New refugees are arriving in Germany

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1 General Anthroposophical Society Anthroposophy Worldwide 10/15 Anthroposophy in the World October 2015 No. 10 Anthroposophy in the World 1 Worldwide: Aid for Refugees 6 Malaysia: First Kolisko Conference 7 Israel: Mystery Dramas I 8 Japan: Mystery Dramas II 10 Sweden: Mystery Dramas III 14 Germany: Communication Conference School for Spiritual Science 2 Section for Social Sciences: Co-leader Gerald Häfner 12 Literary Arts & Humanities Section Cultural Conference on Egypt Goetheanum 2 Goetheanum Leadership: Fall Retreat I and II 4 Extended Goetheanum Leadership: Retreat to Prepare the 2016 Michaelmas Conference Anthroposophical Society 11 The Theme for the Year: Article by Dick Tibbling and Mats-Ola Ohlsson 15 Mary Isabel Schiller 15 Helene de Villiers 15 Members Who Have Died Forum 14 What became of the study on the scientific quality of Rudolf Steiner s spiritual science? the farm education initiative? Feature 16 Preconceptions: Enormous Potential Worldwide: Aid for Refugees Many Requests Refugees are seeking asylum in Europe. There is a psychosocial element accompanying placement and care. This has also been noted by the emergency education group of the Freunde der Erziehungskunst Rudolf Steiners. It has been asked by Waldorf schools and other anthroposophical institutions to provide help and seminars. New refugees are arriving in Germany (for instance) every day, especially from Syria and Iraq. Many have had terrible experiences in their homelands and as they fled. A study done by doctors at the Munich Technical University presupposes that about a quarter of the refugee children are already suffering from post-traumatic stress. Emergency education from the Freunde der Erziehungskunst [Friends of the Art of Education] is helping these children. Refugee Classes In Karlsruhe (Germany) refugee minor children unaccompanied by their families have been given assistance through emergency education since Fall, There is also a cooperative effort with the Parzival School Center which has opened several refugee classes. In these classes, refugees are offered psychosocial help in the form of emergency education approaches like painting therapy and experiential pedagogy. This assistance is being extended to other German cities. A two-day course on Flight Trauma School will be offered in Karlsruhe on October 31 and November 1 in order to give aides and teachers the tools the need for dealing with the traumatized children. A local team from Freunde is also active in two refugee camps in Iraq. There are daily emergency education offerings for school children in cooperation with UNICEF. At the end of September a team of pedagogical and therapeutic experts will return to Iraq to support the local team with training and in their direct work with the children. Work with refugees at the Parzival School Center Local Help The Freunde der Erziehungskunst is also active in the transit countries through which the refugees route passes. In concrete terms, the deployment of a German team to Greece is being planned, along with further projects carried out in cooperation with local Waldorf initiatives. As this goes to press there will be deployments to Lesbos (Greece) on October 16 30, to Budapest (Hungry) on November 1 8, and on a continuous basis to Hamburg, Karlsruhe, and Munich. Clara Krug, Freunde der Erziehungskunst Rudolf Steiners (Germany) Contact/Gifts: Freunde der Erziehungskunst Rudolf Steiners, Neisser Str. 10, DE Karlsruhe, Germany Tel , notfallpaedagogik@freunde-waldorf.de Photo: Freunde der Erziehungskunst Rudolf Steiners

2 2 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 10/15 School for Spiritual Science Section for Social Sciences Co-Leader Gerald Häfner I am pleased to announced that Gerald Häfner will be sharing the leadership of the Section for Social Sciences with me beginning on October 1. Er has studied Germanistics, Waldorf education, social sciences and philosophy, and has been intensively engaged in social issues. He was a cofounder of the Green Party and its chair for the state of Bavaria. Between 1987 and 2002 he was frequently a member of the German parliament, and from 2009 to 2014 he was a member of the European parliament. Above all, Gerald Häfner has successfully founded many initiatives and organizations for civil society; among these are More Democracy and Democracy International. He is also known as an expert on the constitution and democracy, and as a speaker on current themes concerning anthroposophy and three-folding. He served on the Council of the Anthroposophical Society in Germany from 2002 to Paul Mackay, Section for Social Sciences Anthroposophy Worldwide appears ten times a year, is distributed by the national Anthroposophical Societies, and appears as a supplement to the weekly Das Goetheanum. Publisher: General Anthroposophical Society, represented by Justus Wittich. Editorial staff: Sebastian Jüngel (responsible for the German edition); Dr. Douglas Miller (for the English edition); Michael Kranawetvogl (for the Spanish edition); Louis Defèche (for the French edition); Wolfgang Held, Philipp Tok. We seek your active support and collaboration. Contact: Wochenschrift Das Goetheanum, Postfach, CH 4143 Dornach 1, Switzerland; fax +41 (0) ; info@dasgoetheanum.ch. To receive Anthroposophy Worldwide, apply to the Anthroposophical Society in your country, or subscriptions are available with Das Goetheanum (only German) from the address above. An version is available to members of the Anthroposophical Society only at: html?l= General Anthroposophical Society, Dornach, Switzerland. Goetheanum Goetheanum Leadership: Fall Retreat Realistic Grasp of the Essential The Goetheanum Leadership s Fall retreat on September 7 9, 2015 looked at how certain Sections the Pedagogical Section, the Mathematical-Astronomical Section, and the General Section developed their research approaches based on their work in the School for Spiritual Science. In speaking about anthroposophical research after the 1923/24 Christmas conference, Rudolf Steiner describes (for example) the goal of transcending a purely external and abstract thinking and observation through practice in order to achieve an inward, realistic grasp of the essential. The Goetheanum Leadership decided to try approaches to practice and research on specific issues in each Section during this period of its work. Process of Uncertainty A first methodological step was to enter into a way of working as a community of knowledge; this way of working would initially entail opening up a space for uncertainty in order to allow for new thinking and perspectives. Two sentences from the lecture of October 6, 1911 (GA 131) encouraged us to try such a process of uncertainty: An element based on a Rosicrucian principle must establish itself on such a foundation For we should first meet these things on an occult path; we must not, therefore, presuppose them. By way of continuing the theme of the year (self-knowledge in the light of Michaelic world connection), the members of the community are consciously moving into a process of conversation and knowledge in which the variety of reports will demonstrate new perspectives on the theme and our own connection with it. Claus Peter Röh and Joan Sleigh, for the Goetheanum Leadership Pedagogical Section: Qualities of Dead and Living Thinking On the level of a conversation in the School for Spiritual Science i.e., including references to the mantras of the First Class two fields of knowledge were juxtaposed. One was an existential question in the Pedagogical Section: the qualities of dead and living thinking. The challenge in Waldorf education of bringing young people living concepts as concepts that can still grow together with life is a theme in the Study of Man lectures held before the school was founded in 1919 (GA 293, especially lectures two, three, and nine). The pedagogical method of arriving at such a living concept formation is characterized as follows: a theme is described from different perspectives in such a living way that the pupils are stimulated to increase their own activity as they look at and think about the various aspects together. The opposite approach would be to provide fixed definitions that already contain knowledge compartmentalized within themselves. These pedagogical considerations were accompanied by a discussion of the qualities of living and dead thinking in the eighth Class lesson. How do we experience levels of thought that we develop here for earthly-material life in the course of incarnation? In what situations or through what exercises do we touch upon qualities of a living thinking that is more fully permeated by our human power of will powers we have brought from pre-earthly life, powers now within us? An example of such thinking of the will is found in Goethean perception: a wholistic grasp of various phenomena of life. After working through both levels the issues in education and the situation in the eighth Class lesson a open space for questions was formed into which associated thoughts from other Sections then flowed. General Anthroposophical Section: Humanity Growing Increasingly Human The starting point for our work on the theme The Rosicrucian Principle in Self- Knowledge and World-Knowledge was the mutually constructive relationship between human beings and the world. This relationship was expressed in the Michael letter of November 16, 1924: The human being grows ever more human as he grows to be an expression of the world. He finds himself, not by seek-

