Our Future a Call for Wisdom

J C Kapur OUR FUTURE A CALL FOR WISDOM

This book is a posthumous selection of essays, articles and lectures by J C Kapur, written over his lifetime, on a wide range of topics such as science, technology, renewable energy generation, philosophy, culture, international relations and it includes the transcript of an international conference on the human condition he organized and moderated in 1986. This collection reflects his multifaceted concerns, ideas and activities. OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM is a joint publication of the World Public Forum “Dialogue of Civilizations” and the Kapur Surya Foundation. J C Kapur FUTURE: • OUR A CALL WISDOM FOR ISBN 978-5-904605-08-7 Not for sale OUR FUTURE A CALL FOR WISDOM

J C Kapur

2014

Arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached — Swami Vivekananda from Katha Upanisad (1.3.14) © Kapur Surya Foundation, 2014 © World Public Forum “Dialogue of Civilizations”, 2014 Text and Photographs © 2014 Kapur Family

ISBN 978-5-904605-08-7

4 Acknowledgments

The Kapur Surya Foundation wishes to thank Founding President of the World Public Forum “Dialogue of Civilizations” Dr Vladimir I Yakunin and Executive Director of the WPF DoC Dr Vladimir I Kulikov for making the publication of this book possible. We also express our appreciation to Côme Carpentier, Aruna Ghose, Chandrika Vijayan and Krishan Pawar who assisted in the preparation and editing of the material included in this book. We thank Nikita Konopaltsev for the efficiency with which he put the manuscript together. Urmilla Kapur Chanda Singh Kapur Surya Foundation New Delhi, 2014

5 Contents

Part – I A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION

Introduction ...... 12 8 December 1986: morning session ...... 14 8 December 1986: afternoon session ...... 40 9 December 1986: morning session ...... 47 9 December 1986: afternoon session ...... 85 10 December 1986: morning session ...... 107 10 December 1986: afternoon session ...... 121 Conclusion ...... 138 Main participants ...... 142 Part-time participants ...... 144

Part – II A QUEST FOR SYNERGY

Introduction ...... 149 Foreign technology ...... 150 Future of man — the Eastern and the Western view ...... 156 Agenda for those who care ...... 170 Retreat to sanity ...... 180 Photovoltaics and the emerging human order ...... 186 Power shift or power obsession ...... 189 Evolution of democracy for a new human order ...... 195 st New human order — some images of the 21 century ...... 201 Culture and development: some basic issues ...... 211 Declining utopias — new visions ...... 218 Renewable energy for rural development ...... 224 From cultural conquests and confrontations to dialogue of civilisations . . . 240 Culture of intermediate technology ...... 247

6 Part – III SUGGESTIONS FOR A NEW WORLD

Introduction ...... 258 Transcending the clash of civilisations ...... 262 Genesis of terror and destruction ...... 264 Available energy resources and environmental imperatives ...... 267 The call for Asian collective security ...... 280 Latin America ...... 282 South and Central Asia — a new awakening ...... 286 The way of all empires ...... 288 The spirit of India ...... 290 Is Asia resurgent? ...... 294 World health in the crisis of civilisation and lifestyles ...... 296 Colonialism by other means ...... 299 Asia: challenges, opportunities and threats ...... 301 Continuity of cultures or chaos of civilizations? ...... 304 Rejection of Cartesian separation and advancement of integral humanism . 312 The Iranian enigma ...... 315 Europe on new pathways — temporal or eternal ...... 317 Russia — an uncharted transition ...... 320 India in the Asian context: economic and cultural challenges ...... 323 India’s future — “disturbing images” ...... 326 Africa: from colonial separation to global partnership ...... 328 Road to recovery — our present is not the future ...... 330 Africa — agony and hope ...... 332 Our world: where is it headed? ...... 334 A new human civilisation: a rising or setting sun? ...... 336 Towards a humane civilisation ...... 339 Search for a new humanism for a human-centric future ...... 343 Appendix A ...... 348 Appendix B ...... 351

J C Kapur OUR FUTURE A CALL FOR WISDOM

(1920 – 2010)

9 The Surya Kund at Kapur Solar Farms: meeting place for the Dialogue on the Human Condition. Participants compared it to Plato's garden

A view of the dialogue in the Surya Kund PART – I

A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION Introduction

his first part presents a vivid record of much of the dialogue that took place Ton the Human Condition in December 1986 between personalities as varied as the celebrated architect, Charles Correa, the civil servants, P N Haksar and T N Kaul, the well-known statesman, poet and scholar, Karan Singh, academicians such as Professor Yashpal and Professor GG Kotovskii and Dr. Pushpa Bhargava, the fable-teller and children’s illustrator, Leo Lionni, the Jungian philosopher, Ian Baker, the psychologist, Ethel Vogelsang, the theologian, Ursula King, and Ramakrishna Mission’s Swami Ranganathananda. They discussed the arms’ race, the role of science and technology, the need for spiritual re-awakening, the problems of women, youth and children, the breakdown of the family, the relevance of nationalism, and the dangers posed by poverty, narcotics and AIDS. Only such an international assortment of thinkers and professionals could have approached the subject in a holistic manner. Their ideas on the Human Condition will inspire confidence that the world is not yet irreparable beyond saturation. This meeting of minds was held in an open-air Surya Kund, or sun tank, specially built in the picturesque environment of Kapur Solar Farm on the outskirts of Delhi. The farm is largely powered by natural sources of energy such as the sun, and biomass. Inspired by Surya, the lord of intelligence, the ‘think tank’ was designed by Charles Correa and evokes the famous 11th century Sun Temple at Modhera in Gujarat. The participants at the meeting latter characterized the The Surya Kund as the 20st century version of Plato’s garden. Jagdish Chandra Kapur’s idea of bringing together the leaders in sciences, arts, aesthetics, theology, philosophy, psychology, education, economics, politics and administration, was to find a common meeting point from which to analyse the present critical state of the world, and to work towards fundamental solutions to mankind’s basic problems. This proved a remarkable success.

12 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM No papers were presented or discussed at this meeting, which began on Monday 8 December 1986 and concluded on the afternoon of Wednesday 10 December 1986. In the opening session most of the participants and some observers made brief statements on what in their opinion constituted the ‘Hu- man Condition’. In the concluding session, a few of the participants presented their reactions to and understanding of this exchange of experiences. The views of the group and of its individual members are presented in this volume.

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 13 8 December 1986: morning session

JAGDISH CHANDRA KAPUR (JAGDISH) During recent years I have had the opportunity and privilege of discussing the larger human problems and the deteriorating worldwide environment with a number of friends. Hence, the title of this meeting ‘The Human Condition’. It gives me great pleasure that we have met to participate in such an exercise, that so many friends from different parts of the world, different professions and areas of concern have come together to exchange ideas and views on the Human Condition. Hundreds of conferences, seminars and discussions on a wide variety of subjects are being held around the world, generating masses of information and knowledge, which is left scattered around in confusion. There is no force left to integrate this data for purposeful action leading to the amelioration of the present human predicament.

DR. YASHPAL (YASH) I think the quest of the Human Condition depends on who we are. Most of us probably do not have any pressing problem such as where the next meal is to come from, or that our children cannot be sick as the doctor’s fees are unaffordable. Many of the things that appear uppermost in our minds may not be uppermost in the minds of another section of society. I feel we are caught up in something not altogether new. The situation now is more critical than earlier in history. The problems were smaller then, and they did not threaten the whole of humanity at one time, but people in these localised situations were as threatened as they are now. What has happened, essentially, is that over the years, starting with a total world population of the order of 200 million, 2,000 years ago, and the world has come close to an explosion in terms of population. The

14 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM rate of increase is reflected most accurately in increasing technology. We have been building on the past; starting a few centuries ago we began to acquire new capabilities, and to fashion new tools. We have just begun to understand Nature a bit better and the consequence of this has been in terms of acquiring new tools to handle problems. The rate at which these tools have been acquired has become alarming; it has not only changed our lives, but has also given us the capability to influence each other much more aggressively than we were able to earlier. The world has become a smaller place and all of us are tremendously exposed. As we have gone along increasing our powers of interfering, meddling and dominating in the course of solving our problems, we have more or less retained a social morality or social ethic of a type that is unsuitable to our increased capabilities. I do not believe in revealed ethics. I believe that the ethics of humanity essentially arose out of trying to maximise the human good as a social ethic. The rules of social behaviour, which are like traffic rules, indicating how we are to behave with each other have not changed, fast enough. Looked at it in an optimistic way, we are caught up in the incompatibility between two time constants. One is the time constant, with which rate, within a period of time, we double our information, and capabilities of influencing or dominating — whether in war or industry. This time constant has been reducing. Everybody talks of doubling information within a period of eight or ten years. This period may become even shorter. On the other hand, the time constant which governs the slower change in the human psyche has stayed about the same. It has not decreased; it took a long period of time, for instance, for everybody to be convinced that slavery ought to be abolished, or that democracy was a good thing, or that dividing people into castes was not such a great idea. It takes centuries before this kind of change seeps in. These are very long time constants, which fall behind the other time constants which continue working with increased powers. In the international sphere, we continue considering the old ideas of spheres of influence being more powerful, when we should have discarded such concepts 200 years ago. These days, we are like bulls in a china shop, we do not realise that we have to behave differently — or, rather, that is a question of realising that our psyche does not change. The feeling of who we are, of how we have to behave, of how we ought to relate to others, is something that comes from a sort of trivial historical tyranny.

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 15 Unless we take stock of this and look at our codes of behaviour in the present time, we are in for trouble. When this problem is addressed one usually says, “Let us go back to our roots.” This is Revivalism, going back to religion, but not knowing whose religion. We do not view the past of the whole of humanity as advancing towards human-hood; we have always kept our private psyches separate from each other. I believe we are going to ask humanity to go back to something in the past, some kind of romantic past which is supposed to be very great, though I doubt if it was ever that great. Then we are going to discuss each section of society going back to its own branded version of the past, evoked by all kinds of things which form our beautiful heritage — and we will return to fighting for our brand names rather than others’ ways of life.

LEO LIONNI (LEO) First of all, Mr. Kapur, allow me to thank you for having invited me to participate in this think tank that gathers so many illustrious personalities in one place. I must confess that when I was notified for the theme of the symposium, ‘The Human Condition’, I was somewhat dismayed. I felt that it was too large a subject which would produce only vague generalisations of no specific significance. Furthermore, in my philosophical innocence, it seemed to me that trying to define one’s own nature is a little like trying to jump over one’s own shadow. But then, in the right context and circumstances any provocation, no matter how apparently absurd, can unleash new insights. It so happened that while I was brooding over the possible meanings of ‘The Human Condition’ the question arose in my mind, “What is it that the Human Condition is not?” It is clearly not the condition of a fish or a frog. Nor is it the condition of a refrigerator or a bicycle. It is unlike the condition of all other things that populate our universe. And then, with another negative leap of the imagination it suddenly occurred to me that the human plight is as much conditioned by what it has been denied as by what it is endowed with. It was in this context that, for the first time, I realised that we have been denied the memory of feeling. I mean this in comparison to our memory of perception. You know that the mental images that form in the perceptive process and subsequently in our imagination and memory are analogous of the visual ‘reality’ to which they refer and with which

16 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM they share, although in modified form, the significant visual characteristics. The memory of feeling is not an analogue in this sense. The experience of feeling is not transferred to our memory in a somewhat modified form. It is totally transformed into language. “I had a terrible headache” is about as much as we can do to remember a headache. We cannot even come close to reconstructing in our minds the actual pain. Even less can we experience the headaches of others. This is true, of course, for all feelings, for all non-visual experiences. It is a blessing. Were we capable of reliving our own pains and pleasures and those of others, life would be impossible. The question arises in the very context of our theme: is not our incapacity to feel the feelings of others at the root of many of the tragic ills we ourselves have inflicted on the human condition? Would war and deprivation be possible if we could feel the pains of our fellowmen? Is the rhetoric of language sufficient to deal with the problems the human condition faces? I hate to begin the conference on this rather pessimistic note, but I hope that somehow we will be able to deal with this aspect, hitherto unexplored, I believe. Perhaps we can begin with something a little more optimistic. As some of you know I have written many fables. There is one which is a deliberate metaphor for the human condition. Its message is relevant to our discussion, I believe. I would like to read it to you. It is called ‘Fish is Fish’. At the edge of the woods there was a pond, and there a minnow and a tadpole swam among the weeds. They were inseparable friends. One morning, the tadpole discovered that during the night he had grown two little legs. “Look!” he said, triumphantly, “Look! I am a frog.” “Nonsense!” said the minnow. “How could you be a frog if only last night you were a little fish just like me?” They argued and argued, until finally the tadpole said, “Frogs are frogs, and fish is fish, and that’s that.” In the weeks that followed, the tadpole grew tiny front legs, and his tail got smaller and smaller. And then, one fine day, a real frog now, he climbed out of the water and on to the grassy bank. The minnow, too, had grown, and had become a full-fledged fish.

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 17 He often wondered where his four-footed friend had gone. But days and weeks went by and the frog did not return. Then, one day, with a happy splash that shook the weeds, the frog jumped into the pond. “Where have you been?” asked the fish excitedly. “I have been about the world, hopping here and there,” said the frog. “And I’ve seen extraordinary things!” “Like what?” said the fish. “Birds!” said the frog, mysteriously, “Birds!” He told the fish about the birds that had wings and two legs and many, many colours. As the frog talked, his friend saw the birds fly through his mind like large feathered fish. “What else?” asked the fish, impatiently. “Cows,” said the frog. “Cows! They have four legs, horns, eat grass and carry thin bags of milk. And people,” said the frog. “Men, women, children!” And he talked and talked until it was dark. The picture in the fish’s mind was full of lights and colours and marvellous things, and he couldn’t sleep. Ah, if he could only jump about like his friend and see the wonderful world! That was the world he sort of saw, in fish’s terms! And so the days went by. The frog had gone and the fish just lay there, dreaming about birds in flight, grazing cows, and those strange animals all dressed up that his friend called ‘people’. One day, he finally decided that come what may, he, too, must see them. So with a mighty whack of the tail, he jumped clear out of the water, on to the bank. He landed in the dry, warm grass, and there he lay, gasping for air, unable to breathe or move. “Help!” he said, feebly. Luckily the frog, which had been hunting butterflies nearby, saw him, and with all his strength pushed him back into the pond. Still stunned, the fish float- ed about for an instant. Then he breathed deeply, letting the clean, cool water through his gills. He felt weightless again, and with an ever so slight motion of the tail he could move to and fro, up and down, as before. The sun’s rays

18 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM reached down within the weeds and gently shifted patches of luminous colour. This world was surely the most beautiful of all worlds! He smiled at his friend, the frog, who sat watching him from a lily leaf. “You were right,” he said. “Fish is fish.”

B P SINGHAL (SINGHAL) Jagdish Chandra Kapur in his paper depicted the problems that face mankind today. The basic problem is that there is a severe lack of direction in people that continues from childhood to adulthood. There is very little purpose to life, especially in India. What are we living for? What are we aiming at? And what is the purpose to which all this activity is concentrated. If one wants to know the direction, the basic indicators that that are required are three: One, is the structure of Man. What is he made of? What are the elements that comprise Man? Two, what are the special properties in Man. That will determine the usage, the kind of utility, that will be provided for Man and, three, what are the guidelines which are determined by a value system. It is necessary first and foremost to understand, or at least make a person understand what he is. Apart from going into the structure of Man, I will concentrate only on two things. First, Man is today in this state because he is no more a human being. He has ceased to be a human being. How do we define a human being? The definition has to be specific. Were I to give a Director General’s uniform to my driver, surely nobody would recognise him as a Director General. But if he started exercising the rights of a Director General, then everybody would say, “Yes, he’s a Director General. He’s the genuine one.” Second, Man cannot be classified as a human being just because he has a human frame. In order to qualify to be called a Man, he has to exercise the rights that have been granted to Man exclusively. And who grants these rights? Mother Nature is the only one who grants rights to every being, to every creature in Nature. What are the rights which have been granted to Man? From an examination of those rights we will be able to work out the responsibilities that go with those

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 19 rights. And from the list of those responsibilities, we can clearly specify what the purpose of life could be. It is on this premise that I propose to speak. I have found that there are about eight clear rights which have been granted to Man, which no other creature has been granted. The first of those rights is the right to develop volitionally, the right to physical, intellectual, moral, spiritual and aesthet- ical development. No other creature can develop on its own volition. Only Man can. Man was granted this right, and the wonder of this right is that it extends to infinity. In all the five spheres I have just mentioned, one could develop right to infinity. Even in the physical field, to say nothing about the other spheres, every Olympics, every ASIAD, sees new records. The limits have not been reached yet. This right apparently extends to infinity along with the other spheres of development. The second right is the right to freedom of choice; the freedom of choosing whatever he wants to do — unlike the programmed kind of vivek. Vivek is a Hindi term. It connotes the power of discernment, wisdom, and capacity for decision-making, put together. That is what I classify as vivek. Man has been given free vivek. The right to develop vivek is the third right. The fourth right is the right to demolish his ego. The fifth is the right to share misery. A dog or any other pet may be miserable at the death of its master, but it cannot share the misery of the rest of the family: The right to share misery is granted exclusively to Man. The sixth right is the right to laugh, to be happy and to give happiness. The seventh right is creativity. Man has created so much from apparently so little. And the eighth right is the right to join the quest for excellence. How many of these rights have I exercised today? If I have not, then I have not been a human being today. That is definite. Because, unless I exercise those rights, I don’t qualify to be called. A human being. It is in these spheres that Man will have to develop, by exercising these rights. Let us examine how these rights lead to the purpose of life. If these were rights that were granted exclusively to Man, then they are granted so that he can discharge certain responsibilities. We find that every one of these eight rights extend to infinity. So, one of the purposes of life is to achieve infinity. The second purpose, as we analyse these rights once again, is the right to share misery and give happiness. Therefore the purpose of Man is to share misery

20 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM and give happiness. All the other rights were granted so that we could do this particular job more effectively. These, then, are the twin purposes of life. As we have to live, we have to sustain ourselves. So we have to find an avocation so that we can keep body and soul together. That, then, becomes the third purpose of life: to find an avocation worthy of one’s own capacities, so that sustaining life is not an end in itself, or that improving upon our comforts is not an end in itself. Life’s purpose is to share misery, give happiness and achieve infinity. Before I finish, I would like to strike a note of caution. Nothing in Nature is single. If there is a point, then there has to be a counterpoint. If there is plus, there has to be minus. If there is light, there has to be darkness. So, each of these rights was granted to Man as a ‘head’ and he has to have the tail also, as a coin has two sides. As each of these rights was given to Man, he also acquired the counter-rights that go with each of them. When he got the right to develop on his own volition, he also got the right to destroy himself on his own volition. No other creature takes heroin, or hashish, or commits suicide. Only Man can destroy himself. When Man was granted the right to freedom of choice, he also got the right to do nothing. No other creature in the world can live without doing its ordained duties, but they are all pre-ordained or programmed and they do not have any choice whatsoever; a honeybee has to go on collecting honey, the only choice given to it is that it may settle on a rose first, or settle on a pansy. As far as the purpose of their existence is concerned, they have no choice. But because Man was granted the right to choose his activity, to choose whatever he wants to pursue, he can also choose to do nothing. That is where the tragedy of Man occurs. The third right to the development ofvivek gave Man the right to destroy his vivek totally. The right to demolish his ego gave Man the right to inflate his ego to obnox- ious limits. The right to share misery gave Man the right to inflict misery. A lion or a tiger eats another animal — it doesn’t inflict misery on the other animal. Inflicting misery is peculiar to Man; because he was granted the right to share misery, he also acquired the right to inflict misery. When Man got the right to give happiness, he also obtained the right to snatch it away.

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 21 When he got the right to creativity, Man also acquired the right to destroy–to the degree, that today we are standing on the precipice of a nuclear holocaust, waiting. As a result all Mankind is afraid. When Man got the right to join the quest for excellence, he also had the right to become depraved and sink below animal level. These are the counter-rights that Man acquired. They had to go together, and Man cannot get one without the other. The tragedy of Man occurred when he started utilising these counter-rights instead of the rights for fulfilling the purposes for which he was made. Once we are able to understand our purpose; first and foremost to become human beings, we will be able to exercise these rights every day of our lives, and then fulfill that purpose. That is the theme I had wanted to project at this gathering. If we had started talking of values, then the point arises, how do we distinguish values? What rights have we to assess the present-day values? The quest for power, wealth and fame are present-day values. For these three, Man is prepared to sacrifice every value that our forefathers, for centuries, have considered extremely valuable. Why do we say that present-day values are wrong? We only say: Oh, those old values were time-tested; they stood the test of centuries, so therefore they must be good. They must be abiding, and they must be based on truth. Alright, present-day values are new values; they have started in this century. Let them be tested for another twenty centuries. Why be impatient? We have had to find an anvil on which values could be tested. Fortunately, of course, I have been able to find that anvil on which values can be tested by every person.

PROFESSOR G G KOTOVSKII (KOTOVSKII) To my mind, first of all, the Human Condition is created by human beings themselves. In this context, I would suggest that one aspect of the problem is the correlation between the human condition created by an individual human being and the human condition created outside his own possibilities. This is problem number one. It is necessary to see the interplay of different factors which are determining the life of Mankind as a whole, and the life of individual homo sapiens, as such,

22 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM the interplay of economic activities, of social structure, of political structures, of dynamics, and of cultural and scientific factors or structures of which every society is composed. The next aspect is the interplay of these factors at the local level of a society, state, sub-region, and continent and on the global basis. In this, conditions are so different at all these levels. The place which the individual human being has in society as a whole, depends on his position in his country, family, or in a very small group of people. My friend spoke about sharing misery and giving happiness. As pure theory it is very well, but in practice is anybody willing to share misery and poverty? I doubt it. I have some experience of, and know what unhappiness is, and what misery is, because of my experience of the Second World War, of spending three years in a German Nazi concentration camp and being sentenced to be extermi- nated, only surviving because of the victory. One more aspect of this is that though many causes of so-called crises were present centuries ago, to my mind, there are some global crises which are new, or which have emerged during the last few decades. First of all, the threat to the survival of Mankind: in cold terms, the nuclear holocaust. The second crisis, which is intertwined with the first, is the problem of the population explosion, and the over-usage by Mankind of the environment, of nature. The third element is intertwined with problem number two: We have to put a question to ourselves: With such rocketing development of human knowledge, of science, of culture, and of civilisation as a whole, why are we witnessing the spread of low-level morals — both on intra-state and inter-state levels — and, linked with this, the revival and spread of a medieval relationship between Man and Man, based on religious fundamentalism? Religious wars of the medieval type or early medieval type, fought in different parts of the world appear unbelievable in the 20th century, when we are discovering the cosmos. That is a very important syndrome.

ROMESH TRAPAR (ROMESH) I think we have to bring this meeting into some kind of focus, or otherwise each one of us will emote a very personal view of the Human Condition, which is not relevant because so much of the Human Condition is not within our

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 23 sovereign grasp. The Human Condition is to be found in other organisations as well, other Mafias, and other elite groups. For example, I believe that something like 60 to 70 per cent of the people of the world are really not ‘involved’ in the Human Condition — although they are the Human Condition Even though we discuss the theme as a group of elitists, we are greatly concerned because we create this problem.

URSULA KING (URSULA) It seems to me that the Human Condition is a term that is open to so many levels of interpretation, as we have already heard. I think it is important to see it in terms not of something that exists but something that comes into being. I think perhaps we take it too much for granted that we are all human. I prefer to look at it in the sense that we are becoming human of, how far can we actually go, and what it actually means to become fully and truly human. I think we are inclined today to look always at the institutions, at the systems, at the philosophies and at the abstract concepts. We actually forget the individual people, as individuals and as groups. What appeals very much to me are the resources we have in our own imagination, the resources every human being has as a potential. And I think that is something we haven’t really worked on enough. We are increasingly drawn towards outward things and are beginning to kill what resources we have inside. And it is the inside or the imaginative resources which feed the spirit and which feed the young imagination, which can also give us the vision to come together and try and work for peace and justice, to work not only for a better physical and mental and moral state of human affairs, but also for a better spiritual state. Talking of the Human Condition in India, where I have lived for some years, and to which I return regularly; if one reflects on the Human Condition in India, I cannot think of any country in the world where there is such a variety of human conditions, where the total spectrum of the Human Condition in its most infinite possibilities, exists, from the most abject and the most depressed to the most sublime and the most beautiful, the grandest and the smallest. Which kind of condition do we want for all? Where can we all go together? I think that is a very important question. To the discussions which I have heard so far,

24 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM I want to add another thought which has not been mentioned yet: the situation of women. From a woman’s point of view there is today a rising consciousness, globally, among women who are at their most alerts and at their most awakened, to really think in terms of their own development, and in terms of their own situation. When we speak about the condition of man, very often the subject remains defined at an andro-centric level; that is, the condition being considered in terms of what Man has been able to do as man, not as man and woman. Women can effect a great deal of change in the world because it is among the women that, perhaps, the resources of feeling and of compassion, of sharing and or pacifying, have been developed to a much greater degree, because women have always been in a position where they have had to do many things in an intimate, personal sense that men have not done in the public way. Some of these values should become more human values that would also permeate our public life.

SISIRKUMAR GHOSE (SISIRKUMAR) The so-called decline of the West has spelt a kind of cosmic disaster. Today, ‘crisis’ is a cliché. Yet, not many understand the nature of the crisis. In his last public address, Rabindranath Tagore wrote a celebrated essay on ‘Crisis and Civilisation’ — this is just to show that even he couldn’t escape it. The liberal imagination today is not enough. The crisis of civilisation goes much deeper. In truth it is a crisis in the evolution of consciousness, to which a reference has been made a little while earlier. As for Reason, which dominates our present situation, it makes the Human Condition somewhat inhuman. The irrationalities of reason as a perennial paradox. But then we must combine Reason with Existential awareness. No either/or please. There is need for both. The crisis of consciousness has a psychology or metapsychology of its own. It admits levels of consciousness. Speaking generally we may identify or distinguish three levels: infra-rational, rational and supra-rational. The supra-rational, I must add, is not anti-rational or irrational. And here comes a little quarrel with science. Those who do not like science, those who wish to emphasise its limitations (and the scientists have done it more than others), say that science provides a distorted fragmentary picture of reality. Lewis Monford/Mumford said that the

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 25 greatest achievement of Science is the abolition of Man. (That is rather a harsh sentence; the scientists present will excuse me.) We need, not less science, but more science. The point is the science of Self and the science of things must come together somehow. Such should be our hope and hypothesis. This idea is not new. In the ancient Vedic times, they spoke of two vidyas, two kinds of knowledge: para vidya, the knowledge of the Supreme, or the Self, and apara vidya, knowledge of things. The important question is of methodology: How can such knowledge be acquired? We have to find the answer to this question. But, first, we must make this admission: Nothing short of everything will do. This holistic hypothesis is going to be the saving knowledge. As it is, both old science and old spirituality were lopsided and exclusive. It is exactly here that we need a balance — a creative balance. I say this in the presence of our representatives from Russia — One day maybe the yogi and the commissar will learn to talk together across the gulf, and create what we are all hoping for a civilisation of dialogue. (From the Floor): Where are the yogi and the commissar? I don’t find either of them here. The yogi and the commissar may not be here, but they are everywhere! Every man has a bit of both. We all want to dominate. Some do it crudely, others cleverly. It is the 20th century plague, schizophrenia. Most simply, the point is, a greater consciousness means a greater life. And the hypothesis that I have tried to pos- tulate, the hypothesis of balance, certainly takes account of that. What we are suggesting is that Man is not the terminal of evolution. There are miles to go. And we hope — and in this I am taking Sri Aurobindo’s help, who probably understood this better than anybody else — an evolution in knowledge is going to be more wonderful than an evolution in ignorance. Unfortunately, there are very few people who know what this means or are willing to cooperate with this emergence. Because Man is the meeting-ground of levels of reality, my own hope is that somehow, somewhere, transcendence and technology will come together. As Bergson said, “The machine cries out for mysticism.” If the yogi doesn’t look for the commissar and the commissar refuses to admit it, it is because we are all very dogmatic, all heavily conditioned cousins under the skin. What I am hoping for is an open-ended spiritual sensitivity. That alone seems to me to be the way out. There is no ready-made road. We have to build it, step by step.

26 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM The ‘beyond-ing’ of Man is the destiny of Man. And it is only by changing his Mind — the reality-killer into Mind the reality-revealer — that we can hope for achieving a continuously creative society. There is no other alternative. If we perish in the attempt, no matter. We are here not to save our skin. We are here not to save the world. That doesn’t concern us. We are here, if I see it aright, we are here to cooperate with the cosmos and the cosmic intention.

YASH I happen to be reading a book, or parts of a book, called Mind from Matter, by Delbrook, and this is the last little paragraph. Max Delbrook was a biologist, a physicist, a philosopher, in fact, all kinds in Man: To summarise: the Cartesian cut between observer and observed, between inner and external reality, between mind and body, is based on the illusion that the physical world has no subjective component. This illusion arises from the high degree of quantitative reliability of scientific statements about the outer, physical world. The quantitative reliability makes us forget that these statements are related to subjective experiences as statements about the inner, mental world. In experiencing the physical world we limit our attention to a narrowly circumscribed set of perceptions, such as those resulting from reading of dials of Instruments that measure such quantities as time distance or force. But in experiencing the mental world we include a wider repertoire of perceptions — not only primitive perceptions such as colour, sound and smell, but also higher-level complex perceptions of visual space in general, and of gestures made by other human beings, their smiles, vocal or facial expressions, a thought of fear or affec- tion in particular. While these higher-level perceptions about mental states are less easily quantified than perceptions about physical states, they nevertheless fit into the same kind of cybernetic network of interactions.

IAN BAKER (IAN) I would like first of all to dispense with a prejudice that psychoanalysis is a morbid concern dealing with crazy people and their sex lives; Jungians are interested in this only in a related way. I think the importance of today is this funny feeling we get in this place, of the garden of Socrates combining with ancient

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 27 India. This is really what Jung was after. As you know, he caused shock waves in the psychological world with his idea of the individuation process. Individuation is behind what all of us are talking about: the idea of re-linking ego to Self, to find a resting place in the Self. This is done universally and in the individual psyche. The tragedy behind what we are talking about is, first, that what we are looking for already exists within us, and second, that we forget that the psyche seems to know and to demand exactly this knowledge. We are talking of levels of consciousness. We are talking too little of uncon- sciousness. The psyche has a tone of expectancy and in this, it seems, we might find the hope that we are all expressing. But if we look at the people who come to us, they come seeking individuation, as we would call it. What they actually bring is neurosis and psychosis, which is the distorted version. This can be seen in the world, you can see it also in the individual psyche. But this seems to be the essence. We talk of the rights and the responsibilities of Man. That they exist cannot be denied. But first of all, the people who come to us don’t know of them. And second, when they do know, they won’t take that responsibility for having them. This may be a Western viewpoint and not true of what is experienced in India, but I doubt it. I think there is another aspect of the matter, also, which is within Jung’s theory; a development of the whole of humanity, to the role of the Woman. I would say that somehow we have to re-establish the link with the feminine, the link with the masculine, regardless of gender. The point about Jungian psychology is not only to provide access to the unconscious, but also to the archetypal roots that we share. The archetypes are the creative elements in all of us, and their manifestations are what we make of them. In the West we appear to have lost, first, symbols, then archetypes and then we have this terrible form of psychic death. This dilemma is heightened in the West by the lack of what has been called love, or Eros. I want to tell you a little story that will be very revealing to us, because it’s a myth that is lost. There is only one reference to it; I think the reason for its loss probably has something to do with where we are. It is highly interesting to imagine why it was lost. It’s a little story, not so nice as the minnow and tadpole story, but it’s the story of the birth and early life of Eros.

28 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM Eros was born of Aphrodite, and Aphrodite loved him. His father was Ares. Eros would shoot his arrow, cause a relationship to start — and then would go off and play with his friends. He would never grow up; Eros stayed small, which worried Aphrodite. So she went to the oracle Themis, and asked her, “Why does Eros not grow?” And Themis answered, “Eros will never grow until he learns passion.” Then Aphrodite went back to Ares. And a second son was born, and he is the forgotten one; the second son is called Anteros, which means, ‘The Love which answers, or the Love which relates’. When Anteros was present, a relationship was established. When he was not there, it became what we would call purely erotic.

PUSHPA BHARGAVA (BHARGAVA) As we started this morning’s session, and I was trying to crystallise my own ideas, not being quite clear when I came here about what one was expected to do, two incidents dominated my thought, which I should like to share with you. They are personal, but a time comes in one’s life when very few things really remain truly personal. The first of the incidents concerned a friend whom many of us here would know, the distinguished biologist, Jacques Monod. Here was a man who, I dare- say, had virtually everything that one could ask for as far as success in conventional terms is understood. He had won a Nobel Prize in science; he wrote one of the most famous books of our times, Chance and Necessity. Yet he was a most unhappy, discontented and disenchanted person towards the end of his life. I was passing through Paris once, and, as I always did, I sent him a note asking if we could spend the evening together. When I reached Paris, I found a note where I was staying which said: ‘Dear Pushpa Bhargava, I am sorry I cannot see you this evening.’ It went on to say, ‘You have no idea how many problems I have.’ I am now repeating this verbatim because this was something that transformed me almost instantly, and very rarely do such incidents occur. He went on to say, ‘It is such a pity that so late in my life I have discovered that no matter how many problems one solves, the number of problems that remain to be solved stays exactly the same.’ How true this is! At that moment, I realised that problems are essentially in one’s perception; it is you who create the problems by perceiving that they exist.

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 29 I am not going to attempt to list all our problems. I will only mention one or two. The first problem, it seems to me, concerns science and technology. This is a problem of today; it didn’t exist a 100 years ago to the extent it does today. It is only today that science and technology have become so deeply interwoven, in- termeshed, with every aspect of our lives –political, social, cultural, emotional — and this has led to innumerable consequences, to conflicts, and to totally new perceptions of values. For example, I take the question, “Does Free Will exist?” The scientific answer today will be: “Probably not.” This must upset many of us. Or take the concept of freedom; one can today define ‘freedom’ in a totally new way within the framework of scientific values. Science now attempts to provide an assay for values; and there is increasing incursion of science into areas such as aesthetics and ethics. This is one problem which I think we can discuss and, hopefully, through such a discussion, define certain questions, certain sub-problems, which will lead us to certain priorities. The second problem in my perception concerns Human Rights. Our universal or global perception of Human Rights is very different from what it was or what it has been all through history, in all parts of the world. For example, the Right to Information or the Right to Education, is rights which simply didn’t exist in any society, at any given time, not even in our society during the Vedic period during which the Mahabharata supposedly was enacted. We could discuss how these new perceptions of Human Rights, the global demand for them, have led to creation of problems that didn’t exist. Two days ago, in Hyderabad, at a lecture in the international institute called ICRISAT, the speaker, a professional biologist, made an interesting statement. He said, “Well, is it really necessary to ensure that hunger and disease are wiped out?” Yes, he made this statement. He asked, “Would, it be good for us?” I asked him, “How do you define ‘us’?” People do have varying perceptions. In this case, the question arose because today people demand that they be fed, they demand certain rights, which people did not demand even in the more recent centuries. In India, we have probably just replaced the British with a bunch of Indians largely of feudal background to which class some of us might belong, too. May I suggest that one item on our agenda might be to really attempt to define the problems which are unique to our situation, to our times. This has to

30 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM be done globally and comprehensively. And then we may attempt to establish a hierarchy, amongst the plethora of problems, in relation to our present perception of Human Rights.

ETHEL VOGELSANG (ETHEL) As a psychologist, I have been listening to previous statements and trying to relate them to the problems that I am confronted with, in my own practice. The chaos in which we are living today, including the crisis of identity, and the crisis in value systems, on a psychological level is the crisis due to the degradation of the symbols we have lived by for many centuries. This is true not only of the West, but is beginning to be seen here — India — where a real crisis in the value systems is imminent. In the West, value systems have broken down; here in India the breakdown is coming. One of the greatest problems we have, regardless of whether it has to do with economics, money, power or culture, among others, is that we have to find new meaningful symbols, symbols which come from within. As Ian Baker has just said, we have this potential. This part of the Human Condition, the potential for change, for realigning, for new development. Until enough people can achieve this potential we are going to continue in this crisis. One of the things I feel is very important, is the ‘shadow problems’ which Jung talked about: We always see the problems outside; the problem is always there somewhere with the other person, though the problem is actually within us, within each one of us, whether it is to share hunger, whether it is power or whether it is planning. If we can learn to see our own weaknesses and our own strengths — which we are unaware of — then, and only then, can we build a new symbolic system upon which to go forward. I see this as one of the big problems in the world today.

DR KARAN SINGH (KARAN SINGH) The Human Condition can be looked upon from two angles, an empirical study of the condition of the 5–7 billion human beings who live in the world, or, the Human Condition as a sort of a philosophical conception, including

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 31 what will happen to the human race. To understand the Human Condition we must realise that we are living in an era of unprecedented transition and change. The definition of samsara in Sanskrit is samyak samsariti iti samsara: ‘that which constantly changes’. What is happening now is that with the exponential growth of technology, the rate of change has speeded up. And it does seem to me that we are today at a really crucial transition as important as the earlier transitions from nomadic to agricultural, from agricultural to industrial, and then from industrial to post-industrial civilisations. Today, we are willy-nilly moving towards a new kind of civilisation, towards a globalisation of this planet. Whether we liked it or not, the fact is that 40 years ago, when the nuclear bomb exploded over Hiroshima, mankind entered a new era. And to understand the Human Condition today, we have got to realise that this new era requires a new consciousness. There is a time-lag, between the consciousness, the symbology, the psychic and spiritual understanding that we have inherited over thousands of years and the new requirements that have suddenly come upon us. The para vidya and the apara vidya of the Mundaka Upanishad, the higher knowledge and the lower knowledge, to which Professor Sisirkumar Ghosh referred, have diverged sharply. The apara vidya or knowledge has grown exponentially; the para vidya, the wisdom, remains frozen in outdated formulations. The problem that we are facing in the Human Condition today is the lack of a new global consciousness with the appropriate symbology and the appropriate language. In order to try to begin to understand the problems of today, we have got to first understand the situation in which we now find ourselves. It has been well said that the two major problems facing the human race are nuclear annihilation and overpopulation, and that if we don’t do something about them soon, the one will solve the other. We are on the verge of a nuclear catastrophe. Even as we sit here, hundreds of billions of dollars and rubles, pounds and rupees are being poured into this lunatic arms race. I maintain that the three-letter word from which we began in this part of the world is ‘AUM’, and now we have come to a three-letter word which dominates the world, ‘MAD’ — mutually-assured destruction. Unless we are able to break through this madness and develop a global consciousness, we cannot understand or remedy the Human Condition. It is this

32 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM holistic consciousness that has to be developed, whether it is on the Aurobindo model, the Jungian model, or the Teilhard de Chardin model. We have to break through. I know this may tend to trivialise what I am trying to say, but 90one can see a world civilisation developing. One can see, for example, for the first time in history, a world language — English, which is now broadly understood wherever one goes. For the first time there is a world music — the rock pop music. Wherever you go, whether it is Moscow or Peking, Delhi or Manhattan, Lagos or Los Angeles, this music can be heard; the young are moving to the same rhythms. It no longer depends on whether they live under Marxist-Leninism, or whether they live under Washingtonism or Jeffersonism. They move to the same music. Jeans are emerging for the first time as a world dress. These may be outer symbols, but I submit, particularly to the Jungians who are here, that these outer symbols are extremely significant, because what is happening for the first time is a globalisation of the human psyche. We are part of this transition and it is a most exciting period in which to be alive, because we are participating in what is going to be the crucial transition. I am inclined to take the Vedantic view, on whether we will achieve this transition: and not be obsessed with the results. We must do our best. We cannot guarantee survival, because the buttons that are to be pressed are not going to be pressed by you, or me, or anybody sitting around this table; they are going to be pressed, if at all, by two gentlemen sitting in different offices in different parts of the world. We have got to build up a collective conscious force for survival, towards this new globalisation. We must move from competition to complementarity, from hedonism to holism, and from divergence to convergence. It seems to me that the significance of a meeting like this lies in the very fact that we are here. It doesn’t matter what religion or what race we belong to, it doesn’t matter whether we find our concepts in the Vedas or the Upanishads, in Marxism or Leninism, in the Old Testament or the New Testament, in the Koran or in the cosmos. As Einstein found, the more he looked into the structure of matter, the more the religious question came to the fore. I entirely agree that the present trend towards fundamentalism is extremely dangerous, because instead of moving towards a globalisation of the human psyche, it is trying to go back into fragmentation of the most disastrous kind. The religious question is not a denominational question and the universal values

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 33 which are in all the spiritual traditions have to be drawn upon. A new cosmology cannot be created nor a new symbology, simply out of the air. They have to be built upon the universal elements that are present in the human psyche. I feel that many of the universal elements are present in Vedanta. For example, ekam sat vitra babuda vidanti, ‘the truth is one; it can be looked at from many sides’; Or, isba vasyamidam sarvam that the entire cosmos, the hundreds of millions of galaxies are all permeated by the same force. These are universal principles, which are of extreme importance in crafting global consciousness. The Human Condition today demands that we mobilise all our material, psychological, intellectual and spiritual forces, in order to bring about the transition to the new consciousness. It is only when global consciousness develops and becomes established with the appropriate symbology, that the dangerous phase through which we are passing will fade away, and we will really be able to move into a situation where the individual condition of human beings on Planet Earth can really be remedied and made worthwhile.

PROFESSOR J.VAN ORSHOVEN (ORSHOVEN) The fact that specialists from all over the world have come to this country, India, has a special meaning for me personally. Many facts have led me to the conclusion that the key to solving the world’s problems lies in India. To solve human problems we are in need of a broad-minded universal vision of the Human Condition. One possible explanation for my confidence in India is that during her long history, India has been a huge sub-continent, a mini-world, isolated by oceans, mountains and deserts. This huge area was and is characterised by multiplicity and diversity in the fields of race, religion and language. The success of India in her history and also today has always been the awareness of her unity in diversity. This was possible due to her strong spiritual tradition. In my paper you will find that I am a biologist, specialised in chimpanzee behaviour. You may wonder what I am doing here because we are supposed to deal with human problems. If I saw only chimpanzee behaviour in this conference, this meeting would be a failure. But chimpanzees, biologically speaking, are closely related to human beings and they have their own methods of solving problems. It will become clear that we, as humans, do not always choose

34 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM a human solution. Instead, we often behave like chimpanzees. One of us said jokingly: “Let us destroy half of the world and all our problems will be solved.” That is the solution animals like mice practice when there is overpopulation. It is an animal way of solving problems. Chimpanzees have developed a sophisticated system of dominance hierarchy through which a population can live in peace. I can illustrate this from my own observations in Guinea in West Africa, where I observed chimpanzees for one year. They have what I have called ‘morning concerts’. After a group of chimps has taken breakfast, it often happens that a dominant male starts to display. This consists of a sequence of postures and vo- calisations to which the whole group reacts by running away, sitting quietly, etc. Short attacks may follow and as soon as the ‘other’ takes a submissive posture, the attack is neutralised. In other words, every member of the group gets to know his relative position, increasing the optimal functioning of the group. In our own human behaviour, we recognise a similar organisation. We display ourselves around a round table in Geneva or elsewhere. We fight with words, avoiding overt aggression (war) thereby. We speak of cold war. From this, I have only tried to make clear that to a certain point, we follow the same laws as animals do, but when the situation becomes critical as in the case of overpopulation or expansion of territory, aggressive feelings are aroused which may lead to war. The difference with animals is that our claws and teeth have taken the form of atom bombs, to the point where man is able to destroy life on earth. Now, more than ever before there is need for a human solution, transcending biological laws. This means that we have to become humans and that we cannot stop our evolution at an animal level. We have to go beyond. It is only by transcending the animal level, that is, by spiritual growth, that it is possible to discover that humanity is one; that other nations are part of our nation; by destroying others we destroy ourselves, by helping others we are helping ourselves. However, till now, spirituality has always been related to in- stitutionalised religions and we have not yet been able to establish the science of spirituality in our universities. The foundation of this science has been elaborated very well by Swami Ranganathananda in his four volumes, Eternal Values for a Changing Society. European materialism is too narrow to tackle global human problems. We are still trying to explain everything in terms of matter. We have made a dogma

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 35 of our so-called scientific method. Every method that enables us to discover truth is scientific. We have only discovered man as a psychosomatic being. We have not yet discovered his deeper dimension. This is possible only by spiritual growth. Excluding spirituality, we are bound to stay at the chimpanzee level, caught by the chimpanzee laws of behaviour. Ethics is a byproduct of spiritual growth. As far as I can see, we have a duty to give our people the best opportunities for total human development. This idea has been elaborated extensively in the book of Swami Ranganathananda, to which I referred earlier.

CHARLES CORREA (CHARLES) As an architect, one deals with many practical things; functional, structural, etc. But I am going to support what you had said about the symbols. We recently had an exhibition on the architecture of India, and it has made me think more and more about the sacred element. I have begun to see how many mythic moments there are, even in a commercial city like Bombay. For instance, we documented a very crowded area called Bhuleshwar (which is a business area), and every 20 feet we found a sacred gesture, something mythic: rangoli on the side- walk, a yantra on the wall, a shrine, a temple. These presences were so powerful that I was amazed I had never really seen them before. In architecture, we talk of the ‘private realm’ and the ‘public realm’ and that is how we organise space. But actually, there is also a ‘sacred realm’, perhaps the most important of all. Of the many countries of Europe, I think visitors usually find Italy the most satisfying. Is it because of the presence of the sacred? By sacred, I don’t necessarily mean just the religious. Can we find sacred and mythic values in our lives which are not necessarily religious? The sacred can include aspects of the primordial, like the Mafia presence in Sicily; mythic in its terrifying power… France also has the same Latin culture, the same Catholic religion. But it is not as sacred as Italy. It’s a little more secular — at least to me, as an outsid- er. When you get to Switzerland, there is very little that appears sacred. Is this perhaps why Switzerland can never move you as Italy does? Their chocolates are marvellous and so are the people, yet Mont Blanc is not sacred. To the Japanese, Fuji is sacred, is mythic. Perhaps this is why Japan is so stable despite so much

36 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM rapid change. Their society rests on three legs: private, public and sacred. The public life of Japan is culturally eroded and perhaps environmentally impoverished, but the private and the sacred realms are still intact. Go to Kamakura or Kyoto and observe the average Japanese family and you will understand the secret of their stability. It seems to me that the tragedy of modem values, which are wonderfully humane and progressive, is their failure to engage us on the level of the mythic. Dr. Karan Singh has suggested that we can perhaps arrive at these values again, through religion, through recycling old religious myths and beliefs. I don’t know if that can be done. Another path to them is through art. As Leo has just pointed out, fables can give us extraordinary insights and understanding. So too, can painting and music and dance. But unfortunately art doesn’t play a big enough role in our everyday lives, and so cannot create the mythic values we need. Yet, a better world cannot be achieved unless we engage the human being’s imagination, triggering off those other worlds which belong to the realm of the non-manifest. I would really like an answer to this question: in the contemporary world, is it really possible to create values and images which are sacred and mythic, but not necessarily religious? If not, does it mean we have to go back to religion? In which case there is the danger, as Dr. Karan Singh has pointed out, that some people will manipulate the old symbols, and get a Pavlovian knee-jerk reaction out of people.

BHARGAVA As a professional biologist, I think the point that Charles has made is something that we ought to discuss in much greater depth. I would prima facie make a statement that the need to have something sacred in your life is built into your genes. I can give you a perfectly tenable argument of how this built has given the human species a very considerable evolutionary advantage. The question Charles posed at the end is a very important question: does this sacredness that we require for our continued existence have to necessarily derive from religion? The answer to that as far as I am concerned is unequivocally ”No”. If the contemporary situation is analysed, it will be seen that there is an evolution of

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 37 things that are sacred to individuals who are rational, reasonable, a-religious or unreligious, which they will not attempt to rationalise but which does not derive from religion. For example, altruism. There are two groups of biologists, both led by very powerful people, including Nobel Prize winners: one believes that altruism is built into the genes. The other group believes that this is simply not so. Those who have read Desmond Morris’ The Naked Ape, would recall his arguments on this. The fact is that altruism is something that we accept as an incontrovertible value. If we do not accept it as a value, then the entire structure falls. So altruism is something that has become sacred. Though altruism may be rationalised, I think there is no need to rationalise it. This quality has become an axiom.

CHARLES In India there are many, many sacred systems running parallel and overlap- ping and that is what makes her unique. It is not just that we have many religions here; America has many religions as well, but they have all been demythicised. India is probably the only example in the world, where the myths are all running together into the sunset. And that is what is surprising.

KARAN SINGH Nationalism is the great myth that has dominated human events and human affairs for the last four or five centuries. But the global age has, in fact, rendered absolute nationalism obsolete. There cannot be a150 conflicting nationalisms, bristling with nuclear arms, in a global village. If a symbol is required, the only symbol that I can think of is that magnificent photograph of the Earth taken from the moon. It shows Mother Earth for the first time. The time has come when we must move from bhavani bharati to bhavani vasundhara; from Mother India to Mother Earth. Mother India may have been a very powerful symbol 100 years ago, at the turn of the century, but Mother India by herself is no longer sufficient.

38 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM URMILLA HAKSAR What is really coming into sharper focus is what I would call the spiritual quest. You speak about religions in terms of religious institutions and outward signs — but each religion was actually born out of a deep religious experience, of a disclosure of meaning, of a revelation. And it is this that is there, that is sacred within the human spirit. 8 December 1986: afternoon session

DR. GIRISH VYAS “Imagination is more important than knowledge” (Albert Einstein). I have quoted this profound sentence in context of this incredible epidemic that affects the United States of which I am a citizen. I am proud of my adopted country. Yet I am also very proud to be an Indian. The tragedy that affects our country right now is something that I was disinterested in until last year, when it became very apparent to me that 20 million units of blood are collected every year in the United States, (I am chief of the Blood Bank at the Medical Centre) and that if the blood supply of the country was contaminated, we were going to see the transmission of AIDS. Before the actor Rock Hudson got AIDS, there was a certain degree of unconcern on the part of the administration. After his death the Federal Government began funding research. AIDS has caused national hysteria in the United States, in terms of the fear of transmission of this disease across the general population.

JAGDISH Another interpretation of Einstein’s quotation could be that the knowledge that we have today may not be the end of what it can be. And therefore what is more important is not just to be content with the knowledge or with the lack of knowledge at any given time but to keep the imagination, to seek for knowledge.

DR. GP TALWAR (DR. TALWAR) I think it would be worthwhile to have little dialogue on one of the major problems in contemporary times, the fear of nuclear annihilation which has been repeatedly mentioned in our gathering. There are enough weapons with the su-

40 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM per powers and I think with a few minor powers also, to annihilate Mankind 50 times over, if not more. Though all of us have expressed this fear and though we have all signed pro- test circulars and joined demonstrations, each one of us is a signatory to the madness which has impelled this sort of race. Looked at it from another angle, the fact that we are poised as we are, the nuclear race has become a self-regulatory system because of the potential consequences. What I am more worried about is the expenditure on armaments around the globe, in countries who are neighbours, who are vulnerable to each other’s attack. I am worried about the constant suspicion they have for each other. No amount of simple preaching will help to lessen our expenditure on armaments. While it has given these weapons of destruction, these very massive and annihilatory weapons, science has also given us the means to know what is happening, where, up to a minute degree of detail. I think Arthur Clarke’s idea of having an international peace-loving satellite with a sensor installed, to read and follow the movements in various countries, could in a practical way, help judge a little more precisely the extent and nature of the danger that we run. This might tell us how much we might divert of our resources towards preparing ourselves for this so-called Armament Race.

PN HAKSAR (HAKSAR) I think I should begin by saying something about myself because I think it is important for you to know, to sense the data of my own experience and, therefore, make allowances for my prejudices. I cannot call myself a scientist; I am not a scientist in the sense they use ‘science’ in French, neither science naturelle nor science politique. I am neither one nor the other. I was born in 1913 and I am still alive! That is another important fact about me. Third, I have spent as many as 40 or more years of my 73 years in an arena not of science, not of technology, not of philosophy, not of contemplating the universal truths — if there are universal truths — but in the arena of what is called International Affairs. We have a saying in India, Jaaki rabi bbavana jaisi, prabbu modak tim dekbi kaisi, ‘Each one of us, sees the image of god in terms of his own experience and predilections’.

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 41 And, therefore, reality as I know it, as I have sensed it, as I have experienced it, is refracted through the life I have led. I lay no high claim to truth or Eternal Truth. It is also a fact that in the course of our existence on this Earth, there appears to be a great hiatus between two rates of change — those of our ideas, values, social, political, economic systems, and of what are called the material artifacts of our existence. And it seems to me that one of the big problems which we confront today is to overcome the distance between the rate of change of what is called ‘technology’ and the rate of change of ideas, values, and social, political and economic structures. If this great hiatus is allowed to persist, then the crisis, as I see it, would be aggravated. And there is a crisis in the thought structures that makes human beings perceive something, and perception does not correspond to reality, howsoever defined. According to my experience in the arena of International Affairs, this is one of the principal causes of some of the tragedies which are enacted in our times. As I grew in this messy business of International Affairs, I was struck by this hiatus in reflecting reality even among ‘the best and the brightest’ — to borrow the title of a book written in America by a friend of mine called David Halber- stam. It is a good thing for us to have self-doubt and ask ourselves, “Do our perceptions correspond in some approximation to what is called reality — with which we have to contend?” And one has to have some working definition of reality — at least in the vulgar areas of our economic being, our economic living, our political living, our social living, our cultural living — and not merely living, but the structures within which we live today. It seems to me that the contemplation of the Human Condition is only relevant insofar as out of that contemplation we human beings, coming from a variety of separate civilisational patterns and social structures, can today come to a common understanding at least of our mutual differences, so as to be able to say, “Yes. That’s your perception. It may be valid. And that is our perception,” and see whether we can come closer together through further dialogue. One of the earlier speakers talked about the ‘myth’ of Nationalism. You may call it myth or you may call it reality: I don’t want to quarrel over words; I call it

42 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM the reality of Nationalism. The reality may have been a myth — but then, who generated the myth? It is also a fact of history as I understand it that so far as the destiny of my country is concerned, although we are very proud creators of a pattern of civilisation, we fell on evil days, as measured in the normal assessment of history. I feel we fell on evil days, and our history, from 1757 to 1857, are years which at least in our own mythology we believe not to be glorious years in Indian civilisation. As a diplomat, as a bearer of the flag of Nationalism (for which I offer no apologies) I had to contend with my fellow diplomats of France, of Britain, of the United States and of the Soviet Union. The other day, I met a group of very in- telligent, very sophisticated Chinese with the questions of how they perceive the Human Condition in the world of today. From them I learnt the basic truth that there is relativity in perception, and this relativity is a durable thing, conditioned by long historical furnishing of the mind. It was peculiarly reflected through their own interpretation of what they call 5,000 years of Chinese Chronicles, Chinese civilisation patterns, Chinese thought structures and Chinese values. On the one side we see the processes of what is called unification of dissected humanity — dissected into nation-states, still governed, unfortunately by a Clauswetzian world of the 19th century, still not liberating itself from the thought that nuclear war can no longer be a just war, a legitimate war. The Second World War began as a conventional war and one has to take note of the fact that it ended as a nuclear war, or in a nuclear episode. In a state of half-waking, half-dreaming, one afternoon, I had a vision that I was having a dialogue with a 15-ton atom bomb, perched on top of an inter- continental ballistic missile. And I actually saw the bomb beckon to me and heard it say, “You listen to me. You are my Maker. And Maker, I understand is a god. So you are my god. Now tell me what it is you want me to do. I would not wish to destroy my Maker. But then, it is not for me to dictate to you what my Maker thinks. You sort it out among yourselves and let me know what your final decision is”. This argument is valid, of course, at one level. We cannot escape from this reality, either through the route of dreams, or through the route of each individual reflecting on his individual destiny. What I have said may be my prejudices

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 43 and not what might be called an ultimate truth. In fact, I am suspicious of all who proclaim ultimate truths. And that is why I believe Mahatma Gandhi was profoundly humane when he said, “When I began life, I used to think that Truth was God. As I grow older and live with human beings, I have come to the conclusion that Love is God, because I have noticed that in the name of Truth we have often killed each other, but not in the name of Love.” It was all right to think in terms of nation-states, but the thought is no longer valid. And even if we are to continue as nation-states, by what is called the ‘inertial process’, then our thought structures have to be refurnished. And then the function of the nation-state is not to act in terms of old mythologies or glories. We human beings have made great heroes out of soldiers and politicians, we tend to forget the heroes of creativity, those who create music for us, poetry for us, and thereby transmit feelings, generation after generation; the glory of a great symphony, for instance, written somewhere, inspired by feeling — and we can still feel it. To me, poetry is what distinguishes us from animals; as it is said in Sanskrit, Sahitya sangeet kala. There are three things that separate us from other creatures on this Earth: they are sensitivity to sahitya, literature, to sangeet, music, and to kala, art. This may be called the spiritual domain of human beings. Such a spiritual domain is perfectly understandable to me. To me, religion is born out of the turmoil from which poetry also is born. And so I do not subscribe to the view of religion which must necessarily have a church. I subscribe to the Lutheran view that there shall be no intermediary between me and my god. Much evil is done when religion gets organised, builds a relationship with kings and kingdoms; then religion blesses war, which is no religion to me. Within the body of the Christian Church, and within the body of other theologies, the question is now arising, whether the concept of a ‘just war’ is at all valid, in a nuclear age. I share the mundane concerns. I do not know what my individual destiny is; I only know I was born one day and I will die another day. Those two fixed points of my existence on this Earth I am ready to concern myself with. I personally have no desire for what is called immortality; in fact, I am alarmed if there is possibility of immortality. I am making a confession; I think it is only right that we speak as ourselves, and I about me, because this is all I know. I am prepared to be sensitive to other feelings and other ideas, as I am sensitive to music other

44 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM than my own music, Hindustani or Carnatic music; I am sensitive to poetry, whether written by German poets, English poets, Russian poets or French poets. But I am perturbed by the thought that I think Goethe expressed in Elective Affinities about those characteristics of human beings that even in the worst of times think everything is normal. I think imagination should come into play, based on the knowledge we have. None of us has the knowledge or experience of the atom bomb; and so it is a matter that must be imagined. Spirituality, according to me, is the continuous need for enlarging human solidarity. And if that be so, then altruism must be encouraged and egotism must be discouraged (I am not saying ‘supressed’). The necessary precondition for human existence is altruism. And it seems to me that some time, way back in the past, two conceptions were put forward: one of Man against Nature, and one of Man in harmony with the cosmos and Nature. The more we see of the denouement of Man against Nature, the more strongly must we fight it. This is the insight of which I am proud as an Indian on this Mother India, a vision was born which harmonised the human being which is Creation. I personally think we are in search of symbols. If we are in search of myths in order to overcome la condition humaine in our times, then we must have, as my friend Bhargava said, a hierarchy of concerns. The first essential in the hierarchy is: I should be able to look my children in the eye when they ask me the question, “What kind of world, dear father, have you left for us?” I have no confident answer for that. My children will say, “Yes, he was a father. He wasted his life in diplomacy and brought us to grief.” I once talked to a very proud British diplomat who was boasting of three centuries of British diplomacy: “What a glorious thing it is, about which Churchill wrote.” I said, “It is true, yes. But look at the graveyards in Europe. You must take that also into account before you proclaim the greatness of British diplomacy.” I would submit, with great respect, (a) that what has brought us together is the desire to know what other sets of human beings rooted in other sets of conditions are thinking. We may find we have been thinking wrongly, and (b) there is, I think, somewhere in our minds, the realisation that what Roman Rolland said is a fact; he said if you step aside for a moment and contemplate what you call ‘civilisation’, it is, he said, a device for ‘exploitation’ of three-fourths of humanity by one-fourth. Is that a fact, or fiction? If the first is so, then whatever might

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 45 have been the situation in the past, this is a different kind of age from what we diplomats experienced in earlier times. No record exists of what diplomats such as Castlereagh, Metternich and Talleyrand imagined at the Vienna Congress to be the consequences of their actions on humanity. They were structuring an edifice of status quo. And my very dear friend, Henry Kissinger is fascinated by the challenge of how to maintain, in an impetuously changing world, a structure of status quo of ideas, society, pleasure, privilege and deprivation, of food and hunger. Poets and novelists have a better perception of such matters. A long time ago Walt Whitman said: Here, while the tide of conquest rolls against the distant golden shores, Starved and stunted human souls are with us more and more. When is your science, when your art? Your triumphs and glories reign. To feed the hunger of the heart and the famine of the brain? I can speak at least for Indian humanity. We are inheritors of a civilisation. This humanity is thrown up in turmoil, in a changing world. Deep behind is the desire, which you call spiritual, of human beings transcending themselves. It is this beauty of human beings transcending themselves, going beyond themselves contemplating the beauty of the cosmos, the beauty of the sun, moon, stars and heavens, the beauty of flora and fauna from which poetry and music are born. This humanity of the Indian people is aching for change. I am sure the average American feels the same and the average Frenchman feels the same, wanting to go beyond the mythology of Nationalism, to come face-to-face with the world of today, where, in my imaginary dialogue with the atom bomb, the question is this: “Can we cooperate — and survive? Or do we continue in a conflicting state, both within ourselves and outside, and destroy ourselves?” 9 December 1986: morning session

JAGDISH Today, it might perhaps be better to bring a little structure into our discussion, to emphasise some of the aspects. The three main streams of ‘physical and biological sciences, ‘politico-socio-economic factors’ and ‘humanist, esoteric and spiritual issues’, could form three main streams on which to formulate our thoughts. It will be worthwhile listening to a scientist focusing on social issues and a spiritualist on the sciences.

SWAMI RANGANATHANANDA (SWAMIJI) ‘Knowledge is power. But that power may be good or bad. The result is that, unless men increase in wisdom as much as in knowledge, increase of knowledge shall be increase of sorrow.’ That is a famous passage from Bertrand Russell’s book, Impact of Science on Society. We have increasing knowledge and yet have increasing problems — peacelessness and tension not just the fear of a future war, but what is much more serious, tension within the individual, and within society, like a healthy tree slowly rotting away from within, soon to be blown by some hurricane from the outside. This internal rotting of society is a major problem before us. We can see that psychic and social tension, and all the other distortions of the human condition are a result of our high technical civilisation. This is the human situation, the human malady. And what is the remedy? It is on this subject that you find great light coming from the great sages of India, from very ancient times up to the modem period. One aspect of that wisdom coming from these great sages is that man is free to

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 47 create a hell around him or a heaven around him. Man has infinite possibilities. The subject that teaches this is called Vedanta, the profound philosophy developing from the time of the Vedas up to our own time, contributed to by great sages, among whom are the Buddha, Shankaracharya, and in the modern period, Sri Ramakrishna and Vivekananda. They developed this philosophy as a science of human being, which can be unfolded so that man can alter the conditions around him and within him and make for peace and total human fulfillment. This is a profound science and technique developed by these great sages, and this science of human possibilities is not in conflict with the sciences of Nature, outside. The sciences of Nature and sciences of Man do not conflict with each other, for Nature and Man are interwoven. There is a unifying vision on the subject which will supply the remedy for the malady of the current human condition. This wonderful idea of the infinite possibilities hidden within man tells us that we can alter our human condition, provided we have a good insight into the possibilities hidden within us. At present, Modern Man does not know all about himself. He knows only a fraction of the infinite human possibilities. The problems are far beyond that fraction which we know about Man, which is why he is in tension, and why he is in sorrow. The more intellectually developed a society, the more tension, the more sorrow. The enquiry proceeds: Is there a deeper dimension of man than merely his physical and intellectual dimensions? If there is any such dimension it will be the greatest factor for improving the human condition. This was the insight that was given by the great sages. What we call ‘religion’ today is not exactly the word that we use in this context. It is better termed as the science of man in depth. All values come from the depth of the human spirit that is from where values manifest: love, compassion, the spirit of dedication and peace — all these are values proceeding from the depth of the human spirit. They do not come from outside. They do not come from machines. In fact, this has also been pointed out by Bertrand Russell in that same book; he protested against the modern deification of the machine, and he said, ‘The machine is the modern form of Satan, and its worship is the modern diabolism. Whatever else may be mechanical, values are not. And this is something no political philosopher should forget.’ We have to search for values from within man himself, from within the deeper levels of the

48 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM human personality. A thorough study of this depth dimension of the human personality has been made, beginning from the body, through the sensory system, through the psychic system and beyond it. And man has discovered the divine, the immortal and the infinite, behind the ordinary, the mortal and the finite human being, and he has called it the atman or the inner self. It is the discovery of the atman that made for the message of peace, harmony, universal love and cooperation. Even in the higher dimensions of all religions, the message of universal love, peace and harmony came from this deeper level. Today the question that people must ask when they deal with the Human Condition is: Why is man so unfulfilled in this amazing scientific age of ours? We are living in a great age, the space age. Our space probe, the Voyager, is going beyond the solar system just now; the most impossible things have become possible, in this modern period, but only from the perspective of the external world. What about man himself? Can he not achieve the impossible in his inner life and in his interaction with the external world? Can we not convert peacelessness into peace, tension into calm, hatred into love? Is this not possible? Our great philosophers, the sages who discovered the science of human possibilities, say that it is absolutely possible. Nature has endowed man with the capacity to know and realise his capability. Only, he must ‘know’ that there is such a profound dimension, that there are tremendous energy resources hidden in every human being. It is this dimension that was manifested in great men like the Buddha; they were also human beings like us and yet infinite peace and compassion were manifested in them. Even in our own time, much compassion has come from within the human system, in the form of Mahatma Gandhi. So, the Human Condition can be altered, and has been altered, by human effort. If a certain human condition is not to the satisfaction of man, then he or she shall have to find knowledge and methods of altering that condition. That possibility is present in every human being. That subject and the implementation of its teaching constitute the one remedy to the maladies of the current human condition. Our philosophers have described three dimensions of human energy resources: They called them baahu balam, buddhi balam and atman balam or yoga balam. Balam means strength or power, or energy in Sanskrit.

