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Youth Section at the
Goetheanum - School of Spiritual Science

Newsletter
September 2019
 
 
Dear friends of the Youth Section Worldwide,

After a summer packed with initiatives, travels, conferences and new thoughts, we are joyful resume our work as a team at the Goetheanum!

The summer kicked-off with an intensive week of Mystery Dramas at the Goetheanum, where art accompanied us as our main methods of research. Together with the other 400+ participants, we explored through artistic experiences such as eurythmy, drawing and theatre, the central themes of the conference taking place in parallel to the plays: Spirituality, Fear and Health.

Shortly after this, we waved goodbye (or rather, a see you soon) to our dearest Till Höffner and Ronja Eis. Both of them have now embarked on their next adventure in London, where they are studying International Relations. However, they are still part of the team as co-organisers of the upcoming February Days, titled "Bound to Earth: Freedom, Responsibility and Destiny in Times of Climate Crisis" (30 January - 2 February 2020). We wish you both the best of luck on your new endeavours!

This means that we are also glad to welcome a new member of the team - Rocio Ferreira (24, Argentina)
she will join us in October with her initiative and experience and help us in the Youth Section House in Dornach. In this edition you can read a little bit more about her. Welcome Rocio!
In our research study "The Spiritual Striving of Youth: Shaping our Reality", we have been observing for the past two years how, out of an invitation to engage with powerful questions, one is able to tap into a space of profound wisdom that lives within young people. A wide pool of knowledge that is ready, and yet awaiting, to be taken into consideration by others in order to transform our world.

Last summer's
"Questions of Courage" youth conference, where we presented the research project, was another example of Youth Section work in action. A team of young people, sticking together through the challenges that arise out of creating something together out of free will, in order to generate a meaningful space for all of our questions to be held, for genuine human encounters to take place and, out of these, our future reality. You can read more about the event and our reflections below.

And so we begin a new academic year at the Goetheanum full of ideas, initiatives and future longings. We hope to hear from all of your projects too and to connect in one way or another to continue shaping our future realities out of commitment, striving and cooperation.

The Youth Section at the Goetheanum Team:
Andrea de la Cruz, Constanza Kaliks,  Ioana Viscrianu and Johannes Kronenberg.

Photo credit: Anthroposophical Society in North America
SPOTLIGHT:
Rocio Ferreira on her Youth Section work
and Anthroposophy

Rocio is a student of the Anthroposophical Studies at the Goetheanum. She will help in the YS house and she is also a core team member of the upcoming February Days conference "Bound to Earth: Freedom, Responsibility and Destiny in times of climate crisis".
My name is Rocío Ferrera, I’m 24 years old and I was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I attended kindergarten and elementary school at the Rudolf Steiner Waldorf School and high school at J.P. Esnaola Music School, graduating with a music teaching degree.

At 15 I had the opportunity to observe a 5th grade class at a state school and afterwards I decided to become a Waldorf teacher. When I finished my high school studies, I began the Waldorf teacher training at the High Institute for Waldorf Education Perito Moreno.


During my studies, I worked in public schools as a music teacher and in state programmes related to art and social development. For the last years of my studies, I worked in San Miguel Arcángel Waldorf School as an assistant and later as a pedagogic partner.

Already in the final years of high school I began to attend talks and meetings organised by the Buenos Aires’ Youth Section. In 2016 I join the Youth Section. With the Youth Section, we created a space to study Antroposophy and in the teacher training, we started to join the graduates to deepen the study of Antroposophy, and a new way of approaching this content opened for me, and my interest began to grow day by day.

