The Virtues – Towards a New Courtesy

Note: Today, April 3, 2013, the international exposition "The Virtues - Towards an New Courtesy" opened in Amsterdam City Hall. Visitors will be welcomed with the text and image below in which, among other things, a public petition to our new King William Alexander is announced to establish a new Willehalm Order of Knights of the Word. People interested in co-signing this petition are cordially invited to do so by sending an email with their name and home town to info@willehalm.nl or by leaving a commentary below 

The Virtues –

Towards a New Courtesy

Introduction and Accountability in View of Willehalm of Orange and the New Kingship

Here in the hall of Empire City Amsterdam – Austrian Emperor Maximillian granted the capital in 1489 the right to bear the Imperial crown on its coat-of-arms with the current motto Valiant, Steadfast and Compassionate added by Queen Wilhelmina in 1946 – it marks the first time that all 12 contemplations from TheVirtues – Seasons of the Soul, a handbook for the modern art of living by the German philosopher/ anthroposophist Herbert Witzenmann, are exhibited (in English and Dutch) together with the 13 illuminations by the Dutch painter Jan de Kok. This international exhibition will be formally opened on April 5 (3-5 PM) with a Vernissage in the company of the painter, and a book presentation of a revised (Dutch) edition of The Virtues (a new English edition will appear at a later date). In his opening address, the publisher Robert J. Kelder will make a historic connection between the theme of the exhibition and the medieval founding father of the House of Orange, the legendary Willehalm (see image). This was a Paladin of Emperor Charlemagne and one of the last protectors of Celtic or esoteric Christianity who, based on his outstanding embodiment of the knightly virtues of courage, justice and loyalty, was declared Patron Saint of the Knights by Pope Alexander II in 1066. On April 30, 2013 the current William of Orange will not only be inaugurated as King of The Netherlands, but also assume his function as the new Grand master of the Military William Order, which is rightly named after the Patron Saint of the Knights. Encouraged by recent results of historical research concerning the hitherto unknown social and spiritual curriculum vitae of his Franconian namesake, a public petition will be offered to our new King William-Alexander with a well-grounded request to establish, as a supplement to the William Order of the Sword, a Willehalm Order of Knights of the Word. This with the noble aim of giving rise to a Movement for a New Courtesy through the embodiment of the 12 Virtues portrayed here as a counterpoise to the ever increasing discourtesy, the “new ruffianship” and worse in our Kingdom and beyond.

The exhibition, which will be open to the public from April 3 to May 10 on weekdays from 7 AM to 6 PM, is a free contribution to the project “Courtesy of Amsterdam” initiated by Municipal executive councilor Andrée van Es in 2011. Its subtitle Towards a New Courtesy is taken from the Virtue of the month September that begins with “The compassion that becomes freedom restores to courtesy its meaning and dignity.” and that ends with “Thus courtesy becomes tact of the heart”.

H.P. Blavatsky and Rudolf Steiner

The 12 meditative texts on display here stem reportedly from Madam Blavatsky, one of the founders of the Theosophical Society, who attributed a Virtue to each month, e.g. May: perseverance. Afterwards Rudolf Steiner, the principal founder of the Anthroposophical Society, set them in motion: Perseverance becomes faithfulness. Subsequently it was Herbert Witzenmann (1905-1988), a personal student of Rudolf Steiner, who explicated the conceptional movement between the thus conjoined Virtues and wrote a magical-idealistic introduction “On the Genesis of the Virtues” as well as an apologetic-philosophical epilogue “Primer for the Adoption of the Virtues”. He also indicated the sources from the spiritual treasures of mankind for the mantras with which each of the 12 Virtues as Spirits of Movement end.

Jan de Kok

Concerning his illuminations for The Virtues, Jan de Kok, who views Maarten Krabbé and Jan Sierhuis as his teachers, wrote the following, “In the portrayal of The Virtues I allowed myself to be led by nature, nature in which often invisible forces are active in connection with the whole cosmos. This I expressed in pure colour power that ultimately flows out in form power. Colour after all precedes form. Those are the forces that make nature grow. In connection with the image and the text from this booklet, it can come to pass that the spiritual world becomes a reality that one undergoes as a meditative experience. The colour experiences in our soul play an important role in each month. By connecting ourselves with that, this can in the here and now take on a succinct form as a conscious awareness of ourselves and nature around us, which can lead us to better understand the whole, the interconnectedness.”

Willehalm Order of Knights

The historical motivation for the petition to establish a Willehalm Chivalric Order of the Word to our new king, who according to Article 75 of our constitution is the only one entrusted with the power to do so, is based on the scholarly, multi-disciplinary research report Howthe Grail Sites Were Found – Wolfram von Eschenbach and the Reality of theGrail by the Swiss anthroposophist Werner Greub that was published by the Willehalm Foundation in 1999. From this, it appears that after his military career as the supreme commander of the Carolingian army in defense of the Spanish mark against the invading Moors, this William with the Horn played a crucial role in the events leading up to the wonderful coronation of Parzival as King of the Grail as well as in its oral tradition through 11 generations to Wolfram von Eschenbach up until the present.

Dream for our Country, Europe and the World

Under the title The Virtues, William of Orange and the New Kingship this will be elaborated on during lectures in City Hall on April 26 and May 3 as a “Dream for our Country, Europe and the World”, inspiration for the reign of our new king and queen. 
                                                                       

Robert Jan Kelder

Willehalm Foundation,

Amsterdam, April 3, 2013
Last updated February 18, 2020

For more information on the exhibition, the Willehalm Foundation 
and the petition to King William-Alexander:                     
http://Power-to-the-Virtues.blogspot.nl; www.willehalm.nl