3 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 10/15 3 Self knowledge in the light of Michaelic world connection: Michael by Oswald Dubach ing himself, but by uniting himself to the world with love. Our work proceeded on the basis of transformation processes at various levels that affect the individual element and the universal. Human difficulties and unmet needs whether in reference to a science based on sensory perception and reason, or to the personal inner life of soul always brought us to limits as we worked on them and clarified them. In a conscious confrontation with these hindrances and dangers we can recognize that we gather new soul forces and capacities on the way there. The human being becomes ever more human in dealing with the difficulties of the world; he acquires capacities for knowledge as he finds his own limits. Difficulty becomes a stimulus for a waking-up process in which every limit works to form consciousness and create knowledge. Three basic human exercises play a role on the path from an experience of deprivation to the acquisition of new capacities. The individual connects with the world through engagement, to other people through empathy, and with one s own self through meditation and reflection. The self expresses itself through its determination of will. It enters courageously into the unknown and it develops a new relationship between self and surroundings in dialogue. For this it requires openness, devotion, and receptivity. Joan Sleigh, General Anthroposophical Section Mathematical-Astronomical Section: Relation to Earth, Planets, Fixed Stars The threefold relationship between the human being and the cosmos was explored through a consideration of celestial events that occurred from June to September, 2015 (Venus-Jupiter conjunction, perihelion of all planets out to Saturn, heliacic rising of Mars, Venus and Jupiter, constellations). This threefold human relation to the cosmos has several levels. We looked at two of these more closely. The scientific-phenomenological approach allows us to understand the cosmos in its arrangement in space: the closeness to Earth, the central position of the planets, and the spherical backdrop of the fixed stars. At a second level the stars reveal themselves to the human being when he observes the soul experiences that permeate the sensory observation of the stars. Here the cosmos is no longer arranged in space, but is qualitative and related to life. Experiences with the planets can be compared to those that arise in a friendly connection between people, experiences with the fixed stars seem like the connection between teacher and pupil, and the closeness to Earth corresponds to the connection with our relatives. This description can be understood as an attempt to apply the impulses from the mantras of the eighth Class lesson to the field of astronomy in a fruitful way. It also sheds light on our work with the mantras. Oliver Conradt, Mathematical Astronomical Section Overview of Research Issues The members of the Goetheanum Leadership are currently working on a publication that will give a brief overview of research issues and developments that have been taken up for each Section since 1923/24. This publication should (for the first time) provide an summary of the work that has been done by the School for Spiritual Science. The publication is planned for Summer, Chris tiane Haid, Literary Arts & Humanities Section See also the description in Sternkalender Ostern 2015/2016 by Wolfgang Held, Verlag am Goetheanum, Dornach Goetheanum Goetheanum Leadership: Fall Retreat II Three-Column Financing At the Fall retreat there were reports on activities since the last retreat (e.g., reception of the Faust I pre-production, or the remodeling on the ground floor). In addition the preliminary meeting for the 2016 Michaelmas conference was prepared. Justus Wittich provided an insight into the financial situation. During the summer months the quick sale of property near Zurich that we had acquired as legacies allowed us to get through a liquidity shortage, and fiscal year 2015 will be manageable in the way we had planned. The budget for 2016 is more troubling; we are expecting a shortfall of two million francs due to the increasing strength of the franc against the euro. A greater focus on the School by the entire Goetheanum was discussed, as was the issue of a stronger connection with the anthroposophical movement. Total Budget of 16 Million Francs The work and research projects being done by the Sections required an expenditure of 6.6 million francs, and the finished stage with the eurythmy ensemble required 2.5 million francs (without the Faust I & II project). The Goetheanum infrastructure took 6.7 million francs; this infrastructure includes documentation, work with the public, and the weekly Das Goetheanum (self-supporting) along with 1.8 million francs for administration and 3.2 million francs for the building. Altogether that comes to almost 16 million francs. The School is supported by membership dues (3.6 million francs), donations (2.5 million francs), third-party funds from the anthroposophical movement (2.7 million francs) and by our own income of 4.8 million francs (events, Das Goetheanum without the Faust project). During the next years we hope to achieve a three-column financing through our members, the anthroposophical movement, and our own income that would be six million francs each. However, reaching this goal this will require a serious effort by the Sections as well as the infrastructure. Justus Wittich, treasurer

4 4 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 10/15 Goetheanum Extended Goetheanum Leadership: Retreat for Preparing the 2016 Michaelmas Conference Planning for 2023/24 The Goetheanum Leadership will invite 1,000 representatives of the anthroposophical movement to attend a Michaelmas conference in Fall, It will consider the next seven years leading up to the 100th anniversary of the 1923/24 Christmas conference. The Goetheanum Leadership invited 50 individuals to attend an extended retreat on September 9 11 to prepare this large conference in How will the anthroposophical movement look by 2023/24, the 100th anniversary of the Christmas conference and Rudolf Steiner s founding of the General Anthroposophical Society? How will it have been able to help amid the afflictions and crises of the present time? Have we done justice to our appointed tasks? Isn t there a growing divergence among the practical activities in agriculture, education, medicine, and many other areas, as well as the School for Spiritual Science? And hasn t the Anthroposophical Society been quite backward in its efforts for the generally human quality as currently practiced? For the past three years these and similar questions have concerned the Goetheanum Leadership (recently formed out of the Executive Council and the Section leaders). Their discussions led to the initiative for a large Michaelmas conference in 2016; it will draw together representatives and leading figures in anthroposophy and its practical fields worldwide for a meeting at the Goetheanum on September 27 October 1, What tasks, projects, and emphases can be taken up and striven for worldwide during the next seven years in the School, in the Anthroposophical Society, and in the institutions representing various practical areas? How is stronger cooperation and mutual support possible and what shared will can we develop? Current Situation To examine this initiative an extended retreat of the Goetheanum Leadership took place a good year before the meeting. In addition to the 19 members, the general secretaries were invited and each person in the Goetheanum Leadership was able to suggest three further participants in the anthroposophical movement. A human relationship to the Sections and large institutions can be found in the list of participants. A total of 70 people met by personal invitation for an intensive preparation through dialogue in working and conversation groups, and in plenums. The focus was on recalling the basic impulses of the 1923/24 Christmas conference as well as the later history and the character of the present time as they have been altered by event taking place during the 20th century. In reflecting on the current situation an evaluation was undertaken of the great spread and success of thousands of institutions over almost the entire world and in many cultures; these institutions involve several hundred thousand workers and billions of francs, and products and institutions as well. On the other hand, this success also presents a problem in terms of quality and sustainability issues. Add to this the fact that the very source of this effort anthroposophical spiritual science generally goes unrecognized while its applications and methods are legally threatened in many places and are difficult to communicate to the general public and to professionals. The Anthroposophical Society is stagnating, losing members, and able to provide only scanty support to the School for Spiritual Science. Shared Responsibility This kind of shared view and reflection on the current situation of the anthroposophical movement, the opening-up of a Goetheanum Leadership retreat, and the openness of the discussion were felt as having a revolutionary quality despite an initial uncertainty about the purpose and intention of the meeting. Among the assembled participants there was a joyful sense of deeply shared responsibility for the anthroposophical impulse and the three relatively disparate modes of anthroposophy: events in the School for Spiritual Science, the life of the General Anthroposophical Society, and the strongly developed practical fields. In the evening the conference participants walked and gaze The stood silent, the wind blew, the sun went down a spe These questions of development and the future concerned everyone equally; a strong engagement could be sensed. What tasks can already be foreseen as presenting themselves during the next decade as we carefully feel our way? From the point of view of opposing spirits, isolation, power struggles, conflicts, or laziness will lead to impulses that splinter and become ineffectual. We cannot afford to do that in view of the current situation but neither can we be naive in this respect. Respect for the Free Spirit On the more positive side, this certainly means an inner change of attitude in order to learn an appropriate language that conveys anthroposophy s methodological presuppositions more clearly to the outer world while consciously basing them on knowledge. It should also be involved in an inner empathy for the distress of other people, creatures, and the environment. This includes respect for the free spirit in other people. It became clear in the preparatory meeting that this would not so much entail a strategy or even collective action; instead, there would be attention to tasks and individual paths as well as the cultivation of a shared reflective process of gradual transformation without knowing what the right result is beforehand. At the end of the extended retreat it was clear: the initiative for the large Michaelmas conference and a working plan leading up to 2023/24 were generally seen as necessary. The impulse to take up the development of the anthropo-

