History and Origin
The construction of the Modelhof was preceded by Daniel Model's proclamation of the self-state in front of 80 dismayed municipal councillors on 22 March 2006 in the Weinfelden town hall. The proclamation was preceded by his speech on the subject of ‘State and Company’ at the general assembly of the Thurgau Municipal Councillors' Association. The speech was preceded by an invitation from a member of the cantonal government of Thurgau to Daniel Model to give a speech on this topic. For the proclamation of the state at the end of the speech, accompanied by the gesture of forming an imaginary dome over his own head and upper body with both outstretched arms, it was necessary for several events to occur in an individual at the same time:
Firstly, it was the realisation that the business model of the state is the cultivation of mistrust, whereas a company can only hold its own if it cultivates trust. Secondly, it was the firm decision of the person speaking at the time and writing here not to want to be at home in both worlds at the same time, but only in the one that cultivates trust, and finally the deeply felt need to find protection elsewhere than as a Swiss citizen so that he would no longer have to vouch for the dire consequences of the wretched business model.
It was also what is known as secession, a detachment from a community that subscribes to strange principles - whether knowingly or not - in which strong forces of degeneration are at work, which sooner or later end in the collapse of supposedly solid institutions.
So it was also what passes for a declaration of independence from the strange institutions of the so-called welfare state, which represent seductions into immaturity and dependence, against the natural principle of a person's development from child to adult in a steady increase of his powers. Hypocritically and seductively, the very thing that is propagated as being good for people is in fact what causes their disintegration. Horribly intelligent and diabolical powers are at work here, fishing human-like beings with half-truths in order to prevent them from actually becoming human.
So it was also what can be described as a second birth, after which those who are born again can no longer shrug their shoulders that they cannot help where and when they were born. Instead, he seizes the opportunity to become both born and birthing, Smith of his destiny, responsible for himself and the consequences thereof.
The self-state became AVALON and Avalon became the basis for the next cultural epoch, in which the term ‘social’ is not misused but elevated to an art. The five following ingredients of this impulse condense through their interaction into a quintessence. Through the often painful birth of new questions and in-depth research into understanding, it renews itself into a steadily increasing responsibility until the first outlines of what deserves the name ‘art of the social’ emerge.
1. Individual Integrity
When our principles and ideals become visible in our behaviour, our own essential integrity is revealed. It is a key task of the Avalon disciple to become aware of those principles and ideals in their thoughts and actions that they can stand up for with all their consequences. In order for this to happen, Avalon, embodied by the Model Court, offers a space in which truthfulness, goodwill and the will to be free are inherent. Anyone who rejects this must stay outside.
When we stand, we turn in the direction of the ideals and then run off in that direction - they are our orientation and our future. In our deep preference for time, we do not suffer from the fact that we have not already arrived there, but rejoice that we are travelling in the right direction. The extent to which we commit ourselves to them and are able to form advantages from them determines our individual integrity.
2. Learning
Avalon attracts citizens who recognise or sense an essential meaning to life in learning. Learners experience themselves as a particularly fruitful object of research. A core element of this is research into one's own motivations, i.e., the question: What really motivates me to do what I do? If, for example, someone is ‘badly’ dressed, there may be economic reasons, but also, for example, the reason that the wearer has to constantly prove to himself that he is not vain. Surprisingly, this points to vanity and affects others insofar as they cannot be uplifted by the sight of this hidden vain person. Motives are primal forces of the will that often lie hidden and may only appear again in the completed action - ‘by their fruits you shall know them’. This requires an interest in oneself and the world, an open mind for new things and an unsparing attitude towards oneself.
In the Avalon learning culture, a problem is not negative, but a learning opportunity, because it triggers thinking in the direction of improving the situation. Accordingly, life here is fun because all citizens act in the same solution-orientated direction without thinking and acting uniformly - on the contrary: many roads lead to Rome. The lack of alternatives so often invoked today is merely an expression of simplicity and a lack of imagination.
But learning is not painless: those who mock Sisyphus have simply not realised that they are training. Education is to be understood literally: people work on themselves as sculptors.
An important and beautiful learning fruit is the recognition of regularities and insights into what is lawful and what is not. Such insights provide the learner with an increasing sense of objectivity, which helps them to emerge from the depths of the insecure subject and its emotionally charged culture of indignation. Avalon is not interested in expanding its territory, but in expanding the consciousness of its citizens. This is how power becomes legitimate.
