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All these exchanges are taken from the public Anthroposphy Tomorrow list archives. Return to the Peter Staudenmaier page.
To: <anthroposophy_tomorrow@yahoogroups.com>
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Subject: Re: [anthroposophy_tomorrow] To Peter
Date: Fri, 12 Mar 2004 13:17:42 -0500

Hi Daniel,
the opening paragraph of the revised version of my article reads as follows:
"In June, 1910, Rudolf Steiner, the founder of anthroposophy, began a speaking tour of Norway with a lecture to a large and attentive audience in Oslo. The lecture series was titled “The Mission of National Souls in Relation to Nordic-Germanic Mythology.” In the Oslo lectures Steiner presented his theory of “national souls” (Volksseelen in German, Steiner’s native tongue) and paid particular attention to the mysterious wonders of the “Nordic spirit.” The “national souls” of Northern and Central Europe belonged, Steiner explained, to the “germanic-nordic” peoples, the world’s most spiritually advanced ethnic group, which was in turn the vanguard of the highest of five historical “root races.” This superior fifth root race, Steiner told his Oslo audience, was naturally the “Aryan” race."

Peter,
Thanks for providing me with the revised version. After examining it closely, I find the following problems.

The term '"Aryan" race' is nowhere in the book (I noticed you moved the quotation marks over by one word, but it does not change the claim much).
Despite being in quotes, the pharse "root races" is nowhere in Steiner's original.
Despite being in quotes, the pharse "Nordic spirit" is nowhere in the book.
The word "Superior" appears nowhere in the book.
The word "Superiority" appears nowhere in the book.
The word "Aryan" appears only once in the book, in the following context:

"Here is the seat of those forces which determine the particular racial character of those races belonging to the Jupiter humanity. This applies more or less to the Aryans, to the peoples of Asia Minor and Europe whm we regard as members of the Caucasian race. In these peoples the modifications of the generic character which stems from the abnormal Spirits of Form is accounted for by the influence of the senses of the abnormal Spirits whom we may describe as Jupiter Spirits." (page 110 in the 1962 German edition)

If the superiority of the Aryan race is the main theme of the book, you would expect the term to be employed more frequently than once in 11 lectures, and in a more explicit context.

To the statement:
"The “national souls” of Northern and Central Europe belonged, Steiner explained, to the “germanic-nordic” peoples..."

I find no such claim in the lecture.

In addition, the entire characterization of the contents of the eleven lectures is grossly incorrect. Despite claiming that "Most of chapters four and six. See pp. 74-81 in the English edition, for example, or pp. 102-110." will demonstrate the superiority of the Aryans, this thought is simply not contained there, as any reader can determine by examining the text themselves.

Daniel Hindes

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