Goetheanum, Dornach, CH

I entered 1st grade in Arlesheim, Switzerland, a small rural town in canton Basel Land. My mother had placed me with a family there while she was working full-time in Basel (Stadt) and was unable to care for me. My stay there was cut short by an outbreak of polio - from which I fortunately suffered only minimal effects – after which my mother decided to remove me from the household. During the brief time I did spend in Arlesheim though, inquiries were made by The Anthroposophical Society, headquartered at the Goetheanum in neighboring Dornach, about the possibility of allowing me to join the organization to be sheltered there and educated in its ways.

The Anthroposophical Society goes back to 1902 when the German branch of the international Theosophical Society was founded and led by Rudolf Steiner. His group always remained quite independent of the main branch that was geographically and spiritually headquartered in Adyar (Chennai), India. The bond between Steiner and the main society was irrevocably broken in 1913, when leadership of the Indian branch declared that they had found the reincarnated Christ in a young boy named Jiddu Krishnamurti.

If you have been keeping track of my postings from South India to didyouweekend.com, you will remember an earlier article I wrote about the Theosophical Society grounds and gardens in Chennai. - It’s a small world indeed! I myself hadn’t made the connection until now.

On a recent visit to Europe, which included some of my childhood digs, I (re)visited the massive and imposing Goetheanum again. It appears as quite an anachronism set in the gentle, bucolic landscape of Basel Land. The brainchild of multi-talented Steiner himself, it represents a pioneering use of cast concrete in large-scale architecture and has now been granted protected status as a Swiss national monument. Steiner's initial thrust was to liberate the building’s structure from traditional architectural norms and constraints, especially by shunning the use of the right-angle as a basis for any building plan. Thereby, he hoped to achieve organic forms that were spiritually expressive. The result is certainly unique and has been highly praised by any number of renowned names in modern architecture, including art critic, Michael Brennan, who referred to it as a "true masterpiece of 20th-century expressionist architecture". My own impression was that it clashed unnecessarily with the surrounding scenery. I saw Steiner’s ego dramatically at odds with itself – a dangerous situation that, given the right circumstance, could result in something akin to what happened in Jonestown, New Guinea.

While there, I experienced a strange post-apocalyptic sense. Wandering randomly throughout the building of multi-colored interior walls, I encountered no one. I found myself compulsively seeking out windows and balconies to verify that the sun was still shining; the trees still blooming, and that people were still going about their business in the usual way.

Outside, on the grounds, I met random groups of young backpackers, speaking any number of different languages. They must have made the journey for quite some other reason than my own. One group asked me to snap their picture with the building in the background.