Inspired by Moral Imagination

Current Research at Threefold

by Abigail Dancey

From 2008–2013 Threefold Educational Center sponsored a series of symposiums to connect active anthroposophical researchers. The series drew inspiration from Henry Barnes’s 1991 call to anthroposophical institutions, including those with no resources to spare, to “find the way to work for future values (the purpose of all genuine research), while meeting the immediate demands of today, tomorrow and the next day.”

Henry actively helped plan the first Michaelmas Symposium in 2008; he passed away, aged 96, just a week before the conference opened. The symposiums ended in 2013, but research remains central to Threefold’s mission and in spring 2015 twelve people, diverse in profession and age, assembled out of an interest in research and “moral imagination.” Our sense is that what distinguishes spiritual scientific research is acknowledgement that the role of the researcher is as pivotal as the content researched. So practices we develop toward self-knowledge and discernment become central to the research.

Described as ‘the wellspring of the free spirit’ in Rudolf Steiner’s The Philosophy of Spiritual Activity, moral imagination forms a triad of capacities with moral intuition and moral technique. Our overarching research question is how these faculties can lift and illuminate both the content of research and researchers themselves. With support from the Henry Barnes Fund our first conference came at the end of September, with a second in early February and a third planned for June. The group will meet three times a year for the next three years, applying these methods to particular areas of concern. We envision connecting with like-minded research groups with concerns such as social justice, economy, and the moral dimensions of art. With people like Otto Scharmer and Peter Senge inspiring new social technologies, thousands are joining the effort to find new solutions to old problems. At Threefold Educational Center we’re asking how Spiritual Science and the work of Rudolf Steiner can add creative methodologies. See www.threefold.org/research for Henry’s essay, developments in our work, and ways to join in. Contact: Rafael Manaças [ rafael@threefold.org ].