D00.002 - new symptoms and patterns in a changing world

From Anthroposophy

This is a Discussion topic page, to capture and share notes in support of an online discussion on the broad subject.

It currently provides links and references, but is intended for interactive discussion and enrichment.

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see already: Fall and redemption - original sin and grace#Topic 1 - What is going on in the world today.3F

This topic groups various elements that are perceived to be new tendencies in recent generations of children, whereby (new) patterns can be perceived (that weren't necessarily so) in earlier generations:

  • Attention deficit disorder (ADD) and Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
    • see oa Discussion Note [1]
  • the so-called Star of Indigo children
  • gender confusion and transgender

alongside - but then not specific to children:


In the above, all certainly a reality, one can see signs of a changing world, whereby it is not easy to understand what is going on.

This page explores whether certain patterns can be discerned from a spiritual scientific perspective.

From such spiritual scientific perspective, links can be made with statements by Rudolf Steiner:

Source extracts and references

Thomas Stöckli

writes (in 2010 Q&A on Christ in the etheric, in response to questions by Johannes Greiner), see Christ in the etheric#References and further reading

Do you see an increase in the faculty of perceiving teh etheric, and how does such increase show?

Yes indeed, especially by children and youngsters, who struggle with controlling this higher intensity of perceiving the living. This then leads to the known psychological labels such as ADHD and borderline, that are so often diagnosed these days. Fundamentally for them it is a 'living along with the living', which cause sensitive beings - such as these children are - to get stirred up or agigated internally, when they cannot handle or process this in their surroundings. From a positive angle, it brings us a living along with the surrounding world, with other people, animals, nature.

[continued]

Siegfried Woitinas

talks about a link with NDEs in an interview (see below, internet translation)

CP: The near-death experiences give people a changed constitution. You say that today many children are born with this “relaxed” constitution without having had the NDE. How is this constitution? How does this affect the children?

S. Woitinas: The etheric and astral worlds through which the deceased soul pass are the same ones through which the I then descends again to its new birth in order to appropriate a new astral and etheric body of its own. Here the constitution after the birth is such that the new bodies that have been brought with them first penetrate the maternal organism.

But: it is like a looser structure that is retained longer in these children, so that they do not "fall blindly" into the maternal organization and they do not connect as strongly with the physical and corporeal as the one in the past few decades. In this way you retain an awareness of the passage through the prenatal world. You keep z. B. Experiences how they circled the mother, how they then penetrated the mother's organism and "descended". This memory of the prenatal world as well as of past lives means that they do not connect so intensively with the physical-etheric hereditary organism and that one's own etheric-astral organism is less “covered” by the physical body.This is, in a sense, a "reluctance" to face the physical world. This keeps memories of the prenatal world more present, including memories of previous lives.

CP: Do you know that from conversations with these people?

S. Woitinas: Yes, I know a lot of children who have described that. I have given such examples in my book, The Indigo Children.

Such awareness remains very present in children up to the age of 9. They need the help and understanding of adults so that they can deal with these experiences and learn to formulate them. Only then is it integrated into the personality. That also creates trust.

CP: They probably don't even know that other people experience it differently ?!

S. Woitinas: That's right. They take it for granted and believe everyone else is too. And that's why there is a shock when they say things like that and the parents say: “That's rubbish. Don't be so stupid. ”In this respect, they suppress such experiences and they only reappear when they remember such things as adults.

If such memories disappear as they get older, it is also healthy because it would make the children self-conscious about the new incarnation experience and the current circumstances. But, as I said, it has to be properly addressed, and they cannot do that alone.

CP: And how do the problems or the new children diseases come about?

S. Woitinas: If this consciousness remains present in the children for a long time, they keep their supernatural organization very strongly outside the physical organization. For example, they keep this panoramic awareness that one has in the spiritual world. You see everything at the same time: the soul, the spiritual, the aura around other people, in animals and in nature. This prevents them from seeing the individual objects in a focused, selective manner. They live in a kind of double consciousness, they see everything at the same time and thus do not come to a punctual consciousness that one needs in order to use the physical organism. This is for example allso a special problem also with many dyslexics.

However, one has to understand all these children, research them very individually and talk to them about their problems. If that does not happen, they withdraw and remain in a suspicious position of their own corporeality and certain brain structures are not developed; this prevents a healthy incarnation. When they feel understood, they form an inner trusting relationship with the adult, then learn to understand themselves and then build trust in the whole physical-material world. Rudolf Steiner has given detailed descriptions of this problem under the heading “nervousness”, which the doctor Dr. Harald Haas has been published in a good systematic form [reference below].

By looking at the two areas of experience - near-death experiences and characteristics of the new generation of children - astonishing connections become visible from a spiritual perspective, the meaning of which must first be understood and further explored.

Interactive discussion

Topic 1: ADHD

One author who has written about ADHD in a way quite different from the way and treatments by traditional medicine, is Thom Hartmann.

From wikpedia:

Hartmann has written about attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and adult attention-deficit disorder (AADD), and has proposed (in 1978, published in 1992) the hunter vs. farmer hypothesis, suggesting that ADHD is an expected evolutionary adaptation to hunting lifestyles where individuals have the ability to rapidly shift focus and external attention, while holding multiple trains of thought.

This ability, Hartmann theorizes, causes difficulties for those who live and work in cultures in which 'farming' - planned, predictable, organized, repetitive behaviors - is typical.

Hartmann has established specialized schools for children with ADHD, such as The Hunter School in Rumney, New Hampshire, which he co-founded with his wife Louise.

See more in the 'Further reading' section below.

Related pages

References and further reading

  • NDEs and the link with the new generation of children - Interview mit Siegfried Woitinas (in DE) - online link .

On ADD and ADHD

  • Dr. H. Haas: 'Die Aufmerksamkeits-Defizit-Störung' (2005, in 'Der Merkurstab' Heft 2/2005)
  • Thom Hartmann
    • Attention Deficit Disorder: A Different Perception (1992, 1997)
    • ADHD Secrets of Success: Coaching Yourself to Fulfillment in the Business World. Select Books. (1994, 2002)
    • ADD Success Stories (1995)
    • Beyond ADD (1996)
    • Thom Hartmann's Complete Guide to ADHD: Help for Your Family at Home, School and Work. Underwood Books (2000)
    • The Edison Gene - ADHD and the Gift of the Hunter Child (2003) as well as:
    • ADHD and the Edison Gene: A Drug-Free Approach to Managing the Unique Qualities of Your Child (2015)
    • Adult ADHD: How to Succeed as a Hunter in a Farmer's World (2016)
    • ADHD: A Hunter in a Farmer's World (2019)
    • Healing ADD: Simple Exercises That Will Change Your Daily Life

see also