School of Spiritual Science Goetheanum Section for Social Sciences Newsletter
The Social Impulse of Rudolf Steiner in Hungary Anthroposophy in the Rights Sphere – the Rights Sphere in Anthroposophy Complementary Currencies Józef Tischner 100 Years: Peter F. Drucker Thinking Differently About Economics
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Summer 2010
Contents
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Editorial
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Foreword Ulrich Rösch Research The Social Impulse of Rudolf Steiner in Hungary Péter Takáts Anthroposophy in the Rights Sphere – the Rights Sphere in Anthroposophy Prof. Dr. Günter Herrmann February 2010 in Bochum and Dortmund Horst Angelbeck Security Through Local Currency Jörg-Martin Steinmetz Finding Warmth Katie Dobb Jozef Tischner – a Solidarity Philosopher Ulrich Rösch 100 Years: Peter F. Drucker Benjamin Kohlhase Economics Conference Arthur Edwards and Christopher Houghton Budd The Art of Reshaping the Structure of Money Herbert Schliffka
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Overview of Events Publication Details and Ways to Donate
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Editorial Dear Section Members, Before much time elapses following the important public conference on „The Future of Work – Karma of Vocation“ of the Anthroposophical Society in Germany – in which many members of our Section collaborated – we would like to once again send you a few reports and updates on the work of the Section for Social Sciences.
Our thanks go to the authors whose articles appear in this issue, as well as to our two translators, Helen Lubin and Anna R. Meuss. Sincerely, Paul Mackay and Ulrich Rösch
We look forward to receiving information and substantive articles on topics that are being addressed in the Section. Please send your text for inclusion in our Section Newsletter to our office by mid-November 2010.
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Foreword by Ulrich Rösch
On June 27 in Bochum, Germany, the large, public conference of the Anthroposophical Society in Germany came to a close. The theme, „The Future of Work – Karma of Vocation“, focused on the core of the current social question. Nearly all of the representatives of the anthroposophical social impulse were there. Michael Schmock of the German council was there on behalf of the organizers. Professors Herta Däubler-Gmelin, former Federal Attorney General, and Frithjof Bergmann of Flint, Michigan (US), a creative and unconventional scholar, were also there. In one big palaver – a council meeting and conversation in the best sense – themes central to our time were discussed, something that is often lacking in anthroposophical gatherings. Under the artistic direction of Bochum painter Alexander Schaumann, there was, among many other things, an outstanding musical contribution by the Chinese performer Wang Jue, performed by Bochum cellist Wolfgang Sellner, and a moving eurythmy piece by Tille Barkhoff. These artistic 4
„There is, for example, nothing as adverse to a real conviction of reincarnation and karma as the principle that for the work one has done, one should pocket a corresponding wage that directly pays for the work … But the idea should draw near to people that indeed in a world-order in which one thinks that work and wages have to directly correspond to each other, in which, so to speak, one has to earn from one’s work what is needed to live, a real foundational conviction of reincarnation and karma can never thrive.“ (Reincarnation and Karma, February 21, 1912, Stuttgart; lecture for members)
elements were good examples of how future conferences could be artistically permeated and bring about more of a unity of the content and form of a conference. The artistry of the building of the Rudolf Steiner School in Bochum also helped in creating a socialartistic atmosphere. In his work with social sculpture, Düsseldorf artist Johannes Stüttgen demonstrated in an enlivening way the interpenetration of art, science and social configuration. His sessions met with enthusiastic resonance on the part of the participants, and his gig in the large hall with business giants, politicians and activists gave rise to one round of applause after another. Work, capital and human dignity could be experienced as healing elements in society. It isn’t economic life itself that has led us to today’s problems, but rather the connection of modern economic developments with the one-sided ideology of liberalism founded on egotism. What presents a danger to the development of society is the power of erroneous concepts resulting essentially from a false concept of money and capital: ownership of the means of production (including land), wage labor (work as a commodity) and profit (shareholder value) as factors that drive the
economy. These three concepts are still a left-over from the medieval, barter-economy of production, which isn’t appropriate for a modern, post-industrial business economy. Rudolf Steiner very clearly saw the hazards of such a soulless ‘econonomization’: „What has driven the modern world to the propagation of capital inherent in modern capitalism, in the growth of capital, has ... linked the rise of capitalism to the lack of interest found in modern humanity, especially for the deepest impulses of the human soul“. (Rudolf Steiner, Emancipation of the Economic Process from the Personal Element, February 1, 1919; available in English in typescript only.) Needs and capacities belong to a person’s being and destiny, and form his earth existence. Work is always directed toward the needs of the other. In this way, work shows us the archetype of a social gesture. I need the other person so that I can further develop my faculties and capacities. The other person also needs me in order to meet his needs so that he can live a worthy existence on earth – and vice versa. Giving and receiving – both are of equal value in the balancing out of destiny. Our capacities are the fruits of past earth lives. By means of the 5
division of labor, the principle of fraternity has become a formative element of economic relationships. Division of labor and specialization, as well as the mechanization and virtualization in the production process, are in need of a conscious addition: interest in the other human being. In carrying out this activity for the other who has needs, we bring to realization a profound impulse for the future: Interest in the other, love that comes about in a free deed, becomes a formative impulse for the future, for a new planetary stage. Interest in one’s brothers and sisters will increasingly take the place of what is advantageous to oneself. However, this requires a world view that encompasses the spiritual aspect of the human being. One cannot express this more radically than did Rudolf Steiner. So long as people think that they work for their money, they can never attain an understanding of reincarnation and karma. We have to bring the social question into this dimension. Without the threefolding of the social organism, we cannot progress in our spiritual development and cannot fulfill our earthly task, „and humanity will no longer have a say in the future without arranging the social organism in a threefold way – socialism for economic life, democracy for the life of the 6
state or rights sphere, freedom or individualism for spiritual life.“ (Rudolf Steiner, Education as a Social Problem, August 9, 1919) Ulrich Rösch sektion.sozialwissenschaften@ goetheanum.ch English by Helen Lubin
„Unemployment can only be the consequence of an unhealthy economic system … Unemployment! People cannot find work! But it has to exist, because there are people. And in a healthy social organism, work that cannot take place cannot be surplus work, but is work that is lacking somewhere. The amount of unemployment is the amount that is lacking. This clearly speaks for the fact that unemployment can come into balance only through the overall healing of economic institutions. – The chaotic working together of politics, spiritual life and the economy undermines this healing.“ (Rudolf Steiner, Unemployment, October 9, 1921, from the Collected Essays in the weekly publication Das Goetheanum – (German bibliography no. 36)
