General Anthroposophical

Society Anthroposophy Worldwide



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■ Sign of the Times

Michaelmas

Reversal of the Will September 2010 No. 7 1 2 3 4 5 6

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Sign of the Times

Natural Catastrophes

Anthroposophy in the World

Anthroposophical Initiatives: A Worldwide Network Croatia: Rudolf Steiner Days in Donji Kraljevec Austria: Seminar on the Seven Planetary Trees Rumania: Meditation Symposium

School for Spiritual Science

General Anthroposophical Section: Anthroposophical Studies in English First Class: Developments in Asia

Feature

Israel: A Visit by Palestinians

Natural catastrophes continued to shake humanity in the late summer of this year: uncontrolled fires around Moscow, landslides in China, unimaginable floods in India and Pakistan where 14 million people are said to be affected, about twice the population of Switzerland.—Thoughts from Hans-Christian Zehnter.

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ore natural catastrophes! Absolutely unfathomable misery. Deep sadness and shock. Outwardly: “How can I help.” Inwardly: “This affects me, too. It shakes my sense of humanity. What are the gods trying to tell us? What does nature want from us human beings?”

experienced through this reversal of the will.” (Rudolf Steiner: The Riddle of the Human Being [GA 20], “Outlook”).

Wakefulness

Our own will turns to devotion; it guides the soul. The soul experiences a spiritual element beyond itself. The will renounces its own being Humanity at the Threshold Photo: H.-C. Zehnter as will and takes another The evolution of hu- Observation: Approaching nature will into itself.—Even with a wakeful consciousness more clearly stated: The manity has led us to the will renounces all of its own activity inthreshold of the spiritual world. Acsofar as it extends into the world. It stops companying this is the task of gradually within itself in order to exist as pure atexpanding our ability to observe contentiveness, pure devotion, pure obsersciously. To accomplish this we need selfvation. Thus the soul become capable of lessness, a reversal of our will. “We will taking things in; preserving its state of find special help in pursuing this goal if wakefulness, it goes beyond itself by alwe observe life in the natural world with lowing another being of will to enter. a more inward empathy of soul. For instance, we can try to look at a plant so Apocalypse=Revelation, Unveiling that we do not merely record its form in our thoughts. Instead, we can have a Returning to where we started: The certain empathy with the inner life that incipient development of perceptive constretches upward in the stem, unfolds sciousness depends on building a culture horizontally in the leaves, opens its inable to observe the essential content of ward being to the world in the flower, the world around us. We must allow the etc.. The will participates quietly with world’s will to enter us in wakefulness. this activity, and then it becomes a will And the less we are able to do this, the developed in devotion that guides the more the outer world will demand our soul, a will that does not arise from the attention—violently, if necessary. Standsoul, but has an effect on it. Of course, ing at the threshold is an apocalyptic we may believe at first that it comes process: The world is seeking to reveal from the soul. But in experiencing this itself in its true being—within humanity process itself we recognize that a spiriand within the realm of nature. | Hanstual element beyond the soul is being Christian Zehnter, Dornach (Switzerland)

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|  Anthroposophy Worldwide  No. 7/10

■ Editorial

■ Anthroposophy in the World

Dear Reader

Anthroposophy, Movement, and Society

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ven Sebastian Jüngel gets a vacation—he has been mainly responsible for editing and producing Anthroposophy Worldwide for several years now. Thus his editorial colleagues are stepping in to spread out our “worldwide panorama” once again. You can expect reports and contributions from Switzerland, Austria, Croatia, Rumania, Palestine, and Asia. If we count each of the countries in the Asia report (Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, India, Philippines) and add the nationalities of the students portrayed by Monika Clément (p. 4)— South Africa, United States, and (again) Taiwan—twelve nations are represented. This spectrum is further extended if we take into consideration Eric Hurner’s intention of building up an international network of anthroposophical initiatives (p. 2). It’s no wonder there is no space in these eight pages for items that have already been published elsewhere. To find a report on the European general secretaries’ meeting in Paris, we will refer you to Mitteilungen aus der anthroposophischen Arbeit in Deutschland, No. 6/2010. | For the editorial staff: HansChristian Zehnter

