5Research Issue 2010

Rudolf Steiner Library’s borrowing service is free for Anthroposophical Society in America members; non-members pay an annual fee. Borrowers pay round-trip postage. Requests can be made by mail (65 Fern Hill Road Ghent, N.Y. 12075), phone (518-672-7690), fax (518-672-5827), or e-mail: rsteinerlibrary@taconic.net

What’s Happening in

the Rudolf Steiner LibraryJudith Soleil, Library Director

Flying barcodes! Yes, the automation project proceeds apace. The library’s online public access catalog at http://rsl.scoolaid.net now contains searchable records for nearly 14,000 items, about half the collection. When visiting the catalog online, be sure to check out the “News” section. We are posting book annotations on the page now as well as events we host at the library. Also check the “New Items” page, which lists monthly acquisitions.

Call for volunteer translators! The library subscribes to a number of German-language anthroposophical journals with intriguing contents: Das Goetheanum, Info3, Flensburger Heft, Der Europäer, Die Drei, Die Christengemeinschaft. We would love to share some of the articles from these journals with English speakers. Please let us know if you would like to col-laborate with us on such a project; we will provide editorial assistance.

We are looking for back issues of the

British journal Anthroposophical Move-ment/News Sheet for Members of the An-throposophical Society in Great Britain, and copies of the Rundbrief published by the Pedagogical Section. Contact us regarding specific dates needed.

Why books? Are books just a tired, inef-ficient, outdated medium (ouch!)? Digital resources are important, particularly in the sciences, where researchers rely on up-to-the-minute online journals and databases. Still, Robert Darnton, director of Harvard’s university library, predicts longevity for the book: http://harvardmaga-zine.com/2010/05/gutenberg-2-0

Book Reviews by Frederick Dennehy

In this issue we offer Keith Francis’s review of Metamorphosis: Evolution in Action, by Andreas Suchantke, one of the most important books on Goethean sci-ence to appear in years. Readers of this book (and, because it is so incisive and de-tailed, this review) are likely to come to a

fresh understanding of metamorphosis as not only a concept, but as an imaginative activity. Suchantke emphasizes the need to “escape from the idea of a fixed spatial form” and cultivate an intuition of “the inner line, or, rather, the time-gestalt of the whole of evolu-tion.” In a larger context, readers will be challenged to wean themselves from the mechanis-tic habit of focusing exclusively on what Aristotle termed “efficient cause” and to develop a sense for the neglected “formal cause” or “archetype.” Such a genuinely scientific approach yields a comprehension of living things and of

the process of change—metamorphosis—sharply distinguishable from a grasp of the finished world that physicists investigate.

Also in this issue is my review of Where On Earth Is Heaven? by Jonathan Stedall, a warm, honest, and amateur—in the best sense—inquiry into the meaning of im-mortality. Readers will be intrigued (and instructed) by Mr. Stedall’s understanding of anthroposophy from the periphery of the movement, and an account of Rudolf Steiner not from the vantage point of a dis-ciple, but from that of a sympathetic friend.

Book reviews are on p.6 and p.23.

Library AnnotationsBrief descriptions of new books available from

the library; annotations this time by Judith Soleil.

Anthroposophy—Rudolf Steiner

Astronomy and Astrology: Finding a Relationship to the Cosmos, compiled and edited by Margaret Jonas, Rudolf Steiner Press, 2009, 250 pgs. Includes notes and a bibliography.

“Although Steiner rejects the simplistic notion of the planets determining our lives and behavior, he makes a clear connection between the heavenly bodies and human be-ings…. This…anthology features excerpts of Steiner’s work on the spiritual individualities of the planets, the determination of human characteristics by the constellation at birth, the cultural epochs and the passage of the equinox, solar and lunar eclipses…and much more.” An excellent introduction by Margaret

Annotations continue on p. 62

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6 Evolving News

Book Review / the Rudolf Steiner Library Newsletter

is simply between science and reli-gion. Rather, the division is between those persons who sense and seek an intrinsic meaning and purpose in the world, and two other groups: (1) those who see any notions of mean-ing and purpose as the ephemeral projections of needy humans, deter-mined by a combination of biochem-istry and “contingency”; and (2) those who believe in the existence of objective purpose and meaning but think that these are destined to be realized elsewhere, in a “heaven”

somewhere beyond Earth. That “somewhere” is often conceived to be on a “thinner” or disembodied plane that is subject none-theless to “ordinary consciousness”—the same consciousness that regulates our experiences at ten in the morning on a not very exciting workday.

Mr. Stedall takes his stand unmistakably on the first side of this divide, but not as a combatant, a philosopher, or a system-atizer. Instead, he reports to us as an observer of long standing who has seen and inquired into a vast range of human experi-ence. A significant part of that experience is closely related to anthroposophy.

Mr. Stedall returns again and again to Rudolf Steiner, as a philosopher, an esotericist, and the source for the creation of Camphill therapeutic initiatives and Waldorf education. Very little in these pages could be deemed to be “original” regarding Steiner, and a fair portion of the commentary is overtly medi-ated through secondary sources. Mr. Stedall was enormously impressed with the Camphill movement, which he encoun-tered through his work documenting the Camphill community, Botton Village, and the school at Camphill Aberdeen. He was strongly influenced by his nine-month stay at Emerson College in England, particularly by the scientific method of founder and principal Francis Edmunds. During that same stay he boycot-ted all eurythmy classes. While he enrolled both his children in a Waldorf school, he found the experience there insufficiently flexible to accommodate the particular interests evinced by his children when they did not conform to the time frame expected by the teachers concerned.

