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Editorial

Dear Reader,

Welcome to the Michaelmas issue of New View magazine. Perhaps one of the most pressing needs of today is to find courage in the face of adversity, large or small. Courage is an individual matter, but one can be inspired by the deeds and actions of other people to find courage in oneself. And that is an interesting phrase, ‘to find courage in oneself’, suggesting that it is already there, within each of us, dormant, just needing to be discovered and awoken. When really challenged in yourself you have to quell the sense of fear (for there can be no courage without the challenge of fear) and stop it from overwhelming you and I suppose the only way that can really happen is to put your trust in the fact that the deep inner ground upon which you stand – in fact your very existence – will remain firm. Now, many of us, no doubt, find it difficult to get in touch with that firm ground. And that is where courage comes in, to help us find it. Our challenges (whatever they might be) are a call to take courage and go on the quest, the journey, to find who we are.

When we stop and think for a moment of the shared challenges we face, not just our own personal ones, it becomes clear that we need to find a great deal of courage for action in the world. Courage is a quality very much associated with the festival of Michaelmas and the spiritual being behind it; in western esoteric tradition we name that being the Archangel Michael. But, if one contemplates Rudolf Steiner’s indication that this being is also the Spirit of our Age, the Zeitgeist, one realises that other people in other cultures spread around the earth are also influenced by, and can form their own relationship to, this being; not as the archangel Michael perhaps, but in ways appropriate to their own culture; eventually it is the quality of being that people connect to, whatever name or imagination that they use. Michaelmas, with its archetypal image of Michael overcoming the ‘dragon’, is a good moment to gather personal encouragement. Perhaps in time this will become a more universal festival for humanity, one full of encouragement and goodwill.

As we begin our journey through this issue of New View we have an uplifting story to share, that of the ‘El Proyecto Social Q’ewar’ – the Q’ewar Social Project in Peru in the Andes. A Peruvian couple, inspired by the Waldorf dolls they had seen at the Lima school and in response to the dire poverty and homelessness in their local community of Andahuaylillas decided to set up a workshop making these dolls. This was seven years ago, and gradually more and more local people have got involved and the initial idea has spread into a project that is renewing the health of the whole community, underpinned by the making of these dolls with traditional skills and natural materials. Joyce Gallardo travelled there from the USA to spend time working and sharing with these people and tells us their story in What Ails Thee Brother? Truly encouraging!

This is followed by a contribution from a German Physician, Markus Sommer, who writes Swine Flu: Epidemic of Fear a calmer understanding of what this ‘flu involves and our responses to it. He also develops a wonderful image of Michaelmas, concerning a glimpse at the use of meteoric iron.

Richard Phethean takes up the theme of courage, courage for the truth, in Speaking the Truth in Times of Universal Deceit, another ‘wake up call’ for us all to be alert to what comes towards us.

Then we have an in depth interview with one of New View’s collaborators on history and current affairs. In the Interview with Terry Boardman we learn about Terry’s life and reasons why he now works in the field of communicating sometimes difficult information to raise consciousness for how things really work behind the scenes of world events.

Sometimes people might feel that New View is too serious; in order to redress that balance Shindig Rhymer explains his view of the pitfalls, problems and value of euphemisms in Veils or Blinds? There is no Rhymer or reason to it; or is there!?

John Marking then offers a timely piece about the reality of myths and their inherent truths in The Myth of Shakespeare.

Simon Cade Williams shares experiences and insights he has made considering the events surrounding the twelve year old Jesus in Christ Among the Doctors; it is an inspiring glimpse into a great mystery.

Dürer’s Melencolia I and the Seven Lively Arts is an interesting look at a very famous art work through the Seven Lively Arts from Peter Snow.

News Network Anthroposophy explains a little of its background and offers some fruits of its work from around the world to New View readers in NNA – Some Background and News Network Anthroposophy.

Sarah Benson, writing from Adelaide in Australia asks us to become conscious of the attack both the human being and the earth is under from EMR, electromagnetic radiation in Toward an Understanding of the Wireless Revolution.

The final two contributions in the article section concern the background to Steiner’s anthroposophy in The Great Chain of Being by Robert Rose and Terence Davies’ Prelude to Anthroposophy: Seeking the Everyday Percept where, if we are willing to take the journey with him, he gets us to think!

Finally, New View still very much needs financial help, so please take a moment to look at page 2.

Wishing you well, wherever you are,

Tom Raines – Editor.

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