Riddle of America, The - Waldorf Research Institute

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But we also learn later in our fairy tale that the salamander is in realityan angel of God enchanted by the subearthly evil spirits. Perhaps we cantake this figure of the angel as an image for the human soul or the higherself. Having the task to help suffering human beings, a mission of love, theangel is seduced by love of the earth and the desire for power—bothtemptations of the will particularly associated with the American continent.What is needed to redeem the fallen or enchanted force represented by theangel, that is, the soul of the human being in America?In the story it is first the sacrifice of her life made by Hugo’s lovingwife that rescues him from the burning fire of the subearthly salamanderand brings the rain that puts out the unrenewed forge fire (but not beforehis son—or perhaps younger alter ego—Hugo is consumed in flames by thesalamander). It was the purity of his daughter Mary who through her prayersrescued him from the salamander’s mesmerizing spell and who later is essentialfor the redemption of the fallen angel. Although one can take Maryto represent something like Goethe’s Eternal Feminine or the divine Sophia(in which case her name Mary is not coincidental), we should also considerthat Steiner said in 1918 that, especially in Americans, an ever greater contrastwill become apparent between male and female qualities. Whereasthe more earth-bound American male will tend to create a materialistic andmechanistic civilization through one-sided emphasis of the intellect, will,and physical body (including sports), “Anglo-American spiritual life willpass over into the world of the future through ‘womankind.’ …” 11 Throughtheir stronger heart-forces of feeling, American women will more easily openthemselves to spiritual influences and provide a necessary balance to themale tendencies. I will take Mary in particular as the figure of the femininelyspiritualized American soul, or at least of that element within the soul—akind of counterpoint or complement to Hugo’s masculine qualities.Steiner also emphasized the need for moral purity of heart in themeditative verse he provided for the St. Mark’s Group, the original AmericanAnthroposophical Society group in New York City. This verse has often beentaken as a general meditation for unfolding spiritual work in America:May our feeling penetrate to the center of our heartsAnd seek in love to unite itselfWith human beings seeking the same goal,With spirit beings bearing grace,Who are strengthening us from realms of light,Illuminating our love and gazing downUpon our heartfelt, earnest striving.16
When the handsome angel saves Mary from the panther (read mountain lionor cougar), this is yet another indication of a purification or strengthening of theforces of the heart. Steiner more than once described the close relationshipbetween the feline family (typified by the lion) and the human heart andrhythmic system. 12 He also pointed out that the Double is entirely lackingin warmth of heart. 13As the angel explains to Mary, when he was in the form of the salamanderunder the power of the evil subearthly spirits, he had power onlyover the element of fire. This “fire” could be interpreted anthroposophicallyin various ways—as warmth-ether, as the ”subnature” fires of electricityand magnetism used by the Double, as the ”fiery” qualities of the astralworld, perhaps even as the warmth/heat processes generated by the humanmetabolic-limb system (the bodily counterpart of the will). Becauseof the sacrifice of Hugo’s wife and the purity and selfless love of Mary, theangel has now acquired a power beyond fire, the power over “water andlife,” which he demonstrates by turning Mary’s tears to lilies (a traditionalsymbol of purity associated with the Virgin Mary). In anthroposophicalterms, this might signify an ascension from warmth-ether to life-ether (theetheric generally being associated with water), or from a transformation ofthe astral (Spirit-Self/Manas) to a transformation of the etheric (Life-Spirit/Buddhi), or from knowledge of subnature forces to that of life-forces.Steiner has pointed out that everything concerned with the forcesof growth and life is will-related, and such forces are particularly strongin America. 14 The American mastery of modern technology, driven by theelectromagnetic forces of subnature as well as manufacture of iron andsteel, can ascend to mastery of the life-forces only through a moral purityof heart. In addition to being related to the future development of a morallyconditioned technology of etheric forces that Steiner discussed on severaloccasions, 15 this development in the legend can be read either as an initiationof the will or as a general spiritual advancement through rebalancingone-sidedness.When the last test of the “gate of fire” is passed, the angel, becauseof his love for Mary, ascends to the spirit in robes of silvery light, bringinga lasting peace. Through the influence of spiritual purity of heart as well asthose highest powers of the will, love and sacrifice, the American soul canbe redeemed or resurrected both from its overly strong attachment to theearthly and from a one-sided inner life within the will. In the unconsciouswill, human beings are connected with the cosmic spiritual world, unitedin love with all beings (as experienced every night during sleep). This, too,belongs to the potentials of the purified will. This story of the “Ramapo17
Page 3 and 4: The Riddle of AmericaEssays Explori
Page 5 and 6: Table of ContentsAcknowledgments .
