The Christian Mystery
GA 97
12 January 1907, Leipzig
XXX. Education—the Spiritual Scientific Point of View
When the theosophical movement was created three decades ago, the leaders' concern was not to introduce a new teaching that would meet a thirst for knowledge but above all to make a spiritual insight available to more people that would show how it is possible to solve important problems in practical life with the help of spiritual perceptions. One of the problem areas where we can see how the science of the spirit can play a role in practical life is the subject of this lecture, the question of education.
Proper consideration of this needs more intimate knowledge of essential human nature. Such knowledge also concerns the supersensible nature of man, yielding fundamental educational principles for anyone who takes the matter seriously. We must therefore first of all consider the essential nature of the human being. Such an enquiry will give us the basis we need for finding answers to the education problem.
In the science of the spirit, anything we perceive of the human being with the ordinary senses is but one part of the whole. This physical body, physical nature, is something man has in common with the rest of the natural world. Using the eye of the spirit, occult science perceives the ether or life body to be the second part of the human being. This organism is more subtle than the physical body, but all its organs and parts are the same as in the physical body. It would perhaps be better to see it as a sum of energy currents, as the architect of the physical body, with the latter crystallized out of the ether body, as it were. Just as ice develops when water cools down, so has the physical body developed out of the ether body. Man has his ether or life body in common with all forms of life.
The third part of the essential human being is the astral body, vehicle for all lower and higher soul qualities, of pleasure and pain, joys and sorrows, and all will impulses. Man has this third body, which may be perceived by those who have developed higher organs of perception, in common with the whole animal world. It surrounds the human being as a kind of cloud that passes through both the physical and the ether body. The astral body is in continual motion, reflecting everything that goes on in the human being. But just as the physical body is connected with and dependent on the whole earth through its physical substances, so is the astral body connected with the whole world of stars that surrounds the earth. All the forces which essentially determine the destiny and character of the human being are connected with that world.
A thinker of more recent times, Goethe, saw deeply into the connections between the natural world and the spiritual human being in his connection with the cosmos and wrote:
As on the day that gave you to this world
The sun stood to the salute of the planets,
So you have flourished then and ever after
According to the law that govern'd your beginning.
Thus you shall be, unable to escape your self,
As sibyls once have said and prophets;
And neither time nor power will break down
Form that was given and in life develops.212Goethe. Urworte. Orphisch.
The third part of essential human nature is thus called the astral body because of its connection with the world of stars.
The fourth part is something human beings do not have in common with the rest of creation. It is the part that gives human beings the power to call themselves ‘I’. ‘I’ is the mysterious word everyone can apply only to himself. In it, the soul gives expression to the original spark of the divine within it. With the I, the god in man begins to speak. In the occult schools of ancient Judaism, the I was called the name of god that must not be spoken, and the multitude would feel a shiver of profound veneration when the initiate spoke the name which those outside were not allowed to say: Yahweh—I am the I am.
These four parts make up the fourfold human nature that exists in every human being. It develops from childhood to adulthood but in a thoroughly differentiated way, and we must therefore consider each on its own.
The embryo holds the potential for everything, but development is different in each case. Human beings cannot develop without an environment and are only able to thrive if other spirits and elements of the cosmos are around them. The process which occurs when the physical body is born is later repeated, for it is not yet the whole human being who is born at that time. Just as the developing embryo is protectively held within the physical material organism, so is the human being surrounded by a spiritual organism after his physical birth, an organism that is part of the whole spirit world. The child has a protective ether form and a protective astral form around it and rests in these, as the embryo does in his mother's womb.
In the seventh year of life, at about the time when the second teeth emerge, an enveloping ether form separates from the ether body, just as at physical birth the maternal organism separates from the child's physical body. The child is thus gradually born a second time, this time etherically. The third body, the astral body, continues to be surrounded by a protective astral form. This envelops the human being until sexual maturity is reached, up to the 14th or 15th year, and then withdraws. The human being is thus born for the third time when his astral birth takes place.
This triple birth process shows that we must consider each of the bodies separately, for only the first of them, the physical body, becomes free in every newborn child. And just as it is impossible to bring external light to the child in the womb, so we should avoid letting external influences reach the ether body from outside before it has come free of its protective envelope. Influences should not reach the ether body before the changing of the teeth, nor the astral body before sexual maturity is reached. Up to the seventh year of life we can only educate the human being in the right way by influencing him in his physical aspect. Just as the care given to the mother is intimately bound up with the well-being of the embryo, so we have to respect the inviolability and sacredness of the child's protective ether envelope if the child is to develop and thrive. Up to the changing of the teeth, only the physical body is open to external influences and only the physical body can therefore be educated. If we bring anything external to the child's ether body, we commit a sin against it. The human ether body is the bearer of everything that has lasting nature—habits, character, conscience, memory, temperaments. The astral body relates to the ability to form opinions, using reason to judge the surrounding world. Just as the child's external senses should develop up to the seventh year, so his habits, memory, temperament and so on are let go free by the 14th year, and then, by the 20th, 21st year, critical reasoning, an independent relationship to the surrounding world.
In the science of the spirit we thus have quite definite rules for educating children in these different stages of life. Care of everything connected with the physical body is what counts up to the 7th year. This includes harmonious development of the organs by influencing the child's senses. The physical body is what matters, therefore, and needs to be educated. We do this by offering everything to the child that encourages development through the senses. Aristotle said: ‘Man is the most imitative of all creatures.’ The child is thus an imitator, everything is for him under the sign of imitating things he hears and sees. Dictates and prohibitions carry little weight at this age. The greatest significance attaches to example, and this is how the environment must awaken the child's senses. What matters is the way we are, and adults must carefully observe everything they do and do not do. They should not do anything the child would not be allowed to imitate, for the child believes everything it sees to be something it is allowed to imitate. Thus a good-natured child surprised his parents by taking money from a cash box. They were horrified and thought the child was going to be a thief. But when they asked some questions they found that he had simply copied something he had seen his parents do every day. Up to the changing of the teeth, education consists in being an example to be imitated. Because of this, anyone bringing up a child must be in every respect an example to the child up to his 7th year. It would also be wrong to make the child learn the significance of letters up to that age. A child can merely copy their shapes, for the power to grasp their significance belongs to the ether body.
