Correspondence with Edith Maryon 1912–1924

GA 263 — 4 June 1919, Stuttgart

Letter to Edith Maryon

Rudolf Steiner to Edith Maryon

Stuttgart, June 4, 1919

Dear Miss E. Maryon,

Thank you for your letter. I have wanted to answer for a long time, but I have a lot of work to do. And work that requires a great deal of thought. If it were not for the misunderstandings that keep arising, everything would be easier. But everything you say is immediately distorted when it is retold. You see that people are fighting against you from all sides because of false reports. People try to fit everything into a party mold, and if something has nothing to do with any party mold, they make something completely different out of it. This is not only done by opponents, but also by people who are well-disposed towards the cause I represent. And so all real work is very difficult. I am very pleased to hear that the sculpting work in Dornach is continuing and I would be very happy to do artistic work there, far from the hustle and bustle of the day-to-day. But the necessities of the times must be served. One must not shirk one's duty. I hear that my book on the social question has now been published in Switzerland as well; I hope that from it people will see what I really want and that perhaps some things will calm down that are only the result of chatter from opponents and also beginners.

I am, however, gratified that there are still people who understand me correctly and who, on the basis of these thoughts,

sincerely greet me with unchanging convictions.

Dr. Rudolf Steiner

Stuttgart, Landhausstrasse 70, (at Kinkel's)