12 Dec General Anthroposophical Section
An Attempt at a Narrative Account of a weekend meeting of Class Holders, Council and Collegium Members
Community Room, Hesperus, Thornhill, ON Friday 13 – Sunday 15 October 2017
Can spiritual work be written about satisfactorily? I’m very doubtful that I can do it. I certainly cannot write about the meeting in its entirety, but will make an attempt to share parts of it. I hope I can convey the good will and attentive listening, which were a significant feature of this meeting.
The following three questions were circulated prior to the meeting, as ‘theme’:
—How do we enable the School for Spiritual Science to fulfill its task to bring about the renewal of the Mysteries?
—Do the New Mysteries come alive in us through the School for Spiritual Science and how?
—Can we build a bridge between the New Mysteries, as held in the School for Spiritual Science, and present day challenges in the World?
(These questions presented themselves to Monique Walsh (North American Collegium, General Anthroposophical Section) and were agreed upon as relevant and important by Sylvie Richard (Class Holder) and Judy King (ex-Council), in process of putting the program together.)
At the meeting some reflections on the above questions: “How do we experience the ‘New Mysteries’?” “Through what we learn in the class lessons of the School (for Spiritual Science), and through ‘everyday thinking’ if we can turn it to ‘new thinking’”. “It is ‘Knights Templar Day’ – 13 October – they experienced the mysteries in their blood”. “As a vortex”. “In a new way of thinking when I first came across anthroposophy”. “All of anthroposophy is the New Mysteries”.
An annual meeting of Council and Class Holders originated twelve years ago. The meeting has evolved. At this year’s meeting it was recognized that it is still valuable for council and class holders to meet together in awareness of their separate roles of support for the School and the Society. They are building on the work they have done together and the relationship that is developing out of twelve years of meeting. A departure now appears: out of these meetings has emerged an impulse for a broader work of the General Anthroposophical Section. (All members of the School of Spiritual Science are automatically members of this Section). An idea was voiced: to have a conference for all General Anthroposophical Section members, to broaden the base of this work.
It is acknowledged within the Society that this Section was in ‘sleeping mode’ for many years; now its activity is becoming visible. The North American Collegium is made up of representatives of all Sections and General Secretaries (see list in newsletter). For six years Monique Walsh, from Vancouver, has represented the General Anthroposophical Section at twice-yearly meetings of the NA Collegium, supported by the Anthroposophical Society in Canada. At present there are four individuals living in Canada who attend these meetings – Monique, Bert Chase (Visual Arts Section), Arie van Ameringen (General Secretary), Ariel-Paul Saunders (Youth Section).
What IS the work of the General Anthroposophical Section?
At the meeting it was put forward that the theme questions already could be changing because of the nature of spiritual life, that it is always in movement. It had been a hope, or at least a suggestion was made, that the three theme questions, or similar, might be taken up in groups across Canada, as stimulus for conversation among members of the School. Maybe this is already being done. Such a conversation could be given as an example of work of the General Anthroposophical Section. Another more common example might be the conversations that some groups of Class Members have after a Class Lesson, with the Lesson as subject.
Over time the meeting program has been brought increasingly into an artistic, experiential framework, interspersed with contemplative conversation. This creates a lively and healthy meeting, as well as making strongly felt impressions. This year we were privileged to be led by Brenda Hammond and Sylvie Richard in collaboration, in exploring the theme through a combination of creative writing (Brenda) and eurythmy (Sylvie). I can only speak for myself in this – the way Brenda and Sylvie put the two activities together worked amazingly well for me. After doing eurythmy, I could vividly feel life flowing through me and to the tips of my fingers and out on to paper as words!
Brenda made a helpful suggestion that the mantra of the First Class can be worked with through creative writing. Which stimulates me to ask – and what about the other arts?
The council led an activity of sculpting clay in groups to explore collaborative process. The exercise was practically designed, and demonstrated how joys, challenges and reactions arise in us when working with others to further or hinder progress. Four groups of six or seven people were arranged in four spirals. Each individual received a chunk of clay and a small board. It was interesting to be part of this – some followed instruction, some did not, some went ahead with their own individual project, some looked ahead, some looked behind, some looked puzzled, some knew exactly what they were doing …….. many voices suggesting and explaining! It gave us a clear pointer to watch where our attention may be when we carry out work together!
