Conversations with Peter Selg and Constanza Kaliks – Online Zoom Call
- Sunday November 8th: Conversation with Peter Selg and Constanza Kaliks
from the General Anthroposophical Section at the Goetheanum
Sunday November 8th
10:30AM PT, 11:30AM Mountain. 1:30PM ET, 2:30PM Atlantic
Zoom Link
https://zoom.us/j/97488853106?pwd=8XPXPJ1tYZ1k8bdB38A5tl90z8a5x8.1
To address the nature and relationship between
the General Anthroposophical Society
the local country branch(es)
and the School of Spiritual Science
The goal is to share the common picture which informs their work
and give members an opportunity to speak with them
Overview:
The Goetheanum as a School of Spiritual Science currently has twelve departments (Sections or Faculties) which carry out research, teaching and training in specific fields of life and science. In the General Anthroposophical Section, the focus is placed on anthroposophy itself, its essence and its development, and on the study of the human being, or « problem of the human being according to Martin Buber, as a physical, psychological and spiritual being. The focal points of the Section‘s activities at the Goetheanum are currently centered at the Ita Wegman Institute for basic anthroposophical research; at the Haus Schurmann for international study and education; and in the First Class for spiritual training.
The human being can become the question and the content in his or her own being; from this basic experience the Section develops its various directions of work and focal points. This includes the study of anthroposophy, its communicability and receptivity today. Understanding becoming, living and changing requires an active openness that builds on an individual questioning and examination of one’s own experience. The search for an understanding of the human being in its relationship to the cosmos, its environment, the world, the otherness of the other and to itself as becoming, can enliven this relationship. It can have an inspiring and transformative effect. Such an attempt to gain knowledge as an active participation in reality entails challenges that go beyond the 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 through exchanges with people, institutions, professional fields and training and the Goetheanum itself.
Rudolf Steiner introduced a meditative path of self-development towards a deeper understanding of reality in 1924. These are the nineteen lessons of the so-called First Class of the School of Spiritual Science which he held 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 world and the environment. In spiritual science, the foundations of knowledge are formed to provide a conceptual form that enables the becoming and the 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.
Besides its core tasks, the General Anthroposophical Section is also sees to the scientific studies, publications and events that enable a deeper understanding and establishment of an inner relationship to the work of Rudolf Steiner and his collaborators. This includes the nature and development of anthroposophy in the 20th century, and thus also with the Anthroposophical Society and its history.
The First Class of the School of Spiritual Science
Immediately after the founding of the General Anthroposophical Society during the Christmas Conference of 1923/24, Rudolf Steiner began to build up the School of Spiritual Science and its specialized sections as the « soul » and esoteric core of the Society and Sections. The spiritual training path of the 19 class lessons were established and given by him.
The decision for membership and the admission to a path of knowledge connects different ways of working. On the one hand, participation in the lessons opens the possibility for individual development and inner spiritual training. On the other hand, it enables the formation of a supporting community having the responsibility with others for the tasks of our time. This enables the collaborative exchange of spiritual questions and thoughts of the individual with the life experiences and impulses of others.
The starting point for the esoteric path of the First class is the realization that the human being as an I-being is at home both in the spiritual world and in a physical form during earth life, at the same time. On the one hand, by living through the mantric images and situations of this path of knowledge, with the practice of the class lessons or in meditation, we can become aware of our own spiritual being and our connectedness with the cosmic-spiritual world. On the other hand, we can also develop transformational impulses from this awareness and carry them into our earthly, professional and social life.
Origin, Development and Current Practice
During 1924 Rudolf Steiner gave 38 esoteric lessons (known as Class Lessons) to those who joined the First Class. Twenty-six of these lessons were given in Dornach, Switzerland. The Class Lessons make up a complete spiritual course of 19 fundamental lessons given between February 15 and August 2, 1924. From September 6 to 20, 1924, seven additional lessons were given which take up the themes of the first part of the 19 lessons in a modified form. Rudolf Steiner had planned to establish a Second and Third Class but was not able to do so because of his illness and death. He had previously led an esoteric school from 1904 to the beginning of World War I. This school had three departments in accordance with esoteric tradition. The three Classes of the School of Spiritual Science were to represent a metamorphosis and further development of that school.
The esoteric lessons which Rudolf Steiner gave to the First Class within the General Anthroposophical Section contain meditative verses with explanations. He was very firm about restricting knowledge of the esoteric content of this “Michael School” to a group of people who fulfilled certain requirements. These individuals had made a commitment to follow a meditative path of development, to collaborate with each other, and to represent anthroposophical work in daily life. The lessons were recorded in shorthand with Rudolf Steiner’s permission.
After Rudolf Steiner’s death, members of the Executive Council and later the Class Holders designated by them, began conveying the esoteric course material to members of the First Class, by using the shorthand notes as a basis. The content of the First Class is conveyed either in Rudolf Steiner’s own words or as “free renderings,” where the Class Holder explains and introduces the mantras in his or her own way. In addition, conversations and other forms of work based on members’ individual meditative work with the mantras exist. Today there are many groups of Class Holders around the world who meet to discuss questions concerning the work within the First Class and propose new Class Holders to the leadership of the General Anthroposophical Section. Coordinating the work in the School of Spiritual Science is one of the tasks of the General Anthroposophical Section and is carried out in close collaboration with the Goetheanum leadership and the country class holders. The Executive Council at the Goetheanum is currently responsible for the General Anthroposophical Section.
During the decades following Rudolf Steiner’s death the content of the Class Lessons did not remain with the circle of people for whom they were intended and were published in a somewhat dubious form. Consequently, the Trustees of Rudolf Steiner’s Estate decided to publish an official version of them in 1992 in collaboration with the Executive Council at the Goetheanum. Although anyone can obtain these texts today, which were not intended for individual study, the members of the First Class work with them, in accordance with the prerequisites for membership in the School of Spiritual Science and place a central emphasis on speaking and listening to them.
Leadership of the General Anthroposophical Section
Constanza Kaliks
Born in 1967 in Chile, Constanza Kaliks grew up and lived mostly in Brazil. Constanza completed her studies of Mathematics in São Paulo, and went on to be mathematics teacher at the Escola Rudolf Steiner in São Paulo for 19 years. There she was also a teacher in the Waldorf Teacher training. Constanza has a Ph.D. in Education with a thesis on Nicolaus of Cuse. She is part of the board of the Goetheanum since 2015. Co-leader of the Pedagogical Section and the General Anthroposophical Section at the Goetheanum.
Peter Selg
Born in Stuttgart, Germany in 1963. 1986-1993 Study of medicine at the University of Witten/Herdecke, in Berlin and Zurich. Doctoral thesis: « Attempt to systematize Rudolf Steiner’s human physiological ideas. An analysis of the entire lectures and written work (Witten/Herdecke 1995). From 1993 until 2000 Further training as a specialist in child and adolescent psychiatry and psychotherapy. Senior physician in the psychiatric department for adolescents and young adults at the Herdecke Community Hospital. From 2000-2002 Research associate at the Institute for Applied Epistemology and Medical Methodology (Freiburg).2002-2006 Head physician at the Ita Wegman Clinic Arlesheim (adolescent psychiatry and psychotherapy); since 2006 establishment and management of the Ita Wegman Institute for Basic Anthroposophical Research. Since 2007 professorship for medical anthropology and ethics at the Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences; teaching in the Studium fundamentale and in the accompanying studies in anthroposophical medicine at the University/Witten-Herdecke. Since 2020, member of the Leadership of the General Anthroposophical Section of the School of Spiritual Science at the Goetheanum.
