Letter From Cornelius Pietzner - June 2010

Dear Friends,

Not infrequently we hear that for many visitors and conference guests, the Goetheanum is "far away" when they are busy with their work and lives somewhere else in the field. Yet the Goetheanum is also very "present" and "real" when they are actually physically present here. This is totally understandable in a more direct and literal sense. Yet in an odd way, one could also turn this around, and say that in the daily work and striving, in so many fields and different sectors, the Goetheanum (and what it represents) is actually present and real in a healthy way just precisely when we are engaged in our work in all parts of the world. And when one is physically at the Goetheanum, the world converges and the work and striving carried out far away flows into the meetings, questions, research and activity at the Goetheanum! This points to the not-so-new mystery of the point and periphery experience, or the "heart function" of the Goetheanum. Although this is a complex theme and beyond the purview of this brief greeting, it is perhaps interesting for each one of us to reflect how this phenomenon appears in the experience of our own soul.On a personal note, when I lived in the United States, I would experience the soul element of the country more strongely when I was not there, but travelling elsewhere. When I was away, the spiritual dimension of the country and its people and culture arose more strongely in me. This may be something of what I am referring to with the experience of the Goetheanum in its physical and spiritual dimension

Such a reflection, however broad, may be helpful as we move into the summer months. As we expand into the warmth and light, we are given to understand how, in the great summer Imagination from Rudolf Steiner, the awareness of conscience plays a particular role during this time. This is a seemingly contrary and very different inner gesture of focus and awareness, and one that may arise from the dreaming cosmic widths into a specific and precise realization that ultimately also guides our decisions and choices.

With best wishes,
Cornelius Pietzner
For the Executive Council