What contribution can we, as a global

Transcription

1 General Anthroposophical Society Anthroposophy Worldwide 5/14 Anthroposophy Worldwide 5/ Annual Conference and Annual General Meeting Procedures and contents 4 Anthroposophic Medicine 5 Emergency Education 6 Statement on the Critical Edition of Steiner s written work 6 Statement on the location of the Group by the head of the Goetheanum Stage... Anthroposophical Society 1 Michaelmas Conference Meeting of General Secretaries and Country Representatives 14 Eva Lunde s 100th birthday 15 Membership news... Goetheanum 2 Invitation to the festive re-opening of the Goetheanum s Main Stage... Anthroposophy Worldwide 9 Germany: Helmut von Kügelgen and 45 years of International Waldorf Kindergarten Association 10 Germany: Conference on Rosicrucianism in Kassel 11 Russia: The cultural work of the ISIS Foundation 12 India: Review of 2013/ China: University founds Waldorf Teacher College... Forum 14 Exhibition: Rudolf Steiner. The Alchemy of Everyday. 14 The I knows itself... Feature 16 Eurythmeum Stuttgart Goetheanum Michaelmas Conference 2014 with re-opening of Goetheanum stage A culture of peace The Michaelmas Conference 2014 will be guided by a quotation from Rudolf Steiner s Samaritan Course Into my questioning soul [ ] in bond of human brothers. Together with the Michaelmas Conference 2015 it will form a preparation for the Michaelmas Conference of 2016 with which we will begin the seven annual steps on the way to the centenary of the Christmas Conference of 1923/24. What contribution can we, as a global anthroposophical society, make today towards a culture of peace? This is the question with which we would like to work at the Michaelmas Conference 2014 one hundred years after the outbreak of World War I. We should approach our work in a self-critical way not for the sake of being critical but to help us to move forward. The conference will proceed in three steps. The motto of the first day will be Into homelessness. In his lecture cycle on the folk souls, Rudolf Steiner described the detachment of the individual from the collective, into which our origin has placed us, as a necessary precondition for gaining the knowledge and ability to live together as nations. How do we achieve this homelessness today? How do we experience it and how can we live with it? What part of this step is as it always has been and what has changed in the age of globalization, instant communication and budget flights? Anthroposophy and folk culture Under the motto You, spirit of my earthly realm, the second day will open up a wide panorama of peoples and countries, presented by the general secretaries and national representatives. A few words of welcome will resound in various languages and allow us to experience what we will set out to explore: how does anthroposophy live in the different cultures and how can each folk culture be inspired by anthroposophy? Or will the variety be replaced by an internationalized anthroposophy? How will this development manifest in the branches, in schools and on farms? A mission for all of humanity On the third day we will try to give a face to the auspicious term Michaelic Cosmopolitanism. What did Rudolf Steiner mean by it? Do we have authentic experiences in this respect? How can we bring this quality to the way we live anthroposophy today? Rudolf Steiner spoke of the self-knowledge of peoples as a precondition for committing freely and decisively to a joint human mission. What has become of this aspiration over the past hundred years within the global anthroposophical community? Can we see a foundation on the strength of which we can make an active contribution to a culture of peace, now and in future? The conference will be embedded in the festivities for the reopening of the newly renovated stage in the Main Auditorium. The various events are described in detail in this and other programmes. Seija Zimmermann, Ueli Hurter, Goetheanum Leadership Information/registration: goetheanum.org/6175.html Recommended reading The Mission of the Folk Souls, GA 121 The Spiritual Guidance of the Individual and Humanity, GA 15 Das Geheimnis der Wunde, Aufzeichnungen zum Samariterkurs, Beiträge zur Rudolf SteinerGesamtausgabe Nr. 108 [These notes on Rudolf Steiner s Samaritan Course are in the process of being translated into English. The translation is due to be published by Mercury Press in May 2014]

2 2 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 5/14 Goetheanum Anthroposophical Society Goetheanum Main Stage Festive Re-Opening On Friday, 26 September 2014, between 3 4 p.m. we will celebrate the re-opening of the Goetheanum stage with a festive act. Welcome and introduction by Dr Seija Zimmermann, Executive Council at the Goetheanum Address by Councillor Dr Remo Ankli, Department of Education and Culture, Canton of Solothurn Address by Roger Dahinden, Deputy Mayor of Dornach Ludwig van Beethoven Fantasia op. 77, Goetheanum Eurythmy Ensemble, Margrethe Solstad, artistic director Peter Holtz, that hamburg gmbh on the stage renovation Margrethe Solstad and Nils Frischknecht, Goetheanum Stage: What happens on and behind the stage? Premiere: Overture for String Septet, composition commissioned for String Septet Heiligenberg; Christian Ginat, musical director After the festive act refreshments will be served in the Foyer General Anthroposophical Section and Goetheanum Stage Anthroposophy Worldwide is published in German, English and Spanish ten times a year. It is distributed by the national Anthroposophical Societies in some cases augmented by independently edited news and articles. It also appears as a supplement to the weekly journal Das Goetheanum. Editor: 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 this English edition), Wolfgang Held and Philipp Tok. German Proofreading: Merle Rüdisser. 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$ 20.-) per year. An version is available to members of the Anthroposophical Society only at www. goetheanum.org/630.html?l= General Anthroposophical Society, Dornach, Switzerland Between 200 and 400 members gathered in the Foundation Stone Auditorium General Anthroposophical Society Cultivating the art of living together The Goetheanum Leadership explained how the Anthroposophical Society, School of Spiritual Science and the fields of life work together. While the anthroposophical activities in the world were accepted without problems, internal issues such as the Weleda question and tolerance towards initiatives such as the Critical Steiner Edition (SKA) remained unresolved. While the previous Annual General Meeting had remained relaxed in the face of controversy, I experienced a strange ambivalence this year: The Executive Council adopted a number of suggestions from recent years, responded to the criticism that it had chosen an annual theme which was too philosophical and too restricted to Central Europe by demonstrating how closely the theme was really connected with practical life, and allowed speakers unlimited speaking time, a concession that was often abused by the same people stepping onto the stage repeatedly and speaking so long that the meeting went overtime. Yet some of the contributions presented by members reflected that there were issues that had been left unresolved. What was not mentioned, on the other hand, was what had become of the initiative that a group of members should prepare the annual conference. During the preliminary meeting, which was open to all members, someone made a helpful suggestion, the basis for any change is to define what there is and to say yes, this is how it is. And on this basis the next step can be taken. Consequences arising from the annual theme In her introduction to the annual theme ( The I knows itself in the light of Michaelic world affirmation ) Constanza Kaliks, leader of the Youth Section, started by looking back to the previous year and by establishing that the General Anthroposophical Society was what people were making of it. When we incarnate each of us has to work on their relationship with reality. The first time we say yes to the world is when we decide to be born. Children, when they enter school, become part of an organism that has its own history. Constanza Kaliks referred to Rudolf Steiner s words that we should connect with the world in love. Quoting from Cosmic thoughts in the work of Michael and Ahriman, she said, We become ever more human by becoming an expression of the world [ ] (Anthroposophical Leading Thoughts, GA 26). Michaelic world affirmation included also the ability to adapt to changing circumstances. The physician Thomas Breitkreuz elaborated on this theme in the context of Anthroposophic Medicine (page 4) and the teacher Bernd Ruf spoke of the essential contribution of Waldorf (emergency) education in situations that are far from ideal, such as in wars or following natural disasters (page 5). Virginia Sease related the statement The I knows itself to the evolution of the I in the world when she spoke about Palm Sunday and the entry of Christ and his disciples into Jerusalem. The disciples spread their clothes over an ass colt and the crowd scattered their garments on the way an image for the casting off of old layers to allow for a renewal through the Christ. In ancient Greek, the term for palm tree coincides with that for phoenix, the bird that rises from the ashes to new life, a symbol of

