April 8, 2010

e-news resumes; Theme
of the Year; Threefolding
videos; Renewal courses...

After a longer than expected hiatus, anthroposophy in america e-news is back. Started just a year ago, e-news got a great welcome, and thank you for that! It was put on hold last fall, however, until it could be better integrated with anthroposophy.org, particularly the event listings. Events are now well represented on the front page of the site, and by next week there should also be a friendlier form to allow you to post events of wider interest. Meanwhile, check to see if your key events are listed; send us details if they are not and we'll put them up.

The monthly frequency of e-news was also a challenge. Too much happens in a month, and sorting out what to include took a lot of time. We will now try a 2- or even 3-times per month schedule. If that overloads your mailbox, go to the bottom of this page to unsubscribe (or to change your email address). Then check the e-news page in the new communications section at anthroposophy.org; all issues will be posted there.

Would you like to be a kind of internet reporter for e-news? If you have an interest that you follow on the internet and you would be willing to share the occasional link to interesting sites, blogs, media, art, humor, and news of interest to your fellow readers, write to editor@anthroposophy.org. (Pictured at left is an information technology specialist c. 1800 perusing a portable high-resolution monochrome display unit. These units could also be used to help start a fire in the wood stove.)

One further "social" innovation. We are trying out a "group" on WeStrive.org, the social networking and initiative-sharing website which grew out of NetworkM. Starting soon, with some of the topics raised in e-news we will invite you to continue the conversation at WeStrive.org. Meanwhile, check out their roster of articles and media and see if any existing groups or conversations interest you. There are over a thousand members.

The executive council at the Goetheanum provides a study theme each year, to begin at Easter and springtime.

The theme this year is "The destiny of the I in the age of the etheric Christ," and the article on the theme is written by Sergei Prokofieff. It will also be printed in the forthcoming issue of Evolving News for Members & Friends. If you would care to share additional resources for working with this theme, or report on ways you have worked with it, let us know.

Next month voters in the Philippines choose a new president. Among the "trapos" -- a less-than-appreciative term for "traditional politicians -- they have a chance to vote for quite a new kind of candidate. Barack Obama may have been a professor of constitutional law, but Nicanor Perlas is a profound student of society, ecology, culture, and anthroposophy. A former biodynamic farmer, he is also a long-time social activist. Seth Jordan of Think OutWord recorded three short videos with Nicanor on a key social insight, what we call the "threefolding of the social organism." They are posted at WeStrive.org.

Of related interest is the international Emerge! 2010 gathering a few weeks from now.

"Be a person of initiative," asked Rudolf Steiner, and we have heard him! Many of our initiatives are very demanding, and so we have special programs to help us keep growing while also refreshing our bodies and souls. One such is the summer renewal courses at the Center for Anthroposophy in Wilton, NH.

Our next printed quarterly will feature a much delayed portrait of this program and its beautiful setting; but with summer plans in the making, we are linking it now by PDF.

As noted above, the Anthroposophical Society in America website now has a burgeoning events listing that begins on the front page. In the next issue we'll tell you how to post your own events.

With this information available online, e-news will simply link to the events page and note some of happenings of specially wide interest. One is a "save the dates" notice for the Annual General Meeting and conference to be held October 15-17 in Chicago. Another is the English Week at the Goetheanum; the image at left opens a full PDF brochure on this event. Note that special performances of the four Mystery Dramas will precede English Week.

Speaking of Mystery Dramas, Thomas Meyer will lecture on them in Seattle at the end of this month. On May 8th he will speak on Rudolf Steiner's core mission at the Anthroposophy NYC.

Steve Usher speaks at the LA branch's weekend conference at the end of the month on social life and the new mysteries. From Memorial Day on, check out Heartbeet's First Four Senses weekend, the Goetheanum's Early Childhood Care conference. In Portland, Jaap van der Wal workshop on our life as embryos (!) is almost sold out. With Eurythmy Spring Valley's summer week, the Nature Institute's summer course, and the AWSNA Waldorf conference outside Atlanta we only get us to late June!

Nancy Jewel Poer has completed her film on "conscious dying" :  "The Most Excellent Death of Theodore Jack Heckelmann."

Nancy also gives talks and has written a book on this subject, death -- which Jack, her brother, came to call "the next adventure."

"Optical Illusions & Visual Phenomena" is the name of an interesting website. Years ago I saw an art school student wearing a t-shirt proclaiming

"Optical illusion is visual truth." - Goethe

This site is hardly Goethean, going only so far as to say that "to some degree, all colours could be called illusions, [but] at least they are a fascinating visual phenomenon." But it has dozens of interesting demonstrations, and may be useful to teachers.

Next time we'll start to include a list of online resources... Send us suggestions!

So, thank you for your patience, and let us know what you think about the changes here.