On the opening day of the conference,

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1 General Anthroposophical Society Anthroposophy Worldwide 11/16 November 2016 No. 11 Goetheanum Goetheanum World Conference 1 Enhancing the effect of anthroposophy 2 The bridge is built as we walk 3 Being present in the present 4 New connections have been established 5 Christ between Lucifer and Ahriman School of Spiritual Science Medical Section 6 New section leaders Matthias Girke and Georg Soldner 8 Rüdiger Grimm retires 9 Book on meditation in anthroposophic medicine 8 General Anthroposophical Section: Anthroposophical Studies in English Goetheanum The Mystery Dramas at the Goetheanum 10 Living with the Mystery Dramas 11 Ahriman s being 11 As seen by a member of the audience Anthroposophical Society 12 Canada: Encountering our Humanity conference 14 Obituary: Christine Custer 15 Membership news Anthroposophy Worldwide 13 Switzerland: Michaelmas festival 13 Globally: World Eurythmy Day Forum 14 Laws, rights and justice Feature 16 Norway: Spiritual Ecology Summer Weeks goetheanum Goetheanum World Conference I Enhancing the effect of anthroposophy More than 800 people followed the invitation to attend the Goetheanum World Conference from 27 September to 1 October. One of the intentions behind this conference was to create a strong connection, based on humanity, between the representatives of the fields of applied anthroposophy ( the fields of life ), the Anthroposophical Society and the School of Spiritual Science. On the opening day of the conference, 40 or so journalists gather at Roche Pharmaceuticals in Basel. Building 1 towers high over the city, newly defining the skyline along the valley of the river Birs (Birstal). From the terrace on the 38th floor of the building, which is almost 180 metres high, one can look across to the Goetheanum. On this day it is shrouded in mist and one can sense rather than actually see it. Roche invests around 9 billion Swiss Francs every year in research and development a sum 560 times that of the Goetheanum budget! During the days preceding the conference news reports again speak of plans to use vacuum bombs in in Aleppo. Through the high temperatures they generate these bombs deprive the surrounding area of oxygen the foundation of all life. Winfried Kösters, deputy chief editor of the Swiss news agency Schweizerische Depeschenagentur, said that the events in the world can no longer be fully covered by the dozens of social media channels because too much is going on. Cultures that change the world This is the context in which the Goetheanum World Conference is embedded: the events in the world can no longer be penetrated; lives are acutely endangered in shrewd ways, because people have no chance of depending themselves; forces are distributed unequally. In such times the Goetheanum Leadership calls on people to create the foundations for the work of the next years, so that the effect of anthroposophy in the world can be enhanced. Listening, observing, acting - lightness exercise Paul Mackay from to the Goetheanum s Executive Council defines the step that needs taking as joining in with transforming the world. Matthias Girke, the new leader of the Medical Section, identifies aspects that are necessary for such transformation; they include a culture of taking responsibility, of joy, of spiritual balance, of loyalty to the impulse, and of gratitude. Various ways As the conference unfolded, various methods were used to help people enter into conversation and, hopefully, arrive at shared conclusions: speaking of one s own experiences, sharing a group with people from a different field of work, practising self-reflection, scrutinizing one s own actions and fostering an inner culture what helps is working systematically on the motifs of the Foundation Stone Meditation; or absorbing art in other words, selfless devotion to an experience. Due to the complex structure of the conference we can only present an overview of essential aspects in this issue. Plans are afoot for a more in-depth documentation. Sebastian Jüngel Photo: Sebastian Jüngel

2 2 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 11/16 corrections and clarification Corrections Not the Council: In Anthroposophy Worldwide 7 8/2016, page 13, Uwe Mos wrote about the Meditation Group in Bad Nauheim (DE). In his report he mentioned an invitation by the Council of the anthroposophical group (Arbeitszentrum) in Frankfurt (DE). Barbara Messmer from the Kollegium (council) of the Arbeitszentrum Frankfurt and Uwe Mos wrote: The invitation for a conversation with the Meditation Group was not extended by any of the Arbeitszentrum organs. According to the minutes it must have come from some other committee which is, however, no longer identifiable. address: In Anthroposophy Worldwide 10/2016, page 10, the address of director Wolfgang Dornwald was incorrect. The correct address is dornwald-w@versanet.de Von or not von? There were queries regarding the attribute von in Erika von Baravalle s name (see obituary in Anthroposophy Worldwide 10/2016, page 15). According to information given to Henrik Hilbig by Erika von Baravalle, Albert von Baravalle dropped the nobiliary article when he acquired Swiss citizenship in the 1930s. Sebastian Jüngel 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 Editors: Sebastian Jüngel (responsible for this edition), Michael Kranawetvogl (responsible for the Spanish edition), Margot M. Saar (responsible for the English edition). Address: Wochenschrift Das Goetheanum, Postfach, 4143 Dornach, Switzerland, Fax , info@dasgoetheanum.ch Correspondents/news agency: Jürgen Vater (Sweden), News Network Anthroposophy (NNA). We expressly wish for active support and collaboration. Subscriptions: To receive Anthroposophy Worldwide please apply to the Anthroposophical Society in your country. Alternatively, individual subscriptions are available at CHF 30.- (EUR/US$ 30.-) per year. An version is available to members of the Anthroposophical Society only at , General Anthroposophical Society, Dornach, Switzerland goetheanum Goetheanum World Conference II The bridge is built as we walk At the beginning of the Goetheanum World Conference, which was held from 27 September to 1 October, the members of the Goetheanum Leadership gathered on the stage, a large bowl suspended in front of them. One by one, representatives of the fields of life brought flowers and laid them into the bowl, expressing their blessings for the conference before taking their place next to the Leadership members. Inside: blessings a bowl full of blossoms The members of the leadership also added their flowers to the bowl. When the bowl was pulled up it was filled with blossoms. Because of its transparency one could now see the flowers from behind. They looked like a star constellation. How do the unforeseeable patterns of human actions relate to the eternal laws of the stars? Plant of the day Ueli Hurter spoke of the two opposite streams of time. The bowl installation by Herbert Dreiseitl helped everyone to experience what the conference was about: the breathing between periphery and centre, the interaction of depth and heights, the confluence of the streams from past and future. The six directions meet and penetrate each other in one point. In the course of the following mornings the interaction of the various directions was made visible in detail when the Foundation Stone Meditation was performed in eurythmy presentation. The lectures explored the question of how these movements can be carried out in the various areas of life. The mornings prepared the ground for the conference. From the roots of the eurythmy presentations and the morning lectures the plant of the day could grow, nurtured by the diversity of conversations in the work groups, specialist groups and plenary meetings, and finally blossoming in the evenings, through music, drama and eurythmy. On the last evening, scenes from Faust took us back to the witch s kitchen of everyday life. Stepping into the uncertain When the conference drew to a close on the last day, Paul Mackay said that we could now take a courageous step into the uncertain. I had to think of Seamus Heaney delivering his Nobel lecture Crediting Poetry, saying that he trusted poetry with allowing him to walk on air. Even as a Harvard professor the Irish farmer s son never lost his deep connection with the earth. His poetry gives permanence to fleeting sense impressions. Condensed memories allow him to penetrate to the sources of the pure water of life without losing the ground beneath his feet. Now he dares to leave the fluid element of life behind and walk only on the air of the soul breath. When I spoke of this during the terrace conversations, Siegfried Beck quoted two lines from a poem by Lama Govinda, The bridge builds itself as we walk/ The bridge is our own self. Let us, just like the poet whom poetry enables to walk on air, enter the earth more deeply through the Foundation Stone, trusting that, in the other person, anthroposophy will come towards us. Martin Kollewijn, Berlin (DE) Photo: Sebastian Jüngel