The Social Impulse of Rudolf Steiner in Hungary Ulrich Rösch´s Visit to Hungary During the reign of communism, anthroposophy was not accepted in Hungary, and those who wanted to occupy themselves with the work of Rudolf Steiner had to remain under cover. Thus it is not surprising that the social impulse could not thrive in this atmosphere, and working with spiritual science limited itself to the study of Rudolf Steiner’s works. Following the political turning point of 1989/90, when spiritual science in the Middle and Eastern European countries was also freed, this orientation unfortunately changed only very little, and anthroposophy remained a spiritual stream that had almost nothing to do with daily life. So it was that in the Anthroposophical Society in Hungary, one could hardly speak about the social question or social threefolding. After the turn of the millennium, a group of engaged individuals took up the social question and the social impulse and began to work with them.. They first studied Rudolf Steiner’s works related to the theme, and then attempted to bring to realization in their daily lives, to translate into deeds,
what they learned through study. An important task for this group was always, and remains to this day, to make the social impulses of anthroposophy accessible for other members. When members or coworkers of the Section for Social Sciences come to Hungary and hold courses or lectures, there is always a good occasion for this. This goal has been served by visits and lectures organized in recent years. A next step in the development of the social impulses in Hungary was Ulrich Rösch’s visit in March 2010. Mr. Rösch gave a lecture in Budapest at the Anthroposophical Society´s center, Rudolf Steiner House, and held a two-day course on the social question and the idea of social threefolding. In his lecture at the Branch evening of the Anthroposophical Society, Mr. Rösch presented Rudolf Steiner as an engaged social activist. He showed how events in Steiner’s biography were connected with a social sensitivity, and how he felt responsible for the world and for humanity. Mr. Rösch rounded off the lecture with quite a tragic 7
statement by Rudolf Steiner in 1922: the Michael impulse is the most important spiritual impulse in our time; that this impulse, however, is not yet strong enough in the world. Rudolf Steiner regarded this impulse, that at the time didn’t live sufficiently in the world, as the great task of the movement of spiritual science. Rudolf Steiner’s words are often quoted today, and it is then said: people out in the world aren’t yet ready for this. But anthroposophists who speak like this evidently haven’t read the next paragraph, because Rudolf Steiner there shows quite concretely what the problem was: only a few of our anthroposophical friends had taken up the social impulse. If there would be only a few active members in the Anthroposophical Society, one could then speak of a Michael-Festival. But our dear friends united only the contemplative, passive part of their souls with this; they didn’t manage to become active themselves. This was and, he said, unfortunately still is the tragedy of the anthroposophical movement. The social impulse has not germinated in the world. The question today is therefore: What do we do with the social impulse? How can we take hold of it, especially when the whole world is crying out in need for a new social impulse? What do we do? It is quite clear that if we 8
would really take up this impulse today, the Anthroposophical Society could become the wellspring of a new social movement. On the second day we gathered in a Romanesque room that had the mood of the first Christian catacombs, and penetrated into the depths of the social question. Mr. Rösch tried to give a big picture of that which cannot be seen in the outer, factual world, but rather in a deeper reality, in its being. Goethe describes this lawfulness as its archetype. In this way, Mr. Rösch tried to describe for the participants the inner laws of social reality, which are valid for all modern societies – since the Industrial Revolution – regardless of their political hue. He depicted the archetypal phenomenon of economic life, in which economic values come about through the human spirit transforming nature, and which are characterized by polarities, by upbuilding and destructive processes. These polarities become connected with each other via the middle, via encounter, via the rights-sphere that comes about. This is the case in the micro-social realm, such as family, as well as in the mid-range social realm, such as groups of people who work together, and is also valid for society as a whole, for the entire social organism of the earth. Mr. Rösch made the participants aware of the fact that in our time we
can only speak of a global economy. In 1922, in the so-called Economics Course – literally ‘National Economy’ – Rudolf Steiner made it clear that the earth today has in reality become a whole. This is one of the problems today: that we still think of ‘national economy’. But we need to think in terms of global economy. The other problem today is that economic thinkers think of mechanisms in the economy and thus speak, for example, about market mechanisms – and this doesn’t match reality. We can only take hold of social reality if we think organically and holistically. This is one reason why, in anthroposophy, we speak of the social organism. After we looked at this social organism in detail, we had a foundation for answering the questions that arose. We took our point of departure from the work that is always steered by what a person is able to do, by his capacities, so that the work has an effect in the world. But people need a livelihood not only so that they can buy goods and services that they need, but rather for their human life as such. It is only then that they can bring their capacities into production.
i.e. we don’t want to configure the world based on thought-up ideas, but to look into the world and get our ideas from the world. In this way we arrived at an archetype of the social realm as Rudolf Steiner describes this in his course on world economy. The interested and active course attendees spontaneously invited Mr. Rösch for a further visit to Hungary, in the hope that these lectures will give a further important impetus for the social impulse in Hungary. Péter Takáts tpeter@t-email.hu English by Helen Lubin
In the course of the two days we spoke about the foundational elements of the social realm and of economic life. Our method was ‘phenomenology, not ideology’, 9
Anthroposophy in the Rights Sphere – the Rights Sphere in Anthroposophy Paul Mackay recently explained here that it is important „that the questions regarding the realm of independent spiritual life, the sphere of rights and economic life – each in its own right as well as in connection with the others – be worked through in our Section“, and he requested contributions to our future work in the Section (Winter Newsletter, pp. 4 and 6). Since we are a Section of the School of Spiritual Science, it seems useful to draw on Rudolf Steiner’s statements on the rights sphere as a basis for our work, which we can find, albeit variously dispersed, in his collected works. Concretely, it seems to me that it would be interesting if we would discuss in the Section how we are seeking to answer the numerous questions about the rights sphere, based on statements by Rudolf Steiner and on our own experiences. I will mention just a few examples: • How can the legislative or rights sphere, the middle, rhythmic member of the social organism, be reduced and concentrated to its real functions? The fact that 10
limiting the functions of the state, as addressed by Rudolf Steiner, is a very current topic is shown by the currently heated debate in Germany on the ‘Hartz-IV’ issue [Germany’s controversial social welfare reform, introduced in 2005; aimed at reducing the costs of the social welfare system]: Can and should so many social services be provided by the state today? • What further thoughts related to the configuration of the rights sphere can be derived from
the ‘threefolding of the social organism’ and from other ideas from Rudolf Steiner? How is his interpretation of the motto of the French Revolution to be put to use, which he even formulated as a lecture theme: Freedom for the spirit! Equality for rights! Fraternity for economic life!
