Maybe you feel it yourself: it looks like we have crises on all possible levels and encounter boundaries. Politics, on a global scale and in your own country, social in your own province and in your own city, on a human level around you and inner within yourself. Fight between countries and struggle in your heart.
Housing is stumbling on regulations but also about the understandable participation of (neighborhood) residents and there are large groups of people who cannot find an affordable home; The Nitrogen Decree frustrates our agriculture and at the same time nature is very difficult due to years of too much nitrogen emissions. We see great injustice, in the Netherlands or in other countries but seem to be bound and do not intervene. Everything keeps everything in the grip. We, people on this globe, race from incident to incident and are rarely ahead. In today’s complex reality, what seems to be a solution is, often at the same time the cause of a new problem. You have to admit that the way we now live (together) and deal with the earth seems untenable, no: is!
Man seems to be the cause of all these problems, could we also be part of the solution? This question was at the basis of a process that three spiritual groups, Anthroposophists, Theosophists and Rosicrucians, started together from a felt urgency to make a different sound heard about the solutions that society feverishly seeks.
We spoke with Pim Blomaard of the anthroposophical association in the Netherlands, Arend Heijbroek of the Theosophical Association Netherlands and Hannie in Grotenhuis of Stichting Rozenkruis about their initiative “The New Gold”.
Interview
You are organizing a conference on 3 September entitled “The new Gold – Ways to the Reality.” What can you tell me about that?
We think from a spiritual interest. We have that in common. In the encounters that we had so far, and also in some substantive contributions, that is reflected.
The day we have in mind is meant for people who struggle with what they see happening around them in the world. What does that mean, they wonder, and what does it mean for me? Why am I born in such a complex time?
We offer attractive themes at that conference, where we want to emphatically facilitate the conversation between all participants. Every participant is a valuable, no indispensable part of the whole and all can explicitly have their own input. Because we think the new gold is in all participants and in the exchange between them.
This is not the first time that the Anthroposophists, Theosophists and Rosicrucians organize something with each other, right?
That’s right. A large conference took place in 2009, at which nine spiritual movements in the Netherlands gave a lecture about esotericism in the Netherlands and how those groups had something in common.
So we organized a conference a few years ago and it felt good, but it did not really get a sequel. Then why are we looking for each other again after so many years?
There has certainly been a sequel. The Sufis have organized a similar day in The Hague. And at the moment there is an exhibition in the house with heads, The Embassy of the Free Mind, in which five currents talk about their relationship with the Rosicrucian manifests from the seventeenth century. And also on a personal level, various members of the nine movements have remained in contact with each other. At symposia and meetings, we gave speaking engagements when we knew a little more about a certain theme. After all, there are plenty of joint topics. And just when the world came to a halt, that gave us an extra boost to come up with reflection in a different way.
Anthroposophists, Theosophists and Rosicrucians started to meet each other more intensively. First in a small context and then with a group of around thirty members of our spiritual groups. We wondered: can we make an alternative sound heard at a time when it looks like the problems are insoluble? We formed a small group of representatives of these three movements and started a process together; We set off.
On the way where and for what purpose?
We had to start online of course because we were in the middle of the pandemic, but we also started a letter project. This was already digging to spiritual gold! Those letters were fantastic, people showed what they are spiritually, spiritually, mysticism, and most moved – placed against the background of the world problems as they experienced.
Also those conversations: open, searching, touching: what do our spiritual groups really have to offer in this confusing time?
And such a special thing goes out of it. The great thing is of course that Anthroposophists, Theosophists and Rosicrucians largely draw from the same source of universal wisdom, we come from the same centuries-old tradition. In the past, the emphasis was mainly on the differences, now it appears that we have a lot of similarities. And everywhere spiritual gold is waiting for us!
Of course, each of us can organize a conference independently, but by creating it we create something new. Coming from that tradition, it is especially important that we are staying in the here and now. We don’t want to look beyond that conference either. That will come afterward.
What are those similarities between the three currents, that Primal Source?
The Theosophists look for the universal behind the wisdom traditions of East and West, want to serve humanity through an inner transformation that can be achieved through study, meditation and services and all from freedom of thinking without dogmas. The Anthroposophists have experience with how you can take into account the different layers of reality in the practice of life and how you can see the spiritual backgrounds of Christianity. The Rosicrucians search for the universal medicine, which is located in alchemy, the transformation to an imperishable soul. The Primal Source is seen by the Rosicrucians as the center from which everything lives and comes, with which we are inextricably linked, even though we are not (yet) aware of it.
