The General Anthroposophical Section
Anthroposophy is a path of knowledge which aims to lead the spiritual in the human being to the spiritual in the universe. —Rudolf Steiner, 1924
The Section
The Goetheanum as a School of Spiritual Science currently comprises ten departments (Sections or Faculties) which carry out research, teaching and training in a specific field of life and science, as well as a General Anthroposophical Section. In the General Anthroposophical Section, the focus is placed on anthroposophy itself, its essence and its development, and thus at the same time on the study of the human being or the "problem of the human being" (Martin Buber) as a physical, psychological and spiritual being. The focal points of the Section's activities at the Goetheanum are currently centred in the Ita Wegman Institute (basic anthroposophical research), in the international seminar "Study and Further Education" (Haus Schuurmann; see Work Contexts) and in the area of spiritual training of the so-called "First Class" (see below).
The human being can become the question and the content in his or her being human; from this basic experience the Section develops its various directions of work and focal points. The study of anthroposophy, its communicability and reception form a basis and an integral part of this. The understanding of the becoming, the living and the changing requires an active reception that builds on an individual, questioning examination and on one's own experience. The search for an understanding of the human being in its relationship to the cosmos, to its environment and with-world (Mitwelt), to the otherness of the other and to itself as a becoming, can enliven this relationship; it can have an inspiring and transforming effect. Such an attempt to gain knowledge as an active participation in reality entails challenges that go beyond a mere assimilation of knowledge. The General Anthroposophical Section sets itself the task of promoting forms of active reception of anthroposophical spiritual science and developing them further in exchange with people, with institutions, with professional fields and training, including the Goetheanum itself.
Rudolf Steiner introduced a meditative path of self-development towards a deeper understanding of reality in 1924 in nineteen lessons of the so-called "First Class" of the School of Spiritual Science - and he held these co-stenographed "Class Lessons" in the General Anthroposophical Section. The path of soul-spiritual training outlined in the lessons aims to deepen through practice the human being's development of the I in cognition. The searching relationship of an encounter with oneself and with spiritual reality can lead to a growing commitment and connection to the world and to others, to the with-world and the environment. In the study of spiritual science, the foundations of knowledge are formed for this: a conceptual form that enables the becoming and essence of a spiritual reality to be penetrated with the brightness of consciousness and out of this to shape life. The inner training path of the Class Lessons is the basis of all the Sections at the Goetheanum and their work in the various areas of life. It also opens up spaces of encounter between people worldwide in which this kind of search for knowledge can be practised.
Finally, the core tasks of the General Anthroposophical Section also include scientific studies, publications and events that enable a deeper understanding and the establishment of an inner relationship with the work of Rudolf Steiner and his collaborators as well as with the nature and development of anthroposophy in the 20th century, and thus also with the Anthroposophical Society and its history.