“Transformation is required in all spheres of life”: A new focus for the first term of the academic year 2020/21 at the Goetheanum

Goetheanum, Dornach, Switzerland, 8 July 2020

“Transformation is required in all spheres of life”
Goetheanum: A new focus for the first term of the academic year 2020/21

The study courses at the Goetheanum have been adapted to the current conditions. The first term of the academic year 2020/2021 ‘Metamorphosis’ is about finding ways of actively dealing with uncertainty – through ‘self-transformation’ based on building relationships and relating to reality.

“Transformation is required in all spheres of life,” is how Study and Further Education at the Goetheanum faculty member Constanza Kaliks describes the task we face due to the Coronavirus. Transformation, or metamorphosis, occurs as we move from something that exists towards something we don‘t know yet, something that may only come into being as we approach it. How we deal with the experiences on this journey will change us and the world.

The present phase of uncertainty is challenging. The faculty‘s approach is to accept and shape this situation. The first term is a response to the question as to how we can practise dealing with uncertainty in life: by having the will to develop, observe and take action. This starts with our perceptions of nature with its seasons, of other people and of cultural achievements. They enable us to connect with a reality that lies outside our own immediate sphere of influence.

Perceiving others as well as our own being – for instance by studying biographies – makes us aware of the effectiveness of our own actions. Robin Schmidt, an adult educator and lecturer on the Goetheanum study courses, knows from experience that “In the way we approach each other and the situation we learn about participation. Pursuing this actively leads to personal transformation.”

Matthias Rang, co-leader of the Natural Science Section at the Goetheanum, illustrates how the methods of Goetheanism can give direction. In addition to observation and its conceptual penetration transformation can also be practised through artistic activities which give visible expression to impulses. Long-term active engagement leads to the acquisition of skills which, in turn, is the foundation for expanding the capacity to act in situations of uncertainty.

(2058 characters/SJ; translation by Margot M. Saar)

Term ‹Metamorphosis. Paths of Participation› (in English) 5 October to 18 December 2020 

Web studium-goetheanum.org/english-studies

Contact person Edda Nehmiz, study@goetheanum.org