Anthroposophy, Scientology, and Nazism
In September/October 2001,
the "Waldorf Critics" inquired about my take on Scientology
and Anthroposophy, and they may have been more than a little
preplexed by my ostensibly ambivalent stance pro and con so-called
"cults."
I decided to play my full
hand by outlining my view that Rudolf Steiner was such an extraordinaily
important individual on the stage of European history in the
twentieth century that both world wars possibly resulted from
his activities on the soil of the German speaking peoples. I
also introduced the analogy of the classic Oscar Wilde story
"Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde" and summed up my view
that on the one hand, we have a "Doctor Kekyll" in
Theosophy and Anthroposophy, and on the other hand, we get Nazism
and Scientology as "Mister Hyde" - the latter being
the evil counter-images of the former.
As most would have expected,
this view of mine was met with total incredulity and almost ridicule
by Dan Dugan. I say almost ridicule, because Dan Dugan
differs from the rest of his ilk in one significant matter: He
behaves like a gentleman.
Here is the exchange in
question from the WC list:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Secondary comments to Cult-war in Europe
Tarjei Straume
Sep 30, 2001 04:35 PDT
Mr. Straume,
Isn't it strike you as being a bit strange
that you, a critic of Scientology, referred positively to an
article by the Scientology-apologist T. Jeremy Gunn?
http://www.house.gov/international_relations/full/relminor/gunn.htm
Can you please explain this?
Peter Zegers
I have alreasy responded to this, but I'd
like to make a few more remarks because the subject can be complicated.
As a matter of fact, I wasn't thinking about Jeremy Gunn's position
on Scientology when I posted the link, but the fact that _all_
organizations and cults have, or ought to have, certain rights.
This principle has become extremely compromised
after the Manhattan catastrophe, and the challenge ahead for
all freedom-lovers in the world, especially Americans perhaps,
is to preserve these freedom and prevent terrorism and the fear
and suspicion that it breeds from allowing Big Brother to crush
civil liberties.
Apart from that, the CoS (Church of Scientology),
or the RTC (Religious Technology Center) that is its mother org
so to speak, is in a class all by itself among cults. It's been
using an intelligence network even matching the FBI. Scientologists
have burglarized U.S. government agencies for purposes of espionage
and to sabotage investigations. They have even swapped court
documents while the jury was out to lunch. They have slashed
the tires and killed the pets of "unfriendly" judges.
they have "dead agented" such judges by hanging them
out to the public as pedophiles and the like, ruining their careers
with lies. This, and many other factors such as CoS' notorious
criminal and outrageous behavior, makes the CoS the worst organization
of its kind in my opinion. Although mass suicides or mass murders
are highly unlikely to occur, they have a trail of individual
suspicious deaths a mile long.
What Scientology apologists are concerned,
Leonard Cohen is one of them, Dustin Hoffmann another. They are
not scientologists, but have friends who are. Sometimes apops
and other people write to me and ask why I'm knocking Scientology
because they don't know.
I have sometimes felt ambivalent about this
and asked myself whether or not I am a hypocrite of sorts, or
promoting a double standard, by attacking scientology while defending
anthroposophy. Apart from my clumsy and unedited endeavor to
clear some of this up at the aforementioned http://uncletaz.com/hubbstein.html,
it is appropriate for me to share a strictly personal perspective
about this matter:
In my personal view - for which I must assume
sole responsibility at this point - the work of RS in the German-speaking
world prompted such powerful counter-reactions or counter-attacks
by the "Opposing Powers", i.e. spiritual powers that
oppose the progression of humanity, that not only one, but two
world wars resulted from it, or were more or less directly connected
with it, seen from the perspective of the other side of the threshold.
One of the manifestations of this is that
Theosophy and Anthroposophy produced two counter-images, two
reverse mirror-images so to speak: The first of these was Nazism,
the second was Scientology. In other words, if you imagine Theosophy
and Anthroposophy as Doctor Jekyll, you have Nazism and Scientology
as Mister Hyde. Anyway, this is a theory of mine.
And this is why Anthroposophy and everything
connected with it is impossible to understand without an appreciation
for the forces of good and evil, of Christ, Lucifer, and Ahriman,
of light and darkness. From the looks of it, so-called "secular
society" will need to learn such distinctions in the future,
to discern between good and evil concepts and ethics and ideals
and so on. But when that happens, this society will no longer
be "secular" in the present sense of the word.
