The Constitution of the General Anthroposophical Society

GA 260a — 30 January 1924

The School of Spiritual Science Within the Constitution of the Anthroposophical Society · Its Structure in Sections

We must now gradually come to the point where we establish here in Dornach, as it were, a model example of what must be further developed in the Anthroposophical Society. But this can only happen if there is a thorough general understanding here in Dornach of how the structure of the Society and its general constitution are to be conceived in the future.

I have now seen from the letters I have received with messages for the class that such an understanding is by no means already present everywhere. Therefore, before we come to the establishment of what is to be established, I will have to say a few words here about what is to happen, and I will therefore give the next three lectures — on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday — as general lectures for all members of the Anthroposophical Society, and will then begin with the structure of the lectures for the various classes next week, when it will be completely clear who will be joining the first class to be established.

For example, some things that have been so strongly emphasized in individual letters still need to be clarified. There were letters in which it was simply stated that people would like to be able to hear not only the lectures on Saturday and Sunday, but also the lectures on Friday. Well, you see, this shows that what is meant by the structure of the Society as such and the classes to be established within it is not yet thoroughly understood. And I would like to say a few words about that today.

It will be quite irrelevant on which day in the near future the lectures for the members of the first class will be given. It could also be that the division is made so that on Friday and Saturday the lectures are given for the general public, and on Sunday for the members of the first class. So, this matter should not be taken lightly. The fact that it should not be taken lightly is evident from the strict manner in which things have been expressed in the statutes. It is really a matter of now understanding what the Anthroposophical Society is to become.

First of all, everyone who hears about the Anthroposophical Society should be able to know that it has nothing to do with any kind of secrecy; that, like other societies, it is a thoroughly public society. I would have very much liked to see this understood immediately from the moment the Anthroposophical Society was established in 1912 and 1913. Then many things would have been easier than they are now. For at that time, because it was an integral part of the measures taken, I did precisely this: I withdrew from the actual administration of the Anthroposophical Society and wanted to be nothing other than the one who brings in the knowledge or the impulses that are to flow into the Anthroposophical Society. So that the possibility would have existed that the Anthroposophical Society — precisely because the person who brings in the impulses and the leadership are not united in one person — that the Anthroposophical Society could easily have worked in the world to establish a judgment about the anthroposophical cause.

That is what did not happen, and that is why this situation had to arise, that I had to bring in the impulses and at the same time take over the chairmanship of the Society, which was precisely what was to be avoided at that time.

That was really an extremely difficult decision, because it means that basically everything will have to change, and it will be very difficult, given many of the customs that have become established over the years, to do this or that in a fundamentally different way.

The Anthroposophical Society really must recognize its situation very clearly in two respects. The first is that it must be aware that it must be there for every person in the world who is searching in their soul for the paths to the spiritual, that in this respect it must be a completely public society, a society that is completely independent from the outside world. So that within the Anthroposophical Society, one really must not be narrow-minded with regard to admission.

If this is sufficiently well known, then the presence of this or that personality, who may not be very well suited to the anthroposophical cause, need not cause any difficulties in the Anthroposophical Society. Only as long as the Anthroposophical Society is held responsible for every single personality within it will difficulties naturally arise. The Anthroposophical Society as such should have unlimited possibilities to give every human being what they are looking for in the direction just indicated.

Secondly, however, the Anthroposophical Society should be clear that it was not formed out of some unknown or undefined intention. It could have been clear about this as early as 1912 or 1913, because at that time a large part of the teaching material was already available, and there were also certain impulses that pointed toward realizing here in the physical world what the spiritual world wants to tell us in the present. One should therefore have imagined that even then the Anthroposophical Society was not based on abstract principles, that one should make this or that one's ideal, but that it was founded on what is really there, what is available, what has been worked out over a long period of time. And to cultivate what has been worked out, with all the consequences for artistic, religious, and social life—in short, for all branches of human life—to work out these consequences, that is what the Anthroposophical Society is responsible for.

Now, if one understands this in the right sense, then the Anthroposophical Society today actually differs from all other societies in the world, for they are not based on something real, but on all kinds of human intentions.

That is why it is so strongly expressed in the so-called statutes that the Anthroposophical Society encompasses those personalities who see something justified in the spiritual life that emanates from the Goetheanum. So it is not said that one should adhere to this or that principle, but everything is based on what already exists among human beings, or at least what can exist among human beings.

