 In earlier journals I looked at each realm separately. That is a logical approach but I believe that it is a flawed because it plays into a delusion that the realms are separate. |
In earlier journals I looked at each realm separately. That is a logical approach but I believe that it is a flawed because it plays into a delusion that the realms are separate.
A doctor works in the cultural realm, a manufacturer of bricks works in the economic realm and a lawyer works in the rights realm. That’s all you really need to know. But this is a dead categorisation. It is stagnant as you realise if you try to manage your life according to it.
The doctor has to organise facilities – a waiting room, filing records, antenatal classes need to be organised. He needs transport to visit patients at home. He has a tremendous burden of form filling in order to meet his obligations to the local health authority. He has to meet the needs of his patients in a way that satisfies them. Rights-wise, everything he does is held within a legal / bureaucratic framework.
The manufacturer of bricks has to organise labour. He needs to develop a good team atmosphere. He needs to innovate new technologies to remain competitive in the market. His new products must meet stringent thermal and engineering standards. Not only that, but Rights-wise Health and Safety is a huge issue for him because bricks are hard and heavy and they only get hard by being made very hot. Hard, hot and heavy are all dangerous.
The lawyer’s weaves the basket of the rights realm but he works out of an office that needs organising. His firm produces a client newsletter so the client doesn’t forget about them, and he has tough cases sometimes which require serious thought.
After some time of living the all I do for you / for me / how we agree 3-fold I have become aware that every moment has a component from all three. Usually one or the other is uppermost, but every moment contains an element that is for me, an element that is for you and it exists in a moment that is supported by the agreements I have explicitly and implicitly made (ie in a house that I bought with a contract, at work where my employment is in accordance with a contract, driving along in accordance with the laws of the land, etc.).
Just think for a moment of our endeavour on this website. When I write I have to think. This is spiritual activity in the cultural realm and I do it for myself. But then others read it and perhaps get something from it – there is an element of the economic about that. Finally, I am writing in a community which has implicit and explicit rules.
So what is the experience when I read? Then I am active in the cultural realm again, trying to grasp the meaning behind the words, trying to bring these new words together with what I already know, to test, to weigh, to incorporate, to reject. But in reading I have clicked the number of reads up by one which has an impact on everyone else, particularly the author of the journal (to a lesser or greater extent). More importantly, suppose I get hold of a idea that is new to me, or deepen my understanding of an idea I already have, then through this process I add to the world because the number of people carrying that idea has gone up by one. From the Rights perspective, the fact that I can read the web site is the consequence of the agreement Tom made with an ISP to supply the philosophyoffreedom.com website name. Once again we find our endeavour carried in the basket of the rights realm.
There will be one realm that is uppermost in any activity, but every activity contains elements of all three realms. Now it seems to me that when the flow is spiritual then the cultural realm will be found to be working in to the economic. However, when the flow is physical then the economic realm will be found to be working in to the cultural. Take the Dr.Hauschka skin care products. There is a world wide economic fraternal activity making these physical products available for people to use. When these people use the products their experience is in the cultural realm. I am directed to supply the product by the customers needs. However when the product is purchased it is (more or less) a free action – I can’t make the customer buy it. Moreover when the customer uses the product it is an action that they do on their own and it is for the good care of their skin and their health and well being.
When someone looks after themselves then it is a deed in the cultural realm, something they do for themselves. Of course there will be others who benefit too – a husband who is pleased his wife cares for her skin, etc. A family and co-workers that enjoy the company of someone with their self-esteem strong. (NB Most of my customers are women, but not all. Men prefer to have skin they feel comfortable with too but they don’t usually destroy their skin’s healthy balance trying out potions during adolescence. Men also generally have different social pressures putting their self-esteem under threat).
You could say that in a very broad and general way the economic would be nothing without the inspiration provided by the cultural, and the cultural would find it difficult to manifest in the world without the structures that the economic provides. Finally, all our social activity occurs within a more or less agreed framework of rules of engagements.
What does my action do for me? What does it do for you? What agreements does my action depend on? Answering these questions as deeply as possible can bring a great deal of clarity.