The Anthroposophical Society in Sweden is, in the view of many of its members, going through tough times. Times of crisis and the search for a collective identity often inspire the formation of ...ideological rifts within a larger religious community. One way of responding to challenges is by turning to doctrines and texts stemming from a purportedly pristine past for guidance – in other words, by developing a fundamentalist discourse. A striking fact about the Anthroposophical Society, in Sweden as well as internationally, is that such returns to a set of canonical texts by the founder of the movement appear to be self-defeating. There are deeply rooted structural features within the Anthroposophical Society as an institution that impede any one voice from gaining significant traction and imposing a collective identity upon the movement. This article uses the example of the Anthroposophical Society in Sweden and the conundrum it repeatedly faces when addressing a perceived crisis in order to formulate a model of charismatic leadership that more generally accounts for the lack of success of fundamentalist discourses in religious movements with certain types of organisational culture.
This paper presents Rudolf Steiner's idea of Waldorf Education as an alternative to modern educational principles that can be used. In its implementation, Steiner started his philosophy of education ...starting from anthroposophy which can be understood as the antithesis of anthropocentric. Anthroposophy views that humans must see themselves as a whole, unite with the universe and carry out self-searches to reach self-perfection at the level of wisdom. There are four main ideas; Spiritual knowledge and freedom, Nature of Human beings, Evolution-Emanation, and ethics. In the technical implementation, holistic education has three principles; connectedness, inclusion, and balance. This paper will also describe the general principles and some specific principles in Waldorf Education, about the characteristics of the curriculum, how to treat students, and how to become a Waldorf teacher. As well as a brief description of the architectural significance of school buildings in Waldorf schools. This idea of Steiner's educational philosophy contains many interesting and potentially useful ideas, although not a few consider them to be contrary to today's modern educational models.
Abstract
The central collective myth of surrealism, Les grands transparents, was designed by André Breton in 1947 as a means for imagining a desirable society through effecting a vitalizing sense of ...the unknown and a "decentering of man". As a contribution to the recent re-examination of surrealism in view of theoretical developments in the field of Western esotericism, this article argues that Breton utilizes his mythic narrative to articulate a transformative knowledge, a surreality, that in certain ways correspond to the concepts of gnosis and clairvoyance in esoteric discourse. To substantiate this, similar mythic narratives about great imperceptible entities in texts of Anthroposophy (Rudolf Steiner) and Rosicrucianism (Lectorium Rosicrucianum) are examined. A comparativist model for describing popular approaches (or mythemes) to ineffable experience is applied. An underlying "gnostic" approach of considering such experiences as incomplete and as being co-created is discerned, highlighting each actor's endeavours to validate imaginative perception.
The time of hypersubjects is ending. Their desert-apocalypse-fire-and-death cults aren’t going to save them this time. Meanwhile the time of hyposubjects is just beginning. This text is an exercise ...in chaotic and flimsy thinking that will possibly waste your time. But it is the sincere effort of two reform-minded hypersubjects to decenter themselves and to help nurture hyposubjective humanity. Here are some of the things we say in this book: 1) Hyposubjects are the native species of the Anthropocene and are only just now beginning to discover what they might be and become. 2) Like their hyperobjective environment, hyposubjects are also multiphasic and plural: not-yet, neither here nor there, less than the sum of their parts. They are, in other words, subscendent (moving toward relations) rather than transcendent (rising above relations). They do not pursue or pretend to absolute knowledge or language, let alone power. Instead they play; they care; they adapt; they hurt; they laugh. 3) Hyposubjects are necessarily feminist, colorful, queer, ecological, transhuman, and intrahuman. They do not recognize the rule of androleukoheteropetromodernity and the apex species behavior it epitomizes and reinforces. But they also hold the bliss-horror of extinction fantasies at bay, because hyposubjects’ befores, nows, and afters are many. 4) Hyposubjects are squatters and bricoleuses. They inhabit the cracks and hollows. They turn things inside out and work miracles with scraps and remains. They unplug from carbon gridlife; they hack and redistribute its stored energies for their own purposes. 5) Hyposubjects make revolutions where technomodern radars can’t glimpse them. They patiently ignore expert advice that they do not or cannot exist. They are skeptical of efforts to summarize them, including everything we have just said.
This article deals with the connection between the anthroposophical practice of meditation and the concept of self-conscious soul, which is developed in the main theoretical work of Andrei Bely, “The ...History of the Becoming of Self-conscious Soul.” After a brief review of the esoteric practice, in which Bely was introduced by Rudolf Steiner in the years 1912-1914, it examines the topography of the meditative space, according to the descriptions given by Bely in the “Krizisy”. Relevant sources of Steiner on the higher stages of knowledge are involved, from which the concept of Bely differs in a few points. It is considered, how the inner experience of Bely is reflected in the cognitive principles of the self-conscious soul, which he understands as a reflection of the higher cognitive abilities at the lower level of the soul. It is shown, that the cognitive principles of the self-conscious soul, which Bely names “composition of space”, “theme in the variations of time” and “symbol”, are a synthesis of the esoteric practice of Bely with his early reception of the critical philosophy of Kant. He fuses them into a gradational model of multi-stage deepening of knowledge into the construction of the universe and the human cultural evolution. This process is carried out with the creative participation of the cognizing subject and culminates in his deification.
As an emerging artificial intelligence system, social robot could socially communicate and interact with human beings. Although this area is attracting more and more attention, limited research has ...tried to systematically summarize potential features that could improve facial anthropomorphic trustworthiness for social robot. Based on the literature from human facial perception, product, and robot face evaluation, this paper systematically reviews, evaluates, and summarizes static facial features, dynamic features, their combinations, and related emotional expressions, shedding light on further exploration of facial anthropomorphic trustworthiness for social robot design.