3 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 11/16 3 Goetheanum World Conference II Being present in the present Farewells at the station in Dornach. Many, many friends, relaxed or slightly rushed, about to embark on a journey, the destination still distant, the impressions of four days of Turning Point of Times experiences in hearts and suitcases. A quick glance at the station clock: three minutes to go. where diversity comes into its own, devotedly, but also with fixed ideas that may in the end lead to changes being judged or even condemned as deviations from the truth. And what did Doctor Steiner teach us? (this was not verbalized), Not even the truth should be produced out of pure human predilection. (GA 190, p. 217) How right he is. One minute to go. Terrace conversations: meeting person to person There were the square red mats on the floor of the Goetheanum Terrace, around each of which according to the instructions of the scriptwriters four conference members had the chance to get to know one another. This was no time for small-talk. Their brief was to find answers to the questions: What is my challenge, my main focus? What is our challenge? What is the challenge of our time? Eye contact was made, with anyone, from anywhere; thoughts were put into words just like that. No one had any kind of membership or importance ex officio stamped on their forehead. The social worker stood next to the general secretary, the non-member next to a class reader, the eurythmist next to the branch leader. Pure life. Why worry about the General Anthroposophical Society, the School of Spiritual Science and the fields of applied anthroposophy drifting apart? The terrace conversations have taught us that we need less form, and that with less form we gain more life. Two minutes to go. A work-group experience The topic: the anthroposophical understanding of science and the context of anthroposophy. Attended by many clever, beautiful and committed people. The process: wide arches were built, across the philosophical eras, some slightly verbose. In the end one of the speakers pleaded for a dialogical principle, another suggested that one needs to focus more on the result of one s thinking process; one listener put it in a nutshell: it s all about interest. And in the second round a speaker summarized it in a few clear and concise words: anthroposophy was constituted as a science. It has two legs to stand on: its method is the understanding of the philosophizing mind through itself (theory of knowledge), its content the investigation and presentation of the supersensible. What moves us in connection with the supersensible? It s as easy as that. The research question is therefore not: what has Rudolf Steiner told us about earlier earthly lives, spiritual hierarchies and the evolution of the cosmos, nature and the human being, but: what, in connection with the supersensible, moves me to such an extent that I am willing to focus my research on it? That we consult Rudolf Steiner s observations as well as those of other great thinkers is what makes this pursuit scientific. The same work group had as its subsidiary topic the question of truth. This is Photo: Sebastian Jüngel A plenary experience Friday: young people of under thirty were asked onto the stage. Around twenty came one chair was missing. Their contributions were at times as committedly vague as those of the more seasoned members. But then a question came from a young woman: why do we speak so little about the present? An answer was not expected. Reference had been made to the more or less distant past throughout the conference and the future had been summoned repeatedly, but there seemed no space for the present. And anyway: What wants to come to us from the future that had been the great dramatic gesture during the conference, enigmatically present, but never really addressed. We would do well to talk of, and out of, the present because the past has long arrived in the present and its immediacy doubtlessly deserves more attention. And the future has also partially arrived, as the sustainability debate shows, sometimes vaguely and sometimes with great clarity. In 1947 the American artist Barnett Newman tried to stir up the world with his famous essay The Sublime is Now. This is a message that anthroposophists above all should understand. That the present is not something given to us but that it needs seeking out we learn from Rudolf Steiner s lecture of 28 January 1923, We do not need to carry more and more history into the present. It is much more important that we become representatives of our time. This awareness needs to arise in the souls of anthroposophists. (GA 220, p. 196) The conclusion is that we need to be spiritually present in the present! 10 seconds to go. And then there was the weather, of course. It couldn t have been nicer. Good timing. Thank you! Walter Kugler, Dornach (CH)

4 4 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 11/16 Goetheanum Goetheanum World Conference IV New connections have been established Hardly two weeks have passed since the Goetheanum World Conference and the conference still resonates vibrantly in the members of the preparatory group who have experienced the strength that lives in each person who is active in the anthroposophical movement. Constanza Kaliks was not present for this review because she was abroad. Sebastian Jüngel: What is for you the outcome of this conference? Ueli Hurter: We have created a temporal structure and were able to fill it in a way that made it possible to connect with it inwardly. We may have created an archetype that can be used again in the future. We were carried by the three motifs of Spirit Recalling, Spirit Awareness and Spirit Beholding from the Foundation Stone Meditation, preceded by the appeal to the Human Soul and followed by the wish that good may become. Christiane Haid: I was impressed by the farmer who, initially, found the Foundation Stone Meditation inaccessible, but said afterwards, Only now I understand my compost! The conference has given impulses to many people and enhancement to their work. Paul Mackay: I have always seen the Anthroposophical Society, the School of Spiritual Science and the fields of applied anthroposophy as a threefold structure that needs to be given coherence. I better understand Rudolf Steiner s statement now that the School of Spiritual Science is the soul of the Society. By entering deeply into the conference I have experienced how human spiritual striving, the waking up through the other person, the acting out of a love for the deed, were in harmony. Creating a listening space out of the I Wolfgang Held: What has changed? Hurter: Practising dialogue is something relatively new at the Goetheanum. Speaking out of the I into the intimate listening space that the other I forms, as a You, makes it possible to heal the latent poisoning through excessive selfreference. Mackay: I had the experience that there are people in the anthroposophical movement who are ready to get involved. A thought is introduced (an opening question for instance, see page 2), which is immediately picked up and people enter into it. Usually there are first long discussions on whether the question is adequate. Hurter: Bringing together people from so many different regions, spiritual backgrounds, life situations and generations was a risk. I was anxious and asked myself whether this could ever work. We usually tend to have the experience that talking about general anthroposophical issues comes across as dry and laboured. Normally it is easier to focus on concrete section issues. But it worked. Mackay: Because we could work in groups new relationships were formed. Somehow one felt more accepted and perceived. It is good to see that conversations which don t focus on a specialist area take on a more human dimension. Haid: It was clear from the first day: there is not the Goetheanum Leadership on the one side and the audience on the other, but we are all working together as colleagues. We all work together Held: But there were contributions from the Goetheanum Leadership on the last day. Hurter: Yes, we had planned and intended this we wanted to echo the intensive consultations of the preceding three days. But we also realized in retrospect that we could have been more open to contributions from colleagues who are not members of the Goetheanum Leadership. We were also quite tired by then. Mackay: Nothing can be achieved now without dialogue. This means: in everything I do the other is always included. This has to do with the karmic aspect. What social alchemy is necessary so that initiatives can be put into practice? This reaches right into the structures of the Goetheanum Leadership. Haid: The plenary sessions could have allowed for more substantial aspects to be aired. By doing away with instructions or goals we moved from an idea-oriented to a will-oriented approach. It is now up to each individual to see which seed takes hold and grows in their souls and whether he or she decides to nurture this seed. The Goetheanum is the place where one becomes aware of one s inner orientation which one can then take hold of and actively shape. Hurter: For me there are clearly three dimensions to the School of Spiritual Science. The conference has given me the certainty that they are not in competition but rather complement each other. These dimensions are: responding to the needs of our time (this reveals the fruitfulness of anthroposophy); the renewal of the Delphi words Know Yourself (which show me that the sensory world is unable to answer the question I have about my incarnation); the School of Spiritual Science as part of a general academic landscape that we belong to with our own way of conducting research and teaching. These three aspects provide a space that we need to learn to keep open so that it can be filled. Jüngel: Membership numbers have gone up recently (see page 15) and new arrivals exceed the number of people who have withdrawn or passed away. Does that have anything to do with the conference? Were there conference members who joined spontaneously? Mackay: No, not to our knowledge. Held: Is there a tune that, for you, resounds through the conference? Hurter: The music we heard on the first evening (page 5), which showed us that it was not accessible to untrained ears. But we were given an excellent introduction. Mackay: For me it was the work on the Foundation Stone Mediation every morning with Stefan Hasler and the eurythmists and speech artists. You see a large stage with a few people and it radiates out! Haid: The moments when we did eurythmy together were special. When I heard the sound of the brass instruments at the end I experienced the harmony of everything that had lived in the auditorium during the week. Hurter: I had really fruitful conversations during the breaks: knots could be dissolved and future perspectives opened up. ó

