The History of the Commons Society
The Commons Society was invented as a means of handling the succession of the founders of the Elysia trading organisation. Founded in 1994, the name came from Jack Parsons, the founder’s grandfather, when they mentioned to him that they hoped to “create heaven on earth”. Serendipitously it was later discovered that the name Elysia has many interesting associations to do with health and healthy, fulfilling organisational life.
The idea of the Elysia Commons emerged in 2009 when the founders wanted to find a way to exit the company but ensure that it contintued with its purpose and values in-tact and in perpetutiy. Inspiration was found in Rudolf Steiner’s thinking about how to foster a healthy social life as is evident from this paper from 2012: Anthroposophical inspiration for Elysia Commons v2
Here is a short film that was made in 2012 to explain some of the core concepts of the Commons Society (named, at this time, the Elysia Commons):