Philosophical Interpretation of Progress

by P R Sarkar  

Founder of PROUT

What is “progress”?  There are two parts: one is “pro”, another is “gress”.  “Pro” is the prefix, “gress” is the root verb.  In the physical stratum, what happens?  In each and every phase of movement there is a tendency to maintain the status quo.  In each and every phase of our lives, when something new comes, when a novel idea comes, most of the people in the first phase will try to retain the status quo.  They will say “No, no, no.  What our foreparents did, and what is being followed even now, should be retained.  There should not be any change.”

The psychic reason is that change is always risky; people want to avoid that risk; that’s why they want to retain the status quo.

When in a person or anything, any living object, even in the case of certain inanimate objects also, there is a tendency to retain the status quo, there cannot be any progress.  In their lives, the age of the bullock cart still goes on.  And that’s why in certain civilizations of the world, progress stopped.  In certain civilizations, progress stopped when they couldn’t invent the wheel.

Those who want progress in the physical stratum, what are they to do?  They are to change the status quo, they are to metamorphose the structure of the status quo and create another framework.  In the second phase also, they will have to change the status quo, and as a result of metamorphosis create a third framework, a third structure; and the process goes on like this.

Hence we may say that in the physical stratum, progress means a never-ending process of metamorphosis.  If there is any weakness in the mind of an individual or in the mind of a collective body, weakness for any particular status quo, weakness for any particular framework, then there cannot even be any relative progress in the physical stratum.  So those who embrace progressive ideas must remember this fundamental fact – that if they are actually progressive, if they are not reactionary, then they should always be ready to change the status quo and create a newer one.  If this process, this continuous process, of metamorphosis, goes on unbarred, then we may say that that person or those people are progressive, because they have understood the spirit of progress and they have developed the psychology of a never-ending fight against the status quo.  Do you follow?

Then on the psychic level – humans move not only on the physical level, humans are even more mobile in the psychic stratum.  And because of this dominating psychic stratum, humans are known as manusya [in Sanskrit].  Manusya means “the entity, the living body, where mind dominates and not the physical structure”.  In mental progress also, there are tendencies to retain the status quo.  And what is the status quo in the psychic stratum?   

The status quo is so many irrational theories, so many irrational ideas, so many ritualistic weaknesses, and so many dogmas which are nothing but ideas having no legs to stand upon.  These ritualistic weaknesses, or say, these irrational theories, they are also parts of “dogma”, they also come within the bigger field of “dogma”.  So if one wants progress on the psychic level, one must be ready to change the structure of dogmas.  

Suppose there is one dogma – just change its structure by psychic hammering, by logical hammering, by intellectual hammering.  We should always be ready to hammer those old ideas which are dogmas in the proper spirit of the term, because they have no logical legs to stand upon.  And in the realm of rationality, in the psychic realm, in the psychic sphere, if one idea comes, and if you see that that idea has no logical support, no scientific support, no support of rationality, just give up that idea, and be ready to welcome newer ideas, novel ideas.  Don’t be guided by dogmas if you want any progress on the psychic level.

Although psychic progress is a relative progress, that progress has immense import for human society and humanity's future.  If the future of humanity in all its layers, in all its strata, is to be assured, there must be psychic progress, and one must not discourage psychic progress.  Psychic progress will help humanity in finding the true from the mist of so many years.

True progress is in the realm of spirituality.  In spirituality the idea becomes one with the ideology, and the ideology coincides with the nuclear Consciousness.  So in the realm of psychic progress the question of a continuous process of metamorphosis doesn’t arise, but in that case there is progress; and what is that progress?  When you are one with Supreme Consciousness, when you are in love with Supreme Consciousness, when all your goals of life coincide with the Supreme Nave, then what progress is to be made?  

Certainly there is room for further progress, and what is that thing?  That thing is:  go on loving the Supreme Consciousness, loving, still more loving, still more loving, till finally your idea, your “I” feeling, your everything, becomes one with Cosmic Consciousness.  So, the true progress is in the realm of spirituality, but we must not forget that for all-round development of human society, physical progress, that is relative physical progress, and relative psychic progress, cannot be neglected, nor can they be ignored.

