The following translation of an essay by Herbert Witzenmann delineates his reasons on why he was against the majority decision made by his colleagues on the Council at the Goetheanum, Free School for Spiritual Science in Dornach to end the ban on editions of books by Rudolf Steiner published by the Rudolf Steiner Literary Estate, founded by Marie Steiner, and to start offering them for sale at the Goetheanum Bookstore, the formal reason being that the Goetheanum could not allow these editions in its domain from an association that denied its spiritual existence without thereby forfeiting and justifying its own existence as such. It created a “never-ending problem” known as the Book Question. The article first appeared in “Anthroposophic Newssheet, Vol. 36, NO 7/8 from February 25, 1968. Note that the term Principles used here refers to the original statutes of the Anthroposophical Society now called Founding Statutes.
The “Principles” that Rudolf Steiner gave to the Anthroposophical Society when it was founded anew are an open secret. They present a world historical example of how within a modern community the principe of initiation can become the principle of civilization. True knowledge of the spiritual world, its investigation on the basis of spiritual scientific schooling should form within this society the foundation for a cultivation of the life of soul in the individual human being and in human society, for brotherliness of social life and a fruitful development and renewal in all spheres of culture.
At the center of these Principles stands paragraph 8; the number of paragraphs preceding and following it are the same. This Principle stresses equally the Society’s fully public existence and the concealed character of its inner life. For the latter is accessible only along the paths of spiritual scientific schooling. Only a preliminary knowledge is deemed competent to form a judgement about the publications of the Free School, yet they will be released without restriction to the public. Publicity and privacy are the pillars which form the portal of the Free School and support the roof arched protectively over the Society. This roof would have to collapse were one of the pillars to give way, which according to Rudolf Steiner ‘s architectonic archetype support it only in conjunction with each other.
The motive that as the good genius of the publications of the Free School gives paragraph 8 such a heroic ring of courage, which we hear again and again on the spiritual paths, pervades the whole sequence of the Principles. Everywhere there is talk of an openness, the vital element of which is intercourse with the spiritual world, of a spiritual scientific schooling and research in all openness, of a trust in the spiritual world that also in the midst of an outer world without understanding rests exclusively on its own spiritual foundations, and of the cultivation of an inner life, which without discrimination invites all to come into its newly erected house. Because the bridge in which the customs are supplanted by intuitions as its pillars has successfully been thrown.
The greatest courage was needed on the part the founder of the Christmas Conference in order to carry out the intentions thus designated. For none of those who do not acknowledge the spiritual backgrounds of the outer world can help but feel that this is a senseless and doubtful undertaking. And all those for whom these backgrounds are not merely an inducement to formulate theories but in the sense of the Principles adopt them as their standard of life , must encounter merciless opposition. Youth alone, indeed frequently without being able to become aware of it, is basically everywhere and even on stray paths an ally of that spiritual courage. For young people want to break out of a life based on traditions and empty words and are on a quest for a truly spiritual presence of mind in the outer world, for a resurgence of their inner life out of a transformation of consciousness. And each of their banners reads, even though their bearers are frequently unable to interpret it: “The Principle of Initiation Must Become Again The Principle of Civilization!”
This appeal would only be a declamation, however, were it not based on Rudolf Steiner’s spiritual science and way of life. Rudolf Steiner has made the Free School into a site of a real connection of its members with the spiritual world Only this connection fills its publications, albeit in an occult way, with spiritual life; if this life force were to dry up, the material that it publishes would wither away. Hence as long as the Free School is alive, the protection indicated by paragraph 8 also goes on living. This protections rests upon the power of a spiritual community-building process that is also called upon to work into a world that is estranged to it. The obligation taken up by the member of the Free School in the sense of paragraph 8 and in general of the Rudolf Steiner’s Principles is therefore all the more serious and greater the less it is understood and accepted outside the Free School.