5 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 10/15 5 d upon the Goetheanum. cial moment sophical movement together was electrifying. The time was ripe for it. Now it all depends on the next steps! How can a large circle of Society and School members be included along with representatives of practical fields? How will the spark be passed along? People Seeing People The preparations should be shared by all interested parties and described in conference reports. It should be possible to follow the events of the Fall 2016 conference everywhere through the internet and simultaneous translation. The approximately 1,000 participants for whom there is room at the Goetheanum will receive an invitation that conveys the sense of people seeing people. These individuals will be viewed as representing all who are active in anthroposophy worldwide. Until December 1, 2015 any member can suggest active and cooperative people they would consider representative of anthroposophy or its practical fields send an to michaelikonferenz@goetheanum.ch or post a letter. It is not necessary to be a member of the School or the Anthroposophical Society to participate in the conference. The Goetheanum Leadership will try as much as possible to invite a balanced group of generations, regions, countries, and professional areas. Justus Wittich, Goetheanum Reports for a Shared View Paul Mackay began by noting that the point is to discover guiding forces for Photo: Wolfgang Held the further development of the 1923/24 Christmas conference. The breadth of the task is indicated in the phrase guiding forces coined by Rudolf Steiner: knowledge in direction and power in engagement. In three reports from large practical sections agriculture, medicine, and education we heard about this breadth. Ueli Hurter delineated main points based on a simplification process within the biodynamic movement: what counts is a good farm, an inner path, and engagement in the issues of our time. Michaela Glöckler described the tasks for the small but global medical movement: the scientific approach of anthroposophy and a capacity to act in a worldwide professional community. Claus-Peter Röh recalled the enormous expansion of Waldorf schools (from 95 schools in 1975 to over 1,100 schools today) and the current yearning for inwardness. These reports took time, but they helped gain a shared viewpoint. This orientation also followed the three-step element in the Foundation Stone: spirit recalling, spirit contemplating, spirit beholding. The extended retreat also involved making these concepts come alive. Thus Christiane Haid used Jorge Semprún as an example for the fact that memory must suffuse art if it is to be accessible. Yearning for Weightiness Not only had the content of the extended retreat been prepared in detail, but the process followed a choreography derived from recent annual meeting of the Agricultural Section. The alternation of small and large conversation groups on the question of personal backgrounds and perspectives (so-called Worldcafés, a stroll in pairs, moments of quiet for inner conversation, and the exchange in the plenum) were meant to enlarge one s own surface (Ueli Hurter). It is good to be able to talk about basic anthroposophical issues without emotionalism. But the lack of this blinding light underlined the difficulty of adding appropriate feeling to intelligent consideration. Such moments did arise when Bodo von Plato spoke of how Imre Kertész was able to find inner freedom through his dramatic story, or when Peter Selg spoke of his work with medical students in Bergen-Belsen: Communities form at the abyss. Also when Justus Wittich (almost against his nature) emphasized that we should not forget the difficulty amid the joy of such a meeting and this means developing a new language for anthroposophy. It must be conscious, understandable, and engaged. He also said local anthroposophical work may be further along because the problems are more pressing there. The conference began to free itself from a vague feeling of exclusivity with Ueli Hurter s statement that a capacity and willingness to make alliances are essential and Georg Soldner s observation that invitations should be extended to people whose language we might fear. The 2016 Michaelmas Conference The third day dealt more concretely with the 2016 Michaelmas conference. Wolf-Ulrich Klünker, Jost Schieren and Peter Heusser emphasized the importance of content like the spiritualization of thought or the question of scientific quality. Nathaniel Williams hoped for a meditative approach to the themes; Jean Michel Florin recommended an attempt to talk with people who had left anthroposophy. Helmy Abouleish encouraged us to view anthroposophy and social engagement as one thing. The was a noticeable lack of certainty among the participants about how to cultivate a meaningful conversation with 1,000 attendees. Constanza Kaliks noted that Rudolf Steiner s words to the youth could also apply to the extended retreat: Hold together, transform knowledge into reverence, and celebrate festivals full of hope and expectation. Justus Wittich thought aloud about whether the 2016 conference might be made available through streaming video, and Torin Finser asked whether decentralized conferences might not be more appropriate. Following this first step with its aspects of resonance and reassurance, the extended retreat would be in a position to trust the organizers ( Constanza Kaliks, Christiane Haid, Paul Mackay and Ueli Hurter) to develop this conversation and stimulus toward 100 Years of Christmas Conference so that many including younger people and those who feel themselves left out might feel themselves included. Wolfgang Held

6 6 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 10/15 Anthroposophy in the World Malaysia: First Kolisko Conference We are ready to change the world On May the first Kolisko conference in Malaysia took place. Over 900 participants took an interest in the content and practical applications of anthroposophy; it has had a modest presence in this country for a relatively brief period of time. But there is tremendous enthusiasm for anthroposophy as practical spirituality. I am writing these lines from Kuala Lumpur where I have just attended as a workshop leader the first Kolisko Conference ever held in Malaysia. The conference, which attracted 940 participants, was on the theme of Achieve Individual and Community Health and Well-Being. It was organized by a small group of enthusiastic Malaysian-Chinese women, in collaboration with the Medical Section at the Goetheanum and with help from other supporters. The Chinese population in Muslimgoverned Malaysia is a minority with 22.6% of the population. This is where the seeds of anthroposophy first landed in Malaysia with the founding of the first kindergarten 18 years ago. There are only a small handful of kindergartens and schools, a biodynamic farm and a growing number of doctors and health practitioners; the International Postgraduate Medical Training (IPMT) offered by the Medical Section worldwide has had its first few well-attended training modules in Malaysia. Enthusiasm and Conviction How did the small team of Kolisko Conference miracle workers all in their early 40s manage to attract such a large number of people in a country where anthroposophy is hardly known? Three weeks before the conference started, numbers were only at about 300. It was decided that two of them would take two weeks off from their families, and work and travel the country to speak to schools, Buddhist temples and corporations to tell them about Kolisko. Their enthusiasm and conviction were contagious: from then on, enrollment and unexpected funding flowed abundantly! One businessman asked the team what they would to do if they incurred a loss. When he heard that the women were willing to mortgage their own homes rather than cancel the event he was so touched that he guaranteed that his company would cover any shortfall in the finances. The widespread good will was also visible in the large group of volunteer helpers. For example, the man who picked us up from the airport offered to be a driver whenever needed, taking time off from his IT company and donating his services. If the contributors give their time freely then I will do the same! Most of those attending were new to anthroposophy and came from a wide range of backgrounds, including heads Introduction to the idea and practice of anthroposophy: group with Astrid Schmitt-Stegmann Photo: Medical Section Kolisko Conference The first Kolisko conference was in 1989 to honor the 50th death day of physician Eugen Kolisko: For the first time, doctors and teachers met on an international level. The conference has since been a platform for education as preventative medicine. Further conferences: 1992 in Austria, 1994 in Britain, 1998 in the USA and 2002 in Finland always with more than 1,000 attendees. In 2006 the Kolisko conference was decentralized in 9 countries (IN, SA, PH, UA, AU, MX, SE, FR, TW). 3,600 people attended. Finally, there was a Kolisko conference in 2010 in Hawaii, and in 2013 in Taiwan. SJ of schools and other teachers, Buddhist monks and nuns, business people and even a few politicians. Participants came not only from Malaysia but China, Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, India and Saudi Arabia. Thirst for Practical Spirituality The resounding success of this 4-day event was a moving testimony to people s thirst for a practical spirituality that can bring new insights and knowhow to so many areas of life. Michaela Glöckler gave inspiring and accessible morning and evening talks, and contributors from Europe, America and Asia gave workshops on various aspects of education, medicine, artistic therapies, health and social care, biodynamic agriculture as well as the threefold social order. And so the conference offered a broad introduction to the idea and practice of anthroposophy, all received with an enthusiasm that filled us, the visiting contributors, with awe and amazement. It remains to be seen what fruits the conference will bear in the lives and communities of those who attended. At the end of the workshop on the threefold social order, one businessman said: We are ready to change the world! We are ready to make it a better place! Sibylle Eichstaedt, Newsletter editor (Great Britain) Source: Newsletter, Anthroposophical Society in Great Britain, July 2015.