But this is not a book for students of Rudolf Steiner or for participants in the daughter movements of anthroposophy who want to go deeper. Nor is it a book in which you will find the struggles and hurdles encountered by a man who at long last “finds” anthroposophy. What you will find is an intelligent, intensely curious, and candid thinker who experiences and digests the insights of Rudolf Steiner along with those of Carl Jung, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, and many others, albeit with a partiality toward Steiner. You will find a man fascinated by the human side of great thinkers and doers. And so he places Steiner in both surprising and unsurprising company, along with Tolstoy, Gandhi, Sir Bernard Lovell, Malcolm Muggeridge, the poet John Betjeman, Laurens van der Post, and many

Review continues on page 59

Where on Earth Is Heaven?By Jonathan Stedall; Hawthorn Press, 2009, 566 pgs

Review by Frederick J. Dennehy

Books describing an author’s spiritual journey generally tend toward an ending. Readers find themselves traveling along with the author and sense in the final pages that a “destination” of some sort will be reached.

Where on Earth Is Heaven? is not structured in that way. As Richard Tarnas aptly notes in his foreword, Jonathan Stedall’s book is more like a fireside chat. His account has the freshness and honesty of a friend’s impressionistic reminiscences, as well as the meandering and somewhat repetitious features of infor-mal conversation.

Mr. Stedall’s original intention was to write very little about himself, and to focus on the people whom he had come to know and the ideas he had encountered that had influenced him spiri-

tually. Readers of the first draft suggested that the book needed to be more au-tobiographical; consequently,

Mr. Stedall, with some reluctance, extended his account to include moments from his “own bumpy journey—the downs as well as the ups.”

“Where on Earth is heaven?” was a question originally asked many years ago by the author’s then seven-year-old son. This book is Mr. Stedall’s effort, after a gap of twenty years and his encounter with serious illness, to answer it. Each of the thirty-six chapters is connected—directly or indirectly—to the pos-sibility and meaning of immortality. The chapters loosely follow Mr. Stedall’s career as a BBC documentary film producer. His

employer (hard to imagine this now!) allowed him to travel—geographically and spiritually—almost wherever his most burning questions dictated.

Mr. Stedall is not a schol-ar but a producer of films. He is not a man of personal

visionary experience but a person of natural devotion and highly focused attention. In the words of Nicolas Malebranche, “attention is the natural prayer we make to inner truth in order that it may be revealed in us.”

This book takes its place on one side of a cultural divide whose fault lines have been visible for a long time and have been widening at an ever-increasing speed. The topography of that divide has also altered appreciably since it was delin-eated by C.P. Snow in The Two Cultures in 1961. The split is not so much between the scientific method and the humanities (Geisteswissenschaft), and it would be crude to maintain that it

Editor’s Note: by separate routes we received two reviews of this unusual book. Since they are relatively short and different in character, we are publishing both. The second review, by Signe Schaefer, follows the continuation of this review, on page 59.

23Research Issue 2010

Book Review / the Rudolf Steiner Library Newsletter

My first impression on receiving the review copy of Metamor-phosis was “What a beautiful book!” and the discovery that it had been printed in China went some way toward erasing recent impressions of the quality of goods from that country. It is coffee-table sized and the pictures, most of them by the author, are an education in themselves; but as we shall see, Metamor-phosis is definitely not a coffee-table book.

Andreas Suchantke, who was born in Switzerland in 1933, taught life sciences at the Rudolf Steiner School in Zurich and worked extensively in teacher training. Apart from teaching, his life’s work has been the development of an eco-logical understanding of landscapes and traditional cultures, and he has published books on tropical South America, South and East Africa, and Is-rael and Palestine. In his new book he shows how the fundamental principles implicit in Goethe’s scientific work, together with the insights gained from a lifetime of studying nature’s ways, lead to a far-reaching understanding of the evolution and interrelatedness of all that lives on Earth. In so doing he acknowledges his debt to Rudolf Steiner, and it seems appropriate to allow Steiner to give us a starting point with a few words on the subject of Goethe:

For him, art and science sprang from a single source. Whereas the scientist immerses himself in the depths of reality in order to be able to express its impelling forces in the form of thoughts, the artist seeks by imagination to embody the same forces in his material…. ‘In the works of man, as in those of nature, what most deserves consideration is the intentions,’ says Goethe. Everywhere he sought, not only what is given to the senses in the external world, but the tendency

Metamorphosis: Evolution in Action By Andreas Suchantke. Translated by Norman Skillen. Adonis Press, 2009, 324 pgs. Review by Keith Francis

through which it has come to exist…. In nature’s own forma-tions she gets ‘into specific forms as into a blind alley’; one must go back to what was to have come about if the tendency had been able to unfold without hindrance…. Not what nature has created, but according to what principle it has created, is the important question. And then this principle is to be worked out as befits its own nature, not as this has occurred in the single form subject to a thousand natural contingencies. The artist has to ‘evolve the noble out of the common, the beautiful out of the misshapen.’

In contemplating the forms of plants and animals Goethe perceived a principle of metamorphosis that enabled him to see each organism as a unity of interrelated parts. He expressed his thoughts on plant and animal morphology in such a way as to suggest principles of growth and being that might apply to the whole process of nature. He saw the development of the plant as a series of alternating expansions and con-tractions: seed, leaves, calyx, corolla, stamens and pistil, fruit, and, again, seed. To ask for a physical cause for the expansions and contractions is, as Steiner pointed out, to stand the matter on its head.

