Anthroposophy Hawkes Bay       
Rudolf Steiner Centre, 401 Whitehead Road, Hastings   

From Michelle Vette's talk last Monday:

"Every single being to whom you give your love
Opens to you it’s being:
For lovelessness is a veil
That lays itself before the things of the world
and conceals them.
As much love as you can emanate,
So much knowledge streams toward you."

(Written to Clara Smits as a point of meditation by Rudolf Steiner
As an example of working with interest to potentize love.)

Events over next 2 weeks

[17 July to 31 August]

• Friday 22 August, 7pm. Open Study Group: Rudolf Steiner's Michael letter "The Human Sense- and Thought-systems in relation to the World" p196 and Leading Thoughts 171 to 173

LIBRARY

Anthroposophy Hawkes Bay  Book Stall at the Taikura Fête

Chair Blankets

• Summer with the Leprechauns (2011) by Tanis Helliwell
• Common Wealth: For a Free, Equal, Mutual, and Sustainable Society by Martin Large
• The Tree of Life and the Holy Grail (2007) Ancient and Modern Spiritual Paths and the Mystery of Rennes-Le-Château.  by Sylvia Francke
• Applying Deep Democracy in Human Services (2017) by Julia Wolfson
• A psychology of Body soul and spirit: Anthroposophy, Psychosophy, Pneumatosophy (CW 115) [June 1999] by Rudolf Steiner
• Esoteric Studies: The Flaming Word (1993) by Marie Steiner
• School as a Journey: The Eight-Year Odyssey of a Waldorf Teacher and His Class (1995) by Torin Finser
• Farms of Tomorrow revisited: Community Supported Farms -- Farm Supported Communities (1997) by Trauger Groh
• The Goddess from Natura to the Divine Sophia (2024) by Rudolf Steiner
• Marie Steiner-von Sivers - Fellow worker with Rudolf Steiner (1967) by Marie Savitch
• The Battle for a New Consciousness (1993) by Hermann Poppelbaum
• Sam the Trap Man: Cracking yarns and tall tales from the bush.(2024) by Sam Gibson

For more details of these books (cover blurbs) see here.

Fran Obers, Librarian.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

WINTER ROSE

Presently in the foyer we have a vase filled with what has to be a favourite winter - early spring flower for many, the humble but exquisite Hellebore.

Helleborus . . . family Ranunculaceae, often referred to as lenten or winter roses, however they have no relationship to the rose family.
Many are poisonous.  There are in fact around 20 varieties of hellebores, all easily grown.
Bringing flowers inside is integral to our acknowledgment and interest in what arises in nature and a strong interest of mine in accompanying nature during the seasonal changes.  As with the motif on the entrance
table, it is but a whisper of what we are experiencing in the outer environment but perhaps a reminder of the elemental beings so busy beneath the earth while above, all is still sleeping.
The hellebore is one of the few flowering plants that speak to us of the mysteries of the natural world especially during these days of winter.
Many people would say that they are not flowers for the vase because they droop -- however this can be avoided by following this simple process:
Try to pick flowers that are almost developing the seedpod, this shows that the stem is mature – with a sharp knife score all the way down the stem.  Place flower stems in 3 inches of hot water for around 10 -15
minutes then plunge them into fresh cold water.
As with any flowers that you want to keep in a vase. The water in the vase needs to be replaced every 3 or 4 days and maybe the vase also needs to be rinsed in warm soapy water before replacing the flowers,
which are still filled with life bringing so much joy and we can maintain this life with our warming interest for what is.

I have many seedlings if anyone is interested,
Bernie. 
sophia@actrix.co.nz

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

"The Legend of the Winter Rose" is delightful story by renowned children's author, Selma Lagerlof. It has recently been republished. 978-1019373507

 Future Events  Regular Groups   

Items, Notices, Letters, or articles of interest to the Hawkes Bay Anthroposophical community
ARE MOST WELCOME
Please email your text by midday Saturday to the Editor at info@anthrohb.nz with"For AnthroHB News"  in the subject line.
Diagrams and pictures need to be in .jpeg format. 

Robin Bacchus, Editor
also robin@bacchus.co.nz

3fold Musings: 

Chapter 17

Recognising 3foldness around us.

Many writers and speakers recognise the threefold nature of our society, and also the three related principles of Freedom, Equality and Cooperation in various ways.

The particular insight that Rudolf Steiner brings towards threefoldness is the recognition that each of the 3 Realms needs to have one and only one of the principles ruling, and not the others.  The principles are mutually incompatible, acting like a poison that causes an illness when applied in the wrong Realm.

