Pacifica Journal #48 2015(1) - Anthroposophical Society in Hawaii

Pacifica Journal
A bi-annual newsletter published by the Anthroposophical Society in Hawai'i
No. 48, Vol.2
2015
Waldorf Nepal Earthquake Appeal
Nana Göbel, Henning Kullak-Ublick, Bernd Ruf, Andreas Schubert
Friends of Waldorf Education, Germany
[First printed online at www.freunde-waldorf.de]
On Saturday, April 25, 2015 the strongest earthquake
for almost a century struck Nepal, causing great misery, and
plunging the country into chaos. Help us with your donation
to carry out an emergency educational deployment and support the reconstruction of the country’s school infrastructure.
About eight million people have been affected by the
earthquake. Fatalities go into the thousands and the hospitals
are overcrowded. Countless people have lost their homes and
belongings. Many are traumatized by the disaster and suffer
from hunger and cold.
Our goal is to help the local population and our affiliated Waldorf institutions to
cope with this destructive
disaster.
cational crisis intervention team of experienced educators and
therapists from May 9 to 23. The organisation “Shanti Sewa
Griha”, which operates a leprosy hospital in Kathmandu as well
as several children’s homes and an attached Waldorf School, is
a long time partner of the Friends of Waldorf Education and
will be the starting point of our two-week mission. The aim is
to help traumatised children and young people to overcome
their experiences of the disaster.
Construction of school infrastructure
The second focus of our mission is the reconstruction of the
infrastructure of local Waldorf facilities. Since the earthquake,
we have received many calls and inquiries regarding the situation of our partners. To our great relief, it seems most people
in the facilities associated and known to us are okay considering the circumstances. The teachers of Tashi Waldorf School
Educational First Aid
The loss of family and
home and the confrontation with suffering and
destruction, leads to severe psychological trauma,
especially for children.
Earthquakes in particular
cause a severe psychological
burden, as the safe ground
is withdrawn under one’s
feet and literally turns into
a threat.
In cooperation with
Germanys Relief Coalition
and the regional partners
“Shanti” the Friends of
Waldorf Education will
deploy an emergency eduAnthroposophical Society in Hawai'i, 2514 Alaula Way, Honolulu, Hawai'i
1 www.anthroposophyhawaii.org
Email: [email protected],
in Kathmandu are unhurt, but it is hardly possible for them
to obtain news about the well being of all students. Also the
people and kindergarten of the KRMEF Community (Kevin
Rohan Memorial Eco Foundation) are grateful that everyone is
alive. In one of the orphanages supported by us in Kathmandu,
all buildings were destroyed. From Buddhanilkantha, which
is located some distance from Kathmandu, we hear that all
teachers of Shanti Waldorf School are healthy, but most buildings, the school, the home for children with disabilities and
the boarding school are severely damaged. Only three of the
buildings can be used as emergency shelters at the moment.
All others, especially the school building, are in danger of collapsing and have to be demolished and rebuilt.
We will of course remain in contact with our local friends
and will go on to plan the reconstruction, especially in Shanti,
during the next days. It is already certain, however, that our
associated facilities are in need of support in order to survive.
Our concern is not only to contribute to fix the damage, but
also to help rebuild the school infrastructure in the long term.
The donations will be divided according to the most urgent
needs and used for reconstruction, emergency education and
survival assistance in Nepal.
To donate from anywhere in the world, go to the “Freunde
der Erziehungskunst (Friends of Waldorf Education)” website.
In the sidebar, click “Donate Now.” Enter your information and
on the checkout page, under Special Notes and Instructions, enter
“NEPAL.”
foundation. They are given the freedom to play, discover, and
develop naturally without stress or pressure.
Tashi Waldorf School uses a curriculum which integrates
the principles of Waldorf (Rudolf Steiner) education with the
culture and traditions of the Himalayan region to create an
educational experience that is meaningful and relevant for
the children.
The kindergarten curriculum includes story time, circle
time, action songs, rhymes, and traditional arts and crafts. The
grade curriculum includes main lessons in Nepalese, math,
form drawing, and nature studies. The rest of the day includes
additional subjects such as painting, movement, handicrafts,
physical education, music and singing, English as an additional
language and Tibetan as a second language.
Each day the children receive a multivitamin supplement,
nutritious snack and lunch, as well as medical, dental and vision care and clothing as needed.
www.childrenofnepal.org
Shanti Seva Griha, Kathmandu
Normal as well as physically challenged children go to
schools and kindergarten at Shanti Sewa Griha. In 1999, a
school was established at Budhanilkantha to assist those who
could not afford to pay for their children’s education. Shanti
Primary School offers classes from nursery till the 5th grade,
with additional standards added annually.
The Disabled Children’s Center was initiated to provide proper care for disabled
children. This center is a home to many mentally challenged
and polio-affected children. Relentless endeavors are being
made to help special children lead a relatively normal life.
In light of the fact that over half of the Nepali are illiterate,
it was clear for Shanti from the beginning to found a school
for children based on the Waldorf teaching method. Children
shouldn’t be drilled with rote memorization, which is typical
for Nepalese public schools, but should be allowed to develop
their creativity in the artistic subjects.
For this reason, lesson plans feature artistic activities like
drawing, painting, working with sound, music, singing and
Tashi Waldorf School, Kathmandu
Tashi in Tibetan means “all that is good”. Tashi Waldorf
School began its 14th school year in April 2014 with a nursery,
two kindergartens and classes from one to four. There are 120
children studying in the school.
Nepal is home to a wide variety of ethnic and tribal groups.
In recent years Kathmandu has become an urban melting pot,
reflecting the rich diversity of the nation. In accordance with
Tashi Waldorf School’s commitment to fostering an open and
inclusive environment, its children and staff come from a wide
variety of cultural backgrounds.
Though culturally diverse, the majority of the
children attending Tashi Waldorf School come
from disadvantaged homes. Their parents work
as carpet weavers, construction labourers, and
in other menial jobs. Many of the families have
migrated from rural areas in search of a better
life. Employment opportunities are scarce for
those possessing little to no training or skills, and
families are forced to live on the margins of society
in poor conditions.
Tashi Waldorf School is committed to providing child-centered culturally relevant education for
its children. In the colorful, stimulating, and safe
environment of the kindergartens and early grades,
the children receive a wonderful educational Teaching Children to Ask Questions
2
dancing as well as sports, crafts and artisanry. A dedicated
dance instructor teaches the children traditional Nepalese folk
dances. Preserving the country’s culture and passing it on to
the children is very important to Shanti.
In particular, they should be raised to think for themselves.
One of the most important questions in this regard is “Why?”.
To inquire, to question something, to express doubt – these
are driving forces in shaping a democracy. At Shanti, children
are encouraged to ask questions so that they learn to understand the meaning of life around them. Without asking why,
development and thus progress are impossible.
Since Shanti learned that children in public schools are
trained not to ask this question, the instructors place even more
emphasis on encouraging the children to question.
105 children currently attend the all-day school in Budhanilkhanta, where they are taught by ten teachers, who regularly participate in continuing education courses in Waldorf
pedagogy.
Children who live in Kathmandu are brought to Budhanilkhanta each day by school bus. This bus was purchased
thanks to the donations from Hape Kerkeling, who won it on
a celebrity special of the “Wer wird Millionär” TV game show.
damage during birth, he has spastic, contorted arms. With
amazing dexterity, he uses his feet to keep his notes.
He is good at mathematics and can draw wonderfully. His
colorful pictures are a marvel to all. In this way, he feels part
of the community and is an extremely content individual.
Ankuran Kindergarten, Kathmandu
Our kindergarten provides high quality, meaningful education to children who need it most. Many of the children come
from families who are impoverished, so they need only provide
a small fee in order for their child to go to school. In desperate
cases, the foundation provides full financial support for families
who cannot afford the cost of the child’s education.
Currently, there are plans to extend the reach of the kindergarten program to the Kokhana leprosy community, located
40 minutes away. By advocating early social development with
those living in leprosy affected communities, it is our hope that,
in time, the social barriers that stand against full acceptance of
the disease will be weakened.
Ankuran Kindergarten is opened with the vision of supporting the women from the village so that they can go to work
and also children from the leprosy colony and can get chance
to go to school and get better knowledge.
The Kevin Rohan Memorial Eco Foundation (KRMEF)
was established in 2008 near Khokana, in the southwest of
the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. KRMEF is trying to save the
local environment by using local manpower, local waste, and
educating the local population about the benefits of protecting the environment. The project periodically runs free health
and dental camps in a local school and looks forward to opening a free clinic very soon.KRMEF has begun a pilot project
focused on recycling waste found in and around the city of
Kathmandu and utilizing the waste to produce sustainable
fuel in the form of bio-briquettes and bio-gas. Waste bottles
have also been collected and made into walls and windows.
This ecological architecture will soon be implemented in the
new clinic. These processes give work to many jobless, helpless and disabled individuals.Presently KRMEF is sponsoring
schooling for underprivileged children, has an eco-guest house,
a volunteer program, a working organic/biodynamic garden,
and is working to implement Waldorf techniques in a village
school. We look forward to further developing our network to
include treatments and education for physically handicapped
children and to take care of the old, among many other activities.The KRMEF garden helps to promote biodynamic farming
methods in Nepal. We provide training to anyone who wants
to volunteer on the farm and the bee farm where we produce
our own organic honey.
www.krmef.org
Everyone learns together
Beginning in the first form, children are taught in Nepali
as well as in English.
The school currently teaches forms 1 through 5. However,
Shanti is working to receive consent from the authorities to
teach up to 8th form and be able to prepare students for general
school leaving certificates.
All of the classes at the Shanti school are integrated. Both
physically-handicapped and non-handicapped children learn
together. Visitors are repeatedly astounded by the numerous
possibilities of how handicapped children can solve difficult
tasks themselves.
For example, ten-year-old Rukesh, who has only one arm,
can clamp the knitting needles between his legs so skilfully that
he is able to knit with the others. In this fashion, he knitted
himself a scarf, which he now wears proudly.
Another example is 16-year-old Buddha. Due to brain
Maitreya Pathshala Waldorf Inspired School, Pokhara
Maitreya Pathshala Waldorf Inspired School opened its
doors in April 2014 in Pokhara, which is considered to be the
queen city of Nepal. The goal of the school was to provide qual3
Farming Program in Nepal Helps
Sustain Education
ity education focused on the needs of the child and through a
deeper understanding of those needs.
The school follows the Steiner-Waldorf philosophy which
is an alternative approach to the current education system in
Nepal. It is the first Steiner-Waldorf school in Pokhara city. Recognising the spirituality inherent in each human being is
the core for the development of education of the children. The school started with twelve children and two teachers,
accommodated in the two kindergarten classes with a capacity
of 30 children in each classroom.
The school was founded by a team comprising Babita
Kayastha, Ritman Gurung, Bishnu Sherchan, Pema Gurung,
Asha Dura and Sofiya Sherchan. The school is fortunate in
having Sarita Sanghai, Waldorf Kindergarten teacher from
Hyderabad, India commit to making twice yearly to the
school. She has already trained our teachers, helped to set-up
and develop the school. The team built the school building, together with the
seminar hall and the guest house. They started the volunteer
program which helps to contribute to the school’s finances by
offering affordable accommodation in the guest house.
Worldganic farm was established two years before the
school, in April 2012. The farm was started in order to practice
the biodynamic methods of agriculture. The main goal of the
farm is to produce healthy soil, healthy food and healthy life
forms within the soil through biodynamic farming.
Rudolf
Steiner has mentioned that Maitreya means “future Buddha”
who is going to come in this world to save the world. Maitreya
Buddha is waiting for the right time, right place and right
people to lead and propagate the spiritual rule in the world in
the future. So Maitreya Waldorf School is opened in Pokhara
to make the right people and right place during right time for
Maitreya Buddha.
With the end of the school year but a couple of months
away, we begin to focus our thoughts on the second year of
the Maitreya Pathshala Waldorf Inspired School.
We thank everyone for the tremendous support, encouragement and love which has streamed towards us during this our
first year. Please continue to journey with us!
http://maitreyapathshala.wix.com/maitreya#!giving/c70d
Ira Zunin, Honolulu, Hawai'i
[First printed in Honolulu Star Advertiser, “Wealth of Health,”
Money Section. 2/21/15]
I recently had an opportunity to visit a fledgling, yet remarkably successful, Waldorf School and biodynamic farm in
Pokhara, Nepal. Biodynamic farming is founded on the principle
that bringing vitality to the soil causes plants to thrive and nourishes people and animals living on the land. Rudolf Steiner, the
inspiration behind Waldorf education, believed that biodynamic
farming would benefit students not simply with healthy food
but also by cultivating in them the experience of being stewards
for this precious earth.
Garnering the resources needed to start and sustain the
venture required ingenuity. With a GDP per capita of scarcely
$750 per year, Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world.
Few families are in a position to pay for education let alone food
and shelter. Ritman Garung, co-founder of the school and farm
learned about Waldorf education while studying economics
at Tribhuvan College in Nepal. A native of Pokhara, he knew
that it would be difficult to sustain the school by depending on
tuition alone.
With family support and bank loans, a few years ago, he was
able to purchase eight acres of land. Today the facility has 15
kindergarten students age three to five, and a productive farm
with vegetables and fruit trees. There are also several cows that
produce milk, some of which is used to make feta cheese. The
farm now produces almost enough food not only to feed the
children and staff but also to subsidize the school.
In addition, some of the families were so pleased with the
fertile environment created for their children that they offered
to step up and pay additional tuition. After the first couple of
4
Worldganic Biodynamic Farm, a part of Maitreya Pathshala Waldorf School in Pokhara, Nepal.
Farm: https://www.facebook.com/worldganicbiodynamic, School: https://www.facebook.com/maitreyapathshala
years, word began to spread and parents from throughout the
Pokhara community have begun to attend talks at the farm
about Steiner's philosophy on Waldorf education and healthy
parenting. The biodynamic farm also benefits from international
volunteers wishing to offer hands-on support. Next year, the
Pokhara Waldorf School will initiate a first grade with the intention of adding one additional grade each year.
Because of limited funding, according to Ritman, it isn't
feasible to send the school's five teacher-farmers abroad for
continuing education. Instead, the team invites experts to come
to Nepal to teach at the farm. Most recently, Van James and
Bonnie Ozaki-James, both venerated teachers of the Honolulu
Waldorf School, travelled to Nepal where Mr. James offered a
seminar to the teaching team covering Waldorf perspectives on
art education.
The integrated Pokhara Waldorf School, called Maitreya
Pathshala and the biodynamic farm, Worldganic, is a beacon
of light in this war-torn, failed state where members of the
Constitutional Assembly recently resorted to throwing microphones and breaking desks. For decades, Nepal has struggled as
a pawn between its two mighty neighbors on either side of the
Himalayas. The 28 million people of this nation suffer from daily
electrical brown outs, inadequate water supplies and shortages
of gas for cooking and gasoline for transportation. The air in
Kathmandu is increasingly toxic while much of the arable land
is filled with pesticides and depleted of nutrients.
Biodynamic farming strives to nourish the soil rather than
exploit it. Typical measures of productivity are short-sighted,
whereas a focus on revitalizing the soil connects the earth to
plants and people, according to Ritman. The natural resources
of our blue planet are under stress. Informed by science and
guided by a sense of personal responsibility, we must forge a more
intimate, functional and integrated relationship with the world
around us. This intention is embodied by Waldorf education
and biodynamic farming. For many years it has been successfully modeled by the Honolulu Waldorf School. It is incredibly
inspiring to see this way of life now taking root in Nepal.
On parting, I asked Ritman if the school has any particular
needs at this time. He said they could use a van to transfer children, bring in supplies for the farm and carry produce to market.