7 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 10/15 7 Anthroposophy in the World Calls to the human soul: The guardian denies entrance to the impetuous Johannes; Strader cannot withstand Ahriman Photos: Silke Kollewijn Israel: Mystery Dramas I The Spiritual Will of Consonants The Sophia Foundation performed Rudolf Steiner s third Mystery drama during the Forming Community, Initiatives, and Society out of the Spiritual Life of Our Time conference in Kibbutz Harduf on March The Guardian of the Threshold was also the Israeli premiere of the drama in Hebrew, translated by Amos Ben Aharon. Young people open to spirituality and with an inner impulse to do something through anthroposophy began 33 years ago to make the ridge running west to east between Haifa and Nazareth into a place for initiatives of life. The Harduf ridge was the last Kibbutz land grant from the state of Israel. Premiere in Hebrew This is the home of the Sophia Foundation. It brings together people who are searching for a spiritual impulse that enlivens their efforts in the tension between inner work and work in and with the challenges of life. Sophia includes: Hamila Theater, the only theater in Israel based on anthroposophy, founded in 2002 by teachers and graduates of the School for Speech Formation and Drama in Harduf; Kol, annual for poetry, art and thought, published since 2011 by Sophia teachers and artists; Sha ar La Adam (Gateway to the World), founded in 2002 in a forest between the Bedouin village Ka abiyye and Kibbutz Harduf as an international community center for educational, artistic, and ecological activities with Arabs and Jews. During the conference, the Hamila Theater put on three productions of Rudolf Steiner s third Mystery drama (The Guardian of the Threshold) for the first time in Israel and in Hebrew (the first two Mystery dramas had been recently performed in smaller venues). The third drama was presented with incredible intensity and concentration by instructors, free-lance speech graduates, and students from the School for Speech Formation and Drama in Harduf. Yonathon Peretz composed music for five instruments to characterize the settings and the beings; it contributed between the lines to the deeply felt expressive force of the drama s Mystery content. Scenery Evocative of the Representative of Humanity For me, an image in the sixth scene was a key to understanding the entire drama: the human soul (Hebrew: nefesch) must find its own way between the cosmic forces of Lucifer and Ahriman, and also allow the love forces of God s Son to prevail through its own the sacrifice. It was shown in this scene when the three soul forces appeared in the rear center, in front of the stage background. With its dimensional and color shapes this recalled the three-dimensional forms of the Representative of Humanity. Lucifer active to the left, Ahriman to the right the three soul forces in the middle. This is also where the Guardian bars impetuous Johannes from crossing the threshold in the seventh scene. Johannes shrinks back in recognition of his own self where he hoped to meet Theodora. Concentrated Drama The Hebrew language lives in the spiritual will of its consonants and the expressive power they convey. A statement is a third shorter than in German this also affected the production s length The production seemed unusually concentrated as portrayed on the stage and in the energy of the words in Hebrew with its emphasis on the last syllable. Yaakov Arnan of the Sophia Foundation and Avner Hameiri, a conference organizer, described the task of the conference: The struggle for a connection between inner spiritual work and work in the world appears dramatically in the Mystery dramas. Silke Kollewijn, Goethe anum Contact: info@hamila.org.il Next performances of Rudolf Steiner s The Guardian of the Threshold: December 9 12, 2015, Kibbutz Harduf, Israel.

8 8 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 10/15 School for Spiritual Science Japan: Mystery Dramas II Culture of a New Community Encouraged by a workshop performance in 2014 (Anthroposophy Worldwide, No. 9/2014), the Japanese Mystery drama initiative has produced Rudolf Steiner s entire first Mystery drama (The Portal of Initiation) with eurythmy. It took place on July during the second Mystery drama conference with Michael Debus. Before we performed The Portal of Initiation during the Mystery drama conference The Archetype of the Human Being as the Portal of Initiation. Development of the Individual and Community Gioia Falk (artistic director of the Mystery drama production at the Goetheanum) came to Japan in April to oversee an intensive three-day rehearsal. From the beginning the plan was to have four groups (about 35 people) carry the four scenes. The Tokyo group did the second and fourth scenes; they were trained by me. Teachers and students at the Fujino Steiner school presented the two temple scenes (scenes five and eleven). The Shikoku group brought young student Daisuke Kaya from Germany to play Johannes and did the eighth scene. Daisuke Kaya took on the ninth scene with a friend. Unlike the production in 2014, there were not eleven Benedictusses but there were eight Johanneses and five Marias. New Community Up to now there had never been such a large cooperative artistic effort bringing so many groups together. But it fit right into the new impulse to establish a sustainable Anthroposophical Society in Japan. Working together on The Portal of Initiation, we felt that the anthroposophical movement in Japan had reached a new level, one in which the individuals could strive for a shared goal regardless of loyalties and emotions toward one another. Michael Debus, who worked with this Mystery drama initiative in Japan from the beginning, spoke in his introduction about how developing the individual and developing the community had been mutually exclusive in earlier times. But these two things now belong together, are complementary. In this sense, our rehearsal and performance of The Portal of Initiation was a vibrant new community. With about 120 participants, the conference was also a financial success. Thus I feel sure that this project has sown the seeds for the culture of a new community in Japan. Five of my colleagues will report as spokespeople on why they participated and what they experienced. Hiroko Kagawa, leader of the Mystery drama project, Kanagawa (Japan) Drama of the Consciousness Soul: The Human Being in Conflict In the summer of 2013 I heard through the Tokyo Christian Community about the idea of attending the Mystery drama conference at the Goetheanum. It would be the last time for this production of the dramas and if the opportunity was missed we would have to wait ten more years. I was interested in the dramas, but I could not free up the time. Well, I thought, I ll just have to take up the theme in another ten years. A year later I was already in the workshop production playing the role of Helen, the seducer, in scene one. I asked myself if this role might not be too difficult for me because it reminded me of my husband s seducer. I had had the bitter experience of my husband being seduced by another woman and being abandoned with my two children. But no, I enjoyed playing Helena. And this year I was able to play Helena again and also to play Lucifer in the tenth scene. But how could I bear to play such an ironic role? Had I become dull and dense? Michael Debus explained this for me in one of his lectures: modern humanity lives in the age of the consciousness soul, of conflict. It is possible to come to a red light and still drive on One effect of the consciousness soul is that we act decisively despite our suffering. Oh, for me as a modern person it is quite normal for my consciousness soul to set about multitasking in this way. Yuki Higuchi Mystery drama: Maria, Johannes, Benedictus Heaven Made Visible Why we are playing the drama now was always a question for me. Perhaps as Theodora says the time is at hand to unveil what had been hidden, to have the experience that the matter of initiation is starting to enter into our daily lives. I had always felt a vague connection between the human being and heaven when I took part in anthroposophical courses. But now that connection became obvious because the drama makes heaven visible on the stage. For instance, I recognized that I had not yet been convinced about the soul s immortality. I am not familiar with nothingness as Johannes is, but I often feel myself to be very small. Now, for the first time I see such in an experience a gesture from heaven. I played Romanus in the first scene. Although he does not say much, I gave a lot of thought to what he says and I considered how I should move while saying it. I found Gioia Falk s direction quite convincing: movement lends the character life and reality, and it helps the actor as well as the audience to understand the character. But I did not find this to be easy. I went through an inner dramatic process of resisting and compromising. At that point I felt I could make no further progress. I was confronted with my ego. But then I