In these years, when the organs of the child should develop and the foundations are laid for health, everything that happens around the child in moral terms is also most important. It is far from immaterial if the child sees pain and sorrow or joy and pleasures in his world, for joy and pleasures lay sound foundations in the physical body. Everything around the child should breathe pleasure and joy, and those bringing him up should make it their concern to create them, even in the colour of clothes, wall paper and objects. Careful attention must be paid to the child's individual nature. A child tending to be serious and quiet should have darker, bluish, greenish colours around him, a quick, lively child more yellows and reds, for this evokes the ability in the senses to produce the counter colours. The organs that are developing should thus be made to evolve their inner powers. This is also why children should not be given finished toys such as boxes of bricks, dolls, and so on. Every child prefers a doll he has made himself from a boot jack or an old serviette to dressed up ladies made of wax. Why is that so? Because this brings the imagination alive, fantasy is used and the internal organs begin to function to give the child pleasure and joy. See how lively and interested such a child is in his play, entering into the images created in his fantasy with heart and soul. And think of the slouching, bored child whose inner senses are not brought alive. A child knows very well what is good and what is harmful for him. His relationship to the outside world is such that he'll reject anything that is not good for his physical body, for example his stomach, and show desire for the things that suit his stomach. And it would be foolish to go against the healthy desires that help the child develop and force the child to eat foods, for instance, that will drive out his natural instincts. The least suggestion of asceticism serves to eradicate the child's natural health.
Towards the 7th year, as the second teeth are gradually emerging, the protective ether forms around the ether body fall away and now the teacher must bring in everything that develops the ether body and influences it so that it evolves. But the teacher must still be careful not to put too much emphasis on developing the mind and the intellect. During this period, between the 7th and 12th years, what matters most is authority, belief, trust, respect. Something that is most important for the whole of later development in life is that the child should have known many moments like the following. He looks up with some degree of holy awe to someone he respects, feeling a reverence in his inmost heart that will make it impossible for him to think of criticizing or opposing that person. So there he stands one day outside the respected person's door in reverential awe, hesitating to turn the door handle and enter the room which to him his sacred ground. Such moments of reverence give strength for later life, and it is of tremendous importance that the teacher himself is an authority for the child. The people around the child, people he sees and hears, should be his ideals. Every child should choose a hero from history and literature, someone he looks up to with admiration and respect. It is utterly wrong for people with materialistic views to say that they are against all authority and have no regard for feelings of devotion and veneration.
It is important to train memory at this time, something best done in a wholly mechanical way. They should not use calculators but learn numbers and poems and so on, to develop their powers of memory. In earlier times children were brought up very sensibly in this respect. The good old nursery rhymes and children's songs, where it was not the intellectual meaning that mattered but the awakening of an immediate inner response, seem meaningless today because people no longer have a feeling for them. But they hold profound meaning. When they were sung for the children, it was the combination of sounds and harmony that mattered for the child's ear, hence the often meaningless rhymes.
Anyone who has not received a good foundation in character, memory and so on between the ages of 7 and 14 has been wrongly brought up. The right way of education at this age is through authority. The child intuits something in the inmost nature of the individual who is an authority for him, and this develops his conscience, his character and even his temperaments and becomes a permanent disposition in him.
Parable and allegory also shape the ether body in these years, anything that shows the world in parables. Hence the blessing of fairy tale books in our time and the stories about great people and heroes in legend and history.
Gymnastics are also important, for they give the child a feeling of strength, health and joy in life, thus helping to develop his organs just as much as joy and pleasure do. But at the present time physical education is very badly taught. The teacher should not look at his pupils with an anatomist's eye but consider what kind of physical movement would give the child's soul a feeling of greater strength and let him enjoy his body. A teacher must intuitively think his way into the child's feeling soul and design every exercise in such a way that it will give a feeling of growing strength.
Any work of art has a great influence that goes right into the ether body and astral body. Because of this, genuine, true art must enter into the ether body. Thus good vocal and instrumental music is very important, and the children should see many things around them that are beautiful.
Nothing, however, can take the place of religion lessons. The images of things beyond the world of the senses leave a deep impression in the ether body. Children should not hear criticism and learn to judge a particular confession but be given images from the world of infinity. All religious ideas must be images; a parable has a strong influence on the ether body. The greatest care must be taken to teach the children out of the sphere of life.
Today, children's minds and spirits are much involved in dead things. Mobile picture books will help to counteract this in the first seven years of life, for example. Everything should be action, deed, life; this enlivens mind and spirit and makes inwardly mobile. Children should therefore not build with building bricks and play with finished things; they must learn to let something that lives come forth from something that is not living.
Much dies in the child's developing brain with dead activities such as woven or plaited work. Much potential will remain undeveloped because of this. Toys without life in them will also fail to develop belief in the sphere of life. A deep connection therefore exists between the way children are brought up and the lack of faith that exists in our age.
When sexual maturity is reached, the protective astral envelopes drop away. As a feeling for the other sex develops, personal powers of judgement emerge. From then on we can appeal to their yes and no, the critical intellect. Powers of judgement only develop from the 12th year onwards, but the process needs quite some time. Critics aged 19 or 20 cannot possibly judge an issue properly. It is extremely important who will be the young person's teacher at this time, to guide his desire to learn and his urge for freedom in the right direction.