3 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 5/14 3 Stages of decision-making: getting information (here on the paths leading to the main entrance), expressing an interest (Youth Section information stand) and sharing views (Haus Haldeck) the overcoming of death. Copies of the levels of Christ s organization are available to advanced human beings: a copy of the ether body to Augustine, for instance, the image of the astral body to St Francis of Assisi and Thomas Aquinas and in 1459, at the initiation through the Christ with the help of Mani when a copy of the Christ s I was received by a human I. The development of the I, if seen in relation with the Christ, is therefore a long-term process. The tasks of the Goetheanum One aspect of the tasks that rest on the Goetheanum is tangible in the building work that is going on at present. Paul Mackay explained the various plans that address matters of safety (roof and stage) and maintenance (terrace), improvements to the campus and the building structure (planning the course of paths or the conversion in the west of the building by removing the outside stairs in order to create new spaces) as well as extended use (an orchestra pit and the opening up of the Group room for esoteric work). All these activities mean that one continues to build on the Second Goetheanum so that it is better equipped to serve life, also in the spiritual or conceptual sense. These plans were presented on guided tours of the building site and on information panels, but they were not discussed in any detail. The argument in favour of converting the west part of the building - that the outside stairs were never used - was rejected by the architect and general secretary of the Anthroposophical Society in Japan, Yuji Agematsu, with the dry comment hardly surprising, gates closed. (The project and aspects regarding the outside stairs will be presented in one of the next issues of Anthroposophy Worldwide.) Practical work aspects became most tangible in the Mathematical-Astronomical Section s presentation of an engine which is based on two oloids and could be used to propel boats, for instance. The device was set up above a water basin at the South entrance and demonstrated by Johann Wolfesberger. Claus-Peter Röh spoke on behalf of the Pedagogical Section on the question of how the training of teachers can keep up with the steady increase in the number of Waldorf schools. Röh pointed out that we are Strader schools and we have to get down to the mathematical and legal aspects. If we open up to the outside, he said, it is important that we remain authentic inside. Jean-Michel Florin of the Section for Agriculture faces similar decisions: high-quality viticulture is no longer possible today without biodynamic methods. Wine of all things! But, as Florin said, if people ask us if they can treat their soil biodynamically, we cannot say no! Margrethe Solstad of the Performing Arts Section and co-director of the new production of Faust I and II spoke about preparations, planning, auditions and the great joy that comes from this kind of work, especially from young eurythmists. The questions they are asking themselves are, What does one need nowadays for a Faust production? And what do we want to convey with our Faust here at the Goetheanum? Low points These were some of the highlights of this meeting. The low points can be exemplified in one aspect: The blue conference brochure contained a statement by the Rudolf Steiner Nachlassverwaltung and the Rudolf Steiner Verlag (page 6), referring to the concern regarding the Critical Edition of Rudolf Steiner s written work. In addition Renatus Ziegler, board member at the Rudolf Steiner Nachlassverwaltung presented a statement during the meeting, outlining briefly due to time pressure what the Rudolf Steiner Nachlassverwaltung considers to be its task, i.e. the looking after Rudolf Steiner s physical estate. Since the copy right had expired, no restrictions whatsoever could be applied. Our approach is that of radical publicity: everything will be published. Ziegler emphasized that interpretation or contextualization was not part of their responsibility. They do not see it as their task to judge the services rendered by third parties or to evaluate the quality of these services. If something is submitted that meets the editorial requirements that is enough for us. Ziegler s presentation evoked an onslaught of hissing and booing from the auditorium.when, on the next day, emotive clapping was again used whilst people were expressing their opinions, Alexander Overhage called the meeting to order, asking people to respect the principles of Swiss democracy. In subsequent contributions the way we deal with each other came up repeatedly, which was a new phenomenon. Hartwig Schiller spoke of his perception that members of the audience not only became emotional but

4 4 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 5/14 Anthroposophic Medicine Being open to questions I n the 1970s and 1980s Anthroposophic Medicine was closely linked with anthroposophical cultural impulses such as Waldorf schools. Later it moved more into the public eye when anthroposophic hospitals where founded and politicians and the media were invited to visit. In the years that followed, Anthroposophic Medicine established itself as a special discipline within a pluralist system, but this came with the danger of disappearing into a particular niche. Today we are increasingly asked pragmatic questions by GPs and patients who want to know what we have to offer. The Weleda alone has around 1500 anthroposophical medicines many of which are produced in small batches, which is not economical. Despite the increase in public interest, the number of anthroposophic physicians has not grown. How would it be, if in ten years time a third of all GPs in Germany and Switzerland were able to use ten anthroposophical medicines, say for dry eyes, hypertension or cancer? A difficult question. Can we entrust non-anthroposophic doctors with our anthroposophic medicines? I suggest that we think in concentric circles: we practise an individualized medicine based on the levels of the human organization (and try to recruit young physicians interested in inner development), whilst making therapies available outside of anthroposophy with clearly accessible instructions for use. People can take Cardiodoron because it works; they don t need to know anything about its background nor do they need to become anthroposophists first. Furthermore, we need to be involved in finding solutions for burning questions, such as the resistance to antibiotics that could be reduced if anthroposophic medicines were used for minor infections. What applies to each of us as individuals is also true for our approach to medicine: a successful biography needs an understanding of one s own identity and a healthy breathing between the inner contemplation of our ideals and openness for the world around from where the future comes towards us. Thomas Breitkreuz, Bad Liebenzell (DE) Goetheanum deliberately stirred the emotions in the room. He pointed out that in the work group where the Critical Steiner Edition had been discussed, the tone had been more polite, while this had not been the case outside of that group. Bodo von Plato warned that delicate spiritual matters or questions regarding co-workers at the Goetheanum must not be discussed in heated, inflammatory or one-sided ways. He was referring to a member who, speaking about the dismissal of a co-worker at the Documentation department, had said, Ninety years ago, the Goetheanum burnt down because the members were asleep. I have the feeling that the spiritual Goetheanum is burning now and that the members are sleeping again. How disconcerting this kind of behaviour is, especially for people from non-german speaking countries, was apparent in the address of Joan Sleigh, who has just come to the end of her first year as a member of the Executive Council. How are we dealing with one another? We have the possibility, the faculties and the research to know and make true that we are spiritual beings. In his farewell address, after ten years as General Secretary of the Anthroposophical Society in Norway, Frode Barkved said, I often felt homeless in the annual general meetings, like a stranger. There were many clever, and often longwinded, presentations making sure that everything was understood rightly: Rudolf Steiner, anthroposophy, the School of Spiritual Science and the byelaws. The astral space of the Main Auditorium was plastered with these deliberations. My interest was inversely proportional to this. Annual General Meeting The motions were presented on the first day, followed on the second day by the corresponding debates and decisions. (The motions had been published beforehand in Anthroposophy Worldwide 3/2014 and in the programme.) Amending the byelaws: Justus Wittich pointed out that he had not found much support for the concern that work on the statutes should continue. This cost a lot of time and money. But if it were not possible to put it into practice in general, he would at least like to address the most important points, including the task set from the outside regarding the legal status of the School of Spiritual Science. This was Goetheanum tasks I: Demonstration of an inversion engine made from two oloids important for the Weleda to enable them to give donations to the School of Spiritual Science. It was also important in connection with the Swiss University Law (Hochschulgesetz), due to become effective in 2015, which will determine whether an institution can call itself an academic institution (Hochschule). Following various procedural motions to defer or remove the concern, the proposal of the Executive Council was ultimately accepted with around a dozen votes against and two dozen abstentions. Motion 1: To appoint a chair within the Executive Council at the Goetheanum.While not excluding the possibility of a change, Bodo von Plato asked not to be forced to make such an appointment since the Executive Council wished to work in a different way. The motion was rejected by the majority of members present, with a few votes in favour and around a dozen abstentions. Motion 2: Provisional placement of the Representative of Humanity on the stage: the head of the stage department had published a statement in the blue brochure (page 7). In addition, a letter had been received, dated 7 April 2014, from the Office for the Preservation of Monuments and Archaeology in the Canton of Solothurn: a reminder that the Sculpture Group of the Representative of Humanity has been placed under a preservation order on 31 October 2011 by the governing council. This compels the proprietor to keep the listed historical and cultural monument in a way that guarantees its preservation. There must be no altera-

