Experiences of the future shapers during the conference in October at the Goetheanum

In October 2022, the annual autumn conference of the Anthroposophic Council for Inclusive Social Development took place at the Goetheanum with the theme “Vulnerability – Love – Balance”. The Future Shapers team facilitated a 3-day online workshop with the title “Communities of the Future”. It was based on the work of our international Study Group, where participants read and discuss anthroposophical texts and share experiences together. The main aim of the Study Group is to bring together young specialists in curative/therapeutic education and social therapy from all over the world, to help and support each other in their self-development and professional work.

The “Communities of the Future” workshop had a similar aim. There were participants from Northern Ireland, Romania, Argentina, Slovakia, Russia, India and China. It was a powerful collaboration. The three days were themed on the basis of thinking, feeling and willing and towards coming closer to understanding a natural healthy way of community building. We had rich discussions about what it means to live in diverse communities all over the world, the interchange of human feelings, society as a whole, and fruitful artistic work that gave us some “soul food” to take along. We came to the realisation that Humanity has the potential to overcome all boundaries and embrace one another in a way that creates a safe space and a circle of compassion together.

It was valuable to bring together experiences from different countries and organizations and come up with a large-scale vision of where we are going and what we, each of us, can do to build communities of the future. The next step in this journey is the “Community in Dialogue” conference to be held in May in Switzerland, at Humanus Haus, a few kilometres south of Bern: https://inclusivesocial.org/en/event/community-in-dialogue

If you would like to join the work of the Future Shapers or know other young colleagues that might be interested, please reach out to futureshapers@inclusivesocial.org.