least they do not prevent these.
• What can be done to allow the spiritual-cultural life to be as free as possible from state interference? More freedom for schools, universities, theatre?!
• After the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe named human dignity as the irreducible standard for social justice in the Hartz-IV verdict of February 9, 2010, we can reflect on whether what is meant by inviolable human dignity – according to Article 1 of the Constitution – is the ‘I’ as an individuality.
• How can economic life be left as free as possible from the state to configure itself? Or is the problem a bigger one now, such that through the omnipotence of the economy (including banks, labor unions and global corporations) the state becomes too dependent on the economy? • What has come to realization in recent years of the ideas on social threefolding, for instance through the constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany, or through the new federal constitution of 1999, through the states’ code of practice or through the evolution of society? In many modern states, there are in the meantime constitutional articles that guarantee „freedom for the spirit“ and „equality for the rights realm“, and that call for „fraternity“ – at
• What is the relationship between the rights realm and karma? The judge in a lawsuit cannot take into consideration the karma of the parties involved. But does he or she create karmic relationships by means of his/her rulings?
• Eighty years ago, Rudolf Steiner recognized and named three great enemies of knowledge in the present time: 1) fear of the spirit; 2) the desire to scoff at spiritual being; 3) the slackness of comfort-level thinking: the human being wants to have everything reel by before him as though in a movie (said before the invention of television!). Only courage for knowledge, fire for knowledge and creative knowledge can help us face these enemies of knowledge in our time. We read these words from Steiner with a jolt today: What consequence do we draw from them for our actions?
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• And the last question: How can we make acquired knowledge fruitful on a practical level for ourselves and for wider circles? Suggestions in my book Recht und Gerechtigkeit [JRights and Justice] (2007) and numerous quotations in my anthology Quellen für ein neues Rechtsleben aus dem Werk von Rudolf Steiner* [Sources for a New Rights Sphere from the Work of Rudolf Steiner] (2000) address many such questions. In one of the upcoming work sessions, we could throw ourselves in medias res and – perhaps after brief introductions – seek clarification in conversation: on one hand to further our level of knowledge, and on the other hand to also further an understanding of rights for the work in anthroposophical institutions and in other contexts. Prof. Dr. Günter Herrmann Wankweg 13 D-87642 Buching Tel. + 49 (0)8368 16 96 www.rechtsleben.net * Published by Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach; currently available at a reduced price.
English by Helen Lubin
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February 2010 in Bochum and Dortmund (Germany) Lecture and Seminar with Ulrich Rösch In his lecture as well as in the conversation on Saturday, Ulrich Rösch’s contributions were brought in a very fine way. The blood circulation in a living organism with its organs was a clear picture of the circulation of money. It made clear the effect of the blood circulation in a healthy organism, and how, by comparison, the circulation of money today corresponds to that of a fairly ill person with cancerous tumors. I found that the analogy of both kinds of circulation was presented convincingly, especially the movement that does not go out from the heart, but in which, to the contrary, the circulation first brings about the activity of the heart. The blood has a dynamic of its own. Rösch’s lecture awakened questions in me! This is very seldom the case today. Rösch also traced the concept of anarchy back to its true content, i.e. not stamped by terrorist events in Germany. (Note: „The state and society that see themselves as self-serving,
must aim for rulership over the individual, regardless of how this rulership is exercised, whether in an absolute, constitutional or republican manner. If the state no longer regards itself as self-serving, but rather as an agent, then it will no longer stress its principle of rulership. It will organize itself such that, to the greatest degree possible, the individual is brought to bear. Its ideal will be absence of rulership. It will be a community that wants nothing for itself and everything for the individual … “ Rudolf Steiner, The Social Question, 1898) I am grateful to him for this. This is an important backdrop, particularly for a citizens’ initiative for unconditional basic income. What I especially enjoyed and benefited from was his unadorned, simple, and thereby also convincing presentation of ‘social sculpture’. For its unhindered development, our human existence needs an image of the future: Where do I want to be going? Toward what goal is my yearning leading me? This requires looking at what 13
has already come about: how, coming out of the stream of the past, it makes itself known in the present, when perceived clearly. And we stand between the two poles as individual people, as social entrepreneurs, with the task of connecting to what has come about in order to do what leads us to where our yearning already is, awaiting us. This is how I understood it, and I am convinced that I have received an intact image of ‘social sculpture’. Ulrich Rösch was an example, because in his modesty he took himself to be of least importance. Was it for this reason that he was able to be so near to me/us? I am looking forward to meeting him on my path again, for he has evidently left his mark. Horst Angelbeck, Dortmund (Germany) HorstAngelbeck@gmx.de
English by Helen Lubin
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Security Through Local Currency
About forty people working with or interested in different local currency initiatives met on 23 and 24 April for a conference in the Social Sciences Section at the Goetheanum, taking up an invitation issued by Otmar Donnenberg and Ulrich Roesch (Goetheanum No. 13/2010). The inspiration for the civic movement of community currencies comes from many different sources, and a wide variety of models have been evolved and implemented to serve as a new kind of means of payment or exchange and so support socially acceptable, sustainable regional life and economies. At the same time attention is directed to the different qualities in dealing with money. The conference organizers hoped to get the representatives of different approaches to complementary currencies into dialogue, establish the contribution each has made in creating new forms for the monetary system and throw light on their influence on social life. Background All local or regional initiatives arose
in the awareness that our monetary system is sick all the way through and is to a very great degree killing off natural, social, economic and cultural life. It is now becoming more and more evident that a feudal system is developing in the world of finance, for the power of deciding where investments go is in the hands of fewer and fewer people. A growing number of people do not give in to fatalism in the face of this concentration of power but passionately wish to take an active part in developing a more truly human system – a grass15
