The Rudolf Steiner Archive

The Events in Koberwitz and Breslau

[ 1 ] For some time, a number of anthroposophists working in agricultural professions had been hoping that I would hold a course covering the anthroposophical view of agriculture. From June 7 to 16, I was able to find the time to fulfill this request.

[ 2 ] Koberwitz near Breslau, where Count Carl Keyserlingk manages a large agricultural estate in an exemplary manner, was one of the locations chosen for such a course. It was only natural that agriculture should be discussed where those gathered for the event could see the things and processes to which the explanations referred. This gives such an event atmosphere and color.

[ 3 ] The proximity of the Koberwitz estate to Breslau also made it possible to combine the agricultural course with other anthroposophical work.

[ 4 ] Now, in Koberwitz-Breslau, we have two personalities in Count Carl Keyserlingk and Rector Bartsch who are always ready to work for the cultivation of anthroposophy with devoted enthusiasm, unerring prudence, and penetrating energy.

[ 5 ] It is thanks to their dedication that we were able to gather a large number of our members in anthroposophical endeavors within the specified time.

[ 6 ] The mornings from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. were devoted to agriculture. At this time, a large number of farmers were allowed to gather at the home of Count and Countess Keyserlingk in Koberwitz. It had been agreed that a small number of people who were interested in the cause but not directly involved in agricultural practice could also be present.

[ 7 ] Each morning began with my lecture. I discussed the nature of the products supplied by agriculture and the conditions under which these products can be produced. The aim of these discussions was to arrive at practical perspectives on agriculture that would add to what has been gained today through practical insight and scientific research what can be gained from a spiritual consideration of the relevant issues.

[ 8 ] The lecture was followed by a breakfast break, during which the Keyserlingk House provided the most “thorough” hospitality for the participants who lived in Breslau and had come to Koberwitz for the course.

[ 9 ] This was followed by a discussion of the issues addressed. The liveliness of the discussion testified to the keen interest of those gathered in the anthroposophical treatment of matters close to their hearts.

[ 10 ] Right at the beginning of the conference, our friend Mr. Stegemann spoke about things that connected with conversations I had had with him some time ago about agriculture. Based on what had been said, he had already carried out practical experiments on the estate he manages. He presented what he had learned and what he hoped to achieve.

[ 11 ] Count Keyserlingk followed Stegemann's remarks with a proposal to immediately conduct the necessary experiments suggested by the course. A community of professional farmers was to be formed for this purpose. Such a community was then founded at a subsequent meeting of the farmers present. It was agreed that the information provided in the course would initially be regarded as a suggestion, which would not be discussed outside the circle of participants for the time being, but would be considered as the basis for experiments through which it could be brought into a form suitable for publication. This community, whose meetings are to be chaired alternately by Count Keyserlingk and Mr. Stegemann, was declared to be an association of people affiliated with the Natural Science Section at the Goetheanum. This section is to provide ongoing direction and goals for the experimental work.

[ 12 ] Count Keyserlingk has thus, with a sure hand, given the appropriate orientation to what the course was able to inspire.

[ 13 ] Dr. Vreede, who was present, was asked to act as an expert collaborator in the management of the experiments from the Goetheanum.

[ 14 ] The necessary preliminary discussions of this community were conducted in a lively manner in a series of meetings.

[ 15 ] After an appropriate break, the agricultural events were followed by other anthroposophical events in Breslau.

[ 16 ] So many participants had registered for a course on the artistic treatment of language, held by Mrs. Marie Steiner, that the number of participants had to be limited. It is appropriate that those attending such a course should engage in actual exercises in speaking. For this reason, it is not possible to have an unlimited number of participants. This time, a middle course was taken by assigning the front seats to a limited number of participants, where they could do the exercises, while a larger number of listeners in the further rows could receive what could be gained by silent listening. Mrs. Marie Steiner chose this approach because she wanted to respond to the very gratifying interest that is evident in anthroposophical circles for the art of speech in a broad sense. This interest is most gratifying, for it shows a growing understanding of the kind of artistic treatment of speech that is cultivated by Mrs. Marie Steiner in the anthroposophical spirit. It is to be hoped that as this understanding continues to grow, the art of speech will find its way into ever wider circles. Given the great importance of this art for the cultivation of personality, this can have a very beneficial effect.

