--| Soul's Awakening - Machines & Art |----- Manager: So much is happening that makes it clear how our production slackens more and more and how we're failing in our obligations. Too many are complaining that our products are growing worse in quality and so the other firms are starting to outdo us. Our well-known punctuality is lacking, as many customers have rightly claimed. Soon all the best friends that the firm has made will find themselves no longer satisfied. Hilary: The one who wishes to create the new must calmly watch the old things pass away. I will no longer carry on the work as up to now it has been organised. It seems to me degrading when a business-- is profit-making in the narrowest range-- and throws the workers' output thoughtlessly upon the general market of the world, quite unconcerned with what becomes of it. I've gained this view since I have realised how human wor can take noble form, if human spirit puts its stamp upon it. Thomasius, the artist, shall direct the workshops that I build for him nearby. The products made by our machines will first be formed with art by his creative spirit and so supply for daily human needs things useful that are truly beautiful. Thus craftsmanship will be combined with art and bring good taste to ordinary life. So I would add to what I see today, as corpselike body in our work, the soul that can alone bestow on it true meaning. (*The Souls Awakening*, by Rudolf Steiner, pp. 30-32, 1922) --

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this page last updated: march 1, 2000