Anthroposophy Worldwide appears ten times a year. It is distributed by the national Anthroposophical Societies and appears as a supplement to the weekly publication Das Goetheanum. • Publisher: General Anthroposophical Society, represented by Paul Mackay • Editors: Douglas Miller (responsible for this English edition), Sebastian Jüngel (content and production), Axel Mannigel, Ursula Remund Fink, Michaela Spaar and Hans-Christian Zehnter • Correspondents: News Network Anthroposophy (NNA). We expressly seek active support and collaboration. To receive Anthroposophy Worldwide, apply to the Anthroposophical Society in your country. Alternatively, subscriptions are available for CHF 30.– (EUR/ US$ 20.–) per year from the address below. An e-mail version is available to members of the Anthroposophical Society only at: www.goetheanum.org/630.html?L=1. To contact the editors: Wochenschrift Das Goetheanum, Postfach, CH–4143 Dornach 1, Switzerland; fax +41 (0)61 706 44 65; [email protected]

Did You Know That…? Anthroposophy is a spiritual science that is actually at work throughout the world in many fields of life where it bears fruit. But these fruits are very seldom harvested on an anthroposophically organized level. According to Eric Hurner, there are thousands of projects and initiatives that are unaware of each other, each of them alone. This leaves the potential for an anthroposophical treasure unaddressed —until now.

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he results of the Eliant campaign have shown that there are over a million people worldwide who find the anthroposophical work important. They range from consumers through users, readers, active practitioners of anthroposophy to members of the Anthroposophical Society. Of the over 1 million international signatories, these members, however, constitute less than 5%. Why, then, did all the others sign, what drives them, what do they believe and above all, what are they doing? We might speculate about their level of commitment, the quality of what they do and so on. But the fact is we have no idea what they are doing. As an Anthroposophical Society, we are not in touch with them.

An Important Part of Anthroposophy The largest biodynamic movement in the world – in India—did not exist 15 years ago. Today there are thousands of farmers there. The work in China, Korea, Egypt, Africa and South America has expanded in manifold forms, but completely independently of the activities of any local Anthroposophical Society. Today there are anthroposophical Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Christians and more. Intercultural communication has become an integral part of anthroposophical life. The anthroposophical movement consists of projects that provide products and services. It includes a vast range of professions (The Address Directory Anthroposophy lists over a hundred of these), but we know only of those initiatives that publicly declare their anthroposophical connection. There are a growing number, however, that make no mention of Rudolf Steiner or anthroposophy. Thousands of social projects in developing countries are supported by— and in touch with—anthroposophical banks and foundations, but most of these projects know nothing of other

similar projects or of the movement as a whole.

Local and Practical On a recent trip to South Africa I ran across a comprehensive anthroposophical lending library in the inner city of Cape Town. The project is an association for organizational development consulting. The co-workers speak openly about anthroposophy, hold anthroposophical conferences for their network, but are not members, nor do they take part in mainstream anthroposophical life. A doctor, earlier a parent in one of the Waldorf schools, has an large project in a village out in the country, does not practice anthroposophical medicine because she is involved in the treatment of children with AIDS medication, and has done major research in this. There is a hospice for AIDS patients, and an Art project where some 100 women are engaged, a cultural project including a kindergarten, which they are trying to run along Waldorf lines, and an organic food garden. It is a work of considerable size, affecting hundreds, if not thousands of people, and many anthroposophical impulses have been included in it. But it stands quite alone and independent. A third project works in the townships of Cape Town, instructs and supports some 3,500 people who might otherwise be destitute in how to operate small farms and community gardens. It organizes to sell their surplus produce, providing an income after a time. The founder and manager trained in biodynamics at Emerson College. Then there is a Demeter farmer in Nepal. His primary concern is the conservation of the Himalayas’ ecology. He produces medicinal plants for Ayurvedic medicine, exports teas to Europe and is, as is stated on his web site, trying to show how anthroposophy is compatible with the ideas of Tibetan Buddhism. The surrounding farmers are being intro-



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Photo: Eric Hurner

■ Anthroposophy in the World

Croatia: 5th Rudolf Steiner Days

Looking to the Future This year’s Rudolf Steiner Days in Rudolf Steiner’s birthplace (on the theme of biodynamic agriculture and food) was something special because— for the first time —anthroposophists from Serbia, Bosnia and Slovenia took part. Another main topic of discussion was planning for the proposed “Rudolf Steiner Center.”

