{"id":2664,"date":"2021-08-21T08:57:38","date_gmt":"2021-08-21T15:57:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theliteraryarts.com\/?p=2664"},"modified":"2021-09-26T13:15:30","modified_gmt":"2021-09-26T20:15:30","slug":"letter-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theliteraryarts.com\/es\/letter-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Una carta a casa desde el campamento de verano, agosto de 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cBolinas Diary,\u201d photo by Bruce Donehower<\/em><\/p>\n

Dear Friends:<\/p>\n

This mid-summer \u201cletter home from summer camp\u201d Section report will tell you about:<\/p>\n

Wilhelm Meister<\/strong><\/em>
\nItalian Journey<\/strong><\/em>
\nFaust<\/em> \/ A New Issue of Stil<\/strong>
\n\u201cWhy Can\u2019t Henry Sit Still? \/ The Moral Challenge of Faust\u201d \/ an essay<\/strong>
\nFair Oaks Fairy Tale Circle \/ a quick report<\/strong>
\n\u201cNovalis and the Healing Art of Fairy Tale\u201d \/ an online talk<\/strong>
\nPiktor\u2019s Metamorphoses \/ a \u201cfairy tale of the month\u201d video<\/strong>
\nThe Foundation Stone Meditation \/ a new publication from Canada<\/strong>
\nAutumn Section Meetings \/ Start Date and Agenda<\/strong>
\nA North American Section Zoom Event \/ September 19<\/strong>
\n\u201cNew Moon Salon \/ Fairy Tale of the Month\u201d \/ a new initiative<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, our Section meetings in Fair Oaks have taken a summertime \u201cpralaya,\u201d\u00a0but that doesn\u2019t\u00a0mean folks have been idle. Or if they\u00a0have\u00a0been idle,\u00a0then it\u2019s the sort of blessed\u00a0idleness that loafs and invites the soul, I\u00a0would imagine.<\/p>\n

While Uncle Walt contemplates his blades of grass (which by\u00a0the way, Uncle Walt,\u00a0are quite parched and pointy here in California during\u00a0fire season), Dan reports\u00a0that he for one has\u00a0not\u00a0turned his back on\u00a0Weimar and in fact has completed his\u00a0reading of the novel\u00a0Wilhelm Meister\u2019s Apprenticeship<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

There must be something in the water here at summer camp \u2013\u00a0because quite\u00a0independently of Dan, I also have been spending summer days and\u00a0weeks with\u00a0Goethe! Well, listening to him, actually. I\u2019ve\u00a0been enjoying the\u00a0Italian Journey\u00a0during long walks at the American\u00a0River. Holly is also reading the book, she reports. Goethe and I have\u00a0arrived in Sicily, after some debate on the\u00a0advisability of a dangerous sea voyage.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo have seen Italy without having\u00a0seen Sicily is not to have seen Italy at all,\u00a0for Sicily is the clue to\u00a0everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

— Goethe,\u00a0Italian Journey<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is no good denying that, as\u00a0regard lodging, we found ourselves very\u00a0badly off. Such fare as our muleteer\u00a0could manage was not the best. A\u00a0chicken boiled with rice is certainly not to\u00a0be despised, but an immoderate\u00a0use of saffron made it as yellow as it was\u00a0inedible.\u201d<\/p>\n

— Goethe,\u00a0Italian Journey<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And since the Italian Journey catches the Goethe story in medias res, I also took time this summer to delve back into the lyric poetry, Faust, and a few scholarly biographies of the person whom Rudolf Steiner repeatedly recommended to our attention. Which brings me to…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Stil: “Goetheanism in Art and Science”<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The summer 2021 issue of\u00a0Stil\u00a0is out!\u00a0\u00a0And it is devoted to\u00a0Faust.\u00a0Unfortunately,\u00a0for\u00a0the moment Stil is only available in German.\u00a0If you read German, however,\u00a0you\u00a0can find subscription information for this excellent publication here by clicking this sentence.<\/a><\/p>\n

Oh, I have such fond memories of those days prior to Covid\u00a0when the Fair Oaks\u00a0group met unmasked. The local group spent two years on the\u00a0study of\u00a0Faust, from\u00a02015 to 2017. And if I remember correctly, it was\u00a0the prospect of a stage\u00a0production of\u00a0Faust\u00a0at the Goetheanum that inspired\u00a0Jane Hipolito to suggest that\u00a0we dive deeply into the play.<\/p>\n

At the time, Patrick Wakeford-Evans, who published a\u00a0community newsletter for\u00a0the Faust Branch, asked me to write a short essay on\u00a0Faust, and I was happy to\u00a0do so. I later reworked and expanded this essay for\u00a0the Section\u00a0newsletter\u00a0 Patrick was especially interested in the character of Faust because the Branch in Fair Oaks is called the Faust Branch.<\/p>\n

