The Dialogue of Social Creation: Rudolf Steiner and the Beloved Community
Publication information:
Abstract
Steiner described a conversation, a human encounter, as the archetypal social phenomenon. If one ponders this statement and combines it with inner experiences of being in dialogue with another then the following insights can emerge:
1)The natural world is a divine creation but we, human beings, are the creators of the social world. Families, shops, schools, companies, towns and nations are our creation, reflecting our nature, consciousness and values.
2) The archetypal social phenomenon through which the social world is created is the meeting and dialogue between two or more people.
3) What is revealed through dialogue is the mutuality of our karma; we find ourselves through our meeting with others.
4) Not only do we awaken to our destiny through others, it is in dialogue that we experience the spirit directly, through our mutual presence as ego beings and through the reality of spiritual inspiration in conversation.
5) Dialogue and encounter is one of the best methods of transforming evil in our times for we must overcome anti-social forces in ourselves to truly listen to another, to develop interest, empathy and to practice love, which Steiner defined as acts to serve the needs of the other, the group or the community.
6) In conversation we also have three soul-spirit experiences which form the basis of a healing social life in ourselves and in society. In western societies we desire freedom in our thought life, to express our opinions without interruption or judgement; a sense for equality of participation in our feeling life, and an opportunity to contribute to the result of the conversation or project with our deeds. Having a sense for freedom in our thoughts, experiencing our equality with others in the realm of rights, and being able to contribute to the wellbeing of others and the community is essential to the experience of our humanity. It is also the basis of a healing society which Steiner described as The Threefold Social Order.
These statements paraphrase many of Steiner's social insights and reveal how our relationships with others can be seen as a modern mystery school in everyday life. They also describe central elements of the Beloved Community, an imagination for our time first described by Josiah Royce in the early 20th century, then made the basis of the civil-rights movement and non-violence by Martin Luther King Jr., and finally applied to all life forms, to the world of inter-being, by King's friend and the proponent of engaged Buddhism, Thich Nhat Hanh.
Presenter Biography
Christopher Schaefer B.A. Yale University and Ph.D ,Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, was an Assistant Professor in the Political Science Department at M.I.T before getting intensively involved with Rudolf Steiner's work as an adult educator and organization development consultant. He cofounded the Centre for Social Development at Emerson College in England as well as an international organization and community development consultancy group called Social Ecology Associates. He was a member of the International Collegium of the Social Science Section in Dornach before initiating Section work in the United States in 1986. Since that time he has taught at Sunbridge College in Spring Valley, N.Y. and has been a consultant to Waldorf schools and other Anthroposophically inspired organizations internationally. He is the co-author of Vision in Action: Working with- Soul and Spirit in Small Organizations (1986), and the author of Partnerships of Hope: Building Waldorf School Communities,(2013), Re-Imaging America: Finding Hope in Difficult Times (2019) and is presently editing a book called Spiritual Science and Social Reform: Lives of Social Engagement. He has written extensively on Steiner's social thought. Relevant for this conference is Rudolf Steiner as a Social Thinker in Revision: A Journal of Consciousness and Transformation, Fall 1992. He is now retired and living in the Berkshires.