stripping the gurus - Brahma Kumaris Info

278 STRIPPING THE GURUS
The clairvoyant ... can describe, for every mode of thought
and for every law of nature, a form which expresses them. A
revengeful thought, for example, assumes an arrow-like,
pronged form, while a kindly thought is often formed like an
opening flower, and so on. Clear-cut, significant thoughts are
regular and symmetrical in form, while confused thoughts
have wavy outlines.
And speaking of “wavy outlines”:
Anthroposophical medicine seems to be based partly on
magical theories of correspondence—for example cholera is a
punishment for insufficient self-confidence and the pox for
lack of affection. Today the Anthroposophists run clinics, a
mental hospital, and a factory for medicines which has marketed
a cancer cure (Webb, 1976).
As to Steiner’s overall caliber of thought, then, Storr (1996)
summarizes:
His belief system is so eccentric, so unsupported by evidence,
so manifestly bizarre, that rational skeptics are bound to
consider it delusional....
[H]is so-called thinking, his supposed power of supersensible
perception, led to a vision of the world, the universe,
and of cosmic history which is entirely unsupported by any
evidence, which is at odds with practically everything which
modern physics and astronomy have revealed, and which is
more like science fiction than anything else.
In a somewhat gentler vein, Robert Carroll (2004d) concluded:
There is no question that Steiner made contributions in
many fields, but as a philosopher, scientist, and artist he
rarely rises above mediocrity and is singularly unoriginal.
The anti-Darwinian Ken Wilber (2000b), however, expressed
his own, more positive evaluation of poor Rudolf, in this way:
[Steiner] was an extraordinary pioneer ... and one of the
most comprehensive psychological and philosophical visionaries
of his time.