Study group

I've become involved with a new online community, called The Waldorf Board. It's a threaded discussion board for people interested in Rudolf Steiner, anthroposophy, and Waldorf education.

Somehow, I've gotten myself into an online study group on Steiner's lecture titled "Facing Karma." So far it's been a very interesting discussion, and has made me realize that I'm woefully forgetful of some of the basics of anthroposophy.

It's really easy to develop what I call a "cloud of information" around a topic. Kind of like if you're asked to define a word, and instead of a dictionary-style definition, you provide a bunch of images, words, experiences, and concepts that all hover around the word in your mind.

The down side to this is that while this cloud makes it easy for you to skim along and feel like you're understanding a text, when you're called on to really explain it to someone else you find that you're unable to be specific without admitting it's all your subjective opinion. Maybe I just grok it...so I can't externalize enough to explain it in words.

As I explained this cloud idea to Anthropapa, he pointed out that the way that I'm observing my own thinking process is just what Steiner talked about in Philosophy of Freedom. Wow, I'm good.