Keeping Our Own Side of the Street Clean
The Futility of Hatred
Previous in series : Planting the Seeds of Threefolding
If we hope to progess from the threefold idea we've explored to a threefold social order, we too will need to change. With these next "points to ponder", we'll look at the roles, and for better or worse, the potential outcomes of our own actions and attitudes.
Points to Ponder 6
Attacks or condemnation of persons/groups/classes of people will almost always prove destructive. This has both external, practical aspects and inner ones.
To point out the flaws in someone's thinking, or the consequences of their actions on others is fair play, and needed - these are essential tools of activism, and of social change altogether. It may also be necessary at times to decisively stop some course of destructive action. But hatred, fixed judgments and attacks on the character of others will for the most part never prove helpful. Why ?
As human beings we're typically mixed in our motives and actions ; not fixed, but by nature always evolving, developing, changing. Highly talented and motivated people can make huge mistakes, have terribly distorted ideas for a time - yet later redeem themselves, even astonishingly. Limits, boundaries, even the force of law may be needed against wrongdoing ; but in attacking groups or people personally we provoke them all the more to cunning, to a spirit and creativity of revenge. Not least, we burn bridges to compromise - or to even potential friendships. By restraint at this personal level, we may find things we have in common, even with those we thought enemies ; and surprisingly, ways that we can work together.
Attitudes of judgment and condemnation also work back on us when who judge.
It's been said that hatred is a poison we drink, in hopes it will hurt someone else. Likewise, labels and judgments we apply to a "them" may not just be incomplete or wrong, but make our own thinking rigid and inflexible. Before condemning others, we do well to look at ourselves thoroughly (resource). Fair and honest reflection will show us we too have shortcomings, have also done harm and are liable to judgment.
This said, the world is awash in greed and narrow mindedness today, in error and incompetence, in distorted thinking, harmful and destructive actions and practices. To see these without filters, to know their effects, their pervasiveness and scale, can be excruciating. It's may also be that errors of thinking and action, compounded by now for centuries, must bear consequences in the world ; brutal ones. The question is whether, faced with these, we lash out and pass the destruction further - or find it in ourselves to bear it, until we can see what's actually needed.
Points to Ponder 7
This restraint may at some point even prove life saving.
As seen in the last article, spiritual warfare, "the war of ideas ", is fully appropriate in our times ; but the war of arms and power is increasingly not. We've just gotten too good at it - to the point that we can devastate the physical and social infrastructures of entire cultures, almost literally overnight. The poet Novalis once said of this external war that the only good thing about it is that over time, the worst elements in society kill each other off. But we should take care that we too are not drawn into it and inadvertently, find ourselves among the casualties. As another poet put it
"The Magician is quicker and his game is much thicker
Than blood, and blacker than ink
And there's no time to think ..... "
- Bob Dylan
How often do we find ourselves outraged at a wrong, at a "them" in some conflict and tempted, even half ready to fight ? We can get in such fights easily enough today ; but it seldom goes as we thought it would ; and once in, we may not easily get out again.
How do we get dragged into such conflicts ?
One easy illusion is that there's a black and a white in a situation, an us and them, a simple choice of clearly opposed forces ; but in truth we've seen that everyone has both positive and negative sides, strengths as well as shortcomings ; that every argument, cause and outlook has merits, as well as blind spots. The real and most likely need in these situations is for conversation, negotiation, clarification of needs and views. But as we've seen in politics, any group can be passionately identified as a victim - or just easily as a perpetrator. The potential for splintering and divisions in these matters, once it starts, is endless. And when two parties fight, nothing is easier than for some third party to manipulate both for its own ends. These roles are endlessly tempting - with no one ever really the winner.
A second easy illusion is the pressing importance of things - advantage, possessions, position - to our true well being. Not to undervalue physical things - among other tasks, it's the legitimate work of rights life to protect them. But in most cases even their complete loss still leaves us free to continue. The greater danger here is that they entangle and preoccupy our being - our thoughts, emotions and judgment ; that they distract us from more important things, down ill advised and dangerous byways.