These principles, the fruit of spiritual research, are of the greatest importance for the healthy further development of the human race. Theosophy may use them to intervene in the most important processes in human life in a practical way. This spiritual view of the world thus offers the educator an abundance of insights, which are needed to solve the riddle of the developing young person. The science of the spirit is intended not only to convince and teach; it is meant to do things, to act, to have an effect in everyday life. It it meant to prove its value, becoming part of everyday practice and making life healthy in both body and mind. Theosophy is a truth that is not only correct but also healthy. We can best serve humanity and give it social and other powers if we are able to let these powers come from the growing individual. The growing, developing human being is one of the greatest riddles in life, and to be a proper educator you must be a solver of riddles in taking a practical approach to the education of the developing human being.
Geisteswissenschaftliche Gesichtspunkte zur Erziehungsfrage
Als vor drei Jahrzehnten die theosophische Bewegung begründet wurde, handelte es sich von seiten der führenden Persönlichkeiten nicht darum, eine neue Lehre einzuführen, wodurch die Wißbegierde befriedigt würde, sondern vor allem darum, weiteren Kreisen eine geistige Einsicht zugänglich zu machen, durch die man die wichtigen Fragen des praktischen Lebens mit Hilfe geistiger Erkenntnisse lösen kann. Eine von diesen Fragen, an denen sich zeigt, wie die Geisteswissenschaft in das praktische Leben eingreift, bildet auch das Thema dieses Vortrages, die Erziehungsfrage.
Die Erziehungsfrage kann nur richtig im Zusammenhang mit der intimeren Kenntnis der menschlichen Wesenheit behandelt werden. Durch die Menschenerkenntnis, die in des Menschen übersinnliches Wesen eindringt, ergeben sich jedem, der es mit dieser Frage ernst nimmt, grundlegende Erziehungsprinzipien. Zu diesem Zwecke müssen wir von einer Betrachtung des Wesens des Menschen ausgehen. Die Frage nach dem Wesen des Menschen liefert die Grundgedanken zur Beantwortung der Erziehungsfragen.
Was die außeren Sinne vom Menschen erfassen können, ist für die Geistesforschung nur ein Glied der menschlichen Wesenheit. Diesen physischen Leib, das physische Wesen hat der Mensch gemein mit der ganzen übrigen Natur.
Als zweites Glied der menschlichen Wesenheit findet die okkulte Forschung durch das geistige Auge den Ätherleib oder Lebensleib. Er ist ein Organismus, feiner als der physische Leib, aber in allen Organen und Teilen gleich diesem gebildet. Es ist jedoch vielleicht besser, wenn man ihn als eine Summe von Kraftströmungen auffaßt, als den Architekten des physischen Leibes. Der letztere ist gleichsam aus dem Ätherleib herauskristallisiert. Wie sich durch Abkühlung aus dem Wasser das Eis entwickelt, so hat sich der physische Leib aus dem Ätherleib herausgebildet. Diesen Ätherleib oder Lebensleib hat der Mensch gemeinsam mit allen lebenden Wesen.
Das dritte Glied der menschlichen Wesenheit ist der Astralleib, der Träger von allen niederen und höheren seelischen Eigenschaften des Menschen, der Träger von Lust und Leid, Freude und Schmerz und allen Willensimpulsen. Dieses dritte Glied, das durch die Herausbildung der höheren Wahrnehmungsorgane geschaut werden kann, hat der Mensch gemeinsam mit der ganzen Tierwelt. Es umgibt den Menschen wie eine Art Wolke, die den physischen Leib und Ätherleib zugleich durchsetzt. Dieses Wesensglied ist in fortwährender Bewegung und spiegelt alles ab, was im Menschen vorgeht. Die Bezeichnung Astralleib ist verschiedentlich angefochten worden. Aber wie der physische Leib durch seine physischen Stoffe mit der ganzen Erde verbunden und von ihr abhängig ist, so steht der Astralleib mit der ganzen die Erde umgebenden Sternenwelt in Beziehung, und alle die Kräfte, welche das Schicksal und den Charakter des Menschen wesentlich bedingen, haben Zusammenhang mit jener Welt.
Einer der neueren Geister, Goethe, der tief hineingeschaut hat in die Zusammenhänge zwischen der Natur und dem geistigen Menschen und seinen Zusammenhang mit dem Kosmos, sagt:
Wie an dem Tag, der dich der Welt verliehen,
Die Sonne stand zum Gruße der Planeten,
Bist alsobald und fort und fort gediehen
Nach dem Gesetz, wonach du angetreten.
So mußt du sein, dir kannst du nicht entfliehen,
So sagten schon Sibyllen, so Propheten;
Und keine Zeit und keine Macht zerstückelt
Geprägte Form, die lebend sich entwickelt.
Wegen seiner Beziehung zur Sternenwelt wird also das dritte Glied der menschlichen Wesenheit der Astralleib genannt.
Das vierte Glied hat der Mensch nicht gemeinsam mit andern Wesen, es ist das, was den Menschen die Kraft gibt, Ich zu sich selbst zu sagen. Ich ist das geheimnisvolle Wort, das jeder nur zu sich selbst sagen kann, in dem Worte Ich spricht die Seele ihren göttlichen Urfunken aus. Mit dem Ich beginnt der Gott im Inneren des Menschen zu sprechen. In den jüdischen Geheimschulen nannte man das Ich den unaussprechlichen Namen Gottes, und ein Schauer der Ehrfurcht ging durch die Menge, wenn der Eingeweihte den für die Außenstehenden unaussprechlichen Namen aussprach: Jahve - Ich bin der Ich-bin.
Diese vier Glieder bilden die Vierheit in der menschlichen Natur. Diese Vierheit ist in allen Menschen vorhanden. Sie entwickelt sich von der Kindheit zum Mannesalter heran, aber dies geschieht durchaus differenziert, und wir müssen daher jeden Teil im Menschen gesondert betrachten.