At the Youth Section I found a place where I belonged. Along the path, we discovered at every step and with each new question, someone willing to help us find insights or to study; everyone’s doors and arms were always open.
IN THE QUEST WE ARE UNITED

Andrea de la Cruz reflects on "Questions of Courage", the North American Youth Section's conference that took place last August in Spring Valley, NY.
Photo: Anthroposophical Society North America
In 1924, Rudolf Steiner urged the youth of his time to be courageous and "stick together with iron will". Almost 100 years later, these words still resonate with the youth of today, as we strive to find ways to navigate – individually and collectively – the uncertainties and challenges of our present times. This past summer in Spring Valley (NY), the conference "Questions of Courage" was an example of this striving. Over 100 young people, mainly from the US but also from other parts of the world (Netherlands, Japan, Germany, Spain), gathered together to explore peace, relationships, society, art, self-development and the future. At the heart of the conference: an impulse to master the art of being courageous to ask the right questions.

This I believe, is one of the most promising activities we can engage with as human beings today and one of the most healing acts we can perform for our current world situation. Why? Because something magical happens when we allow ourselves the time and space to delve within ourselves and find that question stirring within us; sometimes restless, sometimes unnoticed, almost always unavoidable. Something even more powerful occurs when we meet another human being who also carries their question with such intensity, that they spark in us a burning need to set out on the adventure of seeking our own answers. The questions might differ, perhaps the answers too, but the quest is the same. In the quest we are united...

Photo credit: Anthroposophical Society in North America
YOUTH SECTION WORLDWIDE:
"Building Bridges beyond Borders"

Johannes Kronenberg's review of the 2019 worldwide youth section gathering at the Goetheanum
It is astonishing to have witnessed the powerful gathering of the Youth Section Worldwide movement last June. About 50 Youth Section representatives from 19 countries came together in Dornach and shared about their work and youth living in the 21st century.

We started with our dreams, visions and what wants to come from the future. Afterwards we worked with observations in the present time and how we work and live with them. Building bridges between the future in becoming and today's reality was the final step.

The urgency but also joy of youth gatherings in this open and free space was embarked by the content and results of this work. The tremendous confrontation with daily feelings of loneliness in a world full of ‘social’ networks, fear and high pressure came to the surface. But also, the will to start new social action initiatives like powerful places such as Elderberries Threefold Café and community in Los Angeles or Free Columbia and their M.C. Richards Program in New York (starting September 2020) were present and taken forward. Next to this a big group from Georgia was present with specific questions concerning the characteristics of the task of our generation and how to work with is concretely.

The Youth Section Worldwide seems to be situated in a momentum: a lot of young people take responsibility and express their commitment to connect both to the impulse of the Goetheanum and share the endeavour to bring fruitful inspiration into action. There is a shared aim characterised by a wide range of diverse ways of working and dealing with the youth work.

We are grateful to Movetia Agency for Mobility and Stiftung Evidenz for the financial support that made it possible for so many young people to travel to the Goetheanum. The next Youth Section Worldwide Gathering will be held in 2021.
Photo credits: Macarena Barreiro Krajl
#6DNOW!
Concrete actions that tackle the planetary crisis

Interview with Guillermo Scallan of Avina Foundation and Cultiva
Guillermo Scallan is Director of Social Innovation at Avina Foundation, the Advanced Innovation Centre, and Cultiva. He is a Waldorf teacher and co-founder of the Waldorf School Gabriela Mistral (Chile). Founder of the #6Dnow movement, which aims to kickstart a worldwide chain of concrete human responses to climate crises on December 6 2019.

"The 6D movement is a concrete response to the climate crisis we are experiencing and to its origin. Human beings in the last centuries have generated a negative impact on the spiritual, the social and the environment. We are experiencing a deep crisis of meaning, we are in crisis in human relations and also in the relationship with the earth. Everything that we see outside today when we travel the planet has its origin within us, in the way in which we have conceived the different realms of nature, our development and our evolution. However, any circumstance, including that of a climate crisis which part of science now considers irreversible, can be transformed if we as human beings assume our responsibility and truly commit ourselves to generating the inner and outward changes that are needed. 6D is an invitation to unite on December 6, the date on which the most important climate change conference in the world is going to be held in Chile (COP 25), as humanity not in social networks, but in the most relevant chain of actions in history..."

