Steiner, Thought Forms, and Kandinsky

 

From Beyond Kandinsky Blog

Two interesting "articles", one of which is linked to a pdf

RS/Blogger Link http://www.p2pfoundation.net/Multi-Dimensional_Science

 

 

 

 

The year 2011 marks the centennial of the publication of Wassily Kandinsky's classic text, On the Spiritual in Art. Inspired by this anniversary, this project set out to explore the place of the spiritual in contemporary art and to propose a challenge to the current devaluation of the inner life that prevails within the art world in our market-driven era.

 

  

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD COMPLETE SYMPOSIUM TRANSCRIPT

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday, April 3, 2011

 

Posted by Jeff Edwards at Sunday, April 03, 2011

 

 

The comments from Barbara Braathen that Taney posted yesterday have spurred me to post some information that I meant to put up during the first session, but didn’t have time to. I’d like to throw out some ideas and imagery related to Rudolf Steiner, Annie Besant, and Charles Leadbeater, and consider how/if they might have influenced Kandinsky.

Kandinsky was very open about his appreciation for Helena Blavatsky. He was a lot more elusive about Steiner. I just took a quick look back through the Collected Writings on Art, and couldn’t find a single mention of Steiner anywhere in the texts. However, his name comes up several times in the editors’ introductions, and—most importantly—they cite Kandinsky’s attendance at several of Steiner’s anthroposophical lectures in 1908.

Steiner’s lectures covered a broad range of theosophical topics. He would often elaborate on the occult connection between things like the planets and parts of the body, in a manner reminiscent of the systems of correspondence that became such a huge part of Renaissance magic (as in Agrippa’s Three Books of Occult Philosophy, or the 1620 magical calendar from Frankfurt that was once falsely attributed to Tycho Brahe). During these lectures, he would illustrate some of his ideas with colored chalk. The early drawings were lost, but in 1919 one of Steiner’s pupils got the idea to tape black paper to the surface of the chalkboard, so that the drawings could be rolled up after the talks were over. Over 1,000 of these drawings survive, along with notes and transcripts of the lectures. (I've included a couple here. To see a few paired with some of Steiner’s text and with commentary by a contemporary anthroposophist, check out this web page.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve always been wary of giving too much weight to the Kandinsky/Steiner connection, but when I was going back through On the Spritual in Art, some resonances started to strike me. In the chapter where Kandinsky sets out his ideas on the movement and emotional tone of the colors, there’s a footnote in which he reinforces his assertion that yellow is inherently aggressive and has an unpleasant “sound” by citing the sourness of lemons and the shrill song of the canary. Earlier in the book, he discusses synesthesia (without actually using the term), but he seems to treat it as a spiritual potential inherent in at least the most sensitive of us, rather than the medical or psychological anomaly that many people consider it to be. I was reminded of Steiner’s way of connecting things, his frequent discussions of how the soul is affected by material and spiritual phenomena, and the way that colors were often a crucial part of this. His discussions of planetary influences on the body were often illustrated with specific colors for each planetary ray, and there’s a beautiful chalkboard drawing in which he uses a few quick slashes of light blue, yellow, and red to assert a connection between cosmic thoughts, memories, and dreams, and birds, butterflies, and bats, respectively (see above).

Steiner also spoke about the ability of color to alter spiritual perception. He claimed that meditation on a specific color would render that color transparent, so that one could see the spiritual entities lurking behind or within it. Such statements were couched in language that often sounds a lot like Kandinsky’s recurring image of the soul as a piano, with color as the force that hits the keys and vibrates the strings.

Though I don’t want to stretch comparisons too far or claim too much, I should probably also mention Steiner’s development of the hybrid art form eurythmy. Eurythmy attempted to blend colors, sounds, and spiritually significant gestures into a new dance form that would directly affect the deeper levels of the viewer’s soul. (Some of Steiner’s pencil sketches for eurythmy can be seen at this link, along with a few color images created using Steiner’s notes. For an example of eurythmy in action, check out this video.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

By 1926, Kandinsky had shifted his focus away from color and toward shape and form; this was the year that Point and Line to Plane was published. His only other published work that year was a piece called Dance Curves, in which he turned four photographs of the dancer Palucca into simplified schematic drawings (see below), with the idea of showing how the precision of her movements carries deep significance for those sensitive enough to recognize it (he states this idea much more vaguely and obliquely than I have, and the entire article—which is very brief—is pretty opaque). Though I’ve never seen anything to connect Dance Curves to eurythmy, the emphasis they share on precision and meaning in the body’s movement has always kept me speculating.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not everyone is comfortable with this sort of tale-spinning. There are writers who try to downplay the Steiner-Kandinsky connection, under the assumption that it makes it too easy for Kandinsky to be dismissed as a serious artist. For a discussion of this, see this essay by artist, writer, and Studio International co-editor Janet McKenzie, written on the occasion of the 2006 Tate Modern exhibition “Kandinsky: The Path to Abstraction.”