Evil, to be sure, takes many forms in our world, but we should ask : what is the actual battlefield, and what are the stakes ? To frame these in material terms of things, advantage, possession, puts the desired outcomes of conflict in similar terms - and can make warfare of arms and power almost inevitable. But at this moment we should step back, and recall the purposes of the three spheres of life altogether :
Economic life : to meet the common physical needs of life of all members of society through cooperation, communication, collaboration.
Spiritual cultural life : to cultivate and promote sharing of gifts/abilities of individual human beings, to the eventual benefit of all of society.
Rights life : to enable and permit participation of every adult member of society in decisions concerning their own rights and safety ; and to ensure needed freedoms/protections through processes of consents and agreements.
Seen clearly, the warfare of arms and powers undermines the work of all these realms, directly. For us as individuals, it disrupts our ability to properly take part in any of them, or make our natural contribution to them. Not least, it undermines our ability to direct and control our own thoughts, feelings and actions - our own humanity. Our moment to choose how, or whether or not to participate at all in these conflicts comes and goes, but typically we miss it, and are swept along - again the poet :
"Mercury rules you and destiny fools you
Like the plague, with a dangerous wink
And there's no time to think ..... "
The confrontation with evil in its many and real forms is one we lose repeatedly - but all is not necessarily lost. With luck evil "wounds us awake", and we learn without its being fatal. But choices do come constantly, through which we must not sleep - except at risk to our humanity, or even our lives.
Points to Ponder 8
Advocacy may include hard work, and on a voluntary basis, personal sacrifice ; but we only need to do our own part well.
We each have unique gifts and abilities that are needed by the world. We each also have some set of concerns and interests that mean most to us, and are closest to our hearts. To the degree we can identify these two elements - and bring them together - we may be surprised how effective we can be ; and be they ever so humble, what contributions we can make. To work this way for what's most meaningful to us, can be among life's great satisfactions.
We can also know that whatever gifts and abilities we lack, others may have ; they do or teach us things we can't do or don't know, and vice versa. Beyond greater effectiveness - and the relief not to have to work alone - co-work like this can build deep bonds, and some of our most rewarding friendships.
Points to Ponder 9
This said, advocacy requires discipline, and cultivation of our abilities ; and without these will stagnate. Self knowledge, priorities, a willingness to learn from mistakes and grow beyond ourselves, belong to what might be called the path of the advocate/activist, with inner, outer and social aspects.
Advocacy is a long term undertaking, and takes endurance. This in turn requires self care, and for many today, also elements of healing. This of course includes care of our body ; but in times that neglect these things, also of our soul and spirit.
Points to Ponder 10
The terms threefold, threefolding and threefold social order themselves have no special or magical power ; they can be wrongly or incompletely understood, confusingly presented, or potentially, even deceptively or dishonestly used. Newcomers to the idea (today, still almost everyone !) need the best and most complete tools in their own hands from the start. This is the value of both competent overview presentations, and of Steiner's original works (resource).
Newcomers are also served if, without fail when using terms, we take care to first define them. Rudolf Steiner was a master at building foundations for understanding even the most profound concepts in his books and lectures, returning to important themes repeatedly, in different ways and from different sides.
Lastly we may ask : who is it that presents the threefold social idea, and that those new to it meet ? How well is it integrated, and does it permeate our own being ? How well do we manage our own faculties of thinking, feeling and willing ? Take part ourselves in the realms of economic, rights and spiritual cultural life ?
Dutch psychiatrist Bernard Lievegoed, a leading and effective proponent of threefolding, observed that to strengthen our human will, requires that we cultivate
A lifelong commitment to knowledge and learning
An active inner life and
An ability to distinguish the essential from the non-essential
These requirements could apply equally to our work with the threefold idea, grounding our efforts, lending authenticity, inspiring trust in those to whom we speak ; a believable "who" to confirm the "what" and "how" of our message of threefold society. For our urgently at-risk future, this will be decisive !
The Mind of the Gardener
We've spoken of mindsets that can can lose their way terribly, leading us - self and society - small steps into a true abyss. There is, however, also an ascending path to be won, by similar small increments.