Nothing is to be presupposed which causes the expansion and contraction; on the contrary, everything else is the result of this expansion and contrac-tion. It causes a progressive metamor-phosis from stage to stage. People are

simply unable to grasp the concept in its very own intuitive form, but demand that it shall be the result of an external process. They are able to conceive expansion and contraction only as caused, not as causing. Goethe does not look upon ex-pansion and contraction as if they were the results of inorganic processes taking place within the plant, but considers them as

the manner in which the entelechy, the principle, takes form.

People who believe that nature consists of nothing but particles, waves, and space feel the need for a mechanism for such processes. I speak with the voice of personal experience when I say that it is very hard, even for those of us who are intuitively drawn to Goethe’s view of nature, to get out of the mechanistic habit. Goethe’s way of expressing things has the cog-nate disadvantages of provoking facile ridicule from the scientific intelligentsia and receiving uncritical acceptance by the half-baked dilettan-

The fruits of research appear in conversations, conferences, and of course books. Though it is still mostly “outside the mainstream,” anthroposophical research has a further, hidden life, like that of runners from a plant, through a quiet stream of fine books. Also worthy of note is the quality of work coming from authors from whom serious research would not be expected in the mainstream—high school teachers, for example. Both the author of this book and the reviewer were long-time Waldorf high school teachers.

24 Evolving News

ti. Suchantke’s book shows that a contemplative biology drawing on the fundamental concepts of Goethean science and imbued with reverence for the living Earth can produce a consistently illuminating picture of life in all its amazing abundance and multiplicity.

•From the beginning, Suchantke emphasizes the need to es-

cape from the idea of a fixed spatial form (space-gestalt):

We must learn to think in terms of development, to engage in the transformation of our conceptual systems in accor-dance with a deeper, dynamic understanding of the sphere of life. It was Goethe who first demonstrated that a method seeking to unravel the secrets of living processes must not be applied to, but rather must take its lead from its object of study, and thus… develop organically. This process should encompass all aspects of the development of the living organ-ism under consideration and recreate them as fully as pos-sible in imagination—quite a tall order! In the introduction to his botanical studies, Goethe formulates it as follows:

In introducing a science of morphology, we must avoid speaking in terms of what is fixed. If we use the word Gestalt [form] at all, we ought to have in mind only an abstract idea or concept, or something that is held fast but for an instant.

The principles of metamorphosis apply not only to the de-velopment of the individual plant but also to the evolution of species, in which the retention of juvenile characteristics into adulthood (neoteny), and the changing relationships to the en-vironment known as internalization and externalization play important parts in generating a stream of continuous change. In describing these and other time-gestalts, the author says,

Our guiding principle will be Goethe’s words to the effect that,

when we study forms, organic ones in particular, nowhere do we find permanence, nowhere repose or completion.... For no sooner has something been formed than it is immediately trans-formed, and if we wish to achieve a living perception of nature, we must strive to keep ourselves as mobile and flexible as the examples she herself provides.’

What follows, therefore, will also be concerned with breaking through from the organism’s sense-perceptible, external form or space-gestalt to the process of its formation, which is an expression of its time-gestalt. This can only be perceived when we actively reconstruct it in our imagination: an inner process which enables us to experience and describe its formative movements.

Metamorphosis should not be read like a textbook; it asks the reader to entertain the possibility of inner transformation in which the imagination becomes an organ of perception, thus giving the title a double meaning that its author undoubtedly intended.

•It would be impossible to convey the immense richness of

Research–a special section

The next annual conference of the Natural Science Section will take place at the Rudolf Steiner Center in Chicago from the evening of Thursday, November 18 till noon on Sunday, Novem-ber 21, 2010. The theme of the conference will be “The Spherical and the Radial Principles in the Human and Animal Organism, with a focus on Horns and Antlers.” At a time when cows are routinely dehorned and organisms are being manipulated for practical and commercial purposes, it is incumbent upon us to gain a scientific understanding of their living wholeness and in-tegrity. Such an understanding, however, requires the develop-ment of new cognitive capacities. During the conference we will engage in Goethean observation of skeletons, horns and antlers in an attempt to “read” them as the expression of dynamic forc-es and in relation to our experience of the living organisms. The goal is to experience and understand the organisms in question as concrete manifestations of creative forces.

Because of the importance of cow horns in biodynamic agriculture, we are also inviting members of the Agricultural Section to participate in the conference. As we would also like to continue to work at the level of the Class, this conference will again be for Class members only. Essential reading in prepa-ration for the conference will be Metamorphosis: Evolution in Action (especially chapters 2 and 11) by Andreas Suchantke,

published by Adonis Press, and lecture 4 of Spiritual Founda-tions for the Renewal of Agriculture, published by the Biodynam-ic Association.

For more information on the conference, contact:The Natural Science & Mathematics/Astronomy Sectionc/o John Barnes, 321 Rodman Road, Hillsdale, NY 12529Phone 518-325-1113; Fax 518-325-1103; adonis@fairpoint.net

Metamorphosis: Evolution in Action is available to conference participants at a discount of 40% (for $30). There is more infor-mation on the book at the Adonis Press website: adonispress.org. To take advantage of this offer, send a check for $30, made out to Adonis Press, to the address above along with your reserva-tion fee.

John Barnes also published an essay some months ago, The Third Culture, subtitled “Participatory Science as the Basis for a Healing Culture.” It deals with this same theme: the need for the development of new scientific methodologies capable of insight into living organisms and qualities. It attempts to put Goethean science and anthroposophy into the broader context of the development and current crisis in western culture. A review of the book will be posted shortly at anthroposophy.org.

