A New Relationship With The Land
In a fully functional society which we have no such models on the planet at this time although some groups within nations appear to be at least experimenting with the ideal how would a nation that has undergone social renewal of the Threefolding process function?
Some opening points:
Profiteering from land transactions degrades both the naturehuman relationship and the social fabric of humanity.
Access to land is important in the economic sphere as well as the residential sphere of course. But when access is perpetuated once the productive purpose has stopped it becomes inappropriate and destructive.
This article is not promoting socialism per se. It is not recommending that means of production be transferred to common ownership. As Steiner indicates: Instead of common ownership of the means of production a circulation of the means of production will come about within the social organization so that these continually become available to the people whose individual capacities can render them of greatest possible use to the whole community.
In this model landproperty ceases to be what it has been up until now. And it does not revert to an old outdated form such as common ownership represents but is led forward to become something wholly new. Landproperty is made more fluid entering the flow of social relationships and processes. The individual can no longer manage land in his own interest to the detriment of the general interest; but nor can the general community manage it bureaucratically to the individuals detriment. Instead suitable individuals will gain access to it and use it to serve the community.
Of course this social renewal also includes the cultivation of spiritual and creative faculties faculties that are largely overwhelmed at this time by our materialistic focus. For example economic theorists often cite profit motivation as a necessary driving force in the economic realm of society. However once an individual discovers the greater profit that is born out of his/her individual spiritual and creative process and that moves into the world as a beneficial resource for the wellbeing of the community or overall social organism material profit as a motivation becomes redundant.
Finally a quote from Vision and Action for Another World Powerful Ideas and Inspiring Practical Approaches ed. Ulrich Roesch:
Land belongs to everyone though it is utilized by individuals. In this sense individual ownership of land can only refer to the right of utilization. As long as such individual utilization continues unchanged there is no need for societal action. Society only has to ensure that a new user can step into the rights of the previous user when the previous user quits. In such a system the right of land utilization would change hands only by assignment not by sale. In this way land ownership would be brought back into circulation within the social system.. Society would not manage the land; it would only ensure that it is available to suitable individuals for utilization and also that such utilization is not made impossible because of prohibitive pricing.
Instead of a purchase price paid to the previous owner society could impose a social compensation payment for any ongoing utilization of land. This is justified because the use of land by one individual excludes everyone else from using the same plot. Communal income accruing from the compensation payments would be used to benefit all people in the respective region of that part of the world. Such compensation payments do not constitute interest on capital since no sale and thus no capital transfer has taken place. Their quantification would not be determined by supply and demand but by social considerations. For instance society can adjust the amount of payment so as to further ecological agriculture or some other societal goal.
For the full version of this article visit the Insight21 website.
About the writer:nbsp;nbsp;Jos Graf is the coordinator of Insight21 and Earth Vision doorways for the 21st Century.
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