The Constitution of the General Anthroposophical Society

GA 260a — 6 April 1924

The School of Spiritual Science aims to Bring out the Immediate Human Aspect

This institution cannot come about from abstract considerations “from above.” It must arise from the needs of our membership “from below.” The Executive Council of the Anthroposophical Society has decided to form a Youth Section because this corresponds to what young people in our society are seeking from the depths of their being. And it will be designed in such a way that these needs can be met as they arise.

This must also be the case for the other sections. To achieve this, however, it is necessary that the needs that arise within our membership really flow through the whole Society and ultimately unite in what is expected of the Executive Council at the Goetheanum. We should therefore become increasingly aware that the purpose of the Christmas Conference was not merely to form an “administrative council.” Certainly, the “administration” must be there, and it should not be forgotten that it is necessary and that it must develop care and precision. But the main thing will be that, through the attitude of the membership, the Executive Council at the Goetheanum is truly placed at the center of the spiritual interests of the Society. Everything that exists in terms of such spiritual interests should flow together in it.

This Executive Council should be far from wanting to restrict the initiative in the individual parts of the Society in any way. But it should be seen more and more as a necessity that everything that arises in the Society be brought to the attention of this Executive Council. It can then harmonize what is desired in one place or by one group of people with what is intended by another. This board will not want to act in a one-sided manner like an authority “from above”; it will make it its task to have an open heart and an understanding mind for everything that the membership strives to achieve. In this regard, it would like to be able to count on understanding in the sense that people will meet it halfway, actively meet it halfway, when it wants to carry out something on its own initiative, based on the goals of the anthroposophical movement. In this sense, I said at the Christmas Conference: this Executive Council should be an initiative-taking Executive Council.

If people increasingly come to see this Executive Council in this way, then it will be able to become a true advisor in all matters concerning the Society. And it wants to be an “advisor,” since it knows full well that it would be completely contrary to the spirit of the Anthroposophical Society to want to be a “decision-maker.” In its advice, it will appeal to nothing other than the free insight of the members; but it will only be able to be a true “advisor” if the intentions and aspirations of the members are brought to bear in the right spirit.

The Executive Council at the Goetheanum would like to avoid, as far as possible, establishing a connection with the work of the Society in paragraphs and programs; it would like the immediately human, which can also have an individual effect in every detail, to be given general validity within the Society. And it would like to achieve this above all in everything that is to be done for the School of Spiritual Science.