5 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 11/16 5 Goetheanum World Conference V Christ between Lucifer and Ahriman As a musical contribution to the Michaelmas Conference the Neue Orchester Basel, conducted by Christian Knüsel, performed, as part of the Goetheanum World Conference, The Path of Life, a half-hour long symphonic fantasy by the Czech composer and anthroposophist Alois Hába ( ). Michael Kurtz, who is responsible for music in the Section for the Performing Arts, discovered this piece when he conducted research into Steiner s relationship with music. Alois Hábea had been invited to the first conference for musicians at the Goetheanum in There he met anthroposophy for the first time and, above all, saw Rudolf Steiner s wooden sculpture which made a deep impression on him. In the following years he studied Steiner s work intensively and decided to express the theme of the group sculpture Christ between Lucifer and Ahriman in music. His composition was finished in In 1934 it was first performed in Winterthur, under the baton of Hermann Scherchen. Antagonistic forces working together The Path of Life must not be misunderstood as some kind of programme music. In a letter to Marie Steiner Alois Hába wrote in December 1933 that, after seven years of inner preparation, he now felt capable of expressing in purely musical form and in temporal sequence the spiritual content represented in the Christ statue, and he asked her permission to dedicate his opus to the memory of Rudolf Steiner. Since the beings and forces portrayed in the wooden sculpture are present and effective everywhere in life, also in music, Hába sought them out in the musical elements and means of expression and he composed a seven-part musical process, a path. This path was to allow the listener to directly experience the drama of life, its hardening and dissolving one-sidednesses, the paradoxical cooperation of antagonistic forces and the ever new search for a balance that is essential for surviving. Before the performance began, Stefan Hasler, the leader of the Section for the Performing Arts, gave an introduction to the work that he had prepared together with the author of this article. The backdrop to the stage was Walther Roggenkamp s painted realization of the Representative of Humanity from the cupola of the first Goetheanum. The listeners were meant to remain aware, right down to the visual image, of the fact that in life as well as in music these three beings are always present together none of them ever appears in isolation. It is just that the emphasis can shift from one to the other. Seven-part musical process: from the score of The Path of Life by Alois Hába Complex entities Stefan Hasler then asked the orchestra to play various passages from the score. By isolating individual parts he showed how Alois Hába used melody and rhythm or particular instruments in order to express one of the three forces in a way that made any conceptual explanation redundant. He also showed how Hába kept combining or composing these elements by using counterpoint, inner transformation and mutual penetration to create multi-layered entities and evolving processes. Stefan Hasler then asked the audience once they had heard the individual passages to bring them together inwardly, before the orchestra played them again, a process that enhanced the listening quality. He also made us experience by letting us repeatedly listen to the first bars of this piece how Alois Hába always worked with the twelve tones in their totality, deriving ever new forms from them, in the horizontal melodious lines as well as in the vertical consonance. Ever new forms are the key to Hába s way of composing. He refers to his style as athematic (as opposed to the motivic-thematic work we are familiar with in music) which means that no theme or motif ever appears repeatedly, not even as a variation. This is very demanding for the listener who can never relate what he hears to something he remembers hearing before. But he can experience music as a progression of changing forms across time. Considering the complexity and length of The Path of Life this introduction was a real help for many listeners, saving them from being overtaxed by their first experience of this work. Pictures by Dorothea Templeton The same effect was achieved by the pictures Dorothea Templeton had painted for the seven parts of the composition and which replaced the backdrop during the performance. They were projected, each with the corresponding musical passage, onto a large screen above the orchestra, adding a certain degree of structure. The performance had been prepared with unusual commitment by the orchestra and its conductor and was not only of a very high standard, but had a density that directly transferred itself to the audience, so that many listeners spontaneously expressed how touched, even shaken, they were by the experience. The impact the music had was also apparent in the fact that it continued to permeate the entire conference. Good to know that the work will be performed again next Easter by the same musicians. Felix Lindenmaier, Dornach (CH)

6 6 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 11/16 School of Spiritual Science Medical Section: New section leaders Matthias Girke and Georg Soldner Comprehensible, communicable, effective In September, Matthias Girke, internist and co-founder of the anthroposophic community hospital Havelhöhe in Berlin (DE), and his deputy Georg Soldner, paediatrician and head of the Academy for Anthroposophic Medicine in Munich, took over from Michaela Glöckler as leaders of the Medical Section at the Goetheanum. Sense of humour: Georg Soldner and Matthias Girke Sebastian Jüngel: Your appointment as leaders of the Medical Section happened in a way that was unusually transparent for the School of Spiritual Science: in autumn 2014 Michaela Glöckler asked her colleagues in the anthroposophic-medical movement to suggest possible candidates. Once you had both been nominated by the members of the International Coordination of Anthroposophic Medicine (IKAM), those active in the anthroposophic-medical movement were invited to think about this proposal and suggest aspects or alternatives if they wished. How did you feel about this? The proposal might have been turned down, after all. Four involved in the decision Matthias Girke: I am immensely grateful that this has been a communal decision rather than one that the movement had to put up with. It means that we feel supported by the entire movement. Georg Soldner: After receiving the proposal we sat down with our wives and considered, the four of us together, what it means to take on such an office. It turned out that our wives are prepared to carry this decision with us Girke: and that we will continue to be in active contact with medicine and with the patients. Soldner: I will go on working as a physician and as a lecturer at the Academy in Munich one week every month. Matt hias Girke will be in Berlin one week per month in order to work in the hospital and with outpatients, and to see to other tasks. Photo: Heike Sommer Support services Jüngel: What made you agree to give up your work in favour of this new office? Girke: The close cooperation of the therapeutic professions (physicians, therapists, nurses, pharmacists) is something very close to my heart. Being leader of the Medical Section involves the perception, support and inspiration of the development of anthroposophic medicine in many countries. The leadership of the Medical Section is the heart that perceives what is happening in the world and that gives impulses. It serves the whole, in other words. This is why, at Havelhöhe Community Hospital, we refer to the leading organs as the support services. Soldner: For me this office is only a realistic option because we can share it between the two of us. I find it important to support Matthias Girke. We have worked together well for twelve years on the board of the German Anthroposophic Medical Association. Jüngel: What medical achievements are indispensable for you? Girke: We have interventions that make it possible to offer gentle treatments to our patients. The healthcare we have in Germany seems like a first-class provision compared to other medical systems in the world. Soldner: My appreciation of mainstream medicine begins when I go to the dentist. Healthy teeth play an important part in the ever growing life expectancy. Who would like to have the kind of dental treatment that was available a hundred years ago? But the one-sided strengths are also weaknesses. The technical perfection seems to work against itself. Antibiotics are a good example. They have been developed in the past eighty years, proving triumphant in the treatment of serious infectious diseases. But then they were abused by being increasingly administered for simple infections and in factory farming. Today their effectiveness is endangered the number of people dying from bacterial infections that no longer respond to treatment is rising. Our coexistence on this planet with the world of bacteria to which we owe the foundations of life is endangered. Perspectives of humanity Jüngel: What are the most urgent tasks? Girke: In anthroposophic medicine the human being is at the centre of diagnosis and therapy. It is problematic, however, when we present our approach as an extended medicine because it implies that our other medical colleagues are inferior because they do not strive for this extension. It is an attribute we should avoid. The title of Rudolf Steiner s and Ita Wegman s fundamental book on medicine speaks of an extended medicine, but the term does not go back to either of the two authors. Soldner: If we do not complement the onesided strengths of mainstream medicine with a medicine that considers the whole human being, we will end up with a medicine that is increasingly driven by technological and economic considerations, where the human dimension, in the physician-patient relationship, for instance, or in nursing, will gradually disappear. The patients need to be at the centre of medicine; they can often contribute crucially to improving or healing their own condition. While many acute diseases can now initially be controlled by medical technology, the number of chronic diseases keeps rising. Without the active in-

