Rudolf Steiner's Vision for the Future - Anthroposophical Society in ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

The Search for Humanity in Contemporary Art etheric world. This can translate in social life to an empathetic ability to live into the nature of others or to act in service to others. He briefly concluded with the example of his own exploration into a kind of “visual music” of colored dot patterns as one way to explore the life forces and showed, as a suggestion of something related to the future of the visual arts, a short video of the amazingly complex and harmonious interweaving flight patterns of a large flock of starlings. Plenum The conference concluded with a large plenum discussion. One topic considered was how to bring the spiritual element into art. This must involve moving beyond the personal ego of the artist, perhaps by forming group collaborative situations to create art. Or the right kind of small doses of shock in art may help spark awareness that humanity is crossing the threshold. A couple of persons expressed an interest in pursuing work with Steiner’s moving colored “light-play-art” initiative. It also was recommended to move beyond only approaching life through logical thinking. Appreciation was expressed for the influences of the string music by Jonah Thomas played throughout the conference as well as for the artistic work created or hanging in the hall. Several expressed and appreciated that they felt the conference had a strong effect on them and suggested directions for their future work. Others called for more opportunities in future events to meet each other and have social exchanges or group creative projects, also to include more interdisciplinary work. In addition, the question of the uncertain relationship of the community of artists to the rest of the anthroposophical movement was raised. Somehow the fairly dense schedule for the conference also seemed not fully fixed, a bit ad hoc and up in the air and open to new, spontaneous possibilities. When the “exploration, demonstration, presentation” by the Actors Ensemble (Ted Pugh and Fern Sloan) scheduled for Saturday evening had to be postponed due to illness, we quickly assembled a new program of a short slide talk by me on Steiner’s 1918 initiative with Jan Stuten for a projected, moving colored light-play art (to counteract the effects of motion pictures) and films on Meredith Monk and Joseph Beuys. However, instead of the films about half of the group decided to 28 • being human Jan Stuten – Sketch 13 for The Metamorphoses of Fear 1919 pastel on packing paper (toward R. Steiner’s initiative for a new colored “light-play-art”) adjourn to the Large Room to have a conversation on issues from the conference, their personal practices as artists, and many other topics. A number of people went back and forth between the films and the conversation group. It seemed that everything was welcome and could be an important part of the whole experience of the event. Participants looked for new seeds for their future work in a variety of ways. There seemed to be a certain confidence (or at least hope) in many that if they just hung out at the Basilica and talked to the right people, they could acquire all kinds of new visions, directions, and imaginations for future artwork. One felt that there was much that was alive and brewing beneath the surface – future karma, future human connections and working relationships, future artistic creation. * * * The mood of a creative chaos or an (art)work in progress was not completely unintended by the planners group from the Art Section Council in North America, for whom this was the first event after a major membership expansion last year. They seem to have wanted to take a step toward stimulating something new to further the future of anthroposophical visual arts and felt that such a step had indeed been taken, although to me the process does not yet seem finished. David Adams, PhD, has published and taught about art history at various state universities and art schools for thirty years and at Sierra College in California since 1996. He taught in Waldorf Schools for nine years and is a member of the council of the Art Section of the School for Spiritual Science in North America. Contact: ctrarcht@nccn.net
