How Do You Teach Anthroposophy?

Since anthroposophy is neither a system nor a doctrine but a special kind of science, the question of how it is taught is particularly interesting. Louis Defèche asked Constanza Kaliks and Andrea De La Cruz, who are responsible for anthroposophy studies at the Goetheanum, about this.

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Louis Defèche: This topic is so broad—let’s begin with this: What skills and competencies do you want to help students develop when teaching anthroposophy in the Goetheanum Studium?

Constanza Kaliks: One main goal is to learn how to learn—also in anthroposophy. For adults, it’s about embracing learning as an ongoing process. With anthroposophy, it’s a wide experience because it’s not just about gaining information from texts. Of course, every time you read, you gain insights. But, as Rudolf Steiner proposes in the first of the Leading Thoughts that he wrote at the end of his life, anthroposophy is a path of knowledge that guides the spiritual in the human being to the spiritual in the world.1 A path of knowledge—that means constantly striving to connect different spheres of reality. When we say it guides the spiritual in the human being to the spiritual in the world, we come back to the question of what knowledge is: always connecting, always willingly engaging in processes of relation. If anthroposophy is a path of knowledge, then it is a relational activity—it’s about learning to bring things together: your experiences, what you are, and what anthroposophy can bring. The nine months of studying anthroposophy here at the Goetheanum are not a complete process. Together, we try to deepen this opening of spheres, learning to learn on this path.

Andrea De La Cruz: From my perspective as the coordinator, rather than a teacher, I think we’re facilitating study processes. I see teachers opening windows to Steiner’s work, especially in the text study part of the program. The competency we try to foster is enlivened thinking. Can we give students opportunities to engage with these texts, to contemplate and move their thoughts in line with what the author presents? It’s almost like uncovering the text or making it raw in front of them so they can approach it as closely as possible. Can I then relate inwardly and actively to the themes encountered in the texts, and to what the author is actually saying? Can we build a bridge between the two and come to something new for ourselves? It’s about fostering spiritual experiences in the study process.

How has the Goetheanum Studium evolved? What new impulses have you brought to make it relevant today?

Constanza: For very practical reasons, for many years, studying anthroposophy at the Goetheanum was done in German. Then, through Virginia Sease, it became possible to study in English—not just for a few weeks, like the English weeks in the beginning, but the entire program was held in parallel, in English and German. In 2013, we added the option for students to split up in the morning to study Rudolf Steiner’s texts together in different languages—Spanish, Portuguese, German, or English. For the rest of the program, all the students were together, and everything was in English.

However, in recent years, we’ve received so many students from Asia and elsewhere that we decided to hold the morning text study in one common language. So, because we now have students from so many countries and languages, the entire program is in English—it’s easier, even though it’s not everyone’s first language. It’s challenging for some, but the effort to work together with diverse languages and cultural experiences is very enriching. In the morning text work, students can follow along using the text in their own languages, but the discussions are in English. So they experience translation as part of studying. Traducere means to go from one side to the other, and ducere, in Latin, means guiding. This trajectory of moving from one side to another, while being guided by the text and conversations, fosters an awareness in all of us—teachers and students—that we’re approaching the context through language. The value of languages and living thinking, as Andrea mentioned, becomes very present and not theoretical.

Andrea: I think what’s special is that we try to shape the programs based on the longings and needs of the students, and that means always trying something new. We don’t just decide on a program that we think works and copy and paste it over and over again. Instead, the faculty and team develop a sense of what is needed or wanted from the students and the broader anthroposophical movement—the global present. I find it interesting that even students from German-speaking regions who could study in German opt to join the English program because they seek an international encounter. The students want this, and as teachers and facilitators, we ask: What’s behind that? How can we make this longing a part of the learning process? The wish to encounter a cosmopolitan group and different languages not being a barrier are reflections of what anthroposophy is ultimately about: the understanding of the human being. If language limits the understanding of a human being in all its multifaceted possibilities, then language can be translated or overcome.

This text is an excerpt from an article published in the (online exclusive) Goetheanum Weekly. You can read the full article on the website. If you are not yet a subscriber, you can get to know the Goetheanum Weekly for 1 CHF./€.

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