There are words in which not all currents recognize themselves, but what connects us is that we all look for truth behind the symptoms. That truth is transparent, not to grab with our thinking. Only from a certain inner silence can we be open to this universal truth, and recognize her. Our movements also have in common that we pursue a spiritual development path that we go not only for ourselves but also for the world and for helping each other on that path that leads to more consciousness about the coherence in the world. Some people already preceded us on that way and tell us to help us get on our way.
All three currents are in the Gnostic tradition, where inner knowing is important. However, that has flowered in different currents, and has been given different forms. But we want to emphasize that there are different types of flowers in a beautiful field!
What answer did you find to the question you have asked yourself: what do our spiritual traditions have to offer in this confusing time?
What we offer is a way to fundamental consciousness development. Man is a being with a material and a spiritual aspect. These belong together, it is the fundamental unity of existence. The challenges that it is about in society are a result of the challenges in man’s consciousness: the materialism that has passed on, the felt locking of each other, fear, uncertainty and judgments. If the problems arise from the awareness of man, then a transformation of our consciousness in our vision is the solution.
Sometimes you would almost think that the world would be better off without people because we bring so much out of balance in that (material) world. But without man, the world is meaningless; Man carries the promise of future development that is essential for the whole world.
As Anthroposophists, Theosophists and Rosicrucians we are seekers of one spirit behind all phenomena. And that spirit is a golden ideal image that drives the creation. There is nothing outside of the fundamental unity and we think it is the assignment of man to become aware of it. Our way to awareness of our true nature – which is spiritual – is an inner transformation process.
What is referred to in the title of the day: “The new Gold – Ways to the Reality.”?
“The new gold” is also used as a term for bitcoins, data and coffee. But for us “the new gold” is created in the space between people. An alchemical process takes place there. In that gap, you build something together that would not be otherwise. We really see that as our assignment. By doing it the three of us, together, this day gets more importance and urgency. Collaboration, connection and unit are the solution to the controversies of our time.
At the conference, we create new gold together with each other and between people. But even if you are not present at that conference, you can “create gold”. That is: the meeting between people, evoke wonder and listening to others.
Step over your own boundaries and see if you can spread and give that vision in small or slightly bigger. It is about consciousness and transformation, you can have a conversation about that in many ways. You will be surprised how many people are working on this in one way or another.
Biographies:
Hannie te Grotenhuis is a Rosicrucian, sociologist and team coach. She is mainly looking forward to the conference “The New Gold” because the three of us can bring a group of people together that we would never get together on our own. She is very curious about what that will yield.
“Every generation has to conquer a place in time and circumstances, but what we can do is be inspiring examples, soulful people who see good things in everything and everyone and lead our lives with attention and love. I hope that during the conference many people will discover the silent atmosphere or space in themselves where you are free, peaceful, in harmony and happy. That everyone there can find the door to a life in which the great secrets of God, cosmos and man are revealed. “
Pim Blomaard is an Anthroposophist, philosopher and director who focuses on meaning and values. He believes that this conference can offer “The New Gold” a new perspective because you do not want to get lost in the big world of spirituality and at the same time want to improve everyday practice in a spiritual way.
“My dream is that a greater movement will arise from spiritual currents that explicitly make each other that there is more than matter and that all our issues
need an integrated approach that also contains spiritual perspectives. “
Arend Heijbroek is a Theosophist and, among others, the writer of the book Theosofie eeuwige wijsheid voor deze tijd [Theosophy Eternal Wisdom for this time]. He assumes that wonder is the entrance to wisdom. For him, the conference “The New Gold” means contacting others, seeing yourself better and getting to know yourself.
“Our contribution for the future is that on the one hand, we show that organizations can be inspired by each other. Together we want to create something beautiful and yet keep our own identity. With that, we want to be an example in a time when differences are magnified. We show that there is a different path, and that there are various ways. My dream in this is to help people see that life is very different from the current outer, materialistic-oriented life. Real peace and happiness can only be found through inner transformation. “
Program components of “The new gold: weighing to reality”
Plenary lectures by Klaas van Egmond and Wendelijn van de Brul and a panel discussion with representatives of the three currents
In smaller groups, among others:
• Egyptian mysteries – then and now;
• the soul tall of fairy tales;
• the power of rituals;
• growing up in this time;
• the earth as our fellow sufferer;
• Revelations of Johannes;
• Transpersonal and spiritual experiences;
• Science and spirituality;
• Persian wisdom and Sufism;
• Walk with the theme “ecological intelligence”;
• Listening and dialogue workshop;
• Parcival;
• Go open and free.
