Society in transformation

The Goetheanum Leadership is developing a series on life and society in transformation that will consist in dialogues with invited guest speakers.

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Human societies are undergoing complex transformative processes. Presently, topics such as the climate, the search for appropriate forms of coexistence, the position of the individual and digitalisation are focusing the attention on relationships. The Goetheanum would like to inspire a transdisciplinary dialogue on these issues.

“As a result of interventions aimed at combatting the Coronavirus pandemic, we experience previously unknown phenomena and implications that restrict and impact our lives tremendously,” says Christiane Haid, head of the Humanities and Visual Art Sections at the Goetheanum. “We wish to move beyond this, for we are able to take responsibility individually and contribute to shaping the future constructively.”

Thinking together

In dealing with the transformations in society, typical attitudes such as denial, frustration, withdrawal and depression come to the surface. There is work to do for life after the crisis and the tasks are complex. “We need to think and act together, in dialogue, across the disciplines,” says Ueli Hurter, co-leader of the Section for Agriculture and member of the Executive Council at the Goetheanum. With the Goetheanum Leadership, Christiane Haid and Ueli Hurter are convinced that the present crises can be managed through transdisciplinary cooperation and in dialogue with experts, who will be invited to the Goetheanum.

Upheavals are an expression of disturbed relationships either between human beings or between human beings and nature and the cosmos. The climate crisis, for instance, calls attention to the relationship between earth and sun. But if we only look up to the atmosphere, we fail to notice the contribution that the earth can make to the climate, with forests serving as green lungs and soil to bind carbon dioxide.

Often, algorithms are used to forecast scenarios and to establish prognoses for the future based on data and models. This digital principle is effective but it derives visions of the future from existing processes, assuming certain patterns. Ideas for newly shaping the future have to start somewhere else, though: for instance, in the thought that we are more than biological systems, that we are creative and capable of inspiration. A consequence of this could be a training that conveys knowledge and skills in ways that allow us to approach challenges – especially unexpected ones – creatively. That makes culture an essential part of society.

Visible faculty

The lecture series Life and Society in Transformation is part of a PR project carried out by the Goetheanum Leadership. In order to reach as many people as possible, access to the lectures will be open to anyone and free of charge. The lecture series is being developed and executed by members of the Goetheanum Leadership. This will make the faculty of the School of Spiritual Science more visible as its members engage in a public discourse on questions of our time.

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