Upcoming Conference of the Natural Science Section in ChicagoThe Spherical & Radial Principles in the Human & Animal Organism, with a focus on Horns & Antlers

25Research Issue 2010

Suchantke’s book in the few pages of a review, so I’ll give a brief impression of its contents and concentrate on just one aspect of the author’s thinking.

After giving a vivid account of some of the transformatory processes of nature he tackles the difficult question of the functioning of the archetype in the evolutionary process. He goes on to clarify the concepts of metamorphosis with a discus-sion of Goethe’s perception of the relation between the bones of the spine and those of the skull, but he doesn’t limit himself to the human skeleton. Salamanders, foxes, moles, bats, hum-mingbirds, and even cacti are drawn into the discussion, which ends with the perception of polar tendencies that produce both round, immobile, protective structures such as the skull, and mobile, articulated, linear structures like the arms and legs.

Chapter 3 deals with the forms of leaves, showing their relat-edness to other parts of the plant and to its functioning within the environment. The theme of sphere and radius, already developed in relation to the vertebral nature of the skeleton, reappears here. “The leaf, we must agree with Goethe, is the ‘true Proteus.’ From top to bottom the plant is all leaf.” From leaf to flower is a transformation that naturally takes us into chapter 4, which deals with the polarity of the two structures and the extraordinary correlations between color and form. Of particular note is the section on the evolutionary potential of the blossoms, in which Goethe’s ideal of intensification reaches a high point. Chapter 5 reviews the functioning of metamorphosis and reminds us that we, as readers, are invited to take part in a process of transformation.

Next comes a chapter on the various forms of metamorpho-sis in the plant kingdom, in which the ideas of the previous chapters are profusely illustrated and developed. In chapter

7 the principles of polarity and threefold organization are il-lustrated by the growth of plants from the unity of the seed into the structure of root, leaf, and blossom, the subtlety of which cannot altogether be conveyed by a simple spatial picture. Of great interest is Suchantke’s commentary on the description Rudolf Steiner gives in his autobiography of the gradual devel-opment of his perception of the threefold nature of the human being. Chapter 8 is an extended tour de force that demonstrates how polarity and threefoldness are expressed in different ways throughout the animal kingdom. The photographs and drawings are breathtaking.

Chapter 9 brings us back to the archetype. Different groups of creatures emphasize different aspects of the threefold organi-zation and, when viewed together at a moment in time, can be seen as forming a gestalt, momentarily frozen in space. When the gestalt is regarded as “only fixed for a moment” and “about to undergo transformation” we enter “the realm of formation and transformation, of development on the different levels of ontogeny (development of the single individual) and phylogeny (development of the ancestral group, evolution).” “In this way,” Suchantke states emphatically, “the archetype comes to be under-stood as the initiator of evolution, which is as much as to say as evolution itself.”

This is important enough to repeat in different words:

“The archetype may thus be construed as the prime source of evolutionary impulses and at the same time, the inner line, or, rather, the time-gestalt of the whole of evolution, revealing facets of itself in the various species, genera, and families of organisms. Its full compass is only to be revealed through con-templation of the whole or through the fact that at every stage of evolution it inclines towards polarization and ultimately toward clear, tri-structured order.”

The Nature Institute may be the only scientific research insti-tute in North America dedicated to developing and practicing a scientific methodology that can gain insight into living, organic nature. The Institute is entering a new phase in its growth and development at a time when the limitations of modern science and technology in this regard are becoming increasingly clear. John Barnes writes us that “the excellent research and educa-tional courses occurring there are laying the groundwork for a further development in science that will lead to a far deeper, more living, and mutually healing relationship with nature.”

Recently The Nature Institute joined Think OutWord to spon-sor a new category of the Credere grants, Goethean phenom-enology. The 2010 application deadline is past, but donations to fund grants are always welcome, at thinkoutword.org/grants.html.

Another Institute project, nontarget.org, collects reports on “unintended effects of genetic manipulation.”

Much of the public debate concerning genetically modified organisms, their widespread use in animal and human food, and their impact upon the environ-ment could be raised to an entirely new and more productive level if certain undisputed facts were more widely known. The facts at issue have to do with the unintended and systemic consequences of genetic manipulations, as revealed in one research report after

another. Putting the matter plainly: when foreign genes are introduced into an organism, creating a transgenic organism [GMO or GenTech organisms], the results for the organism and its environment are almost always unpredictable. The intended result may or may not be achieved in any given case, but the one almost sure thing is that unintended results—nontarget effects—will also be achieved. These facts have been, and are being, widely reported in the scientific literature. While they are correcting our understanding in important ways, they are not at all controversial. And they bear directly upon the wisdom of virtually all the current genetic engineering practices.

If there has been limited reportage of unintended effects in the popular press, it may be because the facts are often buried in technical scientific articles. And within genetic engineering research itself, scientists are mainly concerned with achiev-

ing targeted effects and not with investigating beyond the range of their own intentions and reporting unexpected

effects. But when they do investigate, there is usually plenty to see. It is the purpose of this project to make

evidence about the wide-ranging and never wholly predictable effects of genetic engineering readily ac-

cessible to concerned citizens, policy makers, and scientists... [Emphasis added.]

Along with the searchable short reports, natureinstitute.org has a major collection of longer articles covering the whole field.

