Bodrum, Turkey. 2025 marks the 100th anniversary of Rudolf Steiner’s death. How does he live on in specific individuals? Çiler Kocadağ, an art teacher and Waldorf education instructor in Turkey, gives her answers.
Which sentence of Rudolf Steiner has particularly touched you and why?
“The stars spoke once to man”
“Sterne sprachen einst zu Menschen”
I heard this sentence for the first time 11 years ago. Our Eurythmy teacher used it for one of our first performances. I have had a special interest in the stars since my childhood—that is why this sentence affected me deeply. At that moment, it was as if a magic wand had touched me, and I was standing on a high hill, waiting to hear them under a sky covered with stars. Whenever I still read this poem, I feel both a deep sadness and a strong desire. A strong desire to reconnect with them, to remember the path that led to them.
For which life questions is anthroposophy particularly important to you?
Who am I? What is a human being? Where did we come from? Where are we going? What is the meaning of life? What is the human being’s connection with the cosmos? What is the role of a human being in all of existence? What do I mean to existence, and what can I do? How can I benefit existence?
What thought would you like to add to anthroposophy?
The wisdom of Anatolia. The words of Rumi, Yunus Emre, and Hacı Bektaş. The prayers of my ancestors.
Where has anthroposophy specifically changed your life?
While I was stuck in existential questions in the physical world, it allowed me to turn my head to the higher worlds and look beyond the visible. The knowledge that our teachers in the seminar planted in our hearts literally placed us in a magical fairy tale that started between the columns of the first Goetheanum, continued in the corridors of the second Goetheanum, and from there extended to Turkey. I am sure that we wove this tale together with the stars.
If anthroposophy were a fantastic animal creature, what would it look like?
A bird with a fascinating, unique beauty and voice. It sheds light with its white feathers. It flies in the sky as if it were performing a unique dance. Golden dust falls from its wings wherever it passes. And only children can see this gold dust it scatters.
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Translation Charles Cross
Image Çiler Kocadağ, Photo: Emily Watson
