Tag: knowledge

Categories
- Consultation - Empowerment - Governance - Religion - Three Protagonists Discourse

Summary of August 9th Message

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1. 10 new Regional Councils (RC’s). 5-Year Plan messages foundation of action and study. Familiarity with dynamics of growth increases with core activities.

2. Dichotomy of neighborhood and centralized children’s classes (CC) transcended. 2 Junior Youth learning sites. Expansion/consolidation primary task of RC’s.

3. RC’s to ensure functioning of Regional Training Institute (RTI) and Area Teaching Committees (ATC). Two perspectives: cycles of activity and educational process.

4. RC to draw on world-wide system of generation and dissemination of knowledge. Relationship with Counsellors significant. Report successes and impediments.

5. Prospects for Junior Youth program especially bright. Transformation in junior youth and rapid development in those accompanied to serve as animators.

6.  Capacity for human resource development needed for sustainable progress in growth of Cause and transformation of society.

7. Intensity and patience are called for organically in accordance with the varying rates of growth in various populations.

8. Refrain from comparisons between differing circumstances. Validity of network teaching versus intense neighborhoods. Guard against inundating fledgling efforts.

9.  Attention to Latin, African, Asian children; now 1 in 4 children. Vibrant sense of community more pronounced. CC’s and JYSEP accelerate community building.

10. NSA to engage in regular consultation with Counsellors on form of scheme of cluster coordination being studied by International Teaching Center.

11. Ramifications for organization of National Center. Decentralization to respond to financial needs at grassroots. Funds for part- and full-time workers.

12. Growth not to revolve around expectations or presence of RC members. Requests for reports or gatherings deferred in response to needs of grassroots.

13. Appreciation of efforts. Ardent supplications on behalf of new RC’s. May Baha’u’llah bless American Baha’i community.

Department of the Secretariat

9 August 2012

Categories
- Governance Development Discourse Justice Power

The Universe is Pregnant

The universe is pregnant with these manifold bounties – bounties mysteriously emerging from the intricate interplay between the micro-cosmic visions of various actors on the world stage, each pursuing their own selfish advantage, and yet all mysteriously contributing to the continuing flow of a unified destiny, and to the onward march of a common history. The child of earth’s multifarious nations and leaders, are all woven inextricably into a historical fabric that is the narrative of history, increasingly united in families from before the caveman, to the village and tribe in ancient societies, to the city-state and the rise of modern governance, to the nation-state scheme currently languishing under the mounting evidence of our collective contracture into a global neighborhood with the rise of technology and transportation and communications. Economically, politically, culturally, and medically, we have become one organism – trustees of the common homeland known as earth. We share in its travails, we all suffer if global warming wreaks havoc on the climate. Posterity belongs to all of us, and it is threatened by our disregard for global issues.

The world is moving on. Political realities shift with bewildering rapidity. Only a short while ago it was normal for parties to subjugate their partisan agendas in favor of national well-being. Today partisanship is committed to gridlock and national demise if power does not go their way. The whirlwind of social unrest in education reform, scientific controversy, climate change, religious fanaticism, economic travail, are all swift and alarmingly violent. The destiny of all people is being drawn against their isolationist and inward-looking dogmas into one common vortex – a vortex of trials and difficulties, but also, a vortex to be followed by one common rebuilding and society melding reconstruction. The potential storm centers are military in nature with the prospect of world war, but also economic with the selfish practices of financial corporations and the influence of corporate incentives in legislative processes that are supposed to be immune from this sort of ulterior motive. Dangers, undreamt of and unpredictable, in terms of diabetes, obesity, heart disease, AIDS, infections, and cancers of various kinds all threaten our collective prosperity and way of life – both for those steeped in materialism in the west or those seeking to attain it in the African and Latin American continents. Governments and peoples are being gradually enmeshed in the coils of  recurrent crises of economic fluctuations, medical inequalities, political oppression or corruption, and social disintegration.  The world is contracting into a neighborhood. America, willingly or unwillingly, must face and grapple with the problems and potentials of all other nations, and learn to grow together with them for international peace and prosperity. For purposes of national security, let alone any ideal of the oneness of humankind, all nations must bind together to protect each other from the assaults of any aggressor and unite to safeguard international security as if it was their own. Paradoxical as it may seem, our only hope of extricating ourself from the perils gathering around and within us is to become entangled in the very web of international dialogue regarding our collective destiny being woven by the hand of an inscrutable Providence. Amidst the chaos, a clear course of human progress can be discerned. Despite various disparate actors vision’s, a collective destiny emerges beneath our feet.

