Riddle of America, The - Waldorf Research Institute

modern scientific thinking as Galileo, Descartes, and Locke, the free, responsibleindividuals do not tolerate coldness in their knowledge. They want tobe engaged, like Tolstoy, who as someone said was “a writer who knowsnothing of detachment from social and religious problems.” Wilson, in hisgentle and humane way, takes us a step further in our understanding of thiscultural dilemma by exposing what one might call ulterior motives in orderto help us break through the barrier between “culture” and “life.” It would beinteresting to see what Wilson would do with the twentieth century, wherethere are encouraging signs of individuals (thinking in freedom) havinggrasped the problem of how to make ideals real without wrapping them inpropaganda, but unfortunately where the anti-individuality forces (in themasses) have pretty much been able to gloss over Lincoln’s famous dictumby claiming, “Yes, Abe, but we can fool enough of the people enough of thetime to swing the whole situation our way.” For Rudolf Steiner, modernhumanity, indeed “on its own,” has no sure thing. Redemption is largelyup to the human race.For Wilson, “ulterior” need not connote “inferior,” even though italways means “real” as against “ideal” or ostensible. If we take a cue fromthat, then a free culture will deal only with “ulterior” motives, where thewill to deeds is at work. Thus reductionism, of which Wilson has apparentlybeen accused, becomes a noble cause rather than casual satire. He showshis subjects within their cultural environment and makes clear what theirsuccessive problems were, problems which Emily Dickinson, for example,could resolve only by refusing to publish after a certain point, and whichWhitman solves practically by marketing his own books, and also by remainingthe observer standing outside the life of deeds for the economy.Now it has advanced to the point where for many people only thereal motives, for better or for worse, ulterior or not, are interesting. For idealistsof this type, cover-ups are tedious and annoying. Who today admiresthe framers less for knowing that they had self- and class-serving interests?Beard did us and them a favor by deepening our understanding of the time.Actions speak louder than words. Idealists who act out their idealshave integrity—not across the board, perhaps, but certainly in terms of aparticular act. If they promote a maintenance economy by removing landfrom the commodity market and putting it into a trust, not only for conservationpurposes but for any purpose, and by discouraging speculationalso in other related ways; if they take labor off the market by not allowingthe market to determine compensation (In threefold, there is no such thingas cheap labor. Management is cultural, not proprietary, and workers are330