1.01 - Necessity for knowledge of the whole human being for a genuine education.

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object:1.01 - Necessity for knowledge of the whole human being for a genuine education.
author class:Rudolf Steiner
book class:The Essentials of Education
subject class:Education
class:chapter

Lecture One
Stuttgart, April 8, 1924

Dear friends! Our assignment for this educational conference is to answer the question: What is the role of education and teaching to be for the future in terms of both the individual and society? Anyone who looks with an unbiased eye at modern civilization and its various institutions can hardly question the importance of this theme today (by today I mean the current decade in history). This theme touches on questions deep in the souls and hearts of a great many people.

Knowledge of the Whole Human Being
In our modern civilization, we have seen people develop a peculiar attitude toward their own being. For over a century, our civilization has witnessed the ambitious development of natural science and its consequences for humanity; indeed, all of contemporary life has been affected by the knowledge and ideas engendered by natural science. From the perspective of natural science, however, wherever we look and no matter how exactly we observe the mineral king- dom and develop ideas of natures other realms, one thing is clear: although there was close and intimate self-knowledge of human beings in earlier cultural epochs, this is no longer the situation today. Whatever achievements natural science may have brought to humankind, it cannot be applied directly to the human being.

We can ask: What are the laws that govern the development of the world beyond humankind? However, none of the answers come close to the essence of what lives within the limits of the human skin. Answers are so inadequate that people today havent a clue about the ways that external natural processes are actually transformed within the human being through breathing, blood circulation, nutrition, and so on.

Consequently, we have come to the point where, even in terms of the soul, we do not look at the soul itself, but study its exter- nal manifestations in the human body. Today people experiment with external means on human beings. However, I dont intend to criticize psychological or pedagogical experimentation. We have to acknowledge what can be accomplished in this way, but mostly this approach is a symptom of our cultural milieu, since in fact the results of such experiments should at least be mentioned.

In earlier times, people had a sense of inner empathy with the spirit and soul of other human beings, which gave them an intui- tive impression of the souls inner experiences; it made sense that what one knew about the inner spirit and soul life would explain external physical manifestations. Now, we do just the opposite. People experiment with external aspects and processes very effec- tively, since all contemporary natural science is effective. The only thing that has been demonstrated, however, is that, given our modern views of life, we take seriously only what is sense- perceptible and what the intellect can comprehend with the help of the senses. Consequently, we have come to a point where we no longer have the capacity to really observe the inner human being; we are often content to observe its outer shell. We are further removed from the human being. Indeed, the very methods that have so eagerly illuminated life in the outer world the work- ing of naturehave robbed us of the most basic access between souls. Our wonderfully productive civilization has brought us very close to certain natural phenomena, but it has also driven us away from human nature. It should be obvious that the aspect of our culture most harmed by this situation is educationevery- thing related to human development and teaching children. Once we can understand those we are to shape, we will be able to educate and teach, just as painters must understand the nature and quality of colors before they can paint, and sculptors must first understand their materials before they can create, and so on. If this is true of the arts that deal with physical materials, isnt it all the more true of an art that works with the noblest of all materials, the material that only the human being can work withhuman life, human nature and human development?

These issues remind us that all education and all teaching must spring from the fountain of real knowledge of human nature. In the Waldorf schools, we are attempting to create such an art of education, solidly based on true understanding of the human being, and this educational conference is about the educational methods of Waldorf education.

Knowledge of human nature! I can hear people saying how far we have come in our knowledge of human nature in our time! I must reply that, although we have made extraordinary advances in our knowledge of the human physical body, human beings are really body, soul, and spirit. The worldview at the foundation of Waldorf education that is, anthroposophical spiritual science consists equally of knowledge of the human body, the human soul, and the human spirit, being careful to avoid any imbalance.

In the following lectures, I will have much more to say about such knowledge of human nature. But first, let me point out that true knowledge of human nature doesnt come from merely look- ing at an isolated individual with three aspects: body, soul, and spirit. Knowledge of human nature primarily tries to keep sight of what happens among human beings during earthly life.