This is what is extremely important. And one can even say that if the Anthroposophical Society wants to develop a consciousness of time within itself, it cannot do so without taking into account what I have just said. For our time, our present, is — please take this word very seriously — our present is a time of great decisions. Many tremendous things are being decided for humanity in the present. This present will of course last a long time, but many, immeasurably many things are being decided for humanity in the present. Many people are simply not aware of how strongly the present is the time of great decisions. And above all, a strong awareness of these decisions must be developed in the Anthroposophical Society.

So that on the one hand, we must say: the Anthroposophical Society must not establish the principle that I choose people I trust, and they can then decide according to their sympathies and antipathies whom they want to admit and whom they do not want to admit. Because this has happened on a fairly large scale, it has gradually led to a situation where so many people who want to join feel repelled by the Anthroposophical Society. Again and again one hears the judgment: Anthroposophy is all right, but the anthroposophists are unbearable. — Almost every day one encounters the practical consequences of such a situation.

It would be extremely difficult for the Anthroposophical Society to cultivate the things that need to be cultivated in order to nurture anthroposophy if the Anthroposophical Society did not show understanding for the greatest possible generosity of spirit, but also for the greatest possible zeal. Narrow-mindedness and indolence are simply incompatible with the anthroposophical cause as such.

Today, you can see everywhere how those human communities that have spiritual substance within them are working energetically to maintain the community they have achieved through this spiritual substance. We see today how these groups of people — large, global groups of people — are beginning to work again in the most active way, because today is the time of great decisions in people's hearts.

The Anthroposophical Society can now truly become something that has a say in the present, if the intentions indicated are taken up by the members of this Anthroposophical Society.

Now, above all, it must become increasingly clear how the relationship of the individual member to the Anthroposophical Society can be conceived. You see, what can be called the teachings, the impulses of the Anthroposophical Society, can be understood by anyone — I have said this countless times — who is willing to use their common sense. It is really not a question of needing some kind of initiation or the like in order to understand what anthroposophy presents to the world, but rather that what is presented to the world can be understood if one is only sufficiently unprejudiced.

Yes, if one is only sufficiently unprejudiced! Certainly, this lack of prejudice is difficult in our time, because humanity has almost completely lost its connection with the spiritual world. And wherever one looks today, one encounters judgments such as the one I am about to mention. One is told: Yes, certainly, there is a spiritual world, but the spiritual world is precisely the mystery. The human mind is not capable of comprehending anything of the spiritual world. — And it is regarded as a characteristic of a correct view of the spiritual world that this spiritual world should appear as something mysterious. What one cannot know, what one can only have a vague idea of, what one should only feel as far as possible, and the like, is regarded as the real spiritual. And people find it unpleasant to admit that the spiritual should really be understood. Most people do not have the courage to do so. Most people find it extremely convenient to say: Spirituality is what one must sense, what one cannot understand, what is mysterious. Now, the whole point of spiritual science is that the mystery should be revealed, that the mystery should really be brought before the world.

It can be said that the only major institution, although this is not always properly understood even by members of this institution, that really sets out to present the mystery to the world, to reveal it, is the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church, if it is properly understood, will have no sympathy for the idea that the content of the spiritual world cannot be expressed in ideas and concepts. For the very essence of the Catholic Church is based on expressing in concepts that which is mystery, that which is initially veiled from the sensory world. So that the whole mood I have now characterized has actually only existed in the very last centuries. But today it must fade away again. We must realize once again that the task of humanity consists precisely in uncovering the mysterious.

When I first met many of the members of the so-called Theosophical Society in Vienna in the 1980s—some of whom belonged to the most intimate circles of the Theosophical Society—one phrase was heard again and again: “Abysmally deep.” Sometimes people would say the simplest things, but it was noted that people couldn't understand these simplest things because they were abysmally deep. And when you asked someone how they understood it, they said they couldn't say because it was abysmally deep. — Well, the Anthroposophical Society must not work by talking around the mystery and only ever drawing attention to the fact that it is mysterious. It should be precisely the Anthroposophical Society that ensures that every individual who is a member — otherwise there is no point in them joining — really familiarizes themselves with what anthroposophy can offer about the spiritual world. They should first strive to understand what can be offered. This is really not too much to ask. As I said, pedantry should not prevail in anything; it is not a question of pedantically following the guidelines I am about to give. There must be exceptions everywhere, and numerous exceptions will be necessary in one direction or another. But it is indeed the case that one really needs two years to orient oneself within what the Anthroposophical Society already has to offer, since its teachings and impulses have been developed over many years. Those who have not been in the Anthroposophical Society for two years would not do particularly well to join a class straight away. It is for their own good if they do not even think about it, but if they first think about really cultivating what is available as anthroposophy — and there is enough of that.

