Esoteric Youth Circle

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The so-called Esoteric Youth Circle is an autonomous and independent meditation community which was founded in 1922 with the participation of Rudolf Steiner. The history and aims of the circle are contained in the volume "Aus den Inhalten der esoterischen Stunden, Band III: 1913 und 1914; 1920 - 1923", insofar as Rudolf Steiner's participation is concerned (Lit.:GA 266c, p. 388ff). All other existing documents from his history are at the [|Archives at the Goetheanum] or the [|Rudolf Steiner Archives] in Dornach.

Meditation communities

There has always been something mysterious and secretive about meditative communities simply because their work takes place in silence, outside of our daily lives. When Rudolf Steiner began his anthroposophical work at the turn of the century, such communities were still largely protected by the religions associated with them - Buddhist, Eastern Orthodox, Jewish among others. They should in no way be equated with so-called secret societies, whose objectives are usually considered manipulative and political. The task of a meditative community is the inner contemplation and meditation of spiritual contents, which are connected with the fundamental truths and values of life and the world, in order to cultivate a relationship with purely spiritual or angelic beings so that they can help to support the progress of humanity.

Accordingly, this also means that the members are not a spiritual or social elite, but join the work because an inner urge leads them to seek cooperation with other people with precisely this aim.

This is, and always has been, the purpose and work of the Esoteric Youth Circle as expressed in the beginning by the young founding members. They sought an inner, meditative relationship to anthroposophy, which could prepare them as human beings, and thereby also society in general, to receive the new stream of spirit knowledge that was to flow into humanity's evolution.

Membership and organisation

Where someone feels the urge for a common meditation work as a burning life question in his or her own destiny and asks for it concretely in a personal conversation, or expresses it in his or her attitude, an existing member can tell him or her about the Esoteric Youth Circle. To this day, this question asked on one's own initiative and the possibility offered by the listener is the usual way to join the Circle. If someone does not feel it inwardly, he will also seldom experience anything from the Circle.

The Circle is not a community that exists as an institution in the world. It is not and has no organisation, no statutes and has no data. There is nothing to sign, no evidence of membership and no membership directory. No exchange of money takes place. The Circle does not have, and has never had, leaders, representatives or rules of conduct. Meetings are informally held locally at the discretion of the members. It is not possible to ascertain the number of members nor where they are in the world. Most are connected with the worldwide work of anthroposophical initiatives, but there are also many who are active outside. Many are members of the General Anthroposophical Society, but many others are not.

The following quotation from the initial conversations with Rudolf Steiner may clarify the relationship of the members to each other:

„To unite by a mutual promise to strive for a common spiritual goal, and in so doing to leave each other quite free in action and judgement in life - a community founded on such a thing is something quite new in the development of humanity and something that is needed today as a very necessary thing.“ (Lit.:GA 266c, p. 440)

In contrast to all other human communities, in which the actions and judgements of the individual are always subject to judgement and possible sanction, the circle cannot help but leave full freedom to each member.

Be a person in a leading position in his work, in the Anthroposophical or any other Society, or active responsibly in public life; the Circle cannot, and has not the slightest interest in exerting influence or pressure on such a person. It does not interfere in anything that is another person's life, work or decisions. Circle members do what they do in life purely on their own responsibility and never on behalf of the Circle or under its direction.

Literature
References to the work of Rudolf Steiner follow Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works (CW or GA), Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach/Switzerland, unless otherwise stated.
Email: verlag@steinerverlag.com URL: www.steinerverlag.com.
Index to the Complete Works of Rudolf Steiner - Aelzina Books
A complete list by Volume Number and a full list of known English translations you may also find at Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works
Rudolf Steiner Archive - The largest online collection of Rudolf Steiner's books, lectures and articles in English.
Rudolf Steiner Audio - Recorded and Read by Dale Brunsvold
steinerbooks.org - Anthroposophic Press Inc. (USA)
Rudolf Steiner Handbook - Christian Karl's proven standard work for orientation in Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works for free download as PDF.
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