Click this sentence to read my 2017 Section newsletter essay on Goethe\u2019s\u00a0Faust: \u201cWhy can\u2019t Henry\u00a0sit still? \/ The Moral Challenge of Faust.\u201d<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A Report from the Hortus Conclusus \u00b9<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Every two weeks as I footpad to the cabin with airedale Dale on\u00a0summer afternoons, I\u00a0observe on one afternoon a circle of Section friends conversing on the porch\u00a0that overlooks the garden. These friends are discussing and reading fairy tales.\u00a0The\u00a0Fairy Tale Circle\u00a0has\u00a0been meeting with Marion since June, and it has plans to meet at least until\u00a0September, I am told. I\u00a0don\u2019t participate \u2013 except maybe in my sleep life, because\u00a0for sure my thoughts\u00a0have been mindful of fairy tales this summer.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cNovalis and the Healing Art of Fairy Tale\u201d<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a great difference in\u00a0whether or not one has as a child grown up with fairy tales. The soul-stirring\u00a0nature of fairy-tale\u00a0pictures becomes evident only later on. If fairy tales\u00a0have not been given, this shows itself in later years in weariness of life, in\u00a0boredom. Indeed, it even comes to expression physically:\u00a0fairy tales can\u00a0help counter illnesses. What is absorbed little by little\u00a0by means of fairy\u00a0tales emerges subsequently as joy in life, in the meaning of life\u00a0\u2013 it comes to\u00a0light in the ability to cope with life,\u00a0even into old age. Children must\u00a0experience the power inherent in fairy tales while young, when they can still\u00a0do so. Whoever is\u00a0not capable of living with ideas that have no reality for the\u00a0physical plane, \u201cdies\u201d for the spiritual world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Rudolf Steiner (noted at the meeting on November 20, 2020)<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I finally got around to editing the\u00a0presentation that the Section offered to the Faust Branch in November 2020. In this 20-minute video of highlights from the lecture, I look at the fairy tale from the perspective of Novalis and Rudolf Steiner. I use the fairy tale\u00a0Hyacinth and Rosebud\u00a0as the primary example. The lecture includes many\u00a0quotes and references from lectures by Rudolf Steiner on the significance of fairy tale. The website bubbles up quite high in Google searches when folks look for “Novalis Fairy Tale” or similar — so I thought it helpful to get this video done this summer.<\/p>\n

New Video: “Piktor\u2019s Metamorphoses” by Hermann Hesse<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Inspired by the season, Marion and I put together a performance\u00a0video of an\u00a0original fairy tale by Hermann Hesse that our local group studied in\u00a0November\u00a02020.\u00a0Hesse wrote\u00a0Piktor\u2019s Metamorphoses\u00a0(1923)\u00a0shortly after\u00a0finishing his\u00a0novel Siddhartha.\u00a0Students of Hesse can certainly detect\u00a0thematic similarities\u00a0between the two works \u2013 specifically in relationship to\u00a0the theme of change and\u00a0transformation, one might reason.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen someone\u00a0seeks,” said Siddhartha, “then it easily happens that his eyes see\u00a0only the thing\u00a0that he seeks, and he is able to find nothing, to take in\u00a0nothing because he always thinks only\u00a0about the thing he is seeking, because he\u00a0has one goal, because he is obsessed with his goal.\u00a0Seeking means: having a\u00a0goal. But finding means: being free, being open, having no goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

— Hermann Hesse,\u00a0Siddhartha\u00a0(1922)<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

News from Canada<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Imagine my joy and excitement when I went to the mailbox\u00a0this summer and\u00a0discovered a parcel from Canada. I eagerly opened it up and\u00a0found inside this very\u00a0handsome collection of essays on the Foundation Stone\u00a0Meditation recently\u00a0published by Perceval Editions and edited by Arie van\u00a0Amerigen and Christiane\u00a0Haid.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

As noted in previous meeting summaries, our Section\u00a0meetings have been\u00a0giving more attention to\u00a0the approaching anniversary years\u00a02023 and 2024.\u00a0Arie\u2019s book is an extremely helpful contribution to this\u00a0research topic \u2013 especially\u00a0welcome, as it is entirely in English. I trust that\u00a0our future Section meetings will\u00a0make time for study of the many contributions\u00a0in this book. As soon as a review of the book comes out, I will post it on the Section website. The book can be\u00a0ordered directly from Arie by contacting him at this\u00a0address and\/or email:<\/p>\n

Les \u00c9ditions Perceval<\/strong>
\nDunham, Quebec, Canada<\/strong>
\nPercevalbooks2001@gmail.com<\/strong><\/p>\n

Schedule of Zoom Section Meetings \/ Michaelmas to Advent<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The ongoing Section meetings will resume on Saturday, September 18 at\u00a07:00 pm.\u00a0I will send\u00a0the Zoom credentials to interested participants on the\u00a0Friday prior to the meeting,\u00a0as is my custom. Contact me if you are interested.<\/p>\n

Our first meeting on September 18 will divide attention\u00a0between two topics:
\nTopic 1: What\u2019s going on in the Section locally, nationally,\u00a0and worldwide.
\nTopic 2: Poetry!<\/p>\n

The bulk of the hour on September 18, of course, is dedicated to poetry.\u00a0We have several\u00a0original poets in the group, as well as many lovers of poetry.\u00a0On\u00a0September 18 we\u00a0will share readings of original poems and favorite poems by favorite\u00a0poets.<\/p>\n

