The World of Ideas

Goethe once referred to the divine world as the "world of ideas" by which he means a living dynamic, nearly angelic presence, not the dead letters you find in a textbook.

As Goethe says elsewhere, “In the realm of ideas, everything depends on enthusiasm. ... In the real world, all rests on perseverance.” Steiner takes up this notion in the Agriculture Course where he says that it is of vital importance that a doctor administering a remedy exhibits a kind of contagious enthusiasm so that the patient will follow through and actually take the remedy.

As teachers of biodynamics, it cannot be merely dead memorization. If a thought is to be entertained, it should also be valued by being imbued with with feeling. Thought by itself is dead. Action by itself is thoughtless. It is the heart that mediates between these two. An unfelt idea is a dead idea. 

Most of us are likely to have heard "faith without works is dead" which is to say, mere intellectual affirmation is not enough to motivate action. What is believed must not just be affirmed, but deeply loved and valued and felt if it is to motivate fruitful action in the world. It is a danger to try to memorize biodynamic theory as if it is a recipe. Biodynamics should be born out of love for our neighbors and love of the source of all. Always remember that we are in service to life.