But a grave objection must be raised here. Only as long as Rudolf Steiner, so it could be argued, as the legitimate representative of our connection with the spiritual world dwelled physically in our midst and in his untiring virtue lifted us through the testimonies of this union above ourselves, only then would this spring continue to flow. Since that time, the things presented here possess merely a retrospective significance, they describe what was once was, not an on-going event, the presence of which we may proclaim among ourselves.
The Rudolf Steiner Literary Estate [German: Rudolf Steiner Nachlassverwaltung] owes its origin to the above-mentioned view, from which it seeks to draw its justification for its work. Its activity, its editions express the view that the spiritually living and not only institutional Free School as founded by Rudolf Steiner no longer exists, and that those who were entrusted with the task of continuing it have failed. An invincible chasm separates our present from the time of Rudolf Steiner’s work on earth and the only task remaining besides our personal development is to administer what he has left behind until it will again be possible for him to work physically on earth.
Those who soberly look around and conscientiously into themselves will certainly not consider such a view to be incomprehensible. For in the case of most people striving for spiritual scientific schooling, its results are rudimentary and imperfect – if they appear at all. Thus what was once a reality in Rudolf Steiner’s lifetime through his own being, so one could be of the opinion, can today only be a fruitless ideology or even a deceptive illusion.
However fruitful the content of such self-knowledge may be, as little does it justice to the Christmas Conference of the refounding of the Anthroposophical Society. For this refoundation also draws our imperfections in a novel way into its sphere of activity. Rudolf Steiner’s spiritual-artistic power of invention manifests itself again and again in the fact that he transforms difficulties into new creations, and the straggling behind of those entrusted to him into inspirations of their progress. The Christmas Conference is certainly the greatest among these creations. It guarantees that, as long as human beings are truly striving in its spirit, the living stream of its work can, even with feeble forces, be led forward into the future. For one of the open secrets of the Christmas Conference is the establishment of a new nexus between the individual, the communal and super-individual spirithood. Human beings todat can, to be sure, pursue the paths into the spiritual world in a right way only through ethical individualism. However, when they flow into a uniformity of consciousness that is developed in carrying out common tasks, they lead further than they do in isolation. from time immemorial human beings who were led together by an earnest striving could revere a spiritual presence in their midst that greatly overtowered them. Through the refoundation of the Anthroposophical Society this experience of reverence too went through a renewal in keeping with the times. The Christmas Conference is therefore more than a revelation of wisdom and indication of a spiritual path, it is a reality, the establishment of a new community building. Since this foundational deed by Rudolf Steiner the spirit of a new community can become present in the united consciousness of free individualities. In order to lay this groundwork it was not sufficient to send forth a new call rousing the community’s willingness to develop the content of new teachings and to disclose the possibilities of new schooling, no matter how important beyond words all this is. Through Rudolf Steiner’s foundational deed and act of sacrifice, it was necessary above and beyond this to establish a new basis of reality, which in this form was not yet possible before. The power of faith of every soul, who out of knowledge trusts the foundational deed by Rudolf Steiner, can since that event become a part of the etheric cup of a common consciousness that may receive the grace of the spiritual world in herself. The event of the Christmas Conference, in spite of all the obstacles in the outer world and in spite of all our inner shortcomings, therefore continues as long as human beings are only ready to follow that event with true faithfulness and trust and as long as they are determined not to give way to the resistance through which they are put to the test.
This continuing event overshadows the individual capacities that unite in its experience by far. Hence, the immediate gain that it brings is less evident and less significant than its result for Rudolf Steiner’s work. For this work, above all in its literary form of appearance, requires protection; and this of course applies, albeit in a modified form, also to that part of the work which Rudolf Steiner destined himself to be printed. According to Rudolf Steiner’s own words, the printing of books must be ennobled through a holy frame of mind. To be sure, not we with our personal resources can offer this protection to Rudolf Steiner’s work. But through us, through the community of individual human beings, no matter how imperfect, the spiritual world can unfold its protective action. Over the community that in its cup receives the contents of the spiritual world, that invisible roof can be spanned that, supported by the pillars of publicity and secrecy, extends far beyond time and space into the outer world, also protecting those who know nothing about it and do not heed the spiritual backgrounds of the outer world. For the efficacy of the spiritual world is not dependent on measures that obtain their signature from material things. The spiritual world does, however, await decisions borne by knowledge that unite in inner constructive work and a steadfastness that, transformed into insight, does not shrink back when it meets resistance enforced upon it.
