Robert Maria Walter (born 7 November 1908 in Lvov, died 19 November 1981 in Komorow near Warsaw) was a Polish anthroposophist, astrologer, homeopath and initiate.
Parents
His paternal grandfather was a judge, and at the same time musician and composer, author of regular musical reviews. His father also a judge, but in his spare time a passionate musician who regularly corresponded with a number of leading contemporary musicians and was an adherent of Arthur Schopenhauer's philosophy. In contrast to his father who represented clear, rational thinking, Walter's mother was interested in esotericism and frequented esoteric groups and lectures.
Childhood and youth
As a child Walter was described as quiet and obedient: very much in contrast to his older brother who had an explosive temperament and a tendency to get involved in fights. At the age of two Robert contracted polio, became paralysed for a time, and his legs remained weak for the rest of his life. Yet, significantly, he did not despair over this disability, but, on the contrary, was later eager to take part in mountain trekking. At the age of 9 he started to play the violin, later he also learnt to play the piano.
At school he initially did not excel and was rather a challenge to his teachers. Yet already as a child he was perceived by his surrounding as an unusual personality: unusually serious, capable of deep reflection, somebody who showed great promise. His peers tended to regard him as a great authority. His mother wrote in a letter to her then eleven-year-old son: "I miss your quiet, wise presence". Already at an early age he showed lively interest for all kinds of esoteric knowledge (often inspired by the books he obtained from his mother) and astrology. He founded his own astrological study group at the age of 16. He remained faithful to this interest until the end of his life. Robert Walter's lukewarm attitude to his studies changed when he was sent to the first Waldorf School in Stuttgart in 1927. He stayed there for only one year, but during that time caught fire for learning, especially mathematics, yet he also retained his love for music, composed a sonata for piano and violin and reflected on the Christian dimension of music.
Walter achieved certain renown among his peers through his ability to repair watches and alarm clocks. He also exhibited a deep passion for books and learning. He described himself as "philobiblion" (lover of books) and always had a feeling that his knowledge on any given subject was not sufficient. Yet perhaps his most astonishing quality at the time was his deep and serious interest in the path of spiritual development. He studied avidly the central book of Rudolf Steiner on the subject ("Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and Its Attainment") as well as the relevant chapters of Steiner's "Occult Science" and described in a letter to his father with what intensity he worked on these indications. He claimed that he did not have any particular talent for clairvoyance and maintained that achieving initiation is in principle not more demanding than obtaining a PhD in any given subject. His school report at the end of the school year 1928 was generally very good and in mathematics and physics he came at the top of his class. His mathematics and physics teacher was Dr Walter Johannes Stein, one of the most prominent pupils of Rudolf Steiner. After his return to Poland young Robert Walter corresponded with Stein, who was 17 years his senior, for a number of years.
Business ventures
Robert Walter was hoping to enrol at a university in Germany and to study natural sciences, mathematics, astronomy, or possibly medicine, yet the precarious financial situation of his parents crossed these plans and he had to return to Poland. He wanted to help his parents financially and so he turned to experiments in and production of cosmetics. His perfume creations were so successful that they were traded with a fictitious cover story that the recipes were obtained from famous French firms. Finally, a cosmetics firm under the name "Orient" was founded in his name in Poznan, and later transferred to Warsaw. All that time Robert Walter was hoping that his business ventures would enable him to study abroad, the hopes that proved to be futile. It is important in this context to stress that despite his esoteric interests Robert Walter was unusually "down to earth": extremely precise, punctual and reliable, with a very keen practical and business sense, qualities which represented the opposite of the qualities of his parents. Despite deep character differences he maintained very good relationships with his parents, particularly with his mother, to whom he always had a warm, heartfelt devotion. In 1932 Walter finally abandoned his university ambitions even in Poland. Instead, he was dragged into joint activities with his mother and became co-owner and director (and above all the product designer) of the cosmetics factory "Deva" in Warsaw, which could be regarded as a continuation of "Orient". However, this venture was not limited to reproductions of Eastern cosmetics and sold also its own creations. Over the next two years, "Deva" managed by Walter's able hand began to thrive, thanks to which he became very wealthy, yet used his wealth not to lead a luxurious lifestyle, but to expand his library (he would even purchase 16th century manuscripts) which, though housed in his private flat, was entirely open to the public.