And this brings me straight to the essence of the Anthroposophical Society. I also briefly indicated this as the essence of the Society in the third section of the addresses to the members.

Looking at things from the outside, one might say: What anthroposophy offers is contained in books and public lectures, and I can learn about it for myself. — Anyone can do that, and there is basically nothing wrong with someone saying that. And it does no harm; on the contrary, it will be very good if as many people as possible in the world remain at this point of view, saying: I don't need a society, I am concerned with what is given in the literature or what else comes out of anthroposophy into the public domain. — The Anthroposophical Society exists precisely to bring anthroposophy to life. And this is where something comes in that makes the Society seem justified, even though anthroposophy is there. Anthroposophy should live among people. And the point is that when anthroposophy lives among people, one really takes into account what it means to pursue a common spiritual goal together with other people. That means a great deal.

I can go to a branch of the Anthroposophical Society, where, in a more or less skillful or unskillful way, something may be presented for my sake that the person who goes there has long known because he has read it here or there. There is definitely something wrong in the Society if the person concerned then leaves with the judgment: I didn't need to go there, because I already knew what was presented. — It must be possible for real feelings to assert themselves as judgments on anthroposophical ground.

When people eat, they don't usually say: I didn't need to eat chicken now, because I already know what chicken tastes like. I know how chicken behaves on my palate, on my tongue. Why do I need to eat chicken when I already know quite well what effect it has on me? — That's nonsense, isn't it? It's absurd.

And likewise, it should not be possible for this judgment to arise: I don't need to go to the anthroposophical general meeting, because I already know what is offered there. But then, if such a feeling is to arise in a justified way, it is necessary that one does not go to the society as such or to its individual branches merely to learn what can be said there, or even what can be debated there, but that one goes because there are people there. One must be able to go for the sake of the people.

And that is precisely what must be thoroughly understood, that one goes to the Anthroposophical Society not merely to be taught, but to be with the people who are in the Anthroposophical Society or in its individual branches. Whether the Anthroposophical Society will flourish or not depends on whether one has a feeling for the life of anthroposophy in human souls; not just in one's own soul, but in human souls. Otherwise, it will always be the case that the people who are in the Anthroposophical Society go there to learn something. But if they want to find people, they go where people come together: to five o'clock teas or other things that I don't want to mention now. So I think that people need people. But it must not be the case within the Anthroposophical Society that people go there not for the sake of other people, and care must be taken to ensure that people go to the Anthroposophical Society for the sake of other people in whom anthroposophy lives. This brings a whole new element into the life of anthroposophy within the society, an element that must be present. The purely human element comes in. These are the things that are really required in the most eminent sense at present.

As you know, during the Christmas Conference we asked certain personalities to write to us about their experiences of the spiritual life of the present day out in the world, to write to Mr. Steffen, as editor of the “Nachrichtenblatt” and the “Goetheanum,” about their experiences of spiritual life in the Society and also outside the Society. And I have already expressed my views on the importance of this matter in the last newsletter.

Now, as this has already been done in part, all kinds of interesting things have come to light again, things that were basically already known, such as the following: The Religious Community for Christian Renewal, which, as you know, has received its impulses from anthroposophy — it works as an independent community, but has received its impulses from anthroposophy — held a meeting in Kassel very recently. This meeting in Kassel was initially notable — which is very characteristic of the present day — in that it consisted of participants who were either quite young or already elderly. The reporter says that most of the people there were in their twenties, then again people from their mid-thirties to their mid-forties, but that the middle age group, the middle humanity, which would have been in their twenties and thirties, was missing from this meeting. This is very characteristic. For what is significant—and you can observe this everywhere if you keep your eyes open—is that in all important matters and decisions in the world in recent times, the people who are most important, those between the ages of twenty, twenty-two, and thirty-eight, and so on, have been missing. I am not saying that the others are not important for the cause, but it is important to have these people, then the others who are younger and older can also do something. But if you don't have the people who are at this important age in life, the importance of which you can see from some anthroposophical hints, then it is extremely difficult.