The Nature Institute: a Center of Excellence in Holistic Research

26 Evolving News

Research–a special sectionIt seems to me that chapter 9 is the fulcrum of the book, the

point at which the final intent becomes clear:

The environment is internalized, and that which later on lights up as the inner content of consciousness is the inside, or spiritual content of nature, internalized and raised to the level of con-sciousness. Internalization of the external world, steady gain in inner richness and complexity—this is the leitmotiv in the evolution of deuterostomes, the line in the animal kingdom that leads to the human being.

Two further chapters deal with the evolutionary processes of the endo- (inner) skeleton, characteristic of vertebrates, and the exo- (outer) skeleton of the insect world, and finally bring us to the embodiment of the archetype in the human being, in whom evolution “has not only expressed itself in the physical form of a single species, but at the same time has become conscious of itself.”

Evolution does not stop here, however. The capacities of consciousness can be intensified but “there is a vast discrep-ancy between what we actually achieve and the goals we aspire to, goals which should in principle have been attainable. This is a feeling that can arise in connection with any activity: it could have been better, we should really do it again more thoroughly! The importance of this experience cannot be overestimated be-cause it induces the future and is an expression of the develop-mental potential of the Self, probably its most important attribute.

All this only makes sense… if the Self, as the bearer of this developmental resolve, has the possibility of further existence beyond its present life; if, indeed, what it has begun in this life can be carried on in subsequent ones…. The continuity of the individual spirit through a series of physical incarnations is the precondition for the quantum leap from biological to mental/spiritual evolution.

This is how Suchantke ends his book, and some readers may feel that although the evolution of hu-man consciousness has been in his crosshairs from the beginning, his conclusion is rather brief and facile. If, however, we say that the further development of the human soul and spirit is a subject that demands another whole book, we must recognize that other whole books have already been written, notably by Rudolf Steiner, whose intimations about the future of this incarnation of our planet make rather uncomfortable reading. This is not surprising since any realistic survey of the past has the same effect.

•Metamorphosis will undoubtedly be both a comfort and a

challenge to students of anthroposophy, and may well be a source of inspiration to people who have never heard of Rudolf Steiner. Whether it will have any influence within the scientific community is a different question, one of the problems being the rather partisan tone that the author adopts in speaking of Darwin, his supporters, and modern biological science. Speak-ing of the idea of the struggle for existence, Suchantke says, “It

is often forgotten that this idea was no hard-won conclusion of Darwin’s, but was lifted from a completely different realm of discourse and applied to Nature. He adopted it from Thomas Malthus, whose book An Essay on the Principle of Population at-tempted to address the effect of world-wide population growth.” This is rather like saying that Niels Bohr filched the idea of quanta from Max Planck and applied it in a different context. Darwin never made any secret of his indebtedness to many of his predecessors, including Malthus, and it’s worth noting that Loren Eiseley, in his masterly Darwin’s Century, puts the mat-ter much more fairly, seeing the gradual evolution of Darwin’s ideas as a process—dare I say, as a time-gestalt—rather than suggesting that he simply plucked a ripe fruit from someone else’s tree. There are more examples of this tendency. Although T. H. Huxley may be “notorious” among anthroposophists and creationists, in other circles “famous” would seem more appro-priate—but this is something that could easily be corrected and there is another far deeper problem that is simply in the nature of the enterprise.

Suchantke goes to great lengths to characterize the arche-type and its all-pervasive functioning, but it remains a concept that is very hard to get hold of, partly because, like Proteus, it is always changing its form and partly, perhaps, because it isn’t a concept. Proteus had been given the gift of prophecy, but on being questioned he assumed different shapes and eluded his questioners. The archetype does not merely “know” the future; it brings all kinds of different futures about in constantly changing ways and we may well be excused for feeling that we still don’t know what it “really” is. We see what it achieves, but something in us wants to know how it works and where it comes from. These may be unanswerable or even meaningless questions, but we can’t help asking them, and it may be helpful to look at evolution from a different angle, for which the study of Steiner’s Outline of Esoteric Science would be a good starting point. How does Suchantke’s description of the organic develop-ment of a vehicle for human consciousness relate to Steiner’s account of the work of the hierarchies, in which the human being has been present from the very beginning? And if we want to know what the driving force for evolution is, we could profit-ably study The Driving Force of Spiritual Powers in World History, a course which, among many other things, gives the clue to the emergence of the archetype in the form it took in the Middle Ages.

As Suchantke indicates, the very idea of the archetype is likely to promote an acute negative reaction on the part of a modern biologist, even when it is given a new context and a new understanding, and it will take either a catastrophe or a long evolutionary process to change this situation. Nevertheless, Metamorphosis has the ring of truth and will amply repay the contemplative reader.

Keith Francis majored in physics at Cambridge University and worked as an engineer at Bristol Aircraft before joining the teach-ing profession. He was on the faculty of the Rudolf Steiner School in NY for 31 years as a teacher of physics, chemistry, mathematics, earth science, English and music. Since his retirement he has writ-ten several novels and a history of atomic science.

59Research Issue 2010

Review of Where on Earth is Heaven? cont. from p.6

others, including anthroposophists like Edmunds, John Davy, Owen Barfield, Karl Koenig, James Dyson, and Rudolf Meyer. Mr. Stedall is nothing if not eclectic—he takes his wisdom, purpose, and meaning where he finds them. And after his long journey, he refuses to “fall into the trap of suddenly trying to make every-thing comprehensible.”

