Rudolf Steiner on the Consequences of Geo-Climatic Catastrophes in Human Past Consciousness Evolution
Discussion
Jennifer Gidley:
"Steiner—who predicted that sciencewould eventually realize the validity of his insights—spoke of the significance of two
majorenvironmental catastrophes that marked transitions between major movements of culture andconsciousness.Steiner’s narrative gains some support from the renewed interest in catastrophe theory ingeology, in response to the current climatic situation and the growing awareness of the possibility of future rapid climate change (Mithen, 2004; Weart, 2003). Early 19
th
centurytheories of catastrophism and resultant extinctions were generally associated with short time-scales for the history of the Earth, and religious overtones—positing miraculous/divineinterventions in subsequent re-population. The late 19
th
century saw a shift to more scientificgeological theories, such as
uniformitarianism
and theories of gradual change that echoedDarwin’s gradualism in classical biology.
However, the postformal, interdisciplinary turn inscience is beginning to point to underlying phenomenological connections that may have been “known” in pre-modern myths but that went unnoticed as a result of the disciplinaryspecialization of the modernist scientific period (Ulansey, 1991). In addition to the majorscientific shifts from classical to quantum physics and from classical biology to chaos andcomplexity, the first half of the 20 th
century saw dramatic changes to scientific perceptionsand theories about numerous other phenomena with potential relevance to evolution ofconsciousness theorie
s:
•
Radio carbon dating was discovered in 1949, enabling scientists to determine the age ofmaterials up to 60,000 years ago;
•
As a result, the scientifically theorized age of the earth, went from 100 million yearsto 4.5 billion years; •
The stable, static notion of continents gave way to continental drift theory in the early20 th
century, followed in the 1960s by the mobile dynamic notion of plate tectonics. In the light of some of these changes, contemporary geology theories propose that Earth’soverall history is a slow, gradual story, punctuated by occasional natural catastrophic events thathave affected the Earth and its inhabitants (Firestone, West, & Warwick-Smith, 2006).Contemporary interdisciplinary theories are beginning to address these issues. Recent researchfrom evolutionary psychology
127
—including methods from geology, physics, archaeology,mythology, and anthropology—supports the “punctuated” narrative of cultural evolution proposed here (Sedikedes, Skowronski, & Dunbar, 2006, p. 58). Also leading archaeological andanthropological research appears to be moving in this direction. Archaeologist, Steven Mithen,refers to glaciations cycles, ice ages and global warming as significant events in cultural change.Anthropologist, Richard Klein, points to the significance of both the Younger Dryas event andalso the Toba Volcano—which we will discuss below—as triggers for major shifts in culture andconsciousness (Klein & Edgar, 2002). Such research demonstrates support and formalization ofsome of the insights that Steiner intuited and cohered more than a century ago. What is still needed,
though,
is a comprehensive transdisciplinary theoretical integration of this materialfocusing on potential effects on the evolution of culture and consciousness.Firstly, Steiner (1904/1959) referred to a geo-climatic catastrophe that marked the end of thedevelopment we have been discussing and the beginning of the culture that followed it: “mightyvolcanoes existed almost everywhere and developed a continuous destructive activity. . . . It wasthrough the activity of this volcanic fire that the destruction of the Lemurian land came about”(p. 85). He saw this as a period when much of the population of the time was wiped out: “a great part of the land was destroyed, and only a small number of the inhabitants . . . were preservedand could continue the human race” (Steiner, 1954/1981a, p. 123). Paleoanthropologist, StanleyAmbrose (1998), proposed that the eruption of the
Toba Volcano 128
caused the well-documentedmassive reduction in global population—called a bottleneck (p. 627). He concludes that“Volcanic winter may have inserted a brief Punctuated Equilibrium event (Eldredge & Gould,1972), in the course of recent human evolutionary history, accelerating geographicdifferentiation (p. 644-645). Although there has been some contestation of details of his claims(Gathorne-Hardy & Harcourt-Smith, 2003), Ambrose (2003) has responded, providing furthersubstantial evidence for his theories. Anthropologist Richard Klein has also lent support toAmbrose’s theory (Klein & Edgar, 2002). More research appears to be needed.A second abrupt and extreme climatic catastrophe occurred approximately 60,000 years afterthe Toba volcano. This event is known as the Younger Dryas. Very recent archaeologicalresearch indicates the Younger Dryas event was triggered by the meltwater in North America,from the last glacial period, forcingthe ocean current patterns to slow or stop. This was as aresult of a surge of fresh water and reduced salinity in the North Atlantic Ocean, and sent Europeinto a sudden freeze, over just a few decades.(Carlson et al., 2007; Colman, 2007; Tarasov &Peltier, 2005). This new cold event lasted around 1,400 years to approximately 9,500 BCE, beginning asthe Earth was coming out of its 60,000-year glacial period.Steiner also speaks of a second major catastrophe that occurred at the end of the ice age.Steiner (1910/1939) described and theorized it as a major geo-climatic event of freezing andmelting during which the sea levels rose such that “The face of the earth was totally changed inregard to the distribution of water and land” (p. 94). Steiner’s insight was quite unusual for histimes given that the geological convention was uniformitarianism. The Younger Dryas as a phenomenon was not discovered until 1949, and the acceptance of the notion of rapid climatechange by geoscientists has only begun very recently. Physicist Spencer Weart (2003) pinpointsit to, “the day they read the 1993 report of the analysis of Greenland ice cores.”A recent scholarly book by nuclear physicist Richard Firestone, Allen West and geologist,Simon Warwick-Smith (2006), has emphasized the significance of catastrophe theory. Theydraw on a combination of hard science and North American indigenous mythology and oralhistory focusing on cosmological contributions to such events. Their evidence pointing to acomet strike corroborates with the timing of the beginning of the Younger Dryas, 13,000 yearsago. Steiner (1910/1939) also pointed to the interconnections between these tellurian events an events of cosmic proportions. “Such periods and changes consequent upon them are connectedwith mighty processes in the constellation, position and movement of the cosmic bodiesconnected with the sun” (p. 94). These earth-influencing astronomical cycles are now referred toas the Milankovitch cycles (See Appendix A).In summary, the last glacial period—known as
the ice age (c. 70,000-10,000 BP)—appears tohave been punctuated on either side by two relatively sudden, extreme environmental events. •
The volcanic winter and subsequent 1,000 year freeze caused by the Toba supervolcanoin Indonesia approximately 73,000 years BP; and •
The Younger Dryas, a dramatic 1,300-1,500 year freeze—up to 11,500 BP—as a result ofthe ice-melts in North America from the warming after the last major glacial period. Notwithstanding the difficulties a century ago—and even today 129
—in accurately dating suchdistant events, Steiner identified dramatic geo-climatic events very similar to these, pointing tothem as significant markers between the major movements of culture and consciousness we arediscussing. It is however difficult to establish the veracity of his claim in relation to the earlier ofthese two events because he gives contradictory indications about chronology.The next section of our narrative introduces developments in consciousness and culture— especially aesthetics—of the Ice-Age Humans and particularly their development during the period between and surrounding these punctuations (70,000-10,000 BP)."