This link is to very interesting short 'trailer' to a documentary film produced in 2011 which was 150 years since Rudolf Steiner's birth in 1861. He died 87 years ago in 1925, on March 30.
In this video, individuals worldwide are interviewed who have found inner resonance with the worldview that Steiner introduced in his time. However, very importantly, "he was..." as is stated in the film's opening by Dennis Klocek "...ahead of his time in his time, and he is actually ahead in his time in this time."
Steiner could be considered a true representative of the Middle Way of the TAO between Heaven and Earth. He continually encouraged all human beings, touched by a universal world perspective which he initiated, to examine closely, test and individualize...and become as a flame...by first making things experiential for oneself...all that he was destined to reveal for humanity for our time...then continue the great work of the Divine by serving humanity and the world. This is the active Middle Way. Virtue coupled with conscience.
So, can a universal philosophy which synthesises the wisdom of the past, be brought...not only into a modern scientific context...but be tilled into the soil? Can it be given social and real practical footing in the many man-made deserts created, by what I choose to call elitist-enforced-materialism, driven as much of it is, by society's so called experts, most of whom lead by the direction of their error-prone, cold intellect and unbounded egotism for personal profit gain and power?
The film gives many examples of persons who give varying testaments that the lifeless, dusty desert soil created by man-made materialism can be tilled with new life..
Let's take a look at another example...SEKEM, 60 kilometers outside of Cairo Egypt
There exists there today a thriving and robust oasis community created by a Dr. Abouleish who had in 1975 returned to his homeland after 19 years in Austria, Europe. He was touched by the tragic economic and social situation of his country of origin. It was then resolved to begin two years later 1977, a project of cultural renewal on the basis of a synthesis of Islam and Anthroposophy. He started with 70 hectares of actual desert...you know... barren sandy nothingness!! This initiative is called SEKEM.
This the link to the new website posted just 10 days ago...http://www.sekem.com/
This first time I heard the doctor speak about SEKEM in Chicago many years ago at the downtown Branch of the Anthroposophical Society in America, I was amply impressed by his warm humanity and sincere concern for world peoples and nature. It was then with deep gratitude again to have met years later in '09, together with his wife and with Sinmei with me as we traveled there to the training centre of SEKEM community. The name is taken from the Egyptian hyhieroglyph for vitality.
“Sustainable Development is one of the most important challenges to man and it means the creation of living conditions today which will still allow future generations to live with dignity."
Dr. Abouleish... from that SEKEM website
The answers to the questions I posed above, are found in the practical solutions and results derived from that expanded science. This is a spiritual science ...or Anthroposophy... which can awaken new life and healing in existing practices such as medicine, nursing and all therapeutic fields of care, agricultural, the field of human rights and law, banking and economics, the arts including architecture, sculpture and painting, music and the speech and dramatic arts an all social forms of community life...and most importantly in that context...aging educational systems. All these fields can be enlivened by Anthroposophy.
And at SEKEM over these past 35 years, many of these areas of human endeavor are woven into the tapestry of the community.
If this heighten expanded science brings new life and healing to a world in need... then perhaps we should take a little closer look and not always continue to ask why there are such a multitude of world of unsolvable problems when there just may be some real solutions close at hand.
So where to start?
Well, for all of it's evident dark sides, the internet is a phenomenal source for beginnings and change as long as we don't get stuck behind it too much! On this internet screen in front of us there are appalling postings aimed at destroying our world ..but more most interesting and ultimately life changing for many...is plenty of information put up by those who seek to build a more humane future by transforming present conditions. They are sharing the fruits of their struggles and discoveries and sharing insights gained from experience.
Then there are countless walk-in organizations and those websites which give leads to various paths of inner development such as meditation. There are eastern paths, there are western paths... then there is the Middle Path which Steiner developed in Central Europe. Sure, we can call him a western thinker in relation to the east ...but in actuality he was a man of the Middle for he bridged east and west, even north and south.
This following is a link to help I have found helpful towards making beginnings.
http://www.anthroposophy.org.uk/book/chapter7.html#forcesofthinking
Everything starts with self-education. Even the role of education of the young should be to educate towards freedom...a freedom which in turn motivates each human being to find the value of self-education and not end up getting permanently stuck behind an iphone or computer! That's precisely what the inventor and manufacturers of the iphone and the computers and the consumerist/profit driven corporates wish us to do...become glued in our chair or glued with our eyes and fingers. Just look around at people mesmerized by those little screens and not even noticing the people around!
So the first step in that self-education is of course motivation! and heart-courage for new thinking...and along with that is a healthy dose of wonderment and trust in the what-was-previously-unthinkable...for hidden meanings in all things...not just believing in surface appearances. This is what materialism does when we have lost touch with the Divine in all things. The search is again the way of the TAO ...or the step-by-step path of the GRAIL. Enlightenment or fulfilling moments may come if we are blessed or graced to receive it... but persevering effort must be made to learn as much as possible from life. Each lifetime is too short.
And to close:
Ben Cherry who is interviewed among all the others in this short film, was one of the first couple of people to introduce Steiner education called Waldorf schooling in mainland China. He is the one who states in the film, that when he found the work of Rudolf Steiner, it was ...'like finding water in the desert'.... Ben, Scottish born, had been long searching for answers to his personal questions. Now he is himself continuing the great work of the Divine...he is busy along with his colleagues, offering some answers to the urgent questions from multiple-hundreds of Chinese parents and teachers. They will in turn try to find creative answers for young children and teens searching themselves with personal questions.
Again the short video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmrQ75xaFck
A full length film is available as DVD or online download
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