But Mr. Stedall’s journey has not been without order and progress. In his conclusion, he is firm and confident in his dismissal of militant atheists and acolytes of the random such as Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens. He believes that there are no limits to knowledge—one horizon always follows the next. As for the question that engendered the book—“Where on Earth is heaven?”—the answer is clear to him. Heaven is a possibility that can become a reality, not as some “thing in itself” only derivatively knowable, but here on Earth, “amidst all the obstacles through which we learn and grow.”

Where on Earth is Heaven? Reviewed by Signe Schaefer

Jonathan Stedall’s Where on Earth is Heaven? is a big book—in size and even more in the breadth of its imagination. I hope no one will be put off by its length; for from the opening of its title question, asked many years ago by the author’s young son, the reader is invited on an extraordinary journey through the 20th century and beyond. This is a cultural and spiritual journey, accompanying a man finding himself through following his ques-tions and honoring what he calls the “awakeners” along his way. The details of the author’s life are never the point of his writing; this is more an inner memoir, a record of the legacy he has received from literature, art, psy-chology, natural science, philosophy, anthro-posophy, and most of all from other people. It is the story of a life lived deeply and caringly; and its telling is, in a way, a call to us all.

For me that call felt quite personal, an invita-tion from a friend to consider with him the searching and the influences, the questions and the gratitudes of a lifetime. I have known Jonathan since the Spring Valley International Youth Conference in 1970, and I had the good fortune to see him often when my family lived in England through most of the 1970’s. His keen intelligence, his warm heart, and his ever-ready wit permeate this rich book.

Throughout his long career as a documentary filmmaker Jonathan had the opportunity to interview many remarkable individualities of our times: the writer Laurens van der Post, poets John Betjeman and Ben Okri, novelist Alexander Solzen-hitsyn, physicist Fritjof Capra, and economist E.F. Schumacher to name a few. During his many years with the BBC, he also directed films on Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi, and Carl Gustav Jung. Now he brings these people, and many others, into his book, inviting us along on his different projects and introduc-ing us to those he felt privileged to come to know. With deep respect he explores the varieties of thought and creativity that have shaped our modern consciousness. But Jonathan’s wide in-terest is not limited to the famous and influential. He also shares

stories of the wounded and vulnerable, and of everyday people doing quiet, often unnoticed good work.

Since his youth Jonathan kept a notebook in which he jotted down questions or insights that occurred to him, quotations from his reading or poems that moved him. The book is rich with these mementos of his meandering intellect and heart. At times it feels almost like an anthology of treasured references. Again and again we meet the writers who played a significant role in his inner journey, thinkers like Ralph Waldo Emerson, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, C.G. Jung, and Rudolf Steiner. We fol-low the evolution of his thinking as it is challenged and inspired, as his life experiences evoke ever deeper questions about life and death, and as his searching takes him around the world and also approaches invisible realms.

Rudolf Steiner plays a central role in Jonathan’s quest and in the book. We meet Steiner the man, his teachings, and the results of his spiritual research. In clear and approachable language Jonathan presents complex ideas such as the four-fold human being, reincarnation and karma, life phases, the Christ being, the evolution of consciousness, and Waldorf education, to name only some of the areas he addresses. He has had his argu-ments with Steiner which he expresses, but also allows to evolve over the years. His quest is ongoing, and his gratitude is enor-mous. He is deeply motivated by a certainty that people today need to meet real ideas and real pictures of what it means to be a human being. Committed as he is to speaking the language of everyday and avoiding exclusive terminology of any kind, it must also be said that he is an elegant and inspiring writer.

Early in his career Jonathan met the work of the Camphill movement, and the profound effect of his meetings with both co-workers and villagers is movingly invoked in the book. In

1968 his film In Need of Special Care won a British Film Academy Award. This was followed over the years by other films about Camphill and also about Waldorf education. It is excit-ing news that he is now preparing to film The Challenge of Rudolf Steiner. His experience documenting other great world leaders and his lifelong work with anthroposophy make him singularly qualified to direct this film, and we can await it with great anticipation.

As a closing to this review, I would like to mention that my husband and I read Where on Earth is Heaven? aloud, over the course

of many weeks. We looked forward to this part of our evening when we would open that big book and enter into this story of our times. Inevitably our reading would spark rich conversa-tions and reflections about our own lives. If you like to read with others—one or a group—this book is a great choice. It seems somehow appropriate to share it with others, because in a way the book itself is a testament to the importance of relationships and to the enduring reality of what lives between people, even beyond death. It is all about making connections—with others, with ideas, with history and the times we live in, with nature, and with the spirit. Finally, whether one reads it with others or alone, this is a book that will nourish and inspire.

Signe Schaefer was for many years Director of Foundation Studies at Sunbridge College. She founded and continues to direct a part-time program in Biography and Social Art. She has had a life-long interest in questions of human development.

62 Evolving News

she says, “one should learn to become older every day con-sciously….” “Steiner places two extreme geriatric pictures before us: a sage working out of heart forces and a person who has ri-gidified into a ‘mummy’ through their life routine.”

Anthroposophy—Medicine

Compendium for the Remedi-al Treatment of Children, Ado-lescents and Adults in Need of Soul Care. Experiences and In-dications from Anthroposophic Therapy, Bertram von Zabern, M.D., compiler, Mercury Press, 2009, 167 pgs.

Originally compiled in 1972 and published by Weleda, this work is now available in Eng-lish for the first time. Various syndromes are presented with lists of suggested remedial indications. Rudolf Steiner’s sug-gestions are the keystone; other experienced anthroposophical doctors also contribute. The editor stresses that this book is meant to be used as working ma-terial and stimulus for therapists and doctors who are active in anthroposophic medicine. The therapies mentioned should be used in close collaboration with a supervising physician.