A From aid to self-help: The small garden and farm project in Capetown (photo: distribution station)

duced to biodynamic methods and to ecological harvesting of wild medicinal plants.

World-wide Legacy These above are all big, established projects, but 20 years ago they, and thousands of similar smaller, newer ones, did not exist at all. It is really a development of our time. It shows that today anthroposophy belongs to the world at large, and is expanding rapidly quite independently of established connections. There seems to be a lot of enthusiasm for it; it meets needs and, as Eliant has shown, is finding widespread recognition. The Anthroposophical Society, however, seems to have little part in this development, which has run parallel to it. The number of members is shrinking and finances are tight. The School for Spiritual Science is struggling for survival. And yet, it has so much to offer this new movement, things people urgently need – research, training, quality control and standards, connections to like-minded people, consultation and so on. However, the Society is not publicly perceived in this manner. It has the appearance of being there for the members and Class members. What one reads in periodicals and on the internet leaves the impression that it is concerned with its own affairs, and these seem far removed from those of this parallel movement. People that are part of the latter seem to reject all elitism, secrecy, adherence to authority or to anything that

seems closed and removed from the human condition. It seems to me important for the future thriving of our combined work that we begin to build up a movement that runs parallel to the Society—a Society that makes its primary concern gaining a clear and concrete picture and overview of these anthroposophical initiatives and what the people connected with them need, what interests them, how they relate to their work and to life. We should take seriously their far-ranging research, even if they are neither members nor Class members; we should offer information, help and support in areas that go beyond the financial. I would like to work on bringing such a project about— initially on the Internet, but increasingly through personal connections. | Eric Hurner, Dornach (Switzerland) Eric Hurner is a Waldorf teacher from South Africa. He works with the network Idem – Identity through Initiative. Contact: eric@ idem-network.org. Links to the above websites: www.cdra.org.za www.keiskamma.org www.abalimi.org.za www.oneworld-alc.org www.idem-network.org

t the beginning of June a conference on biodynamic agriculture and food was held in Donji Kraljevec where Rudolf Steiner was born 149 years ago. This year’s conference was attended by about 100 participants; they heard lectures on biodynamic agriculture by Waltraut Neuper (Austria), Andrei Fistravec, Maijaz Turinek (Slovenia), Marin Kukoc, Tanja Petrovic and Ivan Basic (Croatia). Mario Culetic from Zagreb spoke about the relationship between eurythmy and Waldorf pedagogy. The conference also featured a display of biodynamic foods and preparations.

A Gift of Books It was a memorable conference, especially for the friends from Croatia, Serbia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina where there had been a similar conference in the fall of 1991. The friends from Belgrade (Serbia) and Sarajevo (Bosnia-Herzegovina) donated copies of all the books they had published to the library of the proposed “Rudolf Steiner Center” (see Anthroposophy Worldwide, No. 2/2010, p. 12). | Slobodan Zalica, Sarajevo (BosniaHerzegovina) There is now an account in Germany for donations to the planned Rudolf Steiner Center: Anthroposophische Gesellschaft in Deutschland, Arbeitszentrum Berlin, Sonderkonto 150 Jahre Rudolf Steiner, For Donji Kraljevec, Account Number 251 723 10, BLZ 430 609 67, GLS Bank. The next anthroposophical meeting in the south Slavic area is planned for Kraljevec around Michaelmas, 2010.

| Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 7/10

■ Anthroposophy in the World

Austria: Seminar on the Seven Planetary Trees

“Let Us Love the Trees” This year’s seminar on an artistic approach to the gestures of the seven planetary trees took place on July 13–18 at the JOA-Raphael Study Center in Thalgau near Salzburg; the seminar was led by the Center’s director, Christine Cologna. Participants from four countries worked on an individual approach to the planets’ evolutionary development through artistically-conducted research that used a multiform methodology based in spiritual science.