Both processes, descending and upgoing, affect and involve our human faculties of thinking, feeling and willing (doing and action). These unfold first of all in our own inner world ; but also in our interaction with the external, physical world, and in our social world and relationships. The drama of our lives, how we find or lose our way, lies in how we learn to use these tools, and find our way in these three worlds. We've considered the downward path previously, and can now look at the ascending.
Once grasped, the concepts of the threefold idea first become inwardly active in us - differently in each person. They encounter, clash with or confirm our own past thinking in various ways. They bring our thought processes into new and dynamic movement. Into this lively ferment there arise inklings, unexpected, that our concepts need not be fixed, as we may have come to feel, but can change. We learn we can see things in new ways, if we look - that this is possible.
This influx of new thoughts in our inner landscape also triggers feelings. Noticing that more freedom is possible, among other emotions we feel hope, and want more. Exploring inwardly, we have new insights, and find we like this exploration and discovery. It dawns on us that if we dare embark on it and work for it, we can know more, do more, be more. Not least, we glimpse ways out of a world direction that is in so many ways dark, even threatening. Eager or tentative, we feel the potential to unfold ourselves, and emotions from relief, to gratitude and joy.
Before the Garden, The Plan
During nursing school, a friend and I had a small gardening and landscaping business. He once said to me that the most beautiful gardens are planned from above. Modest as our business was, we always gave customers a sketch or simple blueprint, and the good sense of this has stayed with me.
For the sake of overview, these articles have explored the threefold social idea only in its most basic features : the nature and functions of the economic, rights and spiritual cultural spheres, the characteristic needs of each, factors that help each thrive and ones that make them unhealthy. In this regard we've looked especially at relationships among them - some mutually supportive, others undermining. These are patterns to be found in social life, but the threefold idea is no mechanical model. It describes organs, functions and structural features in a living social organism - a new way to see social phenomena, and step beyond mere intellectual formulations. The threefold idea shows promise even as a diagnostic tool for social situations, both healthy and disturbed. Not something to be "believed" or "applied", it can be tested through observation, and confirmed in the real circumstances of life. Actions that spring from such processes will be both rational, and grounded in the realities of life.
Preparing the Soil of HUMANITY
Among the most cherished ideals of organic and biodynamic farming today is regeneration of the soil itself. In society, the corresponding hope might be for a new and transformed image of man : a renewed conception of humanity altogether - as individual, in community and as whole society.
This needed "image of man" is not in the first place something physical, but a matter of envisioning ourselves, spiritually and psychologically. It is cognitive, rigorous and crucial for the way ahead.
At the heart of the threefold idea, particularly, are insights concerning the core needs of the three realms of life : namely, the need of the spiritual cultural sphere for freedom ; of the rights sphere for equality ; and of the economic sphere for fraternity - the will to work together collaboratively, rather than competitively, to meet the physical needs of life common to all people. Hidden in these already is a certain picture of what a human being is, as a whole being and in health.
As we've seen, the frustration of these needs baffles initiative in even the most gifted of us, stokes anger, cynicism, despair ; and tempts the lower aspects of our human nature constantly. Awareness of these needs, and commitment to their realization, however, can work differently - as ideals and reminder of the possibilities in the human being. Once grasped, these insights lend structure to thinking, and clarity in the most diverse circumstances. They focus our attention, and in all three realms of life, can lend us the needed courage to act :
Rakes and Shovels, Pails and Hoes ......
Our tools for "planting" the threefold idea in our social world are as many as there are tools for farming in the external one ; they're just not physical tools, but spiritual ones, forged in our own being as we go. This said though, certain of these tools are representative :
Much remains to be done on the way ahead, with challenges both exciting and complex. The way holds many questions not quickly or easily answerable. How, for instance, in the time to come can it best be accomplished, and with least disruption
- Consumer needs, wishes and preferences for goods and services
- Ways to determine the fair and appropriate price of goods and services
- Matters of rights (dangerous or harmful products and practices)
What thought and questions do you have ? What aspects of the threefold social idea light up for you, and would you like to direct your attention to especially, going forward ? Please give this your best further thought and if you'd like, share your thoughts in the contact form below. Not least if you feel this threefold idea should be better known in the world, please share links to this article series with friends !
