On The Flow-Chart Idea
Although at first sight rather strange, this type of format soon becomes easily interpreted. At top there is a chapter heading as final summation to the theme. Under this, the subheadings of each part. The main body is made up of the gists of each paragraph. These are arranged in rising and falling groupings. Occasionally, there are introductions and closing paragraphs.
The chart can be read sequentially as the text is written. Or, comparisons can be made between corresponding paragraphs in adjacent groups. It is fruitful to compare units horizontally also, since each level has a common characteristic.
In organic development a certain sequence of conceptual aspects is to be expected. Abstractly stated, these are basically: Form, Life, Consciousness and Essence. Numerous variations are possible. Space, Time, Causality and Entity is another way of saying the same thing. Likewise: Thing, Process, Explanation, and Concept. The student's problem is to find the appropriate set for the theme in question. Abstractly notated, they are: A, B, C, D.
Why there are four such categories in that order is a good question. Anthroposophy as a whole is the inclusive answer. But briefly put, they correspond to the present four-fold nature of man, of which organic style is a reflection. Also, we find that all manner of larger combinations can be reduced to variations of these basic elements.
Pictorially speaking, the flow-chart is a kind of musical score, the thoughts are tones and the levels are analogous to strings upon which the reader plays. Thinking in the future is to take on a musical character, we have been told.
The sequence of groupings (parts of the chapter) also follow in a similar order. Problem - Development - Conclusion would be a basic threesome. Doublets are simple polarities, such as: Outer vs Inner Aspects, or Description vs Value. Science vs Ethics, for instance, is the polarity of the two parts of the 'Philosophy'. A foursome might have a sequence such as: Facts, Origin, Causal - factors, and Persons involved. -- Generally, if the question: WHAT, HOW, WHY, and WHO? are answered in proper, a form is organic. This means, viable, capable of coming to life in the soul of the reader.
Now, as to the Gist-like summations of each paragraph, every student should actually make his own. For these are at best merely symbols or signposts pointing to the experience arising out of the study of the paragraph. And they should represent to the student its essential Idea. The smaller the lay-out, the less explicit of course they can be. Occasionally, they approach mathematical brevity. -- In group-study, summarizing a paragraph is always healthy before passing on to the next.
To the discussion leader a chart offers help in a number of ways:
1. Clues are given to content of paragraph under discussion.
2. Places are suggested at which stops can be made for review.
3. Correspondences with preceding paragraphs which can clarify the immediate problem are usually seen.
4. As notes, aid is provided for surveys of what is to come.
As one gets more familiar with the LIFE-QUALITY of these organic thought shapes, certain real inner experiences become more conscious. What is represented by the up and down lines is experienced as a kind of breathing of the thought-organism. The various groupings take on color, from dark to light. Simple sequences are felt as cadences, tonal resolutions are experienced.
In this way, the thinking process itself becomes more and more an inner, living, conscious experience, although at first it was straight forward mental effort to grasp the content. True, the experience can come only through repeated effort, only after the content has been mastered fully. After the third, fifth, tenth review is when the "pure, spiritual, experiencable, intuitive thinking" begins to dawn on one as something tangible!
As to arguments that these "Ideagestaltungen", as Rudolf Steiner calls them when speaking of his own writings, these Idea-shapes are arbitrary and invented, there really is not much to say. Read what the author has said in general about his and the Anthroposophical style, and try to make a better one.
These forms here submitted, are simply the ones from among several attempts in most cases, which proved artistically the most appealing. Artistry in thought-organism is an expression of its inter-related Wholeness.
If they break well (Gliederung = membering), if they show strong correspondences or symmetry (Polarity), if there is an experiencable build-up and resolution (Steigerung = Enhancement or emergence of the Idea), and one thought grows consistently out of the other (Metamorphosis), THEN the basic laws of the living are present. OTHERWISE, what may look like a form, but is in fact a non-form or abstract shell, is nothing but a personal concoction, an arbitrary combination, a Rube-Goldberg thinga-majig.
The most voluble critics of form studies are understandably those who have little feeling for, or ability, to translate experience of organic process in nature into the realm of thought. To be sure, a natural pride in one's block-like logic or in the associative-flow of free wheeling thought pictures, of necessity indisposes one to objectivity. Goethean-thinking, or Steinerian-thinking in this case, has many opponents, but the worst are within.
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Tom, this is excruciating.
Tom, this is excruciating. I feel like my head is going to explode. But I'll keep at it. Thanks for putting the page in as an example to work off of.
