Planting the Seeds of Threefolding
A Threefolder's Almanack
Even in the broken, blood stained wake of World War I, as Rudolf Steiner presented his threefold social idea, he emphasized that the war had changed nothing ; that the same forces were at work, the same powers in charge, the same inadequate thinking dominant in public affairs ; and that a next, greater and even bloodier World War would inevitably follow. Besides books, lectures and articles on the threefoldness of society, he worked tirelessly until his death to bring this idea to reality, with advice to businesses, educational, medical, agricultural and other initiatives that sought to incorporate these principles in their work ; and also in public life, where significant public discussion was generated, and attempts made to bring threefold forms and thinking even into certain geographical areas (Baden-Wuerttenberg in Germany ; Silesia in (at that time) Poland). The threefold idea - with proposals - was also brought to leading figures in German public and political life ; but while met with a degree of understanding and acknowledgment, there was not the will or courage to do more.
Prodigious inflation in Germany in the 1920s - and the eventual second war - put crushing burdens on more local and organic initiatives, and prevented their further unfolding. In the time since, the incursions of one realm of social life on another, the destructive trajectory of political party systems, the threefold deterioration of mindset in society, have brought no better conditions for change, but in fact more obstacles.
The goal of this series has been to give an overview of the threefold understanding of human social life ; concepts still quite new historically, yet offered as scientific observations, to be tested from every side, beginning with our own experience of life and the world. Further resources we share here are also of this introductory kind ; but if they provide a strong first grasp of these concepts, they will have succeeded.
Should you continue to the work of Rudolf Steiner himself (resources, bottom of page), you'll discover two things : first, his astonishing knowledge of history, in this case of the last four to five hundred years ; and secondly, his powerful ability to discern patterns in events these times include. Not only did Steiner see the certainty of a new war, already in 1918 ; but the likelihood of a yet further world war, as unfolding from continuations of the same dynamics - a war that could yet break out even in our own times.
Have we already gone too far, down too many wrong paths ; are our thinking too inadequate, our habits too ingrained to avoid harsh, even shocking consequences in the coming years ? Is there any real way forward - any way out for us at this point ?
If so, what is it, and how do we proceed ? And should the worst unfold, how do we build back ?
Planting the Seeds of Threefolding
Besides his advisory and advocacy work for a "threefold social order", Steiner noted certain preconditions for it in the minds and hearts even of quite ordinary people. He observed that the impulse to the threefold order already lives in humanity, in certain strong needs people feel, but can't quite yet bring to consciousness. What lacks, he observed, is only that people understand the forces at work in them and in society ; and that once they do, they'll start spontaneously to apply their insights, beginning with the smallest actions and decisions in their lives. The threefold idea can is in this sense be understood as a seed - not something to be installed or "implemented" in society, but rather grown, by anyone who understands it ; and be it ever so humble, acts.
Values and Methods : "Moral Imagination"
Having explored the "what" of Rudolf Steiner's threefold idea, we can also ask how it might best be cultivated - and how we ourselves can help. These "points to ponder" draw on all of Steiner's work, as I've experienced it over almost 50 years, and might perhaps serve as guidelines. Please share your own thoughts and questions in the contact form below.
Points to ponder 1 : It's been said of the human being that we can never lose our ability to recognize goodness, beauty and truth ; that we can lose touch with this capacity in us for a time, ignore or even resist it ; but that it always emerges again, even if to our shame ; and that, effectively, it's hardwired in us.
This sense or organ for the good, the beautiful and the true is what comes to life when we meet any person or phenomenon in which we experience these qualities ; and lacking which, we tend to avoid or reject them.
As noted, we can lose touch with this capacity in ourselves ; but it's the process by which people will form relationship to the threefold idea, if they do, to us as its carriers, and to our presentation of it. These are things we can count on, found our hope and our efforts on.
