Editor's Page
Is Unemployment Here to Stay? by Frank Thomas Smith
It
was 15 years ago in Helsinki, Finland. I was attending a conference
of the Association for Social Development, an international group of
anthroposophically oriented organization development consultants. A
Danish consultant gave a talk which I will never forget. An
attractive woman in her forties – I guessed – she smiled
once upon being introduced (I forget her name, so I'll call her
Ingrid.) and once at the end of her talk. What she said in between
was serious indeed. She
specialized in unemployment – not how to avoid or overcome it,
but what to do, as an employer, when it happens. And, as far as we as
consultants were concerned, what to advise the employer to do when he
must fire someone...Read more
Features
One Citizen’s Misadventure in Securityland by Ann Jones
Where
did I go wrong? Was it playing percussion with an Occupy Wall
Street band in Times Square when I was in New York recently? Or was
it when I returned to my peaceful new home in Oslo and deleted an
email invitation to hear Newt Gingrich lecture Norwegians on the
American election? (Yes, even here.) I
don’t know how it happened. Or even, really, what happened. Or
what it means. So I’ve got no point -- only a lot of
anxiety. I usually write
about the problems of the world, but now I’ve got one of my
own. They
evidently think I’m a terrorist...Read more
Swiss parliament to discuss cow horns by Ruth Zbinden
While the rest of world is worried about terrorism, the Greek default and unemployment, the Swiss Parliament will shortly have to deal with the question of whether cows should keep their horns or not. An initiative by Swiss citizens has recently put forward a draft parliamentary bill dealing with this issue, which has been signed by an astounding number of people. They are campaigning for the introduction of a form of husbandry which takes account of the true nature of the animals and are no longer willing to accept the rise in the mutilation of cows. According to the bill, farmers who allow their animals to keep their horns should be reimbursed one Swiss franc per cow per day by the government.
... Read more
Fiction
Streetcars and Green Stockings by Frank Thomas Smith
A lecture wasn't exactly what
I had in mind for the evening, but there we were, Katrina and I, approaching the hall where it
was to take place. A full moon shone into the narrow cobblestoned street. Its
presence more or less guaranteed that there would be no more snow that night. That same day, I think it was early afternoon, I had boarded a
streetcar and found a spot among the standees, when the clasp on my briefcase
somehow opened as we rounded a sharp curve and the books and papers tumbled
out. I bent to retrieve them and fell against another standee, knocking her
over and falling almost on top of her. Her long skirt hitched up somewhat and I noticed that she wore green stockings...
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The Chess Player by Herman Hesse
This seemed to me to be worth looking into
and I went in at this door. I found myself in a quiet twilit room where a man
with something like a large chessboard in front of him sat in Eastern fashion
on the floor. At first glance I thought it was friend Pablo. He wore at any
rate a similar gorgeous silk jacket and had the same dark and shining eyes.
“Are
you Pablo?” I asked.
“I
am not anybody,” he replied amiably. “We have no names here and we are not
anybody. I am a chess player. Do you wish for instruction in building up your
personality?”... Read more
Anthroposophy
Esoteric
Lessons for the First Class of the School for Spiritual Science at
the Goetheanum -
Lesson One by Rudolf Steiner
Introduction:
During the
re-founding of the Anthroposophical Society at Christmas 1923, Rudolf
Steiner also reconstituted the “Esoteric School” which
had originally functioned in Germany from 1904 until 1914, when the
outset of the First World War made it's continuance impossible. However,
the original school was only for a relatively few selected
individuals, whereas the new school was incorporated into the School
for Spiritual Science at the Goetheanum in
Dornach, Switzerland. ...Read more
Karmic Relations, Volume 1, Lecture 12 by Rudolf Steiner
Yesterday
I gave you pictures of two or three personalities. In order to
allow for the possibility of proof and confirmation, at least as
far as external details are concerned; it is necessary to choose
fairly well-known personalities and in describing them to you I
have pointed in each case to characteristic qualities which can
afford clues for the spiritual scientific investigator and help
him to follow up the karmic relationships. This time I have
chosen subjects which will also enable me to deal with a problem
that has been put to me by members of our Society. Simply stated,
it is as follows. Constantly, on every suitable occasion,
reference is made — and of course correctly — to the
fact that in very early times there were Initiates possessed of a
lofty wisdom and at a high stage of development, and the question
arises: If human beings pass through repeated earth-lives, where
are these highly-initiated personalities? Where are they today?
Are they to be found among the human beings who have been led to
reincarnation at the present time? I have accordingly chosen
examples which will enable me to deal with this very problem...
Read more
Poetry
Hungry Ghosts and other poems by Claudia Grinnell
Night drapes the bayou where cats raise a ruckus over
bone
Meal. Fresh fish preferred over vegetable
alternatives. What a cat does
Out of sight remains a secret to those who prefer to think
They exercise power connected to ownership. Ownership
valued above all
Other forms of control. The point of the pyramid is
control: the all-seeing
Eye. The eye reaches up your skirt, over your hose,
fondles your secret Benchmark. Just us blind people may be held back at
certain primary levels...
...Read more
She Walks in Beauty (and more) by Lord Byron
SHE walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellow'd to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies...
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Letters to the Editor
Comment
about the Steiner karma lecture: The story of Garibaldi's love is
just slightly inaccurate, as if small details matter. Anita's father
had already passed away for years when Garibaldi spotted her in his
telescope (it seems to be true), she lived then with her first
husband, who she abandoned to follow Garibaldi. It was a really bad
thing to do back then so her story was somewhat modified to omit it
in the history books.
Couldn't you have 'like' buttons and comment
boxes in SCR? :))
Read more
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reads: La Cruz del Sur.
Frank Thomas Smith, Editor
JoAnn Schwarz, Associate Editor
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