Anthroposophy and Ecofascism 51

Continuing my commentary on the 14th paragraph of Peter Staudenmaier's Anthroposophy and Ecofascism.

So although Rudolf Steiner did employ the term 'Root Race' as a technical designation for periods of time well know to Theosophical audiences in a few of his earlier works, Steiner did not share the Theosophical understanding of the meaning of the term, and specifically rejected it in favor of a more appropriate term.

Why did Blavatsky name the current Root Race “Aryan”? The word "Aryan" was originally a linguistic term for all languages in the Indo-European family. (For a concise overview, see: Mosse, George. Toward the Final Solution: A History of European Racism. New York: Howard Fertig, 1978, especially pages 39-40.) It has nothing to do with racial characteristics. The term was borrowed by racists in the 19th Century, and by the end of the Nazi era had completely lost its original linguistic meaning, such that even linguists no longer use it. By 1906 Steiner had renamed the Theosophical "Aryan" epoch (which is described as lasting 15,120 years and starting about 10,000 years ago) the "Post-Atlantean," as he noticed that the word "Aryan" bore less and less its original meaning. Only in older documents (such as Cosmic Memory, from 1904) will you find that term “Aryan” used, and it is good to keep the historical context and the changing meaning of linguistic terms in mind. I think it is historically ignorant to call all 19th Century linguists who used the term racist; and likewise its use in most early Theosophical literature was not intended racially.