The dissemination of Rudolf Steiner’s work, which really takes place only when its strikes roots in the hearts, is not only ensured by the fact that it is offered for sale and put to use in many places. Of crucial importance in this respect is rather that it is at least in one place protected in an archetypal fashion. This forms part of the open secret of the Christmas Conference, for the efficacy of which indeed no proof can be given for those who believe only in external causal relationships.
When those who are called upon in loyal protection of this work find themselves, then its power does not languish due to the mere fact that many set foot in a place where it should have its physical center with another frame of mind and a different behavior. If the true significance and cohesiveness of the pillars of publicity and secrecy are recognized and respected by those who are willing to work on behalf of the Free school, then the equilibrium of the roof supported by these pillars remains unperturbed.
And even though the shortcomings of striving human beings must constantly change and may change, they can nevertheless in this changeover be ever more clearly illuminated by the light of the eternal. In the Christmas Conference Rudolf Steiner has connected something eternal with us: we must change ourselves to an ever better and more active understanding that openness and secrecy, living Free School and published work can inextricably be only two aspects of the same thing – to be changed must be the abilities with which we weave from the living garment of the eternal above us.
From the before-going follows that the so-called book question cannot be separated from the question of the Free School. For two things cannot be ignored:
1. The Rudolf Steiner Literary Estate stands in a most decisive opposition to the living Free School. It denies the possibility of realizing the Free School in the sense of the continuity of the Christmas Conference and brings this to expression in the most evident way through its editorial activity. The Literary Estate does thereby not only fail to acknowledge the independence of the Free School, but also prevents the Free School from doing justice to one of its preeminent tasks: publishing the literary work of Rudolf Steiner. To refer to Rudolf Steiner’s testamentary provisions as being expressly in favor of the Literary Estate is erroneous, because Rudolf Steiner would have changed them had it not been possible to reconcile them with the Christmas Conference. He therefore expected that that his testamentary provisions would be fulfilled. This agreement, rather, implies the greatest freedom on the part of those executing them, for only by acting in this manner does one find oneself in agreement with one’s higher being. Consequently the Free School cannot sell the editions of the Literary Estate as long as its editions owe their existence to the views and intentions, as is the case with the present representatives, that are in contradiction to the nature of the Free School and the task taken on by it. Moreover, the Literary Estate has up to the present day not yet distanced itself from the serious accusations made against Albert Steffen, who with his work has so far given the most significant example of a realization of the Christmas Conference.
2. The claim that the editions of the Rudolf Steiner Literary Estate would contain Rudolf Steiner’s spoken words, that we are therefore not dealing with these editions, but with Rudolf Steiner’s ”books” is erroneous. For it is not a matter of preventing someone’s attempt to seek access to Rudolf Steiner’s immaterial work through a publication of the Literary Estate. It is rather the opposite, namely to keep this access open and ensuring it and indeed not through words, which are unable to do this, but by anthroposophical action. This action must manifest itself not only in the forming of the consciousness cup, as was described here, but unfortunately also in the readiness to stand up against an enforced resistance. The work of Rudolf Steiner is protected in the sense indicated here when continually serious attempts are made to realize the idea of the Free School through the development of consciousness. At the same time this implies the duty to remain faithful to the spiritual laws of life of a modern mystery school, and the determination to avoid in our action every form of compromise with antagonistic intentions and views. This does not of course in any way reject attempts that should be made again and again to reach an understanding with the upholders of conflicting views. Is it so difficult to grasp with the backgrounds of the outer world in mind that when editions of the Literary Estate are physically taken into the sphere of the Goetheanum, that this signifies at the same time that they are excluded from the sphere of the Goetheanum’s spiritual protection? This is the case because of the profoundly tragic reason that then the effectiveness of this protective sphere from the center, from which it should emanate, would be breached. For the spiritual correlation of an action such as the one under consideration brings with it extremely serious consequences, because it is a matter concerning the laws of life of a mystery school. Before this breach, however, the edition of the Literary Estate were also included in the protective realm of the Free School. Not even those critics who only want to turn their attention to the facts of the outer world could deny that essential things were lost through that breach. For an institution that through its own volitional development brings itself in opposition to its foundations, finds itself, also from an external viewpoint, in an extremely difficult situation.