The United States can serve its own interests by striving to apply the system of Federalism to the whole word, which it has applied to the governance of its own country since its inception. The unification of all nations in an international federation, under a single global government is the next step in political history. Federalism, underlying the government of the United States, should be applied to the relationships existing between the nations of the world and a world government. The ideals that fired the imagination of America’s tragically unappreciated President Woodrow Wilson betoken the day when absolute unity and peace will reign on earth, its global government, and amongst its constituent nations. The promulgation of the Divine Plan, now in its 4 of 5 five year plans, designed to expand and consolidate the boundaries of those laboring for the erection of a New World Order, is the key which Providence has placed in the hands of the American believers to fulfill this momentous and unshakably glorious vision.

“The universe is pregnant…awaiting the hour when the effects of Its unseen gifts will be made manifest in this world, when the languishing and sore athirst will attain the living Kawthar of their Well-Beloved, and the erring wanderer, lost in the wilds of remoteness and nothingness, will enter the tabernacle of life, and attain reunion with his heart’s desire.”

Categories
- Consultation - Empowerment - Governance - Human Body - Prevailing Conceptions Discourse Justice

Discourse and Politics: Blood in the Arteries of Governance

Discourse on the following topics has brought these themes to the point of being reconceptualized. Certain foundational principles have emerged and crystallized from ongoing discourse. Principles we now believe in in a new way are:

1) Unity of all Humankind
2) Justice according to the Laws of God for all
3) Knowledge, as the central feature of social existence, the generation of which is prerogative and responsibility of all
4) Power, corrupted by partisanship today, must be revolutionized by the power of cooperation, love, unity, spirituality, selflessness, collective-mindedness, and humility.

The fundamental difference between the governance of the present and the governance of the future will be the values of the governors. Unity of the people will be: 1) an assumption about the nature of their collective trusteeship of the governed. Baha’u’llah writes, “The poor in your midst are My trust; guard ye My trust.” If the assumption is that all citizens are equal subjects under one government then disadvantages will not be allowed to amass disproportionately in one sector. 2) The self-conception of governance must change to recognizing itself as the greatest champion of justice for all people. Associated with this is 3) the requirement of promotion of language that reflects the selflessness of the speaking party and grounds any and all validity or claim to be heard in the public forum in the collective well-being. Thoughts will be entertained only that aim at the betterment of all people without regard for particularistic interests. And proposals will be entertained only that allocate resources in accordance with what serves the long-term, principled interests of all people. Baha’u’llah addressing the concourse of the rulers of the earth writes “Take ye counsel together, and let your concern be only for that which profiteth mankind and bettereth the condition thereof.”

How can there be different people, with different ways of life and social structures, but all with a binding unity? How are the diverse tissues of a body coordinated to achieve maximum efficiency and prosperity for all? In pursuit of collective unity and prosperity, rulers ought to regard the world as the human body which, though created whole and perfect, now has various social, economic and political imbalances  as a body that has been afflicted with illness and maladies. Selfish, particularistic, or corrupt politicians, of whom partisanship is a subset, are like untrained, uneducated, fake doctors who have pursued their own materialistic desires at the expense of the common weal.  And through the violent and competitive electoral and social system we have created if a well-trained and educated physician did intervene, his influence was limited and interrupted and the recovery remained limited to a small region of the body. Collectively, the unity and prosperity of the human race has not been realized.  “That which the Lord hath ordained as the sovereign remedy and mightiest instrument for the healing of all the world is the union of all its peoples in one universal Cause, one common Faith.”

This can in no way be achieved except through the power of a skilled, an all-powerful and inspired Physician. Any representation to the contrary is false. The testimony of all history is obvious. Mankind suffers, and selfishness reigns at the level of statesmanship, where selflessness should have flourished decades ago. We must have laws within our discourse against selfish ideology or intentions and we must promote a discourse that glorifies and appreciates educated, thoughtful, proposals that aim for the betterment of all people with no surreptitious corruption or financial motives. We must vote for and uplift those who have demonstrated a history of consistent selfless action, thoughtful planning for universal betterment, and unwavering discipline and justice in the face of tempting expedients. A stricter order of appreciation for the level of selflessness in the ideology of political leaders is necessary. Those with power must support a culture and enact laws that ensure values which promote those with selfless tendencies, and remove those with particularistic or corrupt inclinations.  “It behoveth every ruler to weigh his own being every day in the balance of equity and justice and then to judge between men and counsel them to do that which would direct their steps unto the path of wisdom and understanding. This is the cornerstone of statesmanship and the essence thereof.”