Points to ponder 2 : The threefold idea, as outlined by Rudolf Steiner, is a set of scientific insights ; and though not utterly simple, it can be understood by any thinking person of goodwill. A threefold social ordering of society, however, can only come about when enough people do understand it.
Points to ponder 3 : Like other science, the threefold idea can be confirmed by our own observation and thinking - manifestations of its principles are in fact everywhere. Without these principles, however, the manifestations remain unnoticed. To be of real use, therefore, our grasp of them must be explicit and exact. This is a subtle point, perhaps, but important. Let me share an example.
In the 1990s in San Francisco, I took part in a group that had studied Rudolf Steiner's work for almost thirty years. We'd read and discussed his writings on many subjects, and now came to his threefold idea, with the core book "Towards Social Renewal".
The group had worked through all Steiner's "basic" books (resource) over the years - but on this one we floundered. We did what's often done in such groups - namely, read the text aloud, with space for discussion when someone felt the need. This might also take the form that we shared thoughts from other Steiner works, from other writers altogether, or simply associations and experiences from our own lives. In this case, however, in the course of several weeks everyone shared their thoughts and associations, and we got nowhere - to the point even, that someone asked if the book was perhaps too much for us, and that we should read something else. This went on with vacillations, and some did lean towards changing books. But at this point one friend called us to order (and a vote), with a simple statement : "What are we here for, anyway, if not to learn something new ? I think we should continue !"
The agreement we reached was to read each passage through as many times as necessary until everyone understood - guided by the simple question
"What does he actually say here ?" - until we could each put it in our own words, and there was agreement.
Like a change of key in music, or of seasons one to the next, there was a turning point. We shifted from "free association" if we didn't understand, to doubling down on the text until we did. Through this crisis and process we broke through to the next level.
Points to ponder 4 : Ideas, as noted earlier, are like seeds, and carry their own forces of growth and transformation. With the right conditions and care, they grow into forms and colors almost beyond imagining.
We know from our own lives how unclear or mistaken thoughts can affect our feelings ; and how strong or confused feelings can impel us to actions - including mistakes. We know too that when we test and clarify our thoughts, gather the best available facts in any matter, insights as to right and needed actions can also spring to mind, "as if from nowhere", with surprising force of will and enthusiasm. Such also is the effect of the threefold idea, planted in the soil of our own thoughts and observations, our experiences of life and the world.
Points to ponder 5 : Over time some institutions in society, even large ones, may be impossible to save ; but should not simply be torn down - the collateral damage for millions, even billions would just be too great. What retains life should where possible be transformed organically. For safety's sake, parallel institutions can also evolve that take over certain functions in society ; and that can in time, grow healthy from their ruins.
Points to ponder 6 : Attacks or condemnation of persons/groups/classes of persons will also 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, 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 each other's character are not helpful.
People are in fact mixed in their motives and actions, not fixed. Every one of us is in a process of development, and can change. Highly talented and motivated people can make huge mistakes, and have terribly distorted ideas for a time, but 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 may provoke them all the more to cunning, to a spirit and creativity of revenge. Not least we may burn bridges to compromise, or even potential friendships.
With the right restraint at this personal level, we may find things we have in common even with those we thought enemies ; and surprisingly, ways we can work well together.
Attitudes of judgment and condemnation also work back on those 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 tell us we too have shortcomings, have done harm and are liable to judgment.
