movement. Unlike Duncan’s approach to dance, however, eurythmy employs a

highly specific discipline of movement gestures, which are specific reflections of the movement-

lexicon that makes up the larger “song that lives in all things.”11

11 Falk, Gioia, General Anthroposophical Society, 8 Oct. 2006. Allgemeine

Anthroposophische Gesellschaft, <http://www.goetheanum.org/fileadmin/aag/BroschAAG_e.pdf>