9 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 10/15 9 Mystery drama conference: Michael Debus accepted myself as being what I am. In looking back I recognize this experience to be an effect produced by the Mystery dramas and the connection they make with the wisdom of higher worlds. That experience has inspired me to continue looking further for the meaning of life. Mieko Niwa Recognizing the Will to Be Active Now for the second time I tried to think more deeply about the Romanus words, to understand his words better. The meaning of his statement to Felix Balde gradually opened up to me: Into those spheres he shall now pass, where spirits act, creative. The will to act is a creative process, and for deeds connected with the spiritual world there is help from those beings and thus they become creative. This principle applies to the creative element in Waldorf instruction as I have found This discovery was in agreement with the statement by Michael Debus that the teacher s faith in the student creates a reality and this change in consciousness is the initiation of the teacher. Yuko Kato Maria: Difficult but Interesting Although as Maria I only had four passages to speak in scene nine, I read Photo: Supplied the entire Portal of Initiation in order to understand Maria s nature. I started by reading the whole drama in Japanese. But even in my mother tongue the drama is hard to understand. Now after the production I gradually understood the story better: Reading and hearing from others are so different! Even though my role was not a large one, I thought a lot. Maria is already a spiritual pupil. I needed to imagine her feelings, her approach, and her connection with Johannes in a concrete way. I had to become Maria. It was interesting that several people played one role. For me that extended and deepened the character of the roles. Hiroko Uzawa Reality of Community The first scene of the first Mystery drama was a riddle for me: So many people one after the other and no clear direction. That is somehow interesting, but also boring. What is it then? For me the role and connection with fellow actors through the word brought a turning point in my biography it is an archetype, the reality of community. After five years in Germany I returned to Japan. Just two days before the performance I met the rest of the cast in scene eight for the first time. But how close we became in the three days before we went on stage! Not only did we meet, but we were able to understand one another. It was wonderful to experience how what had been practiced alone developed in connection: A community was set in motion. During the long and slow first scene I thought as an audience member: Oh, what a great image of community that is. That was the first harvest of my participation. Daisuke Kaya Mystery Dramas in Asia What took place in Tokyo can certainly be called a premiere: the first complete performance of Rudolf Steiner s first Mystery drama in Japanese, 105 years after the drama s premiere in Munich. There was enormous engagement by our Japanese friends who came together out of very different backgrounds to support the project. That involved not only outer things like costumes and props, finding an available venue, preparing the language for a partially untranslatable text, etc.; it also meant coordinating 49 people who were working independently in five groups and who divided the eleven scenes among themselves (which is why almost all the roles were filled by several actors). But it is especially important to mention the inner effort it took to find a way into the contents, most of which were quite distant from the Japanese sensibility. In Asia, for instance, it would be hard to imagine a lofty spiritual teacher being cursed by his pupil. How could Maria curse Benedictus in the third scene? How might it be possible even to imagine such a thing? In fact, the Japanese Maria did not direct her curse directly at Benedictus himself; she hurled them into his surroundings because it is there that the demons are to be found not in the human beings! There were several examples of such unavoidable deviations from the otherwise-basic guideline of the Goetheanum production. They provide an indication that a second premiere is coming: one that presents the Mystery dramas not only in Japanese but also in the context of Japanese spiritual life while at the same time maintaining the real element underlying the dramas. That requires research into what makes this real element visible and how to bring it into connection with Asian spirituality. Then, things will be done on the stage that are quite different from what we have been accustomed to up to now. Perhaps the greatest challenge will involve the medieval scenes in the second drama. How will it be possible to portray the church, monks, knights templar, or even the wandering Jew (Simon) so that a person living in an Asian culture will not have to study European history in order to have a direct experience of the drama as it appears on the stage? This research would not only accomplish something fundamental for the reality of the Mystery dramas, but generally for anthroposophical work in East Asia. It will be interesting to see how this Japanese initiative will develop further. Michael Debus

10 10 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 10/15 Anthroposophy in the World Maria (first drama, Scene 3) and the peasants (second drama, scene 9) Sweden: Mystery Dramas III Retuning of the Soul On June the first three Mystery dramas by Rudolf Steiner were performed in Swedish at the Kulturhuset (Järna, Sweden) before an audience of 150 people from Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. This marked the premiere of the first drama. Michael Debus gave an introduction in German (translated into Swedish). When Mystery plays were performed in Greece at certain times, they would create deep echoes in the souls of the people who took part in them with childlike receptivity. These were released from the needs of everyday life for a time; they could breathe with the gods and participate in the gods destinies rejoice with them, suffer with them. They felt themselves part of a developmental stream that originated in the Mysteries which were also the source of the plays. Deep Pleasure in Play Likewise, the five days of Mystery dramas brought a deep experience for the players and the audience. The entire enterprise became a kind of folk-play. The lively cast of 54 swept us into the flow of the Mysteries. Non-professionals worked alongside director Hans Lindmark,; speech formationists Kristina Sahlberg, Anders Enquist and Per Linden-Tell; set designer Ulf Wagner; musician Lennart Nilo; and eurythmists. No routines, no stars, just spontaneous action filled with intense concentration, and a deep pleasure that was infectious for everyone there. A characteristic of the Mystery dramas is their way of loosening the fabric of the soul in the participants so they become receptive for otherwise-hidden, deeper experiences of their own destinies a tuning of the soul sets in. Acquaintances in Mystery Drama Roles That could be felt in the special relationship between actor and audience. Most of the audience members knew the actors as carpenters, teachers, curative pedagogues, artists. This went straight to our hearts because the everyday acquaintance now spoke to me from a different standpoint; he or she had shed the personal element and now approached me in a sphere where we do not otherwise meet, began to retune my soul. It is no surprise that this gave rise to a community that was more and more closely knit as the days passed. The actors succeeded in portraying the distance between the great scenes in the spiritual worlds and the often-gripping, intimate discussions. Skillfully-hung colored drapery material was responsible for creating the effect made by the scenery, and it was brought to life with colored light. Eurythmy scenes recurred like a wonderfully flowing life and were partly an expression of great mastery evidence that eurythmy has had a long, brilliant history in Järna. The musical interludes on piano and flute (especially composed by Lennart Nilo to accompany the dramas) provided a refreshing preparation for the scenes. Pedagogical Skill Michael Debus (who has a deep background in the dramas) was skillful in his five lectures and two plenums as he illuminated the complex and hidden background of the drama for the actors and for the audience and Elisabeth Geiger Poignant was able to able to recast his German into colorful, poetic Swedish within a matter of seconds. We must not forget producer Ulrike von Schoultz: tireless in her efforts, always giving encouragement! In the course of these days a truly new form of folk education unfolded, a continuation of what was intended in the Greek Mystery plays. The reality of a modern, Christian understanding of karma awakens in our consciousness as we experience the dramas. Do our hearts grow warmer as a result? And will our warmed hearts then be able courageously to resist the chaos of the present day with a new, perhaps forgiving understanding? Felix Nieriker, Tystberga (Sweden) Performance of The Souls Awakening during a conference on June 26 July 1, Photos: Supplied