This said, the world is awash in greed, narrow mindedness and incompetence today - in faulty, distorted thinking, in harmful and destructive actions and practices. To see these without filters, to know their effects, their pervasiveness and sheer 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 ; even brutal ones. The question is whether, faced with these effects, we lash out and pass the destruction further - our find it in ourselves to bear it, until we can discern 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
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 :
Planting the Seeds of Threefolding
A Threefolder's Almanack
Even in the broken, blood stained wake of World War I, as Rudolf Steiner presented his threefold social idea, he emphasized that the war had changed nothing ; that the same forces were at work, the same powers in charge, the same inadequate thinking dominant in public affairs ; and that a next, greater and even bloodier World War would inevitably follow. Besides books, lectures and articles on the threefoldness of society, he worked tirelessly until his death to bring this idea to reality, with advice to businesses, educational, medical, agricultural and other initiatives that sought to incorporate these principles in their work ; and also in public life, where significant public discussion was generated, and attempts made to bring threefold forms and thinking even into certain geographical areas (Baden-Wuerttenberg in Germany ; Silesia in (at that time) Poland). The threefold idea - with proposals - was also brought to leading figures in German public and political life ; but while met with a degree of understanding and acknowledgment, there was not the will or courage to do more.
Prodigious inflation in Germany in the 1920s - and the eventual second war - put crushing burdens on more local and organic initiatives, and prevented their further unfolding. In the time since, the incursions of one realm of social life on another, the destructive trajectory of political party systems, the threefold deterioration of mindset in society, have brought no better conditions for change, but in fact more obstacles.
The goal of this series has been to give an overview of the threefold understanding of human social life ; concepts still quite new historically, yet offered as scientific observations, to be tested from every side, beginning with our own experience of life and the world. Further resources we share here are also of this introductory kind ; but if they provide a strong first grasp of these concepts, they will have succeeded.
Should you continue to the work of Rudolf Steiner himself (resources, bottom of page), you'll discover two things : first, his astonishing knowledge of history, in this case of the last four to five hundred years ; and secondly, his powerful ability to discern patterns in events these times include. Not only did Steiner see the certainty of a new war, already in 1918 ; but the likelihood of a yet further world war, as unfolding from continuations of the same dynamics - a war that could yet break out even in our own times.
Have we already gone too far, down too many wrong paths ; are our thinking too inadequate, our habits too ingrained to avoid harsh, even shocking consequences in the coming years ? Is there any real way forward - any way out for us at this point ?
If so, what is it, and how do we proceed ? And should the worst unfold, how do we build back ?
Planting the Seeds of Threefolding
Besides his advisory and advocacy work for a "threefold social order", Steiner noted certain preconditions for it in the minds and hearts even of quite ordinary people. He observed that the impulse to the threefold order already lives in humanity, in certain strong needs people feel, but can't quite yet bring to consciousness. What lacks, he observed, is only that people understand the forces at work in them and in society ; and that once they do, they'll start spontaneously to apply their insights, beginning with the smallest actions and decisions in their lives. The threefold idea can is in this sense be understood as a seed - not something to be installed or "implemented" in society, but rather grown, by anyone who understands it ; and be it ever so humble, acts.
Values and Methods : "Moral Imagination"
Having explored the "what" of Rudolf Steiner's threefold idea, we can also ask how it might best be cultivated - and how we ourselves can help. These "points to ponder" draw on all of Steiner's work, as I've experienced it over almost 50 years, and might perhaps serve as guidelines. Please share your own thoughts and questions in the contact form below.
Points to ponder 1 : It's been said of the human being that we can never lose our ability to recognize goodness, beauty and truth ; that we can lose touch with this capacity in us for a time, ignore or even resist it ; but that it always emerges again, even if to our shame ; and that, effectively, it's hardwired in us.
This sense or organ for the good, the beautiful and the true is what comes to life when we meet any person or phenomenon in which we experience these qualities ; and lacking which, we tend to avoid or reject them.
As noted, we can lose touch with this capacity in ourselves ; but it's the process by which people will form relationship to the threefold idea, if they do, to us as its carriers, and to our presentation of it. These are things we can count on, found our hope and our efforts on.
Points to ponder 2 : The threefold idea, as outlined by Rudolf Steiner, is a set of scientific insights ; and though not utterly simple, it can be understood by any thinking person of goodwill. A threefold social ordering of society, however, can only come about when enough people do understand it.
