During the sixth phase of seven years ( 1934 to 1941) Ehrenfried Pfeiffer’s work expanded further. Besides his laboratory research and lecturing at the Goetheanum, he was involved in the biodynamic developments in Switzerland, Germany and Holland. He considered it his task to establish scientific foundations for this work and found that this requirement also applied to Anthroposophical medicine.
Only a few Anthroposophical doctors showed an interest in the more spiritual evaluation of the crystallization of the blood. In 1938, Pfeiffer was invited to go to Hahnemann Medical College in Philadelphia to do crystallization tests on cancer patients. In appreciation of his work, he was awarded an honorary doctor’s degree in medicine by Philadelphia University. Alarik Myrin, an oil industrialist, wished to set up a biodynamic model farm on his Kimberton land holdings outside of Philadelphia, as well as a research lab and a school of agriculture. Pfeiffer was offered free range in his scientific work as well as generous financial support. He signed the contract and moved to Kimberton with his wife and children toward the end of 1940.
Soon, however, the promises of quiet work and of guaranteed support turned out to be false; differences of opinion occurred with Mr. Myrin and abruptly Pfeiffer’s activities came to an end. He had to leave his place of work and suddenly found himself penniless in the street with a wife and two children; this at a time when World War II broke out and people were already upset.
Pfieffer was very modest in his personal life with material gains. When it came to research, however, he was very demanding. All means available were to serve his task. He gave everything for his work and demanded full commitment from others as well. As a human being, Ehrenfried was a pioneer who strove ahead with all his energy. New ideas and possibilities were always calling him. He shared them generously and left them to others to carry further. In his thirst for freedom, he collided head on with obstacles that appeared in his way. In striving for new approaches, he inadvertently questioned useful traditional practices and hurt other people deeply. He was aware of this quality and consciously tried to work on it.
Soon a new situation developed: Peter Escher lent him twenty thousand dollars, and he bought the small Meadowbrook Farm in Chester, near New York City, to work it biodynamically. Before long, however, his strength was exhausted. He had diabetes and open tuberculosis of the lungs at the same time and was forced to leave the farm where milk was being made, because of the contagious nature of the disease. His wife Adelheid did all the work with another man and raised the two children, while Ehrenfried spent two years at the Pomona TB hospital in New York. He was often close to death and during this time had his first Christ experience. However, he also clung to life, for he had not yet fulfilled his task on earth.
While resting in bed, he sought out larger relationships between phenomena, studied world history, spirit history and cosmic history, and related them to each other. With the help of his loyal coworker Erika Sabarth, he set up an interim lab in 1948 in a garage. This was followed three years later by the permanent laboratory established on the lower floor of the Threefold Farm Auditorium in Spring Valley, which offered somewhat improved working conditions. The main tasks here consisted in chemical and microbiological substantiation of the effects that biodynamic preparations had, as well as crystallizations. Soon he added soil analysis and compost and humus tests. His struggle for financial survival continued throughout the following years and used up the better part of his life forces.
The bacteriological knowledge he had acquired allowed him to develop a compost starter - based on microorganisms and the biodynamic preparations - which could accelerate and improve the composting process. On December 12, 1950, he described the beginnings of these initiatives. “I find myself drawn into a vortex of work which takes up all my time and energy. Due to my last publication on composting, I now face a tremendous number of trips as well as the obligation to answer more than a thousand letters, which is far beyond my capacities.”
Besides his ordinary teaching, consulting work and research activities, Pfeiffer gave many spirit scientific lectures over the years. He was able to put across ideas of spirit science that he had filled with his personal experiences. He dealt with the mysteries and cultural streams since the time of Atlantis and described the work of the Rishis, of Manes, of Scythians and Zarathustra. He included the spiritual guidance of humanity, right up to the modern Michaelic impulses. He also introduced his students to a basic understanding of natural sciences, agriculture and medicine.
He also dealt with the practical questions of the sub natural and supersensible, including the physiology of plants and human beings, as well as the prerequisites for balanced agriculture and healthy food. He was constantly involved in spreading spirit seeds. “We must never stand still but move forward!”
All this work constantly required sacrifices. As a pupil he gave up the music he loved. As a student he prepared the biodynamic preparations without being able to participate in the Agriculture Course. As the co-owner of a flourishing Dutch farm, he lived nonetheless without financial means in the States and took on the recycling of garbage. The one who used to work with others in the spirit of co-operation at the Goetheanum went to the states to represent the spirit forces in a lonely position.
At the center of his active, colorful life were his regular inner efforts, which gave him strength and radiated through everything else he did. In the early morning hours after four as well as late at night he practiced meditation for decades. It became ever more filled with meaning. Pfeiffer described three areas as his life tasks: the agricultural impulse and an understanding of substances; the study of etheric forces and a scientific substantiation of the crystallization method; and as his central quest, the Michaelic impulse and Christian qualities as represented by John the Baptist.