Political Democracy can and will be fortuitous when Economic Democracy is established.   Explore this and other articles covering alternative economics, ethical leadership, economic democracy, and a society without the weal and woe of social and economic vicissitudes HERE   How does PROUT compare or contrast with capitalism or communism?  Explore the answers HERE What are essential ingredients assuring progressive sustainability bereft of the vicissitudes of economic or political predation, privation or disparity?  Learn more HERE

Dynamics of the Social Cycle

Based upon the relationship formed by the human mind with the natural and social environment, four different social groupings or behaviors may be identified.  Each group has a different relationship with its environment and therefore develops different mental tendencies.  The first group (the masses) are overwhelmed by the psycho-physical waves of the mundane world.  Unable to contend with it, this group spends its energy simply trying to exist.  The second group (the warriors) commands the psycho-physical reality by physical force.  The third (the intellectuals) commands by psychic (mental) force and the fourth (merchants) commands by controlling the manufacture and exchange of psycho-physical objects.  PROUT's concept of Social Cycle identifies the characteristics and circumstances of and their transformation from one to the other and how such eras and transitions may operate smoothly, minimizing or eliminating characteristic exploitation.  


by Prabhat Sarkar, Founder of PROUT

Primitive human beings had no society and the whole set-up was individualistic.  Even the concept of family was absent.  Life was brute and non-intellectual.  Nature was the direct abode and physical strength ruled the day.  The strong enjoyed at the cost of the weak, who had to surrender before the voracity of the physical giants.  However, the sense of acquisition had not developed in them, and they worked manually, and there was no intellectual exploitation in that age.  Though life was brute, it was not brutal.

From bottom, clockwise, the natural flow
of the social cycle, which repeats.

Blue arrows represents natural flow 

of Social Cycle.  

If laborers (shúdras in Sanskrit) be defined as those who live by manual work or service, this primary stage of nature’s brute laws could be named the Laborer Age, because all were manual workers.  The reliance on physical power gradually led a chosen few to lead the rest by the strength of their muscles.  They were the leaders of the laborers.  

Simultaneously, the family developed.  And the above-mentioned leadership, once based upon the superiority of muscles, passed on from the father to the son or from the mother to the daughter, partly due to the momentum of fear and power commanded, and partly because of superiority of animalic breed.  

Superior strength requires the assistance of other superior strengths in the neighborhood for all to maintain their status.  Generally such superior neighbors belonged to the same parenthood or were related through matrimonial ties.  Gradually the leaders by physical might started a well-knit group, and ultimately formed a class known as the warriors (kśatriyas).  The age when the power to rule, or supremacy in arms, was the only material factor that mattered, was the Warrior Age.  The leaders of the Warrior Age were Herculean, huge giants who depended on the supremacy of personal valor and might, making little or no use of intellect.  

With the development of intellect and skill as a result of physical and psychic clash, physical strength had to lose its dignified position according to the growing intensity of intellectual demand in the warrior-dominated society.  One had also to develop skill in the use of arms, and even for this the physical giant had to sit at the feet of some physically-common men to learn the use of arms and strategy.  A reference to the mythology of any ancient culture reveals numberless instances where the hero of the day had to acquire specific knowledge from teachers.  Subsequently this learning was not confined to the use of arms only but extended to other spheres, such as battle-craft, medicine and forms of organization and administration, so essential for ruling any society.  Thus the dependence on superior intellect increased day by day, and in the course of time real power passed into the hands of such intellectuals.  These intellectuals, as the word implies, justified their existence on intellect only, performed no labour themselves, and were parasites in the sense that they exploited the energy put in by others in society.  This age of domination by intellectual parasites can be called the Intellectual (Vipra) Age.  

Progressive Cyclical Spiral of Social Change through the classes,
repeating on, usually, grander scales each time.

Even though the intellectuals came into the forefront by the use of their marked intellect, it is more difficult than in the case of the warriors to maintain a hereditary superiority of intellect.  In an effort to maintain power among the limited few, they actively tried and prevented others from acquiring the use of the intellect by imposing superstitions and rituals, faiths and beliefs, and even introducing irrational ideas (the caste system of Hindu society is an example) through an appeal to the sentiments of the mass (who collectively cannot be called intellectual).  This was the phase of human society in the Middle Ages in the greater part of the world.  

The continued exploitation by one section of society resulted in the necessity for the collection and transfer of consumable goods.  Even otherwise, need was felt very badly for the transport of food and other necessities of life from surplus parts to deficit parts.  Also, in the case of clan conflicts, the result of the resources of one community or class versus another gained importance.  This aspect was confined not only to the producers but also to those handling the goods at various stages up to the point of consumption.  These people became known as capitalists (vaeshyas), and ingenuity and summed-up production began to enjoy supremacy and importance, till an age was reached when this aspect of life became the most important factor.  These capitalists, therefore, began to enjoy a position of supremacy, and the age dominated by this class is said to be the Age of Capitalists.  

