- Report written by Michael Roboz about a presentation by Bert Chase at the Open House of the Rudolf Steiner Centre In Vancouver on 21 October, 2012
Rudolf Steiner gave freely of his time and
energy to support the requests of many developing initiatives. Much of what we
have of anthroposophical wisdom comes from his work with these diverse groups.
When Rudolf Steiner had time to take up his own creative work he devoted
himself to developing new ways of shaping and structuring our
surroundings. When he spoke of these
efforts he stressed how the forms and proportions built into our surroundings work
back upon us, as individuals and organisations. He stressed that unless we are
able to transform the forming principles at work in our environments then the
archaic principles embodied in them will create increasing hindrances not only
for the development of anthroposophical life but for human development as a
whole. The spaces that we inherit from the past will stand in the way of the
anthroposophical work we do to transform culture.
The principles built into the spaces that
surround us in western civilization have primarily come to us from the Romans.
The proportions and forces built into these spaces, and how we interact with
our surroundings, at one time supported human development. Now they act as
retarding forces that inhibit evolution and threaten our anthroposophical work. The roman impulse was the culmination of a
stream of evolution that had as its intention the development of human beings
who could attain to a certain level of independence. Rudolf Steiner
characterized this stream of development as the Mars stage in earth evolution,
often depicting it as a descent out of atavistic consciousness.
This Mars stream of evolution came to a
point of crystallisation around 86 B.C. when the Roman General Sulla had
himself declared Imperator. The worldview that then evolved was that every
aspect of society only had validity within a highly centralized and controlled
hierarchy based on wielding power through physical force. This rigidification of culture inevitably had
its effect on the experience of human beings themselves, how the first glimmers
of ego awareness were experienced. Within this hierarchical roman worldview the
individual only had a sense of self by identifying their place within the
established hierarchy, and all cultural forms were developed to support this
structure.
This worldview was projected into space using
the newly developed processes of surveying. This enabled the laying out of
straight road systems that ignored geography and topography, throughout the Roman Empire. Cities and buildings were built up using
rigid right angle grid systems.
We can get a sense for how pervasive an
impact this grid development has by following the gradual shift from different
sets of open angles to the point were a right angle appears. The experience of
a right angle is that something is suddenly “locked” into space. In contrast,
an obtuse angle, no matter how shallow it is, still retains an inherent sense
of mobility. Space still has a breathing quality that disappears with the
imposition of a roman grid system.
To overcome the power of these right angle
systems, and the worldview it represents, takes considerable effort. To shift
out of the impact of this rigidifying system of shaping environments takes
consciousness and presence of mind, because it is so pervasive. Once its omnipresence
begins to be recognized, then completely new principles for the creation of
space must be developed. Only through this effort can we gradually introduce
into our surroundings principles of mobility, of rhythm, of breathing that can
then work back upon human beings affecting how we experience those spaces and
how we can dwell within them.
The Mystery of Golgotha
and the Transition from Mars to Mercury
The Mystery of Golgotha is the great “turning
point” in earth evolution, the beginning of the transition from the Mars stage
of evolution to what Rudolf Steiner characterized as the Mercury stage. This “turning point” in earth evolution
requires that every aspect of human endeavour be permeated with a spiritualized
consciousness. Every aspect of culture that is figuratively “locked into” the
roman right angle grid worldview needs to be opened up through the activity and
intention of human beings.
For this turning point to unfold, humanity
also needs to develop completely new soul facilities. Around 1400 the very
beginnings of this new soul capacity began to arise in human beings. Rudolf
Steiner identifies this as the dawning of the spiritual soul (the consciousness
soul in German). The first cultural manifestation of this new faculty finds its
expression with the Renaissance.
The Spiritual Soul, Raphael and the
Renaissance
As with each significant stage in human
development there are important individuals who point the way forward. Adam,
Elijah, and John the Baptist all acted as these harbingers of a new
evolutionary stage. With the dawning of the spiritual soul it was the
remarkable painter Raphael (born March 28th 1483, died Apr. 6, 1520)
who is among the first to awaken this new soul capacity. We could say he is one
of the first human beings who embody the Mercury Impulse. Rudolf Steiner often
draws attention to one of his most important works, the Sistine Madonna,
created in 1513-1514.
Raphael's
Sistine Madonna, Diagram of Roman building with right angle.
with Bert Chase.
When we observe the representations of the
Roman Caesars, what strikes us is how large they are, bigger than life, their
stance confronting. They stand square to the observer, often with armour and
bearing weapons.
If we compare these with Raphael’s Sistine
Madonna, what is most apparent is how the Madonna rotates toward the observer,
gently lifting the figure of the archetypal human being, the Jesus Child – as
if unimpeded by the force of gravity. He beholds us. These two central figures
invite us to engage with them, to allow our own soul experience to flow into
the situation depicted. This sense of active engagement with the event taking
place is accentuated and focused by the two figures below the Madonna and
Child. The figure on the right, dressed in cool blue hues, invites us to
inwardly move into the situation presented. The figure on the left, dressed in
warm hues, picks up the dynamic movement within the painting and reaches out
toward us.
The Sistine Madonna and the First
Goetheanum
As we live within the dynamics that are
created within the painting, we can gradually become aware that there are
mirroring movements that are awakened within our own souls as observers. If we
depict these movements as a diagram, what arises is a flowing circulating
pattern, a circulating rhythmic pulsation that flows out from the central
figures of the Madonna and Child, and then awakens within our own souls its
reflected etheric activity. When we draw this movement what arises is the
pattern language that underlies the structure of the First Goetheanum. We can
follow the movement woven into the Sistine Madonna and read it in the flow and
movement created in the First Goetheanum.
This is drawn to a focus for us with the
placement of the Gruppe, the representative of humanity, placed in the same
position as the Jesus Child in the Raphael painting. With further observation
we can also see how the Gruppe itself is yet again a further development of the
underlying rhythmic structure present in the painting.
Bert Chase, diagram of First Goetheanum
We
can further observe how the dynamic relationship between the figures allows an
invisible breathing in from across the threshold. This “threshold’s breeze” lifts
the mantel of the Madonna. As we contemplate this invisible breathing in, we
can get a sense for a space, an opening; being created that perhaps allows this
new spiritual soul faculty to become present.
The Renewal of the Centre
With these considerations as background, we
can turn to the tasks that have been taken up to renew these spaces for our
anthroposophical work here in Vancouver.
We can observe how a gentle attempt is made to create the movements inherent
both in the Sistine Madonna and in the First Goetheanum – though the ways they
articulate the space have been modified for this specific situation. The first
step is creating the impression of several planes one behind the other. This
layering of planes is then accentuated by deepening the colours of the
different planes. By opening up again the curved wall where these planes meet,
this sense of movement, of circulation is supported, while still respecting the
underlying structural principles of the spaces as they have been given to us.
All of this is then enhanced by reflecting
the colour movement as indicated by Raphael, the cooler tones on the right, the
warmer tones on the left. These support the sense of circulating movement
indicated by the forms of the spaces themselves.
These are just a few indications of the
efforts that have been made to lift up the organizing principles of the spaces
we have inherited and to transmute them in such a way that they can support and
enliven our anthroposophical work as we go forward.