For more information: Maitreya Pathshala Waldorf School
and Worldganic Biodynamic Farm,
Pokhara, Nepal. [email protected]
Kawika" Zunin, MD, MPH, MBA, is a practicing physician. He is medical director of Manakai O Malama Integrative
Healthcare Group and Rehabilitation Center and CEO of Global
Advisory Services Inc. Please submit your questions to info@
manakaiomalama.com
5
The Asian Waldorf Teachers
Conference in Fujino, Japan
with vivid descriptions of the seven virtues of the Waldorf
teacher: Joyfulness, Faithfulness, Interest, Initiative, Power
of Imagination, Responsibility of Soul, and Courage for the
Truth. The deeply rich content was always presented with
engaging humor and colorful anecdotes. Present Pedagogical
Section co-leaders, Florian Osswald and Claus-Peter Rōh, contributed thoughts on school management and the role of the
class teacher, respectively, while Kai Iruma and Porn Panosot
shared their thoughts on the current situation in Japan and
the evolution of consciousness in Asia. In addition, there were
forty international seminar and workshop presenters offering
a wide range of specialized subject areas for the deepening of
teaching practices.
Many questions arose for presenters and participants
concerning the direction that Waldorf education will take in
the Asian context. Does one introduce calligraphic characters
in the same way as letters of the alphabet? Do Grimm's fairy
tales, Old Testament stories, and Norse mythology fit in Asian
schools in the same way as in the Western schools? How does
the teacher work from out of a spiritual picture of the human
being and not just teach recipes learned in brief conferences
or short summer trainings? What about schools that aren't
recognized in their countries, what can be done about this?
All of these questions and their answers are part of the bridge
building process that is taking place in Asia today.
As with any conference, the breaks and mealtimes established the dynamic social heart of the AWTC. This time for
connecting with ones colleagues, in-country and cross-borders,
over plenty of white rice and tofu with chop sticks in-hand was
valuable time spent. Together with the country presentations at
the end of the conference it was clear just how diverse and international the Waldorf movement has actually become. Since
the first AWTC in 2005, participating countries have grown
to include Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand,
Singapore, Malaysia, Nepal and India.
Apart from the thunder and light rain on the first day,
the pleasantest of sunny spring weather greeted the eight-day
Van James, Honolulu, Hawai'i
As the heavens thundered and a misty rain cloaked the
spring green hills and distant mountains of the country landscape on the outskirts of Tokyo, a traditional Japanese taiko
drum ceremony, as if in echoed response to the thunder,
sounded the opening welcome of the Asian Waldorf Teachers Conference. Over 400 Asian Waldorf teachers gathered
for the conference at the Fujino Waldorf School, one of two
government recognized Steiner schools in Japan. There are
presently a total of 8 schools and 50 kindergartens in Japan.
It was clear that a tremendous effort came from all of these
schools, especially the Fujino school’s teachers and parents, in
preparing and hosting this event.
Building upon the previous conference held in Korea two
years ago, this year’s theme was “Building a Conscious Bridge
to the Future for Asia.” Christof Wiechert, former head of the
Pedagogical Section, delivered the morning keynote lectures
6
at the bottom right the teachers and left the parents. Only if
the three legs of this triangle work properly can educationally
constructive work be done. If even just one is faulty the whole
educational process is disrupted.
Everyone who has anything to do with school and education will immediately see how correct this image is. So what are
the conditions for the positive collaboration between parents
and teachers? It is clear that parents obtain their knowledge
about what happens in school and in lessons always at second
hand. That is why it is important to practice open door education. Parents and colleagues can come into the classroom at
any time unannounced and attend part of the lessons. Some
of our Dutch schools literally had open doors. The parents
who looked in obtained an impression of the living pulse of
the lesson, of the many processes which have to be managed at
the same time. These experiences had a strong effect. Parents
saw what was really going on.
But why should colleagues not also visit one another in
lessons? Why not use this simple form of intervision and invite
colleagues to sit in on a class? And afterwards go for a coffee
together to discuss the question: why do you do it in this
way? The old image of the class teacher as the solitary, unapproachable ruler who is always right in his kingdom behind
closed doors is no longer valid. The king is dead, long live the
king! The “new” king is open, transparent, comprehensible in
his actions, accessible; he understands that he cannot do and
know everything but he knows where to find help for what
he does not know. He keeps one-and-a-half hours at the end
of a weekday free each week. Parents can then drop in as in a
kind of informal surgery. Low level, no advance notice. If no
one turns up he can prepare lessons or correct lesson books. It
is marvellous for the teach to be accessible for parents in this
way to discuss things.
The “new” king holds three big parents’ evenings during
the year which are announced well in advance and at which
he expects all parents. The other parents can put subjects on
the agenda via the class parents. At such evenings he asks the
parents how the pupils are doing. Using sketches and drawings,
he himself develops a developmental picture of the individual
child and pupil in a way of interest to everyone without forgetting a single one and, of course, without a hint of negativity.
Then he describes how he achieved the learning goals of the
last few months and the ones which are to be achieved in the
coming months.
Class trips should not be a main topic at parents’ evenings.
A waste of time! They can be discussed elsewhere, for example
by letter or email. Problems are not, of course, discussed. If
there are problems, they are resolved between the parties in
a small group. You do not invite all the parents of a class to
discuss some problem. That is resolved on the side with those
involved. We should always assume that parents are just as
busy as we are (or more so)! So we will ensure that the parents’
evening is interesting and varied above all – actually as happy
and good tempered as the lessons!
conference at the end of April. Trees were in blossom and
flowers bloomed brilliantly all around the school. On the last
day of the conference workshop participants reviewed their
accomplishments, Nana Gōbel of the Friends for Waldorf
Education passed out certificates, presenter’s performed a
bridge-building skit, and warm appreciations were given and
received all around. With little need for discussion those assembled enthusiastically agreed that China, now with more
than three-dozen schools and some 500 kindergartens, would
host the next AWTC in the spring of 2017.
Taking an Interest - The Bridge
between Parents and Teachers
Christof Wiechert, Netherlands
[Summary of a lecture at the 2014 national congress in Dresden.
First published at the Friends of Waldorf Education, April 2015]
Christoph Wiechert at the Asian Waldorf Teachers Conference,
2015.
When many years ago the doctor and special needs teacher
Bernard Lievegoed was asked what constructive collaboration
between parents and teachers might look like, he described for
his colleagues the “golden triangle”. At the top are the pupils,
7
Neither will the “new” teacher use the telephone to complain to parents about the behaviour or conduct of pupils.
Once the “new” teachers have arrived, Waldorf parents need no
longer fear the telephone! The teachers resolve their problems
themselves, that is part of the job. How many parents have not
been under veritable siege from the telephone over the years!
No parents’ evenings at home
But alongside that, the transparently acting teacher will
organise informal parents’ evenings with always different
parents at their home. Anyone who wants to can come along
and discuss (no lectures from the teacher!) what happens to be
of concern to them. How late should class 3 pupils go to bed?
How much pocket money is healthy for a class 5 pupil? What
can we do to stop the “terror” of having to wear the right brand
label? How do we deal with media in the home and elsewhere?
From what age is it “essential” for a child to have a smartphone?
Such evenings are refreshing above all because the class teacher
does not appear there as the authority but develops perspectives
with parents which might be useful in daily life.
And at the end of the year we organise a year-end party for
the parents at parents who have a nice garden at which we do
not speak about education but enjoy the fact that we can do
things together and have a good school year for the children
and pupils behind us. This creates a circle of mutual perception
and trust. And if it should then happen that a fire breaks out
somewhere, there are many who are available and willing to
help to do what is necessary.
It is not even worth mentioning that the “new” teacher has
all the means of communication which people use today. But
at the same time he will ask the school to draw up an “email
protocol” which is binding on the school and a protocol for the
use of social media which sets out what is discussed between
teachers and parents by electronic means and what is not.
This acts to prevent great collateral damage in interpersonal
communications. Keeping a regular eye on what appears about
pupils and the school on social media is recommended for the
protection of pupils and the school. It will become superfluous in future to say that it is above
all the virtue in the teacher of taking an interest which builds
the bridge to the parents.
No understanding can arise before such a bridge is built
and thus no collaboration. We should just consider that the
“karmic will” of the child, our pupils, is expressed in the parental home: I want to be with these parents! Criticism of this
means calling the pupil into question.
That is the new meaning of that terrible expression “work
with parents”. Work with parents must not consist of wanting
to convince parents that we are right. Work with parents, if we
insist on continuing to use this phrase, should be the invitation
to become partners in education via the bridge of interest – the
parents out of love for their children, the teachers our of love
for their profession and the children entrusted to their care.
The parents are the natural educators, we the “societal” ones.
A perfect partnership!
Now, disputes can always occur which might have a great
variety of causes. It is important under all circumstances that
the parents “learn” to articulate their concerns clearly and
promptly. Once it has been said, a meeting is agreed. In socalled “difficult” meetings we ask the parents to agree that we
are allowed to bring along an extra pair of ears, that is, a colleague. The parents are warmly invited also to bring someone
along to the meeting. If serious consequences arise from the
meeting, minutes should be kept which are signed by all the
participants at the meeting.
If a colleague is fundamentally called into question by the
parents, the school management should take him or her “out
of the firing line” until the matter has been clarified. It is an
important matter: parents can be right in such a matter, they
can also be off beam. In other words: preconceived standpoints
should be avoided. Power of judgement is required. We have
to ask ourselves, is this a job for the whole of the college of
teachers or do we find a group which will deal with such cases
on behalf of the college? In all such cases level-headedness and
prompt action are required. A significant aid is what Steiner
called “moral imagination”. That means that in finding a solution for a problem I am always aware of both parties to the
conflict, in my moral autonomy I place myself in all the opposing positions which exist and through flexible thinking and
a sense of the matter find ways to a solution. Many things are
too structured in schools in this respect. Approaching conflicts
in a structured way can help but it can equally entrench the
opposing positions and block a solution. The human measure
should always apply.
Waldorf schools also have a social mission alongside their
educational one. And that comes to expression in their attitude
to social reality, to their social environment. The top of the list
here is an open relationship with the parents. Even if parents
contradict all our educational ideals: they do not become
partners in education until they feel accepted by the school.
“Work with parents” can be a poisonous mixture of answers
to questions which have not been asked, implicit demands
and unspoken accusations. It would be best to drop this awful
phrase. How about “communication based on partnership”?
A lot of Waldorf future depends on this: let us find the way to
the hearts of pupils and parents!
Christof Wiechert
8
turned into a Waldorf kindergarten teacher who started his first
Waldorf kindergarten group in his living room.
Alongside working in the kindergarten and looking after the
twins who had meanwhile arrived, Janpen also began translating
the works of Rudolf Steiner into Thai, making the texts available
to future pre-school and school teachers. Since the launch of
the kindergarten was meant to be a first step in a much larger
concept to transform the school system in Thailand, introductory sessions were held at Chulalongkorn University from 1996
onwards and a work relationship was built up with the faculty
of early years education.
... and then to class teacher
The kindergarten was followed in 1996 by a school and Porn
Panosot became the class teacher of an initially very small group
of children. The Panyotai Waldorf school was not recognised by
the government because such a school type was not provided
for under the education act. So something had to be done. In
1998, Porn Panosot had the idea of the Network for Freedom
in Education which consisted of twenty individual groups. Difficult talks were held with the education ministry – successfully
as it turned out. The national education act adopted in 1999
then actually did provide for greater freedom in the education system. The Network was expanded into the Alternative
Education Council and Porn Panosot was given the task by the
national education commission to prepare a study on alternative education worldwide as well as developing a concept for a
Waldorf teacher training seminar in Thailand. In 2000 he joined
a committee which was to draft the regulations for an alternative
school system. Living a contradiction was thus possible because,
on the one hand, the Panosots were operating an illegal school
while, on the other hand, Porn became an advisor to the education ministry in questions of school diversity and freedom in
the education system. An article by Panosot in the Bangkok Post
Lighting the Way for a More Human World:
Janpen and Porn Panosot Waldorf Pioneers in Thailand.
Nana Goebel, Berlin, Germany
[First printed in Erziehungkunst, March 2014]
http://www.erziehungskunst.de/en/article/waldorf-worldwide/
lighting-the-way-for-a-more-human-world/#.VQHKafUD6Xc.email
The first Waldorf school in Thailand opened in 1996.
How did that come about? Janpen and Porn Panosot were both
students at Chulalongkorn University. Porn, who was born in
Sukhotai and grew up in non-privileged circumstances, received
a grant as a result of his excellent school results.
The two of them were already activists at university; after
the military coup they published one of the best-known underground newspapers. In the late 1980s, Ingrid Liebig-Hundius
accompanied her husband Harald Hundius, a professor of oriental studies at Passau University specialising in the mountain
dialects of northern Thailand and Laos, on a research visit.
She had various conversations about education questions,
both in Bangkok and Chiang Mai. During one of these meetings a conversation developed with Janpen and Porn Panosot.
Both were already socially active during this period. At the time,
Porn was working in a state hospital as a paediatrician. He was
responsible for the medical care of abused girls, helped in setting
up a shelter for abused children and became a founder member
of the Child Protection Foundation which subsequently established a home for up to a hundred children.
When he had learnt more about Waldorf education, the conviction grew in him that he wanted to strengthen the mental and
physical powers of resistance of the children preventively rather
than only dealing with the after-effects. He saw such a possibility
in Waldorf education. At the
same time – and in looking
for a suitable school for his
own children – he discovered
in it also an alternative to the
state school system, the latter
based on pure rote learning
and severe competition.
From paediatrician to
kindergarten teacher ...
Without further ado, the
whole family decamped from
Bangkok to the USA to study
at the then Sunbridge College
Waldorf teacher training institute in Spring Valley north
of New York. The family
remained in the United States
for four years and two further
children were born before the
family returned to Thailand
in 1994. The paediatrician Porn and Janpen Panosot.
9
led to the establishment of a second Waldorf school in 2000
which was called Tridhaksa and which continues to the present
day – even if under a different name.
Illegal yet international
In 2002, the school moved into a bigger building which was
now able to accommodate all classes but it was still outside the
law. The school, well-known far beyond Bangkok, remained
illegal. The degree to which the Panyotai school had become famous was illustrated when it was selected as one of five innovative
schools which were presented to the international participants
at a state-organised education conference. Some conventional
schools and kindergartens had meanwhile adopted methods of
Waldorf education. But a new school had to be built, because the
existing school could not carry on in its temporary state. That,
too, was a success because in the meantime so many enthusiastic
parents had joined that the required resources could be raised.
In addition there was a loan from the sister, a teacher as well as
considerable resources from the Friends of Waldorf education
and a number of foundations. The new school building was
inaugurated in 2007. The participants at the Asian Waldorf
Teacher Conference were also present at the time and they could
not get over their amazement at what had been created here.
Chinese emperors instead of Germanic sagas
After eight years, Porn Panosot turned into an upper school
teacher, sometimes teaching three classes simultaneously; biology in one, literature in another, and chemistry in the third.
Janpen Panosot looked after the school administration, took care
of all the correspondence, held parent meetings, gave courses,
continued to work on translations and took care of everything
else that accrued.
Porn developed the curriculum for Thai Waldorf schools. He
searched for fairy tale images for the lower classes, found sagas in
the Buddhist tradition, replaced stories about Roman emperors
with presentations of the great Chinese emperors, developed a
new concept for music teaching and adapted the curriculum to
the needs of the children of Thailand.
Janpen and Porn Panosot have taken every opportunity
throughout the country to speak about Waldorf education and
with their involvement further Waldorf initiatives are being
established today in Chiang Mai, Khonkaen and other cities.
Janpen Panosot describes the joint impulse of the couple
in the following words: “The light of Rudolf Steiner’ healing
indications, which have guided our work with the children,
is nourishment for their growth and development and helps
them to become creative, morally responsible citizens of earth
who will in the future contribute to making the world a more
human place.”
10
Headmaster Wei Yueling sits with students at his Waldorf school in Guangzhou.
children’s education, compared to
2% in the UK.
But the “tiger mom, wolf dad”
approach to education is not without
consequence. Chinese youth suffer
higher levels of depression and lower
self-esteem than their peers elsewhere.
Last autumn, a 10-year-old boy in the
city of Chengdu reportedly jumped
30 floors to his death after failing
to write a 1,000-word letter of selfcriticism demanded by his teacher.
