Rudolf Steiner's Vision for the Future - Anthroposophical Society in ...

Book Review
Common Wealth: For a Free, Equal, Mutual
and Sustainable Society
by Martin Large; Hawthorn Press, 2010, 256 pgs.
Review by Sarah Hearn
Listlessly naming the flaws of the system can be an al-
luring distraction from trying to fix it. And too often the intoxication
of scrutinizing social problems dulls one’s faculties
for perceiving a larger context and mapping a way forward.
But not so with Martin Large, an English academic, business
entrepreneur, community facilitator,
and all around trailblazer. Large is as
interested in the “know-how” as in the
“know-why” of tackling social problems
and working toward Common
Wealth, the title of his new book. He
models a delicate balance of critiquing
the problems, presenting practical
means to effecting positive social
change, and offering a big-picture
framework for understanding the three
sectors of society: economy, polity, and
culture.
Drawing in part from Rudolf
Steiner’s work with the threefold social
organism, this framework recognizes
mutuality, 1 equality, and freedom as
the leading principles of economy,
polity, and culture respectively, with
business, government, and civil society as their leading institutions.
While there’s some contention around identifying
civil society as the chief vehicle of the cultural sector—particularly
in anthroposophical circles—Large’s inclusive exploration
could potentially calm this dispute. Large
recognizes multiple definitions of civil society: as a vast, in-
46 • being human
formal association of community and culturally-based organizations;
as those organizing specifically for comprehensive
sustainable development, peace, and social justice; and
as a larger vision for the future, wherein cultural values and
initiatives flourish, employing the creativity of the human
spirit, free from political and economic
control. This last definition finds
strong resonance with Steiner’s picture
of a truly free cultural life as the
bedrock of a healthy threefold social
organism.
Large draws directly on salient
points from Steiner’s social ideas and
also from those of a handful of contemporaries
connected to the anthroposophical
movement: Robert Karp,
Nicanor Perlas, and Otto Scharmer, to
name a few. While referencing wisdom
and examples from an array of wellknown
historical leaders, Large also has
his ear to the wind of what’s fresh, relevant,
and progressive in the worlds of
economics, governance, and cultural
movements. This makes Common
Wealth a great resource as well as an introduction to this constellation
and to a more macrocosmic understanding of
“tripolar society,” which Large outlines in part 1 of his book.
But it doesn’t stop there. He works to build a “map that can
help guide action for a more sustainable society and planet,”
positing that we all have “an intuitive, gut-level grasp” for
1 In this context, “brotherhood” or “association” is often used to describe the guiding principle of economic life from a threefold perspective;
however, Large’s use of “mutuality” perhaps enables a more immediate understanding that the aforementioned words lack.