The publication of high thoughts is the dynamic power in the arteries of life; it is the very soul of the world.

Categories
- Consultation Knowledge

Consultation and Objectivism / Relativism

Previous posts’ discussion on the concept of consultation shed some initial light on transcending the false dichotomy between objectivisim and relativism. Some knowledge has a foundational basis, that has an existence beyond the human mind, and through consultation, we can become increasingly attuned with these truths. However, our understanding will always be relative and incomplete at any given time and with any given group. The object of human study – reality – is complex and multifaceted, and every individual has a limited comprehension and perspective. Thus, the validity of a truth-claim put forth by one group of individuals is relative to the diverse perspectives from which each views the same foundational truth – and with this understanding, one can claim that all truth-claims have equal validity, for they are all relative.

However, to transcend the dichotomy implies that we must become more and more attuned to the actual truth. This necessitates methods of investigating reality that distinguish more attuned truth-claims from mistaken ones; more holistic truth-claims from non-coherent ones; deeper truth-claims from superficial ones. The goal is the process of validating, deepening, and integrating understandings of our one, interconnected, reality.

One such method is consultation. And one significant prerequisite, already discussed in connection with creating a culture of learning, is a posture of humility.

What are your thoughts? With your friends and co-workers, what methods of knowledge-generation do you see that moves beyond objectivism and relativism?

Categories
- Consultation - Empowerment Discourse Human Nature Justice Knowledge

Education: The Driver of Social Transformation

In reference to human potential it has been said, “Regard man as a mine rich in gems of inestimable value. Education can, alone, cause it to reveal its treasures, and enable mankind to benefit there from.”
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Education is a fundamental right and duty of every soul. Education allows each person to manifest justice – to be able to see with their own eyes and hear with their own ears. It is by education that we learn to understand the world around us and to articulate the inspiration we find within ourselves. True education is a cause of humility; by it a person learns their finitude and takes up their duty to serve others. In this way, true education bestows wisdom upon an individual. False education serves the ego and cultivates attitudes of superiority and aloofness, and the knowledge acquired is used in improper ways. The acquisition of knowledge should be guided by our twofold moral purpose: developing the latent capacities of an individual, and empowering the individual to carry forward the very lofty task of civilization-building. Without education we are deprived of the powers of thought, articulation, and consultation which allow for the generation of knowledge, it’s application in our lives, and its diffusion to others; without education, we are deprived of fully manifesting our human nature and participating in the central process of social existence.
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Consider the importance of education as a human right and duty, and the role of the denial of education in situations of oppression.

What are the signs of a well-educated person, and by what means have they acquired knowledge? For what do they use knowledge?

Categories
Human Nature Knowledge

Information, Understanding, Wisdom

Knowledge is distinct from information.  Facts are the raw materials of knowledge – just as brick and wood do not, in themselves, constitute the building itself but are shaped into a structure, so is knowledge a structured system.  The system of knowledge includes facts and information, and also includes concepts, hierarchies, connections, patterns, and concepts.
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Knowledge and understanding are also not the same, though this distinction is subtle.  Understanding is a latent spiritual capacity bestowed upon every human being, through which an individual can gain knowledge; knowledge is only meaningful if accompanied with understanding.  For instance, there are laws and an order to nature – say, the physical universe.  Nature, obviously, cannot know the meaning of these laws, and is not conscious of this order; it simply abides.  Humanity, on the other hand, not only can know the laws of physics, but understand the meaning underlying their existence.  To know them is not enough; to understand them is to penetrate to their meaning.  Because the reality of human nature is the soul, and because understanding is a quality and faculty of the soul, the search for knowledge is concerned both with sharpening the powers of the mind and the powers of the soul.  A learning mode implies and requires a constant endeavor to develop one’s spiritual qualities.
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An awareness of the powers and capacities of the soul, and their role in both knowledge acquisition and understanding, helps prevent an individual from adopting dangerous habits of thought – one in particular being the false dichotomy between mind and heart.  Though designations are useful in language to aid in comprehension of complex concepts, such as will, understanding, and knowing, rigid categorization only serves to limit the development of human potentialities – the human being is one; its diverse abilities are all coherent.
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Wisdom is the result of knowledge accompanied by understanding; it connects knowledge with action and enables one to apply knowledge in various ways to a range of situations.  Thus, striving for wisdom is striving to fulfill one’s two-fold purpose in life: to develop spiritual capacities and qualities in the context of contributing to society and serving humanity.
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How do you see information, knowledge, understanding, and wisdom interact in daily life?
Categories
Discourse Knowledge