Abstract Death and dying constantly provoke debates regarding boundaries, rules and disputes for the legitimacy of different meanings regarding processes of finalizing life. This article places ...special emphasis on conflicts between the therapeutic system of anthroposophy and biomedicine in Brazil. The reflections contained in the text are based on ethnographic research, carried out in multiple locations between 2012 and 2015, investigating concepts of cure in anthroposophy in three different communities: two in Brazil, and one in Switzerland. Over the course of this journey, our experience as ethnographers led us to reflect on death and dying among the Widows of Demétria, one of the anthroposophical communities in which we conducted our research. Demétria is a rural neighborhood located in the city of Botucatu, in the interior of São Paulo state. The community was first organized during the 1970s, and it consists mostly of women - both Europeans and Brazilians - who live together, sharing a lifestyle that reimagines the ethos of death as a part of the aesthetic project of Bildung, which differs significantly from the conception of the death process in biomedicine.
Resumo A morte e o morrer suscitam continuamente o debate sobre as fronteiras, as regras e a disputa pela legitimidade dos distintos significados que envolvem os processos de finalização da vida. Este artigo busca abordar, especialmente, os conflitos que ocorrem entre o sistema terapêutico antroposófico e a biomedicina no Brasil. As reflexões se dão com base na etnografia multissituada realizada entre os anos 2012 e 2016 que se debruçou sobre a concepção de cura na antroposofia em três comunidades, duas no Brasil e uma na Suíça. Nesse percurso, fomos levados pela experiência etnográfica às elaborações sobre a morte e o morrer das viúvas da Demétria, uma das comunidades antroposóficas investigadas. Demétria é um bairro rural no interior do estado de São Paulo, na cidade de Botucatu, composto na sua maioria por mulheres, europeias e brasileiras, que convivem e partilham de um estilo de vida que reelabora o ethos da morte como um projeto estético de Bildung que difere da concepção do processo de morte na biomedicina.
The Kibbutz Harduf community in Israel is exceptional even among traditional collectives. The community's ideology is a combination of collective, collaborative values and anthroposophical beliefs. ...Its mission is to provide healing and inclusion within the kibbutz through social enterprises. This study, employing the mixed methods research approach, is the first conducted of the Kibbutz Harduf community. The goal of the study was to examine the impact of inclusion initiatives on the community. The study findings indicate that the combination of the community's guiding principles and their practical and daily application contributed to the creation of a new image and branding of Harduf as a community with a unique destiny.
Abstract
Background
Due to low vaccination uptake and measles outbreaks across Europe, public health authorities have paid increasing attention to anthroposophic communities. Public media outlets ...have further described these communities as vaccine refusers or “anti-vaxxers”. The aim of this review was to understand the scope of the problem and explore assumptions about vaccination beliefs in anthroposophic communities. For the purpose of this review, we define anthroposophic communities as people following some/certain views more or less loosely connected to the philosophies of anthroposophy. The systematic review addresses three research questions and (1) collates evidence documenting outbreaks linked to anthroposophic communities, (2) literature on vaccination coverage in anthroposophic communities, and (3) lastly describes literature that summarizes theories and factors influencing vaccine decision-making in anthroposophic communities.
Methods
This is a systematic review using the following databases: Medline, Web of Science, Psycinfo, and CINAHL. Double-blinded article screening was conducted by two researchers. Data was summarized to address the research questions. For the qualitative research question the data was analysed using thematic analysis with the assistance of Nvivo12.0.
Results
There were 12 articles documenting 18 measles outbreaks linked to anthroposophic communities between the years 2000 and 2012. Seven articles describe lower vaccination uptake in anthroposophic communities than in other communities, although one article describes that vaccination coverage in low-income communities with a migrant background was lower than in the anthroposophic community they studied. We found eight articles examining factors and theories influencing vaccine decision making in anthroposophic communities. The qualitative analysis revealed four common themes. Firstly, there was a very broad spectrum of vaccine beliefs among the anthroposophic communities. Secondly, there was a consistent narrative about problems or concerns with vaccines, including toxicity and lack of trust in the system. Thirdly, there was a strong notion of the importance of making individual and well-informed choices as opposed to simply following the masses. Lastly, making vaccine choices different from public health guidelines was highly stigmatized by those outside of the anthroposophic community but also those within the community.
Conclusion
Continuing to further knowledge of vaccine beliefs in anthroposophic communities is particularly important in view of increasing measles rates and potential sudden reliance on vaccines for emerging diseases. However, popular assumptions about vaccine beliefs in anthroposophic communities are challenged by the data presented in this systematic review.
Die biodynamische Landwirtschaft hat seit den 2000er Jahren Zulauf verbucht. Doch wie erleben die Wirtschaftenden selbst ihr Feld? Stéphanie Majerus nimmt die Entwicklungen des Demeter-Landbaus in ...Deutschland und der deutschsprachigen Schweiz ethnographisch in den Blick. Dabei fokussiert sie sowohl auf soziopolitische Eigenheiten, bewusstseinsphänomenologische Dynamiken und Mensch-Tier-Interaktionen als auch auf das partikulare Wissenschaftsverständnis der Anthroposoph*innen. Mit ihrer Studie schlägt sie darüber hinaus Brücken zur akademischen Bearbeitung der Anthroposophie - und bietet so religionsanthropologische Einblicke in die Spiritualität der Biodynamiker.
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