March News from the Youth Section at the Goetheanum

"FULL OF TRUST"

Dear friends of the Youth Section Worldwide,

We hope this newsletter finds you well and healthy, wherever you are in the world!

This month marks a year since one of the biggest shifts of our young lives began to take shape. In this time, we have learnt to redefine the way we meet, without ever compromising our longing to encounter, share experiences and learn from one another. We have strengthened and deepened our search for knowledge through new ways of (re)searching. And although some initiatives have become dormant and are benefitting from a momentary state of sleep that is full of dreams of what will come, like our gathering for young members of the school of spiritual science and class lesson work, this is only so that they can awaken in due course with a new sense of vitality.

This is why today we want to tell you that we are full of trust. We trust in our capacities as young people to realise — under any circumstances — our spiritual striving in connection with each other. We trust that young people around the world will always find a way to fulfil our longings and destinies. We trust that, when the circumstances ask us, we will fire up with the enthusiasm to engage with our tasks and be present in the world.

Let this past year be a testimony of how we can shape new ways to be, to meet, to learn; and let this testimony be one that inspires even more trust in our fellow human beings, in humanity.

With these words, we want to welcome you all to join us at the International Students Conference from 31 March – 3rd of April, which will take place digitally this year.

Full details of this event as well as upcoming activities are outlined below and, as always, we are here to help you with your questions and listen to your initiatives.

Until then receive our very warm wishes from the Goetheanum,

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

The Youth Section at the Goetheanum Team

"Trust and mistrust can be experienced from the very first moment of dialogue with the environment."

We, human beings, seek a connection to what we perceive as being there, what we are surrounded by and what co-determines our existence by looking at the world and reflecting upon ourselves in the world. What we experience in such a process can at first cause various feelings and thoughts. These may then lead to impulses and actions. In so far, we can see how fundamental and formative the ongoing dialogue that we have with the world and ourselves is. The awareness of this dialogue can of course be more or less pronounced, depending on the situation; the current moment, the possibilities we have.

However, we can state that the will to dialogue is already there from the very first moment of birth. The little child enters an environment and is completely dependent on this environment, responding to what the baby wants to communicate upon its needs. To communicate with this environment and vice versa is there from the first instant of life. This reliance on the people in the nearest environment lasts many years before the human being can become independent. As the anthropologist Adolf Portmann postulated, the human being is "a physiological premature birth". This means that many abilities that are necessary for survival, including the capabilities of the human body, do not fully develop until after birth.

Due to these circumstances, we, human beings, are bound from the very beginning to the environment and to the dialogue with the environment in which we enter. When encountering this environment, the first experience is whether one's own needs are being met. One’s own needs have to be met - if this does not happen, we would not survive. These initial encounters already lead to the experience of trust, in that security is experienced; or of mistrust, which can find expression through fear. These are the first experiences. In this respect, we can state trust and mistrust can be experienced from the very first moment of dialogue with the environment...

"Having just left school and set out on my chosen path, I need trust in myself, that I’ll manage to persevere towards my goals. I know I have to trust life to give me what I need at the moment I need it. I need to feel I can trust my friends to be honest with me, and that they can trust in my honesty with them. We need to trust our teachers, that they are giving us what we need. We need to trust our colleagues that they will uphold their half of the bargain, because that is what cooperation is all about.

But all around I see trust in crisis. Trust in our state and the lockdowns they impose, in international organizations, the W.H.O, the U.N., trust in education, trust in science, in medicine, in particular trust in vaccines, trust that there is a truth, trust in one another, trust that our race can pull through the crises facing it. Too many politicians lie, and don’t apologize when they are caught out, and we believe what we want, what our social media feeds us.

Trust is in crisis. Trust needs help".

Barbora Ansorge

" There is a certain level of challenge that comes with giving and/or gaining someone’s trust. I find, often times that trust is a gradual exchange between people; one that develops over time, and grows together with the relationship. Trust, from how i see it, does not get exchanged overnight. It is something fragile that we slowly learn to have someone hold, and later carry. It can be easily and quickly broken, and thus is important to care for, and nurture. It revolves around a shared truth, that both or all involved must carry. Easily put, i find that trust, very much like a plant, begins as a seed that must be cared for. As it grow it can become a reliable tree that can provide many benefits such as shade, fruits, and even a home. The same with Trust, once it grows, the relationship flourishes, and the parties involve become more open, and can provide for each other. However, once this tree is cut or damaged, though it can recover (albeit sometimes it does not), it never goes back to what it used to be."

Paolo Avila

The (Re)Search Summer School is a week-long experience for young researchers to share in the awe-inspiring task of setting ourselves afoot in the path of knowledge. Through theory and practice, individual and collective work, we will seek those questions that can get us started in a journey of discovery, where learning in wonder gives way to questions of morality in research. The all-encompassing theme of the pilot summer school will thus be, “Research as Participation in the Process of Knowledge”.

Gender and sexuality have been important themes in our work with young people and that’s why we would like to embark on a journey of co-creation with you on the following question: How are young people living and experiencing their gender and sexual identities? As a starting point to answer this question, it is our heartfelt wish to open a space for you to share your own stories and experiences. We would love to hear your thoughts and questions when it comes to gender roles and expectations, as well as the perceptions of the body and sexuality that you encounter as a young person in your societies. Through your contributions, we hope to shape a new initiative for dialogue among young people in order to further explore the topic and develop knowledge together. We hope that this invitation resonates with many of you! If so, we look forward to receiving your contributions by email (mail@youthsection.org).

We are grateful to receive your input in the form of a written text, video, poem, story or any other preferred medium. Feel free to share the call with your friends!

Upcoming events & Coronavirus

The house of the Youth Section in Dornach will remain closed until further notice.

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

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

Camphill Worldwide Youth Gathering 20 May [Online]

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]

Colloquium December 2021 [Goetheanum]

Some of the upcoming courses:

Goetheanum Online Course - 28 Days of Anthroposophy
This international study program offers study work and colloquia at a fixed time for 1.25hrs per day via zoom, and 20 minutes daily of eurythmy, art and short contributions via video. Study work in German/English/French/Spanish & Portuguese. Language of communication in the colloquia is English (31.5 - 26.7.2021)

Offers at the Goetheanum in Switzerland
The full-time study course "Goetheanum Anthroposophy Studies" in German,
English or Spanish/Portuguese gives especially young people the opportunity
to get to know the basics of Anthroposophy. The language of communication
is English. (October 2021 to July 2022).

DRAWING GESTURES IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF FREEDOM OF RUDOLF STEINER - ONLINE WORKSHOPS

In this online workshop Laura Summer will present an exercise for each chapter of the Philosophy of Freedom that attempts to capture the gesture of the chapter.

Participants are encouraged to try the exercise both before and after reading the chapter. The course will meet once a month via Zoom to share results and ask questions. We will work for 15 months starting in March 2021.

If you are interested you may contact Laura Summer
freecolumbiaart@gmail.com