Something New Under the Sun : Rudolf Steiner's Threefold Social Idea

Its Value for Life and for Action

Transitions on the Stage of History 

In former times - for instance in days of ancient Egypt - we were not "individuals" as we experience ourselves today. Whole peoples stood under guidance of figures as portrayed in the great Osiris - priest-kings who taught them their religions, their cultures, their agriculture, their tasks and duties to the finest details, and were thought of as gods living in human bodies. These forms and guidance gave stability, life and abundance to ancient societies, changing only by slow phases over hundreds, even thousands of years. This way of life was not unique, and is described with variations in ancient cultures worldwide. 

Over long periods of time, however, human consciousness did gradually change, from one ruled by outer authority, roles and membership in a tribe or people, towards a sense of being an "I" - a ""me myself", an independent, self aware and self determining individual. In the West, for instance, we see this in slow steps through Greco-Roman, Medieval and Renaissance periods, to our own still unfolding times.  

Right as this was for the progress and freedom of the individual, however, it also multiplied the risks of individual error, of social misunderstanding and division. The sense of knowing one's "place" in society has faded, at least for now, and we look first more spontaneously to our own needs and ends, than to any social whole. Society as a whole, for its part, drifts and gropes towards new forms, but like the proverbial blind men and the elephant, we experience our world by parts, and don't yet really compare notes - at least not in any particularly cooperative or effective way. At  the world and international level, as well as the local and personal, again this gives rise to risks.

Dangers and Uncertainty

Since time immemorial, illness, death and evil have accompanied humanity - our shadows and companions always. But these too have changed, and take new forms all their own. In a world made rapid and efficient by technology, problems grow to astonishing dimensions in an astonishingly short time - and with them our capacity to do ourselves and each other harm.  Wars, economic crises, attacks and affronts to our civil and human rights, new diseases arising from our own actions and inventions - these greet us in bewildering succession, keep us guessing, on guard and off balance. And how do we see our situation ?

As humans we're highly gifted beings, and can be proud of our achievements in many fields. But as a society, we're also far from agreeing, on the one hand, how to assure each other safety from our own errors, blindnesses, greed and other faults. Nor have we found ways to consistently support and cooperate with each other, even when it's in everyone's interest. Ideas, values, systems collide, and we find ourselves vulnerable, if not outright anxious and fearful. Voyagers in transit, our brave and shiny new world can be wild as any ocean, with powerful currents, sudden and violent storms. How can we understand or even get to know this more or less uncharted expanse, orient ourselves, safely navigate it ? 

          Something New Under the Sun         
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In the turbulent aftermath of World War I, Rudolf Steiner did a still mostly unknown service to humanity in this regard, in presenting his threefold social idea. could help - considerably. Of the resources below, some are from Rudolf Steiner himself, some are my own work, some are from others working with the threefold idea. My recommendation : dig deeper. There's real substance in this threefold social idea, and these concepts are much needed !

Ten Reasons to Investigate Steiner's Threefold Social Idea

1) Our world today has bewilderingly many moving parts - enough to keep us uncertain and off balance much of the time. The threefold idea can first of all lend structure to our understanding, and some pressingly needed orientation points. 

2) The threefold idea - a unique and cohesive set of scientific observations on human social life, first discerned and presented by Rudolf Steiner - offers clarity on why different phenomena in society are healthy when they're healthy - and unhealthy when they're not.

3) Once grasped, these principles can become a kind of "organ" for understanding social situations, a diagnostic tool for social problems, and source of insights into what might help.

4) As individuals, we participate in all three realms of social life - economic, rights and spiritual-cultural. We participate in these in our own three worlds : our inner life of thoughts and feelings, our encounter with the world around us and our world of human and social relationships.  For each of these, the threefold idea works as a kind of mirror, helping us better assess ourselves, and recognize or correct our own course in life.

5) With an evolving grasp of the threefold idea can come an increased sense of personal meaning : in learning the needs and nature of society, we may find that certain thoughts and insights light up for us - ways and places where, each in our own unique and personal way, we can contribute something to our world. 

6) To discover the deeper nature and needs of a world that had previously seemed undecipherable, can also contribute to personal morale. To find pattern, structure, order - even if compromised - in our world, can relieve the sense of being "at sea" in a vast landscape with vast problems ; and lend an affirming sense that, even if difficult, change is possible.

7) Insight, we may find to our surprise, can create an enthusiam we haven't felt in years - and forces of conviction and will we may never have felt ! 

8) Per Rudolf Steiner, the threefold social idea  - and the potential for a new threefold ordering of society - are already powerfully at work in humanity ; but thus far only in our needs and feelings about our lives, and not yet consciously. These things will eventually to consciousness, per Steiner, through constant and repeated life experience - potentially excruciating life experience. But if rightly presented, they can also be grasped even in the present, purely on the basis of insight. What stands between the threefold social idea and a threefold ordering of our world, per Rudolf Steiner, is - significantly - only that more people understand it !

9) With understanding, realizations dawn that a healthy threefold ordering of  society need not be "implemented" by some external means, but will arise when multiple dispersed people find each other, work, communicate, cooperate intelligently on the basis of their shared needs and interests.

10) Every aspect of social life, each of the three sphere's of life the threefold idea identifies, requires constant activity and work. But an eventual threefold order will not only depend on external work. The threefold idea is itself a creative force, a kind of seed that, once planted in a human being, can grow into much more - full of life and germinating power, just as a seed is. Such is the power of an idea - in this case still brand new in the world, just over 100 years ago.

For more on Rudolf Steiner's threefold social idea, enter here :

Living Waters Wellness Resources : Rudolf Steiner's Threefold Social Idea