(NOTE: Philosophy of Freedom is the subject of the 6th verse in this parody)

Pardon my native New Yawk Anglo-Saxon, but I had to encapsulate the sentiments of Saul Bellow toward Owen Barfield as he expressed them in the letters they exchanged in the 1970’s --- letters which now appear in the new book of Bellow’s Collected Letters. Here’s the review in the NY Times Review of Books: Saul Bellow’s Quest for the Vernacular Sublime http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/21/books/review/Wieseltier-t.html I’ll give you “vernacular sublime” all right! I quote below the section about Bellow corresponding with Barfield and how Bellow finally tells Barfield --- in a much more polite and civilized way than I do --- to take Steiner, as it were, and shove him up Barfield’s bombastic British bio-dynamic butt!!! But then the reviewer notes Bellow’s “turn to PoF” (metaphorical not literal) by praising Bellow’s “Declaration of Independence” from the doctrine of anthroposophy as well as Barfield’s prissy condescension to and haughty rejection of Bellow’s own artistic expression of his own ethical individualism. Tom Mellett

ALL ABOARD!!!     ALL ABOARD!!!    ALL ABOARD!!!!

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Steiner Universe!!!!

Have you booked your tickets yet on the Rudolf Steiner Sesquicentennial Celebration Train Express???

Hurry!! Hurry!!! Before they sell out!!!

This is no "Peace Train! Holy Roller . . .”  of Cat Stevens now Josef Islam of the Arabic stream . . . 

No, this is the Rudolf Steiner Sesquicentennial Express!

Read all about it here
http://www.rudolf-steiner-2011.com/index.php?set_language=en&cccpage=zug...

I was all set to write Wibke Reinstein off as just another Steiner reincarnation wannabee --- with a flair for self-promotion and semi-New Age vagueness --- but then I happened to see a new entry on her Facebook discussion page

The Anthroposophical Prison Outreach Program has been flourishing for at least the last 8 years.  Here is their homepage
http://www.anthroposophyforprisoners.org/

Here is the PDF copy of their latest newsletter with dozens of responses from prisoners all across the USA writing in about the positive effects anthroposophy is having on and in their lives.
http://www.anthroposophyforprisoners.org/resources/APO-14.pdf

On page 8 of the 12 page newsletter, I came across this Illinois prisoner’s short book review of PoF.

“Intuitive Thinking as a Spiritual Path – wow! Not what I expected. This was the most purely philosophical study I have ever encountered. It’s the book I’ve been searching for since I discovered philosophy of any kind. The ideas developed in this study (I don’t know what else to call it) about freedom of will, monism and pure thought were extremely fascinating and reached far beyond what I have ever considered. The book was one of the most difficult I have ever read and required of me rereading of some paragraphs and chapters as I progressed – but was so very worth it. It opened me to an entirely new school of thought. Don’t be surprised if I request this book again in the future for further study.” --- Joseph, Galesburg, IL

I have long maintained --- for linguistic reasons alone --- that the correct translation for PoF should be The Philosophy of Inner Freedom.  Now reading that review from someone who is literally a “captive audience” for the book, someone whose external freedom is curtailed, helps to validate my translation.

That is the advice of Wibke Reinstein given at the end of an answer to a question as to whether she remembers her incarnation as Rudolf Steiner.

Wibke Reinstein is one of the choices in this “Rudi-Quiz” which appears on the back page of the latest newsletter of the Youth Seminar in Stuttgart, Germany.   (a kind of Foundation Year Study in Anthroposophy)

Ladies and gentlemen of the PoF blog and the entire Steiner Internet Multiverse!

Before I proceed with my revelations of such a world historic magnitude as I promised, I would first like to reassure you all that my posting here is ultimately aimed at pointing out the sometimes subtle fallacy of metaphysical realism expounded by many anthroposophists as we read in Chapter 10 of  PoF.

