The Constitution of the General Anthroposophical Society

GA 260a

More about the Creation of the Cycles

A Report by Marie Steiner from 1944

It should be noted at this point how the publication of the lectures as cycles for the members came about. It was against Dr. Steiner's original wishes; he was forced to do so by circumstances and had to take this step to prevent worse things from happening. At first, diligent listeners worked in small circles using transcripts, which could only be considered notes; then these transcripts were sent to those who had not been able to hear the lectures themselves. Of course, there were many inaccuracies, and unfortunately sometimes even errors, which were multiplied by repeated copying. There was a lack of discernment regarding the suitability of certain transcribers for this task. Two particularly egregious cases occurred in which real nonsense was disseminated. Action had to be taken against this. However, the distribution of such transcripts had already become a habit for some; small centers had even been set up for this purpose, where everything was collected. So there was no choice but to remedy the situation as best as possible; this could only be done through a certain degree of control. We had to take matters into our own hands and prohibit the distribution of unauthorized copies. The stenographers we approved of naturally had to gradually train themselves to be able to keep up with a long lecture. Attempts made with professional stenographers, including parliamentary stenographers, proved to be completely inadequate. The unfamiliar material confused them, and strange misrepresentations occurred; and those personalities were also accustomed to frequently alternating with each other when writing. Gradually, our stenographers became more and more proficient. But careful correction is always necessary, because the spoken word, through the speaker's intonation, offers possibilities for sentence formation and connections between thoughts that only reveal their full meaning in the written word through a skillful rearrangement of the individual parts of the sentence. Particularly dangerous in the transcription of shorthand notes is confusion caused by incorrect punctuation by the person taking the dictation: sometimes related sentences are torn apart, resulting in serious mutilations. And there are many other such examples. Unfortunately, during the times when I was traveling, many lecture transcripts were published in magazines without being corrected. As far as possible, they have been reprinted with schori for this reason: to be provided with the necessary corrections; it shall be our endeavor to continue to make this possible to the best of our ability. We know that even then, some things will still need improvement. It is no easy task to respect the wording completely and yet free it from distortions. It takes courage and time. Dr. Steiner himself certainly lacked the time to do this. He tried a few times at my request. But he returned the papers with the explanation that it would take him less time to rewrite the whole thing than to transcribe the spoken word into writing.

But what was the consequence of this step, which had become necessary due to the circumstances, for Dr. Steiner? He had intended only his written works for the public. Scholars and other critics would have had to deal with these. There was nothing that would have given rise to malicious attacks against so-called fantasy. Dr. Steiner's reputation as a scholar and scientist could have remained unblemished for posterity. What in the cycles must have struck the current materialistic way of thinking as unimaginable and sensational would not have been revealed. For the members, however, the content of the cycles was the sustenance, the bread of life, that they craved. They lived on it, especially since the time when he was no longer with us. And not only those souls who sought out of the need of their hearts and intuitive sense, but also those academics who wanted to overcome the deadening mechanical nature of today's ways of thinking and scientificity, needed this spiritual content in order to permeate themselves with the life element provided there.

But the style of the cycles was partly related to the situation at the time, to the needs and questions of the listeners — it was also related to what had been given in earlier cycles and could only be thoroughly understood after they had been processed. Gradual training in spiritual thinking leads to an understanding of cosmic connections. And the revealed spiritual knowledge moved in an ever-ascending line. The prerequisites for intellectual understanding must first be acquired by the layman.

Secret science as such, as presented by Dr. Steiner in his written works, not only his epistemological works, would have been more respected by the scholarly world and professional critics it would be more unassailable today if the hunger of seeking souls had not demanded precisely the spiritual nourishment that was initially served in internal circles prepared to receive it — or if at least the transcripts had been well guarded by them. Dr. Steiner's admonitions and warnings in this regard were drowned out by human desires and illusions. Facts were created that now had to be reckoned with, that could not be overlooked. They demanded that Dr. Steiner take a different course of action than he had originally intended. So it came about that he had to make this sacrifice as well: he made the cycles available to the members — initially in private print as a manuscript. However, they were hunted down by opponents who misused them and fragmented and tore apart their content to suit their own purposes. Soon there was no other protection for the cycles than what Dr. Steiner called “moral” protection, which is expressed in the note now attached to them. He felt compelled to release them, if not for the book trade, then at least for the public, should they demand them. In doing so, he broke with the old principle of keeping esoteric writings secret, which is no longer compatible with the demands of the modern age.