Page 7 and 8: The Sacred in Latino Experience: lo
Page 9 and 10: IntroductionbyJohn H. Wulsin, Jr.In
Page 11 and 12: perhaps the most popular poet of th
Page 13 and 14: OraibibyEdward WarrenOraibi--the ce
Page 15 and 16: Awakening Spiritual Consciousnessth
Page 17 and 18: where he created the center called
Page 19 and 20: The Legend as TeacherIn spite of th
Page 21 and 22: The Ramapo SalamanderbyDavid AdamsT
Page 23 and 24: and to drive her father mad. Then h
Page 25 and 26: Stegmann describes a number of fact
Page 27: tism. Iron has the beneficial funct
Page 31 and 32: found in Paul M. Allen, ed., A Chri
Page 33 and 34: BibliographyHauschka, Rudolf. The N
Page 35 and 36: with the etheric geography, we beco
Page 37 and 38: The Morphology of North AmericaWe q
Page 39 and 40: Effects of Geography on the Physica
Page 41 and 42: Boreal forest in Canadaseverity of
Page 43 and 44: middle. All ofthese resourceshave a
Page 45 and 46: eady. Further west, wefind active v
Page 47 and 48: Mississippi and the Colorado, drain
Page 49 and 50: a system of writing used by the anc
Page 51 and 52: the pagan Indians) are out there wa
Page 53 and 54: He is trying to prove that the indi
Page 55 and 56: Another example of this phenomenon
Page 57 and 58: and is nothing less than the author
Page 59 and 60: The Peruvian shaman Carlos Castaned
Page 61 and 62: the four main areas (the physical l
Page 63 and 64: Cook, Grace. The Sun Men of the Ame
Page 65 and 66: Example: Boulder, ColoradoProfile:
Page 67 and 68: North of the BorderbyPhilip Thatche
Page 69 and 70: “poured like seas” all the way
Page 71 and 72: And now the channel opens. But noth
Page 73 and 74: HistoryIn mid-river we join the anc
Page 75 and 76: in particular those settlers from t
Page 77 and 78: hune’s concern for others led him
Page 79 and 80:
7. Op. cit., pp. 61-63, 71-72.8. Ma
Page 81 and 82:
It was also during the Permian peri
Page 83 and 84:
time the white man arrived here. A
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ly to the south and west, except fo
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these forces was essential for harm
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courageously ready to dedicate one
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TexasbyHilmar MooreTexas joined the
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and many exist today, still in use.
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An industrious and orderly people;
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There was a grand, wild freedom, an
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Music and Manners:The American Expe
Page 103 and 104:
ecame louder. At one end of the par
Page 105 and 106:
Nevertheless, the title allows a ra
Page 107 and 108:
at a definite time. When the opport
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It is not necessary to speculate ab
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What Is “American” in American
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he would conceptually synthesize an
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Cole was clear that the emphasis on
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Hudson River School), but its suppo
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expressions. Some of these wildly p
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Figure 6. Winslow Homer, Undertow,
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themes, was a weak draftsman, and f
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a heavier, more material medium tha
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including as much engineering as ar
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applied from without.” Wright wor
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had been carefully removed in lumin
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organic forms more to evoke the inn
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awe-inspiring power and mystery of
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mistakes. The painting comes out of
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a mess. Otherwise, there is pure ha
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there is a continuity of bothrealit
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divisions, and the bleeding of the
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were Reuben Nakian, Theodore Roszak
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Cage, explored ways to limit the ar
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The original personal images develo
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Studio relate to Johns’struggles
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As one of the top illustrators on M
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effect, dematerialized theirorigina
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idea, and not the activity of const
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Lisle, Laurie. Portrait of an Artis
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In one poem, to her book, she write
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mother, England. Literarily, after
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So Ada quite naturally thought the
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the beginning and the end: and that
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If the influence of Calvin can be s
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Vishnu, both the Primeval Cosmic Ma
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Emerson suggests man’s soul is co
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How did Emerson through his thinkin
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Supreme Being does not build up nat
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call of this period is for freedom.