5 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 5/14 5 Goetheanum tasks II: Publishing research results(stand of the Goetheanum publishers: Verlag am Goetheanum) tions without the express permission of the cantonal department responsible. According to a statement from the wood expert Ulrich Bucher the taking down and re-assembling of the Group in a different location was possible in principle, but Mr Bucher states clearly that any intervention will cause damage to the sculpture and that even if all the criteria necessary for the disassembly and reinstallation are being met the Group could only be moved once. An interim solution or trial placement are therefore out of the question. Moritz Christoph, the presenter of the motion, withdrew it and presented a new motion suggesting that an independent work group be formed to continue to discuss the question of location. This new motion was accepted by a majority against a considerable number of negative votes. Motion 3: House Haldeck (by secret ballot). Eva Lohmann-Heck said in support of the motion that the strong community in Haus Haldeck would be maintained while this would be dissolved if the plans of the Executive Council were to be carried out. Justus Wittich confirmed that the conversations proposed at the previous AGM had not taken place. The Executive Council, he said, had longer-term plans to avoid enormous repair costs in ten years or so, while the house community took on repairs step by step. Wittich confirmed that we do not want to dissolve this community. Of the 351 ballot papers handed in 234 were in favour of Motion 3, while 97 favoured the proposal of the Executive Council. Twenty votes were not valid. Again, there was a sense of ambivalence around this vote. The Executive Council opened itself to the concern of those who had submitted the motion, asking them to coordinate their self-governance with the Goetheanum s property administration. The tenants who wished to speak were given a lot of time. Nevertheless, the manner in which the topic had been dealt with recently and the presentation of the proposal of the Executive Council failed to convince the meeting in the end. Approval: the Executive Council was confirmed by the majority of members present, with a few votes against and two or three dozen abstentions. Paul Mackay s words of thanks for the full day were almost drowned as members began to advance towards the exit. The interest shown in the various parts of the meeting was also reflected in the numbers: an estimated 400 members attended the part of the AGM when the voting took place, while there were around 300 members on the previous day and 200 on the last, and calmer, day of the Annual Conference. Communication problems Another communication problem became apparent during the presentation of the annual statements of the members of the Executive Council. When Virginia Sease and Seija Zimmermann had spoken also of their administrative and organizational tasks (which take place invisibly in the background), the presentations of Paul Mackay and Bodo von Plato evoked the question what are you actually doing? That Paul Mackay, in describing the building work at the Goetheanum, the Weleda and the Goetheanum Leadership, was referring to his work, people could have known. That Bodo von Plato, when speaking about his responsibility for communications, elaborated on a thought is characteristic of his way of working. This meeting therefore illustrated what Gottfried Caspar expressed when he said that we are all very different. It is an achievement that we can discuss issues together. We come from totally different streams and still manage to come together here for meetings. The statements of the members of the Executive Council and the address given by the new leader of the Art Section, Marianne Schubert, will be published in the next issue of Anthroposophy Worldwide. Sebastian Jüngel Emergency Education Helping people I met five-year old Jasmin in the Middle East. She was one of only a few family members to survive a military attack. When I spoke with her I asked, How did you survive? - I have a task. What are you planning to do? I will go to school and learn something. And then I will take my revenge. How can Waldorf education provide a future for such children and youngsters? When the Friends of Rudolf Steiner s Education started with the emergency education in 2006 in Lebanon, it was my first direct experience of war. I was able to detect the degree of people s traumatization in their eyes and facial expressions. Trauma is firstly a wound, not an illness. It is possible to prevent later effects by using relatively simple means, as long as one takes action within the first weeks. A physical wound usually heals within a few days. A wound to the soul needs a bit longer. There can be complications and these can also be fatal. Being traumatized means being thrown out of the stream of life. First one must dissolve the state of frozenness before the traumatized person can begin to work through their experiences. A trauma is always a near-death experience. Most of the time children are able to return from this threshold, but not always. We differentiate four stages of trauma each has its own pedagogical measures. Emergency education can activate a person s own forces of self-healing. Traumatization will become more wide-spread as a result of the human constitution becoming looser. We also have to expect more disasters in the future. I reckon that in ten years time emergency education will be part of teacher training and that schools will offer emergency education. Difficult experiences are part of life. People who have overcome a crisis will have different priorities and will be able to distinguish the essential from the inessential; they will value human relationships more highly and be more open for spiritual questions. Crises cannot be prevented. But with the means that Waldorf education has in store we can help people and try to transform crises into biographical opportunities. Bernd Ruf, Karlsruhe (DE)

6 6 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 5/14 Annual Conference and Annual General Meeting 2014 Statement of the Rudolf Steiner Nachlassverwaltung and of the Rudolf Steiner Verlag Critical Edition of Rudolf Steiner s written works (SKA) In April 2012 the Rudolf Steiner Nachlassverwaltung [administration of Rudolf Steiner s estate] was made aware of Christian Clement s plan for a new edition of Rudolf Steiner s writing that would collate the various editions published during Steiner s lifetime. Such editions are known among scholars as critical editions because they carefully and comprehensively document for the reader the steps that led to the creation of the text and any further work on it. The works that appear in the Rudolf Steiner Gesamtausgabe [Rudolf Steiner s collected works] are the texts of the final version, i.e., in each case, the form of the text as last worked upon by the author. Background and intention As an edition for reading and study, however, the collected works hold no claim to being a comparative-critical edition, and the development of such volumes is seen as less a priority than our primary task of publishing previously unavailable texts, lectures, and artistic works; such a task is an essential research concern. We have denied Clement the use of unpublished materials because we wanted to reserve our own right to undertake a historical-critical edition that would include Rudolf Steiner s manuscripts. With our 1994 volume of documents relating to the Philosophy of Freedom (GA 4a) we produced an edition that took into account all the existing textual evidence; and in 2004 the Rudolf Steiner Verlag published an edition that documented the textual development of Theosophy in the years between 1904 and As the first volume of Clement s critical edition (Steiner Kritische Ausgabe SKA) was being published, the director of the Rudolf Steiner Archives and the director of the Rudolf Steiner Verlag had a chance to look at the page proofs and assure themselves of the quality of the editorial work. As a result, they proposed a business agreement between the lead publisher in the project, frommann-holzboog, and the Rudolf Steiner Verlag, as publishers tend to do occasionally with such large-scale projects. The governing board of the Rudolf Steiner Verlag in cooperation with the board of the Rudolf Steiner Archives then came to an agreement for this cooperation. As a charitable cultural institution for the preservation and publication of Rudolf Steiner s work, the Nachlassverwaltung along with the Rudolf Steiner Archives has a majority vote in neither the annual general meeting nor the governing board of the Verlag, which is an independent commercial enterprise. The organizations and fields of endeavour are separate but serve a common task. The Nachlassverwaltung and the Archives are responsible for the content of the editorial work while the Verlag is responsible for producing and distributing Rudolf Steiner s works. The two programmatically and financially autonomous publishers then entered into this cooperative business agreement because they were convinced that the culture of our time and the anthroposophical movement had an interest in a specialized and systematically prepared edition of Rudolf Steiner s works. The Rudolf Steiner Verlag has a number of copies for distribution. Responsibility for the organization of the texts, the introduction, the commentary, and the foreword remain entirely in the hands of the sole editor, Christian Clement, and in the hands of the frommann-holzboog press. Varied reception for the edition While interested and positive reviews have appeared in large anthroposophical journals, in blogs, and in well-known newspapers, there have also been concerned, generally negative, and polemic reactions elsewhere. Unfortunately, it is the latter that have produced an echo in the anthroposophical movement. The negative reactions were solely concerned with Clement s foreword, introduction, and commentary, not with the editing of Steiner s texts themselves. This discussion unfortunately included misunderstandings and errors even some painful misrepresentations. Much that was unrelated entered the discussion; it had nothing to do with the quality of the edition. In March, 2014, an open letter asked that the Rudolf Steiner Nachlassverwaltung and the Rudolf Steiner Verlag remove Clement s edition from the Verlag. Since then, a group of concerned anthroposophists has written in support of this letter and its demand; many of them, however, had not looked at the edition. We are surprised, and we regret this reaction. However, we are also disconcerted by a certain ideological overreaction. Of course, the edition is open to objective discussion and usage. Those interested in understanding or acquiring the basic content in Rudolf Steiner s writings will often have little interest in philological details, or even be disturbed by them. Those who immerse themselves in such details will be able to discover interesting insights. No one s freedom is limited here. Thus it is irritating when discussions about the edition are bound up with a witch-hunt against institutions (Nachlassverwaltung, Verlag, etc.). We have taken this longrange edition into the Verlag s catalogue with the earnest and honest intention of supporting the availability of a systematic comparative edition in addition to the standard edition, the Gesamtausgabe. In his autobiography, Rudolf Steiner himself recommends comparing different versions of his writings in order to reach an understanding of his systematic research efforts (Rudolf Steiner, Mein Lebensgang, GA 28, p. 434). We have noted with interest (or questions) some provocative points of view (e.g., in the editor s introduction). Clement himself describes these as necessarily always one-sided and fragmen- tary and (I hope) soon made obsolete by more extensive and deeper research (p. LXI in the introduction). With no intention of somehow diminishing the ideas presented in the edition s intro- duction or foreword: they were secondary considerations in accepting the edition into the Verlag s programme; the main consideration was the quality of the editorial work with Rudolf Steiner s texts. The Rudolf Steiner Nachlassverwaltung and the Rudolf Steiner Verlag see it as their task to publish the most reliable and correct editions of his work, not in order

