The History of the Anthroposophical Society 1913–1922

GA 251 — 19 October 1915, Dornach

15. The Case of Tschirschky, Strauss, Wernicke and Blasberg

We did not accuse Mrs. von Tschirschky. Mrs. von Tschirschky accused herself by taking things personally. She grasped the matter in a peculiar way, did not bring forward anything to refute the charge but declared outright that society is a gossiping society because things that have been said are said again here.

Now, let's leave aside the fact that one can have different views on whether things should have been said or not. They have been said once; and after all, it is not a principle in the world that the one who tells something about another person's actions is the guilty one, but the guilty one is the one about whom one has something guilty to tell. But what Mrs. von Tschirschky presented was only that it was an improper procedure, that the things she could not refute were presented. She did not lack expressions that are legally incriminating in her speech. I just recall: “I thought I was dealing with a friend, and now I see I'm dealing with a spy.” In short, the speech was full of insults. You will recall that the whole speech was full of insults, also in tendency. During this speech, Mr. Bauer made a comment. Ms. von Tschirschky immediately responded to this, coining the term herself: “mystical eccentricity.” She herself labeled what she wanted to describe as “mystical eccentricity.” Then she announced her resignation and explained why she could no longer be a member of the Society. The Society listened. Let us hold on to this fact.

Mrs. von Strauss, whose name was also not mentioned, said in her letter: “This is an exaggeration.” She could be quoted exactly: She came in again, but did not say a word to explain that the things were not true, only that they were grossly exaggerated, and that the matter played no role in her spiritual life, and then she left the room.

Fräulein Wernicke also left the room with some comment. In the next few days, it came to the well-known dialogue. Then Fräulein Wernicke appeared and gave us a lecture, which in turn, was truly not free from legally actionable expressions. I recall only that at that time the expression “dirt” was used. There are many here who heard that. I also recall that a comparison I used a few days earlier, when the ladies were still there, was taken as a starting point to hurl a legally contestable insult at the whole society. A few days earlier, I had spoken, in a positive sense, about society being a living organism, and I didn't just say it for superficial ears, just to hear it, but I defined it further. I said: other societies are formed on the basis of all kinds of program points; they can fall apart again. Our society differs from the others in that it was founded on a reality. I mentioned that you have our cycles in your hands, and I mentioned that our society, by forming an organism, leaves a corpse behind when it disintegrates, and that from this external, materialistic point of view alone, it must be true of our society that it is not an association, like another association, which can disintegrate, but that it leaves something behind. We cannot get rid of it. Really, this was a serious discussion about the nature of our society. Friends have abused this serious discussion. They have now thrown the insult in our face that society is already in decay, that it is already a corpse. When you throw the words corpse and decay in someone's face, it is of course an insult, and in all this, society has listened.

Ms. Blasberg was given the choice of whether she wanted to stay here or not, and to say whether she believed the dirt was here, with us, or not. And that led her to leave by saying that those ladies – who, as demonstrably true assertions, have said so many things that they cannot assert – and in particular Mrs. von Tschirschky, could not have said anything incorrect.

After a short time, a flood of express letters from Mrs. von Strauss began to pour in on me. I wanted to spare you these at first because I believed that there was no reason for the society, which had remained passive until then and had not really said anything substantial about it, to continue the proceedings in this matter. Because everything that had happened had happened on the part of the ladies. There was no expulsion or anything of the sort. No official explanation was sent to the ladies. Some members of this House felt obliged to write to the ladies for certain reasons, reasons that, even if some words were out of place, were nonetheless entirely commendable; for the writers of the letters actually tried to appeal to the ladies' consciences. If you follow the letters, you will see that the writers may have made mistakes in some of their statements, but basically they just wanted to appeal to the ladies' consciences.

Mrs. von Strauss wrote in her letter that she has many regrets and should have done many things she did not do, which would probably be because she did not do the ancillary exercises. She sends these letters, I don't know why – I couldn't find any reason why – to my house. In Mrs. von Strauss's letters there were things in them that one would have thought referred to other letters, that Mrs. von Strauss would have mixed up the letters, because she characterizes them in a way that is highly offensive. It was further insulting in these letters the term “lie”. It is an insult if there is no mention of a lie in a letter that Mrs. von Strauss claims says “lie”. She says that she is being accused of a lie. But you are calling someone a liar if you say that they are lying when the word “lie” has not been said. Similarly, the word “immorality” does not appear in any of the letters. Mrs. von Strauss accuses us of accusing her of immorality. There are many things in these letters that are objectively untrue. To allege such things about someone is an insult and can be prosecuted. I am not allowed to say that someone has made an insulting comment if it is not true that they have said it, so from this point of view, the letters are full of insults.

We have to look at the matter very soberly. The way these ladies deal with insults is quite peculiar. One of these ladies, for example, has said a real insult. She used the term “gossip” or “blabbermouth” about someone, and the strange thing is, she said it about herself.

