The Dog
Rudolf Steiner talked about his book the Philosophy of Freedom, and how to study it, in this example he speaks of an imagined reader who has “…gone through and inwardly experienced all that is in my book, The Philosophy of Freedom, and feels that this book was for her a stimulation and that now she has reached the point where she can herself actually reproduce the thoughts just as they are presented. If a person holds the same relationship to this book that a virtuoso, in playing a selection on the piano, holds to the composer of the piece, that is, she reproduces the whole thing within herself — naturally according to her ability to do so — then through the strictly built up sequence of thought of this book — for it is written in this manner - (it will be transforming sic)… the important point is that the thoughts are all placed in such a way that they become active. In many other books of the present, just by changing the system a little, what has been said earlier in the book can just as well be said later. In The Philosophy of Freedom this is not possible. Page 150 can as little be placed fifty pages earlier in the subject matter as the hind legs of a dog can be exchanged with the forelegs, for the book is a logically arranged organism and the working out of the thoughts in it has an effect similar to an inner schooling. “GA103 31 May 1908, Hamburg, Lecture 1
We can practice reproducing the order of the thoughts in any part of the book (although some passages lend themselves to it better than others, especially difficult passages which will be key for continuing the study in a healthy way, and passages which contain hidden interest and merit a pause to observe them). It is good training to try to ‘reproduce’ a sequence of thoughts in this book as a ‘logically arranged organism’. This is not as easy as it sounds for this particular book, let’s take a look at what tends to happen when we try…
Thinking experiment to reproduce an autonomous self-standing sequence of ideas
Aim: We choose a passage from The Philosophy of Freedom and express the ideas as they emerge, in our own words, with clear lines, with every concept in its place, ready to be active in us. (We find it is best to express the sequence of ideas out loud with another person or in a group.)
Our first attempts to ‘understand’ the words which express Steiner’s thoughts are likely to meet with some opposition in us. The ideas and way of expressing them will be foreign to us, not like our way of thinking, and the concepts can seem dry and difficult to grasp, as they do not refer to physically sensed matters. Our first try at reproducing them in order is likely to produce something approximative. Using the example and illustration of the dog with Jack as model, let's take a look at what tends to happen:
Stage 1 scenario 1: Accurate Academic Dog
Some people are good at intellectual thinking and are able to produce an academic ‘dog form’ quite quickly, in essence, as described by the words, which they box in for themselves as ‘understood’. Others find this process more laborious. Unless this stage is taken as a starting point for deepening and rounding the process, things will not go further – such a stunted representation of a thought will never become active, it will remain academic.
Stage 1 scenario 2: Roughly Assembled Dog
If we try to engage our true understanding and reproduce the ideas in a living way (for example if you are asked in a study group to reproduce a series of ideas in the book in the order they are presented, or if a group is trying to come to a consensus on the ideas expressed) the first attempt has a tendency to look like this, that is, the basic ideas are there but chopped into bits and stuck together in a totally different and non-functioning order.
If I observe myself as I wrestle with this task, I might realise I do not know where to start, how to grasp an entry point - sometimes my mind is a total blank. We are trying to reproduce Steiner’s pure thinking, the very bones and structure of the dog, and there is no sense information to cling onto and this can be disconcerting. It is difficult to find our starting place and then to allow the thoughts to connect to one another one by one, instead we can feel a strong need to jump to something we have grasped, to find our own way of understanding, starting in the middle and putting things together in a very different order. At some point we will have grasped some of the parts and some sort of general idea, but we have not yet managed to put the composite ideas together in a way which makes any kind of recognizable dog. I find it helpful to remind myself 'Here I am' and to ask myself 'what am i doing here?', to orient myself as I turn from one idea to another.
Stage 2: Assembling the Dog
The next stage is to continue to wrestle with the meaning of the words and ideas expressed, to clarify and refine our understanding, and here often we reproduce an idea which is roughly it, which just about holds together and stands up…however a keen observer will notice that the forelegs have been exchanged with the hindlegs. When the dog
tries to live and move, walk and jump according to his nature, we can see he is going to have difficulties, he is going to limp, turn in circles and fall down.
Stage 3: Ordered Reproduction of the Dog
If we persevere, listen to the thoughts and allow them to roll out in order within us, see how each idea forms the basis or the unfolding of the next, how the ideas are articulated, and we become able to re-create the
m, or create them for the first time in our inner mental world, actively, faithfully and confidently...
...there is just a chance a living 'thinking dog' will come bounding up to meet us!