Photo credit: Guillermo Scallan
(Re)search
The Spiritual Striving of Youth - Shaping our Reality
Colloquium 2019

7 - 8 December, Goetheanum
For the past two years, the Youth Section's research team has been collecting opinions from youth around the world. As a project by the Youth Section at the Goetheanum-School of Spiritual Science, the research is grounded in anthroposophical knowledge of the human being and the world. Researchers constantly strive to deepen understanding of human life in the present time, a reality which is in a state of becoming.

Through its methodologies, (Re)Search encourages all its participants – from researchers, to interviewees and readers – to live in process, in the constant renewal of knowledge and understanding. The study does not seek to come to produce finite answers, but to access deeper layers of knowledge and understanding with each new phase of research.


After publishing some initial insights from the first phases of study, the team will present new questions and findings from the second phase of research. We invite you to participate in a presentation of new results and take part in our focus groups and debates on themes such as education, relationships, spirituality, ethics and morality, agency and autonomy and our generation's impact in the world.

Everybody of all ages is welcome to attend the colloquium and bring their questions with them. We specially welcome other people interested in initiating their own research projects! If you would like to hear about a specific theme/insight, you can contact the team in advance to help us tailor the content to your project, organisation or ideas.
Photo credits: Macarena Barreiro Krajl

UPCOMING EVENTS

"You and I in our Age -
What can we transform together?"

Georgia
13 - 17 July, 2020

During the Becoming Human international youth section conference, the idea of moving the event to Eastern Europe arose in different participants; the Georgian youth section, for example, had participated then with a performance of Faust. As a result, this past spring, representatives from Georgia, Russia, Latvia, Romania, and the Goetheanum youth sections met in Tbilisi, to get to know one another and begin taking steps towards the summer of 2020 event.

The dates of the conference have been so far decided: between the 13th and 17th of July 2020 young people from far and wide are invited to discover You and I in our Age. During these four days, the topic shall be explored, with the aim of developing a more personal, biographical understanding of what it means to be an individuality in our current times. Questions such as- Who am I? Who are you? How can we consciously meet each other? What are the characteristics of our current era and how can we actively transform our future? - stand at the foundation of the upcoming event. Each day will be dedicated to a specific topic, explored through lectures, workshops, and performances. A central theme of the conference is held by the topic of social threefolding.

The conference will be held in the midst of the Georgian natural landscape, so as to give the participants a context to discover the harmonious environment and the special cultural identity of Georgia more in depth. This will be the backdrop for young people from different cultures to meet and explore the shared challenges and opportunities of our current age, and to collaborate towards sparking new impulses for the future.

On behalf of the organising team, we are excitedly looking forward to hosting you in Georgia, and to exploring together what it means to be at home in our times.

REGISTRATION OPENS NOVEMBER 2019
SAVE THE DATE!
FEBRUARY DAYS
at the Goetheanum

"Bound to Earth:
Freedom, responsibility and Destiny in  times of climate crisis"

30 January - 2 February
February Days is the Youth Section's winter conference when we deepen our study of relevant topics through Anthroposophy. Next year we will focus on questions of sustainability, climate change and the urgency of planet Earth's situation, which undoubtedly asks each human being to reconnect with nature and the meaning of our relationship with the blue planet.

Speakers and contributors include Constanza Kaliks (Goetheanum, CH), Guillermo Scallan (Avina Foundation, CL), Jost Schieren (Alanus University, DE) and Patricia Roth (worker at the Secretary for Environment in Acre, BR).
SAVE THE DATE!
The 19 Class Lessons
Young members gathering
26 - 29 March 2020

With great joy we would like to invite you to the 3rd Class Lesson Gathering Worldwide organised by the Youth Section of the Goetheanum, North America, Israel and The Netherlands. After the summer we will send more details about the programme, class readers and costs.

If you want to apply for financial travel support, please let us know in advance.

WE
"Generation, Society, Community?"

