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

to be continued over time. The co-workers who
live in the house with Belinda now have a special
“tool” to take home with which to work
with her. At the end of the morning, as I was
leaving, I noted that Belinda’s left hand was
still open and relaxed and that she was chatting
happily with her friends.
In closing, we formed two circles—a
small one with a larger circle around it—and
one person was invited into the center. Jaimen
had us picture her as a “marionette.” He
stepped forward to “cut the strings” of the
“marionette.” She slumped to the floor in a
crouching position and those of us in the circle
around her moved closer to her with hands
open. Before reaching her, our open hand
gesture began to “draw” her up. Slowly, we
moved backward and raised our arms into an
expanded gesture until she was raised into an
upright position. Now she was no longer just a
“piece of the puzzle,” but had become a part
of the whole. This last exercise of the conference
left us with the picture of the majestic,
light-filled forces that fill the space that
surrounds us, the Christ on the periphery,
drawing us all into uprightness and connectedness.
Later in reviewing this conference together,
a colleague and I recalled a conversation
we had with Jaimen at tea break. We commented
on how responsive the companions
were to the movement and exercises and how
enthusiastic and willing they were to participate.
He responded, “These friends are living outside
of themselves, but they are so contracted that
they cannot connect. When you help them
through movement, they can connect to themselves
and meet themselves outside of themselves.”
It certainly was a joy for all of us to
connect to ourselves and to others in the lively,
dynamic atmosphere that Jaimen continually
created anew for us to move into.
Footnote: Brooke Hogan of Camphill
Copake was invited by Jaimen to attend the
current East Coast Spacial Dynamics training
(IS-10), and several other participants
expressed an interest in the Spacial Dynamics
training. In a conversation with Brooke several
days after the event, she shared this poem she
had written:
The True Self
The true self is the true gestalt
The conference became a miracle
It helped people come together and
To expand on what is really important,
To reach out and touch everything we believe;
Let us grow, love, respect and teach us
more.
Joyce Gallardo
Albuquerque Visit by the
Western Regional Council
A summer thunderstorm made a bumpy
ride into Albuquerque, New Mexico for
members of the Western Regional Council—
Joan Treadaway, Daniel Bittleston and me,
Linda Connell. The modest guest house in
which we were staying had been thoughtfully
decorated for the occasion by Sally Rutledge
who put her lovely watercolors into each of our
bedrooms. Sally also filled up the fridge with
food for our meals. The council met the first
night for a deep study and an exchange of
news. Michael Pinchera was prevented from
joining us by a class trip, an understandable
problem for a class teacher.
We woke up the next morning to a blue
desert sky which no other sky matches in
intensity, and certainly not in my home town
of Los Angeles. We settled in for a morning of
reporting to each other on how the groups and
branches were doing in our assigned areas,
particularly discussing our concerns.
A special topic for general discussion
was the relation of our council to the threefold
aspects of cultural life, rights life and economic
life. It was easy to see our relation as a
spiritually founded organization to cultural life.
Regional councils nurture and encourage
group and branch life, and have been instrumental
in helping groups and branches to
form. We also have had our own initiatives,
such as giving conferences, or giving talks to
members.
The rights sphere was an interesting area
of consideration. The regional councils are
concerned with the relationships of groups of
members. They also assist individual members
to connect to other members and activities in
their area. The forming of groups and
branches is part of the rights life of members.
This leads to another large area of the work of
the Western Regional Council which includes
conversations with individual members of a
group or branch who bring us their concerns
about the health of their group’s work. This
area of our work is always confidential. These
conversations, which in some cases go on for
a number of years, must delicately balance the
rights of all members involved.
The economic sphere is there in every
group. The regional councils receive their
funds from the National Society and gifts from
interested members. We try to make our funds
go as far as possible. The Western Regional
Council is presently holding each of our three
annual meetings in a different city in order to
have conversations with the group or branch
in that area. Recently we visited Berkeley, CA
and Boulder, CO and sent Daniel to Sandpoint
School, Idaho to encourage interest in anthroposophy
in faculty and parents. Next in our
plans is Portland, OR and Santa Cruz, CA. We
spent part of our meeting deciding where we
might visit next year. Members interested in a
council visit to their group are welcome to
contact us.
The highlight of our visit was an evening
spent with members from Albuquerque and
Santa Fe. They provided a delicious potluck
in the local school, and there was good
first issue 2011 • 89