Perhaps in reaction to this phenomenon, China has seen a major
expansion of alternative teaching
establishments. These schools emphasize a holistic approach to education
and use qualitative assessment methods,
especially for kindergarten and primary
school students.
While there are no official figures for the current number
of alternative schools in China, headmaster Wei estimates that
some 40 schools and as many as 500 kindergartens operate across
the country. His own primary school and three kindergartens in
Guangzhou have about 300 students, each paying CNY40,000
(US$6,500) a year, with 300 more queuing to get in.
Education for the whole family
Headmaster Wei Yueling gets playful with his students.
(Johan Nylander)
For Lu Dan and her husband, their choice of school is about
much more than their daughter’s education. The Waldorf philosophy can be embraced by the whole family. With a focus on
developing free-thinking and morally responsible individuals,
the humanistic Waldorf concepts offer a sense of relief from
the purely materialistic lifestyle that many of the country’s new
middle class have been caught up in.
Two years ago, Lu attended a Waldorf workshop where she
met Wei. She recalls becoming immediately captivated by the
philosophy.
“It was like a calling, like realizing your destiny,” Lu says.
“Waldorf became the start of a more relaxed and happier life.”
One of the first things the family did was to get rid of their
television and computer games, which immediately opened up
plenty of time for “real life and real play,” says Lu.
They are far from alone. Some 40 families have moved to the
area where the school is, creating a community for like-minded
people. Many parents volunteer for the school, which regularly
hosts workshops on Waldorf education and related topics, often
featuring experts from abroad.
Headmaster Wei studied the Waldorf pedagogy in 2007, after
which he left his nine-year career as a photographer to open his
first kindergarten. He observes that many parents come to his
school with a desire to change their lives, but not knowing how.
“I speak to parents who don’t know how to play with their
children anymore. They just put them in front of the television
screen,” he says. “Often the father is working so much and comes
home so late at night that the child hardly knows they live in
The Rise of Alternative Education
in China
Johan Nylander, [for CNN, March 27, 2014]
Story highlights
When five-year-old Xiao Ge starts primary school in Guangzhou next year, she won’t endure strict discipline and mountains
of homework. Unlike the school life of most children in China,
her days will be filled with art, music and creative learning at a
private Waldorf school.
Xiao is part of a fast-growing number of Chinese children
whose parents are turning their backs on the state-run education system, which is based on rote learning and limited critical
thinking. Instead, they are choosing independently-run schools
that use the Waldorf, Montessori, or Reggio Emilia pedagogies.
Despite a lack of regulation over these schools, parents prefer
the humanistic approach of these classrooms and the perceived
softer learning environment.
“Compared with studying under the public system, my
daughter will get a healthier education and life here,” says Xiao’s
mother, Lu Dan, when we met at the Hairong Waldorf School
Xiao is attending in the southeastern city of Guangzhou.
As we tour the school, headmaster Wei Yueling, casually
dressed in a tweed jacket and sneakers, playfully grabs one of
the students by the waist and spins her in the air, making other
kids scream with laughter. At a state-run school, a similar scene
of student-teacher bonding would be next to unthinkable.
Global attention
China has undeniably gained the world’s attention for outstanding academic performance. Shanghai’s 15-year olds lead
in mathematics, science and reading, as seen in the 2013 Pisa
survey by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, rating the performance of children across 65 regions.
Urban Chinese families are particularly invested in their
children’s education. Don Starr, a lecturer at Britain’s Durham
University, points out in a research paper that these families
spend more than 30% of their household income on their
11
Light Eurythmy Ensemble: Observing
and joining in in China
Thomas Sutter, Arlesheim, Switzerland
[First published in Anthroposophy Worldwide 7-8/15]
Eurythmy students with Marc Büche (back left) and members of the Light Eurythmy Ensemble Arlesheim (back right).
In April 2015, the Light Eurythmy Ensemble Arlesheim
(CH) travelled to China in order to meet old friends and find
new ones; mostly, however, in order to make eurythmy better known in China. The eurythmists performed in the cities
Guangzhou, Changsha, Qingdao and Beijing and experienced
how each performance turned into a family event.
People in China get to know eurythmy and anthroposophy
through the Waldorf Schools and kindergartens. They are
parents who want to spare their children the experience of uniforms and drill at school. An incredible amount of enthusiasm
among the teachers and parents of small pioneering schools
– often they only have four classes – has made it possible for
eurythmy to be experienced – through observation and joining
in – and to find its way into people’s hearts. In his workshops
Marc Büche is often asked what pedagogical eurythmy and
eurythmy therapy are there for, what they can achieve and how
they are different from Tai Chi. Many of these questions were
most easily answered by involving the participants actively.
Waldorf Schools spring up like mushrooms in China, but
they rarely have the necessary eurythmy teachers for children,
parents and teachers! There is plenty to do here for eurythmists
who are in search of work. This is certainly what Marc Büche
has experienced who is teaching eurythmy in Guangzhou. He
accompanied us on our tour, worked with us in our ensemble
and looked after the work groups. In Guangzhou twelve of
his students gave a eurythmy presentation as an introduction
to our performance.
Chinese translation
The main purpose of our journey was to take part in the
first major anthroposophical conference in China – the “Beijing Anthroposophical Conference and Celebration of the 5th
Anniversary of Beijing Spring Valley” which took place from
the same apartment. After coming to our school they learn
good ways to be with their children. They get more quality out
of life. Waldorf is a therapeutic form of education that can help
the whole family.”
Doubts over authenticity
Some say, however, that alternative schools are proliferating
out of control. There are few regulations around the growth of
these private schools. The U.S.-based Montessori Foundation
and the Association of Waldorf Schools both offer online courses
for those interested in starting a school. Teacher education
programs are also available involving at least one year of study.
However, as the demand for these schools go up in China,
some are hastily opened without a full understanding of the
philosophy behind the brands.
Gina Lofquist, the director of the Montessori education
program at Xavier University in the U.S., sees the number of
Montessori schools explode in China, but doubts that there are
enough qualified teachers to fill the new classrooms.
“I’ve been to so-called Montessori preschools where there
was not a trace of Montessori material,” says Lofquist. “Instead,
they had a big flat screen television in the middle of the room,
something that goes totally against our beliefs. There’s no way to
train enough teachers for all those new schools. A lot of money
is being made from these franchises but the parents are not getting what they pay for.”
The same situation can be seen at other private schools,
including Waldorfs, according to several teachers and parents
in Guangzhou and Hong Kong that we spoke with.
Despite the growing interest in alternative education
forms, most Chinese parents are still reluctant to hop on the
bandwagon. The biggest fear is that opting out of the state-run
system will lower their child’s chances at passing the notorious
“gaokao,” the national college entrance exam that determines
which Chinese university a student will enter.
Lu Ziwen, professor of English language at Central China
Normal University and a member of the state English curriculum
standard team, is far from convinced by alternative education.
Less homework, he argues, is not the path to future success.
“Many parents think that you should not let the child lose at the
starting line,” he says, referring to a popular proverb.
All this seems far removed from Xiao Ge who is happily
playing on the swings in the school playground, unconcerned
about future exams and career prospects. Instead, she is putting
all her energy into being just a child.
12
29 April to 3 May 2015. It was organized by Yu Ningyuan in
cooperation with Martin Barkhoff. Prominent speakers arrived
from all over the world to give lectures and hold work groups.
The theme of the conference was “The Mission of Earth in the
Fifth Cultural Era”.
In every city on our tour we had several performances of
our children’s and evening programme. The programme (“Fire
of Life”) was in English and included scenes from William
Shakespeare’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream” and music by
Chopin, Schubert and Debussy. There had to be a humoresque,
of course, and for this we had chosen Edward Lear’s “Four
Limericks” – a piece that spoke to all ages. In China every
performance is a great family event. All the texts were quickly
translated into Chinese and read out before the performance.
Impressed by the dimensions
We were also able to be tourists for a little while: you can’t
be in Beijing without seeing the Forbidden City (of the Imperial Palace). You can walk for miles there, feasting your eyes on
the unimaginable dimensions. Later we were overpowered by
the experience of standing on the Great Wall. Thoughts arose
in us of how much sweat went into this construction and how
many people had spent their entire lives there.
The Great Wall is therefore not only there to protect China
from enemies; it also provides a boundary for this enormous
country that helps to retain a pure memory of Atlantean life
before the catastrophe. It allowed Chinese citizens over a long
time to experience themselves in a dreamlike consciousness,
remembering the great cultural achievements at the end of the
ancient Atlantean era. It was the commitment and organization
of the musicians Gotthard and Danae Killian that made this
tour possible for us. They also provided the musical accompaniment throughout our visit.
Contacts: [email protected], gjk@posteo.
de, [email protected]
The First Kolisko Conference
in Malaysia
Sibylle Eichstaedt, London, England
Somewhat to my own surprise, I am writing these lines from
Kuala Lumpur where I have just attended – as a workshop
leader – the first Kolisko Conference ever held in Malaysia. I
am so heartened and moved by what felt like a true Whitsun
experience that I would like to share a few impressions with you.
The conference, which attracted 940 participants, was on
the theme of “Achieve Individual Health and Community
Well-Being”. It was organized by a small group of enthusiastic
Malaysian-Chinese women, in collaboration with the Medical
Section at the Goetheanum and with help from other supporters.
The Chinese population in Muslim-governed Malaysia is
a minority and makes up 22.6% of the population. It is here
where the seeds of anthroposophy have landed in Malaysia with
the founding of the first kindergarten 18 years ago. There is only
13
a small handful of kindergartens and schools, a biodynamic farm
and a growing number of doctors and health practitioners; the
International Postgraduate Medical Training (IPMT) offered
by the Medical Section worldwide has had its first few wellattended training modules in Malaysia.
How did the small team of Kolisko Conference ‘miracle
workers’ – all in their early 40s – manage to attract such a large
number of people in a country where anthroposophy is hardly
known? Three weeks before the conference started, numbers
were only at about 300. It was decided that two of them would
take two weeks off from their families and work and travel the
country to speak to schools, Buddhist temples and corporations
to tell them about “Kolisko”. Their enthusiasm and conviction
were contagious: from then onwards enrolment and unexpected
funding flowed abundantly! One businessman asked the team
what they would do if they made a loss. When he heard that the
women were going to mortgage their own homes rather than
cancel the event he was so touched that he guaranteed that his
company would cover any shortfall.
The widespread good will was also visible through the large
group of volunteer helpers. For example, the man who picked us
up from the airport offered to be a driver whenever needed, taking time off from his IT company and donating his services. “If
the contributors give their time freely then I will do the same!”
Most of those attending were new to anthroposophy and
came from a wide range of backgrounds, including heads of
schools and other teachers, Buddhist monks and nuns, business people and even a few politicians. Participants came not
only from Malaysia but from Singapore, Thailand, China,
Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, India, Saudi Arabia, and
New Zealand.
The resounding success of this 4-day event was a very moving testimony to people’s thirst for a practical spirituality that
can bring new insights and know-how to so many areas of
life. Michaela Glöckler gave inspiring and accessible morning
and evening talks, and contributors from Europe, New Zealand, America and Asia gave workshops on various aspects of
education, medicine, artistic therapies, health and social care,
biodynamic agriculture as well as the threefold social order. And
so the conference offered a broad introduction to the idea and
practice of anthroposophy, all received with an enthusiasm that
filled us, the visiting contributors, with awe and amazement.
It remains to be seen what fruits the conference will bear in
the lives and communities of those who attended. At the end
of the workshop on the threefold social order, one businessman said: “We are ready to change the world! We are ready to
make it a better place!” With this heart-felt call from the East to
‘change our ways’ I felt the spirit of this first Kolisko Conference
in Malaysia pointing to rich future possibilities.
https://drive.google.com/file/
d/0B7kBX1X8nZR1QV82Y2pBY3dYVkU/
view?usp=sharing Some other Anthroposophical Newsletters
Anthroposophy Worldwide
http://www.goetheanum.org/Newsletter.aw.0.html?&L=1 Ardent
[email protected] Being Human
[email protected] Chanticleer
http://www.berkshiretaconicbranch.org/chanticleer.php
Journal for Steiner/Waldorf Education
[email protected] New View
http://www.newview.org.uk/new_view.htm News Network Anthroposophy
www.nna-news.org Scope
[email protected] Southern Cross Review
http://southerncrossreview.org/ Sphere
[email protected] The Sophia Sun
http://www.anthroposophync.org/sophiaSun.htm
14
!
!
Eurasia!Foundation!and!Association!Newsletter!Summer!2015!
!
!
Dear!members!and!friends!of!Eurasia!
It!is!with!great!Joy!that!we!announce!the!official!opening!of!the!inclusive!Kindergarten!at!
the! Peaceful! Bamboo! Family!:! Tinh! Truc! Gia=TTG!;! living! community! and! vocational!
training!center!for!people!living!with!disabilities!in!Hue,!Vietnam.!We!started!officially!
after! Têt,! with! 10! children,! 5! of! them,! living! with! disabilities,! and! we! already! have! a!
waiting! list! for! the! coming! months.! After! the! summer! we! will! welcome! some! more!
children.!This!Kindergarten!is!a!pilot!project!that!will!serve!as!a!training!center!for!Hue!
City!Kindergarten!teachers!for!the!inclusion!of!children!living!with!disabilities.!A!group!
of! architecture! students,! with! the! help! of! a! local! NGO,! ACCD,! built! a! wonderful!
playground!on!a!voluntary!basis,!mainly!made!of!recycled!materials.!
!
This!Kindergarten!is!perfectly!in!line!with!the!vision!of!Eurasia!for!the!coming!years.!
!
In!the!past!17!years,!Eurasia!has!built!3!schools!for!children!with!severe!disabilities,!has!
created!special!classes!in!7!primary!schools!in!Hue!City,!has!created!a!great!number!of!
vocational!training!workshops!for!youngsters!living!with!disabilities,!a!home!for!elderly!
and!dependent!ladies!and!finally:!!
The$Peaceful$Bamboo$Family=TTG$
TTG!is!a!living!community!for!young!adults!living!with!disabilities,!a!place!of!vocational!
training,!with!the!attempt!to!create!incomeUgenerating!activities!with!people!living!with!
disabilities.! In! TTG! we! have! the! first! biodynamic! garden! in! Vietnam,! and! now! the! new!
inclusive! Kindergarten! with! early! detection! and! early! intervention! facilities.! Since! 17!
years! Eurasia! has! conducted! a! great! number! of! ongoing! training! courses! in! special!
education!and!social! therapy.! We! have! built! a! lot! of! infrastructures!to! create! adequate!
facilities! for! people! living! with! disabilities.! Over! 700! children,! youngsters! and! adults!
living! with! disabilities! could! be! integrated! into! society! through! education,! vocational!
training,! by! the! various! Eurasia! projects.! We! know! that! our! main! task! now! is! to! make!
these!projects!sustainable!by!focusing!on!«!capacity!building!»!
!
In! order! to! do! this! we! now! want! to! build! on! our! experience! and! our! knowledge! by!
creating! a! practical! and! theoretical! Training! Institute!:! «!The! EURASIA! LEARNING!
INSTITIUTE:!ELI!»!
15
We! are! looking! for! partners! and! funding! to! help! us! develop! this! new! phase! that! is! a!
natural!evolution!and!continuation!of!Eurasia’s!work!in!Vietnam,!but!we!could!also!link!
it!to!other!similar!initiatives!in!Switzerland!and!abroad!
!
A!new!phase!has!already!started!that!enables!us!to!expand!our!activities!to!the!overall!
education!system!in!Vietnam!with!the!Call!2!Care!Program.!It!has!started!end!of!2014!in!
partnership!with!the!Education!Department!of!Hue!Province,!MOET(Ministry!of!Ed.!and!
Training! in! Hanoi)! Hue! University! and! Mind! &! Life! Institute.! This! program! introduces!
Social! and! Emotional! Learning! (SEL)! Mindfulness! and! Compassion! into! regular! and!
special! classes! in! Hue.! A! first! phase! has! been! completed! with! a! group! of! 500! children.!
The!first!results!are!very!promising!and!we!have!a!strong!commitment!of!the!education!
department,! the! teachers,! children! and! their! parents! to! bring! this! program! further.!
