Rudolf Steiner once said, ” Our highest endeavor must be to develop free human beings who are able of themselves to impart purpose and direction to their lives. The need for imagination, a sense of truth, and a feeling of responsibility – these three forces are the very nerve of education.” For years, I have reflected on this quote. There is a lot to unpack, especially for this mama raised in South Louisiana! Luckily that Sagittarian fire-in-the-mind I enjoy as part of my unique blend of energies always manages to squeeze out of whatever box some person or group might like to put me in! Thank the heavens above! And you know, Rudolf Steiner always seems to win in the battle for my mind, and maybe the human collective mind and even our collective will forces at large. How so, one might ask? Holy Wisdom my friend! And thankfully so, or we may just manifest our own doom as a collective! For example, it is interesting to weigh Steiner’s educational philosophy against the merit of such large scale modern human thought ideas floating around the U.S. at this period in time, such as predispensationalism, for example. Wow! I wonder what other interesting ideas stemming from perhaps the late great Greek civilization are still floating around in the collective thought body of humanity! Steiner, it appears, seems to be pointing to the fact that humanity is on a journey, let’s call it, through, let’s say, a “Book of Life”. Hmmmm. I capitalized “Book of Life” because is this the actual Book of Life humanity is journeying on with, let’s say, God/Goddess? Hmmm. My curiosity is peaked and I let my imagination do its work. At any rate, this is where we come back to the topic of this post – imagination, and its powerful force for collective good. One of my favorite fairy tales to delight in at the moment is Rumpelstiltskin! Here we have a “human girl” and her magnificent encounter with the power of the Holy Spirit. At least that is how I see it. Such is the beauty of storytelling! For I may be spiritually nourished in the way it fits what I have already encountered in my life history, what I have absorbed, what has thus far marinated in my soul. Someone else may take away something completely different! All through the power of our individual imagination, and potentially, collective imagination. I very much look forward to sharing more of these insights, as well as actual stories, tutorials for puppet making, and so much more!
