Dear friends,

Our Economics articles are an organic thing. The content here is not pre-packaged like a book. We seek here to model something that is commonplace in business, which is that a “product”  is a new being of value in the marketplace – it is worked out as we go along.

“(Fear of the super sensible world) That is the first of the two evils. The second is the weakness, the inner paralysis that afflicts modern human wills, despite their seeming activity, which is often nothing more than pretense. I must add that both these ominous characteristics of modern civilization and culture are qualities that anthroposophical life must overcome.” Rudolf Steiner, Awakening to Community, GA 257, 13 February 1923, Stuttgart. Lecture IV

You’ll see here something we all kind of instinctively know, that engagement, commitment and inspiration are fluid things, and they respond to the moments of life as they unfold.

Like a river finding its way around and from rock to subsequent rock. Our model here is to encourage engagement, contribution and living inspiration.

I say all this because I want to show something rather essential to this initiative.

Each person’s contribution has a fructifying effect. Each person’s will and decisiveness in relation is vital.

I have sought to lay out here some more of the principles we are working with: Endowment; Collaboration with an outline of our Vision; and Goals.

Corporate sand vs. Living Forest

Digital platforms are the social infrastructure of modern life. They can either enforce rigid, exploitative transactions or act as catalysts for deep human engagement. Let’s be honest. Some posts inspire us. Some infuriate. The social media platforms are designed like that. We can’t wish it weren’t like this. To move beyond traditional economics, we must integrate digital networks into a cohesive, collaborative ecosystem.

“𝐀 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐜 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞. 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥, 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐠𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝. 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐧𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬. 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐱𝐭.”

𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞: 𝐑𝐮𝐝𝐨𝐥𝐟 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐫 – 𝐆𝐀 337𝐛 – 𝐒𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐈𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐬, 𝐒𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐒𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐈𝐈 – 15. 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐄𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐜 𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐈 – 10 𝐎𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫 1920, 𝐃𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐜𝐡.

Every far reaching, global-shaping system has to begin as a single, microscosmic spark.

Consider the coastal redwood forests of the USA Pacific Northwest—the tallest, most massive living trees on Earth. Over 100 meters high. Yet, a redwood tree begins as a seed no larger than a single grain of tomato seed.

That tiny seed cannot grow into a giant on its own. The moment it drops into the soil, it strikes a quiet partnership with a microscopic fungal network called mycelium. So the story goes like this. A single spore and a single seed meet together in the dark soil. The fungus acts as a biological digital platform, weaving between the tree’s roots, delivering water and vital minerals from miles away. In return, the tiny seedling shares sugars generated from its first leaves. In business, people talk a lot about scale. Scaling, we have to understand.

If there is no daily work. No daily recognition. There is no water.

Over centuries, this invisible, subterranean meeting of water and seed endows the tree with the resilience to withstand fires, floods, and droughts, eventually creating a colossal forest ecosystem that alters the weather patterns of an entire continent. Sunlight is our thinking we bring to this initiative. We read, we like, we contribute because it makes us think, feel, and act differently. Words, thoughts, ideas, inspiration, imagination, intuition.

If there is no daily content. There is no Sun to reward any growth.

What is the point of any of these fine sounding words in the face of the great leviathans of corporate and banking power?

With spiritual trust we see – own engagement is as vital as sunlight and water to the tree.

We have to refuse the mockery, negativity, and disparaging critique. Just as a tree ignores the bugs crawling up and down it, and the woodpeckers boring into it, and stays completely unfazed. The global economic shift we need will not appear overnight as a fully formed system. It starts exactly like the redwood tree: a small, localised partnership between an engaged community and a simple digital tool, quietly weaving the roots of a future great tree.

Most people in modern corporate life operate on 50%. We trade our days for a reliable paycheck, and we pretend not to notice that the rigid corporate silo-life is slowly, systematically sapping our etheric life force. We survive by dissociating and vowing to fix it later in life. And so we fall into passive compliance. And all the while, the numbers and spiritual cost just keep not adding up. But we say, what is a viable alternative?

The first step of courage to cross the threshold of spiritual life in the economic sphere. When you endow an initiative with your money, time, and spirit, you become like that microscopic mycelial network beneath the forest floor. This is the holy communion, the new blood and bread. By refusing to keep your head in the sand, you stop renting out your life force to corporate giants. Life force is meant for creation, not consumption.

Hesitancy about these calls to money, will and active commitment. Yes of course it exists. These are usually taboos – especially Money. Reading that something is demanded of us is never wholly easy and comfortable. Just through this unfolding work, however, new things come up for the soul.

Right Path – Wrong Path – Decision of the I

On a piece of paper, we draw a threefold sign: one line vertical, two lines branching up right and left from it. We think through the paths of our life before us when thinking of changing our life course and making decisions. On one branch arm we write – “Forbid Me“, on the other – “Command Me“.

It is then that we can open up to commitment to fully commit to something new through anthroposophy. Because we see it is about getting spiritual help to bring order and integration to ourselves and our life’s path as a whole. For more on this practice, see Rudolf Steiner, Esoteric Lessons, GA 266/22 May 1908, Hamburg.

An Endowment

We have to think of spiritual initiatives into the earth like this as – spirit and land, Christ and Sophia wedded as one, to bless the blood, down into the earth. In anthroposophy, a building is never just a physical scaffold or shell; it is an active organ for the human soul and spiritual life. We see this back when the First Goetheanum was built. Spirit and Land are joined as One. September 20th 1913, was the original foundation stone laying of the First Goetheanum. Rudolf Steiner laid the 12-sided dodecahedron) into the hill in Dornach.