roots movement. During the exchange and financial crises of the 1920s, creative handling of emergency situations resulted in the first humane alternatives to the existing monetary system. These were introduced into economic life regionally. The first successful attempts at community complementary currencies in Germany and Austria (‚free money‘ in Woergl) were banned by the then rulers. In Switzerland a group of medium-size firms was given bank status as early as 1936, which enabled them to develop their own currency to function as media for the exchange of goods and services within the group. Today, 20 per cent of all small and mediumsized firms (c. 60,000 firms) work together with the WIR Credit Union in Switzerland. The WIR is officially accepted as a Swiss national currency. This complementary currency has been successful for more than three quarters of a century because of certain nonmonetary values connected with it which meant not only financial savings for the firms concerned but also confidence in financial security and quality assurance. A basic aspect of all complementary currencies is that they are connected with specific qualities and values that are important for a truly human social order. They therefore always bring people together and create
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social networks, but also need a basis of human, social warmth at their introduction. The realization and conviction that there are ways of dealing with money in a way that promotes life is an important aspect. Basic principles In an introductory talk, Paul Mackay reminded of Rudolf Steiner‘s essential view of money, which is that money is spirit brought to realization. When people are able to recognize and appreciate the abilities and achievements of others they are also prepared to provide finance, knowing that this is the only way in which those others can fruitfully contribute to society. In a sound social organism, the generation of monies always signifies support for human abilities that want to come to fruition. In the fields of training, development, mediation and the growth of skills and ideas, there is need for free gifts (gift money). When people want to use their skills, financial support needs to be in form of investments, so that they may achieve things in the future (loans). Products and services must be exchanged, which needs a means of making them comparable (pricing for purchase money). Ulrich Roesch then presented the guidelines for a sound circulation
of money. The social organism has changed its form in modern times, but we are not yet, he said, able to take this in. With private property interests constantly intervening in the sphere of products and services made for others, and egotism prevailing, elements are entering into this area that destroy life. These basic issues were considered further in a meeting held at the Goetheanum on 18 and 19 June 2010, the theme being ‚Rethinking the economy – bringing art into the organization of monetary systems‘. Instrument for sustained regional developments Some complementary currency initiatives presented their concepts and experiences. The I-Motion youth project from Woergl was launched by the Unterguggenberg Institute, keeping memories of the former Woergl Stamp Scrip alive. In the context of its youth work, the town of Woergl [in Austria] issues vouchers to young people who do voluntary work. The vouchers have their equivalent in Euro and can be used to purchase goods or services locally. The local businesses can use the vouchers they collect to pay part of their rates. In the talent-bartering system in Vorarlberg [province in Austria], members contribute their individual
skills and abilities. They are thus able to do more of the things they like doing, and get someone else to do the things they are unable or unwilling to do for themselves. In time, people grow so close in such barter systems that they will no longer keep book for the things they do but increasingly exchange their services as gifts. In addition there are talent vouchers, their value marked in Euros. They may be used regionally to pay manufacturers, traders, service providers and childcare centres. Interest-free credits are also possible in this area. Now there is also a project by a village council where local tradespeople are commissioned to do work for regional money, things that could not have been financed using the normal Euro budget. A separate small money cycle thus develops regionally. Christian Gelleri, board member for Chiemgauer [in Chiemgau, Upper Bavaria], spoke on the evolution of regional currencies and presented what is probably the best known
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regional currency in Germany – the Chiemgauer. It arose from a school project with six committed upper school girl pupils at Prien Waldorf School, Lake Chiem. The Chiemgauer functions on the basis of a deposit of corresponding value in Euro being made at the GLS Bank. Interest-free micro credits can then be issued in Chiemgauer. Chiemgauer and Sterntaler work closely together and have set up a combined IT centre. This makes it possible for the cycles of individual currencies to form a network. Lively get-together of those actively involved Until now, regional currencies have come into existence mainly in rural areas. According to those who carry the initiative, not many local councils have so far realized that by taking part in regional currency initiatives they can gain partial independence of government revenue requirements which would give them more room to play when it comes to regional and communal development. People are, however gradually becoming aware that various alternative movements could progressively come together – alternative residential projects, Regionalwert AG (broad-based support of investment in agriculture), initiatives for basic income, school
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communities of Waldorf schools, church communities, and so on. The complementary currency movement could help to bring them together. Joerg-Martin Steinmetz joerg-martin.steinmetz@bluewin.ch Previously published [in German] in the weekly Das Goetheanum
English by Anna R. Meuss
Finding Warmth
In February John Stubley and I landed at Basel airport after participating in a Think OutWord peer-led intensive in New York. We were weary and were looking forward to getting home. We were waiting for our backpacks at the luggage belt when John turned to me and said, „Isn‘t this a picture for something?“ I looked around and could see what he meant: everyone was pushing to the front trying to get a belt-side spot; their own little place closest to where the luggage comes out. John pointed out that if everyone just stood back and left an empty passage around the luggage belt, that when people saw their luggage coming they could step forward and with plenty of time get their bag. Instead, half the people could see everything, the other half couldn‘t see anything. When the people at the back did manage to catch a glimpse of their suitcase they would have to squeeze through. More than once I saw people bumping into each other – just as well we have the word ‚sorry‘ to make us feel better! How often does this happen that
