Watershed As Guiding Metaphor 

Through the lens of physical geography, a watershed is “the region draining into a river, river system, or other body of water.” Wherever we are in the world, if we’re standing on solid earth, we are in a watershed: The waters around us are always flowing from somewhere and to somewhere. 

Nowhere in North America is there as great a number and as wide a diversity of initiatives flowing from the work and legacy of Rudolf Steiner as the area that encompasses the Hudson River Watershed, from the river’s source in the Adirondack Mountains to its meeting with the sea at New York City. 

The Wisdom Working Directory will help individual initiatives better tell the story of the wider cultural context they are a part of.  It will place Waldorf schools, Camphill communities, Biodynamic farms, Anthroposophical Society branches, congregations of the Christian Community, anthroposophical doctors, therapists, artists, craftspeople, researchers, publishers, bookstores, and businesses, all together in one guidebook for the express purpose of introducing the wide diversity of fruits anthroposophy has yielded in the region over the past century.

The word "watershed" is also used colloquially to indicate “a critical point that marks a division or a change of course; a turning point.” Few would argue that we are not, at this very moment, dwelling at such a critical point, or in need of such a change of course. But in what direction?

“By their fruits you will recognize them… every good tree bears good fruit…” The work flowing from the spiritual source of anthroposophy is incomparably (and, at first, to many, inconceivably) comprehensive. It is, at times, in many ways, for many people, hidden in plain sight.

This tree has born good fruit and yet, for many, remains unseen and unrecognized. We need the practical fruits of applied wisdom in the world today. To begin with, we simply need examples we can point to that wisdom is already at work in the world, if only as tender, young shoots.

This directory, artfully and professionally realized, wishes to serve such a function.

The work being done on individual farms, schools and other initiatives along the Hudson, stands in the world as its own justification. Let’s continue this work by presenting, to all who would be interested, a tangible object with a clear voice—a handsomely illustrated, cross-referenced, full-color guidebook with knowledgeable and succinct introductions to different subject areas—arranged around and building upon this theme of watershed. This river was called, by those who lived here first, Muh-he-kun-ne-tuk, “river that flows two ways.” Today, this name serves as both a literal indication of the Hudson estuary’s daily tides, and also as a metaphoric reminder of our striving to remain connected to both the deep wellspring of our eternal source and to the vast wider sea of contemporary times and contemporary culture.

By featuring the practical applications of this wisdom stream we believe we are presenting nourishment that the world needs right now, and that should not only be better known, but should—really, it has to—grow.