Time in office ends
Mats-Ola Ohlsson steps down because the time in office for general secretaries is limited to twelve years. Due to the Corona crisis, he will remain in office until the next general meeting.
According to our statutes the general secretary is appointed for a maximum of twelve years. I have come to the end of that period. Because our annual meeting in Sweden also needed to be postponed, I will remain in office for the time being. Even though the statutes will probably be amended at the annual meeting, I find that the length of this period is good as it is. Twelve years are a long time, and I was a council member for several years before that.
The meetings I had with people and interest groups both in Sweden and internationally have been enriching and have widened my horizon, and I hope I was able to make helpful contributions.
The organism as a whole – the School of Spiritual Science, the Anthroposophical Society, the Sections and the spheres of life – has been worked on increasingly and been enlivened by the transformative processes that have affected the Goetheanum over the years. This has given me, and others, impulses for similar joint initiatives in Sweden, helping us to move from thought to deed through working together. But all our endeavours are ‘fresh products’ and they are in danger of becoming stale if we are not awake and continue to ‘stir the pot’.
I am deeply grateful for all the encounters I had and for everything I was able to experience in my years as general secretary. Maybe I have only just settled into the job – but then it will certainly be the right moment to pass it on to someone else.
I am convinced that many threads will continue to be woven together in the fabric that we share. I shall wait and see – and watch from my garden what the future holds in store. We will meet as usually at the Annual General Meeting, on 31 October at the Goetheanum.