THOMAS MEYER'S 2010 VISIT TO VANCOUVER

- by Ann Watson

Thomas Meyer has come and gone, off to Seattle to continue his North American tour. The whole conference was dealing with the Mystery Dramas and was in depth and actually very well listened to. Unfortunately it was a bit overshadowed by a serious error in the wording of the program advertising the visit. This concerned Meyer's final talk - which the organizers had ASKED him to give, after the Mystery Drama talks were over, on 'The Meditative Path of The School of Michael'. The program organizers, Ann Watson and Michael Roboz, had failed to clarify the nature of this topic and the wording of the program, which went to all Vancouver Anthroposophists, was actually claiming that Thomas Meyer, who is not a member of the Anthroposophical Society and so therefore not a member of The School of Spiritual Science, was calling a meeting for the members of the First Class to discuss the material of the class in a new way, and also, though not stated in the program, perhaps even the form of the class! As can well be imagined this program caused considerable disturbance throughout the serious-minded members of the Society. Actually, Thomas had no intention of speaking to 'members only' and he, from the very beginning, was only willing to speak about his thoughts on 'The School of Michael' as Rudolf Steiner had spoken of it in the Karma Lectures and in the lessons.

I found Thomas's final talk to be careful to lay down the basic meditative work of the Anthroposophical path. It actually didn't go into any details of the Michael School until the end which culminated with a short inquiry into the language of the form of the Sign of Michael, and on the blackboard the Sign of Michael was drawn. The whole talk had a very reverent tone and mood which, it seemed to me was shared by the audience. Thomas pointed out that the material of The Michael School is now available on the internet and also in book form. According to several people I have since talked to, this material - the 19 lessons and the Recapitulation Lessons - can be easily purchased in the German-speaking world, which I find to be contrary to the English-speaking world which seems to have this material under strict control. However this is diverging from my topic which is Thomas Meyer's visit.

Thomas's new book "Rudolf Steiner's Core Mission" is a wonderful biography of Rudolf Steiner in which the author traces the beginnings of the reincarnation and karma work of Spiritual Science. There are many new and enchanting anecdotes about the people in the life of Rudolf Steiner, both in his youth and during his career as a spiritual teacher. The book also touches on the problems that affected the Society and the people in it after Steiner's death. I thought this particular subject was dealt with in a very human and understanding way by Thomas Meyer. I hope that in spite of the error that was experienced during Thomas's visit, that we can all welcome Thomas Meyer back when he chooses to try again with a visit to Vancouver.