The Constitution of the General Anthroposophical Society

GA 260a — 30 March 1924

From the Youth Section of the School of Spiritual Science IV

Once again, I would like to address the younger friends in the Anthroposophical Society specifically regarding the establishment of the Youth Section. There seem to be two opposing opinions within our youth circles. One perceives youth as something that must be sought. They feel drawn to anthroposophy because they hope to find satisfaction for their search there. They have become aware that this search must go to the depths of the soul and that contemporary civilization cannot lead to these depths. There are young people who seek esotericism because they have sensed that it is only in esotericism that the true content of the human being can be experienced.

These young people will easily find the path to what the Executive Council of the Anthroposophical Society is striving for with the Youth Section. And this Executive Council will not interfere with anyone's independent striving. It will have a heart for this independence. But it will also be mindful of the fact that the cultivation of esoteric life is its task. This concern will be its first priority. It will lead the Youth Section in such a way that esotericism is given its rightful place, and it believes that true esotericism will also lead to true “youth wisdom.”

But there is another youth opinion. This opinion is easily tempted to take youth in such an absolute sense that even the pursuit of esotericism appears to it as the absorption of a foreign body. Above all, it wants to immerse itself in its own youth, undeterred by anything that comes from outside, and to bring this to understanding.

In the Anthroposophical Society, young people who hold this opinion also hope to find something. Otherwise, they would not be there at all. But they believe that they must first bring the right spirit to anthroposophy through the activity of their youth. The Executive Council of the Anthroposophical Society is far from meeting this section of young people with philistine criticism. But it could easily happen that its intentions are seen in a false light by some young people. For it cannot deviate from its insight that the esotericism attempted by the Anthroposophical Society contains the stream of eternity to which young people aspire. It cannot fall into the error of thinking that esotericism must first take on its true form through youth, since it knows that in esotericism, young people will find the right paths to be “young” in the true sense.

I say this not because I want to point out a contradiction between a section of young people and the Executive Council. I do not see any such opposition, and there cannot be any such opposition in a practical world view. For the Executive Council is aware that its tasks come from the spiritual world, and it will have to follow the paths that are shown to it from there in everything it does. There can be no “opposition” to this in the field of its activity.

But it would be possible for the youth themselves to drive themselves into contradictions if one part emphasized its aspirations one-sidedly in relation to the other. And that could cause immeasurable damage to the anthroposophical youth movement. However, this will not happen if young people pay closer attention to something they have learned from a civilization that has become “too old” than they often do. There is a certain tendency toward abstraction, toward speaking in mere concepts. In the preceding reflection, I have expressed how little this abstraction suits young people. In truth, no one in the youth movement wants this either. But when talking about being young, about the ideals of youth, it is still there. There is even a worrying amount of “old age” in today's youth. If, on the other hand, young people reflect on their true experiences, they will find that these are like questions, and that the esotericism of the Anthroposophical Society at least offers them attempts at answers.

On the basis of such practical insight, understanding between different opinions in our youth movement will certainly grow.

Engaging with esotericism can become an experience for young people themselves. If this happens, young people will realize that it is precisely through this engagement that they can realize what they often envision in an indefinite way. If this does not happen, it could easily be that some young people, not from innate but from externally absorbed “old talk,” will draw a theoretical curtain over the experience indicated.

If young people understand each other, they will also understand the Executive Council of the Anthroposophical Society.