we (and I) engage in anti-social behaviour – meeting my needs over yours? – when in actual fact there is another option, a more social option, that would save us time, energy and meet more people‘s needs. So often this pushing to find my belt-side location in life is so tiring that afterwards I am exhausted and need time to myself – you can see people are happy to finally be pushing their trolley out into the empty space! But where is this middle space? How do we not live bouncing back-and-forth between the heat that gets created when I meet my needs over yours, and the cold that I need to order to ‚cool off‘ after a heated situation? Where is the place of warmth? Where is this middle space? Where is the true humanness in all of this? Think OutWord www.thinkoutword.org is the webseite of a peer-led training in social threefolding. The event that we were returning from was called I Give You My Word: An Exploration into the Nature of Agreements. This event was one of the most enlivening events 19
I have participated in around the theme of social threefolding. It was refreshing to have no ‚experts‘ there but instead 60 people gathering to see what we could learn together about agreements. The organisers of this event experimented with different forms: one-on-one conversations, journalling, smallgroups conversations, whole-group discussions, artistic forms, using cutting-edge social tools, short lectures and more. It was quite extraordinary how much they did in one weekend! This really gave me the chance to dive deeply into my own exploration of agreements. Of course, this only seemed to lead me to more questions: What are the unconscious agreements I make with the world around me as I interact with it on a daily basis? What are the conscious agreements I want to make? What are the agreements I (and each individual) need(s) to ensure that the human dignity of every person on this planet is upheld? Upon returning to the Goetheanum it was time to work on Focus: International Initiative Forum, an event hosted by the YouthSection. We wanted to put on an event that would be a celebration of the work of the YouthSection under the leadership of Elizabeth Wirsching, and also, very importantly, a space where people could meet their coworkers and have time to work. 20
The whole process of planning this event was a social-artistic creation. Many conversations were held with a wide variety of people in the YouthSection network, so that it was shaped by a large number of people. John led us through many creative exercises to touch upon the essence of Focus – and then throughout the planning process we tried to listen into this essence: What did Focus itself want to be? How did Focus want to unfold into an event? For a week the Goetheanum was transformed into a city with different neighbourhoods and a central piazza. People were free to „follow their feet“ and go to the places they wanted to. One of the neighbourhoods was the Social Neighbourhood which seemed to gather the most attention. Many themes were discussed and many initiatives worked on in this neighbourhood. One night, over half the Focus participants chose to come together to discuss Social Threefolding. Seth Jordan from ThinkOutWord introduced Social Threefolding to those who were less familiar with it, and then we broke into smaller groups around particular questions. The questions included: • It‘s so difficult to change characteristics about myself, and I feel badly about blaming corruption on society if I cannot change these
things in myself. Can I begin with me, or do I begin in the outer world in order to change me? • As an Anthroposophist, in the freshest sense of the word, what can I do towards supporting social threefolding in the world? • We now have, in 2010, 27 million slaves worldwide. This is the highest number ever, even in proportion to the number of human beings in the world. The average price of a slave is $90. Who is best to address and solve this problem? • Why is this question around social threefolding so future-based? Why not base it in now? Now we are not only a sick society – we are a sick and healthy society. There is never a blank ‚shining light‘ society. In working with self and the outer space – with self and society – how also do you work with now, according to the future? • When we talk about social renewal, we only have the intention that it can do good. Who will suffer? People will suffer – corruption leads to better lives, and luxurious. Are we so righteous in our beliefs, that we ignore their suffering? Can we lessen the blow? Shortly after this, 11 of the Focus participants headed to the Philippines to join many
Filipinos at Emerge: A week of Global Dialogue, Creation and Collaboration, and also to observe and witness Nicanor Perlas‘ presidential campaign. Many enthusiastic young people came together for Emerge, with some experienced mentors to help guide the process. It was an intense time of meeting, conversations and learning about the Philippines. Something that really stood out was how one really has to stand in a culture, in a place, and grow what is needed out of what is ‚on-time‘ for that place and out of a living understanding of social threefolding. After Emerge many of us joined the Lakbay Maharlika, a lakaran or „sacred journey“ where we went on a four-day walk and journey with Nicanor Perlas. The lakaran was not only a journey towards the new Philippines but it was also a step towards finishing the revolution that had remained incomplete after nearly 400 years of colonisation. It was a journey of healing the past in order to walk towards the future. Many of you will be familiar with Nicanor‘s work with Social Threefolding. What struck me was that Nicanor really walked his talk. Nicanor not only spoke about the macro change that was needed but clearly was living social threefolding on a micro level in his daily life. My 21
study project at the Goetheanum is called Sculpting with Warmth. What I found in Nicanor was a true warmth-sculptor, once again not only on the macro level but also in all the ‚small‘ things. He seemed to remember everyone‘s names, always had time to listen, always had time to laugh, and he made every person feel important. May 10 brought the Election day. Many of us went to Nicanor Perlas‘ headquarters to watch the live updates. It was clear that corruption in the Philippines made it very hard to trust the media and the results. For updates and a clearer picture of the elections I recommend visiting Nicanor‘s website www.nicanorperlas.com. It was a powerful event to witness and it was one that, in spite of the difficulties, filled me with hope for the future. So after these experiences I am left with a feeling of what next? What is important to focus on? A friend once said to me that we grow in the direction of the questions we ask. I am wondering what the questions are that I want to grow towards? What are the questions society wants to grow towards? What are the questions that will really unlock our next steps that we need to make individually and together? I also see that so many people around the world are working out of anthroposophy in social fields. I wonder what could be 22
accomplished if we supported one another? If a social movement that was united through diversity really stood up in the world? And I wonder if this is even possible?! If you have any thoughts, questions or ideas I would really love to hear them. You can contact me at katie@YouthSection.org Thank you!