Veranlagt ist schon alles im Embryo, aber die Entwickelung geht ganz verschieden vor sich. Der Mensch kann sich nicht ohne eine Umgebung entwickeln, er kann nur gedeihen, wenn er von andern Wesen und Gliedern des Kosmos umgeben ist. So muß der mütterliche Organismus den Menschen bis zu einer gewissen Reife umschließen. Was bei der physischen Geburt vor sich geht, wiederholt sich, denn bei der physischen Geburt wird noch nicht der ganze Mensch geboren, sondern so wie der sich entwickelnde Menschenkeim vom physischen mütterlichen Organismus umschlossen wird, so ist der Mensch nach der physischen Geburt von einem geistigen Organismus umgeben, welcher der ganzen Geistwelt angehört. Das Kind ist umgeben von einer Ätherhülle und von einer Astralhülle und ruht darin, wie der Embryo im Mutterschoß.
Im siebenten Lebensjahr, um die Zeit des Zahnwechsels, löst sich vom Ätherleib eine Ätherhülle los, wie sich bei der physischen Geburt der mütterliche Organismus vom physischen Körper des Kindes löst. Der Ätherleib wird frei, während sich vorher eine Wesenheit aus demselben Äther dem Ätherleibe anschließt und Strömungen von ihr auf das Kind übergehen, wie dies vor der physischen Geburt im Mutterleib geschieht. Nach und nach wird das Kind also zum zweiten Mal, und jetzt ätherisch, geboren. Nun ist noch immer das dritte Glied, der Astralleib, von einer schützenden Astralhülle umgeben. Diese Astralhülle umgibt den Menschen bis zur Geschlechtsreife, bis zum vierzehnten, fünfzehnten Jahre, und zieht sich dann zurück. So wird der Mensch zum dritten Mal geboren, die astrale Geburt findet statt.
Diese dreifache Geburt zeigt, daß wir jedes Wesensglied getrennt betrachten müssen, denn bei jedem neugeborenen Kinde ist nur das erste Glied, der physische Körper, freigelegt. Und wie es unmöglich ist, das Licht von außen durch den mütterlichen Organismus an das Kind heranzubringen, ebenso sollte es vermieden werden, Einflüsse von außen an den Ätherleib heranzubringen, ehe derselbe frei geworden ist von der Ätherhülle. Vor dem Zahnwechsel sollten keine Einflüsse an den Ätherleib herankommen, und vor der Geschlechtsreife keine an den Astralleib. Bis zum siebenten Lebensjahre können wir erzieherisch auf den Menschen nur dann richtig wirken, wenn wir ihn vom Physischen her beeinflussen. Wie die Pflege der Mutter innig zusammenhängt mit dem Gedeihen des Embryo, so muß auch die Unantastbarkeit und Heiligkeit der Ätherhülle geschützt werden, wenn sich das Kind gedeihlich entwickeln soll. Bis zum Zahnwechsel ist nur der physische Körper für Wirkungen von außen empfänglich, daher kann bis dahin nur der physische Körper erzogen werden, und wenn in dieser Zeit etwas von außen an den Ätherkörper herangebracht wird, dann versündigt man sich am Ätherleibe des Kindes. Der Ätherleib ist beim Menschen der Träger alles dessen, was bleibend an ihm ist, der Träger von Gewohnheiten, Charakter, Gewissen, Gedächtnis, Temperamentsanlagen. Am Astralleib haftet die Urteilsfähigkeit, das vernunftgemäße Urteil über die Umgebung. So wie sich bis zum siebenten Jahre die äußeren Sinne des Kindes entwickeln sollen, so werden bis zum vierzehnten Jahre die Gewohnheiten, das Gedächtnis, das Temperament und so weiter freigegeben und dann bis zum zwanzigsten, einundzwanzigsten Jahre der kritische Verstand, das selbständige Verhältnis zur Umwelt.
Daher gibt uns die Geisteswissenschaft ganz bestimmte Regeln für die Erziehung des Kindes in diesen einzelnen Lebensepochen. So gehört zur Pflege des Kindes bis zum siebenten Jahre alles, was mit dem physischen Leib zusammenhängt. Darunter fällt die harmonische Ausbildung der Organe durch die Einwirkung auf die Sinne des Kindes. Die Physis ist daher das Maßgebende, das zu Erziehende. Dem tragen wir dadurch Rechnung, daß wir dem Kinde alles bringen, was durch die Sinne heranbildend wirkt. Aristoteles sagt: Der Mensch ist das nachahmendste der Tiere. - Das Kind ist also ein Nachahmer, alles steht bei ihm unter dem Zeichen der Nachahmung dessen, was es hört und sieht. In diesem Alter haben Gebote und Verbote wenig Bedeutung. Die größte Bedeutung aber hat das Vorbild, dadurch muß die Umgebung die Sinne des Kindes erwecken. Wie wir sind, das ist die Hauptsache, und bis in die Feinheiten hinein muß der Erwachsene sein eigenes Tun und Lassen beobachten. Er darf nichts tun, was das Kind nicht nachahmen darf, denn alles, was es sieht, das betrachtet es als etwas, was es selber tun und nachahmen darf. So überraschte ein gutgeartetes Kind seine EItern damit, daß es Geld aus einer Kassette genommen hatte. Die EItern waren entsetzt und glaubten, das Kind hätte einen Hang zum Stehlen. Auf Befragen stellte sich aber heraus, daß das Kind einfach nur nachgeahmt hatte, was es Vater und Mutter täglich hatte tun sehen. Auf Vorbild und Nachahmung beruht die Erziehung bis zum Zahnwechsel. Daher muß der Erzieher bis zum siebenten Jahre des Kindes in jeder Hinsicht Vorbild sein. Unrichtig wäre es auch, dem Kinde bis dahin die Bedeutung der Buchstaben einprägen zu wollen. Es kann nur ihre Form nachahmen, denn die Kraft zum Begreifen ihrer Bedeutung haftet am Ätherleib.