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, I should mention the 1901 book Thought Forms by Annie Besant and Charles Leadbeater. Besant inherited the leadership of most of Blavatsky’s Theosophical Society after the latter’s death, and Leadbeater was a clairvoyant who claimed the ability to see the shapes and colors of people’s emotions. Their book begins with a detailed chart that lays out the spiritual meanings of 25 colors (for example, red-orange is listed as “pride”), and then discusses the ethereal forms of a wide range of subjective phenomena, including things like ”greed for alcohol” and “listening to the music of Mendelsshon.” The book is illustrated throughout, and some of the more complex images begin to approach the complexity of some of Kandinsky’s paintings. (One of my favorites is the illustration for "appreciation of a picture," shown immediately above.)

Once again, without trying to claim too much, I'm very interested in the way that the specificity of Besant and Leadbeater’s system looks a lot like Kandinsky’s ideas on the distinctive “feel” of various colors. At least one writer of books on Theosophical history (Gary Lachman) has stated that Kandinsky owned a copy of Thought Forms, and that it was one of the most influential sources of his speculations on color.

Steiner's Occult Cosmology

diagram from Kees Zoeteman, Gaia-Sophia, p.77

back to Rudolph Steiner main page

Very early in his career Steiner borrowed from Theosophy (with minor adaptions of his own) a metaphysical system of great rigidity.  Although his cosmology seems complex, that is only because of the minute attention to detail.  In actual fact, its principles are simplistic yet extraordinarily baroque, very like the Ptolemaic (Geocentric) cosmology just prior to Copernicus, in which everything is explained in terms of cycles and epicycles, a kind of vast cosmic mechanism.  Everything is explained within a series of cosmic cycles: the Old Saturn, Old Sun, Old Moon, and Earth eras, and three future ones; each of which possesses certain characteristics:

1. Old Saturn: Solar System single mass; densest substance "warmth"
2. Old Sun: Sun, Moon, and Earth single mass; densest substance "air" (or gaseous)
3. Old Moon: Earth and Moon single mass; densest substance "water" (or liquid)
4. Earth: Present world; densest substance "earth" (or solid) during its densest substages
5. "Jupiter"  )   future increasingly
6. "Venus"   )   spiritualised worlds;
7. "Vulcan"  )   reverse of previous stages

This series has the "Saturn" era as the most subtle.  Each of the following cosmic stages get progressively denser, untill we come to Earth era, which is the turning point from which things reverse and once again become more subtle.  Each of these major eras or "metamorphoses" is seperated by a period of withdrawl or non-manifestation, a pralaya (a Hindu cosmological theme first taught in the West by Blavatsky and central to Theosophy).  The whole thing can be represented like the diagram at the top of this page.

This idea of a cyclic universe is fairly straighforward, recalling similiar themes from Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, from Kabbalah, from the now discarded "pulsating universe" speculations of astrophysics, and so on.  The whole thing is unfortunately made much more obscure and absurd by dividing each of the seven cosmic cycles into seven (each with it's own small pralaya), and each of those in turn into seven, and each of those in turn into seven, and each of those in turn into seven!!!  This infatuation with cycles and sub-cycles and sub-sub-cycles (a kind of quasi-fractal universe) is another theosophical theme that Steiner retained.  These stages and all of their sub-stages and sub-sub-stages were worked out in great detail, producing a cosmology that is at its best as awesome and inspiring as any other great myth of creation, yet just as absurd and ridiculous when taken literally (which unfortunately is what Steiner's followers do).

What about the rest of the universe, you may ask.  Unfortunately, Steiner doesn't mention this.  Indeed, astonishingly for a man living in the beginning of the 20th century, he seems totally uninterested in anything beyond the orbit of Saturn.  His entire cosmology is limited to this Solar System; when he says "the cosmos" he is referring to the Solar System out to Saturn.

