Correspondence about publishing the Esoteric School First Class Lessons

Hi Jeremy,

The decision to publish the Class lessons was not taken lightly; in fact, I discussed it last year with a group of German and Swiss anthroposophical friends whose judgment I respect. I do not deny, however, that I had already made the decision to do so and was really asking them if they approved. If they did not approve, I probably would not have done it. But they did approve, unanimously (11 vs. 0).

I have had the lectures in the official German original since around 1980. I got them by writing to the Rudolf Steiner Estate (Nachlassverwaltung), the owner, in Dornach and asking for them. At that time they were only available in that way: directly from the publisher, and only to anthroposophists they trusted. And the volumes were numbered; I have Nr. 128.

As far as the General Anthroposophical Society is concerned, they considered - and still do - that the only people who should have these lectures are the “Class Readers”. The Rudolf Steiner Estate, founded by Marie Steiner, did not and does not agree with that position.

A few years ago, due to the proliferation of pirated (German) editions, the RS Estate, and with the agreement of the Board of the General Anthroposophical Society, which had no choice, decided to make the class lectures freely available...in German.

I know that a MS translation copyrighted by the Anthroposophical Society in the U.K. in English exists, whether in book form or not, I don't know. In any case, the Class Reader system (called once by a Swiss friend the “anthroposophical curia”) persists and the great majority of non-German speaking members and non-members (I have the impression that the majority of anthroposophists nowadays are not members of the Anthroposophical Society) have no access to these lessons. I intend to change that – although at one lecture every 2 months it will take a while.

You mention what Rudolf Steiner said about the lectures and the mantras 88 years ago – that they are only for members of the Free School for Spiritual Science – and even they could only copy the mantras for their own meditation. When Steiner died in 1925 they didn't know what to do with the Class lessons and it was one of the causes of conflict. The question for me is: Does the Esoteric School exist without Rudolf Steiner? In my opinion it does not. Re-reading and listening to the lectures for almost nine decades does not constitute or continue the process set in motion by Steiner. He died, he did not name a successor. Face it. The Class lectures are in the public domain and have been published in book form in German, accessible to anyone. Why not, then, also in English, the inter-cultural language of the times – in a good translation? And why not via the internet, where they are truly and freely available without cost? Does this answer your question?
Kind regards,
Frank

Dear Frank,

Many thanks for your reply and I’m sure you did not take lightly the decision to publish the lessons.

I’m a fairly recent class member in the UK and have just completed a full cycle of lessons over the last two years. I found it frustrating not to have the texts of the lessons to look at between readings, as they are so packed with material that I couldn’t take it all in during a reading (although I sense that the readings still do their work at a non-conscious level). Shortly after becoming a bIue card member I approached the librarian at Rudolf Steiner House in London and asked if I could buy a set of the lessons and mantras.  After checking out my credentials, I was allowed to buy a three-volume (beautifully produced) set in English for £70 which had been slightly damaged in storage.  (The normal cost is £100.)  However, as a kind of nod in the direction of what I assumed to be Steiner’s original intentions, I did not look at the text of a lesson until after I had attended a reading of that lesson.  I did then find it helpful to go over the text at my own pace.

The point here, however, is that I am approaching the texts with what I hope is a reverent attitude, out of love and respect for the work of an extraordinary initiate.  I ask myself why it was that Steiner was so insistent on restricting access to these lessons only to those who had demonstrated that they had done the necessary spiritual and karmic spade work and the answer lies in part, I think, that esoteric knowledge is dangerous if introduced too soon.  It can be dangerous because a person’s spiritual development has to unfold organically, in the same way that a child’s development has to unfold in a way that accords with its deepest nature (as we try to do in Waldorf schools).  Is it also possible that giving people these texts before they are ready to receive them is to invite from them a response of contempt or dismissal?  If so, we ought to be aware that we might be taking on a karmic burden by slanting in advance that person’s attitude to what could be truly helpful for them when they are ready to receive it.

The tragic disagreements in the General Anthroposophical Society after Steiner’s death have nothing to do with this, in my view. The real issue is that we are dealing with texts of astonishing spiritual power, a huge and precious legacy, that have to be found and sought out by people on a particular path of development when they are spiritually ready to benefit from them.  An effort has to be put in to find these pearls – they are not for general public consumption or display.

By the way, although I’m not a German speaker I get the sense that your translations have real merit – but I still don’t think you should publish them on the internet!

 Best wishes,

 Jeremy