Katie Dobb katie@YouthSection.org
Jozef Tischner – a Solidarity Philosopher Ten years ago, on June 28, 2000, the Catholic priest, advisor and chaplain of the independent ‘Solidarity’ trade union, passed away. Józef Tischner studied theology and philosophy in Krakow, and completed his doctoral dissertation in 1963 under Roman Imgarden, a student of Husserl. As a professor he taught in Krakow and was president of the Vienna Institute for Human Sciences. Although he was awarded Poland’s highest decoration, the Order of the White Eagle, in September 1999, he never had a comfortable standing within the Catholic Church as a freedom-loving, socially engaged, modern thinker. Tischner’s dissertation was on „The Transcendental ‘I’ in the Philosophy of Edmund Husserl“. As a phenomenologist, he countered state-ordered Marxism-Leninism as well as the determining dogmatism of church teaching with his own original blueprint. Later, however, he went beyond the phenomenology of Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger in that he sought to understand human relationships
not only as intentional but also dialogically. Tischner considered life to be a conversation between people, founded on reciprocal respect and openness. In this way, he became a philosopher of Solidarity, accompanying at the frontline the political atmosphere of change, the Solidarity rallies and protests in Poland, right up to the promulgation of war conditions. Tischner’s quintessential sermons and addresses are collected in his important book, Ethik der Solidarität – Prinzipien einer neuen Hoffnung [Ethics of Solidarity – Principles of a New Hope; not available in English] (Graz, Vienna, Cologne 1982). One can see in Tischner a highly educated philosopher who nevertheless never disavows his origins in the farming village of the Beskiden mountains. Even in the German translation one can still sense his refreshing, original linguistic expression. Here are some samples from his essay on labor: „What is work? We answer this by saying: Work is a particular form of conversation of a human 23
being with another human being, which serves the sustenance and development of human life. More succinctly: work is conversation in the service of life … Thanks to work, a particular material acquires meaning … The conversation of work serves fundamental goals – it serves life … Just as speech can be truthful or false, so can work … The immediate goal of work is its fruit – the product. This fruit is like a word spoken at the right time. In so far as work brings forth fruit that is like words, the human being’s horizon of understanding is broadened. People who work, and work together, have to try ‘to live in truth’. No one should use work as a means of lying to another person. In that case, the work would be tantamount to someone who stutters. Work that lies is called exploitation. As soon as one becomes aware of exploitation, one feels pain – as in the case of a lie.“ Ten years ago Józef Tischner died at the age of 69. What has remained of the great impulses of the Solidarity Movement? What does the impulse of social threefolding mean for a new world? What is a future culture of brotherhood? The Section for Social Sciences would like to pursue questions of this kind from September 25, 2010 in Gdansk, Poland, with representatives of the Solidarity Movement. 24
The Soul of Europe Solidarity – an Impulse for the Future September 2-5, 2010 in Gdansk, Poland Organized by the Section for Social Sciences at the Goetheanum With Ewa and Michal Waśniewski, Paul Mackay, Ane ka Janátová, Markus Osterrieder, Peter Werner, Mariusz Muskat, Elaine Beadle, Arek Misztal, Ulrich Rösch, Péter Takáts, Thomas Jorberg, Jaroslav Rolka, Rembert Biemond, Otmar Donnenberg, Cornelius Pietzner and others. We warmly invite you to the conference ‘The Soul of Europe’. Please find details of the conference in the program at: www.soulofeurope.net or request the program from the Section for Social Sciences. Since this invitation is being sent after the registration deadline, we have held spaces for Englishspeaking attendees. Please register as soon as possible. Ulrich Rösch sektion.sozialwissenschaften@ goetheanum.ch English by Helen Lubin
100 Years: Peter F. Drucker Management pioneer, social reformer and the concept of selfevaluation – an obituary Peter F. Drucker would have been 100 years old on 19 November 2009. For more than 50 years he was a major influence in the field of management. How did and does his thinking influence our ideas of management and society? Peter Drucker was born in Vienna. On completion of his studies he worked as an editor in international relations in Frankfurt and then went to England and later the USA as a journalist. Drucker taught at Bennington College in Vermont, later at New York University, and from 1971 at Claremont Graduate School. Harvard University offered him a position on two occasions but he did not accept. His activities in advising many leading figures in governments and the economy left their mark on the economy and society to this day. Thus managers like Jack Welch, ex-CEO at General Electric, learned from him and reorganized their firms, making them into worldwide concerns. He did not see his 96th birthday, dying shortly before it in 2005.
Drucker continued to write to the very end, publishing numerous articles and books. His last work was The Next Society: A Survey of the Near Future. It brought the cycle of his social impulse to a conclusion. Before he took up his life‘s work on management issues, Drucker wrote on questions of order and form in society and politics. His book The End of Economic Man, published in 1939, and his The Future of Industrial Man firmly established his social theory of a functioning society. 25
Peter
Drucker
was
the
first
to formulate a clear idea of management. As early as 1954, he established five main points: • a manager sets goals • a manager organizes • a manager motivates and communicates • a manager assesses results, and • a manager develops and encourages people, including himself His most important discovery came in the sphere of work. He referred to the knowledge worker and his potential, developing management on this basis. He came across the phenomenon of the knowledge worker in his study on corporations. He published his Concept of the Corporation, a study on General Motors, in 1946. This marked his breakthrough at the international level. Peter Drucker concentrated on the subject of management for many years, thus helping thousands of workers and academics to be ‚knowledge workers‘. As a result, the economy took an upturn not only in the USA but also in Korea and Japan. His main achievement was to make the subject one that 26
could be taught and learned. A new, broad social level thus arose from the ranks of workers and academics. Drucker managed to define a completely new occupation and make it professional - management as an organizing element effecting changes within a society and organization. The basis of such professional management is Drucker‘s holistic and forward-looking way of thinking. It may be assumed that today‘s economic crisis would not have arisen if today‘s managers had taken their orientation from Drucker‘s all-round, sustained leadership principles. Another important development came in 1954 with the development of ‚management by objectives‘. With unsparing clarity he referred to the purpose and mission of the corporation as ‚creating customer satisfaction‘. In times of financial crisis we see that this tenet is in total opposition to the current tenet of ‚shareholder value‘. The consequences of this current false theory are now more than clearly evident. Peter Drucker was a visionary and thought ahead. In numerous books such as Managing for Results; Technology, Management and Society; and Managing for the Futur : The 1990s and Beyond, Future he foresaw the coming of the
knowledge society and of a new chapter entitled ‚knowledge‘. His way of working was one of systematic renewal. His vision was of a future that does not happen but needs to be developed and shaped today. With this he sought to provide the basis for a future that is distinctly different from today. His aim was to grow capable of development. Later on, he took a deeper interest above all in non-profit organizations. The way he saw it, they had distinctly more demanding conditions within which to function than any other economic enterprise. Yet NPOs are to this day said to be social hammocks and know nothing about economics. The study of NPOs led, among other things, to his book Managing the Non-Profit Organization: Practices and Principles, and later his important book The Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask about Your Organization. These five simple, clear questions are crucial. They determine the irrelevance or significance of any organization. There are five questions which in my view make Drucker‘s concept of selfassessment into a meditative way of inner development. • What is our mission?
