“The love of wine by listening to Nature through history”.
It’s a great honor, and an immense pleasure, for me to be here today at the Académie Internationale du Vin to talk to you about a subject that inspires us all: listening to nature, the key to producing terroir-driven wines. Indeed, and those of you in the wine business know this better than I do, it’s only by loving wine that you can make good wine, but it’s also by observing the strictest rigor and unfailing ethics that you can do so over time, and with conviction.
In many ways, my profession as a historian is similar to that of the vine and wine industry: not only does it require me to scrutinize the content of texts with meticulous care, but also to ensure that the authorship of an idea is handed over to its author. This is what we today call copyright, or rather respect for sources.
When it comes to organic farming in the broadest sense of the term, one figure is often cited, particularly by winegrowers: Rudolf Steiner. He is even generally referred to as Steiner’s putative father. He himself boasted a number of inventions, or at least renovations, which his thought, which he considered highly spiritual, concocted with great intuition and inspiration.
What is it really? After a brief introduction to Rudolf Steiner, we’ll look at the main thrusts of his thought, before setting out to find his sources – which he largely “obscured”.
Revolutions are often nothing more than returns to tradition. Rudolph Steiner’s revolution is no exception, and the growing interest in respecting nature through reason prompts us to better understand the origins of his thinking. Numerous ancient and medieval sources provide us with an anchor for the paths taken by natural philosophy, leading up to what we too often hear described as the “organic revolution”. Indeed, the scientists of Antiquity and the Middle Ages were already intimately attuned to the laws of Nature, aware that they were but microcosms in its image. Their task was to preserve nature and pass on its fruits to the best of their abilities.
In the absence of scientific proof, historical depth allows us to renew the study of tradition at a time of reactions against modernity. While it is not the historian’s role to give advice on the present, let alone the future, it is his duty to provide his contemporaries with data that will enable him to move forward, and at least to be of his time, failing which he will be able to transform himself into a Sybil – even if the “Sybil of the North”, Hildegard of Bingen, will guide us here and there, in concert with some of the greatest scholars of the Middle Ages.
I. Rudolf Steiner, from anthroposophy to biodynamics
Portrait of a supposed founder
Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925), son of an Austro-Hungarian railroad official, grew up in a family with no farming tradition.
From an early age, he displayed extraordinary intellectual abilities, with a keen interest in mathematics and the relationship between the sensible and suprasensible worlds, which led him to pursue doctoral studies (philosophy). Steiner understood the natural sciences in a broad sense (physics, chemistry, biology, anatomy, botany). It’s an approach reminiscent of ancient and medieval scholars, trained in the liberal arts before embarking on theological or alchemical disciplines.
Steiner is a complex character, and it is difficult to draw a fluid portrait of him. It is often said that his interest in Goethe’s “scientific” work helped him confirm his intuition of the problem of the hiatus between matter and spirit – a dualism that we can, however, trace back to Platonism, and to which Aristotle had responded with his theory of hylemorphism.
Steiner’s growing interest in spiritualism, Christ-inspired spirituality and esotericism led him to found his own rite, “Esoteric Freemasonry”.
In 1905, he was appointed General Secretary of the German section of the World Theosophical Society.
In 1913, he founded Anthroposophy, a movement based on Christian and Western esotericism, with facets inspired by Manichaeism (Steiner believed himself to be the spiritual reincarnation of Mani). Membership grew rapidly, before dissension led Steiner to found the Universal Anthroposophical Society and the Free University of Spiritual Sciences in 1924.
The farmers’ course
It was an ailing Steiner – almost dying already – who responded to a request from farmers worried about the poor (qualitative) state of their business by presenting a series of eight lectures known under the following title:
Le cours aux agriculteurs, Eight lectures, one address, four answers to questions, given in Koberwitz near Breslau from June 7 to 16, 1924, and one lecture in Dornach, June 20, 1924, a notebook of blackboard drawings[1].
In just ten days, Steiner taught the holistic principles establishing the identity of an agricultural structure based on the relationship between the particular and the universal, the connection between man and earth on the one hand, and the cosmos on the other. Indeed, man is the microcosm, in the image of nature, the macrocosm.
“There are many other, more subtle phenomena in both the male and female organism that are reproductions of natural rhythms.”
