Gift money

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Schenkgeld or donation money is a term coined by Rudolf Steiner of the term trio Kaufgeld , Leihgeld , Schenkgeld, which was developed by him in connection with the idea of ​​the threefold structure of the social organism.

The gift money should flow within the social organism (as a gift) to the free spiritual life . Functionally, in contrast to purchase money, it is a completely different money that must also be differentiated, because the giver, unlike the buyer, does not receive any quantifiable consideration. On the other hand, no progress in the human community is conceivable without spiritual development, so giving presents is a necessity. If the purchase money is used for mutual exchange of services, one exchanges with gift money, so to speak, into an open future.

Then and to this day, this process usually happens unnoticed, for example in the form of taxes as a compulsory gift. Steiner would like the self-governing institutions of intellectual life, to which schools, universities, churches and art life, etc. a. belong to receive these funds consciously and without the detour of the state administration. Everything that happens unconsciously or covertly in the social organism is castigated as harmful.

You also have to be able to give, i.e. have a surplus that you don't need for consumption or production. If you cannot or do not want to keep or lend this excess money, you will give it as a gift. A tax also forces people to give gifts who actually can't.

In this context, money grows old or money dies. The free spiritual life will primarily receive old money that is about to expire and which is no longer suitable for lending and only for a short time to buy. Through an association bank of intellectual life and the economy working on the ground (agriculture & forestry, raw material extraction, etc.), this money can be rejuvenated and returned to the cycle as purchase money.

The GLS Bank (community bank for lending and giving) takes its name from this school of thought and tries to work with money in this regard.

literature

  • Steiner, The Core Points of the Social Question, Dornach 1961
  • Economics course. Fourteen lectures, given in Dornach from July 24th to August 6th 1922 for students of political economy, complete edition No. 340, 5th edition, Dornach (Switzerland) 1979,
  • Economics seminar. Six discussions with the participants in the economics course in Dornach from July 31 to August 5, 1922, complete edition No. 342, 2nd edition, Dornach (Switzerland) 1973

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