The Human Being Is a Bridge: 100 Years of Anthroposophic Medicine

September 12–20, 2020, at the Goetheanum, we want to celebrate together 100 years of Anthroposophic Medicine and prepare impulses for the next 100 years!

The anthroposophic medical movement began with a motif: the bridge between spirit and matter. The bridge between thinking and willing, love and freedom, future and past. Moreover, there are bridges connecting various health care professionals, different therapeutic methods and integrative medicine, as well as practice and science.

The lectures called “the bridge lectures,” given by Rudolf Steiner in 1920, now celebrating their centenary, will provide the substance for this festive week. Each day 100 Years of Anthroposophic Crossing Bridges –Being Human! will start with a theme taken from these lectures. The themes will be deepened in profession-specific and crossMedicine World Conference Celebrating 100 Years of disciplinary workshops, all focusing on Anthroposophic Medicine. In the evenings, artistic performances and Anthroposophic Medicine September 12 to 20, 2020 at the Goetheanum sessions focused more on spirituality will round out the conference. Those sessions will enable us to perceive the different layers of the human being and develop new perspectives for everyday practice.

Prior to the start of the World Conference, there will be a research-oriented congress on integrative medicine at the University of Basel on Saturday, September 12, 2020. And, at the very heart of the World Conference, there will be a centenary celebration for Anthroposophic Medicine.

Becoming healthy

The World Conference will focus on the upcoming 100 years and present the latest research, by looking at the contemporary question of how to become healthy.

The World Conference has been organized by a young, interdisciplinary preparatory group which started their preparation work together with the Medical Section at the Goetheanum in 2017. We want to organize a festive week that continues the impulse of our “Enlightening the Heart” conference seven years ago. In this spirit, we would like to invite you to this festive work to jointly create bridges with us!

Each day has its motif

To structure various perspectives on Anthroposophic Medicine and enable an organic approach, each day has its specific motif, taken from the “bridge lectures.”

» Sunday: the four elements—earth, water, air, fire. What insights relate to modern medicine?

» Monday: experiencing the life forces—warmth, light, tone or chemical, and life ethers.

» Tuesday: four states of consciousness—deep sleep, dreamless sleep, dreaming, waking consciousness.

» Wednesday: the psychology of enthusiasm—how enthusiasm can inflame vitality.

» Thursday: the accompaniment of freedom is an illusion. Can thinking penetrate to the true essence?

» Friday: if consciousness can’t penetrate, blind force can rule. How love can overcome that blind force.

» Saturday: the resurrection of matter. What part does substance play in modern medicine?

The human being is a bridge / Between the past / And future existence; / The present is momentary; / The moment as bridge. / Spirit turned to soul / In matter‘s shell, / It comes from the past; / Soul turning to spirit / In seed encased, / It is future bound. / Grasp the future / Through what has been, / Hope for what will become / through what is complete. / So seize what is in what will be; / So seize what will be in what is.

Rudolf Steiner for Ita Wegman, Christmas, 24 December 1920

The young medical-therapeutic workers of the prepatory group for this conference.

Brochure: https://anthroposophy.org/am-conf-2020

Site: https://medsektion-goetheanum.org/en/anthroposophic-medicine/bridges/