For centuries spiritual and religious leaders have been teaching humanity how to realize the Truth within themselves. Some have instructed their followers to shun the world and its temptations; others have preached simply that individuals must lead moral lives in society to attain eternal spiritual happiness. But very few have ever discussed in detail the mundane spheres of government, politics, and economics. Development in these realms, so it seemed, was not important for the spiritual journey of the individual soul.
PROUT and NeoHumanism are substantially synthetic, and their propounder, P R Sarkar, is a most unusual guide. He espouses, through PROUT and NeoHumanism, that this physical, material world is neither an illusion nor a great temptation, but the starting point of our spiritual journey; thus we must develop it even as we develop ourselves to make it a perfect base for spiritual effort, transpersonal growth. This effort is not the struggle of a few isolated individuals but the task of humanity as a whole. Human society and its institutions should not impede our progress; rather they should be carefully planned and designed to accelerate our progressive march toward perfection.
We are living in a most unusual time. Governmental corruption is becoming more and more painfully evident all over the world; the over-indulgence of a small segment of humanity and the resultant poverty of the majority is creating an imbalance that is upsetting the world's economy. Today people, even in wealthy nations, are beginning to learn what it means to do without. At this crucial moment in world history, proper leadership is essential. PROUT speaks of a new kind of leader, a sadvipra or "true spiritual leader." Instead of the most spiritually evolved members of society renouncing the world and seeking their own enlightenment in caves and monasteries and thus leaving the guidance of society to the corrupt politicians, spiritually developed individuals should take on the leadership of society. Since their goal, developed by regular meditation and uncompromising morality, is only the realization of the Supreme Consciousness -- not any mundane wealth, power or fame -- there will be no chance of their corruption. Inspired and guided by them, mankind will accelerate its march toward Absolute Truth and reach new heights of spiritual and material perfection.
Slander, jealousy, party politics, lethargy, grandiloquence and so on are the various kinds of social evils which, if given scope, make great criminals of people. These evils are very evident in the modern world, and the reason for this is sectarian bias. The loathsome race for political status will not relax its grip over society unless the human mind is freed from the lust for power. It is time for people to be very cautious lest this political tendency continue to shape them into criminals. If the nature of the entire human race becomes infected with criminality, if people become intolerant of others' opinions and beliefs, if they become corrupt and sell all their good judgment and talent for the sake of status, then humanity's age-old civilization will end in smoke.
These postings discusses all the problems that beset modern mankind -- governmental corruption, economic injustice, overpopulation, crime -- and offer practical solutions for them. Our first step is to realize that the true goal of humanity, the ultimate goal of evolution, is not the amassing of more and more material wealth, rather it's the expansion of consciousness. Through proper education and practical techniques of psychic expansion, humanity will come to realize that the hoarding of wealth and all the ills of corruption and scarcity it creates, are nothing but the misdirected longing of the human soul for infinite happiness -- a longing which cannot be satisfied by money but only by internal bliss, optimizing psycho-spiritual parallelism.
PROUT offers balance between the physical, psychic and spiritual realms of existence in a progressive manner, furthering human evolution towards its desideratum. Thus as human attention and activity are directed ever more toward subtler pursuits such as artistic endeavor and spiritual practice, the selfishness and greed which dominate people's minds today will be supplanted by new dispositions of love and familia. As we expand our minds toward the Infinite and learn to share our mundane treasures, we will realize substantially that we are all indeed one humanity, that we are all the children of one Infinite Intelligent singularity guiding us all toward perfection. Instead of being based on competition and mutual hostility, society will be operated through mutual cooperation and love, a force of nature throughout the Universe.
"I want every person to be guaranteed the minimum physical requirements of life; every person to get scope for the full exploitation of their psychic potentiality; every person to get equal opportunity to attain absolute truth; and, endowed with all the glories and achievements of the world, to march toward the Absolute. In and through this movement humanity should be made conscious of the purpose and meaning of life."
PROUT
For a More Progressively Evolving Society
Showing posts with label profit motive. Show all posts
Showing posts with label profit motive. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Environmental Destruction and Pollution
It can be safely said that financial interests are for the most part responsible for environmental destruction. Most advances in modern science create detrimental side effects which require considerable time and effort to understand, and then to minimize. This corrective process is expensive and cuts into profits—resulting in great opposition from corporate elites to implementing new safety standards and methods of environmental protection. This is especially problematic as the direction of science is largely determined by what these elites decide upon. It is well know that independent research that strives to address environmental problems often has difficulty being funded, especially if the results might damage an existing industry. Research into non-fossil fuel based automobile engines, for example, is certainly going on, but with a fraction of the resources poured into fossil fuel research. Alternative energy in general (solar, wind, bio-gas, etc.) is researched but with only a fraction of the funding nuclear energy receives.