Post-Digestive Hierarchy 
of Trickle-down Economics

Individualistic or laissez-faire sense develops capitalism when the means of production pass into the hands of a few who are more interested in personal exploitation.  At this stage it can be said that the instinct of acquisition has developed tremendously.  The thirst for acquisition instigated them to develop the psychology of complete exploitation of the human race also, and this resulted in a class by itself.  In the race for greed and acquisition not all could survive, and only a few remained to dominate the society in general and the economic set-up in particular by their capital.  The great majority were either duped into believing that they would be allowed to share such resources, or were neglected and left uncared-for for want of strength and did not survive the race.  Such people in society ultimately occupy the place of exploited slaves of the capitalists.  They are slaves because they have no option other than to serve the capitalists as laborers to earn the means of subsistence.  

We may recall the definition of laborers as persons who live by manual work or labor hard for their livelihood.  This age of capitalism is the age when the large majority of society turn into such laborers.  This develops into dejection and dissatisfaction on a large scale because of an internal clash in the mind, because the psychology of society is essentially dynamic in nature and the mind itself exists as a result of constant clash.  These conditions are necessary and sufficient for laborers, whether manual or mental, to organize and stand up against the unnatural impositions in life.  This may be termed “laborer revolution”.  The leaders of this revolution, also, are people physically and mentally better-equipped and more capable essentially of overthrowing the capitalistic structure by force.  In other words, they are also warriors.  So, after a period of chaos and catastrophe, once more the same cycle – Laborer Age to Warrior to Intellectual, and so on – recommences.  

In this cycle of civilization one age changes into another.  This gradual change should be called “evolution” or kránti.  The period of transition from one age to another can be said to be yuga saḿkránti – “transitional age”.  One complete cycle from the Laboer Age evolving through the other three ages is called parikránti.  

Social Cycle, and Reversal, as played out
through Egypt's recent history.

Sometimes the social cycle (samája cakra) is reversed by the application of physical or psychic force by a group of people inspired by a negative theory.  Such a change is, therefore, counter-evolution – that is, against the cycle of civilization.  This may be termed vikránti.  But if this reversal of the social cycle takes place, due to political pressure or any other brute force, within a short span of time, the change thus brought about is prativiplava, or “counter-revolution”.  It is just like the devolution of the Cycle of Creation (Brahmacakra).  Thus the progress and march of civilization can be represented as points of position and as the speed of approaching the Supreme, respectively, by a collective body in the Cycle of Creation.

The world is a transitory phase or changing phenomenon within the scope of the Cosmic Mind. It is going in eternal motion, and such a motion is the law of nature and the law of life. Stagnancy means death.  Hence no power can check the social cycle of evolution.  Any force, external or internal, can only retard or accelerate the speed of transition, but cannot prevent it from moving.  Therefore progressive humanity should cast off all skeletons of the past. Human beings should go on accelerating the speed of progress for the good of humanity in general.  

Political Democracy can and will be fortuitous

when Economic Democracy is established.  

Explore this and other articles covering alternative economics, ethical leadership, economic democracy, and a society without the weal and woe of social and economic vicissitudes HERE  

How does PROUT compare or contrast with capitalism or communism?  Explore the answers HERE

What are essential ingredients assuring progressive sustainability bereft of the vicissitudes of economic or political predation, privation or disparity?  Learn more HERE  

http://gplus.to/ProgressiveSustainability

Sadvipras: PROUT’s Paradigm of Enlightened Leaders

Guest article

Explore this and other articles covering alternative economics, ethical leadership, economic democracy, and a society without economic vicissitudes HERE

by Jody Wright, PROUT activist for 35 years.

[Excerpted from a presentation at the First Global PROUT Conference in Venezuela, "Building a Solidarity Economy based on Ethics and Ecology", July 7-9, 2011, Caracas]

I’d like to talk today about the concept of leadership in PROUT. Sometimes I think of leadership as the magnet that makes all the iron filings on a piece of paper face the same direction. Leadership is what helps us to organize ourselves so that we get where we want to go.

I think it’s important to start by looking at mediocre leaders. Where do leaders fail us? Some leaders want power for personal gain and they feel that they’re better when they’re the leader. They feel that they want something for their own selves out of it. They want the recognition, the adulation that comes from it.

Some mediocre leaders aren’t clear about where they’re going. They may take people in one direction, and then in another direction. They don’t have the ability to look at what they’re doing from a bigger perspective. They may lose their direction, and take people to the wrong place.

Some leaders can be bought out by other people, they’re very influenced by other people. If their basic desire in being a leader is to be recognized and to be looked up to by others, it may be easy for them to be bought out by others. Or if their desire is for personal gain, to have more money in their pocket, they can be bought financially.