Nevertheless, all sorts of things came up at this gathering in Kassel. It was organized entirely by the Christian Community. First, people were introduced to circles, to ascend to higher truths, introduced to what the Christian Community has to say from a free religious point of view. Then came what the Christian Community also has: the cultic act. The week passed, I believe from Wednesday to Sunday, and on Sunday the cultic act took place. Then there were two or three days for discussions, where people could talk among themselves. It became apparent how these people, out of a truly energetic need of the human heart in the present, rose with their whole soul through these days to the act of worship, and how they all asked afterwards: There must be something else to come to? All this can only be a preparation. There must be something to come to.

And then it turned out that what people want is anthroposophy. And probably many beautiful things will come out of this youth conference in Kassel, for example, that just as the Christian Community thought about religious renewal, people will think about educational renewal. And if, with all the energy that is there, work is now really done on educational renewal, then something can indeed come into being.

I cite this case because it shows that anthroposophy truly does not arise from some kind of obstinacy, but from what the human soul demands today. And if it is first prepared by the emotional, then it will necessarily come to no longer allow the mystery to remain vague and obscure, but to actually grasp the revealed mystery in anthroposophy. The Anthroposophical Society must not continue to be an obstacle to bringing into the world what the world demands, what numerous hearts and souls demand. And this is also the basis for the fact that, through the Christmas Conference, the Anthroposophical Society has been developed as a completely public organization.

But everything that can be justified in the first instance must be understood — partly intellectually, partly emotionally — when it is simply there, when it simply occurs. Both our anthroposophy and its educational element can be understood by people who are free of prejudice. They do not need to use anything other than their common sense, as long as they do not allow their common sense to be constricted by the prejudices that exist in the present. So one can say: the Anthroposophical Society must be based entirely on insight, on nothing other than insight. And of course, no one who is merely a member of the Anthroposophical Society can be expected to become a proponent or active worker for anthroposophy. It is entirely legitimate for individual members to simply seek anthroposophy in the first place and then seek out anthroposophical people within the society. And there is actually no immediate claim on a member of the Anthroposophical Society that the member in question should also do something to spread the word.

For what I said in one of the chapters of my letter to the members in the newsletter must also be absolutely true: Agitation in the usual sense of the word cannot serve the anthroposophical cause. All agitation is evil. There is also no need to agitate on anthroposophical ground, because all that is necessary is to give people what they desire anyway, if only one can find ways for people to express their desires. They express it least when one appears with the air of a highly learned person and explains to them: You must believe what has become my conviction, otherwise you are a fool, and everyone who does not believe what I believe is a fool. It is very important that we adopt the attitude that it is not as if we have a right to give people something other than what they desire, as if we have a right to place ourselves above the people to whom we want to bring something. We must break the habit of acting in a typically didactic or agitational manner, so that we can truly make it a reality: insight must be the fundamental element of life in the Anthroposophical Society.

But the Anthroposophical Society must also be administered, that is, the teaching material must be administered, and for this people are needed. And this administration of the teaching material also had to be considered at the Christmas Conference. And the bearers of this administration of the teaching material must be those who now turn to the classes, in connection with the elected Executive Council and in connection with the leadership of the Goetheanum. For you see, in order to understand anthroposophy, one does not need trust. To administer anthroposophy, of course, requires complete trust in those who work as human beings within the administration. So where the class structure begins, the atmosphere of trust begins, and there you really have to build on trust. And I have said it again and again, as long as there has been an Anthroposophical Society: it is not a contradiction that one does not accept anthroposophy on the basis of authority or trust, but on the basis of the insight that the administration of anthroposophical matters can only be built on trust.

It is necessary that human trust prevails in relation to those personalities who undertake something, who have something to provide for, who have something to care for, so that this question of trust is taken just as seriously within the class as, on the other hand, the Anthroposophical Society must be taken generously.

For this reason alone, it is necessary that everyone who wants to belong to the classes also asks themselves whether they really want to become a personality who, from the outset, not only wants to represent the anthroposophical cause to the world, but also wants to represent it with all their courage and in every way.

It is indeed the case that the esoteric deepening of knowledge, about which you can read so much in my book “How to Know Higher Worlds,” but which is also talked about so much, is now to be achieved through the three classes.

