International Conference
The International Curative Education and Social Therapy Conference ‘Education Always! Developing what lives in me and moves the world’, held at the Goetheanum from 5 to 9 October, was about lifelong learning and about learning in the encounter with others.
Looking back, one conference member said she took home with her the experience that we ‘are on a journey in life’. Another has learned that we are always evolving and that it is therefore essential that we see the dignity in every person and meet them with enthusiasm and reverence. For a third audience member it has become apparent that one needs to learn to be honest, first of all with oneself, and then also with others.
This feedback illustrates how learning occurs when we encounter, ideally on a basis of positive feelings, unfamiliar situations and riddles, because they allow for new discoveries. This starts in our most intimate space, our own body, which enables a wealth of experiences (including from earlier incarnations) and continues in (therapeutic) living communities, including also potential ‘dark sides’: a member of the work group on this particular theme, summarized his take-away lesson by saying that these dark sides exist as side effects wherever there is power, that they can be useful but also challenging for others. Some things, he added, one has to live with, others can be changed.
Refreshing experiences were provided in the Contemplative Spaces, the mantric Class work, the eurythmy performance of the Foundation Stone Meditation and the artistic workshops which included music, painting, dancing and clowning.
This conference, which takes place every two years, was also affected by the Corona measures and the ongoing adaptation and reorganization they require. In the end, around 240 people attended in person, and more than 350 online.