Artist : Zan Newstrom
Something New Under the Sun
The Threefold Social Idea of Rudolf Steiner
From the turn of the 20th century onward, Austrian thinker Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) asserted strongly and publicly that science need not be limited to exploration of mere physical phenomena, as it had until then thought itself ; but could be extended through rigorous observation and thinking to additional non-physical phenomena - namely realms of life, consciousness and spiritual being, such as once described in traditions of almost all ancient peoples ; but which had over millennia faded, and become almost entirely lost. In dozens of books and literally thousands of public lectures, Steiner documented the processes of observation and thought he himself pursued, and the findings of his own research. He called this extension of natural scientific observation and thinking into new fields of phenomena spiritual science, or alternately anthroposophy ("wisdom concerning the human being").
In 1917, with the essay Principles of Psychosomatic Physiology, Steiner for the first time outlined results of his 30 years study of the human constitution, demonstrating connections between metabolic, respiratory and neurological physiology and the human faculties of thinking, feeling and willing ; and their still further connections to spiritual phenomena beyond the reach of ordinary human consciousness. He presented and expanded on these findings for the rest of his life, demonstrating that once discovered, "threefoldness" can be found in all realms of nature and of consciousness. This was to become fruitful also in practical fields, among them botany, agriculture and new forms of practice and remedies for medicine, "anthroposophically extended medicine".
In 1919, in the hard aftermath of World War I, Steiner extended the boundaries of science yet again, to a new understanding of human social life. The first written presentation of his "threefold social idea", Towards Social Renewal is complex reading, drawing on his today almost unimaginable knowledge of history, and an equal capacity to identify patterns in it. In this book he discerns the characteristic features and recurrent needs of human economic, political and "spiritual-cultural" life, respectively ; and characteristic relationships among them that can be expected to generate health - or conversely, dysfunction - in each sphere individually, and in society as a whole. Rigorous and sustained, Steiner's observations disclose something indeed "new under the sun" : a web of social dynamics and relationships noticed in fact for the first time historically - and with immense promise for the future.
Towards Social Renewal is as demanding as any other work of basic science, and is perhaps best studied together with others - very committed others at that. But the threefold idea itself is not beyond the grasp of any thinking person of goodwill. Steiner's efforts to promote the new idea publicly - and the public's response - demonstrated this vividly, even from the outset.
Sensing a crucial historical moment at the end of World War I and before the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, Rudolf Steiner launched a movement to bring the threefold idea before the German people, and forestall a descent into what he foresaw as even greater future calamities. Beginning with just a small group of coworkers, under the greatest time pressure and with at first no printed literature on the threefold idea available, he spoke eloquently to large audiences entirely new to the idea, at every level of society. Concurrently behind the scenes, he worked intensively with groups and individuals ranging from the intelligentsia to leading industrialists, from government officials to factory workers, in efforts to actually implement the idea. Despite the charged, even dangerous political atmosphere, thousands embraced his proposals, and were ready to act. These initiatives are documented by Albert Schmeltzer in the worthwhile volume The Threefolding Movement, 1919 : A History.
The 1919 movement eventually failed - Schmeltzer's book captures this process, but also the great promise of the movement, and individual efforts by Steiner and colleagues that can only be characterized as heroic. These accounts, plus his reflections on possible future strategies, make the book fully worth reading. I also attempt a brief overview of these events in the next article in this series
Something New Under the Sun III : The Threefolding Movement of 2019 and What at First Became of It
This much having been said, it will help to get an overview of the idea itself.
The Three Spheres of Life
To Rudolf Steiner's observation, the three archetypal spheres of human social activity are economic life, rights or political life and activities for which, taken together, he used the term spiritual cultural life.
Rights life is necessary in society because on a spectrum ranging from innocent and careless mistakes to the most devious malice, human beings cause each other injury, harm and loss. Social health in this realm of life requires that all citizens have a voice and part in
The core need of rights life are thus equality for all citizens in matters of protections, freedom and safety ; and active participation in this sphere of life, to make these things realities.
Economic life is necessary in society because all human beings have certain physical needs of life - needs for food, shelter, clothing and more, in service of physical existence. The key components of modern economic life are the production of needed materials and goods, their distribution, their consumption by all members of society, and related services and activities.