Steiner, Le cours aux agriculteurs, p. 44
To set out his guiding principles, Steiner sees the farm as an organism, a closed entity whose (reduced) model is the human being, a body with four dimensions: physical, etheric and astral, to which he adds the ego, which is supposed to distinguish man from animal[2]. For Steiner, however, these dimensions can only be apprehended by looking for what is “hidden” behind appearance, i.e., behind the sensible world (a vague paraphrase of Democritus[3]). He called this “spiritual truth” both the “occult” and the “science of the spirit”. This is the source of Steinerian occultism, which asserts that the observable phenomena of the physical world are all manifestations of a material reality activated from the periphery of the cosmos down to earth. According to Steiner, this occultism requires initiation to gain access to this hidden, immaterial knowledge. Unobtrusively placing himself in the vanguard of initiates, he simplified the message here to attract, complicating it over and over again in other places, perhaps to cultivate mystery.
So let’s see how we can rediscover some of the true sources of our essential search for nature, the texts that originally carried the vital impetus of which we are the humble transmitters.
The major difficulty in presenting Steiner’s historical sources is that he borrows many ideas from scholars, rarely mentioning them, often transforming them. Yet most of “his” ideas were put forward before him, often long before. Let’s take a look at some of the foundations, chronologically, and give the great scholars of the past their due.
II. The origins of biodynamics
For premodern scientists, nature (physis) cannot be understood without an extensive study of its implications. As taken up by R. Steiner, it appears as a microcosm of the universe. This latter macrocosm is made up of four elements, each of which is qualified by two qualities (for example, fire is hot and dry). Elements of Steiner’s thinking can be found in the writings of the following authors:
- Democritus (c. 460-370 BC)
- Plato (428-347)
- Aristotle (384-322)
- Theophrastus (372/370-288/286)
- Ptolemy (c. 100-180)
From Democritus, who argued for the legitimacy of the intellect over the senses, he took the idea of the superiority of the mind. From Plato, he drew the idealistic principle, albeit vaguely, and in a roundabout way (by evoking the curious notion of “cosmic fusion”, as strange as it is dangerous, since it would indicate the loss of individual freedom by man who lets the spirits that inhabit him think for him). Aristotelian principles seem even more overused by Steiner. Beyond his dubious ethics, the modernist abstains from the Stagirite’s quest for precision and his taste for taxonomic rigor (taken up by Theophrastus). Compared to Ptolemy, Steiner lacked both talent and the quest for clarity. But then again, Steiner wanted his art to be passed on to initiates, not ignoramuses…[4].
A number of brilliant medieval scholars can serve as intermediaries, including :
- Al-Kindi (c. 800-870), in his treatise Sur les causes attribuées aux corps supérieurs indiquant les origines des pluies, par décret de Dieu (On the Causes Attributed to Higher Bodies Indicating the Origins of Rainfall by Decree of God), provides us with a fine observation of lunar movements that should be studied in detail.
- The Liber de vindemiis (4th-10th c., translated into Latin around 1136-1193), despite its complicated transmission, indicates the advantages of observing the moon’s movements during the harvest.
- Hildegarde de Bingen’s numerous botanical and mystical works demonstrate her sensitivity to natural rhythms and affirm the existence of a close relationship between the body’s internal movements and Nature (vital forces).
- Albert the Great (1200-1280), with his encyclopedic interest in “everything there is to know about the world”, left us a series of studies concerning not only the terrestrial realm (biological, zoological, vegetable, mineralogical), but also the supra-terrestrial (meteorology, metaphysics). The Universal Doctor points to the virtuous alliance between the earth, “the mother and matrix of plants”, and the sun, “their father”.
These are lessons that lovers of life and wine can no longer ignore. The constant search for the ideal grape variety for a given land then accompanies these “elemental” and cosmic data.
In this day and age, the weight of agribusiness – or the “wine business”, to use the recent and much-discussed title of Isabelle Saporta’s book – bears witness to all kinds of excesses. Reacting to a certain kind of industrialization of wine, the media are giving prominence to organic research and practices – sometimes even in outrageous ways, in defiance of all labels.
It’s up to oenophiles to explain why they like wines that fall somewhere between these two extremes, and which most of us enjoy drinking. After all, what else are we looking for than the component that maintains – or restores – health?
These days, biodynamic enthusiasts rightly remind us to be humble. We’re all just small links in the chain of life, and it’s important to understand how to cause the least damage to the earth – and to the people who eat its produce. Far from rejecting biodynamic principles, the aim of this presentation was to explore their historical depth and cultural importance, and to reaffirm their salutary character. History allows us to rediscover the essence of the messages intrinsic to current practices, in particular those of winegrowers in tune with nature and oenophiles. Activism is based on convictions, and only those who find justification for their attacks are good detractors. So I’ll leave the floor to Steiner – George, this time – to give a final word that reflects both my convictions and the vital (and bookish) impetus that enables me to convey a few historic messages to the International Wine Academy on this Friday, December 5, 2014.