• What is important to the customer? • What are our results? • What is our plan? The self-assessment instrument forces an organization to concentrate on its mission. A mission which in most cases, as with enterprises, is given by society, i.e. customers or, better, people. The concept of self-assessment is also concerned with creating a civic society for tomorrow. A society which takes its own destiny in hand in full awareness and with courage, and stands for change, i.e. results. This social impulse was most dear to Peter Drucker. He wanted to provide the necessary aids and tools for people who involved themselves in organizations and enterprises in order to make a change in the world. Today the Leader to Leader Institute he founded is successfully taking his idea and impulse further throughout the world. Benjamin Kohlhase-Zoellner Rudolf Steiner Institut for Management and Entrepreneurship www.rs-ifw.com
English by Anna R. Meuss
• Who is our customer? 27
Economics Conference Annual Meeting www.economics.goetheanum.org Rudolf Steiner’s Perception of the West, The Contribution of Switzerland, The Role of England and The Task of the General Anthroposophical Society.
732 22 12; fax +41 32 732 22 00) as soon as possible, so that we can further refine the details. A definitive programme will then be sent out in early August.
With themes such as these and working in research mode, we will review events since 1910, when Rudolf Steiner strongly expressed his concerns about the forces coming from ‘the West’ and the response that ought to come from Central Europe. In essence, the one seeks to render the I powerless as regards economic life, the other to ensure it has its place. In outer worldwide terms, if spiritual life does not develop freely, the true, that is, fraternal nature of economic life cannot come to expression.
Finance and Education Research Group This ongoing research work has produced valuable results concerning how Waldorf education can be financed in Britain. Research meetings have been taking place since October and various preliminary reports have been published that aim to provide a framework for understanding the issues (financial, legal and cultural) that accompany different ‘models’ of educational finance. This subject is particularly ‘hot’ in the UK at present with step changes being implemented to the structure of educational funding through the tax system. A further aspect of this research is to look at how financial literacy can be embedded in the curriculum of the upper school, something that perhaps ultimately depends on the respective degree of financial consciousness and culture of the staff responsible for
The meeting will take place 16-19 September 2010 near Neuchatel, Switzerland. Attendance will be restricted to members of the School of Spiritual Science, with priority given to Economics Conference participants (see economics.goet heanum.org). If you plan to take part, please advise Marc Desaules (contact@aubier.ch; tel +41 32 28
the school. Anyone interested to know more or to take part should contact admin@cfae.biz or Tel/Fax: (0044) 1227 738207. Finance at the Threshold „It should not be forgotten that every previous banking crisis, whatever its particular circumstances, had two features in common with every other financial crisis, including the most recent one. Every crisis has been preceded by a period of excessive monetary ease, and by ill thought out regulatory changes. To these points, which should be made by any careful economist, this book adds several insights. Economists’ modelling their subject on the physical sciences is misleading – of economists as well as others – for it ignores the changing interactions among individuals, the complex nature of expectations, and not least the in general rather poorer quality of the data. Houghton Budd emphasises, too, that money is a social construct, and that different kinds of societies may well require therefore different kinds of money. In developing this argument and its implications the book builds on the work of Rudolf Steiner. Steiner is well known for his ideas on education. Very much less well known are his ideas on the economy and on money. On the
basis of these most interesting ideas Houghton Budd argues that many of the differences between Keynesians and Monetarists, even those few differences that now remain, are based on misconceptions about the nature of the world. We would gain, he suggests, by changes in the nature of banking systems, by a depoliticisation of money and indeed perhaps its internationalisation, and by changing accounting, so that it ‘ … ceases to afford hiding places for uncertain transactions’. This well written and thought-provoking book will prompt its readers to reconsider their ideas on money, on credit, on banking, and on the role of government.“ Written by Geoffrey Wood, Professor of Economics at Cass Business School, London, the above extract is part of the foreword to a forthcoming book: Finance at the Threshold, Rethinking the Real and Financial Economies. Christopher Houghton Budd, Gower, 2010. A well-known policy maker, Professor Wood’s recent posts include special advisor to the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee and advisor on financial stability to the Bank of England. He was an examiner of Christopher Houghton Budd’s doctorate, which looked at Keynes’s work on the basis of comments made by Steiner in 1920, and the main supervisor of Arthur Edwards’s recent masters, which focused on Steiner’s work directly and is the first stage of a proposed PhD to examine the teaching 29
of financial literacy in schools. We include this item because we feel members should know that such contacts are taking place and that, as this example shows, the result so far is positive. While we are under no illusions about Britain’s destiny in such matters, karma finds us with links to the City and who knows what may yet come of this in outer terms. Research Funding For some time now, the idea of funding associative economic research worldwide has been worked on. Donations can now be made in the UK via ‘Associative Economics Research Fund’, c/o Hermes Trust, the Old Painswick Inn, Gloucester Street, Stroud, GL5 1QG. Tel: 01453 763900. Email: hermes.trust@freeuk.com. A similar arrangement exists for ‘Economics Conference’ c/o the Anthroposophical Society in America, as also account No 1319 at the Goetheanum. Arthur Edwards and Christopher Houghton Budd www.economics.goetheanum.org
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The Art of Reshaping Monetary Structures