There!will!be!a!first!evaluation!of!the!program!this!summer.!We!are!looking!for!funds!for!
a!next!phase!in!which!we!could!improve,!further!develop!and!test!this!new!curriculum!in!
the! whole! Province! (about! 400.000! children).! We! are! also! looking! into! a!collaboration!
with! Geneva! and! Lausanne! Universities! to! measure! the! impact! of! this! program! and! to!
present!it!to!the!Ministry!in!Hanoi.!!
!
Our!efforts!to!find!support!for!our!work!also!in!Vietnam,!is!slowly!bringing!fruits.!TTG!
has!no!financial!support!from!Vietnamese!Government!and!is!dependent!on!their!small!
production!and!income!generating!activities,!but!mainly!on!fundraising!through!Eurasia.!
More! and! more! young! people,! local! NGO’s,! support! our! work! through! selling! our!
products,!but!also!by!inviting!us!to!share!our!experience,!knowledge!to!a!wider!context!
in! Vietnam.! Many! volunteers! from! Vietnam! and! abroad! want! to! learn! about! social!
therapy,!biodynamic!farming,!a!lifestyle!respectful!towards!those!who!are!different,!who!
are!in!need,!respectful!towards!nature!and!about!social!entrepreneurship.!TTG’s!mission!
clearly!is!to!be!a!practical!training!Centre!for!ELI.!!
!
The!new!land!of!our!biodynamic!garden!in!TTG!develops!new!projects:!medicinal!herbs,!
a! seedUbank! in! order! to! contribute! to! the! biodiversity! and! to! generate! income! for! the!
Center.!
!
Khanh! the! Eurasia! representative! in! Vietnam,! develops! an! early! detection! and! early!
intervention!office!in!Saigon!and!Hue.!He!is!giving!training!to!parents!and!educators!as!
one!of!the!programs!of!ELI!(!Eurasia!Learning!Institute).!!
Thank!you!so!much!for!your!faithful!and!precious!support!!
Please!do!help!us!to!develop!the!next!phase!of!Eurasia!!
For$your$Donations$:!
Association$Eurasia$
CCP$17?496738?5/$$
Banque$Cantonale$Vaudoise$Compte$987.86.01$
IBAN$CH78$0076$7000$A098$7860$
16
!
Biowork: The Quest for the Color
Green, the Light and the Resurrection
emotionally stable individuals I had ever met. He didn’t need
counseling or therapy at all. “Umuwi ka na,” I told him,
“wala ka namang problema (Go home, I told him, you really
don’t have any serious problems.). “
It was then when Buen posed a challenge, one I had never
yet encountered with any client. He said: “Pero Tita Susan, sa
trabaho ko bilang artist, gusto kong itanong, ‘what next?’ Saan
na patungo ang trabaho ko (But in my work as an artist, I ask
myself, ‘what’s next? In which direction is my work going?’)?”
He struggled to tell me how difficult it was for him to remain
true to his work, that it was a struggle to know one’s self amidst
an art trade that entices commercialism.
He showed me a picture of one of his landscape oil
paintings; in it a majestic tree stretched its limbs towards
the sky. But step back and one realizes that the tree’s base is
littered with various paint smudges. Step back even more,
and the paint smudges turn into human forms, sprawled on
the ground, in death poses. This was Buen’s rendition of the
Ampatuan massacre. *This was Buen’s statement of protest.
This was the artist that Buen felt he had lost touch with in
recent years despite his so-called “success” in the art scene.
I was stunned. I teased Buen that I readily knew what to
do with clients who were suffering from cancer, Parkinson’s
disease or depression. But how does a counselor/therapist
guide an artist in articulating where his art was going? Nonetheless it was a unique opportunity to share Buen’s “journey”
of self expression.
Susan F. Quimpo, Manila, Philippines
Buen Calubayan, Landscape Eternal 4, 2012, Oil on canvas,
48” x 48”
One of the paintings of visual and performance artist Buen
Calubayan was recently sold by Christie’s for US$20,000. A
recipient of several prestigious awards in the Philippine art
scene, Buen has been mounting “sold out” exhibits of his
work for the last two years. But as Buen painted, exhibited
and sold, his “demons of uncertainty” began to haunt him.
“What next?,” was a question he secretly grappled with.
Our children both attended Kolisko Waldorf School in
Manila and that is how we met. While his seven-year-old
conquered the playground’s monkey bars, Buen approached
me to ask if he could see me professionally to seek counseling.
A few weeks later, Buen came for his first art therapy session with me. I asked him why he was coming for therapy.
His answer was: “Gusto kong ma-validate kung okay na ba ako.
(I want to validate if I’m okay.).”
Initially, I thought, like most of my clients, he perhaps was
currently or had recently dealt with health issues, or perhaps
a traumatic or tumultuous period in his life. Thus, our first
two sessions were diagnostic. It was then I first noticed that
he could not paint green. He then said that he was color
blind with certain colors, the latter appearing to be differing
tones of grey.
Between paintings, we would talk and I would ask him
about his life, and it wasn’t an easy one he had. But Buen
had a wry sense of humor that mirrored his pragmatic views.
By our second session, it was clear that, not only was Buen
“okay,” but that he was perhaps one of the most focused and
One of Buen’s rainbow painting exercises.
17
Painting Rainbows
First, I drew on the healing power of archetypes, and like
most of my clients, required Buen to steadily read a good
translation of the classic German fairy tales collected by the
Grimm brothers. I also asked him to make a habit of painting
the rainbow colors on one page by mixing the three primary
colors red, yellow and blue. Using the wet-on-wet technique
-- that of painting diluted watercolor on wet paper -- was “liberating” said Buen whose painting medium was predominantly
oil. When he mentioned he had digestion problems, I thought
perhaps this may partly be due to the hardening consistency
of oil paint which he used daily. So I had him paint several
pages of watercolor orange to help his metabolism. I learned
that the color orange, like the fruits
bearing this color -- papaya and oranges -- was good for
digestion. And yes, I told him, art heals... even digestion.
Initially Buen’s rainbows had very weak secondary colors orange, green and violet. After several rainbow paintings, the
orange and violet became more evident, but despite repeated
exercises, Buen’s rainbow still had hardly any green. To an
art therapist, color blindness may be an indication of a soul
quality that needs to be tapped and developed.
I decided to have Buen experience the “soul qualities”
behind the colors of the rainbow to have him subconsciously
explore his relationship with colors.
Iris Sullivan, one of my teachers in art therapy, had us do
Crossing the Brook, Joseph Mallord William Turner 1815.
a series of soft pastel exercises, working with each of the colors
of the rainbow. Another mentor, Mara Evans, had taught our
art therapy class the use of colors and themes to probe and
heal problem areas in one’s biography.
I guided Buen through pastel exercises exploring the colors
magenta, carmine, vermillion, and added watercolor exercises
copying JMW Turner’s landscapes in predominantly yellow
and orange. British painter JMW Turner’s impressionist style
exhibits a burst of color hues with little or barely recognizable
forms. I was enthused that Buen knew of and was inspired by
Turner’s style, and was excited with the prospect of recreating
the latter’s work.
When Buen and I got to the color green, I asked him to
copy a Turner painting that was predominantly green in color.
Buen’s rendition baffled me; dark shades of brown and black
were in areas that were supposed to be viridian. I felt I needed
to introduce “green” to Buen; intuitively I felt green and the
soul qualities it embodied were Buen’s stumbling blocks.
In the quest for “green,” I had Buen create a chalk pastel
painting using the colors turquoise, pink and a golden yellow,
the combination of which were to elicit the “feeling” of green,
at least that was what my mentors had told us.
I then asked if Buen was familiar with the work of Matthias
Grunewald, particularly the painting of the Resurrection of
Christ on the panel from the Isenheim Altarpiece. In 1515,
the German painter Grunewald was commissioned to paint an
altarpiece for the hospital chapel of Saint Anthony’s monastery
in Isenheim, Alsace in France. The resulting piece was a multilayered polyptych which resembled double cupboards, with
Buen's interpretation of Turner's Crossing the Brook.
18
Matthias Grünewald, The Resurrection panel from the Isenheim
Altar.
Buen's Resurrection.
each panel opening to show a scene from the life of Christ. A
grotesque scene of a horrific Crucifixion was the centerpiece;
and to its side was a painting of the resurrection of Christ.
What I found remarkable about the altarpiece was that it was
created for a hospital where soldiers, maimed and dismembered by the medieval wars, viewed the twisted, scourged and
bloodied wounds of Christ. Perhaps, the wounded drew solace
and equanimity with the visual reminder that Christ too had
suffered and died from bodily wounds, and the promise of
resurrection was enough to console the dying.
Grunewald’s Resurrection unmistakably had a gall bladder
green quality to it. “Green is the color of the Resurrection,” I
recalled one of my teachers say as she showed us the Grunewald
slide. It was the “green” of the resurrection that I wanted
Buen to experience. I asked Buen to google then copy the
renaissance painting.
The following week, Buen came with his interpretation of
the resurrection painting. And remarkably, Buen’s rendition
of Christ had a distinctively green halo! Buen could now see
green.
A Golden Key unlocks Liwanag
For his “homework,” Buen continued to pick Grimms’
fairytales to read and draw before bedtime. As expected, the
archetypes came to the fore and facilitated discussions about
his immediate family, old hurts and new projects. One short
tale, The Golden Key barely a half-book-page long, was one of
Buen’s favorites. The story was a simple one: a little boy was
digging through the snow for twigs and branches to be used as
firewood. He finds a golden key, and thinks that where there
is a key, there is a lock that it opens. Sure enough, he soon
found a wooden box and key was a perfect fit for its lock. The
boy turns the key and the story ends, challenging the reader
to imagine what wonders the box holds.
Buen drew two versions of the box mentioned in The Golden Key. And after a discussion of his rendition of Grunewald’s
Resurrection, I asked him to draw the box anew but this time
to show its contents. “Don’t think about it, just paint!” I
challenged Buen because he had a tendency to agonizingly
“think through” his art. And so, clutching the paintbrush like
a toddler would clenchfist a crayon, Buen treated watercolor
pigment like oil paint, soiling both brush and his fingers,
quickly moving his hands like he was conducting a 70-piece
orchestra. When I perused the result -- both Buen and I were
amused. Golden light streamed out of the unlocked box, and
Buen looked at me and said,” Tita, liwanag ang laman (Light
is what’s inside)!”
19
cialized even by the price-driven art trade, and would remain
intact regardless of how much his paintings were sold for.
Excitedly I asked Buen if he had ever been to Mount
Banahaw, a verdant mountain south of Manila which locals
believed to be sacred. No, he replied. Then you must go, I
said. For some 10 years I led annual pilgrimages to Banahaw,
bringing Filipino American college students to experience
for themselves what Filipino spirituality was about. I urged
Burn, “Go to Banahaw as a pilgrim; go into the Rizalista
chapels where the Filipino revolutionary heroes were seen as
God’s finest examples of what human beings could become.
Go with honest questions, enter each cave or pwesto (holy
station) with reverence knowing that the Katipuneros were
once there, crawling through the tight crevices in an act of
purification, and in search of their own definition of liwanag.”
Buen did. And I knew that the mountain Banahaw would
speak to him, like it did me, and many others.
Buen sliced up Ileto’s book soon after his Banahaw trip,
to tediously weave each page, each sentence, each word into
a hammock. My historian friend Vicente Rafael came last
semester to teach a course on nationalism at Ateneo, and Buen
dutifully came with me to sit-in in the classes. At the end of
each three-hour Rafael class, our heads would spin, and Buen
and I further discussed how nations were imagined, and how
cultural boundaries were inordinate for a couple more hours
at some cafe. And Buen would stare into space, wondering
how he would translate these all onto his canvas.
Finally, when Buen was beginning to paint his Banahaw
series, he came to my therapy room again, saying he had
trouble “articulating” how he felt about Banahaw. “Stop
thinking with your head, think with your heart!,” I nearly
yelled at him. Through guided meditation, I led him through
Banahaw again.
With his eyes closed, Buen’s consciousness walked the
trail anew, reading the marker about Macario Sakay’s Tagalog
The Golden Key: Buen’s painting of the box closed, the box
with overgrown flowers and the open box with Liwanag (Light).
Instinctively my eyes were drawn to the copy of Reynaldo
Ileto’s Pasyon and Rebolusyon, which I noticed Buen had been
toting for weeks. He had been reading Filipino cultural historians Ileto
and Vicente Rafael’s The Promise of
the Foreign. It was no coincidence
then that Ileto’s dissertation on the
Katipunan had repeatedly defined
the “liwanag,” as a soul quality, a
prerequisite to bringing about individual and societal change.**
Buen and I were enthused; we
both intuitively knew that the “what
next?” question had been answered.
It was the soul quality of liwanag
(light) as experienced by the Katipuneros that brought light, healing,
revolutionary change and perhaps
even the resurrection that Buen
sought for his work. It was this soul
quality that could not be commerScene of Banahaw, the end of Buen’s quest.
20
the resurrection. Plus, of course, a novel but effective cure
for Buen’s poor digestion.
* Ampatuan massacre -- In November 2009, in Maguindanao, southernmost Philippines, the pregnant wife and
relatives of Esmael Mangudadatu were on their way to file
his candidacy for the local gubernatorial elections. Carloads
of journalists, lawyers and aides joined the Mangdudadatus.
All 58 persons who joined the convoy were kidnapped, tortured, some raped, then all murdered. The prime suspects
are members of the powerful Ampatuan clan, political rivals
of the Mangudadatu. The case is still on-going.
**The Katipunan was the movement that led the revolution
against 300years of Spanish colonial rule in the Philippines.
The guiding principle of the Katipuunan was that its members
had to go through a personal process of cleansing and spiritual
enlightenment before they could affect societal change.
Other painting exercises by Buen Calubayan.
Republic. Macario Sakay and his band of Katipuneros, desperately held on to hard-sought freedom even as the Americans
won its imperialist trust into the Philippines soon after the
demise of colonial power Spain. Here in Banahaw, the last
bastion of freedom for the Filipino fighters, Sakay and his
men were betrayed, captured and executed by the Americans
in 1907. In meditation Buen went through time and space
until he met others, some in the pin-stripped blue and white
garb of the Katipunan soldier, who too walked the trail. And
there Buen asked, “Nakita n’yo ba si Macario Sakay (Have you
seen Macario Sakay?)?”
When Buen opened his eyes, I gave him chalk pastels and
paper. And with his characteristic arms-swinging, conductorlike movements, fingers running color from the page onto the
table, knees flexing, feet shifting -- Buen painted. And there
on the page, was his map of Banahaw. The Holy Mountain
had spoken to him, again.
Buen’s resulting exhibit, with the careful chronography of
Buen’s work, is his journey to finding his own Liwanag. I am
equally amazed at the twist and turns of Buen’s journey: how
we drew from simple color exercises, archetypes and fairytales;
to the study of the Western art of Grunewald and JMW
Turner; then diving deep into the historical treatises of Ileto
and Rafael, and finally to a pilgrimage to a holy mountain.
All these have profoundly ushered Buen, and me (vicariously!)
through a sleuth-like quest for the color green, the light and
Susan F. Quimpo is an author, art therapist, and biography
counselor. She may be reached at [email protected].
The artwork Buen completed during his art therapy/counseling
sessions is included in Biowork: Buen Calubayan, an exhibit
that ran from February 24 through April 30, 2015 at the Ateneo
Art Gallery, Ateneo de Manila University, Manila, Philippines.
21
Marilyn Monroe and Rudolf Steiner
of My Life”, Marilyn was reading at the time. Dame Edith was
to remark later on Marilyn’s ‘extreme intelligence’”
In Dame Edith Sitwell’s autobiography Taken Care Of,
she tells of her meeting with ‘Miss Marilyn Monroe’, who she
describes as quiet, with great natural dignity and extremely intelligent. She was also, she said, extremely sensitive. Dame Edith tells
of a magazine article that she was commissioned to write about
her visit to Hollywood and this included a face-to-face encounter with Miss Monroe, who she suspected the magazine moguls
thought would hate one another on sight. They were mistaken.
