General Anthroposophical Society Anthroposophy Worldwide 4/18
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General Anthroposophical Society Anthroposophy Worldwide 4/18 ■ ANTHROPOSOPHICAL SOCIETY April 2018 • N° 4 Anthroposophical Society 2018 Annual Conference and AGM The Executive Council at the Goetheanum after the motion to reaffirm 1 Executive Council letter to members Paul Mackay and Bodo von Plato was rejected 2 AGM minutes 6 Reflections 8 Reports General Anthroposophical Society 10 Address by Paul Mackay Address by Bodo von Plato Statement from the Executive 11 Outcome of ballot Seija Zimmermann: emerita status Council at the Goetheanum 12 Elisabeth Vreede, Ita Wegman The agenda of this year’s Annual General Meeting of the General Anthroposophical 18 Obituary: Vladimir Tichomirov Society included a motion to reaffirm Paul Mackay and Bodo von Plato as Executive Obituary: Lyda Bräunlich Council members. The majority of members present rejected this motion. The Execu- 19 Obituary: Johannes Zwiauer tive Council at the Goetheanum has responded with a letter to the members. Membership news School of Spiritual Science Dear members of the Plato since 2001. After an extensive and con- 13 General Anthroposophical Section: Anthroposophical Society, troversial debate at the AGM the proposal Goetheanum Studies was rejected by the majority of members 14 Medical Section: We acknowledge with sadness that the present. We have to accept this decision. Research congress motion we submitted, and which was sup- In addition, a number of general secretar- Anthroposophic Medicine ported by the Goetheanum Leadership and ies pointed out that many members who Anthroposophy Worldwide the Conference of General Secretaries, to live at a greater distance from the Goethea- 15 Germany: Congress on vaccination extend the term of office of Paul Mackay num are excluded from having their say in 15 Germany: Rheumatoid and Bodo von Plato as members of the Ex- these situations because they are unable Arthritis study ecutive Council was rejected by the AGM to attend for financial reasons. Proposals 16 India, Nepal, Kenia, Namibia: on 24 March 2018. With Seija Zimmermann to this point are to be submitted for next from Joan Sleigh’s travel log standing down at the same time, this raises year’s AGM to consult on. 17 Turkey: Calendar of the serious questions for the remaining Execu- We now have to work intensively on the Soul in Turkish tive Council members, the Goetheanum problems we are facing. Responsibilities 17 Worldwide: Lemniscate Arts on tour Leadership and the Goetheanum as regards need redistributing and we have to try and Feature planned projects and developments and the improve communication with the members 20 Conference: Meditation as a Path distribution of tasks in Dornach as well as even more. At the same time a new, strong to Knowledge around the world. will to work together has emerged in this cri- Consultations were held between Sep- sis: in the Society worldwide, among many tember and December 2017 within the Exec- leading members, and the Goetheanum staff. utive Council, the Goetheanum Leadership We therefore ask you as members to help and the Conference of General Secretaries, within your own context to ensure that our resulting in a joint proposal for reaffirma- work can continue in a fruitful way. | With tion. Paul Mackay has been a member of warm greetings: Justus Wittich, Joan Sleigh, the Executive Council since 1996, Bodo von Constanza Kaliks and Matthias Girke 2 | Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 4/18 ■ EDITORIAL ■ ANTHROPOSOPHICAL SOCIETY Regarding General Anthroposophical Society this edition Minutes of the 2018 Annual General Meeting Dear readers, The 2018 Annual General Meeting was em- a) the pink 2018 AGM booklet which Coverage of the AGM has changed in recent bedded in the Annual Conference («What includes, among other things, up-to- years. As recently as twenty years ago, the are we building on?») which was held at the date versions of the motions statements presented at the AGM were Goetheanum from 22 to 25 March 2018. As b) Justus Wittich’s written replies to 40 documented in the Newssheet several a trial, the meeting was planned as a three queries concerning agenda item 3 weeks after the meeting took place; then stage process with conscious judgment (2017 financial statement) from Diet- the editors introduced quick reports to give forming (with a night between the first mar Ferger (Lörrach/de) and Leonhard members a first glimpse into the processes and second and the second and third stage): Schuster (Rohrlack/de), and and «results». Nowadays, the first issue c) four pages of information on the of Anthroposophy Worldwide after the 1 AGM (part 1): information (22 March) World Goetheanum Association. AGM provides a first selection by publish- 2 AGM (part 2): discussion (23 March) ing detailed reports on the meeting and 3 AGM (part 3): decision (24 March) Ca. 650 members are present documenting the contributions made. This in the Main Auditorium. is also the case