Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
As we can gather from a letter (1920) it was his inmost desire to become a
pupil of Rudolf Steiner (see; Seiß, W., Untersuchungen zu Rudolf Steiners
Schulungswerk sowie den Erkenntnisquellen Valentin Tombergs [1].
Schönach 2001; p 7). In a letter of 1924 (ibid, p. 12) he asks to be admitted to
the 1st class of the School of Spiritual Science. These letters were never
answered. It has not been determined whether they ever reached Rudolf
Steiner, for whom they were intended.
From 1930 he writes more than 30 essays for the anthroposophical journals;
„Anthroposophie – Wochenschrift für Freies Geistesleben [2].“ (1930, 1931),
„Das Goetheanum – Internationale Wochenschrift für Anthroposophie und
Dreigliederung [3]“ (1930), „Anthroposophie – Monatsschrift für Freies
Geistesleben [4]“ (1931), "Korrespondenz der Anthroposophischen
Arbeitsgemeinschaften [5]“ (1935), Anthroposophische Arbeitsberichte [6]
(1938), edited by Dr. Kurt Piper, Emil Leinhas, Dr. Hans Buchenbacher, C. S.
Picht, Dr. Hans Erhard Lauer and Albert Steffen. (The essays are gathered in
the volume: Tomberg, V., Aufsätze 1930-1938 [7] , Schönach, 3. Edition
2002). In these essays a momentous spectrum of spiritual scientific themes
are unfolded: The Gospel of St. John, The Spirituality of Russia and the east,
Anti-Christianity, Etheric vision, The metamorphosis of thinking, The
Finnish people, The Chinese people, The Mongol people etc.
From 1931 Tomberg gives lectures in Tallin about the Old Testament.
Because of their esoteric depth these lectures become the cause of
traducements against Tomberg in Dornach as well as the starting point of an
ongoing strife concerning him. Tragically these incidents determined the
comprehensive marginalization of Tomberg which continues to this day
within anthroposophic circles. The lectures were written down by Tomberg
and from November 1933 they are sent in 12 consignments to subscribers
every few months, the last consignment being sent in 1935. They were
followed from 1936 by the 12 Considerations on the New Testament as well as
3 further considerations on the Apocalypse. 12 considerations on the
Apocalypse had been intended, but Tomberg stalls the consignments.
Records or notations for further studies on the Apocalypse have to this day
not been found.
During this time talks are held with Emil Bock, then head (“Erzoberlenker”)
of the Christian Community, concerning a possible cooperation within
this movement. However, also here no space is found for Tombergs
contribution.
In 1948 Tomberg, with his wife Maria and his son Alex, moves to Caversham,
near Reading, in England. Here Tomberg is given a new opportunity to earn
a livelihood through his employment at the BBC. He is given charge of the
recordings of the broadcasts of the Soviet broadcasting service. In the
evenings he spends his time studying at the British library in Reading.
In his later years Tomberg applies himself to the writing of essays which later
appear in a fashion strongly modified by Prof. Martin Kriele in Herder Verlag
under the title “Lazarus komm heraus” (“Lazarus, come forth [14]”)
published by Robert Spaemann. Also in this work Tomberg connects spiritual
teachings with the contents of the Christian faith, in this way again offering
the Church a means of self-knowledge and a way towards an inner deepening
of its teachings. The last lines of the essay “Thy Kingdom Come” from this
book contain words that sound like a legacy to the future:
… “These historians (of the future) will for instance write about the
“condition of the desert” in which mankind is placed in front of the three
temptations; that of power (the power over “all the kingdoms of the world
and their splendour”), that of materialism (“turning stones into bread”), and
the experimental method (the “fall from the pinnacle of the temple”). And
they will recognize and describe great ideological and socio-political
movements and streams as well as epoch-making discoveries and phases of
science as nothing but aspects of these three temptations; indeed they will
even describe these as essential experiences on the path toward
purification.
Then they will pursue the insights mankind has won from overcoming these
temptations and describe the manifold forms of enlightenment that arises
from the winning of these insights. They will do this in order to present the
path towards enlightenment of mankind.
And lastly these chroniclers of human spiritual history will tell of single
human beings and communities of human beings who have led the way
towards consummation; i.e. whose abilities and capacities gave witness to the
fact that the kingdom of humankind is able to merge and unite with the
kingdom of god.”
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