A Celebration of Rudolf Steiner’s Vision
| Place: | City of Lakes Waldorf School, Minneapolis |
| Start date: | Friday 16, September 2011 |
| End date: | Sunday 18, September 2011 |
| Times: | See main article |
| Price: | $ 67 for the entire weekend $57 discounted price for members of the Anthroposophical Society $27 for those 25 years of age and younger $12 for Friday evening lecture |
Join Us for a Special Celebration of Rudolf Steiner’s Vision
A conference with Eugene Schwartz and eurythmist/poet Raven Garland including a marketplace of local initiatives celebrating Rudolf Steiner’s ideas at the 150th anniversary of his birth.
Sponsored by the Anthroposophical Society in America, hosted by the Twin Cities Branch.
Schedule
Friday, September 16
6:00 p.m. Registration and reception, Time to view illustrated panels on Steiner’s life and work.
7:00 p.m. Welcome, Musical Prelude: Saxophone and Piano by Dennis and Marianne Dietzel
Opening Lecture: “Rudolf Steiner in His Own Time” by Eugene Schwartz
Rudolf Steiner’s life was rich in polarities which he harmonized in insightful ways. Using the seven and nine year rhythms Steiner spoke about so often, Eugene Schwartz will lead us through the biography of this remarkable man, in the context of his own time and the memories of those who knew him. From his first clairvoyant experiences and meeting his own teachers through his intellectual and spiritual research and publications, we will see how Steiner emerged as the head of the German section of the Theosophical Society and then founded the far reaching movement he called Anthroposophy.
Saturday, September 17
8:30 a.m. Registration and pre-order catered lunch
9:00 a.m. Eurythmy with Raven Garland
Lecture-Workshop with Eugene Schwartz “Rudolf Steiner in Our Time”
To growing numbers of people who have never heard the name “Rudolf Steiner” or the term “Anthroposophy,” the many social and professional impulses initiated by Steiner are well known and essential. Eugene will explore several pairs of these “daughter movements” and their renewing influence in the present time on areas as diverse as economic thought and religion.
11:30 a.m. Opening of Marketplace of Local Initiatives
12:00 p.m. Catered Lunch on site
1:00 p.m. Mini Presentations by local initiatives/individuals (Beholding the Threshold – Hauschka – Sekem Community Egypt – Biography Work - Biodynamic Farming and more)
1:00-3:30 Hands-on Activities (Biodynamic prep stirring, poster making, gnome sculpting and more) Short Films: informational videos ongoing in the media room (Sekem Community – Camphill Minnesota – Hauschka and more)
2:00 p.m. Break with refreshments; browse the Marketplace exhibits on local initiatives
2:30 p.m. Second Round of Mini Presentations
3:30 p.m. Break and Dinner on your own (Nicollet Avenue is referred to as “Eat Street“ with many dining options)
7:00 p.m. Steiner’s Birthday Bash Talent Show (eurythmy – music – poetry reading – sketches around Steiner’s life – a participatory showcase of local artistic talent)
Sunday, September 18
9:00 a.m. Eurythmy with Raven Garland
Lecture/Workshop with Eugene Schwartz – “Rudolf Steiner –What is calling us from our Future?”
Yes, Steiner’s life was a whirlwind of achievement and innovation, cut tragically short. But what is still unfolding from his work and spiritual impulse, calling us into the twenty-first century and far beyond? For seekers in both the Anthroposophical Society and all her related initiatives, the strength of this living impulse provides answers and as many questions.
11:00 a.m. Closing Conversation on the Theme
12:00 noon Farewell
Keynote Speaker: Eugene Schwartz
A graduate of Columbia University, Eugene Schwartz has worked with people in all stages of life, from the young child to the elderly and the dying. He began his teaching career by adapting the Waldorf schools’ curriculum to educate a group of handicapped and emotionally disturbed adolescents, after which he became a class teacher at Green Meadow Waldorf School in New York. After many years of service to Green Meadow, Eugene now works worldwide as an educational consultant, author and lecturer. He currently serves as a Fellow of the Research Institute for Waldorf Education.
