About YSA
The YouthSection Australia (YSA) is an organisation formed by individuals interested in Anthroposophy who want the support of friends, mentors and other young people in their explorations and study.The YSA is also a network for people wanting help with initiatives based around Anthroposophical ideas.
The YSA exists to assist the formation of friendships between young people who are striving to be spiritually active.It is there to help members overcome the problems created by the vast distances of Australia.
Rather than carrying out initiatives, the YSA encourages the personal connections from which these initiatives can come.As such, membership of the YSA is not based on fees or application forms, but rather on an individual’s participation in YSA activities. We attempt to link Anthroposophy to the world as we experience it and work to make the concepts given contemporary and useful. Adeep understanding of Anthroposophy is not needed, indeed one of the YSA’s main tasks is to support those beginning their learning.
Once a year the YSA holds a national conference at which various interesting and relevant ideas are explored. Members are encouraged to suggest these topics and working with a mentor, present them in workshops or lectures. These conferences allow YSA members to meet and spend time as a group exploring new ideas, forming friendships and furthering Anthroposophy in Australia. Participants leave having been challenged and inspired keen to make a difference in their lives.
The YSA also encourages older Anthroposophists wanting to provide guidance and mentoring to young people. The Friends of the YouthSection with their experience and deeper understanding can then form the friendships and connections needed for the free flow of help and advice between the two generations.
The following article was written for Anthroposphy Worldwide, by Gosia Basinska.
In July 2005, around 50 Australian youth dedicated to Anthroposophy met in the Blue Mountains near Sydney, Australia. During the Four days of the “Finding Our Way” conference, these youth created an open and honest space that became the cornerstone for what has now become the Australian Youth Section.
Individuals in a Dynamic Whole
Australia is a vast land. Much of its landscape is unpopulated, remote and wild. This expansive space is the centrepiece for a population that largely lives near the coast; our individual Australian identities are formed by the landscape we find ourselves in. Whether it be the desert plains, where veils of heat and red dust rise to our faces, or the tall luscious forests towering over our heads, the clear blue coastlines or the bustling cities and suburbia - one thing that marks us is the way these landscapes create great physical distances between us. If I drive three and a half thousand kilometers East, I’m still in Australia.
Perhaps this unfathomable distance was too great a barrier for a youth section to arise easily here in the past. It would also be true to say that the spiritual impetus behind our section is now ripe, for an idea that has been in the minds of some of our members for seven years or more. Now, with the help of reasonable airfares, the internet and of course human will, our Australian Youth Section is formed.
Every person that I have interviewed for this article observes that our community is ruthlessly open and honest. This was finitely apparent during the four day Finding Our Way conference earlier this year, where a space was held in which everyone's truth was valued and heard.
It is seen as "Australian" to be able to take the things that cause discomfort and pain in our stride or to deal with issues inwardly, often causing greater pain and remorse. To express discomfort, dissent or disagreement takes courage, and this is precisely what a group needs to be fluid, alive and dynamic. In the political setting of today, dissent and disagreement have become slowly eroding human rights. Just now, the Australian government is discussing legislation for new anti-terrorism laws, meaning even less freedom of speech and liberty. This silencing of opposition and individuality deadens social forces and is something that as a group, we feel we broke through during our conference.
Lisa Devine, the chosen keynote speaker for the Finding Our Way conference, talked of how it does not work when individuals compromise themselves to fit the group. Everyone’s individuality and honesty must be expressed; with a willingness to hold the space open for this honesty in others. If we hold this space, a transformation can take place that makes a group greater than the sum of its parts; we become individuals within a dynamic whole.
The Fire of Our Giving to the Community
It is fair to say that the Australian Youth Section is in its early stages, like a newly born child, possessing so much possibility and needing so much to be held in the world in a way that allows it to incarnate fully. What a child of this age is not totally aware of, is how much it gives to and takes from those around it; and how much it changes everything. What we have noticed as a group is that when we speak of the Youth Section, more experienced Australian Anthroposophists’ faces light up with a kindled hope and yet some trepidation.
There is a visionary, happy-go-lucky attitude in youth that often simply does not deliver. We are fortunate not to have this mood about our group; rather we have openly expressed our dedication to a willful and inspired section built with integrity. This integrity is especially important when dealing with how much energy, love and time is put into our initiatives.
Our section is active though our initiatives, these initiatives give us our identity as a group. They also cause us to engage our will forces, sometimes in ways that are very challenging and difficult. One of these challenges has been the legal issues concerned with serving free food to people of need, which is the basis for an initiative that was planned for Melbourne. Other initiatives are our newsletter and Traveling Journals. We consider it important to reach out to the community in inclusive ways, and our initiatives are the medium through which this is done.
In our Youth Section, many are not members of the Anthroposophical Society, many had not heard of the School of Spiritual Science, some had not heard of Anthroposophy. We aim to be inclusive, and our debate of inclusivity has extended to the topic of the age of a "youth" (and thus a member of the Youth Section).
One way we have overcome the age issue has been by creating mentoring and Friends of the Youth Section initiatives. The mentoring initiative allows older, more experienced Anthroposophists to help guide, discuss and help with issues and ideas members of the Youth Section may have. The Friends of the Youth Section initiative gives those who are no longer youths a concrete link to the activities and impulses within the youth section in exchange for financial support. These two initiatives ensure that not only do those Anthroposophists have a link to us, we also have a connection to the Anthroposphical community here in Australia.
To hold back our humility for a moment, we honestly feel we have something to offer the Anthoposophical community, beyond our individual contributions. The space we hold open in the Australian Youth Section is fluid, free, and most strongly distinct by the fire and honesty of our willingness to give to the greater community.
Gosia Basinska is a speaker for the Australian Youth Section, and is the writer of this article. She can be contacted by emailing gosia@youthsection.org.au