Habits of Thought

Certain habits of thought also need to be fostered in connection with a culture of learning, often at odds with current society’s tendencies – three will be mentioned.  It is clear that society increasingly speaks with slogans.  To be able to analyze yet not reduce, to ponder and not dwell, to categorize but not compartmentalize are essential to form full and complex thoughts required of a learning mode.  To take science and religion as an example, there seems to be an endless quest to describe each of these vast systems using fewer and fewer words accompanied by clichéd pictures.  “Science flies you to the moon while religion flies you into a building” is one rather amusing one.  What is actually learned from this statement?

Society also breeds false dichotomies – many of which have already been mentioned: science vs religion, study vs action, individual vs collective, material vs spiritual, action vs reflection, mind vs heart, “us” vs “them”, etc.  They are all manifestations of fragmented thought, harmful to a culture of learning that seeks to understand the interconnectedness of all things.  Many stem from the general false dichotomy between being and doing.  These are two mutually informing aspects of one coherent human being;  an individual personally develops through service, and gains the impulse to serve through personal growth.

And thinking in terms of process, as oppose to society’s end-point oriented value system characterized by punctuated events, short-term vision, and instant gratification, is crucial in understanding that learning is a process that will proceed over time, will evolve in an organic fashion, will require sustained and long-term action and vision, and will never reach a definite conclusion.    Regardless of if current society has forgotten this fact, science and religion are both characterized  historical process, whether progressive unfoldment of revelation or progressive development of disease treatment.

Categories
- Empowerment Discourse Knowledge Oneness

A Culture of Learning

The choice to adopt assumptions with the intention of operationalizing them does indeed entail challenges – overcoming habits of mind, resisting corrosive social forces, understanding the dynamics of change, etc – however, the journey hardly stops there.  These assumptions need to be applied and tested within reality to assess the fruits they bear.  To this end, a culture of systematic learning must be fostered; one that is motivated by a human being’s two-fold purpose, one that draws insights from science and religion, one that approaches universal participation and regards all as protagonists in the generation and application of knowledge.

There are a number of principles that prove valuable towards creating a culture of learning – three here will be mentioned.  One is integrating study and action together.  When they are carried out concurrently, insights are tested against reality, questions arise through service, and understanding is enhanced in a coherent fashion.  Contrast this with the educational systems of society which heavily fragment theory and practice, to the point where whole fields, irreconcilable with each other, are created to encompass one fragment versus the other.  Operating within this mode of study and action, a posture of humility assumes extreme importance and value – that each individual contributes simply one perspective towards an evolving collective knowledge, which is tested through action, studied and refined by others, and does not belong to one or another person alone.  Rather, all are empowered to own the generation and application of knowledge.  Again, society denotes humility as passivity, weakness, inferiority, submission.  Far be this from the truth!  Rather, true humility comes from an understanding of the oneness of humankind – that we are all cells in the body of humanity, that we all can play a part in the great enterprise of rearing a world civilization, that no one individual is greater in station than another.  Finally, joining study and service with a humble condition compels individuals to not only encourage and accompany others on a path of learning, but also to find delight and happiness in the accomplishment of others.  For – again, drawing from oneness – the knowledge generated by another is collective and beneficial to all.  The service rendered by another is towards the whole community, and benefits all.  Assisting others in learning is just as valuable as learning itself, for all work together in a culture of learning.

