The Meaning of Destiny – 2026 Annual Conference

For over ten years, the Anthroposophical Society in Switzerland has dedicated its conferences to deepening the impulse of the Christmas Conference. The 2026 general meeting marked a new beginning: the next conferences will focus on professional fields related to anthroposophy, seeking dialogue with those who pursue activities rooted in anthroposophy (the daughters) to deepen their connection in a fruitful exchange with the mother. This year, the focus was on the Delphic motto "Know Thyself" and reincarnation as a working hypothesis, that is, as the starting point for a journey of human understanding perpendicular to the narrow limits of Lockean empiricism. Not a blank slate to be filled with impressions, which then sink into subjectivity, but the search for the meaning of destiny, four possibilities of which were hinted at in the conferences: on biography, on health and illness, on the destiny that unites us to the Earth and on the importance of a healthy, free and humane pedagogy, which allows children to develop in such a way as to meet their destiny as adults.

Jean-Michel Florin traced the key stages of humankind's relationship with the Earth, using several paintings from the Barbizon school and van Gogh, to illustrate the moment when humanity severed its ties with the Earth. To evoke earlier moments in human evolution, the images painted on the vault of the Hall were directly referenced. Thomáś Zdražil, guesting from the Stuttgart School of Pedagogy, presented alarming data regarding the now widespread parental restrictions on freedom of movement: in a comparison of four generations of the same family, the limits within which an eight-year-old child can move freely have collapsed over the past century. In response, a seemingly safer digital space has opened up for children. Hence the urgent need to explore every form of pedagogy that aims to reunite children with direct experience of the real world.

Among the many workshops proposed (mostly related to professional sectors), Maria Stella Cantini and Vera Sattelmeyer offered one in Italian, German, and French. The group worked on the Goetheanum's stained glass windows, seeking to explore their themes collaboratively. Not a guided tour, therefore, but rather a shared journey exploring the generally human element, starting with the community that had formed at that moment (roughly fifteen participants), following the sequence of the stained glass windows, starting with the red one, continuing like a caduceus through the green (from north to south), blue (from south to north, and so on), purple, and peach, closing the circle with the image of the Representative of Humanity.

The meeting acknowledged a less than encouraging financial situation due to the declining membership. In 2025, approximately 50 new members joined and an equal number formally left, but at the end of the year, news arrived that more than 60 had since passed the threshold. It has been therefore emphasized that the numerous activities promoted by the committee are not actually funded solely by the company, but are supported primarily by bequests.

The decision to offer simultaneous translation into Italian during the conference was made following the recent founding of two new Italian-speaking branches or groups within the Anthroposophical Society in Switzerland. Milena Kowarik also sent a message to Italian members, inviting all those interested to participate. It is hoped that interest in this area will grow, so that mutual inspiration will be fostered by the presence of multiple peoples and languages, already so closely connected.

Giovanni Tobia De Benedetti