The Constitution of the General Anthroposophical Society

GA 260a — 17 February 1924

The School of Spiritual Science V

If the members of the school accept the conditions outlined above, they will make the Anthroposophical Society into what alone can give it its raison d'être. The starting point for the school's work will have to be the Goetheanum. This is where the work to be done by the school will initially have to be carried out. But ways and means will also be found to enable the members of the school scattered throughout the world to participate fully. This will not be achieved by launching a campaign to obtain transcripts of everything that is said at the Goetheanum in every possible way. We experienced the unfolding of such a campaign about a year ago when the slogan was issued that new life must be brought into the Society.

We will not make progress by rushing ahead in this way. On Friday, February 15, I will give my first lecture at the Goetheanum for the School of Spiritual Science. The members who have been provisionally accepted into the school by the Executive Council will be gathered there. Those who have applied for admission and have not yet received notification should not consider themselves rejected. The entire structure of the school, including membership, will only develop gradually.

But as the school's work progresses, it will also become clear how the Goetheanum itself must ensure that the work can be disseminated. The means and ways will also be sought where the center for the school is to be created. We will then approach those individuals and groups in a possible way who announce that they are seeking membership. But we must bear in mind that we here at the Goetheanum will not be able to cope if existing institutions simply say: we are here and we now want to join the Goetheanum and its Free University. This declaration as such is of course good, and everything that happens in this direction will be welcomed by the Executive Council at the Goetheanum. But it must not mean: we are coming to you at this moment, transform us so that we are members of the School of Spiritual Science. This could then lead to everyone continuing to do what they have done so far, only that they baptize it in the name of this school.

What is being strived for at the Goetheanum through the activities of the Executive Council can only gradually flow into the individual institutions. This Executive Council cannot see its task as “organizing,” but rather as working. Then it will be its task to bring the results of its work to those who want them in whatever way it can. No matter how beautifully one may “organize,” for a society such as the anthroposophical society, this actually accomplishes nothing. It lives only through what is worked within it. The best guarantee for the flourishing of the society will lie in the participation of the entire membership in the work at the Goetheanum. And the Executive Council will strive to make everything that is done by the members the content of the society.