Some leaders lack skills to organize groups. They are in a leadership position, yet they don’t pull the whole group together. They may not know the balance between structure and direction that’s needed by the group.

Social change and real revolution requires excellent leadership. Not just leadership that is mediocre, that doesn’t know the direction, that gets lost, that’s for personal gain, but truly excellent leadership. So I’d like to spend some time talking about what that excellent leadership looks like.

According to PROUT founder P.R. Sarkar: “Those spiritual revolutionaries who work to achieve progressive changes for human elevation on a well-thought, pre-planned basis, whether in the physical, metaphysical or spiritual sphere, by adhering to the moral principles of Yama and Niyama, are Sadvipras.”

So, let’s look at that together. Some qualities of excellent leaders is that they’re physically fit, their body is in good shape to do the kind of leadership that is necessary, to do whatever is necessary: to carry to handle hard situations – it really helps to be physically fit. They’re mentally developed: they have the capacity to look at things from a number of different perspectives, to take the information that is around them and put it together in ways that makes sense. They have this capacity in an exceptional way. And they’re spiritually elevated. When we understand things from a spiritual perspective, we have a bigger picture of things. We understand things from the point of view of the universe and not just the point of view of our own selves.  

Excellent leaders, sadvipras, as P.R. Sarkar calls them, are well-rounded in their development. They’re not just intellectually very bright and good at looking at facts, but they’re also good at putting those together and making them work into something. They have control of their emotions, and yet they feel very much for the people around them. They are capable of both doing things themselves and of leading others in doing them. They’re able to physically work hard, a lot of leadership requires rolling up your sleeves and doing it, and no amount of telling other people to do it does the job. You need to demonstrate, you need to lead, you need to show that you are part of all the other people and willing to work hard and do the work yourself, too.

It’s important to people be able to protect family and community and knowing the skills of protection, the skills of caring for others. It’s an important part of leadership, because if we don’t care for each other, if we don’t protect each other, we won’t have people to lead. It’s important that all the needs get met.

To be intellectually knowledgeable is an important part of being a good leader. We need to have the knowledge and the understanding. We need to really be able to think as leaders in order to give directions to others that make sense. Things are so complex in our society today that it requires a very settled and active mind.

It helps to be entrepreneurial and organized. Somebody who is entrepreneurial has a lot of new ideas, they can look at things from a new perspective, they can come up with the idea to meet the conditions of the moment. If you are organized, you are able to direct other people, to guide people, and to know when to sit back and listen, and when to step forward and speak. You can look ahead if you’re organized and see what the needs are going to be in the future, and not just in the present. And when people look to you as leaders, that’s what they’re looking for.

Another quality of a sadvipra is living a moral life. It’s vitally important as leaders that people be able to look to us and say, I totally trust that person, I truly know that they will do what’s right and correct in this situation. And when people see that you are not following moral principles, that you are doing things that are different from what you say, that there is a disconnect between the two of those, then they’ll lose respect for you and it’ll be harder for people to follow you.

In our history of leaders, there are people who have concentrated so much on their moral life and their moral responsibilities to each other, that they have gained a tremendous amount of respect from the people who have followed them or who have worked with them.

Following a spiritual path can be a wonderful way to feel a sense of unity with the universe. And when you have that sense of unity, then you know more clearly where you’re going, and you know why you’re going there. And if you know why you’re doing what you’re doing, you’re going to be much more likely to get there.

Following a spiritual path also gives us a method for dealing with the stress that comes up when we are working with social change. It’s very easy for people to get burnt out if they don’t have a way to go back and recharge themselves. Sometimes I think of my meditation as a recharging process. Just as I have to plug in my cell phone at the end of the day to make sure that it will be fully recharged for the next day, I also have to plug in myself to that divine universe and recharge myself.

Leaders need to be balanced and clear in their thinking. If we are muddled in our thinking, if we are not balanced, if we are quick to anger, if we are easily depressed, it would be hard for us to be good leaders.

Of course, meditation helps with this. Any kind of spiritual practice helps us to be balanced and clear in our thinking, because it helps to clean out our minds on a daily basis. Our practice makes us clear with that, too. The more that we work at having a clear perspective, dealing with the ways that we feel we have not done things correctly in our lives, the more balanced and clear we become.

Living a life of service is important for leaders. When we serve other people all the time, we gain a feeling of what their needs are, we gain more respect in the community and we feel as individuals like we are truly contributing to society. This helps us to be better leaders. Of course, living a life of service is itself leadership.