Series by : Jeff Smith RN (Retired)
This Page is Dedicated to Our Good Friend James Nunemacher Planting the Seeds of Threefolding II
The Futility of Hatred
Previous in series : Planting the Seeds of Threefolding
If we hope to progess from the threefold idea we've explored to a threefold social order, we too will need to change. With these next "points to ponder", we'll look at the roles, and for better or worse, the potential outcomes of our own actions and attitudes.
Points to Ponder 6
Attacks or condemnation of persons/groups/classes of people will almost always prove destructive. This has both external, practical aspects and inner ones.
To point out the flaws in someone's thinking, or the consequences of their actions on others is fair play, and needed - these are essential tools of activism, and of social change altogether. It may also be necessary at times to decisively stop some course of destructive action. But hatred, fixed judgments and attacks on the character of others will for the most part never prove helpful. Why ?
As human beings we're typically mixed in our motives and actions ; not fixed, but by nature always evolving, developing, changing. Highly talented and motivated people can make huge mistakes, have terribly distorted ideas for a time - yet later redeem themselves, even astonishingly. Limits, boundaries, even the force of law may be needed against wrongdoing ; but in attacking groups or people personally we provoke them all the more to cunning, to a spirit and creativity of revenge. Not least, we burn bridges to compromise - or to even potential friendships. By restraint at this personal level, we may find things we have in common, even with those we thought enemies ; and surprisingly, ways that we can work together.
Attitudes of judgment and condemnation also work back on us when who judge.
It's been said that hatred is a poison we drink, in hopes it will hurt someone else. Likewise, labels and judgments we apply to a "them" may not just be incomplete or wrong, but make our own thinking rigid and inflexible. Before condemning others, we do well to look at ourselves thoroughly (resource). Fair and honest reflection will show us we too have shortcomings, have also done harm and are liable to judgment.
This said, the world is awash in greed and narrow mindedness today, in error and incompetence, in distorted thinking, harmful and destructive actions and practices. To see these without filters, to know their effects, their pervasiveness and scale, can be excruciating. It's may also be that errors of thinking and action, compounded by now for centuries, must bear consequences in the world ; brutal ones. The question is whether, faced with these, we lash out and pass the destruction further - or find it in ourselves to bear it, until we can see what's actually needed.
Points to Ponder 7
This restraint may at some point even prove life saving.
As seen in the last article, spiritual warfare, "the war of ideas ", is fully appropriate in our times ; but the war of arms and power is increasingly not. We've just gotten too good at it - to the point that we can devastate the physical and social infrastructures of entire cultures, almost literally overnight. The poet Novalis once said of this external war that the only good thing about it is that over time, the worst elements in society kill each other off. But we should take care that we too are not drawn into it and inadvertently, find ourselves among the casualties. As another poet put it
"The Magician is quicker and his game is much thicker
Than blood, and blacker than ink
And there's no time to think ..... "
- Bob Dylan
How often do we find ourselves outraged at a wrong, at a "them" in some conflict and tempted, even half ready to fight ? We can get in such fights easily enough today ; but it seldom goes as we thought it would ; and once in, we may not easily get out again.
How do we get dragged into such conflicts ?
One easy illusion is that there's a black and a white in a situation, an us and them, a simple choice of clearly opposed forces ; but in truth we've seen that everyone has both positive and negative sides, strengths as well as shortcomings ; that every argument, cause and outlook has merits, as well as blind spots. The real and most likely need in these situations is for conversation, negotiation, clarification of needs and views. But as we've seen in politics, any group can be passionately identified as a victim - or just easily as a perpetrator. The potential for splintering and divisions in these matters, once it starts, is endless. And when two parties fight, nothing is easier than for some third party to manipulate both for its own ends. These roles are endlessly tempting - with no one ever really the winner.