The physical needs of our lives are in fact many, the activities needed to fulfill them complex. A first core need of economic activity in the changing circumstances of life, therefore, is for skillful coordination of efforts. Seen this way, the health of economic life will not be best served by competition or an urge for profits, as still widely believed ; but by communication, cooperation and collaboration - the expertise of many, united to meet mutual needs in goodwill - a spirit characterized by Rudolf Steiner as one of brotherhood and sisterhood.
Spiritual-cultural life. Every human being has some unique insight or ability to contribute : some gift or capacity to think, do, create or motivate others that in fact only he or she has - that society needs, and without which it would be in some way poorer. Spiritual cultural life is necessary in society because no one can do all these things for him or herself - and because everyone needs the gifts, abilities and insights of others.
Spiritual cultural life includes the great range of gifts and abilities of individual persons - most recognizably, the domains of education, medicine, the arts and religion, but more generally, the knowledge, skills and practice of every profession. Spiritual cultural life also includes purely physical gifts of strength, skill and dexterity, and such basic and humble skills as cooking, raising children and communicating well with others. All gifts and abilities that arise in an individual, and when exercised contribute in some way to society, belong to this realm of life.
The first - and constant - needs of spiritual cultural life are that each person have freedom to develop his or her own gifts, talents and abilities ; to share and express them with others ; and have access to the insights and services of others. The limits of freedom in spiritual cultural life are of course that it not cause harm, injury or loss to others, as might be determined from the side of rights life.
Problems of Trespass and Boundaries
Rights, economic and spiritual cultural life thus each have their specific contribution to make, and their unique and specific needs. These spheres, Steiner observed, can and must work together - but to do so optimally, also require a certain separation, and at times even protections from each other. The example of this we know best today is "separation of church and state", enshrined in law in many countries. These laws arose directly and organically from historical experience - often after centuries of social discord, and even bloody warfare. Other boundaries between the three spheres, however, are not yet clearly set or regulated. Some examples :
These are just a few examples of unhealthy boundaries among the three realms of society. That these conflicts and trespasses may have arisen only gradually, in the course even of centuries, or are so deeply ingrained in our habits that we hardly notice them anymore, subtracts nothing from the harm they cause ; nor, should they persist in our increasingly tense and complex world, from their potentially devastating future effects. I explore such social "boundary issues" in more depth in another article series here.
These are just a few examples - there were already others in Steiner's time, and there are certainly no less today. That these conflicts and trespasses arose only gradually in the course of recent centuries, or are so deep in our habits now that we hardly notice them, subtracts nothing from the harm they cause ; nor, should they persist in an increasingly tense, complex world, from their potentially devastating future effects.
Threefold Social IDEA and Threefold Social ORDER
Can the principles of the threefold social idea work in potentially corrective, redemptive ways in the world today ? The events and eventual failure of the threefolding movement of 1919 - and possible pathways of transition from threefold social idea to a threefold social order will be explored in the next two article. As a first step, however, it will help to see the differences between these terms.
The threefold nature of society is nothing new in the world ; nor are the respective needs of the three spheres of life. What is new - in 2019 still just 100 years - is the possibility to understand the three spheres consciously, both in their differing characteristics and the relationships among them. Together, these observations mark a step forward for science in the realm of human social life. They lend insight to why things go right when they go right in society, why they go wrong when do ; and most importantly, glimpses of what might possibly help. Into each of these areas, the threefold idea shines new and steady light.
To students of the threefold idea, a healthy threefold ordering - or more accurately, reordering - of society is an end worth working for. The threefolding movement of 1919 was in fact a very bold, multi-pronged initiative for social change, and the seeming failure of this and later efforts a source of real pain. But what needs to be done - and what can be done, going forward ?
Working from understanding gained from the threefold idea, it may help to at first frame a threefold social order purely in terms of intentions and of goals. Here is one template in those terms - a potential place to make a start :
"A healthy threefold social order will consist in those conditions, measures and relationships in society, whatever they may be, that permit optimal expression to human gifts and abilities, best satisfy essential physical needs of human life and protect the optimal safety and dignity of all."
Next in series :
Something New Under the Sun : The Threefolding Movement of 1919 and What at First Became of It
The Threefold Social Idea of Rudolf Steiner
From the turn of the 20th century onward, Austrian thinker Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) asserted strongly and publicly that science need not be limited to exploration of mere physical phenomena, as it had until then thought itself ; but could be extended through rigorous observation and thinking to additional non-physical phenomena - namely realms of life, consciousness and spiritual being, such as once described in traditions of almost all ancient peoples ; but which had over millennia faded, and become almost entirely lost. In dozens of books and literally thousands of public lectures, Steiner documented the processes of observation and thought he himself pursued, and the findings of his own research. He called this extension of natural scientific observation and thinking into new fields of phenomena spiritual science, or alternately anthroposophy ("wisdom concerning the human being").