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own soul between intellect and acti
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him, nor fire burn him, isa type of
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Culture, the height of culture, hig
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to be the liberation of the will fr
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Private and public is equivalent to
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lectures on Aquinas published as Th
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In other words, Emerson agrees with
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Toward an American LanguagebyThornt
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does he confront them outside the c
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collision with my obligation to say
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ing further back into the wildernes
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estated it by saying that the inter
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wonder that the English developed t
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It would seem as though I were abou
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Melville’s emotion is under power
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the matador sees the bull dashing t
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Before I enter upon a discussion of
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“The whale shed off enticings.”
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Wherein do these paragraphs from Mo
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The American LonelinessbyThornton W
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Thoreau illustrates certain America
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NATURE: As early as 16 July 1861, T
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that farewell address to “our dea
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Similarly, there are aspects of Tho
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Emily DickinsonbyThornton WilderGer
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That is to say, she shall have the
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overswayed. Their growth in the aff
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did love maturely we have ample evi
Page 237 and 238:
would have been five steps forward
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animals and plants about her has no
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Rudolf Steiner tells us that Emerso
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came a second time; and Jonah, brui
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Whitman makes frequent use of perso
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Carl SandburgDespite the fact that
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The Thief Who Kindly SpokebyMichael
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Now to the song itself. It begins t
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The joker as the ordinary worldly e
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ut turn around to examine the mirac
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Mary Oliver, Inspired TeacherbyJean
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To Each Her HoneybyLara WulsinMary
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“Every spring,” (line 24) with
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Choosing America as a Placefor Inca
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In the Morning: A star above one’
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Double chooses, as it were, the hum
Page 269 and 270:
Endnotes1. Given in London on the e
Page 271 and 272:
Party and was the place where Mexic
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If even God suffered the crucifixio
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ciso Martínez and Tito Puente, San
Page 277 and 278:
What does it mean to be born a West
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tal plains, rising gradually for mo
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Trust thyself; every heart vibrates
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spoke to his people just weeks befo
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of human beings, of support from th
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e recognized. For example, the cult
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considered necessary in relation to
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Movement in America:And So—What
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Now watch the Germans over there, n
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increase in the use of technology,
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and European-American sources. Only
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King, Martin Luther, Jr. Where Do W
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Americans earned two dollars per da
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the actions of our spiritual I. …
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Why do we teach Parzival? After Par
Page 307 and 308:
disturbed or destroyed.” One can
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I would like to mention the words g
Page 311 and 312:
Through the direct experience of st
Page 313 and 314:
need to find what connects us not w
Page 315 and 316:
and gardening to Waldorf schooling
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insights result. In considering the
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cording to Bacon. He also denounced
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the entire world. Thus, workers, sl
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At the end of his second lecture in
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chine, were unable to secure even a
Page 327 and 328:
garbagemen, who sought union recogn
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Freedom, Thinking, and Individualit
Page 331 and 332:
Thus the epochal separation of powe
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without attempting either to inspir
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But now it really is “We the Peop
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“an insoluble problem; on one sid
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life in the ideal and the real worl
Page 341 and 342:
The Enlightenment: An Interpretatio
Page 343 and 344:
maintained as a matter of right, at
Page 345 and 346:
2. Even Franklin felt this and reco
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Anthroposophy and the Spirit of Ame
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(in the American Theosophist, 74, 1
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in this country is coupled with it.
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artists, writers, and musicians fil
Page 355 and 356:
But this does not actually explain
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spirit revelation. People are still
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Doesn’t this sound as if it could
Page 361 and 362:
Biographies of ContributorsDavid Ad
Page 363 and 364:
Joseph Glosemeyer had a life-changi
Page 365 and 366:
1988, she was asked to join the fac
Page 367 and 368:
John Wulsin grew up in Cincinnati,
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