Finding Our Voice

by Chris Burke & Jerilyn Burke

As a college professor (Chris) and a Waldorf early childhood teacher (Jerilyn), our daily tasks bring us face-to-face with people with no knowledge of anthroposophy. The students and families we serve represent a variety of cultural groups, religious and non-religious backgrounds, and value systems. We know that if we would start speaking in terms Steiner used to share ideas over 100 years ago, we would lose many of them very quickly.

Our challenge, then, is to meet each and every one of them with the love and inner light that is kindled in us through our work with anthroposophy, without burdening them with the language of anthroposophy. Yet as we witness the divisiveness, dehumanization, materialism, and environmental destruction in the world around us, we also see the potential for transformative healing that anthroposophy offers—if only it can be taken up broadly.

It is a paradox: on the one hand, we aim to meet others where they are, to not answer the un-asked question, and to translate the difficult language of anthroposophy into something more relatable. On the other hand, we recognize the personal and social good that can be generated through meaningful work with anthroposophy.

It was with these thoughts in mind that we arrived at the “Finding Our Voice” gathering in November. We were hoping to meet some fellow travelers on this path, to share our own struggles and successes, and to learn from the collective wisdom of the group. The discussions touched on a wide range of pertinent topics, such as how to thrive in a data- and evidence-based world, how to be more inviting to people from traditionally under-represented groups, and how to build collaborative bridges between anthroposophical enterprises and other organizations with complementary objectives. Skill-building sessions invited us to practice fielding questions about our work from naïve or critical interviewers. And breaks and meals together provided opportunities for cross-pollination of ideas. As we said our goodbyes to this new group of good friends, it was clear that this meeting was really only the beginning, and that many more conversations in many more circles would be needed to effectively bring a more public face to anthroposophy. We left full of gratitude and inspired to continue this important work.

Chris Burke is an associate professor of psychology at Lehigh University, and Jerilyn Burke is an early childhood teacher at the Waldorf School of Philadelphia. They have been studying anthroposophy together and with friends for five years. They currently live in Philadelphia, where they are raising their three wonderful children.