Cycles and Sub-Cycles

In both the Theosophical and Anthroposophical cosmologies, each cycle is divided into smaller cycles.  Rudolph Steiner followed the cosmology of Blavatsky very closely, so much so that all of the major features of his formulation can be directly attributed to the founder of Theosophical Movement, a fact that he is curiously reluctant to acknowledge (instead he speaks as if it were all his own cllairvoyance.  In this sevenfold cosmology, each major era is divided into seven shorter periods, also separated by a pralaya.  Usually these are in turn divided into even smaller divisions, but these are not seperated by prayalas.  All these recapitualtions are so involved and confusing that a diagram is required (the following is from Kees Zoeteman, Gaia-Sophia, p.79)

The first hierarchical level, the "Metamorphoses" (bottom), represents the primary cosmological division, equivelent to the "Chain" of Theosophy.  Apart from the "Form Conditions", which refer to descent from the spiritual pralaya state (Arupa; "Formless") to matter, and subsequent ascent, all the others are in some respect or other a recapitulation on a smaller scale of the original eras or "Metamorphoses".

Thus the present Earth stage consists of or is divided into seven "Small Cycles", sub-eras: a fiery or Old Saturn era (which recapitulates the first eras), a gaseous or Old Sun era, a liquid or Old Moon era, and an earthy (solid) or Earth era (our present age), and three future ones (which presage the future eras).  Each of these small cycles is the same as the "Round" of Theosophy.

The Earth era of the Earth Metamorphosis is in turn divided into seven Form Conditions (= "Globes" of Theosophy), referring to, as indicated above, the descent from spirit to physical matter (the present Earth), and subsequent ascent back to Spirit.

The present Earth condition is divided into seven eras, according to the Root Race (another Theosophical concept Steiner adopted) that exists at that time.  These are the seven evolutionary periods: Polarian, Hyperborean, Lemurian, Atlantean, "Post-Atlantean" (the current one) and two future ones, given the apropriately biblical names of "Seal" and "Trumpet" (in refereance to the Book of revelations).  Each era lasts exactly 15,120 years, the time of the Platonic "Great Year", or "Precession of the Equinoxes".  In keeping with his reliance on the Classics, Steiner used this old Greek time-frame as the central element of his chronology.

Finally, each of these eras is in turn divided into seven, giving seven "Culture Periods" of exactly 2,160 years each.  Originally, Steiner taught that every human ego (soul) reincarnates precisely twice, once as a man and once as a woman; later, he dropped this idea.

As can be seen, with all these cycles within cycles, Steiner's entire cosmology came pretty well out of Theosophy.  He formulated it in the early days, when he was trying to find favour with the Theosophical Society (according to Colin Wilson's biography on him, Steiner was an upward social climber).  Into the Theosophical style statements, the Greek elements were mixed in.

Yet even if Steiner derived his overall cosmology from Theosophy, he still made a creative and original contribution within that framework.  Whilst the Theosophical cosmology, especially that of the post-Blavatsky theosophists such as C.W. Leadbeater and Alice Bailey, is mechanical and unimaginative, Steiner added an extraordinary amount of new details.

The Relevence (or otherwise)  of Steiner's cosmology

The importance of Steiner's cosmology, like that of Blavatsky, is that it transfers the process of emanation from the ahistorical dimension (as in Neoplatonism andKashmir Shaivism) to the meta-historical, or perhaps one could say mytho-historical.  Rather than occuring in a purely timeless way, the emanation of the cosmos followed a particular almost scientific (or quasi-scientific) schedule.  Certainly, the "dramatic" cosmologies of Gnosticism and Lurianic Kabbalah also present such a mytho-historical vision, with their concept of crisis and fall and future redemption.  But apart from this primary drama, there is no detailed mention of periods of previous evolution, cycles and sub-cycles of various races and worlds that preceeded, and were not as "dense" as our own.  It was really only Blavatsky who gave such an "occult history" to the world, and others, such as Leadbeater, Steiner, Alice Bailey, Cayce, etc, who elaborated upon it, modifying certain details, but contributing no equally novel ideas.  In fact, apart from Steiner's incredibly detailed account - far more elaborate and detailed even than anything Blavatsky herself constructed - all of Blavatsky's successors have either grossly simplified her original account (e.g. the very popular and admirable Edgar Cayce) or simply codified it with more detail, but adding absolute nothing new (Leadbeater, Bailey, etc).  It is because of his detailed accounts, and because, despite his difficult style, he is still rather more comprehensible than Blavatsky, that we have given Steiner the space he has been given here in this review of his occult history. 

