The Biodynamic Education Centre is conducting a "Introduction to Biodynamics" course at Purple Pear Organics in early November 2011.
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Newsletter No 83 AUGUST 2010
In this issue we have Margie's talk on Thoughts on renewal of culture through farm based communities,
THOUGHTS ON THE RENEWAL OF CULTURE,
THROUGH FARM BASED COMMUNITIES
From a small conversation group of HBG Members led by Margie Bruvel
Notes compiled by Margie Bruvel
WHAT IS CULTURE?
We settled for the idea that the term culture expresses the shared ideas of a particular group - traditionally family, national, religious, professional, sporting, political etc. These sorts of groupings have woven the fabric of Society and given the individual security and the possibility of a sense of self –esteem through the group?s approval. If we bothered to count, most of us here who consider ourselves fairly well-adjusted, would belong to at least 8- 10 groups. The most dysfunctional members of society can be almost group less.
In these traditional groupings of Society it was understood that the group?s overall wellbeing through the family traditions, the team spirit, towing the party line, fighting for the Mother Country etc. was more important than considering what the individual wanted.
However times have changed and although history has noted outstanding anarchists, it is now a common thing for modern people to want to break free from their traditional groupings - .e.g. a recent newspaper article mentioned that an employer can expect that 30% of his staff are currently planning a change whereas once a man stayed for life in the one job.
At the same time there is a well-documented increase in mental illness and depression and addictive behaviours of all sorts. Could all this be the result of an evolving consciousness? The search is really on for a meaningful existence - who am I? What?s it all about? Am I more than a cog in a self-serving system? The advertising world has caught on and is trying to help with our identity crisis by empowering us with My Card, My School, My Bigpond, now My Zone in the Sydney Transport System, and insisting we deserve all sorts of indulgences.
THE RENEWAL OF CULTURE
It is apparent that to serve the needs and wants of modern humanity the basic cultural, social and economic structure has to thoroughly accommodate the question "Who am I?" To grapple with this question in such a context we need the enormous shift in thinking that a conservative modern day farmer would need if he were to embrace what lies behind the biodynamic system of agriculture. Where can we find a picture to help envision a social structure which will genuinely serve the individual in his real inner essence while not only working with the earth in a sustainable way but actually transforming it so that it produces nourishment that truly supports the evolving consciousness i.e. coming to grips with one?s own "I-hood". There are lots of wonderful ideas around which go in this direction and some of our members are involved in them - transition towns, land trusts, co-operative housing projects etc However, we would like to add to them the sketchiest framework of Rudolf Steiner?s imagination for a new social order. Rudolf Steiner who would be 150 years old next year, if he were still alive, tried to show before the outbreak of the World War One that such an impending tragedy could be averted, if Germany could muster enough heart forces to lead the way and establish a Social structure which nurtured the evolving sense of self to the point where we could freely choose to be moral beings. The indications that were not taken up then have become even more pressing and relevant now. The wonderful thing is that a basic understanding relies on sound common sense - even if common sense in these realms is not that common. But at least we can start by having a heart for the idea, a love for finding a true solution to the emptiness of so many lives.
The core of these ideas is:
a) The more an individual depends for his needs on others the healthier Society will be. (Of course implicit in this is that each individual follows his calling i.e. has job satisfaction.)
b) When an endeavour has run its course and no longer serves the cultural (inner) life it ceases.
So here immediately we see that it is all about the individual being freed of traditional expectations, duties etc and supported to offer his real work to the world. It accommodates perfectly the changing relationship between the Group and the Individual.
Now there?s actually a mobile framework which can anchor these ideas in life. It is the picture Rudolf Steiner has given us of the threefold expression of the human soul (Some of those present will recognize this idea as a basic tenet of Steiner education and Anthroposophic Medicine etc.)
Through our THINKING we yearn to be free to give expression to who we are? This is the basis of a modern CULTURAL LIFE.
In our FEELING life everyone has an equal right to human dignity. This is the basis of the SOCIAL/POLITICAL LIFE
Through our outer ACTIONS we use the earth?s resources sustainably and therefore co-operatively. This is the basis for the ECONOMIC LIFE.
So at the end of the day in an ideal world the sustainable economic life supports the free cultural life through a just and fair political life. We cannot be so cynical as to be convinced that nothing is moving for the better out there in the big world.
