Lessons for the Participants of Cognitive-Cultic Work 1906–1924

GA 265a

Letter from Baron Ferdinand Georg Friedrich von Wrangell to Rudolf Steiner

Hotel “Preussischer Hof”, February 8, 1913

Dear Dr. Steiner.

You have called upon us to “watch over” the newborn Anthroposophical Society, which is beset by enemies, and ensure that no harm befalls it. I believe I am acting in accordance with this instruction when I take the liberty of drawing your attention to a danger that threatens it from within. I will illustrate this danger with an example.

A Mr. Daeglau gave a lecture at the architects' house in which he provided evidence that “science” had misunderstood the nature of gravity. He claimed that there was hardly any attraction of bodies through the earth, but that the fall was caused by repulsion through the zodiac. In his explanations, he said some outrageous things as if they were well-known facts, such as that the direction of gravity is the same everywhere, that according to the laws of mechanics g = # would have to be if the mass of the earth were to be assumed to be infinitely large in relation to the mass of the falling body, and so on.

For anyone familiar with the fundamentals of physics, it was clear that one had before them a half-educated fantasist, but the majority of the ladies present and some of the gentlemen did not even have this modest knowledge. Since no objections were raised against the lecturer's assertions, such listeners could have been left with the impression that new proof had been provided of how foolish “science” is how far-sighted secret research is; and if they then carry this wisdom home in black and white (as some do) and occasionally share it with an outsider, the Anthroposophical Society, or more correctly Dr. Rudolf Steiner, can suffer as a result of such a fact, which is immediately generalized.

For one must always bear in mind that the Anthroposophical Society is not a society of equal members who have elected Dr. Rudolf Steiner as their chairman, but are actually and unequivocally the disciples of a man around whom they gather to learn facts from his mouth, the correctness of which they cannot verify because they lack the necessary sense for doing so. They can check the conclusions themselves, but they have to accept the facts on trust. This is the fundamental difference between secret research and science, which is based on the empirical facts of the five normal senses. In science, every normal person is able to check the premises on which a scientific proposition is based; in secret research, they are not. In science, to believe authorities is a sin against the fundamental principle of the same; in secret research, on the other hand, belief in the truthfulness and flawless observation of the only qualified secret researcher is a basic condition.

If, in the presence of the teacher, one of the students makes false assertions without being refuted, serious damage can result.

I understand very well the motives for which you, with regard to the lectures of your students (and these are all members of the Anthroposophical Society), pay homage to the principle “the more, the better”; but as a seminar leader who is concerned about the development of his students, seeks to involve all of them in the preparation of presentations, but only with the proviso that the mistakes made are corrected in the presence of those present, for their benefit and edification.

Now, even with your universal knowledge and inexhaustible capacity, it is not possible for you to go to all that trouble, but then it would have to be ensured that when a “weak student” wishes to speak, a fellow student well versed in the subject in question should be instructed to correct any, even very serious, lapses, such as those made by Mr. Daeglau.

Please excuse the length of these explanations, but I felt I had to draw attention to the danger that threatens your and consequently our cause if the attempts of your students to apply the facts communicated to us from the spiritual world to events in the physical plane are not controlled by the teacher himself but on his behalf by a competent party.

With sincere reverence,

Your humble servant,

Friedrich von Wrangel