Steiner Predicts

I’d like to leap ahead, now, to the Sixth Epoch (Seals).

“Those few individuals who survived on earth the War of All Against All, together with the many spiritually minded individuals who had lifted themselves above it, provide the foundation for a new start.” [1] So, Seddon puts the big war at the end of our current epoch (#5). On the other hand, he (probably unintentionally) suggests that the war is badly named, since so many people will have risen above it. But Steiner said it will be All vs. All, so Seddon could hardly disagree, could he, in the end? (In the end, it's his problem, not ours — and he's welcome to it. (But I'll confirm that he mainly interpreted Steiner accurately.))

(Actually, the term “War of All Against War” was coined by the rationalist and materialist, Thomas Hobbes, who famously wrote "The universe is corporeal; all that is real is material, and what is not material is not real."  His war of everybody against everybody else had nothing to do with spiritual evolution. It is his description of the primitive condition of humanity before the institution of civil government. You could look it up.)

Here’s a disappointment: The outcome of the big war won’t be totally great. Things will stack up thus: “Progressive people [will] have radiant, good features and noble benevolent expressions [we've seen previously what sort of features Steiner preferred]; those who were lukewarm or turned away, preserving backward forces and retarding evolution, [will] reveal their evil passions and impulses hostile to the spirit in ugly, unintelligent, evil-looking countenances ... Mankind is [i.e., will be] thus divided into two great streams, the good and the evil.”  [2]

Have you spotted the paradox? Remember that back on p. 53, writing about the Sixth Age of the Fifth Epoch, Seddon spoke of “good and evil, which is now an actual division between good and evil races." [3] So the big war won't settle much: There were good and evil people before, and there will be good and evil people after. Still, Seddon's expectation is based on good authority:

“Souls whose development has been delayed will have accumulated so much error, ugliness, and evil in their karma that they temporarily form a distinct union of evil and aberrant human beings who vehemently oppose the community of good human beings.” [4]

A word of reassurance: Don’t worry. Everything will work out: “In the course of its development, the good portion of humankind will learn to use the Moon forces to transform the evil part [of mankind] so that it can participate in further evolution as a distinct earthly kingdom.” [5]

Inferentially, the only people whom the good people will not be able to save are the people who aren’t really people:
 
“[C]ases are increasing in which children are born with a human form, but are not really human beings ... instead, they are filled with beings that do not belong to the human class. Quite a number of people have been born ... [who] are not reincarnated, but are human forms filled with a sort of natural demon ... I do not like to talk about such things since we have often been attacked even without them. Imagine what people would say if they heard that we say there are people who are not human beings ....” [6]

That is perhaps the most horrid statement Steiner ever made. You have to understand the context. Steiner and the teachers at the first Waldorf school were discussing a first-grade girl who had learning disabilities. Steiner made many stunning statements about all sorts of subjects, but I think this one noses out the others for vileness. Of course, others might find some of Steiner’s racist remarks, including his anti-Semitic statements, more detestable. It’s a hard call. (Anti-Semitism? Steiner made both anti-Semitic and philo-Semitic remarks. Do the latter balance the former? Of course not. One anti-Semitic statement is too many. “Judaism as such has long outlived itself and no longer has a legitimate place in the modern life of peoples; the fact that it has nevertheless succeeded in maintaining itself is an aberration in world history the consequences of which had to follow.” [7] “The Jews have a great gift for materialism, but little for recognition of the spiritual world.” [8]) Back to the seven-year-old girl: The Anthroposophical editors who apologized for Steiner's prejudice against the French and Africans did not apologize for this worst of all statements made by their hero.
 
So. Moving on. What about the Seals? These are not, as you may have thought, sea lions. Rather, they are the holy seals that will be opened to reveal marvelous new truths: “Therefore it was to these earthquakes [don't ask — all will be revealed] that the writer was referring in the opening of the seals and the sounding of the trumpets.” [9] “The writer” is St. John, the presumed author of the Book of Revelation. Some scholars think the actual author was a different John, and that the book was written about 95 years after Jesus was crucified. [10]

The Sixth Epoch will roll in toward the end of the fourth millennium: “[T]he present, Fifth Post-Atlantean epoch (second-fourth millennium AD); to be followed by the Sixth epoch (fourth-sixth millennium AD); and the Seventh epoch (sixth-eighth millennium AD).” [11] This means that the mother of all wars is set far in the future. It also postpones the poor showing of the American Age: “The American age that now reappears created nothing new of spiritual value ... ” [12] On the other hand, human activity or negligence (even by Americans) can cause geological (and other) catastrophes, as we will see.
 

ENDNOTES

[1] TFOHATEAFBRS, p. 69.

[2] TFOHATEAFBRS, p. 70.

[3] TFOHATEAFBRS, p. 53.

[4] Rudolf Steiner, AN OUTLINE OF ESOTERIC SCIENCE (Anthroposophic Press, 1997), p. 393.

[5] Ibid., p. 393.

[6] Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 649-650.

[7] Rudolf Steiner, “Vom Wesen des Judentums” {On the Nature of the Jews}, DIE GESCHICHTE DER MENSCHHEIT UND DIE WELTANSCHAUUNGEN DER KULTURVOLKER.

[8] Rudolf Steiner, FROM BEETROOT TO BUDDHISM (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1999), p. 59.

[9] Rudolf Steiner, The APOCALYPSE OF ST. JOHN: Lectures on the Book of Revelation (SteinerBooks, 1977), p. 42.

[10] See, e.g., “Revelation, Book Of” in the World Book Multimedia Encyclopedia, Mac OS X Edition, Version 6.0.2.

[11] Rudolf Steiner and Michael Howard, ART AS SPIRITUAL ACTIVITY: Rudolf Steiner's Contribution to the Visual Arts (SteinerBooks, 1998), p. 37.

[12] TFOHATEAFBRS, p. 82.