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t the Raphael Study Center there are twice seven examples of the “planetary trees” (beech, ash, cherry, oak, elm, maple, birch) arranged in an east-west ellipse. Planted eight years ago and lovingly cultivated, they represent the order of the planetary columns in the First Goetheanum. They are quite young, yet they appear distinctive in character and gesture; each is surrounded by flowering mallow. As living columns, they are arranged around a green grassy meadow with a round bed where grain ripens. A path has been laid around the periphery. All this forms a living, etherically woven sacred structure.

Another experience—joyous and sometimes painful—was the development of a motif, a concrete form. This was not done out of our own conceptual picture, but directly out of color as it takes on ever-new forms. This process takes place in the tension that arises between the activities of forming and pausing. Here we could feel how the hand of the painter, supported and corrected by the eye, is led by spiritual forces at work in the periphery; we feel connected with these forces. Photo: Franz Lohri

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Seeking the Archetypal Gesture

On each of three evenings the sculpted relief of a planetary seal was revealed: the initial Saturn seal, the final Venus seal, and the Mars seal that stands in the center of the planetary sequence. Drawing these opened the soul’s eye to these archetypal gestures of the planetary forces, from a comparatively simple form to a highly differentiated development, and then to a completely metamorphosed form that exists in what seems to be a new simplicity. Our experience in drawing the leaves The Secret of Etheric Forces of each planetary tree led to new insights: Sensory appearance and It is both starting point and goal the spiritually observed image of for the course participants, a place evolutionary stages meet in the where questions arise through revcenter of the human soul. erent and focused observation and In lectures and conversations, answers are found by those who through pictures, and in a shared approach the open secret of ethedaily review, Christine Cologna ric forces with inward energy and Finding the essence of the trees: Seminar participants with led the participants objectively artistic sensibility. A characteristic Christina Cologna; seen in the background—the silhouettes of and surely through questions foof this year’s seminar was that the the planetary trees cused on the essential elements participants approached the esof the subject. Each evening, observaDespite careful instruction and guidsence of the trees through the forms of tions and discussions under the starry ance, the mystery of greenness—of their leaves and the way they grew. Thus heavens with their impressive planetary “green as the dead image of life” (Rudolf the leaves of the beech, birch, and oak activities created a concrete, sensory reSteiner)—remained long hidden. We were drawn in five stages over three conlationship to the universe. It was deeply wrestled with the question of how blue secutive days: 1) as seen with the senses; touching to see the cosmos of stars as a and yellow are related, how they have to 2) modeled according to their material, cupola arching above the planetary arbomeet in order to intensify one another darkness; 3) how the surrounding light retum. Albert Steffen’s verse “Let Us Love instead of nullifying or diminishing each and warmth forces magically appear in the Trees” accompanied the participants other; how a living, empathetic dialog their outline; 4) as a flow form based on throughout the week. can arise between the two so they can the forces of earth and water; and 5) as Newly won spiritual-scientific knowlbear fruit as green. One secret to explore the outcome of the simultaneous interedge and artistic experience, a new senwas how the two basic colors learn from weaving of earthly and cosmic forces. sitivity to the concrete work of the spirit one another; they need to be careful and “There’s nothing simpler than to mix in natural events, and an experience of respectful enough to create a space for blue and yellow to produce green.” Daitrue encounters with the I—these were a third element—light. Without the benly painting exercises with plant colors the result. | Franz Lohri, Aarwangen eficial effect of light it would be impos(working on the same image) made it (Switzerland) sible for green to sprout forth. possible to leave this prejudice behind.



