Global ‘Lent’

Dear Members and Friends,“Keep us in your consciousness, as we will you” – with this request, we closed our letter on 18 March 2020, in which we had to inform you of the postponement of the Annual General Meeting of the Anthroposophical Society.

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In the meantime, the pandemic and resulting massive personal, economic and cultural restrictions have reached all of you wherever you live. It seems as if a global "Lent" is now being imposed upon civilization in the face of the hustle and bustle of everyday life which otherwise prevails. We are being made aware of our relationship to our fellow human beings and the environment in a completely different way. It is also indicative that this event falls precisely during the time of Easter. It can be understood as a call to reconnect with the resurrection forces of true humanity that arise from the overcoming of death.

Peace of mind and inner freedom

The Goetheanum Leadership gathered during the days of the originally planned Annual General Meeting in light of this situation at the Goetheanum and formulated an impulse for the School of Spiritual Science.

Thinking of you, dear Members and Friends, we realize how we have increasingly become a world society and a world movement. After all, there are so many places we can think of, all over the world, where Anthroposophy is present through you. We would be happy if you sent us a written report about your situation and the spiritual situation where you are located.

Presently we are not allowed to travel around the world as national borders are closed. At the moment we cannot escape this reality, but together we can try to create a different reality alongside it.

What can I use to strengthen my peace of mind and inner freedom? Through a conscious tuning into the body, into the limbs: I am here where I am. I bear full responsibility for my life, for my tasks and strive to bring meaning, that is, spiritual light, into my actions. In invoking such feelings to the full presence of the soul and releasing them again, I can notice how I breathe and live in the power of the conscious soul, which at the same time can feel connected with spiritual light.

Source of human dignity

Especially in the period between Easter and Whitsun, the spirit can turn from this soul experience to being in the world, in order to see it more and more. This then becomes – as expressed in our Foundation Stone Meditation – a source of human dignity:

Light divine, Christ-Sun
Warm Our hearts;
Enlighten our heads,
That good may become
What from our hearts
We are founding,
What from our heads
We direct
With purposeful will.

From the Goetheanum we wish everyone good health and we hope to see each other again, face to face, as soon as possible.

Ueli Hurter und Justus Wittich for the Executive Council and the Goetheanum Leadership.

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