Sebastian has made a comment in his now epic journal entry "How we agree to do and be" (the journal entry which is, I am sure, destined for number one on the PoF website Top 10 next month!):
As discussed there is a competitive element to the cultural realm. One recent comment (Joel's I think) recently indicated a sense of "even in the cultural realm" as if the cultural realm is the loveliest realm. What I feel we are facing here is the competetive aspect of the Cultural Realm that is veering towards rivalry.
Now we have touched on this before, as Sebastian said, and I am interested in exploring with others the idea that competition is the essence of how the healthy cultural realm should work.
Or to go back to Steiner's formulation Liberty - Cultural/Spiritual Realm, Equality - Rights Realm, Fraternity - Economic or Needs Realm.
So one way of approaching this question might be, to what extent does the exercise of true freedom involve competition?
For me, I can start by trying to reflect on some (rare) occasion when I feel that I acted out of true freedom. I think of an example where I was faced with a difficult choice and no matter how many times I thought it through I couldn't come to a conclusion. My feelings did not give me a clear answer. My moral principles as I understood them could be used to argue either way. The reactions of others to what I did and their opinions were not the essential thing to me, though they were of course part of the situation I faced.
What happened? Well I felt I had to be creative - I had to create my own deed and thus make it right because it was a decision out of my own essential being. I felt that I had actually risen above these lower aspects of my being, at least for a time, to enable me to act freely.
But then doesn't that mean that any person can call what they do right because they do it out of their own being? You are probably aware that this area of moral life and freedom is addressed extensively by Steiner in the second half of PoF.
I am reminded of the following from the Gospel of Matthew:
By their fruits ye shall know them. Do `men` gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but the corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Therefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Matthew 7:16-20
This seems to me to be a good yardstick - does the deed bring forth good fruit? It might take a long time, but truly free and therefore truly moral deeds surely must eventually bring forth good fruit.
If you read the Gospels you will find again and again images that point to a kind of a competition - servants being given money (talents) to invest, then the master returns and demands a reckoning, sheep and goats, weeds and good crops, seeds being sown in various locations and so on. Typically this is given an apocalyptic flavour and related to the end of the age, but if there is a sifting going on then perhaps it is focussed on the cultural realm in society.
The images clearly point to a kind of competition - perhaps these well-known Christian images were even in a way drawn upon when Darwin and others came up with the idea of natural selection - now there's an interesting thought, Christianity creating its own worst enemy, humanist/evolutionist Darwinism!
But isn't the cultural realm all about art, and truth, and beauty and goodness and so on? Yes I think it is, and I think it is most of all about spirit - that which enables us to act freely. To be a bit more concrete, I am constantly amazed at how the moral element is consistently present in the most profound works of art, for example novels, plays and even paintings.
And to look at the element of truth for a moment - science has come a long way on the back of utility or being of service to humanity (by their fruits...) but people are beginning to realise that science itself as it is currently practiced is blinkered - Steiner thought and wrote extensively on this again as many of you would know. And Genies like nuclear energy, electricity, genetic modification, digital technology etc. have all been released from their respective bottles now for better or for worse...
So... fractured feelings, terms of abuse, despair, anger, elation, humour, the heavens opening, devils hurled into the abyss, fire from the heavens - all of these may be part of the spiritual path and reflected in the Cultural realm. Not that we institutionalise or encourage violence, abuse or unfairness but neither do we seek to enforce, legalise and encode goodness, beauty and truth... for that way lies the path of the Pharisee, at least as that sect is depicted (I am sure somewhat unfairly) in the Gospels.
Others' thoughts and comments are very welcome, or on the other hand please feel free to ignore and rubbish everything I've said and get on with your own stuff!