The reader will find in these essays a description of a series of current political

events, closely interwoven with the presentation of a number of principles of the

methodology of Rudolf Steiners spiritual science; whereby the latter is given the
clear priority. Readers in search of sensation will find this unutterably boring; a fact
that will give us some satisfaction. We are addressing the reader with the ability to
think, and in the cognitive process to lend wings to his consciousness-soul, which
can reach through to the basis of phenomenon. This basis, however, often lies in the
profoundest depths and s as the expression goes out of this world. (We would
add that the content of the essays is highly compressed, and it would be
appropriate not simply to read them, but to work their content through, some small
degree.)
1. Historical Symptomatology
Historical Symptomatology is one of the most important branches of general
Anthroposophical methodology. It asserts that all facts and events of world history
are to be regraded merely as symptoms of the occurrences on the level of
supersensible reality, where the real, purely spiritual subjects had their existence,
and where the spiritual impulses of the outer phenomenology of history the
primary phenomena, the ur-phenomena come into being, undergo metamorphosis
and pass away.
The historian, as also the politician and sociologist, will find solid ground in his quest
for knowledge, only if he reads through to insight into these ur-phenomena. Such an
understanding is of special importance not only for knowledge, but also for the
personal development of the human being in our fifth post-Atlantean epoch.
The soul of man is the three-membered. The Greeks of antiquity were already aware
of this Aristotle called these higher members orektikon, kinetikon and dianoetikon.
In spiritual science Rudolf Steiner refers to them as Sentient-Soul, Intellectual or
Mind-Soul, and Consciousness-Soul. Their development underlies the entire culturalhistorical process.
The Sentient soul attains its special unfolding as the soul of aesthetics, as was
manifested in cultural history with particular splendor, for example, in the
Renaissance period, in Italian painting, Italian music. The Intellectual soul
determines the character of the period of the French Enlightenment. Voltaire and
the Encyclopedists drew their works from this source. The Consciousness-soul has
not yet given rise to its own cultural epoch. It manifests on a large, world
encompassing scale in Anglo-Saxon politics, since it is inborn in the Anglo-Saxon
race, or to express it in the language of bureaucracy it is high on the agenda of
the development of an entire epoch. The Anglo-Saxons have the disposition towards
the Consciousness-soul implanted in them from the cradle, and this presupposes an
extension of the immediate interest of the single individuality, to embrace interests
of mankind as a whole. To this extent, everything in the world is of concern to the
Anglo-Saxon. But as all that is innate has an instinctual quality, British or, now,
British-American politics is narrowly-restricted, egoistic in character. If the national
egoism of the ruling circles in these countries is not in some way overcome, then it

has the tendency towards unlimited expansion. Hence, the striving for worlddomination.
In the Sentient sold the human being lives primarily in the world of the senses. If its
development is not ennobled, a person becomes a marionette of his inclinations,
passions and desires. Like waves, they wash away the arguments of reason, the
power of understanding, and whether such a person appears good or bad
outwardly, depends largely not on his personality but on outer circumstances
which include his spontaneous inner moods. As a role, people whose character is
dominated by the sentient-soul are today followers of a multitude of different sects;
it is from their ranks that those active in politics recruit their electorate. They are
made use of by world-politics when it comes to the inciting of mass rebellion,
political protest, etc.
The thinking human being lives in the intellectual-soul its aesthetic and ethical
development and this frees his intellect from sudden chaotic impulses. In the
decisions of his spirit he allows himself to be guided by goodness in his feelings. It
can be said of such a person that his reason and his heart are in agreement. But the
thinking human being tends to fall a prey to dogmatism and to this extent he is an
easy victim of various forms of manipulation; he becomes a blind, uncritical
defender of all sorts of ideologies, world-views, political programmes etc. A person
of this kind can manipulate the electorate, but can himself be very easily led. In
the end, all leading politicians in our world belong in this category. The politicians at
the beginning of the 20th century we already like this, and this explains how the
mighty occult-political powers of secret societies we able to throw civilization into
an appalling chaos. The Intellectual-soul also risks failing into and excessive
abstractness, which dries out the senses, and in this way what emerges is a clever
person but, let us say, a human being lacking in humanity.
An ulcerous growth common to all three souls is egoism, which dismembers them
and brings about their downfall. This circumstance is particularly problematic,
because on the other hand it is egoism that has allowed the human being to
overcome group-consciousness and mould himself as a personality. In the process of
unfolding of the three-membered soul, which has already extended across several
millennia, as it is founded on the transformation of the three-membered corporeality
of the physical, etheric, and astral bodies the human being has, to begin with
developed his primary individualization, the lower self, which lives by virtue of
individualized sense perceptions and reflections. To achieve this, he had to place
himself over against the group-consciousness of his tribe, his clan, his nation and
alienate himself from them. He began to set himself individual goals, pursue purely
personal interests; he had to learn to stand on his own feet. Still today, those who
have failed to achieve this go insearch of group-consciousness which they can join.
This explains the fact, for example, that many former members of the communist
party felt like a fish out of water after the partys decline. They were completely
unable to stand on their own feet, let alone develop a free personality. For this
reason the Party was partially restored; and even the newer parties have received
into their ranks a multitude that one may rightly call spiritual invalids. And this they
remain; even if the subscribe to the so-called Western values of democracy.

Passage through the stage of individualization, bound up with an increase in

egoism, is an objective necessity, however objectionable this may sometimes
appear from and ethical point of view. It is simply a necessary transitional phase in
the evolution of humanity. From the standpoint of the tasks of development it is
preferable today to be one of the egoists rather than be subject to the group
morality of some religious sect.
In the past it was highly-developed leaders, educators of humanity, who helped
people through this difficult phase. Even now human beings dream that they will
return some day. But it has been for a long time since the phenomenon of the
lower I became a mass phenomenon the task of human beings to take the
direction of their life into their own hands, using the support of this lower
individualization. In these circumstances the creation of appropriate social, State
structures became a matter of special concern. The quest for these structures
began, and in the process of this search Utopians, Marxists, even Fascists emerged.
The human being must fight hard for his individualization, as it calls forth a
continuously growing resistance from those cosmic powers which oppose normal
evolution. And this is happening at a time when the great leaders of mankind, both
hierarchical and human, place their leadership, in view of the individualization
process, in the hands of simple individual.
TOP PAGE 4 Handwritten .