Sayings for Teaching at the Waldorf School

Educating youth
Means today is tomorrow
Means spirit in matter
Means in earthly life
Cultivating the spirit. 1920

My thoughts fly to school
There my body is formed
For right activity
There my soul is educated
For right vitality
There my spirit is awakened
To true humanity.

July 1920

Morning verse for the four lower classes

Dear light of the sun,
It brightens my day;
The power of the soul,
It gives strength to the limbs;

In the radiance of the sun's light
I worship, O God
The human power that you
Have so kindly planted
In my soul,
So that I can be industrious
And eager to learn.

From you comes light and strength,
To you flow love and thanks.

September 1919

Morning verse for the upper classes

I look into the world,
In which the sun shines,
In which the stars sparkle;
In which the stones lie,
The plants grow alive,
The animals live with feeling,
In which man is animated,
Gives dwelling to the spirit;
I look into the soul,
Which lives within me.

The spirit of God weaves
In the light of the sun and the soul
In the space of the world, out there
In the depths of the soul, inside. —

To you, O Spirit of God
I turn in supplication,
That strength and blessing may grow
Within me for learning and working.
—

September 1919

The sun shines brightly on the beings of the earth,
The spirit sun shines upon human souls,
Earth beings hunger for the light of the sun,
Human souls thirst for the spirit sun,
And the light of the sun nourishes earth beings,
And the spirit sun quenches human souls.

Draft of a first verse for classical language teaching, unfinished,
June 1922

Whoever understands the meaning of language,
The world reveals itself
In images;

Whoever hears the soul of language,
The world opens up
As a being;

Whoever experiences the spirit of language,
The world gifts them
With the power of wisdom;

Whoever can love language,
It grants them
Its own power.

So I will turn my heart and mind
Towards the spirit and soul
Of the word;

And in my love
For it, I will
First feel myself completely.

Introductory verse for Greek and Latin lessons at the Free Waldorf School,
November 1922

The roots germinate in the earth at night
The leaves sprout through the power of the air
The fruits ripen through the power of the sun

So the soul germinates in the shrine of the heart
So the human spirit sprouts in the light of the world
So the human power ripens in God's light

And roots and leaves and the blessing of fruits
They sustain the earthly life of man
And soul and spirit and power move
They may rise up to God in thanksgiving.

Amen.

For the teachers of free Christian religious education
Christmas 1922

In the bright sunlight,
Which brings the power of the earth;
In the green plant life,
Which springs from the depths,
And also in the vastness of the worlds,
Which give shelter to the stars,
And in the human eye,
Where the powers of the senses weave:
There I sense God's power,
Which appears to me in spirit,
With which in the depths of my soul
My whole being unites;
That I myself may become spirit
As a human being in the substance of the earth.

At the beginning of the hours of free religious education at the Waldorf School,
1923

For the students of the 12th grade on their graduation

In the vastness of life's paths
May be reflected
What in the beloved home of youth
Like a seal
Of genuine humanity
Has been imprinted
On the heart.

In the depths of memory
May prove strong
What the soul was allowed to find
In circles of the heart
Through spiritual guidance,
In the powers
Of dear life training.

April 1924