“Like jealous ivy covering a living trunk, glosses strive to conceal the irreducible scandal of love for what gives meaning and the need for autonomous intelligence that is the poem, the painting or the melody”…
… It is a privilege, or rather, a sensation of essential rendezvous, that I feel in submitting to the French reader this reflection born of an insatiable thirst.”
George Steiner, Réelles présences. The arts of meaning[5]
Bibliography
Sources
Aristotle, Physics, trans. Pierre Pellegrin, Paris, GM Flammarion, 2002.
Albert the Great, Physica, edited by P. Hossfeld. Aschendorff, 1987.
__. De vegetabilibus, edited by Ernst Meyer and Carl Jessen, Berlin, Georg Reimer, 1867.
Chansons satiriques et bachiques du XIIIe siècle, edited by A. Jeanroy and A. Långfors, Paris, Champion (Les classiques français du Moyen Âge), 1921
Henri d’Andeli, Œuvres de Henri d’Andeli, trouvère normand du XIIIe siècle, edited by A. Héron, Rouen, Imprimerie de Espérance Cagniard, 1880.
Hildegarde de Bingen, Physica (text of Cod. Laur. Ashb. 1323, v. 1300 published with the Patrologie Latina (Migne), edited by Irmgard Müller and Christian Schulze, Hildesheim-Zürich-New York, Olms-Weidmann, 2008.
Hildegarde de Bingen, Louanges, edited by Laurence Moulinier, Orphée, La Différence, 1991.
Liber de vindemiis. Ms. Paris, BnF, lat. 7131, fol. 100vb-101vb.
Ms. Bibl. Laurenziana, Codice Ashburnhamiano 1011, edited by Francesco Buonamici, Liber de vindemiis a Domino Burgundione Pisano de Graeco in Latinum fideliter translatus, in Annali delle Università Toscane 28 (1908), memoria 3, 1-29.
Nicolas de Damas, De Plantis Five Translations, edited by H.J. Drossaart Lulofs and E.L.J. Poortman, Amsterdam-Oxford-New York, North-Holland Publishing Company, 1989.
Steiner Rudolf, Le cours aux agriculteurs, Eight lectures, one address, four answers to questions, given at Koberwitz near Breslau from June 7 to 16, 1924 and one lecture at Dornach, June 20, 1924, a notebook of drawings made on the blackboard, translated from German by Isle Démarest-Oelschläger, Motesson, Editions Novalis, 2013.
__. Agriculture, Fondements spirituels de la méthode bio-dynamique, Geneva, EAR, 1999.
__. Les guides spirituels de l’homme et de l’humanité, text revised by R. Steiner from lectures he gave in Copenhagen in June 1911, translated by Christian Lazaridès, Editions Anthroposophiques Romandes, 1984.
__. Mystics of the Renaissance and Their Relatoin to Modern Thought, New York-London, Putnam’s Sons, 1911.
__. Le Sens de la vie, Laboissière en Thelle, Editions Triades, 2006.
__. The States of Higher Knowledge. Imagination, Inspiration, Intuition. Great Barrington: SteinerBooks, revised edition, 2009.
Theophrastus, De causis plantarum, Books I-II, edited and translated by Benedict Einarson and George K. K. Link, London-Cambridge: William Heinemann Ltd-Harvard University Press, 1976, The Loeb Classical Library, no. 471; Books III-IV, edited and translated by Benedict Einarson and George K.K. Link. Cambridge-London, Harvard University Press, 1990, LCL 474.
__. Recherches sur les plantes, Paris, Les Belles Lettres, 1988.
__. Enquiries on plants, edited and translated by Arthur Horts, London-Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1916; 1926, LCL 70; 79.
Secondary literature
Aujac Germaine, Claude Ptolémée, astronome, astrologer, geographer, Paris, Editions du CTHS, 1993.
Besson Yvan, Les fondateurs de l’agriculture biologique, Paris, Sang de la Terre, 2011.
Bourguignon Claude et Lydia, Le sol, la terre et les champs : pour retrouver une agriculture saine, Paris, Sang de la Terre, (Les dossiers de l’écologie), 2008 and 2010.