Oneil - HACT
Tom - this may be a little pre-mature, but have you worked out any relations yet between this approach and the HACT approach?
(I don't mean to say that the two approaches are mutually exclusive - just interested in what your thoughts on that are)
J
I love the workbook for its
I love the workbook for its insights into study. His method differs in that he uses a rigid mathematical structure based upon counting the paragraphs of each chapter and then finding mathematical groupings. So if it had 12 paragraphs he may section it into 4 groups of 3.
The H&CT approach sections a chapter according to the outlook that is perceived. This may cover a part of a paragraph or several paragraphs.
I think him adopting this rule at the beginning may have hampered his success in terms of objectivity. But he explains his approach as being more artistic in nature. This opens many new insights into study and working with the POF thought organism. He says this artistic approach is only possible if the writing is in fact an organic thought-organism.
I haven't spent a lot of time with it but this is my early impression. I consider the H&CT sections objectively determined and verifiable by others. But his approach to study as a method to reach pure thinking is for the most part the same as mine, but more so in that he articulates this method wonderfully. The workbook explanations will help others understand what the H&CT and O'Neil contemplation of the though-organism really is..
Oneil - HACT, part II
So far I have found (as you well know) the HACT hypothesis well founded.
I have mainly found it helpful in seeing the polarities of the concepts involved (materialism - spiritism, monadism - mathematism, etc).
So often times now when I am reading POF I will go back and forth between the sections in order to see polarities (which I can usually find). But this does, obviously, involve frequently skipping several pages...Hard to imagine that Steiner meant the book to be read like that.
I have had, and still have, alot of difficulty in seeing how the different world viewpoints 'grow' out of each other (for example, how a pneumatist viewpoint 'grows' out of a psychist view point).
I am very excited to start working with the O'neil stuff, as I have a feeling that he's really onto something with what he's done (and why the H he didn't publish this is beyond me...).
What he has done with Ch 1 is (as he says) is to show how it can be percieved as a breathing process. Which is the same thing as saying that there is an expansion - contraction or evolution-involution process demonstrated, which is the hall mark of organic growth (as Goethe demonstrated in the archetypal plant and Steiner describes wonderfully in Goethe's World View).
I have a suspicion that the Oneil method may demonstrate the 'organic' nature of the thinking more clearly than can be done with the HACT model.
Of course this is not to say that the HACT hypothesis is not correct.
It would be more like saying that what Oneil has demonstrated is the moving pictures and dialogue of a movie.
The concepts from HACT would then be analogous to the background music.
If this is the case the 2 models complement each other well, and makes one all the more thankful for what Steiner has given us in his Philosophy.
Sort of makes you wonder - How many more layers are there to this book? How many more aspects of it to discover?
George O'Neil's Method
Years ago when I was writing my thesis for a BA degree from Goddard College on the Ph. of Freedom, I visited Spring Valley for lectures by Alan Howard. I paid a visit to George to find out about his approach. The high point for me was his seeking to perform a free deed, and not "only talk" about it. He sweated in spirit. Also, working with the 'Form' of the writing requires a kind of "sweating in spirit". Since then, I have followed his approach in my study. This has been greatly helped by the book of Florin Lowndes, "Heart Thinking." (Unfortunately available only in German.) In this book Florin maps out O'Neil's way of working with sentences, paragraphs and chapters.
Florin was going to publish a study of The Ph. of Freedom according to this method, but is with-holding it because of cost. After waiting about 7 years for Florin's book, I am extremely excited to be able to work with some of George O'Neil's indications.
-Roger (R.Lundberg@comcast.net)
POF and Bodybuilding
I was in Walmart today and was looking at some 'muscle mags' as I was once into that kind of stuff - it's amazing how huge these bodybuilders are getting these days.
When you look at the pictures of those guys actually working out (instead of just flexing their muscles) they are liffing HUGE amounts of weight. It's not uncommon to see them holding 100+ pound dumbbells in each hand...which (needless to say) is alot.
And when they are doing this they don't have a placid, serene look on their face I can tell you that - these guys are putting forth tremendous effort. And they would never ever (not in a million years) look like they do if all they lifted were 3 pound dumbbells - no matter how many times they lifted them.
That got me thinking - what is the spiritual equivalent of that? What does it feel like to really strain mentally? What is the spiritual equivalent of having a 100 pound dumbbell in your hand? Am I 'spiritually lifting' 3 pound dumbbells?