7 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 11/16 7 volvement of the patients in overcoming a chill or dealing with cardio-vascular disease a purely technological medicine will not be able to solve the health problems and will become increasingly unaffordable. Jüngel: What is the direction medicine needs to take? Girke: We need interventional medicine but we also need a medicine that supports the patient s own health potential with therapy and that sees the human being as an evolving spiritual being. Psychosomatic medicine considers both body and soul. We need a medicine that respects life as an independent principle and that respects the spiritual dimension of human beings. This is the particular strength and the essential cultural impulse of anthroposophic medicine. Soldner: The same is true for our medicines. They strengthen and regulate the life forces and support the activity of the patient s mental-spiritual individuality, helping him or her to overcome illness. Coordination as a primary task Jüngel: The Medical Section at the Goetheanum encompasses many different fields: 22 professional groups at present. Why does one hardly ever hear of any research activities? Soldner: Integrating the professional groups is a primary task of the Medical Section. This includes the network of therapists and nurses, the coordination of training courses, shared curricula and the globally standardized certification of professional groups, down to the recognition in the various countries. Without such coordination the global development and recognition of anthroposophic medicine cannot be achieved. There is growing clinical research and basic research in anthroposophic medicine. Apart from the communication and coordination of the main research questions, it is one of the most important tasks of anthroposophic medicine to strengthen the connection between research and training, the medical practice and PR work. Over and above that, we intend to support and give impulses to research and teaching in the context of the key issues identified by the Section. Girke: Focusing on particular topics which have been discussed during the board meetings of the international physicians associations and are being worked on within IKAM is vital for the further development of anthroposophic medicine. We need to ask, where are there needs today to which anthroposophic medicine, with its particular possibilities and potential, can respond in an effective way? We have identified the following five key areas for anthroposophicmedical practice, teaching and research: pregnancy, birth, childhood the treatment of fever and acute infections without using antibiotics unnecessarily mental illness: anxiety, sleep disorders, depression cancer pain treatment and palliative care We need a culture where the professional groups can work together; we need representative research; we need the patients and we need PR. And we need to work together with the pharmacists. Soldner: An academic institution like the School of Spiritual Science needs research as well as teaching. The anthroposophicmedical movement has created many training opportunities. Michaela Glöckler has developed the IPMT (International Postgraduate Medical Training) and held these courses in so far 25 countries who asked for them. She also helped to create the necessary structures in the various participating countries. We would like to continue this work that promotes the independence of the various countries and supports the cooperation of trainers worldwide. Ethical orientation Jüngel: What do the different fields of anthroposophic medicine have in common? Soldner: Medicine always has to do with values. Anthroposophy as a science that is concerned with the knowledge of the spiritual dimension of human beings and the cosmos adds an ethical orientation that cannot be derived from technology. We ask about the meaning of human evolution. The life of a child with severe disabilities has meaning. We have seen during the Nazi period, for instance what happens when this meaning, when ethical values, are denied. The question of meaning, of underlying values, is always there in the medical practice, from prenatal diagnostics to end-of-life care. This is where we want to make a greater impact in society and make ourselves available. The Goetheanum as an academic institution with its various departments, or sections, has the task of promoting and conducting anthroposophic basic research. This applies to the Medical Section, too. Girke: And here we focus on three aspects: Anthroposophic Medicine must be comprehensible. Understanding requires that one connects with an impulse, a being, because only then a deepened understanding will be possible. Being communicable is a quality that goes further: a complicated mathematical truth may be comprehensible in principle, but it is not necessarily easy to communicate. We need a language in anthroposophic medicine that makes its approach and its spiritual dimension accessible to the public. And we need to be effective. This ranges from good documentations of individual cases to the growing number of good trials that prove the effectiveness of anthroposophic medicine. Comprehensibility has to do with the way I choose to take in anthroposophic medicine and how I connect with it. Communicability has to do with the way we fit in: that we don t try to be exclusive, because that will prevent us from moving forward. And effectiveness is a form of representation. These three main aspects reflect the three conditions for membership in the School of Spiritual Science and they are essential for our future development. Not all questions can be answered Jüngel: Is there anything that shows your lighter side? Girke: We like playing music as we have shown when we performed a trio with Michaela Glöckler at the International Medical Conference. It is no coincidence that music and medicine start with the same letter. Georg Soldner and I have two lovely daughters each and dear wives (from Switzerland and Silesia respectively) who are both nurses. Soldner: I am interested in the first impression we make on people. We often seem very serious; we know how to present things in clever and coherent ways and we may seem ambitious. It is a good exercise not to find an answer to every question and to show a cheerful face, so that people can say, They were friendly and they laughed Girke: they have a sense of humour Soldner: and they listened to me. ó

8 8 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 11/16 school of spiritual science Medical Section: Curative Education and Social Therapy Council Rüdiger Grimm retires Rüdiger Grimm, who has been Secretary of the Curative Education and Social Therapy Council for many years, will retire and pass on his duties to Jan Göschel, Bart Vanmechelen and Sonja Zausch at the end of the year. On 7 October he was honoured repeatedly. Sibylle and Rüdiger Grimm When Rüdiger Grimm s colleague Johannes Denger does cabaret, it is always very funny. He pointed to some surprising coincidences: Rüdiger Grimm is the third Secretary of the Curative Education and Social Therapy Council (after Hans Hasler and Johannes Denger himself); and he will have no less than three successors. Is the workload not manageable by one? During the International Curative Education and Social Therapy Conference at the Goetheanum Rüdiger Grimm pointed out that the Council was not even staffed minimalistically. His successors are going to share his job between them. A builder of bridges In his 21 years as Secretary of the Council Rüdiger Grimm created a multifaceted body of work. He coordinated the global movement for anthroposophic curative education and social therapy by travelling, advising, lecturing, offering seminars, and by again and again breathing new life into the various organs of the Council, such as the Training Council, to name but one. He published widely, including standard works on the content and history of anthroposophic special needs education. And it has always been important for him to build bridges, either through his publications or through his personal human commitment. He also co-founded the Institute for Curative Education and Social Therapy at the Alanus University in Alfter (DE) where he was professor of Theories and Methods in Special Needs Education. In 2010 he was awarded the prize of the Swiss Hedwig Stauffer Foundation for his ability to continue and deepen the ever growing dialogue and exchange with approaches and concepts in special needs education that are based on different ideas. During his time in office more and more countries began to send representatives to the Council. One representative from South America emphasized Rüdiger Grimm s contribution by saying that our profession gained new dignity. Again and again people praised his qualities: the ability to listen, to say things clearly, whilst always remaining modest and calm. Bodo von Plato from the Executive Council at the Goetheanum referred to the beauty of your humanity. Rüdiger Grimm will continue to work for the Council until the end of the year. He has made the conscious decision not to take on any duties yet for afterwards. Sebastian Jüngel Photo: Sebastian Jüngel Medical Section: Book on meditation in anthroposophic medicine Treasure trove Michaela Glöckler has collated several collections of meditations that are useful for the work in the Medical Section. Now she has published a comprehensive book structured according to the various professional groups: physicians, therapists, nurses as well as patients. The anthroposophical movement has a particular relationship with meditation: on the one hand it is something one practises quietly, while on the other one is given the impression that one does not talk about meditation. (Anthroposophy Worldwide 7-8, 2016, page 13). At the same time there is a whole wealth of meditations for all occasions as well as meditations for particular professional fields such as eurythmy, special needs education and medicine. Because no anthroposophical courses were offered in the past on how one meditates, many anthroposophical spiritual seekers made recourse to Zen meditation. Thanks to the global Goetheanum Meditation Initiative this has now changed. Causes With assistance from Dagmar Brauer, Karolin Steinke and Ulrich Meyer, Michaela Glöckler has created a standard work on meditations in anthroposophic medicine with contributions from 22 authors. (The book has just come out in German, but an English translation is underway). In a kind of book within the book Michaela Glöckler presents the foundations of the anthroposophical view of the human being and of spiritual science before she documents more general (or one could say: salutogenetic) and disease-specific meditations given by Rudolf Steiner. Her own contribution as well as those of the other authors on the role of meditation in the various professional fields of anthroposophic medicine show that the anthroposophical approach focuses primarily on strengthening the competence of the I in the soul. An in-depth dialogue with other approaches to meditation is therefore not so much in the foreground of this book. For the authors, becoming conscious of why one meditates is more important.

9 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 11/16 9 Conflict consultant Friedrich Glasl, for instance, says that meditation is often used as a form of inspirational technique for enterprises that are in constant global competition and under pressure to be innovative. For them, meditation is an instrument for performance enhancement. These and other utilitarian considerations can result in the one-sided strengthening of egotistical forces. While anthroposophic meditation is not entirely without purpose-orientation, it focuses also in medicine on strengthening the competence of the I so that one becomes better at serving others. Medical and therapeutic professionals strive to become susceptible to inspiration and intuition so they know what their patients need. After all therapy is not about acting according to some recipe but about understanding the particular life situation of each patient at a deeper level. Effects Arndt Büssing and Peter Heusser have contributed the results of their empirical investigations into the meditative approach of therapy groups, including the assessment of frequency, aspects of spirituality and the effect of meditation on coping with the work load, commitment and life satisfaction. Other articles illustrate that and how meditation works right into the members of the human organization and generally on the interaction of sensory and metabolic systems as well as physiologically on the regulation of stress parameters such as cortisol levels, the activation of the parasympathetic nervous system or the improvement of the immune system. This book is a treasure trove of meditations and information on how they can be imbedded in the professional practice, on inner attitude and on the practice of meditating itself. Sebastian Jüngel Michaela Glöckler (Hrsg.) Meditation in der Anthroposophischen Medizin Ein Praxisbuch für Ärzte, Therapeuten, Pflegende und Patienten Michaela Glöckler (ed.): Meditation in der Anthroposophischen Medizin. Ein Praxisbuch für Ärzte, Therapeuten, Pflegende und Patienten, 274 pages, 48 Euro, Salumed-Verlag, Berlin 2016 General Anthroposophical Section: Anthroposophical Studies in English Fifteen Year Reunion Around 40 alumni including the very first student on the course attended the reunion at the Goetheanum on 6 August. Virginia Sease introduced Joan Sleigh to all those who took the course prior to Alumni of the Anthroposophical Studies in English Gathering in the Rudolf Steiner Halde, forming the largest circle the room holds, sitting under the photographs of Rudolf Steiner and the original Vorstand were the Anthroposophical Studies in English directors Dr Virginia Sease and Joan Sleigh, subject teachers, friends of the programme and students (some having brought their children). Each shared briefly their country of origin, where their studies have taken them and a look toward the future. There were musical contributions, songs sung and time to remember those who have crossed the threshold. The celebration ended with a visit inside the Goetheanum to view the wooden model of the First Goetheanum and the carved statue of the Representative of Humanity. In reflecting: destiny led a Californian to Camphill s Social Therapy training; an Englishman and his Italian partner transformed a vineyard into a biodynamic award-winning producer; the young mother took the Waldorf Teacher Training and founded a Waldorf School Initiative for the community; the concert pianist from Bulgaria landed a position at the Goetheanum and performs internationally; the young man from Hawaii became a doctor; the couple from French Quebec inspired their children to enroll the grandchildren in a Waldorf School; a eurythmy therapist broadened her practice; a hospital nurse from Japan is now a nurse for a Waldorf School; the man from Finland has authored a couple of books on consciousness; a woman from the Czech Republic worked at the Lukas Clinic everyone, from all over the world, continues their path. A balanced curriculum Some stayed on in Dornach to study at the Painting School, others took Eurythmy or Speech, and some turned a specific question to one of the Sections. All 200 students who have participated in the programme have a story, whether in attendance at the reunion or via correspondence. Many have become Society members/class members of the School of Spiritual Science. The strength of the Anthroposophical Studies programme is the balanced curriculum between the works of Rudolf Steiner, the artistic courses, the weekly guest speakers, excursions and space for individual projects, all in the midst of the historic buildings and gardens on the Goetheanum hill. If you or someone you know would benefit from the Anthroposophical Studies in English at the Goetheanum please apply. Finances? Where there is a will there is a way tell others your goal, let the local Branch know the desire, start a Go-Fund me page, write a letter with your application because as Goethe said, Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now. Beverly Martin, Capitola, (California/US), student at the Goetheanum from 2001 to 2003 Photo: Philip Martyn