7 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 5/14 7 Goetheanum to make themselves somehow arbiters of interpretation, but so that interested readers have the editions at their disposal for an outer and inner study of Rudolf Steiner s works. Statement from the stage management Test placement of the Group on the stage Misunderstood Cooperative Arrangement Some of the current misunderstandings are traceable to our communication and statement about the cooperation between the two publishers. In the book s front matter, frommann-holzboog and the Rudolf Steiner Verlag stand as equal partners, and in the edition prospectus on the last page of the book there is the statement: Published in cooperation with the Rudolf Steiner Archives and the Rudolf Steiner Verlag. The latter formulation will be omitted in this form in future editions because there is only a distribution agreement between the two businesses. In this type of cooperation, one press is normally the party responsible for communicating with the author, proofreading, and production, while the other party includes some the press run in its distribution without further involvement in the tasks of proofreading and production. This is also the case with the SKA. Neither the Rudolf Steiner Verlag nor the Rudolf Steiner Nachlassverwaltung have a role in financing the edition. Thus no donated funds are used for it. The frommann-holzboog press carries the publication risk for the SKA. The note about the publication subvention from Brigham Young University in the front matter represents a contribution typical of the support offered by public universities for publications by their instructors. An indication of cooperating publishers without further differentiation of tasks is a widespread practice in the field of publication, and this is also true in the case of the SKA. But the naming of the Rudolf Steiner Verlag on the title page can, in fact, be misunderstood because it looks like an equal partnership between the presses. In the future we will make a more precise statement about the cooperation between the two presses in the front matter. For the Rudolf Steiner Nachlassverwaltung Cornelius Bohlen, Chair of the Board. For the Rudolf Steiner Verlag Richard Bhend, Chair of the Administrative Board. English translation by Douglas Miller The productions of the Mystery Dramas and Faust I & II While the group is temporarily on the stage neither the Mystery dramas nor Faust can be performed. The Mystery drama productions with their scenery and lighting are always designed to take the entire stage area into account. These could also not be per- formed because of space considerations. The new production of Faust beginning in 2015 is designed based on the sets (preliminary discussions have been going on for about 2 years) and it would be impossible to build these sets with the group on the stage. New discussions would be required to take the temporary placement of the group into consideration. The premieres of Faust I & II would be considerably delayed. The stage area The stage requires the space behind the anterior scenery or curtain. Many scenes in the Mystery dramas, eurythmy, and Faust are planned so that they are backlit (or use rear projection). It is impossible to do this without several meters at the back of the stage; many times the space is already too narrow. The eurythmy stage we are familiar with would have about 6 meters less in depth. Tours Everyday Life behind the Scenes The stage is in use every day for rehearsals, conferences, construction/technical work, and more. We often have rehearsals at quarter-hour intervals. Briefly opening the background on the stage could not be allowed because of those realities. All of these factors mean that the group would be hidden from public view most of the time. A viewing would be especially impossible during large conferences since the schedule for the stage is closely planned to take technical construction, rehearsals, or lighting placement into account. The sculpture could only be viewed from a distance of about 21 meters since the stage is not accessible to visitors. There are both liability and technical reasons for that. In addition, the eurythmy cloth cannot be walked on with street shoes. Protection for the Group on the stage The group would have to be protected. A placement that is vulnerable to damage is not possible. The following would have to be taken into consideration: 1. Protection from fire: There is always an increased danger of fire on the stage (because of the lighting). A fire-safe location would be required; e.g, pushing the group on rails into an enclosed niche with a fire door. 2. Protection from dust: There is always a lot of dust and dirt created on the stage. The area would have to be cleaned more frequently. In addition, the dust would penetrate the pores in the wood, and the surface would be dulled. 3. Protection from physical damage: When the stage settings are being changed the stage resembles a construction site. That means that the work of art would have to be reasonably protected from physical damage, e.g., through a walled-in niche (see 1). 4. Climate control: The climate is not constant on the stage. We have extreme variations in temperature, and the relative humidity changes quite a bit. Prior to performances litres of water are sprayed into the air to raise the relative humidity. The many spotlights cause the temperature to rise sharply during performances. Further questions: The group would have to be disassembled for transport, and the individual pieces would have to be raised above the roof with a crane. To do this the roof of the group room would have to opened. The lemniscate window would have to be removed as well as the sky- light above the South Studio that is sloped above it. This would require considerable construction. For the Goetheanum stage, Nils Frischknecht. English translation by Douglas Miller

8 8 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 5/14 Anthroposophical Society Meeting of the General Secretaries and Country Representatives That we each be recognized as representatives of our I From 7 to 12 April the general secretaries, country representatives, Section leaders and members of the Executive Council at the Goetheanum met to talk about representation. As part of the experimental set-up of this gathering the circa 40 participants met in groups of various sizes and even went on walks together. Meeting between homelessness and cultural bonds: two who know each other from Brazil sharing their experiences during an interval at the Annual Conference at the Goetheanum. One after the other they arrive, energetically, to report from the meeting of general secretaries and country representatives: Paul Mackay, Joan Sleigh and Bodo von Plato of the Executive Council at the Goetheanum and the general secretaries Jan Baker-Finch (AU), Nodar Belkania (GE), Kristina Lucia Parmentier (BE), Hartwig Schiller (DE) and Eva Vaśnievska (PL). Unlike at former occasions of this kind, they don t think back so much to what they have discussed but continue their conversation on representation, which has matured by now and been raised to a higher level, culminating in the free recognition of the I. The lively, aphoristic nature of this spontaneous twenty-minute conversation has been captured in the following documentation. Bodo von Plato: We have asked ourselves what it means to be a representative: when did I become homeless? When did I become an anthroposophist? How did anthroposophy become a new home? And how did I become homeless through becoming an anthroposophist? Hartwig Schiller: I spoke with Yuji Agematsu (JP) on one of our walks. He told me how he discovered his homelessness in Switzerland. It happened to me when I was in Norway we were about the same age then, around 21. We discovered our homelessness outside our usual sphere of life. Being far away from home meant that a new light was cast on the question of origin and home. Feeling at home in the homelessness Plato: Michael Kranawetvogl (ES) comes from Bavaria and lives in Spain. He found a new home in his homelessness. I discovered my Germanness in France and began to feel uncomfortable in my homelessness. Kristina Lucia Parmentier: I may be homeless with regard to my country, but I do not have to experience homelessness in a place, in a spatial sense. One can also lose one s family. Joan Sleigh: The sense of having a home depends not so much on a country as on whether one has a task, a context of activities. Eva Vaśnievska: Homelessness must first be acknowledged, then one can experience it and in the end, one opens up a space within oneself with regard to one s own roots in a country, in one s family or task. The sense of homelessness provides a different angle and one can penetrate to one s own self. Plato: The question of representation is intimately connected with that of homelessness. The Anthroposophical Society is seeking to find new forms, step by step. Schiller: According to the statistics, membership numbers are clearly going down. We are called upon to think about new forms of working without negating the old, existing forms. We need to include everyone, every member who is committed. Plato: In this big circle of general secretaries, country representatives, section leaders and members of the Executive Council we have worked persistently on this question; calmly but seriously. We allowed ourselves to do this without immediately discussing a new programme. Schiller: We strongly restricted the diversity of topics this time and concentrated on this theme. As a result the conversations we had turned out to be greatly varied. Being representatives of our I Baker-Finch: On two days we went for walks in pairs, not in order to chat but to listen carefully to what the other had to say about a given topic. On the second walk we described to each other what we find is typical of our country and people. I would have liked to sit on top of the Goetheanum and watch all the different paths: the whole world was present, walking deeply preoccupied, like ants, around the Goetheanum Park! I would like to add one aspect to the question of homelessness: it happens at an entirely personal level and proceeds in particular stages. But even if I experience myself as homeless, I belong to a culture that colours the way I am and the way I work. Sleigh: Apart from representation and homelessness there was also the aspect of being human in general that shone through. Schiller: And this brings about a certain tension: the general secretaries and country representatives represent a particular culture that they stand for. They cannot and should not represent something that is faceless and general. We all share the sense of homelessness and something generally human which lends us a certain expression. We want to continue working on this phenomenon. Plato: Seija Zimmermann spoke in a very touching way of the mystery of the indi-

