fig IA
Three-fold Response to the Current Social Crisis
It
is becoming increasingly apparent, on an almost daily basis, that the current
social and economic order is in crisis. The symptoms of this need hardly be
mentioned. Indeed they are difficult to avoid. Whether we turn our attention to
cultural, social or economic issues, dysfunctional activity is plain to see.
What is at stake is the relationship of the individual to society. For most of
human history one could not really talk about individuality in the modern sense.
Until as ;ate as the end of the middle ages human identity was, for the most
part, defined by a persons relationship to and role in the apparatus of the
state and its culture. In recent times, principally in Europe this relationship
has been changing. The advent of participatory democracy, whereby, in theory at
least, the state institutions are guided and directed by the will of all the
people, trace their roots to the citizenship of the Greek and Roman
civilisations. Democracy marks a transitional change to a new relationship
between the individual and society. The industrial revolution gave Europe a
technical superiority over the rest of the world and the consequent resources to
allow it to experiment with notions of equality and democracy amongst its own
citizens, in the knowledge that such social reforms could be underpinned by
improvements in material well being. This grace period is now at an end and, to
a large extent, the opportunity has been squandered. Modern economics, in which
the use of capital is freed from cultural and social consideration, is as new to
humankind as is individual thinking. It is because it is so new that it is the
least experienced and understood of the three social realms by most people. Our
cultural instincts are far more deeply embedded in us than those of modern
economy. As a result much of our economic life is still guided according to
principles which were more appropriate to Babylonian and Roman times than they
are now. Whilst we continue to believe that economic activity is guided by “an
invisible hand”, we fail to fully appreciate the power vested in our own two
hands. We can hardly refer to modern economics as modern at all so long as we
continue to allow the principle of expansion and growth to smother out the more
appropriate principle of achieving a maximum balance between a maximum diversity
of activities. The natural resources of the living earth are still accounted for
as if they are infinite, with all the consequences of resource impoverishment
and social dislocation and unrest which this entails.
Mass
participatory democracy is only a prelude to the creation of new social forms,
in which the roles of citizen and state are reversed; in which our social
institutions arise out of the collegiate will of personal individualities. The
emergence of this, in its turn, depends upon the healthy development of a
genuinely free cultural-spiritual life. It is the inter-relationship between
free spiritual perception and working for the needs of others which gives rise
to ethical or altruistic individualism. This is something that we can already
begin to witness and experience. The UK government even has a name for such
individuals. They are known, appropriately according to the language of the day,
as “social entrprepeneurs”. These are the people who take on the task of
transforming some aspect of the social conditions around them. They tend to
exhibit creativity and imagination, be good at motivating others and lead by
example. They find novel ways of overcoming bureaucratic hurdles, have a
hightened sense of empathy, are good at listening and tend not to take no for an
answer. Most importantly, their commitment to their chosen task arises not as a
result of command from others but out of an inner need to creatively overcome
social and economic injustice. Ghandi serves as an highly elevated example of
such an individuality.
We
all have the capacity to develop ethical individualism. Indeed, it is an
essential step in the development of the Consiousness Soul and serves as the
counter-force against the increasingly strong temptation to fall back under the
spell of the Sentient Soul which is currently afflicting humanity. The former is
characterised by an increasing sense of wellbeing when others are well, whilst
the latter appears in the incessant drive to enhance personal sensation
regardless of the cost to others.
Of
course the language I have just in the last paragraph is in a sense wrong, for
it implies a polarity and a tension between the forces of development and
retardation. In truth the development of Consciousness Soul faculties, which is
an increasing reality for many people, do not stand in opposition to those of
the Sentient Soul. It is rather that the former involves the crossing of a
threshold and a ‘new’point of view, whilst the latter involves only a
elaboration of an existing state. On the one side of the threshold the
conventional laws of cause and effect apply. Rational analytical dualistic
thinking prevails and we seek to match causes to effects. On the other side of
the threshold the normal rules of cause and effect cease to apply in the same
way. The ‘laws’ of dualism are seen in a higher context; as an intermediary
stage between threefold and onefold thinking-feeling. A suitable analogy would
be that of an equalateral triangle sitting on a plain with its three distinct
sides ending in three distinct points (fig 1).
fig I
If
we replace the plane with a sphere it is possible to imagine the three points of
the triangle meeting on the other side of the sphere (fig II).
fig II
The
key difference between these two models is that with the plane a real situation
has been simplified by excluding from consideration the role of infinity.
Infinity is not a property we can directly perceive with our earth-bound senses.
It exists as a supersensible reality always at the periphery of the sense world.
It is actually located at the ‘point’ of the heavenly zodiacal sphere. From
our physical ‘point’ of view we are enveloped by it and catch glimpses of it
in the living spiral forms of natural phenomena. It is a fact that when infinity
is included within our frame of reffrence duality ceaces to have the same
rigidity as it does when infinity is excluded from the picture.
This
turning inside out of our perspective in this way represents a genuine
transformation of our consciousness, even if only momentary, which allows us to
appreciated the illusiory nature of cause and effect. In the future this will
form a far more substantial human faculty, allowing a new kind of creativity for
the re-integration of physical and spirit forms.