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 49 Baahu balam is muscular energy. We have plenty of muscular energy. We have multiplied it through modern technology into the one million horsepower rockets of today. This is all baahu balam, sheer physical energy. Buddhi balam or intellectual energy is very evident in modern civilisation. It is the tremendous power of the mind, the power of the intellect. Yet, at the highest intellectual level, we see only unfulfillment, we see only more tension, more psychic and social distortions. So this dimension is not enough. Therefore, our sages probed deeper into man, and they discovered another source of energy, infinite in range and called it atman balam, the energy hidden in the infinite Self of Man, the divine spark hidden in every human being. They also called it yoga balam. Today, what the world seeks is not mere baahu balam. We have plenty of it. Buddhi balam, we also have in plenty. Both these haven’t been able to solve the problem; they have only multiplied it. In fact, as Bertrand Russell would say, and many others agree: primitive man was more at peace with himself and the world than the civilised man of today. Something is missing in modern civilisation. When we probe deeper, we come to the wonderful concept of atman balam or yoga balam — the energy coming from the spiritual dimension of the human personality. That is where the higher teaching of religion takes us. The spiritual level or the mystical level of all religions refers to this wonderful focus in every human being: the enormous spiritual energy resources, which are entirely positive, creative and human. It is when this energy manifests, that humanistic impulses become very real in human life. We can love others, and we can respond to human situations in a human way, because there is only one infinite divine energy hidden in every one of us; we are all one in that infinite dimension. This is what we call the advaitic vision in India, the vision of non-duality, non-separateness; we are essentially one, one with Nature, one with Man. This profound truth, hidden in nature, can be discovered only when evolution rises to the human level. That is the uniqueness of Man. Man has the organic capacity to realise this truth and bring about peace, harmony and orderliness in his life and also outside. What is within, he projects outside. If there is peacelessness within, he projects it outside. If there is peace within, that too he projects outside. Have I created that sense of peace and harmony within myself? That question and the science and technique required to answer it positively, have been sadly neglected

50 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM in modern civilisation. The other aspect, the energies of external nature, has been wonderfully developed; what is now needed is a complementary development of the spiritual energy resources hidden within man himself. As Julian Huxley has said: We have developed the physical sciences; we have neglected the science of man and his mind. We have only scratched the surface of this mind of man. The great sages of India took up the challenge ages ago and developed a science of man in depth, the adhyatma vidya. That is why the whole of Vedanta can be described as a science of human possibilities. I often used to wonder about the tremendous technology we have developed in the modern age to raise crude oil from the earth, refine it and send it out as useful petroleum products. Vedanta proclaims the truth that we can easily do the same with crude human experience: it too can be refined. This whole body-mind complex can become a refinery. In this refinery we take crude experiences, refine them; take hatred from outside, refine it to become love. This body-mind complex can do it. That is a great truth, not an opinion, stated in this great science of human possibilities known as Vedanta. The body-mind complex of man contains a wonderful mechanism by which a man can refine crude experiences, dissolve all complexes and make life simple, spontaneous, straight and intensely human. This science has been neglected so far in modern society. We have the psychological concept of trauma today; every little untoward experience creates a trauma, and the mind becomes a complex knot. Why should there be a knot and a complex in the mind? Because the experiences were not digested and refined. If we can invoke our spiritual energies from within and dissolve all our experiences in them, why should we become full of complexes, traumas and tensions? This capacity to dissolve and to refine tensions is present within man. There are tensions when we act and react with the human situation or the external situation. But these tensions can be dissolved and their energies refined into positive forces. This whole subject is what we understand as the science of spirituality. The World Health Organisation is one of the most important adjuncts of the United Nations. It has given itself the purpose of ‘health’ when it was started: the ‘Physical, Mental, Social wellbeing of Man’. That was the original objective, but during the last few years, when several members felt that the objective needed a little modification, that the concept of the ‘spiritual’ must be added so that it becomes

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 51 ‘Physical, Mental, Social, and Spiritual wellbeing of Man’. This suggestion was presented before the Geneva Conference of the WHO a few years ago. It was turned down, I was told, mostly through votes from our Eastern Socialistic countries; they naturally suspected that this ‘spiritual’ meant some sort of a ghost, some sort of a spirit, and they didn’t want any ‘ghostology’ to enter a scientific organisation. Yet, many of the WHO people felt that it should come. So they referred the matter to India. Accordingly, about two years ago, they had a seminar on the subject in Bangalore in the All India Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences. I was invited to attend. We had distinguished neurologists present there. They described the Indian background of the concept of being ‘spiritual’, that spiritual dimension of the human personality behind the physical, behind the neurological, behind the psychical: the divine spark in every human being which is the meaning of the word ‘spiritual’. That energy must find manifestation just as muscular energy finds manifestation, followed by intellectual energy. Side by side, Vedanta insists that the spiritual energy, the atman shakti or yoga balam, must also find manifestation if the plan is to achieve total development and fulfillment, individual and collective. This particular proposal has now gone to Geneva, backed by the scientific approach of India to human health. If the next conference adopts it, it will be a major development in human thinking, the acceptance that there is such a thing as the spiritual dimension to human health. Mere intellectual strength or physical strength is not enough. We have to give due place to spiritual strength — yoga balam. If you do not do so, Sri Ramakrishna warned, if you insist only on man’s sensory satisfaction and his intellect helping him to such satisfactions, man becomes a consumer. And a consumer can demand sensory satisfactions indefinitely. We are living in a consumerist society today and this is posing a great danger to man himself, destroying all the earth’s resources by this consumption mania, as many writers put it. America has been accused of having 6 per cent of the world population consuming 40 per cent of the world’s resources. If this goes on indefinitely, there will be great trouble. Nowadays we discuss the ecological aspect of the subject: the destruction of animals, destruction of birds, destruction of much fauna and flora to beautify a human form, just to satisfy modern man’s insatiable consumerist mania. The consumption mania can be endless; we have forgotten that we have to put a stop to it at some stage.

52 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM If we put a stop to the consumption mania, production will suffer, and the economy will be ruined, because it will recoil on itself. This problem has to be reckoned with. The science of spirituality offers the solution, assuring that this will not happen if part of the human energy is diverted to that higher development of man, to that evolution of man beyond his sensate level, which is called the ‘spiritual development of man’. Checking the impulses and consumerist cravings at the physical level and the transformation of these energies into the higher dimensions of aesthetic, ethical, moral and spiritual developments is required. If this is not done, and we merely check our sensate consumerist cravings, the economy will become disturbed; there will be a great disruption in the civilisation in which we are living. A negative and static ascetic approach is not enough. Stopping consumption is not enough. We have to turn man’s attention and efforts to the search for and consumption of higher and higher values. Why should man stagnate at the level of material consumption? Why should he not crave for art, beauty, and intellectual and spiritual values and ideas? Today, many people do not have time even to live on the intellectual level, not to speak of the aesthetic or spiritual levels. Everything is concentrated on one particular level of human experience, namely, the sensory because of the current tyranny of the sensate and the efficient technology that help to satisfy all the sensory cravings of man. It is here that there is, as I call it, a traffic jam in human life. When all the vehicles travel along one single road, there is bound to be a traffic jam. We have today reached such a traffic jam at the sensate level of human life that men, like the late Pitirim Sorokin of Harvard University and others, have been compelled to raise an alarm. Vedanta speaks to every human being. ‘Every one of you has a higher dimension. Having experienced a measure of the sensate level of life, go to the next, go to the further next; there is always a marching onward, onward, onward. Higher dimensions of reality are there, higher dimensions of truth and beauty are there, for you to experience. Don’t stay put in one particular dimension.’ That thought is expressed also in a wonderful clarion call in a very great line of the Upanishads, the Katha Upanishad: Uttishthata, jagrata, prapya varan nibodhata — which is freely rendered by Swami Vivekananda as: ‘Arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reached’.

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 53 This traffic jam at the sensate level has created not only ecological and other problems, destroying much of the wealth of the world, but has also done much greater harm to man. It is destroying man’s own peace, making him a focus of tension, and a focus of unfulfillment, because at the sensory level man is always the focus of tension. This tension can only be resolved at a higher level. There is a comprehensive word in Sanskrit to deal with all the cravings and satisfactions at the sensory level: bhoga is sensory satisfaction and we concentrate on it all the time as if there is nothing higher. Vedanta treats bhoga as legitimate and valid, but exhorts man not to stagnate at that level, not to consider it as the be-all and end-all of life. There are higher dimensions of human experience and higher dimensions of reality to be experienced by man. The tragedy of modern man comes from concentrating solely on that one level. In the German poet Goethe’s Faust, there is a beautiful passage, Faust’s soliloquy in the woods, when he says: Oh! — for the broken State of Man I know Our unfulfillment now! Thou gavest bliss which brings me near and nearer to the Gods. And gavest too, the dark companion whom I cannot rid me of — He builds a wild fire in my heart, a blaze till from desire I stumble to possession. And in possession, languish from desire. That is the tragedy of man. ‘From desire I stumble to possession and in possession languish from desire’. This is that traffic jam which I mentioned earlier. The tragedy is transformed into joy and fulfillment when a part of human energy is directed to the higher levels of human evolution, the ethical, moral, aesthetic and spiritual levels. In his beautiful teachings, Sri Ramakrishna refers to three words relevant to the treatment of the Human Condition: bhoga, yoga and roga. Bhoga, which means sensory cravings and satisfaction, is perfectly legitimate. But if bhoga is carried beyond a certain dimension, it leads to roga. That difficulty will not arise if there is the intervention of yoga. If yoga comes in, then roga cannot affect man. Bhoga must be followed by yoga. Yoga is a profound contribution to human health and wellbeing.

54 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM Many suffer roga today, mental ailments and physical ailments, AIDS and other ailments. They are all called roga and they are most dangerous for man’s life fulfillment. All this is due to concentration on one particular level of human life, not recognising the higher dimensions of the human personality and trying to make manifest those higher dimensions. It is like a child playing with toys. It is a beautiful idea. But as the child grows in age, he has to leave the toys behind and strive for knowledge by going to school. It is tragedy when physically grown-up men continue to play with toys only! This is how we have to view the Human Condition today. It is not a very happy situation. But there is nothing to be worried about, because we have the wisdom. If there are maladies there are remedies also. Those remedies must be applied, then the maladies can be cured. There is enough human wisdom to bring about general happiness and welfare throughout the world. Technology will help us in the wide diffusion of ideas and to change the patterns of life. But we need guidance, and that guidance is available from those who have mastered the science of the deeper dimension of the human personality, a fuller philosophy of man. In the last century, there was a great German philosopher, Schopenhauer. He was an acute thinker. He predicted that if things continued in this direction, trouble would come. What he predicted has come true in this latter half of the 20th century. In his book, The World as Will and Idea, he says: ‘When men achieve security and welfare, now that they have solved all their problems, they become a problem to themselves!’ In highly developed societies, man has no external problems today. He is his own problem; it comes from within himself, he doesn’t know what it is; he is absolutely ignorant of his own inner self and the spiritual energies available from that human dimension. We know more and more about the world, but we know so little about ourselves. That kind of avidya or ignorance must be removed. To do that there is enough knowledge and wisdom available in the great spiritual traditions of the world religions, and in India, in the very rational, scientific presentation of the science of human possibilities known as Vedanta. That is the perspective from which I view the Human Condition — full of hope for the future, because there is that knowledge, there is that wisdom; knowledge matured into wisdom.

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 55 JAGDISH Dr. Bhargava has desired to know what aspect of the sciences we should talk about next. We all know that science is part of the great human heritage which provides man the opportunity for material upliftment. It has made a very significant contribution to the human welfare. Yet, the same knowledge, which has so significantly altered the human situation, is now being used to create massive instruments for human destruction. The responsibility for this situation is not that of science, but human greed and ambition. The first question that comes to my mind is what should control the course of this science so that the large-scale extension of human ability through science is prevented from becoming a threat, instead of a solution to the human problem? This problem began when science was launched on the Cartesian path, when the physical order became separated from the spiritual order, when the quantitative was divorced from the qualitative and these two orders started progressing separately. The physical order has thus advanced without its control mechanism, the spiritual order. Men like Teilhard de Chardin and some other important Christian thinkers have projected the processes of human evolution, where a new divine milieu will emerge through the meeting of the physical and the spiritual man at what is termed as the Omega Point. But can such a development take place? There are two different routes to knowledge. The question can be asked, whether the continued extension of man on the physical level, with uncontrolled stimulation of his sensory desires and demands, is not depriving him of the capacity to broaden larger human awareness. What should be the role of science at a time when a substantial proportion of the energy and resources are directed towards the manufacture of instruments for human destruction? Justification for keeping the economic system going is what now determines the direction of science, even if that means doing so through the production of armaments threatening the peace and security of the earth. How far could such a system survive?

BHARGAVA Let me try to state what I understand by the term ‘science’. Science, according to the worldview of professional scientists, is a body of knowledge acquired

56 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM through the application of what is known in common parlance as the ‘scientific method’. This method has grown through the ages; one can safely say that it owes its origin to Bacon in the 12th century, in the form that we understand it today. Since then it has grown and acquired many dimensions. Essentially, what it consists of is asking a question. The question arises out of careful observation or careful analysis of existing information. That is the first step. The second step in the method of science is formulating a hypothesis, which is a possible answer and is testable (that is very important). The third is doing experiments. And if the experiments don’t support the hypothesis, the hypothesis can be changed. If you cannot do any experiment that would disprove the hypothesis, then the hypothesis becomes the answer — which could be a simple fact like the density of a liquid, or it could be a generalisation like the Theory of Relativity or the Laws of Inheritance. One can use the scientific method in everyday life, and one doesn’t always have to follow all the steps. We follow all the steps in scientific research: that is how we arrive at answers to unknown questions pertaining to natural phenomena. But we can use the principles of this method in everyday decision-making. An example I often quote and which is known to many people because it is a part of the Method of Science Exhibition, is that if you have someone sick in the family — let it be my brother — say suffering from typhoid, the question asked is, how to cure the person? I make various hypotheses: shall I let nature take its course? Or shall I give him a medicine suggested to me by my friend? Or shall I go to the temple, or to the mosque or to the church and pray? Or shall I go to a doctor trained in modern medicine? In such a situation you cannot do an experiment and try out all the above possibilities. So what do you do? Instead of the experiment, you use all the knowledge that exists, and your experience. And you decide which of these alternatives is most likely to work. In this case, the process of logical reasoning against the background of past experience and wisdom takes the place of experiment. And that essentially should be the purpose of education, that is, to be able to bring to command your knowledge and experience, and convert this knowledge and experience into wisdom, which is essentially the ability to arrive at an opinion or to make a decision that will stand the test of time. In this case, if I were to make a decision, I would decide to go to a doctor trained in modern medicine because I know that drugs

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 57 exist today which would cure a person of typhoid, and which work at very high levels of efficiency. The scientific method can be similarly used in many other aspects of everyday life, where arriving at an opinion or making a decision is required. That, to me, is ‘Science’. ‘Science’ is a body of knowledge acquired through the application of the method of science. That would seem to me one possible approach. If I say that every aspect of life should be explicable in terms of the laws of physics and chemistry, you may ask me, “What about aesthetics and ethics?” This is, in fact, one of the growing frontiers of biology today: that it should be possible to arrive at the lowest common denominator of aesthetic appreciation. Why is it that some things are universally accepted as aesthetically satisfying? The golden ratio, for example, and certain numbers that are used over and over again by Nature and Man to make things look aesthetically satisfactory. These ratios and numbers have certain properties, the recognition of which properties is, perhaps, built in your genes. This recognition could have given the human species an evolutionary advantage. The same is true of ethics: we are beginning to recognise that a certain value system is built, or has come to be built, in our genes; we prefer certain behaviour patterns, perhaps because they are in consonance or compatible with this value system, for the simple reason that if they were not so, men simply would not have been able to survive the competition with other species during evolution. Remember that Man has many disadvantages. One of them is that as a child, he is totally dependent on parents for a very substantial proportion of his life. The average lifespan in bygone days was of the order of slightly more than 20 and the child was dependent on his parents for roughly one-third of the normal lifespan of that time, for the major period of human evolution. Man has been on this Planet for only about 2 million years: this is a very small proportion of the time that life has existed on this planet. For this and many other reasons, it is clear that Man should have had certain qualities which other species have not had. It is very possible that the set of values that we intuitively recognise as universal and, by and large, immutable, are probably built in our genes because they provide this advantage.

58 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM I don’t know whether I have answered the questions that Mr. Kapur has raised, but I hope I have made a statement which might indicate the possible approach towards answering those questions.

KOTOVSKII To my mind, the experience of the development of human civilisation has proved that science has two aspects for Mankind. The first, if we are so-called thinking beings, we find that science is necessary for knowledge, as such. Profes- sor Bhargava is very right: science is discovery, of understanding laws and rules, of reasoning about the outer world and of man as himself. For human beings, it is necessary to know of, or to understand this knowledge, even if it has no practical value. If we try to understand the history of the cosmos billions or trillions of years ago, it will have no practical application for improvement of the Human Condition we are talking about just now. But it is necessary. It can’t be stopped. The second aspect is applied science. Science is also being applied to development in Swami Ranganathananda’s scheme, to the development of muscle or shakti. I disagree with the view that science is responsible for all the ills and the sins of modem society. Yet, there are voices holding science and scientists responsible for Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I would never agree with this. The subject we are coming to is the use and misuse of science. The misuse of science is really responsible for the sins and illness of society, of humankind. At this point, I agree with Swami Ranganathananda that we have three shaktis. The first priority now, by the end of th20 century, alongside the future development of science and technology, should be given to the development of this sort of atma shakti because that will ensure the proper use of science. To speak of the social responsibility of the sciences, what is needed now is the cultivation of a psychology of social responsibility in the scientific community. What is required is that every scientist must understand his responsibility in his own country and before Mankind. To ensure social responsibility among the scientific fraternity is a very great problem, of which I have practical knowledge because I have the honour of being Deputy Secretary-General of the World Fed- eration of Scientific Workers for the last 20 years.

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 59 To my mind, if we are thinking of how science is to be used to ensure optimum improvement of the Human Condition the steps to be taken are: to develop science and technology on an optimum basis, as quickly as possible and as widely as possible, while at the same time, cultivating such structures in which science is used for improving the Human Condition, not to prepare for a nuclear holocaust.

ORSHOVEN The scientific method can be compared to a net to catch fish with. The net has holes of a certain dimension, but it is not because smaller fish cannot be caught by it that we are entitled to state that there are no small fishes. I only want to see clearly in what respect Dr. Bhargava and I have different opinions. I accept fully the so-called scientific method he elaborated upon a little earlier, but only for a well-defined dimension of reality; that is, the physical and physiological dimension; the deeper dimension of man cannot be revealed by this so-called scientific method. The real scientific method covers not only the physical, but also the deeper dimensions of reality. Another point is, as the Belgian geneticist Professor H. Vanden Berghe says: ‘There is a difference between science and scientist. Science is not ethical or non-ethical — the scientist may be ethically developed or underdeveloped’. He may be an intellectual genius and at the same time be spiritually underdeveloped, misusing science for egotistic reasons. Professor Kotovskii said that science will go its own way. Of course man is characterised by his search for truth, whether relative or absolute, but the results of science should be a blessing for all; science is a good tool to increase human welfare. The troubles arise when scientists and others with very restricted egotistic visions misuse it. As a society, a government or an institute, we can provide opportunities for scientific research to scientists who are ethically developed. There is need for a steering mechanism. Our universities provide a lot of opportunities to increase our knowledge. The problem is not there. The problem is: how to increase wisdom? This wisdom will determine whether we use the energies released by science in a good or bad way.

60 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM Along with the search for truth outside us, we should discover the deeper reality in ourselves. Laws and sanctions are not a guarantee for peace and harmony; they are useful to those who are ethically underdeveloped. The best guarantee for a better human condition is to raise ourselves to the level of humans, and to become spiritually mature. We have neglected this vital problem and it is here that India, through her long spiritual tradition, has much to contribute and to offer to the world; she has the key to solve this vital problem because she has developed the science of spirituality. As conditioned beings, we are programmed, we see things from our own point of view, and we have a tendency not to see what we cannot understand. If we become aware of our ‘programme’ we can see that we are not objective. Objectivity is necessary to practice science. Becoming aware of our prejudices is already a step towards objectivity. Our physical sciences deal only with relative truth. We have seen that science goes from one truth to a better truth, but the search for truth, even if we have to be satisfied for the moment with a relative truth, is directed towards the Absolute Truth. In science we speak of Truth, in bhakti we speak of god. Whatever we call it, we are interested in Truth. Never has a science been practiced with the intention to discover untruth; its intention is always to discover truth, but we have to start our journey towards truth from the point where we are. Science can be practiced only when the love for truth is greater than the love of our reputation, name and fame. In fact, it is that love for truth which unites all scientists of the world. Why do I say this? It is to show that becoming conscious of our prejudices and our conceptions, by cleaning our minds we can practice science in the service of human welfare.

JAGDISH Maybe I should add another dimension because it may be relevant to what you have said. This concerns the idiom and the paradigm of science itself. In the last few decades both the theories and the paradigms of science have developed to often qualify, alter or negate what was stated earlier and considered valid by a large part of the scientific community. In reply to Professor Orshoven’s question, I would like to state that our approach to gravity, relativity and quantum mechanics have gone through a

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 61 sea-change within the last 50 years. We cannot explain away the larger human dimensions about which our knowledge is so limited, as if we were talking in absolute terms. All we can say today is that we do not know, to admit that there may be many areas of knowledge that we cannot acquire through the scientific route.

SISIRKUMAR I have one comment to make on your reference to aesthetics. I also wish to ask two questions. I think scientists have by and by realised a certain inadequacy, if not infe- riority, with regard to the values we call ‘beauty’. Previously, they did not care much about it. In fact, in most books of science, you did not have any reference to beauty as a value. But now they want to show an apparent concern for it. Yet, the concern is a concession. And by trying to quantify beauty, I am afraid they are going to destroy it. That is my comment. Your new interest in aesthetics will probably kill aesthetics unless you are prepared to change both your mode and philosophy of perception. Swamiji referred to the science of wisdom, the science of self. My question is, would you accept that as science? There is no point in being polite because this has to be understood.

BHARGAVA I thought I had answered this question. The science you talk of has not been arrived at by following the method that I have stated, and is not compatible with it quite stringently.

SISIRKUMAR Your way is equally astringent, Sir! Thank you very much. Swami Ran- ganathananda and I are really more tolerant than you are.

62 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM SWAMIJI I am with Bhargava, I am with Ghose. My point is ‘Science’ is a very wide term. For the last 400 years, it has meant physical science, dealing with physical data. That is how it has developed. Dr. Bhargava is referring to that aspect. But there are scientists including biologists, who have said, ‘Science is not wrapped up with any particular body of facts.’ I am referring to the biologist Thompson who wrote the famous book, Introduction to Science. If you have facts, and if you study the facts and draw conclusions, if you subject the conclusions to testing, then you have science whether it is physical data or any other data. That is why in physical science itself, the most rigorous science is physics. Close to it comes chemistry. Then, when you go a little higher up, to botany and zoology, the rigor decreases slightly, because you are dealing with imponderable factors, more and more difficult to quantify, in that particular dimension. When you come to psychology, conditions become still more imponderable. Yet, we are developing a science in each of these fields. Sociology is treated as a science; it can never be equal to physics; high quantitative precision cannot ever characterise it. At the most, only statistical quantification is possible. Science is a large body of knowledge which, at a particular level, can be made very mathematically precise, while at another level that precision is impossible. Yet the latter level of science will not lose the character of science, because it is a rational inquiry based on facts of a different order. Confirming or rejecting of hypotheses, or verification, is what constitutes science. When you deal with human behaviour, you are not dealing entirely in terms of molecules, atoms and genes. There are other factors that come into view. When those factors are taken into consideration the methods also vary. Yet, they are scientific methods, though they vary according to the data that is available. The objective in all cases is truth itself — truth can stand questioning and verification. It is from this wider point of view that India developed a science of man in depth, the science of spirituality. And unlike in the West, where physical sciences had to face opposition and suppression from religion, India did not find any opposition between knowledge in one field of experience and knowledge in another field.

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 63 Let us consider two patterns of human behaviour: In one, there is stabbing and killing; in the other, there is kindness and helpfulness. Can we study these two types of behaviour scientifically? Yes, we can study them scientifically. We study all aspects of behaviour to find from where this behaviour comes. Then we arrive at the truth. The mind from its various levels, produces these two and similar different types of behaviour. If anyone has developed spiritually within, he will behave in the latter way; if he has not developed, spiritually, he will behave in the former way. From external behaviour, we go to the original source of that behaviour, namely, the level of consciousness of the person concerned. In this way, we can form a science of man in depth. We cannot call it a department of physical science. We will call it Human Science, the science of man in depth. That is how we have to deal with the entire human phenomena. When you said that if a scientist is to use his scientific knowledge for the good of man, he has to raise his consciousness to a higher level, he is then spiritual though he may not recognise this growth in him.

CHARLES In Leningrad, in the 1950s, Schumacher once said he was trying to find his way, and he couldn’t. He was looking at the map and couldn’t find his way. So he asked the guide who said, “We’re here.” And then when he looked, there were many churches around. So Schumacher asked, “Where are these churches?” And the guide replied, “We don’t show churches on the map.” So then he said, “But there is this church.” And the guide said, “No, that is a museum. We don’t show living churches.” So Schumacher thought, “Perhaps if I only put on a map what I’m absolutely certain of, I might be leaving out tremendously important things which I’m not certain of.” These are, I suppose, what in science is called a ‘black box’. You know what goes in, you know what comes out: you don’t know what happens inside. It seems to me that it is not whether everything in the black box can be explained by this net that Professor Orshoven described; it could be that you need another technique. But until you deal with it, don’t forget its presence. Art has always dealt with this black box intuitively, artists have always gone beyond being sure.

64 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM I think Cocteau has a wonderful sentence. He says, “When all your friends tell you, ‘Stop it is perfect’; that is when the true artist begins”, because to go into something unsure is to try to understand. 1 can quite see that you were absolutely right, that it was also inadequate to explain the presence of things which you cannot explain but which you know are present.

BHARGAVA One of the points which have emerged from the discussion pertains to unanswered questions — and that is what Mr. Kapur also referred to. The attitude of a scientist in this regard is unambiguous. A scientist will say, when he does not know, “I do not know.” And that is it. But saying this does not mean that he would, therefore, accept an unscientific answer; he will not accept an explanation of the unknown in terms of another unknown. If he does not know, he will say, “I do not know. I will wait for the answer to be found.” Biologists believe that all aspects of living phenomena, including those that we do not understand today, will be made explicable in the future in terms of the laws of science. The reason for this is the following: If you simply look at the history of science, two things emerge. One is the recognition that the desire to find answers to questions is built in our genes. If that were not so, Man would simply not have advanced. That is a part of his genetic inheritance, and that sets men apart from other species. I mean not only the desire to find answers but also the ability to find answers, of which ability language is a very important factor. The second point which has emerged is, that when Man evolved two million years ago, there were a large number of questions that primitive Man must have asked himself; questions that pertain to the nature of the non-living materials around us — air, water and so on — and that led to the development of the science of chemistry; questions about the nature of extraterrestrial events, the periodic rising of the sun, the passage of planets through constellations, and so on — that led to the development of astronomy; questions regarding the physical phenomena he witnessed — lightning, thunder, sound, heat — which led to the development of physics; and finally, questions about the biological phenomena he witnessed — birth, death, disease — that led to the development of biology. Therefore, these are the four basic sciences.

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 65 The development of these sciences occurred because Man asked questions pertaining to natural phenomena to satisfy his curiosity, not initially to apply them. Application is something that was built into the evolutionary scheme of things; whenever you found an answer to a vital question, sooner or later the knowledge came to be applied. But what are built in the genes are the curiosity and the desire to find answers to questions: that is what gave Man intellectual satisfaction. There remained a large number of unanswered questions, around which myths were built, around which pagan religions were constructed. These questions were slowly, but always surely, answered one by one: questions pertaining to the origin of Man, pertaining to birth, disease and death. Remember that in our country, smallpox is called badi mata — because we did not know the reason for it at that time. Today, we know what causes it. In fact, we have eradicated smallpox. Ten thousand years from now people will not know that there were badi mata and choti mata for chicken pox. One can fairly conclude that a lot of dogma has come from what one might call the fear of the unknown: that is what we don’t understand — and therefore, try to explain using any system or assumption that will explain it. Though the unknown has become slightly less with time, we still do not know the size of the unknown and so do not know how much there is yet to know. No one realises this more than a scientist, that there is a tremendous amount yet to be known. As I said earlier as knowledge grows, perception increases; the number of problems that are there to be solved stays exactly the same. But the size of the known increases, and, therefore, the fear of the residue decreases. It is this experience over many centuries that whenever and wherever Man has attempted to look for an answer to a question, he has found it in terms of what we understand by the term, science; this allows us to make the statement that if there is a genuine question and if a phenomenon is established (many phenomena have never been established, like the Loch Ness monster, or what Satya Sai Baba seems to be able to do), it leads to the expectation and hope that an answer will sooner or later be found. In other words, if an answer can be found, an answer shall be found through the use of the scientific method.

66 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM CHARLES The issue really is that because science has to be absolutely sure of what it says — and I think to be fair to Dr. Bhargava, he did say that the viewpoint can change, that the truth can change — it is obvious that when a better viewpoint is found, science will accept it. It seems to me that the idea that you have got to be sure of something before you are sure of it, is in itself a grievous handicap in life, for two reasons: one, it tends to make us not see the things we are not sure of. Two, we do talk about it; we tend to talk about it in things we are absolutely sure of. For instance, you can be absolutely sure that I consist or you consist of so many different kinds of chemicals, so you may define yourself in those terms, or you might say, “I consist of so many animal urges, including primal screams.” By doing this we are describing less than the whole person, but in everyday terms we (not you scientists, but the rest of us here) begin to actually limit it to those definitions. And that is to actually diminish life, to ignore what we don’t see, what we don’t talk about, or what the scientist doesn’t talk about, but which absolutely exists.

BHARGAVA I think what Charles has said is, again, a profound statement. But here, I must come to the defence of scientists. Scientists have an obsession with trying to be comprehensive in their descriptions. As they are not ashamed of saying, “I do not know,” well, they say instead, “This is what we understand, this is what we do not understand.” Let me give you an example. Today, the single, less understood problem in biology is that which pertains to the brain or the central nervous system, about how we receive information through our five senses, store it, process it, collate it and recall it. A little is known of this, but very little, about vision and hearing, and not much about the other three senses. About how we store it, absolutely nothing is known. How we collate our information and recall it is also unknown. We do not know the basis of dreams. There are interesting theories, but that is just about all. The scientist is not only obsessed with the total description of the situation, but he also implies while stating, “this is what we understand,” that “this is our present understanding,” because science progresses by disproving; no truths in science are final. That is why the scientist is never ashamed of saying, “This is what we do not understand; that is what we would like to understand.”

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 67 About beauty, I would like to differ with Professor Sisirkumar Ghose. It is a fact that scientists have been obsessed with beauty from the beginning, since the time of Plato, when the whole idea of the five regular solids and what one could do with them developed. This obsession has been there throughout. Read Newton, Einstein, Crick and Monod. Scientists have been intrigued by the fact that, for example, there are five, and only five, regular solids. These regular solids are of great interest, to painters and to architects. There are some other ratios that scientists have been very intrigued about all through history, but it is only now that they are trying to understand them in all humility and modesty. It is not something which is superficial. Today, many scientists are truly, genuinely and, as I said, modestly interested in trying to see if some rules can be found. Science never closes a chapter because the more you understand, the more you find you don’t understand; that is how science progresses and we will never understand everything that remains to be understood. The same would be true of the scientific basis of aesthetics. Today, the obsession of scientists with beauty is genuine; that is what I strongly feel. I am a professional biologist, but I am going to be associated with a film on ‘Science and Beauty’ which is expected to be funded by the Department of Science and Technology and I know now that I have at least 12 or 13 people who would like to look at it!

IAN We have got to this marvellous point where we talk about art and religion and science — and then comes the crunch, which is: passing the buck. And the buck is always passed to psychology. You have subliminally mentioned psychology. I would like to point out that the research in psychology shows more and more that we know less and less about what the psyche is. We cannot measure consciousness scientifically. We can do it only through imagination. And this is a great dilemma, because we are now accustomed to being on the defensive. At a big conference, held recently on ‘What is Psyche?’, world experts came to this conclusion after seven days: “We do not know.” Some said, “Thank God.” At another conference on ‘What is Psychoanalysis?’ the conclusion was also, “We do not know.”

68 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM JAGDISH If I understand it right, most scientists agree that their perceptions, awareness or consciousness are responsible for their creativity. If the psychologist, who deals with another kind of science that relates to consciousness, says that he cannot measure consciousness and, therefore, he cannot measure creativity, how can a physical or a biological scientist, whose inspiration begins with consciousness measure the fruit of his inspiration in measurable quantities?

KOTOVSKII I would like to make a number of minor points. First of all, I would completely agree and support the viewpoint of Professor Pushpa Bhargava, that science is the volume of what we know. But at the same time, the scientific approach, to my mind, to what we don’t know is to consciously recognise and admit this ignorance because we have not so far developed the right techniques to know what anti-science is to invent some dogma which can’t be proved by experiment. Second, in the humanities and in social sciences, the same laws of science as in neutral sciences are followed. Hypothesis — proof — result. For instance, if I were to try to understand why the majority of the working class here in India, in particular bastis, were members of the trade unions led by the Communist Party of India and had yet voted for a politically antagonistic party, I would have to search for the reason. I formulate my hypothesis. Then, I go there and make an on-the-spot investigation and may find that there are certain factors influencing this group of workers, such as belonging to the caste of the candidate they have voted for. And then I come to a conclusion: caste affinity is a more influential factor than political affinity. Third, I agree that we may have many people sitting and looking at this tree from different angles. Whose is the right perspective, whose is wrong? What is the truth? In science, there is no Absolute Truth. Truth is merely relative. And how is this relative truth to be found? By comparison of results, of

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 69 observance of these different individual sciences. Real science exists when a scientist can acknowledge, “My neighbour has proved that I am wrong.” That is a law of science itself. If every scientist, sitting in his laboratory, says, “I am right, my theory is right” — that is not science. And such science doesn’t exist in the laboratory because of the intercourse between scientific institutions and individual scientists. The final result is often left to be worked out by the international scientific community, in every branch of science. In this connection, I would like to quote on a very famous Russian scientist, Pavlov, a physiologist. He said, “I would like to compare Science with a bird flying. The bird is theory, theoretical hypothesis. And facts are the air on which the bird can fly”. And the combination of the bird and the air leads to the result, to scientific invention to knowledge of the laws of science.

IAN I think it was a very interesting point that Dr. Bhargava made about the fact of curiosity, of knowing, being in the genes. Would you also say that there is a desire for unknowing in the genes? I ask the question because I did a survey of the motivation of people coming to me for analysis. The common denominator was quite clear: anxiety about accepting their own uniqueness. That is the question of unknowing.

BHARGAVA I believe that the process of unknowing could also be called a process of knowing. When PhD students come to my laboratory, the first thing I have to tell them is “You must unlearn everything you have learnt in a university here, because a lot of things you have learnt are simply not true.” So the process of unlearning is also a process of learning.

SWAMIJI I read an interesting article in the Siemens Journal, ElectroMedica, and a few years ago. It stated that this modern age is an age of exploration; Earth exploration; then North Pole, South Pole; the bottom of the ocean; then Mount Everest.

70 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM Then we went into the depth of matter; then into the living cell. Then came the exploration of space. Finally that writer says: but there is one exploration we have not undertaken which is vital to the Human Condition today. What is that? Ex- ploration of the hinterland of our own consciousness. That is of vital importance to the human situation today. I found that article interesting, pointing to the problems and prospects of Man in today’s civilisation. Along with all these outer world explorations, if this exploration of the hinterland of our consciousness is also undertaken, some great findings will be made for the improvement of the Human Condition. Man has a profound dimension within. It is unknown, but it is not unknowable, says Vedanta. It has been known by people. Knowing here means experiencing. And the sages have also said that all can know. They didn’t say: I know you must only believe what I say. They said: you can also know. You can also test, you can also verify. Find out the truth of your own true nature for yourself. The inner dimension is a big field for exploration, waiting to be entered by Modern Man. That field cannot be explored merely by studying the external world or by studying the inner world in a laboratory, by breaking it into pieces as we do in the physical sciences. It is an experiential rather than objective intellectual formulation. The whole method is scientific, because it is a procedure of rational inquiry into facts of experience that lie above the sensory level. You can question, you can doubt, and accept only when you actually experience the truth. Wherever one can question, there is science. Truth alone can invite and can stand questioning and inquiry.

KOTOVSKII We have a tendency as scientists, as it is said, to not see what we cannot understand. Now if we can become aware of a method by which we will see, that would be a really scientific, really objective method, because otherwise we see things coloured by our own emotions and our own conditions. We have a desire to understand the unknown or to know the Truth. We want to be satisfied, to know the relative truth, to go on from one relative truth to another as they lead ultimately to Truth.

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 71 SISIRKUMAR Could I make two remarks from the opposition, if I may say so? We are all beneficiaries of science so there is no question of saying, “Get out, Science”. But it seems to me that science, which is critical of everything, is not sufficiently critical of itself. That is the limitation of the so-called scientific method. And if this continues, scientists will know of everything — except themselves. My second remark is a statement from Whitehead, who was deeply devoted to Wordsworth just as Bronowski was to Blake. In his book, Science and the Modern World, which we had to read even as students of literature, and I still remember the passage (though not exactly). Whitehead said that the scientist can study a flower, a cloud or a sunset, to his own satisfaction, applying the ‘scientific method’. The scientist studies the flower, the cloud, the sunset — but somehow the radiance goes out. This is what mystics call the ‘radiance of reality’. Well, science has given us everything — including an impoverished reality. My friend from the Soviet Union was pleased to mention that the scientific hypothesis and method could be applied to the Humanities. I must, with due deference, disagree but I will do it pleasantly, with the help of a story, A French mathematician was persuaded by non-scientific friends to go and see a tragedy play that were the talk of the town. After the play was over, a friend asked, “How did you like it?” The scientist hummed and hawed and said, “But what does it prove?”

JAGDISH There is no doubt that the sciences have a significant role to play, but there are other subjects also in which there is much that is unknown. Most scientists are beginning to understand that in spite of their claims, they are only touching the fringe of consciousness which in turn will explore science. Our problem is how to relate all this to the subject of the Human Condition. How does science relate itself to these issues? How does a common person perceive science? How is science affecting the lives of people without their understanding it? What kind of future does science hold for us by itself, without intervention due to larger human considerations?

72 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM If we look at the physical sciences, they appear to be going headlong towards the development of more and more dangerous nuclear armaments such as the SDI. The biological sciences are racing towards manipulation of genes to create better human beings without knowing what these beings will be like. Perhaps we should ask: Who will determine the kind of human beings that you are going to create? Many in positions of great authority and power may consider the ideal human being to be a he or she Rambo. There may be others who consider themselves safer controlling a larger number of morons. Is this also one of the functions of science? In my personal opinion, there is criminal science. The problem is to bring this misuse of science under control. How do we define its role? Who determines where science will go? Who will control it and who will formulate its decisions? Science has to be used for the larger good, but how?

SWAMIJI You spoke about the big problem of armaments: armaments and weapons do not make war. Human beings make war. We come back to the human being and the Human Condition; what type of man can bring peace and harmony to this civilised society? Can that type of man be created only through physical science and technology? Or are other factors involved in it? That is the question which is central to this problem of the Human Condition.

KOTOVSKII I agree with Swami Ranganathananda, absolutely. I have already expressed my view that the use or misuse of science unfortunately is outside science. We should discuss the political field. Regarding science and the Human Condition, I see two aspects which must be borne in mind while entering the political sphere. First, I share the view that science is neutral to politics; and second, that scientists are not being neutral to politics. The scientific community is the brain of mankind. If the brain is dead, Man is dead. If the world scientific community unites against the misuse of science it would not be misused; this would be the beginning of a new era for Mankind. But to achieve this is very difficult. The scientific community is divided politically, socially and ideologically.

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 73 The masses are too involved in conscious policy-making, via the democratic institutions. And I don’t believe that the electorate can influence politics consciously without a scientific approach to the outer world. From this point of view, dissemination of scientific, knowledge, and propagation of science as such, should be the primary object of the scientific community, and of politicians, on political and government levels.

SWAMIJI When you spoke of scientists as the ‘brain’ of the community, and everything depending upon that brain functioning properly; the idea of functioning properly involves development of the heart, also. In the old language: it is brain and heart that go together. If they develop together, then there is hope. ‘Heart’ means the defining of emotions and feelings into love, dedication and service for the development of the humanistic impulse. How are we to generate the humanistic impulse? That problem has been referred to by both Bertrand Russell and Sorokin: how to generate love in the human heart. Can we do it through modern physical science and technology? Perhaps Professor Pushpa Bhargava can throw a little light on this subject.

BHARGAVA I am very glad that you raised this question and the answer is that lots of things have happened since the time of Betrand Russell (for whom I have the greatest respect). One is, people have begun to realise that whereas the information or knowledge that science generates is value-neutral, and the practice of science itself is not value-neutral. The practice of science does generate a set of values. That is something we are beginning to discover now. I think this was inevitable. When you convey the message of science to people, they will, hopefully, begin to realise for the first time, that these values arise out of something which you understand; that is: science is just about beginning to give us an assay for determining whether or not, at a given time, at a given place, a particular value is acceptable (or should be acceptable) and would be in the best interest of Man.

74 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM One of the problems with the conventional assay of values, which arises through the dictates of dogma, religion, convention and tradition, is that the sanctioned values become immutable. What we are now learning is that no value is really, truly immutable. For instance, take the concept of freedom. We are beginning to understand the rules that would allow us to determine what freedom is justifiable and what freedom is not justifiable.

SWAMIJI You said scientists are searching for values, and also influencing values. I fully accept this. Some scientists are on the side of values, and they also project values. But my main question is: can scientific technology alone help to increase values in society?

BHARGAVA Today we are beginning to realise that the practice of science generates a set of values. Many of these values are something that Mankind, through trial and error, all through history, has found worthy of acceptance. Others are newer sets of values.

JAGDISH There are two kinds of values, one that may arise out of science which relates to the level of knowledge which science has developed, but the larger human values are eternal. They go far beyond the levels of our knowledge. They do not shift with every new discovery or negation thereof. Therefore, you cannot change basic human values which are quite often related to the manifestation of the cosmic order, and cannot be manipulated. Should this continue to be the basis of human value systems, or should it be the ever-changing amorphous, undefinable shifting, evolving knowledge of science?

SWAMIJI The approach should be both individual and collective. The socio-political environment must also be healthy, just as environmental hygiene and personal

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 75 hygiene go together. In this case, a wider philosophy of life will include efforts at the political, economic and social improvement of the human situation and individual growth towards moral, spiritual, aesthetic awareness. These must go side by side. A complete philosophy should include both.

HAKSAR One thing I think we should be very, very clear about is not to practice primitive anthropomorphism, in respect of scientists. Scientists, like economists or politicians, are human beings. And it is part of my empirical experience that scientists, economists, politicians, political scientists and sociologists vary a great deal in their perception of what are called the social situation and human situation. A scientist may belong to a wide spectrum of values, of one sort of another. So I really don’t understand either this assailing or elevating of scientists as the brains of the world. Even if they are the brains of the world, I think the Nobel Prize winners in economics do more damage than scientists. I was once an honorary student of a science called anthropology and I was a student of Professor Borislaw Malinovski. I remember in those days, in the early 1930s, how they, as anthropologist human beings, categorised themselves as structuralists, functionalists, evolutionists and diffusionists, and were quarreling among themselves. Yet, I could synthesise, even in my humble way; I did not believe a structure without function could exist, and I have never seen a structuring function which is not subject to change. Science is a word; it is a species of knowledge derived by a particular method. And we act upon it. What amazes me is the schizophrenia of this civilisation, where we avidly seize upon an aircraft for travel, have an air conditioner in our house, and a refrigerator, telephone and then denounce it all. What kind of schizophrenia is this, and what kind of morality is this? I think these things have to be integrated. To my way of looking at it, and one must see the totality of the human situation, where science has reached at a particular moment of history — science doesn’t hang in mid-air. A scientist is a human being, like all of us. Newton, for instance, believed that matter is indestructible, that matter is created by god. He had that advantage of being sure of his position. I have the disadvantage of being assailed both by philosophers and scientists — by individual scientists, not by science.

76 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM I agree that we are now, hopefully (unless we are wiped out) not at the end of our journey on this Earth. As I said yesterday, the story of human civilisation organised in society is very recent. Biological evolution is much older. We are not coming to the end of our journey in this, and there are vast areas to be explored. Yesterday, I was greatly alarmed and aghast to hear my friend Dr. Karan Singh says that he sees the unification of Mankind in terms of jeans, and pop music. He should have added Pepsi-Cola, Coca-Cola, and Stolichnaya vodka. I hope this does not happen as I want to see a human being without jeans, as a human being, without his having to devour this thing or that thing. So in my view, this kind of unification will not get us anywhere. I think we are gathered together in utmost sincerity and humility, to understand the interrelationship of things. And there is this relationship of Being and Consciousness, which is important. It is no use merely asserting it; we have to investigate it, we have to try to understand it. And it is really a very moral thing to be humble and say, “We do not know yet.” I have seen a lot more scientists admit that, than other categories of professionals. In overconfidence lies the destruction of Humankind. We have lived together in families, in clans, in tribes; we have killed each other in the name of tribes, and in the name of the nation and for its glory. Now we have come to a situation where we need to integrate science and society, including politics and economics. This integration is essential. I have seen in my own life, with my own eyes, not only in our country but in other countries, the tragic consequences of this divorce. I hope that we can find agreement among ourselves. In this day and age our vision has changed — the situation was earlier: I remember a line that somebody said, “man’s cares were bound by a few paternal acres”. Now they are no longer bound by a few acres. Man’s human consciousness transcends the paternal acres. Even in my childhood I lived in villages, and the level of consciousness of human beings was bound by those few paternal acres. It is no longer so. Who do we blame? One has to accept that politics, which was the art of the possible, is largely responsible. I wish I could demonstrate that with the help of modern science — medicine, biogenetics, biology in all its branches, bio-physics, bio-chemistry, and the material sciences — we have the necessary means of satisfying at least the hunger, as I said, of the heart and the famine of the

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 77 brain. That would be enough work to do for my generation and maybe for our children. I personally think that it is possible. From the way I look at history I am confident history is an attempt to convert what were at one time mere moral injunctions and imperatives into more or less legal requirement. I will conclude by dwelling on the conversion of moral injunctions: Love Thy Neighbour — a beautiful idea! You should love your neighbour. But you cannot enforce love. Yet, you can take care that your neighbour does not inflict damage on you; and there is a law: you may not love your neighbour, but Thou shall not inflict damage on your neighbour, because there is a penalty attached to such an action. I think we are reaching a point in the course of our journey on this Earth where the moral imperatives of yesterday are becoming practical necessities. That is the stage we have reached. Love Thy Neighbour. Turn the other cheek, or otherwise you go to war. There has to be some accommodation.

JAGDISH I perceive that as a result of the many excesses that have become a part of international life, we have almost reached an irreversible position in regard to the human, social organisations and in the manner in which science is being used for destructive purposes. We see very little hope that we will be able to move back from this position and catalyse new social orders or organisations that will be equitable and constructive. Yet in the new and developing world, including countries like India, many options are still open in the use of available human and scientific resources to alleviate the Human Condition. The situation here is far from irreversible. What should be our role or the role of people in many other parts of the world, both as individuals and groups or nations, in seeing new visions, catalysing new ways of life? There are thousands of centres of excellence in different parts of the world, which have been selflessly struggling to raise new issues, solve problems and work towards new moral, ethical and spiritual standards, to salvage whatever is decent and possible and create hope in the future from the mess in which we find ourselves. I believe this should be the concern of all of us here whatever our calling. And that is what is really important. No one here has questioned the role that science can play in our life; but everyone has

78 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM questioned the use it is being put to. We have gone forward with science, which like spirituality, is a great heritage. The question is how to use this heritage. If destructive weapons are created, how do we convert those weapons into useful things? What is important is to blunt the destructive instruments and strengthen the creative aspect.

SWAMIJI Some distinction is being made nowadays between science and technology. Science is universally respected, being a search for Truth, technology is respected because it helps to improve the Human Condition, though when it becomes ‘over-technology’ it tends to stifle the Human Condition. Some parts of the world are suffering from such a situation, for which reason there is a reaction against technology. When it destroys the environment, when it makes man a servant of the machine then there is reaction. That reaction has set in highly-developed societies. Insofar as India and other undeveloped societies are concerned, that problem has not yet arisen. Are we going to act in such a way as to make those problems affect and afflict us also? Or are we going to be farsighted and prevent such situations from arising? Even today, there are certain sections of Indian society who have benefited from science and technology, but who have almost lost their soul in the bargain. They have become corrupt, evil and full of indulgence in social malpractices. The human situation is far from perfect because such men are blind to all values except the values given to them by technology — making for comfort, pleasure and varied sensory satisfactions.

HAKSAR If I may say so, with very great respect, I am deeply stirred by what Swami Ranganathananda has just said. I do not wish to sit in judgment on the West. They have to find solutions. But what grieves me, as an Indian, is that we have accepted ready-made concepts that evolved in the West in one way or the other, and we apply them mechanically and thoughtlessly. That is the tragedy of my experience in the Planning Commission. We take economic laws from Adam Smith to Marshall and John Maynard Keynes. Economic theories, as I under-

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 79 stand them, are ex-post-facto rationalisations of phenomena. I wish sometimes that Adam Smith had titled his book not Enquiry into Wealth of Nations, but Enquiry into Poverty of Nations. Adam Smith didn’t do it, although he was a philosopher, and a philosopher has no right to be insensitive to poverty; instead he was fascinated by the wealth of a few. In India, we have forgotten that the distinctive feature of luminosity of at least one perspective is what is described by this ugly word, ‘holistic’, which merely means seeing things as a whole in their interconnections. In the course of our development, we have forgotten atma vat sarva bhuteshu and have taken on a pattern of development which negates this. We boast about Indian civilisation but we have forgotten this particular heritage. Unfortunately, we are not free agents. For instance I can say, sitting in the Planning Commission, “This is my view.” The next time I say it, I will be told by the government, “Yes, you can practice this outside the Planning Commission.” We are not free agents or otherwise, as old Omar Khayyam puts it: If you and I could but with Fate conspire To alter the sorry scheme of things entire. He saw the Human Condition and was agonized and he invited us to alter the sorry scheme of things. Those of us who think about the Indian situation should express our concern and our faith. Our concern should be that the path for social, cultural and economic transformation of India should not be faced by the dilemma of Man against Nature. It should instead follow the path of Man in Nature. To me that is the key. And we in India owe it to ourselves or to set an example such as the great civilization of China has done, showing that it can at least take care of itself. At the same time, while we are endeavouring to rediscover ourselves and trying to find paths, we must recall that there is an old saying of Ramakrishna Paramhansa: “As many faiths, as many paths”. There is a great deal of wisdom in that saying. The question is, how do you operationalise the accumulated experience of the wisdom of Humankind? I have no false pride; as an Indian I say that we do have problems and that we continue to create problems where none should be created. One major problem we have is millions of human beings without the minimum essentials which all animals

80 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM require, food and water. One feels a sense of shame. As Gandhiji told Tagore, he could not ask the hungry man to respond to the dohas of Kabir. We are human beings; we certainly require healthy bodies, healthy minds — sana in corpore sano — a very sound saying.

URMILLA HAKSAR Yesterday, Ursula King touched on a problem, but she didn’t elaborate on it: that is, about the Feminist Movement today. I don’t want to enter the discussion. I want you to discuss it. She raised the problem of the gender war, if you remember, and it does affect 50 per cent of the population. The simple new technique of population control, genetic engineering, freezing of sperm, the rights of gays, all these are creating a new social condition. We may not be as aware of it in India, but in the West it is a matter of great concern. The gender war has taken on contradictory characteristics in some countries; family planning and birth control are supported, while in others the state desires a rise in birth rates. With this whole new approach, the family is breaking up: I am posing the problem; I am not saying whether the family concept is good or whether the patriarchal system needs revision. This is creating a new morality, a new spiritualism, if I may say so. No one has touched upon this aspect at all and I think it should be touched upon: the new morality. I am not talking about the gender war in the limited way, but the new morality which is becoming dominant. And it is a new morality; it is no use our saying it is not. The whole moral and ethical system on which we were living, and to which we at least give lip service, is changing very fast in Europe and America and even in India Would you care to take up this question?

ETHEL From a Jungian psychological point of view, feminism is not something that pertains to 50 per cent of the world population. It is a problem which pertains to every man as well as every woman, because each one of us has both masculine and feminine aspects to the psyche. This war of the sexes or gender war, as it has been called, is nothing new. It has always been and probably always will be

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 81 fought. It shouldn’t be a war, I feel, it should become a dialogue, but that’s a forlorn hope. This war is a question of considering the human psyche as both feminine and masculine. In the symbolic structure of the human psyche, we can ascribe definite trends to one sex or the other. Then, it is a question of where the emphasis has been placed, where the emphasis is at present, and where it is going to be stressed in the future. The way I see it, we have entered the ‘Age of Aquarius’, according to the western system of astrology. That is a water symbol. And it is an amalgamation. It is a chance for a new type of relationship to emerge. And that is my hope. This is something which every single human being has to attempt, to reconsider the way we relate to the feminine and the masculine in each person, not whether you are a woman or a man, but to both aspects in each human being.

HAKSAR Is it your view Ms. Vogelsang that social structures erected in the course of human history are a function of individual psyche, which you define as partly male and partly female? If that were so, why is there variation in social structure? Malinovsky has written on the matriarchal system in Melanesia. In our own country, as well, there were areas which were governed by the matriarchal and matrilineal system. Changes took place in some areas and brought about patriarchal systems. If one cannot prove that social structures are merely a function of psyche with a capital ‘P’ then one has to explain the differentiations in social structures over a period of time. What is the correlation between the psyche and the social structures which have come into being, of which we know?

ETHEL VOGELSANG The individuals do not stand alone. The individual, as many people have agreed, is embedded in society. And each of us is embedded first of all in our familial structure, then the various groups which grow from them. There is a collective psyche as well as an individual psyche. And the collective image of a

82 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM certain period in a certain culture has, as I say, an image — whether it is patriarchal or matriarchal. The image changes. Thank God, everything changes. Life is change, develops and modifies gradually or in a sudden burst. I believe we are at the moment undergoing a tremendous explosion of change, because the feminine forces in Nature and the higher forces of wisdom have been denied and repressed so long that they must burst forth in an explosion. In the West, we are already in a state of chaos because our old value systems no longer exist; they have been absolutely destroyed. We are in a state of anarchy and chaos. We have to find new symbols, symbols that will be valid for the needs and for the situation today. I don’t know whether we will manage to achieve this as time is running out, it seems to me.

SWAMIJI There is hope that even in the West this change is coming. The gender war of feminism is slowly yielding to a more correct understanding of the family as a joint responsibility of the two genders, not of one. The American Women’s Liberation Movement was initiated by Betty Freidan, about 20 years ago, with her famous book, The Feminine Mystique. This movement has lasted 20 years. Last year, when I was in the USA, I found a second book recently written by her. She calls it The Second Phase. It is a very revealing book. She has become disillusioned with the feminist movement which she herself had initiated. She now says; “We originally wanted to liberate women from the prison of the kitchen and the home into the wider world; let them take jobs, let them become executives.” All she demanded has taken place increasingly in the last 20 years. She now writes in her second book that having taken the opinions of a number of liberated women, women who have secured high positions in society, the ‘liberated’ woman has not achieved any liberation. They had thought that a certain way of life was liberation, but have not found any real liberation; they are only known as executives, not as persons; they have no personal status at all. Many women of the executive kind confided to her their view that the women’s liberation movement had gone the wrong way. Second, they felt the family

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 83 had broken down and the emotional life of women had suffered greatly. Betty Friedan is now saying that the feminist movement should not remain merely a feminist liberation movement, but that men and women must together seek liberation for both in society, through the development of healthy families. She also says that she might be considered a reactionary for saying this after twenty years’ close study of the Feminist Movement in America. 9 December 1986: afternoon session

JAGDISH The question is of how science and technology are used? In most of the highly advanced societies, science is moving away from social action or social responsibility. It is moving into a new role, the role of consolidation of political power and of bringing other people under their control. In the old days all this was done in the name of civilising missions. The civilising missions have been replaced by extreme forms of economic exploitation, creating disasters in their wake. This helps to create higher standards of life at one end within a region, or a nation, and extreme forms of starvation at the other. These are the injustices, which in many ways are responsible for what we are talking about today, that is, the present Human Condition. We cannot shut our eyes to these realities. We cannot ignore these vital issues. Take the case of economic development. The question can be asked: what are the factors facing a poor country like India in which there is knowledge, wisdom and the desire to establish priorities, which force it to divert a large proportion of its resources towards armaments instead of improving the human condition? This question has been raised yesterday, today, and probably will be raised tomorrow and may be forever. Why are we buying arms when we can look after the health, food and living problems of a large mass of people, instead? International border agreements should be respected and the international community should find its way to make violation impossible. This is necessary because safety is a minimum requirement for life. The armament race has been over-stimulated by lack of safety to a degree where armaments become a threat to both parties. Our inability to apportion culpability, and to raise our voice against what, in many ways, has been the cause of the present human condition has to be admitted. There are two aspects to this responsibility. How do we break the negative? How do we proceed towards the positive?

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 85 There are many roads open to us. We have talked about spirituality, we have talked about building the human potential, we have talked about the possibilities for synthesis of science and mysticism and spirituality and we have talked about the institutions. But basically, the question we must answer is how do we break this negative destructive force? We must expose it, talk about it, and say, “This is what is responsible” in no uncertain terms.

ORSHOVEN There is a biological explanation for armament, and it is possibly useful to understand why men as well as animals arm themselves. The environment is friendly and hostile at the same time; it provides us food and threatens us at the same time. Eating and being eaten — the drive to live and to survive is a fundamental drive. During biological evolution many behavioural systems have evolved to meet these survival problems. For mankind there are international rules with regard to territory, borders etc. and history has shown that rules can be violated, especially by the physically strong. Violation of rules has diminished credibility and trust. In a climate of fear and uncertainty no reliable friends or friendships or alliances can be made. Friendship born out of fear is the same as in expressed enmity. This also brings into question how science is being used, not for the welfare of the people, but largely to create ecological disasters and destruction. Why is it that we are spending hundreds and billions of dollars on scientific research and 70 per cent of the world population goes without medical aid? Why? World organisations like the United Nations have been designed for the purpose of ending this distrust, but they seem inefficient. It seems that we live in a period of experimentation. Even if we are not in a position to force international agreements to establish safety for all nations, it is still possible to work along those lines in smaller communities like the family unit. We will never be in a hopeless condition; there will always be something we can do, starting from the smallest unit, the family. Later on we can expand this family to include the whole human family.

86 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM JAGDISH We can already protect ourselves adequately and can kill our enemy many times over and yet we continue on the same path of producing more and more destructive weapons. Why is this happening? And every time the finger points to certain places. Yet the disinformation system continuously deflects the people from pointing towards the obvious places and in the right direction. Lord Buddha said, “When the finger points to the moon, only the fools look at the finger.” This continuously increasing capacity for overkill has become a threat to mankind.

LEO The equivalent of the word ‘over-kill’ is ‘over-protection’.

JAGDISH It is like killing a mosquito with a machine gun. That’s what it is; we are building machine guns to kill mosquitoes.

CHARLES Though I agree that the arms race is one thing we should discuss, it seems to me that the misuse of technology in India’s case, why it reaches even less than 30 per cent of the people and not 70 per cent, is also due to the kind of lifestyle which technology is used for, which is really our own responsibility.

JAGDISH Totally. We are the ones who import these lifestyles and follow them. If medicine doesn’t reach 70 per cent of the people that is an issue we can do something about right here. I hope we have time to discuss what we ourselves can do right here in India, apart from discussing the global situation. Our elite are sold on the logic of consumerism and exercise a tremendous influence on national policies. That is perhaps the logic behind 80 per cent of

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 87 the national income being spent for the benefit of less than 20 per cent of the population. How do we remedy such a situation?

KOTOVSKII Everybody understands that the first priority in the over-all problem of the Human Condition is to create a really ‘humane condition’ for the deprived majority of Mankind, who are living mainly in so-called newly-liberated countries, developing countries, or Third World countries, apart from smaller percentages of destitute people in the so-called developed countries. Money and material resources are required to create the minimal physical conditions for human beings. The most important aspect of this problem is waste, the enormous misuse of available resources for the armaments race. Though there are resources in plenty for this good purpose, they are misused. Everybody knows that if even a very small part of the annual expenditure on armaments were used for creative purposes, it would tremendously benefit people. But how do we divert these resources? The answer to this is to be found in the field of politics. We are living in a divided world, with different socio-economic systems. Recent history, the history of the World Wars, and of wars fought at present, are the history of the division of the world into Capitalist and non-capitalist, Socialist, and other ideological camps. My attempt is not to indulge in propaganda when I say I really believe in the new approach of Gorbachov. He has said, “We need thinking — new thinking inside these realities.” We cannot solve the problems of different socio-economic systems by confrontation, leading to war. That way is impossible. In this new situation, what is really needed is really new thinking. All nations, all socio-economic systems and different ideologies, must be tolerant and accept one another if we are to coexist and if we are to learn. The non-believers must learn something from religious people, and the religious must learn something from non-believers. The Capitalist world has to learn from the Socialists and the Socialists I believe are already learning from the Capitalists.

88 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM This is the new approach. I am very sorry to say that the approach of the American administration appears to follow the dictum: ‘to hell with it!’ — that is something unintellectual, to my mind. Such an approach leads us nowhere. If political decisions on a global level are not reached, real — not slogan-monger- ing, but real — coexistence will never get appropriate material means to provide even the basic necessities for the deprived majority of the world’s population.

JAGDISH The point made by Professor Kotovskii is very valid, that is, unless we tackle the problem of over 1,000 billion dollars going down the drain in the armament race, there can be no change in the situation. Assigning even 5 per cent of this amount for the improvement of the human condition and increasing human welfare could radically alter the pattern of many of our concerns.

IAN Leo and I have been talking about the sense of guilt; you brought up the problem of responsibility; we’ve raised the problem of consciousness. I think we have missed a vital clue here, because from the psychological standpoint, guilt is an easy way out for not becoming conscious. It is more convenient to feel guilty than to be conscious. To be conscious means you have to be responsible. To be responsible means you have to face the other word which we have not mentioned — which is the reason for the arms race — which is mistrust. Mistrust, on a global scale, would in the individual psyche lead to paranoia, which is a psychosis. So we could describe the state of the world, or the state of the Human Condition today, as a global psychosis.

JAGDISH Is such a psychosis being created? There could be two possible reasons for this psychosis; one, the emerging psychosis may be a result of the consequences; the other, it is due to a deliberate planned effort to increase that psychosis to continue the armaments race.