The Difficulty with taking all this literally

Because of its absurd elements, Steiner's cosmology has become a curiosity by the uninitiated, and a dogma to the believers.  I remember listening to one young woman who was educated in a Rudolf Steiner school, and who referred dismissively to Steiner's metaphysics as the "way in which people used to think in those days" - a totally inaccurate statement (for the early twentieth- century was just as "scientifically" inclined as the modern decade), but typical of the way in which the layperson reacts to Steiner's cosmology.

Towards an Occult Interpretation af Steiner's Cosmology 
 The myth of man and creation/emanation in Rudolph Steiner's cosmogony 

Rudolph Steiner

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The "Materialisms" Plane - four lower divisions

 

The following diagram, based on notes from the Argamon Center teachings, gives the details of the lower four of the seven divisions of the Material plane as understood by Theon. This diagram is in French, I have given a corresponding English version below.

M A T E R I A L C L A S S I F I C A T I O N	States	Degrees	Sub-degrees
	4th State Mental	Mental		Colour: Blue
		Psychic
		Nervous
		Physical
	5th State Psychic	Mental		Colour: Light Rose
		Psychic
		Nervous
		Physical
	6th State Nervous	Mental		abode of the first Bannis, with Adad (the brilliant/dazzling light)
		Psychic		region of harmonious evolution (light violet colour)
		Nervous		abode of Kai in Mahuiael - on the way to the Soul
		Physical		Region of the Hostile (large abyss) Mixture of Molecular matter (colour leaden grey) Abode of the germes of vital dissociation Intermediate stratum Abode of larval formations
	7th State Physical	Mental Light of Equilibrium in Justice: Conception - Divination Intuition - Intelligence	Mental	Divine Spark - Holy of Holies Sanctuary of the Individual Life Worship of the Divine Occupant
			Psychic
			Nervous
			Physical
		Psychic Passive Intelligence Ideal Thought Asopiration	Mental	Intellectual Soul
			Psychic
			Nervous	Sense Soul
			Physical
		Nervous (called the Astral) Active Intelligence Perception Volitional Decisions	Mental	small abyss	Deliberation
			Psychomental		Determination
			Psychic
			Nervopsychic		Volition
			Nervous
			Nervophysical	Impulsion --> weak and dark; localised in the bony framework
			Physical
		Physical Sensations	Mental	Self-regulation of the functions of the organism and celluar activity Breathable atmosphere - mixture of physical matter Terrestrial husks Concretions - components of the Glorious Body
			Psychic
			Nervous
			Physical

Here we see a cosmology on the one hand very similar to the equivalent esoteric formulations of Blavatsky, Adyar Theosophy, Steiner, and Sant Mat, yet also differing in many details of interpretation. I have used Theon's cosmology as one of the guidelines in proposing my own integral metaphysics

There seems little doubt that what Theon (or at least this diagram) refers to as "the Nervous degree of the Physical state" (also termed "Astral" here, however Theon did not use that term) is what I have been referring to (following Adyar Theosphy, Rudolph Steiner, and Alice Bailey) as the "Etheric plane". This is the plane of Steiner's Etheric Formative Forces and Barbara Ann Brennan's Human Energy Field - the seven auric bodies. Both the Theon diagram and Blavatsky use the term "astral" here, and it seems that in both these teachings there is a confusion between the "etheric" and the "astral plane". What Leadbeater (Adyar Theosophy), popular occultism, and the New Age movement all call the "Astral Plane", I suggest (following Steiner) to be the region or ontological gradation beyond the "etheric". The the (6th) Nervous state of the Materialisms world is a similar but larger and more primary reality; Sri Aurobindo and Mirra call this the "Vital World', although to avoid confusion with "nervous" and "vital" I use the term Intermediate Universe (or Plane) to refer to this reality. This has four subdivisions or degrees (at least in this diagram) which can be considered four gradations of light and darkness. Only in the lowest, or Physical Nervo degree (which presumably shades into the Nervo Physical degree) does one find the "Hostile" or anti-divine forces. The three higher degrees constitute planes of (presumably increasing) light and harmonious evolution.

The two higher States (or Planes or Universes) represent more elevated, spiritual states, which are only poorly described here. More on this under Subdivisions of being - the 4-fold Classification

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