10 10 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 11/16 Goetheanum Goetheanum Stage: Mystery Dramas Living with the Mystery Dramas From Japan to Europe to America people are living and working with and on Rudolf Steiner s Mystery Dramas, either for themselves or with others. After a break of two years, the project ensemble (Projektensemble Mysteriendramen) will perform the tetralogy again during the Christmas Conference from 27 to 31 December Between 2008 and 2010 an independent project ensemble, with Gioia Falk as artistic director and Christian Peter as scene director, staged a new production of all four mystery plays at the Goetheanum. In addition, it has been possible, with the help of the German Anthroposophical Society and other supporters of initiatives, to offer guest performances of all four plays in Germany and Switzerland. Most ensemble members pursue many other tasks in life, in various places, and meet on special occasions to work on the plays. This is a challenging situation if one strives to work continually on penetrating the substance of these dramas. The mystery plays as stories Having worked for nine years on the mystery dramas, eight of the ensemble members now feel the need to enter even more deeply into the plays as they approach the next cycle of performances. The idea is to tell each other the biographies of the individual characters based on the experience of having lived with the plays. Life motifs that accompany the individual characters of the play through several millennia could be taken hold of in a new way: depression and isolation, the experience of separation, error, yearning, doubt, the attempt to penetrate the mystery of one s own life, mutual support, loving affection, the need for structure, striving for community and the affinity with the spiritual world. These motifs of life in the physical world lead us into the inner worlds of the individual characters. This is where the drama really takes place. The inhibiting or accelerating forces, which are at work in human beings, are portrayed on stage as spiritual beings. All the characters struggle with them: Maria, Benedictus, Johannes Thomasius, Capesius, Strader, Theodora, Felix and Felicia Balde, and Hilary. For thousands of years they struggle for inner peace and balance individually and in conjunction with others. In each moment of this struggle spiritual beings are present: this becomes ever more apparent as the dramatic action unfolds. The example of Johannes Thomasius (sketch) Ancient Egypt. A young woman despairs because she has lost her lover to priesthood. As his initiation progresses, the young woman waits outside the temple walls, longing for her lover. Hibernia (Ireland). Deeply moved, a young woman lies at the feet of a man who brings the message of Christ to her pagan people (he used to be her lover in Egypt). An unnamed time. A warrior eager for fame and glory causes much bloodshed. When his fate turns as he gets older, he is mocked and ridiculed by his compatriots. He wants to take revenge but realizes that he is no longer able to do this. He joins a spiritual teacher whom he reveres and overcomes the hatred and greed for glory in his soul. The Middle Ages. When Thomas the miner is still a child, his father leaves the family and joins the Order of the Temple. Soon his mother dies of a broken heart. Thomas and his sister are taken to different foster families and lose contact. Thomas meets a Christian monk whom he deeply reveres and whose teachings become very meaningful for him. (The monk is the lover of the young Egyptian woman). He is cast into a deep moral dilemma when he finds himself unable to combine the spiritual convictions of his father s order with the church teachings of the monk he worships. He turns away from his father. The young woman he wishes to marry turns out to be his sister. The present (the beginning of The Portal of Initiation). Johannes Thomasius is a happy and artistically gifted child. As a young adult he leaves his girlfriend when he meets and falls in love with Maria. (Maria is the monk in the Middle Ages). Through Maria he meets the spiritual teacher Benedictus and his circle. After ten years together he no longer feels love for Maria nor does he find access to or trust in Benedictus spiritual teachings and spiritual path. Photo: Goetheanum-Bühne This is where the real inner biography of Johannes Thomasius begins. At the end of The Soul s Awakening, as he searches through meditation and attains peace of soul he returns to the young Egyptian woman. Many years have passed since the story began. Sharing experiences There are therapists and biography counsellors who derive inspiration for their work from the four mystery dramas. Some authors and theatre professionals have lately discussed (most recently Judith von Halle) or staged (Christopher Marcus in 1999, Mark Levene currently) a continuation of the storyline. Are the mystery dramas for them a source for the effective development of anthroposophy? Write to us for a fruitful exchange and to share details of your experiences and projects! Jens-Bodo Meier, Dornach (CH) Contact: mysteriendramen@goetheanum.ch Performances during the Christmas Conference on Rudolf Steiner s four mystery dramas (Rudolf Steiners vier Mysteriendramen. Tempelbau und Gesellschaftsbildung aus der Weltenmitternacht) from 27 to 31 December 2016 (in German only), Goetheanum. Info:

11 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 11/16 11 Portraying Ahriman: Werner Barfod during the dress rehearsal of The Guardian of the Threshold (2010) Ahriman s being Rudolf Steiner tells us that Ahriman is active, that he is busy on the earth, we just need to look out for him and he lets Ahriman say in scene 12 of The Soul s Awakening, Still, Strader may not yet look through the maze / of spirit that appears to men as Nature. / He ll not perceive in it my spirit baggage, / supposing rather that he sees blind weavings / of energy and matter there where I, / denying spirit, spiritually create. Complexity Again and again we stand shaken before Ahriman s complexity: he is the rightful lord of death, of the human being s earthly-watery physical substance and of the floods, earth quakes, volcanic eruptions etc. on the earth. His world is that of measurements and numbers, of order in all things and in the mechanical interaction of forces: as the basis of our worldwide web culture! The idea of a mechanistic image of the human being where all processes can be explained with atomistic theories or, at best, as oscillatory phenomena. Alert and hyperconscious When one portrays Ahriman in eurythmy, one needs presence of mind, a radiant brightness of hyperconscious alertness; one needs to take hold of the speech gesture as if from the outside, from the periphery, being ready before the speech starts Rudolf Steiner gives Ahriman a full yellow dress; even warm-golden when he is in his kingdom in the eighth sphere. And yet, the gestures are hard, cold, fast, alert, sharp, almost crystalline; forms condensed from the periphery in a multitude of ways. Werner Barfod, Dornach (CH) As seen by a member of the audience Mysteries of this kind in every town The new production of Rudolf Steiner s four mystery dramas by the Goetheanum Project Ensemble has been shown in Germany and Switzerland. Matthias Mochner attended several performances in Berlin (DE) and Dornach (CH) and thinks that these plays speak to the soul as expressions of the new mysteries. It is an intrinsic aspect of the four Mystery Dramas, which we have received through and from Rudolf Steiner, that we only gain access to their content in experiencing them. It can easily be overlooked that they are dramas which speak of mysteries. But mysteries only reveal themselves to us when we strive for knowledge and inner transformation. If we experience Rudolf Steiner s language in these dramas as difficult, this is because they are modern mysteries and we first need to open ourselves to them and enter into them, before we can gain access to their content. A question of attitude If one accepts that the new foundation of the General Anthroposophical Society at the Christmas Conference of in Dornach was also the foundation of the new mysteries, one might ask oneself as one watches the dramas where their mystery aspect is to be found. One answer could be: In the attitude with which one approaches them. It is well known that Rudolf Steiner, in speaking of the remarkable origin of these dramas, pointed out that the constellation of individuals portrayed in them did not reflect the karmic relationship of the audience members, but depicted the very particular situation of a historical community of people at an extraordinary and rare point in the evolution of humanity. The considerable research literature available on the four mystery dramas after more than a hundred years of performances and the lively work on them by the most diverse groups of people in many places in the world up to the present time illustrate that the reality of these dramas speaks to something within the human soul that would like to be fostered through the new mysteries. Maybe the poet Christian Morgenstern ( ) had this evolutionary point in mind when, on 24 August 1913, he wrote to his friend, the actor, writer and composer Friedrich Kayssler ( ), with the impressions of the performance still fresh in his mind, Steiner s Mystery [ ] is not a play; it reflects spiritual worlds and truths. It heralds perchance under the birth pangs of a first work [ ] a new stage, a new artistic era. This era is still distant; hundreds of years may pass before the number of those who wish for this purely spiritual art has grown sufficiently so that such mysteries can be shown and received in a dignified way in every city but here in the Portal it has its historic starting point: we are witnessing its birth. Extraordinary Since 2008 the members of this ensemble have come together to produce these dramas. Some members of the original cast have crossed the threshold to the spiritual world since then. It is extraordinary how the project ensemble makes every effort to overcome obstacles and to cultivate a spiritual continuity in bringing the Mystery Plays to the stage. As an audience member one wishes to honour such efforts by being present, particularly since the collaboration of the ensemble members has matured and continues to develop further. We can look forward to witnessing the progress of this impulse in December 2016, when the Mystery Dramas will be performed again at the Goetheanum. Matthias Mochner, Berlin (DE)