How do sadvipras lead society? A sadvipra is a person who has all-round development, who thinks ahead, who watches what’s happening around and reaches out and influences things at just the right time. Not somebody that elbows other people down so that they can stand on the top themselves, but somebody who watches with satisfaction when leaders emerge from society, and helps and supports them in growing because their ultimate care is for the progress of human society.

Some of the ways that sadvipras lead is that they’re actively involved in social change. They’re always at the cutting edge of change, looking for the ways that society needs to move in order to become more progressive, to become more successful, to lead more humans towards their rightful way of expressing themselves in society.

P.R. Sarkar says: “The spirit to fight against all odds alone can solve the problems confronting human beings. March ahead and wage war against all difficulties, every impediment. Victory is sure to embrace you. Difficulties and encumbrances cannot be more powerful than your capacity to solve them. You are the children of the great Cosmic Entity. Be a Sadvipra and make others Sadvipra also.”

I wanted to talk about two people who are favorite leaders of mine. As I put together the photos for this power point presentation, I ran into several people that I thought were really great leaders. The first one I am going to introduce you to is Dada Daneshananda. He works in Ghana, Burkina Faso and Nigeria. The picture here is a water reservoir. He developed the plans for it, dug it out and filled it up with rain water with a dam. Then it is filtered and piped to provide pure drinking water to dozens of villages where people used to have to walk. The women used to have to walk with their jars on their head very far in order to get muddy water and bring it back to their families. And the water was infested with a worm that caused intestinal problems for people and eventually killed many people. So this has been a really great thing for the villages in the area of Ghana in the Volta area.

He works in Nigeria now organizing medical clinics. He has set up traditional birth attendant training programs in Ghana, has worked with villages who elect a health educator in their village. The health educators come monthly and learn more things about caring for the health of their villages, then go back and educate their fellow sisters in the village.

The other person I wanted to introduce you to was a woman that I knew in India. I met her one day at the home that she runs where she has about 60 children. Here you have pictures of about 11 or 12 of the children in the home. Here I am holding a baby that she has rescued. This baby is maybe 4 to 6 months old, and she told me the story of this baby. The baby was brought to her by the local police department, and they often bring children to her that have been abandoned in the street. This baby was found in the river floating, and had marks around its neck where somebody tried to suffocate it before finally throwing it into the river. The baby was rescued from the river alive and she took the baby in. She said her parents came and helped her run the children’s home, she has other women there who help her with the home, and they helped to take care of the home so she could devote herself to the baby. I think she is just an amazing woman who does this without any pay; she runs this home for 60 children in India.

Thank you very much. I hope this has been helpful for you and you’ll do some thinking about how to become the kind of leader that you want to be. Thank you.

Political Democracy can and will be fortuitous when Economic Democracy is established.   Explore this and other articles covering alternative economics, ethical leadership, economic democracy, and a society without the weal and woe of social and economic vicissitudes HERE   How does PROUT compare or contrast with capitalism or communism?  Explore the answers HERE What are essential ingredients assuring progressive sustainability bereft of the vicissitudes of economic or political predation, privation or disparity?  Learn more HERE   http://gplus.to/ProgressiveSustainability

Universal Principles for a Healthy Society Today

Cardinal Human Values

What are some of the Universal Principles possible for a  lastingly healthy society, in every realm of life?  

At some point, on the evolutionary scale, single-celled organisms came forth in cooperation and unity to arrive at greater gestalts together, developing more complex organisms, more evolved than themselves individually with greater capacities, which came to ensconce into a new organism with intents and capacities unique to itself, and often replicating into similar organisms sauntering forth in cooperation to arrive at new gestalts in cooperative intelligence at greater thresholds of evolutionary excellence, including us, you and me. 

Such thresholds of evolutionary progress arrived at their excellencies through the tried and true exercise of proven universal practical principles which have carried us to where we are today, as a species, right along with all the other organisms alive today.  So, what's next?

We've come up with some relatively universal principles and concerns for making a more progressively evolving human society for the wellbeing of all and welcome your insights for furthering success for a healthier society.  Please explore these, ponder them and witness how they may, and perhaps already have, prove practical for a more progressively evolving society.

* Lasting and adaptable principles must be comprehensive, covering all core facets of a political philosophy, including: values base, theory of history, political system, economic system, ecological philosophy, social and cultural concepts, future vision, and methodology of change.  

* It is optimal, indeed necessary to synthesize into one theoretical framework a wide array of progressive concerns, such as: cooperatives, economic democracy, bioregionalism, economic decentralization, social justice, environmental protection, guaranteed basic necessities, social equity, world government, fair trade, rights of species, spiritual values, global peace, cultural autonomy, and sustainable development.  