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 89 IAN It is the latter. The psychosis is latent, because that is the modern word for the primordial chaos from which the world was created. And we are returning now to primordial chaos. We are watching a non-stop race on the psychic level in a world that is going backwards to a very primitive fighting mentality. I think the aspect we have to look at is mistrust. We may trust each other here, but where else is there a forum for trust? Certainly not at the United Nations.

KOTOVSKII I agree with you. But I have one point to add. Unfortunately, very often there is irresponsibility on a political level, even on minor issues. For instance, one of the very important aspects, which is very widely discussed at present and has been for so many years, is the real struggle, the so-called New International Economic Order. The responsibility for poverty implies that the people in the developed countries, at all levels, have to change their minds. This sharing of global responsibility has to be introduced in the minds of people. And it has to be transferred into concrete political actions. I agree with my colleagues that we are waiting for a new mentality, a new thinking, or a new philosophy, to emerge. During this waiting period, when countries such as India have to spend on armaments, a second economic policy must help to create conditions for the support of the population. I would not like to criticise the economic policy of India, but to my mind, not so much attention has been paid to this aspect. To invest much more in irrigation projects, in flood control, in development and reclamation of land, to my mind, seems most important. The growing problem is: where will the people live and what would be the basis of primary accumulation of capital? Every square meter of land here has to be used to its optimum. Land development-cum-irrigation is the first priority. The general fault in many or all developing countries appears to be improper allocation of priorities in economic development.

90 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM HAKSAR Well, perhaps it is my responsibility because I am an Indian, and because at one stage of my life I was concerned with translating a design of India into a practical, concrete reality, in terms of economic and political policy. My database happens to be long experience. There were two dominant themes which moved millions of Indians. One theme was rooted in a sense of being ourselves — not in a narrow sense, because throughout the period of our struggle, all the great leaders born of the Mother Earth of India never conceived of the Indian struggle for freedom in a narrow sense. There was a tendency to be universalist. Gandhi, Nehru and Tagore were universalists. And earlier, those who responded to this spiritual condition of In- dia, like Swami Vivekananda, was also universalist. I am not advertising universalism as a virtue. I am stating this as a verifiable fact, proved by all the writings, methods and forms of struggle; nobody in India advocated, ‘Hate the British’ only. Nobody did. We all said we were fighting against a system, rather than a people: the Imperial system, the British system. The first thing we wanted after Independence was that we should stand erect, with our heads held high. In fact, there is a great poem of Rabindranath Tagore, where he dreamed of India after freedom, and the first line is: ‘Where … the head is held high’, not in pride or arrogance, but in dignity. He had that kind of dream. As a nation-state, we entered the arena of what I call the comity of nations or International Relations. We found that the world which we were confronted with presented us what we regarded as false banners, as if the world had only one choice: you either become a communist or you declared yourself with equal vigour as anti-communist. We felt that in the world of today, that was a false choice and a false slogan. As I said yesterday, each one of us perceives his own god in terms of his own predilections, or as Xenophon said, if cows and horses could draw the images of their gods, they would be like cows and horses. We said, “No, this confrontation has no relevance to us.” Here we were more than 300 million people in 1947 and 85 per cent living on what is called subsistence agriculture. There was marginal industry in India, and the old balance between agriculture and handicrafts had been very seriously disrupted during the

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 91 colonial period. So more people flocked to the land, and the land was groaning under the misery of 85 to 90 per cent of the people living on the land. We wanted to maintain our identity with a certain degree of dignity, and we wanted to transform our country. It was not merely a question of setting up factories. It was a process of social, cultural, industrial, economic and agricultural transformation of society. With the passage of time, a measure of idealism had emerged and the better-off people felt they should contribute something to the alleviation of Third World misery. And out of that was born the first Development Decade — where (it sounds really pathetic!) they said there should be a transfer of one per cent of the GNP of the rich countries to the poor countries. One per cent! When the Development Decade finished, it did not come to one per cent even: it hovered around 0.5 or 0.6 per cent. Today even that idealism of the post-war years has dried up. In the post-war years there was multilateralism, the idea of which is, ‘we are our brother’s keeper’. Outside our borders, the Cold War got transmuted, and we saw the piling-up of weapons — Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles, intermediate-range Ballistic Missiles, sea-launched Ballistic Missiles, air-launched Ballistic Missiles and Mul- tiple Independent Re-Entry Targeted vehicles came. And now we are on the eve of space war with the Star Wars Programme, I do not want to sit in judgment. I am interested in describing things as they have been. Mankind wants safety. Of course, we want safety, but reason says we must prescribe the levels of safety. With each piling-up of arms, insecurity has increased. The total arms pile-up ensures today that every human being on this Earth has a share of three tons of trinitrotoluene (TNT) — whereas we can be killed by only half a kilo or even less of TNT. So far as we in India are concerned, we say, “Forget my one per cent of GNP, forget about Transfer-of-Technology slogans, and forget all that.” The turbulence in this world cannot be contained on this basis. And if the idea is that you are fighting for our souls, so that our souls may give allegiance, then I can assure you that there will be no allegiance to the present system. All attempts at North-South dialogue at a New International Economic Order, of settling the Debt problem reasonably, are all elements of this contemporary crisis, howsoever it may be stated.

92 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM In India too, we have committed mistakes. Charles Correa has talked about lifestyles; lifestyles are a function of ‘economic development, which appears in the form of goods and services and is a complex interaction between ideology, technology and institutions’. ‘Ideology’ is often used as a dirty word. Never- theless no ideology is also an ideology; pragmatism is also an ideology. Simon Kuznetz, one of the few economists whom I respect, because he has undergone a moment of truth, instead of prescribing ready-made remedies, has said, “Goods and Services for human happiness are nothing but food and health and water and lodging,” in India. Why have we gone astray in this matter? Because we have imitated an imported theory from the West, which we have never examined, a theory that human beings are at their best when they are in competition in what is called a ‘Market’, and when they pay homage to consumer sovereignty. We Indians have to settle, and I’m sure the West also has to settle the matter, otherwise we wouldn’t have the alarm bells ringing from the Club of Rome’s Limits to Growth Report about the logic of what is called ‘consumer sovereignty’, the iron laws of the Market, and the productivity-efficiency factors in an economy. It is fallaciously argued that if you have a Market of 100 million in India, among people who have an average income of say, 4,000 rupees a month, they are an effective Market; if you work for that Market, then the results of that would trickle down to the masses of Indian people. Such a thing never happens, and cannot happen, because all the parameters of development have been reversed; in India, democratic rights and liberties arrived first; growth came later, and it is not yet of sufficient magnitude. As a result, the tensions between aspirations and social, economic, and political structures tend to be acute. Professor Kotovskii is right when he states that we in India have not yet faced the simple problem of what is called the agrarian system in India. It was an old, ancient system; it went through a great deal of torture during the colonial period, through what is called the ‘Permanent Settlement’. Instead of thinking in western terms such as ‘lifestyles’ we must get down to the business of solving the problems of the ordinary, poverty-stricken marginal farmer. Human beings have vision of the future. There are infinite potentialities in us for beauty, for goodness, for kindliness and for decency. If only we could

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 93 somehow express our common concern, that here in this world, on the one hand, there is tremendous possibility, and on the other, there is misery and starvation. If I look at the West, there may not be misery and starvation, but their spiritual ennui is just as bad as physical hunger. We are full of ennui. We are full of alienation. It is not I who wrote the poem. TS Eliot did ‘… measuring our life by coffee spoons’. It is not I who wrote Louis NacNeice’s poem: What will happen will happen, the whore And the buffoon will come out best. These are European expressions of alienation and ennui, of not knowing the meaning and the purpose of life, that too in the midst of affluence. Ideological problems are not settled by war. Human beings will someday decide for themselves whether they want Socialism, Capitalism, Communism or what we called Mixed Economy. That is not something, which particularly in a nuclear age, can be resolved by war; we should not even contemplate such an idea. We are fighting against an idea, fixed in the mind, that war is a legitimate instrument. We must uproot it. It is no longer a legitimate instrument for any policy. When I talk of ‘war’, I mean both nuclear war and conventional war. Because as I said yesterday, there is no guarantee that conventional war will not end as nuclear war. Consider the economics of our contemporary world. Take Bretton Woods, for instance. The dollar was the sun, the central part of the monetary system, and it was supposed to be an immutable system. Yet, the gold-based dollar collapsed. Thousands of people lived by their wits on mere speculation; forward marketing, forward exchanges, not producing any wealth and services. The reality of today is that wealth is accumulated on technical grounds, ignoring the actual production processes. The Debt problem is a fantastic problem. I was personally a party to the settlement for Germany. We just wrote off their debts. Was it compassion, or Christianity, or the Sermon on the Mount which motivated us? No, it was politics; Germany was to play another role in Europe. The solution I submit tentatively is that mistrust and suspicion cannot be removed by arming ourselves; we must urge a continu-

94 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM ing dialogue on all the issues facing Mankind, reduce the level of expenditure on arms, divert a proportion of the expenditure to improving the Human Condi- tion in the world. This could be the first phase in a programmed taking the world a few steps away from the precipice.

KOTOVSKII I subscribe to everything Mr. Haksar has said, and I fully support him as one of my Indian gurus, in his understanding of Keynesian Economics and politics. I fully agree with you that we need to substitute prejudice and mistrust with friendship and trust. One of the ways to achieve this is to unveil the vested interests that are deliberately supporting this mistrust — the military — industrial complex. Previously, it might have been said, “Ah, this is Marxist prejudice or Marxist propaganda.” But Reykjavik has dispelled this idea. In Reykjavik, President Rea- gan and Gorbachov came very close to an understanding. Immediately after Reykjavik, other members of the American administration immediately started dismantling everything that had been achieved in Reykjavik. Why did this happen? The answer is obvious to every thinking man all over the world: because Lockheed and other huge firms which earn trillions of dollars from the arms race would not have liked to convert their industries to a peaceful line of products.

ETHEL In my opinion, we have an enormous enemy in the world today, and that is environmental pollution. Our whole ecological system is breaking down in every way. Billions of dollars and roubles need to be spent to combat this enemy. If only we would spend a part of the money which we do on armaments, and put it, for instance, into our reforestation programmes, we could reverse the destruction of our ecological base. This enemy is not something that is confined to any boundaries; Chemobyl didn’t stop at the Russian border. It spread all over. I feel that one way to build trust is by having a group of people interact, exactly as we are doing here, building a relationship which is not based on power,

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 95 on my having more arms than you have, but for a common cause in which we can all work together, and not against each other. I know, my idea sounds terribly Utopian.

JAGDISH As a result of what we have discussed so far, we are quite clear in our minds that there are a number of priorities we have to tackle, for instance, providing food for the hungry, and increasing life expectancy. Everywhere we turn, we are faced with the problems of massive misuse of material, energy and human resources, the breakdown of ecology, and the breakdown of ethical codes. These concerns are all-pervading. Therefore, the key question to be answered is: How do we bring about changes in this situation? Is there any hope of escape from this position? The major international factors that are causing vast resources to be directed towards destructive weapons are largely responsible for this situation. The unbearable arrogance of certain powers and people is becoming a cause of grave concern. Unless we unveil the hand or hands behind such a situation, and build up a worldwide Gandhian Satyagraha against the creation of destructive weapons, there appears to be very little hope, except through a major breakdown of the system itself. These international issues have an important bearing on the distortions in our own country, India, and in other countries of the developing world. But this does not mean we are not responsible in more ways than one for the continuation of this situation, that we have not paid serious attention to our priorities, letting a situation develop where the so-called elite are committed to certain standards of ostentatious living, thus creating fears of a consumerist future. A country like India cannot sustain such a development. This, too, is damaging the Human Condition. Ostentatious living means the availability of surplus funds beyond need and beyond reason to certain people, who become the symbols of new lifestyles: Our country and its productive activity, whether industrial, agricultural or professional, have their own limitations. If a few people have access to much larger resources than the society can afford, and model their lifestyles accordingly, they are using their power and authority to destroy the rights

96 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM and privileges of others. If the economy is unable to bear the burden of such extravagance, if the excess production in a system can no longer be absorbed that is when it becomes a threat to others. This surplus in a few hands tends to shift the emphasis from general consumerist growth to the production of armaments and forced sales of weaponry, manipulated wars and general desta- biliation of nations through the arms race. This is the phase to which the world is now a helpless witness. Those who are the culprits responsible for this evil way of life are also recklessly destroying their own social system; for instance, the sale of billions of dollars worth of narcotics around the world, of which about 100 billion are being sold in the United States alone at the rate of US $500 per capita or twice the average national income of India. There are many variations to such negative trends which are now becoming a major threat to life and security on this Planet. This means that we have allowed the emergence of an international class of armament-mongers on the one hand and of narcotic peddlers on the other. They are recklessly aiming at the destruction of human civilisation because they know no better, or are not aware of the consequences of their actions. This damage is being caused not only to developing countries it also affects the countries of its origin. It is obvious that those people who misuse the democratic processes to destabilise other nations and exercise control over them through their own citizens, will face a situation where their agents assigned to perform these tasks find it more profitable to use their talents within their own country. Many of the international events which adorn the front pages of the world press are clear indications of these attitudes on the part of small men handling big issues. All these factors, whether related to armaments, manipulated wars or destabilisation, narcotics, smuggling and even the uncontrolled spread of diseases like AIDS, are creating situations of great insecurity. In the process of flexing their muscles to show their nuclear strengths the major nations are becoming more and more insecure. While they are busy trying to impress the world with their power, in their own homes, their children are becoming disoriented and deprived of their rights to grow healthy. That one set of problems can be directly attributed to our own design, negli- gence, greed or sense of responsibility. Yet, the other problems are created by the

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 97 international factors which are influencing these internal factors. The methods of colonialism do not need any elaboration. What we are faced with today is a very sinister kind of imperialism which is adding to the gravity of the situation. The tragedy is that whichever way we look, all the issues or problems we reflect on are interrelated and connected to such an extent that most developing countries of the world have to spend a great deal of their money, effort, time and resources to guard against this sinister intervention. Although Mr. Haksar’s point is very well taken that there are so many things that we have to do within our country, yet it is not possible to do so in isolation without simultaneously attempting to counteract the international factors. The experience of the last few decades clearly shows that leaderships in most developing countries are spending more time protecting themselves from external factors than on attempting to create changes within their own countries.

CHARLES Some years ago I had a television discussion with Buckminster Fuller — a very unsuccessful one. He had been advising the government that every country around the world should put up a major solar energy plant in land or in space, which would generate enough electrical power so that if the sun was shining in India, India would supply electricity to China and vice-a-versa. As the earth rotates, each country would generate enough power, not only to meet its own needs, but also the needs of an international grid, to supply the requirements of the adjoining countries. The question arises, what happens when the countries concerned do not get along? All that a country has to do is cut off the electricity supply of the other country, and in due course the whole world would be dark. Before such a project is launched the peaceful relationships of the countries have to be ensured.

JAGDISH Buckminster Fuller also told me that he had talked to our late prime minister, Indira Gandhi, who told him that he had made a wonderful suggestion, and raised the question that if there was a conflict between any two of the countries,

98 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM would one country stop the power supply? Science and technology have many solutions to contemporary problems, but what prevents them being implemented is the massive differentials between the rich and the poor, and the developed and developing, which the powerful forces are not allowing to be bridged even at the risk of nuclear war. We return again to the question: “How do we extricate ourselves from this position?”

HAKSAR As I submitted yesterday, the modern means of communication make it very difficult to convey correct objective information as against the vast disinformation that is being perpetrated on a global scale. Arthur Clarke had said in his lecture that one of the greatest impediments to the search for peace in the nuclear age, is that people do not know the facts, and one of the ways in which the UN system or the Third World system could help is to assure a system of dissemination of truthful, objective information, such that the listener does not have to turn from All India Radio to the BBC in order to hear the other side. This will go a long way in combating the continuous mind-bending which goes on. And it is true that in the world of today vast disinformation is being deliberately spread for one reason or the other. Eisenhower said something very commonsensical; he said (and I paraphrase him), “I am a soldier. I have spent all my life in this sorry business of war. I can tell you one thing: If in search of security you over-spend, then you get insecurity from socio-economic instability.” This is true. People like George Kennan, Gerard Smith, and MacNamara, who have impeccable credentials. all see the logic of this argument. An all-Indian group would find no difficulty in telling the powers-that-be that their approach and their perceptions about India are seriously defective, and it is equally true that as Indians, we cannot argue the cause of egalitarianism in the world with any justice while practicing gross in egalitarianism at home. If we were to say, we want a New International Economic Order which is based on democracy, we would be immoral. We have to be truthful to ourselves, we cannot plead such inequality aboard when there is egalitarianism at home.

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 99 JAGDISH In Mahatma Gandhiji’s interview with Louis Fischer around the time of Indian Independence, Fischer asked, “Why are you opposing large-scale industrialisation and development of India?” Gandhiji replied, “I have no objection to industrialisation or development, but if Britain with 30 million people had to exploit half the globe to give them that standard of life, then how many globes will we have to exploit with 330 million people, to provide them with the same standard of living.” He continued, “If you are talking about increasing the standard of living, our struggle is not only for India but for all the oppressed people and if all the poor people want the same standard of life, our struggle is not only for India but for all the oppressed people and if all the poor people want the same standard of life, then where do we go from there.”

SWAMIJI This will mean restraining of the consumer mania. It also means directing psychic energy to higher dimensions, to culture, art, and ethical and spiritual values. Otherwise, there will be a breakdown of the economic order. The two things must go together: one, negation, the other, affirmation. There is a verse in Sanskrit, probably in the Mahabharata, which says: Yat prithviyam, Vrithiravam, Hiranyah, Pashavah Striyah Ekasyapi Na Aaryaptam ltimatva Shamam Vrajet. [All the wheat and barley, gold, cattle, and sex, all the pleasures of the world cannot satisfy the cravings of even one single individual; knowing this truth, practice restraint.] One of Sorokin’s books contains the following quotation from the Report of the ‘American Federal Commission on Recent Economic Trends in the United States’, established just after the Second World War: “This enquiry has revealed that human desires are endless, that there are no new desires which will not make way to newer desires as soon as they are satisfied.” And in that same great book of India, the Mahabharata, there is another similar statement regarding Yayati. He was enjoying his life as emperor greatly. Suddenly, one day, while he was having a bath, he found that his hair had

100 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM grown grey: he had become old. He discovered that his body had grown old but his mind’s desire for sensory satisfactions was still fresh and young. He felt very unhappy. The story says, he had four sons, and he asked the eldest, “Will you please give me your youth? I want to enjoy this sensory life longer.” The son said, “No, I’m sorry. I want my own youth.” ‘The second and third sons also refused their father’s request. The fourth and last son was very kind and responsive: “Fa- ther, I love you. You take my youth and give me your old age.” The king became young again and he entered into another bout of sensory enjoyment. But then again, one day, he found himself becoming old. When he saw this, he sat down and began to think about it all. He then exclaimed: “Oh, this is wonderful.” Then comes that great statement, springing from mature wisdom, which is echoed in that American Report: Najatu Kamah Kama Nam Upabhogena Sham Yati; Havishah Krishna Vartmeva, Bbuya Evaabhivardbate. [Desire or sensory cravings cannot be disciplined by enjoying them again and again; as fire flames forth every time you try to quench it by pouring butter. Desires only flame forth when they are satisfied.] This is where the consumer madness has led man. There is need now to check this madness. How do we check it? Not by any sterile asceticism, but by giving a higher direction to human psychic energy. That is where real culture comes in, the capacity to enjoy a beautiful book, to enjoy music, art, and similarly, to enjoy ethical and spiritual experiences at higher and higher levels of human evolution. That change must come to modern civilisation if this crisis is to be averted. It is like pouring water at the root of a tree; we have been mostly discussing sprinkling water on the twigs and branches though the basic nourishment will come to the tree when its roots receive water. As Swami Vivekananda said in America: “This modern civilisation has a sensory base. It must now have a spiritual base, then it will become perfectly stable; it will become the best civilisation of the world. If not, it will get destroyed like all earlier sensate civilisations.” Most of our questions centre ultimately on the human individual. Has he the capacity for self-restraint? Violence and all other evils come for want of that restraint from within. At some stage, man must learn restraint of his sensory appetites, if he is to realise his highest possibilities. It must be spontaneous and natural, like the child restraining his toy- play impulse to rise to the joys of the world of knowledge.

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 101 SISIRKUMAR Inhibition is the road to the ascent of Man, and civilisation. This will be a hard lesson for a consumer-oriented society. This was known to our forefathers long ago, and we have fallen away from that value, too.

SWAMIJI When we deal with the Human Condition we must have a grasp of that wonderful organisation of human life given in Indian philosophy and sociology. It asked this basic question: “What are the pursuits of any human being?” Not a Hindu or a Christian, or a Muslim or a Jew, or a Buddhist, but of a human being. The first pursuit is kama or sensory satisfaction. And it is highly respected in the Indian tradition. It is not looked down upon. But when you seek sensory satisfaction, you need an instrument to help you to find that satisfaction. What is that? Artha or wealth. All economic activity is meant to satisfy sensory cravings. “I am hungry: I want food: So I have agriculture.” After all man’s other needs have been satisfied, he wants luxury: “I want a little refrigerator.” Very good: all that means work from which comes wealth or money, and with this man satisfies his sensory cravings. These are the two primary urges, both highly respected: kama, artha. The third pursuit is dharma, ethical sense, a concern for the other individual; the idea that you are not alone in society; there are others also. This ethical sense is not present in the pre-human phase of evolution. It appears only in human society though its operation extends not only to humans but to all animals. The ethical sense extends to the animals also; it recognises that they also have a right to exist and enjoy life. We know that in Indian philosophy, unlike in western theology and thought, we don’t believe animals have no souls. Animals have souls. Only they cannot express them because of their organic development. Dharma constitutes that regulating principle by which one person or one group will not take all the kama and all the artha, leaving nothing for others, including all animals. That is the principle of dharma. It is not the same as religion. It is not a creed; it is not dogma; it is ethical sense, issuing forth as the humanistic impulse. These three pursuits are always treated as essential to any society — Indian, American, Russian, Chinese, or any other. They teach restraint and regulation of sensory cravings so that they do not impinge upon other people’s sensory satisfactions, and today, are required on an international scale.

102 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM Though kama comes first from the point of view of experience, in all enu- merations in India, dharma comes first; ethical sense comes first. At the human level, the ethical sense is very important, because the social context is essential for human development. If a child is taken away from human society as soon as he is born, and given all the food and drink he requires, he won’t develop into a human being. He needs human company, the human social context. That is dharma, which strengthens and nourishes the awareness of and response to, the social context. The first three are called trivarga, in Sanskrit, the ‘triple group’. All three are integrated together, and must go together. All our teachers and great books say: “Never pursue kama and artha opposed to dharma.” That is a tremendous evil because it increases the sufferings of people. The Human Condition can become happy everywhere when dharma informs and inspires our pursuit of kama as well as artha; they are valid and even holy, but only when inspired by dharma. There is one last pursuit. It is calledmoksha . Moksha represents a deliberate effort on the part of man to go beyond, to transcend the merely sensate dimension of life and realise his own true nature as the atman, ever free, ever pure, and ever illumined. True freedom is the freedom of the spirit, and it comes only at that level. Here at the social level, there is no real freedom; there is mutuality and interdependence. I cannot be free because I am concerned with you, and you are concerned with me. I need you, you need me. There is interdependence in society, but no independence. Full freedom comes to one at the moksha level, when one forgets this body, when one realises one’s self as the infinite atman, the pure Self, spiritually one with all Man and Nature. That is the highest achievement, and is open to everyone who has the requisite strength to go to that trans-social dimension, the dimension of aloneness. It is like climbing Mount Everest. In the words of Dr. Radhakrishnan in Eastern Religions and Western Thought: “In the last stages of life’s journey, man travels in single file.” These four pursuits are called the fourpurusharthas . Among these, the fourth, namely moksha, is represented in the mystical dimension of the world religions. That is the Indian understanding of the Human Situation; how we can satisfy every human craving of every human being, take Nature also into confidence and establish peace and order and harmony in the world. Human integration is

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 103 the word to denote dharma. It’s like a wall being constructed. If you accumulate bricks, it does not become a wall. But if you put cement between brick and brick a wall is made. Similarly, a crowd of human beings is not a society. There must be some mutuality, some inter-dependence, some cementing factor to integrate man to man, and that is called dharma. Dharma, accordingly, is the spiritual value evoked from within the human spirit, which helps to create healthy social interaction. That is the social philosophy, based on profound human psychology, through which the Human Condi- tion can be made better and better. After referring to the contemporary human condition in his book, Impact of Science on Society, Bertrand Russell speaks of one remedy: “A simple remedy and I am ashamed to say it (he says that with an apology, because he never spoke that language in his earlier days) and it is that a little Christian love must come in the heart of Man.” Whether it is Christian love or something else, a little love must come into the heart of man. The value of dharma is seen in spontaneous and natural love. Legislation cannot make for dharma. Dharma comes from an inner development and finds expression in a concern for others. It cannot be made moral by legislation. It comes from one’s own spiritual growth. The main question that is most relevant when we deal with the Human Con- dition is: are people humanly oriented? Are they at peace with themselves? Can they live in peace with others? I see the value of dharma in modem 20th century biology, in its concept of psycho-social evolution. Human evolution has risen from an organic to a psycho-social level. We don’t need any new organs; we already have the brain, a wonderful versatile organ. So evolution must be traced today to a higher level, the psycho-social evolution in which the psyche is detached from this tiny organic system and expands in love and compassion to encompass other psyches in society. Psycho-social evolution is what we call dharma, ethical sense or humanistic concern. This is the spiritual development which all people can achieve, and must strive to achieve as much as possible. Every child can achieve this by proper guidance, by the inculcating of a spirit of love and service, an attitude

104 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM of “What can I do for you?” or “I am here to make you better, to make you happier.” There is nothing impossible about this; many impossibles have become possible today, like going to the moon. Why can’t this also become possible? That is the concept of the four purusharthas in Indian thought. I can also direct you to a speech by Sir Julian Huxley in the International Congress in Chicago University, during the Darwin Centenary in 1959, on the Evolutionary Vision. It created a tremendous impression on the conference according to the editor Sol Tax, who published the proceedings in three volumes. Huxley said three things: “Till now, quantity was the criterion of evolution. Now it is quality — what is the quality of your life, is a question evolution asks man.” Then he said, and I am quoting his words as correctly as possible from memory. Such words usually come from religious teachers, but this comes from a scientist’s mouth: “Quantity of material production is only a means to a further end not an end in itself. More than a certain number of calories or cocktails or washing machines or TV sets per person is not only unnecessary, but bad. Quantity of material production must be a means to quality.”

CHARLES From this morning’s discussions, I hope we will agree that we are in favour and supportive of science and the scientific attitude. It is foolish for us to suggest that they change anything about their methodology. But we must point out that it doesn’t cover all the areas of the map. We ask them to direct their attention to those areas of the map, as Swami Ranganathananda did. We ask them to look within in the same scientific way. We don’t want to say that we are against science, in any way, or that science is opposed to art.

SISIRKUMAR Julian Huxley also said, “The major task of the scientist today is the exploration of the inner life.” I don’t think anything could be better than that. Isn’t that the way out for both man and science?

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 105 SWAMIJI He said, “The study of the mind has just begun. We have only scratched the surface of this great science, the tremendous inner depth of the human personality.”

SISIRKUMAR “Astronauts of inner space.”

JAGDISH We keep talking about armaments and the military industrial complex as a threat to mankind. Then we ask the question, “Why are they trying to destroy the world?” The answer comes, “For their own security.” For their own inner security, they are destroying their own country from within, via narcotics, via AIDS, via hundreds of other elements, which are negative elements. In fact it’s turned into complete insecurity. It is our responsibility, when we talk in terms of the international issues, that we should pinpoint some of these, howsoever briefly. For every outer response that we manifest, there has got to be an inner response. The main factor of this problem is the role being played by socio-politico-economic institutions. I think Mr. Haksar has very adequately explained some of these functions. We should further crystallise our thoughts on the subject. 10 December 1986: morning session

JAGDISH A number of suggestions for subjects that remain to be discussed were made by the participants. One of these was to discuss issues relating to ‘youth’. It may also be worthwhile to focus on some of the subjects we have not fully probed such as the basic question of the quality of life; today we have so many different attitudes and approaches to the problem, yet the question which continuously arises is: What is the price the others pay so that each person enjoys the right to choose his own style? All human beings have a right to a certain basic minimum life support system. There can be no difference regarding basic life support relating to shelter, food, clothing and health, although there can be many approaches to education. The weaknesses of the orders built on foundations of greed and lack of all human concern lead to breakdown of the human system. In one of his letters Mahatma Gandhi said, “Only that quality of life will be a permanent factor which meets the basic human needs.” While we cannot contain human instincts or desires there certainly can be an ethical or a moral code to put constraints on the unbridled consumption which denies the satisfaction of the minimum needs of others. If people wish to have high standards of life, we cannot deny them that, but we certainly can bring about an awareness of the worthlessness of such life where quantity replaces quality. Millions of young people in the developed world are today asking such questions, “Am I only a consumer of goods or am I also something else?” And the unsatisfactory answers that they get are leading them towards, in many instances, self-destructive processes like narcotics. We are functioning in certain social orders. Either these orders break down through internal ferment, are destroyed through nuclear wars and we start again, or we find other solutions. I do not think that anyone of us will advocate a solution of total annihilation, but a beginning has to be made somewhere. We

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 107 have to start a parallel process of building towards the satisfaction of the basic needs of a large mass of people. It may have to be done in a variety of ways for different cultures, social systems, environments and backgrounds. This is the primary requirement if there has to be world sanity and peace. We are seeing the manifestation of anarchy in every corner of the globe. Something or the other is happening everywhere and none in power appears to take heed.

IAN What I am saying is that there are two forms of poverty: there is spiritual poverty and there is material poverty. I will cite two examples to demonstrate what I mean. The young people who come to see me have a peculiar impoverishment, which is new. Ten years ago, the average age of my patients was 45. The average age of my patients now is 22. These people come because they have no hope, no sense of future, no sense of creativity, no sense of symbol, and no sense of riches. This may sound exclusive. But I have lived for five years with a tribe in Africa. Exactly the same fears were expressed by the elders of the tribe, about their young people. They also were concerned about the basic needs that we are talking about, on a material level, but they were highly concerned about the other basic needs, the spiritual poverty. I don’t think we should ignore that aspect.

CHARLES Supposing we called them the ‘physical, social, community, and spiritual needs’, instead of ‘basic human needs’. I like the idea of what Gandhiji attempted: tying the quality of life to a quantification of life. It is an interesting idea. On the moral ground and on the practical ground he is right.

JAGDISH I do not think we should get absorbed in the details of basic needs again. Enough has already been said and written on the subject. All we are trying to

108 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM stress is the significance of meeting some of these basic needs in assuring peace and stability for the larger human good. The question of human dignity is involved in this: How can anyone have dignity without food, without a place to live or without education? The great curse of humankind today is that many nations have made peace and prosperity their greatest enemy by increasing consumerism beyond reason, and letting their industrial structures thrive through the production of armaments. All this is creating a very unstable situation. A short time before his assassination, Mahatma Gandhi wrote a letter to a colleague in India explaining that so long as the basic needs of the people are not met, there shall be no order. And he did not talk out of context, because when he talked about food and clothing and of shelter and education, he did so in terms of the Indian environment. Norway for instance, could not have needs identical to India. Each culture has its own way to express this. Therefore, it will be fair to say that the objective of all people, and all nations, should be that in terms of their culture, background and resources, they should meet first of all the basic needs of the mass of the people. Let us not argue whether it is 20, 30 or 40 per cent of the people below poverty line — in some countries it may be as high as 50 percent — whose basic needs are not being satisfied. The fact remains that while the countries are busy creating techno-economic structures in the name of modernisation, high technology and security, the basic needs of a large mass of people are not being satisfied. The end result of all this is high consumption by a few and armaments for the destruction of all. In other words, very small sections of the world population have preempted the rights to starve and to destroy a large part of mankind. Whether this is done through their votes or without them, the facts of the situation cannot be changed. When we talk about the Human Condition, the first question that we must raise is what is that Human Condition? In most cases, we produce a child and do not give him the wherewithal to support life. To whatever culture we belong, unless we are prepared to satisfy the basic essentials that will give one dignity, there is going to be no social order, and not all the nuclear weapons (or the King’s Horses) can save such an order from destruction. This is a fundamental question and it will be appropriate that we express our opinions on this question.

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 109 SWAMIJI There cannot be any difference of opinion on this question. If you don’t allow a poor man a little house and food, what is the Human Condition? If you don’t treat as human beings the majority of people who constitute the poor in these various countries, you cannot begin to talk of the Human Condition. The proposition from this forum can be worded: “While discussing the Hu- man Condition, it is absolutely essential that the international conscience should be awakened so as to see that all steps are taken to ensure the minimum basic needs of all humanity, especially in the developing countries, where all people will be provided with food, shelter, clothing, education and sanitation, consistent with their own social norms.” We should be able to say to all weaker sections of society: We have provided you with the basic needs. Whatever else comes is beyond these. We have provided you with the basic runway. Now you may fly further if you can. We are all there to help you. There must be that kind of international concern for the welfare of all people in all parts of the world.

BHARGAVA It would seem to me that the objective of this discussion over the last two days and today, is based on the realisation that something is wrong with regard to the Human Condition, and we want to identify it, and suggest ways and means of getting somewhere which would be better than where we are today. To do this, we obviously ought to understand where we are as of now, and identify where we want to go. Then only we can work out the modus operandi for getting from here to there, because if our starting point is not identified and our end or destination is not identified then we cannot think of a modus operandi to make our journey. I would like to submit that the concept of basic needs today, is not tenable. We ought to replace it by ‘needs’ not ‘basic needs’, because the moment we state ‘basic needs’, we are essentially creating a two-tier society. We must also realise that the package of needs is a total package. It would be senseless to satisfy one need and not the other in the package.

110 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM So let us look at what the ‘needs’ are — not ‘basic needs’, but each one of them being essential — and remembering it is not enough to satisfy one, without satisfying the other. These are: Food (obviously); Housing; Health; Education; Availability of Information (That is extremely important, we generally forget it); Clothing; Em- ployment and Social Justice. Two important elements of social justice are: one, to ensure that one individual does not exploit another individual for personal gain or benefit, or that one class doesn’t exploit another class for its gain or benefit. And two, that we ensure a situation where an individual cannot use money to make more money; where he uses his ability to generate more wealth. (And that is where the whole concept of surplus wages comes in.) We must ensure that the environment allows an individual’s intrinsic potential to be fully realised; this includes his creative potential. Everyone must have security. We have to then look at what we mean by the term ‘security’ in some detail. Basic human rights must be guaranteed; there must be a mechanism to ensure that this is so. And all this must be done together. You cannot satisfy the need with regard to food by degrading a man in respect of his requirement for basic dignity. This is really the challenge. If we are practical we should be able to see what resources we have, what the world situation is as of today, and what the realities of life are. There was a meeting of scientists, called ‘International Scientists for Peace’, in Hamburg last November. About 3,000 people attended it. A statement was issued by the meeting. A recent issue of Stern, the German magazine, has, I believe, the full statement along with statements by 30 or 40 of the scientists. This meeting, which was attended by several Nobel Prize winners as well, took stock of the situation, and the general consensus was that it was pointless to demand total disarmament. It is simply not possible in the next five or ten years. They decided to make proposals that took into consideration the realities of life. Total disarmament is not possible unless we create trust. The creation of trust is a process in time which we haven’t even begun. To create this trust between various communities of the world — East, West, North and South — a dialogue is needed. A certain amount of disarmament is possible. They agreed that deterrents

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 111 were necessary at that time, and that unless they make that assumption they would never achieve any result. In other words, it is important to know where we want to get to, and it is equally important to know whether or not we can get there. When we have this plethora of problems (I have enumerated a set; each one of them can be divided into a number of sub-sets), we have to see what are the problems at the top of the hierarchy. If we do not solve these problems first, many others will not be solved. These problems are: education of the right kind, water and power or energy. If we solve them, we will have created the necessary but not sufficient conditions for solving other problems.

JAGDISH I will read the complete statement we talked about earlier. This statement was made about 40 years ago in the letter by Gandhiji to Nehru: “During our struggle for freedom, I made the people of India a promise. That is why the people of India rose to fight for freedom and what that would mean. And that promise was that there shall be a complete equality between the town dwellers and the villagers in the standard for drinking water, food, clothing and education. What I object to is the craze for machinery and not machinery itself. I will have no objection to electricity in every village and home. I will be happy to ply my implements and tools with electricity.” In the mid-1940s, when Gandhiji talked about the basic needs, he did not exclude the spiritual and cultural needs and other elements of continuity, which he preached throughout his life. Many years later, in a letter to Jayaprakash Narayan, Nehru said that the egalitarian society they wished to create in India must have a spiritual basis. Knowing of Nehru’s views, a spiritual basis could not mean dogmatic religion, but the inner creative self, that is the realisation of the inner creative self in which many factors, such as Dr. Pusha Bhargava mentioned, will become significant.

112 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM KOTOVSKII Let us come back to the original subject of our seminar: the Human Condition. First of all, I agree that the first immediate step is to create real human conditions all over the world by ensuring the basic needs for the whole population. To me, to create human conditions means to create a society of justice. A society of justice is a Socialist, stable society. In a society where the basic needs are fulfilled, and everybody is able to acquire information, where everybody is educated, the people would be satisfied with the amenities which are given to them. The historical experience is that nobody is satisfied, anywhere, if he sees that the basic needs of his neighbour are 100 to 1,000 times more adequately supplied than his. To my mind, the only stable society is a society of social justice where everybody’s lot in the total consumption is according to his contribution to the creation of goods and services. The basic objective is to create such a system based on complete democracy, a system which would find out what everybody’s contribution is, and give everybody their just requirements in return.

LEO I must confess that the idea of a ‘stable society’ scares me. I am not at all sure that I would want to live in a stable society. One great quality of human beings is that they are unpredictable, not prone to be stable. They are not stable society animals. This is why they have evolved in such an amazing and exciting way. The question remains, however, I must admit, what level of instability is acceptable?

SWAMIJI This idea of social stability appeared in the western world as a social security system. After some years of working, there are protests now: too much social security can cause the Human Condition to deteriorate. Initiative dies and there is no desire to work. This criticism has come from within the social security system itself, from various thinkers like Bertrand Russell. Too much security destroys human creativity.

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 113 JAGDISH From our discussion it would appear that there is no real conflict about basic human needs and that these needs should be met in all parts of the world in terms of local conditions, environment and resources.

LEO I would like to stress one need: the human right to receive truthful information. I use the word ‘truthful’, as I don’t care from where the information comes.

JAGDISH The moment we use the word ‘information’, it is necessary to realise that 80 per cent of what we are given is planted disinformation. What we need to define is truth and we will find a wide variety of definitions. To some it may just mean their own perception of events and their consequences. Of course, the ‘Ultimate Truth’ does not change. It is forever constant. Only our perceptions change from yesterday to today to tomorrow. The right to information means whatever it is, you have a right to know what is happening. When we say ‘truthful information’, we have problems because who is going to decide what is truthful or not? That decision must be made by the people who receive the information. They should have the right to total information. All of us here are recipients of considerable information in various ways and in various forms. Even people like us have trouble discriminating between what is truth and what is not, and who is telling the truth. Even the most powerful computers at your command will not be able to differentiate what is truth.

HAKSAR The point is: a person should have the right to receive and decide for himself. If somebody else decides that this is the true information, and this is not true information, then you don’t know who will control the flow of information, and for what purpose. I think I would put it differently. A basic human

114 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM requirement, and this is a changing requirement, is to be able to have access to sources of information and knowledge, and to contribute to sources of information and knowledge.

JAGDISH The most significant and fundamental issue we have agreed on is mass deprivation, as Swami Ranganathananda put it, and that is what we are talking about. Second, we must answer the question: what are the causes of such mass deprivation? We have spent a considerable time discussing this, and some of the major causes that have emerged, which have created this worldwide situation, are armaments, and of course, consumerist and social excesses.

LEO We have a tendency to talk about the Human Condition in the negative, in pessimistic terms. I personally am very happy about being human.

CHARLES I am going to try to put parameters to what I think we might be able to conclude at the end of our three days of discussion. The first part of our conclusion could deal with what we are now discussing, that is the Human Condition, in terms of what we may call the needs, and may go on to define them. The second part would detail our resources, and where they are going. That’s why we talked about armaments yesterday. It wasn’t a moral discussion. It was, to me, an economic discussion. It is for that reason I don’t see drugs on the same level as the resources that go into the manufacture of arms. The third part could describe our means of achieving our goals. That is where this business of science that we discussed, is very important, and should not be ignored. I think we should decide either to reinforce this approach, or to put it aside. We have to know what we want and we have to agree on that. If necessary, we can take a vote on it, but we have to decide our approach.

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 115 SWAMIJI It would be a good idea to think of the positive aspects. We don’t travel from evil to good. There is some good; we want to make it better. The modern age is not a bad age. It is a wonderful age, with great scientific discoveries; with the end of colonial exploitation, we have got political freedom all over the world; so many things have been achieved.

JAGDISH The major question that arises from our discussion is: What is the greatest impediment to the Human Condition today? The answer that comes to our collective mind is mass deprivation. The supplementary question becomes: What are the causes of this mass deprivation? The answer to this appears to be veering around to misdirection of worldwide physical and human resources, including the right to information and, above all, the wastage of resources on armaments. Unless the situation changes, removal of mass deprivation will remain a distant dream, and growing instability will be our heritage. India has fantastic human resources but there are so many factors which prevent us from using these resources adequately. All we can do is to take a broad overall view of the Human Condition. Oth- erwise we will keep talking about small fragments, that is branches of a massive tree and not state the significance of the roots and the trunk. We may call the needs essential, basic, survival or human; the fact is that there is no possibility of betterment without their satisfaction, when a very large proportion of the population is deprived of these needs. On the question of the availability of resources, I have the privilege to paraphrase Gandhiji, who said that the world has enough for everybody’s needs but not enough for everybody’s greed. What we are talking about here are the impediments. The resources are misdirected towards disruptive rather than constructive channels. This fact cannot be ignored. Of course, we have already discussed the different kinds of resources. Does this meet the issues raised by most of us?

116 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM KOTOVSKII After listening to all this, I would like to add something, maybe to develop my viewpoint. I agree that the remaining part of our discussion may have three parts. The first part, as I see it, should stress the creation of the right Human Conditions. In my opinion, the right human conditions for Mankind mean that every human being should be able to exercise his capability to contribute creatively to the development of human civilisation. The most serious impediment to this exercise is worldwide poverty and deprivation. What are the potentials required to overcome this poverty and deprivation? First, the misuse of resources has to be stopped. The misuse of resources for the armaments race, and the wastage of the environment are two major areas where action is required. These are the two biggest problems of our day. How do we implement our solutions? How do we bring in major changes in economic and political strategy on global, regional and national levels?

JAGDISH We could perhaps add another element to this. People in most parts of the world today feel insecure. This feeling of insecurity may vary from one country to another and be attributed to one set of reasons or problems or the other. What we really are trying to do here is to bring our own concerns from different environments into a common pool and interrelate these concerns to evolve a common pattern. The concerns of most of us may perhaps be unidimensional, depending upon the way we look at things, but with so many different people with different viewpoints and different concerns, we may be able to evolve multidimensional concerns from our exchange of views and experiences, with many nuances and sidelights to give depth to the ideas. We have had some very enlightening interactions, but it would appear that at the end we might all come to a set of common concerns that are causing insecurity in most environments and cultures. For instance, nobody here has disagreed that one of the greatest problems in terms of the Human Condition is the mass deprivation of people. We have examined some of the causes for such deprivation and came to discuss resources and possibilities. Here again, there was no disagreement that science is our common heritage, and that its knowledge that in many ways is now being misdirected, must be more positively directed towards human welfare.

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 117 SWAMIJI The people of India have a very profound philosophy which has the power of integrating all aspects of human life; many people do not know this: the philosophy of Advaita. Will Durant refers to it in the first volume of Story of Civilisation, at the end of the section on India: “India will teach us the tolerance and gentle- ness of the mature mind, the quiet content of unacquisitive soul, the calm of the understanding spirit, and a unifying, pacifying love for all living things.” When that becomes understood, this capacity for integration of all diverse elements in a single unity, in a unitary vision, will become possible. Even when I spoke to the Supreme Court judges one day, they said, “We never knew that we have such a profound philosophy of Unity, of Harmony.” It will take some time for us to understand our own philosophy. Once understood, we can stress the particular, and still have an over-all approach to human problems. Our whole culture and whole civilisation is based upon that vision: what we call in governmental political language, ‘Unity in Diversity’. That is a wonderful vision of India. That is why we have lived here for thousands of years, with every variety supported and strengthened, but all together under a certain unity. This profound spiritual vision has been translated steadily into cultural and socio-political terms. And, to this day, the philosophy behind India’s society and polity is ‘Unity in Diversity’. When more and more people come to know this truth through education, then I am sure we shall be able to integrate these diverse elements, without doing injustice to any particular element; all of them will be brought together in a higher unity. That higher unity is what everybody will welcome. In religion, we have done it for 3000 years. In other fields we have not achieved it because we don’t know that unity in diversity and harmony come from that vision. Ashoka, the great Mauryan emperor of India in the third century BC, published in his edicts: Samavaya eya sadhuh — In the world of religion, concord, and harmony is the right way. There will be different religions, but there will be harmony among them. That has been the sheet anchor of India’s policy all these thousands of years. Recently, we have lost touch with it, and our education doesn’t give us an insight into it. If with respect to religion there is harmony, then with respect to all aspects of life, harmony can be established between the sacred and the secular. The Vedanta

118 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM sees perfect harmony in its Advaitic vision. Even that, we do not know; we have not been educated to understand this wisdom. I am sure that India will radiate this philosophy. And as we apply it for our national problems, and establish unity in diversity, it will have its impact on the rest of the world also. It will take time, but it is a force to be reckoned with.

KOTOVSKII As I have my own experience of 23 years of teaching in Moscow Uni- versity, I am familiar with this problem. As I see it, we have before us three sets of problems concerning higher education. The first problem is the internal structure of higher education. It is a universal problem, not restricted to India. In our country, even after 70 years of Socialist build-up following the Oc- tober Revolution, we have a very outdated university structure, based mainly on the old imperial structure borrowed in the middle of the 19th century from Germany. My view is shared by some very important Natural Scientists in my own country, and we try to express our opinion in the press that all these degrees, which were invented in European universities of the 15th and 16th centuries ought to be abolished by the end of the 20th century. The second problem, in my experience has been of democratisation of education. We should not have an oversimplified approach to this problem. In general, what is needed is that people from the so-called ‘lower layers’ should be brought into the system. Who is to be a student? A person of talent, not a person of money. That is quite clear. But then a second, more important problem is also involved. For instance, we know that in the USSR we have solved this problem of bringing in more talented youth. But to what degree? The universities are not equal in their standards. We also have an entrance examination which is a very difficult competition. It is not difficult for talented farmers’ sons to enter the lower standard universities. But who is more prepared and stands a better chance to enter Moscow Uni- versity? Naturally, the student from the intellectual elite. This amounts to repro- duction of the intellectual elite.

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 119 A system was begun in which a special number of seats were reserved (we have no Harijan reservation! but we have reservation) for students who don’t come from the intellectual elite. But is this justified, or not? By this system, we may prevent some talented youth from an intellectual family from entering the university. So what is the solution? Frankly speaking, I don’t know. The third problem is that the university, as a higher teaching institution, has not only to give technical knowledge, but also cultivate an ethical personality, to cultivate in the student a proper set of values. That is a very important thing. To my mind, in a one-party society like ours, we have all the means, good or bad, official or non-official. In a multiparty society like India’s or like the Western countries, there are so many forces which are involved in this process, each of which is busy cultivating certain values which are very contradictory with others. The young person is not isolated in a university campus; he is leading his life in his country. So, society is cultivating values in him, not only the university. The role of the university is crucial because it has been streamlined to cultivate proper values, but only from the point of view of the intellectual elite, who teach him there. 10 December 1986: afternoon session

SWAMIJI I have been travelling all over India, and also around the world. During my May visit to Japan, I was given a lunch reception in Tokyo, at the American Club. The 80 or 90 people who were there asked me to speak a few words on children before lunch. I told them, I find beautiful children everywhere. Every one of them is like an angel up to the age of about 12. After 12, something goes wrong with some of them. From that age distortions begin, in the teenage period things begin to change. At that age they begin to interact with the adult world, and they see the difference between what they used to think of the adult world and what things really are. And their earlier angelic quality was because at that time they thought the world was beautiful. After 12 they start realising and thinking for themselves. The fault doesn’t lie with the children, the fault lies with the grown-ups. Unless the adults can make a better world for them, and also say and believe in similar things, and unless the adults’ words match their actions, the beautiful world of childhood is violently destroyed.

SISIRKUMAR When children start losing their innocence, they begin to be human, and become part of the Human Condition.

IAN As a psychologist, I see the reverse side of what you think. I think I must point out a basic element of new Jungian psychology that is very interesting. Jung divides the unconscious between the personal unconscious, which belongs

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 121 uniquely to each individual, and the collective unconscious, which is common to us all, and which contains the archetypal pattern. Briefly, what I see is a major and highly-explosive problem with young people. The young people I have met bring me three dilemmas: They have no hope. They have no future. They have no trust in our generation. This is alarming, and is a cause for major anxiety and insecurity. Yet, there is a deeper problem. I have examined the dreams of young people in Europe (by ‘young’, I mean 15 years onwards, which is the age-group I am dealing with). I have found a highly disruptive element in their dreams, and that is that they dream constantly of the things we have been talking about these past three days. The archetypes do not have a healing quality. The archetypal patterns are widely disturbed. And as a result, the children are endangered. These people who come to see me are, of course, from one section of society, from one community. But by consultation with colleagues, and from what we heard at the Berlin Congress of Jungians in August, this is an international problem.

KOTOVSKII This is a very interesting and important problem. We have discussed the Human Condition for three days, and have come to agreed conclusions that some basic things have to be done, that these things will be done by the young generation. In all ways, the young are our future and our hope. To my mind, this is the cornerstone of our approach to the problem. Very briefly, what are the main problems of the young generation in our country? Our young people have hope and have a future. There is no sense of disillusionment, of no future, of no hope: these feelings don’t exist in the majority of the younger generation in Russia. This may not be because of our socio-economic-political system, but due to our society being rather young. What is bad, what has to be remedied, just as in the West, is the problem that young people do not trust

122 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM their elders. They have found that our methods of solving problems have been rather unsatisfactory. And some kind of disillusionment in this field does exist. Our young generation, if we compare them to ourselves and to our elders, is less inclined to socio-political responsibilities. In the younger generations, there is much more pragmatism and consumerism. This is admitted, officially and non-officially, and people are thinking of how to cope with these problems. There are other problems which are arising in different societies, under different socio-political systems, but which are, in common, post-industrial societies. They have entered a certain level of development, as such. The socio-political situation in the USA and the USSR is different. But what is common is the very degrading level of morals in family life, the rocketing growth of the divorce rate, the so-called triangle is everywhere, replacing the couple. Regarding cultural standards, we have found that there is a growing gap between what I may call higher culture and mass culture. This is very vividly discussed in special newspapers; we have a special newspaper called Soviet Culture, and for the last two or three years, every issue contains articles on how to tackle this problem.

BHARGAVA I am glad that we are discussing this question, even though the discussion can only be superficial in the short time left to us. The problem of the alienation of the youth today, all over the world, I would place as one of our most serious problems. One manifestation of this problem is the generation gap. Some reasons for this are obvious, others are not quite so obvious. One of them, for example, is what Professor Kotovskii mentioned: the whole structure of the family has changed. Our species has evolved with the pairing instinct, to form permanent pairs. But now these pairs are not permanent, leading to a situation where the bond between parents and child weakens. Another factor which is not often recognised is that today the rate of change is so fast that by the time a person grows older and has children, the difference between his level of thinking, of the information he has, and what his or her children have or think about, becomes so great that communication becomes difficult.

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 123 How many of us today can understand what our children are studying in classes 5, 6, 7 or 8? That was not so 30 or 40 years ago. How many of us understand computer language? It comes so naturally to children who are going to reasonably good schools. Also, our value systems have changed. I remember when I was a child, children were only meant to be ‘seen and not heard’. But today we say that the Right to Question is a fundamental right, and we expect of a good school that it per- mits a child to ask questions, and good parents are those who allow their children to ask those questions. This too leads to a conflict between two generations. The problem of affluence: I must confess I have realised only very recently that affluence leads to a situation where motivation becomes muted or ceases to exist, because all your basic problems are solved. Motivation comes from challenges, challenges which are essentially primordial in the sense that they refer to what we discussed in the morning. If a person has social security, if he doesn’t need to work, his health is taken care of, he has enough money to take care of his basic requirements of food, housing and so on, and he does not need to work. Why does he need to exercise his intellect or his inherent intuitive, intrinsic abilities or capacities? Such challenges have ceased to exist! Finally, that we have lost our old anchors and they haven’t yet been replaced by new anchors, is a problem confronting the younger generation, particularly. I would like to conclude by saying that to me this is a situation of the greatest concern, but this had to be. This always happens when a major transition occurs in a society. If we look at the history of our evolution, we will find this is not the first time such alienation has occurred. It is just that it has occurred on a much more massive scale. What might have occurred earlier over a period of 100 or 150 years now occurs in the course of a single generation, or less. We need to recognise this alienation, identify the factors responsible for it, and then see what we can do. The problem is not unsolvable.

SWAMIJI Jung has something to say on the subject. Please correct me if my words are not exactly right: “I have been practicing psychiatry for a long time. And I have

124 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM never found anybody coming to me for mental trouble if he has a deep religious faith. More people come to me who have lost their religious faith.” So many children have lost faith because their parents also have lost it. As a result, in modern society, particularly in the West, children have become sus- ceptible to trauma more easily. Any little untoward thing can cause a trauma. It is spiritual weakness within, when they can’t avoid a trauma. Many children become bundles of traumas by the time they are 14. The spiritual strength of children is so little that a little wind can blow them down, just as a tree falls when it has no deep roots. Spiritual strength must come to children when they are young, before the age of 12. Then they will be able to stand more of this stress and strain in life.

IAN It is that — and more. I think the problem is that if young children are deprived of their cultural and spiritual heritage from a very early age, and have no indication of it, it’s as if they wander as lost souls around the world. And when they are asked to take responsibility, they don’t know what they’re taking responsibility for.

ETHEL The important point here, in this type of societal structure, is the fact that the child progresses from one stage to the next with an initiation. I’m thinking of how the child is with the mother till 7, and then it enters youth for the next 7 years, to be initiated into the men’s group, or the women’s group following that. The child has a definite structured orientation. It knows exactly what the expectations are, for it has the support of the whole system, and it is allowed an orderly departure from one stage before it enters the next. It is like returning to a certain attitude and taking on a new task, a new orientation in life, in a structured, ordered way. The symbols which are attached to these stages are intact when the system still works. I agree with Pushpa Bhargava that we not only have a very negative situation today, but that it has enormous detrimental potential for the future.

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 125 I would also like to mention something about the jeans culture. I think what Dr. Karan Singh said was not that the youth was losing its national identity. What this jeans culture is trying to say: “We are not going to accept the situation as it is. We are not accepting what you have done; we are not going to be consumers, and we are not going to be brainwashed. We are trying to find our own identity.” And in this respect, whether they are hippies or not, their culture is an attempt to find a new type of consciousness. It is a disastrous one, but it is, unfortunately for many of these young people, the only means they seem to have at their disposal. We haven’t given them anything else. All of these are attempts, and they are very vigorous attempts by the young to change the existing order in the world. And in that respect I think they’re very positive. I have great hope in the future — just through the rebels.

LEO I am professionally engaged in a relationship with small children. I have written and illustrated about 30 fables which have been published in many languages. The feedback from these books has been extraordinary. I have filing cabinets full of letters and drawings from children. One of the reasons for this response is probably that, from the outset, I decided not to baby-talk them, not to talk down to them, but to consider them first of all as human beings, regardless of their age. In Western society the child is a recent invention, with not more than 300 or 400 years of history. Before that, much as in agricultural societies, here in India, for example, the child stopped being treated as such as soon as it was able to control body and mind, to walk around and ask questions. Today’s extension of childhood has created enormous problems. In the highly developed nations, such as the European countries and the USA, children are denied any real responsibilities until they are well over 20. Unless real responsibilities are given to them we must expect the alienation we so deplore. One of the worse things that have happened to mankind was probably the notion that children should not work. They should work to the extent of their abilities and earn equal wages.

126 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM SWAMIJI What Ethel said about the rebel attitude is welcome. I also accept it. Because many young people have been suppressed too long, and had no voice of their own, they act in their own way. All sections are trying to assert themselves: “I am somebody. I am somebody.” This is a beautiful development: what one calls a sense of individuality. But what is the next step? By itself, the demand for identity will only create trouble. It will become disruptive. I like the example given by Bertrand Russell. A child develops a sense of individuality because the ego appears in the child at the age of about two and a half. We strengthen that ego saying, “You are an individual, and you are an individual.” This is the best education for children. But after about five years, new education must be given to the child that is concern for another child, and concern for others. This is what is lacking. The result is mere individuality, making for collision with others. The capacity to work together, to feel concern for others must come as the next stage of the child’s development. Two words, ‘individual’ and ‘person’, are used for these two stages. The child must develop into a person. I find a good definition of the words ‘person’ and ‘personality’ in Sir Julian Huxley: “Persons are individuals who transcend their mere organic individuality in conscious, social participation.” If this development comes to a child, that child will be a centre of peace, a centre of harmony. If not, it will always remain a centre of tension, tension to others as well. When I was speaking in American universities, the audience was occasionally larger than the number of chairs. The students would be sitting there, some smoking cigarettes, while the poor professor had to go to the next room and bring the extra chairs. This was sometimes done by an old professor. I did not see a single student going to help. They would sit there and smoke, and the professor made the arrangements. I went to Harvard also. There, when I had finished my speech, question-time followed. One question related to a similar subject. This gave me an opportunity to say bluntly what I had to say: “What I have seen in many institutions is atrocious. When so many young people are sitting in the hall, the professor goes to bring a chair! Can’t one of the students go and bring a chair and just help him?” No. Why? Because the parents and the teachers won’t ask the child to do anything.

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 127 In America, if you tell a child to do this, or not to do this, he or she will create a ‘scene’. So, nobody teaches children to serve others, and they are ruining the children’s life thereby. They are willing to serve, but nobody tells them to serve. When I told some students, “please go and bring a chair,” they immediately did so. They did not create any ‘scene’. It is this unfortunate way of dealing with children that keeps them at the level of individuality; they are not trained to rise to the level of personality. Hence psychic distortions easily arise. Children are willing to do it, provided you guide them a little to grow from self-centred individuality to expan- sive personality. Children’s education must include this character-building process. That is not hierarchy. It is human development. As a child, the father and mother tell the child what they wish him or her to do. The child does it in a spirit of service, so that he develops a larger self. That larger self is what you call the person. The other is the individual, which Bertrand Russell says is like a billiard ball, always colliding with other balls. Such an individual naturally becomes a centre of tension for himself and for others. This orientation of children into the spirit of service, of ‘what can I do for you? Let me do something for you’, develops their own spiritual life. That is where service is an important factor for training children from individuality to personality. The whole thing is done in a natural way, as part of educating the child. That is why, in Sanskrit, we have a wise dictum coming down from ancient Indian culture, which says: Sarvatra jayamicheyta putradicchet parajayam, Shishyadicchet parajayam (Expect victory from every direction for yourself, but expect only defeat from your children, from your students). We have to tell them: “We have done well, but you will do better.” That attitude is the best for the development of children, as well as students, according to Indian culture. Our present attitude: “Today’s generation is bad. We were better in our time” is the wrong attitude.

JAGDISH We have just concluded a very interesting interaction on the problems relating to youth. This should really have been the first subject of discussion because that is where life begins and so do the problems of the future. We began with

128 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM a small idea, which received the support of so many friends, including Mr. Hak- sar, Charles Correa and Swami Ranganathananda. An initiative was taken so that we could get together to exchange our ideas and experiences, and our visions and frustrations on this very important issue of the Human Condition. We may perhaps not find many solutions, but if we have succeeded in sowing some seeds, put across some ideas which make us all think, we will have taken a little step to hope in our future. This was the whole objective of this interaction. What has happened here during the last three days has been a mind expanding exercise for me, full of deep insight on many issues. I would now like to request some of our much respected colleagues and participants to give us their reactions and wisdom on the subject matter of our get-together. One day we might build a structure of new ideas for the common good.

KOTOVSKII I have spoken too much during the past three days. I am afraid I may have tired my friends here, so I shall be as brief as possible. I am very grateful to you Jagdish Chandra Kapur for the invitation. And I must confess that I have greatly benefited from this participation because human contact is the most valuable activity. To meet new people, to know new points of view, is extremely beneficial to everybody. To my mind, the meeting was important from the point of view that, having different approaches and different viewpoints on many things, we could reach common ground without any difficulty. We have arrived at a common viewpoint on many basic issues concerning the Human Condition. We have all been of the same opinion, that what is most necessary is to end all poverty, and in order to achieve this, we have to ensure better utilisation of man-made, human and environmental resources. We have all agreed that we should cultivate not only knowledge, but also culture; not only brains, but hearts as well. In his first contribution, Professor Sisirkumar Ghose expressed the desire that it would be very desirable for commissar and yogi to meet. You remember my comment on commissars. In this gathering, we can’t find either a commissar or

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 129 a classical yogi. But I may remind you that on the major points so far discussed, the representatives of Indian Vedantism, like Swami Ranganathananda, and the representative of the Soviet school of Marxism, are generally on the same ground. This has been achieved. It seems to me that we are micro-microcosms here, but we reflect the larger idea that human beings can come to terms on very major issues. The same result — we have to be optimistic — may be achieved at higher and higher levels, up to the summit. This is my hope. Thank you.

CHARLES I believe a structure that would help give our discussions further meaning could be constructed, beginning with what we talked of this morning, the quality of life. I like what was said about Gandhiji’s idea, that we cannot discuss the quality of life in a particular place unless we have minimum standards of human needs throughout the world. It seems to me that, considering those needs, we have to look not just at the physical needs, but also at the social needs and the spiritual needs. It is very possible to find poverty in all three spheres. Additional- ly, in the affluent societies there is a different kind of poverty.

HAKSAR It would not be wrong to say that those of us who have assembled here — we must have humility — represent a very, very infinitesimal fraction of the pulsat- ing, humanity living on this little Earth of ours. We must admit that we have come here because, as someone said yesterday, we have a feeling of responsibility. We must also have a feeling of concern. Concern and responsibility go together. My first submission is that it is probably not realised that the world, viewed in terms of its long history, has reached a new stage. Over a period of time, we have organised ourselves in groups, families, clans, tribes and nations. For three centuries at least, nations have fought wars in terms of what they regard as the pursuit of their national interests. I feel that one of the elements of the contemporary Human Condition is that we are unable to see with utmost clarity that the age of wars in pursuit of national interests is really over. If we really calculate

130 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM the conditions under which war can be waged today — include both nuclear war and conventional war, because I draw no distinction between them, and because I have no guarantee that one will not merge into the other — we cannot achieve anything by war. In earlier times it was possible to structure a system of balance of power, and make calculations of how to pursue national interests. Personally, I feel that the sooner we realise that war should be banished, as an instrument of national policy, the better it will be for us. Naturally, there are perceived conflicts expressed in terms of ideologies, expressed in terms of old concepts of power. These ideas are no longer helpful. My old sociologist friend, Raymond Aron, tried to see war and peace in sociological terms. He wrote 1,000 pages, but ended up with a conundrum he could not resolve. He came to the nuclear dilemma: how to use nuclear weapons diplomatically, so that they are not used militarily. When a man of such vast intelligence and experience devotes 1,000 pages to investigate this part of the Human Condition and then sums up his dilemma in these terms, all of us who are not professional diplomats or professional politicians, who are engaged in the pursuit of our own areas of knowledge, cannot remain indifferent to the change. I cannot say, “I am an economist. I will concern myself solely with the domain of economic reconstruction,” or “I am a psychologist, I shall concern myself only with trying to investigate this mysterious phenomenon of the human consciousness.” I think the history of the world up to the Second World War is a continuation of the classical period, and it ended there with the explosion, and then expansion, of nuclear capabilities and sophistication. As I see it, our times are totally unlike any other time in human history. Never before has human awareness (howsoever misguided) or human consciousness wanted to express itself in such a massive way. And this it does — despite drugs, despite vast disinformation, despite wars, despite pestilence, despite famine, hunger and disease. We should regard this human consciousness emerging in our lives and the lives of our children as something sacred. We must respect this human consciousness, and search and seek what it demands: the search for identity. The search for the simultaneous satisfaction of material and spiritual needs was beautifully expressed by Swami Ranganathananda,

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 131 when he said the harmonisations of desires is the crying need of our times, na- tionally and internationally. The touchstone of what we are doing in the realm of politics, in the realm of the International Relations, in the realm of restructuring of our economies, should be what is right or wrong. We must evaluate whether a set of policies or proposals is in consonance with the urges of the billions of human beings who have reached this stage of history. I do not know how familiar you are with this bit of history: in 1884, a few European powers sat in Berlin and, without reference to the dark continent of Africa, they drew a map, each said: “This is mine. This is mine.” The whole of Africa was divided in this unbelievable manner. On the same lines, today if one thinks there are two superpowers, they should be able to divide up the world. This is no longer possible, and the sooner they and we realise it, the better it will be. Given acceptance of the sacredness of the resurgence of human consciousness, there is a corresponding need for an integrated restructuring of economy, polity and spiritual values, in order to achieve stability. These, according to me, are three areas where we can all see the great change happening. The old position was that there was the king and there was the subject: raja and praja. This relationship is no longer valid. It is not acceptable. If anyone persists in structuring polity or economy in those terms, he will be undone. The turbulence we are witnessing is the result of non-acceptance of the fact that human beings are emerging and that it is a sacred phenomenon. We must restructure polity. We must restructure economy. We must restructure our whole process of education towards this. And all this has to be done harmoniously, not in terms of the old concept of ‘I, Man, human being, against Nature’, but ‘I and Nature’. We must work out how best we can reconcile the two in a first approximation to harmony, as history is a series of approximations to what might be an Ultimate Truth. Thank you very much.