12 12 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 11/16 anthroposophical society Canada: Encountering our Humanity Conference Commitment is the best remedy against fear Nearly 240 participants, for the most part from Canada and the USA, gathered at the Cité Collégiale in Ottawa (Anthroposophy Worldwide 3/2016) from 7 to 14 August to take part in the weeklong Encountering our Humanity conference. The impressive array of activities was designed to bring together into an organic threefold whole all the major fields of anthroposophical endeavour. Each lecture given by a speaker from North America was coupled with a lecture by one of the five members of the Executive Council at the Goetheanum: Paul Mackay, Constanza Kaliks, Bodo von Plato, Joan Sleigh and Seija Zimmermann. Arie van Ameringen pointed out how scientists, from René Descartes on, are powerless to shed any light on the true nature of the human being other than by comparing man to an advanced animal or even a machine. By considering the human being as first and foremost a spiritual being, anthroposophy lays a solid groundwork for inner work (meditation) which allows human beings to remain human while facing the challenges of technology and the descent into sub-nature so characteristic of our times. Three experiences Younger participants helped me to focus on three moving accounts given during the conference. Michael Schmidt, a biodynamic farmer, has been campaigning for over 22 years for the right to distribute raw milk in a country where it is easier to obtain cocaine than raw milk. He had his farm seized by the authorities and has even chosen to spend time in prison. Michael told us how the courtroom became for him a theatre stage for human encounters in which adversaries are not necessarily enemies. Douglas Cardinal, the renowned architect, has created organically designed buildings for First Nations communities and has explored new avenues of urban architecture. Nigel Osborne, a British composer, created a programme of music therapy he used as a tool for the rehabilitation of children of refugees suffering from post-traumatic stress. Healing wounds The threefold nature of the emerging Canadian identity is always lurking in the background, including the First Nations, French and British influences and the multi-cultural and ethnically diverse population of the present day. Mention was made of the karmic debt incurred by Europeans in America regarding First Nations peoples. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has crossed the country from ocean to ocean trying to unearth the truth about the residential schools where aboriginal children were taken to be civilized. Wendy Charbonneau, an elder of the Squamish Nation, sounded with voice and drum a call for peace in her song Women are Gone eurythmists surrounded her on stage with a protective veil. The Canadian Correctional Service has now been encouraging meetings of inmates with members of the community, either in groups or on a one to one basis. By meeting face to face, both parties have the chance to break free from their inner prisons. But it is also necessary to be able to identify the opposing forces which keep human beings from truly meeting one another. Bert chase, architect and lecturer, calls these opposing forces beings of fragmentation (language, race, religion, gender, profession, etc.) Three performances of the Foundation Stone Meditation in eurythmy by the troupe from Spring Valley, as well as concerts and theatre performances all helped to enhance the week s exchanges. These included A Confession by Leon Tolstoy and excerpts from Shakespeare s A Midsummer Night s Dream. To this was added an art exposition featuring works by various North American artists who derive their inspiration from anthroposophy. There were also several musical compositions evoking the Grail, this lonely path along which one meets at the right time the person who can light one s way forward. Christ and Karma What does it mean to live in the 21st century with an underlying, insidious Exhibition from one of the artistic workshops sense that we are crushed, powerless? This was the question put by Paul Mackay. First of all, our personal karma is woven into the karma of the times, and vice versa. He then went on to explain how we think we are living in a time continuum, whereas in reality a break has occurred. One level of complexity can no longer be predicted by observing the previous level. This is the concept of emergence. This means that everything is open. In this searching for a new order of things, each one can gauge the abyss that separates the individual s actual experience from his ideal aspiration. Several questions came up concerning meditation (mindfulness), which can be distinguished from ordinary consciousness and is often confused with a nostalgic longing for oneness and a desire to dissolve into the great All. Anthroposophical meditation is on the other hand a tool for self-knowledge and, according to Constanza Kaliks, requires reuniting with the spiritual world through conscious effort. The new laws of karma, made available by Christ, give greater leeway to the community and to the individual. But we must avoid falling into the trap of activism or the desire to impose strict rules. It was exactly in order to counter these tendencies that Rudolf Steiner established the School for Spiritual Science, Photo: Richard Chomko

13 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 11/16 13 explains Bodo von Plato. As various initiatives were coming into being, Rudolf Steiner deplored the fact that his collaborators quoted his words but interpreted them in their own way, thus distancing them from their original meaning. These individuals were generally much too consumed by their own will forces, and their energy was quickly exhausted. Research The human I, which is still young, longs to unfold, and all our efforts are but a preparation for its development. Various researchers provided us with the results of their own work. Jonah Evans, a priest of the Christian Community, spoke of how religion, spirituality and meditation are three means of connecting with something greater than oneself, something which strengthens one s humanity. It is not a question of copying and pasting a set of given ideas, but rather of being constantly creative. Let us strengthen the good in order to better fight evil. Seija Zimmermann points out how we must concentrate on what keeps human beings healthy and not just on what makes them sick. It is worthy to note that the European branch of the World Health Organization has asked what Anthroposophic Medicine has to say about oncology, hypertension and infectious diseases in light of the fact that resistance to antibiotics has reached a critical point and people stricken with mild diseases are now in danger of dying. Raphael Seija Zimmerman explained how tragic life situations can stimulate us to awaken, to develop new qualities. This is awakening to Raphael. In our times, it seems easier to relate to Michael, the time spirit, than it does to find the path to Raphael, the spirit of healing (indicated to Ernst Lehrs by Rudolf Steiner). Indeed, meeting Raphael requires a level of consciousness which is cultivated especially in healthy relationships between human beings and created in the space living between them. In our present climate of insecurity, we must cultivate the courage of Michael to strengthen the consciousness soul; commitment is the best remedy against fear. And the more we connect with others, the less we are afraid. Michel Dongois, Montréal (CA) anthroposophy worldwide Switzerland: Michaelmas Festival The Michael being On 1 and 2 October a Michaelmas Festival was held at the Eurythmeum CH in Aesch (CH), directed by Gerti Staffend and Angela Locher with freelance artists who consider it important to celebrate Michaelmas. With Rudolf Steiner s Kosmischer Auftakt and Heiner Ruland s UrSkala the festival led us towards the cosmic source from where questions were explored such as: Where does Michael come from? And how does he get to us? The ensemble of eurythmists and speakers presented an extract from the first lecture of the cycle Initiate Consciousness (GA 243), about the birth of Michael (with music by Christain Ginat). In contrast to reading a lecture, its presentation in eurythmy makes its spiritual substance visible. Seeing this substance presented in this way means experiencing it with one s whole being. Deeper layers of understanding can be reached activity is stimulated. Light-filled earnestness Ruth Dubach wrote two Michaelmas poems for this festival. Their presentation in eurythmy conveyed inwardness and bright clarity. The radiant presentation of Rudolf Steiner s Michael Imagination brought me even closer to Michael s being. Speech choirs were weaving through the programme, for instance with the verse Stars Spoke Once to Human Beings (Rudolf Steiner) and the lecture on Michael s birth. The eurythmy performed to Jan Stuten s music for ten strings and piano, composed in 1926 in connection with the Michael School, took us to and beyond the threshold. All in all, I experienced this festival as a journey from the cosmos to humanity, a radiating out from the human heart to the Michael being. In her address, Gerti Staffend also included people who are in need or in challenging circumstances into the festival. The whole event was permeated by lightfilled earnestness, expanding resonance and deep spirituality a worthy and dignified beginning of this year s Michaelmas tide! Gabriela Jüngel, Dornach (CH) Globally: World Eurythmy Day From the early hours On 24 September 1912 Marie Steiner chose the name Eurythmy for the new art of movement developed by Rudolf Steiner. Aban and Dilnawaz Bana therefore initiated this date as the first World Eurythmy Day. Stefan Hasler, leader of the Section for the Performing Arts at the Goetheanum, fully supported the initiative and passed on the information in all directions. Soon, people heard of it all over the world and began to prepare for this day. People did eurythmy in schools or homes, on farms or in other institutions. Others practised it at home, with neighbours and friends, even at the station or on the beach, alone, in pairs, in smaller or larger groups. Most did Hallelujah, Evoe or other basic eurythmy forms. We had feedback from many countries, Australia for example, where people reported proudly that they were the first to receive the sun s rays and were therefore first in the world to start the eurythmy day! People who I met during the Goetheanum World Conference also told me about their experiences. Light and healing for the world I was lucky, because I was able to do eurythmy in Stuttgart (DE) in the morning and in Dornach (CH) in the evening on that day. Dilnawaz Bana, who had stayed in India, first did eurythmy at the Waldorf School in Mumbai (IN) with teachers, parents and friends and in the afternoon in a park in Powai (near Mumbai) with other interested people. Because the first World Eurythmy Day was a Saturday many institutions were closed. Next year the World Eurythmy Day 24 September 2017 will fall on a Sunday, which means that everything will need to be organized in good time. Every year on this day, people will commemorate eurythmy the art that has brought light and healing to the entire world. For this we thank Rudolf and Marie Steiner. Aban Bana, Mumbai (IN) Kontakte: abanbana123@rediffmail.com, sarosh.bana@gmail.com