When one human being encounters another, a fully conscious knowledge of each others being doesnt develop between them such a thing would be absurd. We couldnt begin to interact socially if we were to view one another such that we ask: Whats going on in that other person? But we all carry an unconscious knowledge4 of the other within ourselves as unconscious perceptions, feelings, and, most importantly, impulses that underlie the will. We will see that knowledge of human nature has suffered a great deal in the modern world, and this has given rise to many social evils. In a sense, however, knowledge of human beings has only withdrawn to deeper levels of the unconscious than ever before. Nevertheless, it is still available to us, since, if it werent, we would pass each other with no means of understanding one another.

It is certainly true that when one person meets another whether or not we are aware of itsympathies and antipathies arise, and impressions are formed. They tell us whether the other person can be allowed to get close, or if we would prefer to stay clear of that other person. Other impressions arise as well. Imme- diately, we may say, This is an intelligent person, or that per- son is not very gifted. I could mention hundreds and hundreds of impressions that spring from the depths of the soul. During most of our life, such impressions are pushed back down again, where they become a part of our souls attitude toward the other person; we guide our behavior toward that person in terms of these first impressions. Then, too, what we call empathywhich is essentially one of the most significant impulses of human moralityalso belongs to such unconscious knowledge of other human beings.

The Relationship between Teacher and Child
In our adult interactions, we use our knowledge of other people so unconsciously that we are unaware of it, but we nevertheless act according to it. In our capacity as teachers, however, the relationship between our human soul as teacher and the childs human soul must be much more conscious, so that we have a formative effect on the child. But we also must become aware of our own teachers soul so that we experience whats necessary to establish the right mood, the right teaching artistry, and the right empathy with the childs soul. All of these things are necessary to perform our educa- tional and teaching task adequately. Were immediately reminded that the most important aspect in education and teaching is what occurs between the teachers soul and the childs soul.

Lets start with this knowledge of human nature; its knowl- edge with soft edges. It lacks sharp contours to the extent that its not related to any one person. Rather, over the course of the educational relationship it hovers, as it were, weaving here and there between what happens in the teachers soul and in the childs soul. In certain ways, its difficult to be sure of whats happening, since its all very subtle. When we teach, something is present that flows like a stream, constantly changing. Its necessary to develop an eye, an inner faculty that can grasp the fleeting, subtle influ- ences that pass from soul to soul. Only then, perhaps; only when we have the ability to comprehend the intimate, spiritual inter- play between two human beings, are we able to understand each individual.

We might consider a few specific examples as an introduction to the way these currents form. In doing this, we need to con- sider one thing: when we deal with a human being in-process, a growing child, knowledge of human nature is often applied too narrowly. We take the child at a specific point in life and get to work, asking about the childs developmental forces, how they operate at that particular age, and so on, and we ask how we can properly meet these developmental forces at this particu- lar time. But knowledge of human nature as intended here isnt concerned only with these moments of experience, but with the persons whole earthly life. It is not really as easy as observing a narrowly circumscribed time span in a human life. But educators and teachers need to be able to look at the whole human life; whatever we do in the eighth or ninth year will have effects upon the forty- or fifty-year-old adult, as we will see a little later.6

As a teacher, anything I do to a child during the years of ele- mentary education will sink deeply into the physical, psychologi- cal, and spiritual nature of that individual. Whatever I do that plants a seed at the beginning of life will in some way go on liv- ing and weaving for decades beneath the surface, reappearing in remarkable ways many years later, perhaps not until the very end of life. Its possible to affect childhood in the right way only if we consider not just childhood but all of human life as seen from the perspective of a real knowledge of human nature.

This is the knowledge I have in mind as I give you a few exam- ples about the intimate ways the teachers soul can affect the childs soul. I will present only a few indications for todaywe will go into greater detail later. We can understand how to prepare the intellect for impulses of the will only if we can answer this ques- tion: What happens between the teacher and the child, simply because the teacher and the child are present together, each with a unique nature and temperamenta particular character, level of development, constitution of body and soul? Before we even begin to teach and educate, the teacher and the child are both present. There is already an interaction. The teachers relationship to the child presents the first important question.

Rather than groping about in abstractions, lets just look at specifics; we shall examine one particular characteristic in human nature the temperament. Lets begin by looking not at a childs temperament, which of course offers us no choicewe have to educate each human being regardless of temperament (and well speak later about the childrens temperaments)but lets begin rather by looking at the teachers temperament. The teacher enters the school and meets the child with a very specific tem- peramentcholeric, sanguine, melancholic, or phlegmatic. The question is: As educators, what can we do to control our own temperaments; how can we perhaps educate ourselves in relation to our own temperament? To answer this question we must first look directly at the fundamental question: How does a teachers temperament affect the child, just by being what it is?

