Education implies LEARNING. This encompasses KNOWLEDGE which may lead to WISDOM, depending on how this knoweldge is applied/actioned.

Every country has differing education systems. Most have a government controlled department but, there are ever- increasing private educational curricula being offered,  When initiated, these  need to have government approval and are annually accountable to government scrutiny.

One such system that has gained world-wide recognition is the Steiner/Waldorf Education Movement.

A bit about Rudolph Steiner: born  1861; died, 1925. He was an Austrian, social reformer, architect, esotericist. He gained initial recognition at the end of the 19th century as a literary critic and published works including The Philosophy of Freedom.  He was born in what is now Croatia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He died in Switzerland.

To learn more about Rudolf Steiner’s educational philosophy visit this link.

Traditionally, we have been told that we have 5 senses, taste, smell, touch, hearing, and sight with a sixth, intuition being recognized by many.

However, according to Rudolf Steiner, there are twelve senses and, it’s important to develop and use as many of these senses as possible because each sense reveals another aspect of our sensory reality.

This sensual reality which we can term sensory perception also forms the basis of our relationship with ourselves, our surroundings, and the people around us.

With practice, we find ourselves observing more and more, as the different senses complement each other.

Steiner’s twelve senses can be grouped into three categories. He distinguished senses which relate to the perception of:

  • our body: the senses of touch, of life, of movement, of balance
  • the external world: smell, taste, sight, temperature
  • the non-material, spiritual world:  thought, ego, beliefs, parahuman attributes
Will, feeling, thought
  • The first four senses, the lowest, are called physical senses, or senses of the will because they are largely used to perceive one’s own body.
  • The middle four senses are the senses of feeling. Observations made with these senses arouse feelings within. These senses are also reflected in our language.
  • The last four senses, the highest, the meta-senses, focus particularly on the metaphysical. These are the spiritual or knowledge senses, and are used in the observation of other people as well as our metahumanness.

(Above image courtesy of Pinterest)