132 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM SWAMIJI I wish to express my great appreciation of Jagdish Chandra Kapur, particularly, for conceiving this programme and making it possible. He has invited many distinguished people who have been building awareness of the Human Condi- tion in the national and international context, searching for solutions to improve that condition. We have to mobilise all the wisdom of mankind to tackle the faults in the Human Condition. We have referred to war, the prospect of a future war. And we have discussed the point also that there is great striving for peace all over the world. We are for- tunate that since 1945 there has been no serious war. That itself is a great blessing. Discussions between the superpowers are going on. Let people discuss with each other, but let them not go to war. This must be emphasised again and again, till final wisdom comes upon us to reduce armaments and bring in real peace. We have also discussed the subject of the yogi and the commissar. I consider this a very important subject. It was the title of a wonderful book written by Arthur Koestler, whom I have met in Delhi. There is a profound meaning in putting these two together; this combination comes from ancient Indian and ancient Chinese wisdom. We have a concept in the Gita and the Mahabharata called Rajarishi which is defined by Shankaracharya as rajanascha te rishcishayascha, rajarishi (One who combines within the himself raja, or kingship, and rishi, the spiritual quality of human life). If they are separated, there will be disaster. If they are brought together, that will be best for Mankind. The concept of raja normally means ‘a crowned head’, and crowned heads are only left in England and in a few other countries. When Faroukh was ousted from Egypt, it seems he made a remark, “These are bad days for crowned heads. Ultimately, only five crowned heads will remain: one, the King or Queen of England, the other four the playing cards. All the rest will go.” What is intended today by Rajarishi is the person who holds and handles power: the whole subject of political, economic, social or even ecclesiastical power is the ambit of the word raja. That, today, is the meaning of this term ‘commissar’. How is the commissar going to use his power? He can use it to destroy people. We have seen Hitler doing that. We want to tame that power. One of the

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 133 most important objectives of democracy is how to tame power, how to make it serve the interests of the Human Condition, making it better and better. And here comes the answer: The holders of power must have evolved at least a little towards their inherent spiritual dimension, that is what is denoted by the word rishi or sage. Then compassion will come, love will come, and service will come to him. This concept of the yogi and the commissar, of the raja and the rishi, is very significant. These two must go together. Power without the spiritual touch makes for devilishness, destroying human dignity and happiness. A collector has power, he can do immense good to the people if he is motivated in the human way. A constable has power, but if he has no high motivation, he can ruin other people with his power. The higher motivation comes from a certain spiritual development in the individual. That is the meaning of the word,rishi , in Sanskrit. When the rishi or spiritual growth within, and raja or power without, are combined, the best type of energy to improve the Human Condition is developed, an energy that is capable of making the best use of the other two energies, namely, money and scientific and technical knowhow. This is explained in Chinese thought, Taoist as well as Con- fucian thought, as ‘kingly without and sagely within’ — a wonderful expression. Kingly without: raja; sagely within: rishi. This combination is essential in every department of life. The father must have it, and the mother must have it. In every department, power must be combined with humanist feeling, with compassion, love and concern for others. This beautiful combination can alter the ratio of forces in the world, in the direction of total human development and welfare. One of the greatest achievements of the modern period is the rapid growth of science and technology. If there are difficulties arising from technology, we have to correct them. One area which every scientist must stress is that, at the human level, quantity is subordinate to quality. Today’s biology mentions it: “Qualitative enrichment is the essence of human evolution.” From science it must come this constant reiteration, to the young people all over the world, that quantity is subordinate to quality. For the arts, aesthetics and religion, everything in them must stress quality, and help to enrich and beautify the Human Condition.

134 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM Regarding knowledge, I am saddened that although there is an explosion of knowledge there is still sorrow. I quoted Bertrand Russell, ”Unless men increase in wisdom as much as in knowledge, increase of knowledge shall be increase of sorrow.” How can we justify the increase of sorrow? While there is plenty of knowledge, cynicism afflicts many intellectuals today all over the world. This is a challenge to knowledge, and it is a great misfortune that knowledge should lead to cynicism. There must be faith in man and faith in his future, and that can come only when knowledge rises, however, slightly to the level of wisdom. Sri Ramakrishna has related a wonderful parable on this subject: A great scholar was crossing a river in a boat. The boatman was not educated; he was an ordinary person. The scholar proudly asked the boatman: “Do you know physiology?” “No Sir,” he said. ”Then 25 per cent of your life is a waste,” the scholar said in an arrogant tone. After some time, he asked him, “Do you know philology?” The boatman replied, “No Sir.” “Then 50 per cent of your life is a waste. Do you know philosophy?” he asked. “No Sir,” was the answer. “Then 75 per cent of your life is a waste,” opined the scholar. Then a storm arose, and the boat began rocking. The scholar was frightened. The boatman gently asked him: “Do you know swimology?” “No Sir,” answered the scholar. “Then 100 per cent of your life is waste,” said the boatman. Today, we see the same situation. We know everything, but many don’t know how to live at peace within themselves and with others. There in an inner emptiness that has to be filled with spiritual knowledge. There is no conflict between knowledge and wisdom. When one matures into the other, how can there be conflict? That is the Indian point of view, which has been very beautifully expressed by Bhagavan Sri Krishna in the Srimad Bhagavatam, in his discourse to Uddhava. I will convey three verses from that conversation, which expounds the Indian idea of physical science and the science of spirituality being harmonised as two aspects of the single pursuit of human knowledge and excellence, from the sensory to the supersensory level. Prayena manuja loke, loka-tattva vi-chakshanah; Samuddharantihe atmanam, atmanaiva ashubhashayat. [Generally speaking, human beings, in this world are capable of understanding the truth about the world; [and with that knowledge] they uplift themselves from all that is evil and primitive.]

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 135 The next verse makes it even more clear: Atmano gururatmaiva purushasya visheshatah; Yat pratyakshanumana vhyam shreyosav anuvindate. Paraphrased, this is what it means: So far as man unlike all pre-human species is concerned, his guru is himself. He becomes his own guru, unlike all animals whose guru is nature, by training his mind in the scientific method. And so the second line says: “by developing the scientific method of observation of phenomena… he is able to raise his life and achieve welfare.” Man is not subject to Nature. He has a higher nature within himself, by which he can understand and manipulate external nature. And finally the third verse answers the question: Is this all that man can do — control the energies of external nature, become civilised, and finally be destroyed by those very energies, as we are doing? No. There is a higher dimension of knowledge, where knowledge rises to wisdom. That also is a hidden human possibility: Purushatve chamaam dhirah sankhya-yoga visharadah; Avistaram prapashyanti, sarvashakti upabrimhitam. Man has also an additional capacity. Wise and courageous men, who are experts in the science and technique of spirituality, discover in themselves an immensity of dimension, namely, god, a centre of infinite energies and power. The words used here are: sankbya-yoga visharadah (experts in the pure science and the applied science of spirituality), by which man can overcome those challenges that come to him from the energies released by his physical sciences and technology. These three verses tell us that the physical sciences, dealing with the external environment; and spirituality, dealing with the depth dimension of the human personality, go side-by-side in Indian thought. Knowledge is one; the depart- ments are two; let us not create a big gulf between the two, says Indian wisdom. I am sure that today, when we deal with the Human Condition, we need that kind of wisdom. I am sure that there is enough wisdom available in all parts of the world to rescue humanity from the current difficult condition. Our modern achievements are great. But these achievements are only the base for further achievement: for human evolution to higher and higher levels of love, compassion, the spirit of service, and the spirit of oneness. That is the evolutionary path

136 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM along which humanity has to go. And mankind has all the requisite organic capacities to achieve this development. That is the hopeful note that you get from India’s philosophy and spirituality of Vedanta, in the context of our dealing with the Human Condition. I am very happy to have shared this wonderful experience with all of you. And I thank Jagdish Chandra Kapur and his wife, Urmilla, for giving us this opportunity. Namaskar. Conclusion

The ‘Human Condition’ at the best of times has been a burden. Whether consciously or instinctively, it has always been the human endeavour to heighten pleasure and conquer pain. In Eastern thought, to attain a state of nirvana has been a serious human concern for thousands of years and many disciplines and techniques are followed to achieve upward mobility of consciousness in the search for the ultimate reality. Contemporary human beings have shifted their concern from eternity to time, from contemplation to action, from ends to means, and from cosmic reality to material creativity. By considering only our own creations, we have broken loose from the infinity of the cosmic order and chained science and its social function; in fact we have confined all knowledge to our own limited perceptions of reality. We have exploded the very ethics of knowledge that disciplined the creative process on which the foundation of science rested, and thus we have lost the key to the reversal of this trend and are unable to re-establish harmony between reason and consciousness. At present no system of values guides the movement of knowledge towards a new and a higher ethical order transcending its human creator, nor has any aspect of human existence escaped this unbridled aggregation of technical power and unconditional commitment for the satisfaction of sensory needs and their much graver interventionary consequences on the ecological processes The wide diversity of views expressed on the Human Condition basically represents the outcome of an interaction between four streams of thought — spiritual, scientific, philosophical and aesthetic. These four streams separated long ago and the fact of their divergence is obvious in every sphere of human activity. Most of the speakers’ contributions were related to the consequence of this divergence; they expressed concern at the increasing remoteness from its common origin of all human creativity. Our inability to stop the disintegrative processes limits both our thoughts and actions, the participants felt. Having shut ourselves off from a whole range of inexplicable and unintelligible phenomena,

138 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM we are unable to comprehend the infinity of wholeness and its unifying linkages; we are unable to relate to the problem at its roots, entranced as we are by the thousands visible branches and the immensity of available resources. All inventions, discoveries, improvements, technical progress, art, architecture, philosophical systems and spirituality are the fruits of human visions, dreams and actions. So also, the issues of economic breakdown, the unrestrained arms race and threats of human annihilation, the collapse of the ethical and moral order, social and family disintegration, distortion of the role of education, the social function of science, the subservient role of women, alienation of youth, use of narcotics and spread of AIDS, all have a common origin — the human mind. The interaction on the Human Condition provided frequent glimpses of the linkages and the common points of origin and creativity. The Tower of Babel we have created is sure to bring us to catastrophe which is the fate of everything that cannot pass into a newer or higher plane of being. This new plane lies on the path of integrated human evolution, which has been rudely interrupted, leading to the mass production of mindless mercenaries to protect consumerist utopias. The retreat from the sorry condition of humankind will only be possible for those with lower levels of commitment to this destructive path, for those with an awareness of its consequences and with new visions of the future — unfettered by the hypnosis of consumerist symbols and values. How can this higher plane be attained and at what price? Dreamers, thinkers, scholars and sages have been reflecting on these possibilities for centuries. While basic truths and the interconnectedness of all phenomena remain unaltered, the unlimited proliferation of means of self-destruction and their psychic backlash calls for re-arrangement of human affairs in terms of our present compulsions and future needs, new reference points are required, which were non-existent centuries ago when the seeds of today’s world were sown. A new world will take birth only when we are ready to bid farewell to the world we must leave behind. What this new world will be like, without power blocks, with equity and justice, without fear of human, physical, intellectual or spiritual annihilation, is not the question. Where man should go, and what he must do to get there, remain the question behind all human endeavours. We find

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 139 that we have interrupted this process. It is time we returned to what is civilised, noble and useful for mankind. Economic systems based on unbridled consumerism and mega death in the form of the armament race have lost both their moorings and justification. In the process of assuring the continuity of an unsustainable situation, the international financial system is nearing breakdown. One debt-trapped nation after another is becoming bankrupt, being kept solvent only through new debts, living with the illusion that some miracle will save them from inevitable economic disaster. In reality, human and physical resources are being driven away from the problems of poverty and want, and the consequences of this are spreading like terminal cancer throughout the world’s physical and social environment, manifesting themselves in many ways, as poverty, terrorism, fundamentalism, smuggling, corruption, displacement of the rule of law by military coups, manipulated wars, distorted socio-economic systems, accelerated exploitation of the poor, and unfair trade practices. Political institutions have become a farce, and democracy an instrument for abridging human rights and extending subservience. The seats of authority are becoming centres of crime. The economic and power interests of a few egoistic and power-mad individuals or groups take precedence over the interest of the people and nations. Covert and overt action has everywhere replaced diplomacy in international relations, and human life has become the most disposable commodity. Strategies that were devised to control others have now started deceiving the very citadels of power from which they originated. Science and technology are being increasingly used to ensure human destruction, and the increasing knowledge of the biological sciences is resulting in deadly diseases and the manipulation of life. With the almost permanent separation of thought from knowledge and techniques, we have become helpless victims of all that we have invented or discovered. The regulated potential of science is being swept aside by an unregulated potential. Higher standards of life and increasing excesses have lead to the alienation of individuals, breakdown of the family, and the disintegration of social order. The estrangement and utter loneliness of youth are magnets attracting narcotics and drug abuse, and contributing to the spread of black plagues like AIDS.

140 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM The only hope of corrective responses in the social organism is being dimmed through erosion of the moral and ethical order. Insecure adults and youths, without hope in the future, are unable to distinguish between right and wrong. The mass circulation of disinformation has blurred the dividing line between truth and untruth. Humankind is a bewildered victim of the manipulation of power and justice for ruthlessly promoted vested interests. Those who preside over the institutions that control the physical, social and moral support systems of mankind are using every possible weapon, including threats of nuclear annihilation to stem the tide of history and assure the continued primacy of dying systems. Living with the dread of a nuclear holocaust, ecological disasters, economic breakdown, incurable diseases such as AIDS, and the widespread use of narcotics, humankind seems to be fulfilling a death wish. The larger the share in the system, the more intense is the concern, and more dogmatic the assertions and hatred of those who persist in servitude to their system. We have arrived at these signposts through long periods of transgression of our societal interests and responsibilities, and by impelling all actions to the point of irreversibility. As faith in our designs and actions retreats, the desire to accelerate down the same suicidal path becomes compulsive. We are ready to sacrifice everything and everyone so that our dream world of unrestrained excesses may continue undisturbed, even at the sacrifice of every law of both human and cosmic order. We all await the worst. Nothing we do corrects the situation. Everything distorts and makes it more complex, more out of control, further out of reach. We can only hope and work so that true spiritual and social leaders will arise to guide mankind towards a desirable destiny. Main participants

Dr. Ian Baker (IAN) Eminent Jungian psychologist.

Dr. Pushpa Bhargava Biologist. Director of the Institute of Cellular (BHARGAVA) Biology, Hyderabad, India. Associated with various national and international institutions and organisations.

Professor Charles Correa Leading architect, town planner and social (CHARLES) thinker. Visiting professor at various universities such as Cambridge, Harvard and MIT. Fellow of the Royal Institute of Architects.

Professor Sisirkumar Professor at Santiniketan. A social thinker. Pro- Ghose lific writer on issues of human concern. Author (SISIRKUMAR) of the chapter on Mysticism in the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Dr. P N Haksar Former diplomat and Principal Private Secre- (HAKSAR) tary to the Prime Minister of India. Former Vice-Chairman of the Planning Commission. Well-known political and social thinker, and author.

Mr. Jagdish Futurist, solar scientist and entrepreneur. Chandra Kapur Founder of the Kapur Solar Farms and Kapur JAGDISH Surya Foundation. President of the Solar En- ergy Society of India. Author of India In the Year 2000 and India–An Uncommitted Society, and over 100 papers on the social functions of science, energy, technology and the future.

142 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM Professor G G Kotovskii Historian. Deputy Director of the Institute of (KOTOVSKII) Oriental Studies, Moscow. Author of a number of books.

Mr. Leo Lionni An internationally renowned designer, artist, (LEO) author and illustrator of 30 children’s books. Recipient of five first prizes at the 1967 Teheran Film Festival. Former Art Director of Fortune. Editor of Italian Panorama and author of many articles and books, including, The Family of Man.

Professor J. Van Biologist. Studying the behavior pattern of Orshoven Chimpanzee Communities (Primates) in Africa (ORSHOVEN) since 1966. More recently, involved with studies on the optimal conditions for a human child to be born in the concept of total human being.

Swami Ranganathananda Vedantist, Ramakrishna Mission, Hyderabad. (SWAMIJI) One of India’s most erudite scholars. Speaker and author on spiritual, cultural and other issues of human concern.

Professor Ethel Vogelsang Practicing psychologis professor at Kari Jung (ETHEL) Institute, Zurich. Author.

Dr. Yashpal Space scientist. Chairman of the University (YASH) Grants Commission. Formerly Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, India. Associated with various space, scientific and other organisations in India and the United Nations.

PART – I • A DIALOGUE ON THE HUMAN CONDITION 143 Part-time participants

Dr. Ursula King Theologian. At present, Professor of Theology at (URSULA) the University of Leeds, UK. Author of a number of well-known books.

Dr. G P Talwar Biochemist. Director of the Indian Institute of (DR. TALWAR) Immunology. Renowned scientist dealing with the science of family planning.

Dr. Romesh Thapar Well-known journalist, publisher of the journal, (ROMESH) Seminar, author of several books. Member, Club of Rome and various other bodies.

Dr. Karan Singh Eminent politician. Author, intellectual, en- (KARAN SINGH) vironmentalist and orator. Former regent of Jammu and Kashmir State, 1949–1967. Union Cabinet Minister, 1967–1977, Member of Parliament 1967–1984. PhD (University of Del- hi). Five honorary degrees, Fourteen published books.

Mr. B P Singhal Indian Civil Servant. Administrator with deep (SINGHAL) human concern. Involved with the problems of youth.

144 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM

146 PART – II

A QUEST FOR SYNERGY JC Kapur delivering a lecture at the UN Conference on New Source of Energy in Rome in 1961

148 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM Introduction

The following chapters are based on a selection of papers, arranged in chronological order, reflecting J C Kapur’s lifelong work and concerns in a wide range of topics, from socio-political-philosophy to the economy, environmental management and energy policies. These papers were written and presented over a period of more than three decades from the early 1960s. Their interdisciplinary approach denotes the synthetic vision of the author who sought to grasp and emphasize the connections between all areas of knowledge and activity, in consonance with the Indian tradition of organic epistemology as a foundation for integral humanism.

PART – II • A QUEST FOR SYNERGY 149 FOREIGN TECHNOLOGY

Written and delivered between 1968 and 1971

echnologies relevant to the setting up of an industrial base and for the rapid Tdevelopment of the economy have been and largely continue to be beyond the capabilities of the research and development organizations in India. It is therefore obvious that the import of technologies for an important segment of development is compulsive in the Indian situation. The question, therefore, is not as to whether technologies should be imported but what is to be done with the imported technologies. We have no doubt made many errors in technology imports, but these errors in terms of the broad national interest are not half as serious as the aimless drift to obsolescence of such technologies and the equipments. As a result of these failures, our options are narrowing down. We will either remain committed to economically unviable obsolete equipments and technologies or continue to spend our limited foreign exchange resources in international technology markets — political, economic and defence considerations apart. Our target for attack should not, therefore, be the foreign technologies — as through imported technologies alone, we have been able to create the existing industrial base — but the failure of the industrial and research organizations to build self-reliance on the foundation of the technologies so imported. Both the USSR and Japan have built their economies and technologies through the process of continuous upgrading of imported technologies, thus achieving excellence. China is now adopting a similar strategy. In all the three cases of Japan, the USSR and China, representing three different cultures, attitudes towards development and having three different types of economies, the basic approach to objectives and strategies is identical, while the economic and social policies vary in a large measure. The stability of the Japanese industrial organization, high debt equity ratio, or large facilities for borrowing, compulsion

150 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM to find international markets and relatively lower commitment to old equipment and technologies have helped Japan to achieve compounded yearly growth rate of near 10 per cent and capital formation and investment of near 38 per cent. It may all lead to Japan becoming the world industrial leader by the year 2000. Similarly, in the case of the USSR and China, within the framework of objectives and strategy, resources and incentives, considerable progress is being made. It has to be understood that it is largely the technological application of resources such as land, labour, capital and education which determines a nation’s potential for economic growth. It is now fairly well established that some 90 per cent of all increases in productivity and 70 per cent of the measured economic growth in the USA over the last about 50 years could be attributed to technological advances. For a long period of time, investment has been considered the principal catalyst causing growth, and all incremental investment in a society became widely accepted as the primary means of stimulating economic growth. But now the impact of the technological stimulators is widely appreciated and an investment in well selected technologies can achieve vast multiplier effects of change and progress throughout a society. Such contributions are usually direct and indirect and can come in the form of direct improvements in productivity and cost reduction and wider acceptability of the products, or through its effect on other enterprises and sectors. Technological innovation or changes can, therefore, send series of small waves of change and progress throughout the society. Quite often, the multiplier effects of new technologies far outweigh the demand stimulation through fiscal measures. This major stimulus is being extensively employed in Japan but is completely lacking in the Indian plans for national development. It is high time our planners understood that in a society such as ours, the primary force needed to accelerate growth is not so much capital investment as technological advance. Without objective, there can be no strategy for development or a science and technology policy. And by the same token, no in-built system to reduce dependence on foreign technologies. And for each nation, in terms of its economic and social background and industrial base, there are certain technologies which can provide the largest mul-

PART – II • A QUEST FOR SYNERGY 151 tiplier effect and thus make the maximum contribution to development. India, within the framework of her strategy and constraints, must therefore select those commanding heights of technologies, such as electronics, oceanography, petro- chemicals, nuclear energy and others, which can provide such acceleration to our growth. Due to the unlimited proliferation of technologies, we cannot spend our limited resources for self-reliance on too broad a spectrum of technologies. Nor can we afford to become the dumping ground for rejected technologies and equipments in vital basic industries such as steel, fertilizers, refineries etc. With- out adequate caution, we can, in this process, lose the most important of the few advantages that rest with less developed countries that is of lower commitment to existing technologies and equipments. Many of the more sophisticated and fast obsolescing technologies related to space, defence, aeronautics, micro-electronics, may cost far beyond our resources to develop indigenously. The exploitation of such technologies can only be on an international basis, because the markets of any one country alone cannot justify such large-scale investments. It is, therefore, equally important for India to avoid the point of overkill because that can be an equally wasteful process. At the present stage of our development, the cost analysis of imported versus indigenously developed technologies and only selective imports thereof are of significant importance. Like the balance of power in world affairs, the balance of terror in defence, the technological balances are becoming a vital factor in world trade. All nations, advanced or backward, are today shopping in the world technology markets for equipments and the techniques that will give them a competitive position in world trade. New innovations act as catalysts in world trade contributing materially to the balance of trade of the innovating nations. Ameri- can exports of jet aircrafts and communication equipments, and the Japanese export of ships and electronic equipments are some specific examples of these trends. With the explosive proliferation of technologies and the narrowing time gap between invention and applications from many decades to a few years, no nation or organization will be prepared to part with or barter away its short- term advantages. Therefore, to think of importing technologies that will give us advantages in world trade is utopia. Such advantage can only be had through our own research efforts.

152 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM India today has a reasonably viable industrial base, which, with some modification mild- extension, can be projected to a point of industrial take off. But, technologies that through a process of productive superimposition on this structure that could help us leapfrog and thus improve our competitive position are missing on an entire spectrum of development. For instance, there is adequate capacity in the country to fabricate process equipment of many types, but we still have to import the process knowhow and many sophisticated fabrication techniques. This means continued reliance on imports for technologies and many types of process equipment. Similar considerations also apply to many other areas of developments including electronics, steel, machine building etc. There is no such a thing as foreign technology. Technology is international in its repercussions. No one nation has a monopoly of excellence in all the areas of advanced technology. If the US is ahead in space and aviation, Japan is becoming a leader in electronics and shipbuilding and the USSR in steel and oil. Nor can any nation forever maintain its lead on an entire spectrum of technologies. Today, the results of basic sciences are published for all to read. So are the exploratory possibilities for the use of such research. Most of the new advances in technologies are built on these building blocks. There is mounting evidence that it is the failure of our institutions and managements to organize rapid changes and to innovate that is the cause of the widening technology gap. What we, therefore, need is informed and alert managements of industries and research organizations to create organizational abilities to assess and take advantage of new developments. Further, the almost complete lack of industrial orientation of Indian research and also development orientation of industry has been one of the principal reasons for India’s failure in progressing towards technological self-sufficiency and her growing dependence on imported technologies. Technological forecasting and long-range planning are therefore fundamental to success whether on the macro level of a nation or micro level of industrial organizations or research laboratories. If the national objective is to seek technological self-sufficiency or parity with the advanced societies in a foreseeable future, say the next three decades, it is of paramount importance to distinguish between the fading and the arriving technologies. And, within the framework of our goals and constraints, to make commitment of resources to achieve success.

PART – II • A QUEST FOR SYNERGY 153 It is also necessary to draw a clear-cut distinction between the import of capital equipment and technologies. Equipment is a permanent commitment and is usually wedded to the level of technology contracted and is thus subject to considerable reduction in value and often complete obsolescence with every technological advancement or breakthrough. Technology is the knowledge which, for an alert nation, can form the basis of further upgrading of available techniques. We should not, therefore, let our technological development processes be hamstrung or circumscribed by our fortunes in industrial development. With the broadening dimensions of basic industries and planned growth of technological capabilities, leapfrogging can be achieved at one stage or other. It can also help to cut down cost of equipment imports. But there are some serious inhibiting factors in enlarging the national research and development effort. Considerable commitment to imported equipment and techniques, the reluctance on the part of investors to invest in projects built around indigenous knowhow and a seller’s market on a broad spectrum of development are some of the more important factors which inhibit growth. The frequent changes in government policies and the use of research result being subject to government licencing procedures have not helped matters either. A serious review of policies inhibiting the use of research results and indigenously developed techniques for productive uses is called for. Organised industries in the private sector account for much less than 10 per cent of the investment and expenditure in research and development. The small size of the enterprises and an inability to sustain R&D expenditures, foreign col- laborations and financially or administratively oriented managements are some of the more important reasons for such failures. Similar failures are now being repeated on a colossal scale in the public sector enterprises accounting for the other 50 per cent of the investment. Sizable proportion of this investment is lying unutilised for want of suitable technologies, whether process or manufacturing. The R&D effort in the public sector is even more backward than in the private sector companies. There are therefore compelling reasons to build a base for such an effort and also to extend objective-oriented areas of cooperation with the national laboratories. Similarly, the failure to correlate even the very limited national R&D effort with industrial licencing policies has not furthered the indigenous self-sufficiency

154 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM objective. A system to realise this and also to fill in the many gaps to translate the national R&D into actual productive effort is considered of vital importance in the Indian development. These gaps can only be filled through active cooperation between the national research organisations, government and industry. The present system of non-specialised handling of the technology needs of industries is not conducive to assessment in depth and planned growth. The key to Indian development and the contribution of indigenously generated technologies to such development will in the final analysis rest with the precise definition of national goals and a strategy to realise these goals. At present, there is no integration of the long-term science and technology plan with the country’s economic plan; as such, the multiplier effect of these technologies to accelerate development and battles for technological self-sufficiency are both being lost under the pressure of fast proliferating technologies. FUTURE OF MAN — THE EASTERN AND THE WESTERN VIEW

Paper to the World Union International Fifth Triennial Conference on ’The Next Future‘ at Pondicherry, January 1977

hen I talk about the Eastern and the Western view in relation to the future Wof man, it is not my intention to apply geographical limitations to such views or to state the differences in the viewpoints of people on the East or West of Suez. Nor can such analysis be confined to the Marxian or the non-Marxian approach, because it is becoming increasingly obvious that there are wide differences of such magnitude within one or the other approach that often in the process of moving away they come closer to their own anti-thesis. Nor can these differences be expressed in terms of religions. Firstly, because most religions have had their origin in the East, and also in the ultimate analysis if the conceptual, linguistic or environmental limitations were to be ignored, we arrive at a common objective — that the only future towards which man can direct his thoughts and actions is the ultimate future or the absolute future. All intermediate or transitory futures are inadequate due to “suffering and death”. Most of them accept this future as the divine mode of being. Lastly, as the earth shrinks, as the communication networks interconnect a village at the foot of Mount Everest with another in the Arctic Circle, or the Gobi Desert, it tends to unify the thought processes, the living habits, consumerist passions, hopes, dreams and concerns of otherwise entirely dissimilar people. Therefore, when I talk of differences between the Eastern and the West- ern view, I do not mean racial or regional differences, the differences in the scriptures that people profess or do not profess, or the differences in the gross national product; what I really mean are the urges, motivation, patterns of concern and driving force, which spur individuals, groups or nations to action

156 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM or inaction. If this was the only criterion it would be fair to say that all so- called advanced, affluent and networked mankind has been affected by the consumerist passion and is at the various stages of the disease, from highly contagious to dormant or in the incubation period or at best a highly suscepti- ble condition, and only a contact is awaited. The differences in state are largely in terms of the intensity of directed communication, the individual and the societal predisposition and, of course, the question of time. Once the nations or people accept one-dimensional development and launch on the road to consumerism, and when such development becomes the driving force in their lives, then the differences between all such nations are largely in terms of the time they have travelled on the consumerist road. Dissimilarities, if any, are only superficial and are usually ritualistic. Through all the technological advances, whether in the realm of space, energy, communication, biological sciences, man is continuously committing himself to a future through decisions being made in the present. Responsible scientists and innovators will certainly accept man’s power within the next century to eliminate famine and disease, to stabilise population and control man’s genetic development. And as this kind of future moves rapidly into the present, the desire for an accurate assessment of what is coming and how this can be controlled in a responsible manner also grows. The quality of life which the present generation of man enjoys or suffers is the legacy which the earlier generations left for him. So when we talk of the future of man today, we are in fact commenting upon our own abilities to design an adequate future for the generations to come. The fear of the future is largely due to our lack of confidence in the justice of our cause, the institutions that we uphold, the symbols and values that we have to offer and, above all, our subconscious awareness of the gross injustice of the order these institutions tend to support and perpetuate. The relative instability of the systems — national and international — that we live in is adding a new dimension to the fear psychosis. The excessive use of resources and the abuse of environment to maintain in- digestive consumer societies at some points and famine conditions at the others, both within the national and international system, is another unbalancing factor.

PART – II • A QUEST FOR SYNERGY 157 While on one side the threats of diminishing resources have introduced exploitative factors and pressures to maintain a consumerist status quo, on the other, audiovisual communication networks are promoting economic systems and quick- fix solutions for the urge to produce and to consume. In many ways it is far more dangerous, because it is far more pleasant, desirable and habit forming. It is a symbol of acceptance in the high consumer clubs. It gives a feeling of power, equality and similarity. For the affluent, to retain their superiority and the validity of the system, it results in a much greater effort on the same path. It also means the containment of many more variables, much greater complexity of the system they operate and its much greater vulnerability, and hence much greater need for protective effort. The ultimate consequence of this is turning out to be the emergence of an uncertain, insecure, unfair world leading in turn to the emergence of power-centres, representing identical interests and viewpoints, poised to direct every international dissent to be exploited to serve the larger group interest. All regional confrontations, all the aggregating violence, much of the human suffering and waste, owe their excesses to the protection of the individual and group as against human interest. It is not so much the deeds of development and growth and the useful purpose that it serves in man’s physical well being that has been the source of our present problems, but it is the conversion and subordination of all man’s attributes and gifts, including that of higher consciousness, to the new religion of consumerism with its philosophy, mythology and rituals that is the cause of our greatest concern. While the gods of religions still adorn the sanctuaries of churches, gods of consumerism have captivated the hearts of men. This is the environment in which our images of the future of man are taking shape. The sacrifices and suffering of one part of the human race to assure higher material rewards in another part, the price paid in human terms to assure continuity of an existing order of things, and the perpetuation of the injustices of the past are all of no consideration in the one-dimensional approach to man’s future. Many scientists, technologists, leaders, teachers, saints and seers have for centuries projected man’s fate, dreams, aspirations and hopes and fears into the future. And the value of these assessments depended largely on the perception level of the persons making such projections.

158 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM From Hindu and Arab astrology to the practices of the Tarot, the I Ching, and the teachings of great religions, all have been oriented towards the future. Present human actions were conditioned on the basis of the rewards and pun- ishments in the future of heaven and hell. Some offered material rewards, others eternal bliss. From the industrial revolution till the recent decades of the 20th century, science and technology were more concerned with present conquests than future de- liverance, more with the games of power and prosperity than order and direction. More with the game than with the rules of the game. The complexification and intensification of the processes of science and technology have brought order and organisation only to those small segments of a system which serve the group interest, and are essential to the efficient organisation and realisation of the scientific and technological power, prosperity and prestige objectives of organisations, groups or nations. The classic examples are the efficient organisations behind the space missions, the economic prosperity objectives of the Japanese state, nuclear development in China, organisation of the war effort by Vietnam. “Order and organisation are imposed when a system becomes technical”, says Jacques Ellull, because without such order and organisation high technology objectives cannot be achieved. But, as the system becomes more and more complex, it becomes increasingly more vulnerable. Dislocation through internal weakness, or external intervention of any one of the many variables within a complex system results in the breakdown of the entire system or sub-system. The breakdown of the American military machine in the Vietnam war, the breakdown of the urban metropolis system in the Unit- ed States when their astronauts were landing on the moon, the dislocation of the world economic system with increases in oil prices and the generation of a world population explosion by the introduction of a few pesticides and drugs are just a few examples of how complex systems behave when one or more variables get out of control. This will also show that complex systems usually have side effects in other interrelated systems totally out of proportion to the benefits that a sub-system or a group interest may realise through their organisation and control. Most one-dimensional studies by fraternities of scientists and technologists, planners and economists, mathematicians and town and urban planners and others suffer from this disorientation. The group interests, the inherent contradictions within the sub-system, the relative state of development of the com-

PART – II • A QUEST FOR SYNERGY 159 ponent within the sub-system and other interrelating systems and, above all, the absence of long-term human perspectives towards which all sub-systems and systems should project, have thus helped to orient all such exercises towards the intensification of the processes of preservation and promotion of group rather than human interests. Science, technology, material development and the extension of the war machines and their allied sub-systems of terror and other supporting sub-systems, constitute the bulk of the effort in this direction. He who pays the piper plays the tune. But mercifully these studies have suffered from the vulnerability of the very same processes, segments of sub-systems and systems which they seek to project into the future. If all else is under control, the human element becomes the constraint. These one-dimensional studies, representing aspects of human knowledge often interact and interrelate but continue merrily on their parallel, upward, downward or forward path, to serve the ends of material development which all else is expected or designed to subserve. People like Herman Kahn and others, undeterred by the discontinuities of the world, the alienation of man from his environment and from his god, the limitations of resources and the biosphere, continue to build pathways to dream worlds of the 21st century of secular humanism, institutionalisation of scientific innovation and continuous economic growth. These scenarios built around unstable assumptions and unidimensional extrapolation of the present into the future, lose their relevance as rapidly as they are constructed. They have not yet recognised the vulnerability of the technologies that they project into neither the future nor the ultimate meaning or goals of the social systems and man and the consequences of the alternative courses of action. Obviously qualitative changes in the social system or the bio-psycho changes in man and his altered relationship with man and society do not enter the vast arrays of growing quantitative or numerical assessments. I quote without comment, Herman Kahn and William Brown: In this dawning phase of a new era, a new plateau of relative material abun- dance can be predicted as the common lot of mankind. Within the next century current US and European standards of living could almost become a world norm in underdeveloped countries, give or take a factor or two.

160 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM Our analysis leads the projections which tend to focus upon a world population levelling out near the end of the 21st century at about 10–28 billion with an average per capita from $10,000 to $20,000 derived from a GNP of $100 to $300 trillion. Any reading of the future must be based on the evidence of the past and the present and on as careful an analysis of the likely future and issue as can be made. Contrary to what the others may say for all the above 300 trillion of world productivity, there will be no shortage of energy, resources, food 1. Those who have set their sights on the continued material growth of mankind are undeterred by the prognosis of the prophets of doom. They see man riding the next 500 to 10,000 years towards his destiny at a speed approaching that of light and on material resources stripped from the moon, Mercury and Mars. They believe that man will populate space colonies and his life-support system can be built around a controlled atmosphere extracted from iron ore and bauxite. Space colonists will construct and operate solar energy plants which would pay the cost of operating such colonies and supply cheap power to the earth forever. All the materials, of course, will come from the other planets. Many believe that by the latter part of the 22nd century, more people will be living in space than on earth. This and other projections are being presented to stem the tide of growing fear and disillusionment about the abilities of science and technology to solve all problems. They assert that the course of natural events is determined by natural science. Russian communists believe that the course of social events is determined by the laws of social science enunciated by Karl Marx. It is believed that as the natural sciences move on the course set by man, the social sciences will cast aside the hurdles of human limitations. All social events are caused by human actions. They are inevitable for the same reason; they are predictable because social events are determined by known laws of social science. The industrial revolution was the starting point of the one-dimensional development of man. By the late 20th century, through a process of uncontrolled

1 Herman Kahn and William Brown, And a Better Prospect for the Future, Futurist, December, 1975, p. 285

PART – II • A QUEST FOR SYNERGY 161 forward drive, the development has been accelerating towards a single pointed convergence. And in this process, four-dimensional man is being straightjacketed into a one-dimensional rapid consumer of goods. Four dimensions of space-time relationship have been transformed into a single dimensional line with the points in the past rapidly moving into the future, and man’s awareness of the other dimensions and his perception of himself in relation to his environments are all merged into his desire for material advancement. Rachel Carson in her book, The Silent Spring 2, through a devastating attack on human greed, carelessness and sense of irresponsibility towards the environment, crossed the line of the single dimensional development and added one more dimension to man’s blindfolded reach for an illusion he calls the Future. The two-dimensional approach was brought home in the decade of the 1960s through The Club of Rome’s The Limits to Growth 3 and Alvin Toffler’s Future Shock 4 and scores of other publications that gave well-deserved shock treatments to patients of the consumerist hypnosis. The decade of the 1970s has been a period of reassessment, of soul searching, a reappraisal of interests and strategies. The affluent and the starving are both bewildered by the intensity of the promotion of consumerist utopias and space colonies at one end, and of the fear of an uncontrolled drift towards a human catastrophe on the other. Perhaps this intensity is the outcome of a protective urge for a dying utopia, or it is the need for loud shouting to be heard above the sound levels of the consumerist machine. The second report to the Club of Rome, Mankind at the Turning Point 5, while questioning the viability of unlimited economic growth, has endeavoured to lift some of the encircling gloom. It is not a document of optimism, nor is it an invitation to the maintenance of the status quo. It only says that some options

2 An environmental science book written by Rachel Carson, published by Houghton Mifflin, 27 September 1962 3 The Limits to Growth, a 1972 book about the computer modelling of exponential economic and population growth with finite resource supplies.[1] Funded by the Volkswagen Founda- tion[2] and commissioned by the Club of Rome 4 Future Shock, a book by the futurist Alvin Toffler in 1970. In the book, Toffler defines the term “future shock” as a certain psychological state of individuals and entire societies. 5 In 1974 the book, Mankind at the Turning Point, the Second Report to The Club of Rome was published.

162 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM for the rearrangement of the structure of unlimited waste and the elimination of the injustices of the past are still open and possibly attainable. These warnings have not as of now encouraged processes for equitable and fair distribution and restraint but have, in fact, set in motion processes for the pre-emption and control of worldwide resources so that the chill winds of poverty do not extinguish the consumerist passions of the affluent. It is no wonder, therefore, that while opting for the lowest plane of existence, man has also chosen the most elaborate instruments of self-destruction to prevent himself and his fellow beings from moving to the next higher plane. The attempted effort towards an “organic growth”, that is, multidimensional growth in which the eventual size of the biological organism is predetermined by the genetic code that governs it, could be applied to the different regions of the world. A global cooperation could offer much better conditions than conflict for all concerned. But unfortunately most of the visions and intellectual effort of the community and almost all the debate concerns the invention, evolution and organisation of techniques to initiate or to further accelerate the processes towards higher levels of consumerism. Reason has been displaced by euphoria or despair or fear and in this environment the only logic which seems to make an impression is the logic of force, and a substantial extent of this force is directed towards the maintenance of a status quo between the strong and the weak, the affluent and the dispossessed. The apotheosis of the beneficiaries of the system, their lifestyles, their love stories have become the mythology of this religion and are projected in or out of place to satisfy and encourage the desires for a sweet life. Rituals are performed on the golf courses, country clubs, nightclubs, late night shows. The greatest damage the one-dimensional development has done to man’s future is through the arrogance of the beneficiaries, the controllers and the protectors of such development. A message has gone home to millions of the dispossessed and their leaders, that to survive is to possess new technologies and new instruments of power, to develop is to control resources, to succeed is to subvert. Therefore, it is not the logic of needs and development, it is not the appropri- ateness of techniques desirable in different situations, it is the game of power, it is the need for survival, it is the matter of honour which is pushing hundreds of millions of have-nots into accepting transplantations of techniques alien to

PART – II • A QUEST FOR SYNERGY 163 their culture, education and resources; putting everyone in a straightjacket of uniformity and placing the imperatives of consumerism above the future of man. Therefore all knowledge, instincts, purpose and resources are being com- pressed into a single objective, a single goal, that is to serve and to expand the social greed for goods, and all the instruments of science and techniques are being employed to accelerate the speed of this one-dimensional motion to its ultimate conclusion. With the addition of the second dimension, which presents the negative or the opposite aspects of one-dimensional development, a state of realisation is beginning to emerge. But even with the inclusion of the second dimension, while man will see the consequences of some of his actions, it will be very difficult to understand the complexity of the phenomenon of our world as it appears to us. Ouspensky elaborated this through an example of the candle and the coin. Thus: Let us imagine that a coin and a candle, the diameter of which is equal to that of the coin, are on the plane on which the two-dimensional being lives. To the plane being they will appear two equal circles, i. e. two moving and absolutely identical lines, he will never discover the difference between them. The functions of the coin and the candle in our world — these are for him absolutely a terra incognita. If we try to imagine what an enormous evolution the plane being must pass through in order to understand the functions of the coin and of the candle and the difference between these functions, we shall understand the nature of the division between the plane world and the world of three dimensions and the complete impossibility of even imagining on the plane, anything at all like the three dimensional world, with its manifoldness of functions 6. Ouspensky further elaborates: That according to the degree of expansion and elevation of the consciousness and the forms of its receptivity the indices of space are augmented and the indices of time are diminished.

6 Tertrium Organum, p.62.

164 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM This will be the universe of (the) eternal now of Hindu philosophy — a universe in which will be neither before nor after, in which will be just one present, known or unknown. In nature all is given, for her the past and the future do not exist: she is the eternal present; she has no limits either in space or time. The Hindu philosophy embodies the idea of the unbroken consecutiveness of phenomenon. Each phenomenon, no matter how insignificant, is a link of an infinite and unbroken chain extending from the past into the future, passing from one sphere into another, sometimes manifesting as physical phenomenon, sometimes, hiding in the phenomenon of consciousness. We know this — know that the events of today were the ideas and feelings of yesterday — and that the events of tomorrow are lying in someone’s irritation, in someone’s hunger, in someone’s suffering, and possibly still more in someone’s imagination, in someone’s fantasy, in someone’s dreams. We know all this, yet nevertheless our positive science obstinately seeks to establish correlation between visible phenomenon only, i. e. to regard each visible or physical phenomenon as the effects of some other physical phenomenon only, which is also visible. This tendency to regard everything upon one plane, the unwillingness to regard anything outside of that plane, horribly narrows our view of life 7. A French Jesuit, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, refused to accept that reflective consciousness– man’s greatest gift–was a mere accident thrown up by nature, totally unrelated to the structure of our universe. He all along endeavoured to integrate this human capacity with the phenomenon of evolution. In the great scientific, technological and social advances he detected symptoms that pointed to a rebound of evolution and the indication of a deep undertow which was to carry us to the full development of a super mankind. Underlying all events he discerned the same basic trend: Progressive unification of mankind, intensification of collective consciousness, birth of socialised mankind, and finally, movement towards the convergent structure of evolution as it seeks out its cosmic centre.

7 Ibid., p.104, 105, 136.

PART – II • A QUEST FOR SYNERGY 165 Teilhard’s approach thus transcends ordinary technological approaches, placing in human hands a key to the next stage of the cosmic process. The sense of man believes in the magnificent future of the tangible world and the Gospel seems to despise it … And between the Gospels of many orders and the sense of man there is at present a deep rift. Teilhard believed that although all through the centuries the East stood for spirit and the West for matter, such a saviour would not arise in the East because “It was in the refined pessimist solution of the world that the soul of Asia was born and found its expression”. In India, with its metaphysical sense of the Di- vine, the invisible is more real than the visible. Realisation of the Divine is only possible through relaxation of tension/and not its intensification. He also believed that the East has not solved the problem of the spirit taken in its complete totality; we would look in vain in that quarter for the dawn to illuminate it. History and experience both insist that it is in the Western direction that we must guide the progress of life. We must know more and must be the masters of more … Individual nations, races and religions, everything will disappear tomorrow which has not today hazarded its soul on the road to the West. It was not only the dreamer, visionary and missionary in Teilhard, but also many in Asia believed that the road to the material West was the road to progress. All the hopes and illusions of Teilhard and others started to disintegrate within a decade after the end of the Second World War. He had hoped perhaps in vain that “Every step in the material organisation on the earth will also mean a simultaneous step in the psychic and spiritual domain to balance, humanize and complete it”. Perhaps another Jesuit, Jacques Ellul, was right when he questioned “the vanity to pretend that the monolithic technical world that is coming to be can be checked or guided”. It is hard to predict how Teilhard would have reacted to the dilemma of the West and the resurgence of the East at the threshold of the last quarter of the 20th century, that is, a few decades after his death. His highways to the future convergence of human consciousness and the tangible material world are littered with the decaying bodies of the victims of the polymorphous violence and where not the rule of law or individual or social mysticism of the East or West, but

166 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM under the widening shadows of the balance of terror, the scourged soul of a homo sapien reigns supreme. Teilhard accepted all knowledge, its proliferation and its products as essential and inevitable outcomes of the evolutionary processes. The Western life has instinctively adopted this road to which it has irrevocably committed itself. The human vision must comprehend the essential features of these processes if the ultimate convergence with super consciousness is to take place. But the tragedy is that the continuously disintegrating and fragmenting processes in the tangible world have set in motion similar processes in the minds of men. This does not give hope that the energy of the tangible universe and the intensified spiritual energy will reach out towards convergence. And unless there is a miracle — and miracles do happen — every step forward on the material plane as of today appears to be alienating man from his environment, his fellow men and his god. This phenomenon is being manifested in a hundred different ways between man and man, between societies and between national states. Teilhard, however, kept his faith: That collective man through self-imposed unification can survive this increasing compression from which there is no escape, only by a higher degree of self arrangement in his own structure … It would be easier to halt the revolution of the earth than it would be to prevent the totalisation of man. Through development of a common vision, centration or intensification of consciousness can be achieved. The next stage in development would be the spiritualisation of mankind. By this, Teilhard meant the increasing predominance in the human layer of the reflective (of thought) over automatic reaction. Therefore, to Teilhard, the intensification, the complexification and concentration of scientific and development processes is one of the ultimate stages in advancement of man and is a natural prelude to the spiritualisation before his arrival at the ultimate and self-subsistence pole of consciousness, which would perhaps also be the Buddhist Nirvana or the Hindu Brahman. “(The) Upanishads remind us ‘one comes to be of just such stuff as that on which the mind is set’.” If the works of art are any index, we are not approaching an era of material reintegration through the imitation of divine forms but are merely exhibiting

PART – II • A QUEST FOR SYNERGY 167 our own disturbed modes of thought. The inaudible sound that art is making audible, the perceptible truths that are peeping through the works of art present images of another kind of world that is taking birth. These are not the images of spiritualisation but of brutalisation, not of centration but of specialisation and disintegration. They do not appear to be converging to a point. They are drifting into a new kind of synthetic wilderness which corrupts the intellect and deadens the spirit. Everything around is deflating our illusions of progress. If the law of recurrence (law of complexity consciousness) is applied to the history of the world, we see the emergence of an ascending series of critical points. The warmth of some intense faith is absolutely indispensible to the completion of the process of complexity consciousness… At the present moment no faith can be distinguished that is capable of fully taking aver a convergent cos- mogenesis except faith in Christ… in whom all things find their consistence 8, Sri Aurobindo and Bertrand Russel from two differing points of view reached another conclusion. Sri Aurobindo states in ‘The Human Cycle’ that: We must recognise the fact that in a time of great activity, of high aspiration, of deep sowing, of rich fruit bearing, such as the modern age with all its faults and errors has been, a time especially when humanity got rid of much that was cruel, evil, ignorant, dark, odious, not by the power of religion, but by the power of awakened intelligence and of human idealism and sympathy, this predominance of religion has been violently attacked by that portion of humanity which for a time was the standard bearer of thought and progress … that philosophy and science had in self defence to turn upon religion and rend her to pieces to get free field for their legitimate development. And Bertrand Russell carries a step further when he states that: You find as you look around the world that every single bit of progress in humane feeling, every improvement in the criminal law, every step towards the diminution of war, every step towards the better treatment of coloured races, or every mitigation of slavery, every moral progress there has been in the world has been consistently opposed by the organised churches of the world 9.

8 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Toward the Future (Collins) p.121-215. 9 Bertrand Russell, Why I Am Not a Christian (London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd) p.24-25

168 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM To stem the tide of disenchantment with the faith in man’s higher dimension, many like Teilhard and others in many parts of the world raised their flag of revolt against the tenets of the organised church to bring the same in line with the needs of the evolutionary processes and the new knowledge which were bringing about irreversible changes in the thoughts and lives of men. Every system of symbols and values was crumbling down and a wide schism was developing between the sense of man and the orientation of the church. Teilhard was prevented and thwarted, as he believed, from “bringing forth tangible fruits”. He felt called to serve the liberated men, a new type of man which he saw emerging from the womb of modern civilisation in the vanguard of the evolution of the world; a man at once ambitious and delicate, now intoxicated by his power and now overwhelmed by it. The sense of man and the religions of god, as we know them today, have still not been cleansed of their commitments to the past, nor have they yet seen the vision of the future. The desire to hold on to the past and the present is stronger than the urge to seek an uncertain future. The visions of the tangible world profiled by monotheistic religions are crumbling and the territory of super consciousness is not only beyond their reach, it is perhaps beyond their comprehension. Could the cause of this be that the material man under the weight of the tangible world cannot rise above his immediate environment or is the tangible world an antithesis to the attainment of super consciousness? Or is it that the human frame in which man reacts to his tangible environment is contrary to the universal reality– where the minute atom and the smallest source of energy come into being, change their form and perish in accordance with intangible laws of harmony, attraction, repulsion and motion. AGENDA FOR THOSE WHO CARE

IXth Conference of the World Future Studies Federation on “Who Cares? and How”, Honolulu, Hawaii, May, 1986

here are billions of unsuspecting victims of systems of social organisation. TNeither do they have any clues about their state nor can they do anything about it. There are hundreds of millions who are beneficiaries in such systems but do not care about the price others and they themselves and their future generation will have to pay to keep these going. And these are the ones who have preempted the power resources, medium and the message of the system and want to make billions love their state of want and servitude by creating images and illusions of progress. Through the exercise of unlimited power in an undifferentiated manner and increased satisfaction of an insatiable hunger for goods, increasing waste and rising crescendo of excesses, they have developed an insensitivity to the hunger and want of the basic needs of others. The breakdown of the moral and ethical framework within which all orderly human systems must function, has made the global environment unstable, un- governable and a threat to the future of our planet. Efforts of those who really care are insignificant in terms of the needs, while the others are weak and insecure. The situation demands great visions and brave hearts with dedication and will to stand up and let them be heard above the tumult and the shouting of the controlled media and provide living models of sanity. Nothing ever assures permanence to a state of inequity and injustice. In- creasing resort to mega force to preserve it, only means that the system has lost its moral authority, is insecure and in its arrogance has become belligerent to a point of losing its rationale. Visible display of acquiescence to forces of destabilisation and terrorism may not necessarily signify acceptance of authority, but in reality may mean maturity and sense of self preservation by its victims.

170 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM Given time, aggregating signs of retreat of the power structures will isolate these further from the human mainstream; make them even more vulnerable, aggressive and self-destructive. In this process opportunities for peaceful transformation to a new state will also recede. Even those who develop frameworks, instruments and techniques which translate caring into visible symbols and strategies or action plans for welfare have been whipped into a state of helplessness in mounting adequate responses to human needs. This state has been brought about through a psychosis of fear of unlimited power and violence which others control. The potential for seeking adequate satisfaction of human wants through existing frameworks and known strategies is receding and there is no course of action in sight which can survive the polluting effects of the world systems. The political and economic elites of the developing world have been hooked to unattainable images of modernisation and living styles and have been sucked into an orbit where techniques are projected, credits and investments are proposed and before they know it, the countries are launched on the path of consumerist development, with aggressive elitist vested interests and their volatile detractors amongst the aggregating unemployed. Before long these nations are in an urban, foreign exchange and debt crisis and in the hands of manipulated dictatorships and mercenary terrorist movements. This unfortunate story has been repeated in country after country in every continent. There may be variations in scenario, intensity of conflicts or violence, or levels of destabilisation, but behind it all, there is the same story: perfidy. Gandhi, Martin Luther King, John F Kennedy and tens of others big and small, all represent links in the same chain of sacrifice by those who challenged the existing order of things. But there always come moments in history when directed violence against an individual leading great movements for change rebound against their detractors with such force as to change the very course of history. A South African official, who threw out a young Indian lawyer called Gandhi from a railway compartment for the colour of his skin, could hardly have realised that he was participating in a great moment in history that is of the commencement of the process of liberation of the world’s people from colonial regimes. In the last three-quarters of a century,

PART – II • A QUEST FOR SYNERGY 171 most nations, except the one on the periphery of where the movement first began, are already free politically. South Africa will perhaps be the last one to fall. The only real contribution that the processes of development of the Third World appear to have made so far is to enhance the time scale of the consumerist systems in the developed world. The techniques employed while on one side show impressive gains in the GNP of these countries, vast impoverishment of the people was taking place simultaneously. These highly innovative and insidious techniques while funnelling away the wealth of these countries with the active connivance of the elites were creating illusions of progress for a few and hopes for the progress of many. But before even the basic needs of even a small fraction of the people could be satisfied, the countries got into a situation of double bind. Many decades will be required before they can get themselves out, if at all, of their debt trap. Unless there is a miracle for sanity and sacrifice, their continued servitude for many generations appears assured. Latin America and Africa are getting into such turmoil. The countries of the Indian-Pacific Ocean Regions are now heading towards a similar ego boosting journey to consumerist utopias. Millions around the world have had perceptions or premonitions of these trends. They have been struggling in their own way as individuals, groups or organisations to create an environment of hope in the future in new ways of life. They have adopted service rather than acquisition, man rather than his possessions, to teach, to walk and release innovative capabilities rather than to exploit, to create new images, new techniques as their goal. They are struggling for the eradication of poverty and satisfaction of the basic needs of many rather than profiting from luxuries for a few. Promoting the message of peace and harmony rather than confrontation and violence. All these centres lie scattered with few linkages. They have often small, but sometimes substantial but unrelated constituencies of their own. Effecting one or the other aspect of human existence, but in the aggregate enshrining the dreams and aspirations of hundreds of millions of people except perhaps those who have been moronised within a narrow focus of a consumer’s life, with all their sensitivities subverted to be able to uphold only one cause, cherish one dream, worship one god — that is the materialist consumerist system and its infrastructure of super armament. They are afraid to criticise it or any of its aspects because it is considered subversion of the decent aims of humankind.

172 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM Humans must also be controlled lest they become a threat to the systems. The age of speculation and raising fundamental questions is thus ending. Moral issues must now be decided on the basis of what is necessary for the growth of culture’s power. Whatever does not fit into the growth needs is now considered irrational, inhuman and evil. And those who question it are tormented, and at its most human level, isolated like the transmitter of psychic and intellectual AIDS. An isolation far more disabling than physical isolation. Also there is nothing left to communicate except to the periphery. Therefore, either we can enjoy the boons of the system at a heavy price for the others or future generations, sing its praises or at best wait for the stone walls to crumble and in the meantime sustain each other’s morale. And yet, therein lies hope. Systems based on waste, excesses, violence are losing both their physical and moral basis. The processes of brainwashing and psychic manipulation have reached an extreme point and are laying waste the creative urges in man, or in other words, this would recoil on the system itself, make it more desperate, more destructive, more immoral, and more suicidal. We can hope that like phoenix a new world will arise from its ashes. In the past also new worlds have arisen. But after all the sacrifices were made, these were launched on the same path with a greater zest than what its victims wished to alter. Before the First World War there were a few powers on a civilising mission in many countries. These imperial powers controlling the erstwhile colonies had to preserve an inorganic way of life in a human environment and built ruthless and vicious systems with often a human exterior. They at least carried an illusion of moral responsibility for their backward charges and had to maintain an orderly environment to further their commercial interests. The post Second World War systems have different contours. They revolve entirely around commercial, defence or ideological interests. With overt and covert protection linkages or arrangements with local elites. These arrangements do not carry any moral responsibility in the formulation of objectives or their realisation except that of profit or power maximisation. Starting with the Club of Rome, the basic thrust of most studies about the future was to assess availability, use or misuse of resources and their consequences.

PART – II • A QUEST FOR SYNERGY 173 The needs of developing societies in approaching problems of poverty and development have also received some attention. But few have dared question the basic framework of high energy technology systems, whether operating within the laisser-faire market economies or the incentive restricting techniques of the centralised planned systems. Thus parameters of social organisation or economic locomotion have remained basically unaltered and are, in fact, considered sacred. Thus, a few significant pictures of new designs of living that emerged are largely unrealistic and have little survival value. The existing development patterns have little to contribute in terms of the satisfaction of basic needs of over two-thirds of the world’s people. How is a person in a village in China, India or Africa concerned with cargo load or frequency of a space shuttle when he cannot even get food or fresh water? How good are the energy guzzling missiles when people have to walk miles to get firewood? What good are massive investments in finding out cures for AIDS, cancer, coronary ailments to help a few million people, when simple medical assistance is outside the reach of most of the people? A trillion dollar investment in armament for external security becomes meaningless when millions of lives are being crippled through worldwide trade in narcotics and by physical and psychological sicknesses. Largely in countries with the so-called highest standards of living. These are the issues which are challenging social thinkers who really care. There are hundreds of persons and institutions with such concerns and commitments in most countries, but they have little communication with people having similar concerns elsewhere. We should seek them out and bring their experiences, activities and concerns to a broader section of the human community. An Agenda for Those Who Care would involve a broad spectrum of multidimensional human activity at many different levels on an ascending or a descending scale depending upon the individual’s station or aptitude. • Alleviation of human suffering, disease, poverty and ignorance within the immediate environment or movements towards it on a larger human scale. • To catalyse human self-reliance and to release the innovative capabilities of the people to mould the environment to their own physio-psycho-spiritual needs.

174 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM • The consumerist value system is recklessly approaching its self-destructive phase from which the only advance could be a nuclear holocaust, the only retreat an economic chaos, the only diversion a large-scale commitment of the poorer two-thirds of humankind to these very same processes of uncontrolled production consumption or arms accumulation. Inability of the world to sustain these processes in terms of energy resources and human psyche for any length of time would only mean massive dislocation, greater instability and chaos. Thus an urgent need for creating living examples (as against intellectual escape-routes and media blitz) for new designs of living. The other manifestations of the self-destructive processes within the high velocity consumerist armament system are physical, social and psychic excesses causing family breakdown, drug addiction, incurable diseases such as AIDS, psychological breakdown, disappearance of ethical standards from all human activities. And all this in the name and under the flag of success, achievement, power and progress. Thus a rapidly spreading cancer affecting all the nodal points of a social organism has taken hold of societies claiming to be its greatest beneficiaries. And now all this is rapidly spreading to the entire human and social order. The only hope of reversing this otherwise irreversible process is to halt its growth on what is left in the new and emerging societies. One of the most significant factors in the deteriorating state of the worldwide physical environment is energy. Whether it is: • The radioactive waste caused by nuclear power, or the need to dis- sipate large volumes of heat, or accidental radioactivity in the plant itself. • The creation of the carbon layer above the earth surface caused by excessive use of coal. • The ecological and environmental disturbance caused by large hydro- electric projects. • The carbon monoxide fumes from the oil-based energy production and use processes.

PART – II • A QUEST FOR SYNERGY 175 • The desecration of the forest wealth in search of cooking fuels in the developing countries and the consequential ecological disturbances and in weather changes. • The massive centralisation to optimise energy systems and the emergence of the megalopolis and large concentrations of populations in small areas and the environmental and sociological consequence thereof. • Millions around the world have taken up issues and causes relating to ecological protection. The non-availability of energy even to meet minimum basic needs, such as cooking, is a cause for considerable hardship in most rural communities in the developing world involving billions of people. In India for instance, over three- fourths of the population resides in rural areas and over 63 per cent of their energy requirement are for cooking only. A similar situation with variations exists in most developing countries where people have to often walk miles to collect firewood for survival. It is estimated that during the last half century, over half of India’s forest wealth has been ravaged to supply the energy needs of the poorest sections of the population. In many other areas of the world considerable ecological damage has been done in search of cooking fuels or industrial raw materials. Most aspects of development for the satisfaction of minimum basic needs require energy in one form or the other. The poorest sections, the least beneficiaries, are also the greatest victims of fluctuations in the worldwide trade in energy. Therefore, the development of an adequate decentralised energy infrastructure, largely based on renewable sources of energy, is of prime importance. These and many other factors have been adequately dealt with by the present and many other authors, including the role of centralised energy system in the process of urbanisation. There are innumerable resource constraints and compulsions in favour of rejecting short-term solutions relating to energy. The sun-based energy system in its totality includes sunlight, solar, thermal, wind, moving water, biomass or recycling of animal, plant and human waste. While there are variations in the availability of any one of these resources at different locations, the sum total may, however, be more uniform than is believed.

176 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM On a personal note, I presented a paper ‘Socio-economic Considerations in the Utilisation of Solar Energy in the Developing Societies’ to the United Nations Conference on New and Renewable Sources in Rome in August 1961. The objective was to present a model of an integrated renewable energy system for rural communities to bring welfare where the people are and thus to prevent needless urbanisation. There was an overwhelming response to the presentation. But the push for adherence to the existing system and finding solutions within its framework was much stronger than chalking out unconventional courses of action. In the early 1970s I launched a one-man effort at my farm in the Union Territory of Delhi to research and develop a technically dependable and economically viable rural energy system based entirely on renewable sun-based energy sources. The basic features of the activity included: • An assessment of the diverse energy needs of the communities such as cooking, electricity, water supply, refrigeration, agricultural services etc. • An assessment of the available energy resource from the solar light and thermal energy, wind, water, biomass and waste recycling in the immediate environment. • To relate the available resource to needs and to design an energy infrastructure to optimise this relationship. • To optimise known technologies and to innovate new ones in relation to each available source and to integrate these together to assure un- interrupted energy supply to meet diverse needs. Such a system has a synergetic effect to bring about economic improvements in the general socio-techno economic environment effecting health, education, cleanliness, aesthetics and employment with the active participation of the community and by catalysing the innovative capabilities of the young and the old. The economic viability and social value of such systems is beyond question. Their contribution in stemming the exodus to the urban areas and upgrading the level of welfare to the large mass of the rural people is being increasingly realised.