Categories
Development Discourse Human Nature Justice Knowledge Oneness

Conscious Choice

Beyond the highly propagated fragmentation of science and religion in current thought, and the resistance to reconceptualize these complementary systems of knowledge and practice, there are, in general, voices that resist change, especially at the level of principle.  They refuse to believe that the assumptions they hold dear are not useful.  Yet, civilization is in crisis.  The fruits of outworn assumptions have gone rotten.  If long-cherished social assumptions are no longer bearing the much needed fruit, and are no longer promoting the betterment of the world, then what is stopping us from simply discarding these assumptions and adopting new ones to operationalize?  After all, the value and validity of assumptions lie in the results garnered from applying them to social reality – assumptions are all equal until they are tested through application.  Let us apply science in the realm of civilization-building itself; let us be evidence-based.  If assumptions no longer serve humanity’s developing requirements, then they are no longer valuable or valid; and new assumptions need to replace them.  Change is an immutable law of our reality.  What is the harm in adopting the assumption that humanity is one?  That science and religion are complementary?  That human beings are noble?  That beauty directs our purpose?  That individual and social well-being are inextricably linked?  That a world civilization beckons humanity, one that will be governed by justice, one that will achieve a dynamic coherence between the material and spiritual requirements of life, one that will be rich with knowledge from all people?

Tell, which do you prefer: the assumptions that led to our current crisis of civilization, or those listed above?

Categories
- Oppression - Religion - Science Knowledge

Fanaticism and Ridicule: Science and Religion

Currently, there are some who resist the reconceptualization of science and religion.  They fragment science and religion, and dismiss one for the other, claiming that only one or the other has led to humanity’s successes. How often is it that we hear religion caricatured as a superstition of idle fancy, or a hollow ritual of football-detracting compulsion. How often is it that we hear the thunder of ‘hail to science’ with the glorification of the latest cell phone mobile technology; and how often is it that we read of principle-compromising cover-ups of Church-father molestation scandals. If Thor ‘God of Lightning’ was real, one would think that we worshiped him as he flowed in our power cables.

 

A Mendelian punnet square emerges with fanaticism and ridicule on the Y axis and religion and science on the X (Figure 1). People often fall into habits of speaking fanatically about the exclusivity of science as a source of human betterment, or the monopoly that religion exercises over truth. Both are caricatures of reality, and neither adequately describes it. A discourse that ridicules religion as an empty ritual and a superstition for the ‘masses’, co-exists with a view in society that mocks science as a) a theoretical preoccupation of the disconnected elites, or b) a dangerous and heretical arrogance before the angry, angry Lord. The dichotomies of this punnet square are to be utterly and wholly discarded. The present discourse pays no attention to these ways of compartmentalizing our epistemic experience and collapses these dichotomies under the view: reality is one, knowledge of reality is multi-factorial, and ultimately represents only diverse views of a single entity.

 

We propose an alternate schema that reconclies these epistemic systems (Figure 2). We start with the understanding that reality is one (R1=S1). Science and religion are two systems of learning about it. Religion offers the Revealed Word of God and its authoritative interpreters (R2), and science offers the physical universe as an experience of facts and laws we can all observe (S2), as the first level of the two great systems. The interpretations and methods for justification of ethical commands in religion (R3) and the standards and justifications offered by the scientific method (S3) are the next level of knowledge offered by these two systems. Practical knowledge of daily spiritual disciplines as an individual and cultural norms of the collective within a community (R4), and technology and practical knowledge of scientific inquiry in application (S4), constitute the third layer and final of these two knowledge systems. They both intertwine to produce the harmony and betterment of the human condition and human society.

Categories
Human Nature Knowledge

Truth and Beauty

Developing our latent capacities requires self-knowledge about our nature and purpose – both individually and collectively.  Knowledge of self and of civilization cannot be separated, as each individual exits in a social context and influences their environment, while it is within society’s conventions and codes that an individual develops.  Thus, human beings have a socially-embedded nature and a two-fold purpose – personal development and contribution to civilization’s advance.

Our nature and purpose are shaped by many forces.  There are two forces in particular that strengthen and direct consciousness so as to prevent it from succumbing to society’s negative forces.  The first is attraction to beauty.  This is an innate spiritual perception that allows us to see the interconnectedness of a multifaceted reality and search with an eye of oneness.  This attraction can manifest in myriad ways – love for the majesty and diversity of nature; the impulse to create arts, music, crafts; the response to the elegance of a theory or idea; beholding the development of capacities in fellow human beings.   It underlies an individual’s search for order in reality – physical, social, and spiritual.  It acts as a standard for human behavior and language, and social practices and patterns.

What do you find beautiful in the world?  How does it direct you?

