Esotericism and profession
Aside from questions surrounding the Coronavirus lockdown and its implications, the Goetheanum Leadership is working on the significance of esoteric development, particularly in a professional context.
Rudolf Steiner developed specific esoteric guidelines for individual professions. This ‘professional esotericism’ complements the individual’s path of inner development and provides an organism of exercises, for teachers, for instance, or physicians, therapists, curative teachers and priests. Professions constitute working communities for practical tasks. How important and effective is ethical-spiritual development in one’s working life? How does it relate to a person’s individual development? Or to the universally- human path of knowledge of the School of Spiritual Science’s First Class?
Spiritual development in a professional context
Rudolf Steiner proposed a differentiated meditative path of development for physicians. It serves physicians – and in a similar way, therapists – as training for developing healing forces. Through meditation, the soul can open up to the necessary inspiration, deepen the karmic relationship with the patient and strengthen therapeutic forces. The meditative exercises support the development of ethical-spiritual competence. Medicine is not (only) natural science; it (also) includes a moral quality. It asks what is effective and what is good for the patient.
To what extent can these elements be transferred to other fields of work for which hardly any indications by Rudolf Steiner exist (the Sections for Agriculture or Social Sciences, for instance)? How does the ‘practical esoteric life’, that is, the experience of spiritual qualities in one’s work – on the land, say, or in the byre, or with the preparations in biodynamic farming – relate to the meditative path of knowledge? These are the questions currently studied by the Goetheanum Leadership.
In understanding the School of Spiritual Science, the relationship between meditative inner work and the practical working life becomes effective. The Michael School’s path of knowledge can connect with the practical stream of the Rosicrucian school.
Breathing between inner development and working life
Working meditatively on gaining knowledge enriches our working life. The two relate to each other as day and night – the esoteric life arises in the breathing between the two. Just as the night releases us, strengthened, into our daily tasks, the day affects the night and sleep becomes the mirror of the day. Both qualities are closely connected and depend on one another; they must not separate, nor must they intermingle.
Everyday experiences can cast a light on this relationship: a gymnast who is about to perform a somersault on a vaulting horse will first visualize the entire sequence. As she starts running, the visualized image flows into the actual acrobatic performance. The preparation of the teacher is another example. Teachers need to be well prepared and know what they want to achieve, but in the lesson situation they need to be able to adapt to what the students bring with them. Inner work can then connect with outer activity and enable us to grasp the essence of our work. And vice versa: experiencing this ‘esotericism of everyday life’ also enriches our inner development.
A special quality emerges when individuals as members of a working context do not only pursue professional development but also embarks on a meditative path that is related to their field of work. The spiritual path then connects with the work. A spiritual stream flows into the practical life and creates a new quality. Our evolving inner being meets the spirit of the world and brings humanity into everyday life. This, too, is a characteristic of esotericism.
Based on reports by Matthias Girke and Florian Osswald on the work of the Goetheanum Leadership.