Points to ponder 3 : Like other science, the threefold idea can be confirmed by our own observation and thinking - manifestations of its principles are in fact everywhere. Without these principles, however, the manifestations remain unnoticed. To be of real use, therefore, our grasp of them must be explicit and exact. This is a subtle point, perhaps, but important. Let me share an example.
In the 1990s in San Francisco, I took part in a group that had studied Rudolf Steiner's work for almost thirty years. We'd read and discussed his writings on many subjects, and now came to his threefold idea, with the core book "Towards Social Renewal".
The group had worked through all Steiner's "basic" books (resource) over the years - but on this one we floundered. We did what's often done in such groups - namely, read the text aloud, with space for discussion when someone felt the need. This might also take the form that we shared thoughts from other Steiner works, from other writers altogether, or simply associations and experiences from our own lives. In this case, however, in the course of several weeks everyone shared their thoughts and associations, and we got nowhere - to the point even, that someone asked if the book was perhaps too much for us, and that we should read something else. This went on with vacillations, and some did lean towards changing books. But at this point one friend called us to order (and a vote), with a simple statement : "What are we here for, anyway, if not to learn something new ? I think we should continue !"
The agreement we reached was to read each passage through as many times as necessary until everyone understood - guided by the simple question
"What does he actually say here ?" - until we could each put it in our own words, and there was agreement.
Like a change of key in music, or of seasons one to the next, there was a turning point. We shifted from "free association" if we didn't understand, to doubling down on the text until we did. Through this crisis and process we broke through to the next level.
Points to ponder 4 : Ideas, as noted earlier, are like seeds, and carry their own forces of growth and transformation. With the right conditions and care, they grow into forms and colors almost beyond imagining.
We know from our own lives how unclear or mistaken thoughts can affect our feelings ; and how strong or confused feelings can impel us to actions - including mistakes. We know too that when we test and clarify our thoughts, gather the best available facts in any matter, insights as to right and needed actions can also spring to mind, "as if from nowhere", with surprising force of will and enthusiasm. Such also is the effect of the threefold idea, planted in the soil of our own thoughts and observations, our experiences of life and the world.
Points to ponder 5 : Over time some institutions in society, even large ones, may be impossible to save ; but should not simply be torn down - the collateral damage for millions, even billions would just be too great. What retains life should where possible be transformed organically. For safety's sake, parallel institutions can also evolve that take over certain functions in society ; and that can in time, grow healthy from their ruins.
Points to ponder 6 : Attacks or condemnation of persons/groups/classes of persons will also 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, 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 each other's character are not helpful.
People are in fact mixed in their motives and actions, not fixed. Every one of us is in a process of development, and can change. Highly talented and motivated people can make huge mistakes, and have terribly distorted ideas for a time, but 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 may provoke them all the more to cunning, to a spirit and creativity of revenge. Not least we may burn bridges to compromise, or even potential friendships.
With the right restraint at this personal level, we may find things we have in common even with those we thought enemies ; and surprisingly, ways we can work well together.
Attitudes of judgment and condemnation also work back on those 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 tell us we too have shortcomings, have done harm and are liable to judgment.
This said, the world is awash in greed, narrow mindedness and incompetence today - in faulty, distorted thinking, in harmful and destructive actions and practices. To see these without filters, to know their effects, their pervasiveness and sheer 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 ; even brutal ones. The question is whether, faced with these effects, we lash out and pass the destruction further - our find it in ourselves to bear it, until we can discern 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. - The concept of brotherhood/sisterhood in economic life makes clear that our needs of life are chiefly met not by ourselves, but through the efforts and work of others. This can in turn create willingness to work for their well being, and take interest in their needs. A spirit of mutual help, even if still only germinal, gives meaning to work, and impetus to bring our best to it, no matter how mundane the task.
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 :
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.
..... And Chores Aplenty
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
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 common 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.
..... And Chores Aplenty
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 ? and
- 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
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