The Choleric Temperament
Well begin with the choleric temperament. The teachers choleric temperament may be expressed when the teacher lets loose and vents anger. We will see later how teachers can control themselves. Lets assume for starters that the teacher has a temper, which is expressed in powerful, vehement expressions. It may drive the teacher to act or handle the child in ways that arise from a cho- leric temperament, which is regretted later on. The teacher may do things in the presence of the child that cause fright (we will see the fragile nature of a childs soul). The childs fright may not last for long, but nevertheless it takes root deep in the childs physical organism. A choleric adult may have such an effect that the child always approaches the teacher in fear, or the child may feel sub- consciously or entirely unconsciously repressed. In other words, there is a very specific way the choleric temperament works on a child, having subtle, intimate effects.

Lets consider the preschool child. At that stage a child is a single entity; the childs three membersbody, soul, and spirit differentiate themselves later on. Between birth and the change of teeth (which is a very important point in the childs development) theres a period of time when the child is, for all practical purposes, entirely a sensory organ; this is not generally emphasized enough.

Lets imagine a sensory organ the eye, for example. The eye encounters outer impressions, sensations of color. This eye is orga- nized in very delicate ways that unite with the impressions made by colors. Without a person having any say in the matter, the slightest external impression is immediately transformed into something of the nature of will, which is only then experienced by the soul, as we say. The entire life of the child before the change of teeth is ruled8 in this way by sensory perceptions that impress the soul. All inner experiences resemble a kind of perception by the soul.

Children absorb impressions from all the people around them with the same intensity that sensory organs receive impressions from the environment. The way we move around children whether slowly, revealing an indolence of soul and spirit or storm- ily, revealing a soul and spirit thats overbearingis absorbed by them; they are completely sensory. We might say that an adult tastes with the mouth, or with the pallet or tongue. Children, however, experience taste in the very depths of their organism; its as though the sense of taste were spread throughout a large part of the body. This is also true of the other senses. The effects of light bind themselves intimately to a childs respiratory rhythms and circulation. What is to adults a separate visual perception, children experience in their whole body; and without any fore- thought, a childs will impulses arise immediately, like reflexes. For the moment Im bringing this up just by way of introduction to this theme. A childs whole body responds reflexively to every impression in the environment.

This means that the soul, spirit, and body of a small child are still undifferentiated, still interwoven as a unified whole. The soul and spirit work in the body and directly influence the circulatory and digestive processes. Its remarkable how close a childs soul and metabolism are to each other and how closely they work together! Only later, at the change of teeth, does the soul element become more differentiated from the metabolism. Every stimulation of a childs soul is transcribed in the blood circulation, breathing, and digestion. Body, soul, and spirit are still a unity. This means that every stimulus in the childs environment works right down into the body of the child.

And so, when a choleric teacher gets near a child and lets loose with fits of temper, anything done under this influenceif the teacher doesnt practice self-improvement in the way we have yet to discussenters the childs soul and takes root in the body. The remarkable thing is that it sinks into the foundations of the childs being, and anything implanted in the growing human body reap- pears later. Just as a seed is planted in the autumn and reappears in the spring as a plant, so whatever is planted as a seed in a child of eight or nine comes out again in the adult of forty-five or fifty. And we can see the effects of an uncontrolled choleric teachers temperament in the form of metabolic illnesses in the adult, or even in the very old.

If we could only verify the reason this or that person suffers from arthritis, or why another has all kinds of metabolic disor- ders, poor digestion, or gout, there would be only one answer: many of these things can be attri buted to the violent tempera- ment of a teacher who dealt with the child at an early age.

If we achieve pedagogical understanding by looking at the whole human being and not just at the childwhich is much more comfortableit becomes clear that education and teaching play a central role in the course of human life. We see how often happiness or unhappiness in the spirit, soul, or physical life is related to a persons education and schooling. Just consider this: doctors are asked by older people to correct the mistakes of their educators, when in fact the problems have sunk so deeply into the person that no more can be done. The impressions on the childs soul have been transformed into physical effects, and the psycho- logical interacts with the physical; knowing all this, we begin to pay attention in the right way, and we acquire a proper apprecia- tion for teaching methods and what is required for a viable educa- tion according to the reality of human nature.

