Yearly Report 2022/23 - General Anthroposophical Section
The General Anthroposophical Section organized the Michaelmas Conference on the Dignity of Birth and Death at the Goetheanum in 2022 and was significantly involved in the preparation of the October Conference on questions of spiritual community building, in the Conference of Class Holders in November and at the end of December in the events commemorating the New Year’s Eve catastrophe in 1922/23 – the building and the destruction of the First Goetheanum. The Section also organized a small event on the relationship of The Younger Generation (GA 217) course to the Esoteric Youth Circle, on the occasion of the 100th birthday of the youth course, for which so many young people went to Stuttgart in 1922.
Lecture and seminar tours to England and Ireland, France, Russia, Finland and Brazil, among others of the Leadership Collegium took place in 2022. With the priests of the Christian Community, we held a day on the School of Spiritual Science during their Synod in Dornach in September, on the spiritual conception of the School of Spiritual Science with its Sections and on the work with the Class Lessons. The lecture series on the development of Rudolf Steiner’s work with the core themes of the year 1922 and on Jewish Humanism could be continued at the Goetheanum and recorded as before. They are freely accessible on the website of the General Anthroposophical Section*, as are the lectures of the Michaelmas Conference on dignity of birth and death and other contributions of the Leadership Collegium. The lecture series in English on the foundations and perspectives of Anthroposophy also continued. Since the end of 2022, livestream broadcasts from House Maryon have been made internationally available, which we are very pleased about. The Section Newsletter, which reports on current events and book publications, was again published in intense succession in 2022**; the Newsletter for Class Members was also completed at Easter and Michaelmas with many relevant contributions and sent out worldwide in various languages. Email: allgemeinesektion@goetheanum.ch.
Numerous book monographs were compiled in German at the Ita Wegman Institute in 2022 and published by Peter Selg – including on Rudolf Steiner’s last public lecture tours in Germany and the on the burning of the Goetheanum, on Margarita and Max Woloschin and on the relationship of the human being to the Angeloi, Archangeloi and Archai***. Last year’s lecture series on Jewish Humanism with contributions on Martin Buber and Franz Rosenzweig were also written up and published as a book monograph: Die Gegenwart des Anderen, Constanza Kaliks/Peter Selg****. Translated books from the section were published in the USA, Brazil and Romania, among others. A special book launch of the book on Martin Buber and Franz Rosenzweig took place on Paul Celan’s birthday (22 November) at the Goetheanum together with Iftach Ben Aharon from Israel, who presented his work ‘Dialogue through the void’*****. In Kassel and in the aftermath of document disputes, it was also possible to publicly present the publications on Martin Buber and Franz Rosenzweig, in 2022.******
Study and Further Training and the Question of the Concept: School of Spiritual Science
Since Autumn 2022, a total of 19 young people from 15 countries have again been studying the foundations of Anthroposophy in English at the Goetheanum and receiving an intensive introduction to the reality of life at the School of Spiritual Science in its various Sections. Andrea de la Cruz decisively strengthened the Studies & Further Education******* team in the organization and implementation of the 2022 academic year; from January 2023, she will work for the General Anthroposophical Section as a whole, together with Nicolas Criblez. Andrea de la Cruz and Nicolas Criblez will also take over Karin Eckstein’s secretarial duties in the supervision of the First Class, who is leaving us due to her retirement and whom we thank very sincerely for her many years of conscientious, faithful and loving work.
Looking back at the Section’s topics that occupied us most intensively in 2022, questions about Rudolf Steiner’s concepts and understanding of the School of Spiritual Science were in the foreground. How can we manifest these concepts more and more – in their spiritual essence and in their need for co-responsibility for the further development of life and the foundations of life on earth, in education and medicine, society, ecology and economy? In this connection, we also dealt intensively with developments in 1922, which culminated in a certain way in the burning of the Goetheanum – due to the lack of understanding and the aggressive rejection of Rudolf Steiner and Anthroposophy, especially in Germany, which was disseminated by the media, and was connected to the weakness of the Anthroposophical Society itself. We discussed this question against the background of the current situation and our present as well as future tasks. Within the Section, we want to continue the work we have begun and would like to intensify it in certain areas in order to make Anthroposophy more visible publicly and internally (within the anthroposophical movement) in its spiritual content and world significance. Among other things, we strive to study Anthroposophy in the context of the humanist awakenings of the 20th century, as well as Anthroposophy itself. Its basic concepts and basic works are to be publicly described by the Section in a qualified manner, annotated editions of the Guiding Principles and the Karma Lectures are to be compiled and published, and further studies on the motifs of the Class Lessons as well. The Section would like to offer international introductions and deepening on the foundations of Anthroposophy (online) in an expanded form, further develop the international study year at the Goetheanum and intensify collaboration with existing anthroposophical training centres with respect to Rudolf Steiner and Anthroposophy. For all this, however, we need more collaborators and financial resources, which we do not as yet have. In this respect we are very grateful for any financial support!
Constanza Kaliks, Peter Selg, Claus-Peter Röh, Andrea de la Cruz, Nicolas Criblez
*https://allgemeine-sektion.goe...
** https://allgemeine-sektion.goe...
*** https://allgemeine-sektion.goe... - publications mostly in German
**** https://goetheanum-verlag.ch/p...
***** Iftach Ben Aharon, a German book: Dialog durch das Nichts https://goetheanum-verlag.ch/p...
****** (https://allgemeine-sektion.goe...) AND (https://allgemeine-sektion.goe...)
*******https://studium.goetheanum.ch/...