‘On the occasion of our meeting she wore a green dress and,
with her yellow hair, looked like a daffodil. We talked mainly, as
far as I remember, about Rudolf Steiner, whose works she had
just been reading. In repose her face was at moments strangely,
prophetically tragic, like the face of a beautiful ghost – a little
spring-ghost, an innocent fertility daemon, the vegetation spirit
that was Ophelia.’
Tom Mellett, a former Steiner teacher in the USA, has added
the following comments:
“While living in Spring Valley in 1980, I had the good fortune
of meeting the person who had sent Marilyn that copy of Steiner’s
autobiography as well as a number of other Steiner books and
lecture cycles that Marilyn requested over a ten year period from
the Anthroposophical Library, then located at 211 Madison Avenue in New York City. I speak of the late Agnes Macbeth, wife
of the late Norman Macbeth (author of “Darwin Retried”). Agnes
worked for the library during the 1950’s, handling book requests
and she vividly remembers the letters Marilyn posted asking for
various lecture cycles. And although Marilyn had a reputation for
tardiness and irresponsibility on her movie sets, Agnes assured
me that Marilyn was very conscientious and punctual with her
returns of the books.
Marilyn Monroe was introduced to Steiner’s writings and
lectures by her favou rite drama teacher, Michael Chekhov (18901955), nephew of the playwright Anton, and fellow director
with Stanislavsky in the Moscow Art Theatre early in the 20th
century. Marilyn was introduced to Chekhov in 1951 by one of
his devoted students, the American character actor Jack Palance.
Marilyn opened herself like a sponge to water to Chekhov’s approach to theatre, which was so deeply influenced by Steiner
that Chekhov left Stanislavsky’s method behind. And Marilyn
opened herself very deeply to anthroposophy, not because she
felt it would please her teacher, but Chekhov felt that it was one
of the only times in her life that Marilyn did something out of
her own free inner being.
The tragedy of Marilyn Monroe is that she opened herself
up too much and became a slave, not only of the studio bosses,
but also the expectations of a world that focused on her as such a
fantasy object. Yet deep inside her inner being, which no one in
the media and our popular culture even believed she possessed,
she spent the last 10 or 11 years of her tortured life cultivating
the delicate plant of anthroposophy.”
Bradford Riley, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
[First printed at blog anthropopper, September 15, 2014]
Photo courtesy of Harpers Bazaar
Was Marilyn Monroe an anthroposophist? Intriguingly, the
following quotation is taken from a biography of Marilyn Monroe
called “Norma Jean: the Life of Marilyn Monroe,” by Fred Lawrence Guiles, published by McGraw-Hill Book Company, New
York in 1969. It appears on pages 331-332 of the 333-page book.
“Some years before her death (in Dec. ’64), Dame Edith
(Sitwell) had spent a winter in Hollywood. A meeting between
the poet and Marilyn was arranged by a monthly magazine. It
was thought their ‘opposite’ personalities would throw off some
journalistic sparks. No one could have foreseen that they would
become immediate friends, nor could anyone have known that
their deaths would be marked in an almost identical way — while
their legends were growing in their lifetimes, they had been taken
seriously by too few, too late.
“By the time she met Dame Edith, Marilyn had come a long
way. If she had not been moving in an atmosphere — much of
it self-created — so removed from her beginning, they might
have had nothing in common. But when the introductions were
over, these new and unlikely friends were left alone and began
talking of Rudolf Steiner, whose personal history, “The Course
Edith Sitwell and Marilyn Monroe, 1953 Photograph by George
Silk/LIFE © Time Inc.
22
Australia's most famous Anthroposophist
honored in her native Chicago
Sydney Harbor two decades later.
The Rogers Park/West Ridge Historical Society in north
suburban Chicago gave enthusiastic support for the naming
of Marion Mahony Griffin Beach and Park, writing:
“For the residents of Rogers Park, especially the young
people, the beaches and parks along Lake Michigan are an
important element in giving the neighborhood its distinctive
character. The naming of one of the beaches for Marion Mahony Griffin will keep before beachgoers the model of a vastly
talented woman who not only broke down barriers by entering
a field still today dominated by men but became one of the
foremost innovators of the twentieth century. Furthermore,
she will be celebrated as an artist in a neighborhood that has
become a home to many contemporary artists.”
Marion and Walter moved to Melbourne, Victoria, then the
interim capital of Australia, shortly after winning the international design competition for the Federal Capital (it was not
named Canberra until a foundation stone ceremony in March
1913) and moved to Sydney in 1925 after severing all further
involvement in Canberra’s development. There they became
active in Anthroposophy while developing the then virgin
suburb of Castlecrag designing many of the houses built there.
Marion joined the General Anthroposophical Society in 1930
and they split as a couple shortly after and Marion returned
to family in Chicago. Walter joined the Society in 1931 and
coaxed Marion back to Castlecrag by visiting Chicago in 1932.
But the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the slump in world
wheat and wool prices that followed brought the Great Depression to Australia as it did to most to the then developed
world. Sales of blocks dried up in Castlecrag as did building
design commissions; so Walter moved to Lucknow, India, in
October 1935 – the same year that Marion joined the First
Class in March. Much of their correspondence from that
separation has survived1 and it includes references to Marion,
a German speaker, sending Walter her own translations of
several of Rudolf Steiner’s writings. Fourteen of her esoteric
books have been found in June 2015 in the Society’s Chicago
Branch library and will now be studied by Griffin scholars for
their extensive underlinings and marginalia.
It was not until mid 1936 that Marion acceded to his pleas
and joined Walter in Lucknow where, tragically, he died of
peritonitis on 11 February the following year.
As a widow, Marion returned briefly to Castlecrag but was
not happy there without Walter and returned to family in Chicago in 1938 “to follow out this Steiner teaching” where she
remained until her death on 10 August, 1961, at the age of 90.
She was cremated and interred in Chicago’s Graceland Cemetery. Sadly, other than that she addressed the Illinois Society
of Architects in 1940 including much about Anthroposophy
in her address, little is known of her engagement after that.
Marion Mahony Griffin ‘s influence in American Anthroposophy continued through Walter’s sister Genevieve. Genevieve and her husband, architect Roy Lippincott, moved from
Melbourne to Auckland, New Zealand, where they joined the
Trevor Lee, Canberra, Australia
On 9 May 2015, Marion Mahony Griffin was honored
by the naming of a park in the suburb where she lived for
the last stage of her life. With her husband Walter Burley
Griffin, Marion was co-designer of Australia’s national capital, Canberra, after a worldwide competition in 1912. Even
before then, Marion had achieved prominence by graduating
in Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT) in 1884 and becoming the first female licensed architect in the state of Illinois and among the first so qualified
anywhere in the world. She was then highly prized in the office of Frank Lloyd Wright in Oak Park and was instrumental
in holding that office together when Wright infamously ran
off to Europe with the wife of a client. We don’t know when
Marion and Walter met and they would have known of each
other before the turn of the century through the architectural
circles that later became known as “The Prairie School”. But it
was in Wright’s office that they are first known to have worked
together. In that context she courted Walter with canoeing
picnics, an activity they took up again on the stable waters of
Walter and Marion Mahony Griffin
23
A Modern American Fairy Tale: Public
Charter Schools in the USA
First Class of the School of Spiritual Science but returned to
the USA as war with Japan loomed and established the Santa
Barbara Steiner School in California. Their daughter, Alstan
Lippincott, founded the Waldorf School in Los Angeles, purchasing the site and naming it after her anthroposophical alma
mater in the UK, Highland Hall. And Alstan’s niece, Betsy
Barriclow, worked at Highland Hall for a time and went on to
join the Class and found the Tara Performing Arts High School
in Boulder Colorado. Alstan was also an accomplished painter
and several of her works have ended up with the Christian
Community in Sacramento. She married a Christian Community priest later in life and became Alstan Hegg.
By Martyn Rawson, Kiel, Germany
[First printed in Erziehungkunst, June 2014] http://www.
erziehungskunst.de/en/article/waldorf-worldwide/a-modernamerican-fairy-tale/#.VQHJHcbEq2g.email
The numbers of Waldorf-inspired charter and public
schools are rapidly rising in the USA. In the past, the association
of privately-financed Waldorf schools has tended to view this
model with some scepticism. Martyn Rawson reports about
current developments.
Marion Mahony Griffin’s drawing of the city plan for Canberra,
capital of Australia.
The Chicago honoring of Marion follows the November
2013 renaming of a prominent Canberra landmark in her
honor.
Speaking at the unveiling of a full-size reproduction of Mrs
Griffin’s watercolor rendering, credited as having a central role
in the plan’s selection, the then Chief Minister of the Australian
Capital Territory, Katy Gallagher, said the renaming righted
a historic wrong.
‘’The significance of the injustice lies in the fact that the
visionary Canberra plan was truly a collaborative venture,’’ she
said. ‘’This is a very public way of acknowledging the role she
played and the fact that her beautiful drawings were central
to Walter’s winning of the competition.’’
Three class 10 pupils are walking about the school
playground. One of them has her eyes covered and the other
two are moving around her clapping their hands. The senses
have just been dealt with in main lesson and the three of them
are experimenting with using their hearing for orientation.
What is special about this scene is the fact that they dare to
move about the playground alone with their covered eyes. A
few years ago that would have been impossible in this school.
Violence, bullying and drug dealing were part of everyday life
in the school playground. Large musclemen with loud voices,
security guards, called after pupils: “Git inta class!” and ensured
that they hurried as quickly as possible from one class to the
next so that they did not have time for illegal activities.
The school described here was one of the worst schools in
California. It was, as Principal Allegra Allessandri said, a failed
school. In the meantime the George Washington Carver School
of Arts and Science, a “Waldorf-inspired High School”, wins
prizes for the quality of its learning and the school’s performance as a whole. An exhibition in the foyer presents pupil
projects of impressive quality on the theme of poverty in the
district of Sacramento in which the school lies.
I visited a class 9 which was just rehearsing a play. It was
an adaptation of a fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm. A tower
of tattooed boys of various origins represents a tree, below
that pupils were skipping with a rope. The girls had plenty
The Chief Minister Katy Gallagher and Dr David Headon at the
renaming of the Mt Ainslie viewing platform to Marion Mahony
Griffin View. (Photo: Jay Cronan. Text: excerpted from the report
by Patrick Carmody of The Canberra Times)
1. Her extensive memoirs of over 1,000 pages of typescript and illustrations have been web-published by the Art
Institute of Chicago under her chosen title of “The Magic of
America”. http://www.artic.edu/magicofamerica/
24
dollars per year for each pupil. Many
Waldorf teachers (also in public Waldorf elementary schools) cannot afford
to send their own children to a private
Waldorf upper school. In a country
like the USA, education reflects the
social structures pretty accurately.
Private schools simply cater for a different clientele, namely families from
the higher social classes. Charter and
public schools, in contrast, serve the
people who live in the vicinity of the
school. That gives rise to quite different tasks.
Private or public – the current
divide
The number of Waldorf-inspired
schools with a public mandate and
public funding (charter schools) or
state schools with a Waldorf profile
(Waldorf public schools) is steadily
growing. There are meanwhile 52
public and Waldorf-inspired charter schools in the USA. In
1990 it was three, of which two have meanwhile ceased to
exist. Another five schools have been added to the tally this
year. Forty-four of these schools are members of the Alliance
for Public Waldorf Education (APWE).
It continues to be a controversial subject whether or not
these schools should be allowed to use the designation Waldorf.
None of them are on the world list of Waldorf schools. The
Association of Waldorf Schools of North America (AWSNA),
the association for private Waldorf schools, refuses to recognise them. The German Association of Waldorf Schools only
recently reaffirmed that AWSNA alone had the name rights
to “Waldorf ” and “Steiner” in North America. Thus AWSNA
determines which schools may call themselves Waldorf and
which may not. So far AWSNA has taken the view that Waldorf
schools should not be allowed to receive money from the state
because that would restrict their autonomy. According to this
criterion, most Waldorf schools in Europe, including Germany,
in Australia and New Zealand would not be proper Waldorf
schools either because they receive state funding.
Private and public Waldorf schools in dialogue
Two years ago I met Will Stapp, the president of APWE
in my working group in Dornach during the world teachers’ conference. We fell into conversation. The result was the
invitation for me to visit the USA. Meanwhile the leadership
of AWSNA is engaged in constructive dialogue with the Alliance. At a local level, the relations between private and public
Waldorf schools appear to be collegial and friendly, certainly
in California and the south-west of the USA, something which
will make an approach at association level easier. The caution
on both sides is understandable since there are real differences
and tensions between the private and public Waldorf schools
of makeup on, wore miniskirts and were attempting to jump
over the swinging rope.
In class 12 I was able to observe a discussion about symptomatology in cultural history. A lively debate was going on
about the idea of reality in the Middle Ages. Another class
was composing a sonnet with a precise number of syllables
and rhymes.
The school has been transformed in the last six years under
the dynamic leadership of Ms Allessandri, herself a former
Waldorf pupil and teacher. With the help of experienced Waldorf colleagues, she introduced the methods and curriculum
of Waldorf education. Since then the school playground has
developed into a place of recuperation, peace and meaningful
activity – a school garden was also created which provides fresh
produce each day. One boy, who until then was deemed to be
too difficult to educate and not far off a criminal career, builds
beautiful wooden benches and looks after the playground.
The story in Carver is a true fairy tale of modern America.
There are, however, also restrictions. All the teachers have to
be members of the teaching trade union which prevents them
from giving continuous main lessons. Teaching is restricted
by the trade union in order to protect teachers because of the
high number of teaching hours and the great stress associated
with teaching – both normal in schools. One benefit of this
situation is that teachers are well paid and, very important in
the USA, benefit from good welfare provision – and certainly
significantly better than for Waldorf teachers in the independent Waldorf schools.
The curriculum and teaching in Carver, as in the other
schools I visited, can be placed within the spectrum of a normal
Waldorf school, in small towns to the same extent as in city
schools. Parents do not have to pay school fees. The school fees
in private Waldorf schools range between 17,000 and 28,000
25
Why America's Obsession with STEM
(Science, Technology, Engineering,
Mathematics) Education is Dangerous
which are not easy to overcome. But their common educational
interests are more important.
Teacher training situation
Both associations are already working together in teacher
training. The Rudolf Steiner College in Sacramento has set up
an accredited Masters programme for teachers in the public
and charter schools. The lecturers are experienced Waldorf
colleagues. Betty Staley, for example, has been a Waldorf
teacher for over 50 years and is the author of a classic in Waldorf literature on adolescent education. The programme can
partly be completed online with the use of webinars (Internet
seminars) as the students are spread across the whole continent
including Alaska and Hawaii. Many of the students who will
in future work in public and charter schools learn in other
training centres where they meanwhile make up the larger part
of the student body.
What constitutes Waldorf?
I visited a total of eight public Waldorf schools in California. Class visits and conversations with teachers left me with the
impression that these schools do indeed practice Waldorf. Are
these schools really Waldorf? And what ultimately constitutes
Waldorf? I have visited Waldorf schools in many countries and
believe I can recognise what constitutes Waldorf quality and the
essence of Waldorf. I do not share the view that fulfilling the
Waldorf curriculum, traditional forms of self-administration or
externalities such as a hand-carved wooden sign are the essential
criteria. As someone who concerns himself a lot internationally with the Waldorf curriculum, I see too much culturallydetermined content and have too many question concerning
the archetypal image of child and adolescent development. A
working group in the Pedagogical Section at the Goetheanum is
working on Waldorf essentials which will shortly be published.
Only then will we have a basis for making a judgement on what
really constitutes a Waldorf school.
Schools with principals
Charter and public Waldorf schools have to accept all children who register and give them an education. They also have
school principals who have to exercise clear leadership tasks.
Without such leading personalities, schools such as Carver
would hardly be able to manage their tasks in the available
time. All schools which I visited endeavour to develop their
education on a collegiate basis but are led as a rule both educationally and administratively by experienced Waldorf teachers.
I must admit in all honesty that I was a little jealous when I
met these school principals and experienced their passion and
professionalism in the endeavour to assure the highest quality
of Waldorf teaching in their schools.
