Warmth, strength and technology
When Laura Scappaticci wrote this contribution, she was using her laptop computer at a coffee shop, a prevalent picture in us society today. Technology is with us whether we are interested or not. Why should we be interested? How can we use it as a tool to create a connection with anthroposophy and each other?
The Anthroposophical Society in America is using technology to establish a learning space, and a place of connection. We’ve created webinars – interactive online classes – on anthroposophical topics such as economics, meditation, and health. We use technological platforms for national branch meetings where branch members from across the country come together to share challenges and innovations. We have a podcast (similar to a radio show) that features interviews with anthroposophists around the globe.
Does all this replace the gifted speaker who offers an in-person workshop? It will never do that. However, what it does is encourage listeners to explore a topic in live time or a convenient time in a way that is easy to access, affordable, and ecologically appropriate. Our members are thanking us for our online content, mentioning their limited mobility or the lack of an anthroposophical community in their area.
Strengthening the forces of the soul
These days it seems that the destiny path of human beings is accompanied by technology. The Google search can be the question Steiner told us to wait for. When someone types in, «What is anthroposophy?» we must respond with a warm, welcoming hello that offers them a path to human connection and wisdom.
At the same time, we must be awake to the forces we are working with and against. Rudolf Steiner states in Art as Seen in the Light of Mystery Wisdom, Lecture 1, 28/12/1914: «It would be the worst possible mistake to say that we should resist what technology has brought into modern life, that we should protect ourselves from Ahriman by cutting ourselves off from modern life. In a certain sense this would be spiritual cowardice. The real remedy for this is not to let the forces of the modern soul weaken and cut themselves off from modern life, but to make the forces of the soul strong so that they can stand up to modern life. A courageous approach to modern life is necessitated by world karma, and that is why true spiritual science possesses the characteristic of requiring an effort of the soul, a really hard effort.»
Sense of community
What must be present in our online work is warmth and connection. We cannot approach technology and let it remain cold. If technology has the potential to isolate us, we must use it to counteract that anti-social force. We must strive to create something warm together; a mood of welcome, a sense of community. In our online classes we ask participants where they are joining us from, we use their names, we integrate drawing and writing activities. It is not possible for everyone to attend face-to-face events, though we know that at those gatherings we create something powerful and deep that lives within us for days, months, years. We need both the accessibility of online gatherings and in-person experiences to reach all those seeking deeper meaning in life.
Technology is a tool, and we can use it, or it can use us. If we greet it with open-mindedness and strength, it can be a positive experience used for humanity’s growth, and we can redeem it together.