- by Robert McKay
The 2012 Annual General Meeting and
Conference of the Anthroposophical Society in Canada, held in Thornhill Ontario
over the May long weekend, was a new approach, that was interesting and, in
many ways, a wonderful event. Entitled “Seeds of Transformation for
the Anthroposophical Community: The
Seven Arts”, the conference was designed as an experiential journey through the
seven art forms. As the approximately 70 conference participants made their way
through this journey, they were encouraged to ponder what seeds of
transformation are seeking to come alive at this time, in themselves and in our
Society. While there were a few glitches (in some sessions participants found
it hard to hear clearly) and suggestions for potential improvements, in general
as conference participants noted, the basic event design worked well and yielded
meaningful experiences:
I felt
that the conference was a great success.
I only took part in the painting and in the singing, but, as an observer
in the other areas, felt totally included and engaged…I have hardly ever
experienced such an enlivening conference within the Anthroposophical
Society. It became clear that through
artistic involvement people are stimulated, they connect more easily with each
other. There is frustration, but through
the common struggle understanding and sympathy arises. The more we can work with an artistic
approach the richer we and the Society will become.
- Renate
Krause
Togetherness
in pursuit of artistic experiences engenders strength and courage we so much
need in our troubled times.
- Ilse Black
Made me more open and vulnerable to Anthroposophical community life.
Finding that I can be loved, accepted, reflected in others (inspire them &
myself) was something I am grateful for.
- Anonymous
Masterful artistic experience, reflection back, and sharing! You actually got some of us out of our ruts! I
was surprised, had moments of awe, moments of centering, many experiences of
broadening. Has inspired.
- Mary
Brian
The entire event began and closed with
the performance of Rudolf Steiner’s Michael
Imagination, as performed by the Northern Star Eurythmy Group. This brief, powerful piece left a lasting
impression. The complex formations that
surround a central figure offer a picture of skillful collaboration in service
to a common, higher purpose.
Following opening remarks by Regine
Kurek, the artistic director of the conference, our General Secretary, Arie van
Ameringen, sounded a note of genuine esotericism, offering a talk entitled “Rediscovering
the Path of the Heart, Creating New Social Forces” in which he wove together
disparate indications from Rudolf Steiner’s writings into a rich picture of the
heart, at all levels of being, showing how our hearts can guide us forward in
earth evolution.
Over the course of the event, the team
of presenters brought their individual stamp to the group artistic experiences
which created a complex tapestry and brought many interesting themes to light. On
Friday night, the Architecture Workshop provided a hands-on experience that
highlighted the relationship between architecture and the evolution of
consciousness, with particular reference to the evolving nature of religious
feeling and experience.
On Saturday morning, after a profound
free rendering of Class Lesson 11 provided by Bert Chase, conference
participants broke into two groups for the Sculpture and Painting Workshops. In the Painting Workshop, using the
wet-on-wet technique, participants were guided through an engaging meditation
on the lifecycle of colour. In the Sculpture
Workshop, participants had an experience of shape formation that moved from the
solo creative act to the collaborative creative act, evoking the challenges of
collaboration in this age of the consciousness soul.
On Saturday afternoon, the Society AGM
occurred with additional participants joining in. (See separate post by Jean Balekian.)
On Saturday evening, the group gathered
to engage in the rousing and beautiful Music and Song Workshop, following by
the Symposium in which a panel of older people traded questions and responses
with a panel of younger people. Of this symposium, one participant wrote:
The symposium was an idea whose time has come and one of the most
important aspects of the conference. After we heard in the AGM that the youth
contingent of the Anthroposophical Society does not always feel it has enough
input, we were then led into a remarkable experience where young and old were
engaged in a structured dialogue with each other. Hopefully there will be
repetitions and deepenings of this kind of event in future.