PART – II • A QUEST FOR SYNERGY 177 The experience gained and the techniques innovated through these efforts have already been successfully transmitted to a village in Rajasthan. Four more villages in other parts of India in the population range of 500–2,000 are in various stages of assessment and planning. The way such a system works is that each one of the renewable energy sources, depending upon availability in a particular area, performs a designated function, like for instance, biogas, wood or sun for cooking, biogas, sun, wind, water or biomass for generating electricity. The energy source while performing an assigned task, most of the time, can under certain conditions, also act as a standby for the priority requirements of the community. At Kapur Solar Farms, solar photovoltaic provides electricity for lighting, domestic water supply, running a hospital-size refrigerator and the control system in the integrated energy system. If there is not enough sunlight available on certain days or the requirements go beyond the capacity of the storage systems, then innovations have been made that wind energy gives up its primary function of pumping irrigation water and starts generating 24-volts electricity, which in turn is stored in the common low-voltage electricity storage system. If for some reason both the solar photovoltaic system and the wind system fail, then a small proportion of the energy produced by a biogas generator is converted into 24-volts supply and transferred to common storage batteries. The system thus assures reliable energy supply throughout the year. Simi- larly, methane gas generated from animal, plant and human waste and water hyacinths, is produced by different types of biogas plants for which systems have been optimised. The investment in such an energy system to meet a substantial proportion of the diverse energy needs of rural communities is less than Rupees 1,000 (US$ 80) per capita. The economic costs for providing similar levels of welfare in the urban areas will, depending upon the conditions, be 10-to-30 times. The worldwide costs of maintaining high energy technology, high waste consumerist armament systems as islands in an ocean of poverty, should thus be obvious. To conclude, those who pride themselves in the so-called information hi-tech society are, in fact, the victims of a plethora of indigestible disinformation. It not only distorts images of reality, but creates illusions of progress in the midst of massive processes of social retrogression. Even our academic and social results,

178 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM based largely on rearrangement of such information, have not remained unpol- luted. So we can make the right look wrong or the reverse at will. No orderly change is possible in such an environment. Therefore, one of the primary tasks for those who truly care is to intervene and endeavour to correct this illusion. But this will no longer be possible through a centralised high-density media blitz, because the media has neither credibility nor is it available for such intervention. There, is therefore, a need for a different kind of approach through personal examples straight to the hearts of the people. The demonstration and multiplier effects of what is real are more permanent than all the rapidly fleeting and contradictory images of progress of which we are the harassed victims. Many in their own way are unveiling the irreversible damage to our ecology and exposing those responsible and thus creating sustainable images for the future, both in terms of the physical and human potential. That is where the new world of the 21st century is taking its torturous birth. RETREAT TO SANITY

P N Haksar’s volume — Our Times and The Man, Allied Publishers, 1988

he last seventy-five years have been a period of many discontinuities and Tirreversible changes of historic proportions: The world and many regional wars, breakdown of the colonial structure, the birth and quantum leaps of many technologies including nuclear, space and telecommunications and consequently vast techno-economic changes and the acceleration of the Industrial Revolution. During the post Second World War period, there was a major shift in the international power balances. The United States fortified by its wartime armament based affluences and techno-economic power replaced Britain as the arbiter of human affairs. The emergence of the Soviet Union as a super power was another significant event of the period. Within less than a decade this led to the rearrangement of the Capitalist and Socialist bloc countries, under the leadership of the respective super powers. Socialist bloc countries in general and the Soviet Union in particular were considered the instigators and supporters of anti-colonial movements and radical trends in the newly-liberated colonies, thus adding another dimension to the already souring relationships between the two blocs and the escalation of the Cold War. In the subsequent decades when most of the newly emerging countries were groping for development strategies, their politico-economic policies became the focus of attention by the power blocs. And soon they were transformed into battle-grounds for ideological confrontation backed by overt and covert actions. Consequently the patterns of their socio-economic orientation had more to do with compulsions posed by their relationship with either bloc rather than the basic needs of their populace, their cultural background and available resources. Aid and technology transfer further accelerated these processes, because both the aid-giver and the recipient wanted to create conditions conducive to the ease of such transfer. Along with the technology transfer came the energy

180 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM infrastructure because both are inseparables and this brought centralisation, pre- mature urbanisation, capital intensification and unemployment in its wake. It introduced consumerist value systems and production techniques, thus creating captive urban elites, distorted priorities and mass deprivation and poverty in the rural areas. While the developed societies face the consequences of excesses of uncontrolled consumption and waste, the poorer two-thirds of the world in the process of acquiring basic necessities is being pushed down the road to helplessness, often bankruptcy. The bulk of the population in the developing societies, over three-fourth in the case of India, resides in over 550,000 rural communities. All through history these communities were integrated self-contained units meeting bulk of their basic needs in the immediate environment, and provided political stability and cultural continuity. Pressures for centralisation through the use of high energy converters disrupted the existing social and economic fabric in the villages and started a compulsive trend of increasingly shifting productive activities to the urban areas. The course of technological evolution of industrial societies is set by their own compulsions. The developing countries have been living under a highly promoted illusion of rapid development with imported technologies. And most of the time this has been a socio-economic mismatch, intensifying or creating more problems than resolving them. Introducing power transmission lines where there was no firewood to cook meals, antibiotics where there was no drinking water, television where there were no schools. Urban pull was the next step. So an energy-techno-economic white elephant including a defence system has been let loose on the willing and hypnotised elites of the developing societies. India was one of the few exceptions which at least endeavoured to retain its freedom of action. Through a policy of political non-alignment, a controlled market economy and a large public sector it escaped an irreversible commitment to the consumerist path. With the emergence of large urban elites and the acceleration of the consumerist processes by many orders of magnitude this position is rapidly changing. And the public sector affected at birth by the Soviet genes and Indian hierarchical social structure, has become highly bureaucratised and inefficient. We have thus become the victims of two self-neutralising processes both within and outside the power structure and are now suffering from the negative aspects of both systems of development.

PART – II • A QUEST FOR SYNERGY 181 The free market economies which dominated the international techno-economic and financial institutions during the recent decades are now themselves in a period of a grave crisis. Some of the major economic systems are becoming unsustainable through an overproduction of their high-technology products for restricted markets, and increasing burdens of disproportionately large service sectors in their high waste armament based economies. And corrective mechanisms within the systems are being eroded through innumerable social excesses. Not only are these islands of affluence getting hooked to the symbols and values of a decadent consumerism, but their very survival has become dependent on their continuation on the same course. And thus the power structures regard the existing framework from another moment in culture and time sacrosanct. It is not possible to bring about some new social arrangements within the same paradigms. This makes transformation to a new socio-economic order through peaceful social regenerative processes uncertain. The Socialist societies are going through their own processes of attrition. There are growing compulsions to escape the self-limiting triple straitjacket of over bureaucratisation, ideological rigidity in a changed environment and over commitment to centralised armament based against need-based development. The initiation of the processes of Glasnost and Perestroika reflect attempts to correct anomalies, release the system from its leash and give precedent to a structure of welfare as against the structure of power, privileges and perquisites. Such new responses for change, if stabilized, may carry the seeds and contribute towards the emergence of a new human order. Both these systems of development and social organisation are also facing the consequences of having ignored the human dimension from two opposite directions — one of excesses and other of constraints. They are now seeking avenues of retreat from this situation with cataclysmic potential or are seeking new linkages and diversions to retain their affluence. Countries of the Asian landmass and the Indian-Pacific Ocean Region constitute a part of this design and strategy for the future. In the meantime, the leaderships of the developing world willing- ly or under coercion have accepted the logic of consumerist development and launched their nations on this suicidal path. A plan for bipolar development which simultaneously integrates centralised infrastructural transformation with a planned decentralised approach to

182 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM the eradication of widespread human deprivation can alone provide stability and security. Nowhere outside the United States and the Soviet Union, two prime factors on the world scene today, is there a critical mass of trained manpower and enlightened individuals as in India. A leadership, with the right vision, priorities and will to act could help release the innovative capabilities and catalyse the desire for right action of the nation and in the process build a structure of equity and justice. We allowed ourselves to become victims of temptations and terror of a consumerist export-led, and armament-based development and created an illusion that a few million people jetting around the world building prosperity for a few could carry the burdens and replace the involvement and efforts of “hundreds of millions” of people. As a consequence of such an approach over 50 per cent of the country’s people are still languishing below the poverty line. India has adequate human and other resources and infrastructures for development. Even the nature of the problem has been fairly well defined. The turmoil of now admittedly outdated ideologies and techniques, confrontation of interests and power centres, even conflict of personalities are all conspiring to convert future hopes into current disasters. The vector of forces within the power structure is shifting from one position to another with such rapidity that it is hard to discern the direction of events or policies. The social arrangements that we have been aiming for are falling apart. In the midst of these declining utopias the basic issues facing us today are not as to who will be the super powers of the future and dominate the next century, but who will contribute towards a new sustainable civilization. Who will shape the new order of equity and justice, meeting the basic needs for food, shelter, health, education and employment for the people now surviving if at all at the periphery of the urban consumerist, armament jungles? How to save our ecology and resources and above all to restore the ethical and the moral order and protect this vital human dimension, the central core and foundation of all continuity, stability and progress? The Cartesian approach of breaking up more complex systems into smaller parts while helping to solve many basic and developmental problems and achieve high standards of excellence, does not relate these specific technicalities harmoniously with the larger human issues.

PART – II • A QUEST FOR SYNERGY 183 As a consequence, all systems — socio-techno-economic and human — are broken into bits and pieces. And there is no force left to cope with the complexity or autonomy of these systems. So, we are caught in a cycle of undifferentiated growth in which human concerns are at best peripheral. In terms of welfare, what would for instance happen if defence related expenditure were to be subtracted rather than added to the GNP? Many of the developed countries would start appearing semi-developed. If the widely distributed social costs of urbanisation and ecological destruction were also to be subtracted, there would be a less euphoric parade of the rising GNP in most countries, developed and developing. The many unaccounted subsidies within the national and international systems are providing the high energy, high technology systems a precarious lease of life. This system of reverse subsidies from the poor to the rich, from the lower level to the higher level is being retained at a very high energy and economic cost and cannot be sustained for too long. The sources of all these subsidies are now drying up. This moment of time is opportune. Prompted by the visions of an uncertain and cataclysmic future, the constructive urges of man may well provide the potential and thrust for an orderly change to a decentralised way of life in the developing world. Four streams of thought — spiritual, scientific, philosophical and aesthetic — guided human affairs through the millennia. Their ways diverged with the extension of the Cartesian in the West, which resulted in increasing remoteness of all human creativity from its common origin. And thus our inability to assess both the disintegrative processes in the social organism and their unifying linkages to relate to the problem at their roots rather than thousands of their visible branches. This Tower of Babel, bereft of the human corrective responses that we have created around ourselves has led to an unidimensional physical and interrupted human evolution. A retreat from this situation will only be possible for those with lower levels of commitment to this path, an awareness of its consequences and new visions of the future, unfettered by the hypnosis of the consumerist symbols and values. For centuries, dreamers, scholars and sages have reflected on these possibilities.

184 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM What should be the contours of a world without power blocks and free of human, physical intellectual and spiritual annihilation is another matter. To realise such a state, we have to seek answers in terms of the Indian reality, its continuity and the core of the Indian thought, the interrelatedness of all phenomena and the human being as a part of the larger cosmic order. This process was interrupted through the inappropriate fragmenting methodology of Cartesian logic. It is time we revived it. PHOTOVOLTAICS AND THE EMERGING HUMAN ORDER

1990 Newspaper article OP-DET FORUM

he megalopolis symbolises the successes and failures, excesses and extrava- Tgance of the 20th century. This concentration of resources, energy, people and power provided the logic and the driving force for a consumerist way of production and consumption and the accelerated flow of wealth away from the rural areas. The physical resources, environment and psychic limitations to achieve similar designs of living for the growing world population, have been documented often enough and need no repetition. In spite of all this, the communication networks are working around the clock to parade the delights of consumerism and to move buying power from one corner of the globe to the other, many times more rapidly than the movement of goods and services. This is playing havoc with the economies, accelerating disparities and social unrest pauperising nations, subverting technological innovation through transferring talents to the money game rather than to the innovative processes. This is eroding the very foundations of the system. Even more serious is the destruction of our environment, our inability to deal with vast concentrations of nuclear waste, dangerous chemicals and aggregating carbon in the atmosphere and their consequent effects on our climate, ecology and all the cosmic processes. Apart from the above and many other factors — spiritual, psychic and aesthetic — the satisfaction of the basic needs of over half the world’s population are creating new compulsions to reconsider our priorities concerning billions of dispossessed people, most of whom reside in the rural communities in the continents of Asia, Africa and Latin America. The 21st century would, therefore, witness the gradual decline in the shift of population to the urban areas and usher in the age of self-contained

186 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM rural communities. The satisfaction of the essential needs for food, habitat, health, education and employment of over two million decentralised communities will dictate new priorities, new designs of living and energy use pattern. Such diverse needs in terms of both resources and logistics can only be met through new sources of energy. Photovoltaic will be called upon to play a major role in the processes of such transformation. Amongst the many possibilities for its use the following are considered to be the most significant. • The supply of clean drinking water from a variety of locally-available sources such as those underground, rivers, lakes, ponds, mountain streams, and the purification of this water to acceptable levels. The energy for the pumping of water from the available source and its purification through any one of the available technologies, such as micro-filtration, ultra-filtration or reverse-osmosis and others, to the point of use can adequately be supplied through photovoltaics. The first of two of the purification techniques with lower energy requirements will satisfy quality and energy standards in most areas. • To meet wide variations in terms of source, quality of available water and the size of the communities would call for modular construction both for the purification and energy equipment. Photovoltaic is particularly suited for such applications in most cases. There would be a need for millions of such installations around the world and the markets would aggregate to billions of dollars every year. • The use of photovoltaic in lighting of homes and streets in distant communities, adult education and night schools, though so far limited, is well established. A simple light bulb in every home would mean 400 to 500 million of such installations with accessories in the first few decades of the 21st century. • To contain the exodus to the urban centres would also require facilities for education, entertainment and communication. Com- munity television sets, which can be serviced and maintained within the environment, would call for easily serviceable modular construction. Similar consideration would also apply to community telephones.

PART – II • A QUEST FOR SYNERGY 187 Another basic need of the community is health centres, animal husbandry development. The development of small refrigeration equipment, operating on photovoltaic without environmentally hazardous refrigerants will be another major area of growth. In addition to this, photovoltaic can also play a significant role in optimising or synergising alternative energy systems of the future by simplifying control systems in integrating together all the sun-based sources of energy, such as solar thermal and sunlight, wind, water and biomass. In spite of the aggressive promotion, the 21st century would witness the retreat of the megalopolis and usher in an era of self-contained rural communities, thus heralding new designs of living, as a new way of life, environmentally and resource-wise sustainable, socially compatible with the emerging technological age, less aggressive and in harmony with the cosmic order. In these images of the future photovoltaic will make a significant contribution. POWER SHIFT OR POWER OBSESSION

Review of Alvin Toffler’s book, The Power Shift, by J C Kapur, The Hindustan Times, September 1990

e are a witnessing one of the greatest power shifts in human history. In- Wexorable changes in diverse human activities are rapidly transforming our environment. Not only is the broad spectrum of power within the national and international system undergoing a radical change but the instruments which are responsible for these changes are also being altered beyond recognition. “The entire structure that held the world together is now disintegrating and a radically different structure of power is taking form. One of the most active and disturbing aspects of the change has been its speed.” Thus says Alvin Toffler in his recent book, The Power Shift. The three basic foundations of this power shift are violence, wealth and knowledge and every nation in its own way and within its own limitations is endeavouring to acquire these instruments to further its interests. Knowledge, the most versatile of instruments, is a multiplier of violence and wealth, and therefore, one of the great aims of nations in the 21st century will be to expand knowledge or access to knowledge. Some developed nations and affluent elites of the developing world use wealth to impose their will on history. These instruments are now being employed first to carve out a unipolar international system and then to maintain control. In recent years political power has emerged supreme. Through this the politician could now not only exercise power of life and death over the community but could also get control of all the potential instruments to acquire wealth and knowledge. Even distinction in knowledge through honorary degrees could be bestowed upon them by pliant institutions of learning. Thus an obsession with political power is now taking epidemic proportions, and there is a rising

PART – II • A QUEST FOR SYNERGY 189 exodus of aspirants towards its acquisition by every possible means. India is learning fast the techniques to acquire and control this power through means other than the confidence of the community. Be it the packaging of the candidates, intimidation of voters through violent means or booth capturing in which some political aspirants have acquired special skills. The acquisition of technology for the introduction of viruses in the computer balloting system is also around the corner. While the people helplessly stand by all these are now finding their way into the electoral processes. And these techniques have been fine-tuned through physical and psychological means in some developed countries and involve moronisation of the mass, the Ramboisation of the exercise of power through overt and covert operations with the gun as its symbol. Lastly, the marginalisation of the thinker and the scholar. Such a security ring around acquisition and control of power is not only destabilising the socio-politico-economic structure of societies but is creating a lawless society through the so-called democratic processes. It makes no difference how many parties and candidates are running against one another in an election. It is not democracy and it makes no difference as to who gets how many votes. A single party shall only win. It is the single party of the bureaucracy that governs and has governed this country for 200 years. It is this bureaucratic power shift towards which the visionless leaderships have been moving and what we see in front of us is only a minor part of what is unfolding. It is time that responsible sections of our leadership looked beyond their immediate obsession with power and its consequences. Democracy is a continuous process of education which gives a sense of responsibility to the citizen. It is also an evolution of the political institutions within a society. And its disruption works to the long-term detriment of a stable and sustainable order. The political trends are also compounding our economic compulsions and are in turn being influenced by them. Hundreds of billions of dollars worth of currency are being traded in the world’s money markets every day. Only 10 per cent of this is associated with the world trade, 90 per cent with speculation. India through a factor of history and pressures to follow developed nations as a role

190 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM model finds herself in the dead centre of this position which is bankrupting and destabilising nations, particularly the poorer ones. In the industrial sector maximum number of jobs are being created in the small and medium scale industry which have also provided most of the innovations, and yet our power-elite has been encouraging the emergence of a merg- er-mania which is nothing less than the exploitation of public institutions and their resources to satisfy the ego and instincts for gigantism of a section of the political and industrial elite. As a consequence we are pushing resources towards encouraging the upward mobility of a few and simultaneously increasing income differentials between different strata of society. Simultaneously the political aspirants have been busy fractionalising India into smaller and smaller segments so that they are in a position to control their constituencies and create old style landlordism through private instruments of force. While this may in some chaotic ways lead to a decentralisation of economic power, it is not a route map for progress, modernisation or even ethnic revival. The country cannot be built through these techniques of the company or country raiders. Decentralisation is becoming a keyword in our political vocabulary and yet economic activities which could increase welfare of local communities are being handed over to the national and international interests in the name of export promotion. This is leading to the strengthening of consumerist symbols and directing investment in that direction with no relevance to the problems of poverty. India is in desperate need for new heroes, that is innovators, producers, and quality builders. In many developed countries the professional management bureaucracies are becoming victims of their own success and are unable to preserve the interests of their corporations and the country. During the last three decades there has thus been a chaotic decline in the innovative capabilities of the United States of Amer- ica and the emergence of Germany and Japan as the new symbols of stability innovation and rational management of their industrial structure. Furthermore, the congruence of people in the way they create wealth and the way the nations are governing themselves instead of establishing harmony between the management of the public and productive affairs, have in fact started destroying each other. Similarly, Indian polity in approaching problems of poverty is in reality

PART – II • A QUEST FOR SYNERGY 191 striking at the very foundations of its national priorities. While on one hand through our growing commitment to mass production and consumption we are moving towards creating a mass democracy, on the other, our entire political process is busy fragmenting every section of society and thus working against the stability of the state. All distinctions between the right, the left and the middle of the road are vanishing while the old and committed supporting systems of management, industrial relations and innovations are still intact. Thus obliterating the patterns of ecological sanity with orderly economic advance. And now, the system is being divided by the elites who want to attain international standards for the national elite and project the country as an important entity in international forums. The localists are propagating religion, ethnicity, language and culture, each one to defend its own personal identity, economic interests and allies. This is fragmenting our potential and blindly leading the country towards international subservience. In industrial societies knowledge is fast being converted into the basic raw material for all power and social revolutions. To redesign democracy for the 21st century there has to be a constant endeavour to bring it in line with the new economic reality. For success there is a need for a more decentralised and responsive government and a shift of power away from the state. The activities of the fanatics committed to the theocratic control of our lives and times have in recent years assumed serious proportions. And the message that people are being misguided for political and economic ends has already started reaching the Indian electorate in many ways and will be reflected through electoral processes during the coming decade. An aggressive movement towards a new unipolar world is now taking shape. In order to create and benefit from such an illusion, the powers that be are gloat- ing over the end of an ideology and the emergence of capitalism as sole survivor in the economic holocaust. The others are talking about the end of history and the birth of a new human order, and still others are giving new definitions for democracy outside cosmic and other limitations. We are thus being rapidly forced into a position of techno-economic helplessness with disastrous portents towards a new colonialism. And before the century is out we will be fighting a new war of independence, this time for economic independence, with some of the power

192 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM and economic elites rallied against national interests. “This will burn thousand fires of fury”, which few leaders have displayed foresight to imagine. All the recent world events, be it the breakdown of the politico-socio-economic system in the Communist world, or the consequences of the Middle East ex- travaganza which is now being promoted to equate real power with that of the destructive weapons. This is only projecting human future to an emerging new era of missile diplomacy, and we must take heed of this new reality at the threshold of the 21st century. In this environment, talk of the new world order and the containment of nuclear weapons point more towards strategic manoeuvres rather than higher levels of human organisation. Such designs and actions to create a framework for the future cannot possibly succeed. While violence, wealth, knowledge and speed form the central core of Toffler’s thesis, as the basic parameters which will determine future events, yet these are lying scattered without linkages. Similarly, one of the most significant forces for change, that is the awakened-mass, receives scant attention. In the emerging images for the future perhaps one of the most vital requirements for an orderly transition will be the developments in the poorer parts of the world. With this perception, powerful forces are being manipulated to create a world order favourable to those with whom the instruments of power rest. This, in fact, may be their undoing. The power obsession and the dream world scenarios emerging out of some affluent countries have been influencing relationships with the developing countries. As such the power of the highly vulnerable, high-tech weapons is arrayed against rising anger, expectations and cynicism of the mass. In this there is also a warning for those who are anxious for the acquisition and retention of power irrespective of the voluntary support and respect of the electorate. For the developing countries it could mean a much greater threat from external sources. What chances can they have to keep the stability, honour and integrity of their own constituency and the country intact if their power springs from deception and violence of a quality much inferior to the one posed from external sources? How the Indian polity reacts to these challenges in the decade of the 1990s will determine the story of India in the 21st century. Our options for orderly development are narrowing down and will depend greatly on the large-scale South-South cooperation. There is a need to create a knowledge bank through which they could support each other’s efforts without

PART – II • A QUEST FOR SYNERGY 193 side-stepping their basic priorities. This will also encourage a movement away from an emerging unipolar world and towards a five-studded star, with China on one end, India on the other, Europe, America and the Soviet Union representing the other three ends. The world of tomorrow will then tilt towards the rising mass and the power will shift where wealth and knowledge will flow. Hidden shifts between violence, wealth and knowledge will also determine the shift in power in years to come otherwise “we are heading for a collision with tomorrow”. Today, most of the growth of basic knowledge relates to physical and biological sciences. But if the world has to proceed towards its evolutionary future, then there has to be new elements of psychic knowledge, understanding and wisdom which goes beyond what makes the dollar run around the world at a speed 35 times the actual world trade and directs unaccountable sums of money in developing techniques and building weapons of human destruction. Where human suffering is a matter of grief not of statistics and profit. EVOLUTION OF DEMOCRACY FOR A NEW HUMAN ORDER

Presented at the XII World Conference of the World Future Studies Federation, Barcelona 17–21 September 1991

he later part of the 20th century is a witness to a new human awakening. TPeople seek forums through which they can freely express their dreams and visions, and rights to assure that their physical and emotional security are not preempted by the state or a few beneficiaries in the system. These urges will in- tensify during the decade of the 1990s, seeking rapid transition to such a milieu. Many countries have aspired and endeavoured to be the role-model of democratic institutions for others. Most often they have not succeeded because they have only kept forms and images of democracy but not its substance. Democracy in its true sense leads to the creation of a free environment for a humanising and civilising process, which must imply human discipline, both outer and inner. The fear of law alone is not adequate to safeguard democracy’s institutions or assure its stability. Blatant promotion of false democracy for societies in periods of transformation or transition, are only eroding the credibility of the system. Furthermore, through reliance on violence as against inner discipline we obliterate the potential and bar the path to real democracy. It also leads to arrogance and claims of superiority of one nation over another because its form of democracy is backed by stronger weapons. This emphasis on supporting an ideology by techniques and instruments of force has not only led to a multiplicity of definitions of democracy but also to confrontation within the national and the international system. When intellectuals and scholars become peripheral within a system, democracy ceases to evolve as a multidimensional human process. The culmina- tion of this has been the evolution of a ‘Superman’ holding weapons of death

PART – II • A QUEST FOR SYNERGY 195 and destruction to protect national as against human interests. In such an environment no individual society or nation can survive without a destructive potential of its own and all this is violating cosmic harmony. Many definitions of democracy with all the appendages are now being promoted as role models for the emerging societies, and are thus compounding the processes of human insecurity and laying the foundations for another century physical and environmental destruction. Even worse, we are inflicting psychic wounds on an entire generation of human beings. Teilhard de Chardin in his writings promoted the idea of an Omega Point, that point in the human destiny where the physical and the spiritual will converge. In 1991, 34 years after Teilhard’s death, human capacity and sensitivity to accept any kind of spiritual discipline has been deeply eroded. Others see and wonder about the visions of an enlightened oligarchy as a point of inspiration for future ‘socio-economic’ transformation. The Madison Avenue style of packaging of aspirants as some kind of super- men for the acquisition of power is becoming more of a rule than an exception. Such repeated exposure to duplicity, immoral and unethical, often criminal, behaviour by the wielders of political and economic power is responsible for growing cynicism towards institutions of democracy. More than power and its perquisites, democracy is an instrument of sacrifice and service. The undesirable techniques for its acquisition, retention and exercise demolish the symbols and values on which its foundations rest. Thus the effectiveness and confidence of the electorate in the system declines. In a multiparty system it becomes obligatory for reelection that one party in power shows gains between elections. The ruling political party and those in opposition continue to manipulate, through media intervention, the basic structure of society, its symbols and values, thus abridging the political and economic rights and interest of the people at large. However, for the success of democracy, formulation of its long-term objectives and consensus on the broad structure of socio-economic reforms, alone provides stability to the system. This is when the people can judge the ruling party’s performance within a given framework. The renunciation of popular as against effective measures of achievement, therefore, becomes a vital factor in the success and stability of a democratic system. De- mocracy grows and evolves with a growing economic system that fosters savings,

196 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM investment, innovation, production and service and the satisfaction of the basic needs of the largest section of the society. When the desire for the preemption of power and the disproportionate enjoyment of benefits by a section of the society become obsessive, it leads to confrontation and disintegration. Often violence becomes the sole arbiter of norms in such a system, and the whole process leads to indiscriminate state intervention, and inflexible favouritism. The basic characteristics of a democratic society, however, are an equality of opportunity in acquiring education, innovative capabilities and employment. Similarly, in a democratically based economic system, moderation and respect for all interests and a return on investment should be the primary concern of those exercising power. Otherwise, they become protectors of inefficiency. De- mocracy must be representative and subject to accountability and must create conditions for the governability of the system. We are now in regression and much of the obsessive pursuit of power is for ill-gotten gains with little or no concern for policy and performance. Today, as ideological differences decline and the Cold War ebbs the key issue in focus is how wealth can be created and distributed. It makes no difference whether you are a citizen of a Communist state in transformation or the standard-bearers of a laisser-faire economy. Unless a society can address these issues, it ceases to be sustainable and even the process of free, fair and a peaceful election is threatened. In spite of an apotheosis of the presidential system, it has some serious limitations in terms of the needs of a society with diverse religious, regional, ethnic and class interests. In a federal structure each unit expresses its own ethnic and larger loyalties. It acquires and optimises a productive system which functions within the desired flexibility. This also assures the emergence of successful political leadership in a democracy. In the Asian context, both within the Chinese and Indian tradition, there were strict norms for the wielders of power. The Confucian concept of ‘sagely within and kingly without’ and the Indian tradition of the Rajrishi, that is a sagely king, can contribute greatly to the evolution of democracy. In the present environment such a leadership would be a tall order, yet only such a leadership could effectively play the role of societal management which could protect the social, cultural, ideological interests of the society at large, and can also curb the

PART – II • A QUEST FOR SYNERGY 197 intimidation and violence potential in the acquisition and exercise of political power within the system. This can only be achieved through a personal example. The leadership must be in a position to moderate, conciliate and keep balance between conflict and consensus. The neutralisation of unhealthy power centres and integration of positive forces alone will contribute towards socio-politico-economic advancement of societies. Wide cleavages of class, ethnicity, region and religion which somehow appeared contained within the Communist societies have suddenly exploded and now seek moderation of these inequalities and the emergence of a just and fair economic order within democratic institutions. There are thus good reasons for a worldwide celebration of a free society as a wave of the future. But the present concept of freedom alone is not adequate to set in motion events towards a new world order. During the last half-century our visions have been fuelled by ego, greed and the accumulation of power, and there has been no consideration for its consequences on democratic societies. The adoration of the instruments of violence, continued projection of extreme forms of consumerism as policy, the breakdown of the moral and ethical order, the increasing use of narcotics, and the frightening spread of AIDS, when projected into the future present some devastating images of the 21st century. It is obvious that democracy after going through various stages does evolve into a framework for the management of society. Ultimately, after going through various processes, power in this democratic society flows to a governing elite. This elite is expected to represent the highest values of the society so that the sanctity of its laws and institutions can be retained to assure stability and sustainability of the socio-economic order. The deterioration of these processes has reached a point that the elites of the system, instead of attaining a sense of responsibility, are regressing into a kind of a diabolical oligarchy. The world leadership should, therefore, take heed that it is not the time for celebration, but, perhaps for grave concern if these genes of the current human condition are to form the basis for the future human order. In the midst of global unification through systems of transportation, communication, trade, movement of money, and negatively, the environmental crisis, mounting terrorism, lack of concern for human life and the devastating plagues, we must re-examine our past policies and their consequences for today’s

198 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM world and for the future. This concern has been growing rapidly during recent years because the so-called affluent societies have learned few lessons from the past and the present. In the midst of this entire crisis they continue and believe that they can refashion the world, with just minor modifications to keep up their hegemony, their prosperity and their economic interests. They see no reason for retreat from this position, thus the glorification of their own success becomes paramount and this, irrespective of how it affects the interests of large sections of humankind. They just expect the world to fall in line. There are no universal models for social organisations to serve the wide diversity and complexity of the problems and priorities within nation states. Still, there is so much experience and empirical knowledge in societies, both developed and developing, on which we can draw to evolve a new human system which not only provides the right to vote but the right to a full and decent life. Thus, there is the need to innovate, to create new models of social organisation, within the broad limitations of human rights and freedom. The question naturally arises as to what we should do and where we should go. In general the models of democracy have functioned through their institutions and certain rules of the game. These rules must be restored not merely by a multiplicity of laws alone but by a far deeper understanding and an appropriate discipline. This would call for a significant improvement in leadership. We know that many of the institutions of free enterprise have contributed significantly to the prosperity and wellbeing of a large section of people and so has Socialism. We also know that hamstrung Socialism has damaged freedom and prosperity. While both have made important contributions, both have been retrograde in creating a new human order. We need to synthesize humane rules of the game with a new additional sense of responsibility by those exercising political power and controlling the instruments for the creation of wealth. Here again many leaders in different parts of the world have offered many solutions. Gandhi propounded the thesis of trusteeship, that is that all controllers of the means of production and the creators of wealth work to the benefits of society, not as exploiters, but as trustees. But these objectives and the potential for their realisation will be meaningless unless the societal leaders shed their illusion and understand that in the pres-

PART – II • A QUEST FOR SYNERGY 199 ent environment larger human interests take precedence over narrow national interests. Through the creative centuries our visions were sustained by saints, scholars, entrepreneurs, scientists, innovators and creative workers. During the 20th century these have been relentlessly and irreversibly centred on the controllers of physical power and wealth. From this state of unidimensional evolution, we have now to clear the pathways to a multidimensional human and societal development so that human beings and societies can see beyond the dangerous and destructive toys through which our children and our adults, the children of a retarded evolution, see the fulfillment of their dreams and illusions for a new human order. NEW HUMAN ORDER — SOME IMAGES OF THE 21st CENTURY

Lecture at India International Centre, New Delhi, 9 January 1992

he 20th century has been a period of great turmoil and discontinuity. The Tearly part of the century simultaneously with the First World War saw the Marxist revolution in Russia and the emergence of a Communist state. It also witnessed the beginning of the movement for liberation of the colonies led by Gandhi. And this process of liberation was largely completed by the middle of the century within a few years after the Second World War. Even the last citadel where the movement had its beginning, South Africa, is also now on the verge of the satisfactory conclusion of this process. The Second World War was a challenge to the preemption of resources of the colonies by colonial powers. While Britain and its allies won the war they were simultaneously launched on the course of decline. It also led to the emergence of the United States of America as a major economic, industrial and military power which took over the torch of world leadership from Britain. This began an era of tremendous scientific, technological and production achievements, leading to a major shift to consumerist development in the industrial countries. The beginning of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States of America resulted in major economic, technological, physical and human resources being directed to the creation of one of the world’s most extensive and expensive infrastructures for human destruction, and the emergence of the two so-called superpowers — the United States and the Soviet Union. This has led both these powers close to economic bankruptcy. Another significant event of the century was the emergence of Mr. Gor- bachev as the leader of the Soviet Union. He brought a major paradigm shift in the Soviet Union, reached agreement with the United States on steps towards

PART – II • A QUEST FOR SYNERGY 201 disarmament and started the process of dismantling the structure of mega violence on which foundations of the Soviet economic system rested. This has brought about almost a total collapse of the Soviet socio-economic system and the creation of independent Russian Commonwealths, The exit of Gorhachev and the emergence of Boris Yeltsin as a leader of the Commonwealths is another consequence of this change. The attempt by certain conservative sections of the American society to see in the decline of Communist states a victory for democracy and capitalism and their own position as a role model for a future world order is more an illusion than a reality. And this, along with the lack of recognition by the politico-economic power structure in the United States that its armament expenditure and consumerist lifestyles are becoming unsustainable and are threatened, has placed it in a position of grave vulnerability. The developing countries who followed a similar path of consumerist development have reached various stages of bankruptcy and unsustainability in their economic future. Large sections of the community have been left outside this process of development and have actually moved lower into the poverty line. Such a situation will be unacceptable in terms of democratic norms and in any new human order. These are the conditions under which we have to assess the visions and plans of actions for a new human order, such as:

INFORMATION ORDER Many categorise the emerging economic order as being catalysed or fuelled by information. Some call it the communication or the computer age. But information by itself is only an instrument for enhancing the quality of our understanding of a few of those parameters, which in their infinite totality, and at a particular moment in time, constitute the outer limits of our perceptions of reality. The role of information as knowledge acquired through intellectual experiences, has in the “Information, Communication or Computer Age” been transformed into the processing of data according to programmed instruction. With the multi- plication of means for its collection, compilation, processing and presentation, its source has become divorced from its recipient. We have thus lost control over its

202 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM authenticity and quality. This has placed immense manipulative powers — political, economic and others — in the hands of those who control these instruments. At the moment this control rests with a few countries in the international power system, and through them, people around the world are not only being subjected to the virtues of consumerism, but also to accept its consequences as the natural human state. The continuity and intensity of such subjection is making us insensitive to our creative instincts for designing a new human order.

ENVIRONMENTAL ORDER More recently, with the worsening state of the quality of our lives many believe that it should be built around environmental imperatives. Air, water and earth, gifts of god, common human domain, and the foundations of the life support system on our planet, are being irreversibly damaged. The compulsions for continuity and protection of the existing power and economic structure of the affluent nations, responsible for the bulk of the world’s environmental destruction, is coming into conflict with the developmental needs of the developing world’s programme for the satisfaction of the minimum basic needs. So, a shadow play to give respectability to “business as usual” is in progress. This is expected to provide a UN stamp of approval to limit growth of the developing world so as to assure minimum dislocation of the consumerist processes in the developed world. This could mean a suicidal course on the environmental front. The processes of the breakdown of the Communist states created a sense of euphoria in the so-called liberal democracies where many saw in this process the end of history, the emergence of a unipolar world which belongs to them by right and to carve out of this a new economic order. Many neo-conservatives in the industrially advanced countries perceive in the “decline of Communism” an opportunity for the advancement of democracy and advocate it as the touchstone of a new foreign policy.

NEW ECONOMIC ORDER “American purpose is the democratic crusade”. They want America to become like the Britain of a century ago, the great balancer of power.

PART – II • A QUEST FOR SYNERGY 203 “It is geographically suited and militarily equipped for the role. After having doubly defeated totalitarianism, America’s purpose should be to steer the world away from its coming multipolar future towards a qualitatively new outcome — a Unipolar Confederated West. Such a confederation could have no rival. Around it would radiate in concentric circles, first the second world, the decommunising states dependent upon the West for technology and finance. This confederation has to wish and work for a super-sovereign West, economically, culturally and politically hegemonic in the world. It is based on the assumption that unification of the industrial West is the major goal of the democratic crusade rather than the conversion one by one of the Third World States. I suggest that we go all the way and stop at nothing short of universal dominion.” 10 Mr. George Bush in his recent address to US Congress also advocated the leadership of the Western world and its own leadership role of the West. The main issue is: Will the human genius be able to transform the contours of the 20th century to take a new shape in the decade of the 1990s, or will it be a projection of the very same world in a different garb? But the consumerist model emerging from the Western power system for a new economic order of the 21st century has worked on the assumption that an advanced military power far beyond the economic and technical capabilities of the second and the third world shall become the backbone of the new international order which will take birth after the demise of the Bretton Woods model which emerged after the Second World War. They presume that with favourable economic and trade relationships with the world countries, with the power of their weapons and technologies such as communications, transport and, above all, with the tacit support of the United Nations, they could work out a system of development which could get the democratic veneer of respectability in controlling World resources to serve their interests. This obviously represents a kind of neo-colonialism allegedly with the tacit support of the word community. But the ideological foundations of the armament and consumerist-based capitalist, laisser-faire system is going through a serious catharsis of another kind. A few years back in a meeting of well-known scholars and intellectuals from many countries and representing different ideological and social ideas, who met in Delhi to discuss the subject of “The Human Condition Today” (See Part One),

10 Charles Krauthammer

204 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM came to unanimous conclusions on some serious impediments to the human future approaching the end of the 20th century. These were: • So long as the world continues to spend US $1,000 billion on destructive weapons involving tremendous sacrifice of resources, energy and environment, the destructive impact of the use of these weapons apart, there can be no human future. Even 10 per cent of this amount spent on human welfare could change the very patterns of our concerns. • Economies built around consumerist excesses borrowing from many future years of income to spend today, could attain only one goal — bankruptcy. • Economies of the major developing countries in Latin America, Asia, including India, which followed this strategy of development, have come close to bankruptcy. Even the largest of consumerist economies that of the United States, is itself in a similar situation. • No sustainable human system can be built without moral and ethical foundations. The reverberations of its breakdown are being felt in most countries of the world. This is destroying the credibility of most systems and social orders. • The rising trade in narcotics is destroying an entire generation of people on whose shoulder the creation of a future order rests. In some countries the position has become so serious that the average per capita yearly consumption of narcotics has reached over US $ 760. This is three times the per capita income of India and China. • Last but not the least, is the raging plague of AIDS which is crip- pling millions at exponentially increasing rate. With the mutation of bacteria and viruses there appears to be no remedy in sight and the changing nature of the viruses is expanding their reach. And superimposed on these are: • The aggressive media and other techniques for controlling the masses. • The Ramboisation of the administration. • And the marginalisation of the thinkers and intellectuals.

PART – II • A QUEST FOR SYNERGY 205 These are all taking their toll and have created an environment in which the systems are being deprived of the potential for rejuvenation and regeneration. Attempts to pursue the broad contours of such a present into the 21st century could only lead to misery for millions, chaos and confrontation. For Hegel, spirit was the supreme reality, whereas for Marx matter was the supreme reality. According to Marx, all the phenomena in society had their origin in material conditions of life. For over three-quarters of a century the Communist leaderships have used Marx’s philosophy for promoting their own ends and have thus only succeeded in proving Marx wrong. The Capitalist societies through their greed and excesses have been busy proving Marx right. But in reality both were serving a limited historical and human purpose and they have both succeeded in exposing the contradictions and vulnerability and undermined the foundations of the other because both were on a single-wheeled vehicle of materialism — an armament-based consumerism — which kept its stability with an increasing motion, and ideologies protected by mega-violence. Both reach beyond points of spiritless human endurance, beyond control. The Keynesian and Marxian thoughts are neutralising each other’s basic tenets. There are therefore no universal models for a social organisation to serve the wide diversity and complexity of problems and priorities within national states. The common instruments of scientific, technical and empirical knowledge lie scattered to be assembled and forged into a vision for a new orderly and sustainable growth built on the foundations of an inseparable unity between the material and the spiritual world. To provide not only the right to vote but a right to a full and decent life. “The society’s role is not just to provide guns and goods, but a sense of purpose, a philosophy of life, a spiritual background to our thinking” 11. Fragmented thinking, processes and actions on an entire spectrum of concerns are providing instruments for manipulation and control to those committed to maintain the existing human order. Political changes here are just a phenomenon, ripples on the surface of the human society. Only by relating it to the deeper human instinct can we survive.

11 Jawaharlal Nehru

206 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM We should not commit the victims of deprivation in the poorer world to an illusion of consumerism, and the victims of excesses in affluent societies to their extinction. Therein lies hope and action for the future because the next step of evolution is not in human physical wellbeing alone but in its psyche. We have thus to seek an opportunity for real change as the compulsions of the new world which is shaping the dreams of dominating it through a unipolar power centre will prove to be an illusion: • The emergence of the European Community in Western Europe and a Unified Germany will create a major economic power centre dominated by Unified Germany. • The emerging new commonwealths of the former Soviet Union will settle down to an orderly development before the end of the century. With one of the greatest storehouses of physical resources and an arsenal of 27,000 nuclear missiles still intact it will again emerge as an important political and economic factor on the international scene. The residual power of the Russian Commonwealths even after the recent and continuing upheavals will be so large that it shall be outside the limits of any unipolar power to intimidate. • The three major segments of the Indian-Pacific Ocean Region that is India, China and Southeast Asia, through a protective instinct and common interests amongst themselves and with the Russian and other Commonwealths will be obliged to cooperate. With the tacit support of Japan and the aggregated power of resources, technologies and markets will place this region outside the capabilities of any unipolar power centre to manipulate. The military power as an instrument of coercion cannot now succeed and to organise an international support for its use will not be possible in the emerging multipolar world. If the emergence of a multipolar system is throttled by the upholders of a unipolar world, then there will be a serious threat of the resumption of an armament race far more vicious than any seen before. And apart from the United States, Japan, Unified Germany and many of the other larger countries like India and China, and the forces of Islamic fundamentalism will all start arming for a new confrontation. The consequences of this are too dangerous to comprehend.

PART – II • A QUEST FOR SYNERGY 207 We have to see the visions of a new human order in such an environment: • Its contours will include a kind of “controlled capitalism” which cannot be transformed into a diabolical oligarchy and wherein the innovative capabilities and intellectuals skills of millions of people can be released. • A free Socialism which is not hamstrung by bureaucratic and ideological vested interests to provide images of hope to a large constituency or the victims of deprivation around the world. In future societies’ hunger and freedom will not go together and to preserve freedom and assure freedom from want will be the basis to any future order in the 21st century. This will have to be directed towards: • Providing the minimum basic needs for all victims of deprivation worldwide. • Being sustainable in terms of environment, energy resources. • Preservation of the ethnic, cultural and religious harmony. • Restoration of the processes of the retarded human evolution to assure multidimensional human development — physical, intellectual, aesthetic, psychic, spiritual — as against the subservience of all human faculties to the processes of optimising consumerist imperatives. • A new ethical and moral foundation for the social order, the Indian concept of ‘Rajrishi‘ and Confucius concept of sagely within and kingly without, needs to be restored for all wielders of power. To eliminate mega-violence from any future system of human organisation shall continue to be our greatest concern. Two men will thus stand out as the heroes of our age. Gandhi, who by bringing to this troubled age more civilised and humane techniques of dealing with socio-politico problems without the use of violence and Gorbachev, who has managed an entire paradigm shift, liberated the USSR and other nations from the Communist dictatorial servitude, shattered the concept of violence in support of an ideology and laid foundations for dismantling

208 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM one of the world’s greatest infrastructures of violence. At a great risk, they reached out for a newer and more humane order, which tried to reconcile all sides of life that manifests in an all-embracing view of all. So their basic contribution was to project that an ideology that does not stand on its own merit and draws its strength from mega-violence cannot survive and be a part of the human future. And both these men became the victims of their own success. Our future heroes must uphold this ideal for our age and this must be im- bibed and reflected in all human activities. Our missiles may burst open the gates of hapless nations; our science, technology, secularism, greed and consumerist culture may invade every corner of the globe, but it is time we realised that without an elevation of the human consciousness and understanding of what we call development, it will only accelerate our march to oblivion.

ROLE OF INDIA India with its background and experience can play a significant role towards the emergence of a new human order. While its level of commitment to the consumerist armament order is increasing at a rapid pace, yet relatively speaking, it is the lowest amongst most countries. India’s experience with problems and issues relating to contained capital is the emergence of a very large numbers of entrepreneurs and creation of socially controlled institutions that can make a valuable contribution to the emerging new world system. But above all this, is the Indian psyche, which is still largely in harmony and has displayed its vigour from time to time throughout history and more recently in the struggle for independence, can reassert itself to synthesise the knowledge of the 20th century with a new kind of Indian approach to development. China may also play a similar role and so perhaps also the Russian Commonwealths. Through the creative centuries our visions were sustained by saints, scholars, scientists, innovators, creators and entrepreneurs. During the 20th century these are relentlessly and irreversibly centred round the controllers of physical power

PART – II • A QUEST FOR SYNERGY 209 and wealth. From this state of unidmensional evolution we have now to clear the pathways to a multidimensional societal development so that human beings and societies can see beyond the dangerous and destructive toys through which our children and our adults, the children of a retarded evolution, see the problems and the fulfillment of a new human order. CULTURE AND DEVELOPMENT: SOME BASIC ISSUES

Kapur Solar Farms, Kapas Hera, New Delhi, 18–20 February 1995

s we approach the beginning of new millennium, development, modern- Aisation and gobalisation are becoming key words in the vocabulary of the developing countries. Allured by the consumerist passions, the elites of these nations are being attracted like moths to the shining flame of development. Some may escape the holocaust. Having stripped human development of its larger meaning which includes psychic, spiritual, aesthetic and intellectual elements, the attention is being largely focused on production of goods and services. All the human attributes are being made subservient to this one objective — that is to accelerate growth and make it more efficient. A stage has now been reached that anything which does not serve this process is considered peripheral to the societal needs. Education is also tailored to this purpose, and what does not conform is considered an unaffordable luxury outside the mainstream of the money system. So the cultural values get hitched to the consumerist media blitz, with major overtones such as receding quality levels of entertainment loaded with violence, sex and money values, with lifestyles and products for the newly acquired and dreams for the future acquisition of wealth. The ethical and moral values get marginalized and spirituality is often used as an instrument for mass moronisation and fast-buck moneymaking techniques. The entire system of development becomes ruthless and elite based. The protection of the beneficiaries of this process from internal and external forces results in the diversion of a large proportion of the valuable diminishing resources towards weapons of violence and destruction. A nation quite often becomes a hostage to this process and its beneficiaries. The international politico-economic system has to fulfill its obligations and pay ransom to this system to assure its survival.

PART – II • A QUEST FOR SYNERGY 211 While the crying need of the exponentially rising number of people are food, shelter and education, health and employment, the pressure is for luxury goods and services automation and robotisation, to develop an export compatible economy. This is causing widespread mass migration of people from hunger towards food, from unemployment to jobs, from lower to higher levels of consumerism. How long can this process be continued without a major breakdown of the international socio-economic system?

MODERNISATION What is modernisation? Is it Westernisation? Is it the use of increasing number of consumer goods? Is it large-scale plumbing and sewage systems in the big cities polluting the environment and consequently causing medical health problems? Or is it small affluent populations, biodegradable waste handling and completing nature’s cycle? Are family breakdowns, divorces, uncared delinquent children, consequent drugs and narcotics use, and accompanying diseases like AIDS to be considered as disorders and human plagues or as areas of commercial opportunity? Are growing human alienation, loneliness and suffering, psychological aberrations the price to be paid to be called modern? The rejection of the negative forces of change and seeking health, happiness, self-fulfillment, a level of consciousness of human duties and responsibilities, alone can create conditions for modernisation. This should be the human endeavour.

GLOBALISATION It means using all the available techniques of development and modernisation to bring nations and people together. In economic terms it means the integration of all the world economies into one single economy (also into one world culture). In terms of the present orientation of development techniques, globalisation would not lead to the sharing of the world knowledge and resources to remove deprivation, but, in fact, may further accelerate flow of wealth away from the needy.

212 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM Globalisation will be possible only if the available instruments and tools are structured within a framework which will facilitate approaching the problem of poverty, both in terms of level and numbers. Bilateral pressures for falling in line outside the world trade systems and one-sided protectionist policies makes the poor countries even more vulnerable in respect of the people’s interests. Even more serious is the hot money which travels around the world markets at speeds hundred times faster than the actual trade needs. This is largely an instrument for planned fast-buck operation and subversion through speculation, corruption and other techniques. India has recently been a victim of such a money movement. Now Mexico is facing economic ruin. In international trade, constantly obsolescent technologies invented, exploited and discarded are attached a greater value than the resources created by nature over millions of years. What is made by human beings can be recreated or bet- tered but the plundered resources are irreplaceable. The continued use of these unfair techniques of value-addition will destroy the world trade system. A new situation leading up to confrontation and chaos can arise out of an apotheosis of greed and power. Therefore, is globalization — cultural and economic — an instrument for the perpetuation of the injustices of the past? Or is it the commencement of a process for a new approach to the problems of development and an equitable, responsible and orderly use of resources?

CULTURE There are as many variations of culture, as ethnic and religious groups and sub-groups, societies and nations. The future of these cultures will determine the future of these societies, rather than their politico-techno-economic orientation. Faced with the threat of external cultural mores, societies often react to protect the cultural core. In the past there were regional cultures. In most of Asia, Hinduism, Bud- dhism, Confucianism, Daoism and later Islam with their many variations, interacted with each other and blended in a colourful mosaic of cultures and created cultural harmony. Technically oriented exogenous cultures, though projected widely by a media blitz and appealing to many basic human instincts,

PART – II • A QUEST FOR SYNERGY 213 only superficially touch the human psyche. At least that is the experience so far. Through the derecognition of the religious or spiritual institution, ethnic values or morality, some societies broke the umbilical cord which linked them to their continuity, and the psychic fountainhead of their lives, beyond economics. These societies are in a greater danger of being uprooted by the cultural aggression and thus launched on the “way of all flesh”, to satisfy political, cultural, economic and security goals of the dominant powers. Contrary to the general belief many societies are reasserting their cultural identity. Even the migrant youth in the developed countries often yearn for their roots in the rootless and aggressive environment of the host country. Attempted economic and political globalisation can only succeed in a new hybrid form. Cultures with strong psychic content only surrender that part of their cultural identity which is essential in achieving developmental objectives. These objectives need greatly to be redefined in terms of both nature and man. In the meantime some of the powerful Western cultures are themselves disintegrating but still have a considerably greater capacity to harm others than to redeem themselves. Many Asian cultures, which are inner directed, have maintained their core values intact, in spite of centuries of colonialism, and would respond differently to process of change and technical innovation. Violent assertions of ethnicity or religion, or consumerism under arms protection are creating an environment of confrontation. Culture for a sustainable order would have to be less aggressive and more in accord with the higher human dimension. Development as applied to third world societies meant first their cultural transformation, so that they accept the symbols and values of individualism and consumerism. Modernisation is expected to shift the social environment from family and community to the individual. The first targets are always the elites whose ego and desire for media-style modernity are considered to harbour potential for denigrating their own culture. To believe that through these approaches, development and modernisation will lead towards westernisation and a world culture and erase all non-Western cultures, is a dangerous illusion with many unintended and unpredictable consequences. You may tempt the elites but cannot bring entire populations into a consumerist orbit. Apart from the psychic factors, neither ecological nor resource limitations will permit such a development. Its most likely consequence would be the isolation of the westernised elites.

214 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM Samuel Huntington’s thesis that “principal conflicts of global politics are likely to spring from cultural clashes and pointed to Confucianism as one of the main challenges of the Western Ascendency. Part religion, part ethical code, part social ritual and part political philosophy remain a slippery concept”. Obviously what Huntington considers as a challenge may well provide Asia a new synthesis of human attributes towards accelerated and humane development. A Confucian view of order between subjects and rulers helps the rapid transformation of the society, in other words you fit yourself in a society; that is the exact opposite of the American right of the individual as pointed out by Lee Kuan Yew. Whereas Max Weber in search of the cultural roots of western Capitalism in Protestant ethics argued “that Confucianism was largely responsible for the backwardness of China”, the rise of the East Asian tigers and Japan with strong Confucian influence caused many scholars to reinterpret the economic impact of Confucianism. The Confucian belief is that if one is guided by profit in one’s actions one will incur much ill will. This is also expressed in the Bhagavad Gita, “your duty is your Karma (action) and not its fruits”. The Gandhian advocacy of the concept of trusteeship as against ownership is becoming increasingly valid in the prevailing conditions where faulty genes of development makes the process insensitive to unequal sacrifices and ecology. Market-controlled economies, therefore, often support repressive regimes. This creates a heightened awareness against development. Therefore, the cultures are attacked to weaken resistance against free-market development. There can only be a culture specific and sensitive development. Unbri- dled consumerism and ecological insensitivity which attack the life support system of the planet are being promoted through a mass culture. This is a negation of the objective of development. Through the forces of history the location centre of gravity of development is rapidly shifting to the continent of Asia. The nations of Asia and elsewhere have to rediscover and articulate their own alternative for development within their own evolving cultural frame towards a new pluralistic humanism. The Confucian concept of ‘sage king’ and the Indian equivalent of ‘Rajrishi’ may provide a new orientation to the direction, purpose, logic and sanity for the wayward development of consumerism.

PART – II • A QUEST FOR SYNERGY 215 Eastern cultures emphasising the welfare of the community over the individual can be quite compatible with economic development. Chinese Communists not only used the Confucius doctrine for success but they embraced it. “Post Confucian characteristics like self-confidence social cohesion, subordination of the individual, education for action, bureaucratic tradition and moralising cer- titude are potent combinations for development purposes. This revisionist argument has now become a new orthodoxy widely echoed”, says Professor Roderick MacFarquhar of Harvard. During the British period in India, Macaulay through the system of education introduced by the colonial powers wanted “Indian in blood and colour, English in taste, morals and intellect”. In the half-century after the British exit from India while we still have some diluted remnants of his dream, the Indian personality is beginning to reassert itself and the core of Indian culture and tradition still survives. Indian culture does not create any barriers to the use of new knowledge to create wealth, but it lays down many rules of conduct both in the process and on realisation. Whether these will survive under the onslaught of western values and symbols remain to be seen. But it would be fair to assume that the complex sensitivities of the Indian mind in search of life beyond economies may be disillusioned by the consumerist culture. The reaction is already setting into the social and cultural fallout of gross materialism. Living in harmony with nature is a part of the human psyche in India and Asia in general. It is not a new fad which is now developing in the West out of growing ecological disabilities. All through Asia, drawing strength from the ancient traditions, sub-regional cultures are taking shape. The emerging overseas Chinese networks will strengthen the endogenous initiative of Daoism. Asians migrating to the Western countries are not just the recipients of an aggressive consumerist culture, but are also the subconscious communicator of many of the subtle graces from their roots. This is being increasingly felt amongst the sensitive elites and alienated youth in the host country. We are a part of transcendental cosmic order. In apotheosising the transience of man as the centre of the universe, we make him god without god’s graces. He usurps the creation of values, nothing is off limit or considered sacred.

216 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM This is leading to the breakdown of the ethical and the moral order and loss of faith, which is beyond reason and man-made laws. With decline of faithfulness to the eternal the cosmic, culture cannot be sustained, nations become unstable, and forces of corruption death and chaos prevail,

“Let noble thoughts come to us from every side and give us faith” — Rig Veda DECLINING UTOPIAS — NEW VISIONS

Article in the Times of India, July 1988

t the time of Indian independence two visions were projected to approach Aproblems of poverty — development and modernisation. Through an awareness that the bulk of India’s population resided in villages and conscious of the mistakes made by the industrial societies, Gandhiji advocated that “There should be equality between the town dwellers and villagers in the standard of food, clothing and other basic human conditions”. While he accepted the need for selective industrialization, he projected the dream of “self-sufficient rural republics and the higher moral and spiritual needs of man and the desirability of sustaining India’s eternal values”. Nehru, taking the worldview, stressed “That an industrially backward nation would continually upset the world equilibrium and encourage aggressive tendencies of more developed countries. Even if India retained its political independence it will be nominal only and economic control will tend to pass to others”. While both Gandhi and Nehru were right in retrospect, none of these two visions have been realised in any measure. The Gandhian movement for freedom was based on the preservation of the Indian identity and cultural continuity. This process rapidly eroded after the constitution of the Indian Republic. The dream of self-contained rural republics and institutions of welfare with their khadi-clad grass-root cadre of dedicated stalwarts could not relate to the Westernised urban-based drive for modernity and infrastructural development. Nehru’s efforts to orient these processes towards a just and self-reliant order had to succumb to the dynamics of the new urban elite, which in less than two decades of his rule, assumed a dominant role in the politico-economic

218 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM management of the country. In its cultural orientation, this group was more akin to the Western thought processes and adopted an entire set of values, ethic institutions and styles of life. This found expression in a socio-economic order which “is a continuation of the same structure of power and privileges through which the colonial power had administered and exploited India”. The rapid growth of infrastructure and consumption levels of the elite and its visions of parity with elites abroad set the tone and direction for the future. It left no time or inclination to reflect on the need for equity and justice for the large mass of the rural poor. Thus, today, the number of people below the poverty line equals the total population at the time of Independence. And the vote-banks which provided stability and democratic credentials to the power structure are excluded from the benefits of development. We are now fast approaching an era of economic expectations at all strata of society. This is being catalysed by rapidly widening income differentials between the urban and the rural areas, between the land owning and landless classes. A large percentage of the post Independence population, having no links, loyalties or commitments to the traditional mores and attitudes, are being rapidly indoc- trinated into their rights and the symbols and values of a consumer society. This is building up pressures for their shares in such development. The fact of the high and the mighty seeking their votes is driving home the power of the ballot box in achieving upward mobility in society. This is an irreversible process from which there is no retreat. Those who are living with the old illusions of vote-banks or emotional responses to situations like the Emergency or assassination of our prime minister to acquire or retain political power are in for great surprises in the decade of 1990s. On the economic front the cost of the infrastructure and armaments not to mention the lifestyles of the elites are mounting rapidly. Adding to this, the burdens of the rising capital intensity of the productive processes, aggregating trade deficits and debts to keep the system afloat, force us to face the consequence of a consumerist export-led development. With massive imports of capital equipment and industrial inputs into our urban-based development, the pathways for the flow of resources from the rural to the urban areas and from there on to the multinational system are now well charted. This process is now being accelerated by many orders of magnitude which would mean only marginal increases in

PART – II • A QUEST FOR SYNERGY 219 high-cost productive employment and increased dependence on the white collar service economy. In the emerging situation Indian priorities for rapid growth in low cost productive jobs and need-based consumer goods for the large mass are being reversed. We are thus rapidly closing our options among sustainable development strategies and moving into the dead centre of the present international economic crisis which is being fuelled by saturated markets, over-production, economies of wastes and chronic unemployment. We have become a willing dumping ground for a wide variety of goods. Astronomical amounts of surplus money moves fe- verishly across borders, looking for safe havens and increased earnings and in this process accentuating inflation and destabilizing economies. An unholy alliance between national and international merchants of arms and narcotics, smuggled goods and gold is playing havoc with both our economy and our security. Thus the country is being plagued by all kinds of fundamentalist movements, terrorism, smuggled arms and insurgencies through international manipulation and internal connivance. The power structure still continues to nurse the illusion that welfare can be distributed to 500 million rural poor through the trickle-down effects of high- cost consumerist development. Over 60–70 per cent of the income, employment and exports of some of the major world economies are dependent on the service sector. No economic system can support such a high proportion of services on a small productive base. To ensure the stability of such a system its base must be created elsewhere, largely in the developing world and this must be so linked as to exchange low-priced commodities and goods with high-cost services from the so-called post industrial information societies. This strategy, however, has failed to achieve its full potential because those developing countries which came within its orbit have slipped sooner or later into unredeemable debt traps. The resistance by others to permit penetration into the control points of their economies such as defence, finance, telecommunications and other technologies has slowed down this process. As the crisis in the high consumption economies of waste deepens there will be mounting pressures on the developing world to establish such linkages. Our ability to resist such pressures will be in inverse proportion to our dependence on export earnings. Denial of access to commodities, manufactured goods, export

220 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM and financial credits in highly competitive recessionary world markets, has been and will continue to be the most vulnerable pressure point of the developing economies. Due to the size of the market and the vulnerability of her institutions, India is likely to be the prime target of such a strategy with a real danger of its economic and consequently political control coming under outside influence. Some of the affluent nations will fight to the bitter end to preserve the present order and dominate the 21st century without any consideration for its consequence for the poor nations. Basic aims of our development apart, even the simple language of food, shelter, health, education and employment — the common man’s concerns — has got distorted by vague elitist terms like modernity, post-industrial societies, high-tech, GNP and rates of growth. With computer modelling and supply side economics, these concepts are becoming even more incomprehensible. The perceptions of men and women who are hungry or seek employment on the one hand, and those on the other who plan food production strategies, or debate on the merits of numerically controlled machines, robotics and capital intensity of productive processes in an export-led development are separated by an ever widening and unbridgeable gap. In such a situation the terrible price paid by those for whose benefit development is expected to take place and in whose name democratic processes function becomes obscure to those who control the levers of politico-economic power. Such isolation and loss of contact with grassroot reality can reach a point of no return when democratic institutions get subverted and development rides on the vehicle of a debt trap. Most developing countries have either already arrived at or are moving headlong towards such a situation. Not all the media blitz or disinformation packages can alter or cast a veil on these realities. In our complex society there is a continuous resurgence of old and emergence of new power-centres. While most of these will neutralise each other, the resultant vector of forces representing awakened rural masses will demand, in exchange for their votes, more credible performance against promises made during elections. The structure of decision-making and action is getting increasingly isolated from the national mainstream that sustains it in power. In order for a leadership to be effective and to survive it must place itself in the centre of this massive movement

PART – II • A QUEST FOR SYNERGY 221 of people, their compulsions and dreams and forge a solid core of psychic unity, transgressing all extraneous considerations to meet the challenge of mass poverty. There are hundreds of centres of excellence serving with dedication in the true Indian tradition, in every sphere of human concern. These highly respected individuals and organisations with wide linkages at the grassroot level, cumula- tively hold the torch to initiate ideas and actions for a new humane, ethical and moral order. To restore confidence and the rapidly snapping links with the people at large, the leaderships of the future will have to make common-cause with such institutions and individuals and enlist their support in the search for new viable approaches to food production, new sources of energy and technologies, healthcare, shelter, employment, through selfless cooperative effort. This will call for new visions — unfettered by the consumerist straitjacket and the elitist jargon and understood by all. It will call for new kinds of decentralised institutions and plans of action to release the innovative capabilities and instincts of the people for right action. Media manipulated charismatic leaderships are an extension of the decadent consumer societies and will have no role in such a development. What is happening in India is in many ways a part of the larger world crisis. Glasnost and Perestroika reflect compulsions within the Socialist system to escape the self-limiting triple straitjacket of over-bureaucratisation, ideological rigidity in a changed environment and over- commitment to armament-based as against need-based development. The Socialist paradigm which formed the basis of many of our visions and institutions is now changing beyond recognition. The free market economies are going through their own processes of attrition. This is bringing about radical changes in the world and the national systems, and major paradigm shifts in the way human affairs have been managed during the last quarter century. Restructuring of the systems around new paradigms and a new international socio-economic order has become imperative. Whether new visions and a will to bring about changes will emerge or not, one thing is certain, a nation such as ours has no options but to seek new answers to the socio-economic organisation of our society. Centralised consumerist models of development whether through the market economies, the Socialist route or the integration of both, as in the case of India, end up becoming wasteful armament oriented economies, destructive of the environment, aggressive in intent, ineffective through bureaucratisation and

222 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM often dictatorial and corrupt. While these models provide valuable social and technical instruments for development, they have proved inadequate in reaching welfare to a large proportion of our population and in the larger human context. The social arrangements that we have been aiming for are thus falling apart. India should extricate herself from this self-fulfilling death wish, which in the name of highly promoted symbols of modernity, export-led development and parity in destructive weapons, is irrevocably committing her to a path of inequity, injustice and instability. Dr. B R Ambedkar in his speech at the time of adaption of the Indian Con- stitution in November 1949 asked “How long with one man, one vote, one value in politics, will we continue to deny the principles of one man, one value in the economic and social structure? We must remove this contradiction at the earliest possible moment or else those who suffer from inequality will blow up the structure of political democracy”. The emerging scenarios present images of declining consumerist utopias and rising new nations. To build a sustainable social milieu, we must innovate new designs of living by giving ethical and moral content to the available instruments and integrating them with the Indian ethos. We ignored the Indian reality and have lived with an illusion and now find ourselves at the threshold of a nemesis which is presenting strange images of the future. It is time we understood that India cannot arise without grassroot development and people’s participation. It was true when Gandhi and Nehru walked this land and it is truer today, forty years after Independence. RENEWABLE ENERGY FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Address to the 10th National Solar Energy Convention, Hyderabad, 1–3 December 1988

uring the last forty years, most of our efforts in creating an energy in- Dfrastructure were directed towards the satisfaction of the energy needs of the urban areas. The supply of energy to rural areas has only been through an extension of this highly overstretched infrastructure. This has led to an increasing commitment to conventional fossil fuel resources, increased costs and subsidies while at the same time, leaving large sections of our population outside the benefits of such development. The fact that there are more people below the poverty line today than the total population of India at the time of Independence bears testimony to this situation. The direct use of energy by those below the poverty line is largely for cooking. And over 60 per cent of the total energy used in rural India is for cooking alone. Rural electrification programmes have neither reached energy to any significant section of the rural population nor has it slowed the pace of deforestation. Our basic problem in the rural areas is not just to provide one form of energy or another on an ad hoc basis for a TV set, school or dispensary but to build an energy infrastructure which will help meet the essential needs, create employment opportunities by involving the population in productive effort, improve agriculture, environment, health, welfare and sanitary conditions, provide education, entertainment. Or, in other words, a total transformation through the involvement of the community in the process of its own uplift. The consequences of our urban-based export-led development have been the aggregating income differentials between the rural and urban areas and accelerating urban breakdown and the growing need for foreign exchange to meet the urban demands for goods and services. This is making our development process

224 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM dependent on massive international borrowing programmes, leading to growing international debt. This started with less than ten billion dollars a few years ago and is now floating between 45–50 billion dollars, and may reach 100 billion dollars by the end of this or early next decade. This would mean further impoverishment of the rural areas and the transfer of rural surpluses through various mechanisms into the urban areas and from there to international creditors to meet the cost of such borrowing. This process cannot be carried too far and it is time that we learnt a lesson from many developing countries in Latin America and elsewhere that started on a similar path of consumerist development with a much larger per capita resources base and have landed themselves into positions of total subservience to international financial institution and banks. The dream world of consumerist affluence and the polestar of the Indian elite is itself falling apart, under the pressure of: • A thousand-billion-dollar trade in armament is building up international insecurity, threatening human existence, driving nations bankrupt. • Consumerist systems of development are borrowing from the future to survive today leaving the future generation in unredeemable debt traps. • Complete breakdown of the ethical and the moral order. • Over 300-billion-dollar trade in narcotics threatening and paralysing future generations. • Spreading plague of AIDS. All these gifts of affluence go with the delights of consumerist production system. If we wish to save the future generations of India from this fate, we must reverse this process and strive for a new human order around rural India where more than three-fourths of India still resides. Our effort so far has been to rely on centralised infrastructures to reach trickledown benefits to the rural communities. This has not worked except in city-states like Singapore and Hong Kong or in countries with a small population base. A 150 million people in the urban areas of India cannot solve the problems of poverty of more than 600 million people

PART – II • A QUEST FOR SYNERGY 225 in the rural areas. This illusion has caused extreme hardship and is pushing us to points of no return. The only solution is a process of selective decentralisation of our development effort and consequently the restructuring and reviving of cooperative structure and creation of an energy infrastructure. Fossil fuel infrastructure, apart from the issues of inadequacy, lose the economies of scale through decentralisation, and cannot be delivered efficiently to the far-flung areas of rural India to service the needs for food, shelter, health, education and employment. Renewable sources of energy are our only hope to meet the needs of decentralised communities. These are some of the basic issues around which our compulsions for rural development and the role of renewable sources of energy need be assessed in the Indian context. I hope that the deliberations of this Convention will be able to provide the linkages between needs, available renewable resources and technologies to approach this problem. In China, for instance, the use of new sources of energy such as sun, wind, water, plant and human waste emerges through the satisfaction of the needs of the rural communes through technological catalytic action from outside and not through a system of subsidies from central agencies. The role of central agencies in such a development is minimal. The communities have to perform most of the functions. We have been busy performing that minimal role in various ways without taking into account the bulk of the effort the communities themselves must contribute, if development is to take place. In the Chinese experiment, it is observed that a large proportion of improvement in low and medium technologies, whether related to biogas plants including burners or woodstoves of a wide variety, has evolved through the user action. We, therefore, need to have good look at the institutional framework and the psychological impediments which are holding back these obvious areas of development. It is now becoming well established that consumerist export-led development with inbuilt economic and technological compulsions continuously increases the capital intensity of productive processes, income differentials and dependence on international borrowings. It also limits the growth of employment within the limitations of available resources. This strategy has even brought some of the major developed countries to the brink of bankruptcy and has pushed many of them into a debt trap.