*
Too bad about Lowndes book - if it was available in english I'd get it. I really enjoyed his 'Enlivening the Chakra of the Heart" - the part I enjoyed the most was the very end of the book, although it seems to me he got the number of paragraphs in the 1918 intro to POF wrong...either that or I can't count.
Coloured Lines
This reminds me of a comment I once read by Kurt Vonnegut Jr about how he wrote his books sometimes - he would imagine each character as a coloured line and then start drawing from the left-hand side, with the lines interweaving and so on to reflect the plotline.
Another Form Element In Ph. of Freedom
A very beautiful form element was discovered by Herbert Witzenmann. He relates the 7 quotes in chapter 1 of PoF to the 7 levels of will in chap. 4 of Study of Man. Then each quote, with its level, is related to chapters 1-7 and 8- 14.
This, of course, sounds vey complicated, but is actually not. It serves as a guide to experiencing the book. You begin in Chap. 1 with normal day-thinking, level 4 of the seven levels of will. In chapter 2 you descend into the world of desires, which is level 3 of the seven levels of will. From there you further descend into the realm of drives - level 2- in the chapter 'Thinking in the service of Knowing the World'. You are led in the book into a wrestling with the unfolding of thoughts in consciousness, which takes place at level 2.
In this way the PoF becomes a study of man. As you read it you are led through all the levels of your being. And the book 'Study of Man' is actually living the freedom philosophy, or freedom in action.
One more form which gives inner structure to the book!
Herbert Witzenmann approach
This approach seems like it would be very interesting to Waldorf teacher "Study of Man" students. I want to be able to present several approaches to the study of The Philosophy of Freedom on this web site as a way to generate interest in the book. I have already had a request from a Waldorf teacher looking for a way to connect POF with the Study of Man.
I would be interested in learning more about this approach so I can post it on the web site. Do you know how more information can be found on this Herbert Witzenmann approach?
Do you have the Witzenmann POF Chapter
Do you have the Witzenmann POF Chapter connections for each of the seven levels of will in SOM? I am planning an "Introduction to The Philosophy of Freedom" study group with some presentations on each chapter. Maybe there is enough material here to make some general connection with the "Study of Man" as part of this online study group presentation.
The Seven Quotations
Hi R:
This idea is very interesting so I copied the seven quotations. Would you like to tell us what levels of the will they each connect to? I presume that the Hegel quotation refers to Spirit Human, and have ideas about the others but they're not always so clear. Also, what chapter they each connect to would be nice. Is the order 4,3,2,1,7,6,5? If so, it might make sense that 1 and 7 come together because isn't the highest the transformation of the lowest? I believe the Study of Man is the lecture cycle of 1919? If so, it can be read on-line I think!
(Strauss:) With the question of the freedom of the human will we are not concerned. The alleged freedom of indifferent choice has been recognized as an empty illusion by every philosophy worthy of the name. The moral valuation of human action and character remains untouched by this problem.
(Spencer:) That everyone is at liberty to desire or not to desire, which is the real proposition involved in the dogma of free will, is negated as much by the analysis of consciousness, as by the contents of the preceding chapter.
(Spinoza:) I call a thing free which exists and acts from the pure necessity of its nature, and I call that unfree, of which the being and action are precisely and fixedly determined by something else. Thus, for example, God, though necessary, is free because he exists only through the necessity of his own nature. Similarly, God cognizes himself and all else freely, because it follows solely from the necessity of his nature that he cognizes all. You see, therefore, that for me freedom consists not in free decision, but in free necessity.
But let us come down to created things which are all determined by external causes to exist and to act in a fixed and definite manner. To perceive this more clearly, let us imagine a perfectly simple case. A stone, for example, receives from an external cause acting upon it a certain quantity of motion, by reason of which it necessarily continues to move, after the impact of the external cause has ceased. The continued motion of the stone is due to compulsion, not to the necessity of its own nature, because it requires to be defined by the thrust of an external cause. What is true here for the stone is true also for every other particular thing, however complicated and many-sided it may be, namely, that everything is necessarily determined by external causes to exist and to act in a fixed and definite manner.