3. Quality
Love of quality expresses appreciation for one's own existence and that of others; it thus lays the foundation for our perception, thinking, feeling and actions. Supported by self-esteem as a welcome form of the egoism so often criticised today, the Avalonian thinks and acts carefully, thoroughly and reliably. He is an egoist in the good sense of the word in that he endeavours to take care of himself so as not to be a burden to his fellow human beings and to increase his quality in order to become a joy and a benefit to his fellow human beings. He maximises his ego capital for the benefit of himself and others.
Thinking pours itself into a linguistic consciousness that attaches the highest importance to the word and the formation of sentences. In the beginning was the Word! The Avalonian is a strict guardian of his tongue, a linguist and practitioner of speech. He distinguishes between the requirements of written and oral expression and knows about things that should not be said, but rather done, or that must remain unspoken so that they do not cause any damage and can still remain truthful. In his awareness of the mysterious connection between form and content, he is able to work and create in both spheres simultaneously.
Whereas elsewhere the other person is ‘to blame’ for poor quality, the Avalonian wants to ‘be to blame’, i.e., he transforms the feeling of guilt into a sense of responsibility - he wants to understand why something unpleasant has happened because he wants to heal it or prevent it from happening again. He knows that he sees himself in the other person and is wary of passing judgement too quickly, instead postponing it until it is mature and well-founded. Through its first two letters, the ability to judge reveals what a fundamental ability it is for becoming human.
The Avalonian does not seek the comfortable role of victim in the short term, but the responsible role of perpetrator in the long term. Where does he find the necessary perseverance? What is the relationship between quality and quantity? What are the titles and arguments behind the recurring attacks on quality and how can they be countered? Not all the questions have been answered yet, but they are free to arise!
4. Seek, find, explore and follow the laws of nature
Decades of producing man-made laws in the so-called constitutional states have obscured the fact that the most important laws are not man-made, but have always been there. Thus, a key task in Avalon is the search for such laws and a profound understanding of them. The clouded view also distorts man's self-categorisation in the cosmos. Euphorised by the production of laws, he not only finds himself in a bubble of illusion regarding their effect, but also experiences himself as exaggerated: How quickly he identifies himself as the cause of climate change! How quickly he wants to put the blame on his weak shoulders! How carelessly he underestimates the great cosmic forces! And so he is also not blessed by what the sun gives us every day: Prudence. Diogenes already knew this when he told Alexander the Great of the wish granted to him.
The global fixation of an average temperature is the birth of technocratic minds that cannot perceive the earth as a living being. Unleashed forces of nature do not want guilt, but humility. Guilt is created to be abused, humility is a virtue that only grows in the receptive individual. This time will be given several names in future retrospect, but one is already tangible: The great presumption.
The economy is also a law of nature. It is a being that can feel at home in Avalon. It knows exactly what it is, what it wants and what it achieves - the only strange thing is that today's economists out there seem to be far removed from this.
She is thrifty, careful, value-creating, precise, truthful, thoughtful and attentive, because nothing is lost with her, everything is turned into something of value - constantly. He, however, is insecure, stares fearfully at the short-term phenomenon of the economy, wants to boost consumption by all means, has not grasped the spirit of money, turns the dying into the undead, glosses over enormous deficits and lurches from one false forecast to another. But it is loyal, hard-working, straightforward and effective; it bursts bubbles time and again, lets clever people run into the void, disciplines braggarts and continues to create treasures in the meantime. But the envious and parasites are not far behind. She is scolded as a greedy person, even labelled a thief. Others write sentences on patient paper, call it law, in order to steal her treasures under the most beautiful words such as ‘justice’ and ‘solidarity’. Those do not shy away from seducing people into a dishonourable life, namely at the expense of others - she soberly calls it a ‘pension-stealing society’. But it remains calm, conscientious, steadfast and active because it follows higher laws that do not have to be written down to apply. So it will also win this victory, as it did when it brought down the wall in Berlin, which so clearly demonstrated the limitations of socialism. She will do this in an astonishingly mild, peaceful, serene and beneficial manner for everyone and will not say a word to her accusers; her virtue is great and her fruits are beautiful. And so she too will stimulate thought and action in Avalon and make the beautiful possible.