See his website: http://millennialchild.com
Eurythmy: Raven Garland
An active performer and teacher of music, poetry and eurythmy, Raven Garland holds a Bachelor and Master Degree in Music from the University of Massachusetts and a Diploma from the Eurythmy School of Spring Valley New York. Raven is a long time advocate for the arts in everyday life. She has extensive experience performing as a past member of the Eurythmy Spring Valley Threefold Ensemble, a puppeteer for the New England Marionette Opera Theater, pianist, poet and eurythmist. Her aim is to bring poetry to into our lives in living, artistic and accessible ways. Raven currently lives in Fairfield, IA, and teaches adult and children eurythmy classes.
See her website: http://offthepagepoetry.com/about-2/
To Register through Novalis Institute, visit our Registration page. We hope you can join us!
$ 67 for the entire weekend
$57 discounted price for members of the Anthroposophical Society
$27 for those 25 years of age and younger
$12 for Friday evening lecture
The Market Place of Initiatives on Saturday afternoon is a free event.
Lodging option close by:
Evelos B&B ($75 – 95)
http://www.bedandbreakfast.com/minnesota-minneapolis-evelosbedbreakfast.html
Your Contributions:
Please call the number below if you would like some display space (for flyers, items for sale, art work) for your anthroposophically inspired initiative for Saturday, September 17, 11:30 am – 3:30 pm.
Contributions for the Talent Show on Saturday evening are still welcome. Please give us a short description of your act ahead of time.
Questions ?
Regina Brenner cell: 952-500-0138 reginabrenner@earthlink.net
Becky Streeter cell: 612-214-4569 becky_minnesota@yahoo.com
Novalis Institute Website here
Flyer for course
Rudolf Steiner – Born in Austria, RudolfSteiner was a scientific, literary, and philosophical scholar. Through his research, both exoteric and esoteric, new innovative and holistic approaches became accessible in a variety of human endeavors.Rudolf Steiner was born in 1861 and died in 1925. In his autobiography, The Course of My Life, he makes quite clear that the problems dealt with in The Philosophy of Freedom played a leading part in his life.
His childhood was spent in the Austrian countryside, where his father was a stationmaster. At the age of eight Steiner was already aware of things and beings that are not seen as well as those that are. Writing about his experiences at this age, he said, “. . . the reality of the spiritual world was as certain to me as that of the physical. I felt the need, however, for a sort of justification for this assumption.”
Recognizing the boy’s ability, his father sent him to the Realschule at Wiener Neustadt, and later to the Technical University in Vienna. Here Steiner had to support himself, by means of scholarships and tutoring. Studying and mastering many more subjects than were in his curriculum, he always came back to the problem of knowledge itself. He was very much aware: that in the experience of oneself as an ego, one is in the world of the spirit. Although he took part in all the social activities going on around him – in the arts, the sciences, even in politics – he wrote that “much more vital at that time was the need to find an answer to the question: How far is it possible to prove that in human thinking real spirit is the agent?”
He made a deep study of philosophy, particularly the writings of Kant, but nowhere did he find a way of thinking that could be carried as far as a perception of the spiritual world. Thus Steiner was led to develop a theory of knowledge out of his own striving after truth, one which took its start from a direct experience of the spiritual nature of thinking.
As a student, Steiner’s scientific ability was acknowledged when he was asked to edit Goethe’s writings on nature. In Goethe he recognized one who had been able to perceive the spiritual in nature, even though he had not carried this as far as a direct perception of the spirit. Steiner was able to bring a new understanding to Goethe’s scientific work through this insight into his perception of nature. Since no existing philosophical theory could take this kind of vision into account, and since Goethe had never stated explicitly what his philosophy of life was, Steiner filled this need by publishing, in 1886, an introductory book called The Theory of Knowledge Implicit in Goethe’s World-Conception. His introductions to the several volumes and sections of Goethe’s scientific writings (1883–97) have been collected into the book Goethe the Scientist. These are valuable contributions to the philosophy of science.