Fareed Zakaria, [First printed in the Washington Post, March 26]
Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos (Photos by Getty Images and AFP)
If Americans are united in any conviction these days, it is
that we urgently need to shift the country’s education toward
the teaching of specific, technical skills. Every month, it seems,
we hear about our children’s bad test scores in math and science — and about new initiatives from companies, universities
or foundations to expand STEM courses (science, technology,
engineering and math) and deemphasize the humanities. From
President Obama on down, public officials have cautioned
against pursuing degrees like art history, which are seen as
expensive luxuries in today’s world. Republicans want to go
several steps further and defund these kinds of majors. “Is
it a vital interest of the state to have more anthropologists?”
asked Florida’s Gov. Rick Scott. “I don’t think so.” America’s
last bipartisan cause is this: A liberal education is irrelevant,
and technical training is the new path forward. It is the only
way, we are told, to ensure that Americans survive in an age
defined by technology and shaped by global competition. The
stakes could not be higher.
This dismissal of broad-based learning, however, comes
from a fundamental misreading of the facts — and puts America on a dangerously narrow path for the future. The United
States has led the world in economic dynamism, innovation
and entrepreneurship thanks to exactly the kind of teaching we
are now told to defenestrate. A broad general education helps
foster critical thinking and creativity. Exposure to a variety
of fields produces synergy and cross fertilization. Yes, science
and technology are crucial components of this education, but
so are English and philosophy. When unveiling a new edition
of the iPad, Steve Jobs explained that “it’s in Apple’s DNA
that technology alone is not enough — that it’s technology
married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that
yields us the result that makes our hearts sing.”
Innovation is not simply a technical matter but rather one
Martyn Rawson is the author of several books about Waldorf
and co-editor of the English-language curriculum which has
meanwhile been translated into 18 languages. He has worked in
the collegium of the Pedagogical Section in Dornach. Today he
teaches at the Elmshorn Free Waldorf School and the Kiel Teacher
Training Seminar.
26
of understanding how people and societies work, what they
need and want. America will not dominate the 21st century
by making cheaper computer chips but instead by constantly
reimagining how computers and other new technologies
interact with human beings.
For most of its history, the United States was unique in offering a well-rounded education. In their comprehensive study,
“The Race Between Education and Technology,” Harvard’s
Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Katz point out that in the 19th
century, countries like Britain, France and Germany educated
only a few and put them through narrow programs designed
to impart only the skills crucial to their professions. America,
by contrast, provided mass general education because people
were not rooted in specific locations with long-established
trades that offered the only paths forward for young men. And
the American economy historically changed so quickly that
the nature of work and the requirements for success tended
to shift from one generation to the next. People didn’t want
to lock themselves into one professional guild or learn one
specific skill for life.
That was appropriate in another era, the technologists
argue, but it is dangerous in today’s world. Look at where
American kids stand compared with their peers abroad. The
most recent international test, conducted in 2012, found that
among the 34 members of the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development, the United States ranked
27th in math, 20th in science and 17th in reading. If rankings across the three subjects are averaged, the United States
comes in 21st, trailing nations such as the Czech Republic,
Poland, Slovenia and Estonia.
In truth, though, the United States has never done well
on international tests, and they are not good predictors of our
national success. Since 1964, when the first such exam was
administered to 13-year-olds in 12 countries, America has
lagged behind its peers, rarely rising above the middle of the
pack and doing particularly poorly in science and math. And
yet over these past five decades, that same laggard country
has dominated the world of science, technology, research
and innovation.
Consider the same pattern in two other highly innovative
countries, Sweden and Israel. Israel ranks first in the world
in venture-capital investments as a percentage of GDP; the
United States ranks second, and Sweden is sixth, ahead of
Great Britain and Germany. These nations do well by most
measures of innovation, such as research and development
spending and the number of high-tech companies as a share
of all public companies. Yet all three countries fare surprisingly poorly in the OECD test rankings. Sweden and Israel
performed even worse than the United States on the 2012
assessment, landing overall at 28th and 29th, respectively,
among the 34 most-developed economies.
But other than bad test-takers, their economies have a few
important traits in common: They are flexible. Their work
cultures are non-hierarchical and merit-based. All operate
like young countries, with energy and dynamism. All three
are open societies, happy to let in the world’s ideas, goods and
services. And people in all three nations are confident — a
characteristic that can be measured. Despite ranking 27th
and 30th in math, respectively, American and Israeli students
came out at the top in their belief in their math abilities, if
one tallies up their responses to survey questions about their
skills. Sweden came in seventh, even though its math ranking was 28th.
Thirty years ago, William Bennett, the Reagan-era secretary of education, noticed this disparity between achievement
and confidence and quipped, “This country is a lot better at
teaching self-esteem than it is at teaching math.” It’s a funny
line, but there is actually something powerful in the plucky
confidence of American, Swedish and Israeli students. It allows
them to challenge their elders, start companies, persist when
others think they are wrong and pick themselves up when
they fail. Too much confidence runs the risk of self-delusion,
but the trait is an essential ingredient for entrepreneurship.
My point is not that it’s good that American students fare
poorly on these tests. It isn’t. Asian countries like Japan and
South Korea have benefitted enormously from having skilled
workforces. But technical chops are just one ingredient needed
for innovation and economic success. America overcomes its
disadvantage — a less-technically-trained workforce — with
other advantages such as creativity, critical thinking and an
optimistic outlook. A country like Japan, by contrast, can’t do
as much with its well-trained workers because it lacks many
of the factors that produce continuous innovation.
Americans should be careful before they try to mimic Asian
educational systems, which are oriented around memorization and test-taking. I went through that kind of system. It
has its strengths, but it’s not conducive to thinking, problem
solving or creativity. That’s why most Asian countries, from
Singapore to South Korea to India, are trying to add features
of a liberal education to their systems. Jack Ma, the founder of
China’s Internet behemoth Alibaba, recently hypothesized in
a speech that the Chinese are not as innovative as Westerners
because China’s educational system, which teaches the basics
very well, does not nourish a student’s complete intelligence,
allowing her to range freely, experiment and enjoy herself while
learning: “Many painters learn by having fun, many works
[of art and literature] are the products of having fun. So, our
entrepreneurs need to learn how to have fun, too.”
No matter how strong your math and science skills are,
you still need to know how to learn, think and even write. Jeff
Bezos, the founder of Amazon (and the owner of this newspaper), insists that his senior executives write memos, often
as long as six printed pages, and begins senior-management
meetings with a period of quiet time, sometimes as long as 30
minutes, while everyone reads the “narratives” to themselves
and makes notes on them. In an interview with Fortune’s
Adam Lashinsky, Bezos said: “Full sentences are harder to
write. They have verbs. The paragraphs have topic sentences.
27
There is no way to write a six-page, narratively structured all work), the most valuable skills will be the ones that are
memo and not have clear thinking.”
uniquely human, that computers cannot quite figure out —
Companies often prefer strong basics to narrow expertise. yet. And for those jobs, and that life, you could not do better
Andrew Benett, a management consultant, surveyed 100 than to follow your passion, engage with a breadth of material
business leaders and found that 84 of them said they would in both science and the humanities, and perhaps above all,
rather hire smart, passionate people, even if they didn’t have study the human condition.
the exact skills their companies needed.
One final reason to value a liberal education lies in its roots.
Innovation in business has always involved insights beyond For most of human history, all education was skills-based.
technology. Consider the case of Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg Hunters, farmers and warriors taught their young to hunt,
was a classic liberal arts student who also happened to be pas- farm and fight. But about 2,500 years ago, that changed in
sionately interested in computers. He studied ancient Greek Greece, which began to experiment with a new form of govintensively in high school and majored in psychology while ernment: democracy. This innovation in government required
he attended college. And Facebook’s innovations have a lot to an innovation in education. Basic skills for sustenance were
do with psychology. Zuckerberg has often pointed out that no longer sufficient. Citizens also had to learn how to manage
before Facebook was created, most people shielded their iden- their own societies and practice self-government. They still do.
tities on the Internet. It was a land of anonymity. Facebook’s
insight was that it could create a culture of real identities,
Fareed Zakaria, columnist for The Washington Post, is
where people would voluntarily expose themselves to their the host of “Fareed Zakaria GPS” on CNN and author of
friends, and this would become a transformative platform. “In Defense of a Liberal Education.” Twitter: @FareedZakaria
Of course, Zuckerberg understands computers deeply and
uses great coders to put his ideas into practice, but as he has
put it, Facebook is “as much psychology and sociology
as it is technology.”
Twenty years ago, tech companies might have
survived simply as product manufacturers. Now they
have to be on the cutting edge of design, marketing
and social networking. You can make a sneaker equally
well in many parts of the world, but you can’t sell it for
$300 unless you’ve built a story around it. The same is
true for cars, clothes and coffee. The value added is in
the brand — how it is imagined, presented, sold and
sustained. Or consider America’s vast entertainment
industry, built around stories, songs, design and creativity. All of this requires skills far beyond the offerings of
a narrow STEM curriculum.
Critical thinking is, in the end, the only way to protect American jobs. David Autor, the MIT economist
who has most carefully studied the impact of technology
and globalization on labor, writes that “human tasks
that have proved most amenable to computerization
are those that follow explicit, codifiable procedures —
such as multiplication — where computers now vastly
exceed human labor in speed, quality, accuracy, and cost
efficiency. Tasks that have proved most vexing to automate are those that demand flexibility, judgment, and
common sense — skills that we understand only tacitly
— for example, developing a hypothesis or organizing
a closet.” In 2013, two Oxford scholars conducted a
comprehensive study on employment and found that,
for workers to avoid the computerization of their jobs,
“they will have to acquire creative and social skills.”
This doesn’t in any way detract from the need for
training in technology, but it does suggest that as we
work with computers (which is really the future of Windows and Apple, pastel drawing by Van James.
28
Thoughts of Michaelmas
Imaginations from Mythology
Michael is an archangel who does just this. He does this on
the behalf of all humanity. I think of it something like this....
The hierarchies of celestial beings are “hanging out
conversing one day” in the infinite void of absolute all. Unfortunately, they are all saying humanity is a waste of time;
that those folks down there (us) are a lost cause (it’s fairly
easy to draft a rather dismal list of our unfortunate failings).
That humanity is absolutely and completely hopeless. In a
word—they categorically, completely and absolutely without
appeal—“write us off.”
But wait, there’s one fella who stands up and says, “No, you
are all wrong. They (humanity...us) have a spark of something
we’ll never have...and we need it. If they can overcome their
‘dark side,’ and yes, I know the cards are stacked against them,
then the celestial void will hum a new tune. An even more
glorious symphony of celestial song could be put in motion
with the help of a humanity transformed. They (us) could release such a roaring flame of liberty, of compassion, of free will
and pure thought...that the heavenly spheres would resonate
anew. New bold beautiful worlds could birth afresh and free.”
So, of the entire heavenly host, just Michael—with only
his sword of singular intention filled with his light and love
for humanity—stands alone against seemingly insurmountable odds. He places himself before the dragon of infinite
despair...and subdues it!
He places himself within the human heart and whispers
against the roar of our distractions, “stand true, have faith,
I am here, we can tame the untamable, you are human, you
have love, you have the possibility of freedom, we need that
in the vast void of all, stand fast, you can do this, you must
do this, I am here, be truly human, stand fast.”
And, if we listen, we might just hear, and meet, the call!
Perhaps this autumnal time of year it is a little easier to
hear. There is an annual phenomenon of a number of meteor
showers that happen every fall. The most pronounced are the
Leonids (King of the meteor showers) late autumn. It is as if
the heavens rain their assistance to us this time of year. The
metal of strength, iron, rains fire from heaven (burns entering
our atmosphere) to aid us as the sun starts slipping further
away (shorter days) and we go into the cooler darker time
of year and (possibly) more into our inner spaces (psyche.)
We can take heart, with Michael, that we have the fire
and light of the heavens in our very heart, its iron in our
very blood, and can stand before our “tests of darkness”
victoriously!
Good fortune in your efforts of will and heart!
Phil Dwyer, Honolulu, Hawai'i
Michael Icon, egg tempera on wood, by Van James
Michaelmas is a festival celebrating the power and light
of the heart. We celebrate that we have the strength to stand
straight and true. This is the strength that is mustered from
our steady and stalwart intentions for good. It is born from
the fire of the human heart, which is a power that can see us
through anything. We can light up this power of the heart
in the face of the darkest most despairing circumstances and
encounters, whether outward or inward. Through this power
of heart, we have the courage and ability to subdue, transform
and tame the shadow, the gloomy, the wounding, the sinister...
in a word, the dragon.
29
Hawai'i Art Intensive:
tree, an animal, or portraits of famous Renaissance artists, each
drawing and painting “grows.” Van James also encourages his
students to “paint” with their crayon, colored pencil, or pastel.
No matter the tool, each movement flows, glides, and expands.
This method is used in tandem with the “discovery” method
of teaching whereby teachers do not always tell students what
the final product will be. Instead, teachers create an experience
of anticipation, nurturing students’ curiosity and imagination
as they follow what the teacher is modeling. Of course, free
painting and drawing are also practiced.
June 28 - July 3, 2015
Meilani Lombardi, Honolulu, Hawai'i
Educators from Hawai'i and the Mainland gathered at
the Honolulu Waldorf School this summer to learn from
teacher, author, and international advocate for the arts, Van
James. During the 6-day art intensive, educators explored
the relationship between child development and the visual
arts while also renewing their commitment to integrating arts
into the academic curriculum. Van James modeled how to lead
art lessons for elementary and middle school students but it
didn’t stop there. Many educators described their time with
Van James as inspiring, interactive, and engaging, and that he
“completely changed their thinking about art.”
In addition to the aforementioned methods, Van James
models another critical aspect of teaching art – integrating
each lesson with what children are currently being taught in
social studies, science, mathematics, or literature. As students
quietly concentrate on creating their picture, hands and eyes
busily involved, teachers can use this time to further a lesson on
botany, symmetry, or history. No subject is taught in isolation
and the arts can become the golden thread weaving all aspects
of a curriculum together.
Van James regularly offers workshops like these for artists
and educators around the world. One workshop at a time,
he contributes to the growing realization that art is a critical
component of a well-rounded education.
Van James uses alternative methods originated by Rudolf
Steiner, founder of Waldorf Schools. Instead of outlining a
figure or a shape and going back and filling it in with color, his
approach is to “grow” a work of art. When drawing a tree, for
example, most people draw the outline of the trunk, branches,
and leaves and then fill in the shapes with browns and greens.
In contrast, Van James has students start with a seed, roots and a
sprout and then move upward to illustrate a growing trunk with
branches and leaves shooting outward. Whether illustrating a
Editor’s note: The Hawai’i Art Intensive will be offered again
next June, 2016. Limited to 16 participants.
30
Eurythmy as "Visible Speech":
Vowels and Consonants
When we speak the vowels or move them in Eurythmy, we
express the soul’s relationship to the world.
Cynthia Hoven, Fair Oaks, California, USA
From Sounds to Words
The essays in this book offer an experience of the deeper
meaning of individual sounds. Sounds alone, however, are
only the doorway to meaning. When we speak, we make use
of virtually limitless combinations of sounds to make words.
In words, vowels and consonants interact in lively combinations. The consonants describe how the shapes and movements
of an object are experienced: the vowels express how the soul
responds to the object or experience.
As a Eurythmist, I must deepen myself into the inner core
of the words. I must play with the words so creatively that
their inner nature reveals itself. The tools for this play are the
sounds themselves, which, through their capacity to make
the imagination and inspiration of the word visible, bring to
expression the gestalt of a thing or activity and the experience
of soul associated with it.
With Eurythmy, I must go beyond the sound-gesture and
create word-gestures. The word-gesture must transcend mere
presentation of the sounds of a word, which would look like
gestural spelling. It must make visible the meaning of the entire word through an artistic combination of sound gestures
combined with an imagination of picture and an intuition of
meaning.
The pronunciation and the meaning of the word will
determine how the gesture of each individual sound will be
metamorphosed, made larger or smaller, more or less stressed,
shaped to interact with other sounds to make one word-picture.