A second easy illusion is the pressing importance of things - advantage, possessions, position - to our true well being. Not to undervalue physical things - among other tasks, it's the legitimate work of rights life to protect them. But in most cases even their complete loss still leaves us free to continue. The greater danger here is that they entangle and preoccupy our being - our thoughts, emotions and judgment ; that they distract us from more important things, down ill advised and dangerous byways.
Evil, to be sure, takes many forms in our world, but we should ask : what is the actual battlefield, and what are the stakes ? To frame these in material terms of things, advantage, possession, puts the desired outcomes of conflict in similar terms - and can make warfare of arms and power almost inevitable. But at this moment we should step back, and recall the purposes of the three spheres of life altogether :
Economic life : to meet the common physical needs of life of all members of society through cooperation, communication, collaboration.
Spiritual cultural life : to cultivate and promote sharing of gifts/abilities of individual human beings, to the eventual benefit of all of society.
Rights life : to enable and permit participation of every adult member of society in decisions concerning their own rights and safety ; and to ensure needed freedoms/protections through processes of consents and agreements.
Seen clearly, the warfare of arms and powers undermines the work of all these realms, directly. For us as individuals, it disrupts our ability to properly take part in any of them, or make our natural contribution to them. Not least, it undermines our ability to direct and control our own thoughts, feelings and actions - our own humanity. Our moment to choose how, or whether or not to participate at all in these conflicts comes and goes, but typically we miss it, and are swept along - again the poet :
"Mercury rules you and destiny fools you
Like the plague, with a dangerous wink
And there's no time to think ..... "
The confrontation with evil in its many and real forms is one we lose repeatedly - but all is not necessarily lost. With luck evil "wounds us awake", and we learn without its being fatal. But choices do come constantly, through which we must not sleep - except at risk to our humanity, or even our lives.
Points to Ponder 8
Advocacy may include hard work, and on a voluntary basis, personal sacrifice ; but we only need to do our own part well.
We each have unique gifts and abilities that are needed by the world. We each also have some set of concerns and interests that mean most to us, and are closest to our hearts. To the degree we can identify these two elements - and bring them together - we may be surprised how effective we can be ; and be they ever so humble, what contributions we can make. To work this way for what's most meaningful to us, can be among life's great satisfactions.
We can also know that whatever gifts and abilities we lack, others may have ; they do or teach us things we can't do or don't know, and vice versa. Beyond greater effectiveness - and the relief not to have to work alone - co-work like this can build deep bonds, and some of our most rewarding friendships.
Points to Ponder 9
This said, advocacy requires discipline, and cultivation of our abilities ; and without these will stagnate. Self knowledge, priorities, a willingness to learn from mistakes and grow beyond ourselves, belong to what might be called the path of the advocate/activist, with inner, outer and social aspects.
Advocacy is a long term undertaking, and takes endurance. This in turn requires self care, and for many today, also elements of healing. This of course includes care of our body ; but in times that neglect these things, also of our soul and spirit.
Points to Ponder 10
The terms threefold, threefolding and threefold social order themselves have no special or magical power ; they can be wrongly or incompletely understood, confusingly presented, or potentially, even deceptively or dishonestly used. Newcomers to the idea (today, still almost everyone !) need the best and most complete tools in their own hands from the start. This is the value of both competent overview presentations, and of Steiner's original works (resource).
Newcomers are also served if, without fail when using terms, we take care to first define them. Rudolf Steiner was a master at building foundations for understanding even the most profound concepts in his books and lectures, returning to important themes repeatedly, in different ways and from different sides.
Lastly we may ask : who is it that presents the threefold social idea, and that those new to it meet ? How well is it integrated, and does it permeate our own being ? How well do we manage our own faculties of thinking, feeling and willing ? Take part ourselves in the realms of economic, rights and spiritual cultural life ?
Dutch psychiatrist Bernard Lievegoed, a leading and effective proponent of threefolding, observed that to strengthen our human will, requires that we cultivate
A lifelong commitment to knowledge and learning
An active inner life and
An ability to distinguish the essential from the non-essential
These requirements could apply equally to our work with the threefold idea, grounding our efforts, lending authenticity, inspiring trust in those to whom we speak ; a believable "who" to confirm the "what" and "how" of our message of threefold society. For our urgently at-risk future, this will be decisive !
