Columbia Rising! & the Spirit of St. Louis

Central Region Gathering for Groups and Branches, May 1-3, Dittmer, Missouri

Since 2004, the Central Regional Council has hosted an annual gathering of individuals who are trying to bring anthroposophy to life in their local communities throughout our region. We are seeking to strengthen ties between “center” and “periphery” within the Anthroposophical Society; build networks among our members; and to develop among the representatives of the groups, branches, and initiatives in the central region a collegial “circle of coworkers” for the CRC. With this circle of coworkers we have been building through the years an understanding of what it means to work out of anthroposophy—to grapple with its challenges, open to its blessings, and manifest its enlivening vision—in the heartland of America in the 21st century.

Columbia leads “American Progress” in John Gast’s 1872 painting.

We chose “Columbia Rising! Nurturing the Good Spirit of America” as our theme for 2009. To quote Robert Karp from the invitation:

We feel this is a momentous time in our country. Hearts and minds are opening to new ideas and opportunities even while stubborn old structures try to hang on and persist. We feel the good spirit of America rising from the ashes of this post-9/11 period, inspiring new hope, idealism, and optimism. How can we support this breakthrough of the good spirit of America so that it takes a healthy direction? How can we bring helpful Michaelic impulses to bear on the emerging social, economic, and cultural tasks of our country? How can we nurture and heal our own communities so that we can better serve the world around us?

We meet in a different place each year so we can experience the geography and the people of our region. The site for this year’s gathering was a lovely Franciscan retreat center in the foothills of the Ozarks, 40 miles SW of St. Louis (not far from the starting point of our 2006 post-Katrina pilgrimage to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast).

Phillis Wheatley became the nation’s first Black poet of note.

Our 27 participants came from 16 different groups and branches in 12 states. We asked each group to send with their representative(s) a 2’x2’ fabric square with a star from their local community. Laid out on the floor of our meeting space, these 13 unique stars provided an inspiring focal point for our circle throughout the weekend. Rebecah Freeling has taken up the task of combining the stars into a colorful (and, we hope, growing) “patchwork” of the central region. Another connection to our communities around the region came at snack times, for which participants bring along delectable local specialties. Among this year’s favorites—an entire flat of Arkansas strawberries …and those buckeye chocolates from Columbus, Ohio!

Thomas Craford’s “Freedom Triumphant in War & Peace” has stood atop the US Capitol since 1863.

We chose the four panels of Rudolf Steiner’s Foundation Stone meditation as the framework for the content of the weekend. Conversational and journaling exercises in spirit remembering, spirit sensing, and spirit envisioning challenged us to look at the past, present, and future of who we are as individuals and as members of our local communities, our region, our nation, and humanity as a whole. Singing led by Marianne Fieber and eurythmy led by Connie Michael, as well as offerings of songs, poems, and prose by various participants, wove an artistic thread through all our time together.

On Friday evening, Rick Spaulding from Chicago sounded the call to spirit remembering with his keynote talk, in which we were taken on a journey from before the founding of the United States, to Emerson and Whitman, and to recent times. The theme of liberty sounded throughout the evening. Liberty is not to be taken for granted and is the basis for our freedom in this nation. We heard about Phillis Wheatley, a black slave who, as a young girl in 1775, wrote a poem to George Washington that led to her being invited to meet with him. “Celestial choir! enthron’d in realms of light, Columbia’s scenes of glorious toil I write, While freedom’s cause her anxious breast alarms...” This image of Columbia, a divine goddess leading America, was alive through the 1800s and has gradually become less used. The naming of our capital, District of Columbia, is a direct connection to this early image. Rick’s talk gave us a firm foundation for our work throughout the weekend in taking responsibility for bringing the spirit of America to life in our local places.

Cheerful participants (above and next picture) and (third) the field of thirteen stars from the branches.

Saturday morning allowed for reflection on the previous evening and additional “looking back” before moving into the present with spirit sensing. Our focus turned to a lectures by Rudolf Steiner titled Ideas for a New Europe, in which he describes how imperialism has manifested in different periods of human development [see excerpt following]. In our own time it is the imperialism of the empty word in which everyone can be “right.” The role of shame and uncertainty is to wake us up to the need for change—to spread real culture and the new spirit in the world. We closed Saturday afternoon with our first glimpse of the future: spirit envisioning.

Every year we celebrate our regional gathering with a festival evening. Saturday evening was dedicated to a (mostly) spontaneous performance of excerpts from Percy MacKaye’s remarkable 1914 pageant “Saint Louis: A Civic Masque” (http://books.google.com/books?id=vDgrAAAAYAAJ).

Originally performed in St. Louis’s Forest Park by a cast of 2000 before an audience of over 100,000, this drama portrays beings and forces that we have experienced as vital to an understanding of our region and our work here. MacKaye’s powerful language brought the Masque to life; Robert Karp, Marianne Fieber, and Connie Michael directed, and Rebecah Freeling miraculously materialized props and costumes.

Percy Mackay’s cast-of-thousands pageant in 1914 (above)...

...and a spirited if more homeopathically-scaled rehearsal at the Central Regional gathering.

Above, the Mackay pageant’s costume for Gold, the most troublesome contender against the Spirit of St. Louis.

Sunday morning offered a final opportunity for spirit envisioning: how can we bring these ideas into reality in our own situations?

The capstone of our weekend gathering is the central region’s annual general meeting. Here, with our circle of coworkers, the CRC reviews our activities of the past year and plans for the future. This year we had reports from the national office by Jerry Kruse, the society’s treasurer, and from the new editor of the national newsletter, John Beck. We are grateful for their work!

Though regional councils are not elected, the CRC does ask for feedback and affirmation by our circle of coworkers at the regional AGM. Our choice of Dennis Dietzel to join the CRC was unanimously affirmed, as was the ongoing service of the five other CRC members. We also received many constructive suggestions and comments regarding the weekend itself, as well as our work throughout the year.

It is important to note the contribution of Bryan Wessling to our work in the central region, and to this gathering in particular. Bryan had carried the “Spirit of St. Louis” in our coworkers’ circle since 2005. Just days after our 2008 meeting in Kentucky, Bryan was diagnosed with cancer. Through Linda Ottow’s sensitive communications, she called on the prayerful support of our colleagues throughout the region in her valiant struggle with the disease. To open oneself up in this way is in itself tremendously courageous. Bryan’s situation was key to our recognition of St. Louis as the right place for our meeting this year. We were exceedingly grateful that she was able to join us Friday evening, and that her husband, Christian, was able to participate in much of the weekend. Bryan Wessling crossed the threshold on June 22, 2009. While we will miss her greatly, we know that she will continue to nurture the Spirit of St. Louis and anthroposophy in the central region from the spiritual world.

—Report by Margaret Runyon and Dennis Dietzel, photos by Dennis Dietzel and Travis Wyly.