In their art, Eurythmists express their individual creativity
through their capacity to make the imagination and the inspiration of the word reveal the true nature of the thing.
Imagine the creation of the earth. Picture divine hands
shaping the mountains, valleys and plains, the birds and the
beasts and the plants, with infinitely powerful and fine, delicate
movements. Feel how some gestures are round and voluptuous,
while others are sharp or pointed.
Anticipate then how these gestures live again in magnificent
but greatly compacted forms in our human language.
The manifestation of these formative forces are found
in language in our consonants, which are shaped by palate,
tongue, teeth and lips with explosive, liquid, round or sibilant
gesture. We use these sparkling sounds to describe mountains
and rivers and stars. We use them to give names to all the plants
and all the animals of our world.
The sculptural forces that we find in the consonants have
likewise formed the shape of our body, the temple for our
spirit. The same will and wisdom and movement found in the
universe around us live within us as well.
When we speak the consonants or move them in Eurythmy,
we dance with the sculptural forces that shaped creation.
When the breath of spirit was breathed into the human being, we became ensouled, bearers of an inner life which reflects
the whole of the universe outside. We became self-aware, and
authors of our destiny. The manifold ways we experience self
and world are experienced in the “singing sounds,” the vowels.
Through these the soul speaks back to the world.
The inner life of human beings comes to expression in
language in the vowels. They express our joy, our sorrow, our
love, our power.
31
all people to understand each other. It is said, however, that
humanity of that time was too arrogant, and their aspirations
too high. People began to construct a tower, the Tower of
Babel, that they hoped to build all the way up to heaven. This
angered Jahve and he smote the tower, and as further punishment scattered humanity to distant lands. He also took away
people’s capacity to understand one another, and each folk
developed its own language.
I like to imagine that in those early days the words that
people used were “true words,” words that could completely
embody the essence of meaning.
Now each separate language holds one piece of the puzzle
of meaning. Through the various combinations of sounds that
each language uses to describe the same object, we experience
what part of that object that particular folk understands. When
we gather all the separate words together as if we were gathering flowers for a great bouquet, the full meaning of an object
shines by virtue of the beauty of all the words coming together.
T
From Words to Sentences
As sounds are combined into words, words must be brought
into a still higher dimension of relationship in sentences.
Through an artistic use of syntax, words and phrases are
ordered to create well-formed sentences.
I engage an even higher level of artistry when I create eloquent sentence-gestures that make these relationships visible.
The tools I use may include specific treatments for the various
parts of speech, which allow the formative forces of nouns, the
activity of verbs, the relationships established by prepositions,
the connectivity given by conjunctions to come alive.
The meditative imaginations written in this book provide
only the first step of the journey of artistic Eurythmy. Indeed,
what happens in Eurythmy when sounds are wed into words
and sentences is as infinitely varied as in language.
Language is elevated into its highest dimension when it
becomes poetic. The poet uses all the elements of language—
sounds, words, parts of speech, rhythm, meter and stress—to
create a work of art. As a Eurythmist, I take great joy in moving
the elements of poetic language, but I experience prosaic or
intellectual text to be unpleasant and constricting.
The Question of Different Languages
The question often arises of how to do Eurythmy in different languages. The answer is a simple one: our gestures in
Eurythmy make visible precisely what we hear, regardless of
language. What we move in Eurythmy is the actual experience
of the sound itself. In principle, K is K in any language, and
will be moved in the same way. Small differences may exist: a
German L is different from an English L in the placement of
the tongue, but even such fine differences will be made visible
in movement.
More confusion may arise with the vowels, for the written
signature for a vowel is often different in different languages.
Whereas in English we say ā when we read the letter A, most
other languages say ah. Nonetheless, the solution is the same:
we move what we hear, and not what we read. We extend our
arms wide with an open gesture when we hear the sound of
wonder, ah, and close them firmly when we hear the sound
of separation, ā.
What becomes more interesting is the question of how
different languages have given different names to things. We
are confronted with a living riddle when we understand that
“tree” in English is “Baum” in German, “arbre” in French, “kumulaau” in Hawaiian. The English language understands trees
to be tall, stretching things: the German language experiences
big growths with round, generous crowns; the French speak
of delicate open branches; the Hawaiian feels strong trunks
and branches spread wide to the sun. We are in fact infinitely
enriched when we understand the names of things in many
different languages.
Biblical legend speaks of a time in the ancient past when all
of humanity shared a common language. This language enabled
T--Leo: The Lion
Touched by the spirit, I am transformed by truth.
In constant world creating, the Creator summons all of its
Universal Power and hurls bolts of red-hot lightning into the
earth, striking to the core of every manifest thing. The power
of the Spirit re-enlivens the lifeless world of matter.
32
The Art Impulse of Rudolf Steiner
T is the masculine counterpart of D. It gathers and directs
both the force of spirit power and the light of spirit consciousness.
In the human being , T is the pre-cursor to manifestation of the
individual self-conscious I (ee), or I-Am. In ancient times, a person
touched by the might of spirit would be thrown to the ground or
knocked unconscious. The modern human being can invoke the
T and be strengthened by it.
Peter Stebbing, Dornach, Switzerland
Intention
In the Being of T, I will unite myself with the lightning
power of the Creator that directs the
entire force of the Creative Will into the core of my being.
Feeling
I seek to unite myself with the powers of the universe.
Clothed in orange, I stand surrounded
by light and feel the red power of spirit all around me. I
open the deepest parts of my soul
and offer myself to the highest I can imagine. The tension
in my arms is green, offering form
but no resistance to the powerful forces around me.
Movement and Form
I lower my arms to my sides, and let my intention reach
into my fingertips. I radiantly lift my arms as wide and as high
as I can. Where they meet above my head, I invite world-spiritlight to strike into me. With the backs of my hands together,
my fingertips forcefully strike the top of my head at the point
of the crown chakra. I stand upright at the moment of impact,
strengthened in posture from head to foot.
"Threefold Human Being," by Rudolf Steiner
Soul Response
Were the bones of my skull not so hard and were I not so
dull in spirit, I would be thrown to the ground with the force
of the impact of the T. My hardness, however, protects me, so
I can withstand
the power of the lightning force streaming into my body.
As it enters through the head and
reverberates through the sacred centers of my body, it
resounds at my throat, my heart, my solar plexus,
the base of my spine, my knees. I am ablaze with spirit fire
and filled with green vital force.
Small wonders: Tall trees’ tender twigs try to tickle tiny
tots.
There may hardly be an impulse of Rudolf Steiner more
widely misunderstood, misrepresented and ignored in its essentials than his art impulse. This becomes evident—with
notable and significant exceptions—where the art of painting
is concerned. (Artists who are anthroposophists often pay little
heed to Rudolf Steiner’s actual indications in this field—and
have a right to do so of course, as long as they do not specifically
claim to represent his art impulse.)
In little-known reports of pioneer painters regarding their
conversations with Rudolf Steiner—that is to say, his artistic
coworkers on the first Goetheanum—we find numerous insights
that add significantly to the content of his published color and
art lectures.
One overlooked statement of Rudolf Steiner refers to abstract art, often viewed by anthroposophists as quintessentially
“modern”:
“Non-representational painting is a protest against naturalism,
but strictly speaking it is absurd. If one truly penetrates into the world
of color, one comes to beings. We do not need to look for the lion
first in the physical world; we find his archetype in the realm where
colors exert their influence.” (Quoted by Margarita Woloschin in
“Memory-Pictures from a Time of Intensive Work”.*)
33
"Threefold Human Being," by Gerard Wagner.
In solving the secrets of the sketches in ever new ways over a
lifetime, Gerard Wagner opened up an objective, generally valid
path to painting out of the color. Concrete indications are to
be found in the book The Individuality of Colour, as also in the
Appendix to The Goetheanum Cupola Motifs of Rudolf Steiner
(SteinerBooks 2011).
-------------------------*
See: Conversations about Painting with Rudolf Steiner/Recollections of Five Pioneers of the New Art Impulse. Translated and
edited by Peter Stebbing. SteinerBooks 2008.
"Threefold Human Being," by Henni Geck.
The painter Gerard Wagner (1906-1999) belongs to the generation directly following on the first pioneers, and can be seen as
the most significant later exponent of Rudolf Steiner’s painting
impulse. Apart from Henni Geck, the original “bearer” of Rudolf
Steiner’s painting impulse, with whom Wagner initially studied,
no other painter has worked as faithfully or as extensively with
the motif-sketches of Rudolf Steiner—intended by him as the
foundation of a new art of painting. For those conversant with
the painting method Wagner developed, the question arises as to
whether Rudolf Steiner may in fact have foreseen his subsequent
far-reaching work in elaborating them, and thus had him in
mind also while evolving the sketches for Henni Geck’s painting school. Henni Geck’s own vitally important elaborations
of the sketch-motifs of Rudolf Steiner may be seen as the first
“seed-leaves” of the new painting impulse, while Gerard Wagner’s
metamorphic series in particular can be viewed as a consistent
and consequential further development. A blossoming of this
entirely new direction in art in the full sense belongs, however,
in the nature of things, to a distant future …
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New Books
further ado or else is described in synonyms such as “Goetheanum art”, “Goetheanistic art”, “anthroposophically-oriented
art”, “art marked by anthroposophy” and “art inspired by Rudolf
Steiner”; on the other hand, it is called entirely into question.
Hence, paradoxically, we have an anthroposophical movement
with a hundred-year-plus history that referred mainly to the art
of its early years (from the 1910s to the 1930s) as “anthroposophical art”, a term that from the 1950s onwards it increasingly
avoided, rejected and whose meaning it ultimately declared to
be nonexistent. The latter was voiced by the anthroposophist
and art historian Diether Rudloff in an interview in 1985: “I’ve
always resisted the term ‘anthroposophical art’. I believe it to be a
non-concept. After all, there is no Marxist, Buddhist, Protestant
or Catholic art. There is art or there isn’t art. There is great art
and there is mediocre art, but there is no Anthroposophical art.”
I can counter this argument with the claim that Buddhist and
Christian art do indeed exist, so by analogy why should we not
speak of anthroposophical art, as this also has specific features?
Whoever sees beyond the alternative designations to what
these are meant to signify is presented with the astonishing
fact of a comprehensive body of art that goes back more than
one hundred years, commencing in 1907 with the works and
sketches of Rudolf Steiner. Although in the context of art history there are repeated vague mentions of this “indefinable”
Anthroposophical art in references and footnotes, still there
has been no major retrospective exhibition of the visual art of
anthroposophy nor a single publication that has provided a
survey of the quality, specific subjects and styles of anthroposophical art, its range and spread, or the artists and artists’ groups
of anthroposophy. In the introduction to the catalogue of the
2011 large-scale exhibition Rudolf Steiner and Contemporary
Art the editors stated the works by the featured contemporary
artists would “not [come] from the context of anthroposophy,
as unlike so-called anthroposophical art, which sometimes set
Steiner’s artistic thinking and works quite plainly in a narrow
theory of art, the artists represented in this exhibition have gone
their own way, which is informed by developments in modern
art and not esetoric trends.” Is that not puzzling? Contemporary
anthroposophical art, which has its own teaching that originated
with Rudolf Steiner, was completely sidelined in an exhibition
with the title Rudolf Steiner and Contemporary Art. Again we
were told of its suspicious existence, and again we did not set
eyes on it.
It was different in Prague, where the exhibition Rudolf
Steiner and Contemporary Art / Thinking without limits was
also shown, at the DOX Centre for Contemporary Art. Here one
was able to see for the first time in a museum of contemporary
art several examples of work by Czech anthroposophical artists,
although none of these were artists of the present day. Still, I was
able to see works by Josef Prinke and Rudolf Michalik and (for
the first time) Hilde Pollak-Kotány and Richard Pollak-Karlin,
all “from the context of anthroposophy”. I was delighted by what
had emerged from the context of a “narrow theory of art”. (The
embroideries of Hilde Pollak- Kotány were especially “stunning”.
They reminded me of an entry in the diary of Hermann Bahr,
The Aenigma Constellation –
One Hundred Years of Anthroposophical Art
Reinhold J. Fäth
From the catalog of a new exhibition [footnotes not included]:
The field that we now call Western esotericism may be described
as the chief casualty of academic specialization after the eighteenth
century. What initially sets it apart is its modern status as “rejected
knowledge”: it contains precisely everything that has been consigned to the dustbin of history by Enlightenment ideologues and
their intellectual heirs up to the present, because it is considered
incompatible with normative concepts of religion, rationality and
science. Imagined as the radical counterpart of everything that
educated people are expected to take seriously, the consensus among
mainstream intellectuals after the eighteenth century was that this
domain should better be avoided and ignored in academic discourse
rather than being dignified by detailed study and analysis of its ideas
and their development.
--Wouter J. Hanegraaf
Anthroposophical Art Misdefined
The history of anthroposophical art in the 20th century is
problematic and mysterious. Even the operative term “anthroposophical art”, so necessary for purposes of research, is shown
to be problematic and occasionally provocative. In the course of
my research for the exhibition Aenigma – One Hundred Years of
Anthroposophical Art one question came up time and again: Is
there actually any such thing as “anthroposophical art”? Mostly
it was the term that was questioned; only occasionally was it
the meaning of that term. On the one hand, in the literature of
anthroposophy the term “Anthroposophical art” is used without
35
singular anthroposophical style for the visual arts, as proclaimed
in his writings and lectures.
How does one explain the ambivalent attitude of many
artists (mostly of subsequent generations) who—themselves
members of the Anthroposophical Society—do not refer to
their “art and artistic creation stimulated by anthroposophy”
as “anthroposophical art” nor want it to be referred to in this
way? This problem was addressed by the art historian Hella
Krause- Zimmer in the weekly Das Goetheanum in a review
of Andreas Mäckler’s book Anthroposophie und Malerei [Anthroposophy and Painting], which in 1990 addressed the topic
of the history of anthroposophical painting for the first time
and presented several artists in numerous illustrations. Referring to the chapter ”Is there any such thing as an art history of
anthroposophy, and does anthroposophical art exist?” she wrote:
“Here a once-familiar question returns: Does ‘anthroposophical
art’ exist? If so, how broad or narrow is the concept? In artists’
circles this topic has long been discussed endlessly. The naif
says, ‘Of course anthroposophical art exists—I can see it!’ The
sceptic replies, ‘But you shouldn’t be seeing it! What you see
is actually pseudo-art.’ ‘Help thyself, little mouse!’ exclaims
the third in exasperation”. Although (an exasperated) KrauseZimmer circumvented the problem of terminology, she did
draw attention to the phenomenon that avoidance of the term
“Anthroposophical art” had helped bring about. “It is true and
obvious that anthroposophical art, Goetheanistic art or whatever
we wish to call it, has been overlooked. In the modern art history of the world, such painting does not exist. The media never
say a word about it. In art today people appear to be capable
of anything, and you would think that anything was possible.
If you let on you have something to do with anthroposophy,
however, all doors are closed to you; there is no discussion of
exhibitions, museums are not interested in purchasing pictures,
and no anthologies appear on the large official book market.”
The research of Andreas Mäckler, conducted in the course of his
dissertation in the fine and visual arts, led to a similar outcome:
“Anthroposophically-oriented painting is an example of the effect of consciously controlled cultural and economical processes
of suppression: general art historiography completely ignores
seventy years’ worth of facts of (art) history. No art-historical
account by a non-anthroposophist contains a detailed exposition of the part played by ‘anthroposophists’ in the history of
painting in the twentieth century. Even the art journalism of
today, which is more open, committed and diverse than ever
before, continues to deny its efforts. For instance, if we consider
against this the high levels of knowledge and research on Jugendstil, whose creative phase in Germany lasted barely seven
or eight years (very little when compared with the perseverance
of anthroposophy) at the turn of the century, then we can speak
of an extraordinary disproportion in terms of production, mediation and reception. I would not wish to insinuate that two
generations of art historians and journalists were ‘blind’ to the
extensive visual world of this ideological movement; but in their
publications they definitely concealed—perhaps were forced to
conceal—its existence.”