The Mind of the Gardener
We've spoken of mindsets that can can lose their way terribly, leading us - self and society - small steps into a true abyss. There is, however, also an ascending path to be won, by similar small increments.
Both processes, descending and upgoing, affect and involve our human faculties of thinking, feeling and willing (doing and action). These unfold first of all in our own inner world ; but also in our interaction with the external, physical world, and in our social world and relationships. The drama of our lives, how we find or lose our way, lies in how we learn to use these tools, and find our way in these three worlds. We've considered the downward path previously, and can now look at the ascending.
Once grasped, the concepts of the threefold idea first become inwardly active in us - differently in each person. They encounter, clash with or confirm our own past thinking in various ways. They bring our thought processes into new and dynamic movement. Into this lively ferment there arise inklings, unexpected, that our concepts need not be fixed, as we may have come to feel, but can change. We learn we can see things in new ways, if we look - that this is possible.
This influx of new thoughts in our inner landscape also triggers feelings. Noticing that more freedom is possible, among other emotions we feel hope, and want more. Exploring inwardly, we have new insights, and find we like this exploration and discovery. It dawns on us that if we dare embark on it and work for it, we can know more, do more, be more. Not least, we glimpse ways out of a world direction that is in so many ways dark, even threatening. Eager or tentative, we feel the potential to unfold ourselves, and emotions from relief, to gratitude and joy.
Before the Garden, The Plan
During nursing school, a friend and I had a small gardening and landscaping business. He once said to me that the most beautiful gardens are planned from above. Modest as our business was, we always gave customers a sketch or simple blueprint, and the good sense of this has stayed with me.
For the sake of overview, these articles have explored the threefold social idea only in its most basic features : the nature and functions of the economic, rights and spiritual cultural spheres, the characteristic needs of each, factors that help each thrive and ones that make them unhealthy. In this regard we've looked especially at relationships among them - some mutually supportive, others undermining. These are patterns to be found in social life, but the threefold idea is no mechanical model. It describes organs, functions and structural features in a living social organism - a new way to see social phenomena, and step beyond mere intellectual formulations. The threefold idea shows promise even as a diagnostic tool for social situations, both healthy and disturbed. Not something to be "believed" or "applied", it can be tested through observation, and confirmed in the real circumstances of life. Actions that spring from such processes will be both rational, and grounded in the realities of life.
Preparing the Soil of HUMANITY
Among the most cherished ideals of organic and biodynamic farming today is regeneration of the soil itself. In society, the corresponding hope might be for a new and transformed image of man : a renewed conception of humanity altogether - as individual, in community and as whole society.
This needed "image of man" is not in the first place something physical, but a matter of envisioning ourselves, spiritually and psychologically. It is cognitive, rigorous and crucial for the way ahead.
At the heart of the threefold idea, particularly, are insights concerning the core needs of the three realms of life : namely, the need of the spiritual cultural sphere for freedom ; of the rights sphere for equality ; and of the economic sphere for fraternity - the will to work together collaboratively, rather than competitively, to meet the physical needs of life common to all people. Hidden in these already is a certain picture of what a human being is, as a whole being and in health.
As we've seen, the frustration of these needs baffles initiative in even the most gifted of us, stokes anger, cynicism, despair ; and tempts the lower aspects of our human nature constantly. Awareness of these needs, and commitment to their realization, however, can work differently - as ideals and reminder of the possibilities in the human being. Once grasped, these insights lend structure to thinking, and clarity in the most diverse circumstances. They focus our attention, and in all three realms of life, can lend us the needed courage to act :
- The concept of freedom in cultural life confirms the pressing need and rightness that we develop our gifts and abilities, as far as we can ever take them ; and in turn kindles a will to contribute what we create, for the benefit of society. To actively own and embrace our freedom builds resilience against self doubt, and if censorship is imposed, conviction that it's wrong. Freedom is of course not yet established in spiritual cultural life today - it's in fact in jeopardy everywhere. But to value and cherish it is itself a seed, and first step in the fight.