In diesen Jahren, in denen die Organe des Kindes entwickelt und gesunde Anlagen begründet werden sollen, ist auch alles höchst wichtig, was an moralischen Dingen in der Umgebung des Kindes vorgeht. Es ist auch durchaus nicht gleichgültig, ob das Kind Schmerz und Leid oder Lust und Freude um sich her sieht, denn Freude und Lust begründen gesunde Anlagen im physischen Körper. Alles um das Kind herum sollte Freude und Lust atmen, und beides hervorzurufen sollte der Erzieher bedacht sein, bis auf die Farbe der Kleider, der Tapeten und Gegenstände. Dabei ist sorgfältig die individuelle Anlage des Kindes zu berücksichtigen. Ein Kind, das zu Ernst und Stille neigt, sollte dunklere, bläuliche, grünliche Farben in seiner Umgebung sehen, ein lebhaftes, lebendiges Kind gelbliche, rötliche Farben, weil dadurch die Fähigkeit der Sinne zur Erweckung der Gegenfarbe hervorgerufen wird. Die Organe, die jetzt heranentwickelt werden, müssen dadurch veranlaßt werden, ihre inneren Kräfte herauszubilden. Darum sollte man dem Kinde auch keine fertigen Spielsachen geben, wie Baukasten, Puppen und so weiter. Jedes Kind zieht eine selbstgemachte Puppe aus einem Stiefelknecht oder einer alten Serviette den ausgeputzten Wachsdamen vor. Warum tut es das? Weil dadurch die Imagination geweckt wird, weil die Phantasie in Tätigkeit gesetzt wird und die inneren Organe anfangen zu arbeiten zur Freude und Lust des Kindes. Wie lebendig und interessiert ist solch ein Kind bei seinem Spiel, wie geht es mit Leib und Seele in dem auf, was seine Imaginationen ihm vorspiegeln! Und wie lässig und unvergnügt sitzt das andere da, bei dem die inneren Sinne in Untätigkeit verharren. Das Kind hat eine sehr gesunde Einsicht für das, was ihm gut oder schädlich ist. Es steht in einem solchen Verhältnis zur Außenwelt, daß es abweist, was dem physischen Körper, zum Beispiel dem Magen, nicht bekommt, und Begierde zeigt nach dem, was demselben frommt. Und töricht wäre es, den gesunden Begierden, welche die Entwickelung fördern, entgegenzuarbeiten und das Kind zum Beispiel zum Essen von Nahrungsmitteln zu zwingen, welche die natürlichen Instinkte austreiben. Jeder Anflug von Asketismus ist eine Ausrottung der natürlichen Gesundheit.
Gegen das siebente Jahr, im Verfolg des allmählichen Zahnwechsels, lösen sich die Umhüllungen des Ätherleibes, und jetzt muß der Erzieher alles heranbringen, was den Ätherleib ausbildet, was auf denselben entwickelnd wirkt. Aber er muß sich noch hüten, zu großen Wert darauf zu legen, daß die Vernunft und der Verstand ausgebildet werden. In dieser Zeit, zwischen dem siebenten und zwölften Jahre des Kindes, handelt es sich vorzugsweise um Autorität, Glauben, Vertrauen, Ehrfurcht. Wichtig für die ganze spätere Lebensentwickelung ist es, daß das Kind möglichst viele Momente erlebt habe wie den folgenden: Das Kind sieht mit einer gewissen heiligen Scheu zu einer verehrten Person auf, es hat Ehrfurcht im tiefsten Inneren, die ihm verbietet, irgendeinen Gedanken von Kritik oder Opposition ihr gegenüber aufkommen zu lassen. Da steht es eines Tages vor der Türe dieser verehrten Person und empfindet eine heilige Scheu, auf die Klinke zu drücken und das Zimmer zu betreten, das ihm ein Heiligtum ist. Diese Momente der Ehrfurcht sind Kräfte für das spätere Leben, und von ungeheurer Bedeutung ist, daß der Erzieher selbst dem Kinde Autorität sei. Die Menschen, die das Kind umgeben, die es sieht und hört, müssen seine Ideale sein. Aus der Geschichte und Literatur sollte sich jedes Kind einen Helden wählen, zu dem es mit Bewunderung und Ehrfurcht aufsieht. Es ist ganz falsch, wenn die materialistische Weltanschauung sich gegen die Autorität ausspricht und das Gefühl der Hingebung und Verehrung mißachtet. Wichtig ist, daß in dieser Zeit das Gedächtnis herausgebildet wird. Und zwar geschieht das zunächst am besten auf ganz mechanische Weise. Nicht die Rechenmaschine sollte benützt werden, sondern Zahlen und Gedichte und so weiter sollten gelernt und dadurch das Gedächtnis entwickelt werden.
In alten Zeiten erzog man in dieser Hinsicht das Kind sehr vernünftig. Die guten alten Kinderlieder und Ammenlieder, bei denen es nicht auf die intellektuelle Bedeutung, sondern auf das Erwecken einer unmittelbaren Empfindung ankam, erscheinen heutzutage, wo das Verständnis dafür verlorengegangen ist, sinnlos. Aber es liegt gleichwohl ein tiefer Sinn darin verborgen. Es kam beim Vorsingen auf den Zusammenklang und die Harmonie für das kindliche Ohr an, daher die oft sinnlosen Reime. Wer zwischen sieben bis vierzehn Jahren im Ätherleib keinen festen Grundstock an Charakter, Gedächtnis und so weiter bekommen hat, ist falsch erzogen. Der Weg zur richtigen Erziehung ist in dieser zweiten Lebensperiode die Autorität. Was das Kind ahnt als innerste Natur des Menschen, der ihm Autorität ist, das bildet sein Gewissen, seinen Charakter, und sogar sein Temperament aus und wird zur dauernden Anlage bei ihm. Bildend auf den Ätherleib wirkt in diesen Jahren auch das Gleichnis und Sinnbild, überhaupt alles, was durch Gleichnisse die Welt erkennbar macht. Daher der Segen der Märchenbücher in dieser Zeit und das Vorführen großer Persönlichkeiten und Helden in Sage und Geschichte.
