The Goetheanum and Contemplative Higher Education

What are the options today for students who are looking for centers of learning defined by an interest in the living spirit in the human being and the world? Not long ago they may have found themselves in the humanities departments around the world, but today they might be drawn to contemplative studies programs. This is connected with two trends in higher education that can be traced back to crisis years of the 1960s. One trend tries to understand knowledge ultimately in terms of power, the other aspires to develop it into love. The Goetheanum, an independent college for contemplative understanding and practice that was founded a century ago, appears as interwoven with deep questions of university students when seen in this light. 

Mirabai Bush (2010) Contemplative Higher Education in Contemporary America. Available at https://mindfulcampus.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/mbush-contemplativehighereducation.pdf.

Michel Foucault (1980) Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings, 1972-1977. (Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group).

Mary Caroline Richards (1973) The Crossing Point: Selected Talks and Writings. (Wesleyan University Press).

Rudolf Steiner (2013) Constitution of the School of Spiritual Science: An Introductory Guide. (Rudolf Steiner Press).

Arthur Zajonc (2009) Meditation as Contemplative Inquiry: When Knowing Becomes Love. (Lindisfarne Books).

Questions of Courage is a project of the Youth Section at the Goetheanum, in collaboration with Goetheanum TV.
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