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■ Anthroposophy in the World Photos: Zoltan Andras

Rumania: “Systematic Super-Physical Research through Meditation” in Simeria

Exercising Paths to the Supersensible On July 31–August 5, 2010, over 80 people gathered at the Camphill community in Simeria Vecce (Rumania) in order to discuss meditative paths to perceiving and researching super-physical realities.

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peakers Marius Gabor (from Rumania), Dirk Kruse and Dorian Schmidt (from Germany), and Tanja Baumgartner (from Switzerland) have long been known for their work as researchers in super-physical realms. Their individual approaches—all developed on the basis of an intensive study of anthroposophy—are similar inasmuch as they share a systematic methodology and (to various degrees) a connection with naturalscientific methods (see, for instance, Das Goetheanum, No. 29/2010).

A Long-Held Wish The symposium was organized by the Anthroposophical Society in Rumania. Mioara Gheorghiu, a member of the council of the Rumanian Society, was chiefly responsible for bringing the event together. It fulfilled a long-held wish of

first days of the event. This lent the daily work an experimental and spontaneous character and gave everyone a chance to experience a variety of presentations. It also encouraged a cooperative atmosphere. Thus the symposium turned into a shared effort. During the workshops the speakers presented their research work with a special emphasis on their methodological approaches to the supersensible. The open form of the program allowed the contributions to flow organically into one another. The contributions on Dorian Schmidt’s research into formative forces connected directly with the eurythmic performance of the sound figures used by Tanja Baumgartner in her own research work. Schmidt’s exercises provided some basic elements on which Dirk Kruse could build up his practical soul observations as well; they also brought into focus elements of the meditative path described by Marius Gabor.

Variety of Methodologies Each unit was always careful to include the participants; this led away from an atmosphere The Orthodox Prislop Monastery: Tomb of the Rumanian initiate and priest Arsenie Boca (active in the 20th century and revered throughout Rumania as a of lecturing saint) and the goal of the excursion into the Transylvanian mountains. and toward one of work and exercise. During these days it beMarius Gabor who had insisted for years came ever clearer that the capacity for on a deepened cooperative effort among supersensible perception was especially researchers in German-speaking counprevalent among many young people. tries who work on the super-physical; Some of the younger participants even this activity had led to making the symdeveloped their own methods. There posium possible. was also a chance to report on this durThe workshops held by the four speaking the conference. Christhild Brauch ers were organized on the spot during the

Marius Gabor offers a welcome in Simeria on August 31, 2010. For him, the symposium represents the fulfillment of a long-held wish.

and Jens Müller (from the Gesellschaft für Bildekräfteforschung, Germany) reported on their own research, while Sebastian Stanulescu and Laura Zacharia (from the Rumanian Anthroposophical Society) also presented a workshop on their approach to super-physical perception in nature. At the beginning, the meetings were still tentative and timid, but the participants grew closer day by day. Most came from Rumania, while Germany, Austria, and Switzerland were also represented. A community arose in which the participants were able to admire the qualities and capacities of the others with good will and trust.

More International Cooperation Two results were noted at the close of the symposium. First—the possibilities for exchange and publication of methods and results relating to meditative and super-physical work lag far behind the capacities and associated needs found among many people. Networks and institutions are needed In the coming years if we are to forge connections among the efforts being made in many locations, and if we are to build up a research community. Second—just the kind of workshop we held could bear fruit among people in East and West as they strive to expand their soul qualities. The Germanspeaking person might discover a (perhaps) unexpected capacity for sensitivity among our Rumanian friends, while the Rumanian friends may perhaps find a source of inspiration in the structured thinking of the German speakers. | Marcus Buchmann (Switzerland)

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■ School for Spiritual Science

General Anthroposophical Section: Anthroposophical Studies in English

“Achieving a Direct Perception”

Monika Clément: What did you do before the English Studies program? Joanna Dry: I grew up in an anthroposophical family, spent eleven years in a Camphill village, and attended a Waldorf school. I didn’t know what I wanted after graduation, so I spent a year in London as an au pair. While there, I attended a youth conference at the Goetheanum. This event and a course on Anthroposophy and Art were the beginnings of my own studies. My original plan had been to return to South Africa to pursue a fouryear Waldorf teacher training. When I heard about the Anthroposophical Studies program I realized it could be my introductory year, and I came to Dornach.