Wichtig ist auch der Turnunterricht, der ein Gefühl von Kraft, Gesundheit und Lebensfreudigkeit im Kinde hervorruft und daher ebenso organbildend wirkt wie Lust und Freude. Aber der Turnunterricht hat gerade jetzt große Mängel. Der Turnlehrer sollte seine Zöglinge nicht mit dem Blick des Anatomen betrachten, sondern darauf sinnen, durch welche Bewegungen des Leibes der Seele das Gefühl von erhöhter Kraft und dem Kinde der Genuß seiner Leiblichkeit bereitet werde. Der Lehrer muß sich intuitiv hineindenken in die fühlende Seele des Kindes und jede Turnübung so berechnen, daß sie das Gefühl der wachsenden Kraft erzeugt.
Einen großen Einfluß bis in unseren Ätherleib und Astralleib übt jedes künstlerische Gebilde aus. Daher muß echtes, wahres Künstlerisches den Ätherleib durchdringen. Gute Vokal- und Instrumentalmusik ist zum Beispiel von hoher Bedeutung, und das Kindesauge sollte viel Schönes um sich her erblicken.
Aber durch nichts ist der Religionsunterricht zu ersetzen. Die Bilder des Übersinnlichen prägen sich tief in den Ätherleib ein. Das Kind sollte nicht Kritik und Urteil über ein Glaubensbekenntnis lernen, sondern es muß Bilder von dem Unendlichen bekommen. Alle religiösen Vorstellungen müssen Bildervorstellungen werden; das Gleichnis wirkt kräftig ein auf den Ätherleib. Die größte Sorgfalt muß gelegt werden auf die Erziehung aus dem Lebendigen heraus.
Der kindliche Geist hat heutzutage zuviel mit dem Toten zu tun. Dem können im ersten Lebensjahrsiebent beispielsweise bewegliche Bilderbücher entgegenwirken. Alles sollte Handlung, Tat, Leben sein, das belebt den Geist und bewegt das Innere. Darum muß man das Kind nicht mit dem Baukasten bauen und mit fertigen Sachen spielen lassen, es muß lernen, das Lebendige aus dem Unlebendigen hervorzubringen.
An dem sich entwickelnden Gehirn des Kindes erstirbt vieles, wenn es mit toten Verrichtungen wie Flechtarbeiten und dergleichen beschäftigt wird. Ganze Anlagen bleiben dadurch unentwikkelt. Das Spielzeug des Unlebendigen bildet auch nicht den Glauben an das Lebendige heran. Daher besteht ein tiefer Zusammenhang zwischen der Kindererziehung und der Glaubenslosigkeit unseres Zeitalters.
Bei der Geschlechtsreife fallen die astralen Hüllen. Mit dem Gefühl für das andere Geschlecht tritt die persönliche Urteilskraft hervor. Von da an kann man an das Ja und Nein, an den kritischen Verstand appellieren. Erst vom zwölften Jahre an bildet sich die Urteilskraft heraus, doch bedarf dieser Prozeß geraumer Zeit. Kritiker von neunzehn oder zwanzig Jahren können unmöglich ein wirklich zutreffendes Urteil haben. Äußerst wichtig ist es, wer dem jungen Menschen in diesem Lebensalter als Lehrer entgegentritt, um seine Lernbegierde und seinen Freiheitsdrang in die rechten Bahnen zu lenken.
Diese Grundsätze ergeben sich aus der Geistesforschung und sind für die gesunde Weiterbildung des Menschengeschlechtes von größter Bedeutung. Die Theosophie kann durch dieselben in die wichtigsten Vorgänge des Menschenlebens praktisch eingreifen. So erfüllt diese geistige Weltanschauung den Erzieher mit einer Fülle von Einsichten, wie sie das Rätsel des heranwachsenden Menschen erfordert. Die Geisteswissenschaft soll nicht nur überzeugen, lehren, sie soll tun, handeln, eingreifen ins praktische Leben. Sie soll sich bewähren, sie soll in alle Handgriffe einfließen und ein gesundes Leben in leiblicher und geistiger Beziehung bewirken. Theosophie ist nicht nur eine richtige, sondern auch eine gesunde Wahrheit. Am besten können wir der Menschheit dienen und ihr soziale und andere Kräfte zuführen, wenn wir dieselben herausholen aus dem werdenden Menschen. Der werdende Mensch, der sich entwickelnde Mensch ist eines der größten Rätsel des Lebens, und der rechte Erzieher muß ein Rätsellöser sein in der praktischen Heranbildung des werdenden Menschen.
Spiritual Science Perspectives on Education
When the Theosophical Movement was founded three decades ago, its leading figures were not concerned with introducing a new doctrine that would satisfy intellectual curiosity, but rather with making spiritual insight accessible to wider circles, insight that would enable people to solve the important questions of practical life with the help of spiritual knowledge. One of these questions, which shows how spiritual science intervenes in practical life, is also the subject of this lecture: the question of education.
The question of education can only be properly addressed in connection with a more intimate knowledge of the human being. Through knowledge of the human being that penetrates into the supersensible nature of the human being, fundamental principles of education arise for everyone who takes this question seriously. To this end, we must start from a consideration of the nature of the human being. The question of the nature of the human being provides the basic ideas for answering questions of education.
What the outer senses can perceive of the human being is only one link in the human being for spiritual research. Human beings share this physical body, this physical being, with the rest of nature.