During this time his thoughts about his own philosophy were gradually coming to maturity. In the year 1888 he met Eduard von Hartmann, with whom he had already had a long correspondence. He describes the chilling effect on him of the way this philosopher of pessimism denied that thinking could ever reach reality, but must forever deal with illusions. Steiner was already clear in his mind how such obstacles were to be overcome. He did not stop at the problem of knowledge, but carried his ideas from this realm into the field of ethics, to help him deal with the problem of human freedom. He wanted to show that morality could be given a sure foundation without basing it upon imposed rules of conduct.
Meanwhile his work of editing had taken him away from his beloved Vienna to Weimar. Here Steiner wrestled with the task of presenting his ideas to the world. His observations of the spiritual had all the exactness of a science, and yet his experience of the reality of ideas was in some ways akin to the mystic’s experience. Mysticism presents the intensity of immediate knowledge with conviction, but deals only with subjective impressions; it fails to deal with the reality outside man. Science, on the other hand, consists of ideas about the world, even if the ideas are mainly materialistic. By starting from the spiritual nature of thinking, Steiner was able to form ideas that bear upon the spiritual world in the same way that the ideas of natural science bear upon the physical. Thus he could describe his philosophy as the result of “introspective observation following the methods of Natural Science.” He first presented an outline of his ideas in his doctoral dissertation, Truth and Knowledge, which bore the sub-title “Prelude to a ‘Philosophy of Freedom’.”
In 1894 The Philosophy of Freedom was published, and the content which had formed the centre of his life’s striving was placed before the world. Steiner was deeply disappointed at the lack of understanding it received. Hartmann’s reaction was typical; instead of accepting the discovery that thinking can lead to the reality of the spirit in the world, he continued to think that “spirit” was merely a concept existing in the human mind, and freedom an illusion based on ignorance. Such was fundamentally the view of the age to which Steiner introduced his philosophy. But however it seemed to others, Steiner had in fact established a firm foundation for knowledge of the spirit, and now he felt able to pursue his researches in this field without restraint. The Philosophy of Freedom summed up the ideas he had formed to deal with the riddles of existence that had so far dominated his life. “The further way,” he wrote, “could now be nothing else but a struggle to find the right form of ideas to express the spiritual world itself.”
While still at Weimar, Steiner wrote two more books, Friedrich Nietzsche, Fighter for Freedom (1895), inspired by a visit to the aged philosopher, and Goethe’s Conception of the World (1897), which completed his work in this field. He then moved to Berlin to take over the editing of a literary magazine; here he wrote Riddles of Philosophy (1901) and Mysticism and Modern Thought (1901). He also embarked on an ever-increasing activity of lecturing. But his real task lay in deepening his knowledge of the spiritual world until he could reach the point of publishing the results of this research.
The rest of his life was devoted to building up a complete science of the spirit, to which he gave the name Anthroposophy. Foremost amongst his discoveries was his direct experience of the reality of the Christ, which soon took a central place in his whole teaching. The many books and lectures which he published set forth the magnificent scope of his vision. From 1911 he turned also to the arts – drama, painting, architecture, eurythmy – showing the creative forming powers that can be drawn from spiritual vision. As a response to the disaster of the 1914–18 war, he showed how the social sphere could be given new life through an insight into the nature of man, his initiative bearing practical fruit in the fields of education, agriculture, therapy and medicine. After a few more years of intense activity, now as the leader of a world-wide movement, he died, leaving behind him an achievement that must allow his recognition as the first Initiate of the age of science. Anthroposophy is itself a science, firmly based on the results of observation, and open to investigation by anyone who is prepared to follow the path of development he pioneered – a path that takes its start from the struggle for inner freedom set forth in this book.
Michael Wilson, Clent, 1964. From the introduction to The Philosophy of Freedom
City of Lakes Waldorf School
2344 Nicollet Ave. S.
Minneapolis, MN 55404
Main Phone: 612-767-1550
Fax: 612-767-1551