* To positively affect the wellbeing of all in a progressively responsive and upgrading manner, offering viable alternatives to materialist-based political philosophies -- such as anarchism, communism, and capitalism -- is necessary.  Any worthwhile and relevant social, economic or political philosophy, starting from a new, post-materialist worldview, must give rise to a profoundly different wholistic political vision from that of existing political paradigms.  

* Viable social, political and economic alternatives must have a values base grounded in the holistic cosmology found in such diverse places as the perennial philosophy of the wisdom traditions, indigenous peoples' spirituality, deep ecology, and the philosophical implications of quantum physics and modern cosmology.

* Alternative paradigms should be compatible with an emerging shift in planetary consciousness synthesizing the strengths of Western, Eastern, indigenous, and holistic scientific contributions to human knowledge.

* Progressive alternatives must be designed to serve the totality of human nature: physical, mental and spiritual.  It should not neglect or suppress the development of any facet of human nature, rather promote their balanced and integrated expression.

* Viable paradigms should not privilege material development above spiritual development, nor spiritual development above material development, but recognizes their interdependent contributions to nurturing a healthy, balanced, and fulfilled human society.

* Doctrines and policies must arise from, and get validated by, practice; policies of the present must be proactively changed in response to changing social and economic conditions.

* We must expand the concept of humanism beyond a concern for human welfare and attainment to a new humanism concerned for the welfare of all living beings.  A new humanism must assert that the welfare of individuals, groups, and species cannot be separated from the welfare of the whole.

* Ideas of progress must be conceptualized based beyond material and technological change to one based on improvement in the all around welfare of human beings, society and all life at large.  Progress is best indicated at a material level by an increase in people's quality of life; at the mental level by expansion of neohumanist consciousness; and at the spiritual level by growth of love, inner peace, and cosmic disposition.

* Core social ideals -- such as economic democracy, social equity, world peace, and ecological protection -- in a progressive paradigm must provide a practical framework for their attainment.

* Progressive solutions must not be or operate as a reaction to social problems, rather as a positive effort to envision and build a wholesome, viable and sustainable human society.  It should not stem from a critique of current global realities, but rather start from the seeds of life and the needs of human beings to find holistic fulfillment.

* We should not place collective interests above individual interests, nor individual interests above collective interests, rather perceive individual and collective interests as being inherently interrelated.  The well-being of individuals lies in the development of the collective, and collective well-being lies in the development of individuals.

* The liberation of society can only arise from the liberated consciousness of individuals.  We therefore do not give primacy to political change, rather stress cultural change, proper education of the human intellect, moral development, and spiritual growth.  Change in political power should be driven by a change of collective consciousness, not imposed by new wave vested parties.

* Fundamental shifts in the locus of power are necessary, such that the locus of economic, social and cultural power must devolve from transnational corporations and nation-states to local and regional levels, and the locus of political and military power be taken from nation-states and invested in a world confederation.

* Profit as the core motive for economic activity must be rejected, replaced.  While profit is an important practical consideration in operating enterprises, it must not supersede in importance such concerns as consumer needs, community well-being, resource sustainability, environmental health, social equity, and worker fulfillment.

* Remedial solutions cannot be characterized as either conservative or liberal; neither can they be called libertarian, socialist, or anarchist.  Lasting solutions must arise from their own values base, transcend the left-right political spectrum, and acknowledge the strengths of many social philosophies.

* Progressive solutions must conceive of a deep sustainability based in maintaining balance at all levels of material, mental, and spiritual development in society.

* Lasting solutions model the way nature works.  Those with knowledge of ecological science, complexity theory, systems theory, or the philosophical implications of quantum physics will experience a familiarity with the necessary values, principles, and operational structure that will provide lasting solutions through the myriad changes life presents.

* We call for neither a free market nor a command economy, but a regulated and planned market economy that does not support control of enterprises by large corporations or by the state, but by cooperative, small private entrepreneurs, and -- in the case of key industries -- by public boards.

* We affirm the relativism of post-modernism with respect to the phenomenological world, though reject the notion that there is no basis for universal values; we assert that a sound and durable value base lies in the transcendental ground of material existence.

What about some additional basic design principles?  What are your insights and wisdom?  

Political Democracy can and will be fortuitous when Economic Democracy is established. Explore this and other articles covering alternative economics, ethical leadership, economic democracy, and a society without the weal and woe of social and economic vicissitudes HERE How does PROUT compare or contrast with capitalism or communism?  Explore the answers HERE What are essential ingredients assuring progressive sustainability bereft of the vicissitudes of economic or political predation, privation or disparity?  Learn more HERE http://gotoplus.me/ProgressiveSustainability

Voices of the Occupation: What they'll take away

 

On Tuesday, in the hours before Occupy L.A. was ejected from the grounds of City Hall, Margot Roosevelt photographed participants and interviewed them about what had brought them to the protest and what message they hoped people would take away from it.  Their statements have been edited for length.