In 1917, with the essay Principles of Psychosomatic Physiology, Steiner for the first time outlined results of his 30 years study of the human constitution, demonstrating connections between metabolic, respiratory and neurological physiology and the human faculties of thinking, feeling and willing ; and their still further connections to spiritual phenomena beyond the reach of ordinary human consciousness. He presented and expanded on these findings for the rest of his life, demonstrating that once discovered, "threefoldness" can be found in all realms of nature and of consciousness. This was to become fruitful also in practical fields, among them botany, agriculture and new forms of practice and remedies for medicine, "anthroposophically extended medicine".
In 1919, in the hard aftermath of World War I, Steiner extended the boundaries of science yet again, to a new understanding of human social life. The first written presentation of his "threefold social idea", Towards Social Renewal is complex reading, drawing on his today almost unimaginable knowledge of history, and an equal capacity to identify patterns in it. In this book he discerns the characteristic features and recurrent needs of human economic, political and "spiritual-cultural" life, respectively ; and characteristic relationships among them that can be expected to generate health - or conversely, dysfunction - in each sphere individually, and in society as a whole. Rigorous and sustained, Steiner's observations disclose something indeed "new under the sun" : a web of social dynamics and relationships noticed in fact for the first time historically - and with immense promise for the future.
Towards Social Renewal is as demanding as any other work of basic science, and is perhaps best studied together with others - very committed others at that. But the threefold idea itself is not beyond the grasp of any thinking person of goodwill. Steiner's efforts to promote the new idea publicly - and the public's response - demonstrated this vividly, even from the outset.
Sensing a crucial historical moment at the end of World War I and before the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, Rudolf Steiner launched a movement to bring the threefold idea before the German people, and forestall a descent into what he foresaw as even greater future calamities. Beginning with just a small group of coworkers, under the greatest time pressure and with at first no printed literature on the threefold idea available, he spoke eloquently to large audiences entirely new to the idea, at every level of society. Concurrently behind the scenes, he worked intensively with groups and individuals ranging from the intelligentsia to leading industrialists, from government officials to factory workers, in efforts to actually implement the idea. Despite the charged, even dangerous political atmosphere, thousands embraced his proposals, and were ready to act. These initiatives are documented by Albert Schmeltzer in the worthwhile volume The Threefolding Movement, 1919 : A History.
The 1919 movement eventually failed - Schmeltzer's book captures this process, but also the great promise of the movement, and individual efforts by Steiner and colleagues that can only be characterized as heroic. These accounts, plus his reflections on possible future strategies, make the book fully worth reading. I also attempt a brief overview of these events in the next article in this series
Something New Under the Sun III : The Threefolding Movement of 2019 and What at First Became of It
This much having been said, it will help to get an overview of the idea itself.
The Three Spheres of Life
To Rudolf Steiner's observation, the three archetypal spheres of human social activity are economic life, rights or political life and activities for which, taken together, he used the term spiritual cultural life.
Rights life is necessary in society because on a spectrum ranging from innocent and careless mistakes to the most devious malice, human beings cause each other injury, harm and loss. Social health in this realm of life requires that all citizens have a voice and part in
- Identifying various needs they have among them for safety and human dignity.
- Identifying basic freedoms they need in order to live, develop and unfold their abilities.
- Creating basic rules within which people must live, to protect safety and freedoms ; and to enable administration of justice where needed.
The core need of rights life are thus equality for all citizens in matters of protections, freedom and safety ; and active participation in this sphere of life, to make these things realities.
Economic life is necessary in society because all human beings have certain physical needs of life - needs for food, shelter, clothing and more, in service of physical existence. The key components of modern economic life are the production of needed materials and goods, their distribution, their consumption by all members of society, and related services and activities.
The physical needs of our lives are in fact many, the activities needed to fulfill them complex. A first core need of economic activity in the changing circumstances of life, therefore, is for skillful coordination of efforts. Seen this way, the health of economic life will not be best served by competition or an urge for profits, as still widely believed ; but by communication, cooperation and collaboration - the expertise of many, united to meet mutual needs in goodwill - a spirit characterized by Rudolf Steiner as one of brotherhood and sisterhood.