226 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM Our only option for escaping the consequences of such development and even to begin to approach the problems of 350 million people below the poverty line and 600 million people in rural India can be through a programme of integrated rural development of over 550,000 rural communities. To meet the minimum basic needs for food, shelter, health, education and employment within our economic and environmental constraints would require energy in diverse forms. Programmes of rural electrification, even where successful, are not adequate for the satisfaction of such diverse needs. The only way to approach this problem is through the involvement of dedicated social organisations that can help release the innovative capabilities of the people and obtain their involvement in creating a renewable energy infrastructure directly related to the needs of each one of the communities. That is, each community becomes a planning unit and becomes responsible for its own welfare. Such a massive programme for decentralisation would require the restructuring of many of our social institutions in rural India. The Chinese did it through their communes. We in terms of our system should enliven our panchayats and cooperatives. The logistics of the 550,000 rural communities will not permit the service of their diverse energy needs through a few fossil fuel locations in India or abroad. And to achieve this within a reasonable timeframe would be an impossible task, both technically and financially. A broad range of technologies from the smokeless chullas to photovoltaic systems, are now available within the country. But to satisfy such broad spectrum needs, hundreds of systems need to be innovated. Similarly, our production systems need to be enlarged manifold to meet even a fraction of our projected requirements. If it is claimed that it is happening, it is not happening fast enough, because there are too many hurdles. And rural India is nowhere in this process. You can buy a few high technologies or computers but you cannot expect international agencies to come and solve the problems of our kind of poverty. They cannot innovate technologies special to our needs, that are entirely our own responsibility, whether at the village, district, state or the national level. The task for creating a renewable energy infrastructure adequate for such development rests individually and collectively with the community of solar scientists,

PART – II • A QUEST FOR SYNERGY 227 technologists and technicians throughout the country and many of them are present here today. Our responsibility does not end with presenting technical papers, nor does it end with providing subsidy. We have spent enough time doing that. Now the job needs to be done. Sun-based renewable sources of energy through any one of their manifestations, such as sun, light and heat, wind, water, biomass, unlike fossil fuels, are available everywhere. The only intervening force to put them to use is technology. Unless we can create a national self-reliance in technologies we will be buying all these gifts of god in our country, like oil, through international intermediaries. This, to my mind, will be the surest way of missing one of our greatest opportunities of the future. In geophysical terms the so-called Indian-Pacific Ocean Region is dominated by the continent of Asia and embraces Soviet Asia, Southeast and East Asia (including China, Japan and Korea), that is the entire landmass between Kabul and Kyoto and from the north of Siberia to the south of Indonesia. Of course, Australia and New Zealand are also now very much emerging as a part of this region. For centuries, cultural trade and technological linkages bound Asia along the Silk Route. For over a thousand years Buddhism exercised abiding influence on human thought and action in this vast continent. Its intrinsic sense lay in its lofty moral sense, the universality of its message, its rejection of excesses and its path of the golden mean. These age-old links were snapped by the forces of fundamentalism from Central Asia and colonialism from the West. During the colonial period new linkages were forged with faraway lands with blood and steel, with no motives other than the domination, proselytisation and, above all, exploitation of the wealth of Asia. Thus culturally fragmented, Asia became a victim of exploitation and cultural disorientation. Centuries of continuity which marked the gentle lives of a vast section of diverse humanity, were disrupted. And this process continues through the insidious penetration of the new consumerist culture. A few city-states and nations from Singapore to Korea which during the recent years have prospered through large per capita investment and high technology support in relation to their small populations, have become unsustainable role models for other countries of the region. The political and economic security apparatus of many affluent countries worldwide and also their human innovative

228 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM capabilities have become subservient to the exigencies of a system of high living and waste. Even issues of deep human concern have become peripheral in such an environment. Many developing countries, too, have not escaped the consequences of cooperative association and patronage of these countries. Amongst the trends and conflicts, which may influence events in the 21st century, are the recent unification of the German State and the breakdown of the hegemonic regimes of Eastern Europe. A Democratic Soviet Russia and Unified Germany and not the Brussels-based headquarters of the European Community are now emerging as key players under the new scenario. Such a major power centre in Europe will dilute the control, domination and influence of the United States of America. The Arab world is launched on a confrontation course amongst the countries of that region. While they are united on the issues of a Palestinian homeland and the preservation of their interests against Israel, they are divided on the issues of production and pricing of oil and the role of Islamic fundamentalism. The control of the Middle Eastern oil and its linkages with the security interests of the Western industrial world in general and the United States in particular, has created a vast cleavage between the ruling sheikhdoms and sultanates needing Western protection and independent dictatorships wanting to extend their political and economic power and areas of influence within the region. There can be no winners in such a confrontation. This can only lead to the destruction of the energy infrastructure and human life and human rights, but no solution. Those who introduced massive arms in the area themselves and their interests are now becoming the victims of the emerging events. All that these have achieved is to end the stalemate of history and set it in motion again. Its biggest beneficiaries will be the non-Arab oil producing countries including the Soviet Union and China and the biggest losers will be the United States and Israel. Both the US and Israel will find themselves in a position of double mind which requires compromise solutions unacceptable to Israel and which will adversely affect the US’s ability to protect the sheikhdoms, control the Middle Eastern oil and the dissident and terrorist forces that may emerge. It would seriously undermine the American economic, political and security interests and thus further aggravate the economic scenario in the United States and its place in the emerging world power structure.

PART – II • A QUEST FOR SYNERGY 229 THE PLANNED ECONOMIES By placing performers and non-performers at par, the Soviet Union and other planned economies eroded effort and excellence throughout their economic system. Centralisation of productive effort in industries and farms diluted responsibility and innovative capability, both the hallmarks of small and medium enterprises. They have paid a heavy price and dried-up the fountainhead of technological innovation. Their present efforts to overcome these handicaps through people’s participation will have to go through a process of social and psychic catharsis before the consequences of these changes become manifest. There are serious limitations in accelerating the transformation of planned Socialist economies into laissez faire free market systems. A Socialist society, for its own stability, cannot permit wide differentials in benefits to different sections of society. China made a remarkable contribution in eradicating mass poverty and the involvement of the large mass of its people in the developmental process. But the psychic factors have not permitted the rigours of the Cultural Revo- lution to transform and project its continuity along ideologically hazardous directions. The corrective liberalisation of the last decade swung too far too soon and could not satisfy the rising demands and expectations in terms of the available resources and the capabilities of China’s productive system. It has become manifest in China that the Western political democratic institutions in the present state of decay and uncontrolled laissez-faire systems of development can be disastrous if applied to large countries seeking rapid eradication of poverty and modernisation. China has, therefore, once again been obliged to reverse these trends; and it would be reasonable to assume that it will have to forego its decadal swings between restrictive idealism and consumerist temptations and will have instead to seek its great future closer to its realities and continuity. While borrowing some technologies and organisational structures and other inputs, it will have to create its own conceptual framework and techniques of development which may only have a few similarities with the so-called consumerist armament-deifying systems.

230 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM INDIA During recent decades India has experimented with a system — often verg- ing on anarchy — of free-socialism and controlled-capitalism through liberal democratic institutions. In the first decade after Independence, India benefited greatly in creating an infrastructure of major industries with help and assistance from friendly countries. It also evolved a highly sophisticated entrepreneurial class which has exploded into a major effort in consumerist development, but its extensive public sector is still straitjacketed in a bureaucratic structure. Internal and external pressures for liberalisation have led to greater trade deficits and foreign debt. It has also further depressed the performance of the public sector and has directed national effort and resources towards an illusion of rapid graduation to high-tech development, by-passing the national priorities of a minimum needs programme. This illusion of shortcuts to prosperity is rapidly vanishing and like China and Soviet Russia, India will also have to face its geopolitical, cultural and economic realities. And then, of course, there is the question of how to seek, receive or accept outside assistance without bartering away their sovereignty, which many of these countries struggled for decades to achieve.

JAPAN Japan with its vast human but limited material resources, and with discipline, hard work and thrift, has challenged the industrial powers on their home-ground that created in them a psychosis of fear. Yet, economically Japan is most vulnerable due to its dependence on the highly industrialised states, including USA, for a substantial proportion of its markets, and the developing world for its energy and raw materials. It cannot service these markets without raw materials nor can it afford to buy raw materials without a leadership role in the competitive markets of the industrial world. Both these possibilities are now becoming elusive. The events in the European Community through the emergence of a United Germany, and the developing confrontation in the Middle East have increased the level of vulnerability of the trilateral trading system and consequently that of Japan. It would lower its competitive edge in the targeted area, that is the Indian-Pacific Ocean Regions.

PART – II • A QUEST FOR SYNERGY 231 NEED FOR CHANGE OF STRATEGY This region will be obliged to adopt new strategies for its development: • Need based appropriate technologies and equipment are required to enhance the technological level of the entire population and not just the fringe. An adequate social organisation is essential to assure the people’s participation in the satisfaction of the community’s basic needs. It is obvious that in this effort there must be close cooperation between countries of the region, particularly amongst the major developing countries. • Ecological and environmental factors such as the increased compulsion of fossil fuels and their contribution to the rising carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere, nuclear radiation and waste and acid rain are vital issues to be taken into account and avoided from the outset of development rather than attempts at finding solutions when the situation reaches a crisis point. A consistent drive for energy conservation and resource substitution with renewable and non-polluting resources is imperative. The region can play a vital role in this regard long before irreversible commitments are made to fossil fuels, particularly coal, a major resource of the region. If emphasis on decentralised development emerges in low income and low employment countries, opportunities for productive cooperation for trade in and services between the countries of the region will expand. Corresponding- ly, the entire industrial world will have to share a relatively smaller market for hi-tech and services-based development within these economies. Consumerist armament-related strategies would be obliged to recede through pressures for the implementation of minimum-needs programme. The future for the next quarter- century, therefore, lies in the complementarities of economies and technology-trade rather than on excessive role modelling of laissez-faire systems and large borrowing. Japan will be obliged to tailor its strategies to these realities to benefit from its geopolitical proximity to the region, particularly to China and Soviet Asia. Such an approach will be a major departure from the consumerist armament-based developments. Such strategies recognise no environmental

232 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM constraints and contain inbuilt pressures for elimination of the middle classes, distortion of the evolutionary processes, breakdown of the ethical and the moral order, criminalisation of the politico-economic institutions and the uncontrolled proliferation of narcotics, AIDS and terrorism. This region will only be able to escape these trends if it can isolate itself from the macabre consequences of the socio-economic, cultural and environmental excesses of the post-colonial era. If, however, the very same institutions and compulsions which prevailed in the last half- century are going to be a dominant factor in the future of the region, then all the dreams for a sane human order will become a mirage. The urgent need is for a movement of peoples and cultures to help and support each other in the need-based development as against that of mentally subversive luxury goods to provide comfort to a few and deprivation to the mass.

ECONOMIC FACTORS Patent neocolonial impulses fuelling the economic and trading interests of the dominant economic powers requiring centralisation of energy, production and distribution infrastructures have lost their validity in terms of the basic developmental needs of the region. Increases in energy, technology and capital intensity of the productive system leads to a larger and larger section of the workforce shifting to the services sector. If this process is continued uninterruptedly, the entire economic system becomes overstretched, destabilised and unsustainable. This is what is happening to some of the world’s major economic systems and their satellite countries, hence the aggressive bilateral search to bring most of the world’s major developing systems including India and China, into a level of complementarities to buttress their own systems — unmindful of the fact that this would bypass billions of people and bring only the elites of the new satellite systems into the mainstream of the dominant systems. There is, thus a need to shift emphasis to the basic-needs approach even though the major economic powers may perceive this as a conflict of interest with their own economic security. The Japanese economic vulnerability is largely offset through a system of controlled quality production, widespread distribution channels, high levels of

PART – II • A QUEST FOR SYNERGY 233 internal saving at almost 26 per cent of the national income, restraints of excessive consumption, and above all, its low per capita expenditure on armaments. All these factors, along with its proximity to the Indian-Pacific Ocean Region, will stimulate complementarities by providing financial resources and technologies, peacetime raw materials and infrastructural development. By eliminating the spectre of Japanese domination, its economic power in the region will grow in inverse proportion to its armed might.

THE ECLIPSE OF THE SUPER POWERS The attempted neo-colonialism implied in the Bretton Woods model has already been aborted through its own inner contradictions. There is, at present, no single power strong enough to catalyse a new economic order. Collec- tively, the inner neutralisation of the trilateral industrial powers leaves them weaker than any one of them singly. Therein lies the answer to the future of the region. That is in the ability of the Soviet Union to protect its reforming regime, through socially, politically and environmentally sustainable policies. And of India in resisting further distortion of its economic system, by moving towards acceptance of its realities, and of China in neutralising hegemonic attempts for its conversion to extreme forms of consumerism. Above all, the answer lies in Japan’s ability to manage its retreat from the planned trilateral containment of the region and its move towards developing bilateral bonds with countries of the region. China, India, Soviet Asia and most other countries of the region are in many ways facing identical problems of increasing productivity for the satisfaction of minimum basic human needs. This will bring these and other countries of the region closer together, and help establish bonds in trade, technology sharing and transfer, and, most importantly, new innovative approaches to development unfettered by the illusions of prosperity through high technology and high living fostered by the elites. As Hong Kong and Taiwan are likely to become high technology production wings of China and its windows to the world, Singapore will also have to relate to the countries of the region. Both South Korea and Japan will be obliged to choose their own future and their place in the region. They could become equal partners in the new resurgence of Asia and possibly major beneficiaries in its trade.

234 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM OLD ILLUSIONS OF SUPERPOWERS When the United States shifted emphasis from the Atlantic to the Pacific Rim it was as a super-power believing that its role in the development of this region will be similar to its post-war role in the development of Western Europe. This has not been borne out by facts. Though the United States is still the largest economy, controller of sophisticated armaments, and storehouse of many technologies, but by no definition it is still the superpower capable of influencing long-term politico-techno-economic decisions affecting the future of 60 per cent of the world’s people inhabiting the continent of Asia. The concept of the Pacific Rim of the United States like its Atlantic counterpart has already passed into history and cannot be brought alive again because between the Pacific Rim of the United States and Asia there sits the super-economic and technological power of Japan. Addi- tionally, there is Gorbachovian Soviet Russia reconsidering its paradigms, rearrang- ing its institutions and revitalising the system, and China whose leadership is once again drifting away from Western style politico-economic institutions. Odds are that it will be impossible for India to shift away from its path of controlled market economy and free Socialism. This in many ways may bring her closer to the USSR and China seeking a similar orientation. A trilateral problem-solving mechanism between Soviet Union, China and India could contribute vastly to the prosperity of the region and in evolving a new humane system of development, which will set the pattern for the future. And in such a situation no superpower, however big and powerful, will be able to alter the course of events on this landmass. The forced entry of consumerist armament-based techniques committed to waste and excesses will have a limited survival value in such a situation. Ade- quate resources do not exist even to create a sustainable need-based economic order for the region’s large population. Attempts at the creation of islands of prosperity in an ocean of poverty were symbols that could only survive in the 18th-19th-20th-century environment. Victims of deprivation do not require a super-high technology-based service economy but a need-based production and service system providing food, shelter, health, education and employment. As the continent of Asia will constitute a major part of the region, other considerations will become peripheral. This implies an infrastructure of need-based technologies and networks of farms, factories and institutions freely transferring knowledge and experiences

PART – II • A QUEST FOR SYNERGY 235 to over a million decentralised rural communities located in the countries of the region. There is much time-tested empirical understanding of problems and their solutions, vast areas of knowledge and wisdom applied to such diverse issues as social organisation, health and family planning, land, agriculture and water management, village industries and crafts, and construction of habitats and education and even science and technology. Thousands of centres of excellence in the countries of the region could play a useful role in establishing linkages for the exchange and barter of information, goods, services, goodwill, culture and the arts. A continued aggregation of debt among the nations of the region will be an invitation to disaster and obliterate its potential contribution to restoring the health of the international economic system. Thus the continued projection of the images of hi-tech utopias of exodus to space and space colonies, and of Star Wars is not just sinister but moronic. Need-based networking is the shortest route to welfare. This will be dictated by the shifting paradigms between the post-industrial and pre-industrial powers, the one struggling to assure the continuity of the consumerist order and the other to eradicate mass poverty in an orderly manner. The rising capital intensity of the productive processes and peripheral technological changes to gain advantages in the marketplace has been the driving force of the techno-economic systems of many countries during the last two decades. To sustain such systems, massive media inputs were necessary to gain competitive advantages. While this approach might have helped certain corporations or countries to maintain their positions, it neither helped to enlarge the markets nor did it aid the rationalisation of the world’s productive and technological systems. The missing link was the bypassed markets of the developing world. The present networking between the developed countries with technological parity and identical problems of economic security is being extended to the urban elites of the developing countries, so as to remain major beneficiaries in such development. This is the greatest threat to the existing international economic order and will thus determine the course of events in the Indian-Pacific Ocean Region. During recent decades we have witnessed some perceptible shifts of paradigms, unfreezing of ideologies and sea changes in ways of thinking. The

236 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM political changes in the role of the Communist parties and the approaches to economic development in the Socialist states have been some of the major recent events. But unfortunately, similar reassessments of ideological limitations have not affected the market economies. In spite of the crisis of consumerism and armament-based development some of them are still too euphoric about the failures of the Socialist states to escape the illusions of technological and economic prosperity assiduously built by continuing along the same path. Con- sequently, overt and covert pressures have been building up in many developing societies to bring them in line with the hardened structure of consumerism on the assumption that the prosperity of the affluent nations could be projected into the future, if the major developing countries accept the same framework. In the words of Daniel Bell, “Advanced countries will become headquarter economies providing investment and financial services to the rest of the world. The capitalist system, marvellously adaptive to mass production techniques is becoming increasingly dysfunctional in today’s post industrial world.” This has created major changes in perceptions of interests within countries like India and China seeking solutions to identical problems. These major paradigm shifts have so far been ignored by the powerful vested interests in some of the important countries within the Western trilateral system.

NEW LINKAGES FOR OLD CIVILISATIONS The Indian-Pacific Ocean Region will have to undertake some major infrastructural developments to link the entire area through a network of railways, roads and sea lanes. The following such linkages are proposed: • A trans-Siberian railway system which should link Soviet Asia with the European Community through Moscow at one end, and from Vladivostok, Beijing, Pyongyang and Seoul to Kyoto at the other end. This would be a natural extension of the present trans-Siberian railway and will become the northern artery of the region, reducing the travel time between extreme ends of Eurasia to about one-third to one-fourth of the present time take by sea. In coming decades this rail link will become one of the major land routes through one of the most resource rich terrains of the world, bringing peace and prosperity to the whole region.

PART – II • A QUEST FOR SYNERGY 237 • A great trans-Asian highway linking Kyoto, Seoul, Beijing and Xian, skirting some of the world’s greatest deserts in Chinese Turkistan and passing through some of the highest passes in the Karakoram mountains, through Ladakh to Srinagar, Kashmir, and down the national highways of India. This highway could also stretch to Kabul, the Central Asian Republics, and all the way down to Turkey and the Mediterranean. The Aksai Chin Road, the bone of contention between India and China, could be integrated into this highway system and become instead a symbol of peace. This highway system would increase people-to-people contact, exchange of produce and assimilation of cultures. Following the conceptual framework of the old Silk Route, it would bring to life thousands of resting places and markets, Buddhist shrines, stupas and temples and unveil the great ‘Silk Route Civilisation’. While much of the civilisation was destroyed by the sword of fundamentalism and is covered by the sands of the Taklamakan and the Gobi deserts, much remains to be uncovered by the adventurous spirit of man. Above all, this system would help build bridges between the many homelands of Tathagatha from Kabul to Kyoto, for peace in these lands of Asia and the world. • The highly promoted concepts of air cargo during recent decades are too energy intensive and largely concerned with the interests of the dominant and remote trading partners rather than reflecting the compulsive needs for trade within the region. That kind of trade requiring rapid movement of goods is not the one that will fulfill the basic needs of billions of people but only of the peripheral elite groups who constitute the market for high-tech products. Many great visions, perceptions and the changing ideologies or Capitalism, Communism and Socialism have found their way into the cauldron of Asia. The intent to which the emerging institutions will form the basis of future development and whether something new will emerge from it will depend upon the closeness of these institutions to the continuity, realities and wisdom of Asia.

238 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM The stability of the emerging new synthesis must rest on an indestructible foundation of right understanding, conduct and action by all wielders of power. And this alone will determine whether the Indian-Pacific Ocean Region will remain constrained by external powers or whether it is to provide a more lasting basis for human organisation, that is, whether it would be temporal or eternal. FROM CULTURAL CONQUESTS AND CONFRONTATIONS TO DIALOGUE OF CIVILISATIONS

OPEC Latin American Seminar, Venezuela, 2001

here was no scope for a civilisational dialogue during the last millennium Tof conquests and colonialism. This was the era of domination of physically weaker nations and cultures. The Islamic invasions of Asia and the Spanish inroads in Latin America were followed by British and other colonialists’ rampage of North America, Asia and Africa. These were ruthlessly administered civilising mission which were a cover for the exploitation of material and human resources. And these interventions in diverse cultural entities and styles of life continued all the way up to the Second World War. Once again this war was for the protection or the acquisition of colonial interests. The decades after the war saw the fusion of all the colonial powers into one superpower regarded as an adversarial super state. And the former colonies and low-technology states were encircled within a new Bretton Woods arrangement. This has now evolved into an ‘Armament Protected Consumerism Paradigm’ under unipolar control. Its domination is planned to continue through the control of finances, technology, weapons of mass destruction and through covert and overt actions. But the widening dimensions of poverty in the midst of the vertical expansion of the consumerist lifestyles, is catalysing serious conflicts and tensions. And with the growing disequilibrium in their socio-politco-techno-economic and security structures, most countries around the world are becoming politically or economically unstable. Strangely, some structures of religious fundamentalism were also co-opted into a dedicated guerrilla-fighting force to achieve certain objectives against

240 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM the Soviet Union in Central Asia. After the Russian exit from Afghanistan, the same force became a well-equipped mercenary terrorist force, which could now be used against any country in the region to safeguard and promote the politico-economic and energy interests of the powers that be. With this system of trained manpower and drug money, many conflicting ambitions were taking shape. And the terrorist acts performed were regarded by some as essential for the promotion of democracy and human rights and, of course, to serve the free market. Now international networks of the same fundamentalist and mercenary terror have begun to use the very same high-technology instruments against the citadel of the supporting economic and military powers. The conflict all along was for or against supremacy and to undermine others’ interests and extend your own. It is now being used, not just for politico-economic or resources gain, but also as an instrument for cultural rearrangement and civilisational conflicts as may be perceived in the larger interest of the paradigm. Thus a tool for covert operations against unpliable states has been transformed into a monster to inflict deep wounds on the entire human civilisation. A kind of jihad (holy war) against the non-believers. Thus cultural skirmishes have now begun to get fused into a formal shape on the international stage. If this rapidly-growing, heavily fertil- ised weeds of terrorism could be contained at their roots, there will be no need for a cultural confrontation and wide cultural diversity can be sustained. Monotheism, unipowerism, uniculturism, by their very nature or as a consequence become the breeding grounds for terrorist acts. An attempted breakdown of diversity, bio cultural, religious or economic, is always accompanied by economic, psychic or socially-violent processes, leading all civilised existence back to the Stone Age. A dialogue would imply the need for the preservation of the cultural and civilisational diversity and thus stability of the social institutions. The Indian leader, Mahatma Gandhi, used to say, if the world is going to run on the principle of an eye for an eye, it would go blind. In this fast creeping blindness, civilisational dialogue must retain visions of religious and cultural diversity and harmonisation of ethical and moral flows. And in the absence of such a harmony, the forces of violence and terrorism will hijack the pathways to undesirable and unsustainable human future. All this goes back again to the same factors of stimulated human greed and lust for power. The intense desire for conquest and the breakdown of the ethical

PART – II • A QUEST FOR SYNERGY 241 and moral order are some of the issues which all civilised people must explore at the beginning of this millennium, because states only represent power, whereas civilisation is expressed through the people. So the dialogue to be meaningful is always between civilised people. But under monotheism and unipolarism, the people are trapped between the compulsions of the consumerist states, and civilisation gets defined as the one which protects and furthers the interests of the marketplace. And all else becomes peripheral to be trivialised. The words “the fault lines in civilisation will be the battle lines of (the) future” invent pernicious illusions of equating culture with consumption. So, as the consumerist’s economic system begins to regress, the culture also begins to fade away, and weapons become the holy mace of civilisation. And civilisational wars were always fought in ill-defined battlefields. In an attempt to identify civilisation as Western, Slavic, Latin American, Confucian, Hindu, Islamic or Orthodox Christian, we are, in reality, trying to define deep and complex human sensitivities of ancient cultures in market terms. The so-called Western civilisation through its own contradictions, that is of outer enlargement and inner contraction has arrived at a deep sense of psychic vacuum, unable to rationalise and cope with complex self-created issues of our times. The desire to extend their material and cultural monarchy through violent means is leading to their alienation from other nations which is leading to a widening civilisational gap. The United States used the fundamentalist and mercenary zeal of certain nations and individuals to counter Communism. And while they managed to kill the outer structure of a Communist state, the ideal of larger human welfare still lies at the heart of all the victims of deprivation and cannot be dethroned by force. Since many weapons have been employed to protect the consumerist paradigm by organising an international system of human rights, finance and technology, trade regimes, patents, International Property Rights (IPR) and others, all these objectives are faced with the deep inner commitments to material restraints of diverse, largely Eastern cultures. These cannot be contained within a reckless unsustainable consumerist social organisation. So these cultures needed to be transformed to conform to the needs of the marketplace and unipolar interests. The Indic civilisational religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Jainism, and the Asian cultures of Taoism, Confucianism, Shintoism, were all considered too

242 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM weak and could be checkmated by fundamentalist forces, which could also assist in the process of deculturisation of vulnerable states. Thus the inner contradiction and interests of the paradigm are coming into conflict with other cultures. And consequently the planned cultural supremacy began to retreat and the transformation of other cultures will now have to be realised through other, more aggressive and violent instruments. So the entire process and instruments for cultural interventions have boomeranged, and as an aftermath of the events of 11 September 2001, the rich nations are not just the occupiers of the Muslim nations’ oil, and gas resources but also of the holiest of places of Islam. The issues of culture and civilisation have overtaken the politico-economic compulsions, and this illusion itself has become a reality. The dreams of the fundamental harmony and unity of book religions and evangelisation of the masses of Asia are now awakening to new realities. The promotion of the Western values, interests and culture, under one umbrella, is all at the cost of cultural regression; and a cause célèbre for the growing conflict in an increasingly unequal world. Often exploitation of other nations and peoples are being justified by equating culture with poverty. And poverty in turn is being employed as a justification for the cultural transformation of others. The human evolution is for all humans, and not for a specific religion or culture. The superiority claimed by some is of destructive arms and not culture. The expressions of economic fundamentalism are now being challenged by a religious fundamentalist challenger. Some major conflicting forces are taking shape. High-technology power and its instruments are becoming highly vulnerable. Thus superpower advantages are being checkmated through fundamentalist terrorist acts, threatening all orderly processes of life and development. In this environment human relationship cannot be harmonised nor can images of the future be innovated, because everything is becoming so fluid, and is losing its shape and form and all avenues of civilised communications are being disrupted. Victims everywhere are challenging economic inequalities. “An eye for an eye” has become the logic of the marketplace, and in this situation only the strongest and not necessarily the rational, the sane, or the wise can survive. And weapons, one more destructive than the other are coming into being, negating possibilities for an orderly discourse. What will prevail after this unending highly destructive struggle? Will it lead to a harmonious existence of diverse cultural

PART – II • A QUEST FOR SYNERGY 243 entities or will it relocate itself within another set of parameters to invent new reasons as starting points for major civilisational conflicts. We cannot protect free societies and the so-called free market, with some new, unending civilisational dialogues unless we first define what we are aiming to protect and promote. And what we speak about is the truth without any hidden agendas. The cultures enable human beings to create a free and orderly flow of their lives and to connect their past to their future through their present actions, and also to heighten and expand their own consciousness within their larger cultural frame to relate to the consciousness of the ever-expanding cosmos. And all this unfettered by any consumerist illusions. A pattern of life evolves with its many parameters of physical wellbeing and sane development, intellectual achievement, aesthetics, psychic and spiritual conditioning, to keep the human beings on the path of outer contraction and stabilisation and inner expansion. The human conditioning is at present frozen at the material plane, depriving humans of the processes of self-realisation and upward movement. And all this has been placed at the mercy of the marketplace, in a confrontational mode with culture itself as the victim. We have to seek new formative and creative principles within our unconscious selves to open our minds to other levels of reality. Right in our midst are societies where collective consciousness was the repository of the inherited experience of humanity, manifesting itself particularly in the myths, legends and dreams of the ancient men in many continents. But we are busy enlarging the areas of confrontation at many levels through the media and by other means, to win the hearts of people through visible, material, pleasure-seeking rewards. Some fundamentalist religions have gone a step further and have transferred these rewards to life after death, so that struggle for a cause becomes a highly inviting sacrifice. There is thus a continuous search for vulnerability of peoples and states by the terrorist networks. A physical and physiological war continues with high-technology weapons and a clarion call to strike at vulnerable points, and to bridge the technology and lethality gaps withthe targeted powers. By now a vast international network of religiously-inspired terrorist groups have come into being, threatening the security of the entire human family. Many in Europe like Edmund Husserl and later Teilhard De Chardin proclaimed that the Europeanisation of mankind was the destiny of the Earth.

244 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM But the limits of Europe’s mission and its universality were exploded by the Second World War and the loss of their exploited backyards, the colonies. The United States with a diluted mixture of European culture and modernity and upgradation of European science and technology became the real winner of the Second World War, and within half-a-century transformed the very idiom of European science and culture and overwhelmed and americanised it. In scaling these heights, they have descaled its depth. They created a new paradigm, which was ruthlessly delivered and is being hesitantly accepted by all and which has been rechristened as Western culture. The old European culture is now supersed- ed by an American culture redefined as modern Westernised culture. As a part of the globalisation process this modern Western culture is being promoted as a way of life in the remotest tribal villages in Africa, Asia, Latin America. While disrupting the local traditions and cultural mores of these remote communities, a new path is being chartered for them and often the process is considered complete with the appearance of Coca-Cola, fast-food joints or a few missionaries of charity. A world dominated by science and technology, driven by blind rationality, overpowered by instincts of mastery and calculation is being imposed upon an environment of myths and legends and deep spiritual and cosmic connection. This externally imposed culture disbursed through globalisation is stirring up ethnic, religious and parochial instincts worldwide. And in such an environment, meetings and dialogue of the cultures and religions of the world must escape the process of gross trivialisation of the sacred. The ability and power to steamroll other cultures and traditions, rarely fulfills or invigorates the consumerist culture, nor does it stem the tide of the rapid deculturisation of the consumer societies. Therefore, neither the languages of science nor that of metaphysics nor that of historical understanding can provide the proper foundations of dialogue in which all these parameters will themselves have to be questioned. Unless we can transcend beyond the concept of a globalised world, under a unipolar power with a regressing cultural frame, the process of trivialisation of cultures and apotheosis of the deculturalised ‘armament protected consumerist’ culture will continue to destabilise the human system. And so where is the dialogue if such a non-culture has to provide the context and the categories for the exploration of all traditions of thought.

PART – II • A QUEST FOR SYNERGY 245 The genesis of these retrograde concepts that the globalised world will have to westernise or americanise began with some European philosopher who in- sisted that the Orient would have to Europeanise itself because Europeans are the makers of history. So the larger role of culture except as a colonial tool was subordinated. The events from the commencement of the 21st century have amply demon- strated that human destiny was never frozen nor is it now. In the fluidity of the world environment, the centricities of nations and history have lost their form. From the untapped voices of silence hidden in the archives and hearts of the cosmic conditioned tribals there may yet emerge a whisper brightening our dreams of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam — the world is a family. And this dialogue must seek new pathways away from suicidal highways. CULTURE OF INTERMEDIATE TECHNOLOGY

Intermediate technology belongs to a kind of culture which lies between an era of creative productivity and the growth addiction of our times. Soma may regard it as a retreat from the compulsively innovative autonomous technologies, while others may see in it a progression from the culture of the crafts to initiate the so-called modernisation processes in communities which cannot cope with the imperatives of the post-industrial societies with their creative tools. And between these two opposite poles, between two mutually-neutralising cultural extremes, stands intermediate technology. Some of the rich see in this vague intermediate point, the road to sanity and the poor glimpse a new hope for the future; both are unable to arrive at this point because of their inability to create the kind of environment in which intermediate technologies can take root and thus make a perceptible difference in the lifestyles or the cultural patterns of the affluent or the needy. But there are many islands within the different socio-economic systems where, either due to human perseverance or natural protective processes, technologies belonging to either of the two cultures has survived for periods of time, despite hostile environments. These are exceptions rather than the rule. On the one hand, many of the high-energy, high-technology productive processes have started becoming socially and economically counter-productive, resulting in increased unemployment and diminishing returns. On the other, millions of the unemployed in the developing societies are being barred from productive work because in the midst of the emerging consumerist passions and the rapid surpluses-generating systems of production, the tools of the crafts and intermediate technologies are losing their survival value; even worse, their social acceptability. In the process, in-built compulsively innovative techniques are proliferating to serve the interests of the major beneficiaries — the dominant class within the politico-socio-economic systems, be it the developed or the developing societies.

PART – II • A QUEST FOR SYNERGY 247 Whether the culture of intermediate technology can hold its own in such an environment is a fundamental question. The only reason for hope that one can perceive is the growing resources and energy costs and counter-productivity of a broadening spectrum of technological processes both in social and economic terms. Countries like Britain may one day find that their greater strength lies in what they have held on to, rather than what they have allowed themselves to be swept away with. According to the Chinese ‘I Ching’, success does not always lie in rushing in to act but it is often more profitable not to quit when the time is not opportune. This is equally true of compulsively innovative processes. Calculated inaction (or exhibiting the power to wait) brings good fortune. Or with care, affairs can be made to prosper in their middle course. 12 Continuous innovation of new technologies to protect, preserve and advance the surpluses generated in the exchange value or the market value productive processes is making an entire generation of people in the affluent societies redundant and unemployed. In the developing societies, even with relatively limited introduction of imported high-energy, high-technology convertors, the productive processes have passed into the hands of elite whose interests lie in the further extension and acceleration of the very same processes. The generation of large surpluses and distribution thereof amongst a relatively few beneficiaries in the system has only helped to limit employment opportunities to a small fraction of people who can operate the system. Hundreds of crafts and techniques which can no longer be protected in the market economies are rapidly moving into the archives of the museums. They belonged to a system of production which was closely intertwined with the life of the community, where techniques were transferred from father to son, from master craftsman to apprentices, where there was no distinction between the aesthetics and the materialistic. This entire social system is now in total disarray. It is being broken into fragments to fall in line with the specialisation in productive techniques with no alternative tools and techniques provided to the homeless, di- rectionless victims of these processes, the only survivors of a dying culture. Because of the overwhelming odds, what is happening almost effortlessly between high technologies and crafts techniques within a developing socio- economic system is being achieved through a relentless process in the international

12 I Ching

248 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM exchange values economic system. Caught between the triple straitjacket of foreign exchange, armament and resources, technological innovations are aimlessly and compulsively being extended to protect national states from themselves, their imaginary friends and enemies, both from within and without. And many of these technological processes are becoming counter-productive in socio-economic as well as political and technological terms. In this perhaps lies our hope. This self-containment of aimless proliferation of techniques can serve the purpose of directing attention to the debris of ecological destruction, waste, alienation, aimless acceleration, disintegration and unemployment which the irresponsibility of the last three decades has left behind. To the developing societies it may well provide a breathing spell from their concern with international illusions of progress to their own national realities. The post-war affluence, built around high technologies, limitless consumerism and exchange surpluses, also created pressures for the wider distribution of these surpluses, larger acquisition and use of energy and other resources and wider dispersal of markets and trade. In this process, the entire international system is being transformed into one or the other stages of consumerism and high waste economies. As a consequence of this there is countless casualties, the most important being the right to employment and security, and the technological stability of the productive process. This technological anarchy has contributed greatly to the massive migration of talents from the developed to highly developed, less developed to developed and from the poor to rich countries. With some counter-flow the alienated are in search of integration: a British scientist and Indian doctor in the United States, a Turkish taxi driver in Germany, an Indian manager, plumber, carpenter and cook in the Middle East, guest-workers from the South to the North. Behind all this to-and-fro movement are the values attached to the different technological levels and the question of supply and demand in different environments. These processes are as much a part of the world system as the compulsions to innovate breeder and fusion reactors to meet energy shortages or to send man to the moon to keep the space scientists employed, or to keep on training doctors, engineers or technicians at a high cost in India and then put them in a brain drain pipeline rather than providing opportunities to use them for the uplift of the hundreds of millions of the poor people.

PART – II • A QUEST FOR SYNERGY 249 Affluent economies have also come to mean high-cost economies. And as these economies move towards counter-productive technologies, their competitive position except perhaps in the wasteful areas of defence and space, become highly vulnerable to the productive processes in the relatively lower cost economies. The emergence of Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and more recently India, as a competitive factor in many high and medium technology consumer products is a case in point. So, the affluent economies have few options, They cannot sustain their high production, high cost, energy and resources intensive system in isolation; they cannot allow the system to be overwhelmed by low cost economies, by resource limitation by unemployment and social unrest; they cannot afford to slow down the one-wheeled, single-track, high-speed system for fear of a collapse. The developing countries, partially in self-preservation but largely to follow those considered more successful, have also got committed to capital, resources and energy-intensive and employment-restrictive systems of development which, while intensifying the unemployment problems (capital output ratio has been rising), has in many ways started benefiting them in international competition due to the relatively lower cost of their products and as such they are becoming a challenge to the productive apparatus in the affluent countries. And this challenge comes from: 1. The growing vulnerability of the markets of the high cost economies because of the relatively low cost and acceptable quality of a wide variety of consumer and industrial goods now emerging out of the developing societies. 2. The needs of the developing countries for energy and other resources in their developmental processes are building up a worldwide scarcity and escalation of prices of these materials. The acquisition of resources which now lie fairly substantially within the poorer part of the world is becoming a major factor in the world political game. 3. Some of the developing countries such as India and others are rapidly building up a large reserve of trained technical manpower to meet their own needs. Some of these countries are also making an important contribution towards meeting trained manpower needs of other countries.

250 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM It is, therefore, obvious that technological innovation and its integration with the productive processes is not just a factor in isolation or a neutral process, but is part of the politico-socio-economic system within a state and in the larger international system. Each level of technology needs its own milieu, its own system of organisation to take roots. As personalised techniques of the crafts were replaced by the factory system of production, the social organisation of the society and the politico-economic institution also underwent radical changes, though often delayed. When mechanical looms made thousands of weavers jobless, the society had to react to bring about changes. The modern techniques of mechanisation, rationalisation and automation are making an entire generation of people jobless. How will the system cope with such problems? Can intermediate technology representing another movement in culture take root in such an environment? The Gandhian approach to development was that no one should create a surplus over his daily needs and that this would assure enough food and other basic needs and leisure for all. He expected all productive effort to be a labour of love for common good in which there shall neither be rich nor poor. This is totally contrary to growth through market or exchange economies of increasingly high technologies and high surpluses. It is presumed that the intermediate technology is to extend beyond the culture of the crafts so as to accelerate and to extend the technological processes to some intermediate point to reduce the drudgery of work and to create surpluses and thus to enlarge the area of welfare through enhanced consumption of a relatively larger variety of goods. Can we then draw a line beyond which surpluses cannot be created? Therefore, once we accept a graduated increase in surpluses and growth rate, the Gandhian system of economics becomes unsustainable. It is, therefore, the intention that as the intermediate technologies, starting with a lower level of surplus generation, accelerates such a rate, then higher and higher accumulations are ploughed back into the system to continuously increase the capital intensity of the productive processes. So, theoretically one day the intermediate technologies of today will become the high technologies of tomorrow; low capital intensity of today will become high capital intensity of tomorrow; low surpluses of today will become large accumulations of tomorrow, or India of today will become the Britain of tomorrow.

PART – II • A QUEST FOR SYNERGY 251 If these assumptions are correct, then intermediate technology is only a stopgap arrangement to enable those who cannot cope with the present level of capital intensity to pick up another optimum point which they can relatively better afford till they can catch up with the capital input/output ratio of the developed societies. But how is this going to be achieved in societies without restricting the freedom of choice, of work or productive effort, or the levels of technologies, the surpluses it shall generate, the salaries and wages that it shall command? Even in developing countries such as India, the introduction of high technology machines in a few key industries or in small sectors of some major industries, the wage differentials start piling up giving the appearance that we are living in two different societies. The havoc that it creates with the crafts, the cultural disorientation that it brings about and a feeling of helplessness, disillusionment and dissatisfaction that it generates in relation to the tools in use, sets the crafts and intermediate technologies apart from the environment of consumerism, marked out to be eliminated through a process of attrition. Therefore, whatever the politico-socio-economic orientation, we cannot strengthen the symbols of consumerism and at the same time, yearn for a culture of the crafts. We cannot allow productive processes to ride the tiger of continuing obsolescence, indiscriminate wage differentials and, at the same time, avoid compulsive pressures towards capital intensity of the productive process. We cannot seek international export markets to assure the viability of our economic systems without at the same time being pushed towards seeking parity, if not a higher level of excellence in our own technological development. What I state is not only true in the world community, between groups of communities but also within national states. What is in question is not the desirability of introducing intermediate technology, but its capacity for survival. We are all climbing towards an illusion on technological steps, so either we tumble all the way down to a culture of the crafts and in this process break our necks, or perhaps shatter our illusions of the ultimate price of the technological society, but we cannot hang in the middle, and hold on to our hopes of an intermediate point between somewhere and nowhere. We cannot create islands of rationality in the midst of technological wilderness. We cannot attain stability of productive processes with wandering technologies.

252 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM The economic foundations of intermediate technology were shattered with the destruction of the culture of the crafts long before intermediate technologies came into being, and this havoc has now reached out to the lowliest of hamlets in the remotest parts of this miniscule globe of ours. The only hope for intermediate technology now rests not on economic foundations but on human foundations, of protecting what is now left of man. It lies in a new human orientation of the technological processes. We must slowly alter our symbols and values where technology does not merely represent an outside stimulant, propelling humans on to the acceleration of every process, to the exploitation of every resource, but projects itself in the centre of the stage, not to manipulate the physical and the human environment, but to synthesise within its own essence the essence of man into a new amalgam of human knowledge — ‘HUMANOLOGY’. Techno-economic factors alone will be irrelevant in such a basic transformation; the level must be raised to a point beyond its vulnerability. It is not possible to get back to an earlier social organisation. The technologies that we innovate must not only be appropriate to our needs but also appropriate to the times. High energy technology convertors are the outcome of a continuous process of centralisation, aggregation, concentration. This process must be decelerated; the old linkages must be broken and the new linkage established so that the higher levels of technologies, instead of destroying everything, could be integrated into an economically viable combination of various levels of technologies react- ing favourably on each other within self-contained rural republics, or nuclear communities in the urban areas. One of the characteristics of such communities would be their decentralisation with regards to the satisfaction of as many as possible of their minimum basic needs in the immediate environment. The elimination of economic incentives or large wage differentials in favour of high technology operators in such a decentralised system, would serve the dual purpose of a freer choice of work and the initiation of the processes of creative innovation. It would help contain the compulsive, often forced, trend towards multiplying the desires and apparatus for unbridled consumerism. It would help develop an economically viable synthesis of an entire range of technologies within a self-contained system. A wide diversity of techniques from crafts to many levels of intermediate and super-high technologies will further

PART – II • A QUEST FOR SYNERGY 253 the processes of production, innovation, creativity and self-expression, not out of economic compulsion but human choice. In larger human terms this could set in motion processes for a four-dimensional development. A wide variety of the energy as detailed in following Annexure A and resources needs of such communities could be met through solar and bio-energy, agriculture and livestock development programmes, recycling of waste. And all this could contribute towards the emergence of a new social order, where citizens could live in harmony operating different technological levels of innovative and productive apparatus or seek satisfaction in the creation of beauty and utility through their crafts. Intermediate technology or ‘Humanology’ has a very vital role to play in providing the linkages for such a transformation.

ANNEXURE A An integrated system to optimally meet the wide-ranging energy needs of rural communities around the world is proposed. Such a system integrates bio-conversion and solar power generation in a manner to act as inter-reactive storage systems. This system is devised for a community of over 1,000 persons and integrates a wide variety of technologies from super-high technologies to intermediate technologies. The main features of such a system are: a) Solar energy will be used to generate high pressure steam. b) This steam will operate a steam turbine to drive a 25-KW electric generator. The electric power could be used for lighting, pumping, industrial and other applications. c) The waste steam is used for pasteurisation of milk and also for the operation of an absorption refrigeration system for miscellaneous refrigeration applications and a cold storage, and also to maintain an optimum temperature in a bio-conversion system. d) The waste steam from the pasteurisation processes could be used to mix with water to provide hot water for bottle-washing and domestic hot water supply. e) The step-by-step use of the downgraded heat at many points would serve a broad range of needs, and assure optimum utilisation of energy.

254 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM f) The bio-conversion of human, animal and plant waste, through recycling and securing its optimum efficiency with the help of energy from the proposed solar system would provide organic waste for fer- tilisation, and methane gas for cooking, lighting and operating some farm equipment. The surplus gas would go into storage tanks for use during periods of non-availability of solar energy. The advantages of such a system are: a) It makes available many different types of energy such as electricity, methane gas, high pressure steam, low pressure steam, hot water, refrigeration etc, and the most suitable and efficient form of energy that may be required in a particular application or situation can be used. b) In the event of non-availability of solar energy for periods longer than the storage capacity of the steam generation system, the essential work of milk pasteurisation, refrigeration, hot water supply etc, could be met by the stored methane gas. The 25-KW electric generator be can bypassed and low pressure steam generated by methane gas could be directly introduced into the solar system. c) In the event of there being a time-lag in the development of technologies required to generate high pressure steam with the help of solar energy (on which considerable work is now being done), this aspect of the entire scheme could be introduced into the overall system at a later stage. 256 PART – III

SUGGESTIONS FOR A NEW WORLD Introduction

his is a collection of writings intended for the annual sessions of the World TPublic Forum, “Dialogue of Civilisations” (WPF DoC), and for diverse issues of World Affairs, The Journal of International Issues, which J C Kapur edited from 1997 to the year of his demise in 2010. They consequently deal with many subjects, primarily related to geopolitics and geo-economics, always regarded from a wider metaphysical perspective, and they have a few leitmotives, expressing the major preoccupations of the last years of his life. One of those dominant themes is the threat posed by the “liberal consumeristic model” enforced in a globally unipolar era, through a neo- conservative imperial ideology upheld by the sole superpower. Another keynote is the call for building a multipolar world order, in the spirit of dialogue and respect for civilisational diversity promoted by the World Public Forum. The author draws heavily on India’s millennial experience and heritage to suggest suitable methods and strategies to reach that goal. The Articles reflect J C Kapur’s commitment to the WPF DoC’s ideals and objectives and his longstanding hope that the three giants of Eurasia, — India, Russia and China — would work together to bring about a more just, humane and spiritually grounded international system, integrating the most valued features of socialism and free enterprise, both regulated by a higher spiritual philosophy. The papers have been presented more or less chronological order, except when thematic logic suggested otherwise. From 3 to 6 September 2003, the island of Rhodes in Greece was the venue for an unusual get-together of people from many countries. The occasion was a ‘Dialogue of Civilisations for a Humane World Order’. The historically famous and beautiful environment of the island, together with the seriousness of the subject and the need for such an exchange, gave a special meaning to the proceedings.

258 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM The gathering was organised by the World Public Forum “Dialogue of Civilisations”, the Titan Capital Corporation, Greece, and the Kapur Surya Foundation, India. It was co-chaired by the heads of these three organisations: Mr. Vladimir I Yakunin, Founding President, WPF DoC; Mr. Nicholas Papanicolaou, President, Titan Capital Corporation and Mr. Jagdish Chandra Kapur, Founder Chairman, Kapur Surya Foundation. More than 300 people attended that first meeting. Aside a strong Russian presence, 32 other countries were represented. The dialogue involved a wide diversity of participants, including senior representatives of a number of different religious denominations and cultural traditions, as well as scientists, philosophers, artists, futurists, political and business leaders, and members of the media. Unfettered by the ideological and power constraints of earlier dialogues, there was a free flow of ideas and information placing responsibility for the present human state where it belongs. There was broad agreement on the urgent need for new structures to bring some orderliness into human affairs. The attempt at world domination by the unipolar system, assuming a divine preemptive right to enforce its will through globalisation and aggression was brought into focus by many contributors as being the negation of the very basis for a dialogue. The resulting adventurism and international insecurity was widely deplored. Most presentations rested on the assumption that the global instability arises mainly out of the limitless greed and lust for power which has taken hold of the economic political oligarchies. The latter labour under the illusion that a single civilisational model suitable to all the world cultures can be promoted by a media blitz of manufactured truths, and with the backing of weapons of mass destruction. That something was seriously out of sync in the world’s financial system, manifesting as an inequitable distribution of the benefits of resources and value additions, was acknowledged by all those present who also felt that the growing disparities within and between countries could not be corrected through the present unidirectional flows to the coffers of the oligarchies of the unipolar system. The promotion of a senseless desire for acquisition and consumption, and mass psychic deformation, instigating a culture of mega-violence are doing an irreversible damage to the institutions for international peace and security, and committing unjustified violence against the sovereignty, security, and

PART – III • SUGGESTIONS FOR A NEW WORLD 259 cultures of other nations. A number of scholars presented their perspectives on the historical, metaphysical and cultural distortions which have made the world environment highly instable. To transform this state into a just, compassionate and humane order, and approach the problems and challenges posed by powerful vested interests requires patience, sacrifice and sustained action. All individual and national efforts should now be coordinated to initiate a peaceful process of change in order to evolve a new system of coexistence between civilisations in the larger human interest. Leaders of various faiths presented their viewpoints. There was a lot of passion in the attempt to portray monotheistic religion and the potential of different faiths to foster peace. But it would be fair to note that bringing various denominations together on a common socio-politico-techno-economic understanding is not going to be an easy task. And the important reason for this is that if any consensus has to be arrived at in this regard, it will have to emerge from the cultural and religious foundations of diverse nations. The present techniques of globalisation to mould the world into a single civilisational model are totally unsustainable and destructive. The unanimity of faiths cannot be achieved on issues of economic policy, but only at a higher level of ethical and spiritual understanding where most traditions seem to reach harmony. Values structured on that lofty plane can guide the material development of various countries although the instigated interciv- ilisational conflicts are making this task difficult. It will, therefore, be necessary that those outside the circle of conflict should put their heads together to craft a widely accepted collective human vision. Achieving long-term perspectives requires a prophetic insight. Therefore, it was regarded as necessary to create a strong intellectual foundation to project larger visions for a humane order and put in place a framework to analyse and review its modalities. This will protect the freedom of people everywhere to develop according to their own cultural and psychic framework, resources and needs. An innovative civilisational project that embraces all aspects of material, cultural and spiritual growth is required and all this will be meaningless without the involvement of the youth to whom the future really belongs. Bright and dedicated young people from many countries should be brought into this exercise, to participate in the decision-making processes. Only then will we be

260 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM able to assure a continuity of intellectual leadership while reducing the time span to achieve such ambitious goals. The truth that we seek will first of all have to break the stranglehold of the system of ‘Armament Protected Consumerist’ development. From an economy geared to the promotion of unlimited consumption and large-scale waste, we have to move on to a humanly and economically sustainable organisation of human affairs. Otherwise, our present drift towards Armageddon will only accelerate. After the success of the first Forum, the annual Dialogue of Civilisations at Rhodes has since expanded in scope and participation from many more countries. At the eleventh Forum held in 2013 over 600 participants from more than 60 countries attended. Some of the papers included in this section are based on the speeches made by J C Kapur in the opening functions or plenary sessions of the WPF DoC in successive years, from 2003 to 2010. TRANSCENDING THE CLASH OF CIVILISATIONS

World Affairs, April–June 2003, Vol. 7, No. 2 — Transcending The Clash of Civilisations

n eye for an eye will make the whole world blind”, said Mahatma “A Gandhi. The violence growing worldwide is accelerating the pace of this tragedy. For Gandhi, truth and non-violence were the only sane options to settle disputes and fight for freedom, human rights and dignity. The salt satyagraha, a political movement based on non-violence to break the unjust and illegal salt laws imposed by the British brought hundreds of thousands of men, women and children out of their workplaces and homes to challenge the colonial authority. And this one act gave the Indian Freedom Movement a determined mass base, and marked the beginning of a great experiment in search of a humane and compassionate social order. It did not destroy human life or property. Nor did it inflict wounds on the colonial power. But helped them with an honourable exit. We are now under the thraldom of a paradigm of ‘Armament Protected Consumerism’ which amongst other parameters has also perfected techniques for the moronisation of the masses, Ramboisation of governance and marginalisation of the intellectuals. The intellectuals could not step out of the universities except in support of the paradigm. The work of Samuel Huntington and others on the Clash of Civilisations and Culture Matters was one such effort. They put together a new strategy for world domination, by highlighting and exploiting ethnic, religious and cultural divides. And also by creating a divide between peoples and nations. The Gandhian search for truth and non-violence has no place at the centre-point in the task of creating weapons of mass destruction and fostering media dispensation of manufactured truths. The compulsions to expand the consumerist culture are forcing the trend towards the globalisation of the marketplace. And through the denigration of other social arrangements and

262 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM cultures, an attempt is being made to bring the entire world into a single civilisational model with its own definitions of democracy, human rights and justice. These visions and the strategies for their realisation are being enforced outside the international system or law, and through the will of small oligarchies within the unipolar system. This is resulting in widespread violence, terrorism, mass deprivation and preemptive wars against helpless countries and innocent men, women and children. It is further bringing about the loss of nations’ sovereignty and people’s identities, environmental crises and an unpredictable future. How can this genie being let loose by human greed, lust for power and illusion of world domination be controlled through a dialogue or other peaceful non-violent means? A dialogue of cultures presupposes plurality and a desire to seek new and more harmonious and sustainable possibilities for organising human affairs. Culture and civilisation have often been considered interchangeable. Culture is refined appreciation of the religious tradition, customs, institutions or aesthetic achievements of a nation or a group. It emphasises the individual rather than the society, prototype-ideas rather than their conversion into mass production. It is a kind of software on which civilisational forms are structured, while civilisation is an advanced stage or system of human social development that translates cultural and other parameters into a system of social organisation, often spiritually sterile though efficient in mass organisation, aiming for a state structured on its own needs and priorities. For centuries, through conquests and colonialism other nations and cultures have been exploited. And whatever escaped that organised denigration and ran- sacking is now becoming the victim of aggressive globalisation and ‘reformatting’ into new consumeristic cultural modes: supportive instruments to achieve the planned but unstated objectives of globalisation. Without respect for other cultures, a culture of global harmony with an un- exploitative compassionate and humane order cannot be realised. In reality what we are confronted with today is not a clash of civilisations, but the need to preserve the diversity of cultures from being hijacked and transformed into a single ‘Armament Protected Consumerist’ civilisation. We need to save our planet from the consequential disasters of the kind that we are being subjected to today. GENESIS OF TERROR AND DESTRUCTION

World Affairs, Winter 2005. Vol. 9, No. 4 — Weapons of the New World Order — Genesis of International Terror

uring the last few decades the market economies have been rushed along Dthe path of ‘Armament Protected Consumerism Paradigm’. Arms are required to control the flow of energy, other resources and the global markets. But they are also meant to protect the beneficiaries of these policies from the mounting anger of the even more numerous victims of inequity and consequent deprivation worldwide. Increasingly, scientific efforts and financial resources are being diverted towards the production of a wide variety of weapons of rising lethality. During the last few decades, this activity has increased exponentially in the United States and some allied countries. These sustained trends towards perfecting the instruments of world domination reflect neo-imperialist policies, planned and promoted by the neo-conservatives. This entire process was christened a ‘Plan for the New American Century’. Its guidelines outline a resolve not to allow other countries of the world, individually or collectively, to be in a position to resist. This involves a broad range of covert and overt activities as well as weapons designed to target the full spectrum of human vulnerabilities. Through a strategy of tension and the exercise of ‘megapower’, nation after nation could be made to submit by ‘shock and awe’ and under threats of social subversion. The aggressive intent of these polities can be assessed from the scale, scope and lethality of weapons being developed. Some are: • Space Weapons — using space satellites for espionage and also for weather manipulation; to trigger rains, floods, drought, cyclones; to keep the planet under a ‘death ray’ threat and to bring every inch of the globe within the striking range of American fire power.

264 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM • Political weapons include multicoloured revolutions, to some regime changes, fostered insurgencies and instigation of ethnic and religious conflicts, build-up of NGOs to infiltrate the social system, multiple intelligence networks, corruption of political processes and personalities, and above all, terrorism as an instrument of policy. • Biological weapons — creating diseases for genocide, to destroy large populations and break the will of countries as part of psychological warfare. It is believed that many epidemic diseases are being considered for use as weapons of mass destruction. Some scientists assert that there are more than 150 such biological agents under investigation worldwide. • Chemical weapons — a wide variety, including poisonous gases for physical and psychic incapacitation and the likes of Agent Orange, which was extensively sprayed in Vietnam to destroy the production capacity of the land. • Nuclear weapons — already employed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, are being readied for ‘pre-emptive’ strikes. Depleted uranium is being used for the manufacture of deep penetration bombs, ‘bunker-bust- ers’ spreading radiation within a wide radius. • Tectonic weapons — to create earthquakes and the resulting tsuna- mis are being recklessly developed by certain nations. • There is an entire range of research going on in secrecy for several decades by some political/industrial formations within some countries to create weapons related to the UFO technologies. The details are becoming increasingly manifest. • Genetic weapons — many of these are under investigation. Specific gene type sequencing is being researched so as to target specific ethnic groups while sparing, presumably, those to which the ruling elites predominantly belong. • Computer controlled robots — based on nano-technologies are also being developed to replace humans in the killing game. Electronic mind control, psycho-acoustic, optical and visual effects are all being operationalised in the belief that some of them will work.