Allen Lasley, 26

Anaheim HillsMy mother was a single parent for me and my sister.  When I was young, she was going to college and working two jobs — at McDonald's and at a dry cleaners.  She still had to steal food. I was 4 years old when I realized something was seriously wrong.

Every experience I've had since then has been struggling to survive.  I went into the Marine Corps when I was 17.  I did two tours in Iraq.  I came back realizing how messed up this country is, how we fight unjust wars for political assets.

In my head, as a kid, I thought if you work hard, you can achieve the American dream. I'd worked my entire life.  But now I spend 12 hours a day filling out applications.  I go to the unemployment office.  My resume is on Monster.com. I've never been called to an interview.  Not one time.  I've lived at homeless shelters even though I get some military benefits.

I came to be a part of changing humanity for the better.  When I first came down here I stayed up all night.  I wanted to see what kind of people were here.  The most intelligent people I ever met reside here.  Everybody has the same story of getting screwed over by the government.  Many veterans have gone through what I have and can't find work.  That is the No. 1 thing for most people.  There are just no jobs. I came here and these people gave me hope for humanity I had never felt before.

What people should take away is that we the people are the powers that be.

I believe power should be used to create equality.  We want a level playing field.  We don't want a small percentage of people to control everything going on around us.

Matt Wegner, 53

Lake Arrowhead

I was foreclosed on.  That is partly why I'm here.  I'll never own again.  I refused to renew my [real estate] broker's license after seeing people foreclosed on and pushed into the street.  I can no longer ethically practice real estate.

I've been wearing this sign on my back:   “Greed is a Disease.”  It is a sickness.  It is destroying the lives of people.  What is the opposite?  Generosity.  We have to stop taking and start giving.  That is the mind shift I am trying to bring to the world.

I was hoping Villaraigosa would be the first mayor to say, “We are on your side,” rather than sending police to say, “Oh, we are going to evict you.”  You can't evict an idea.  You can't handcuff the truth.

Kern Masser, 18

Originally from Bakersfield, but then moved to his sister's place in Eureka

A lot of things are wrong.  I tried to get a job after high school and no one would hire me because I had never had a job before.  It is an endless cycle.  I applied for 20 jobs in six months.  I can't go to school because there's no way I could pay for the tuition.  I'd like to learn.  I like gardening but don't know how to do it.

But change can happen.  People are trying to fight the 1%.  People will look back at how bad things are now and say, “I'm glad we did that.”

 

Michael Basillas, 26

San Diego

What made me join [Occupy L.A.] was to find a place where I could have a conversation about social, political and economic injustice in this country.  Our system favors the 1%.  That is not sustainable for the citizens of the U.S.  It's good to know you have other people that feel the same way.

I worked at HSBC [Bank] in the accounting department for three years.  They let us go because they needed to outsource the jobs.  So how do I pay my bills? I'm not going to wait until I'm homeless on the streets to fight for change.

Government power is an illusion.  We placed them there.  We can always take it away from them.  Occupy is trying to figure out how. I'm a Republican — but a radical Republican.  I don't like high taxes, but if you pay taxes, you want to know it is going to the betterment of people.  You want to know it is going toward things like health insurance. I don't have health insurance.  It is too expensive.

Joseph Thomas, 50

Los Angeles

I was raised political.  My mother adored Robert Kennedy.  My father hated Richard Nixon.  We talked about politics over dinner.  My parents made clear to me:  If you take social justice seriously, you have to be political.  I'm here because I see our world is being broken.  My generation has a responsibility to do something about it.  I'd like to think even if I were living in a mansion in Bel-Air, I would come here.

The message?  It's that politics matters.  It is not peripheral.  If you want to build a better world, you have to engage in the political process.  We need to build a kinder, gentler world. I'd like to see a change in U.S. foreign policy.  The U.S. has a dismal record in supporting brutal people across the globe.  I'd like to see the Occupy movement be a force for democracy and social change.

Vivian Ortiz, 19

Grand Junction, Colo., attending photography school in North Hollywood

After I came here to school and went into debt, I found out my school is unaccredited. It is part of a corporate chain.  They were good at making themselves seem like a legitimate school.  But now I'm stuck.