--
Tarjei
http://uncletaz.com/anthrocritics.html
"The worst readers are those who proceed
like plundering soldiers:they pick up a few things they use,
soil and confuse the rest, and blaspheme the whole."
- Friedrich Nietzsche, Mixed Opinions and
Maxims
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2001 17:05:20 -0700
From: Dan Dugan
Subject: Re: Cult-war in Europe
Tarjei, you wrote,
Please learn the difference between Anthroposophy and Scientology,
and between Anthroposophy and the Order of the Solar Temple.
I'm quite aware of the differences. Scientology is perhaps the
most dangerous cult in the world (well, not considering Al Qaeda).
No question Solar Temple is a bad one too. Either makes Anthroposophy
look like Sunday school. But still the c-word applies.
-Dan Dugan
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2001 17:24:58 -0700
From: Dan Dugan
Subject: Re: Secondary comments to Cult-war in Europe
Tarjei, you wrote about Scientology,
I have sometimes felt ambivalent about this and asked myself
whether or not I am a hypocrite of sorts, or promoting a double
standard, by attacking scientology while defending anthroposophy.
Well, Scientology is an evil psychology and business cult that
does a lot of damage. Anthroposophy is a well-meaning religious
and political cult that also does some damage. Of course you
explain the bad things as not representing the "real"
Anthroposophy, and then we point out how they are done by people
following Steiner's teachings...
Apart from my clumsy and unedited endeavor to clear some of
this up at the aforementioned http://uncletaz.com/hubbstein.html,
it is appropriate for me to share a strictly personal perspective
about this matter:
In my personal view - for which I must assume sole responsibility
at this point - the work of RS in the German-speaking world prompted
such powerful counter-reactions or counter-attacks by the "Opposing
Powers", i.e. spiritual powers that oppose the progression
of humanity, that not only one, but two world wars resulted from
it, or were more or less directly connected with it, seen from
the perspective of the other side of the threshold.
Whoa. The world wars were a reaction to the work of Rudolf Steiner?
Megalomania is contagious! Who has "seen" this "from
the perspective of the other side of the threshold," and
how did they inform you?
One of the manifestations of this is that Theosophy and Anthroposophy
produced two counter-images, two reverse mirror-images so to
speak: The first of these was Nazism, the second was Scientology.
In other words, if you imagine Theosophy and Anthroposophy as
Doctor Jekyll, you have Nazism and Scientology as Mister Hyde.
Anyway, this is a theory of mine.
Dear Tarjei, that's nuts.
And this is why Anthroposophy and everything connected with
it is impossible to understand without an appreciation for the
forces of good and evil, of Christ, Lucifer, and Ahriman, of
light and darkness. From the looks of it, so-called "secular
society" will need to learn such distinctions in the future,
to discern between good and evil concepts and ethics and ideals
and so on. But when that happens, this society will no longer
be "secular" in the present sense of the word.
Your reasoning seems circular, we can't understand Anthroposophy
without understanding Anthroposophy. And sectarian, only the
doctrine of your sect can save the world.
-Dan Dugan
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 1 Oct 2001 12:29:50 +0200
From: Tarjei Straume
Subject: Re: Secondary comments to Cult-war in Europe
I wrote:
In my personal view - for which I must
assume sole responsibility at this point - the work of RS in
the German-speaking world prompted such powerful counter-reactions
or counter-attacks by the "Opposing Powers", i.e. spiritual
powers that oppose the progression of humanity, that not only
one, but two world wars resulted from it, or were more or less
directly connected with it, seen from the perspective of the
other side of the threshold.
Dan Dugan wrote:
Whoa. The world wars were a reaction to the work of Rudolf
Steiner? Megalomania is contagious! Who has "seen"
this "from the perspective of the other side of the threshold,"
and how did they inform you?
Thirteen years ago, a fellow apop of mine in Texas who had been
working with the subject for many years told me that this was
_his_ opinion. I chewed on it for a while and concluded he might
be right. A theory anyway. My son's mother, who is also an apop,
didn't buy it. She said, "Well, the man was important, but
he cannot have been _that_ important." Well, I'm not so
sure. Maybe he was.
Your reasoning seems circular, we can't understand Anthroposophy
without understanding Anthroposophy.
I don't think it's unreasonable to stipulate that Anthroposophy
must be understood on its own terms, with its own thought tools
or thought forms, in order to be comprehended properly at all.
And sectarian, only the doctrine of your sect can save the
world.
I didn't say that, and it is not implicit in my former statement.
--
Tarjei
http://uncletaz.com/
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