Another boring lecture cycle

I had hoped that Rudolf Steiner's "The Spiritual Foundations of Morality" would contain a sustained discussion on, shall we say, the spiritual foundations of morality. Instead, we get three rambling lectures about pretty much everything. Or everything else?

But sure, somewhere in this dense mass of text, Steiner actually does discuss the spiritual foundations of morality. Unfortunately, he simply postulates it, never proving it or discussing it. Steiner says that morality comes from within as a spiritual force, that it's based on faith in the divine nature of every human soul, and that it manifests outwardly as love for all humanity. I suppose you could say that, but it sounds awfully trivial!

The faith in the fundamental goodness of man leads to the belief that one day, all humans will be redeemed and find their way back to the divine-spiritual world. Today, the best foundation for morality is belief in the Mystery of Golgotha and the Christ Impulse, since everything we do, we do for (or against) Christ. Every immoral act means that we crucify Christ again. Through the crucifixion, the Christ impulse has entered Earth evolution. Steiner also says that morality means finding the mean, balancing two opposite extremes, which are hence "evil". We can become lost to the world, or the world can become lost to us. This is obviously connected to Lucifer and Ahriman, but they are not mentioned in these lectures. In my opinion, Steiner's "Aristotelian" view of morality is problematic. Are Love, Goodness and Truth means between two opposites?

The largest part of these lectures, however, contains Steiner's usual fanciful speculations about this or that. Atlantis really existed. The Indian caste system has a spiritual foundation. Leprosy is caused by demons, which are the lost souls of the worst layers of the ex-Atlantean population. Indians, Italians and Germanic peoples really do have different racial make-ups. Francis of Assisi was a reincarnated member of an occult brotherhood at the Black Sea coast, steeped in both Buddhism and Christianity. Sometimes, Steiner says pretty weird things, as in the statement "When the Jew understands and has compassion for the Christian as a human being, and the Pariah for the Brahman...then one will know how deeply Christian it is to say: There must be brotherliness among human beings without regard to outer confession". When the *Jew* has compassion *for the Christian*? Yeah, those uncompassionate Jews in Germany back in 1912! A real menace to society. I can only hope that Steiner's stenographer misunderstood something...

"The Spiritual Foundations of Morality" might perhaps work as a Sunday sermon for Anthroposophists already saved, but I don't think it's particularly interesting for anyone else...