This will not be possible unless the members of these classes feel that they are true representatives of the anthroposophical cause, unless they ask themselves whether they really want to take on the task of representing the anthroposophical cause to the world in some way. Of course, not everyone can represent it in its entirety — that is neither necessary nor even useful — but they can do so in some area. Then, however, they must indeed be a personality who stands fully on the ground, not of the trust that is necessary for anthroposophy, but of the trust that is necessary for the administration of the anthroposophical cause. In particular, we must put an end to what has so often resulted from the past in the Anthroposophical Society — I have again pointed this out in the third chapter of my letter to the members, which will be published this week. In this third chapter of my letter to the members, I call it “playing at esotericism.” This can be understood as playing at esotericism in the broadest sense. Esotericism is truly an extremely serious matter, both in relation to one's own soul and in relation to human beings and our times. By this I do not mean that seriousness is achieved by looking gloomy and being as sentimental and important as possible, but rather that there must be an inner seriousness that is even compatible with a good sense of humor. For example, it should not be customary to say: I know something, but I can't tell you because you are not yet ready for it. And now this arouses the strangest feelings. Above all, one makes oneself tremendously important, and one does not notice that one is making oneself important.

Certainly, there are things that must be practiced in the closest circles, but they must not be treated in this way. On the other hand, esoteric things are not those that are often talked about in a way that causes them to be gossiped about. These things are even very difficult to describe because they are based on attitudes toward life. But here and there, people will understand what I mean. These things are not there just to be able to talk about this or that being a secret of the mysteries, or that this or that incarnation exists. They must be treated with the utmost seriousness. They must be treated with a certain insight into the following.

How often do we hear the saying: Oh, those are people who do this or that, you can't do anything esoteric with them; let's do esotericism among ourselves, among worthy people. — That in itself is something that contributes enormously to the destruction of the Anthroposophical Society. Firstly, it is usually nothing more than the masked satisfaction of cliques, the satisfaction of clique needs; secondly, when you say something like that, you have no idea how much esotericism life offers in every area. Life is entirely esoteric. And you would not believe how much esotericism there is in a university laboratory, only that the professors and assistant professors know nothing about it, but it is there nonetheless. The esoteric does not consist in despising something in order to cultivate what one likes, but rather in being able to engage with life and its depths in the most energetic way possible.

That is precisely what I mean by playing with esotericism. Such things evaporate very quickly. One establishes some kind of circle out of a masked clique need, but it evaporates very quickly. One finds it too difficult to deal with the real esotericism of life and finds it convenient to talk about esotericism. Yes, when esotericism is passed on by word of mouth, even if it is done in an unctuous manner, it is just esoteric chatter. And that is what really contributes infinitely to the destruction of the Anthroposophical Society and even directly to the destruction of the anthroposophical cause. Therefore, it will indeed be the case that within the classes, the question of trust must be taken seriously in the most eminent sense in the future.

It will not be the case that one can simply say: I am entitled to be admitted to a class after two years in the Society. Being admitted to a class means that the leadership of the Anthroposophical Society must work with the person concerned. The leaders cannot be enslaved. They cannot be forced to work with those with whom they do not want to work because they cannot. Therefore, the possibility must exist, and this is what must be pointed out now, that the Christmas Conference must be taken in all seriousness. There must be the possibility for the leadership of the School of Spiritual Science to say to those who do not feel they are representatives of the anthroposophical cause: You are of course very welcome in the General Anthroposophical Society, but unfortunately you cannot be a member of the class. This must be possible in the future. This must be taken seriously in the most eminent sense.

Of course, these things will never be based on any sympathies or antipathies, they will not be done frivolously, but they must be understood. So that if members of the school simply act against the leadership, what I have just indicated will have to happen. Isn't it true that every person has their own special wishes, one wants this, another wants that. No member of the Anthroposophical Society in general can, of course, be prevented from having their special wishes. That would turn the Anthroposophical Society into something it should not be at all: a sect or a secret society. It must not be that.

Now, the classes will not have the character of a secret society in any way. Secret societies are not possible today; the present age demands something else. But it must be possible for the leadership to work only with those with whom it can work. Therefore, in the future, those who wish to belong to any class will be required to consult with the Executive Council on all matters relating to anthroposophy when they take any action on their own initiative. Only in this way will it be possible for the Executive Council to feel responsible for the entire Anthroposophical Society. And it wants to feel responsible, and it wants to stand up for the anthroposophical cause.

So, it will not be possible in the future to come and say: Oh, we're doing things that are none of the Executive Council's business. Of course you can do them, but then you cannot belong to the classes. It will be necessary that this principle of unity in spirit is just as essential in our school as it has always been essential in all mysteries. Otherwise, our entire anthroposophical being will remain something that cannot achieve its goal, for these are simply the lawful requirements of the matter.

