Seeds for Social Renewal

Seeds for Social Renewal: The Camphill Village Conferences In these lectures, König explores the human being and social life, the individual and community, from an imaginative and often radical perspective. These explorations range majestically from masks and archetypal images, the threefold constitution in man and woman, the karma of vocation, and the fundamental social law, to the place of work, religion and culture within the threefold social organism, and karma and reincarnation. The lectures arose from Dr. König’s experiences in establishing and building Camphill Communities with extraordinary people with special needs. They are important both for the work in Camphill, as well as more broadly in the field of social therapy and beyond. This is a revised and expanded edition of the “Village Conference Lectures” of Karl König, previously published as In Need of Special Understanding. C O N T E N T S: Foreword by Christopher Bamford Preface by Nick Poole Editor’s Note The Image of the Human Being in Village Life Introduction Masks of Humanity and Leading Images Light and Shadow Constitutional Types and Human Threefoldness The Threefold Constitution of the Human Being Introduction Mask, Jewelry, Clothing—Three Aspects of the Ego Becoming World – Becoming Human – Being Human How Could Villagers Share in Running the Village? The Threefold Human Being and Male and Female Learning and Working—The Karma of Vocation Learning and Working Forces of Karma The Threefold Social Organism Appendix: The Ego The Threefold Social Order Lucifer and Ahriman The Will Seeking the Human Form Three Tasks of the Village and the Three Great Errors Karl König’s Discussion of Albumin Karl König’s Blackboard Drawing Facsimile of Karl König’s Notes Notes Bibliography Index About the Author Karl König (1902–1966) was born in Vienna, in Austria-Hungary, the only son of a Jewish shoemaker. He studied medicine at the University of Vienna and graduated in 1927, with a special interest in embryology. After graduating, he was invited by Ita Wegman to work in her Klinisch-Therapeutisches Institute, a clinic in Arlesheim, Switzerland for people with special needs. He married Mathilde Maasberg in 1929. Dr. König was appointed pediatrician at the Rudolf Steiner-inspired Schloß Pilgrimshain institute in Strzegom, where he worked until 1936, when he returned to Vienna and established a successful medical practice. Owing to Hitler’s invasion of Austria, he was forced to flee Vienna to Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1938. Dr. König was interned briefly at the beginning of World War II, but on his release in 1940 he set up the first Camphill Community for Children in Need of Special Care at Camphill on the outskirts of Aberdeen. From the mid-1950s, König began more communities, including one in North Yorkshire, the first to care for those beyond school age with special needs. In 1964, König moved to Brachenreuthe near Überlingen on Lake Constance, Germany, where he set up another community, where he died in 1966.