9 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 5/14 9 Antroposophy Worldwide vidual. Each of us is a mystery. Each of us is, above all, always a messenger of his or her unique I. Vaśnievska: And the Goetheanum aims to work towards a situation where each person is recognized as the representative of his or her I. That is the peace message at the Goetheanum. We have not quite achieved this yet, but it is the image we hold of the future. Meeting each other the way we are Baker-Finch: This time I felt as free as never before in this group. The first time I was here, three years ago, I worried a lot: I have to say something in order to break the ice for myself and I have to say it in German and English. Now I experience especially in the dialogues during the walks and the group work that I have met another person. Something has happened. The Goetheanum is on the whole very German-speaking and Swiss. But if we have the opportunity to meet each other as who we are we can feel this deeply! This means that we go back home filled with new life, feeling increasingly how we are connected with other people and countries. Vaśnievska: When we met with the Goetheanum staff members I also experienced the variety of soul qualities as in an image of a future human society. Schiller: I experienced this differentiation not just as a state of perfect understanding and harmony. There was also a level of not understanding each other. Take the annual theme The I know itself in the light of Michaelic world affirmation, for instance. Some found it too central-european, others thought it was too philosophical. The eastern countries wished for something more Christological. Others said that Christology could not be discussed in their country. When it comes to thinking, some feel that that is something definitely German. Sleigh: Having the possibility to identify and discuss this has opened up possibilities, however. Vaśnievska: We haven t finished yet with forming an opinion. We are in a process. And we have experienced that there is a possibility for us to meet each other and to find a way for the future. Documentation: Sebastian Jüngel. Germany: Helmut von Kügelgen and the International Association of Waldorf Kindergartens Working together as closely as possible 45 years ago the International Association of Waldorf Kindergartens was founded, an organization that is closely linked with the name of Helmut von Kügelgen ( ). One of the organization s long-term co-workers is Peter Lang who was head of the Waldorf kindergarten teacher training at the Freie Fachschule in Stuttgart (DE) for 21 years and who expresses his appreciation for Helmut von Kügelgen. On 19 October 1969, Helmut von Kügelgen and a number of experienced Waldorf Kindergarten teachers founded the International Association of Waldorf Kindergartens, supported by eminent professionals from the Waldorf School movement and in cooperation with the German Association of Waldorf Schools (Bund der Freien Waldorfschulen). The reason for this foundation was a political one: at the time as today the questions that dominated the sphere of education were the schoolification of kindergartens, the bringing forward of the age of school entry, a tendency towards an intellectualized education, and the change from mixed age-groups to peer classes. Educational policies that took their clues from mottos such as the earlier, the better and the faster, the more economical needed to be confronted and the unrestricted spread of electronic appliances also needed to be checked. In the age of the rigorous and global economization of childhood the essential task was, and still is, to practise an education and to apply teaching methods that meet the developmental needs of young children and respect their individualities. Waldorf teacher seminars and staterecognized colleges were founded that offered thorough training opportunities to their students. Annual international conferences provided the possibility to meet colleagues, take part in further training and deepen one s knowledge of spiritual science. Helmut von Kügelgen was an inspiring and active contributor in this development. A master in bringing people together From 1989, when the Wall came down, a new intensive phase of international collaboration began for Helmut von Kügelgen, myself and many other teachers. From these early beginnings a growing network of international and human cooperation has developed that now spans the whole world. Helmut von Kügelgen Always actively involved: Helmut von Kügelgen was a master in bringing people together. He was profoundly interested in people and all his thinking and doing was directed towards the tasks of that time. He always took up a clear position, whatever the task at hand. When the question Waldorf daycentres yes or no? came up, he said, yes, but in the work with very young children the question of quality must have absolute priority. Helmut von Kügelgen was involved in founding the publisher Verlag Freies Geistesleben in 1947, he was chief editor of the education magazine Erziehungskunst, he initiated the youth organization Freies Jugendseminar in Stuttgart, took part in rebuilding the Anthroposophical Society in Germany and was, until 1975, class teacher at the Uhlandshöhe Waldorf School in Stuttgart. Helmut von Kügelgen always kept in close contact with the Waldorf School movement, remaining actively involved in its administration until the end of his life. He saw it as part of his life s task to ensure that both educational movements worked together as closely as possible. It is now up to us to foster, shape and enliven this collaboration and coherence. Peter Lang, Stuttgart (DE)PS: In 2008, the Helmut-von-Kügelgen-School opened in Fellbach near Stuttgart. It has now 10 classes and in the school year 2013/2014 it has 214 pupils.

10 10 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 5/14 Anthroposophy Worldwide Germany: Conference on Rosicrucianism in Kassel 400 Years Fama Fraternitatis Initiated by Gesine Fay, the conference 400 Years Fama Fraternitatis took place from 7 to 9 March 2014 at Anthroposophisches Zentrum in Kassel. 170 people attended, talking to each other, asking for new ways and discussing possibilities of implementation With a touch of lightness and humour Virginia Sease, member of the Executive Council at the Goetheanum, took us on a journey through the new mysteries. Since the Mystery of Golgotha initiation has become possible for all people who seek this path and embark on it independently. In order to find the new mysteries we need the community of knowledge. The strength of faith that used to prevail can be transformed into powers of knowledge. Virginia Sease presented Christian Rosenkreutz as a leader of humanity, as a friend and helper who tells us that the more I get to know him the better he will be able to help me. He is a human being. For me, this was the most profound statement I took with me from this conference. Understanding the world order is also an elementary goal and task of our time: bringing order to all fields of life. By experiencing the being of Christian Rosenkreutz again and again in our thoughts we can find the Rosicrucian principle in the Michael stream. Attempts at preventing war Virginia Sease followed Christian Rosenkreutz through various of his incarnations. She told us of one incarnation in the fourteenth century ( ) when, on a journey through the world known at that time, he learned about the wisdom of the Arab world, including its language, and he was recognized in Fez by the wise men of Damcar. Having gained the insight that a general reformation was necessary, he returned to Europe where he founded the fraternity of the rosy cross. The members of the fraternity made every effort to gradually bring spiritual wisdom into civilization. In the eighteenth century he appeared as the Count of St Germain at almost all European royal courts, actively working towards a renewal of Europe. With his lute, Andreas Düker introduced us to the music of the Landgrave Maurice of Hesse-Kassel, known as Maurice the Learned. Threatened by the inquisition, the landgraves used to help and heal people secretly and free of charge Spiritual wisdom: Three flowers grow from the ouroboros (the tail-devourer, the snake that eats its own tail): framed by the red gold and white silver, the blue flower of wisdom, Novalis Blue Flower. and supported learning and research. Maurice the Learned, at whose court the Fama was printed in 1614 and the Confessio in 1615, had a herb garden that was used to prepare medicines which his wife distributed among the poor. History as a force that inspires impulses We know from Rudolf Steiner that, in the early seventeenth century, Christian Rosenkreutz was with Buddha in the spiritual world. It was at his request that Buddha embarked on his peace-making mission on Mars in The publication of the Fama, which aimed at the general reformation of the whole wide world, i.e. the restructuring of Europe, was meant to prevent what did, however, come into the world after all with the Thirty Years War. Rudolf Steiner had a similar mission before World War I with his presentation on Christ s appearance in the etheric and the life of Jesus up to the Baptism in the river Jordan. The publication of the calendar of 1912/1913 was also related with this mission. The disastrous First World War could not be prevented. The aim is clear when it comes to our own independent endeavours. I was also very interested in Lessing s Education of the Human Race which we discussed in the study group with Peter Guttenhöfer. We were asked to look primarily at the method. Like the Jews in Lessing s work I looked at what happened and could therefore accept the situation as it is; without evaluating it but by observing it in a way that allowed for an impulse to arise from it for future actions; for a more conscious life; conscious decisions. Can we look at history in this way? As events that are necessary for future development? Putting knowledge into practice In the plenum I realized how necessary it is for some individuals to take initiative and to apply and live their knowledge. Eminent personalities from education and science spoke about their paths, as did idealistic young individuals who wished to pursue the Rosicrucian goal. Peter Guttenhöfer and Manfred Schulze spoke about prototypes of educational landscapes, of farms as places of living and learning. Questions were asked as to how this could be achieved: how can the execution of a profession be healing and how can it be practised for free (for instance by introducing the unconditional basic income)? Where are new places of learning founded? When can young people take part in ritual acts (such as the making and spreading of preparations)? How can people be found who are willing to apply in practice the ideas and suggestions we heard about? We were asked where these new impulses can be experienced today. In Weimar for instance there is a CSA network and a group of people look for new ways in Waldorf education (Independent Kindergarten Weimar Ehringsdorf). In her lecture on the meaning of esoteric Rosicrucianism for the 21st century Virginia Sease spoke of overcoming maya by looking after our thinking life and by cultivating eurythmy and artistic speech since they further the reception of what radiates out from the ether body of Christian Rosenkreutz. At the end of her concluding lecture on the collaboration of Rudolf Steiner and Christian Rosenkreutz, Virginia Sease spoke the moving words from the Lecture of 27 September 1911 in Neuchatel, By being an instrument of Christian Rosenkreutz you can be assured that the smallest work you do in your soul will last for eternity. Juliane Pohle, Weimar (DE)

