FOCUS will be much more than a conference – more than a space to meet and listen to lectures. We will not simply talk about our ideas and themes, but will instead try to find ways of realising and practicing them in our daily lives – in our tasks in the world.

Focus will take its start where other conferences end. From the beginning we will have the opportunity to dive right into our burning topics and themes, and of developing the necessary insight and skills to carry these themes further. At the same time, Focus is also a space for those who wish to get an overview of what is living within the network as a whole.

Welcome to the city of Focus. We imagine the Goetheanum transformed into a city where different neighbourhoods can focus on different themes. These include, but are not limited to: New forms of higher education, campuses as places for sustainable development, social threefolding, art, music, and inner schooling / self development, to name but a few. There will also be spaces for other existing initiatives, and for new initiatives to arise. And like any good city, Focus will also have its fair share of cafés and piazzas.

The above themes will be brainstormed and processed among many younger people in different countries over the coming months. Visit the Focus Website (www.focusmeeting.org) and the Focus Facebook Group to keep updated. Focus is open to anybody, regardless of age, who feels a connection to this work.

Please note that we’ve tried to make Focus and HeartChord as affordable as possible. Start today to save money for the fee and your travels, and try to find your own ways of funding if you need support.

Focus is immediately followed by HeartChord Music Festival. Why not stay on for the weekend?

On HeartChord: “We can provide you, the musician, with the stage, the practical and technical support, the open invitation to participate, to share your own unique, individual, professional, amateur or campfire musicianship…We can provide you, the audience, with an opportunity to witness, support and participate with the musicians in search of the lost chord. Sardine or shark, face painter or the next Rembrandt, the sidewalk or the shoe, Bob Dylan’s voice or talent, this open stage hosts all.”

If you know somebody who might be interested in Focus or HeartChord, please feel free to pass this information on to them.

Click here to REGISTER

Click here to visit the FOCUS WEBSITE

Click here to visit the HEARTCHORD WEBSITE

There is a community of individuals who have agreed to re-imagine the world…

Meeting the World and Shaping the Future

Come and join us for 5 days of inspiring lectures & discussions, and a variety of practical workshops; Bake bread with initiators of today and have coffee with change makers of tomorrow. Bring your passion into a space created by inspiration, motivation, support and community.

Venue: Te Ra Waldorf School, NZ

Cost: $150

For more information, see www.summergathering.co.nz

In July 2005, around 50 Australian youth dedicated to Anthroposophy met in the Blue Mountains near Sydney, Australia. During the Four days of the “Finding Our Way” conference, these youth created an open and honest space that became the cornerstone for what has now become the Australian Youth Section.

Individuals in a Dynamic Whole

Australia is a vast land. Much of its landscape is unpopulated, remote and wild. This expansive space is the centrepiece for a population that largely lives near the coast; our individual Australian identities are formed by the landscape we find ourselves in. Whether it be the desert plains, where veils of heat and red dust rise to our faces, or the tall luscious forests towering over our heads, the clear blue coastlines or the bustling cities and suburbia – one thing that marks us is the way these landscapes create great physical distances between us. If I drive three and a half thousand kilometers East, I’m still in Australia.

Perhaps this unfathomable distance was too great a barrier for a youth section to arise easily here in the past. It would also be true to say that the spiritual impetus behind our section is now ripe, for an idea that has been in the minds of some of our members for seven years or more. Now, with the help of reasonable airfares, the internet and of course human will, our Australian Youth Section is formed.

Every person that I have interviewed for this article observes that our community is ruthlessly open and honest. This was finitely apparent during the four day Finding Our Way conference earlier this year, where a space was held in which everyone’s truth was valued and heard.

It is seen as “Australian” to be able to take the things that cause discomfort and pain in our stride or to deal with issues inwardly, often causing greater pain and remorse. To express discomfort, dissent or disagreement takes courage, and this is precisely what a group needs to be fluid, alive and dynamic. In the political setting of today, dissent and disagreement have become slowly eroding human rights. Just now, the Australian government is discussing legislation for new anti-terrorism laws, meaning even less freedom of speech and liberty. This silencing of opposition and individuality deadens social forces and is something that as a group, we feel we broke through during our conference.

Lisa Devine, the chosen keynote speaker for the Finding Our Way conference, talked of how it does not work when individuals compromise themselves to fit the group. Everyone’s individuality and honesty must be expressed; with a willingness to hold the space open for this honesty in others. If we hold this space, a transformation can take place that makes a group greater than the sum of its parts; we become individuals within a dynamic whole.

The Fire of Our Giving to the Community

It is fair to say that the Australian Youth Section is in its early stages, like a newly born child, possessing so much possibility and needing so much to be held in the world in a way that allows it to incarnate fully. What a child of this age is not totally aware of, is how much it gives to and takes from those around it; and how much it changes everything. What we have noticed as a group is that when we speak of the Youth Section, more experienced Australian Anthroposophists’ faces light up with a kindled hope and yet some trepidation.

There is a visionary, happy-go-lucky attitude in youth that often simply does not deliver. We are fortunate not to have this mood about our group; rather we have openly expressed our dedication to a willful and inspired section built with integrity. This integrity is especially important when dealing with how much energy, love and time is put into our initiatives.

Our section is active though our initiatives, these initiatives give us our identity as a group. They also cause us to engage our will forces, sometimes in ways that are very challenging and difficult. One of these challenges has been the legal issues concerned with serving free food to people of need, which is the basis for an initiative that was planned for Melbourne. Other initiatives are our newsletter and Traveling Journals. We consider it important to reach out to the community in inclusive ways, and our initiatives are the medium through which this is done.

In our Youth Section, many are not members of the Anthroposophical Society, many had not heard of the School of Spiritual Science, some had not heard of Anthroposophy. We aim to be inclusive, and our debate of inclusivity has extended to the topic of the age of a “youth” (and thus a member of the Youth Section).

One way we have overcome the age issue has been by creating mentoring and Friends of the Youth Section initiatives. The mentoring initiative allows older, more experienced Anthroposophists to help guide, discuss and help with issues and ideas members of the Youth Section may have. The Friends of the Youth Section initiative gives those who are no longer youths a concrete link to the activities and impulses within the youth section in exchange for financial support. These two initiatives ensure that not only do those Anthroposophists have a link to us, we also have a connection to the Anthroposphical community here in Australia.

To hold back our humility for a moment, we honestly feel we have something to offer the Anthoposophical community, beyond our individual contributions. The space we hold open in the Australian Youth Section is fluid, free, and most strongly distinct by the fire and honesty of our willingness to give to the greater community.

Gosia Basinska is a speaker for the Australian Youth Section, and is the writer of this article. She can be contacted by emailing gosia@youthsection.org.au