- The principle of equality in rights life affirms that our voice and participation are needed in the rights sphere, and have a place in it. Implicitly, this creates space for us to reflect on our needs for freedom, safety and dignity, to discover what they actually are. Conviction that our needs should, or even will be protected, builds courage to unfold ourselves as human beings overall ; and in turn, openness to the rights and needs of others.
Active exercise of our rights builds confidence both in ourselves, and in the rights themselves ; and when they're denied, the certainty this is wrong. Our growing recognition, in the meantime, that we share needs for freedoms and safety with all other people, builds interest and will to participate with them in the more general rights processes of society.
- A mood of gratefulness - and the potential for genuine co-work with others - opens doors of communication, replacing feelings of alienation and isolation, at least tentatively, with ones of community and solidarity. This budding sense of collaboration makes self-serving actions - not to mention, dishonest or predatory ones - stand out clearly, not just as a breach of common values, but sources of real harm. Clarity in this regard creates courage to speak up and speak out ; and if need be, work with others to remedy this harm through rights life.
Rakes and Shovels, Pails and Hoes ......
Our tools for "planting" the threefold idea in our social world are as many as there are tools for farming in the external one ; they're just not physical tools, but spiritual ones, forged in our own being as we go. This said though, certain of these tools are representative :
- Our shared language, terminology and concepts, as often mentioned, grasped precisely and held in common - exactly as would be technical terms and concepts in any field of work.
-
- Our actions, any and if ever taken, taken in full clarity of concepts, situations and facts ; and on no other grounds than pure love of the deed.
-
- Our interest in the thoughts and the being of others, as if in ourselves ; and except for our urgent and obvious safety, to hold equally sacred and inviolate the will of others.
Such at first glance humble tools should not be "dropped in the field", left in the rain of mundane daily life : they would rather even be meditated, kept in constant best repair. From these few could in fact come all our other tools for change, for all our endless, changing circumstances of life.
Much remains to be done on the way ahead, with challenges both exciting and complex. The way holds many questions not quickly or easily answerable. How, for instance, in the time to come can it best be accomplished, and with least disruption
- To disentangle ourselves from modes of social and political thinking not based in the realities of life, and that cannot possibly give us a viable future ?
- To disentangle economic, rights and cultural life, where they've become so disruptively mixed ?
- Most urgently in this realm of mixing and trespass today, to end trespass of government into spiritual cultural life, and of economic life into government ?
- To build consumer associations to work with producers and distributors concerning
- Consumer needs, wishes and preferences for goods and services
- Ways to determine the fair and appropriate price of goods and services
- Matters of rights (dangerous or harmful products and practices)
- For producers, distributors and consumers to collaborate to eliminate overproduction and waste, on the one hand ; and on the other, shortages and scarcity ?
- To curtail rampant and destructive speculation in economic life ?
- To build understanding of the threefold nature of society through appropriate adult education ? (this present article series is an impulse in that direction)
- To build understanding of the threefold idea in groups and communities ?
- To establish threefolding in practice in organizations and workplaces (organizational development - see resource and resource)
- To build understanding of the threefold nature of society, already in the education of children ?
- To guide capital, lands and resources into the hands of those most capable, to turn them to the needs and betterment of humanity ?
- To develop sustainable, socially non-divisive ways to provide for the economic needs of those unable to care for themselves ?
- To restore the dignity and appropriate valuing/self valuing of the human individual in society ?
- To wrestle science from the death grip of materialism (resource, end of article), and free it to the deeper and necessary study of the human soul and spirit.
What thought and questions do you have ? What aspects of the threefold social idea light up for you, and would you like to direct your attention to especially, going forward ? Please give this your best further thought and if you'd like, share your thoughts in the contact form below. Not least if you feel this threefold idea should be better known in the world, please share links to this article series with friends !
Series by : Jeff Smith RN (Retired)
This Page is Dedicated to Our Good Friend James Nunemacher Planting the Seeds of Threefolding II