In Avalon, money is not occupied by the spirit of Mammon. Money carries the spirit with which it was acquired, so that people can actually be recognised by its fruits. Creating money out of nothing also leads to nothing, enriched only with a great illusion. In Avalon there is no room for contempt for money, but room for the spirit of enquiry to practise on this interesting phenomenon and its manifestations.
5. Trust
Avalon is a co-operation of sovereign individuals who form a social organism in a meaningful whole. The ideal co-operation is expressed in the formula 1 + 1 = 3. This supposed miracle can be experienced in practice in a fruitful dialogue in which knowledge is exchanged. One person gives spiritual content without losing it - on the contrary, it grows through the exchange. The other receives it gratefully and is thus enriched. In the principle of reciprocity, this synergy intensifies into a tangible wealth. However, it is also a human duty to correct the other person and point out vices, otherwise they will continue to grow until they can hardly be stopped. We can now see this in the immediate context from which Avalon was born: people everywhere are divided by ideologies and the abuse of power.
The citizen of this new world defends the absentee from a deep understanding of his defencelessness - he thus quickly achieves a cure for the vice of speaking ill of the absentee, which destroys a social organism.
But even here in the New World, the mathematical-logical expected value of 2 (from 1+1) can be undercut at any time - for example in the event of conflict. It is a particularly productive object of research and can thus be transformed from a danger into a benefit for the development of an ‘art of the social’ - an art that is based on knowledge of human nature and basic trust. The Avalonian is not determined by an inner urge to get rid of a statement, but is inspired by the will to achieve an effect through his words. Patience thus becomes a key virtue - it is what makes the all-important culture of dialogue possible, in which the simple order prevails that only one person speaks at a time and the others can listen without being disturbed by interjections. A healthy fruit of observing this form is ‘presence of mind’.
The key ingredient for a fruitful life together is trust; for the Avalonian, trust is his main investment. He knows that he can invest it before the other person does and that he can only do so from his savings, which we call ‘self-confidence’. The abuse of trust does not shake him, but makes him more careful about the soil on which he sows his seed.
He continues to research questions such as: How does trust develop and how can it be earned? How can we cultivate an honest, shared desire? What does it take for me to be who I am? Or how can I learn to know who I am and what my mission is?
Every answer to these questions and every new question that arises from the dialogue with oneself and one's counterpart increases our awareness of the responsibility we bear for our thinking and speaking and the beautiful blossoms this awareness can produce. From the art of the social, the veritable art of living of the coming high culture can already be experienced now.
Firstly, it was the realisation that the business model of the state is the cultivation of mistrust, whereas a company can only hold its own if it cultivates trust. Secondly, it was the firm decision of the person speaking at the time and writing here not to want to be at home in both worlds at the same time, but only in the one that cultivates trust, and finally the deeply felt need to find protection elsewhere than as a Swiss citizen so that he would no longer have to vouch for the dire consequences of the wretched business model.
It was also what is known as secession, a detachment from a community that subscribes to strange principles - whether knowingly or not - in which strong forces of degeneration are at work, which sooner or later end in the collapse of supposedly solid institutions.
So it was also what passes for a declaration of independence from the strange institutions of the so-called welfare state, which represent seductions into immaturity and dependence, against the natural principle of a person's development from child to adult in a steady increase of his powers. Hypocritically and seductively, the very thing that is propagated as being good for people is in fact what causes their disintegration. Horribly intelligent and diabolical powers are at work here, fishing human-like beings with half-truths in order to prevent them from actually becoming human.
So it was also what can be described as a second birth, after which those who are born again can no longer shrug their shoulders that they cannot help where and when they were born. Instead, he seizes the opportunity to become both born and birthing, Smith of his destiny, responsible for himself and the consequences thereof.
The self-state became AVALON and Avalon became the basis for the next cultural epoch, in which the term ‘social’ is not misused but elevated to an art. The five following ingredients of this impulse condense through their interaction into a quintessence. Through the often painful birth of new questions and in-depth research into understanding, it renews itself into a steadily increasing responsibility until the first outlines of what deserves the name ‘art of the social’ emerge.
1. Individual Integrity
When our principles and ideals become visible in our behaviour, our own essential integrity is revealed. It is a key task of the Avalon disciple to become aware of those principles and ideals in their thoughts and actions that they can stand up for with all their consequences. In order for this to happen, Avalon, embodied by the Model Court, offers a space in which truthfulness, goodwill and the will to be free are inherent. Anyone who rejects this must stay outside.