- Anonymous
On Sunday, the group again divided for
the parallel Creative Writing and Eurythmy Workshops. In the sharing across forms discussion
following these workshops, participants from both groups noted how powerful
these events were, with intense inner experiences summoned forth in a short
period of time. The conference culminated with the Workshop: Social Life as Art,
which was a collective experience. Working with an emergent theme,
‘collaborating creatively in community’, the participants broke into five
groups, with each group creating a sounding, moving team sculpture to interpret
this theme. These five presentations showed remarkable variation in design and
mood. The group then merged the five
presentations into a large group movement and toning experience that began as chaotic
and creative, was punctuated by bursts of spontaneous laughter, then became more
ordered and soulfully sounding and, finally, as if out of an unspoken yet clear
group consensus, came to a harmonious, resonant close.
Not everyone felt a harmonious resonance in all parts of the workshops, especially the ones where we moved in to group creating experiences. However, the mood hovering over the participants at the close of the conference was truly remarkable. For an active Parsifal,
for a seeker ready to ask the question, such a moment must bring forth a desire
to ask of the spiritual world, in a state of amazement, What is happening
here? What is it that dances and shines
out warmly out from the space above us and surrounding us? Perhaps some answers
are to be found in comments from the participants that were gathered at the end
of the event, gathered as seeds for sharing with the entire community:
I feel like the old and the new are both living. Maybe there is some
creative tension. We are striving. Feels
like the seeds are so ready to burst - into the next stage. Some kind of initiation. Some kind of visibility through the
arts. It's coming! We are working together.
- Anonymous
1) To reflect on all the artistic experiences to sense the being of
Anthroposophia that was illuminated, 2) to describe her (again artistically in
any medium), 3) to sense what she needs from us, and 4) to extend this artistic
practices into the future.
- Douglas
Wylie
Love,
truth, and beauty are born within our community.
- Cameron MacInnes
The
shared experiences of the different art forms provided many vessels by which we
can meet each other and ourselves in a more complete way. It is wonderful to come together with our
colleagues to generate support and receive inspiration for new ideas and
possibilities. The Society has vast potential for building a community that
deeply cares about one another. I feel the deep richness of our community and
the collective power that lies in between us.
- Ari-Paul Saunders
There is a big seed of letting go of old forms, or ways of being, and at
a personal and collective level, of active exploration. Another seed of reverence and tenderness for
our striving and thankfulness for the gifts of Anthroposophy in this time of
flux. - Anonymous
It would
seem that there has been some personal truths - that have become awarenesses,
some wonderful sharings - with new friends and old friends - perhaps a
joyousness. Gratefulness for those who have thought through and created this
great gathering.
- Maureen
Bellur
The
Anthroposophical Society has the task of remembering the so very hidden seed of
Man as a being of community. This needs
to be our labour for the coming years. We need to see ourselves as having the
task of bringing this into the Society at large. The stretching of the yet unformed Society
muscle - it feels like a very urgent exercise.
- Barbara
Schuster
Freedom
to approach questions “artistically”, to open up the meaning of “inner artist”
and pave the way to the possibility of recognizing “Art” as a way of
perceiving.
- Monique
Walsh
There will be a place for joyous, care free laughter. Our questions will
transform into other questions, not answers. There can be joy socially for this
quest.
- Maggie
Keppie
A few
final notes, financially the event was a success, enabling the organizing team
to forward a seed donation to the team that will begin work on next year’s
event to be held next May in Montreal, as well as to contribute to the Members’
Travel Fund. The conference was attended by people from across the country. Several
local branches and groups prepared poster presentations that were displayed in
a common area, sharing their accomplishments from the previous year. This added
a real national dimension. Food provided by Hesperus was wholesome and tasty.
My warm
thanks to my fellow organizers, Regine Kurek, Douglas Wylie and Dorothy
LeBaron; to Melanie Nason, Mark McAlister, and others who helped with the event
logistics; to the members of the Northern Star Eurythmy Group; to our General
Secretary Arie van Ameringen; to the team of workshop presenters and panel
members; and especially to the brave participants who took up our experimental
design and worked through it with such great soul.
