Anthroposophical World Society

Anthroposophical World Society: and Its School for Spiritual Science

“When thousands are in the initial vanguard of a movement, these thousands have a higher, more potentized obligation…they have the obligation to practice, in every detail, greater courage, greater energy, greater patience, greater tolerance, and above all greater truthfulness in all things.” — Rudolf Steiner (Dornach, June 16, 1923)

In light of the centenary of the Christmas Conference 1923/24, Peter Selg has written the four essays published here, which deal, each in its own way, with the past, present, and future of the Anthroposophical Society and its School for Spiritual Science. Selg outlines important historical background to the Christmas Conference, shedding light on the origins of the re-founding of the Society, what necessitated it, and what Rudolf Steiner was hoping to achieve.

Though much good work has been done over the past hundred years, many of the issues that hindered the Society and movement in Steiner’s time still persist today. This book is intended as a call to self-knowledge for members of the Anthroposophical Society, a call to actively take up the work of “furthering the development of the task-centered worldwide Society that Steiner made so clearly visible in 1923.”

Rudolf Steiner’s words, spoken one hundred years ago, retain their power and urgency today: “Try to grow together with the world! That will be the best, the most significant ‘program.’ That cannot be put in our statutes—but we should be able to take it as a flame into our hearts.”

This book is a translation of Die anthroposophische Weltgesellschaft und ihre Hochschule, originally published in German by Verlag am Goetheanum (Dornach, 2023) in collaboration with the General Anthroposophical Section of the School for Spiritual Science.

C O N T E N T S:

Preface

1. The Struggle for the Anthroposophical Society of the Future
2. The Autonomous Country Societies and the World Society
3. The Identity of the School for Spiritual Science
4. Rudolf Steiner’s Expectations

Appendix: Ita Wegman’s Letter to Toni Völker, Dec. 2, 1923

Notes
Bibliography

About the Author

Peter Selg studied medicine in Witten-Herdecke, Zurich, and Berlin and, until 2000, worked as the head physician of the juvenile psychiatry department of Herdecke Hospital in Germany. Dr. Selg is director of the Ita Wegman Institute for Basic Research into Anthroposophy (Arlesheim, Switzerland), professor of medicine at the Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences (Germany), and co-leader of the General Anthroposophical Section at the Goetheanum. He is the author of numerous books on Rudolf Steiner, anthroposophy, medical ethics, and the development of culture and consciousness.