Click this sentence for a glimpse of what happened at previous poetry salon evenings.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Once we get back underway with our meetings again on September 18, we can\u00a0take a pulse\u00a0and discuss what sort of meeting rhythm we want to follow between\u00a0Michaelmas\u00a0and Advent. I want to put the accent on creativity and fairy tale\u00a0for the coming\u00a0season \u2013 but of course I am open to all those inspirations that\u00a0flow so\u00a0mysteriously from the spiritual world. As the sage remarked: \u201cya gotta know when to zig and when to zag!”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A North American\u00a0Zoom Meeting for the Section of the Literary\u00a0Arts and Humanities<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

On\u00a0Sunday September 19, 2021 at 1 pm Pacific Time, the\u00a0collegium of the Section for\u00a0the Literary Arts and Humanities of the School for\u00a0Spiritual Science in North\u00a0America will host an online event for friends and\u00a0members of the Section. This\u00a0one-hour Zoom event will consist of a brief\u00a0overview of recent events in the\u00a0Section, followed by a panel discussion and\u00a0some time for questions and\u00a0answers.<\/p>\n

UPDATE (September 21, 2021): The meeting was a success!\u00a0Visit this summary to read about the event.<\/a>\u00a0More North American meeting of the Section for the Literary Arts and Humanities are in the planning stage. Send your comments and suggestions by using the\u00a0Contact Page<\/a>\u00a0on this site.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

A panel consisting of members of the collegium of the North\u00a0American Literary\u00a0Arts and Humanities Section will discuss from a personal\u00a0perspective the topic:<\/p>\n

“How does my life interest in anthroposophy support\u00a0and inspire my love\u00a0for and practice of literature and the humanities? How does my study of literature and the humanities inform\u00a0my life interest in anthroposophy?”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The panel members are: Bruce Donehower (California), Arie\u00a0van Amerigen and\u00a0Robert McKay (Canada), Gayle Davis (California), Fred Dennehy\u00a0(New Jersey).<\/p>\n

I will share the Zoom credentials by direct email to friends and members on the Section list, through Being Human, Branch newsletter(s), or by direct email to those who request the credentials by contacting me.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cNew Moon Salon \/ Fairy Tale of the Month\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, I\u2019ll close this letter home from summer camp with a\u00a0few words about a new\u00a0initiative. I have to write fast because it\u2019s dark here\u00a0under the blanket in the bunk\u00a0house, and the camp counselors might pop in any\u00a0moment to do a bunk check.<\/p>\n

As noted in previous emails, I\u2019ve set up a new channel on\u00a0YouTube called \u201cThe\u00a0Literary Arts.\u201d This channel is in\u00a0addition to the existing site on Vimeo.<\/p>\n

I will use\u00a0this new YouTube\u00a0channel, along with Vimeo, to offer videos and\u00a0recordings of fairy\u00a0tales and recordings of lectures and presentations\u00a0that arise from\u00a0our Section work. Since YouTube tends to bubble up in Google searches more often than Vimeo, this will increase our Section visibility to the world.<\/p>\n

Each month at the new moon, beginning with\u00a0the new moon of\u00a0August, I will post on the channel and elsewhere (maybe on a Soundcloud\u00a0account or maybe as a Podcast) a fairy tale or a lecture related to a literary\u00a0theme\u00a0arising from our Section work. Start day: New Moon August 8, 2021. We start with a short talk about Novalis and a fairy tale by Novalis.<\/p>\n

Click this sentence to view the contents on the new YouTube Channel.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The Owl of Minerva Flies at Night!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Well, the owls are hooting in the bamboo and the cedars and the oaks, and the mice are\u00a0scuttling across the floor\u00a0of the drafty bunkhouse \u2013 and they are scarfing up those\u00a0sticky\u00a0crumbs of Cracker Jack that cling to bare feet and delight the ants. I\u00a0guess the time is at hand for bonky buckaroos to turn off\u00a0their flashlights and catch some\u00a0serious ZZZs in the Dreamtime and\/or do some out-of-body astral walkabouts.<\/p>\n

Happy Trails until September!<\/p>\n

__________<\/p>\n

[1] \u201cEnclosed Garden\u201d — \u00a0\u201cSecret Garden,\u201d if you are a fan of Frances Hodgson Burnett \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cBolinas Diary,\u201d photo by Bruce Donehower Dear Friends: This mid-summer \u201cletter home from summer camp\u201d Section report will tell you about: Wilhelm Meister Italian Journey Faust \/ A New Issue of Stil \u201cWhy Can\u2019t Henry Sit Still? \/ The Moral Challenge of Faust\u201d \/ an essay Fair Oaks Fairy Tale Circle \/ a quick report […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2547,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-meeting-summaries"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theliteraryarts.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theliteraryarts.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theliteraryarts.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theliteraryarts.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theliteraryarts.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2664"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/theliteraryarts.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2974,"href":"https:\/\/theliteraryarts.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2664\/revisions\/2974"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theliteraryarts.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theliteraryarts.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theliteraryarts.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theliteraryarts.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}