Finding the Anthroposophical Studies Program through Others Jacob Boveri: I had no anthroposophical background in my family. A friend of my father’s introduced me to anthroposophy when I was 17. I stayed with him in California for a year and read in his large library. Then I attended Rudolf Steiner College in Fair Oaks, where a friend told me that he had enrolled in the Anthroposophical Studies program at the Goetheanum. So I decided to study there as well. Chien-Che Chan: I didn’t meet anthroposophy until I was 21. I was a student in a teacher training program in Taipei, but not too happy with the material. It all seemed so dead, and I thought: How could I teach children this way? At a agriculture conference with Hans Florenstein-Mulder I discovered anthroposophy as something wholistic that unites the human being and the cosmos. I transferred to a Waldorf teacher training, but after two years I found that I was not ready to be a teacher. The one-year military service that followed was difficult, but also a turning point. It lent me the strength to fight for a meaningful life. I found out about the Anthroposophical Studies from Hans Florenstein-Mulder. Clément: What did you think of Switzerland, the Goetheanum, and the students.

Opening the Eye of the Soul Clément: What happens when you study Rudolf Steiner and anthroposophy so intensively? Photo: Monika Clément

Joanna Dry (South Africa), Jacob Boveri (USA), and Chien-Che Chan (Taiwan) presented their final projects in June after two years of study in the Anthroposophical Studies in English program at the Goetheanum. They will remain at the Goetheanum for another four years to complete their eurythmy training.

pers her talks with many examples from life. Her joy is contagious.

Eurythmy in their future: Chien-Che Chan, Joanna Dry, and Jacob Boveri

Dry: I was pleasantly surprised at the young people from many nations, and I felt like I was welcomed with open arms. I found that all of us were on a quest, that we all wanted to learn about Rudolf Steiner and anthroposophy. Boveri: When I arrived I had the sense that the Goetheanum is a special place. I was especially inspired by the many eurythmy performances: the size of the ensemble, the lighting, eurythmy with symphonies! I had never experienced anything like it. I was also impressed by the German language, the poetry as it was performed on the stage. This planted the seed for my decision to pursue a eurythmy training in German. Chan: I experienced a completely different culture; absolutely everything was different. But, I came without particular expectations and was open to any sort of impression. My connection with the Goetheanum was largely formed though my meeting with the people. Every step toward something new began with a human encounter. In the study groups I had my first experience with people from so many different countries—how they thought and acted. Dry: Although Virginia Sease (director) travels around the world as a member of the Goetheanum Executive Council, she was always there for us. She brings a sense of lightness and youth, and pep-

Dry: I question the inner picture I had held previously: Do I really know what I know? Might it not be otherwise? I approach things in a new way and with an open mind, and I find my own truth. Here is where I find an aspect of freedom because if I believe or do things merely because I grew up with them, I am not acting freely. Chan: For me, the Anthroposophical Studies program has meant a process of clarification. The European concepts of life and death, of spirituality, are quite different from those in the East where the ideas of reincarnation and a spiritual world are part of life. Before I came here the spiritual and physical worlds seemed to be interwoven in an undifferentiated way. I find clarity about this relationship in the work of Rudolf Steiner. Boveri: It is as if my soul had been asleep. My work with eurythmy, with music, in the Studies program changed my perception of the world. A sunrise is suddenly not longer just a sunrise, but there’s something more; in eurythmy performances I sense that my soul is deeply and inwardly involved—a level awakens in me where I am no longer just an onlooker, a listener. Chan: As if an eye of the soul had opened. The perception itself speaks in me. Dry: Before these two years I was much more “out there.” Now I am turning more



Anthroposophy Worldwide  No. 7/10 |  7

■ School for Spiritual Science inward; I am preparing myself to turn outward again with an awakened consciousness.