The Phlegmatic Temperament
Now, lets consider the phlegmatic teacher. We will assume again that this teacher makes no attempt at self-knowledge or self-education10 regarding temperament. It can be said of the phlegmatic that whatever comes to the child from such a person is not strong enough to meet the inner activity of the childs soul. The inner impulses want to come out, to flow out, and the child wants to be active, but the teacher is phlegmatic and just lets things be. This teacher is unable to engage what flows out of the child, failing to encounter it with enough impressions and influences. Its as if one were trying to brea the in a rarefied atmosphere, to use a physical analogy. The childs soul experiences shortness of breath when the teacher is phlegmatic. When we see such a child in later life, we can understand why some people are nervous or suffer from neuras thenia, and so on. By going back to their childhood, we find that its related to the uncontrolled phlegmatic temperament of an educator who failed to do important things with the child.

We might even be able to explain widespread cultural patholo- gies in this way. Why is it that nervous diseases such as depression are so widespread today? You might be thinking Im trying to con- vince you that when the current generation of neuras thenic adults was being educated the whole teaching profession was phlegmatic! I tell you that it did consist of phlegmaticsnot in the usual sense of the word, but in a much deeper sense. Were speaking of the historical period of the nineteenth century when materialism rose. The materialistic worldview turns away from the human being, and develops a monstrous indifference in the teacher toward the most intimate movements of the souls of those being educated.

If, in an unbiased way, we can observe the cultural manifesta- tions of the modern era, we find that a person may be a phleg- matic in that sense, even though that same person might angrily react to a child who spilled ink, yelling: You shouldnt do that! You shouldnt throw ink because youre angry; Ill throw it back at you, you rascal! Such outbursts of choleric temper werent forbidden during the time I just described, nor am I suggesting that there was any shortage of sanguine or melancholic teachers. But in their actual teaching, they were still phlegmatics and acted phlegmatic. The materialistic worldview was unable to access human nature, and least of all the developing child. And so it was possible to be a phlegmatic even though one was a choleric or melancholic by birth. Phlegma became an aspect of all education in the materialistic era. And it has a lot to do with the appear- ance of nervousness, of neuras thenia, of nervous disorders in our culture. Well look at this in detail later. Nevertheless, we see the effect of phlegmatic teachers whose very presence next to children triggers nervous disorders.

The Melancholic Temperament
If a teacher succumbs to a melancholic temperament and becomes too self-absorbed, the thread of the childs spirit and soul nature is constantly in danger of breaking, the life of feeling is chilled. In this way, the melancholic teachers influence causes the children to suppress their soul impulses. Instead of expressing them, the children retreat within.

If a teacher gives in to a melancholic temperament, it can lead to breathing and circulatory problems for the children in later life. Teachers shouldnt educate with only childhood in mind. And doc- tors should look beyond the specific onset of disease to a particu- lar age, with a capacity to observe human life as one connected whole. In this way, people can see that many cases of heart trouble between forty and forty-five began with the whole mood generated by the uncontrolled melancholic temperament of a teacher.

Obviously, when we observe the spiritual and psychic imponder- ables that play between the teachers soul and that of the child, were compelled to ask: How should teachers and educational profession- als work upon themselves inwardly regarding the various tempera- ments? We can understand that its not enough for the teacher to say, I was born with my temperament; I cant help myself. First12 of all, this is untrue, and even if it were true, the human race would have died out long ago due to pedagogical malpractice.

The Sanguine Temperament
The teacher who gives full vent to a sanguine temperament is sus- ceptible to all kinds of impressions. When a student makes a mess, the teacher looks the other way instead of getting angry. A student may whisper to a neighbor, and the teacher again looks the other way. This is typical of the sanguine temperament; impressions come quickly, but dont penetrate deeply. Such a teacher may call on a little girl to ask a brief question; but the teacher isnt interested in her for long and almost immediately sends her back to her seat. This teacher is completely sanguine.

Again, if we look at the whole human life, we can trace many cases of insufficient vitality and zest for lifewhich is a patho- logical symptom exhibited by many peopleto the effects of a teachers undisciplined sanguine temperament. Without self-trans- formation, a teachers sanguine temperament suppresses vitality, dampens the zest for life, and weakens the will that wells up from the childs individuality.

