HB Branch News -- Sunday 3 December -- Week 4, 2023

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Calendar of Coming Events 
(in the Rudolf Steiner Centre, 401 Whitehead Road, Hastings
unless stated otherwise)

• Friday 8 December 7pm Leading thoughts
• Friday 22 December 7pm.  Summer Festival
• Tuesday 9 to Thursday 11 January 2024. 3 day Eurythmy Workshop at Taruna.
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Masculine and Feminine

Countless phenomena of life will become clear to us if we think of human nature as the working together of two polar opposites. In the man the masculine pole works outwards and the feminine lives more inwardly, while in the woman the opposite holds true.

Spiritual science however also shows us a deeper reason why a masculine quality is to be found in the woman and a feminine in the man. Spiritual science speaks of how human beings strive after ever greater perfection, through many lives. Our present life is always the result of a previous one. Thus, as we proceed through many lives, we experience both male and female incarnations. What arises in this way may be expressed as the effect of those experiences gathered on both sides in earthly life.

Whoever is able in this way to look more deeply into the male and female natures knows that the more intimate experiences of the two sexes are very different and must be very different. Our entire earth existence is a collection of the most varied experiences. However, these experiences can only become comprehensive through their being acquired from the viewpoint of both sexes. […] So long as one merely looks at the physical body little can be understood. The spiritual lying behind must also be recognised.

Source: Rudolf Steiner – GA 56 – Man and Woman in Light of Spiritual Science – Munich, 18th March 1908

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3+day Conference in the Titirangi Rudolf Steiner School
from the evening of 26 December

A year after the calamity of the burning of the wooden Goetheanum, Rudolf Steiner re-founded the Anthroposophical Society to unite all the previously regional societies in a Christmas Foundation Meeting in Dornach during the last week of 1923.  During this event many seeds were laid from which we can draw strength in these times.

In this three-day event we will explore the meaning of the Christmas Foundation Meeting, how it is important to us today and how it can become a part of our lives.

Flier

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Threefold Social Order

(Some further musing by Robin Bacchus, who is preparing some talks on this theme.)

I would like to offer either a series of talks or a weekend workshop on the theme of “Threefold Social Order” at some time in February/March.  I would like to hear from those who may be interested  in participating or contributing on the form f meeting, times and dates that would work best or them.           robin@bacchus.co.nz

Although the Threefold idea was promulgated by Rudolf Steiner over a hundred years ago, it has not been well understood.  It contains some challenging concepts especially for people with entrenched attitudes born of only knowing the status quo.  I would like to explore some of these challenging concepts, especially those connected to the rights connected to land, human labour and commodities [nature modified by human work] that seem to be connected with major social problems to this day.

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Thoughts for this week:

Three kinds of money

Rudolf Steiner suggests that there are three types of money, which differ in terms of their use: purchase money, loan money, and gift money.  

ECONOMIC Sector:

Purchase money is very 'active' – like the limbs in our body – enabling commodities, goods and services, to flow freely from the Economic sector of the social organism.  Purchase money is a means of exchange.  Purchases proceed when both parties consider that, at the agreed price, they are each making a profit: the seller wants the money more than the commodity that he is selling, the buyer wants the commodity more than the money he has in his pocket.  >> Mutual Profit.

LEGAL RIGHTS Sector

Loan money is money that has been set aside from the role of purchasing.  Loans involve some form of contract (stating binding conditions such as principal amount of the loan, term of loan until repayment, interest payments for the service, and maybe other conditions such as how it may be spent) which is a relationship between two people or parties.  This, and other contracts such as for employment or for a sale of property owned by one party, belongs to the Rights sector.  In such Contracts the relative values [heart?] of objects or services, etc are established relative to other commodities and (or in terms of) the currency of the country.  Balancing. Equating

CULTURAL Sector

Gift money comes from Capital – money that has come to rest, that has been saved rather than spent on commodities – it is inactive.  ['Capit' = resting head].  A true Gift is unconditional – the giver trusts that the recipient will use/spend the money wisely [in an educated way] – and so bring it back to life.  Life in the Cultural sector depends on unconditional gifts.  Charity.

For Rudolf Steiner, Capital means much more than money available for gifting and investing.  It is also Resources (tools, machinery, buildings, materials) and personal talent for Leadership and organisation – an ability nurtured by a healthy education provided through the Cultural sector.

Money through life (very approximately):

1. Children. Everything they physically need is a gift from parents, community and those at the end of life.
2. Youthful entrepreneur borrows from more mature people who have savings.
3. Young adults sell the products of their labour.
4. Adults buy the products of others labour.
5. Mature adults lend accumulated savings to youthful entrepreneurs.
6. End of life.  Gift everything away to those needy folk beginning their life’s journey – you can’t take it with you across the threshold (though some tie it up with complicated Wills).

Fiat money is government-issued currency that is not backed by a physical commodity, such as gold or silver, but rather by the guarantee of the government that issued it (prior to 1971 in the USA, banknotes were backed by gold). The value of fiat money is derived from the relationship between ‘’supply and demand’ and the stability of the issuing government, rather than the worth of any commodity backing it.

• Fiat money gives Central Banks greater control over the economy because they can control how much money is printed.
• Most modern paper currencies, such as the NZ dollar, are fiat currencies.
• One danger of fiat money is that governments can print too much of it, resulting in hyperinflation – as happened in Germany post WW1 and currently in Argentina [land of silver].

Before fiat currency came about, governments would mint coins out of intrinsically valuable physical commodities, such as gold or silver, or print paper money that could be legally redeemed for a set amount of a physical commodity.  Fiat money, however, is inconvertible and cannot be redeemed -- simply because there is no underlying commodity backing it.

THREE FORMS OF MONEY - by sector

Commercial Banks have a legal Required Reserve Ratio (RRR).  In NZ it has been around 5% which means that a bank can create loans up to a value of 20 times the sum of their deposits.  On the other hand, the Reserve Bank has been setting a high OCR [Official Cash Rate] at 5.5%pa to discourage people from borrowing.  This translates into banks charging about 6% [5.5 + 0.5] interest on the loans that they create and paying about 5% [5.5 – 0.5] interest on savers’ deposits. (the 0.5 is a service fee)

Thus: a bank that has an initial deposit base of $1,000,000 may create loans totalling $20,000,000.  Borrowers don’t put that under their pillows but deposit it in a bank account or spend it and it ends up in someone else’s bank account as a deposit.

Interest income               = $20,000,000 x 6%pa        = $1,200,000

Interest paid to savers   =  $1,000,000 x 5%pa          =      $      50,000

BANK Profit                     = $1,150,000 for each $1m of deposits.

Thus, high inflation rates are very profitable for Banks that have been granted the right to “create” loans.  The media have been calling them “windfall profits”.

Conversely, it is very expensive for home buyers wanting a MORTGAGE, or for local Councils wanting to take out loans to invest in INFRASTRUTURE, or for Governments needing to borrow funds to finance Hospitals, Roads, Energy generators (hydro dams, wind farms, geo-thermal or nuclear power stations), and in other ways meet the needs of the population.

Why do Commercial Banks have this exclusive privilege???

Who should control the issue/creation of money?

How much money should be in circulation?

What criteria should be used?