A lot of people say, “The economy sucks, and I'm not going to do anything about it.”  I'm here to hopefully make a change.  I want to have a more stable future than what I'm having right now.  I want people to look back on [Occupy L.A] with a positive light.  Everyone came with their own issues.  But the major thing is that something is wrong with society.  People want their voices to be heard.  Me personally?  I want to get a proper education and not be in debt forever because of it.

Carina Clemente, 24

Inglewood

I went to Cal State Long Beach.  I graduated with a major in psychology and theater.  I was laid off a year ago.  I've been trying to find work since then.  I've spent five or six hours a day filling out applications and looking for work.  But I only got contract jobs teaching theater classes and doing temp administration work.

I came out of curiosity.  I didn't have an initial plan.  The first day there were different focus groups.  We came up with the idea of the People's Collective University.  We held classes around political, social and economic justice, sustainability and community needs.  We are making plans to expand into neighborhoods.  The idea is to provide an alternative education model.  We are focusing on the ideas of Paulo Freire, the Brazilian educator.  He came up with a “popular education” based on mutual respect and using the personal experiences of students.

My experience through the collective university is that we have knowledge to share and can educate each other.  We don't have to rely on the repressive education system.  We can build together.  We had classes on nonviolent direct training, on working-class unity, on healthcare inequality, on ending racism and white privilege, on addressing the role of patriarchy.  Just having honest discussions, people were able to get a different perspective.  People got a chance to understand each other.

One message is, we have the power to provide for ourselves.  We are intelligent and capable enough to do so, regardless of formal institutional education.


Gabriel Marantz, 25

Venice

I came as a response to corporate greed and social, political and economic injustice.  It is time for us to restore our democracy and have real representation for reasonable taxation.  This movement gives a sense of hope in our ability to make change. Going to the ballot box is not enough.  Until we change and reform the corruption of the political system at its core, we can't have a government that represents us.  By volunteering [in the campaigns of Barack Obama and Dennis Kucinich], I was [able to] have an effect in getting someone elected, but getting one elected official into office is not enough.  We are not a true democracy anymore.  The disparity in wealth is saddening.  To do nothing is just not an option for my soul.

We should abolish private financing in all federal elections and get rid of perks and gifts to politicians.  We need a constitutional amendment that says corporations are not people and money is not free speech.  I want a lot of things, [including] serious electoral reform.   [We should] abolish the electoral college.  Elections should be on national holidays so everyone can get there without restrictions.  [We need to] make government more representative.

Rachel Bulisky, 29

Recent transplant to Los Angeles from New Jersey

I have an accessory line, http://www.trashriot.com/.  I do necklaces.  But I haven't made anything lately because I'm homeless.  I have a BA in fine arts from Montclair State in New Jersey.  Now I'm $20,000 in debt and I'm on the street.  I majored in artistic welding.  But you need electricity and a blowtorch.  So now I do wire wrapping in my tent.  I used to sell in Venice, [but the store] got shut down.

I was on a bus. I saw all these tents.  I got off to see what was going on.  Someone asked if I needed a place, and gave me a tent.  At the same time, these people were protesting all the things I hate.  The government is totally messed up.  Everybody here can agree on one thing:  Things are not right.  There are a lot of frustrated people and nowhere to go with that.  There's a lot of energy.  It's not like we all say the same thing.  It is a meeting ground and a shelter where we can all throw around ideas.

There have been a lot of beautiful moments.  It's been a meeting place of brilliant minds.  At least in one place, we're trying to work it out.  I learned how to crochet here.  We started a crochet circle.  We were making handbags out of scraps of materials.  It was a lot of fun.

J.D. Mcconnell, 33

Recently moved to Las Vegas from Los Angeles

I came to get money out of politics.  We have a system of legalized bribery and political puppeteering.  Before, I was not feeling like I had a political voice.  This is the first time I've felt like I had a voice.  If you get enough people together, you really can be heard.

 Allan Eaton, 33

Ontario

The key issue is our economic and financial situation.  It is important that we do the most we can to bring attention to it, so future generations won't see the noose getting tighter and tighter around their necks.  It seems like a class war.  The wealth has been unequally distributed and too many people are losing their homes.  Too many are homeless.  Too many veterans are coming home from war and not getting the treatment they need.

I gave up a job [to join Occupy L.A.].  I found an occupation.  Separating myself from my work life, social life, home life, I see more of who I am.  I have separated myself from everything I know.  Sometimes it is weird.  I'm used to getting up and going to work.  Seeing the spectators.  Having a social life, going to hear music, bands.  Getting beers with friends.  Shooting billiards.  All those things are of so little significance.  This is more important for the future of this country.

The message is economic justice. That is it.