11 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 5/14 11 Anthroposophy Worldwide Russia: The ISIS Foundation and its cultural activities With modest means The ISIS Foundation is dedicated to promoting and supporting anthroposophical initiatives in Russia. It was started in 1988 by Monica Gold, a Vancouver anthroposophist and art therapist. Especially now that funds from European countries have been reduced, the work that ISIS does for schools, kindergartens and centres for disabled people is particularly important, even if it is done with the most modest means. During an anthroposophical gathering in Ann Arbor in 2008, I met with Mary Lee Plumb-Mentjes, then a resident of Alaska, and with Galina Fin of Toronto. The three of us agreed that we would work together to ensure the continuing existence of this Foundation. Since 2009 we have travelled three times to Russia, visiting multiple locations: Siberia (Vladivostok), Irkutsk, and Talovka, in the Buriatia region east of Lake Baikal. In each of these places we offered mini conferences on anthroposophy and Waldorf education. Fighting for independence During our stay in Kirov, in August of 2013, Slava, our host, took us to Slobodskoï, a small town on the edge of the Vyatka. The city is known for its expertise in leatherworks and furs. During our visit, Slava showed us photographs dating from the beginning of the twentieth century, depicting the family of the owners of a large boot-making factory. With the outbreak of the 1917 revolution the owners were forced to flee. One day, Slava s grandparents took in a nun who had no place to live following the destruction of her convent. During those years of hardship, Slava s grandmother was accused of having traded bread coupons and was sent to the gulag, from which she was never to return. The nun took on the task of raising little Victor (Slava s father). She continued to say her prayers in secret since religion was forbidden and under communist rule it was quite dangerous for anyone to be known as a practising Christian. Victor s father, Slava s grandfather, was killed in the war. His maternal grandfather was severely injured in the battle of Stalingrad ( ) and had to be hospitalized for several years. He wrote to the members of his family, but the letters never reached them. He remarried, believing that his wife had died. But then, due to a set of quite remarkable circumstances, they discovered they were both still alive. However, the grandfather made the decision to continue living with his second wife. Today, Slava is a prosperous business owner, and his wife runs a new Waldorf kindergarten. Near Lake Baikal there are three anthroposophically-inspired centres for the disabled. These initiatives are often founded and carried by parents who have disabled children themselves. And their work is beginning to be acknowledged in this country where the intellectually disabled are not considered to be fully human. Indeed, the government is starting to recognize that these institutions obtain tangible results and there is still much work to be done to increase public awareness of the benefits of this educational work. Waldorf Schools In Irkutsk, in Siberia, a well-established, government-supported Waldorf school offers classes through grade 12, but government support does not come without restrictions. For example, during our 2009 visit several inspectors had come by the school, requiring, among other things, that the walls be repainted since they considered the colours too bold. The school s permit renewal depended on this change being made. It is worth mentioning here that this school had received assistance from several Swiss teachers. In Kirov, the school called Our School (Nasha Skolje) was founded in the early 1980s and is struggling to remain independent. It is a private school that requires heavy sacrifices on the part of both teachers and parents to be able to survive. In Yekaterinburg, in the Urals, in spite of the presence of an active anthroposophical group and an institution for the disabled, none of the attempts to found a school have met with success. It is in this city that the Bolsheviks assassinated the Czar and his family in 1918At a distance of several kilometres from the city itself, at the site of the quarry where the victims remains were buried, an religious complex consisting of chapels and a training seminary for orthodox priests has been erected with funds donated by Russian billionaires. Portraits of the imperial family adorn the chapel façades, since the members of the Czar s family have been declared saints and are the object of great devotion. That being said, anthroposophy and Russian orthodoxy do not always live harmoniously side by side. One kindergarten teacher admitted to having been threatened with exclusion from the church if she did not give up anthroposophy. And so, she does as do many other Russian anthroposophists: she remains orthodox but in her own individual way! In each location we visited we met individuals who shared a keen interest in Waldorf education and anthroposophy. Their openness to what we were offering was evident; parents, educators and friends of anthroposophy participated in our workshops with great enthusiasm, and everywhere we were deeply touched by the warmth and unlimited generosity of the people we met. The growing divide between rich and poor The Russian people s remarkable strength lies in their sense of community and their fundamental ability to work together towards a common goal. This is something we were able to observe in all the groups we met. Although living standards have improved since the end of the communist regime, the gap between rich and poor has considerably widened. Business tycoons, political leaders and heads of church continue to work hand in hand to retain control over the country s wealth and power. Yet we must recognize the fact that President Vladimir Putin recently acknowledged the relevance of the Waldorf approach in education during a visit to a Moscow school. Although after the fall of the Berlin wall several European countries gave financial support to anthroposophical initiatives in Russia, this financial aid has since been curtailed. ISIS is committed to continue to support local initiatives in that country, though its means are modest. Arie van Ameringen, Renée Cossette, Dunham (CA) Contact: arieva.perceval@gmail.com, maryplumbmentjes@yahoo.com

12 12 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 5/14 Anthroposophy Worldwide India: Review of the year 2013/2014 Continual growth The anthroposophical movement in India is growing every year and it is mostly active in the fields of Waldorf education, curative education and social therapy, biodynamic farming and Anthroposophic Medicine. The training centres are mostly run by lecturers from India, but also from other countries. Kulturaustausch: Lichteurythmieensemble Arlesehim an der Heritage School Kolkata (Januar 2014) The number of members of the Anthroposophical Society in India (ASI) is steadily increasing. It has now 73 members. In addition to the three existing branches in Hyderabad, Secunderabad and Mumbai, there are regular study groups in Chennai, Bangalore, Coimbatore, Pune, Kolkata and New Delhi. Hans van Florenstein Mulder continues to hold Class Lessons twice a year in Hyderabad and in Mumbai. Beginning with this year, there will be three local Class Readers too: Nirmala Diaz and Swapna Narendra in Hyderabad, and Aban Bana in Mumbai. The total number of Class members in India is now thirty eight. In October 2013, there was an All India Festival of Anthroposophy, with the theme The Healing Impulse of Anthroposophy, organised by the ASI and hosted by Sloka Waldorf School in Hyderabad. (Anthroposophy Worldwide 12/2013) Waldorf Education From all the different fields of Anthroposophical activity in India, the Waldorf School movement is the best-known. On account of the very intellectual and stressridden conventional school education system that prevails in our country, an increasing number of parents and teachers are opting for Waldorf Education. A total of nine Waldorf or Steiner schools have been established in some of the major cities in India. This is in addition to many Waldorf-inspired or oriented schools, some of which are in rural settings. Waldorf pupils generally get good results in their board exams and are well prepared to face the challenges of a competitive world once they leave school. The Indian representative in the International Forum of Waldorf Schools (Hague Circle) is Jyotsna Patnaik from Sloka Waldorf School. Waldorf kindergartens have gained in popularity. There are now twenty in all, and the number is growing. Sucheta Garud, the representative and coordinator of the Waldorf Kindergartens in India has established the Sadhana Indian Waldorf Kindergarten Association (SIWKA), with the support of the executive members of the International Waldorf Kindergarten Association, IASWECE. Mos Waldorf schools in India run their own teacher training courses throughout the year, as there is a real need for welltrained Waldorf teachers. The residential Waldorf Education Seminar, which I have been conducting each year in the month of May in Khandala since 1999, provides a good foundation for anthroposophy, Waldorf education and eurythmy. Then at Christmas time, we have the one-week Humanising Education course, this year in Mumbai. These Waldorf teacher training courses have faculty members from India and abroad. Curative Education and Social Therapy The need for well-trained teachers who can work with children and adults with special needs is increasing. For that reason, Francis and Anantha Aradhya of Friends of Camphill India have provided regular training in this field at the Camphill Village in Bangalore. Dr Vasudha Prakash of V-Excel in Chennai, who works mainly with children in their day schools, together with her excellent team of teachers, also has on-going courses. India has about fifteen centres for anthroposophical curative education for children and adults with special needs. Earlier, the joint family system managed to take care of people with special needs within the household, but now with the ever growing nuclear families this facility is decreasing. A plan is underway to establish an association for anthroposophical curative education and social therapy in India. Biodynamic agriculture Biodynamic agriculture has spread to many parts of India. Thousands of farmers are making use of this unique form of agriculture with amazing results, both for the crops and for the wellbeing of mother earth, whom we all revere so deeply. Many of the farmers are also involved in seed production, which will lead up to a seed company in India. Peter Proctor from New Zealand, who was instrumental in bringing Biodynamics to India in 1994, was recently back at the BD conference at Sarvdaman Patel s farm in Anand, Gujarat. The Biodynamic Association of India provides a twice yearly, two-week basic BD training at a farm near Kodaikanal in Tamil Nadu. Since July 2012 there is a School of Bio Dynamic Farming, also called the Community College, which was founded by Jakes Jayakaran and his team. Here young people from rural backgrounds are provided free BD training for two years. The present batch has seven students; the next one is expected to have fourteen. Jakes is also invited to other Asian coun-