Developing the School for Spiritual Science in Asia

The Social Path of Eurythmy

Interest in Waldorf education has seen enormous growth in Asia since the early 90’s, followed a bit later by anthroposophical medicine and biodynamic agriculture. Somewhat hidden in the background has been an effort by those more interested in understanding the underlying impulses of anthroposophy to find a deepened approach to it—increasingly in the context of the First Class of the School for Spiritual Science.

Magical Moments

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uring the first decade of this century a need arose in several Asian countries to begin work with the First Class lessons of the School for Spiritual Science. Until now, the members of the Class were able to attend Class lessons during the anthroposophical Asian conferences that have been held every two years. Of course, Class lessons have been given in Japan on a regular basis for a num-

Photos: Supplied

Clément: You have decided to stay and take the eurythmy training. Boveri: When I made my decision about the second Studies year I was really thinking about a eurythmy training. I don’t just see eurythmy as a beautiful are, but as something that transforms me. And when I do it right, I also transform something. It becomes possible to express the inexpressible, to make the invisible visible. That is what I am looking for. Dry: We had eurythmy almost daily during the second year. More and more, I loved coming into movement, into a flow. I know I am still far from doing what I see in the eurythmy performances, but that’s what I’d like to learn! Chan: During a youth conference at the beginning of my stay I experienced what eurythmy can accomplish in a community of different people. It is like a seed. It can change the whole atmosphere that leads to the next step toward reality. That was a magical moment for me. I don’t see eurythmy as purely a stage art; it is a social path toward working with and in the world.

An Upward Trend

Lively interest: Members of the First Class in Taiwan…

Clément: A magical moment! Were there others? Dry: Every moment can become a magical moment if you are alert to it and ready for it. Boveri: I can read about all sorts of things, about the ether body, the Russian folk soul, etc. But when I try to achieve a direct perception it brings me closer to real recognition. Anthroposophy makes it possible for me to bring the magical moments into the right context and to understand them. ■ Foundation Study: Anthroposophy and Anthroposophical Studies in English, full-time students, beginning: September 20, 2010 Further Study: Anthroposophy and Anthroposophical Studies 2nd Year, full-time students, beginning: September 20, 2010 Contact: Goetheanum, Study and Further Education office: Mauro Fenu, Postfach CH4143 Dornach 1, Switzerland Tel. +41 61 706 42 20; [email protected]

Last year, the first lessons of the Class were given in Taiwan. This work began with a small circle, but interest quickly grew within the Society membership. In order to make participation possible for newcomers who wanted to join the already-established group, a School for Spiritual Science weekend was held in Ilan on April 9–11 of this year. The first seven lessons were freely held (first in English, and then in Mandarin for those who did not understand English). Class members from China and Hong Kong also took the opportunity to come to

…and in India

ber of years now. Work with the Class material began in the late 1990’s in the Philippines, and after the first course of nineteen lessons had been given, Class holders were appointed. The next request came from Thailand. There, as well, all nineteen lessons will be given in Bangkok during August of this year.

Ilan and participate in the weekend’s work. The newest initiative is in India (Hyderabad), where the first three Class lessons were held on May 7–9. This represents the beginning of the regular Class work in India. The lessons are held twice a year; when the course of all nineteen Class lessons has been given, the leadership of the School for Spiritual Science at the Goetheanum will appoint class holders for the local area. After that it will be possible to hold the lessons every month. | Hans van Florenstein-Mulder, Christchurch (New Zealand)

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■ Feature

Israel: A Visit by Palestinians

“Let There Be Peace” The meeting was filled with tension: In 1978, Palestinians visited their former house in Beer Sheva and found a curative education home there. In the end it was the children who were able to turn this encounter into a peaceful, sensitive moment. Ruth Mosimann (who founded the anthroposophical home in 1969) tells the story of this experience.