11 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 10/15 11 Anthroposophy Anthroposophical in the Society World On the 2015/16 Theme of the Year Man and World The Anthroposophical Society s theme of the year focuses on Rudolf Steiner s verse Know your self / and your self will become the world / Know the world / and the world will become your self. A deeper experience of this theme is found in connection with Rudolf Steiner s The Philosophy of Freedom. Experiencing elements that have been preserved during the separation from nature. the human I as separate from the world is characteristic for the human being who lives in the present stage of human development. The human being experiences himself or herself as positioned outside the world, but also has a simultaneous feeling of existing within the universe as well not outside it. This situation brings about an existential tension that some individuals feel with a greater or lesser degree of intensity. Autonomy and Connection In his 1894 work The Philosophy of Freedom Rudolf Steiner explores the source of this tension, and how the opposition between inner and outer world can be overcome. We read there: The history of spiritual life is an incessant search for unity between us and the world. Religion, art, and science all have this same aim (GA 4, Chapter 2, p. 28). The human awareness that we have freed ourselves from our native roots in nature and are confronting the world as an I gives birth to this primal contrast. Goethe expressed this same thought in a fragment (Nature) that has been attributed to him: We live within her [nature] and are strangers to her. She speaks perpetually with us, and does not betray her secret. The Philosophy of Freedom describes a path which starts with the fact that we have freed ourselves from nature, but have nonetheless absorbed something of nature into our own being. This essence of nature in us we must seek out, and then we will also rediscover our connection with it (GA 4, Chapter 2, p. 34). It is here that Rudolf Steiner presents us with a task of self-knowledge. In the depths of his own being the human being has the possibility of arriving at the following experience: Here we are no longer merely I; here we encounter something that is more than I (GA 4, Chapter 2, p. 34). This is where the human being can once again discover the Thinking Transcends the Individual In developing his description, Rudolf Steiner shows that something is experienced in thinking consciousness and at the same time it constitutes what is in the world. This something is the idea content in the world: Our thinking is not individual like our sensing and feeling. It is universal (GA 4, Chapter 5, p. 90). Thinking is beyond subject and object; it forms these concepts just as it forms all concepts. In thinking, the opposition between subject and object can be eliminated. Intellectual thought cannot have this experience. It is caught up in a world of concepts and creates the illusion that thoughts are only within the human being. In order to achieve a pure, concept-free thinking, human thinking needs meditative deepening. Anthroposophy offers a number of indications for meditation; these can help if we wish delve into the relationship between the human being and the world. For instance, in Rudolf Steiner s Curative Education Course we find a meditation described that has a spiritual aspect but also leads to knowledge about the bodily constitution of the human being. The meditation I am in God can fill our soul in the morning, and in the evening God is in me. The meditative words are connected with an imagination a blue point in a yellow circle for morning, and a yellow point in a blue circle for evening. In meditation the point becomes a circle, and the circle a point. After describing the meditation, Rudolf Steiner challenged us: You must understand that the circle is a point, the point is a circle; and you must understand this quite inwardly (GA 317, lecture of July 5, 1924, p. 154). Removing the opposition between subject and object: Initiate by Oswald Dubach Deepening an Existential Connection The following mood should prevail in meditation: that we are actually immersing ourselves in reality even that we are actually taking hold of reality. The work of knowledge and meditation that flows from anthroposophy is not meant to protect the human being from reality instead, it is meant to deepen the actual existential relation between man and world on a bodily, soul, and spiritual level. In his introduction to Goethe s natural-scientific writings (GA 1), Rudolf Steiner writes: To grow aware of the idea in reality is the true communion of mankind (p. 126). In this he once again expresses this connection from another perspective. Dick Tibbling, Järna (Sweden), Mats-Ola Ohlsson, Järna (Sweden) German from the Swedish by Felix Nieriker. Source: Forum för Antroposofiska No. 1/2015. Photo: Sebastian Jüngel

12 12 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 10/15 School for Spiritual Science Literary Arts & Humanities Section: Egypt Conference Cultivating the Goddess Maat On May 8 10 the Literary Arts & Humanities Section held a conference on Egypt from the Mysteries to Today. Reflections and the Search for Balance. The conference provided a differentiated insight into the (ancient) Egyptian world of the gods, the Koran as a message from the being of God, and it traced an arc into the present time. Truth, justice, and solidarity: the goddess Maat in the mortuary temple of Sethos I in Abydos One characteristic of life today is the ability to distance ourselves and consider opposites together with all their implications. That is the precondition for processes of decision-making that should be founded on inner freedom and should, in turn, provide the foundations for our actions. Of course, the ability to act also means that I decide on one thing, one path, and make that my choice. Now the danger of moralizing judgment emerges: Here what is right and good, there what is false and bad. How quickly our everyday thinking is permeated by that; we are misled into premature, often unconscious reactions and behaviors. Bringing Opposite Together Discussions of things close to home are affected by this pattern, but also discussions of global conflicts such as those in North Africa: friend or foe, Muslim Brotherhood or military regime, Christians or Muslims, Sunni or Shiite. What is viewed as the enemy must be fought and crushed as far as possible. Must our conflicts be carried out under a degree of compulsion? Is there a way to bring opposites together so that a balance arises? This is where the conference found itself able to elicit impulses and open up new horizons in thought. The Balance in Breathing The challenge of uniting opposites played an important role in ancient Egypt, as Bruno Sandkühler pointed out in discussing the polarity of Upper and Lower Egypt: the one country (connected with the upper course of the Nile) is marked by deserts and a narrow strip of fertile land processes of withering and rigidifying are characteristic of the area. On the other hand, Lower Egypt is a fertile landscape where growth is the prevalent element. The pharaoh who wore the two crowns the red crown of Lower Egypt and the white crown of Upper Egypt had the task of uniting these contradictory lands. The extant pictorial and textual sources make clear that this fusion should not be thought of as a static combination or even as a military subjugation of one by the other; instead it is a work in process that aims at establishing a midpoint. Bound up in the cycle of the year, this challenge was formed and cultivated by Mystery wisdom as a rhythmic process felt as a breathing process and portrayed Photo: Jana Loose in images through the symbol of the lung. This balance created a significant foundation for ancient Egyptian culture. A zenith for Egyptian culture could only be developed during times of unification. Overcoming Dogmatic Concepts Today s Egypt seems far removed from that ideal. But there is at least one impulse that is making its mark and bringing a sense of hopefulness: Sekem. As Helmy Abouleish emphasized in his contribution, anthroposophy has been the basis at Sekem for reaching an understanding of our present time. Unfortunately the speaker could not be at the Goetheanum because of an appointment at the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture. However, his lecture Egypt Now and in the Future was transmitted over Skype and projected on a screen. Despite the great challenges brought by the bad school system, sickly economy, rising poverty, and major air and water pollution, the initiative takers in Sekem hope for change based on insight. A large network of associative enterprises has been created in the country. Now the first generation that has been schooled in this way can also begin to show its developmental potential. How can Europe help? Helmy Abouleish tried to inspire us to action with these and other questions: Is tolerance enough, or should true interest and love be developed and should dogmatic concepts be overcome? Inscribed into the Sphere of Life Christine Gruwez also began her Introduction to Islamic Art with a note about one-sided and rigid concepts. Is Islam misused today in violent conflicts and a focus on how these conflicts are reported? Is it even being robbed of its spiritual content? Can we be open to the real qualities of Islamic culture? To achieve this it is essential to understand the Koran as a message from the being of God that finally manifests in the word. Originally the contents were only passed down by word of mouth. The reality of the message from the being of god can be experienced into the present time through speaking and recitation. As a book, the Koran is the final result of this process. What has flowed into the written word must once again be raised into