Investigation of truth is another innate quality of the soul that is a force impelling human purpose.  It motivates human beings to acquire understandings about reality and self, to weigh the opinions of others against one’s own investigation, and thus, to express justice.   If reality is viewed with a spiritual perspective, three truths reveal themselves, on which all other investigation is based.  1)  Human beings are created noble, with inherent capacities.  What leads a human being to loftiness or to lowliness?  Through what means can these latent capacities be manifest?  2)  Humanity is one.  What human capacities are brought out with an understanding of the oneness of humanity?  3)  Human existence extends beyond daily life.  What types of goals are set, and what type of vision is adopted, with this understanding?

Categories
- Empowerment - Religion - Science Development Knowledge

Science and Religion

All human beings have spiritual capacities that can be revealed to contribute to humanity’s development and betterment.  This process of empowerment occurs through access to knowledge, both self-knowledge and knowledge of reality.  This knowledge is in two repositories of science and religion – for capacity building is concerned both with the qualities of the mind and the unique endowments of the soul.  For example, seeking unbiased truth is a scientific skill, but this skill’s contribution to civilization’s advance requires detachment and truthfulness.

Thus, the advancement of civilization is propelled through these two systems of knowledge, religion and science.  Both evolve over time as humanity has evolved.  Both are practiced collectively by communities.  Both operationalize underlying assumptions.  Religion discerns values through Divine revelation, that define the goals of humankind’s advancement; while science is the instrumentality through which the mind explores reality and attains these goals.

Science without religion looses proper direction and, as we have seen, results in a destructive materialism.  Religion without science looses connection with reality and, as we have seen, becomes blind imitation and superstition.

What are some instances now or throughout history when science and religion have been in harmony?

Categories
- Oppression - Prevailing Conceptions Development

Materialism

Today’s vision of betterment is dogmatically materialistic.  The interpretation of reality that progress equals economic development, and that people’s happiness would only be the result of better health, food, education, living conditions, etc., has consolidated itself to become the deciding factor in the direction of society.  In the West, this relegated spirituality and religion to the realm of personal preference – each individual could hold whatever belief or relationship with transcendence that he wished, but society’s course would not be influenced.  (This fragmentation is already problematic in itself, independent of the content of what is being fragmented.)  Throughout the rest of the world, where the view that human nature is fundamentally spiritual is a common truth, the ideological imperialism of the West marginalized people’s deepest convictions – rather than challenged them directly.  Faith became impotent to direct society, something that it had done for millenia prior.

The field of development was rooted in these underlying materialistic assumptions and values.  Since the end of the World War II up to the present, global development efforts have been judged, by their own standards, a failure, often causing the opposite of their intended, well-intentioned, and idealistic goals – resulting in the widening of the gap between the rich and poor, the plunging into hopelessness of whole peoples, the desolation of vast geographic areas and ecosystems.  Economic activities, rather than knowledge, assume the central role of social existence; while knowledge is reduced to information, and is valuable insomuch as it can aid economic growth.

Even diverse worldwide economic systems, different in their approaches and methods, still nonetheless held the same underlying assumption.  Whether a state-controlled system, seeking to liberate the populous from struggle; or a system of competitism, invoking the “invisible hand” to create a prosperous society if each individual sought his own economic well-being; all yielded similar results: a host of personal and social pathologies, including anxieties, prejudice, apathy, breakdown of family life, ineffective educational systems, and consumer culture, just to start.

Economic growth is not the problem; it is essential, provided it is in the context of building a just and unified world civilization, having both a spiritual and material component.  Materialism’s error was in the arbitrary attempts to divorce humanity’s physical development from its spiritual development.  Both need to advance coherently.

Categories
- Empowerment Development Knowledge

The Centrality of Knowledge

The advancement of civilization is propelled through increases in knowledge, as has been mentioned multiple times in previous posts.  Every human being is a protagonist of humanity’s maturity, and all can contribute through a process of building on their latent capacities.  Empowerment – which is a manifestation of justice – happens through knowledge, both of self and of reality.  Thus, the generation, application, and diffusion of knowledge is not only a duty upon every person, but central to social life.

On a spiritual level, intellectual investigation, the use of the mind, and expansion of consciousness are unique spiritual endowments associated with powers of the soul.  Science is the first emanation of God to humanity, and the capacity of understanding is one of God’s greatest gifts to us.