Anthroposophy—Nutrition

Cosmos, Earth, and Nutrition: The Biodynamic Approach to Agriculture, Richard Thornton Smith, Rudolf Steiner Press, 2009, 304 pgs.

Biodynamic agriculture is a unique development of the organic approach that does not focus only on agricultural tech-niques. A whole new way to think about farming, nutrition, and the world of nature, biodynamics allows revitalized relationships with the living soil, the elemental world, and the cosmos. Originat-ing from a series of eight lectures by Rudolf Steiner in 1924, bio-dynamic methods broaden the outlook of agriculture and the science behind it, leading to a holistic perspective that incorpo-rates astronomical rhythms and unique preparations for plants and earth.

New Members of the Anthroposophical Society in America

As recorded by the society from 2/23/2010 through 9/17/2010

Paula Alkaitis, New York NYAlicia Allen, Santa Fe NMMary Baenen, Sandpoint IDEdward Balmuth, Granbury TXKristin C. Barton, Hillsdale NYVictoria Basarabescu,

Houston TXLinda Bestor, Sturtevant WIRebecca Bissonnette,

Hudson NYHermina Booysen,

Glenmoore PACarolyn Briglia, Wilton NHTom Brunzell, New York NYKimberly A. Carr, Easton CTFrancisco Cavazos, Tomball TXEllen Cimino, Decatur GAMark Vincent Collins,

Friendswood TXKim Couder, Soquel CASusan Crozier, Wadsworth OHKristin E. Dalton, Ghent NYCanyon Darcy, Austin TXFrancesco De Benedetto,

Fair Oaks CACatherine H. Decker,

Chatham NYJennifer Dye, San Rafael CADanielle Epifani, Berkeley CAJohn K. Fallon, Delmar NYJohn M. Finale, Brooklyn NY

Janine Fron, Huntley ILRichard Frost, Alfred MELaura Gabelsberg, Tucson AZAmy Garnsey,

Boynton Beach FLHazel Archer Ginsberg,

Chicago ILMahalath Gordon, Medford ORMichael Gratsch,

Grosse Pointe MIPaul M. Helfrich, Castaic CAAngelica G. Hesse, Portland ORDoug Horner, Lafayette CAGene Hutloff, Phoenix AZLaura Iturralde, Houston TXLouis Kauffman, Chicago ILKay Kinderman, Glenmoore PASylvia Lagergren,

Johnson City TNKarin Layher, Saint Louis MOMargaret Leary, Culpeper VAAshley Shea Legg, Philmont NYJulianna Lichatz,

Carbondale CODaniel Lips, Hauppauge NYJolie Hanna Luba, Decatur GAJessica Mansbach,

Spring Valley NYAnna V. Masters, La Mesa CATodd Matuszewicz, Denver COMelanie Maupin, Chapel Hill NC

Matthew Messner, Charlottesville VA

Rick Mitchell, Lawrence KSMegan Neale, Inverness CACaroline Nguyen,

San Francisco CAJoseph Papas, Copake NYEmilie Papas, Copake NYVicki Petersen, Phoenix AZNattapat Phinittanont,

Glenmoore PAPatricia A. Robertson-Russell,

Miami FLAnthony W. Roemer,

Martinez CACarl St.Goar, Chattanooga TNSusan Stern, Fair Oaks CAAnouk Tompot, Seattle WAMaria Celina Trzepacz,

Clifton NJJulia Van Vliet, Chicago ILForrest Ann Walsh, Tempe AZCasey Warner, Kirkwood MOMary Wildfeuer, Kimberton PABenjamin A. Wilson,

Marengo ILKarl Wilson, Copake NYLiz Woodlock, Leesburg VALucy Wurtz, Portola Valley CA

Library Annotations, from p.5

Jonas, librarian at the Rudolf Steiner Library in London, places Steiner’s view of astrology in a historical, cultural, and philo-sophical context.

Biography: Freedom and Destiny. Enlightening the Path of Human Life, translated by Pauline Wehrle, Rudolf Steiner Press, 2009, 264 pgs. Includes notes and a bibliography.

Rudolf Steiner shows here that every biography—regardless of one’s place in life or a person’s perceived importance or suc-cess—is ruled by archetypal influences, patterns and laws. He describes the human individual-ity as a being with a continuing existence, both before birth

and beyond death. Our eternal being experiences a myriad of conditions and situations, the ef-fects of which may be observed in one’s biography. This book addresses these and other issues such as freedom and destiny, the effects of heredity, illness, and the impact of education, among others.

Eurythmy Therapy: Eight Lectures Given in Dornach, Switzerland, between 12 and 18 April 1921 and in Stuttgart, Germany, on 28 October 1922, translated by Alan Stott, Rudolf Steiner Press, 2009, 159 pgs.

This new translation of Cura-tive Eurythmy is based on the thoroughly revised German edi-tion of 2003 and includes a new appendix with reminiscences by

early eurythmists, as well as re-vised and expanded notes based on those prepared for the 2003 German edition by Dr. Walter Kugler, director of the Rudolf Steiner Archives in Dornach, Switzerland.

Getting Old: Excerpts from Ru-dolf Steiner’s Complete Works, Gisela Gaumnitz, compiler, Mercury Press, 2009, 289 pgs.