In PROUT the control of science would not be determined by profit seekers. The large scale key industries would be run by the state on a "no profit no loss" basis, and research would be out of the hands of corporate interests. Each locality will rely on whatever resources are naturally available or can be synthesized artificially. In this case the “polluter pays” principle is not just a slogan, it cannot be avoided.
Essentially, pollution is beneficial for only a short time period. Corporate profits are increased through throwing off negative side-effects onto the environment and society as a whole. Eventually, however, the long term effects of raping and polluting the environment will require tremendous effort and resources to correct. PROUT maintains that the calculations of profits must include not only the cost of production, distribution, labor, etc., but equally important, the environmental and social costs involved. Social costs includes all factors that negatively affect the mental, physical and spiritual capacity of people immediately and into the future. For instance, the trucking industry is uneconomical from the stand point of social costs. Currently highway maintenance costs are not calculated, the environmental impact is not properly evaluated, the damage done by depleting the earth's oil reserves is not considered, and the health problems resulting from environmental pollution are not considered—not to mention traffic congestion, accidents and the mental and physical strain on the drivers and their families. Although trucking allows faster delivery and thus greater profits, from the social perspective as a whole, the railway system would be a better alternative.
The concept of social costs is integrally related to the idea of environmental sustainability. In agriculture especially, the costs of using chemicals far outweighs the alleged short term benefits. Agricultural pollution resulting from pesticides, chemical fertilizers, etc., would be reduced by decentralized agriculture using the techniques of integrated, ideal farming (see Chapter Four). Agricultural research could then focus on sustainability as well as quality and efficiency. Already there is indication from applied research that output can even be increased using advanced natural techniques—not to mention the increase in taste and nutritional value.
From the point of view of sustainable economic development, anything that reduces the productive capacity of the earth and destroys the health of human beings and other life forms is definitely to be avoided. Yet this is the path of the so-called global economy. In capitalism, the quest for short term gain usually overrides consideration for the future. It has been stated by scientists in international conferences, such as the Earth Summit, that the global economy is destroying ecologies at a rate of a thousand times faster than they can reproduce. It has also been predicted that given the current rate of destruction, it will destroy the planet’s life support systems—ozone, breathable air, arable soil, potable water and the forests—in about fifty years. It is therefore a life and death matter to reduce the economic decision-making powers of the corporate elites. They have ignored repeatedly the considerations of the general welfare and they will continue to do so without governments and people intervening to curb their efforts.
In PROUT the control of science would not be determined by profit seekers. The large scale key industries would be run by the state on a "no profit no loss" basis, and research would be out of the hands of corporate interests. Each locality will rely on whatever resources are naturally available or can be synthesized artificially. In this case the “polluter pays” principle is not just a slogan, it cannot be avoided.
Essentially, pollution is beneficial for only a short time period. Corporate profits are increased through throwing off negative side-effects onto the environment and society as a whole. Eventually, however, the long term effects of raping and polluting the environment will require tremendous effort and resources to correct. PROUT maintains that the calculations of profits must include not only the cost of production, distribution, labor, etc., but equally important, the environmental and social costs involved. Social costs includes all factors that negatively affect the mental, physical and spiritual capacity of people immediately and into the future. For instance, the trucking industry is uneconomical from the stand point of social costs. Currently highway maintenance costs are not calculated, the environmental impact is not properly evaluated, the damage done by depleting the earth's oil reserves is not considered, and the health problems resulting from environmental pollution are not considered—not to mention traffic congestion, accidents and the mental and physical strain on the drivers and their families. Although trucking allows faster delivery and thus greater profits, from the social perspective as a whole, the railway system would be a better alternative.
The concept of social costs is integrally related to the idea of environmental sustainability. In agriculture especially, the costs of using chemicals far outweighs the alleged short term benefits. Agricultural pollution resulting from pesticides, chemical fertilizers, etc., would be reduced by decentralized agriculture using the techniques of integrated, ideal farming (see Chapter Four). Agricultural research could then focus on sustainability as well as quality and efficiency. Already there is indication from applied research that output can even be increased using advanced natural techniques—not to mention the increase in taste and nutritional value.
From the point of view of sustainable economic development, anything that reduces the productive capacity of the earth and destroys the health of human beings and other life forms is definitely to be avoided. Yet this is the path of the so-called global economy. In capitalism, the quest for short term gain usually overrides consideration for the future. It has been stated by scientists in international conferences, such as the Earth Summit, that the global economy is destroying ecologies at a rate of a thousand times faster than they can reproduce. It has also been predicted that given the current rate of destruction, it will destroy the planet’s life support systems—ozone, breathable air, arable soil, potable water and the forests—in about fifty years. It is therefore a life and death matter to reduce the economic decision-making powers of the corporate elites. They have ignored repeatedly the considerations of the general welfare and they will continue to do so without governments and people intervening to curb their efforts.
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