From this summary of both viewpoints developed hereby (namely the opposition of the Rudolf Steiner Literary Estate to the Free School and the nature of the mission taken up by the Free School to protect the work of Rudolf Steiner, it becomes evident that the question of the Free school and the so-called book question cannot be separated and that any attempt to do so must have grave consequences.
It is certainly deeply painful that the editions of Rudolf Steiner’s literary work for the time being cannot be accepted in the Goetheanum. In a spiritual sense this is not so even today; rather the opposite is the case as has been indicated. But it would be far more painful and entail far graver consequences if a permanent situation were to arise, through which the Free School would maneuver itself in opposition to its own foundations. Should one on the contrary never cease in striving to express the nature of the Free School in the spirit of paragraph 8 of the Principles? For paragraph 8 states after all that the public character of the Free School remains true and viable only as long as it is the expression of a real mystery event. The possibility to continue this mystery event is since the Christmas Conference ensured through developing a common consciousness in cognitive loyalty to the foundational deed by Rudolf Steiner. The inseparability of the publication of his work from the mystery event inaugurated by him and carried further in the hearts of his students is linked in a most intimate way with his true name, with his copyright that cannot be separated from his personality.
Rudolf Steiner himself has pointed out with utmost seriousness that the continuation of the spiritual events created by him has been laid in our hearts and hands, but that it is in no way ensured without our incessant striving. This continuation is, on the contrary, most vulnerable in a deeply tragic way through our own conduct, indeed the sacred event in which we should take part can, if we fail, be forcefully turned away from us and be led into other realms of influence.
These reflections are by no means written under the opinion that one should abstain from bringing in arguments that want to set different accents and dissolve the coherences.* But they do rest on the hope that the morning-call resounding in the Principles will awaken a new echo in many a heart.
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* It might be pointed out for example that even in the past, books by Rudolf Steiner appeared in publishing companies whose editors were in no way connected with the spiritual sources of his work. However, here one overlooks the fact that the origin of these companies had nothing to do with the Free School, that in spite of this origin they neither got involved in a decisive opposition to the Free School and that their representatives never turned against a member of the Council with the strongest of accusations. This objection does not take at all the spiritual situation marked by the and the Christmas Conference Principles in account.
Note by the Publisher/Translator
The above article was followed by a “Note” which read: “The Council informs the members that after the preceding two articles by Rudolf Grosse [the then president of the General Anthroposophical Society] and Herbert Witzenmann no further views on the book question will be published in accordance with the communication of January 14, stating that the Council will use all the forces at its disposal for positive anthroposophical work.”
As may have become sufficiently clear from the article by Herbert Witzenmann, it is certainly not his conviction that contemplating the implications involved in the book question is negative anthroposophical work, and he has on his part consequently continued to publish work on these vital fundamental issues. One of these works is his first social aesthetic study “Charter of Humanity – The Principles of the General Anthroposophical Society” (see http://charter-of-humanity.blogspot.nl) that contains his ground-breaking discovery that the 15 paragraphs of these principles are a threefold social organism that constitute a new principle of civilization he termed social organics..
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