The healthy connection of principles to Realms, he saw as:

 If we look around us, can we see examples of principles being applied in the wrong place causing distractions and thus reducing the effectiveness of what is being done. Here is one example:

What happens when we bring Equality into the Cultural Realm, for example, in education.  Do we expect everyone to be the same (equal) as a result of their education?  Well, let’s make all children sit the same exam and measure them by some external standards!  And while you at it, get someone who has never met the child to set the exam!!  Nothing personal or individual here.

On the other hand, what if a teacher gets to know a child, and “reads” by introspection what the child needs by way of experience to develop its faculties and talents, and teacher and child mutually set tasks for the child to achieve?

So where does Equality belong?  It belongs to every child's Right to have equal opportunity for a quality education, supported by community finance.

*****

A key component of the Cultural Realm is the activity of education.  The task of education [based on Latin ‘e’ or ‘ex’ = 'out of' or 'forth'; and ‘ducere’ = 'to lead' or 'guide'] is to support, particularly in the first couple decades of life, the incarnation of the human Ego into its bodies [physical, etheric, astral] inherited as a gift from its parents.  The incarnation process involves adapting one’s bodies to better suit the spiritual intentions of one’s Ego or Self.  The role of teachers is to sympathetically observe their pupils and ‘read’ [with the help of the knowledge of human development derived through spiritual science] their individual evolving situation and create opportunities and activities for the pupils to engage with the world around them – to open the eyes (and indeed all senses) of the pupils to their environment.  In this process they engage the pupil's soul processes of thinking, feeling and willing, which leads to them acquiring

• spiritual and scientific knowledge,
• an ability to express oneself artistically, and
• to develop manual and other skills and talents.

So how do exams get into this process?

When parents enrol a child in a school, they sign a contract with the school which will specify the rights and obligations of each party.  No doubt part of this will be based on a school brochure describing the educational process the school promises.  This will presumably include the school’s intention to offer senior students an opportunity in certain classes to test their educational achievement.  For this, the school will have contracted with a testing service provider, such as NZQA for NCEA [National Certificate of Educational Achievement], the CAIE [Cambridge Assessment of International Education] or IB [International Baccalaureate].  This, as a service, falls into the Economic Realm.  Parents, student and teachers need to be free to assess if sitting such an exam will be educationally beneficial for the student.

**** 

Some goals of Rudolf Steiner’s ‘Art of Education’ are:

• to enable young people to go into the world with a sense of their own destiny.
• to be awake to what comes to meet them (their destiny) with a capacity to respond effectively and appropriately.
• to evolve, able freely to give shape, direction and purpose to their own lives in the world (not to fill slots created by past society for its perpetuity).

The structure of Rudolf Steiner’s education is threefold:

• First seven years: Home and Early Childhood; 
  Receive the infant with reverence.
• Second seven years: Primary; 
  Educate the child in love.
• Third seven years: Secondary,
  Send the youth forth in freedom.

Each stage develops capacities useful in social life

• EARLY CHILDHOOD:
  The attitude of the kindergartener leads the children towards a reverence for all creation and an experience that the world is good (of god).  This childhood experience of reverence and freedom-to-play transforms, in later life, into a reverent respect for the freedom of each individual human spirit, which is the basis for an INDEPENDENT CULTURAL LIFE in adult society.
  
  
• PRIMARY:
  When it is a matter of discipline, developing a pictorial understanding of the consequences of one's actions, remorse for hurt feelings and the desire to do better is used in gentle guidance rather than more forceful intimidation, discrimination, sarcasm or negative comparison. 
  For instance, if there has been a transgression, a story picturing a similar situation can be told where the feelings of the victim are graphically depicted and a healing process is worked through.
  This maintenance of human dignity in personal relations lays a foundation for the feeling of equality of opportunity or consideration between human souls, which is the basis for a HEALTHY RIGHTS LIFE in adult society.
  
  
• SECONDARY:
  level in the High School, students continue their studies in all subject areas, balancing the academic with artistic and practical activities. 
  The emphasis now is on seeking the truth, true knowledge - knowledge of one-self and knowledge of the world. 
  From an awareness of the true needs of the world and of one's own capacities arise the call of vocation and a love of the human ideals of freedom, equality and community. 
  A COMPASSIONATE WORLD ECONOMY in adult society will grow when our work (production) focuses in a brotherly-sisterly way on meeting the needs of others rather than merely satisfying ourselves.

RB

~~~~~~~~~~

Interesting books relating to Social structure.

Threefold Musings archive