13 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 5/14 13 Anthroposophy Worldwide tries to teach BD farming to farmers there. Anthroposophic Medicine Each year Dr Michaela Glöckler comes to India to conduct the one week IPMT, which began in February This year it was in Coimbatore. The training is mainly for doctors, therapists, psychologists and art therapists who are working within the anthroposophical movement. The faculty members at the IPMT are from India and abroad. Eurythmy is an integral part of this course. In the meantime the IPMT has extended its task by providing training in anthroposophical psychology, curative education and social therapy and community building. Dilnawaz and I were invited to Thailand for the IPMT by Dr Michaela Glöckler. In June 2013 Dr Veera Panch opened her clinic Malli Mandala in Chennai (Anthroposophy Worldwide 7-8/2013). The Anthroposophic Medical Association (AMS) India Chapter has been formed, with Dr Swapna Narendra as its convener. Eurythmy Dilnawaz Bana and I continue teaching Eurythmy as a regular course for teachers and committed people at Tridha Rudolf Steiner School in Mumbai. This course is conducted twice a year, with two weeks in each module, where the fundamentals of Speech and Music Eurythmy are taught. The eleven-member Light Eurythmy Ensemble from Dornach, Switzerland, was in India for over two weeks and performed in four major cities (Anthroposophy Worldwide 3/2014. Passed away Two dear friends of India, Peter Glasby from Australia and Ulrich Roesch from Germany, recently passed over the threshold. They both were deeply connected to India. Anthroposophy in India Herewith I would like to end my report by thanking our revered teacher and bringer of light, Dr Rudolf Steiner, who has given us all a new meaning in life, and without whom all these initiatives would never have been possible. Aban Bana, Mumbai (IN) Hinweis: Anthroposophie-Festival in Indien Mysterium des Ätherischen, 31. Oktober bis 2. November 2014, Bangalore. China: University establishes Waldorf Teacher College Three affirmative hammer blows With a festive celebration on 18 March 2014, the University of Modern Administration in Beijing, one of the first independent universities in post-revolutionary China, has introduced its Waldorf Teacher College in Beijing, Chenzhigu (Springvale), to the public. As head of department, Yu Ningyuan received an official certificate of employment. Aban Bana is the country representative for India. The opening address was given by Professor Dr Yang Dongping of the Beijing Institute of Technology, director of the national organization Education in the 21st Century, a body that is actively involved in educational legislation in China. Yang is the most important advocate of an independent educational system in China and co-editor of the Chinese year-book on the development of the education system. He is well known from his appearance in Erwin Wagenhofer s film Alphabet. In his congratulatory address Marcus Bleinroth, as the representative of the Press and Information Office of the German Embassy in Beijing, underlined the special role Waldorf Education has to play on China s path towards a knowledge society and he took the opportunity to mention that the children of two German Federal Chancellors, Helmut Kohl and Gerhard Schröder, had attended Waldorf schools. The entrepreneur Li Jian from Guangzhou (Lithium Force, electric cars) spoke about the importance of this foundation for the development of the Chinese economy. He described the close affinity between successful Japanese management methods and Waldorf education, using the example of the high value both of them place on sensory experiences. The beginning of a civilization of love Yu Ningyuan gave an account of how Rudolf Steiner founded Waldorf Education for the children of workers. He particularly stressed the devotion to the earth as the beginning of a future civilization of love. Martin Barkhoff spoke of Waldorf Education in connection with other global movements that go back to Rudolf Steiner, referring to their strong emphasis on individualism. The examples he used were Ibrahim Abouleish, Reijo Wilenius and Tho Ha Vinh. After the unveiling of the college plaque, the founding verse from the Foundation Stone Meditation was spoken The founder of the Springvale Centre for Waldorf Education and head of the newly founded College: Yu Ningyuan in Chinese, followed by three affirmative hammer blows. The University of Modern Administration is located to the southwest of Beijing. At present it has 4000 students with plans to expand it to accommodate 7000 students in the future. Most courses at the, by now, 24 colleges are business and management studies, but there are also courses in art, applied sciences, education and nursing. The Waldorf teacher training will initially remain at the Springvale campus near Phoenix Mountain to the northwest of Beijing, but from the autumn of 2016 school leavers will be able to take up their studies also on the University campus. The Springvale Centre is one of twelve Waldorf-oriented training initiatives in China that work together within the China Waldorf Forum (CWF). Academic courses in Waldorf education have been offered since the year 2000 at the Sichuan Normal University in Chengdu, the city with the first Waldorf School in China. Martin Barkhoff, Berlin (DE)

14 14 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 1/14 Forum Membership The exhibition Rudolf Steiner. Alchemy of the Everyday The major exhibition Rudolf Steiner. Alchemy of the Everyday in Espoo (FI) includes an information panel with the title Colour Theory. At the end of the description it says, While Steiner himself often used strong nuances and contrasting colours, the soft transitions in today s typical anthroposophical paintings most of them are water colours have become something of a cliché. As a journalist, art teacher and artist I ask myself how such a sentence comes to be there. [ ] The exhibition refers to the Colour Theory of the theosophists Annie Besant and Charles Leadbeater in the book Thought Forms. The focus, also in a visual sense, should have been on Goethe s Theory of Colour, which forms the basis for art teaching at Waldorf Schools. How can the people visiting the exhibition understand that the thoughts Steiner developed with regard to the importance of colours were totally different from those of the theosophists? And why is the question of light and dark not mentioned seeing that it is central to Steiner s approach to art? [ ] The exhibition ignores Steiner s painting sketches, his numerous lectures on colour and his whole painting impulse that deals with the essence of colour. Thousands of people all over the world have deepened and developed this painting impulse as artists, teachers and therapists. It is annoying and disconcerting that the Goetheanum does invite certain painters to Dornach so that they can exhibit their work for their own circle. What is the meaning of this, seeing that they are hidden away when it comes to such an international exhibition? Why is this so? The arrogant comment that their work has become something of a cliché is not only insulting, but it is born either from malicious intentions or blindness, especially if one bears in mind that an increasing number of general artists steal these soft colour moods for their own oil paintings. [ ] Marita Karlsson, Ekenäs (FI) To the article Liberating Roots in Anthroposophy Worldwide 4/2014 few interesting, accurate A questions are being raised, except for the one [ ]: what is this activity with which one gets to know the I? We find the answer to this question in the work of Rudolf Steiner, not least in his epistemological works Truth and Knowledge and The Philosophy of Freedom. But it is often overlooked or not understood in the right way. This is also apparent in the work of Mieke Mosmüller who quoted Rudolf Steiner in this context. In wholly practical terms she described [ ] the way [ ] in which the answer to the main question can be found. In one of her last books, Die Kategorien des Aristoteles. Die Buchstaben des Weltenwortes, she described the thirteenth category as the living experience of The I knows itself, an experience that each of us ultimately has to have for himor herself. To achieve this we need to be prepared to firmly stride on the path of thinking about thinking and beyond. Only then can the (world) questions be truly answered out of the moral intuition that has been comprehended. Von Plato is right in saying that The I knows itself provides the identity of anthroposophy. The I knows itself is the central statement in Rudolf Steiner s work. It is anthroposophy and the word of Christ. Mariette van Rees Vellinga, Zeist (NL) Celebrating her 100th birthday Eva Lunde On 12 April 2014 the Norwegian eurythmist Eva Lunde celebrated her one hundredth birthday. Eva Lunde was born into a large family in Lillehammer as the seventh of ten children. She was only 15 years old when she was sent to the Friedwart Schule in Dornach. Four years later she entered the eurythmy school. Once she had finished her training she stayed in Dornach for a while, where she became actively involved in stage work. This included performances of Faust, where she was fortunate enough to work under the direction of Marie Steiner. For Eva Lunde eurythmy was intimately connected with poetry and she found that the poems of the Norwegian poets, such as Henrik Ibsen, were a good foundation for the art of eurythmy, as were the Norwegian folktales. Working eurythmy into the Norwegian language grew to be an important task for Eva Lunde. During World War II Eva Lunde lived in Sweden and worked at a curative home in Järna. Before the war she had participated with Elena Zuccoli in the first eurythmy performance at the Mikael-