14 14 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 11/16 forum 100 years of social threefolding Rights, law and justice Dealing with things that are alien to us is difficult, whether it is in our personal lives or in society at large. It needs legislation to create the necessary structures and conditions the application not just of laws but also of justice. We know the situations from our everyday lives, but also from conferences and meetings, when tensions arise because different people find different things important and embark on lengthy attempts at defending their views. Often we catch ourselves secretly sighing, This would all be so much easier without the others. The meaning of justice These experiences of dealing with others are no different in personal circumstances as in society at large, the only difference being that the arguments and conflicts tend to be even more dramatic in the latter case. In order to live our lives in socially acceptable ways, we look with hope to the legal system, which we expect to create order based on rules and laws and, if necessary, by interfering in the role of the powerful constitutional state. Legal life in this context means the political life.1 But the legal system generally demands more than just public law, when we think of contracts and associations, for instance. Justice is an even wider concept: it is more than just a general principle regulating the entire social organism ( it needs law and justice at all three levels 2); it is the central idea in the sphere of rights3 and even affects the way we interact with other people. It is essentially about meeting the demands of justice, also in our encounters with others, and about demanding of ourselves that we respect the dignity of others and recognize them, particularly in their otherness. No outer rules can guide us in this respect, but rather our sense of justice and what it tells us in a given situation by letting us feel whether things are right or unjust.4 A multitude of legal ideas This is about the moral right which legitimizes any laws we may establish and which, at the same time, provides the basic orientation in our everyday life. What we see as the law is therefore not restricted to our legal life or to the principle of equality. There is a whole cosmos of diverse legal ideas to discover that govern our ideas of justice in our interactions with others: respect, the freedom to unfold our individual potential, self-determination, reliability, empathy, selflessness. In parallel to the twelve worldviews in the sphere of thinking, there are principles that govern human relationships.5 From this we can derive fruitful guidelines for our practical life. These we need to observe, also in our institutions, if we want to avoid problems that will upset our community with others and undermine our initiatives. The task of doing justice to each other can only succeed if we are truly willing to enter into dialogue. We need reliable communication at eye level and the recognition of others as subjects whose initiatives and worldviews are truly important to us. We always need to have a sympathetic ear for others: audiatur et altera pars (let the other be heard as well). All our preconceptions need to take a backseat, so that we can come closer to each other in dialogue and find out that we cannot achieve anything without the other. A culture of dialogue The dialogue principle also applies to relationships in areas of life that lie below the constitutional level of the social organism, where they appear as inner orientations, relationships and the question of resources. For, naturally, we find these aspects as an expression of thinking, feeling and will at all levels of human interaction. But here, they relate differently to one another. Here it is not, as at the level of the state, about the separation in three self-administrative areas. In institutions self-administration is a task that all the organs need to take on together. This is why dialogue is needed here, irrespective of individual responsibilities: the organs of a school which are in charge of issues to do with teaching, rights and finances must not work in isolation but enter into dialogue as soon as an aspect concerning the others appears on their horizon: a culture of dialogue in the sphere of rights. The task we have is to permeate all areas of human interaction with law and justice. In the field of anthroposophy this is an endeavour that needs dialogue even if this dialogue consists in contradiction. Reinald Eichholz, Velbert (DE) 1 Rudolf Steiner: Der innere Aspekt des sozialen Rätsels (GA 193), p. 23 [Available in English as Problems of Society. An esoteric view from luciferic past to ahrimanic future. Forest Row 2016, tr. M. Barton] 2 Rudolf Steiner: Die Befreiung des Menschenwesens als Grundlage für eine soziale Neugestaltung (GA 329), p Gustav Radbruch: Rechtsphilosophie, Stuttgart 1973, p. 119 f. 4 Franz Bischoff: Die Erziehung zur Gerechtigkeit, in: Anthroposophie 245/ 2008, p. 211f. 5 Reinald Eichholz: Der Mensch im Recht das Recht im Menschen, Basel 2011, p. 97 f. 4 Nov Sept Christine Custer Eurythmy was the star that guided me into this incarnation. Even before my birth both my parents practised eurythmy. My father, a young architect, was allowed to perform the eurythmy he had developed on the stage of the First Goetheanum, under Marie Steiner; my mother was a pianist whose greatest wish it was to have a child who would devote her life to eurythmy. This is how I came to earth in Zurich (CH). In 1924 our house was built next to Haus Friedwart and I was to live in it for 70 years. From my third to my sixth year I was, as the first of many foster children, with Antonie Ganz, the gardener, who was employed by Rudolf Steiner to look after the Goetheanum park. At the age of three I attended the children s eurythmy. Finding eurythmy I spent six years at the Rudolf Steiner School in Basel a terribly difficult and wild child. I had great problems with the eurythmy teacher and therefore refused to go to the eurythmy lessons when I came to the Friedwart School, where I would stay for three years. But Marie Groddeck tamed my wildness with her iron strictness, with the result that, because of her style of teaching, I developed such enthusiasm for eurythmy that I professed after the first lesson, I want to be a eurythmist. At the outbreak of war I had to do the obligatory sixmonth housekeeping training at the Bündner Frauenschule in Chur (CH). Then I rebelled against having to stay in Romandy by applying for a job in the Goetheanum garden. One of my tasks there was to take