Watercolor skyscape by Helmut Siber, one of the artists
featured in Aenigma.
who wrote in 1920 about the Anthroposophical artist Ernst
Wagner: “At last another artist who bowls me over! No one since
Kokoschka has given me this feeling of being drunk on art.”).
The art history of anthroposophy implies a conceptual history
whose semantic development and change reflects the course
of this art history. The contrast between the self-perception
of anthroposophical artists of the early decades, such as Hilde
Pollak-Kotány, and perceptions reaching into the present could
hardly be more extreme. In 2012 the following argument was
put on the anthroposophical website of the Internet portal
Anthromedia.net: “The arts are free, and thus strictly speaking
there is no anthroposophical art.” While I was puzzling over the
logic of this statement, I read further on: “But art and artistic
creation stimulated by anthroposophy do exist, and there is a
large anthroposophical art scene.” A large anthroposophical art
scene without anthroposophical art? A similar statement was
made in April 2010 in Anthroposophie Weltweit, the newsletter
of the Anthroposophical Society: “Anthroposophical art should
not be a special area in relation to other artistic endeavours;
much more it is about the fields in which artists with an interest
in spiritual matters are active. Therefore working results cannot
be presented to the public under the ideological designation
‘anthroposophical’.” In stark contrast to such statements, Rudolf
Steiner, the creator of anthroposophy, did not put anthroposophical art in inverted commas, explaining its ideological basis
in unequivocal terms: “Now, if the anthroposophical view of the
world is something new entering human evolution [...], then,
naturally, what had been in the world before could not find
expression in our architectural style, our plastic and pictorial
forms, i.e. in the visual art of our building. No artistic reminiscences, Antique, Renaissance or Gothic, could be brought in.
The anthroposophical world-view had to show itself sufficiently
productive to evolve its own style of visual art.” In shortened
form, this premise of Steiner’s was expressed as “anthroposophy
and the underlying anthroposophical art”. So Rudolf Steiner
himself coined and used the term “anthroposophical art” and
also wrote its manifesto—a mosaic-like manifesto of a new,
36
Mäckler’s book Anthroposophie und Malerei appeared in
1990, at a time when the corresponding “facts of (art) history”
had a great impact not only on art history but on contemporary
history in general; the literature and art of anthroposophy was
banned in the Eastern Bloc, making their concealment a matter of necessity. A ban on the practice of anthroposophical art
which had been almost continuous since 9 June 1941, when
the State Police of National Socialist Germany was ordered
to act against “secret teachings and so-called occult sciences”,
inclusive of the category “theosophists, anthroposophists and
similar groups”, ended on the territory of the former GDR and
the eastern territories once occupied by the National Socialists
shortly before the book’s publication. The long ban on the art
of anthroposophy east of the Iron Curtain makes the Western
“history of suppression” of Mäckler’s assessment all the more
astounding.
Rudolf Steiner – a Biography
Christoph Lindenberg
SteinerBooks 2012
An excerpt:
“… [Alexander] von Bernus first met Rudolf Steiner in
1910 in Munich, where he often stayed, and in the ensuing
years gradually grew closer to him. In 1912-13, during a critical
juncture of his life, he turned to Steiner for guidance. Steiner
visited him on February 27, 1913, at the cloister in Neuburg
by Freiburg that was at that time in von Bernus’ possession.
Nothing is known about the conversation they had, but shortly
afterward von Bernus wrote to his friend Melchior Lechter,
“This man bears within him such deep love and charity that
one would sacrifice everything for him. He is also in fact one
of the few great clairvoyants now alive.” (Sladeck).”
“…Von Bernus, who strove to deepen his understanding
of Anthroposophy, wanted to find a way to actively support
Steiner’s movement. Late in 1915 he decided to publish a
quarterly, in which anthroposophic writers would also come
to word, but which would not be explicitly “anthroposophic.”
He began without having spoken with Steiner, and when he
approached the first prospective anthroposophists was met with
a certain amount of mistrust. A few days later, however, one
of those with whom he had spoken returned and told him of
the conversation he had had with Steiner about von Bernus’s
proposal. “I will tell you what he said about it word for word:
‘When someone finally has an initiative, you can’t just throw
a wrench in the works!’”
“The members of the Anthroposophical Society were
astonished and somewhat taken aback to see their master in
such company. There was some consternation concerning the
undertaking. It caused Steiner to take his anthroposophic
friends to task. One should be excited about this initiative.
The publication is a sign of goodwill and should be supported
The Inner Work Path: A Foundation for Meditative Practice
in the Light of Anthroposophy
By Lisa Romero
(http://www.innerworkpath.com/publications/)
The Inner Work Path provides accessible insights into the
workings of the human soul, outlines its relationship to the
spiritual life, and shows the way to develop and strengthen our
inner capacities through practical exercises, experience, and deep
understanding. By building a bridge between the spiritual and
the earthly, the unfolding of these soul capacities awakens the
consciousness with which to engage and transform our outer
lives.
“Every step an individual takes affects the collective development of humanity. The world we experience now is a result of
the inner work of past generations. By consciously working to
understand and experience our connection to the higher worlds
we are more able to fully realise and contribute to the higher
unfolding of humankind” – Lisa Romero
37
Conferences and Courses
regardless of one’s opinion of any single piece of writing. “I was
very disappointed to hear that Herr von Bernus had received
stacks of letters from our members voicing their disapproval
of what had been printed” (174b). To von Bernus, he wrote,
“Don’t pay any attention to what the people write; do what
you think is correct” (Sladeck). He remained faithful to von
Bernus and contributed articles for each of the eight editions
of the journal. ...” (pps. 385-386)
The Question of Consciousness Today
A Conference with Virginia Sease
August 28-30, 2015
Cedarwood Waldorf School, 3030 SW 2nd Ave. Portland
OR 97201
Contact: [email protected]
The Stars Once Spoke…
Stargazing and Parzival’s Quest for the Holy Grail
With Brian Gray
September 11 – 13, 2015
Ekone Horse Ranch, Goldendale, Washington, USA
Contact: [email protected]
Development, Health and Education
September 11-13, 2015
Chrysalis Steiner School in Bellingen, Australia. Contact:
http://www.innerworkpath.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Development-Health-and-Education-3-daycourse-20151.pdf
Anthroposophical Society in Australia National Conference:
Meeting the World: Engaging - Living- Creating
September 25-28, 2015,
Sophia Mundi Steiner School,
Abbotsford Convent, Melbourne, Australia
Contacts: [email protected]
Website: www.asc-au.com
Ancient Sites of Kaua'i: A Guide to Hawaiian Archaeological and Cultural Places
By Van James (Mutual Publishing. $19.95)
What Matters?
Anthroposophical Society in New Zealand annual conference
October 1-4, 2015
Taikura Rudolf Steiner School, Hastings
Contact: [email protected]
Sacred places, or “wahi pana,” merge ancestral and spiritual
meanings, according to Van James’ invaluable Kaua'i guide.
The island’s wahi pana, clearly mapped and photographed,
include natural sites such as standing stones, “pōhaku,” on a
cliff as well as manmade features like petroglyphs. Care and
preservation are urged.
After all, as Sabra Kauka writes in her preface about removing weeds from a heiau, “our past as well is right there, just
below the surface, just within reach.”
Stories like that of Hinahaukaekae, a girl who was turned
into a hau tree, enliven this lovely, illuminating book.
-Mindy Pennybacker (Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Sunday,
April 5, 2015)
Transformative Power of Art V.
Art—Lifeblood of the Soul:
Rite of Passage to Adulthood
October 1-6, 2015
with Van James
Prado Farms, Pampanga, Philippines
Contact: [email protected]
Development, Health and Education
October 9-11, 2015, held at Mt Barker Waldorf School in
Adelaide. Contact: [email protected]
The Developing Child's Body and Soul Relationship
September 18-20 at Sophia Mundi in Melbourne, Australia.
Details here:
http://www.innerworkpath.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/The-Developing-Childs-Body-and-SoulRelationship-3-day-course-.pdf
Check-out the updated website of the Anthroposophical
Society in Hawai'i and download earlier issues of Pacifica
Journal at: anthroposophyhawaii.org
38
From: PaciÞca Journal <paciÞ[email protected]>
Subject: Fwd: Save the Date October 1-6, 2015 Transformative Power of Art Series 5
Date: May 19, 2015 12:00:15 PM HST
The Art of Meditation Workshop Retreat
November 6-8, 2015
Auckland, New Zealand
Contact: Alamandria.co.nz
Working with Gender and Sexuality from Classes 5-12
November 27-29, 2015 in Myocum, Australia.
h t t p : / / w w w. i n n e r w o r k p a t h . c o m / w p - c o n t e n t / u p loads/2015/03/Working-with-Gender-and-Sexuality-fromClasses-5-12.pdf
Class Teacher's Curriculum Intensive 2016
January 10-15, 2016
Glenaeon Rudolf Steiner School, Sydney, Australia
Contact: [email protected].
The Institute for Steiner's Ideas in Practice (ISIP) Philippines brings
another round of the Transformative Power of Art series
Hawai'i and Southern California
AWSNA Education Conference
Feb. 12-14, 2016
Honolulu Waldorf School, Honolulu, Hawai'i
Contact: [email protected]
SAVE THE DATES
October 1-6, 2015
at Prado Farms, Lubao, Pampanga
(Begins October 1, Thursday, 5:00pm and ends October 6,
Monday, 12:30pm)
10th World Teachers Conference: Overcoming Resistance:
courage for an independent spiritual life
March 28-April 2, 2016
Goetheanum, Dornach,Switzerland
Website: http://www.paedagogik-goetheanum.ch/10th-WorldTeachers-Conference.6448.0.html?&L=1
Join us as we begin the exploration of our youthful souls in this
one-week art retreat.
All parents, teachers, art therapists, cultural creatives, artists
(dreaming, aspiring, new, and seasoned), and any adult
interested in self-development are welcome and encouraged
to come.
We will be announcing workshop rates and registration links
soon.
Please let us know if you wish to make an early reservation.
Please contact us through:
Mobile: +949 9450817
Email: [email protected]
Copyright © 2015 ISIP Philippines, All rights reserved.
unsubscribe from this list update subscription preferences
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40
TARUNA
STEINER EDUCATION
DISCOVER THE TRUE ART OF TEACHING
ES S E N TI A L E DUC A T I O N
Taruna is located in
Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand
and welcomes international students
to come study the following year long
Steiner Education courses
HOLISTIC HEALTH
Diploma in Rudolf Steiner Education
Delivery - One year full time.
Certificate in Rudolf Steiner Education
Delivery - One year, part-time seminar based
ORGANICS & BIODYNAMICS
Children need teachers who understand and inspire
them, they need teachers who are artists, musicians,
storytellers and scientists.
Above all they need teachers who teach with
imagination and intuition.
If you think you could be one of these people, then
we would like to help you make your next step.
These courses are for people who are seeking to
deepen their understanding of child development
and of themselves as creative individuals.
STEINER EDUCATION
International students have attended Taruna since it’s
doors opened to tertiary education in the early 1980’s.
We enjoy the richness and diversity of cultures that
are shared with us and among students here.
Our hostel becomes a ‘Home away from Home’ for
many single students, while couples or families
find rental accommodation nearby.
Taruna is supported by a warm community who
also enjoy meeting and getting to know our
International students.
ART & HEALTH
For further infomation or an enrolment
pack please contact; Taruna
[email protected]
www.taruna.ac.nz
P. [64] (6) 877 7174 F. [64] (6) 877 7014
33 Te Mata Peak Road,
PO Box 8103, Havelock North, 4157,
Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand
41
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Reviews of Pacifica Journal
“I have been sitting and reading and scanning the new issue
of Pacifica. What an amazing job you all have done putting it
together. It is beautifully laid out as well as full of substantial
articles. Congratulations on creating a model publication
covering an exciting area of development…”
--Arthur Zajonc, author and professor of physics.
“Wow, what a journal! How much it has grown in beauty
and substance since its small beginnings almost twenty years
ago! Congratulations for keeping it going all this time and
steadily building its quality. I am impressed!”
—Benjamin Cherry, mentor to Asian Steiner schools
This is the Journal to watch! The Pacifica Journal takes in
the whole pacific rim, including Australia, the Philippines,
Japan and India. It is in this region that Anthroposophy as a
world movement (and not just a central European transplant)
will meet its test. The task of inculturating anthroposophy
into the Asian setting will demand the best thinking we can
come up with. Pacifica Journal has clearly taken this challenge
seriously. ...If anthroposophy is to fulfill its destiny as a world
movement, this little unpresumptuous journal could become
a cutting edge.
--Fred Paddock, Rudolf Steiner Library Newsletter, Volume
5, 1997
“...I feel the connection every time I receive your remarkable Pacifica Journal, which has to be one of the best anthroposophical periodicals in print. Thank you for expanding my
consciousness into the Pacific Rim once again.”
—Eugene Schwartz, author and educator, www.millennialchild.com
"The Pacifica Journal is an excellent resource, providing
news about events— upcoming and past—and about developments in anthroposophical communities all around the
Pacific Rim and in Asia; stimulating articles with deep esoteric
content; and informative reviews of recent books related to anthroposophy, Waldorf education, and other sister movements.
I look forward to its regular appearance out of the Hawaiian
cyberspace."
—Ronald E. Koetzsch, editor of Renewal Magazine
Graphic vignettes by Van James
Asia-Pacific Contacts
Asia
Hans van Florenstein Mulder
[email protected]
Korea
Eunhwa Lee
[email protected]
Friends of Rudolf Steiner Education
Nana Göbel
[email protected]
Nepal
Rachel Amtzis
[email protected]
Australia
Jan Baker-Finch
[email protected]
www.anthroposophy.org.au
New Zealand
Sue Simpson
[email protected]
www.anthroposophy.org.nz
China
Harry Wong
[email protected]
Philippines
Anthroposophic Group in the Philippines
Reimon Gutierrez
[email protected]
http://isipphilippines.multiply.com/
Hawai‘i
Van James
[email protected]
www.anthroposophyhawaii.org
India
Aban Bana
[email protected]
www.anthroposophyindia.org
Japan
Yuji Agematsu
[email protected]
www.anthroposophische-gesellschaft-japan.org
Pacifica Journal
is published as a biannual e-newsletter
by the Anthroposophical Society in
Hawai‘i.
Taiwan
Ya-Chih Chan
[email protected]
Please send subscriptions, donations,
inquiries, announcements and
submissions to:
Pacifica Journal
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Editor..........................Van James
Assistant Editor..........Bonnie Ozaki­James
Production...................Julian Sydow
Thailand
Dr. Porn Panosot
[email protected], www.panyotai.com
Viêt-Nam
Thanh Cherry
[email protected]
45
Pacifica Journal
Number 48, 2015-2
Waldorf Nepal Earthquake Appeal.............................................. 1
Farming Program in Nepal Helps Sustain Education................ 4
The Asian Waldorf Teachers Conference in Fujino, Japan............ 6
Taking an Interest - The Bridge between Parents and Teachers..7
Lighting the Way for a More Human World: .............................. 9
The Rise of Alternative Education in China............................. 11
Light Eurythmy Ensemble: Observing and joining in in China.12
The First Kolisko Conference in Malaysia................................. 13
Biowork: The Quest for the Color Green, the Light and the
Resurrection............................................................................ 17
Marilyn Monroe and Rudolf Steiner........................................... 22
Australia's most famous Anthroposophist honored................. 23
A Modern American Fairy Tale: Public Charter Schools............. 24
Why America's Obsession with STEM...................................... 26
Thoughts of Michaelmas.............................................................. 29
Hawai'i Art Intensive: ................................................................... 30
Eurythmy as "Visible Speech": ................................................... 31
Vowels and Consonants................................................................ 31
The Art Impulse of Rudolf Steiner............................................ 33
Conferences and Courses............................................................. 38
Asia-Pacific Contacts..................................................................... 45
Prayer flags in the Nepalese Himalayas.
Pacifica Journal Annual Subscription
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"To live in love of action, and to let live in understanding of the other’s will,
is the fundamental maxim of free human beings."
--RUDOLF STEINER
46