So you can't really get out of things by looking at them in the sober light of day. In a sense, it was a dilemma for me to read the letters to you because Mrs. von Strauss simply forced you to read the letters. Therefore, they had to be read. That's actually how it looks. No matter how meticulously you search, there is no way to find the slightest reason for the ladies to complain about anything; because absolutely nothing happened to them. Nevertheless, they are even threatening to hire a lawyer, and they keep talking about injuries and about the board of directors staging a Haberfeldtreiben against them.

So, my dear friends, the sober fact is that someone compares another person who is a member of society to Judas; that someone says this about another person who is also a member of society. These are things that have been amply characterized. These things come out unfortunately, and the gentleman now demands not merely that he shall not be sued, though he could be sued ten times, twenty times—for these are all actionable things that the ladies have said, really actionable things. We have no intention of filing a lawsuit, but these are all actionable things. Rather, he threatens us with a lawsuit. We are really dealing with a serious perversion of the facts; it is an outrageous thing. We must realize this situation in all seriousness and sobriety. It is necessary that we realize this. Our society must be one built on true love. But if it should happen again and again that, when it is necessary to achieve this or that here, this or that person comes and takes the side of those who attack the others in the sharpest way, how are we to really get along? In our society, it is certainly justified to show a lot of love; but it is important to do so with reason, with reason. This is extremely necessary. And we will need to emphasize correctness and accuracy, especially in this time, when we are surrounded by a bunch of the real opposite. We have to be clear about what is actually going on.

You see, that is the situation and from this situation the board will have to find the necessity to prove, really file by file, piece by piece, that the matter is really as it has now been characterized, namely that someone who has behaved in the most incredible way, after running away from the company against its every wish, is now demanding that those from whom he has run away apologize to him. The matter is actually so absurd that one could even imagine that if one were to take the matter to court, the judge would say: Yes, if the matter were like that, then it would be quite absurd. It would have to be quite different, because it is not possible that reasonable people demand such a thing in the world.

We have now been forced by Mrs. von Strauss to talk about the matter again, which was absolutely unnecessary. But we are in a real society. If the absurd is real, then we must also deal with the absurd. That is also part of the concept of a living organism. But if we negotiate here, and it can then be made the sad discovery that our negotiations, which we conduct among ourselves, are even carried out - yes, where do we end up if we are exposed to this danger for all our affairs?

Just think, my dear friends, that there is the possibility – because more important things than this basically highly unimportant thing are also being negotiated here – that the most intimate, even esoteric things that are said here, can be easily communicated to the outside world. This is how we take what is always emphasized: that certain things have to remain among us.

I would like to know, my dear friends, if any society of the kind that our is, which only approximately takes into account the principles with which we have to deal, could do such things; it would be considered quite impossible. If such possibilities arise again and again, that things are carried out, then it is of course of no use to us to set up inquisition courts and ask who visited this or that person. The fact that this or that person can visit this or that person is beyond our control, it is not our business. But the fact that the things that are discussed here are told outside and that no attention is paid is what is so bad. And that's why we have to say one day: we're closing up, we're not talking about what should be talked about here at all, because if we don't have the opportunity to do our thing seriously and with dignity, then we shouldn't do it at all. Then we are in the sad position, my dear friends, that we have done everything for years that has led to the construction of this building here and everything else, and that we are now, simply because of these things, faced with the impossibility of continuing the matter. That is also part of the nature of a living organism. Basically, we are being led by sheer impossibility. We are not in a position, basically we are not at all in a position to continue talking about the matter, because we do not know how the matters were carried out. So we actually have to stop talking. I therefore believe that in this case, which we must come to an end at some point, the members of the board present here can be commissioned to carry out the case, to examine it in a smaller circle. It was necessary for us to get an overview of the whole matter. It was necessary for us to visualize what is actually at hand and what is possible among us, and to really set out to consider society as a society.

It is truly not an easy fate to be compelled to engage in further debates in society when one cannot even be sure that one is free from the things that are said on the condition that they are not carried out, assuming that they can be carried out at any time to anyone. It really must be said: It is a sad fate to have to work in society.

I will just say this one word: I read the lecture that I gave in Berlin, the lecture on the foundation of the Theosophical Society for Type and Art. I ask you to note that this lecture was actually read with the intention of ensuring that this matter is accurate. You will have noticed that the word “esoteric” does not appear in this lecture. So when someone speaks of an esoteric foundation, this is an objective untruth. It is not a matter of something esoteric, it is a matter of what has been expressed in these words, and since this very matter has been used for attack, I ask you, especially on this point, as soon as you speak about it, to speak very carefully and not to fall for the idea that because esoteric things have been practiced in this or that case, this or that must also be understood in that way. This is not an esoteric matter. I had to make these comments so that they all know what is necessary to know about this.

You see, nothing is given to what I say. This is evident from the fact that someone leaves the company, that someone can be said to run away. A society in which that is possible cannot deal with its problems. It won't do any good what we do – that's possible; but we have to do our duty, even in a case like this, where we know full well that we won't achieve anything by doing it, we have to do our duty.