Now, please, suppose that this stone during its motion thinks and knows that it is striving to the best of its ability to continue in motion. This stone, which is conscious only of its striving and is by no means indifferent, will believe that it is absolutely free, and that it continues in motion for no other reason than its own will to continue. But this is just the human freedom that everybody claims to possess and which consists in nothing but this, that men are conscious of their desires, but ignorant of the causes by which they are determined. Thus the child believes that he desires milk of his own free will, the angry boy regards his desire for vengeance as free, and the coward his desire for flight. Again, the drunken man believes that he says of his own free will what, sober again, he would fain have left unsaid, and as this prejudice is innate in all men, it is difficult to free oneself from it. For, although experience teaches us often enough that man least of all can temper his desires, and that, moved by conflicting passions, he sees the better and pursues the worse, yet he considers himself free because there are some things which he desires less strongly, and some desires which he can easily inhibit through the recollection of something else which it is often possible to recall.
The truth, however, according to Eduard von Hartmann, is that "even though we ourselves first adopt a mental picture as a motive, we do so not arbitrarily, but according to the necessity of our characterological disposition, that is, we are anything but free."
(Hamerling:) Man can certainly do as he wills, but he cannot want as he wills, because his wanting is determined by motives. He cannot want as he wills? Let us consider these phrases more closely. Have they any intelligible meaning: Freedom of will would then mean being able to want without ground, without motive. But what does wanting mean if not to have grounds for doing, or trying to do, this rather than that: To want something without ground or motive would be to want something without wanting it. The concept of wanting cannot be divorced from the concept of motive. Without a determining motive the will is an empty faculty; only through the motive does it become active and real. It is, therefore, quite true that the human will is not “free” inasmuch as its direction is always determined by the strongest motive. But on the other hand it must be admitted that it is absurd, in contrast with this “unfreedom”, to speak of a conceivable freedom of the will which would consist in being able to want what one does not want. (see fn 4)
(Ree:) It is easy to explain why the movement of a stone seems to us necessary, while the volition of a donkey does not. The causes which set the stone in motion are external and visible, while the causes which determine the donkey's volition are internal and invisible. Between us and the place of their activity there is the skull of the ass. ... The determining causes are not visible and therefore thought to be non-existent. The volition, it is explained, is, indeed, the cause of the donkey's turning round, but is itself unconditioned; it is an absolute beginning. ..... We do not perceive the causes by which our will is determined, hence we think it is not causally determined at all.
(Hegel:) It is thinking that turns the soul, which the animals also possess, into spirit.
Thanks for adding this new kind of form to our form-studies of PoF! As a living thought-organism, it should have many beautiful forms to contemplate, and the contemplation of each one should add to our understanding of it.
Witzenmann's contributions
Yes, to find out more, I can only offer to share as needed. In Europe there are groups devoted to the study of Witzenmann's work. I know of no-one here familiar with it, but there must be some.
For understanding the Ph. of Freedom, I personally don't see how one can penetrate it without finding oneself in a "cosmic" dimension. There, many frames of reference are helpful, including the 7 levels of will. Slightly confusing is the order these levels are explored. Chap 1 : level 4 (Motive), Chap 2 : level 3 (Desire), etc. Chapter 5 suddenly jumps to the highest level, Spirit Human, and one finds words in the Ph. of Freedom like "All world being of man". I used to wonder if I was reading a label for Dr. Bronner's soap! Such phrases are not found in Chap. 1.
Witzenmann's book, I was told by a german translator, is "untranslateable". Suffice it to say that knowing german is by no means all that is needed. We, in America, live in the land of the 7'th cultural epoch. For us, this type of work is the air we breathe in order to be healthy!
-Hope this helps,
Roger
Dr. Bronner's
“Dr. Bronner’s Soap”
That’s hilarious! I love those bottles.
jeff
Clarifying the 7 quotes of Chap. 1 of PoF
1st quote -Strauss - 4th level of will - Motive- Chap 1 & 14 (Ego awareness)
2nd quote - Spencer - 3rd level of will - Desire - Chap 2 & 13 (Astral Body)
3rd quote - Spinoza - 2nd - Drive - Chap 3 & 12 (Ether Body)
4th quote - Hartmann - 1st - Instinct - 4 & 11 (Physical Body)
5th quote - Hamerlin - 7'th level of will - Decision - 5 & 10 (Spirit Human)
6th quote - Ree - 6th - Intent - 6 & 9 (Life Spirit)
7th quote - Hegel - 5th level of will - Wish - Chapters 7 & 8 (Spirit Self)
As we know from Theosophy the human being is a 7-Fold being. Each level can be experienced in thought in the unfolding chapters of the Philosophy of Freedom.
Thanks, Roger!
I will think of these much in present and future studies of PoF. Maybe the Hamerling quote will help me with my difficulties in Chapter Five! I guess the next step is to read The Study of Man....
Study of Man
You're very welcome!
