The Familiar Promise of Health and Happiness in a Bottle
But while this surge of half-mystic, half- homespun enlightened grooming products may seem new, their purported promise is not. Collectively, they signal a return to the ideas of no one so much as Rudolf Steiner, an esoteric Austrian educator and social reformer . In addition to founding the Waldorf education system , which prioritizes a child’s imagination and individuality above all else, he was also responsible, in the 1920s, for the development of biodynamic farming, an agricultural philosophy that involves planting according to the zodiac, and (for example) fermenting the dung of a lactating cow inside a buried horn and then spraying the mixture on crops during a descending moon. At the heart of Steiner’s take on education and farming is anthroposophy, a philosophy he invented that fuses science with spirituality, promoting the idea that every organic thing has a life force . . . including the chamomile flowers that infuse your favorite facial mist . Continue reading the main...