The lifelong formation of a person toward ever wider responsibility and ever greater personal, moral and existential freedom; on this wiki, the ground a BioConomy stands on.
Extended definition
Bildung is German for “formation,” from Bild, image or form. The tradition runs from Comenius and the Third Earl of Shaftesbury through the German idealists and Wilhelm von Humboldt to the Nordic folk high schools, and has been revived by Lene Rachel Andersen, the European Bildung Network and Perspectiva. The Nordic Secret project defines it as the way an individual matures and takes on ever bigger responsibility toward family, fellow citizens, society, humanity and the globe, while enjoying ever bigger personal, moral and existential freedoms. It is a process that never ends.
The wiki treats Bildung as ground zero: the formation a person needs before the BioConomy’s instruments can work as intended. Without it, people read commitment pools, place mandates and performance-based bonds through the logic of the Economy, and the instruments revert to it. The full argument is on Bildung (concept).
Contrast with adjacent terms
- Education. Schooling is one part of Bildung. Bildung also covers enculturation, moral and emotional depth, and adult life as an active citizen.
- Developmental stages. The frameworks on Structures of Consciousness describe stages and are content-neutral. Bildung is the cultural practice that moves people between them, and it carries content: philosophy, art, history and place.
- Inner Development Goals. The IDGs list inner capacities. Bildung is the lifelong process and the culture in which those capacities grow.
Related terms
- Bildung (concept)
- Aesthetic Education
- Folk High School
- Inner Development Goals (IDGs)
- Mycelial Consciousness
- Threshold Guide
- Bioregional Learning Centre
Sources
- Andersen, L. R. and Björkman, T. (2017). The Nordic Secret
- Rowson, J. (2019). Bildung in the 21st Century
- Rowson, J. (2021). What’s the Point of The Realisation Festival?
Provenance
Created 30 October 2026 with Bildung (concept), from Michael Haupt’s research note Bildung.md. The definition follows the Nordic Secret project’s published wording in paraphrase. The ground-zero reading is Michael Haupt’s proposition.