Social Initiatives Forum, Los Angeles

reported by John Beck

Last October a “social initiatives forum” took place at the Westside Waldorf School in Pacific Palisades, California (on the northwest edge of Los Angeles). It was part of a series of forums inspired particularly by global activists Truus Geraets and Ute Craemer to gain recognition for social initiatives inspired by anthroposophy. The Los Angeles forum was endorsed by the Social Science section of the School for Spiritual Science and was an outstanding event in many dimensions.

Truus Geraets who convened it lives in nearby Orange County, and a number of participants came from among her local community. It was also received wholeheartedly into the Westside Waldorf school community, with parents and staff and even young students carrying key parts of the organization, preparation of delicious food, and hospitality. There were two very capable facilitators, Orland Bishop and Seth Jordan. There were artists bringing eurythmy and music and ceremony. There were great spirits invoked to join us in the gathering.

Along with remembrance of the life and work of Tim Smith, the opening evening had a profound offering from Orland Bishop on “Initiation in the Modern World.” The first morning looked at many initiatives, including a longer review by Robin Theiss on the destiny of the Waldorf school movement. The afternoon brought workshops on artistic therapy for addiction, ideas for and from Occupy Wall Street, Non- Violent Communication, insight into poor communities and to work in prisons, community development and traditional crafts.

Sunday was spent in action, in service, at a community garden and at the Elderberries community café created by Dottie Zold. Rap artist and community activist Matt Sawaya led a stirring conversation on “Hip Hop, Healing and Change” which flowed into an evening community arts event which showed just what he had been talking about.

The very best thing, of course, was just the individuals of diverse backgrounds and ages, from teens to the ninth decade of life, and everything in between.

This outstanding event was also trying to address key questions, for which we had not yet found the words. Younger people often seemed to be asking, where and how do I commit myself? Older people seemed to carry the question, how will the work I’ve started carry on, mature, bear all the fruit I hoped for? And there was the question, I believe, trying to form itself, what do we really have to do with each other? Why is it just us who are here, and not others? What do our hopes and goals have in common with each other? How can we achieve a measure of solidarity and recognition so that necessary resources will flow?

The unifying element, of course, is “anthroposophy.” That was our common connection; but is the meaning and intention of this word “anthroposophy” clear enough to bring coherence and unity to many, many small and particular impulses? Isn’t there still work to be done with communicating the central vision and mission of anthroposophy, before it can be the “big tent” for so many diverse impulses? When it is clear that anthroposophy proposes a general renewal and elevation of global culture, with the human being returned to a central place, then perhaps this impulse of social initiative forums will move into a new phase. We didn’t find that unifying element, but we spent wonderful days together experiencing its absence along with the presence of many decent and committed individuals, working each on a panel of the mysterious great fabric.

Truus herself reports below on the more recent forum in the Philippines. If there is a contrast in the two forums, it is that Nicanor Perlas has accomplished two things. He has built a wide public involvement in events that speak to global questions, and at the same time has laid out a particular challenge to the people of the Philippines to raise their own cultural standards to meet the future.

More anthroposophical social forums are in planning, leading to a global event at the Goetheanum in Dornach in 2014. It, too, looks to be a great gathering of remarkable people and extraordinary projects. What will it take, then, for it to become an event for humanity? Can we perhaps find a unifier in the three very esoteric pictures mentioned above, that flowed from Rudolf Steiner research almost a century ago? Of our inseparable needs and sufferings, of our unlimited individual potential, and of a higher knowledge, a unifying higher culture, beginning to shine through to us from humanity’s future?

LA Social Forum: Truus Geraets opens

the invitation

community gardening

food prep at Elderberries Café

rapper Brandon at a local community event.

Photos: Albina Molina, John Beck