In Council’s preparatory work on the theme prior to the meeting a question arose, which relates to their task as council: ‘Are we creating conditions for members of the Society and General Anthroposophical Section to access the New Mysteries?’ Council members described the way they work in relation to Society members in inner and outer life: inner work in personal freedom; in outer work, relationship between humans, restoring consciousness to karma, consciousness of interest, acknowledging personal freedom. They characterized their work as ‘heart-centred’ with ‘occasional ignition’. How to listen across the miles? Members were invited to join in meditation on the Holy Nights. (Will this be taken up this year too?). It was reported that the ‘post-Lesson conversation’ is taken up by some, but for others it has no value. Council asks ‘How else can we create conditions for members to access the New Mysteries?’ More spiritual research is needed.
We heard voices from the North American Collegium. A current look at that body was presented, a picture of where life and movement are, and are not. Two pillars of the work of members of the Collegium were spoken of – meditation and artistic working. ‘What is the General Anthroposophical Section?’ is a current question for the General Secretaries when they meet (twice-yearly) on the Collegium at the Goetheanum. In Canada, ‘How can we live more deeply in General Anthroposophical Section work?’ Arie van Ameringen expressed that the 2016 conference in Ottawa ‘Encountering Our Humanity’ could not have arisen without the work of the Collegium. Questions of the G A Section, also known as the ‘universally human section’, are necessarily questions that are felt in the world. The NA Collegium is giving attention to the question: how will light be shed through the School for Spiritual Science?
Clarity of relationship between the School for Spiritual Science, the Society, the General Anthroposophical Section, and the other Sections emerged in course of the meeting. A question was raised, Are we (Society members) aware enough of the Sections and the research work that is being done within the sections? There is a great need for effective communication, in general. This sounds all too familiar! It is a cry of our times. How can we make it effective? The question of how this meeting will be communicated to members was raised. Word of mouth seems to be the most effective, perhaps in this case through the Class Holders’ activity in their local groups. Newsletter? Perhaps, but not simply a report.
There was a presentation on the Canadian Folk Spirit, and how we might work with such a Being. Christian Reuter, Class Holder from Kelowna, has been engaged for many years on research into this question. He presented his findings, and particularly emphasizes the need for us to connect with such a Spirit. In conversation, one individual clarified a point, for herself and for others in whom the feeling lived, that the term ‘Folk Spirit’ seems to hark back to earlier times, when each country had their individual folk spirit, and which she saw as a limiting imagination. Could we rather call such a Being, for Canada, the ‘Spirit of the Land’, a name more open to new ways of thinking? Christian will continue this research and invited others to take part.
To conclude, on Sunday morning there were opportunities for reflections from the night, a conversation to conclude the theme, and a review of the meeting. I would like to give a few sparks from the richness of thoughts offered.
From the night: The Class Lesson is a shared task. We can be active in ourselves in putting old and new streams together. Do we recognize ‘new mystery thinking’ as consciousness of ‘standing together on holy ground’? Two questions for Canada: 1) indigenous interest, how to change to reconnect with our humanity, 2) refugees – comprehend forces at work, human encounter.
Our conversation to conclude the theme came right from the heart. I am unable to write satisfactorily what was expressed in such a heartfelt and earnest way. This was truly a conversation of the General Anthroposophical Section! (In some way, to write it is to kill it. In putting it into words, it is my heartfelt hope that those who read will bring life to it.) Here is a glimpse:
“The School is the heart of the Society; the whole of the Society is part of the New Mysteries; we, who choose to maintain the gift of the Class Lessons, work together to keep practicing (training ourselves) to bring spiritual into physical.”
“Do I carry conscious engagement with the theme questions?”
“Past, secret – finished now; huge number of Class members in world; some sections open to more than Class members: how can we be in better connection with members, can we meet in a new way, find courage for this?”
“Christmas Foundation Meeting – threefold organization of human being – very fruitful discovery in medicine, also in social.”
“Rudolf Steiner said to young people in eurythmy: ‘Never let head thinking go to heart, but rather the other way – heart thinking to the head.’”
“How will the work of this meeting go to members? In Montreal it will be carried to members; in the Holy Nights, Class members meet to bring something to each other of their experience.”
I am grateful to those individuals who carried their own portion of costs, and am thankful for funds made available by the Society through members’ contributions, both nationally and locally, to make it possible for all those present to be there. I would like to thank Jeffrey Saunders and Hesperus for arranging nourishing meals and snacks.
Judy King
Nova Scotia
6 December 2017
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