PART – III • SUGGESTIONS FOR A NEW WORLD 265 All these weapons and some others not listed here spell out a death sentence for all those peoples and nations globally who do not work for the glorification of this new insanity. Hundreds of billions of US dollars are being channelled through the system or laundered through illegal means to sustain massive programmes of that type. The nature and size of these activities have generated a terror-psychosis, while triggering an arms race of global magnitude for self protection. We are witnessing today desperate attempts to maintain unipolar control over the instruments of world domination. But the nuclear and missile defence shields being offered to submissive allies are being rapidly made obsolete by the development of multi-launch supersonic missiles and warheads. It is time for responsible leaders and for civil society worldwide to take note of these developments, which are enmeshing the planet in a cobweb of fear through a strategy of tension and deception. The entire process is built on the illusion that the new technologies will help control the world by breaking it up into pliable corrupt client-states, enforcing unsustainable consumeristic social systems. These weaponised dreams are bringing the international system to the verge of breakdown and chaos, leaving to future generations the effects of these weapons: mass destruction, a polluted environment and stories about the new gods of the genesis of terror and devastation cutting short the process of evolution and creativity. AVAILABLE ENERGY RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPERATIVES

World Affairs, Spring 2006, Vol. 10, No. 1 — Energy Security: Challenges And Prospects for the Twenty-first Century

he energy crisis of the 1970s led to an astronomical rise in the price of oil. TThis perceived threat to the economic security of the industrial and other nations acted as a catalyst in propelling nations towards energy conservation, search for new sources and long term solutions. With a partial stabilisation of this position in the 80s, energy moved out of the core of human concerns. This was but a short reprieve, and the entire international fossil-fuel based infrastructure is once again threatened by a new set of unpredictable circumstances, including an exponential rise in the costs of energy, the shifting of energy markets and serious environmental concerns. The present energy use pattern is structured on the paradigm of ‘Armament Protected Consumerism’ which has caused the intensification, concentration and centralisation of power production. Its ecological consequences are no longer a local or a regional matter, but arouse worldwide concern. It brings even the remotest of geographical areas and the smallest of nations into the mainstream of energy and environmental imperatives. This presentation highlights the following: • Some orders of magnitude about the projected availability of diverse energy resources and their ecological and other limitations in satisfying a wide variety of energy needs in global terms; • Environmental consequences of using non-renewable fossil-fuels, and the need for technological innovations to enhance their ecological acceptability;

PART – III • SUGGESTIONS FOR A NEW WORLD 267 • The problems of substitution in terms of available time scale and missing technological links; • The role of Sun-related sources of energy. Table 1 (p. 278) shows the worldwide availability of different categories of energy resources: i) Non-Renewable: a. Conventional fossil-fuels such as oil, gas and coal [Sec. A (a), (b) & (c)]. b. Non-conventional fossil-fuels such as tar-sands, shale-oil and gas processed from coal etc [Sec. B (a), (b) & (c)]. The cumulative fossil-fuel resources of mankind including both the conventional and non-conventional, are of the order of 115,000 EJ (where E=109) which is equivalent to about 2500 billion (109) tonnes of oil. ii) Non-Renewable but technologically extendable resources: a) Nuclear-fission with potential of almost indefinitely extending the life of the available uranium and thorium through new technologies for fast breeder reactors and others [Sec. C (a)]. b) Fusion-power with indefinite potential due to the availability of deuterium and tritium in large quantities from hydrogen [Sec. C (b)]. iii) Renewable Resources: a) Solar light and heat and other sun-based resources such as wind, water and biomass [Sec. D (a), (b), (c) & (d)] b) Geothermal and tides [Sec. D (e) & (f)]

ENERGY REQUIREMENTS The estimated total worldwide energy requirement in the year 1989 was about 325 EJ and this, on the basis of the present trend, is expected to increase to between 1100 EJ and 1400 EJ by the year 2030. In other words, these resources will at best be adequate for the next 100 years. Table l, Sec. A (a, b & c) shows conventional fossil-fuel resources as 80,000 EJ, of which oil and gas together constitute only 15,000 EJ (and the remaining 65,000 EJ is that of coal). At the

268 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM projected rate of consumption these resources will not be available, in economic terms, much beyond the middle of the twenty-first century.

ECOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE ENERGY USE PATTERN ‘E’ for Energy was the keyword in the 1970s, ‘E’ for Environment was the word in the 1980s and ‘E2’ for Energy and Environment has become the buz- zwords at the beginning of this century. The environmentally and socially disruptive consequences of the accumulat- ing carbon dioxide, other pollutants and the depletion of the ozone layer have caused widespread climatic and physical damage to our life support system. The expanding energy needs and mounting ecological constraints are limiting the reliance on the available fossil-fuels. The high-energy demands require a shift towards nuclear power, which in turn would make it necessary to shift nuclear energy at birth from the military sector to peaceful power generation. This would call for a continuous effort to increase its safety factors by many orders of magnitude. Many current technologies may need to be replaced. In the case of nuclear fission, through the widely used technologies of light water reactor (LWR) or pressurised heavy water reactor (PHWR), serious problems of radioactive pollution and processing of waste will need to be addressed. The carbon dioxide (CO2), though making up only 0.028 per cent of the atmosphere, traps enough of the escaping heat to warm the earth. It has increased by about 25 per cent in the last 200 yrs, from 218 parts per million at the beginning of the industrial revolution to 315 parts per million 30 years ago and about 360 parts per million today.

CONTRIBUTION BY FOSSIL-FUELS Each EJ of conventional fossil-fuels (taking average combustion pattern) releases through combustion 19.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. By the year 2060 the total cumulative consumption of fossil-fuels, conventional (31,500 EJ) and non-conventional (18,500 EJ), would have reached a total of 50,000 EJ. Oil and gas release 19.75 and 13.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere respectively. Similar figures for non-conventional

PART – III • SUGGESTIONS FOR A NEW WORLD 269 fuel including energy required for processing, further increase the carbon dioxide released to 38.6 million tonnes for synthetic oil, 40.7 for synthetic gas and 47.4 for shale oil. Many studies report that about 60 per cent of the carbon dioxide thus released is retained in the atmosphere. Working on this assumption, if all liquid and gas fossil-fuel resources were to be used, over 500 Giga (109) tonnes of carbon as carbon dioxide would be released into the atmosphere and about 300 Giga-tonnes be retained in it. This would raise the present level of carbon dioxide (of 335 PPM or 700 Giga tonnes) by about 40 per cent. If the coal resources with carbon dioxide release per EJ of over 23 million tonnes were also to be consumed, it would raise the level of carbon dioxide by over 1400 Giga tonnes to about 3 times the present level. It is also reported that the doubling of carbon dioxide is the threshold we dare not cross. But at this rate we would have reached that point by the middle of this century. So, the maximum level of fossil-fuel energy (conventional and non-conventional) available to mankind is 50,000 EJ and not 115,000 EJ, as shown to be available in Table 1. Hansen of NASA, USA, in 1988, proposed to the Congress a tax on carbon-rich fuel, such as coal, to curtail carbon dioxide emission by 20 per cent and estimated that it would cost the US economy US$ 800 billion to 2.36 trillion. Planting l.l billion acres of new forest can neutralise all the 2.9 billion tonnes of carbon that gets added to the atmosphere each year. This would mean increasing the world forests by 16 per cent at a cost of US$ 500 billion. This should be shared, through some fair apportioning methods, by the entire world. At least 20 per cent of the carbon dioxide being added to the earth’s atmosphere is due to deforestation alone, thus highlighting the role of the trees. We are therefore, confronted with the problem of planning our energy strategies in a manner so as to avoid environmental excesses in order not to cross the magical, possibly irreversible doubling threshold. In other words the processes of substitution of fossil-fuels with other non-polluting sources of situation arises. To begin this process energy must start before such a system of energy accounting must be more widely implemented.

270 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM ENERGY ACCOUNTING A nation claiming a high rate of growth in terms of the GNP may exhaust all its mineral resources, desecrate its own and others’ forests and convert vast tracts of fertile land into a desert, erode soil, pollute all its aquatic resources, destroy its wild life, and all this devastation will appear nowhere in the accounting process while the country will continue to record a rising GNP. Adequate accounting would flash warning signals that the economy is on an unsustainable course. A negative interest deduction from development, as a consequence of the deterioration in the stock of natural resources, should be made compulsory. If a barrel of oil is sold for US$ 60 for instance, the cost of prospecting, pumping and transporting, drilling for a barrel of oil, or another equivalent source of energy, should be excluded from this income of US$ 60 on a viable rising scale so that the portion of GNP representing the income earned from oil may be accurately represented in the accounting system. Similarly, reforestation should also be ac- counted for in this process. Only by including all such negative factors in social accounting can a sustainable society be developed. Through recycling of waste material, (a negation of the throwaway culture) energy costs and pollution could be reduced substantially. The globalisation of the consumeristic paradigm is also about transferring an anti-social value structure to the elites of the developing societies. Neglect of public transport systems and the promotion of the automobile as a status symbol are rapidly committing developing nations to identical development processes, making rational energy use unpopular and further increasing environmental degradation. These should be reversed through social action and a scaled tax penalty. This would place the responsibility and cost of environmental protection where it belongs.

THE NUCLEAR OPTION Nuclear Fission The total worldwide resources of uranium are about 3.5 million tonnes, which can largely be made available at a cost of between US$ 75–200 per Kg. Further quantities could be extracted from other unconventional sources, such as the ocean, at a much higher cost of between US$ 600–1000 per Kg.

PART – III • SUGGESTIONS FOR A NEW WORLD 271 The economically extractable world thorium resources are in the order of 1.2–1.5 million tonnes. One gram of 233 U containing 2.56 x 1021 atoms releases 82.4 GJ or 22,900 KW hours of heat, which is equivalent to combustion of 2 tonnes of oil. Generation of such large volumes of heat from small quantities of uranium was considered most promising but the genes of that technology at birth produced the Hiroshima Bomb, and to this day nuclear energy has not been able to or is not being allowed to live down this association. Nations desiring self-reliance in nuclear energy have no options other than to acquire an isotope enrichment facility. They must either enrich uranium or obtain it from reliable sources and then employ LWR (light water reactor) or produce heavy water and use reactors burning natural uranium as fuel. In real terms it means that through this process highly concentrated weapon grade material can also be produced. This brings to the fore issues of nuclear proliferation, its use as an instrument of domination or superpower pressures and stringent controls. In LWRs for each fissioning of the uranium about 0.4 atoms of plutonium is produced. For PHWRs the rate of conversion is higher and may reach up to 0.8. It is also possible to design reactors with a conversion ratio greater than unity, i. e. they produce more fuel than they burn in maintaining the chain reaction. Such reactors, popularly known as breeder reactors, are thus a very attractive proposition for countries with small uranium reserves. While the cost for such reactors is low, they involve mandatory reprocessing and handling of large quantities of plutonium 233. With the potentially available uranium, the life of the nuclear fuels can thus be extended almost indefinitely. A modern LWR is designed for a burn out rate of about 30,000 MWD/ton. Breeder and gas-cooled reactors have achieved above 130,000 MWD/ton. Used fuel elements and the decayed fission products are intensely radioactive and generate large quantities of heat. There- fore, if we follow the ‘once through system’ for uranium use, the contribution of nuclear power to the energy scenario is at best limited to 80–100 years; hence the merit of choosing this option becomes doubtful. If, on the other hand, through technological solutions we can recycle uranium and thorium, we can extend the life of the available resources to provide energy equivalent to 200 x 106 EJ which can sustain up to seven times the present energy consumption levels for over a hundred thousand years.

272 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM Thorium is also emerging as a potential nuclear fuel. It has the potential to reduce the amount of plutonium generated per gigawatt year by a factor of five against uranium fuelled reactor. Thorium oxide is a highly stable compound, more so than uranium dioxide that is used as a conventional nuclear fuel. Ther- mal conductivity is 10–15 per cent higher than uranium dioxide allowing heat to flow more easily from the fuel rods to the reactors. The melting point of thorium oxide is 500o C higher than uranium dioxide and gives the reactor an additional safety margin if there is a temporary loss of coolant. Using the thorium fuel technology, plutonium can be disposed off three times as fast as MOX at a significantly lower cost.

The Role of Small Units The process of making the peaceful use of nuclear power available to hundreds of thousands of communities, factories and workplaces can best be served by installing small units (from 50 to 100 Megawatts) of electric power. About three times that quantity of thermal energy generated in the process can be used for a wide variety of applications, such as extraction of oil from tar sands, water desalinisation, purifying and cracking of water. The reactor fuel matrix can be adjusted to provide the right output for each work process. The units can be connected in a series for larger applications and modular factories built and transported to destinations. These are placed in deep containment structures and assembled. The fuel rod core can be supplied to a factory or a fuel station every 8–12 years. A fast breeder reactor can irradiate thorium oxide which offers a very high safety margin. Large savings can be affected in the electric energy transmission and distribution cost.

Fusion Power The other significant option is fusion power. The basic raw material for this is deuterium which is available in nature, as one part in 6700 parts of hydrogen. Its extraction is feasible and one gram in complete D-D fusion provides 96,000 KW hrs. of power. With the estimated deuterium content of the oceans at 23 million tonnes, it will yield 2.2 x 1024 or 8 x 1012 EJ of energy. This is over 25 billion

PART – III • SUGGESTIONS FOR A NEW WORLD 273 times the present world consumption of energy and could go even beyond the life of the solar system. On the face of it therefore, it would appear that D-D fusion is an attractive long term solution and the time scale can be further extended by using tritium of which the raw material is lithium, and which, in D-T reaction can provide 9 million times the total energy needs of the world, according to current estimations. Fusion as an energy source lies way beyond our planning horizons because the missing technological links are still many. The recent programme for international cooperation in research and development of thermo-nuclear power within ITER may make it technically feasible soon. Then of course, there is the important consideration of how we substitute fusion energy, for the bulk of our needs, with thermal heat and distribute it to the millions of communities where 60 per cent of the energy required is for cooking alone. This is of special significance for most developing countries including China and India.

ROLE OF SUN-BASED ENERGY SOURCES Table l, Section D (a) and (b), shows that amongst the sun-based renewable sources of energy, the most significant are solar, thermal and photovoltaic. The estimated solar energy available is 93,000 EJs (E=1018), whereas wind is only 4,000 EJ and hydel 90 EJ. This would mean that while other sun-based sources of energy can play an important supportive role, their availability, both in terms of quality and quantity can provide only a very small proportion of our total energy needs. We have thus to rely on solar, thermal or photovoltaic sources. For instance, if we were just to take the major hot deserts of the world, it is estimated that 93,000 EJs of energy can be collected. This could supply up to 300 times the estimated future energy needs of all mankind — on an average about 1300 EJ per year by the middle of this century. Apart from photosynthesis to grow biomass, solar energy has to be converted to some secondary source of energy, such as heat, light, bio-chemical or electricity. A few tens of thousands of kms of the earth’s surface can provide the entire needs of mankind for low intensity heat even at the present time, whether it is through a thermal gradient in large quantities of water in solar-ponds or by direct collection through collectors. The generation of electricity with mechanical

274 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM devices for conversion at an efficiency of about 3 per cent, through high temperature applications using tracking mechanisms or other technologies, is already becoming an economically acceptable solution. However, for quite some time the real large scale applications of solar energy will harness solar thermal radiation for non-electrical applications, such as heat for cooking whether through recycling of waste, direct use of biomass or solar heat, or in water heating, crop drying or other thermal applications. Technologies already exist to exercise many of these options.

Wind Power Of the total solar energy intercepted by the earth, only about 40,000 EJ is dissipated close to the surface of the earth. How much of this can be harvested without upsetting the ecological balance is not known, but one thing is clear — removal of more than a certain percentage of this energy will affect the climatic conditions, temperature and rainfall pattern globally and has thus to be avoided. Even if up to 10 per cent of this is available for interception, it may be enough to meet a substantial proportion of the present world energy needs of about 320 EJ. Many authorities have expressed their opinion on the subject and according to some of them even this potential has been scaled down to about 100 EJ. Then of course, there is the question of unpredictability of wind both in terms of availability and manageable intensity. It would, therefore, be fair to presume that wind energy, though reasonably extensive, within environmentally safe and manageable limits can only play a regional, peripheral or balancing role in the future energy scenario, and that also, in conjunction with other non-renewable or renewable sources.

Hydro Power Similarly, in the case of hydropower, theoretical potential available for practical exploitation worldwide is no more than 90 EJ per year. We are exploiting less than 15 per cent of this energy at present. Because of their negative ecological and social consequences large dams and hydel projects have become a major source of social dissent. To effectively use this potential wherever available the emphasis should be on mini and micro hydel systems.

PART – III • SUGGESTIONS FOR A NEW WORLD 275 Biomass Of the 4 x 104 EJs of the energy of the sun reaching the earth, only about 3150 EJs are naturally converted to organic biomass through processes of photosynthesis. About 38 per cent of this is produced in the oceans leaving about 2000EJ of terrestrial organic matter synthesis to take place on land. How much of this can be harvested by us, is of course a different matter. Even if we were to get 40 per cent (800EJ equivalent), it would be necessary to cultivate the entire surface of the earth. A substantial part of this has to be set aside for food and industrial production, like paper, and those chemicals which are directly dependent upon biomass inputs. This alone, on an average, needs about 300EJ and the best that we can get from the balance will be no more than 200EJ, which is less than two-third of the present total world energy consumption. In other words, we cannot design a world energy system totally based on biomass if our present energy use pattern and consumeristic life styles are to be maintained. Particularly in the case of countries like India and China, the goal should be to use a larger proportion of the biomass for the satisfaction of their thermal energy needs i. e. if they can keep pace by producing more biomass than they consume every year. Ecologically, the use of biomass does not, to any extent, increase the atmospheric carbon dioxide because any carbon dioxide emitted in the combustion of biomass, originates from the atmosphere in the first place.

Integrated Energy Systems If all the sun-based sources of energy could be integrated into a system there would be a synergetic effect on its performance. Not only does one source support the other but it can increase reliability by many orders of magnitude, reduce storage costs and provide energy in diverse forms, such as gas, as also electrical, mechanical and thermal. This could help meet the energy needs of rural communities for a wide variety of applications. There are many such successful installations operating in India and in other countries, both as total systems and as hybrid sub-systems. The most urgent need is for technological inputs in developing systems for meeting the diverse energy requirements of millions of rural communities for food, habitat, education, health and employment. The creation of such an infrastructure could open up vast markets for new sources of energy in the developing world alone, while at the same time reversing environmental decline.

276 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM The developed world is already committed to an energy infrastructure, an energy use pattern and its environmental fall out. Integrated energy systems would allow for a process to contain the damage being done to the environment and reduce its impact. The replacement of one source of energy by another is not just an isolated event, it implies change in an entire way of life, production techniques, social organisation, in fact the total transformation of society. In the context of policies, supported by media blitz, meant to further accelerate consumeristic development in the developed world, and to launch the developing world on a similar path, effective utilisation of sun-based sources of energy through decentralised systems goes against the dominant trend. Yet from the point of view of energy availability and of the environment, there are few other options. Our only hope is to accelerate this process in the developing world. It is only through millions of decentralised energy systems that the pollutant and carbon dioxide neutralisation/ absorption capabilities of the atmosphere, the waterways and the oceans can be harnessed to support sustainable human life-styles.

Energy Substitution For every growth rate there is a substitution rate. The higher the growth rate, the shorter the period of time available before we double our carbon dioxide emissions. This means that non fossil-fuel capacities must be created. As an example, for every EJ of fossil energy used, we have to install 17,000 MW of nuclear power plants or create 500 sq. Kms of photovoltaic capacity. In order to implement the existing development paradigm, we will be called upon to build 50,000 MW plants per year to avoid reaching the dangerous environmental threshold. But substitution has its own limitations. Solar energy or other diffuse sources cannot economically replace large power generation facilities. However, these sources can play a crucial role in the development of decentralised rural communities where a vast proportion of the world’s deprived people reside. Major countries like India and China have their own diverse energy needs so substitution will have its own limitations. Our substitution policies have to take into consideration the available time scale of 20–30 years before we reach the outer limits of our rapidly declining environmental capacity.

PART – III • SUGGESTIONS FOR A NEW WORLD 277 CONCLUSIONS The total annual world energy demand at present is of the order of 350 EJ. On the present development path this is expected to reach 1100 to 1400 EJ by the year 2030. The known deposits of oil and gas, 8000 EJ and 7000 EJ respectively in economic terms, are not expected to last very much beyond this period. Coal, with a worldwide availability of about 65,000 EJ, will be available for a much longer period of time, but brings about more serious ecological Fossil Fuel - Conventional - 970 (+) Unconventional - 1530 = 2500 Billion tonnes of Carbon dioxide consequences which may reach dangerous threshold levels by the middle of this century. Hence many new technologies will have to be adopted to contain the environmental hazards.

Table 1: Estimated Worldwide Energy Resources and Carbon Dioxide Generation by Fossil Fuels Carbon Carbon Dioxide / Dioxide Bil. (109) E (1018) J* Billion for the Tonnes of oil Energy tonnes of oil entire equivalent Value equivalent resource Resource Mil. (106) Billion tonnes Tonnes A. Non Renewable Fossil-fuels a) Oil 180 8000 870 156 b) Gas 170 7000 570 124 c) Coal 1450 65000 1060 690 970 B. Non-renewable Unconventional a) Shale oil 425 19000 2018** 900 Synthetic b) 150 7000 1800** 270 Oil c) Gas 200 9000 1830** 360 1530

278 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM C. Non Renewable But Technologically Extendable–Unlimited a) Nuclear Fission 6340 x 1015 Wyr 200 x 106 b) Fusion Power 63400 x 1015 Wyr 2000 x 106 D. Renewable a) Solar 2080/Yr. 93000/Yr b) Wind 127 x 1012 Wyr 4000/Yr c) Hydro 28 x 1012 Wyr 90/Yr d) Biomass 4.7 x 109 Wyr 210/Yr e) Geothermal 2.2 x 109 Wyr 100/Yr f) Tides 2.2 x 106 Wyr 1/Yr * I. Dostrovsky and others. ** Including energy required for processing

Nuclear fission through the use of present technologies, of light water reactor (LWR) or pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWRS), can only be relied upon as long as the known uranium resources last, but their use can be extended almost indefinitely through new technologies, such as fast breeder reactors. The proliferation issues can be contained gradually by using fuels like thorium. This would considerably reduce the problems of proliferation and nuclear waste. The renewable sun-based sources of energy offer other options that may satisfy many of our thermal and electrical energy needs. They also have the potential to satisfy the energy needs for poverty alleviation in backward rural areas. THE CALL FOR ASIAN COLLECTIVE SECURITY

World Affairs, Summer 2006, Vol. 10, No. 2 — Asian Security and Economic Convergence

he ego of 21st century Imperialism is hidden under layers of subterfuge Tcode-named values. Whenever there is any challenge to the supremacy of the imperial power or whenever other nations or peoples begin to exhibit liabil- ities to break out of the system, the latter attempts their subversion and brings them down to the level of performance that will serve its interests best. There was one such interlude in the 1980s when the call was made to ’downsize’ Japan and Japan was downsized. In the early 1990s the Soviet Union was subverted to bring Russia, its oil and other resources as well as Central Asia under control. Developing countries, some of them rich in natural and human resources, are struggling to feel their way out of years of exploitation. Their economies are progressively being steered towards maquiladora-style techniques, perfected in Latin America. According to this, targeted countries act as glorified labour contractors to produce and supply consumer goods and services at throwaway prices, while finance, markets, technologies, raw materials, energy and, of course, the media are controlled by the empire and its agents in countries under its patronage. Control is enforced through superior weapons of mass destruction and under a deceptive cover of war against terrorism, globalisation of the economies and, where necessary, evangelisation of their wards. The so-called democratic management of the economy and polity, ‘colour’ revolutions and regime changes, withdrawal of support through one or the other parameters of development and security are control instruments frequently employed. With the transfer of the manufacturing and employment base of the United States to the countries of East, Southeast Asian and some Latin American countries, the very foundation on which this superstructure of imperial power rests is itself becoming unstable. The following developments have made the situation even more complex.

280 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM With a growing national debt which far surpasses that of all other countries and its increasing dependence on other nations for the supply of low-priced consumer goods and services, the USA has already lost much of its clout. The exposure of the hidden hand behind the instrument of war against terror, the false pretences behind the attacks on Iraq, Lebanon and other locations and the attempted revolutions in Central Asian countries have rendered the superpower status unsustainable. The rise of Asia during the recent years has partly been a consequence or reaction to these developments. The rise of China and India, the re-emergence of Japan from its relative decline of the last decade and the remarkable transformation of the Soviet Union into a vibrant Russian Federation have altered the power equation in Asia and in the world at large. However the unipolar system’s attempts to downsize them and gain control of their resources and markets are becoming a threat to Asian security. The establishment of military bases, the promotion of manufactured or manipulated revolutions, regime change or outright aggression are all part of the plan to ensure the subservience or subversion of Asia from the Near East to the Far East and from Central Asia to the Indonesian archipelago. Asian countries have started to see the precocious revival of imperial ambitions amongst the neo-cons and the lackeys of the unipolar system. The pro-war media, inspired by the American claims of victory in the Cold War, the ruthless rigged free market and the consumerist culture are playing their own roles. So are attempts to popularise such resurgent imperialism amongst the subservient elites and the new consumer classes of some major countries of the developing world. The empire is thus struggling to spread its wings by promoting ‘values’ to cover up the barbaric acts of its past and present and by deifying the free market. The countries of Asia are awakening to these realities. The Shanghai Coopera- tion Organisation represents one attempt to protect the identity, sovereignty and resources of Asian nations from the imperial ambitions of the unipolar system. This and other grouping such as ASEAN and SAARC would also help integrate the cultural and economic policies of Asian countries on the basis of non-intervention in each other’s internal affairs and mutual help in security and social matters. The growing contacts with other developing countries in Latin America and Africa may also help to defeat or alter the hegemonic designs of the victims of amnesia. LATIN AMERICA

World Affairs, Summer 2005, Vol. 9, No. 2 — Latin America

n the perception of many generations of people worldwide, Latin America Iwas regarded as a backyard of the United States. The identities of many of its countries, big and small, were submerged within the larger American identity. Not only was their role defined in the relationship with the United States, but their socio-politico-techno-economic policies were dictated by and bore the stamp of the North. Many of the countries were in debt most of the time because the value of their production in the world market was controlled by the corporate middlemen from the north who operated in their own interest. Therefore army coups, armed insurrections, manipulated commodity prices and, more recently, the ever-expanding drug trade have influenced the course of history in Latin America during the last century. These countries were under the constant surveillance of the World Bank, IMF and the other financial institutions. The interest on their debts, and all value additions on their exports, agricultural or industrial, were siphoned off through maquiladoras and other such techniques. There was frequent disciplining of the less pliable leaderships through an in-built system of regime change or aggressive covert and overt operations. Latin America was truly under an iron heel, as always with the connivance and the participation of some submissive elites of the region. During the last decade, some fundamental changes have taken place and many of these countries endowed with vast resources and a vital place in the world ecological system are now slowly coming into their own, with compulsions to work together in the protection of their own interests. There have been some important shifts in inter-state relations within Latin America and also with the United States and the world community under a unipolar system. These nations are now affirming an individual and collective Latin American identity. As major suppliers of agricultural commodities, industrial raw materials including timber and oil, the main entry point to the world markets was the United States where most of the money was made. There is now a growing realisation that their trade

282 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM and future fortunes depend upon linkages with the wider world and that too much unidirectional commerce and investment has been their undoing. There are many factors which are contributing to this shift. • Firstly Cuba, for as long as one can remember was under American sanctions and also subjected to hegemonic pressures that have long been felt by most Latin American countries. But Fidel Castro refused to yield and is now acknowledged in the larger Latin American community in some ways as a beacon for the masses. • The trials and tribulations of Hugo Chavez, the President of the Repub- lic of Venezuela, in protecting his oil resources from re-pre-emption within the larger American oil network, and his open support to Cuba as a Latin brother country made him a role model in the minds of millions of deprived people and their leaders. The story of the elimination of President Allende of Chile is now public knowledge, and makes people worldwide aware of the manner in which neo-colonialism operates in Latin America and elsewhere. • Similarly, it is for the first time that a country like Brazil is recognised as a major global actor. Its size, resources and its rainforests are attracting more attention than ever before. Earlier the media focused their gaze on the Copacabana Beach and carnivals. The government was regarded as a surrogate of the north while the country’s economic instability and poverty discouraged many. Its unlimited potential for development is now recognised as well as its ability to provide economic leadership to the countries of Latin America. • Argentina is a classic example among the victims of a ’virus’ commonly known as the IMF. It does not matter where you are and how you have been infected, its debilitating symptoms and after-effects are the same worldwide. Now hopefully Argentina is recovering some autonomy, with vast potential as a major producer of agricultural products for the world market. Many of the other countries of Latin America such as Peru with its famous Inca heritage, and Columbia, a major drug and coffee producer, are in constant state of tension for one reason or the other.

PART – III • SUGGESTIONS FOR A NEW WORLD 283 • In a world globalising within a consumerist framework, patriotism and serving the true interests of their own people were not easy options for the leaderships because that did not fit in with the larger design. The result of any attempt to reform the system was generally civil unrest or regime change. • The emergence of post-colonial Asia as the new economic power centre of the 21st century has kindled old desires and hopes amongst the better endowed countries and peoples of the region for a new Latin America. • Projection of the humanism of the indigenous peoples of the Americas by Latin authors, poets and painters has received wide recognition and encouraged the trends to preserve indigenous cultures. • The need for protective coalitions between the countries of the region and with Europe and Asia was felt by most states. The declining value of the dollar has further accelerated this trend. Chinese President, Hu Jintao’s 2005 extended visit to Latin American countries and his promise and promotion of aid, trade and investment catalysed a broad-based partnership for a new Latin American destiny. The Brazilian President, Lula da Silva’s visit to India as the chief guest at the 2004 Republic Day, and the visit of President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela to many countries of Asia are helping to bring the distant continents together. We hope that these shifts in Latin America will help to free it from hegemonic pressures because the governments which depended upon the protection of the North are slowly disappearing from the scene while more representative administrative and political structures are taking shape. • Latin America has understood the shifting power balance worldwide and the need to establish a partnership with emerging nations, peoples and cultures of Asia and Africa, now threatened by attempts at domination by the unipolar power structure. • The emergence of Japan, China, Southeast Asia and now India has considerably reduced the potential for a broad-based repressive foreign intervention in these countries. The recent changes are also sending a

284 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM message that Latin America should be dealt with in an equitable and friendly manner and no longer treated as a colony. • Faced with new challenges in Asia and now Latin America, the unipolar powers are shifting their attention to Africa. It has to be seen whether Africa will be able to withstand these new hegemonic pressures. We hope and pray that the people of that much abused and exploited continent will not have to go through the painful neo-colonial processes again. There is an urgent need for the unity of the deprived people of ‘the South’ towards a new human order of justice and peace, for the preservation of their cultures and resources. SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA — A NEW AWAKENING

World Affairs, Autumn 2005, Vol. 9, No. 3 — South and Central Asia in The Global Context

ll through history, many largely violent methods and techniques were em- Aployed to build and sustain empires and invariably, in the course of time, due to inner contradictions or over-extension, they collapsed. But in this process, they brought untold misery, death and destruction to many nations and peoples. But those memories got eclipsed and forgotten because of the insatiable lust for power and greed and also due to the stunted evolution of the brain and finer human instincts in such aggressive societies. In the 21st century, colonialism retreated, but the colonial panoply for ‘big game’ hunting still exists and has been taken over by a larger and more powerful unipolar system, which is instigating diverse conflicts through policies of divide and rule. South Asia has been a victim of everlasting conflicts in Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and India. Many of these conflicts and much of the violence could be attributed to unipolar policies of world domination. Similarly, “Great Game” operations in Central Asia followed a familiar pattern including fragmentation, colourful revolutions, and broken promises of free market utopias and the creation of military bases in strategic areas. Many of these nations have now begun to realise that imperial promises and support systems have no validity or credibility. They cannot ignore the geopolitical economic balances and realities. They know that the target is their energy resources and not their welfare. In South Asia, the people, more than its leaderships, are getting weary of these manipulated conflicts. They want peace and harmony without external interventions. The dominant unipolar system has begun to drift away from the psyche of the people of the region. Its uncalled-for interventions are increasingly being regarded more as a diplomatic nuisance and with less fear of its weaponry or of

286 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM its covert and overt acts. But there are many hidden weapons of mass destruction (including political) in its arsenal. Any attempt at using these will further erode the empire’s credibility and unravel its dreams of universal domination. The economy of South Asia is increasingly moving out of the shadow of the superpower. The emergence of China in the East and India in South Asia as the key economies, will transform the continent and may lead to an Asian common market. It will bring about a new synthesis for peace and prosperity for all Asian peoples and will have more than a ripple effect in the developing world at large. All the victims of imperial policies in Asia may together bring about a new harmony between South and Central Asia, and provide a large reservoir of energy and other resources for the 21st century. The recent earthquake in Pakistan and India and the massive damage that it has caused to both the Pakistan-occupied and the Indian state of Kashmir, with thousands dead and millions left homeless, many in remote snowbound mountain ranges, will bring the people of the two countries further together. Though terrorism instigated by certain fundamentalist forces is still active, its promoters are increasingly marginalised in the minds of the masses. Free movement of people and friendly relations often make old conflicts irrelevant. The continuing dialogue for peace between India and Pakistan will receive a new fillip through cooperation in distress. The nations of the regions have to start their journey together towards a new, just, ethical and moral order away from the violent process of economic globalisation, which is mostly about transferring wealth to the centres of finance and armed power within the unipolar system. The developing world is awakening to these realities. South and Central Asia together have complementary potentials to pool their resources, needs and capabilities to create welfare states for their people. But the proclaimed divine right of the unipolar system to control and exploit the world’s energy resources and markets for the interest of its oligarchies is proving a great hurdle. This process, which has been in place for well over a century, is increasingly insecure and violent. There is a need for organised resistance against it. A belief that the world is a family can only come true with the recognition of bio- and theo-diversity, taking a homocentric (humanistic) approach as the basis of all development and relationships. THE WAY OF ALL EMPIRES

World Affairs, Autumn 2006, Vol. 10, No. 3 — The Failing Empire: Vassals And Rivals

he working of the present paradigm is aborting the process of evolution by Tfreezing it at the lowest of the seven stages of human advancement — that is at the material level. Today we are suffering from the human and ecological consequences of reckless globalisation together with its paraphernalia of endless violence, terrorism, conquest, civilisational conflicts and the breakdown of the ethical and moral order. As this process advances, hundreds of millions are being trapped at diverse levels of deprivation, while only a few million are its visible beneficiaries. The entire operation is envisioned, planned, manipulated, controlled and monitored by a coterie of financial oligarchs, which periodically changes its shape and face. This process began many years ago in Europe then it expanded to the United States and Asia and now operates through a global network. With collusive support from international banking organisations, select transnational corporations and other institutions, it has laid siege to the world’s economy, often with the connivance of political leaderships, and the moneyed elites of most countries. They are holding hostage the vulnerable economies of the developed and developing world through the manipulation of currencies and foreign exchanges, stock markets, commodities, metals and energy markets. They coordinate their operations within a framework resembling an Empire and are trying to play the ‘Imperial Great Game’, entirely for their own interests and for the satisfaction of their egos. In the political arena, multicoloured revolutions and regime changes are frequently being resorted to with armed and intelligence support from within the so-called democratic but ever shrinking coalition of ‘the willing’ (who are not so willing any more). State terrorism and economic pressures are applied to realise short-and long-term economic objectives, mostly for the unidirectional suction of wealth from all over the planet to a few beneficiary locations.

288 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM By controlling the political, economic and security systems of certain large frontline countries, these oligarchies are using their clout to browbeat the rest of mankind. In recent decades, the latent power of the system, its aims and techniques have become increasingly visible to the world community, not only to governments but also to its victims, the informed people everywhere. This has led to the worldwide emergence of protective coalitions. The recent trends in Latin America, the situation in the Middle East and the emerging cooperative mood in Asia are all warning signals to the Empire and its supporters — the growing number of billionaire and millionaire profiteers. These signals also include the aggregating mass reactions to the global human and ecological tragedy. This is catalysing new thinking along with the rise of forces, which are questioning and challenging the desperate acts of the unipolar Empire. Both the political and the economic agendas of the Empire are now being checkmated. The illusions of the superpower are being collectively shattered by the multiplying number of its victims. Supportive elites are becoming vulnerable amidst mounting and often violent dissent. In a failing Empire, the hitherto loyal vassals begin to pull away, rivals multiply and the subjects become angry and less exploitable. The real decline takes place when the controlling mechanism of power itself begins to snap and economic and political systems dominated by undefined financial lobbies become unmanageable. The consequences of ecological disasters are increasingly getting beyond the control of the puppet-masters and their frontline states. Money accumulation with all its printed and laundered paper power is unleashing inflation and economic terrorism. The frequent use of threats and overwhelming force to serve its ends and to expand its domain is bankrupting the superpower system. The Titanic has already hit the iceberg. THE SPIRIT OF INDIA

The International Symposium on “Spirit and The City” — Sustainability of Great Cities — 8–9 May, 2006, Vienna, Austria

To understand the “spirit of India’’ we have to explore the evolution of the Indian psyche over the millennia. The psyche which was continuously conditioned by those latent unseen reverberations which originate from all sources planetary and cosmic, and were forever guiding the country towards a search for the meaning and purpose of life. Every contact with a person, a temple, a monument, an idea and an observation had the deepest spiritual context. So a spirit though largely inward bound had a multifaceted expression which looked at life in it’s — the material, the supramental, the spiritual. This Spirit of India was manifested in the spirit of those thousands of unknown craftsman who carved a stone mountain into the wondrous temple of Ellora. This was an anonymous expression of that spirit to reach out for the deity for attaining inner peace. It was a creative spirit as an expression of the aesthetic and a search for the divine, not for power and pelf. These is also an example of the city of Hampi in the Vijaynagar empire (14th–16th centuries), where all the facets of its spirit, the manifestation of its culture, arts, science, techniques, religion, spirituality, philosophy, politics and economics were all woven into a harmonious expression. That is of civilized existence of affluence, dignity of power, sacred vibrations and symbols, an inseparable whole, expressing the “spirit of India’. As an expression of India’s many millennia-old continuity, it was announced in January this year (2006), that the 9,500 year-old archaeological remains of a lost city had been discovered, 36 metres underwater in the Gulf of Cambay on the western coast of India. Theorists are postulating that the area where the city exists was submerged when the ice caps melted at the end of the last Ice Age. They have pulled out human fossil bones, fossil wood, stone tools, and pieces of

290 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM pottery from a large city laid out on the banks of possibly the Saraswati River that had flowed down the Indian subcontinent to the Gulf. According to BBC’s Tom Housden, the city remains are five miles long and two miles wide. It was reported that it was carbon dated and found to be nearly 9,500 years old. And that the whole model of the origins of civilization will have to be remade from a scratch. The city stands on an enormous foundation discovered through sub-bottom profiling and predates the oldest known remains in the subcontinent by more than 5,000 years. Graham Hancock an authority on archaeological investigations of ancient civilizations, reportedly said that the oceanographers had found two large blocks that were bigger than anything that had ever been found. “Cities on this scale are unknown in the archaeological records in Mesopotamia. It is older than any other known civilization”, and would radically affect our whole picture of the development of urban civilization on this planet. One day while identifying the culture of the people they may conclude that these were the same Vedic people expressing the same spirit of India. It would radically change the whole picture of Indian history, basically written by scholars during the last century. Through the millennia the spirit of India prevailed and manifested itself in diverse ways but with an unchangeable central core of spirituality and the interconnectedness of all phenomenon and life as a totality. This manifestation of the spirit through gods and goddesses places the human element at the centre point of this culture in harmony with the forces of nature, and on the pathways towards the realisation of a higher level of consciousness. The entire expanse of India from north to southeast to west is studded with temples, Buddhist mon- asteries and religious myths, places of worship and archaeological sites. There are dozens of temple towns for the apotheosis and worship of the deities, of the people’s levels of understanding, choice and dedication. The expression of integrated totality of a pluralistic Indian spirit began to be influenced, particularly in the north, by the monotheistic fervour during period of strong Islamic influences and the Cartesian Separation of the British Colonial Rule (17–20th centuries). This got reflected in the apotheosis of the tombs of the kings and queens, and the building of forts as symbols of security and power.

PART – III • SUGGESTIONS FOR A NEW WORLD 291 Mosques and churches as an expression of new dominant faiths. This also influenced the spirit of the cities and towns such as Delhi, Agra, Fatehpur Sikri, Lahore (Pakistan). The seats of power got separated from the human habitats. While the basic structure of the Indic civilization at deeper levels remained intact, and an integrative harmonization of cultures was taking place, it came under serious threats from many national and international forces. These were attempting to transform the pluralistic basis of the society by introducing and promoting monotheistic trends. The most recent and dangerous challenge is from the attempted uniculturisation of the society. The new consumer culture is destroying the integrative forces of pluralism and the quality and the totality of life. From an inner expression to outer acceptance, from quality to status symbol, all expressed in money terms, as a common expression of power and pelf. The spirit of the cities has also begun to move towards this “way of all flesh”, which is being expressed in the disorder and chaos in the streets, rising levels of pollutants in the air, rising tide of status symbols through market capitalization in the minds of the vulnerable. Social parameters are in a state of disarray. With the emergence of mega-cities an unprecedented socio-spatial dynamic is coming into play, development of suburbia, emergence of peripheral cities, rural areas leading to the transformation of the socio-demographic, cultural and functional parameter of the entire surrounding area. The management of the cities is becoming more and more complex, with large-scale development of slums, insecurity, crime and environmental decay. Three metropolitan cities — Mumbai, Kolkata and Delhi — have crossed the 15 million mark. There are over thirty-five other metros. The processes of de- regulation and privatization are catalysing further fragmentation and aggregation of socio-spatial inequalities. Some of the major cities like Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai are now creating large sectoral development of information, technology or biotechnology. But there is one uniform process, which is of large-scale development of slums and squatter settlements. That in turn from time to time requires action to evict these people to assure the planned growth of the big cities, thus impacting on the spatial distribution of the poor. So the garden cities, cities of music, dance and temples etc, are becoming cities of slum, crime, traffic jams, polluted air and water. Thus consumerist development is playing a major role in transforming the culture and the environment of

292 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM the metropolitan cities and the adjoining areas. It is also weakening the linkages of identity and encouraging multiple identities. The Spirit of India has over the centuries drawn its inspiration and strength from perennial sources, which has always helped India to meet new challenges. Its cities reflected the spirit and harmonised the various human attributes. They also expressed the spirit of the times and the deeper human dimension by concentrating and enlarging the Search for Excellence on an entire spectrum of human activity. The unilateral and unidimensional process of its economic and cultural globalisation is dragging all countries, big and small, into a quagmire. The way the Indian spirit will respond to this challenge during the next decade will determine whether, through such urbanised development, the country is heading towards an undifferentiated, unsustainable human existence. Or as in the past, the spirit will guide India towards a new human order, a new value structure to sustain the totality of human existence, and its place in the cosmic reality. That alone will determine whether the new India and its cities will express the spirit and continuity of India that is India. IS ASIA RESURGENT?

World Affairs, Winter 2007, Vol. 11, No. 4 — Asia Rising: Towards Eastern Hegemony?

he resurgence of nations is a multifaceted and multidimensional process, Twhich is catalysed through the realisation and maximisation of the human potential across a broad spectrum of attributes. Taken together, these determine the direction of progress and its contribution to the human heritage. Such evolution must reflect a harmonisation of religious traditions, cultural needs, resources and psyche. During the last half-century, resurgence has been encased in a new globalised box of free market consumerism. The success in this orientation, furthered by big power dispensation, may be due to productive activity, sale of resources, or manufactured products, printing of currency or manipulative processes. The yardstick is consumption, and the index GDP growth. The nations are judged and ranked by the speed at which they grow, China at 10 percent, India at 8, Russia at 6. The percentage of the population that truly benefits from a system which operates like a casino, where both the victim and the beneficiary are largely predetermined is regarded as irrelevant. In some of the role-model economies less than one half percent of the population has acquired over 50percent of the national wealth. And the pipelines from the emerging economies are all flowing through the same portals. Consumerist societies by their very nature and out of the compulsions of the marketplace graduate into “boutique economies”, leveraged through sub- prime and credit card-lending, hedge-fund operations, money creation bonanzas and the accumulation of personal and national debts, borrowing against illusory market capitalisation or bubbling real-estate values. All these factors are now subverting and putting in jeopardy the economic security of the hapless populace of the globalising system, spreading everywhere disastrous imitations of the increasingly disturbing images projected by the role models.

294 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM Similar techniques and inbuilt compulsions are increasingly affecting the countries of Asia, particularly continental economies like India and China. As a result a rapid transformation of the traditional value structure, ethics and cultural mores is taking place, particularly for the beneficiary facilitators. In the short span of a few years India has acquired a respectable number of US dollar billionaires and over 80,000 millionaires and China is not far behind in this respect. Where will these deculturised, dehumanised, unidirectional pathways lead Asia? Can millennia-old cultures and civilisations in a state of disconnect from their perennial continuity be sustained, except as unjust and violent unicultural monoliths? Can their creative and innovative potential be preserved in the new environment? How will the gathering conflict between tradition and development be resolved? The most threatening dark clouds are generated by the environmental crisis. The threat of an all encompassing Armageddon dictates a rapid transition to a sustainable society. Yet hundreds of millions of people led by the beneficiary elites and the media are becoming hooked to globalised consumeristic attitudes, memerised by images of exuberance leading to chaos. Faced with the prospect of an ever growing commitment to this prevalent developmental model, will Asia be able to delink and change course? The potential for renewal is shrinking fast. WORLD HEALTH IN THE CRISIS OF CIVILISATION AND LIFESTYLES

World Affairs, Summer 2007, Vol. 11, No. 2 — World Health in The Crisis of Civilisation and Lifestyle

he healthcare system worldwide is also following the free market ‘consumerist Tparadigm’. This is systematically pushing the healthcare of a large mass of the people towards a more lucrative rather than a more humane system. It is based on fragmentation, cure, repair and replacement of the body parts rather than on a holistic, integrative look at the human being. The metabolic system, body parts and cells are now being regulated by drugs. Media and psychiatrists have taken over the mind and spirituality is in a state of disconnect and wanders aimlessly in search of a convenient location for solace or gets frozen into violent and fundamentalist manifestations. Since the outset of specialised medical education, the proliferation of specialty-oriented hospitals with all their mechanisation and dehumanisation has become an in-built part of the system. In the social organisation the value and curability of a patient is getting determined by his financial abilities. This is progressively pushing the system to cater to a few ‘high net-worth individuals’ — that is monetarily. Even the so-called middle classes are slipping out of its orbit. Thus not only is medicine’s service to the society receding, but a new republic of the few has become the main user of the best medical facilities. The health services of many countries are manned by doctors from the developing world and their middle classes seek health services in poorer countries. As an expression of power and wealth, attempts by some countries to create instruments of biological terror is becoming a cause of international concern.

296 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM • The research on and development of new diseases and epidemics like HIV/ AIDS and their cures are promoting unethical practices within the health system, and also promoting genocidal practices in poor countries. • The use of weaponry like depleted Uranium bombs is spreading and compounding radiation-induced illnesses — detected or undetected — in countries under attack for the furtherance of democracy. • The cases of Polonium poisoning recorded some years ago should send alarm signals amongst responsible citizens around the world. These and many other instruments of human, physical, mental, psychic and spiritual devastation are proliferating while hundreds of millions of people are not only going hungry but are also deprived of the most elementary medical assistance. These civilisational sicknesses cannot be cured only by inventing new antibiotics, by pursuing biological research or using nanotechnology. People’s health results from the harmonisation of the physical, mental and spiritual factors as a part of nature. For biological diseases arising in nature, there are also remedies in nature. Our problems are arising out of lifestyle sicknesses, where the use of the natural remedies retreats whereas the expanding pharmacopoeia of high-priced designer drugs takes over. The pressure to meet the needs of emerging local elites far outweighs the crying needs of the deprived. Even the personnel, doctors, nurses and chemists are often unavailable, except for the more remunerative, high-end hospitals and patients. Therefore, for the vast majority of the poor or unemployed or low income population, medical assistance is largely non-existent even in many of the rich countries. This proliferating disharmony in the human life and health can only be corrected by restoring harmony in the social structure and within human beings and not by multiplying the devastating fury of nature within humans and the environment. The recent attempts at bringing back perennial holistic approaches to human life, health and wellbeing through traditional disciplines, such as yoga, homeopathy, acupuncture, acupressure, chihgong and other indigenous medicine

PART – III • SUGGESTIONS FOR A NEW WORLD 297 systems have been reaching out to much larger groups, but even they cannot develop an adequate delivery system to cope with the speed of technological and social change and “designer” diseases. The Cuban approach to health services is reportedly becoming quite effective in some countries with a very different system of social organisation. In a socio-economically conditioned ‘consumerist paradigm’, humanistic values and needs, except for those who can pay for them by devoting themselves to serve the paradigm, cannot be sustained. COLONIALISM BY OTHER MEANS

World Affairs, Autumn 2007, Vol. 11, No. 3 — Colonialism: Some New and Enduring Forms

olonialism and its evolving images of neo-imperialism are scars on Chuman civilisation, using subterfuges and violence as their weapons for extracting economic advantages. As processes, they transform the entire social, technological, economic and civilisational basis of societies. They exploit the vulnerability of the elite and bring them into the imperial orbit, for a broad based exploitation of their human and material resources. Surrounding a small minority of participating beneficiaries in the system are hundreds of millions who slide into various levels of deprivation. What was once an international divide between colonies and colonial powers has now been transformed, so that each country is divided into small island-republics of the rich and their enriching surrogate while all others remain are plunged in an ocean of poverty. The slogan today is, “Elites of the world unite, and you have all to lose in your isolation”. As a result an imperial system of financial oligarchies is increasingly becoming the custodian of the lives and welfare of billions of people worldwide. With control of the international media and the power of deadly weapons at their command, the timetable for victory was largely on schedule. But unpleas- ant interludes like the war in Iraq, while arousing anger and revulsion against the loss of life and property, have also exposed the inability of imperial powers to dominate and control the resources of targeted countries. Emerging coalitions motivated by the fear of such violent interventions and devastation are making the world environment increasingly violent and unstable. This has increased the desperation within the imperial power system, its international surrogates and client states.

PART – III • SUGGESTIONS FOR A NEW WORLD 299 Neo-imperialism involves an onslaught against the entire social and civilisational spectrum of targeted societies. The old game of divide and rule and the subversion of moral, ethical and cultural values are increasing the youths’ dependence on and commitment to a materialistic and consumerist value structure. It is also eroding established perennial values rooted in cosmic connectivity. Preemption of the resources of small and weak countries and the inner subversion of larger countries is the purpose of this process. With the deceleration of imperial economies and rising anger worldwide the future is beset with threats, while the search for and use of new and mega tools of violence continues. The arsenal of weapons includes Western style democracy with Pink, Yellow, Green and Red revolutions justifying imperial intervention, hegemonism and the lighting of a light, which imperialists alone can see. Cultural and social realities and historical and geographical differences are ignored. This is repeated in various parts of the world with identical consequences leading to chaos. The linchpins of the expanding new globalising paradigm bear close resem- blance to the old colonial system, but are more violent and probably have even less consideration for human life. The process begins with children in school and is meant to transform the very psyche of societies, to expose them to moronising, media-moulding techniques intended to ensure their subservience and to dull their sensitivity to human suffering, in order to make them accept their role as the custodians of imperial interests. It also directs their innovative abilities towards servicing the needs of the system. In a strange twist, some fundamentalist groups are endeavouring to alter the understanding of the processes of evolution amongst schoolchildren and deny them the ability to challenge established beliefs. Unrestrained individualism, free markets, consumerist economies, control of the media, science and technology and financial institutions form the bedrock of the globalising process. These and evolving new techniques are the instruments of intervention in domination and control of other societies. ASIA: CHALLENGES, OPPORTUNITIES AND THREATS

World Affairs, Spring 2008, Vol. 12, No. 1 — Asia: Challenges, Opportunities and Threats

ne of the greatest challenges for a large part of Asia, including India and OChina, is to alleviate the poverty of a large mass of their over 2 billion people. For centuries, Asia has been the victim of invasions and colonialism. Not only was its wealth plundered but its millenary cultural continuity was also disrupted. Its religious traditions of tolerance, spiritual realisation and transcendence were scorned and subjected to less advanced, more ritualistic processes. That dismantled its social structure and inserted conflicts into its harmonious functioning, which had both economic and social consequences. Because of the retreat of the Soviet Union, Asia’s options for a mixed or Socialist economy were no longer sustainable and the free market consumerist model of development, with the United States and the former colonial powers as role models, became a compulsory choice. The technological structure that evolved from the middle of the 20th century was asymmetric with what the developed countries had reached at the end of the Second World War. The high energy, high-technology imported machinery completed the processes of destroying local crafts, leaving millions unemployed. So Asia first moved from importing cheap products to importing high-technology machines. The increase in production and GDP created an illusion of prosperity for some, which spawned a new middle class and a far greater commitment to rapidly rising energy intensities in the production processes. Therefore, on one side, there is an increasing number of billionaires and millionaires and on the other, large differentials in income have further intensified poverty and deprivation while the elites are adopting the lifestyles and techniques of role models and the values of consumerist societies. Arms are also required to protect the power elites. Vast media networks enhance their visibility and increase their power and wealth.

PART – III • SUGGESTIONS FOR A NEW WORLD 301 Young people are being lured into becoming a part of the consumerist system, while economic and political tensions are rising internally and are being imported from the world outside. To all this has now been added food and energy scarcity and rising inflation. This is bankrupting one nation after another, both developed and developing. The dreams of freedom from hunger have been lost in the battle for power and pelf. How to extricate national policies from the sinking consumerist paradigm and its supporting infrastructure and how to reorder priorities towards meeting the minimum basic needs of all people within their own cultures of frugality and restraint is Asia’s greatest challenge. However, before Asia can even begin to approach this problem, it has to free itself from the illusion that what is happening around the world is real progress.

OPPORTUNITIES The slogan “workers of the world unite you have nothing to lose but your chains” became a sign of hope for the colonies and the suppressed working classes of the colonial powers. Yet, before the role model, the USSR, could fulfill its objective of building an equitable welfare state, it was caught in the rat race of violent military competition imposed by colonial or neo-colonial states. The demise of the Soviet system in the 1990s, was hailed as the “End of History” by some academics from the West. It has taken less than two decades to remind us that history as a whole does not end but we are now witnessing the end of another history, that is the “Armament Protected Consumerist Paradigm”. This violence-based process of economic control and domination over others has become self destructive to the point of no return. But the tiger is in search of a new skin, to keep its victim in terror. This is a period of great opportunity for the countries of Asia, to collectively strive for a new human order of peace, justice, harmony and sustainability. The slogan of the system is “elites of the world unite to protect your common interests”. The breakdown of the ethical and moral order is due to the separation of the inseparable physical and metaphysical, material and spiritual realms. These must be brought together in a new set of “universal values” within which diverse cultural entities can create their own structures, in keeping with their

302 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM needs, resources and traditions. This paradigm can be built around a controlled and ethically disciplined market economy through spiritualised socialism. These together could release human innovative capacities and protect nations from human greed and the lust for power while creating a new social order, which will benefit all people. This could be Asia’s greatest contribution to the human future.

THREATS To institute a new paradigm in the present world environment of terrorism and mega-violence will not be a simple process. Historically, every time nations have attempted to realise new possibilities or make substantial progress, the unipolar system has unilaterally endeavoured to crush such attempts. We have the examples of the downsizing of Japan in the 1980s and the breakdown of Soviet Russia in the 1990s and the manner in which that was brought about. From the colonial period, diverse techniques have been employed to acquire and retain power and to this have now been added Pink, Orange or Yellow revolutions and depleted Uranium bombing and, of course, personality and regime demolition through controlled media, and insurgencies and acts of terrorism. Insurgencies, worldwide phenomena, are being instigated in an endeavour to interfere with the operations of countries remaining at least partly outside the system and to direct their economic policies in ways desired by the international financial controllers. The manipulation of stock exchanges and commodity markets and arms trading techniques are getting more and more aggressive. As Asia develops, it so happens that the most significant progress at this time is being made in China, India and Russia. Clearly a close relationship between these three is not considered by the unilateral power system to be in its interest. Therefore, there will be repeated attempts to intervene overtly and covertly to secure hegemonic interests and derail the plans of potential or real rivals. Hence, while Asia dreams of a better future, it must also guard against the visible threats that cast a long shadow over these prospects. CONTINUITY OF CULTURES OR CHAOS OF CIVILIZATIONS?

VIII International Likhachev Scientific Conference (Readings), 22–23 May, 2008, at St. Petersburg University of Humanities and Social Sciences, on ‘Dialogue of Cultures and Partnership of Civilisations’

ultures as an expression of continuity progressively evolve out of the Cenvironment, faith, metaphysics, aesthetics and science. The roots of some cultures go back many millennia, and are perennial, with belief in nature, the unity, oneness and interconnectedness of all its phenomenon. There is a continuous process of evolution of all parameters, which sustain the creativity and the continuity of the cultural streams in balance. The creativity of many of the contemporary cultures has been largely conditioned and dominated by techno-economic and material factors. As culture is not a linear process, it does not follow the pathways of science and technology. The scientific evolutionary processes will not lead to the evolution of ‘universal values’. Contemporary science itself has now reached a stage of uncertainty, where it cannot harmonise with the metaphysical concerns of cultures. The new sciences are even questioning the very existence of material, because all material forms are structured on energy particles. That materiality is an illusion is the foundation of belief in some of the traditional cultures. A rudderless monetised science must either take a step to the next level of consciousness and be disciplined and evolve an ethical and moral code or it will continue to drag cultures into its own labyrinthine future and lead humankind into an aggregating and a continuing civilisational crisis of vast magnitude. The consequences of globalisation are the manifestations of this process and are an expression of the imperial ambitions. Its infrastructure and structure of values are designed to advance and protect an increasingly autonomous system. Globalising of consumerist values is also undermining the continued evolution of millennia-old perennial values.