I wouldn't suggest reading the Study of Man. It was given for teachers who could learn to read the children. Without the children it is potentially more dead weight to carry around.
To 'will without willing, that is without motive'...Sounds like a walk along the ocean to me. Listening in the caves of one's own inner world. That quote has remained inexplicable. Somewhere around the corner, perhaps, it will "meke sense".
-Roger
Levels of Willing
Hi, Roger!
I have an imperfect understanding of the 7 levels of willing as they're expressed in our human organization. Do you think a review of Theosophy would be a better choice for finding out more about them?
I'm so excited about these form studies of PoF that are coming up here. I believe that a short introductory course of PoF (one chapter a week) is in the works for this fall (hey -- that's only about a month from now!), and then a deeper study of the various forms, including the one you've kindly brought to our attention.
That quote about willing without motive is irritating in the extreme, but you have turned it into something else with your image about walking along the ocean. Thanks for that too! I wonder if there's something like a pure willing as there is a pure thinking.
L.
Levels of Experience
Hi Lori,
I spent years wondering if there were levels of experience. But obviously, dreaming is different from sleeping. Very different indeed.
We have our waking consciousness. We assume it provides far greater light than it does. All other levels we turn off. The other levels are there, they must be if we are to have human experience.
The PoF works through the levels in the chapters. If you continually seek the 'human experience' behind the words, you will become aware of less known levels.
The easiest is Chap. 1 because it takes place entirely in the clear light of day. -But no conclusive answers are found, AND, the things people say are actually quite strange, aren't they?
-Roger
Not only Study of Children
You are perhaps too quickly dismissive of SoM Roger. Remember "The child is father of the man" - Wordsworth.
I have worked for 15 years with students of curative education and social therapy studying SoM and its unique approach that reveals much about the problems encountered in adulthood as a result of educational practices. Where else does the good doctor mention the 7-fold will? Do look at the 3-fold human being being eaten up at the end. Priceless, unlike soap!
If you believe that reading Steiner results in carrying dead weight around then let us throw all his lectures away and get back to basics.
I am sure that you meant to help us steer clear of distraction - fair enough - but I suggest you are too sweeping in your advice.
Dead weight
As far as anthroposophy being dead weight consider two points:
In Knowledge of Higher Worlds we read: "Any idea which does not become an ideal kills a force in the soul." You be a judge yourself of how much you've read is life giving, that is, has been transformed within you and lives as an ideal.
Strader, in the 4'th mystery play cries out to Benedictus: "You've led us to death."
The weight of this is not to be easily shrugged off.
-Roger
Weighing on the mind
Good point Roger. I much appreciate and share your concern about the dead weight that we create for ourselves and the world. Thank you for shaking me awake.
Regarding Strader, his despair is also a shout of triumph for the thinker who achieves the goal of the PoF. Strader was snatched through the gate of death in an act of generosity that saved his soul from a fate much worse. ICM
The Mystery Dramas give us examples of how community work can so easily falter if we are not careful in our recognition of which spirit rustles the leaves of our dead thinking.
Philosophy of Spiritual Activity
You are practicing the greatest overcoming!
"People are happy," is being preached by our culture, "Be happy, be free...just don't wake up!"
When I read 'works' of Steiner (whose name in german signifies working with stones), I aim to read the material 7 times. A powerful knocking does not go unrewarded. I never have the feeling that the material has been exhausted. Quite the contrary! But I do admit, laziness is a main charachteristic of my nature.
In human interactions, powerfully knocking is the least productive approach. Could I only learn that lesson! Oh well, maybe next time!
George O'Neil's Workbook
Many thanks to Tom for helping to publish this workbook!
Steiner's written works are not just ideas brought to paper, but rather, spiritual temples. This makes them so alive. With George's workbooks you have the plan of the temple. You are enabled to go from the written word towards the world of living ideas, step by step.
In the etheric world innumerable forces can occupy the same space without "mishap". As we know, when we drive a car, physically, two objects cannot be in the same place at the same time. Overlapping form elements co-exist in the etheric! Chapter 1 can be 4'th level (Motive) and 1'st level (Saturn) without compromise or collision! Thinking both at once could result in a collision, at least to begin with.
Grasping this in it's reality oversprings the limits of one's physical brain. One begins to engage in a thinking which is seeing. As George calls it: "Anschauende Urteils-Kraft," or perceiving thinking. (In itself a contradiction.) 'Philosophy of Contradictions' is the name of a little book by Unger, for this reason.
-Roger
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