in this issue. The 2018 An- Georg Soldner (Goetheanum, Medical nual Conference and AGM will continue to Section) chaired the meeting on 22 March, Executive Council Report be discussed in Anthroposophy Worldwide: Florian Osswald (Goetheanum, Education Joan Sleigh (Executive Council at the we have already received the first letters Section) on 23 March, and Justus Wittich Goetheanum) presents the Executive Coun- with impressions from the meeting. (Goetheanum Executive Council member cil Report (documented on page 10). We have barely had four days (and nights) and treasurer) on 24 March. to evaluate, write, correct, translate and Philip Jacobsen (Dornach/CH) and his Presentation of the 2017 financial print this issue. If you come across any team (Stuart Chambers, Francine Courbat, statement and Auditor’s report mistakes or errors, we would ask you to Elisabeth Davison, Rozanne Hartmann, An- Justus Wittich (treasurer at the Goethea- be lenient, but also to let us know. nette Hug-Riesel, Peter Kaufmann, Maxime num) has unpleasant news: the financial I thank all the speakers for looking Le Roux, Jens-Peter Manfrass, Fionn Meier, year 2017 ends with a deficit of CHF 960,000. through the proofs of their contributions Emanuel Pusterer, Thomas Rippel, Michael This means that a total of CHF 1,098,539 is so quickly: mostly also within a few hours Sölch) were counting the votes; Oliver Con- not covered in the balance at the end of the or overnight. | Sebastian Jüngel radt (Goetheanum, Section for Mathemat- year. For details of the annual accounts see ics and Astronomy) took the minutes. All the pink booklet. German contributions were simultaneously Justus Wittich explains how it has come Anthroposophy Worldwide appears ten times a interpreted into English (Bernard Jarman) to this deficit (continuation of Faust 1 and 2, year, is distributed by the national Anthroposoph- and French (René Becker). performances of Rudolf Steiner’s Mystery ical Societies, and appears as a supplement to Dramas, Goetheanum building deprecia- the weekly ‹Das Goetheanum› Publisher General Anthroposophical Society, represented by Justus tion) despite the fact that the initiative of Wittich Editors Sebastian Jüngel (responsible for the treasurers in various countries raised an this edition), Michael Kranawetvogl (responsible extra income of almost CHF 400,000 world- for the Spanish edition), Margot M. Saar (respon- Thursday 22 March 2018 sible for the English edition), Proofreader for the wide. It is hoped that the annual accounts English edition: Amadeus Bodenstein. Address Location: Goetheanum, Main Auditorium will be balanced again by 2020 at the latest. Wochenschrift ‹Das Goetheanum›, Postfach, The plan is to make the transition period «or- 4143 Dornach, Switzerland, Fax +41 61 706 44 65, [email protected] Correspondents/ 5.15 p.m.: Opening of agm (part 1): information ganic», so that staff members do not need news agency Jürgen Vater (Sweden), News Net- to live in fear. Justus Wittich therefore takes work Anthroposophy (NNA). We expressly wish Beginning of AGM responsibility for the deficit in the 2017 an- for active support and collaboration. Subscrip- tions To receive ‹Anthroposophy Worldwide› Georg Soldner opens the meeting on behalf nual accounts and is supported in this by the please apply to the Anthroposophical Society in of the Executive Council and the Goethea- Executive Council, the Goetheanum Leader- your country. Alternatively, individual subscrip- num Leadership, explains procedures and ship and the treasurers of the societies in tions are available at CHF 30 (EUR/US$ 30) per year. An e-mail version is available to members states that the invitation for the AGM was other countries. The treasurers have agreed of the Anthroposophical Society only at www. announced properly and in good time in the to meet in London in the autumn of 2018. goetheanum.org/630.html?L=1 © 2017 General Society’s newsletter and that the meeting Justus Wittich asks all the members to Anthroposophical Society, Dornach, Switzerland is therefore quorate. The agenda and mo- support the transition plans and the con- tions were published in Anthroposophy solidation of the budget. Picture credits p. 1: S. Jüngel | p. 3: S. Jüngel | p. 4: Worldwide 1–2/2018, the treasurer’s report Georg Soldner asks for the audit report. S. Jüngel | p. 5: S. Jüngel | p. 10: S. Jüngel | p. 12: Goe- theanum Dokumentatiion, Forschungsstelle Kultu- in Anthroposophy Worldwide 3/2018. At the Urs Santschi of Santschi & Partner Treu- rimpuls | p. 13: z.V.g. | p. 14: Heike Sommer | p. 16,17: doors to the Main Auditorium the following hand AG (Reinach/CH) refers to the audit Joan Sleight | p. 18: Peter Tschaikowski, z. V. g. items were made available to the members. report that is published in the pink booklet Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 4/18 | 3 ■ ANTHROPOSOPHICAL SOCIETY Around 940 members attended part 3 of the AGM: decision-making needed to appoint a member of the Execu- tive Council or extend his or her term in office (page 6 in the pink booklet).