Thanks for raising these important questions, Seth - I mean questioning whether the system under which we now operate is perhaps the naive point of view in contrast to the idea of being stewards of the land and arriving at good ways to determine who gets the use of the land 'for now'.
Beautiful, Seth. You have invited us to an amazingly practical picture way beyond the dichotomy of communism (socialism) vs capitalism. The question you resolve so well (with Steiner's help) is how can we find a way to continually have the best people in charge of the resources that produce what the community at large needs? Meritocracy sounds too much like a government scheme that can be tricked. Electing management via a smart mob would be prone to false advertising. Passing on leadership from capable to capable sounds worth exploring... a hybrid solution where everyone with good will wins!
Thanks, Benjamin. Yeah, it sounds immanently practical to me, especially in the light of private and public ownership, which have such obvious flaws. I wonder if the idea of circulating ownership will be difficult for some though, because thinking of cultural (or non-profit) organizations as having a significant role in society is still so foreign to most people. We still frame so much in economic or political terms...
Thank you, Seth, for such a well-written examination of Steiner. He's always been a favorite of mine, though I find his writings so dense and often inscrutable! You really brought clarity here.
Such synchronicity in reading this article today. I watched Dances With Wolves last night (for the first time -- not sure how/why I missed it 30 years ago!) and am pondering the implications of Steiner's thoughts as they relate to original Native American populations. Perhaps there are no parallels to be drawn, since a society like the Native Americans' did not separate themselves from the earth on which they lived and from which they received sustenance. Individual land "ownership" was not a conceivable concept; land use was tribal and regional.
Have we human beings strayed so far from that way of life, that we can never return? Or is there a way to at least integrate some of the wisdom of those tribal cultures into our modern industrially-influenced beliefs?
Hey Mary - it's a great question. I don't know enough about how the different Native American groups worked with land to say.
I have come across things that Tyson Yunkaporta has described about his life in the Apalech Clan in northern Australia that struck me as quite related to Steiner's ideas. Namely, different individuals in the Apalech Clan are responsible for different parts of the landscape and if people want to travel through that land or work with it in some way then they have to work with that person. I think it's the picture of different people carrying the song lines of the land and "singing it up," singing it into existence, stewarding it, and everyone has a part in that (but I'm not well-versed in it, I don't know if I've got that quite right).
Anyways, it has struck me as quite related to Steiner's picture of "associations" that are responsible for our whole economic life. Steiner talks about how our current top-down approach doesn't work and how we need to empower the workers themselves - everyone along the supply chain - to make the necessary decisions. It's the people on the ground, working in THIS place with THESE resources, and then entering in conversation with the other people along the supply chain, that can best direct that specific flow of goods. In this picture people take responsibility for some aspect of the land, the resources, the economy, because they're the one's doing the work and they're recognized as such by their co-workers and by those with understanding in the cultural realm (which are in a certain way similar to the indigenous conception of 'elders').
That's a bit short-hand, I apologize, it would take a lot longer to unpack it, but it does give a sense for where I think some connections might be. Thanks for your comment!
What a gorgeous way to describe it: "different people carrying the song lines of the land and 'singing it up,' singing it into existence..." That made my day. Continued gratitude for your thoughts...
Nice work,Seth. Long enough to address the deep issues of ownership while staying focused on transfer of wealth.
The issue of awareness of the community is at the core of so many struggles and the divisiveness of political camps. Am I in this for myself and family, or am I connected to others, the community, the earth.
Yeah, it's a struggle, Nick, at least that's how I experience it. My question is generally, How can I learn to take a real, vital interest in other people, in other cultures, in the natural world? I have moments where something surprises me, where all of a sudden something opens up and I'm with it, and there's a real encounter, but it's rare. So much of the time I have a hard time even feeling connected to those closest to me - my "tribe" (though like everyone else, I'm pretty good at feeling a pretty passionate anger towards the other side...). I'm aiming for the 'us' but so, so much of the time I'm stuck in 'me.'
- "The Fight for the Right to Trespass" (2023), a great article on British activists fighting to expand the commons and for the kind of "right to roam" that already exists in Scotland and much of Scandinavia. Read it (https://shorturl.at/cgkwF) or listen (you can find it on your podcast player or here https://shorturl.at/kqAOU).
