When Healing Becomes Educating, Vol. 6 - Waldorf Research Institute

Elsewhere the spiritual consequences of the physical pump theory are
discussed in detail. Rudolf Steiner also referred to Dr. K. Schmidt and
to Moritz Benedikt’s mention of Schmidt’s work when speaking to the
teachers, though no direct mention is made of the apparatus:
“... But none of this goes far enough; it is quite elementary. Only a
few people have noticed that the movements of the heart result from the
movement of the blood, and that it is the movement of the blood which is
the elemental living principle... the movement of the heart, the whole activity
of this organ, is really merely the consequence of the blood circulation; the
heart merely positions itself in the living blood circulation...” (See Note 17,
below; lecture given in Basel on 22 April 1920).
In the last of the above sentences, the hydraulic ram is clearly there in the
background to the phrase: “merely positions itself.” (See also ibid., lecture
given in Basel on 23 April 1920). As the lecture proceeds, a description
is given of the functions of the heart in the life of the psyche and what it
means when teachers are able to gain a spiritual view of the heart:
“The way of thinking we are concerned with here is intended to enable
teachers to manage even very large classes, where social conditions make
this necessary. Understanding the human being in living motion leads to
the realization “that the heart is not a pump to move the blood around the
body. Human beings are inwardly alive in such a way that the movements
of the body fluids and of the heart are the outcome of being thus alive. If a
configuration of mind and spirit is created that enables a teacher to think
like this, certain powers in the teacher become visionary with regard to the
child’s development. With our eyes thus opened, significant insights may
be gained with regard to one particular child in a large class which one has
only known for a few months. Training mind and spirit in this way, which
makes contact powerful, it is possible to have an almost clairvoyant view of
the child’s individual nature.” This is the crucial element. It is not so much
a matter of knowing that the heart is not the cause of the blood circulation
but its result. The point is that those who develop the ability to visualize
this, in contrast to today’s materialistic way of looking at things, those who
learn to train mind and spirit out of a heart with living inner vision, “will
come alive in a new way to the development of one child or even a whole
group of children. This will also enable us to evolve the curriculum out of
the very nature of the developing child.” (See Note 18, below).
All this goes to show that our civilization, especially as regards education,
is a civilization of the heavy heart. A pumping heart has taken the place of
a living, spiritual center of life. This is yet another tangible consequence of
the Council of 869. Heart research must thus be taken up equally by the
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