Editorial
Rudolf Steiner’s work and the life of the Anthroposophical Society have been widely taken to heart around the world as the one trustworthy source to nurture the health of the individual and of the Earth; to challenge rampant materialism and its abuse of technology; to foster positive human relationships. There is not the slightest question of the good that is being achieved and to these committed people I offer the warmest greetings in greatest respect. There are others, often vociferous, who continue to attack Rudolf Steiner, spiritual science and anthroposophy on various grounds: he was unscientific, racist, sexist, stuck in the past. To these I will say that their studies have been too shallow or that they refuse a loaf of bread offered to the hungry because it is the wrong shape.
Occupying the middle ground, it might be pleasant to say that major issues can be side-stepped, and the focus of attention should be on historical research and biographies. Much of value can be learned here but there is the risk of prioritising written records: not a great deal is learned in this way about Shakespeare, although the discoveries have been valid and interesting. It may be said, too, that such intellectual beavering has often been accompanied by a fondness for relativism. Here the life and work of Rudolf Steiner discreetly slips into an aloof survey of ‘divergent’ or even ‘deviant’ world-views, thereby meeting the formal requirements of an academic paper.
To a large extent contrary to the tolerant study of divergent societies, it has to be added that the last one hundred years has witnessed the unsavoury and fruitless criticism of Rudolf Steiner by the established western churches. There can be, it is demonstrated, no rapprochement between anthroposophy and the Bible, Creeds and Church Councils. This has been a sad spectacle, as though a box of oranges condemns the lemon who claims that they are all fruit after all.
However, the ecclesiastical critics of the last century unintentionally served a vital role. Once it was abundantly clear that church Christianity had little in common with Rudolf Steiner, it could become more understandable that we had to do with a renewed Temple Christianity that had historical forebears in the Rosicrucians and high-grade Freemasonry. Certainly this was clear to those who had ears to hear as soon as Steiner lectured and wrote about the rising temple depicted in Goethe’s tale widely known as ‘The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily’, but such masonic traditions remained little known and appreciated outside the lodges and chapters until the 1980’s.
These are now becoming much better understood and valued highly as varied expressions of how ‘to guide the Spiritual in the human being to the Spiritual in the universe.’ (R. Steiner, Anthroposophical Leading Thoughts, 1.)
Farther In aims to offer a forum for relevant research and the translation of older sources, accompanied by a broad swathe of articles and books on related subjects. Rudolf Steiner is indeed the focus of our independent studies, but this does not mean that he is promoted or idolised. He is recognised as a master architect of a new order.
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