Thanks for raising these important questions, Seth - I mean questioning whether the system under which we now operate is perhaps the naive point of view in contrast to the idea of being stewards of the land and arriving at good ways to determine who gets the use of the land 'for now'.
Beautiful, Seth. You have invited us to an amazingly practical picture way beyond the dichotomy of communism (socialism) vs capitalism. The question you resolve so well (with Steiner's help) is how can we find a way to continually have the best people in charge of the resources that produce what the community at large needs? Meritocracy sounds too much like a government scheme that can be tricked. Electing management via a smart mob would be prone to false advertising. Passing on leadership from capable to capable sounds worth exploring... a hybrid solution where everyone with good will wins!
Thanks, Benjamin. Yeah, it sounds immanently practical to me, especially in the light of private and public ownership, which have such obvious flaws. I wonder if the idea of circulating ownership will be difficult for some though, because thinking of cultural (or non-profit) organizations as having a significant role in society is still so foreign to most people. We still frame so much in economic or political terms...
Thank you, Seth, for such a well-written examination of Steiner. He's always been a favorite of mine, though I find his writings so dense and often inscrutable! You really brought clarity here.
Such synchronicity in reading this article today. I watched Dances With Wolves last night (for the first time -- not sure how/why I missed it 30 years ago!) and am pondering the implications of Steiner's thoughts as they relate to original Native American populations. Perhaps there are no parallels to be drawn, since a society like the Native Americans' did not separate themselves from the earth on which they lived and from which they received sustenance. Individual land "ownership" was not a conceivable concept; land use was tribal and regional.
Have we human beings strayed so far from that way of life, that we can never return? Or is there a way to at least integrate some of the wisdom of those tribal cultures into our modern industrially-influenced beliefs?
Hey Mary - it's a great question. I don't know enough about how the different Native American groups worked with land to say.
I have come across things that Tyson Yunkaporta has described about his life in the Apalech Clan in northern Australia that struck me as quite related to Steiner's ideas. Namely, different individuals in the Apalech Clan are responsible for different parts of the landscape and if people want to travel through that land or work with it in some way then they have to work with that person. I think it's the picture of different people carrying the song lines of the land and "singing it up," singing it into existence, stewarding it, and everyone has a part in that (but I'm not well-versed in it, I don't know if I've got that quite right).
Anyways, it has struck me as quite related to Steiner's picture of "associations" that are responsible for our whole economic life. Steiner talks about how our current top-down approach doesn't work and how we need to empower the workers themselves - everyone along the supply chain - to make the necessary decisions. It's the people on the ground, working in THIS place with THESE resources, and then entering in conversation with the other people along the supply chain, that can best direct that specific flow of goods. In this picture people take responsibility for some aspect of the land, the resources, the economy, because they're the one's doing the work and they're recognized as such by their co-workers and by those with understanding in the cultural realm (which are in a certain way similar to the indigenous conception of 'elders').
That's a bit short-hand, I apologize, it would take a lot longer to unpack it, but it does give a sense for where I think some connections might be. Thanks for your comment!
What a gorgeous way to describe it: "different people carrying the song lines of the land and 'singing it up,' singing it into existence..." That made my day. Continued gratitude for your thoughts...
Nice work,Seth. Long enough to address the deep issues of ownership while staying focused on transfer of wealth.
The issue of awareness of the community is at the core of so many struggles and the divisiveness of political camps. Am I in this for myself and family, or am I connected to others, the community, the earth.
Pick your issue. There’s me and there’s us.
Yeah, it's a struggle, Nick, at least that's how I experience it. My question is generally, How can I learn to take a real, vital interest in other people, in other cultures, in the natural world? I have moments where something surprises me, where all of a sudden something opens up and I'm with it, and there's a real encounter, but it's rare. So much of the time I have a hard time even feeling connected to those closest to me - my "tribe" (though like everyone else, I'm pretty good at feeling a pretty passionate anger towards the other side...). I'm aiming for the 'us' but so, so much of the time I'm stuck in 'me.'
RESOURCES RELATED TO THIS ARTICLE:
- "The Fight for the Right to Trespass" (2023), a great article on British activists fighting to expand the commons and for the kind of "right to roam" that already exists in Scotland and much of Scandinavia. Read it (https://shorturl.at/cgkwF) or listen (you can find it on your podcast player or here https://shorturl.at/kqAOU).