As the second part of the human being, occult research finds the etheric body or life body through the spiritual eye. It is an organism finer than the physical body, but formed in the same way as the physical body in all its organs and parts. However, it is perhaps better to understand it as a sum of energy currents, as the architect of the physical body. The latter is, as it were, crystallized out of the etheric body. Just as ice develops from water through cooling, so the physical body has developed from the etheric body. Human beings share this etheric body or life body with all living beings.
The third member of the human being is the astral body, the bearer of all the lower and higher soul qualities of the human being, the bearer of pleasure and pain, joy and sorrow, and all impulses of the will. This third member, which can be seen through the development of the higher organs of perception, is shared by humans with the entire animal world. It surrounds humans like a kind of cloud that permeates both the physical body and the etheric body. This member of the human being is in constant motion and reflects everything that goes on within humans. The term astral body has been challenged in various ways. But just as the physical body is connected to and dependent on the whole earth through its physical substances, so the astral body is related to the whole starry world surrounding the earth, and all the forces that essentially determine the fate and character of human beings are connected with that world.
One of the more recent spirits, Goethe, who looked deeply into the connections between nature and the spiritual human being and his connection to the cosmos, says:
As on the day that gave you to the world,
The sun stood in greeting to the planets,
You grew and grew and grew
According to the law by which you came into being.
You must be this way, you cannot escape it,
So said the Sibyls, so said the prophets;
And no time and no power can fragment
The molded form that develops while alive.
Because of its relationship to the world of the stars, the third member of the human being is called the astral body.
The fourth member is not shared by humans with other beings; it is what gives humans the power to say “I” to themselves. ‘I’ is the mysterious word that only each person can say to themselves; in the word “I,” the soul expresses its divine spark. With the “I,” God begins to speak within the human being. In the Jewish secret schools, the I was called the unpronounceable name of God, and a shiver of awe ran through the crowd when the initiate uttered the name that was unpronounceable to outsiders: Yahweh - I am the I am.
These four members form the fourfold nature of human beings. This fourfold nature is present in all human beings. It develops from childhood to adulthood, but this happens in a very differentiated way, and we must therefore consider each part of the human being separately.
Everything is already predisposed in the embryo, but development proceeds in very different ways. Human beings cannot develop without an environment; they can only flourish when surrounded by other beings and members of the cosmos. Thus, the maternal organism must enclose the human being until it reaches a certain maturity. What happens at physical birth is repeated, for at physical birth the whole human being is not yet born. Just as the developing human germ is enclosed by the physical maternal organism, so after physical birth the human being is surrounded by a spiritual organism that belongs to the entire spiritual world. The child is surrounded by an etheric sheath and an astral sheath and rests in them, like the embryo in the womb.
In the seventh year of life, around the time of tooth replacement, an etheric sheath detaches itself from the etheric body, just as the maternal organism detaches itself from the physical body of the child at physical birth. The etheric body becomes free, while previously a being from the same ether joined the etheric body and currents from it passed over to the child, as happens before physical birth in the womb. Gradually, the child is born for the second time, now in etheric form. Now the third member, the astral body, is still surrounded by a protective astral shell. This astral shell surrounds the human being until sexual maturity, until the age of fourteen or fifteen, and then withdraws. Thus, the human being is born for the third time; astral birth takes place.
This threefold birth shows that we must consider each member of the being separately, for in every newborn child only the first member, the physical body, is exposed. And just as it is impossible to bring light to the child from outside through the maternal organism, so too should external influences be avoided on the etheric body before it has been freed from the etheric sheath. Before the change of teeth, no influences should reach the etheric body, and before sexual maturity, none should reach the astral body. Until the age of seven, we can only have a proper educational effect on human beings if we influence them physically. Just as the mother's care is intimately connected with the development of the embryo, so too must the inviolability and sanctity of the etheric sheath be protected if the child is to develop healthily. Until the change of teeth, only the physical body is receptive to external influences, Therefore, only the physical body can be educated until then, and if something external is brought to the etheric body during this time, then one sins against the child's etheric body. The etheric body is the carrier of everything that is permanent in a person, the carrier of habits, character, conscience, memory, and temperamental dispositions. The astral body is associated with the ability to judge, to make rational judgments about one's surroundings. Just as the child's external senses should develop until the age of seven, so too should habits, memory, temperament, and so on be developed until the age of fourteen, and then, until the age of twenty or twenty-one, critical thinking and an independent relationship to the environment.
Spiritual science therefore gives us very specific rules for the education of the child in these individual stages of life. Up to the age of seven, everything related to the physical body is part of the child's care. This includes the harmonious development of the organs through the influence on the child's senses. The physical body is therefore the decisive factor in education. We take this into account by providing the child with everything that has a formative effect on the senses. Aristotle says: Man is the most imitative of animals. The child is therefore an imitator; everything in its life is marked by the imitation of what it hears and sees. At this age, commands and prohibitions have little meaning. The greatest importance, however, is attached to role models; the environment must awaken the child's senses. How we are is the main thing, and adults must observe their own actions and behavior down to the finest details. They must not do anything that the child should not imitate, because everything the child sees, it considers to be something it can do and imitate itself. For example, a well-behaved child surprised his parents by taking money from a cash box. The parents were horrified and believed that the child had a tendency to steal. When questioned, however, it turned out that the child had simply imitated what he had seen his father and mother do every day. Education up to the age of seven is based on role models and imitation. Therefore, the educator must be a role model in every respect until the child is seven years old. It would also be wrong to try to teach the child the meaning of letters before that age. The child can only imitate their form, because the ability to understand their meaning is attached to the etheric body.