2 - 6 October

Mannheim, Germany

Is it time to act or is it enough to keep the problem in mind?
"There is a lot of movement in society at the moment. For us young people, it is becoming ever more important to shape our future according to the essential sustainability required and to treat problems not only superficially. It seems normal to fill in with a flood of impressions. These impressions come from both real life and virtual worlds. It becomes commonplace to indulge in excess and get into a kind of intoxication where you simply can not get enough. This development can be seen in most individuals, but also in society as a whole. This social phenomenon in turn has a very strong influence on the individual. It occurs in all sorts of areas, whether in the consumption of fashion, media or social; who has more, knows or does, seems to be worth more. This movement can cause damage, both in the development of the individual and in social groups, as well as in the environment. We invite you to be inspired by lectures and to discuss how our society still functions as a community. In addition, we want to spend a day working with the city of Mannheim and get to know future-oriented projects."
Youth Section Gathering and Anthroposophical Society in North America's General Annual Meeting

9 - 13 October
Atlanta, USA

"Freedom,
Responsibility, Love"

The North American Youth Section invites you to join them for the Annual Gathering of the Anthroposophical Society.

"We are grateful to be hosted by Angela Foster at the A.R.C. during our stay, and to have a day at the Martin Clinic with Dr. Mark Hancock, helping and learning about Mistletoe Therapy & Anthroposophical Medicine. So bring a mat and a sleeping bag, and join the journey! Arrivals welcome the evening of October 9th at the ARC Journey to the Marin Clinic October 10th Annual Gathering October 11th-13th.

Pre-AGM meal costs will be shared and prepared by the group, and be an additional cost to the conference fee. We hope to see you in Decatur!"

The End of Man? Paths through and out of transhumanism.

18 - 20 October Goetheanum

Special offer!

Free tickets for young people organised by the Humanities Section of the Goetheanum.
A wonderful opportunity to join the upcoming conference at the Goetheanum has been organised by our colleagues at the Goetheanum's Humanities Section. To register for free please contact the section directly. The conference takes place in German with English translation.

"Transhumanism means crossing human boundaries at all levels through technology.
Through targeted genetic, neurotechnological, prosthetic and pharmacological interventions body, emotions and neurological processes are optimized so that disease, old age, suffering and death can be overcome and ultimately abolished. The goal is to master Earth and the universe with a super AI. While this may sound utopian, it shows that all present areas of life are permeated by transhumanistic thought. Whether in medicine, pedagogy, economics, politics, law, in social interaction or in culture - everywhere the goal is efficiency, effectiveness and ultimately the eternal bliss through technical progress. However, development can only come from the human, mental-spiritual interior, to be performed out of a creative ego. To recognize, to develop and to guard this will be the task of the future. Technology serves man, not man of technology."

Social Initiative Forum SEKEM:

Unfolding Individual Potential for the Future.

12 - 15 December, Egypt

A forum educating the Self towards community development through integral, socially relevant and artistic approach.
In this Forum, we set camp in SEKEM, where people from all over the world from different educational backgrounds share ideas on creative pedagogical practices for individual and holistic potential-unfolding that can help build a sustainable future. Unfolding Individual Potential for the Future will focus on enhancing the Self to engage in community development through an integral, socially-relevant, and artistic approach — where we include education on different levels (formal schooling, higher education, informal skills training and the practice of self-development), as well as potential unfolding activities within economic, agricultural and cultural settings.

The gathering will offer workshops, open discussions, and artistic experiences allowing everyone to exchange thoughts on a pedagogy for the future in service of social transformation.

Let’s inspire and encourage each other to think outside the box, and start new initiatives and impulses!
For more information and if you have any questions, you can contact the Youth Section team on mail@youthsection.org

For other events, initiatives and more info about our work, visit www.youthsection.org

Youth Section Goetheanum - School of Spiritual Science

45 Rüttiweg
4143 Dornach, CH

www.youthsection.org

mail@youthsection.org

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