Before the Conference the Anthroposophical Society in New Zealand will host Bodo von Plato, a member of the executive at the Goetheanum. He will visit New Zealand in August. Sue Simpson shares a taste of Bodo’s visit.
‘Inner culture develops responsibility for the world’ is the theme that Bodo has chosen to work with during his visit to New Zealand. He hopes that during his visit there will be plenty of opportunity to speak to it, exchange thoughts, hear from one another and perceive examples of where it is actively present in life.
An underlying premise of this theme is the understanding that developing a specific inner, meditative practice will lead to the development of a new relationship with the world, one in which individuals are able and willing to take on responsibility. What would a world look like in which people cultivated a living inner life and consequently developed true responsibility for the world? Where there developed a sense of responsibility in which our relationship to everything changed: to god, to nature, to society, to others, to ourselves.
Today, we human beings are in a process of building and creating another world. To understand this is of utmost importance. A truly human world will be a world founded on the premise that a human being develops self awareness, self knowledge and has the capacity to respond to the call:
“O human being know yourself!” That is the call of our present time and one, when we have ears to hear, that can be heard everywhere!
Bodo von Plato is a member of the executive at the Goetheanum, he joined the executive at the same time as Sergei Prokofiev. In August this year, he will visit NZ. I first met Bodo in 2006 when, as the newly elected general secretary for New Zealand, I accompanied Hans van Florenstein Mulder to the Goetheanum. At that time, I knew very few of the executive members and it has been a privilege over the years to experience their sincerity, commitment and dedication to anthroposophy and the Anthroposophical Society. It was several years before I had the opportunity to hear Bodo lecture in English; his fluency of French was apparent from the start. At the Australian Anthroposophical Society conference, he spoke fluently in English, on the evolution of human consciousness. Through his lectures, I became aware of the depth and breadth of his thinking as he moved from Plato to contemporaries such as Hannah Ardent and Francios Cheng. The experience at this conference encouraged me to invite him to visit New Zealand and share something of his impulse and life at the Goetheanum with New Zealanders.
There will not be a possibility to hold a conference during his visit, 17-30 August, instead Bodo will travel to different areas around the country. His first meeting will be with the council prior to the AGM. The AGM is 19 August in Auckland and we have invited Bodo to be a guest speaker. In the fortnight that he’s here we hope to organise a variety of opportunities for members/class members and friends to meet with him. Bodo has expressed a wish to experience the flavour of New Zealand, meeting people and initiatives that reach beyond the Society, and if possible make a connection with the stream of Maori spirituality. This is all being organised and formed as I write.
The following itinerary is in draft form and is not yet set in stone but it does give an idea of what is being planned.
For further information contact Sue Simpson sue.simpson0@gmail.com
Itinerary Bodo von Plato – August 2017
Thursday 17 – Monday 21 Auckland
Tuesday 22 and Wednesday 23 TBC
Thursday 24 and Friday 25 Hawke’s Bay
Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 Wellington
Monday 28 and Tuesday 29 Christchurch
Wednesday 30 depart