From the General Secretary: “where has the sacred gone?”

August, 2019 Dear Members and Friends,  The truth is that when any notion of the sacred is banished, it is impossible for humans to establish a hierarchy of values. Thus we can try to impose a few rules externally, but in vain: the soul will not embrace them on a fundamental level because they do…

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The Temple and the Treasury

from being human spring-fall 2019 by John Bloom How is it that high-profile banks have managed to perpetuate their mythic images as temples of finance? Despite the revelations of wrong-doing, ethical breaches, and market manipulation, banks are still keepers of our money. The language of trust is brandished amidst the marble columns and promises of security,…

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From the General Secretary: from Goetheanum spring meetings

May 3, 2019A Brief Report from the Spring Meetings at the Goetheanum Dear Members and Friends,Spring greetings. As I did last year, I am writing this brief report following the spring meetings at the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland. Most public of those meetings is the Annual General Meeting at which business of the General Anthroposophical…

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From the General Secretary: “the spirit world – a true commons”

From the General Secretary February 2019 Walls, great and small, are a sensitive topic these days, and even more meaningful are the boundaries that walls make visible. Physical boundaries separate us: rivers, mountains, or coastlines, and each one of us is apart from the others. Boundaries may also be negotiated delineations, in essence territorial, recorded…

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The Character of Capitalism, Capital, & Money

from being human spring issue 2019 by John Bloom Given how enmeshed politics have become with our economic and cultural life, I probably ought not to be surprised that capitalism, or what it has come to represent, is frequently disparaged as the bearer of illness in the body social. I have found myself reminding others when…

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Traute Page & the White Rose

from being human spring issue 2019 This article include a book review, a reminder of the resistance group “The White Rose,” and appreciations of Traute Lafrenz Page, MD, at her 100th birthday. Dr. Page was a General Secretary of the Anthroposophical Society in America in the 1990s. Long Live Freedom! Traute Lafrenz and the White Rose,…

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From the General Secretary: “what is happening to language & speaking”

From the General Secretary December 2018 We shape the world by how we speak; the world shapes us by what we say. These days I find myself wondering what is happening to language and speaking. Reductivist twittering, hacked thoughts, words are everywhere present in our lives: written, spoken, printed, sung, and even shouted. They guide…

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Division of Labor — and Artificial Intelligence

from being human summer-fall 2018 by John Bloom In the spirit of reconsidering many aspects of economic life, questioning underlying assumptions, and finding ways of reimagining the next economy, the division of labor has received little attention. It is certainly hard-wired into the current capital-driven market economy that seeks to maximize profit. While an awareness…

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Maulsby Kimball at Eighty

Maulsby Kimball

from the ASA Newsletter, Summer 1984; Maulsby Kimball was president and executive director of the ASA from 1962 to 1972. I was born in Buffalo, NY on May 20, 1904 and grew up there. The home atmosphere was a cultured and artistic one with regular reading aloud of poetry and fine literature. My mother was…

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