The Courage to Trust

"The Courage to Trust"

Dear friends worldwide,

This very special year is coming to an end. And with that, we all have the chance to experience the strength of renewal; a deep source that lets us know —sometimes in a very clear way, sometimes we need to search to find it—, that our commitment to exist, to be together and to foster life, is unbreakable.

This commitment is questioned again and again. We are asked to reaffirm our will to be together, to face and shape reality, to search for a kind of knowledge that is able to embrace the becoming of ourselves and the others; we are asked to engage with the needs of nature and to stand for our responsibility, each one individually, and each one in connection with others and the world.

With deep gratitude I look back to all that was done in the Youth Section, in so many places: to all the meetings —many of them possible thanks to a huge effort to stay connected, even when meeting was only possible digitally at times. I also look back to all the initiatives —such as the climate conference last February, which took place just before so many spheres of our public life where closed—, and to the research project and the activities fulfilled in sometimes difficult, but always creative ways. You can read in the portrait of the Youth Section 2019-2021 all about that and more.

Thank you, Andrea, Ioana, Johannes, Ronja, Till, Tim, Vincent, for enabling the wealth of our common work and for carrying, together with so many young people all around the world and in such a lively way, what will be our theme: the courage to trust.

With great expectation we look forward to the year 2021 and to the many events that we are already preparing for, which you can see listed at the end of this newsletter.

We wish you all —co-workers, friends, members of the Anthroposophical Society, our sponsors and all the people who support the Youth Section work with their interest — a Christmas Time full of warmth and light, and also strength and joy for the year to come.

With best greetings from the Goetheanum,

Constanza Kaliks with
Andrea de la Cruz, Ioana Viscrianu, Johannes Kronenberg,
Ronja Eis, Till Höffner, Tim Bauer and Vincent Eichholz

The Youth Section at the Goetheanum Team

REQUEST FOR SUPPORT FROM THE TEAM:
GIFT A SCHOLARSHIP THIS CHRISTMAS

Please consider donating to the Youth Section this Christmas, so that young people can receive scholarships and come together in 2021.

In 1924 Rudolf Steiner made a call to the youth of his time with the words ‘stick together with an iron will’. This was in order to overcome the great differences in perspectives and because, in Steiner’s words, “Sticking together is what is most necessary if we hope to accomplish anything today with regards to life’s great issues. […] Eventually, you may realise that the greatest of your youth was knowing how to stay together’.

In this spirit we would like to make an appeal to our members and friends of the Anthroposophical Society to support young people to come together despite these difficult times we live in. Because never before has encountering another in a living way been such a challenge, we invite you support a young person with a scholarship to attend one of our three main activities of 2021 which are: The Climate Conference ‘Breathing with the Climate Crisis’, our high school student conference ‘TRUST’ and our (Re)Search Summer School.

At these activities young people will come together to nourish the longing in finding a new trust, to find possible solutions to relate and work with the climate crisis, and to dive deeply into their own questions.

We would be very grateful for your support and will to help young people find their way to the Goetheanum!

"Trust is an incredibly multi-faceted and subjective construct. The interpretation of the versions of trust is infinite. First of all, it’s reflexible on oneself – as in the trust in oneself, the self-confidence. Then, in interpersonal dealings, trust sets a base most importantly consisting of the belief in loyalty and affection in one another. Moreover in our society and politics, the layer of trust is of high significance and giving possibilities [in a democracy] to both the electors and the elected. This sort of reciprocal trust is based on the legitimacy of actions and statements which are made by politicians paired with the belief of the citizens about the correctness of those decisions, statements, and actions." Tim Bauer

"What is trust? I have not been thinking a lot about this question for a long time. Once we decided to have 'trust' as the topic of our next conference I realised that I was thinking about trust most of the time but without naming it. I would say trust is the foundation of every single relationship between people. Trust is necessary for the relation between you as an individual and other people but also of you and society.
To live with other people in all-inclusive humankind, you need to have a developed and reflected trust in yourself. That means you have to know who you are by understanding your personality and human faculties." Vincent Eichholz

Worldwide Youth Perspectives 2020
Report from this year's (Re)Search Colloquium

On Saturday 12th December 2020, people from all over the world gathered online to listen to the latest observations of the Youth Section at the Goetheanum’s (Re)Search project. The event, which was originally planned to be hybrid with a mixture of participants on site (at the Goetheanum) and others attending via Zoom, had to take place solely online due to last minute changes in regulations in the Solothurn area in Switzerland. However, despite the technological format, we were able to joyfully share “live” with more than 50 people a review of the research process from 2017 – 2020; the development of the methodologies and discourses of youth and how young people participating in our activities had responded to this unique year.

You can read a summary of the impressions and watch the full recording of the event by clicking on the links below.

Dear friends,

We are grateful to have been asked by a person working with young people in Portugal a question about how young people are dealing with aspects of Gender and Sexuality. As a starting point in answering this request, it is our heartfelt wish to open up a space for you to share your thoughts, experiences and own questions about this important theme. Through your contributions, we hope then to shape a new initiative for dialogue amongst people who live with this topic, so that we can research and develop knowledge together.

We hope that this invitation to share resonates with many of you! If so, you are welcome to send us your contributions by email until 15th January.

Together with Nathaniel Williams (Free Columbia) and Joaquin Muñoz (Augsburg University) we will bring to young people interested in research processes, a week-long experience to learn about methodologies & practices of investigation grounded on Anthroposophy.

The school is open for young people of all backgrounds, regardless of previous academic experience. It is recommended for the curious, interested spirit who seeks answers to their questions and want to find approaches that will lead them to unveil new mysteries as they emerge in their research.

Upcoming events & Coronavirus

The house of the Youth Section in Dornach will remain closed until January 22.

Down below you will find an overview of the events in preparation for 2021:

Climate Conference 2021 “Breathing with the Climate Crisis” with the Agriculture Section at the Goetheanum 11 – 14 February 2021 [Digital Conference]

3rd Class Lesson Gathering Worldwide for young members 25 – 28 February 2021 [Goetheanum]

International Student Conference 2021 March 30 – April 3 2021 [Goetheanum and Digital Conference]

Youth Section’s Worldwide Gathering 28 April – 2 May 2021 [England]

Camphill Worldwide Youth Gathering 20 – 23 May 2021 [Scotland]

Summer School 19 July – 25 July [Goetheanum]

Faust - Die Erde verjüngen / Rejuvenate the Earth 30 July – 1 August [Goetheanum]

Refugee theatre week 1 – 9 October 2021 [Goetheanum]

Research colloquium December 2021 [Goetheanum]

THE SECOND NUMBER OF "PLANETARIA" THE YOUTH SECTION IN BRAZIL'S MAGAZINE IS HERE!

Planetaria is the Youth Section in Brazil's biannual magazine. Everything in it, from the articles, the design and the concept of the magazine - which takes us through a creative journey inspired by the planetary spheres - has been created by young people. Planetaria is only available in Portuguese at the moment, but due to demand, we are sure it will appear in English as well in the not so distant future! Click on the image below to read!

Invitation to Living Connections 2021
22-25 April 2021
Goetheanum, Dornach
Public Conference on Anthroposophical Meditation

‹Living Connections› is an encounter with the diversity of anthroposophical meditation. A practice for people who wish to engage self-confidently with questions and the meaning of life, as well as professional challenges.

If you want to help shape the programme and content of the next conference and would like to attend the preparation meeting, email andrea@youthsection.org for more information.