[ 17 ] A eurythmy performance with the eurythmy artists from the Goetheanum, directed by Marie Steiner, who also recited, and with the participation of Max Schuurman, took place on Monday, June 9, in the packed Lobe Theater, with the audience showing great interest.

[ 18 ] I was able to give two class lectures at the Goetheanum School of Spiritual Science on June 12 and 13 as part of the Wroclaw events. I showed how the path to spiritual knowledge and the soul experiences in the transition from sensory to spiritual perception can be understood through inner soul work.

[ 19 ] Two meetings of the Wrocław youth group of the Anthroposophical Society were held. This fact can be described as deeply satisfying. Individual participants in the youth circle spoke with open hearts and a serious soul mood; I saw open hearts and sympathetic souls before me when I spoke. We talked about the nature of the youth movement and its goals, which are demanded by the times. There was a great deal of idealism, spiritual care, but also a great deal of goodwill among the participants in these meetings. One would hope that the youth would strive in unity to realize what their hearts urge them to do in the spiritual world, and that they would not weaken themselves through disunity.

[ 20 ] The days always ended with the members' lecture, which I had to give. A large number of members from a wide area had joined our friends in Breslau, so that these members' evenings brought together a very large number of friends of the anthroposophical movement. I spoke about human destiny in its development through successive earthly lives, about the way in which the beings of a supersensible world work on the shaping of this destiny (karma) in human existence between death and new birth; I gave examples from spiritual research to illustrate this shaping.

[ 21 ] On Sunday, June 15, there was another performance of Iphigenia by the actors who have joined Kugelmann to create new artistic stage plays. Kugelmann applied the ideas he had received in a course on artistic language treatment, which Marie Steiner had held some time ago at the Goetheanum, to the art of acting. In this performance, he showed the fruits of his beautiful efforts.

[ 22 ] I am writing this account of our Breslau and Koberwitz conference after the last member's lecture, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank Rector Bartzsch for the kind words with which he graced the conclusion of this part of the conference after the lecture. We now have a meeting of the participants in the agricultural course, a language course lesson by Marie Steiner, and a social gathering of the course participants ahead of us on June 16.

[ 23 ] The following members of the Executive Council at the Goetheanum are present here: Marie Steiner, Dr. Vreede, Dr. Wachsmuth.

[ 24 ] All participants in this conference owe a debt of gratitude to Count and Countess Keyserlingk and the other members of the Keyserlingk family, who have organized the anthroposophical work here in a manner that could not be more beautiful, dignified, or appropriate, and have framed it in a true celebration. It took a great deal of enthusiasm born of the spirit of anthroposophy and a deep love for the subject to organize this conference in such a way.

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Further guiding principles sent out by the Anthroposophical Society from the Goetheanum

[ 25 ] 53. The unfolding of human life between death and new birth takes place in successive stages. During the few days immediately after passing through the gate of death, the previous earthly life is reviewed in images. This review also shows the separation of the bearer of this life from the human soul-spirit being.

[ 26 ] 54. During a period lasting about one-third of the earthly life just completed, the soul experiences spiritual experiences that reveal the effect that the previous earthly life must have had in terms of an ethically just world order. During this experience, the intention is generated to shape the next earthly life in such a way as to balance the previous one, in accordance with this experience.

[ 27 ] 55. A long-lasting, purely spiritual epoch of existence follows, in which the human soul, together with other human souls karmically connected to it and with beings of the higher hierarchies, shapes the coming earthly life in accordance with karma.