Burnett Charles, “Lunar Astrology. The Varieties of Texts Using Lunar Mansions, with Emphasis on Jafar Indus”, in Il sole e la luna, edited by Nathalie Blancardi, et al, Micrologus 12, Florence, SISMEL, Ed. del Galluzzo, 2004, pp. 43-133.
Gaulin Jean-Louis, “Sur le vin au Moyen Âge. Pietro de’Crescenzi lecteur et utilisateur des Géoponiques traduites par Burgundio de Pise”, Mélanges de l’Ecole française de Rome. Moyen Âge-Temps Modernes, (1984), pp. 95-127.
Grant Edward, “Aristotelianism and the Longevity of the Medieval World View”, History of Science 16 (1978): 93-106.
__. Science and Religion, 400 B.C. to A.D. 1550: From Aristotle to Copernicus, Westport (Conn.), Greenwood Press, 2004.
Grossel Marie-Geneviève, “L’écriture poétique dans les Louanges”, in Autour de Hildegarde de Bingen. Actes du colloque du Centre d’Etudes Médiévales de l’Université de Picardie-Jules Verne, Saint-Riquier, December 5-8, 1998, edited by Danielle Buschinger, Amieux, Presses du ” Centre d’Etudes Médiévales ” Université de Picardie -Jules Verne, 2000, pp. 63-75.
Lavalle M. J., Histoire et statistique de la vigne et des grands vins de la Côte-d’Or, 1855, republished in 1972, Nuits-Saint-George, Fondation Geiswiler.
Libera Alain (de), La philosophie médiévale, Paris, PUF, 1993.
McVaugh Michael, “The Translation of Greek and Arabic Science into Latin,” in Sourcebook in Medieval Science, ed. Edward Grant, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1974.
Philosophical Issues in Aristotle’s Biology, edited by A. Gotthelf and J. G. Lennox, Cambridge-New York, Cambridge University Press, 1987.
Tucker William J., Ptolemy’s Astrology. Commentary on Ptolemy’s Tetrabiblos, translated from English by Janine Reigner, Paris, Payot, 1981.
Weill-Parot Nicolas, “Magie solaire et magie lunaire: le soleil et la lune dans la magie astrale (XIIe-XVe siècle)”, in Il sole e la luna, edited by Nathalie Blancardi, et al, Micrologus 12, Florence, SISMEL, Ed. del Galluzzo, 2004, pp. 165-184.
Weisheipl J. A. (ed.), Albertus Magnus and the Sciences, Toronto, Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1980.
[1] Translated from the German by Isle Démarest-Oelschläger, Motesson, Editions Novalis, 2013.
[2] See, in particular, Steiner, Le Sens de la vie, Laboissière en Thelle, Editions Triades, 2006, pp. 24 ; 28 ; 34 ; 44
[3] Democritus of Abdera, Fragments, trans. Jean Voilquin in Penseurs grecs avant Socrate, de Thalès de Milet à Prodicos, Paris, GF-Flammarion #31, 1964, p.. 170.
[4] See Steiner’s foreword in Mystics of the Renaissance and Their Relation to Modern Thought, New-York and London: G. P. Putnam’s sons, 1911.
[5] (original title: Real presence. Is there anything in what we say? 1989, London, Faber and Faber), Paris, Gallimard, 1991, “Avant-propos à l’édition française”, p. 16.
Summary
These days, biodynamic enthusiasts remind us to be humble. We’re all just small links in the chain of life, and it’s important to understand how to cause the least damage to the earth – and to the humans who eat its fruits.
History allows us to rediscover the essence of the messages intrinsic to current practices, in particular those of winegrowers who listen to nature and oenophiles. Activism is based on convictions, and the only good detractor is the one who finds justification for his attacks.
Revolutions are often no more than returns to tradition. Rudolph Steiner’s revolution is no exception, and the growing interest in respecting nature through reason prompts us to better understand the origins of his thinking. Numerous ancient and medieval sources provide us with an anchor for the paths taken by natural philosophy, leading up to what we too often hear described as the “organic revolution”. Indeed, the ancients were already intimately attuned to Nature’s laws, aware that they were but microcosms in her image. Their task was to preserve it and pass on its fruits to the best of their abilities.
In the absence of scientific proof, historical depth enables us to renew the study of tradition at a time when we are reacting against a devastating modernity. While it is not the historian’s role to give advice on the present, let alone the future, it is his duty to provide his contemporaries with data that will enable him to move forward, and at least be of his time, failing which he will be able to transform himself into a Sybil – even if the “Sybil of the North”, Hildegard of Bingen, will guide us here and there, in concert with some of the greatest scholars of the Middle Ages.