15 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 1/14 15 Menbership News We have been informed that the following 63 members have crossed the threshold of death. In their remembrance we are providing this information for their friends. The Membership Office at the Goetheanum Dorothea Pucher Boll-Eckwälden (DE) 27 January 2013 Ingeborg Grimm Ammerbuch (DE) 22 April 2013 Rolf Hamann Aichwald (DE) 12 July 2013 Monica Grudin Rosendale/NY (US) 29 September 2013 Lászlóné Illyés Budapest (HU) 3 October 2013 Louise Ameling Amsterdam (NL) 21 October 2013 Siegfried Freund Stuttgart (DE) 18 November 2013 Elisabeth Röschenthaler Bad Liebenzell (DE) 23 November 2013 Annelies Gentsch Murrhardt (DE) 26 November 2013 Paul Stanjer Enfield (GB) 29 November 2013 Harry Kretz Ghent/NY (US) 5 December 2013 Joan Nielsen Kopenhagen (DK) 11 December 2013 Anneliese Krämer Ludwigshafen (DE) 1 January 2014 Maria Linnemann Winnipeg (CA) 4 January 2014 Wolfgang Dopp Heidelberg (DE) 12 January 2014 Gertrud Heintz Bad Dürkheim (DE) 12 January 2014 Friedrich Claren Kandern-Riedlingen (DE) 15 January 2014 Eva Maria Gorecki Aachen (DE) 19 January 2014 Wolfgang Pritzkat Hamburg (DE) 20 January 2014 Ingeborg Göldner Erlangen (DE) 26 January 2014 Helga Rothenbücher Hamburg (DE) 26 January 2014 Pieter van der Meulen Zeist (NL) 28 January 2014 Maria van Beuningen Hattem (NL) 29 January 2014 Renate Kretschmer Frankfurt a. M. (DE) 31 January 2014 Wolfgang König Gernsbach (DE) 2 February 2014 Friederieke Woudenberg Nieuwerkerk (NL) 3 February 2014 Marianne van der Heide Amsterdam (NL) 5 February 2014 Manfred Bauer Heidenheim (DE) 6 February 2014 Alfred Hercigonja Winkel bei Bülach (CH) 8 February 2014 Geertruida Cleveringa Zutphen (NL) 9 February 2014 Martine van Bezeij Den Haag (NL) 10 February 2014 Armin Scholter Stuttgart (DE) 10 February 2014 Achim Noschka Ober-Olm (DE) 12 February 2014 Zeline Smith East Grinstead (GB) 13 February 2014 Peter Denzler Kollbrunn (CH) 14 February 2014 Julie Betz Stuttgart (DE) 16 February 2014 Brigitta Huth Wiesbaden (DE) 20 February 2014 Gertrud Kaufmann Frankfurt a. M. (DE) 20 February 2014 Jenny Stockwell Hellingly (GB) 20 February 2014 Alison Rose Dipford (GB) 28 February 2014 John Antwis Poole (GB) in February 2014 Lydia Schäfer Walkringen (CH) 1 March 2014 Eva List Dornach (CH) 4 March 2014 Jürgen Pfestorf Ahrensburg (DE) 5 March 2014 Hedwig Piringer Gmunden (AT) 7 March 2014 Max Niederer Engelburg (CH) 11 March 2014 Baruch Urieli Callan (IE) 11 March 2014 Sigrid Perol Stuttgart (DE) 14 March 2014 Siegfried Woitinas Stuttgart (DE) 14 March 2014 Annelies Ritter Aarwangen (CH) 16 March 2014 Else Scheuthle Niefern-Öschelbronn (DE) 17 March 2014 Wilm Brandes Freiburg (DE) 18 March 2014 Barbara Friedrich Stuttgart (DE) 19 March 2014 Eric Arlin Bois-le-Roi (FR) 21 March 2014 Karla Kiniger Edinburgh (GB) 21 March 2014 Johannes Kehrer Engelsbrand (DE) 22 March 2014 Gisela Stockmar Ahrensburg (DE) 22 March 2014 Brigitte Petersen München (DE) 24 March 2014 Elisabeth Schneider-von Maltzahn Dornach (CH) 28 March 2014 Michael Engel Newham-on-Severn (GB) 30 March 2014 Heidrun Trommler Uttenreuth (DE) 31 March 2014 Martina Mann East Troy/WI (US) 1 April 2014 Martha Reichen Oberwil (CH) 1 April 2014 From 11 March to 7 April 2014 the General Anthroposophical Society welcomed 83 new members and noted 34 resignations. gården in Järna. In the autumn of 1946 she started work as a eurythmy teacher at the Rudolf Steiner School in Oslo, giving courses for adults after school. With the eurythmist Meta Aukrust and some amateurs she organized a number of eurythmy performances. She also taught at several mainstream schools where she was even offered a job as eurythmist. This she had to decline, however, due to her other duties. Speech eurythmy became Eva Lunde s main mission. She had a particular love of alliteration and she wrote a book on the subject which was translated into German. Actors from Dornach would come to Oslo from time to time and work on Rudolf Steiner s Mystery Dramas with a group of amateur actors. Eva Lunde used to play the role of Maria. Ruth Unger continued this work for many years. In her later years, Eva Lunde worked as a eurythmy therapist. Another example of her versatility is her involvement through many years in the puppet shows that were performed at the school s annual Christmas Fair. After her retirement, Eva Lunde founded the Norwegian College for Eurythmy with Jürgen Kraft. A few years later, Margrethe and Trond Solstad arrived and took on the direction of the training and much of the teaching, but Eva Lunde continued to give lessons, especially in alliteration. Her interest and insight into alliteration and in the Edda meant that she was a soughtafter teacher of European stage groups and eurythmy schools. We congratulate Eva Lunde on her birthday and express our deep gratitude for the great and important work that she has done for pedagogical as well as artistic eurythmy. She spent the day surrounded by friends and family. Nora Aanonsen, Oslo (NO) and Sølvi Sørum (NO)

16 16 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 5/14 Feature Ninety years Eurythmeum in Stuttgart Strength and inspiration for the art of eurythmy Ninety years ago Rudolf and Marie Steiner s impulse to create a place for eurythmy in a major city fell on fertile ground. In 1924 the Eurythmeum was established in Stuttgart, close to the first Waldorf School, in a generous wooden building where the first eurythmists were trained by Alice Fels. Else Klink no other name is so intimately linked with the Eurythmeum! Under her leadership the Eurythmeum grew to be quite a special place: countless students came here from all over the world. Its stage ensemble not only came to be an important part of this city s cultural life, it also went on to gain international fame. In the 1970s and 1980s the ensemble performed to full houses when they took programmes such as Peer Gynt on tour. But it was not always like this. From 1930 to 1935 the school had to close until Else Klink and Otto Wiemer awakened it to new life despite the Great Depression and the rise of the Nazi Regime. First, Else Klink managed to bravely stand up to the dictatorship but in 1941 the Eurythmeum was closed down by the Gestapo. After the war a new beginning was attempted in Köngen with the support of Martha and Emil Kühn. There, the training first took place in wooden compounds because the building in Stuttgart had been destroyed in the war. But the students were not discouraged by that and ever greater numbers of them continued to flock to Stuttgart. In 1959, the Eurythmeum Association was founded, an undertaking that Theodor and Erika Beltle and many faithful friends supported with great devotion. In 1964 the Eurythmeum moved into its new building next to Rudolf Steiner House in Stuttgart. A difficult legacy In 1986, Else Klink received the German Order of Merit (Bundesverdienstkreuz) in recognition of her achievements. Thanks to a connection with the Theatre of Friendship of Nations the ensemble was able to tour Russia and Siberia with Alfred Schnittke s Concerto for piano and strings in the early 1990s. This was Else Klink s last major choreography and her foray into modern music. In 1991 she handed over the direction to the close circle of her students. When she died in 1994, she left behind a great but difficult legacy. An era had come to an end and a new beginning needed to be made. Aus einem Programm des Eurythmeum The late 1990s were a time when new ways were sought in the world of eurythmy. The concept of an avant-garde emerged, with hot arguments flaring up when it came to the question of what still deserved to be called eurythmy. There were a great number of independent eurythmy groups and soon the oversaturation and tiring of the audiences began to manifest in declining numbers. Student numbers also dropped in all training centres. However, thanks to the help of faithful supporters the Eurythmeum was able to continue its tours. But the awakening, when it finally came, was bitter. During the crisis that followed it looked as if the entire stage ensemble would have to be dissolved due to lack of funding. Again, the support from friends meant that this could be avoided at the very last minute. Re-orientation without dogmas The time had come to look back to the sources as well as towards the future, to go on with research and to keep the art of eurythmy alive but free from any dogmas and ready-made recipes. It was necessary to find eurythmy out of the middle, to consciously take hold of it in an artistic as well as social process. Benedikt Zweifel took on this task when he became the leader of Else Klink Ensemble which was founded in This new inner attitude and search meant that it was possible for Carina Schmidt and Benedikt Zweifel to bring about a happy and meaningful cooperation between the Eurythmeum and the Goetheanum. The impulse to bring eurythmy to big stages and to perform to large audiences found its realization in the three productions of Symphony Eurythmy with the Gnessin Virtuosi Orchestra from Moscow. In recent years the ensemble has focused on modern poets and contemporary composers. Their cooperation resulted in productions that were choreographed by the younger generation. A new era dawned with a new style of working. But the Eurythmeum also re-invented itself inwardly. In the mid-1990s Michael Leber had introduced the Märchenbühne which began to play a major part in the three-year stage training of young eurythmists. The stage students who work under their own direction shape the profile of the Eurythmeum in important ways. They achieve over a hundred performances per year, in Germany and abroad, taking their tours as far as China. Interest from all over the world Innovative steps have also been taken in training in recent years. Through cooperation with the Waldorf Teacher training in Stuttgart (Freie Hochschule) it was possible to bring the eurythmy training up to modern standards without losing any of its substance. Students leave after four years of training with a Bachelor degree that includes a basic teaching qualification and they have the possibility to continue to study towards an MA in eurythmy teaching. This development as a whole has certainly played a part in making sure that the popularity of the Eurythmeum as a place of study and as a stage ensemble continues to grow. Many young people from all over the world arrive with the impulse of choosing eurythmy as an inner and outer path in life, maybe driven by the many existential questions that observers who are alert to the situation of our time cannot ignore. These young people are our greatest gift and our greatest challenge. They give us strength and inspiration for the tasks and questions that arise daily in our struggle to keep the art of eurythmy alive. Antonia Neveu, Stuttgart (DE)