We learn in anthroposophy that Rudolf Steiner gave a kind of generic reincarnational “rule of thumb” stating that human being would usually incarnate twice during a Post-Atlantean epoch (2,160 years), once as a man and the other as a woman.  (Man being the karma of woman and woman the karma of man as described in a lecture May 26, 1910  GA 120    http://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/ManfKarma/19100526p01.html

However, he also stated that in times of great upheaval and transformation, nodal points in our evolution, that the rule could be superseded and high initiates would reincarnate rather more frequently than once a millennium.  But in addition to this special phenomenon he also spoke of a certain lofty being called a Bodhisattva, who is on his/her journey to become the next Buddha, i.e. the Maitreya Buddha. Using very approximate dates, we have the previous Bodhisattva becoming Gautama Buddha, ca. 600 BC. 5,000 years from that takes us to 4400 AD and the mid-point is 1900 AD, which Steiner refers to as the end of Kali Yuga, itself a 5,000 year span.  Timeline here:

[------------------5,000 years------------------------]//////////////////////////////////
Kali Yuga start---------------------------------Kali Yuga end/////////////////////////
3100 BC-----------------600 BC--------------1900 AD ----------------4400 AD
///////////////////////////Gautama B.-------------------------------------Maitreya B.
///////////////////////////////[------------------5,000 years------------------------]

The “rule” for this particular Bodhisattva being is that he/she reincarnates once every century, for a total of  [ (7 x 7) + 1 ] = 50 incarnations to make the 5,000 year Buddha bonanza.

Now just who is this Bodhisattva being!

Tom,

Let me introduce you the greatest rising super-star in the anthroposophical firmanent today and demonstrate his commitment to the Philosophy of Freedom. His name is Sebastian Gronbach. He lives in Cologne (Koeln) Germany and his book Missionen: Geist bewegt – alles!  (Missions: Spirit Moves --- Everything!) has been published by the prestigious anthroposophical house Verlag Freies Geistesleben. 

He is a 40 year old  3rd generation Anthro --- whose grandpappy knew Steiner --- who has taken not only the German anthroposophical world by storm, but more importantly he’s “cracking the cult barrier,” as it were, and driving Steiner’s ideas public and mainstream.

Ladies and gentlemen of the English speaking Steiner Internet Universe.

Through all my 34 years of anthropoposhy, I knew deep down in my cozy Gemuet that it would be my destiny as mild-mannered reporter for a great Akasha Chronicle to break the story of identifying Rudolf Steiner in his long-awaited next incarnation in the 21st century. And here is that story.

*********** OCCULT BREAKING NEWS **************

EXCLUSIVE!!!--------- EXCLUSIVE!!!--------- EXCLUSIVE!!!---------

EXCLUSIVE SCOOP from Hollywood Tomfortas,
Ace Occult Irish Esoteric Investigative Reporter
for the Akasha Chronicle.

PRESENT RUDOLF STEINER REINCARNATION REVEALED!!!!!

Urgent Appeal to Tom Last and all PoFfers!

Destiny calls upon you now to muster the forces of clear thinking from the study of PoF to develop a vaccine strong enough to stop the spread of the Judith von Halle flu now sweeping through Berlin and infecting Dornach as well.  If you do not act in time, then the spectre of atavistic Catholic superstition will entirely permeate the Goetheanum and turn all members of the Anthroposophical Society into stark raving Jesuits.

Please heed this call from Germany which I have translated into English below. Just how you can bottle sense-free thinking into a vaccine is beyond me, but I'm sure you'll think of some way.

Tom Mellett
Van Nuys, CA

Breaking News Bulletin from the Uncle Willy Lochmann Publishing Emporium

GERMAN ANTHROPOSOPHIST
CALLS FOR VACCINATION
AGAINST JUDITH VON HALLE FLU!!

RECOMMENDS PROVEN REMEDY OF
CLEAR-THINKING TO PREVENT
WORLD-WIDE EPIDEMIC!

From: Lochmann-Verlag <willy.lochmann@gmail.com>
Subject: Hübscher Leserbrief  (Cute Reader Comment)
In issue #6/7 (April-May 2010) the following reader comment is published:

 Various Influenzas

 To: Peter Tradowsky, writing “Seven Theses of Judith von Halle.” in issue #5 (March 2010)

 We’ve had the Bird Flu and the Swine Flu and now we have the “Von Halle Flu,” which had infected thousands. Just what kind of spiritual beings have inspired this Group-Influenza? It would be advisable to get yourselves vaccinated so that it will not turn into an epidemic. A proven remedy is clear thinking.

Christian Glaser,
Rodersdorf