These relationships, as revealed by an au thentic spiritual sci- ence, lead us to a genuine knowledge of human nature. With this in mind, we can realize how comprehensive the real art of educa- tion is; and, in comparison, we can see the pettiness of the usual way of looking only at whats immediately present and obvious. That isnt enough, and were faced with the essential demand of our current civilizationa civilization that has already brought enough discord to human existence.

And that demand is: Given the various simple and superficial observations of research, statistics, and other ingenious meth- odswhich form the basis of almost all education and peda- gogyhow can we educate in a way that equally considers the whole human experience and the eternal within us that shines through human experience? Something much deeper appears in relation to these questions. By way of an introduction, Ive tried to show you whats at play between teacher and student just because theyre thereeven before anything is done consciously, but merely because the two are there. This is especially revealed in the different temperaments.

It will be argued that there comes a point when we have to begin to educate. Yes, and immediately we encounter the opin- ion that anyone can teach someone else whatever theyve already learned. If Ive learned something, I am, so to speak, qualified to teach it to someone else. People frequently fail to notice that there is an inner attitude of temperament, character, and so on, which is the result of the teachers own inner work or teacher training (as well see), behind everything that a teacher can learn on her own, what she can assimilate. Here, too, a real knowledge of the human constitution leads more deeply into human nature itself.

Lets inquire, then, about teaching an unschooled child some- thing we have learned. Is it enough to present it to the child just as we learned it? It certainly is not. Now I will speak of an empirical fact, the results of a real observation of the whole life of a human being in body, soul, and spirit. It concerns the first period of life, from birth until the change of teeth.

The Teacher and the Three Stages of Childhood
When we understand the interrelationship between teacher and child in terms of the temperaments, we see that, during this first stage of life, what we have learned has almost no importance for teaching and educating a child. The most important considerations have to do with the kind of person you are, what impressions the child receives, and whether or not youre worthy of imitation.14

As far as this life period is concerned, if a civilization never spoke of education and in its elementary, primitive way simply educated, it would have a much healthier outlook than ours. This was true of the ancient Eastern regions, which had no educa- tion in our sense of the word. There the adults body, soul, and spirit was allowed to affect the child so that the child could take this adult as a guide, moving a muscle when the teacher moved a muscle and blinking when the teacher blinked. The teacher was trained to do this in a way that enabled the child to imitate. Such a teacher was not as the Western pedagogue, but the Eastern data. 3 A certain instinctive quality was behind this. Even today, its obvious that what Ive learned is totally irrelevant in terms of my ability to teach a child effectively before the change of teeth. After the change of teeth, the teachers knowledge begins to have some significance; but this is lost again, if I merely impart what I learned as it lives in me. It all has to be transformed artistically and made into images, as we shall see later. I have to awaken invis- ible forces between the child and myself.
3. In Sanskrit, the giver.

In the second life period, between the change of teeth and puberty, its much more important that I transform my knowledge into visual imagery and living forms, unfolding it and allowing it to flow into the child. What a person has learned is important for children only after puberty until the early twenties.

For the small child before the change of teeth, the most impor- tant thing in education is the teachers own individuality. The most important element for teaching the child between the change of teeth and puberty is the teacher who can enter living artistry. Only after the age of fourteen or fifteen can the child really claim what the teacher has learned. This continues until after the early twenties, when the child is fully grown (even though its true that we call the teenager a young lady or young man). At twenty years, the young person can meet another human being on equal terms, even when the other is older.

Things like this enable us to look deep into human nature and we shall see how this is deepened in the presence of true human wisdom. We come to realize contrary to what has often been thought that we dont recognize someone as a teacher by examining what the person knows after going through college. That would show us only a capacity for lecturing on some sub- ject, perhaps something suitable for students between fourteen and twenty. As far as earlier stages are concerned, what the teacher does in this sense has no relevance whatever. The qualities neces- sary for these early periods need to be assessed on a very different basis.

Thus, we see that a fundamental issue in teaching and educa- tion is the question of who the teacher is. What must really live in the children, what must vibrate and well up into their very hearts, wills, and eventually into their intellect, lives initially in the teach- ers. It arises simply through who they are, through their unique nature, character, and attitude of soul, and through what they bring the children out of their own self-development. So we can see how it is only a true knowledge of human nature, cultivated comprehensively, that can serve as the foundation for a true art of teaching and fulfill the living needs of education. Im eager to pursue these matters further in the lectures that follow.

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