During these years, when the child's organs are developing and healthy dispositions are being established, everything that happens in the child's environment in terms of moral issues is also extremely important. It is also by no means irrelevant whether the child sees pain and suffering or pleasure and joy around them, because joy and pleasure establish healthy dispositions in the physical body. Everything around the child should radiate joy and pleasure, and the educator should be mindful of evoking both, down to the color of the clothes, wallpaper, and objects. In doing so, the child's individual disposition must be carefully taken into account. A child who tends to be serious and quiet should see darker, bluish, greenish colors in their environment, while a lively, energetic child should see yellowish, reddish colors, because this stimulates the senses to awaken the complementary color. The organs that are now developing must be encouraged to develop their inner powers. That is why children should not be given ready-made toys such as building blocks, dolls, and so on. Every child prefers a homemade doll made from a boot jack or an old napkin to a polished wax doll. Why is that? Because it awakens the imagination, because it stimulates the fantasy, and because the inner organs begin to work for the joy and pleasure of the child. How lively and interested such a child is in its play, how it throws itself heart and soul into what its imagination presents to it! And how casual and unhappy the other child sits there, its inner senses remaining inactive. The child has a very healthy insight into what is good or harmful for it. It has such a relationship with the outside world that it rejects what is not good for the physical body, for example the stomach, and shows a desire for what is good for it. And it would be foolish to work against healthy desires that promote development and, for example, force the child to eat foods that drive out natural instincts. Any hint of asceticism is a destruction of natural health.
Around the age of seven, as the teeth gradually change, the envelopes of the etheric body dissolve, and now the educator must bring in everything that develops the etheric body, everything that has a developing effect on it. But they must still be careful not to place too much emphasis on developing reason and intellect. During this period, between the ages of seven and twelve, the focus should be on authority, faith, trust, and reverence. It is important for the child's entire later development that they experience as many moments as possible like the following: The child looks up to a revered person with a certain sacred awe; it has a deep inner reverence that forbids it to entertain any thought of criticism or opposition toward that person. One day it stands at the door of this revered person and feels a sacred awe at pressing the handle and entering the room, which is a sanctuary to it. These moments of reverence are forces for later life, and it is of tremendous importance that the educator himself be an authority to the child. The people who surround the child, whom it sees and hears, must be its ideals. Every child should choose a hero from history and literature whom it looks up to with admiration and reverence. It is quite wrong for the materialistic worldview to speak out against authority and disregard feelings of devotion and reverence. It is important that memory is developed during this period. Initially, this is best done in a very mechanical way. Rather than using a calculator, numbers and poems and so on should be learned, thereby developing memory.
In ancient times, children were educated very sensibly in this regard. The good old children's songs and nursery rhymes, which were not about intellectual meaning but about awakening an immediate feeling, seem meaningless today, when the understanding for them has been lost. But there is nevertheless a deeper meaning hidden in them. When singing, it was the consonance and harmony that mattered to the child's ear, hence the often meaningless rhymes. Anyone who has not acquired a solid foundation of character, memory, and so on in their etheric body between the ages of seven and fourteen has been poorly educated. The path to proper education in this second period of life is authority. What the child senses as the innermost nature of the person who is an authority to them shapes their conscience, their character, and even their temperament, and becomes a lasting disposition in them. Parables and symbols, in fact everything that makes the world recognizable through parables, also have a formative effect on the etheric body during these years. Hence the blessing of fairy tale books during this period and the presentation of great personalities and heroes in legends and history.
Physical education is also important, as it evokes a feeling of strength, health, and joie de vivre in the child and therefore has the same organ-forming effect as pleasure and joy. But physical education has major shortcomings at this stage. The physical education teacher should not view his pupils with the eye of an anatomist, but should consider which movements of the body will give the soul a feeling of increased strength and the child enjoyment of his physicality. The teacher must intuitively empathize with the feeling soul of the child and calculate each physical exercise so that it produces a feeling of growing strength.
Every artistic creation has a great influence on our etheric and astral bodies. Therefore, genuine, true art must permeate the etheric body. Good vocal and instrumental music, for example, is of great importance, and children's eyes should see much beauty around them.
But nothing can replace religious instruction. Images of the supersensible are deeply imprinted on the etheric body. Children should not learn to criticize and judge a creed, but must be given images of the infinite. All religious ideas must become images; parables have a powerful effect on the etheric body. The greatest care must be taken to educate children from the living.
Nowadays, children's minds have too much to do with the dead. This can be counteracted in the first seven years of life, for example, with animated picture books. Everything should be action, deed, life, which enlivens the mind and moves the inner being. That is why children should not be allowed to build with construction sets and play with ready-made things; they must learn to bring the living out of the non-living.
Much of the child's developing brain dies when it is occupied with dead activities such as braiding and the like. Entire faculties remain undeveloped as a result. The toys of the inanimate also do not foster a belief in the living. There is therefore a deep connection between the education of children and the lack of faith in our age.
At puberty, the astral sheaths fall away. With the feeling for the opposite sex, personal judgment emerges. From then on, one can appeal to the yes and no, to the critical mind. Judgment only begins to develop from the age of twelve, but this process takes a considerable amount of time. Critics aged nineteen or twenty cannot possibly have a truly accurate judgment. It is extremely important who teaches young people at this age in order to channel their thirst for knowledge and their desire for freedom in the right direction.
These principles are derived from spiritual research and are of the utmost importance for the healthy further education of the human race. Through them, theosophy can intervene practically in the most important processes of human life. Thus, this spiritual worldview fills the educator with a wealth of insights, as required by the mystery of the growing human being. Spiritual science should not only convince and teach, it should do, act, and intervene in practical life. It should prove itself, it should flow into all actions and bring about a healthy life in both physical and spiritual terms. Theosophy is not only a correct truth, but also a healthy one. We can best serve humanity and bring social and other forces to bear on it if we draw these forces out of the developing human being. The developing human being is one of the greatest mysteries of life, and the right educator must be a mystery solver in the practical training of the developing human being.