Originally published in Ger-man in 1987, this new transla-tion features an introduction by Gisela Gaumnitz, a coworker at Johanneshaus Öschelbronn, an anthroposophical senior resi-dential community in Germany. Gaumnitz emphasizes her hope that readers will be inspired to read Steiner’s lectures in full after “tasting” the excerpts she has selected. “After [age] 35,”

63Research Issue 2010

developed by Alice Bailey, while part 3 considers the relationship between Eastern and Western spiritual masters and the eso-teric streams they represent.

Studies in the Gospels, vol. 1, Emil Bock, edited by Tony Jacobs Brown, translated by Val Jones, Floris Books, 2010, 448 pgs.

How we welcome the publica-tion of this much-in-demand work by Emil Bock! The library has long circulated the contents of this volume in the form of ancient typescripts, and it was anyone’s guess how much longer they would last.

Bringing his broad knowledge of the history of the Gospels and their time together with his deep anthroposophical insights, Bock, one of the first priests in The Christian Community, offers fresh views of familiar stories in the New Testament.

Volume 1 looks in particular at the relationship of the New Testament to the Old, as well as discussing Matthew and the Sermon on the Mount, Judas, and Peter. He concludes with a chapter on Simon of Cyrene and Joseph of Arimathea.

Richard Thornton Smith de-scribes the foundations on which biodynamics as well as the more general organic movement are based. He builds bridges between mainstream science and Steiner’s insights, making it easier for the broader organic and ecological movement to approach biodynamic concepts and practice.

The Waldorf Book of Breads, collected by Marsha Post, illus-trated by Jo Valens, edited and introduced by Winslow Eliot, SteinerBooks, 2009, 57 pgs.

“All four elements that are essential to life are inherent in [a] single loaf of bread.” This book includes breads for the daily table as well as specialty breads for the seasons and fes-tive occasions. There are recipes for wheat, spelt, corn, and rye breads, and for honey-salt bread, “a new bread for our time.”

Anthroposophy—Waldorf Education

Dyslexia: Learning Disorder or Creative Gift?, Cornelia Jantzen, Floris Books, 2008, 248 pgs.

Dyslexia has long been known as a learning difficulty that primarily affects literacy skills. Increasingly, however, research-ers and professionals working with dyslexia suggest that it is less a disorder than a sign of spe-cially gifted persons. They often have above average intelligence and are highly creative, provided they are supported and nurtured by parents and teachers.

In this book Cornelia Jantzen explores the basis of this radical viewpoint. Throughout, she pro-vides many practical examples that explore various aspects of dyslexia, giving parents and teachers greater confidence when dealing with the challenges that dyslexia presents.

The author is a consultant on dyslexia in Hamburg and is the mother of two dyslexic children. Her interest in a new approach is based on her study of the Davis method, Waldorf education, and a broad overview of current practices.

Lessons for Middle School Issues. Classroom Lessons Supporting the Development of Life Skills, Self Knowledge and Social Grace for 13 and 14 Year Olds, Grades 8–9, Linda E. Knodle, Coming of Age Press, 2008 [2009], 116 pgs.

Linda Knodle, a Waldorf teacher from the Seattle area, continues the pioneering work of Tamara Slayton to create a contemporary life skills curricu-lum for middle school students that reflects an anthroposophi-cal understanding of the human being.

Darwin (and More), David Mitchell, editor and compiler, AWSNA, February 2010, 107 pgs.

This is the 14th volume in the Waldorf Journal Project series. These publications feature es-says, articles, and specialized studies from around the world, translated into English for the first time. This issue, inspired by the recent Darwin bicentennial, centers around three substan-tial articles on the theme by biologist Wolfgang Schad. Other contents discuss school gover-nance; Goethean observation in literature lessons; anthroposo-phy and modern brain research; ecology study in the 11th grade; and several articles on the per-forming arts. These journals are always filled with rich, contem-porary ideas.

A Day Full of Song: Work Songs from a Waldorf Kinder-garten, Karen Lonsky, illustrat-ed by Victoria Sander, WECAN, February 2009, 64 pgs.

Subtitled “Forty-two Original Songs in the Mood of the Fifth,” this collection by a veteran early-childhood teacher offers songs to accompany children as they work in the kindergarten: grind-ing grain, baking bread, cleaning, building, shoveling. The author states that songs can facilitate children’s movements by creat-ing form around them. “To learn to work with joy as a young child is a true gift for the adult that he or she will one day become.” Teachers and parents will be glad to add these new songs to

their repertoires. There is also a companion CD available for this collection.

Four Electronic Books 2009, Research Institute for Waldorf Education and the Waldorf Cur-riculum Fund, AWSNA, 2009.

Something new! AWSNA has just released a compact disc with the contents of three seminal classics for teachers: Karl Koe-nig’s For Teachers: Conferences and Seminars on Arithmetic [31st January–2nd February 1964]; For Teachers: Conferences and Semi-nars on Reading and Writing; and Embryology and World Evolution; and Dieter Brüll’s “attempt to penetrate to the heart of social life,” originally published in German in 1995, Creating Social Sacraments.

Esoteric Christianity

The East in the Light of the West, Parts 1–3, Sergei O. Prokofieff, Temple Lodge, 2010, 552 pgs.

Previously available only in German as three separate books, with just an early version of part 1 published in English, this trans-lation has been long awaited. The work comprises a compre-hensive study of Eastern and Western esoteric streams and the occult powers behind them. In part 1, Prokofieff discusses the spiritual movement of Agni Yoga presented to the world by Helena Roerich and her husband, the painter Nicolas Roerich. Part 2 focuses on the teachings