The Goetheanum is a Spiritual Event
Nathaniel Williams was born in Alabama, studied Painting and Puppetry in Switzerland and Political Theory in Albany, and established an Art School in Upstate New York with a view of the Catskill Mountains. Now, the long legged man has arrived in the Jura Hills as a new member of the Goetheanum Leadership.
His aim is to connect the world movement with the school for spiritual science and provide young people with a supportive environment for a practical spiritual training. Questions by Philipp Tok.
Arriving
Philipp You made the decision to join the Goetheanum almost a year ago. That’s a lot of time to build up images of what it would be like. How does it feel now that you have arrived?
Nathaniel What I was doing in New York was so all-consuming, that it was really difficult for me to imagine anything about coming here. During the year, I also became a father for the second time, and even in the last month, I created an artistic performance, building and using analog light projection instruments with a friend composing music for it. We performed three times in Hudson, New York.
At the same time, this sheds a light on my decision to say yes to come to Dornach. I can’t say I had a flood of pictures of what the job would be like or what the tasks would be – it was something more mysterious. It was like a resolution in my will. I had never experienced anything like it, but I think I recognize it in a certain connection with my experience of the spiritual movement of Anthroposophy and wanting to be part of serving it. There is a joy connected to it, as well as a clarity. Since I’ve arrived, I’ve been meeting young people and listening to them, and in the last three weeks, I’ve started to feel a flood of ideas and impulses coming out of meetings with people.
Philipp It was a clear yes, whether you liked it or not?
Nathaniel Exactly. It wasn’t so much like, ‹How do you feel about living in Switzerland?› Switzerland is beautiful and culturally and politically interesting, but my legs are long and I always feel a little bit hemmed in when I swing them around walking here. It wasn’t so much being enticed to live here, but it was more of a yes, the resolve to come here that I just had to recognize.
This excerpt comes from an article originally published in the (online exclusive) English Edition of the weekly Newsletter ‹Das Goetheanum›. You can read the full article on the website of ‹Das Goetheanum›.
Image Nathaniel Williams Foto: Xue Li