Spiritual-cultural life. Every human being has some unique insight or ability to contribute : some gift or capacity to think, do, create or motivate others that in fact only he or she has - that society needs, and without which it would be in some way poorer. Spiritual cultural life is necessary in society because no one can do all these things for him or herself - and because everyone needs the gifts, abilities and insights of others.
Spiritual cultural life includes the great range of gifts and abilities of individual persons - most recognizably, the domains of education, medicine, the arts and religion, but more generally, the knowledge, skills and practice of every profession. Spiritual cultural life also includes purely physical gifts of strength, skill and dexterity, and such basic and humble skills as cooking, raising children and communicating well with others. All gifts and abilities that arise in an individual, and when exercised contribute in some way to society, belong to this realm of life.
The first - and constant - needs of spiritual cultural life are that each person have freedom to develop his or her own gifts, talents and abilities ; to share and express them with others ; and have access to the insights and services of others. The limits of freedom in spiritual cultural life are of course that it not cause harm, injury or loss to others, as might be determined from the side of rights life.
Problems of Trespass and Boundaries
Rights, economic and spiritual cultural life thus each have their specific contribution to make, and their unique and specific needs. These spheres, Steiner observed, can and must work together - but to do so optimally, also require a certain separation, and at times even protections from each other. The example of this we know best today is "separation of church and state", enshrined in law in many countries. These laws arose directly and organically from historical experience - often after centuries of social discord, and even bloody warfare. Other boundaries between the three spheres, however, are not yet clearly set or regulated. Some examples :
- Corrupting influences of economic interests (e.g. corporations) on the policies of government.
- Corrupting and distorting influences of economic interests on spiritual cultural work (e.g. educational, medical, scientific), for the sake of their own ends or gain.
- Use or coercion of economic entities by government to enforce its wishes or policies on citizens, e.g. by pressuring them to restrict citizens' speech, movement, livelihood or access to needed goods and services.
- Manipulation of government policies by partisan spiritual cultural interests to control or coerce perceived rival factions or schools of thought. ("church rivalries" transposed to the realms of science, medicine, education etc).
These are just a few examples of unhealthy boundaries among the three realms of society. That these conflicts and trespasses may have arisen only gradually, in the course even of centuries, or are so deeply ingrained in our habits that we hardly notice them anymore, subtracts nothing from the harm they cause ; nor, should they persist in our increasingly tense and complex world, from their potentially devastating future effects. I explore such social "boundary issues" in more depth in another article series here.
These are just a few examples - there were already others in Steiner's time, and there are certainly no less today. That these conflicts and trespasses arose only gradually in the course of recent centuries, or are so deep in our habits now that we hardly notice them, subtracts nothing from the harm they cause ; nor, should they persist in an increasingly tense, complex world, from their potentially devastating future effects.
Threefold Social IDEA and Threefold Social ORDER
Can the principles of the threefold social idea work in potentially corrective, redemptive ways in the world today ? The events and eventual failure of the threefolding movement of 1919 - and possible pathways of transition from threefold social idea to a threefold social order will be explored in the next two article. As a first step, however, it will help to see the differences between these terms.
The threefold nature of society is nothing new in the world ; nor are the respective needs of the three spheres of life. What is new - in 2019 still just 100 years - is the possibility to understand the three spheres consciously, both in their differing characteristics and the relationships among them. Together, these observations mark a step forward for science in the realm of human social life. They lend insight to why things go right when they go right in society, why they go wrong when do ; and most importantly, glimpses of what might possibly help. Into each of these areas, the threefold idea shines new and steady light.
To students of the threefold idea, a healthy threefold ordering - or more accurately, reordering - of society is an end worth working for. The threefolding movement of 1919 was in fact a very bold, multi-pronged initiative for social change, and the seeming failure of this and later efforts a source of real pain. But what needs to be done - and what can be done, going forward ?
Working from understanding gained from the threefold idea, it may help to at first frame a threefold social order purely in terms of intentions and of goals. Here is one template in those terms - a potential place to make a start :
"A healthy threefold social order will consist in those conditions, measures and relationships in society, whatever they may be, that permit optimal expression to human gifts and abilities, best satisfy essential physical needs of human life and protect the optimal safety and dignity of all."
Next in series :
Something New Under the Sun : The Threefolding Movement of 1919 and What at First Became of It
page with friends !
Enter your best
email here :