Born Free Method: The Podcast Edmund Knighton, PhD (Part 2) - Transcending Contemporary Views on Autism: Parenting, Perception, and the Future of Human Development
Edmund Knighton, Ph.D., is a seasoned educator, clinical psychologist, and somatic movement practitioner whose multidisciplinary career spans more than three decades. He has engaged through various capacities with Waldorf education for over 35 years, once even serving as the president of Rudolf Steiner College. Drawing on the teachings of Rudolf Steiner, the channeled material of “Ra” from the The Law of One, and somatic/transpersonal psychology, Edmund offers consulting for individuals, organizations, and families (including my own) committed to holistic growth.
Disclaimer: Edmund is the father of a 14-year old, Liam, who was born with “autism” and trisomy 21 (Down syndrome).
You won’t find Edmund on social media, but you can reach out to him by email: Fifthwanderer@gmail.com if you ‘d like to have his support in your home.
In Part 1 of this series with Edmund, we discussed some of the basics around Steiner’s philosophy, the Waldorf pedagogy, a 3- and 4-fold approach to human wellbeing, and we started our venture into autism.
In Part 2, we dive deeper into the challenges of “autism” but also offer an invitation to broaden our understanding and appreciation of neurodivergence. If there is a path to perfection, do the extrasensory gifts of some “autistic” children suggest that this poorly understood condition may reflect that they are closer to perfection than neurotypical people? Naturally, we also cover vaccines and there is some health push back on the notion that our physical body is “merely a meatsuit”.
00:09:00 - There’s no such thing as autism…there are only human beings with infinite possibilities and unique destinies. “Austism” is a label, and labeling children often limits our capacities to support them. If we think we know who our child is, then we shut down the doors of perception. Salutogenesis.
00:16:45 - We are in the consciousness-soul epoch (“age of auto-ism”) in which a main attribute is antipathy between individuals. We must become able to live with uncertainty. Steiner teaches that there are twelve senses not five. Edmund’s son is telepathic. Do nonverbal kids have the advantage of being able to listen with their hearts? Autism forces us to consider how we might operate at a thought mantra level
00:30:30 - The gift of free will and conscious direction of our consciousness. Are neurodivergent human beings more “evolved” than neurotypical individuals? What does “perfection” mean from the standpoint of esoteric science? Perhaps autistic children are closer to perfection than their neurotypical peers…
00:41:50 - A more nuanced, spiritual take on vaccines and the human being (a complex conversation distilled to a thimble). Every thought, every relationship that we have with every material used to produce and action imparted to inject a vaccine has a powerful effect on a vaccine. The same line of thinking can be applied to assisted reproductive technology, which is a focus of perinatal psychology.
00:52:50 - If vaccines alone cause this condition we call “autism”, and if autism is indeed a “disability”, then why shouldn’t we be seeking to make everybody autistic through vaccines?
01:02:20 - Our physical body is the most spiritual gift that we have, which is why it’s critical to be discerning of what enters your body. Division within the MAHA movement. The illusory condition of time permits the capacity for mastery. 7 is a sacred number (7 chakras, 7 life processes…but 7 days in a week?) Because the heart has a rhythm (not a beat), it helps you perceive the quality of time rather than the quantity of time. Dewey Larson’s qualitative physics of time-space. Advice for sustaining humanity through cohesion versus separation (every moment contains love).
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References from the conversation:
* Feeling into music versus listening to the words. Practice with these two songs (unless you speak Hebrew):
* Ana Bekoach, performed by Yossi Azulay
* Hashkiveinu, performed by Magda Fishman
* The Calendar of the Soul (Pusch translation), by Rudolf Steiner
* Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
* Martin Seligman’s work related to positive psychology
* Our Twelve Senses: How Healthy Senses Refresh the Soul, by Albert Soesman
* Faust, a 2-part tragic play, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
* The Rosenthal Effect (aka the Pygmalion Effect)
Related episodes:
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