One can say: I want to destroy the anthroposophical cause. Well, of course, everyone is free to do so. But one cannot expect those who want to lead the anthroposophical cause to admit that the conditions necessary for the existence of the anthroposophical cause are not being fulfilled.

Whether it is the establishment of a group or something else, it will be a matter of ensuring that this is really done by the members of the Free University of Spiritual Science in harmony with the leadership, so that the leadership has actually centralized this aspect of the anthroposophical cause.

So anyone who wants to join out of mere curiosity, perhaps to hear something different in the classes than in the Anthroposophical Society, should really consider not doing so. For it was not just a figure of speech at the Christmas Conference when it was said that a new impulse must come into the life of the Anthroposophical Society. It is not a question of keeping the great knowledge of the class secret, but rather that people — and the higher the class they are in, the more this must be the case — actually become representatives of the anthroposophical cause. And this must be a real cause, not something that can float around in cloud cuckoo land. It must be something real. And then all sorts of things must not be instigated behind the board's back. So that in the future, the administration of the anthroposophical cause will be entirely in the hands of the School of Spiritual Science.

Nor will it be a secret society. It will ensure that people always know, to the greatest possible extent, what it is doing. But membership, as in the Anthroposophical Society itself, will be based only on what makes sense: that one wants to cultivate anthroposophy together with other people. Likewise, the School of Spiritual Science will impose ever stricter obligations on its members. Otherwise it will not be able to exist, and otherwise it will have no meaning. One of these obligations, for example, will be to put an end to something that has already become incredibly widespread: the tendency to criticize from all sides those people who, by virtue of their qualities, have to take on positions of responsibility in our Anthroposophical Society. It is really easy to criticize; creating something is infinitely more difficult. If one is comfortable in one's daily life, which consists of taking care of one's own immediate affairs, it is easy to criticize those who have to spend their day doing things that simply have to be done within the Anthroposophical Society. So a mindset will indeed have to take hold in this direction, which will have to consist of thinking above all about what is really being done in the Anthroposophical Society. The question of what one does not like must be rejected. Nowadays, people prefer to talk about what they do not like. But the main thing is to pay attention to what is being done, what is really happening. What is really happening should actually enter into the consciousness of the members of the Society. And even if no false authoritarian principle should be applied to the leadership, in a certain sense it is true that the leadership cannot cope with its task if everyone who is not concerned with how things come about now also criticizes this leadership in every direction.

These are the things I wanted to draw attention to today, because I have seen that, for example, after what has been said so far, some people have believed that it is really only a matter of registering for the Friday lectures in order to be able to hear them in addition to the Saturday and Sunday lectures. That would of course be a convenient thing. But the School of Spiritual Science should consist of people who feel themselves to be representatives of the anthroposophical cause. I would therefore ask that this be taken into account above all when deciding to join the first class to be established. And with this in mind, we will then attempt to form the first class following the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday lectures. The next lectures will therefore be those that are still held for all members of the Anthroposophical Society. And in the lectures that will be held next week, the first class will already play a role.

The second class will only be established after some time.

That is what I wanted to tell you first today. I scheduled this hour because reading the book I compiled from the letters that had arrived up to a certain point in time prompted me to do so. It has already become quite a thick book, but it will become much thicker; there will be volumes. And reading this book taught me that it was necessary to say what I have taken the liberty of saying today.

I would very much like to ask everyone who wants to be admitted to the School of Spiritual Science to tell me how long they have been in the society, because that needs to be known, and whether they are inclined really get involved in some way with what I said today about the question of trust, and thus really take on obligations as a member of the class. These things should already be included in the applications.

Now, it may be that those friends who are considering admission will then be asked what we want to know about them, apart from what is in the letter. But you see, if someone writes to you saying they want to hear the Friday lectures, even that question is difficult to answer, because it is not a matter of whether they want to hear the Friday lectures — for those may be on Sunday — but whether they want to be a member of the School of Spiritual Science. That is what it is about.

So that is what concerns the members. The division into sections will be a matter for the leadership. And the leadership will work in such a way that the departments that are to be represented can actually be represented. But that will happen in every class. And everyone will be able to find satisfaction for their needs, in accordance with the leadership of their section, just as they will find satisfaction for their very general needs as human beings in relation to the spiritual in the General Section of the Anthroposophical Society. So, everyone who belongs to any other section will also have to belong to the general human anthroposophical section, because that will have to be the basis for everything else.

So that is what will have to be taken into account.