When we stand, we turn in the direction of the ideals and then run off in that direction - they are our orientation and our future. In our deep preference for time, we do not suffer from the fact that we have not already arrived there, but rejoice that we are travelling in the right direction. The extent to which we commit ourselves to them and are able to form advantages from them determines our individual integrity.
2. Learning
Avalon attracts citizens who recognise or sense an essential meaning to life in learning. Learners experience themselves as a particularly fruitful object of research. A core element of this is research into one's own motivations, i.e., the question: What really motivates me to do what I do? If, for example, someone is ‘badly’ dressed, there may be economic reasons, but also, for example, the reason that the wearer has to constantly prove to himself that he is not vain. Surprisingly, this points to vanity and affects others insofar as they cannot be uplifted by the sight of this hidden vain person. Motives are primal forces of the will that often lie hidden and may only appear again in the completed action - ‘by their fruits you shall know them’. This requires an interest in oneself and the world, an open mind for new things and an unsparing attitude towards oneself.
In the Avalon learning culture, a problem is not negative, but a learning opportunity, because it triggers thinking in the direction of improving the situation. Accordingly, life here is fun because all citizens act in the same solution-orientated direction without thinking and acting uniformly - on the contrary: many roads lead to Rome. The lack of alternatives so often invoked today is merely an expression of simplicity and a lack of imagination.
But learning is not painless: those who mock Sisyphus have simply not realised that they are training. Education is to be understood literally: people work on themselves as sculptors.
An important and beautiful learning fruit is the recognition of regularities and insights into what is lawful and what is not. Such insights provide the learner with an increasing sense of objectivity, which helps them to emerge from the depths of the insecure subject and its emotionally charged culture of indignation. Avalon is not interested in expanding its territory, but in expanding the consciousness of its citizens. This is how power becomes legitimate.
3. Quality
Love of quality expresses appreciation for one's own existence and that of others; it thus lays the foundation for our perception, thinking, feeling and actions. Supported by self-esteem as a welcome form of the egoism so often criticised today, the Avalonian thinks and acts carefully, thoroughly and reliably. He is an egoist in the good sense of the word in that he endeavours to take care of himself so as not to be a burden to his fellow human beings and to increase his quality in order to become a joy and a benefit to his fellow human beings. He maximises his ego capital for the benefit of himself and others.
Thinking pours itself into a linguistic consciousness that attaches the highest importance to the word and the formation of sentences. In the beginning was the Word! The Avalonian is a strict guardian of his tongue, a linguist and practitioner of speech. He distinguishes between the requirements of written and oral expression and knows about things that should not be said, but rather done, or that must remain unspoken so that they do not cause any damage and can still remain truthful. In his awareness of the mysterious connection between form and content, he is able to work and create in both spheres simultaneously.
Whereas elsewhere the other person is ‘to blame’ for poor quality, the Avalonian wants to ‘be to blame’, i.e., he transforms the feeling of guilt into a sense of responsibility - he wants to understand why something unpleasant has happened because he wants to heal it or prevent it from happening again. He knows that he sees himself in the other person and is wary of passing judgement too quickly, instead postponing it until it is mature and well-founded. Through its first two letters, the ability to judge reveals what a fundamental ability it is for becoming human.
The Avalonian does not seek the comfortable role of victim in the short term, but the responsible role of perpetrator in the long term. Where does he find the necessary perseverance? What is the relationship between quality and quantity? What are the titles and arguments behind the recurring attacks on quality and how can they be countered? Not all the questions have been answered yet, but they are free to arise!
4. Seek, find, explore and follow the laws of nature
Decades of producing man-made laws in the so-called constitutional states have obscured the fact that the most important laws are not man-made, but have always been there. Thus, a key task in Avalon is the search for such laws and a profound understanding of them. The clouded view also distorts man's self-categorisation in the cosmos. Euphorised by the production of laws, he not only finds himself in a bubble of illusion regarding their effect, but also experiences himself as exaggerated: How quickly he identifies himself as the cause of climate change! How quickly he wants to put the blame on his weak shoulders! How carelessly he underestimates the great cosmic forces! And so he is also not blessed by what the sun gives us every day: Prudence. Diogenes already knew this when he told Alexander the Great of the wish granted to him.
