Threefold Commonwealth Ireland: August 2009

Friday, August 14, 2009

working together

...we will have to learn to work together with each other in groups in order to cope with the future. It does not matter what kind of groups: study groups, life sharing groups, working groups...join together to run a school, a business, or a farm in a deeply human way. We have to be ready for the things that are coming towards us...

--Bernard Lievegoed, The Battle for the Soul.

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Working with the Universe

"...when we work with tools or till the soil or do any other knd of work, but especially when we weave something into the fabric of the social order, then we are doing something that does not concern human beings alone, but belongs to the whole universe. When a steam engine is built, or when a telephone or a lightning conductor or a table is constructed, or if a sick person is healed, people assume as a matter of course that these are things which take place merely within human evolution on the earth. But that is not the case...events take place in the whole of the universe when something happens here on earth. This is a profound truth..."

--Rudolf Steiner, Ideas for a New Europe.

Monday, August 03, 2009

Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics

“...Is there not a great deal of superstition where numbers are concerned? What can in some way be counted is accepted in science. Science loves to weigh, to compute; and social science loves statistics--again a matter of computation and reckoning. It will be difficult indeed for people to bring themselves to admit that all knowledge of the external world acquired through measure and number is so much delusion.

To measure--what does it mean, in reality? It means to compare something with a given dimension, be it length or volume...with a smaller unit. In such measurements, no matter whether of lengths or surfaces or weights, the qualitative element is entirely lacking. The number three always remains the same, whether one is counting sheep or politicians. It is not a matter of quality but merely quantity. The essential principle of volume and number is that the qualitative aspect is left out of account.

But for that very reason all knowledge derived from the principle of volume and measure is illusory; and the fact to be taken in all seriousness is that the moment we enter the world that can be weighed and measured, the world of space and time, we enter a world of illusion, a world that is nothing but a mirage as long as we take it to be reality. ...in truth, what things signify in space and time is their external aspect only, and we must transcend space and time, penetrating to much deeper levels if we are to reach the innermost truth, the innermost essence of things. -- Rudolf Steiner, Dornach 2/11/19

Liberty, Equality, Fraternity = Cultural, Rights, Service

A group of us started this blog because many people we know are feeling let down by the government and the economic situation. A number of people are looking for alternatives and we wonder why we are not out on the streets protesting! Perhaps because we feel there is no alternative.

We ask ourselves: “what can we do?”

There is another way. It won't happen overnight, but it will work over time. It's up to us to help our children find a better way of ordering our society.

100 years ago Dr Rudolf Steiner, Phd devised a threefold way of approaching Society”s problems. He divided life’s needs into three spheres:

Civil rights (equality)
Economics (fraternity)
Social/cultural (liberty)

He drew on the three principles of the French Revolution Liberty Equality Fraternity.

Civl Rights

Based on equal rights for every person. It includes
the armed forces, the gardai, the administration of a basic safety net for everyone, road maintenance and justice.The sector is run by democratically elected people, beginning at the local level and for a limited time which would eliminate the political family dynasties and the need to keep taxing people so that Government can spend spend spend without accounting to the tax payer.

Economics

This is self administering through association and involves the manufacture of products, distribution and consumption of goods and services. It is run by the people most competent to do the job. Nobody is going to employ people to oversee their business who do not have thorough knowledge of the field.

The economic sphere has a great responsibility because it generates the taxes administered by the rights sphere. Business also creates capital and loan money that allows for the creation of new ventures. We often mistake business with ‘big business’ but it is just the working community, the local shops that provide for self sufficiency.

Cultural

This comprises the arts, science and religion. Especially in Ireland education, beauty and the arts are the key to well being. We need total freedom to send our children to the schools we want. Scientists need the freedom to pursue their research and artists their art without being tied in knots by special interests.

In reality, all three structures already exist but they interfere with one another. The government owns businesses, businesses lobby government and both make decisions about the cultural realm. We see our effort as an ongoing process to tease the three realms apart and clarify them, perhaps using the most local levels of community as models.

Steiner continually states that he does not believe in systems that talk about utopia. His system, if studied, makes very practical sense. However the language used needs to be modernised. This is something we wish to do on this blog.

We ask that you ruminate on the idea that we do have an alternative to dynastic politics, to top heavy secretive bureaucracy.

Imagine our country competently run, by people who genuinely know what they are doing.
Imagine a system that uses its government to oversee our civil rights and does it well.

Things will never change if we stay in the same groove of the last 100 years. it's up to us to clean it up and consign the old ways to the past.

Many people will say "you can't do that or that will never work." Usually they are wrong. Fear of trying something new is embedded in us from an early age. Was this way of thinking fostered in us in school? Entrepreneurs don't suffer from this fear. The more people who ignore this inner negative voice the better for society as a whole.

Participate:
Send Threefold ideas and comments to Sophia Christine at sophiachristine@gmail.com.

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