International Coordination
Anthroposophic Medicine
School of Spiritual Science
Medical Section at the Goetheanum

Welcome to the World Conference “Crossing Bridges – Being Human” / “The Human Being Is a Bridge”!

September 12 to 20, 2020, at the Goetheanum, Switzerland

We want to celebrate together with you 100 years of Anthroposophic Medicine and to prepare the impulses for the next 100 years to come!

You can find all the details of the World Conference on this site. Registration for the conference will be possible from mid of March 2020 onwards.

Crossing Bridges” – “The Human Being Is a Bridge”

The anthroposophic medical movement began with a bridge 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’, which were given by Rudolf Steiner in 1920 and which are now celebrating their centenary anniversary, will provide the substance for this festive week. Each day will start with a theme taken from these lectures. The themes will be deepened in profession-specific and cross-disciplinary workshops, all focusing on Anthroposophic Medicine. In the evenings, artistic performances and 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 take place the Ita Wegman Campus festival on Saturday, September 12, 2020. And, at the very heart of the World Conference, there will be a centenary celebration for Anthroposophic Medicine.

In science spaces, future forums and open spaces during the World Conference we will focus on the upcoming 100 years and present the latest research, as well as future developments, by looking at the contemporary question of how to become healthy. The presentation of initiatives and other ways of participation are appreciated.

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, and directly connects to the key motifs of the annual Medical Section conferences of the last three years. Furthermore, Crossing Bridges” is the extended annual Medical Section conference in 2020.

In this spirit, we would like to invite you to this festive work to jointly create bridges with us: bridges connecting countries, professions, generations and people! If you have any ideas concerning the centenary or if you would like to prepare for and dive into the content of the World Conference, please get in touch with us.

Each day has its motif

In order to structure various perspectives on Anthroposophic Medicine and to enable an organic approach, each day has its specific motif.

Sunday: the four elements – earth, water, air and fire. What kind of insights can be revealed related to modern medicine?

Monday: from the elements to life forces – warmth, light, tone or chemical and life ethers. How can we experience these four kinds of ether?

Tuesday: the four states of consciousness – deep sleep, dreamless sleep, dreaming and waking consciousness. How do they interact and how do they relate to each other?

Wednesday: the psychology of enthusiasm – how enthusiasm can inflame vitality.

Thursday: the accompaniment of freedom is an illusion. Can human 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?

 

All of these topics are taken from the ‘bridge lectures’ and can be deepened or discussed by using those lectures. Longer quotations can be found in the section “additional information - How to prepare for the conference?”.

Attendance of one half of the conference

The composition of the conference is organiced for an attendance of the whole week. However, there is a limited contingent of conference tickets that allow participation in only one half of the conference. Either the period from 12th to 16th of September or from 16th to 20th September can be selected. The centenary celebration for Anthroposophic Medicine on Wednesday is part of both halves of the conference.