«The Anthroposophical Society is to be an association of people whose will it is to nurture the life of the soul, both in the individual and in human society, on the basis of a true knowledge of the spiritual world.»
Foundation Statute §1 of the Anthroposophical Society
Anthroposophical Society in Switzerland
The Anthroposophical Society exists almost everywhere in the world today. It arises wherever human beings feel certain questions about the essence of humanity and the world as a necessity of life, in just the same way that one feels hunger and thirst. This dimension can reveal itself as a certainty, a question or as a longing. Anthroposophy enables one to experience the reality of the spiritual world more and more concretely– and to let this reality become a guide in life. This is a question of development.
The founder of Anthroposophy, Rudolf Steiner (1861 – 1925), considered it as the development of consciousness of human dignity. The more complex modern technical civilisation becomes, the more decisive it becomes for every single human being – no matter where he is born, in which culture he grows up, or what level of education he achieves – that space is created in order for him to recognise and realise his unique potential. Connected to this, there is a social task.
This is the task of the Anthroposophical Society. It arises wherever people inspired by Anthroposophy engage in creative dialogue, wherever the experiences of someone develop themselves in connection with those of others.
Its members can organise themselves in smaller or bigger groups geographically or according to tasks. For this reason there exists today a variety of national and local groups, as well as groups that are linked to certain subjects in different fields – all of them part of the General Anthroposophical Society based at the Goetheanum.
The Anthroposophical Society in Switzerland is one of these national groups. It was founded on 31 October 1920 in Dornach by 7 branches of the then Anthroposophical Society. Based in Dornach, Oberen Zielweg 60, it fosters spiritual research and the deepening of Anthroposophy in the different fields of work and life in Switzerland – e.g. agriculture, food, medicine, healthcare, pedagogy, remedial pedagogy and social therapy, arts, architecture, natural science, economics and social science.