13 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 10/15 13 the sphere of divine life by the human being. Accordingly, imagery is forbidden only if it becomes a likeness, an idol this is opposite to what we find in early Egyptian culture. Thus a special form of calligraphy came into being, one determined by a concept of proportion oriented to divine creation. Christine Gruwez went on to show examples from ornamentation, landscape gardening, and (finally) architecture. Here she pointed to the use of light: light is the first thing God sent from his being, and light streams down through the cupola to the floor, into the heaviness of earth. In a second contribution, Christine Gruwez spoke about Schia Islam (party of Ali) following Bruno Sandkühler s presentation of the basics about Sunni Islam. The split between Muslims had its source in the issue of Mohammed s successor, and it has developed right down to the present time as a source of conflict that seems irreconcilable. This is intertwined with the issue of whether the Koran is the immutable word of God or a holy text that requires interpretation in keeping with the time. Sunni Islam embraces the Koran and authentic statements by the prophet. Shia also has this foundation, but adds respect for an imam who interprets the Koran as one enlightened by God. The twelfth imam disappeared at age six; the Shiites assume that he only disappeared from physical presence and continues to dwell in great seclusion (where time is a living element). They yearn for his return and are convinced the twelfth imam will return to Jerusalem with Isa (Jesus) and Mohammed; then justice will prevail. This time will arrive when God s mysteries are understood at their inmost core and seen exoterically the need is greatest. Martyrdom Indicator of Justice Every religion has an esoteric kernel, and thus martyrdom (so misrepresented today) is connected with a deep meaning: Justice will come some day. Human beings cannot hurry it, but can patiently develop their capacity for suffering, and (if necessary) even be prepared to die non-violently for their convictions a stance that is hard to understand from a Western point of view. The Mysteries of ancient Egypt that Jana Loose deciphered for us bring enough challenges for our present-day understanding. In this connection, eurythmy there were two occasions for it made it possible for us to connect the knowledge we had gained with our own experience. A Differentiated World of the Gods Egyptologist Jana Loose introduced us to the world of Maat. The goddess Maat personified truth, justice, and solidarity. She made life possible, and the divinely ordained world order manifested through her in outer life and in the soul life of man. When the initiate spoke in the right way and acted in harmony with his heart, Maat was made manifest. In the cultic activity the pharaoh had the task of cultivating Maat and taking care of her. In this way what had been given by the divine world was transformed by the deeds of man and returned to the world of the gods. The preparation and initiation of the pharaoh was a significant basis for the development of the culture, and thus architecture was connected with the path of initiation as Jana Loose illustrated through the example of a temple complex in Upper Egypt ( B.C.). Bruno Sandkühler cited many examples for the fact that the Egyptian world of the gods could be thought of as a fabric with many threads; it can scarcely be comprehended through the approach of circumscribing and defining so common today. The figures change according to situation and place. They have a common source: A course of creation that leads from unity to multiplicity and differentiation, active and formative forces that ultimately become visible. Their names depend on the circumstances under which they appear and act. Here again, we find polar forces upon which the process of development is based. Our own time is connected with the Egyptian-Chaldean cultural epoch. Associated with that fact is the need to find a balance again and again between opposites and one-sided attitudes. Jutta Wortmann, Lübeck (Germany) Conference: Judas In the Mirror of Modern Humanity, January 29 31, 2016 with Michael Debus, Ruth Ewertowski and Christiane Haid, The Secret of Freedom is Courage Pericles DAS GOETHEANUM WOCHENSCHRIFT FÜR ANTHROPOSOPHIE Weekly Printed Edition With PDF-Edition by Direct Order through Internet goetheanum.ch I would like to subscribe to Das Goetheanum One year 130 (depending on exchange rate) Name Address (Including postal code) Country Date Signature Address: Wochenschrift Das Goetheanum Postfach, CH 4143 Dornach, Switzerland Fax

14 14 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 10/15 Anthroposophy in the World Germany: Professional Conference for Communication Working with the Public 3.0 Anthroposophical media professionals cooperate in various ways. One is the conference series öffentlich wirken (working with the public). The third conference will take place at the Rudolf Steiner School in Bochum, Germany on October Despite the public image of media, people who work in media are quite isolated in their profession. In serving the public they are go almost unnoticed in their often quiet work unless something goes wrong. Since 1996, anthroposophical media people have been meeting under the rather unwieldy name Conference of Press and Publicity Workers and Editors in the Anthroposophical Field (KoPRa). Twice a year they exchange views about recent news and discuss controversial subjects. In 2009 the members of KoPRa decided to establish a professional conference on communication. Its goal is to offer a chance for people in the field to sharpen their skills and network with colleagues. Broad Network The impulse for the conference has two special features. Many anthroposophical businesses and organizations cooperate on ideas and finances. The number of partners has grown since 2011: there were seven in 2011, twelve already worked together in 2013, and fourteen in Since these partners have their own media networks, prominent media people and experts also cooperate. Currently these include Florian Harms (editor-in-chief of media portal spiegel.de), media coach Christoph Fasel, television chef Sarah Wiener, politicians Sven Giegold and Gerald Häfner, spokesperson for More Democracy Claudine Nierth, farm economist Nikolai Fuchs, president of The International Union of Anthroposophical Medical Associations Thomas Breitkreuz, and publicist Wolfgang Held. All in all, there are 50 speakers and instructors available for conference lectures and workgroups. As in 2013, our sponsor is Carina Gödecke, president of the North Rhine-Westphalia parliament. New International Forum Harald Thon organized the conference at the request of KoPRa, and he sees a changing trend for A number who attended the first conference were also at the second. Now, however, there are many coming to the conference for the first time. More courses on anthroposophical basics had been offered in response to requests. This time the interest tends to be in the financial area. Since many participants attended from non-germanspeaking countries in 2013, a new International Forum will be offered in English. The conference itself is in German. According to Harald Thon, it may be possible to have whisper translations at plenums if there is a large English-speaking attendance. Sebastian Jüngel Conference öffentlich wirken, October 16 17,2015, Rudolf-Steiner School Bochum, Hauptstr. 238, DE Bochum. Information/contact: Harald Thon, Tel oeffentlich-wirken@thon. de, oeffentlich-wirken.de. Forum What became of the study on the scientific quality of Rudolf Steiner s spiritual science? In Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 7 8/2014, p. 4f., Marek B. Majorek reports on his study of the scientific quality in Rudolf Steiner s spiritual science. The publication was supported by readers. The two volumes will be published on October 7 by the academic publishing house Narr Francke Attempto (Tübingen, Germany). Majorek demonstrates how the opinion that Rudolf Steiner s spiritual science is unscientific and nebulous (widely held in the academic community) reflects a limited picture of science on the one hand, and is derived from an inadequate understanding of the core qualities in Rudolf Steiner s spiritual science on the other especially its research method. He also clarifies the significance Rudolf Steiner s research results have for our present time. Here Majorek would like to thank everyone and all the institutions that made the publication of the book possible. Study on Shakespeare Majorek is now working on a further study. It follows Rudolf Steiner (GA 140, S. 70) in exploring the unsuspected depths found in several of Shakespeare s best-known dramas when illuminated through Rudolf Steiner s spiritual science. This book will be published by the Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag in English. Since this publication is also dependent on subventions, the author would be most grateful for donations. Sebastian Jüngel Information/contact: majorek@datacomm.ch. What became of Wolfgang Unger s Farm Pedagogy initiative (Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 6/2015)? My work as a farm educator the coordination and direction of students on a farm has begun. Since the beginning of the school year, classes have regularly been visiting the farm mostly during the morning. During the first three weeks of school, 20 classes (500 students) were at the farm for the grain and potato harvest and the grape pressing (among other things). An afternoon visit for children beginning with grade 3 has begun; it is offered once a week. This visit is directed toward parents looking for sensible activity and care on the farm, with the animals, and in nature. The next step will be to institute visits for drop-out students. This was only made possible by support from foundations like the Evidenz- Gesellschaft or the Stiftung Edith Maryon, as well as other contributors like the Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Rudolf- Steiner-Schulen Schweiz. Many thanks to all who support this project. Wolfgang Unger