Report on the 2nd conference on ‘Reshaping Money’ at the Goetheanum „Money rules the world.“ Whether this saying is true or not, it is in any case known to just about everyone. In the conference „Thinking Differently about Economics – How Art Contributes to Shaping Monetary Structures“, intensive work took place concerning the contribution of „the royal art“, so that human beings can become co-shapers of the social organism. Alexander Rist of Seattle, WA (US) presented a multidimensional view of the current financial situation in the US, and also indicated alternative approaches. As time was limited, much remained on the surface. Ulrich Rösch, representing Johannes Stüttgen, who was ill, then attempted to deepen the perspectives on money. He showed how, in the discourses of the Economics Course, Rudolf Steiner led the way to an entirely new view of money. It became clear how, using a method characterized by the attempt to always understand
Illustration by Johannes Stüttgen
an individual phenomenon out of a wholeness, Steiner comes to completely new perspectives. „We must be aware that, when it comes to economic considerations, we should characterize, i.e. acquire a concept by assessing it from various aspects, in order to really discern it clearly … I can of course only view actual reality, not a fomenting ‘should be’.“ (Rudolf Steiner, Tasks of a New Science of Economics II) Rösch also indicated that natural scientist and social scientist Wilhelm Schmundt worked through Steiner’s contribution in such a way that he was able to point to monetary functions that are not yet discerned 31
by economics today. For example, after the purchase transaction on the market, money no longer bears a relation to an economic value. It then serves the purpose of redeeming the legally binding arrangements of the parties in that the money ultimately flows back to the source of its creation, where it is ‘reloaded’ with value, i.e. where it can be connected with new economic value. Before this happens, all other legally binding arrangements must be honored. These include previously arranged (or legally determined) subsidies, particularly those of schools, universities and other enterprises, which provide services in the cultural and spiritual realm, so that the latter can also fulfill their commitments without being forced to sell education and other cultural goods on the market of consumer goods. In his book Der soziale Organismus in seiner Freiheitsgestalt [The Social Organism as a Form for Freedom] (1968), Wilhelm Schmundt published his „basic teachings“ on the social organism as study material for the School of Spiritual Science at the Goetheanum, his ‘basic teachings’ on the social organism. This is accentuated here because Schmundt’s findings, in the sense of an ‘extended concept of art’, 32
have flowed into the discipline of „anthropological and social art“ through the activities of Joseph Beuys. The task of „anthropological and social art“ is the forming of „social sculpture“. The to-be-formed „material“ for this new artistic discipline are the given social forms of the organism of world society, as well as its societal functional systems and their organs, besides those of the social life-processes and structures in all organizational and interacting contexts. In this realm of the „royal art“, „every individual is an artist“ in our time. It would have been the task of Johannes Stüttgen, master student and longtime coworker of Joseph Beuys and co-founder of the „Omnibus for Direct Democracy“, to present this. Due to his having fallen ill, he was unable to give his presentation. Eurythmist Claudine Nierth was also invited. She was the initiator of the second, white „Omnibus for Direct Democracy“ and is a board member of „More Democracy“. On Saturday morning, with movement exercises and group conversations, she led conference participants from Friday’s presentations into the conference theme. Part of the process was that participants had to frequently change groups. 33
Otmar Donnenberg and Ulrich Rösch led us through the course of the conference. In place of the planned presentation by Johannes Stüttgen, the lecture he held in Pfaffenhofen, available as a DVD published by FIU, was shown on Friday evening. The lecture is titled „Social Sculpture. And the – continually current – money question“. Rainer Rappmann’s bookstand with FIU publications guaranteed a good supply of books on the theme „Forming Social Sculpture“. At the close of this conference in Dornach, Professor Hans Christoph Binswanger held the Saturday afternoon lecture on „Money and Magic – Goethe’s indications in Faust on the Development of Monetised Economy“. In an outstanding and profoundly moving way, he showed how, in Faust Faust, Goethe described the monetary and industrial development of economics, which in his time could only be seen in its beginnings, as an alchemical process, and how, clairvoyantly, he described in advance their devastating consequences, which manifest increasingly clearly in our time. Humanity must, he said, today deal with the situation that Goethe described in this second part of Faust. Herbert Schliffka, Achberg (Germany) herbert.schliffka@arcor.de English by Helen Lubin
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Coming Events 2010 September 2-5
Section Conference in Gdansk, Poland The Soul of Europe – Solidarity: An Impulse for the Future
September 9-10
Freedom in Enterprise 3rd Economics Forum
September 16-19
Annual Meeting: ‘Economics Conference’ – at l’Aubier near Neuchâtel
October 15
Meeting on Issues of Aging
November 12-13
Research Colloquium on Conflict Resolution
November 19-21
Nutrition Conference at the Goetheanum: Nutrition and the Capacity for Development
November 26-28
The Art of Social Initiative – a public Section conference
2011 January 21-22
Conference of the School of Spiritual Science on Family Culture
March 10-13
Meeting of Section Members
March 24-27
Conference in Prague for the 150th Anniversary of Rudolf Steiner’s Birth
April 1-2
Research Colloquium on Conflict Resolution, Germany
in April
Meeting on Issues of Aging
May 20-22
Citizens’ Initiatives, Social Impulses, Contemporaneity – a public conference
October 14
Meeting on Issues of Aging
November 4-5
Research Colloquium on Conflict Resolution
November 25-27
Section Meeting
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Publication information and copyright School of Spiritual Science at the Goetheanum Section for Social Sciences Postfach CH-4143 Dornach sektion.sozialwissenschaften@goetheanum.ch hanna.koskinen@goetheanum.ch Editors: Ulrich RĂśsch, Hanna Koskinen Layout and Design: Kohlhase Publishing and Consulting www.kohlhase-consulting.com Notice: The content of this newsletter is protected by copyright. The articles do not necessarily represent the views of the Section for Social Sciences.
Donations If you would like to make a donation to support the work of the Section for Social Sciences at the Goetheanum: Worldwide: Please make payable to: Allgemeine Anthroposophische Gesellschaft Raiffeisenbank Dornach, CH–4143 Dornach Account-Nr. 10060.71 BCL: 80939-1 IBAN: CH36 8093 9000 0010 0607 1 Swiftcode: RAIFCH22 From Germany: Please make payable to: Allgemeine Anthroposophische Gesellschaft GLS Gemeinschaftsbank eG, DE-44708 Bochum Account-Nr. 988 100 BLZ 430 609 67 IBAN: DE53 4306 0967 0000 9881 00 Please note the payment reference as follows: 60445/KST1300
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