{"id":64288,"date":"2025-03-19T13:47:32","date_gmt":"2025-03-19T12:47:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/?p=64288"},"modified":"2025-03-21T17:44:32","modified_gmt":"2025-03-21T16:44:32","slug":"its-always-me-who-is-meant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/its-always-me-who-is-meant\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s Always Me Who Is Meant"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When I came into contact with anthroposophy 25 years ago, I was particularly alienated by the cult of personality surrounding Rudolf Steiner.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I heard anecdotes of ladies in purple gowns who came to the \u201cinitiate\u201d for advice on their inner development. I visited the Memorial Grove in Dornach with a reverent friend and didn\u2019t really know how to take it all in. Open-mindedness seemed to be paired with a prohibition on contradiction, with the tenet that you just didn\u2019t understand yet. During this time, I also dreamt that I had an audience with the \u201cDoctor.\u201d I opened the door to a room, waiting curiously to see what I would encounter. Rudolf Steiner was sitting behind a heavy desk. He looked at me objectively, soberly, without appearing cold, but also without any intention to please, and asked directly: \u201cWhat is your question?\u201d In that moment, my position as a simple observer immediately ended. I felt like I was being spoken to from a sphere that was still too big for me at the age of 21. I hadn\u2019t even sat down when I was already waking up, terrified, because I had no question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the next twenty years or so, I was searching for \u201cmy\u201d question. There were always questions, but what question would I ask Rudolf Steiner? Feeling for this still brings me closer to the mystery of anthroposophy today. \u201cMy\u201d question is one that addresses my personal experience as a human being in its particular form and development. But, at the same time, \u201cmy\u201d question must include the general experience of being a human being, albeit in the way the general reveals itself through me as an individual. \u201cMy\u201d question is a kind of signature that I carry through life, and it can even determine my path. Perhaps it determines \u201cmy\u201d field of human activity, the stage upon which I act and want to act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three or four years ago, my question flashed across my mind in relation to my work with Das Goetheanum<\/em> (the Goetheanum Weekly<\/em>). There are so many different views, claims, evaluations, opinions, and approaches involved with the Weekly<\/em>, with the \u201canthroposophical human being,\u201d and with the Goetheanum itself\u2014in all, with understanding the world. How can I accept all human beings and not undervalue anyone? How can I perceive everyone with love as an individual seeker, and as a seeker who wants to be taken seriously? What part of me is capable of doing this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please let me know your question, dear reader. I would be interested to know how you would fare in the same unexpected situation. Would you know what to ask? Perhaps one hundred years after Steiner\u2019s death, a collection of good questions for the world will emerge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This year, we are bringing you a series of articles titled \u201c<\/em>Rudolf Steiner as\u2026<\/a>\u201d to honor the 100th anniversary of Rudolf Steiner’s death. These articles are sometimes essays, sometimes simply thoughts or reflections, but always an aspect of his being.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contact<\/strong> gilda.bartel@dasgoetheanum.com<\/a>, or leave a comment <\/strong>down below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Translation <\/strong>Joshua Kelberman<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I came into contact with anthroposophy 25 years ago, I was particularly alienated by the cult of personality surrounding Rudolf Steiner. I heard anecdotes of ladies in purple gowns who came to the \u201cinitiate\u201d for advice on their inner development. I visited the Memorial Grove in Dornach with a reverent friend and didn\u2019t really know how to take it all in. Open-mindedness seemed to be paired with a prohibition on contradiction, with the tenet that you just didn\u2019t understand […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9153,"featured_media":64327,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9183,11614],"tags":[11630,11631,8814],"class_list":["post-64288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-anthroposophy","category-steiner-as","tag-ausgabe-10-2025-en","tag-english-issue-12-2025","tag-musings"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9153"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64288\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}