The Whole Social

31/01/2025

A couple threefolding workshops coming up in February - one on polarization and the US constitution, and the other on working together and association. Take a look and join us if you can!

"Working together" and "We the People." Hope you can join us!

02/07/2024

In a recent Times/Siena poll, 55% of respondents said our social systems need "major changes" and 14% said they should be "torn down entirely." But what would replace them? What would major changes even look like?

I addressed this question from the viewpoint of 's . You can find the article here: https://thewholesocial.substack.com/p/most-americans-think-the-system-is-broken

29/04/2024

There seems to be a certain buzz around polyamory at the moment, but what's it all about? Is it really the future of relationships?
Here are my thoughts:

What today's fascination with "open relationships" says about the evolution of society

11/04/2024

Here's the summary of my new audio article:

It’s not easy to work together. There’s a tension in it: Sometimes we want to be together — we find it inspiring and easier to get things done — but sometimes we want to be alone — we want freedom. So which side is right?

Of course both sides are right, but also neither of them, because what we’re really looking for is something we won’t find with a few superficial changes — there’s no perfect hybrid model. In reality, the whole nature of working together in organizations has to be understood at a much deeper level. The social insights of the 20th century social reformer, Rudolf Steiner, are invaluable for developing this understanding.

You can listen to it here: https://thewholesocial.substack.com/p/listen-rudolf-steiner-on-building-healthy-orgs

Or read the article here: https://thewholesocial.substack.com/p/rudolf-steiner-on-building-healthy-organizations

An audio version of the article

11/04/2024

Here's the summary of my new audio article:

It’s not easy to work together. There’s a tension in it: Sometimes we want to be together — we find it inspiring and easier to get things done — but sometimes we want to be alone — we want freedom. So which side is right?

Of course both sides are right, but also neither of them, because what we’re really looking for is something we won’t find with a few superficial changes — there’s no perfect hybrid model. In reality, the whole nature of working together in organizations has to be understood at a much deeper level. The social insights of the 20th century social reformer, Rudolf Steiner, are invaluable for developing this understanding.

You can listen to it here: https://thewholesocial.substack.com/p/listen-rudolf-steiner-on-building-healthy-orgs

Or read the article here: https://thewholesocial.substack.com/p/rudolf-steiner-on-building-healthy-organizations

Understanding the fundamentals of working together — from the school to the factory

27/03/2024

An "epidemic" of loneliness, a loss of family and friends, political polarization - these are all expressions of our slide into the antisocial. So how do we consciously balance it with the social? Answers can be found in the architecture of and . Article here: thewholesocial.substack.com/p/the-social-architecture-of-riken-yamamoto

22/03/2024

I gave a talk earlier this month in Toronto. If you want to watch or listen to it, you can do so here: thewholesocial.substack.com/p/how-can-we-bring-health-to-society

Also, I'm trying to reach 50 monthly donors by the end of March and I'm at 47... If you want to make a monthly contribution to my writing (can be as low as $1 per month) you can do so here: ko-fi.com/sethjordan

26/02/2024

We've got the schedule all ironed out for the upcoming Practical Threefolding conference. Hope you can make it! https://threefolddriftless.substack.com/p/schedule-for-practical-threefolding

13/02/2024

Truthfully, I find Steiner's ideas about organizational development somewhat shocking. He never laid them out in one place, but he did give indications to different professional groups. The picture that emerges emphasizes two things: empowering individual workers and, at the same time, bringing about real inner unity in the whole workforce. And he describes the whole thing in such a living, organic way... it's beautiful. So I wrote an article about it: https://thewholesocial.substack.com/p/rudolf-steiner-on-building-healthy-organizations

13/02/2024

Our spring session of Practical Threefolding will give us the opportunity to roll up our sleeves and engage with a wide array of social entrepreneurs whose work is in some way aligned with the values and insights of social threefolding. There will be several public events, as well as a number of more intimate sessions where we can deep dive into the work of these pioneering individuals and also strive to see the larger societal transformation that such work seeks to usher in. Everyone is welcome!