Walter's increased wealth also led to the expansion of the circle of his acquaintances, yet despite the pressure of time required to run the company and to fulfil sporadic social duties, he continued to study the fields of knowledge he was interested in, that is not only anthroposophy and astrology, but also the broadly understood history of culture. Significantly, though he described himself as a "loner" he consciously strove to maintain good, conflict-free relationships with people of very divergent outlooks and persuasions. Moreover, he would also support financially – initially quoting the source, later also anonymously – many poor people, restricting his private expenditure to the necessary minimum. His wealth and personal charm attracted many beautiful women, yet he never entered into any romantic relationship for as he revealed much later already as a child he felt "married to God". Parallel to his business and social duties Robert Walter got involved on the one hand in some esoteric work within the circles of Polish masonry, and on the other, and despite the utter failure of his academic ambitions, in scientific astronomical work in collaboration with leading Polish astronomers. In particular he worked out formulas for calculating the positions of Uranus and Pluto in the period between 3000 BC until 4000 AD. These formulas are used even today.
WWII
During the German occupation, when all cultural life in Poland came to a standstill, Robert Walter managed to continue his scientific work and at the same time to deepen his esoteric life. He would carry out his meditation exercises even under most adverse circumstances. During the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 a bomb hit the building in which he lived. As it happened, Walter was immersed in meditation at that moment and almost miraculously survived unscathed: the sofa, on which he lay ended up on top of a pile of rubble. It was also around the time of the Uprising that Walter committed his, as he described it, biggest esoteric mistake. He recounted later that one day in a state of clairvoyant consciousness he met a person who had earlier died in a concentration camp, but for various reasons was not aware of that fact and regarded himself as still alive. That person complained to Robert Walter (whom he "saw") that his (dead person's) friends did not seem to notice him and did not react to his approaches. To that Walter responded by saying: "But you are dead!", which produced a state of shock in that person.
On an exoteric level Walter as well as his whole family were active in attempts at saving the Polish Jews from the occupiers. Walter's older brother, Ryszard, was also involved in the activities of the Polish underground. He was caught by the Germans and tortured, but survived the war.
Post war: activity as an expert, university course, cultural centre
What also survived the war, and moreover practically unscathed, was Walter's library and the supplies of his firm's raw materials. Walter moved with his belongings to a villa of his friends in Komorow in the vicinity of Warsaw, sold the astronomical part of his library for, as he said, he had studied astronomy and higher mathematics only to find out how difficult modern science was, set up a laboratory in the villa and embarked on a new existence producing expertises for perfume, foodstuffs and soap industries. He withdrew from his former firm for, as he said, the industrial activities were too time-consuming and he wanted to devote all his energies to scientific work. However, he had to earn enough to support not only himself but also his parents who became jobless after the war.
In 1946, at the age of almost 40, Walter enrolled at the University of Warsaw yet was not very impressed by the quality of teaching and the academic abilities of his fellow students. Nonetheless, the villa in Komorow became a centre of flourishing intellectual life. Every Sunday dozens of people – older or younger – came to it to make use of Walter's library or to seek his advice in the matters of spiritual or simply intellectual life. One of these visitors was Nina Andrycz, one of the leading Polish actresses of the time and the wife of Jozef Cyrankiewicz, then Prime Minister of Poland. Andrycz wrote in her diary that she had become Walter's pupil (she was born in 1912, about 39 at the time). Interestingly he encouraged her to read Lao Tse, not Rudolf Steiner. Incidentally, Walter learned Chinese to be able to study Lao Tse in the original, for he did not trust the translations. Cyrankiewicz himself would also seek Walter's advice e.g. concerning his marriage. While Andrycz or Cyrankiewicz or both were at Walter's, dark cars of the state security attachment would be stationed outside the villa. Cyrankiewicz's visits also brought out an interesting aspect of Walter's personality to the fore. Walter never drank alcohol for he did not like it, yet during these meetings he was forced to drink vodka because a meeting with Cyrankiewicz and without alcohol was not at all conceivable. Hence, with his "weak head" and lacking experience he had to practice drinking. He treated this as a form of mortification: an exercise in overcoming his own reluctance.
Walter's handwriting was significantly changed after the war: it became smaller, finer, in a way humbler. This fact seems to indicate that during the war Walter was intensively working on will exercises as described by Rudolf Steiner e.g. in his "Occult Science", exercises necessary to achieve the highest stage of supersensible cognition referred to in Steiner's system as "Intuition".
Decision and its aftermath