Hope in Community: An Overview of Youth Section Activities
Hope in Community:
An Overview of Youth Section Activities
Soren Dietzel
The Youth Section[1] of the international Anthroposophical Society has gone through many changes over its one hundred years of development, both locally and globally. Yet some things always stay the same. It is an autonomously run, mostly decentralized network of young individuals organizing gatherings for other young people. From Argentina to Oceania and so many places in between, Youth Section groups have formed. Additionally, there are annual opportunities to meet each other at global gatherings organized by the Goetheanum, the headquarters of the Youth Section. Attending these events and seeing the universal spiritual striving of young people all over the world from their own cultural standpoints, and hearing the stories of past generations’ similar struggles and aspirations, compels the heart to action. Most of all, working with a local community who co-entangles in questions and organizing on an ongoing basis creates a container for the learning experiences necessary to engage in life and community and to take initiative to see it through. I would like to paint a picture of some of what has come about in the last two years in relation to the North American Youth Section[2] from my perspective, where I live in the Hudson River Valley of upstate New York.
Meditation As My Sole Guide
Two years ago, I drove from Minnesota to New York with all my belongings. I crossed the Hudson River on a trestle bridge. A freight train whirred below, miniscule in the shadow of the Catskill Mountains. I was a lone traveler; I had left everything behind with meditation as my soul guide now. As I entered this valley, I thought it was only for a time, a respite on familiar ground. A fertile soil indeed I knew it to be, but little did I know that it was there that much more would grow.
The familiar can often be met with a tinge of complacency, but not this time. As I returned to this place with fresh eyes, I saw the work of many years and the hope of many hearts. With that in mind, when I was told about the annual Youth Section gathering, ‘Hands In,’ I was grateful to join. Heavily centered in experience, we made yarn and collaborative artistic sculptures representing our conversations. We volunteered at the Rudolf Steiner Library and brought the world issues weighing on our hearts to light. By the time the culminating festival came around, all hands were in, and we offered art, presentations, and conversation to a larger audience. We were left with the question, what is the longing of young people?
The rhythms that thread the annual conferences together opened before me—the study, the organizing, the logistics, and the mutual support. Biweekly meetings engaged my initiative and gave me the opportunity to see others doing the same. Here are a couple of examples of our initiatives.
Youth Section Initiatives
The Environmental Consciousness Action (ECA) group was formed in 2024. It was a challenge to know, examine, and pragmatically engage in relation with the earth. A month-long online forum took place where we were asked questions about our relationships to the local environment, our knowledge of our global supply chain impacts, and challenged to think of creative ways to act on these issues. ECA has gone on to collaborate with educational programs and continues to develop more consciousness-raising challenges, one of which is upcoming in September of 2025.[3]
Another initiative, True Search,[4] began by asking questions about the role of technology in humanity's future. To challenge the monopoly of big techs’ for profit hold on knowledge and the development of artificial intelligence, an open-source, charitable-giving search engine was prototyped.
I was encouraged to follow my musical aspirations, and approached Free Columbia,[5] an arts and education initiative based in anthroposophy, about using studio space to develop my song writing. This turned into a weekly potluck and a community- supported creative sharing time. My Youth Section compatriots started supporting these evenings every week with a selfless dedication to community building that we have all found to be fulfilling. The exposure of my artistry and the community interest in my work encouraged my growth. Little did I know this seed would blossom into the Free Columbia Residency Program,[6] an opportunity for artists to come live for up to six months and engage in a self-directed project within the context of community.
Other Youth Section colleagues started a home schooling initiative named Chrysalis,[7] their central question being, what is the child asking for? By developing curriculum to fit children’s specific needs, this project is a radical and selfless act of service for the future and a dedication to creativity in education.
I had entered a new stream, and my roots were set; the Hudson River Valley became my home. I drove the winding roads surrounded by fall colors. I cut through the first winter snow on my snowboard, flying down the mountain. And, in the spring, all of these initiatives came together for a festival, “The Sprouts of Conscious Action.” ECA had an art show and presentations of all the actions from the challenge, TrueSearch had a Q and A, and a band playing my original music performed to a full room of joyous people. Something opened.
Opening to the Future
When we open to the future, the will to realize it comes to us from it. This provided the themes of the two Youth Section summer conferences in 2024, “Opening the Future” and “Willing the Future.” The former focused on the ideas that could inspire us, and the latter on service and action. We decided it was time to do rather than to talk, simultaneously deepening our study. The importance of non-traditional ways of understanding, like art and music, became more and more important with the rise of the residency program and the dedication to our artistic gatherings. Taking on the inequities we perceive in the world within ourselves became a tangible task.
The inner development necessary to step out of systems of oppression and into graceful service is bumpy. Youth Section work is not only fun; this is about entering the stream of the world's becoming in a state of conscious responsibility, of taking on the tasks that I can do now in my place and in my time with a heart full of joy and gratitude. The path is not easy, and for this we take company in each other.
As I sit in the early morning finishing this writing, listening to the birds and frogs, and watching the misty morning sun kiss the dew drops away to rise in all its summer glory; it seems the future is now. By the time this article comes out, we will be celebrating “The Light Between,” the 2025 annual conference at Hawthorne Valley School in Upstate New York.These various threads come through the eye of the needle and begin to weave. As I sign off from the Hudson River Valley, a prayer fills my heart that this generation far and wide may find peace in themselves and that hope may take hold.
Soren Dietzel is a saxophonist and songwriter living in New York State. He is currently working to develop a community supported, self directed, arts and music residency program at Free Columbia. Previously he remodeled houses and played in bands in Duluth Minnesota, on the magnificent Lake Superior. soren@freecolumbia.org
[1] youthsection.org
[2] www.nayouthsection.org; contact northamericanyouthsection@gmail.com
[3] www.ecainspire.com
[4] https://www.nayouthsection.org/initiatives-1/true-searc
[5] www.freecolumbia.org
[6] https://www.freecolumbia.org/residency-program
[7] https://www.chrysalis-homeschool.org/