Aparigraha Social Threefolding

"What kind of institutions must exist for people to be able to have
the right thoughts on social matters, and what kind of thoughts must exist
that these right social institutions can arise?" - Rudolf Steiner

In a series of lectures called "Education as a Force for Social Change," Rudolf Steiner describes three great dangers for modern humanity: the mechanization of the spirit, the vegetablization of the soul, and the animalization of the body.1 Since his time, these dangers have become ever more pronounced through a media-driven, consumer-oriented global society, promoted by the market capitalism of the West. His response to these dangers was to promote the ideas of the threefold social order, arguing that a healthy social life and healthy human beings depended on grasping the principles of threefolding, "socialism for economic life, democracy for the life of rights, and individualism for spiritual life." 2

As we come to the end of the century and the unquestioned global triumph of the democratic capitalist model of society, we need to recognize how few of Steiner’s social ideas have found an echo in our broader culture and how, even in our own circles, his social imaginations and concerns have elicited limited interest and response. I believe that this limited interest and activity among individuals and groups otherwise interested in spiritual science is largely due to the fact that we see Steiner’s social ideas as a program or a utopian model to be imposed on reality, rather than as an actual description of what is already present in reality, although unconsciously. For this reason, I have chosen to elaborate, in a very brief manner, nine propositions about the Rudolf Steiner’s social insight and the principles of the threefold social order as a spur to dialogue and action.

1. The social world is a humanly created world.

The natural world of mountains, sunsets, or a grazing deer is given to us by a divinely created world. We are part of that creation. We, however, create the world of road signs, living room conversations, post offices, amusement parks, and multi-national corporations. Evermore in this century, we inhabit the humanly created world of office buildings, highways, shopping malls, and urban landscapes.

2. The social world both reflects and shapes human consciousness.

What kind of consciousness is expressed in the cathedrals placed in the center of European cities in the 13th and 14th centuries, and how did the many pictures and ceremonies of the drama of human salvation shape the medieval mind? What do office buildings, sports arenas, and parking garages in the center of American cities say about our consciousness? How does the work world of functional specialization, information technology, and production timelines affect our consciousness?

I recently attended a research conference on education and heard Barry Sanders, the author of A is for OX, ask the question, "If the text [manuscript or book] has been an organizing principle of human consciousness since the 13th century through the structure of words, sentences, and paragraphs, what impact will the new organizing principle of the TV and computer screen have on us?"3

3. Humanity’s power in transforming the natural world and creating the social world necessitates a growing responsibility for creating a healthy social order.

In this century, we have moved from a predominantly rural lifestyle, lived in connection to nature and the seasons, into an urban, industrial or post-industrial society. In the past, instinct, tradition, and religion guided the greater portion of humanity in creating families, villages, and towns—in creating the fabric of social life. The rapid growth of technology, and our new capacity to control and exploit the earth suggests a new responsibility in co-creating the natural and social worlds. For me, the testing and use of atomic weapons proclaimed a new age of human social responsibility. Rudolf Steiner describes this new responsibility as the need to replace fading social instincts by a new, spiritually-based social understanding.

4. As human beings are threefold in nature, all social creations (groups, institutions, and society) have a threefold character.

If we create society, and our fundamental nature is threefold in that we have a body, soul, and spirit, or possess the faculties of thinking, feeling, and willing, then these characteristics are built into all social forms. In conversation, we can notice ideas, feelings of like or dislike, and intention or motive. In groups, we can observe the dance of words, of relationships through speaking and listening, and of procedure, or the common will life of the group. In organizations, there is a realm of identity or spirit that comes to expression in the mission, purpose, and history of a company or school; of soul expressing itself in the quality of internal or external relationships (in the culture of the organization); and of body, as experienced in the buildings, machinery, and product flows. When working with organizations, I often ask, "How is the dialogue with spirit? Is it alive and shared through celebration, mutual learning, future planning, and mission clarification? How is the dialogue with people, both within the organization and with the broader culture? How is the dialogue with the earth - with buildings, maintenance, machinery, and resources?"

If we turn to society as a whole, we can clearly discern the realm of spirit as expressed in the language, literature, history, and gestures of a nation. The cry of manifest destiny in 19th century American politics is still with us in our dealings with Iraq. The desire to make English the official language is an effort to understand and defend our uniqueness, as was the unsuccessful French effort to keep EuroDisney out of France.

The soul realm, the realm of rights and responsibilities, is being continuously renewed through new laws, and new legal battles. Will Congress renew the Independent Counsel Act after what we have been through with Kenneth Starr? Does affirmative action legislation continue to reflect the sense of right of the American people?

With regard to economic life, we can’t help but be aware of the Dow Jones Industrial Index, the policies of the Federal Reserve Board, or our own worries about right livelihood. Indeed, the production, distribution, and sale of goods and services for maximum profit have become the dominant fixation of our culture.

Threefoldness is therefore not a theory, but a formative principle in all social reality. The challenge is to see and understand it, and to form social relationships in accordance with its underlying qualities.

5. Threefoldness and the qualities relevant to each sphere are a set of empirical propositions that govern social health.

Independent thinking, a sense for the rights and responsibility of self and other, and action dedicated to service are the hallmarks of a healthy individual and a healthy society. For Steiner, the interdependent physiological functioning of the nerve sense system, of the heart-lung rhythmic system, and of the metabolic limb system are the prototype for a new society. The more cultural life is free, expressing different cultural norms and the more it fosters the free unfolding of individual capacities, the more it will provide creative solutions and ideas for the future. Many philosophies of education, many different schools, and educational choice with equal access will do more for our society than national standards or bureaucratic guidelines. When the state restricts itself to the defense of public safety and the formulation and administration of rights through the legal system, it exercises its proper mandate. An economic system dedicated and organized to provide goods and services to meet true human needs will produce maximum well being if it is truly service-oriented and structured in an associative manner through promoting a dialogue between producers, consumers, and traders.

The same principles hold good for any organization—the more a school, company, or therapy center fosters individual creativity within the context of a clearly shared organizational mission, the more it cultivates a culture of shared rights and responsibilities, and the more it focuses on true service to customers or clients, the healthier it will be.