Life at the Seminary

Hi Everyone!  I hope this finds you all well.

It’s cold and windy here in Toronto, but I am enjoying my half hour walk to the Seminary.  I’ve now experienced all weather - Sun, rain, wind and snow.  The work we are doing in our courses has an impact on how I’m experiencing nature.  This week we had an intensive course on the First Goetheanum with Ruediger Janisch.   This was a wonderful journey through photos, drawings and descriptions of what the Goetheanum looked like, how it was built, the windows, wood carvings, and what it might be like to experience it.  To start each morning we moved Eurythmy forms and then drew them with our feet.  Rudolph Steiner gave this exercise to eurythmists, therapeutic teachers, teachers and to actors.

Seminarian drawing with his foot

Not only did we draw with our feet but we also had to make a mirror image on opposite sides of the page, and we had to switch feet.  We did this 4 days, each day adding a form.  I had no idea how hard this could be!!!  But then when I was walking to school I started to notice mirroring in nature wherever I looked.  On the first snowfall I saw the leaves mirroring below:

Found on the sidewalk, Richmond Hill

The first year students are studying the book Goethe’s Theory of Knowledge.  Thus far we have been reading and discussing the experience of thought.  Next week our class will try to put these ideas into dramatic form with a skit - we think we’ll call it Hegel’s Begals.  Hopefully it depicts the idea of objective thoughts!

I am really enjoying our art course.  One session we were asked to paint a landscape depicting where we were at in our journey with the Seminary.   I was missing the mountains of home and started painting them and then added some light that turned into a cross and then three paths arose:

Erica’s Painting

This painting could be looked at as paths to the Christ, but for me it is something different.  It’s a picture of being at the alter, turning around and taking Christ within me on any path in life.

Next week we have the course The Second Coming - Expectations in the Gospels.  The week after, November 18th - 21st, is an open course at the Seminary. Anyone can join us in person or on the computer!  It would be wonderful to have some of you join us.  To register follow the link below...  a donation is asked for but not necessary to participate.  Perhaps you could get together to watch, perhaps you’ll see me as I’ll be in class during the webinar!!  The course is called

The New Revelation of Christ: The Second Coming and the ‘Lord of Karma’

https://www.christiancommunityseminary.org/event/karma-reincarnation-and-the-new-experience-of-christ-tentative-title/

I’m half way through our first semester - 6 weeks and I shall be flying home for Christmas.  I’m hoping to be at church in Vancouver on December 22nd and perhaps see some of you.  Before that I hope to post again.
Warmly, Erica

Dear Friends,

I have now been at the Seminary for two weeks.  This has been amazing, inwardly stretching, sometimes deeply moving, as well as just plain hard work!

 

The Front of the Seminary

Our morning course last week was made up of enlightening presentations from the second year students on a book of plays by Rudolf Steiner called the Mystery Dramas.  Each presented a character in the book.  Daunting exercise.....  This week we had a class on Body, Soul, and Spirit, as well as one on Goethe’s World View.  We also had a class giving us guidance for building a relationship to the Call - what is this, where will it take me??? And a beginning to looking at Prayer.  To balance this out we have speech and Eurythmy classes, as well as an art course.  Very full!!!!!

The church community in Toronto has been very welcoming and I’ve met some very nice people.  At Michaelmas their choir provided wonderful music to accompany the service.  The church is very beautiful with wonderful acoustics.  We have a service everyday except Saturday and Wednesday.  On Monday we have the service in German - a different experience of the service for me.  It has been wonderful to live with the Sacrament so regularly.  I will have server orientation on the 20th and then join the server rotation.

The Church - the Seminary is located behind the chapel

During the coming week, the first year students will give their presentations on the theme Reincarnation and Karma.  We have all been given lectures to present on. I have been working on A Western Approach to Reincarnation and Karma.  This study encompasses an historical view, where it can be seen in modern times, and Rudolf Steiner’s insights - Christ as the central figure in Karma and Destiny.  

Sometimes I still can’t believe I am at the Seminary.  I am so grateful to have this chance to deepen my relationship with the Christian Community.  I will post again soon!  Erica

Mt. Buchanan

Dear Friends,                      
Here is my first post to share about my Seminary journey.  Before leaving for Toronto I decided to drive with my husband into the mountains to gather my thoughts for my first presentation in my class.

During a lecture in Dornach, 1st November 1915,   Rudolf Steiner said, ‘Compressed into a few brief words, this is the truth that can inspire us as a source of strength: “The Mystery of Golgotha itself reveals that it must be understood spiritually, that we must seek for Christ as Spirit.” And then we must also say: “Christ is seeing us, Christ is perceiving us.”’

Christ is seeing us, we are being seen.  When I feel truly seen, I feel that someone truly knows me.  In the lecture series entitled ‘From Jesus to Christ’, Steiner describes how Christ is directly involved with our destiny.  This has filled me with such gratitude.  Who better to work with my destiny than Christ the Teacher, the Healer, the Saviour - He who sees me!  I have no idea where this new part of my destiny at the seminary will lead me, or for how long, or what will happen along the way... but I can hold the words - “Christ is seeing us.”

The Purcell Mountains, Kootenay Lake

The Seminary begins today, Michaelmas!  I hope to post again soon.  Wishing you well, Erica

It is in us to give.

I am a bit slow this year in presenting the Chinese symbol for the new year.

This is the Year of the Pig. The Pig is the last symbol in a 12 year cycle, then it begins again. For many cultures, the beginning of the new year is prepared for by the giving of gifts, paying off debts and a thorough house cleaning, so that the new year can begin fresh.

Now, contrary to what one normally may think of a “pig”, in Chinese symbology the pig represents generosity.

This can invite a great deal of introspection, asking oneself, “What can I give? And to whom?” This can also tie into the theme for Lent and Passiontide.

It’s an interesting thing that giving and receiving can be reciprocal. If one is fortunate to receive something, it can often inspire that person to give something, and it goes on.

I would like to present a very recent experience in my family:

My son the former baker, whom I have mentioned before, was suddenly and unexpectedly confronted with a life and death health issue last November. The only solution was a bone marrow transplant. In Canada, the donation of blood and stem cells is voluntary. It truly is a gift of life. He had to have weekly transfusions of blood and platelets while waiting. A matching donor had to be found, and the procedure lined up, which involved a week of chemotherapy, and will involve many weeks of recovery. Provided all goes well, he will have a new lease on life. You cannot imagine the deep feeling of gratitude I have to this unknown donor, and to all the staff at the hospital.

This is an extreme example, of course. A gift can be big or small, simple or complex. It can be a simple act of kindness. It can be to someone you know, or to a complete stranger. It can be a small gift to be appreciated in the moment, or something greater for the future.

Our church also received a very unexpected gift of a beautiful piano, out of the blue, by a Chinese gentleman who lives nearby. He is not connected in any way to the church, but wanted to donate the piano somewhere it would be appreciated. It was close, coincidentally, to the Chinese New Year.

The point is, it is in us to give, in whatever way we find meaningful. This applies as well in a larger sense to our beautiful planet. We have spent years thoughtlessly taking everything we could out of the earth, and we are now seeing the consequences. We have to work harder at learning how to work with nature, and the weekend workshop in North Vancouver at the end of March with Tanis Helliwell, will hopefully address this issue. If you cannot make it, check her out online. She has given workshops in many parts of the world.

Spring is just around the corner – a time of renewal – and a time for new things. Let’s see what each of us can do.

Sparky