15 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 11/16 15 Goetheanum lettuce and vegetables to the soldiers who were billeted at the Goetheanum. In the following winter I helped in the house of relatives in Winterthur (CH) and in the spring I was employed as a private gardener in a Christian rehabilitation home in Hasliberg. I almost ended up training as a deaconess against my will, but my mother saved me by registering me at the eurythmy school of Isabella de Jaager. This is how I came to begin my eurythmy career at the age of 18, but it was very difficult because the war was still going on and I had to work to earn a living for instance for the Philosophisch-Anthroposophische Verlag. The English language After completing my eurythmy training, at the age of 22, I was offered a job at the Waldorf School in Ilkeston (GB). I prepared myself intensively for this task, but then received the message that it had all been a misunderstanding, that the eurythmy teacher there was not leaving after all and that they did not need me. I stayed in Dornach and was admitted to Marie Savitch s stage group, where I stayed for forty years. One of the highlights there was working with symphonies. Later the stage group was directed by Lea van der Pals, followed by Angela Locher. Apart from my stage work I also worked as a teacher at Lea von der Pals eurythmy school. I felt a strong karmic relationship with the English language and eurythmy jobs in other countries beckoned: from 1950 to 1951 in Camphill Scotland, where I taught the student teachers and developed programmes with the eurythmists that we then performed in the various houses. Later I was with Marguerite Lundgren in London where I taught and was part of the stage ensemble. Finally, I spent many seasons at the Spring Valley Eurythmy School in the United States. Whenever I went on tour I would explore the museums or churches in the towns we visited. During my numerous stays in London I was able to attend countless concerts and theatre and dance performances. Art trips The art trips to Greece, Turkey and Egypt I went on with two friends deeply enriched my life. As I grew weaker I withdrew from the stage at the age of 67, but retained my inner connection with this work. For many years I offered weekly tone eurythmy courses for trained eurythmists. My last professional undertaking was the work on the Foundation Stone Meditation in Milan. When I had to give up my beloved Custer house because of my advanced age, I moved into Haus Martin [a home for the elderly in Dornach]. From there I had wonderful views, from the Jura Mountains across to Basel, witnessing majestic spectacles of nature with magical colours and sublime, ever changing cloud formations, dramatic flashes of lightning and sparkling starry skies all gifts from God. From Christine Custer s memoirs (abridged) We have been informed that the following 52 members have crossed the threshold of death In their remembrance we are providing this information for their friends The Membership Office at the Goetheanum Iana Boyce Clinton Township / MI (US) in February 2015 Frank Tome South Pasadena / CA (US) im May 2015 Mette Bjerke Oslo (NO) 23 June 2015 Elaine Blount Kings Langley (AU) 24 July 2015 Berit Bergersen Kolbotn (NO) in 2015 Lorna King Largs (GB) 17 January 2016 Adriaan de Witt Chagrin Falls/OH (US) 20 March 2016 Marek Chodkiewicz Bellingen (AU) 24 April 2016 Ute Krüger Überlingen (DE) 23 May 2016 Gerhard Javitz Hannover (DE) 28 May 2016 Sigrid Seguin Erlangen (DE) 29 June 2016 Gerhard Leukroth Lemberg (DE) 6 July 2016 Eva Baumann Arlesheim (CH) 7 July 2016 Rudolf Hoffmann Gröbenzell (DE) 7 July 2016 Lisette Spänhauer Renan (CH) 25 July 2016 Eva Voigt Künzell (DE) 30 July 2016 Alice Ehrler Dietikon (CH) 9 August 2016 Lore Böhm Nürnberg (DE) 22 August 2016 Susanne Fretz Küsnacht (CH) 23 August 2016 Ingeburg Hansen Husum (DE) 25 August 2016 Christa-Sophia Stelzer Reutlingen (DE) 25 August 2016 Gabriele Böttcher Hamburg (DE) 27 August 2016 Harald Wohlfeld Hamburg (DE) 28 August 2016 Ilse Schwäble Remshalden (DE) 29 August 2016 Christiane Finkbeiner Augsburg (DE) 31 August 2016 Dean Rachel Delta (CA) 4 September 2016 Ulla Trapp Bad Liebenzell (DE) 4 September 2016 Michelle Raquin Nice (FR) 6 September 2016 Anna Micati Bari (IT) 7 September 2016 Hans-Jürgen Müller Hartheim (DE) 9 September 2016 Renate von Blücher Stuttgart (DE) 10 September 2016 Rosmarie Kulli Walzenhausen (CH) 10 September 2016 Sibylle Reichert Freiburg (DE) 10 September 2016 Hanfried Herrmann Hannover (DE) 11 September 2016 John Obuchowski Mount Pleasant / MI (US) 11 September 2016 Rudolf Sommer Binningen (CH) 11 September 2016 Karin Ribitsch München (DE) 12 September 2016 Christof König Kilkeel (GB) 13 September 2016 Ernst Mundwiler Walkringen (CH) 13 September 2016 Robert Lord Nutley (GB) 14 September 2016 Peter Bickert Hilzingen (DE) 15 September 2016 Rüdiger von Canal Eggstätt (DE) 15 September 2016 Beate-Sophie Kresse Stuttgart (DE) 15 September 2016 Hans-Werner Schroeder Stuttgart (DE) 17 September 2016 Liselotte Stilli Dornach (CH) 17 September 2016 Enid Cryer Mitchells Island (AU) 20 September 2016 Christine Custer Dornach (CH) 20 September 2016 Elisabeth Süssmann Pörtschach (AT) 21 September 2016 Ulla Toft Gentofte (DK) 23 September 2016 Barbara Beedham Kingston upon Thames (GB) 28 Sept 2016 Gertraude-Johanna Kühn Arlesheim (CH) 1 October 2016 Dolly Swanljung Espoo (FI) 4 October 2016 Korrektur: Liane Rennert verstarb in Kassel und nicht in Berlin From 13 September to 10 October 2016 the Society welcomed 94 new members 32 are no longer registered as members (resignations, lost, and corrections by country Societies)

16 16 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 11/16 Feature Norway: Spiritual Ecology Summer Weeks When you open your heart, you meet living beings everywhere! The Spiritual Ecology Summer Weeks on methods of spiritual perception in Nordic nature took place from 1 to 13 August (Anthroposophy Worldwide 7-8/2016) and combined nature observation with deepened perception and cognitive methods. visible in the stave churches. Today, it is up to the biodynamic movement to continue from here, and to groups who wish to pave the way for a spiritual ecology with enhanced perception and research. The folk soul also has an effect on the way we perceive; and the folk spirit and the spirit of the north the leading spirit in Europe in our time can be perceived in the soul of the landscape. We therefore also witnessed how a peace-creating substance was generated: from the perception of nature grows a giving force that helps us to better understand each other s folk souls. Peace arises where development includes all beings that are active beside, above and below us. Being responsible for perceptions Human consciousness in powerful nature: troll rock at the Hardangerfjord By assigning in anthroposophy or since Paracelsus, to be precise the nature spirits to the four elements and to old images, we tend to check the overwhelming impact of direct spiritual encounters. This is probably how we keep at arm s length what actually constitutes us as differentiated incarnated beings in a melee of elements and forces. Open air colloquium There are people today who long to reestablish a relationship with the forces of life. They want to directly experience, and get to know, the spiritual forces in nature. The Spiritual Ecology Summer Weeks provided ample opportunity for this kind of experience, guided by the proven cognitive methods of spiritual research: the research into the generative forces, which was represented by Dorian Schmidt, Manfred Schleyer and Christine Sutter; deepened nature observation with Dirk Kruse, and applied spiritual research with Frank Burdich. A kind of open-air colloquium emerged that was determined by the dialogical principle of form and content: - the dialogue between the researchers, with their diverse approaches which they tried to make transparent to each other. (All the approaches turned out to be compatible and complementary.) - the dialogue of the attendees who hailed mostly from Central Europe and Scandinavia, but also from France and Romania. - The dialogue with the spiritual beings. Silent lakes and wild waterfalls Together we stood near silent lakes, wild waterfalls, close to guardian trees, troll rocks, gigantic mountains, Viking initiation sites, gentle undine coves and mighty fjords and fells. And we experienced how, in the field of awareness that we created together, the veil concealing the essence of nature began to lift, gently and sometimes also breathtakingly. The soul of the landscape painted itself in many colours and nuances into our individual souls. Yet only through our sharing of experiences and gathering of individual perceptions, sensations, imaginations and inspirations, an overall picture could emerge. The Nordic landscape is powerful, refreshing, almost overwhelming but it always relates to the human being. It relies on cultural activity. The Iro-Scottish monks prepared the ground for this: their endeavour remains We observed the spruce forest, for instance, close to our venue, the Sun Observatory: its ether and soul forces, its inspiring connection with the faculty of teachers who conduct their Goethean studies there. Suddenly the perceptions took on the form of an imagination: a hand rose from the forest in a gesture that seemed to hold the etheric heart, as if faithfully guarding a treasure that its owner is as yet unable to perceive, let alone handle. The being of the forest can guard this future organ by proxy, on the strength of its relationship with the highest spiritual hierarchies. Its left hand reaches up high into the zodiac. Added to this is the understanding: the more we become aware of our responsibility for nature and the more we take responsibility for our perceptions, the sooner the beings of nature can be freed from their custodian tasks. By growing into our freedom, we can free nature beings from old ties. More results from this experimental and pioneering research can be found in the reports, reflections and interviews which can be accessed at Dirk Kruse s documentation of the spiritual phenomena needs to be mentioned in particular. Not even half of the time had passed, when the attendees and course leaders decided to continue this work next summer. Some also plan to form an international spiritual ecology network that may lead to further events of this kind. Raphael Kleimann, Vinterbro (NO) Info: