Spencer Heath Archive

Item 1819

New material to be placed opposite the Table of Contents at some future printing of Citadel, Market & Altar. Also some unrelated jottings.

No date

TO THE READER

     Citadel, Market, Altar:  These are the symbols for the three great and fundamental institutions of Society, the separate functions of which are coercion, cooperation, and consecration — a department of physical force, a department of services measured and exchanged, and a department of the free and spontaneous life of the individuals. The Citadel repels assault from without, subversion from within; the Market is an outgrowth of the Citadel; the Altar arises from the interaction of Citadel and Market. Society cannot exist without these three.

     Similarly, a description of Society as a whole cannot be complete until it has taken into account three things, a natural science to describe its fundamental organization and relate it to the cosmos in which we live, a rational technology resulting from the knowledge thus gained, and finally the spiritual life of man, which inspires further discovery, and directs the applications of rational knowledge in ways that fulfill human aspirations.

    Hence this book is organized in three principal divisions or parts, interrelated towards a transcendent total significance; yet each is understandable in itself, without any necessary reference to the general scheme. Any one of its three main divisions may be read as interest may lead, not necessarily in the genetic order in which they are arranged.

 

                                                     /Scroll down/

 

 

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                             /As sent to John Chamberlain:/

    The three parts or divisions of this book are interrelated, the chief points of significance in each having their correlates in the other two. The parts in ascending series constitute whole; but since each is fully intelligible in itself, it is not necessary to take them precisely in the order given.

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TO THE READER

    Every complex organization has three principal divisions or parts; mechanical, chemical, electrical; a foundation structure, a nutritional system, and a coordinative one — Citadel, Market and Altar, as it were —each serving and being itself served in return. And each is intelligible of itself — with respect to the part that it plays in the whole.

    The organization of this book is similar. It also has three principal divisions or parts interrelated towards a transcendent total significance; yet each is understandable in itself, without any necessary setting in the general scheme. Hence any one of its three divisions may be read and understood, as interest may lead, apart from the others, and not necessarily in the genetic order in which they are arranged.

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1

physical basis

2

operational mechanics

3

neural coordination

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. . will find here firmly grounded but radically new departing alike from ancient and traditional conceptions and from current common and academic thought, a predominantly spiritual approach and a heartening and inspiring view.

. . will find here brilliant and well-founded departures alike from ancient traditions and from current academic views, a predominantly and fundamentally spiritual interpretation, a heartening and inspiring view.

    He holds that ownership and property are essential to contract and that the practice of free contract in public as in private affairs is the only alternative to arbitrary and irresponsible administration.