The global fixation of an average temperature is the birth of technocratic minds that cannot perceive the earth as a living being. Unleashed forces of nature do not want guilt, but humility. Guilt is created to be abused, humility is a virtue that only grows in the receptive individual. This time will be given several names in future retrospect, but one is already tangible: The great presumption.
The economy is also a law of nature. It is a being that can feel at home in Avalon. It knows exactly what it is, what it wants and what it achieves - the only strange thing is that today's economists out there seem to be far removed from this.
She is thrifty, careful, value-creating, precise, truthful, thoughtful and attentive, because nothing is lost with her, everything is turned into something of value - constantly. He, however, is insecure, stares fearfully at the short-term phenomenon of the economy, wants to boost consumption by all means, has not grasped the spirit of money, turns the dying into the undead, glosses over enormous deficits and lurches from one false forecast to another. But it is loyal, hard-working, straightforward and effective; it bursts bubbles time and again, lets clever people run into the void, disciplines braggarts and continues to create treasures in the meantime. But the envious and parasites are not far behind. She is scolded as a greedy person, even labelled a thief. Others write sentences on patient paper, call it law, in order to steal her treasures under the most beautiful words such as ‘justice’ and ‘solidarity’. Those do not shy away from seducing people into a dishonourable life, namely at the expense of others - she soberly calls it a ‘pension-stealing society’. But it remains calm, conscientious, steadfast and active because it follows higher laws that do not have to be written down to apply. So it will also win this victory, as it did when it brought down the wall in Berlin, which so clearly demonstrated the limitations of socialism. She will do this in an astonishingly mild, peaceful, serene and beneficial manner for everyone and will not say a word to her accusers; her virtue is great and her fruits are beautiful. And so she too will stimulate thought and action in Avalon and make the beautiful possible.
In Avalon, money is not occupied by the spirit of Mammon. Money carries the spirit with which it was acquired, so that people can actually be recognised by its fruits. Creating money out of nothing also leads to nothing, enriched only with a great illusion. In Avalon there is no room for contempt for money, but room for the spirit of enquiry to practise on this interesting phenomenon and its manifestations.
5. Trust
Avalon is a co-operation of sovereign individuals who form a social organism in a meaningful whole. The ideal co-operation is expressed in the formula 1 + 1 = 3. This supposed miracle can be experienced in practice in a fruitful dialogue in which knowledge is exchanged. One person gives spiritual content without losing it - on the contrary, it grows through the exchange. The other receives it gratefully and is thus enriched. In the principle of reciprocity, this synergy intensifies into a tangible wealth. However, it is also a human duty to correct the other person and point out vices, otherwise they will continue to grow until they can hardly be stopped. We can now see this in the immediate context from which Avalon was born: people everywhere are divided by ideologies and the abuse of power.
The citizen of this new world defends the absentee from a deep understanding of his defencelessness - he thus quickly achieves a cure for the vice of speaking ill of the absentee, which destroys a social organism.
But even here in the New World, the mathematical-logical expected value of 2 (from 1+1) can be undercut at any time - for example in the event of conflict. It is a particularly productive object of research and can thus be transformed from a danger into a benefit for the development of an ‘art of the social’ - an art that is based on knowledge of human nature and basic trust. The Avalonian is not determined by an inner urge to get rid of a statement, but is inspired by the will to achieve an effect through his words. Patience thus becomes a key virtue - it is what makes the all-important culture of dialogue possible, in which the simple order prevails that only one person speaks at a time and the others can listen without being disturbed by interjections. A healthy fruit of observing this form is ‘presence of mind’.
The key ingredient for a fruitful life together is trust; for the Avalonian, trust is his main investment. He knows that he can invest it before the other person does and that he can only do so from his savings, which we call ‘self-confidence’. The abuse of trust does not shake him, but makes him more careful about the soil on which he sows his seed.
He continues to research questions such as: How does trust develop and how can it be earned? How can we cultivate an honest, shared desire? What does it take for me to be who I am? Or how can I learn to know who I am and what my mission is?
Every answer to these questions and every new question that arises from the dialogue with oneself and one's counterpart increases our awareness of the responsibility we bear for our thinking and speaking and the beautiful blossoms this awareness can produce. From the art of the social, the veritable art of living of the coming high culture can already be experienced now.