In many workplaces flexitimes to suit the individual are commonplace, human rights groups are proliferating throughout the world (the word empathy has been coined in recent years) and there is a re-emergence of co-operative businesses many of which are underpinned by sustainable practices. The task for the future will be to establish a process, through the proper flow of money, for the above to work in harmony as does thinking, feeling and willing in the human being if all is going well.
THE RENEWAL OF AGRICULTURE
So how do we connect these ideas for the renewal of culture to Steiner?s indications for the renewal of agriculture which we have all come to through our interest in Biodynamics?
For those not familiar with the history – Rudolf Steiner gave those eight seminal lectures at Koberwitz, Silesia (present day Poland I think), at the request of farmers already familiar with his teachings on Anthroposophy. Many of these farmers managed vast estates and they had noticed a decline in fertility even with the adjunct of modern synthetic fertilizers. The course was all about understanding and working with the cosmic/spiritual aspects of life so as to re-vitalize the earth in the context of established natural farming practices. This was needed if we were to have the right sort of nourishment to support the evolution of thinking to the point where after coming to grips with our own self we can freely choose to be moral beings. (refer to recent presentation on Nutrition)
By all accounts the course, hosted with meticulous attention to every detail, by Count Karl and Countess Joanna Kyserlingh on their estate, was a wonderfully festive occasion. Although it was the year before Steiner?s death and friends were shocked at his gaunt and emaciated appearance when he arrived, it is reported that he became more and more buoyant and full of humour and even looked younger as the days progressed. Dr Gunther Wachsmuth who often accompanied Steiner on his lecture tours said:
Seldom have I found Rudolf Steiner so happily stirred and delighted after an accomplished deed as on this occasion after the agricultural course. As biodynamic practitioners this is our legacy.
THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE RENEWAL OF CULTURE AND THE RENEWAL OF AGRICULTURE
However if biodynamics is to progress Rudolf Steiner warned, and Karl Kyserlingk re-iterated, it needs to be nurtured in a setting where the importance of the cultural (spiritual) and social life are freely acknowledged, where there is no coercion and obviously where economic considerations are not the major motivating factor. In other words sustainable agriculture can only be sustainable in a sustainable community setting.
SO HOW DOES HBG MEASURE UP?
As one of the pioneers of this group which was convened in 1996, I will firstly give a brief overview of its history:
In the early years the main focus of the Management Committee was to establish a Prep Making Group, and in response to members? particular requests, to disseminate the practical aspects of biodynamics; this continues to be done through organising a yearly calendar of events featuring Lectures, Field Days, Workshops and Information Displays. The group was always grateful to be able to access the expertise of a few experienced members and many guest lecturers and presenters. The membership numbers peaked at over 200 during the heady years of the Annual Introductory Short Courses we ran here at Tocal. As the years went by some members have relocated to farms in other areas, other memberships have lapsed, a few members seem to have become disenchanted but there is still a steady trickle of new members. However, a core group has consolidated and seems to have formed a strong social network which populates the Management Group, the increasingly active Prep making Group and the Study Group (which has plodded along over the years studying the Agriculture lectures and their Anthroposophical basis), and a group preparing for special presentations such as was given on Nutrition and this one tonight. Although we seem to have become a more self- reliant group as the expertise of members develops, the general feeling is there is no wish to become insular and stimulus from outside will continue to be welcomed.
So perhaps one can see that HBG has maintained a strong sense of cohesion, even if not consciously, because it has evolved within the context of the three aspects of the new Social Order I tried to explain - we do in fact have a practical and spiritual/cultural life embedded in a social life.......... This is the soul substance out of which the new communities for cultural renewal will eventually evolve, this is what future generations will be looking for, a sort of transformation of the medieval towns and monasteries which incubated the culture of the Renaissance in an agricultural setting (See Manfred Klett?s article Newsleaf Issue No.78 Aut. 09)
Proximal living and easy access to high quality food, cultural and social activities will become much sort after even without the fossil fuel crisis as we develop more common sense about our living arrangements - then we will really have a life!!! As a follow-up of Margie's talk, Loo put a question on the board:
What does it mean to you to be a member of the Hunter Biodynamic Group? Each person talked briefly about what it meant to them.