For more info: threefolddriftless.substack.com/p/practical-threefolding-come-explore

Some highlights of the weekend include:

- A Friday night presentation by Michael Draskovic of the Democracy Policy Network on “Reimagining Policymaking as a Cultural Activity”

- A Saturday night panel of Driftless-based social entrepreneurs working in the community investment, food, and agriculture space

- An exploration of “Steward Ownership” with Cecil Wright of Maple Valley Coop

Join us! - threefolddriftless.substack.com/p/practical-threefolding-come-explore

10/01/2024

Are we a Christian country? Or a country built on diversity?

Many conservatives say we're Christian but then champion freedom... which can only mean folks are free to believe whatever they want.

Many liberals say we’re diverse but then champion standardized, ideologically-uniform public schools.

Both miss the fundamental link between freedom & diversity - we can't have one w/o the other. And very few see the glaring reality that a state-run school system violates the principle of diversity as well as the essential freedom enshrined in the 1st amendment.

They fail to see that PUBLIC SCHOOLS ARE UNCONSTITUTIONAL.

I just recorded an audio version of a recent article on this topic.

The article is here: thewholesocial.substack.com/p/school-choice-separation-church-state.

And the audio version is here: thewholesocial.substack.com/p/listen-school-choice-separation-church-state

22/12/2023

New article: https://thewholesocial.substack.com/p/the-only-solution-in-israel-palestine

19/12/2023

College presidents under fire — what if the tables were turned?

In the last couple weeks, the presidents of Harvard, MIT, and UPenn have drawn intense criticism for what many have called their “legalistic” and “evasive” responses to a “simple yes or no question” by congresswoman Elise Stefanik. She asked each of them, in turn, whether calling for the genocide of Jews violated their college’s rules on harassment? Their response: It depends on the context.

While this answer might seem infuriating to some, we can ask: How should they have responded? Was any other response possible? Just imagine that the tables were turned and Stefanik was asked the same question — whether calling for the genocide of Jews violates her state’s rules (laws) on harassment? She’d have to respond the same way: It depends on the context.

The question simply isn’t black or white. For instance, does intention matter? What if a white professor jokingly tweets “All I want for Christmas is white genocide,” as happened in 2018? Should he be disciplined? And what exactly constitutes a call for genocide? The only example that Stefanik referenced was the chant, “There’s only one solution: intifada, revolution.” But Palestinians and their supporters differ as to whether the revolution should be violent or nonviolent. So is intifada a call for genocide? Well, it’s possible some people mean it that way — it depends on whose saying it. The context matters.

The upside to this whole issue is that it has brought to light the glaring hypocrisy of college speech codes. Students and professors are disciplined for some types of speech — especially speech that offends the left — but not other types. There are inevitably double standards.

It’s also brought to light the endless hypocrisy of liberals and conservatives. In recent years, liberals have fought to limit free speech in the name of safety, while conservatives have fought to expand it. With this issue they’ve flipped. The left’s cherished principle of safety and the right’s passionate cry for free speech have both been tossed out the window because they’re no longer convenient.

And really, thinking about these issues in terms of left and right is scrambling our brains. The time has come to let go of party allegiances and grab hold of the principles themselves. The reality is that speech codes simply don’t work. Safety doesn’t magically appear when people are forced to be silent. It’s an illusion. We can’t erase people’s views that way. In fact, suppression will only make them stronger. Safety only comes along the difficult road of freedom. It only comes by allowing people to air their differences and by creating a space to understand and resolve them. Hopefully this is the road that not only colleges, but all of us, will commit ourselves to taking in the future.

(This was a short note on the news that I recently wrote on my Substack: https://thewholesocial.substack.com/p/notes-on-the-news-4-college-trump-scammers. For some insightful articles on this issue, see Nico Perrino’s article on the FIRE website, and Bret Stephen’s op-ed in the New York Times.)