A feeling of deep gratitude for one another, and for all that each one has generously contributed has been warming both the space and our hearts! Teams of members have been hard at work since the middle of March, bringing their talents, with enthusiasm, grit and grace, to the work of preparing new space in the world for Anthroposophy. The church gave us the go-ahead…
Those of us who were surrounded by stacks of Anthroposophical books and journals as we entered titles into the catalog for the new library found ourselves enthusiastic, energized, and interested in what we were seeing! The challenge was to keep to the task at hand and not just dive into each piece we picked up.
Still, treasures were uncovered. I was particularly intrigued by an address1 that had been given by Emil Bock, one of the priest founders of the Christian Community in 1921…
You radiance in wind, concentrically weaving in and out of window frames in concrete and steel skeleton structures, whirl
toward my ruined orbit.
Help me to sprout coral branches of light
antennae of the Eternal, through the prison
of my skull. Lead my
resurrected INsight toward that mercurial
Sun-abyss where Archangels are holding council;
let me know those plans they’re
concocting for us down here. Let the eyes in your
photograph pasted to my wall, transmute to mine,
balance between Here and There.
Sweep, golden-angel-winged, into my monotonous
opacity, and spark that luminous
region near my heart
which, you say, moves to understand the stars,
that I may perceive Man’s spidery ties
to constellations:
And let my footsteps glide in tranquil three-time pace, during the earthly sun-period of my brain;
for they are restless
as a broken radiator; and I am angry,
and gossip about my friends, and write popular songs.
Let the squealing tones
of my voice deepen, and my tongue learn the folly
of useless chatter. Make me wise to choose
to shun the Trap of Fame
whose prize is a great hunk of putrefacted cheese:
For I sniff at the plastic lures of the senses
and forget it is enough
for God to mouthe my name. Let Promethean fire
fill me, though chained to a rock; symmetry not entice,
nor the rectangles of Albers*.
Beholding, let me face the blind of back alleys:
And guide the words I write to join your beacon to the Gods!
(*a reference to the work of German-American artist-educator Josef Albers.)
Here we are starting on the fourth month of the year – April. We have already welcomed Spring with the Equinox in March. A year ago we were getting used to saying the word coronavirus and wondering what the future would bring. Who would have thought that something invisible to the human eye, could change our lives so thoroughly?
A 2019 Statista survey of nearly 2 thousand US voters found that only 72% agreed that vaccines should be mandated for children. A very similar percentage was announced in December 2020 in a KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor survey showing that 71% would “definitely or probably get a vaccine for COVID-19 if it was determined to be safe by scientists and available for free to everyone who wanted it.” But surveying