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Photo: Supplied

he Beth Eliahu (=house of Elijah) curative education home was located in the old quarter of Beer Sheba in a beautiful old Arabic building with a inner courtyard surrounded by rooms. The courtyard was our dining area. The floor was tiled with an Arabic design. Pepper trees with their red berries shaded the front of the house. In the courtyard at the back there was a magnificent chaste tree that was full A place for meeting: The Beth Eliahu home with pepper trees of blue blossoms in May. We excuses for the fact that it was not Araloved our house. bic coffee. I began to talk about our work I often asked myself who might have with the children; they came from 18 difbuilt the house, and where its previous ferent countries. occupants were now. In November, 1977, Egyptian presiThe Power of a Smile dent Anwar Sadat came to Israel, and although there was still no peace treaAfter coffee I invited them to look ty, the border with the Gaza Strip was around the house. In the storeroom they opened a bit. all exclaimed: “Just look, the crack is still there in the wall!” Then we came to the A Pounding Heart janitor’s closet. The young man from Kuwait said that it was the shower. Our In 1978 I was called to the day room— Israeli cleaning lady was there just at it was full of Arabs. I went and saw an old that moment; she spoke Arabic and anwoman, a couple with a woman in Araswered: “No, that’s the janitor’s closet; bic clothing, another couple with a man the bathroom is over there.” The gentleholding a string of Islamic prayer beads man from Kuwait told her rather pompand a woman in European dress (almost ously that she shouldn’t tell him where Swiss), and two boys with a young couple the shower was—after all, he knew his who acted quite cold and distant. The own house. I explained (in Hebrew) to man with the prayer beads said: “This the Israeli that this was the former ownis my mother; here is my brother from er of the house. Her eyes filled with fear, Gaza—he brought me here. We are from and she disappeared. Cairo where we have a large business. Then the man from Cairo said he And here with his family is my nephew would like to show his niece the room from Kuwait. This is our house. We wantnext to the kitchen—it had been her ed to know who is living in it now.” My dressing room. I said, “Of course, it’s just heart was pounding in my chest; I had that there a four of our weakest chilheard of terrible scenes that took place dren in that room, and visitors are often when a Palestinian visited his old house startled.” He assured me that he and now owned by someone else. his niece were not worried. So we went But I collected myself and said hospiinto the room. The children were sitting tably that we were glad to meet them, around a table and eating. I told Meriav, and that I had often asked myself who the teacher, that these were guests from had lived here. I ordered coffee and made

Gaza, Cairo, and Kuwait, and that they were the previous owners of the house. Meirav (who didn’t know Arabic) smiled at them, and the man said “Thank you for your smile!” Terrible wars had been fought, but the man looked around and spoke like an experienced curative educator: “This is good—wonderful—you must be a good teacher!” I sensed that the young women softened a little.

A Gift from the Heart The old woman had lived in my room. I opened the door and told the children (about 13 years old) that we had guests from Cairo. Otherwise the children would have cried “shalom, shalom!”; Israeli children are very lively and spontaneous. But they remembered the Yom Kippur war and just stared at the guests with open eyes and mouths. Then Eli stood up; he came from Iraq, stuttered, and was mentally handicapped, but he had a big oriental heart. He took a clay oil lamp we had made and went to the man from Cairo. It was a touching moment, and the people exclaimed “Ai chabibi!” The old gentleman took the little oil lamp in his hands like something precious and said, “Shukran, shukarn!” (Thank you!) His eyes were moist.Back in the hall, he said: “We had no idea we would be received in this way. May Allah bless you; you are doing wonderful work here. We are happy to have you and the children here in this house. My name is Mohamed Shurafa. Here is our address in Cairo—come visit us.” The young man had also suddenly become quite friendly, as did Mrs. Shurafa (who spoke Arabic only). There were other large and beautiful Arabic houses in our neighborhood that are now being used as schools, kindergartens, and workshops for handicapped adults. I could see that she was remembering who had lived where. She was very emotional, but she was able to turn to me. She laid her hands on my shoulders and said: “Salaam-shalom, let there be peace!” I believe we have our children to thank for this wonderful, impressive event. They may be the weakest among us, but they have a task: to bring people together and unite them. I have experienced that again and again. | Ruth Mosimann, Port (Switzerland)