The Radical Re-Visioning of Psychology Report of a conference held at Rudolf Steiner College, November 10 – 14, 2010 by William Bento, PhD This conference was a commemorative event celebrat- ing a century since Rudolf Steiner articulated an approach to “soul wisdom” or “psychosophy” based on the foundations of spiritual science. Both in his four lectures given in Berlin, Germany from November 1 – 4, 1910, entitled Psychosophy and in his unfinished document of notes published as Anthroposophy: A Fragment, Steiner offered innovative perspectives on the anatomy, physiology and psychological dynamics of the soul. Among the many professional disciplines within the cultural life that have received an impulse of renewal from anthroposophically oriented research, psychology remains the least embraced. Despite the many obvious objections one may hold about the foundational premises of psychology as found in psychoanalytical thought, there are not sufficient reasons to explain why an anthroposophically oriented psychology has not emerged to meet a cultural landscape rapidly losing sight of the true nature of the human soul. This concern united the four keynote speakers – Robert Sardello, PhD, William Bento, PhD, James Dyson, MD and Dennis Klocek, MFA – to address the need for developing a “soul wisdom” for our times based on the indications given by Rudolf Steiner 100 years ago. There was little citing of texts and previous publications. All four individuals spoke out of their own current research and deep passion for the subject matter. Each presenter gave two lectures during the conference. The golden thread between each lecture was in and of itself quite an extraordinary artistic effort, not merely because the thoughts sculpted fit so well side by side, but because the heartfelt mood generated by each speaker was so palpable and wholesome. It is certainly a daunting task to attempt to capture the content, process and magical context of the conference. Words may convey some of the objective character of the conference, yet the many subtle and not so subtle nuances that emerged within this gathering may just have to live in the hundred souls of those who participated in this historic event. Nevertheless, I shall try to express the contextual flow of the unfolding of the conference by summarizing the keynote lectures, as one would write a musical score for a symphony. Imagine this symphony in eight movements. Movement I Robert Sardello set the tone for the conference with an appeal to the participants to speak from their hearts about what drew them to attend. He then facilitated a brief dialogue among the presenters, asking them to share their interests in the development of psychosophy. In conclusion Sardello sketched a diagram depicting some of the central ideas found in Steiner’s lectures on Psychosophy. Without belaboring the connection between soul and heart, Robert conveyed a very accessible picture of how important the heart is in coming to terms with understanding the concepts presented by Steiner. This brief presentation offered a wonderful introduction to the four morning sessions he co-facilitated with Cheryl Sanders-Sardello under the title, Conversations of the Heart. These sessions were rich with meditative instruction, experiences, and conversations about the heart as an organ of perception. first issue 2011 • 29
Page 1: The Nature Institute: Growing Holis
Page 4 and 5: From the Editor There’s much more
Page 6 and 7: Contents FEATURES 6 Discovering a G
Page 8 and 9: 6 • being human
Page 10 and 11: Discovering a Genius: Rudolf Steine
Page 20 and 21: The “Class of 1861”: Rizal, Tag
Page 22 and 23: The Search for Humanity in Contempo
Page 32 and 33: The Radical Re-Visioning of Psychol
Page 34 and 35: The Radical Re-Visioning of Psychol
Page 36 and 37: The Nature Institute: Growing Holis
Page 38 and 39: XXXXXXX The Language of Organisms T
Page 40 and 41: XXXXXXX The Language of Organisms i
Page 42 and 43: XXXXXXX The Language of Organisms T
Page 44 and 45: Money and Social Transformation Mon
Page 47 and 48: What’s Happening in the Rudolf St
Page 49 and 50: healthy social boundaries as a basi
Page 51 and 52: The least common model Large presen
Page 53 and 54: Like other commentators, Tantillo s
Page 55 and 56: The Lady Tasting Tea: How Statistic
Page 57 and 58: Though he does not acknowledge Barf
Page 59 and 60: While Naydler frequently urges a fo
Page 61 and 62: The latest turning of the gyre, the
Page 63 and 64: arrival. Iphigenia is laid on the a
Page 65 and 66: New Members of the Anthroposophical
Page 67 and 68: Members Who Have Died Helen Angerma
Page 69 and 70: Being Human in the 21st Century We
Page 71 and 72: etween the concept of animal and hu
Page 73 and 74: life between birth and death. And i
Page 75 and 76: something karmic. But suppose you o
Page 77 and 78: produces from out of the ego? They
Page 79 and 80: So we see the coming of the Christ
Page 81 and 82:
News & Events The Vision of Rudolf
Page 83 and 84:
to a different one. It is good to p
Page 85 and 86:
Camphill is a worldwide movement of
Page 87 and 88:
the Hagens Recording Studio on Harr
Page 89 and 90:
theme of the conference, “The Tru
Page 91 and 92:
to be continued over time. The co-w
Page 93 and 94:
upon which the city was built. We f
Page 95 and 96:
Library Annotations by Judith Solei
Page 97 and 98:
Immunology: Self and Non-Self from
Page 99 and 100:
young man who learns of a dreadful
Page 101 and 102:
first issue 2011 • 99
show all

Rudolf Steiner's Vision for the Future - Anthroposophical Society in ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?