304 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM The understanding of the perennial cultural streams and nature-based tribal cultures and myths, with their reverence towards nature or ecology, becomes the bridge between science and spirituality, and can possibly provide us deep insights into the ecological, social, and psychic tragedies which are becoming a part of the 21st century. Some cultures of the East, with deep-seated restraints (as against the excesses of the consumer society), and Confucian hierarchical orderliness can play a role and help to trigger new sustainable and compassionate lifestyles and make a much wider contribution to the human future. But to this, there is a very big question mark as to whether the aggression and violence in the international system will let this transformation take place in peace. From the colonial times, behind the declared humanist objectives and civilising missions of democracy, freedom and human rights, there was an unstated agenda of integrating vulnerable economies into a narrowly controlled financial system for the benefit of a few. Working under an illusion of the invincibility of their armed might, the dominant systems all along have been endeavouring to prevent the evolution of new paradigms of human development (the Soviet Unit was one such example). Civilisational parameters, where they are directly under human control as was in the case of pre-colonial crafts, evolve harmoniously. But when external, technological and colonial factors begin to intervene, such harmonisation recedes. Many culturally advanced nations are now being obliged to step back or down, so as to be in step with the consumerist culture. The level of economic development of these countries gets conditioned by the closeness or the integrative potential of their culture with that of the role model. Or in other words, transition from culturally based restraints and orderliness to media-promoted consumption and extravagance, and all the way to armament protection in an increasingly insecure world. Should the psyche of the people of the perennial cultures that evolved over the millennia be transformed into the acceptance of an alien technological culture and its vision of the world? Nirvana or salvation or realisation of the highest human potential, all belong to the realm of spirituality and are far away from mammon worship and its infrastructure of robots, mental capability limiting devices and big pressure media mind control, with inbuilt aversion to the spirit of religions. Mass moronisation, terrorism, genocide, poverty and wars are

PART – III • SUGGESTIONS FOR A NEW WORLD 305 the consequences of such desensitisation of the finer human instincts. And this path is visibly leading us to great social upheavals and ecological disasters. But an unplanned dismantling of the consumerist paradigm will not be possible without a humane and sustainable replacement. Millennia of human knowledge and experience within traditional cultures and religions need to be protected. There is thus a need for a new worldview. We have also to reflect on the mindsets of the 18th century that still prevail and are being projected onto the 21st century issues. For example: It was February 1835, a time when the British were striving to take control of the whole of India. Lord Macaulay, a historian and a politician, made a historic speech in the British Parliament, commonly referred to as The Minutes, which struck a blow at the centuries old system of Indian education. He regarded Indian civilisation as inherently inferior to the European heritage, because of its “paganism” and advocated replacing its educational institutions with Western ones in order to create a class of Indians wholly assimilated to the British rulers and best able to serve the empire. How do nations save their cultural heritage from the increasing intensity of an onslaught by the forces of unreason? How are we to preserve or safeguard the potential and the effectiveness of dialogue as a civilised instrument for a peaceful discourse? In the midst of fundamental concerns about the illusions and the aggressive intents of the major beneficiaries of the globalising world, who are not prepared to face the shifting realities of the changing world environment. And through new social arrangements, are attempting to bring the entire world into a single civilisational model, with its own definition of democracy, human rights and justice. Therefore we are standing at the crossroads of a significant moment in the history of human civilisations, that is, between two worlds. The whole world is now being pushed onto the path of uniculturisation of cultures, globalisation of consumption and is being brought physically closer, spiritually apart. It is changing with every scientific context and descending, uncontrolled, to the lowest common denominator of human existence and survival. Therefore, our only hope is to find ways for the creation of ‘Universal Values’ through a dialogue. There is also a need to decelerate the consumerist paradigm

306 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM and to re-examine the limits of the free market economy and enforcement of ethical, moral and policy constraints. This is exactly what the power system today is fighting against. The Socialist systems made a historic blunder by their continued acceptance of the Cartesian Separation of matter and mind in policies. Also that of the basic structure of the physical universe and the unique awakening into consciousness. Both exist but not independent of each other. One belongs to the realm of culture and the other to civilisation. The free market system to gain freedom in the service of capital and forgetting that labour and its work came before, chose the path of Cartesian Separation, and in this process became a body without soul, an ever-enlarging ‘Rambo’ in search of a more and more powerful gun, in an increasingly violent and complex world. We have, therefore, to give a soul to Rambo and seek new answers through a synthesis of more responsible and controlled free market with a free spiritualised socialism. An attempt at a mixed economy in post independent India was continuously under pressure and lost out after the retreat of the Soviet Union in 1990s. As everything prefaced by the suffix “mono” translates into hegemony, a dialogue of cultures presupposes plurality, and a desire to seek new and more harmonious and sustainable possibilities for the coexistence of diverse, material and metaphysical arrangements. So as to be able to absorb the emerging new knowledge, not only external, that of science, but also internal, that is spiritual. Because cultures are the software around which civilisational forms are structured and the clash of civilisations transcended. Therefore, every step in the direction of containing, abridging or aborting the continuity of perennial nature-based cultures will be a step towards an uncontrolled chaos, and a descent from the eternal to the temporal. Some years ago, an academic called the retreat of the Soviet Union as the ‘End of History’. In reality, it may well be the beginning of the end of the Cartesian Separation of the body and the mind, materiality and spirituality. The destruction by colonialism of traditional, largely self-contained societies brought the world great poverty. By bringing about a still more radical break with old traditions that is now being attempted, all potential for creating a more

PART – III • SUGGESTIONS FOR A NEW WORLD 307 humane order will be obliterated. We are already witnessing this breakdown being brought about by a persistent, illusion of world domination and to control and define all things and phenomenon. This has brought us to an uncertain world with an uncertain science, an uncontrolled economic and human crisis and a disrupted evolution of consciousness. Thus two different worlds with different basic experiences of reality, of two different values of feeling, thinking, and living. With one launched on a self-destructive path and the other struggling to reconnect its past with the new world of science and evolve a sustainable style of life within their own cultural restraints and in harmony with nature. To safely transit from the present to the future and to restore sanity to the human system, we have to start with culture, and reconnect the realm of culture and civilisation because through culture alone can the dying human instincts be restored and order directed towards a new stream of peace. Nations or ethnicities, faiths and cultures, needs and resources, need their own civilisational forms to integrate with their own continuity. Thus the diversity of cultural continuities is the foundations and complementarities for a potential for friendship at the level of the people. Civilisation can never be safe by confining true culture to a small minority and converting the large mass into just consumers, with consumption transformed into a cultural expression. Since the colonial period, partnership of civilisations has been and continues to be a partnership of interests. Now cultures are being downsized and commercialised. When reasons and sensitivities are restored, it shall be the partnership of the peoples that will prevail. From The Stone Age to the Twentieth Century, What A Descent! — Ananda Coomaraswamy All the institutions established to safeguard the future of humankind are either being diminished or marginalised, and those which have been setup to alleviate human suffering and enhance the quality of life have become the victims of human greed and lust for power. The beneficiaries of these changes, without any ethical or moral concerns, have been expanding this process through globalisation structured to bring about a political and cultural integration of the planet into a single civilisational model, thus ensuring the flow of the benefits from all resources and value additions to the fortified citadels

308 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM of the unipolar system. This has evolved into a process of ‘grab and loot’ of the resources of weaker countries and domination of others through power and pelf. The architects of this process are now themselves caught in a triple straitjacket. The high consumption armament-based maquiladora system is stuck with un- serviceable debts, many times higher than its own GDP. This has been further compounded by rising unemployment, the reduction in international tributes of ‘protection money’, and the mounting default on household debt, aggregating against market capitalisation and real estate values. And with the interest rates approaching ‘point zero’, this entire system of high consumption and wasteful expenditure is on a visible downslide which all value-additions, commodity prices, currency exchange rates, stock exchange manipulations and, even the accelerated movement of trillions of dollars a day of hot money are powerless to reverse. Over the years with the shrinking of the production system, and the service economy being paralysed, the illusions of the super rich of making a high debt economy the planetary role model in order to bring the entire world under their sway are rapidly disappearing. While the ruling system is structurally paralysed, the American design to “pre-emptively” occupy helpless nations to acquire their wealth and to frighten others into submission has entered a blind alley. The superpower which launched a civilisational crusade is now seeking saviours to bail itself out of the Iraq imbroglio. Whether this effort succeeds or not, it should certainly yield a few lessons on the inherent limitations to an armament-based domination of Iraq or of the rest of the world. Those who understand only the logic of the gun have not only damaged their credibility but have also increased their own vulnerability. The terrorists will now be further emboldened to take advantage of this situation, thus seriously hindering the much-hyped war on terror, and the ability of the system to make its declared will prevail. The control over the instruments of power and finance which have so far been used to pressure other nations to do the ruling elite’s bidding, is slipping from the grasp of a superpower looking increasingly like a paper tiger that frightens nobody anymore. This decline is affecting the hegemony’s ability to extract more than its fair share from the world system. With the new self-protective power centres taking shape worldwide, the old tactics are becoming less credible and

PART – III • SUGGESTIONS FOR A NEW WORLD 309 effective. The desperate policies of the unipolar system, to ensure continuity with its exploitative past, and to guarantee that its interests take precedence over the right to survival of hundreds of millions of people around the world, are becoming increasingly unacceptable and difficult to enforce. The system must now reflect on and operate under a new set of rules, a new ethical and moral framework and value structure. The new techniques of world trade and financial and technological control are in effect new forms of the old system under the guise of free trade and investment and protection of Intellectual Property Rights. The World Trade Organisation cannot be used to deny the minimum basic subsistence needs of billions of people. It is leading to worldwide tensions, which no system can escape, particularly in a democratic process geared to upholding human rights. At the WTO meeting in Cancun in September 2003, pressures were once again mounted on various agricultural countries to allow highly subsidised exports from the United States and Europe. They also include imports of genetically modified foods and “terminator” seeds and an entire range of supporting chemicals. It is well-known in countries like India, where 70 per cent of the total population is entirely dependent on agriculture, subsidised agriculture imports from highly developed countries will undermine the very structure of the country’s social organisation. It can only mean mass deprivation, unrest and no trade. Furthermore, the harmful effects of genetically modified foods, herbicides and insecticides on the human immune system are becoming well-known. In the midst of all this, the endeavour to transform the agricultural foundations of the developing countries through highly questionable subsidies amounts to genocide. Similarly, globalisation processes are increasingly distorting the production, distribution and income structures of the developing world. While on the one hand these are creating very high income and employment opportunities for the upper 10 per cent of society, on the other, the remaining 90 per cent of the population are being subjected to greater deprivation with huge social consequences. The leaderships of the developing countries have to realise the consequences of disruption in the agricultural regimes of their societies under pressure from the highly subsidised exports of the affluent countries. All nations and peoples have the right to a dignified existence and to be respected for their culture and achievements in order to transcend conflicts be-

310 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM tween civilisations. But above all, there is a need for a spiritual awakening, a rediscovery of the meaning of life beyond the access to weapons by ever younger children and to Viagra by the ageing. The superpowers could have had everything for the asking only if they had acted in a wise, responsible and compassionate manner, and made themselves conscious and respectful of the needs of all peoples and nations, not just of the oligarchies within their own system. It is a time for change but not for self-immolation. The rulers still have an opportunity of providing humane leadership or else their Roman Imperial road will turn into a highway to oblivion. It is time to remember that the world is a family. In this beginning of the 21st century it is necessary to convey one more warning regarding our common planetary future. REJECTION OF CARTESIAN SEPARATION AND ADVANCEMENT OF INTEGRAL HUMANISM

A paper delivered in New Delhi in August 28, 2008

eduction of the Newtonian Science and Cartesian Separation, Rwhile accelerating the speed of science, technology and production processes, broke apart the basic metaphysical and scientific linkages, which are an inseparable part of an established order. And fragmented the human society on ethnic, religious and racial lines, and legitimised colonialism, monotheism, mono-powerism, mono-culturisation, rulers and the ruled, rich and the poor, capitalism and socialism, enemies and friends. This situation has been sustained through conflicts with increasing lethality of weapons. Over the last two centuries, through hundreds of smaller conflicts and two world wars and displacement of millions of lives, the human structure has evolved into its present state, with weapons of mass destruction, designer diseases and terrorism. And above all, the human descent to an uncertain future, with a vanishing identity. Through the millennia, the perennial wisdom was enshrined in the interconnectedness of all cosmic phenomenon and consequently that of our planet (in an ubiquitous all-pervasive sea of energy), defined differently in different cultures. Similarly, contemporary new sciences posit an all-pervasive energy field called quantum vacuum or zero point energy, a random ambient fluctuating energy that exists in empty spaces. This has consequences both for the animate and inanimate, providing an even more complex picture of nature. This oneness and interconnectedness of all

312 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM phenomenon obligates a holistic approach to our planetary vision and to stem the tide of the breakdown of the human civilisation, displaces the forces which are diminishing humans through the fragmentation of the human heritage, cultivated over the millennia, and its confinement into a monetary straitjacket, for the glorification of a means of exchange. All human advancement is catalysed by evolving human consciousness, it relates to the sciences for the evolution of the material and the psycho-social consciousness, which in turn is deeply influenced by the sights, sounds, experiences and evolving symbols and values of new economic forces, controlled discourse and supporting media. The selective targeting of youth through the new idioms of culture and values, distorts the true meaning and purpose of life. There is an urgent need to understand the linkages and articulate the roots of the problem, enlarge the orbit of human and global consciousness to a point from where a new social architecture becomes visible. And to contain the paralysis which is now rapidly setting into the human system. Both dogmatic adherence to the market and religious fundamentalism are battling for the human future on earth and in heaven, and it is the large mass of the humans that are the victims. Cultures and civilisations are a process of continuity and creativity and are never absolutes. All their parameters must continuously evolve and harmonise to create a stable state. And the communication networks are catalysing these in the social sphere. But while the quantum sciences are projecting a new vision of interconnectivity, the material developmental processes are still being governed by the Newtonian-Cartesian fragmentation and separation. Therefore, to transit to human-centric processes of development, these should be based on ‘consumption’ or the satisfaction of the minimum basic needs for all, rather than ‘production’ at any cost irrespective of the concerns for ethics, justice, ecology and reason. Attempts were made during the early part of 20th century to start a movement of humanism as a ‘life stance’. To define the new parameter of human-centric development, it would be necessary to place the new humanism between ecological concerns and spiritual realisation, an ‘Integral Humanism’, where ecology will provide the physical and resources constraints, while spiritual growth and consciousness will curb

PART – III • SUGGESTIONS FOR A NEW WORLD 313 the expansion of unsustainable consumerist growth. Religions will provide the pathways to spiritual realisation. A holistic vision of the interconnectedness of new science beyond Newton and even Einstein has to be integrated with the Oneness of the Universe and the cosmic reality. ‘Integral Humanism’ will provide a new vision to contain fragmentation of the inseparable unity of the cosmic and planetary, physical and metaphysical processes, and help humankind onto the pathways of a holistic vision for the realisation of the highest human potential — material, mental, supramental and spiritual. This would call for the outright rejection of the Newtonian-Cartesian fragmentary view of the inseparable cosmic reality. Also to place an integrated human being on to the path for the search of the meaning and purpose of life. And realisation of the true human destiny. THE IRANIAN ENIGMA

World Affairs, Spring 2007, Vol. 11, No. 1 — The Iranian Engima

he “Clash of Civilisations” has become the prevailing logic for policy-makers Tand so-called intellectuals to justify the present intolerance, violence and suffering of countless people. It is one thing to attribute the present situation to this clash and another to instigate conflicts and confrontations amongst diverse elements within humankind — that too as an instrument of control and domination in order to maintain a globalised economic system and transfer its benefits to a supranational financial oligarchy. The control of energy resources and markets is a key objective of this exercise. During the colonial and post-colonial periods, such control was vested in an international network supported by a dominant imperial power. This system, because of its gross unfairness, violence and the resultant counter-violence, developed cracks and has triggered the rise of alternative control structures in all oil-rich areas of the world — Latin America, Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. The conflict with Iran is implied in the larger plan for US domination of the Middle East and has been aggravated by the failed occupation of Iraq. This has increased the urgency to control Iran’s oil and gas reserves and to check its rising power in the highly unstable environment of the Middle East. The pressures on Iran are meant to contain the threats to the Western economic and security system in the region. In this environment, the discussions on Iran have focused on the Islamic Republic’s energy resources, military and nuclear capabilities and its attempts to create an alternative energy infrastructure. The justification is that the unipolar power system — despite its disastrous recent record of deception and failure — has a right to protect its imperial interests and to fight terrorism, which it con- veniently accuses Iran of sponsoring. The American establishment claims that

PART – III • SUGGESTIONS FOR A NEW WORLD 315 another country even with much smaller resources could become a challenger in the medium term. This logic, which was the currency of the 20th century, has since lost most of its credibility. It is necessary to present another picture of Iran, its inner contradictions and emerging realities, its ancient civilisation and its current trends, its sophisticated people and its process of modernisation, which remains wary of the consumerist trap. Consumerism is not just a threat in Iran alone but is a matter of great concern in every civilised country around the world. Therefore, Iran’s struggle to protect its resources and its distinctiveness must be viewed in the global context. EUROPE ON NEW PATHWAYS — TEMPORAL OR ETERNAL

World Affairs, Autumn 2008, Vol. 12, No. 3 — Europe and The EU: Atlanticist or Eurasian?

he wealth from the colonies and the power of the gun gave Europe a flying Tstart in catalysing what came to be regarded as Western Civilisation. Newto- nian science and the Cartesian Separation of the physical from the metaphysical greatly accelerated this process. Consequently, vast differentials in power and wealth within European countries became the cause célèbere for the First and Second World Wars. This brought about the weakening and later the break-up of the colonial structure and the power shift towards the United States. Europe became the recipient of its largesse and chief supporter of its policies and goals. The financial system of the colonial empires, which was located at the power centres in Europe, also shifted to the United States. It kept on altering and enlarging the world’s financial architecture to multiply its financial advantages for the rising United States, the prosperity of post-war Europe and emerging Asia. The target now was not just the colonies, but the whole world. The fall of the Soviet Union gave the licence and the incentive to create a global structure and manipulate the worldwide resources, production systems and markets, so that the financial flows would converge at the financial power centres in New York, London, Amsterdam and other chosen cities. This unabashed and extravagant pursuit and use of wealth and power had its consequences and it has landed the United States into indebtedness amounting to hundreds of trillions of dollars, both external and internal, that is many times its GDP. This strategy relied on limitless borrowing and currency creation, thereby multiplying the number of billionaires. The unethical and speculative acceleration of these processes exposed and bankrupted major financial systems, including that of Europe, to the extent of their interdependence with the American

PART – III • SUGGESTIONS FOR A NEW WORLD 317 system. Now under threat of total economic collapse, these institutions are being bailed-out with public funds and partial or total socialisation of the “sacred market economy” is taking place, with Europe toeing the line. The concept of ‘American Civilisation’, is being renamed ’Western Civilisa- tion’ to make Europe an active participant in the bailing out process, and ensure its complicity in preserving the same financial architecture with some cosmetic changes. The debts are in America; the money and the markets are in Asia; Europe is sliding into financial crisis and economic recession. The energy needs of some of its major countries are being met from Russia. How should Europe respond to the challenge for the survival of the market economy? By globalising under the American flag, USA plus NATO? Or by charting a different, independent path? The spirit of Western Civilisation is still enshrined in Europe. At least, whatever of it has escaped the inroads of consumerism. The financial oligarchies, as in the past, will move with the tide away from the United States. European powers will have to dismantle their colonial prejudices and mind-sets to relate to the new economic realities. Not only will they have to contain the activities of the monopolistic elites, but also avoid participating in the attempts to reclaim the lost political and economic dependencies of the United States and their own former colonies. Diverse cultural needs and resources dictate different developmental patterns. The endeavour to globalise the world with aggressive unilateral techniques is proving disastrous. Pedestrian, unidimensional and mechanical solutions to complex human problems requiring a holistic approach thus pose a threat to human civilisation as a whole. Therefore, a project to transform and control the human condition through genocidal weapons of hunger, disease and terror will prove counter-productive and self-destructive. Europe has to learn a lesson from its own colonial past, and from the suicidal erosion of the American Empire. It failed to seek and find the wisdom of the East and the new sciences, which both teach the “interconnectedness of all phenomena wherein by hurting others, you are in reality destroying your own self”. Visible scars on the soul of an aborted American Empire should be a warning to all nations harbouring dreams of conquest, wealth and power at the expense of other peoples and cultures. Therefore, Europe must restore its cultural

318 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM transcendence and provide a new meaning to Western Civilisation through continuity and creativity. After setting in the West, the sun is now rising in the East. A new world full of hopes, dreams, peace and compassion is struggling to take birth. Let Europe share in a new cycle of creativity from the material to the mental, the supramental to the spiritual in search of the meaning and purpose of life, thus pursuing eternal rather than solely temporal goals. RUSSIA — AN UNCHARTED TRANSITION

World Affairs, Winter 2008, Vol. 12, No. 4 — Russia: Crisis, Continuity and Restorations

ussia has gone through two great transitions in its history — towards the Tsarist REmpire and towards the Soviet state. For the last two decades it is in the midst of the third transition, towards the market economy. Each of these transitions represented a different socio-economic and value structure expressed respectively through the glorification of the imperial autocrat, the proletariat, and now the monetary and consumeristic aspect of our lives. Each one of these power system lost its central objective and soul through the excessive use or display of wealth or power and lack of human or metaphysical concerns, within the system. The only continuity, whether hallowed, submerged or reviled, was that of the Orthodox Church. The globalising consumerist paradigm has begun to unravel dangerously worldwide. The meltdown of the supposedly ironclad financial pillars of the economic system, as a result of manifest greed and unethical conduct at its control points, has shattered the equilibrium and the stability of the market economies, leaving the production and consumption system and the world trade in a state of disarray with severe consequence on the stock, commodity and currency markets. In other words, attempts at exponentially expanding fictitious paper wealth and market capitalisation have blown up the paradigm at its very foundation. Russia has been one of the major victims of these developments. Unprece- dented drops in the stock markets and commodity prices of oil and energy in particular, currency devaluation and inflation have made it increasingly difficult to balance the budget. The return of the hot money of the financial oligarchies in the future could further increase their control over Russian stock market and resources. The last decade of efforts to seek economic stability has been neutralised by the drag of the international financial system.

320 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM POSSIBLE DIRECTIONS FOR THE FUTURE The financial oligarchies will succeed in maintaining the existing financial architecture by making some unobtrusive changes to the existing system. Or in other words, the control and manipulations will remain more or less unaltered. The operators will buy back at bargain-basement prices the stocks they left behind, pre-meltdown and manage to salvage, preserve and reorder the financial system at a minimum cost to them. Or by escaping the oligarchic pressures, nations will be able to divert national financial resources towards social programmes of infrastructural modernisation, expansion and employment generation. This process of human development with emphasis on programmes for the satisfaction of basic needs would progressively evolve into a humane paradigm. But this can only be achieved if and when community interests take precedence over individual interests. Adequate financial regulation and the emergence of international coalitions for security and economic cooperation are some of the preconditions. It is obvious that the third transition did not originate on Russian soil. It is a transplant imposed by external forces. The objective was to bring the great Euro-Asian landmass, its power and resources, within the larger imperial network and financial architecture of the unipolar system. This was to be achieved by limiting Russia’s power projection capabilities and by undermining its rising economic clout and that of its potential allies in Asia and beyond. This situation carries a threat, but also an opportunity to steer the sinking world economy towards a more sustainable path. This downsizing for subsequent control is being attempted through the financial vanishing tricks on the stock exchanges, currency and commodity markets and by instigating regional conflicts, multicoloured revolutions and terrorism or with weapons of economic sabotage. Yet, the techniques of downsizing earlier used in Asia cannot always be successful on a worldwide scale. The globalising system may get a short-term respite, but the long-term economic, human and ecological consequences shall further compound the human tragedy and civilisational breakdown. There is an urgent need to re-examine, harmonise and restructure the cultures and need-based parameters to serve the larger human interest. Ecological, ethical and moral concerns for the realisation of the highest human potential, material, mental and spiritual, should be the determinant. Russia with the glittering

PART – III • SUGGESTIONS FOR A NEW WORLD 321 monuments of its past, its values and national psyche conditioned by the three thought streams and cultures representing imperial glory, proletarian power and rampant consumerism, is well-equipped to harmonise the changes within its creative continuity and to channel the shining remnants of these rivers into a sustainable confluence. The Russian Orthodox Church can provide the metaphysical support in this process of evolution and renaissance. The financial meltdown and its global economic and social consequences are rapidly catalysing an environment conducive to change and liberation from the power interests, that are attempting to keep control by offering Band-Aid like solutions. Russia sits between rising Asia and declining Europe. Like Russia, both are going through the turmoil engineered by manipulative financial jugglery. Together they can chart pathways towards new horizons for a just and sustainable economic order. The Socialist enterprises and financial institutions regulated by state controls withstood the consequences of this crisis better than the vulnerable privatised institutions. With their past experience and partly Socialist economies, Russia, India and China can provide valuable experiential inputs into this restructuring process. However, this vast potential for building a sustainable human future is being neutralised by the stranglehold of the unilateral power structure and its unidirectional financial flows, which support each other. Today, both are in disarray and without credibility. Attempts are however being made to restore the status quo with the veiled threats of further deceleration of the economies backed by Georgia, Gaza and Mumbai-style operations. These continuing attempts at subversion can only be checkmated through the trilateral harmonisation of the economic, political and security policies of Russia, India and China, which are among the principal targets and victims of these tactics. In the present configuration of forces, the landmass of Asia alone can provide adequate defence and resources to fight off misuse by the decaying “Atlantic” financial power. Due to the accelerating speed of change, the empires of the future will have a reduced lifespan and their failure will carry even graver consequences. Therein lies the hope of moving towards an ‘Integral Humanism’, unfettered by the symbols and the violence of the past and expressing the spirit of a new human destiny. INDIA IN THE ASIAN CONTEXT: ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL CHALLENGES

World Affairs, Winter 2009, Vol. 13, No. 4 — India in The Asian Context

ver the centuries, European civilisation has been expressed through its in- Ocreasing technological and military power. With the spread of colonialism, this power was projected through the colonising states dominated by Great Britain. Asian cultures largely remained harmonious until they were subverted by imperial interests. However, with the end of colonialism in the 20th century, cultural linkages amongst the countries of Asia began to be rekindled. Within a few decades after the emergence of the United States as a global hegemon, this process of deculturisation of Asia was restored as Americanisation. With the changing political and economic equations and as a result of globalisation, it is being transformed once again into Westernisation. For centuries, India had strong cultural linkages with Asia — from Kashgar to Kyoto, from Mongolia to Bali. However, with the shift of power and the spread of violence and wars in Europe and after the shock of the Great Game, Western elites led by the US have begun to prevail again. The threats of conflicts in Afghanistan, India, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, Palestine and now, with the threatened war with Iran and the regular bombing of western Pakistan, have broken the promise of peace and equanimity. The centres of Western power after the Second World War steered the world towards the production of war weapons and terrorism. Instead of eradicating poverty and promoting sustainable development, Asian countries have had to protect themselves from not only economic and cultural domination, but also from the weapons used to enforce it.

PART – III • SUGGESTIONS FOR A NEW WORLD 323 Now, with the rapid decline of the consumerist paradigm and Western might, the re-emergence of Asia as an economic pole on the world scene, the West’s dream of world domination through financial and cultural influences and advanced weapons is being checkmated by the rising economic power of Asia. Asia, particularly China and India, can play a central role in reshaping the world order. The following will be some of the components of such a change: 1. A rapid, regulated and planned move towards a more sustainable development. The consumerist culture will have to be phased out and emphasis shifted to non-polluting agricultural and rural development. It is time we move away from money-centric growth to a human-centric social order. This means giving priority to the basic needs of all rather than the inflated gross domestic products going mostly to a small fraction of the population. 2. Climate change is largely the consequence of consumerist development and weapons production. Only a shift away from this policy will ensure climate stability. Merely attempting a reduction of CO2 and other pollutants responsible for the crisis of climate change will not succeed, unless the present consumerist paradigm of development is materially restructured. 3. Linkages of culture and harmony amongst the countries of Asia and beyond, need to be restored with religious tolerance, stability and peace. First colonialism and now globalisation are trying to bring about fundamental cultural transformation and thus are transferring their own conflicts to Asia. 4. The three brothers, Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism, enjoy wide acceptance in Asia. Their harmonious integration and relationship with traditions such as Hinduism and Sufi Islam could create a pattern of peaceful coexistence. India is a reference society for many faiths and traditions and will make a vital contribution to this process. Chinese Confucianism could provide balance and orderliness. This is the path for Asia to evolve towards a sustainable new order. It is necessary to define the ethics of communication, trade and the values which

324 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM have brought the world to its present state. As the paradigm shifts, a new code of ethics and values will have to be structured. Therein lies the future of India and Asia. Therefore to checkmate such trends, it is imperative to create a cooperative arrangement of continental Europe and Asia — from Lisbon to Vladivostok — to escape the threats of North America, helped by whatever allies the latter still has in Asia and the West. Yet such alliances will neither advance economic development nor security, as greater resources will be used to enhance the potential for disorder and promote the arms race. No new order will emerge in this environment. All permutations and combinations of alliances between diverse resources and interests will only have short-term potential for stability and security and that too if there are elements of complementarity within the system. Protective cooperation for economic domination or security within a larger system on a background of mass poverty and unemployment will be only a prelude to ever widening conflict. The restructuring of a new paradigm will require sacrifice and consensus through dialogue. The use of financial pressure and military force will only lead to the breakdown of all systems with a holocaust as a possible consequence. INDIA’S FUTURE — “DISTURBING IMAGES”

World Affairs, Winter 2010, Vol. 14, No. 4 — India’s Situation And Potential In The Asian Century

e are witnessing the twilight of the post-colonial world which came into Wbeing with the liberation of the colonies after the Second World War. The next decade, therefore, promises to be a period of great turmoil, transition and transformation and a significant benchmark in the shape of things, raising new hopes and concerns for the future. Major think tanks, such as the Heritage Foundation, The Trilateral Commission, NATO and others supported by powerful interests are feeding scenarios into the decision-making structure of the United States, Europe and Japan. Some of these scenarios envisage a continuity of the existing economic order. The basic assumption is that the framework of consumerist development through market economies should remain the driving force not only in the developing world but also in the former centrally planned Socialist societies. Most developing countries, including India, are thus under ever mounting pressure to increase their level of commitment and integrate their export-led economies within such a system. The pressure points to ensure compliance by these countries include denial of access to financial resources, technologies and markets at favourable conditions of trade. Politically and economically vulnerable nations and their leaderships are thus kept on a short leash to function and stay within the larger policy frame by liberalising foreign investment and imports, permitting free access to international financial institutions and media and accepting restrictions on their hi-tech nuclear and space policies. There has thus been a dramatic shift in the pattern of India’s concerns since Independence. The key words today are not swadeshi and self-reliance but foreign

326 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM goods, hi-tech and integration with a declining international order. Even national self-respect and pride so assiduously cultivated by an entire generation of revered leaders, are considered dispensable hurdles in achieving consumerist objectives. The media is used to subject people to Ramboisation techniques to launch them on the way of all flesh. India is rapidly losing options for retaining her national identity and translating objectives of political equality into economic equity. The nation faces the inherent risks of reversion to a modernised version of a colonial status. Our parody of affluence for relatively few has already started projecting chaotic images of the future. Without a comprehensive overview of national interests and priorities, all vital linkages in sectoral policy formulations, whether relating to planning, finance, science and technology, defence, foreign affairs and others, are constantly under pressure from outside power centres. We are thus unable to respond to national needs and challenges. The political and economic elites’ exclusive concern of jockeying for political advantages through populist slogans or issues of ethics and morality or through manipulation of religious caste and ethnic problems or acquiring NRI status for self-gain through fast buck operations, is seriously undermining the country’s prosperity as a sustainable nation and her influence in the emerging new order. Frequent brave words and packets of disinformation will be no substitute to contain the consequences of rising levels of deprivation in society. Nor will they safeguard our interests in an international environment where talk of a new economic order is only a smokescreen behind which old intentions are christened through new strategies. However, as nature and man are both in revolt against the overload of the environment and the human psyche, even the best laid plans of the beneficiaries cannot make their will prevail in transplanting the injustices of the past on to the future. The only hope lies in awakening to national realities with new and sustainable images of the future and the responsibility for a common cause with victims of aggression and deprivation everywhere. Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair! — P B Shelley, Ozymandias AFRICA: FROM COLONIAL SEPARATION TO GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP

World Affairs, Spring 2009, Vol. 13, No. 1 — Africa: From Colonial Separation to South-South Cooperation

ince the final decades of the 20th century Asia has gradually been moving to Sthe centre stage of global economy and politics. More recently Latin America has emerged from the shadows of the age-old US protectorate and is striking out on its own as an increasingly autonomous civilisation that is reconnecting with its indigenous roots while reviewing its imported, colonial heritage. Africa, located halfway between the “Old” and “New” worlds, in both hemispheres, is still a battleground between the two major Semitic religions, Christianity and Islam, and has now turned into a locus of competition and strife between the various former colonial powers and some more recent stake- holders, in particular China and India, which are showing major interest in the Dark Continent’s enormous natural resources and in its vast potential consumer market. The West remain keenly aware of Africa’s strategic and economic assets and is visibly concerned by the prospect of “losing” its centuries-old southern backyard and outlet which was a fount of gold, ivory, slaves, precious timber and other valuable commodities ever since Graeco-Roman antiquity, much before becoming a major destination for its missionary activities and empire-building expeditions. Indeed through Egypt, Africa, seemingly the original cradle of the human race, has also been the seedbed of much of Western civilisation. While China is now the most active investor, trader and development partner in many of the continent’s countries, Brazil, traditionally linked to Africa

328 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM by centuries of shared Portuguese influence, is moving fast to develop new bonds between the lands that face one another across the South Atlantic. Challenged by those relatively new players, the USA is refurbishing its ideological arsenal as a protector of freedom in the Third World and invoking an ad hoc reinterpretation of Monroe’s doctrine to stand up to the Chinese advance in Africa. The creation of AFRICOM, a US military command intended to control and monitor the entire continent through rapid reaction forces supported by native contingents in allied countries, is clearly a response to the Asian diplomatic, industrial and commercial offensive though it is ostensibly justified by the need to fight terrorism, although the actual term “war on terror” of the Bush era now stands discredited. Washington hopes to protect its African investments and the broader Western interests there through this military deployment as it can no longer maintain its preponderance solely through economic means, given the rapid American decline in a context of nearly global depression. In spite of its vastness and diversity, there is a general tendency to look upon Africa as a strategic whole. Yet, at least three major areas within the continent have very different histories and orientations. The North, from the Red Sea to the Atlantic, is geographically and culturally close to West Asia with which it shares the Islamic faith, Arabic civilisation and many physical, climatic and geological features. The West naturally looks towards the Americas where many of its denizens were forcibly taken as slaves along three centuries, whereas the East and Southeast belong to the Indian Ocean basin around which their history has revolved. As the major economies of that area grow and modernise, the coastal African states are being gradually drawn into this incipient economic community. Those three natural spheres of cooperation — the Mediterranean oriented, predominantly Arab North, the Atlantic West and the “Indian” East — are likely to be the essential factors behind the success or failure of the current attempt to build a continental Pan-African Union that intends and hopes to be economically independent and strategically equidistant from its powerful outside partners, whether American, European or Asian, as an equal stakeholder in the multipolar, polycentric world order in the making. ROAD TO RECOVERY — OUR PRESENT IS NOT THE FUTURE

World Affairs, Autumn 2009, Vol. 13, No. 3 — Last Stand Of The United States

The 21st century began its first decade on a frightening note. It is very high on the scale of violence against innocent people, ushering in the greatest economic crisis in modern history, the breakdown of ethical and moral order is manifest in the outright loot of the financial resources of the citizens by the financial oligarchies and subsequent state-sponsored bail-out of the institutions and people responsible for these crimes. Consequently the patterns of power and world economic leadership are undergoing a sea change. With the financial and energy resources both in Asia, the old style petrodollar-based operation by the economic leaderships will no longer be possible. The sellers of energy are now becoming the buyers, and without financial resources to pay for it. Neither the control of energy resources, nor the middleman’s profits are now available, and conflicts to exercise control have become a counter- productive process. So the world leadership pattern must undergo a change, and whatever currency will hold sway must now establish or re-establish its value. While millions are getting unemployed in the developed world where massive factories with the latest equipment are becoming wastelands, new facilities are coming up elsewhere to create jobs and cheaper goods with lower labour cost. So in globalising economies over-investment in the same products and duplication of productive capacities is creating highly competitive and wasteful processes. The money invested will create a few high-technology jobs, leaving so many million unemployed and their minimum basic needs of food, health, education and employment unmet. Vast income differentials and social tensions, with millions of new millionaires and hundreds of million unemployed or partially employed people are created thereby.

330 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM Thus winds of uncontrollable intensity are blowing all over the world. Latin America, with a new brand of socialism, is raising its flag. Genocide is no longer sufficient to control the African resources and markets. Post-colonial Africa is rediscovering its power and resources. Without the wealth from the colonies, Europe is being orphaned. It has technologies but dwindling markets. The future world cannot be subjected to the Great Game. Old-boys’ power networks and coalitions can neither exercise lasting power nor influence. They can destroy but can no longer control or exploit at will. New arrangements must be made to balance the new power equations. Neither Europe nor the United States have the power or resources to reshape the world in old pre-colonial style. Asia cannot transform itself into “old style” Europe. There is not enough time for an orderly and peaceful transition. Five-thousand-year-old cultures demand a new world order. An order without arms, but a new kind of humanism, with every citizen of the world as an equal partner in structuring a new humane civilisation through dialogue. Wars and military domination are not an intrinsic part of the old civilisations of Asia, which account for its creativity, material, mental, supramental and spiritual. The poet Rabindranath Tagore said: Sun is setting in the West The morning awaits behind the patient dark of the East, meek and silent. AFRICA — AGONY AND HOPE

World Affairs, Summer 2010, Vol. 14, No. 2 — A New Economic Order? Africa and The Indian Ocean

frica is one of the continents with the largest natural resources and it is also Athe least developed. The 19th and the 20th centuries were generally disastrous for its people because of the exploitation by the colonial powers of Europe. After the Second World War and the end of colonial empires, genocides, political interventions and instigated civil wars were too often its lot. This situation applies in varying degrees to most countries of Africa, big and small. And now there are new threats on the horizon. President Barack Obama recently expressed his concern about a looming long war against Al-Qaeda’s worldwide acts of terrorism, allegedly planned, organised and executed by Osama bin Laden, and his presumed international network from his hideouts in Pakistan and Africa is seem as a major threater of that campaign. The vice-chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General James E. Cartwright, on 14 April 2010, before a Senate committee, commented and repeated Obama’s statement that, ‘We have to prepare for a long war satisfying our high-technology aims and also mass production of low technology weapons.’ An international conference was called in New Delhi on ‘Homeland Security and Safe Cities: Security of Your World’ between 28 and 30 July 2010. Obama stated that acts of terrorism will be fought worldwide by the United States. The homeland security of the United States will thus guide the world leaders and military policies. The consequences of fostering terrorism and fighting it at the same time will mean that growing proportions of the world’s wealth will be used for creating weapons to fight terrorism. This policy will engender even more ills, and one of the biggest victims of the situation will be the continent of Africa. Let us hope that this will not come true and that people in large parts of Africa will have the opportunity to provide for their own welfare and improve

332 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM their way of life free from neo-colonial interferences and military interventions. If a new economic order comes into play, the African nations will be able to further develop mutually beneficial relations with Asia and the Indian Ocean Region, among others. OUR WORLD: WHERE IS IT HEADED?

World Affairs, Summer 2009, Vol. 13, No. 2 — Breakdown in The Global System: Effects and Solutions

he last three decades, with all the overt and covert acts of terrorism, increasing Tproliferation of nuclear and other weapons, declared and undeclared wars, mass hunger and deprivation, have made this perhaps one of the most dangerous periods of human history. We have lived through centuries structured on human exploitation, colonialism, neo-imperialism and now the rule of the market and neo-liberalism as a part of the plan for human domination. The East India Company was an important instrument enabling colonialism to multiply profits. Its contemporary manifestation is the “multinational corporate”, providing cover to enlarge the areas of operations and the vulnerability of victims. The transition from Fleet Street to Wall Street was only a matter of time, location and magnitude. The Shylock of Shakespeare’sThe Merchant of Venice is now the moneychanger and the banker with a worldwide network of surrogates, howling for revenge against those who do not fall in line. We have witnessed the emergence of the superpower of finance for servicing the expanding reach of hot money by taking control of primary instruments of economic development such as stock and currency exchanges and commodity markets. With the financiali- sation of economic activity, the ownership of corporate structures has become invisible. During the last two decades, the Soviet Union disintegrated as a role model of a Socialist state and now the so-called role models of democracy and free economy are faltering, leaving the world in an ideological vacuum. The fall of the USSR brought far-reaching changes in the direction of human development, while the Capitalist system with its unregulated economies has undone the

334 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM cultural continuity developing countries have had with their historical linkages. The development of infrastructure during the last few decades has been in the direction of consumer societies — on a path unrelated to the interests of most people, as financial surpluses are directed towards a small, mostly Anglo-Saxon coalition of financial oligarchies. The new ideology of financialism, where a service provider to the production process has assumed the role of the process itself and even the decisions of what will be produced or consumed, now rests with the moneychangers. Our choice today is to save whatever is left of the existing infrastructure and continue on the same path until doomsday or to start anew and build a culture-related infrastructure, which will serve the interests of the large mass of people in diverse cultures. How have both the Socialist and Capitalist systems of development met the same fate, all in a quarter of century? The answer is that both models of development were divorced from the self-correcting processes of nature and have brought us to the threshold of ecological disaster. The self-regulating capacity of the system and the continuity and linkages of the past have been broken. Developmental processes of an unregulated economy without ethical and moral constraints have just one vision of the future — to multiply and control financial resources. In the name of rapid growth with freedom, developmental processes have created a destructively competitive over-production where one set of organisations is destroying the other, without concern for the security of billions of people while widening the divide between the few rich and the many others. The financial architecture structured on junk heaps of insecure wealth, is collapsing. Resources are piling up at one end, poverty and starvation rising on the other. There is so much confusion and pre-emption that it is hard to find a new direction for human development. We need a formula which will take care of ecological concerns, and developmental processes that allow humans to develop on paths from the material to the mental, supramental and spiritual. A serious discussion on a holistic approach to human development and the potential of “Integral Humanism” may help save the world from this unending crisis, restore human ability to judge and provide opportunities to reconnect with cultural continuity while addressing the ecological crisis. The main issue is — can we re-restore the cosmic connection and launch human civilisation on a just and humane course, out of the cycle of deprivation and hate? A NEW HUMAN CIVILISATION: A RISING OR SETTING SUN? THE WORLD’S PRESENT AND PROSPECTS

World Affairs, Autumn 2010, Vol. 14, No. 3 — The Global Future Perspectives and Visions

Wherever the processes of economic and cultural globalisation have prevailed, so have violence and terrorism, ethnic and religious conflict. The entire world to varying degrees is going through a painful economic and financial crisis and its consequences. We are now aware of the causes and consequences as well as of the planners of this global disruption, but with no solution is in sight because: • The small tribe of beneficiaries only wants a few cosmetic changes in the paradigm, while retaining control of financial structures without restrictions. This raises the question of how long this formulation will last, as it is causing ever greater damage to the world system. No country can resist those tactics without suffering the attendant economic and security-related consequences. • The others, billions across the world, victims of these processes and most of the enlightened non-beneficiary elite, want a total change, in the interest of all humankind. Policies designed for a new human order, protective of humans and nature should not in any way be influenced by the present orientation. • The present globalised “Paradigm” is a result of the evolution from capitalism to colonialism, imperialism and consumerism and it is now in its final stage. It is time for the developing world to see the reality of the emerging situation in the countries posing as role models. In globalising the developing countries

336 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM they will be forced to pay for the debts accumulated by the major Western powers. Are there more lessons to be learnt than what we have seen and experienced during the last few years? As a first step, efforts should be made to build an alternative paradigm through a synthesis of democratised socialism and a regulated market economy. Its destination will be a new kind of humanism with a changed value structure. The first and foremost change will be the dismantling of the present monetary formulation as an emblem of all there is to attain in life — the globalisation of the trio of “Armament Protected Consumerism”, worldwide financial control and “money” as the symbol of power, wealth, name and fame. These are being downloaded from the so-called affluent developed societies to the poorest of the poor as well as all the in-between countries. This has become the bane of humankind. Now is the only chance to dream of a future beyond money to a cosmic humanism where humans and not money will be the symbols of everything that matters in our lives. Under this new humanism, all humans will have the potential to attain the highest in the material, mental, supramental and spiritual fields — a complete person for the 21st century and millennia to come on the eternal and perennial path. Our values cannot change with every material periodical change. How can we move to the “road less travelled” in the midst of an overwhelming configuration of power-centres in the world, which will not permit any nation to resist their continuing and desperate search for a 21st century from the perspective of their own model of colonialism. In the interim, the developing world is approaching the problems of development from the perspective of its own needs, resources and cultures. An attempt must be made to bring together all the forces that can withstand political, economic and security pressures blocking that transformation. One day all developing and enlightened countries will have to come together around the ultimate aim of realising cosmic humanism, in which human interests will take precedence over monetary and other interests. There could be many combinations — Brazil, Russia, India, China (BRIC) is the most obvious one at this stage. Other combinations have been proposed from time to time with the possible inclusion of Japan, Central Asia, Iran, South Africa and Turkey. Such blocs will have all defensive, physical, human and financial resources as well

PART – III • SUGGESTIONS FOR A NEW WORLD 337 as the world’s largest markets for goods and services. Even the combination of China, India, Russia and the United States has been championed. This could be a desirable agreement, but remains an illusion given the present orientation of the US and its power-centres. After building a network of power, socio-economic issues could be taken up by each country in view of its resources and societal goals. This will facilitate the approach to humanism. The cultural closeness of many of these regions will help in the transition from a culture of violence and war to dialogue. The continued colonial tendencies in the global system will be curbed. Europe will have to reconsider its policies. A concept of Euro-Asia from Lisbon to Vladivostok could take shape. This should be the starting point of a larger confederation in which all developed countries of the world could take shelter. The above possibilities cannot be realised in a climate of economic desperation and call to arms and terrorism, which are becoming a daily occurrence from both the powers of yore and the fundamentalist forces that are challenging them. Even in this dream of renewal, the threat of a long or total war cannot be underplayed. Nonetheless, we must remember “they can kill and destroy, but cannot prevail”. TOWARDS A HUMANE CIVILISATION

Address to the 9th International Likhachev Scientific Conference, 14–15 May, 2009 at St. Petersburg University of Humanities and Social Sciences, on ‘Dialogue of Cultures and Partnership of Civilisations’

he 21st century world inherited a civilisation built on blood, tears and Thunger. At its portal stood two gatekeepers: Destiny and Death. Destiny for those who controlled the levers of power and wealth and domination and death for others. If this century has to escape the consequences of differential destinies, there has to be an understanding of the cosmic reality of the interconnectedness of all phenomenon. And that the creation of two separate paths and modes of existence for the benefit of a few, under threats of weapons of mass bankruptcy and acts of terrorism for others, will boomerang by many orders of magnitude. The consequential aggregating economic crisis, the rapid increases in unemployment, increasing threats of terrorism and threats of larger conflicts will have much greater political consequences. Civilisations advance through the centuries by a process of continuity, creativity and harmonisation. The fundamental truths and the laws of nature cannot be altered and that the destiny of nations and peoples can only be realised through the multifaceted aggregation of the highest human potential. Therefore, the human dignity and the beauty of nature and its self-regenerating capacity must be restored. Borderline between the self and cosmos must be abolished and cosmic connection be re-established. There are no unalterable certainties in science. From time to time there are great revelations in science and metaphysics which present new images of the cosmic reality. With the expansion of our vision and levels of our realisation, new revelations often begin to alter the old and create new idioms and visions of reality.

PART – III • SUGGESTIONS FOR A NEW WORLD 339 Such advances and expansion are only possible if the human realisation is not constrained by the dogmas of frozen time and unchangeable and permanent forever valid revelations. Every age brings about its own religious transformation in terms of their validity — eternal or historical. Nothing can be interpreted by any one set of rules. Each new revelation has to be explained in terms of its certainties or uncertainties and time. Even environment has much to contribute to the development of human attitude and behaviour, through psychic pressures. There are increasing number of barriers in the expanding urban civilisations. People living in enclosed spaces get more and more conditioned by divide and rule, mental conditioning of separation and suspicion of what is beyond. Indian civilisation took birth in the vast expanses of biodiversity, with minimum struggle for existence. With constant interaction with nature, reflection on its bounty, multiplicity, changes and secrecy creating pathways for enlarging consciousness and horizons not dominions and frontiers. They realised the truth of interconnectedness and harmony of all phenomena with the larger human spirit and that everything had a spiritual meaning. The material civilisation has created around us blinding dust-storms, walls of fear and hatred, shutting out the horizons, spirit comprehension and pathways to the future. And our unity with all-pervasive infinite cosmic reality. All the aesthetic sensitivities, scientific, religious and philosophical feelings extend the scope of our consciousness to higher levels of realisation. Our minds are imprisoned by a constant struggle for survival. Through a process of cultivated moronisation our lives are made overly dependent on means of survival. Our psyche becomes the power which constantly enlarges the circle of human servility, and snaps its deeper connection with humans and nature. The fullest realisation of the soul is greater than the material acquisitions, physical and intellectual accomplishments. But the ‘Soul’s onward course is never checked by death or dissolution’ in this search for the infinite. Most of the institutions that we are surrounded by are instruments and pathways to the human decimation. These need to be restructured so that revelations can get a new spiritual context for a humanism that will liberate humans from all obstacles for the realisation of highest human potential. This within the cosmic reality, “ungraspable to the senses, unknowable, but realisable directly without mediation”. This ‘reality is

340 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM not a single timeless entity, its consists of multiple realities that exist and occur for a moment and change to others in the next moment. In this concept of dynamic state of flux, the cosmic streams of events are eternal with any individual entity or event’. This has similarity with that of quantum physics that there is no absolute truth in theories which are limited and approximate. Infinite is the ultimate human realisation and is also the realisation of the ultimate truth. The exaggerations and falsification of truth by the media breaks the harmony of our lives, makes us the victims of the false claims of contending interests. Harmonisation thus cannot take place at the material or interest level but only at the spiritual level where all becomes one. Biodiversity is one of the supreme laws of nature. There are millions of flora and fauna around us, so also a wide diversity of animal and birdlife. Every human as an individual has a psychic frame all his own. Theo-diversity cannot be separated from the supreme law of nature. There can be no revelation, no dogmas, no scientific discovery, and no thought process which can escape the compulsions of change, to sustain the harmony within the cosmic system. Even in divine forces there is a plurality like the one in life and nature, and the multiplicity of perceptions at highest levels of spiritual perfection. In the words of poet Rabindranath Tagore, “Humans have begun to understand the great paradox that what is limited is shedding its finitude every moment. In fact, imperfection is not a negation of perfection, finitude is not contradicting infinity. These are completeness, manifested in parts. Infinity revealed within bounds. The progressive ascertainment of truth is an important thing in the science and not its innumerable mistakes.” Overspecialisation in avocations means losing hold of truth, scientific or metaphysical. We can see the present truth by relating to the wholeness of events, interests and intentions of all players. But the ultimate truth can be seen only when we set our mind towards the infinite and by not losing awareness of the moral nature. Realisation of the infinite is not through our material acquisitions and continued aggregation of belongings. In reality it is the final escape from the incessant and needless pursuit and aggregation of articles of consumption and self-decoration. Nothing impermanent can have significance in the realisation of the infinite, our possessions can only have significance if they can relate to the process of

PART – III • SUGGESTIONS FOR A NEW WORLD 341 realisation and can become the rings of the ladder to the infinite. But the human soul goes beyond our possessions. Thus renunciation is the deepest reality of the human soul. We are much greater than the things that we possess because acquisition belongs to our finite self. In terms of the larger reality and human imperfections in attaining the final sea of tranquillity, there should be potential pathways for the realisation of an ‘Integral Humanism’, guided by ecological constraints and pathways for the realisation of the highest human potential — material, mental, supramental and spiritual. Different religious traditions can provide their own context for creating these pathways. This process will have inbuilt constraints to keep the various parameters in balance towards an orderly human civilisation. But the vision of the infinite should be clear, where space and time cease to rule. Our history will be that of social life and attainment of spiritual ideal. We cannot allow the culture of consumerism to assume its own divine images. ‘Nations get organized for a mechanized purpose into an organized self-interest of an entire people. But our view of society should be the spontaneous self-expression of man as a social being not eliminated to a phantom’ (D D Upadhyaya). We have to save the human future from a perpetual helplessness of emasculation. Reconcile and let man be the measure, and let nations assume moral responsibility. SEARCH FOR A NEW HUMANISM FOR A HUMAN-CENTRIC FUTURE

Speech at World Public Forum “Dialogue of Civilisation”, October 2010

uman-centric development is the realization by all humans, their highest Hpotential, material, mental, supramental and spiritual, within ecological constraints. Through the millennia the perennial wisdom was enshrined in the interconnectedness of all cosmic phenomena and consequently that of our planet (in an ubiquitous all pervasive sea of energy) defined in different cultures differently. Similarly, contemporary new sciences posit an all pervasive energy field called quantum vacuum or zero point energy. And this has consequences for all animate and inanimate existence, providing an even more complex pictures of nature. This oneness and interconnectedness of all phenomena imposes a holistic picture of our planetary vision to displace the forces which are diminishing human being through the frequent fragmentation of the human heritage cultivated over the millennia. And its confinement into a monetary straitjacket by glorifying a means of exchange for the maximization of financial and material advantages. There was thus an urgent need to understand the linkages and articulate roots of the problems, enlarge the orbit of human and global consciousness to a point, from where a new social architecture becomes visible. And to contain the paralysis which is now setting into the human system. Both dogmatic adherence to the market, and religious fundamentalism are battling for the human future on earth and heaven and thus, the large mass of the humans are the victims. Therefore to transit true development, to the human-centric process of development, these should be based on consumption, or the satisfaction of the

PART – III • SUGGESTIONS FOR A NEW WORLD 343 minimum basic needs for all rather than production at any cost irrespective of the concerns for justice, ecology and reason. As only an Integral Human being can search and realize the path of the inseparable cosmic reality-it alone can investigate the meaning and purpose of life and realization of the true human destiny. The line moves from a human being to the family, to the community, to the nation and to humanity. There is a converging path, on which the role of one over the other is changing or prevails from time to time. The perennial wisdom which goes beyond science and materiality, and having survived the ravages of time is, still applicable today. All the while, we should not lose the sight of our ultimate goal that is of human-centric society. We have to realize the infinite potential of the human mind as a part and an expression of the infinite expanse of the cosmic reality, and to bring the human into a new mainstream of peace and stability. This infinite that we seek is the ultimate truth, this infinite is the distance between the truth and the untruth. The fundamental processes of nature are multi-dimensional and vastly complex. Science studies an aspect of these complexities. Quantum science is establishing the unity and unfragmented nature of the organic conception of reality. While we have positioned ourselves in a material world, the universe is becoming visible as a spiritual reality. Unprecedented human intervention in the planetary environment has upset the delicate balance that sustains the biological survival of the planet. These billions of years of continuity and cosmic interconnectivity become a crucible for the evolution of human consciousness. This therefore, is an internal problem with vast external ramification. Cosmic reality is a holistic, dynamic, unified field of linkages where everything is interconnected. We are mindlessly disturbing and disrupting the interconnectedness beyond the self-correcting, self-generating limits of natural processes. More and more of the effects of our interference processes and others are approaching irreversibility. In the early part of the 20th century when the imperial powers were trying to consolidate their position in the colonies, a number of movements to neutralize the growing exploitation and insecurity were taking place. Perhaps, the most important was the socialist movement which wanted to release working classes from the exploitation by the colonial powers. That was the beginning of the Russian Revolution.

344 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM The First World War strengthened the revolutionary movements in Russia and in China, the freedom struggle in India and many other developing countries. The Second World War brought a sea change in the shifting of political and economic power from Britain and some of the other European countries and the loss of their colonies. Similarly, during the early part of the century, the humanist movement began to take shape.

HUMANISM The International Humanist and Ethical Union (IEHU) gathered more than one hundred eminent intellectuals (Isaac Asimov, Arthur Clarke, Albert Einstein, E M Forster, Erich Fromm, Aldos Huxley, Yahudi Menuhin, Peter Ustinov and others…) in support of rationalist, secular, ethical culture, and free thought organizations in more than 40 countries. The happy human is the official symbol of I.H.E.U as well as being regarded as a universally recognized symbol for those that call themselves “Humanists”. In 2002 the I.H.E.U, General Assembly unanimously adopted the Amsterdam declaration which represent, the official defining statement of World Humanism. “Humanism is a democratic and ethical life stance, which affirms that human beings have the right and responsibility to give meaning and shape to their own lives. It stands for the building of a more humane society through an ethic based on human and other natural values in the spirit of reason and free enquiry through human capabilities. It is not theistic and it does not accept a supernatural view of reality.” (Wikipedia) Humans are a duality of body and soul. By separating body and soul and creating Humanism with total reliance on rationalism, it separated itself from the spiritual vision which encourages and creates Humanist Values. Its consequences are visible in all parameters of human advancement. It did not harmonise with psycho-social and psycho-spiritual conditions of the times. Its progress was further retarded by the addition of many prefixes, its definition became limited by the prefixes of Christian, Buddhist, Jewish Renaissance and Marxist and also by the proliferation of scores of Humanist organizations such as American, British, and Judaist.

PART – III • SUGGESTIONS FOR A NEW WORLD 345 INTEGRAL HUMANISM In 1965, Deendayal Upadhayaya, a leader of the Hindu party, the ‘Jan Sangh’ through a series of lectures and a publication spelled out his views on ‘Integral Humanism’ in his own words. “Both the systems — Capitalist as well as Communist — have failed to take account of the ‘INTEGRAL MAN’ his true and complete personality and his aspiration. One considers him a mere selfish being lingering after money, having only one law, the law of fierce competition in essence the law of the jungle whereas other has viewed him as a feeble lifeless cog in the whole scheme of things regulated by rigid rules and incapable of any good unless directed. The centralization of power, economic and political, is implied in both, therefore result in dehumanization of man”. ‘Man’ the highest creation of God has own identity. We must reestablish him in his rightful position being him the realization of his greatness, reckon his abilities and encourage him to exert for attaining divine heights of his latest personality. This is only possible through decentralized economy”.

COSMIC HUMANISM Relating to cosmos, the boundless, infinite expanse of the universe — planet earth is a speck of this metaphysical and spiritual idea. ‘In contrast to normative humanism, cosmic humanism sees man as a part of the larger cosmic consciousness, with unlimited potential because of the inner divinity and capacity to reach out for the infinite on the material, mental, supramental and spiritual pathways of infinite consciousness and force. Or in other words, it is the determination to regard truth as useful and put it to work. To apply knowledge for the purpose of guiding the social change and individual and self-development, that is the goal of scientific humanism.’ (Wikipedia) In the words of poet Tagore, “The Traveller has to knock at every alien door to come to his own and one has to wander through all the outer world to reach the inner most shrine at the end.” (To Merge with the Cosmic consciousness’ of ultimate reality, the truth where all becomes one.) There is a plurality of diverse forces functioning in life and nature. Thus a multiplicity of perception defining the meaning and value of the forces functioning

346 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM in life and nature can only take place at high spiritual levels. Such harmonization cannot take place at the material or interests level, but at the spiritual level, where all becomes one. Monotheism often ends up in political extremism excluding all other traditions. The neo-pagan resurgence manifests a renewed quest for the sacred plurality; one essence in multiplicity of forms. The fundamental difference between the Western (originally near Eastern) and the Eastern thought — ‘where the twain shall never meet’, is that West con- demns as blasphemy the claim of humans aiming to be God. In Eastern thought human being can achieve the images of God. Rivers can become the sea, but never make up the entire sea. In Buddhist thought human can proclaims ‘I am the dew drop, I am the Ocean.’ But the vision of the infinite should be clear, when space and time cease to rule. Our history should be that of, and attainment of spiritual ideal. We cannot allow the culture of consumerism to create its own divine images. ‘Nations get organized for a mechanized purpose into an organized self-interest of an entire people. But our view of society should be the spontaneous self-expression of man as a social being not eliminated to a phantom’. We must reestablish the natural complementary duality between spirit and matter to bring the East and West in harmony, realize a multipolar world, or there will be no durable peace. Otherwise the search for a human-centric world will be an illusion in a world full of conflicts and insecurities. Appendix A

Moscow Times, 27 July 2007 — Interview on World Public Forum “Dialogue of Civilizations”

here are a large number of forums in existence worldwide. Like the World TEconomic Forum, Davos, or the State of the World Forum in America (no longer in operation). There are many regional and smaller forums in different countries. 1. The forums are meant to reflect on and represent the viewpoints on the present human state, the world environment and directions for the future. The purpose of most of the existing forums has been to analyse, present, advocate and propagate the viewpoints, which are largely directed towards the maintenance of the existing paradigm of social development and the related economic and international policies. The present state of the world and the human condition leaves much to be desired and does not need any elaboration. Violent confrontations and terrorism have become the instruments for the maintenance of this socio-politico-techno-economic order. There was an urgent need to create alternative viewpoints, and the World Public Forum ‘Dialogue of Civlizations’ is making this contribution. The forum participants, academics, social and religious leaders, non-government organisations, representing diverse cultures and civilizations can through this forum reflect on the nature of the present crises and images of the future. Therefore, the purpose of creating the World Public Forum ‘Dialogue of Civilizations’ was to fulfil the urgently felt need for peace and justice by people everywhere. 2. About five years ago, a meeting was held in New Delhi to discuss issues relating to development. It was attended by some of Russian scholars, and a few Indian journalists, political leaders, and writers and think tanks. After this meeting, a bigger get-together took place

348 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM at Kapur Solar Farms, New Delhi, where a large number of persons including religious leaders were present. These two functions to the best of my memory helped establish a network of relationships and also contributed towards a support point for the World Public Forum. This was later given an institutional framework at a meeting in St. Petersburg five years ago, followed by the main meeting in Rhodes, Greece. Historically the credit for initiating the process through his visit to New Delhi and Tehran and giving it an organisational structure goes to Mr. Vladimir Yakunin. I was one of the first few participants with Mr. Yakunin for the founding of the Forum and have also since its very inception had the privilege of cooperating with him as its co-chairman. Through the annual meetings at Rhodes and other get-togethers, I have been trying to present my own viewpoint as a future thinker on the various material and metaphysical issues relating to the operating consumerist paradigm and pathways to a humane future. 2. Mr. Yakinun has been involved with the Forum from the very beginning not only as its founder and co-chairman but also providing its institutional framework and organisational structure. And also the credit for initiating the idea which was supported by me and Kapur Surya Foundation. 3. Mr. Yakunin chaired the meetings of the Forum and jointly we have been participating in various functions including the press conferences. Furthermore, Mr. Yakunin provided a solid institutional and management framework to the organisation of the Forum. An important reason for its success. My personal contribution has been more in the direction of ideas and attempting to create new visions for the future. How far I have succeeded, time alone will tell. 4. From our very first meeting in New Delhi five years ago, Mr. Yakunin and I got along very well. I have a very pleasant memory of this first meeting and continued friendship thereafter. At many occasions although I am not certain about it, it is possible that Mr. Yakunin did not share my views, but I have to say to his credit that he always encouraged me.

APPENDIX A 349 5. He has provided stability, orderliness and continuity to the World Public Forum ‘Dialogue of Civilizations’ on the path of great success. His strong and charismatic personality, and his contribution will be a very important factor in the future development, growth and success of the Forum. And the realisation of its objectives; that is to create a new, peaceful, harmonious, just and fair human order by harmonising through dialogue, the vast human civilizational diversity and heritage.

350 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM Appendix B

Interview for Youth Time Magazine No. 2, December 2010 – January 2011

Julia Kinash, president of the Youth Forum, affiliated to the World Public Forum ‘Dialogue of Civilizations’ interviewed J C Kapur for their publication Youth Time. This was his last published interview.

YOUTH TIME (YT): Do you think there can be an effective dialogue between the generations? What are the major generational differences?

J C KAPUR (JCK): In the past, the entire system of education was geared to address social problems but today we are only interested in the development of technology. Social issues have been left in the background. In other words, once we tried to solve social problems, today we focus on the consumer. So today it would be more appropriate to prepare our youth to play an important role in a consumer society, to become part of this new world and yet also be able to benefit from it. This is one major difference between our generation and the upcoming one.

YT: What is the contemporary image of a young leader?

JCK: First of all, he must understand that the quest for big money usually displaces everything that is human in people. And in the world of capital, the human is

APPENDIX B 351 not the focus of development but is on the periphery. Therefore, young people who aspire to leadership must find a new way of thinking. Instead of war and violence, we need to turn to spirituality.

YT: Under what circumstance can a person conduct themselves well in a leadership role?

JCK: First of all, you need a higher purpose. And that needs to be an idea for which you are willing to fight and sacrifice. This conviction inspires confidence in others. Only in this way are leaders born. I had a similar experience. I raised my voice against the injustices of the world system. After becoming chairman of the World Public Forum, I managed to break from the usual kinds of dialogue, which are driven from the top. It’s essential that people have the opportunity to debate and to discuss issues freely. That is what I expect from young leaders who are ready to assume responsibility for creating new ideas and a new vision of a world in which people fully and freely realize their potential. To do this, one must cross over from the material to the spiritual, gaining inner freedom on the way. Today, very few people are really capable of such freedom. But it is only this which gives people any power over their destiny and the world’s. Until we create a world in which the human being matters the most and is free and, we will continue to build an even worse world than the one we inhabit today.

YT: How do we create a new world? What must we give up for it?

JCK: It is essential to realize what’s going on, to try to understand the truth of things. The current system is increasingly preaches force, while resorting to exploitation. How do we change the system? In this lies our fundamental responsibility to the

352 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM future. Today money decides everything. The human being is insignificant. If you have money, you can pay your way out of your problems and even purchase a human being. We need to prioritize people over money. For this we need to liberate man from the power of money so that he doesn’t consider violence a solution. Today, even the youngest schoolchildren in America have guns. Kids are ready to kill their former friends and teachers. I want to tell you a story. When Mahatma Gandhi was the spiritual leader of Indian society, a woman asked him for advice, explaining: “My husband died from diabetes and left with me our child. My son, too, cannot eat sweets but the boy will not listen to me. I have brought him here that he may listen to you.” Mahatma Gandhi looked at the child and said: “I do not know what to advise you. Come back in two weeks.” After the appointed time, the mother brought the boy back, and Mahatma Gandhi talked to him for a long time. He explained to him how the human body works and explained why his father died of diabetes. And then the boy promised that he would not continue eating sweets and that he would listen to his mother. As they were leaving, the woman asked: “Why did not you advise the boy to listen to me, two weeks ago?” The sage replied: “When I was a boy, I loved cookies and candy so how could I advise him not to eat them? I needed two weeks to make sure that I myself was able to abandon sweets. Only then could I advise a young boy not to eat sweets.” And yet, look what’s happening in the world today. The U. S. possesses one of the biggest arsenals of nuclear weapons. But when Iran announces its plans to build a nuclear power plant, the Americans are against it and threaten military action. Question — how can we dictate to someone else to do a thing, unless we are prepared to do it ourselves? But this is how the world is set up today. And this sort of world must change. The U. S., for example, now has 30 trillion dollars worth of debt. And then look what is happening in Europe. Two months ago, Greece went bankrupt. They were bailed out and given money; otherwise the whole country would have collapsed. And there’s a similarly tenuous situation in Spain, Portugal and Iceland. They cannot sustain themselves. Even the British are borrowing 11% of their GDP. And how long can they go on like that? Young people must come to understand that you can’t live forever on debt. Fortunately, there are already some changes occurring — with cash flow and influence moving to the east. In Japan, China, Russia, and India, financial

APPENDIX B 353 resources are actually expanding. India, for example, avoided the economic crisis because it refused to privatize its state enterprises. Banks and insurance corporations controlled foreign capital but not Indian investment. And while the financial pyramids were collapsing elsewhere, in India — by contrast — there has been economic growth. New approaches. This is what you young people need to look for. What I mean is that we need to understand the real problems and their underlying causes. This is serious work. If you young people want to create a new paradigm for human development, you have to establish it based on the truth. Otherwise you are not going to get very far. This is my advice to the younger generation. Switch the accent from money to man.

YT: Does human energy and consciousness interact with cosmic energy?

JCK: Man is a part of the cosmos. We exist by the same principles as do the cosmos. The cosmos and humanity are part of a unified whole. For man, there are two truths. One is external. This external form of truth is what scientists try to find when studying the world and unlocking its secrets. It is the scientific truth that gives us a concept of humanity’s place in the cosmos. But a deeper and more profound truth lies within. It is not available to science but found by revelation and by religion. When you can combine these two forms of truth together, you will become a perfect man. The problem of the modern world is that, without working out this balance, we have duelling personalities. There is a physical body without spirituality. People are split within themselves. You ask how to create a new world? If a person has a thirst for spirituality, if he goes down this path, then you shouldn’t worry about the whole system. The new man will change himself, naturally. He will develop as a whole entity, not as a split person who cannot achieve a new system. Only in this way can young people find their place in life. It is necessary to become a whole person. And when you have a society composed of such persons, things will inevitably change. Why did the USSR collapse? The internal and spiritual values of the Soviet people were not engaged. Everything was given over to external ideals. This society had

354 OUR FUTURE: A CALL FOR WISDOM no internal sources of development and so it was doomed to failure. It cracked under pressure. People didn’t really know what they needed. And then external forces came along, commanding “do as we do,” privatize everything. The people tried to imitate other people’s paradigms and — again — the system collapsed. The new world will come. It will happen. But it will be a world of free socialism and managed capitalism. When these two systems connect, there will be an integrated global community. This should be the mission of today’s young people. I hope you understand what I mean.

YT: Does science disrupt civilization or help us to create it?

JCK: Good science is nothing other than the will of the external forces of the cosmos. If it is in the hands of decent people who possess a sense of values and who are led by their moral constraints, then it is a great creative force. But if you forget about everything that relates to spirituality and use science as an instrument of world domination, then science becomes evil. Then it generates nuclear weapons instead of nuclear energy. In other words, the consequences of science depend entirely on humanity’s spirituality, honesty, and truthfulness. Many scientific achievements produce benefits for mankind, when properly used. Otherwise, they may be used for the worst kind of power, which is violence against humanity. Author: J C Kapur Editors: Chanda Singh, Come Carpentier, Aruna Ghose Design, layout: D Averyanov

Printed in Russia

ISBN 978-5-904605-08-7