15 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 10/15 15 Anthroposophical Society Feb. 7, 1927 June 14, 2015 Mary Isabel Schiller Mary Isabel Schiller (nee Stangeland) passed away quietly in her sleep on June 14, 2015 in Ojai, California. She was 88. She died at the same age as her late husband Norbert Schiller Sr., but a quarter of a century later. Mary was born in San Rafael, California, to Minnie Stangeland (formally Minnie Peterson) originally from Taopi, Minnesota, and John Stangeland, an immigrant from Stavanger, Norway. Various Jobs In her youth, Mary was an avid dancer and performed in a professional dance troupe. Besides dance, she loved to ride horseback, and rode all over Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. Mary held various jobs in her 20s, which included modeling and working at the Federal Reserve Bank in San Francisco. Later in life, she worked for the artist Judith Sutcliffe making mosaic tiles, many of them botanical paintings sold in the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden gift shop. After an early marriage and divorce, which produced her eldest son David, Mary moved to Ojai, California where she met Austrian-born stage and film actor Norbert Schiller. They married on June 14, 1956 in Los Angeles California. Mary and Norbert lived in a stone tower that Norbert built on the east end of Ojai that reminded him of Europe. Later they moved to Santa Barbara. She discovered the teaching of Rudolf Steiner and became an active member of the Anthroposophical Society. Despite her spiritual side, Mary was very down to earth and loved taking long walks, spending time with loved ones, cooking, and reading. She loved all animals, especially cats, particularly Abyssinians. World Travels Her early embrace of organic and vegetarian principles put her ahead of her time, and she excelled at cooking, sewing, and all domestic arts. Keeping a beautifully immaculate home and providing healthy delicious meals was something she enjoyed and made look easy, and yet she was as far as possible from a traditional woman of her time in other ways. She traveled extensively throughout the world, visiting her son Norbert wherever he was posted as a journalist in the Middle East and Africa. After her husband passed away in 1988, she took her daughter, Daniela, on a trip around the world. Her beauty and simplicity will be remembered by all who knew her. Daniela Schiller, Santa Barbara and Norbert Schiller, Minneapolis (USA) Aug. 30, 1921 June 5, 2015 Helene de Villiers H elene Photo: supplied de Villiers was an iconic figure in Anthroposophical circles in South Africa. She was a scholar of ancient classical languages including ancient Greek and Latin. Throughout her life she gathered together the folktales and legends connected We have been informed that the following 29 members have crossed the threshold of death. In their remembrance we are providing this information for their friends. The Membership Office at the Goetheanum Helga Thomas Vaihingen (DE) August 13, 2013 Rusudan Beshaschwili Tbilissi (GE) in 2014 Jeffrey Gibian Forest Row (GB) February 22, 2015 Rudolf Hofer Winterthur (CH) June 25, 2015 Janine Picariello Clohars-Carnoet (FR) July 1, 2015 Elfriede Petersen Dortmund (DE) July 11, 2015 Danièle Lecollen Cauville sur Mer (FR) July 12, 2015 Florian Meyer Aachen (DE) July 14, 2015 Theodora Neubert Dortmund (DE) July 26, 2015 Ursula Richter Dortmund (DE) July 26, 2015 Hans-Jürgen Beumann Krefeld (DE) July 27, 2015 Karl-Heinz Lehmann Berlin (DE) July 28, 2015 Magda Euler Neustadt (DE) August 1, 2015 Lily Hürner Basel (CH) August 1, 2015 Ernst Klahre Sheffield (GB) August 1, 2015 Hildegard Niedermeyer Hannover (DE) August 3, 2015 Fridel Waizecker Künzelsau (DE) August 8, 2015 Kathleen Martyn London (GB) August 9, 2015 Dieter Walbaum Dortmund (DE) August 11, 2015 Rutina Kistler Basel (CH) August 12, 2015 Josepha Scheeder Pforzheim (DE) August 14, 2015 Wolfgang Bruhn Giengen (DE) August 15, 2015 Hubert Hensel Bovenden (DE) August 15, 2015 Anna Bolli Walkringen (CH) August 17, 2015 Roswitha Philipp Eggolsheim-Weigelshofen (DE) Aug. 19, 2015 Emma Baumann Riehen (CH) August 20, 2015 Christa Wetzler Krefeld (DE) August 24, 2015 Harald Rechenberger Berlin (DE) 28. August 2015 Manfred Buck Lahr (DE) September 3, 2015 From August 11 to September 7, 2015 the Society welcomed 68 new members. 82 are no longer members (resignations, lost, and corrections by country Societies) Photo: Supplied with Africa and in her important book, The Grail Stone in Africa and the Search for Prester John, she shows how Europe and Africa share universal spiritual roots through their mutual heritage of the Grail. This illustrated work is a blend of history, legend and inspired scholarship; a remarkable legacy left to those who share our age s renewed interest in the quest for the meaning of the Holy Grail. Helene translated various works into Afrikaans. Among these are the Oberufer Christmas Plays, the Fairy Tales by the brothers Grimm, Rudolf Steiner s Agriculture Course (significantly perhaps, the first of Rudolf Steiner s books to be translated into Afrikaans), and the mantras that accompany the nineteen lessons of the First Class of the School for Spiritual Science. Together with others she helped translate the service of the Christian Community into Afrikaans. In her interaction with others, one of her greatest qualities was the discipline to listen; in an encounter one could sense her interest in the other human being. From various sources

16 16 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 10/15 Anthroposophy Feature in the World Preconceptions Enormous Potential Preconceptions are common, often-fixed opinions that are consciously or unconsciously formed, applied, and spread. They have many sources, but mostly they arise through a process of differentiation among various groups. From the standpoint of marketing, familiarity with preconceptions can be applied in a positive way. Dealing with preconceptions: graphic firm Setzwerk design by Michael Puschendorf (setzwerk.com) Society often knows about Waldorf education only through preconceptions. Many Waldorf students are presented with them again and again, are confronted by them. They run the gamut from amusing statements partly in fun like Can you dance your name? or You re just learning crafts and knitting to discriminatory, false, and obviously prejudiced assertions like The Waldorf school is a sect or Waldorf schools are radical right-wing institutions. Dealing Productively with Preconceptions During work on a project I conducted at the Alanus University I took a close look at preconceptions about Waldorf Schools and went on to develop a marketing concept based on my findings. The communicative usefulness of preconceptions is that they are widely known and circulated through media and communication channels. Preconceptions are most often seen as problems, and attempts are frequently made to eliminate them. But in the process of doing so little attention is paid to the fact that here, too, a portion of the out group (e.g., Waldorf teachers, students, and parents) sustain the preconceptions and continually confirm them. The basis for the project was a survey of experts: common preconceptions were collected and examined. The more than 1,000 results of the survey were grouped thematically and evaluated. Then frequently cited statements especially critical ones or those with great potential for communication were filtered out. This selection could then be assigned to the two realms of a communication campaign: 1. Enlightenment campaign: open, clear, real enlightenment for problematic preconceptions 2. Advertising campaign to strengthen familiarity based on preconceptions worth communicating Use of Humor An enlightenment campaign should make it possible to offer open, honest, and clear information about the preconceptions. Anyone who recognizes that there are preconceptions or wants to test them must receive all the information they need. The tools for an enlightenment campaign are a kind of statement (or FAQ) of clear and honest facts on the following: Is the preconception true or partially true? Why is there such a preconception? What, in fact, is the situation in Waldorf schools in connection with that subject? Why is that so? These points are published on-line, in print media, and communicated through video distribution. Such a communication campaign should actively raise awareness of Waldorf schools and improve their image. It is especially important to avoid creating negative effects or strengthening false preconceptions. This mode of marketing should bring smiles and have the potential to go viral. However, one problem is the fact that the use of preconceptions further strengthens and embeds them. Thus there is only a limited choice of preconceptions that are practical. The formulation of the message is based on the Association of Independent Waldorf Schools present communication strategy; it is focused on the capacities of (previous and current) Waldorf students. The following messages among others are loosely based on the motto I learn nothing but am able to do much. I can do crafts, dance my name, and much more. Lots of corners and sometimes even a right angle. I can take the entrance exam (almost) without grades. I can take the entrance exam at the tree farm. I can take the entrance exam unfortunately there is no knitting, crafts, or namedancing. I can do anything I need to. I can be ecological, social, normal, and successful. And: I can play soccer too. These messages should be communicated with the aid of well-known former Waldorf students or Waldorf parents (as a testimonial). Of course they should be modified to fit the testimonial. Not Everything is Usable The use of preconceptions has enormous potential as a marketing tool. But it is important to recognize the challenges and dangers as well since not all preconceptions are useful in communication. If the proposed campaign is adopted, its impact will show the degree to which preconceptions can be used as a marketing tool for Waldorf education. Valerie Andermann, Mannheim (Germany) Preview from the program brochure for the öffentlich wirken 2015 conference (p. 13). Contact for information about the sources: valerie.andermann@alanus.edu.