Developing our latent capacities and acquiring knowledge can only occur through a process of education.  Our current educational systems – which have assumed responsibility for this process – are increasingly conceived in fragmented ways.  Little wonder, then, that education is seen as a means to secure a job to uphold an economic status quo; that academia has become preoccupied with tending to its machinery of dissertations, publication credits, and grants; that learning is divorced from the values that underlie it.

What type of knowledge is useful?  How can we develop a coherent understanding of the transformative potential of knowledge?  How do we foster a culture of learning?  How can empowerment and capacity building be fostered?

Categories
- Equality of Women and Men Justice

Half the Human Race

Equality of men and women is a fundamental truth about human nature, not a social utility that is agreed upon, regardless of the motive. This equality is based on the reality of a human being – spiritual reality – which has no sex. Thus, equality of men and women is an already existing spiritual truth, which is relatively latent and slowly being increasingly expressed in social reality. At this point, as humanity is transitioning to maturity, full equality between men and women is an evolutionary imperative. It demands change in human consciousness as well as in social structures; it implies that men and women can contribute together to the advancement of civilization.

This achievement requires the recognition of two facts: 1) Women have historically been at a disadvantage; 2) The equality of women and men is still not established in society.

Our current structures of society and thought are modern reflections of centuries-old conventions to maintain women in an inferior position. The state of women, therefore, is oppressed. What does it mean to be oppressed? A previous post defined oppression as denial to access of knowledge. In this case, women have been denied knowledge, not only of the world, but more importantly, of their selves.

Perpetual lack of self-knowledge has allowed society to perpetuate harmful attitudes which carry into all arenas of social life. Women are objects of masculine conceptions, their purpose is secondary to men, and even historically, their accomplishments have been contingent on men – as mothers, daughters, wives, and lovers.

There are no grounds on which to perpetuate injustice against half the human race. Humanity’s advancement will continue to be stunted if women are unable to contribute to it’s development; if they are not able to be empowered through self-knowledge, to understand their true nature and capacities, and exercise power in cooperative and constructive means. To these ends, society needs structures – social, mental, economic, governmental – that facilitate the self-knowledge of women and bring out their latent potentialities.

Categories
- Empowerment Human Nature Justice Knowledge

Champion of Justice

Knowledge of human nature is essential in championing the cause of justice. Ontologically, human beings are dual-natured – there is capacity for egoism and altruism, competition and cooperation; in short, there is a lower/animal nature, and a higher/spiritual nature. Self-interested behaviors can be conscious and intentional, and alternatively, they can be unconscious and unintentional. When human being are in a state of ignorance – a cause of injustice – they tend towards selfish actions and thoughts. As we gain knowledge of our true nature, our latent capacities and talents, and our purpose, we can consciously reveal our higher nature. And as we are able more and more to investigate reality for ourselves, we increasingly recognize the oneness of humankind.

Ignorance is a main cause of injustice. Unlike ages past, the oppression of today is not caused by a few evil tyrants actively battling the hapless multitudes. Rather, oppressive forces are the result of countless, small, self-interested thoughts, words, and actions by the vast majority of the world. These accumulate over generations and gradually consolidate themselves in social structures, which then perpetuate this oppression and normalize the selfish assumptions on which they were built.

There is no “us” and “them”. Humanity is one. Every human being is responsible for the current crisis of civilization. Through our words, thoughts, and actions, through advancing self-knowledge and empowering others, all work for justice.

Categories
- Oppression - Prevailing Conceptions Justice Knowledge

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Let us take advertising as an example of social forces that cause oppression through distortion of self-knowledge.  Advertising, a euphemism for propaganda, mutilates our conceptions of reality.  Images presented to youth, at a time of rising self-awareness, present unattainable goals and appearances that create an endless struggle for self-confidence.  A real girl’s purpose is to attract men.  A real man is defined by physical power.  Sexuality is the center of existence.  All of a sudden, a commercial draws a conclusion between a bike helmet and romance; between a brand of shoes and a one-night stand; between a certain snack food and finding the love of your life.

The idea behind advertising is to create a culture to which one desires to belong.  Increasingly, teenagers are categorized according to attitudes towards which products can be catered.  Advertisers link their product with whatever culture this teenager identifies with, and symbolizes it with happiness.  A studious youth is sold state-of-the-art books and study aids that promise to bring them happiness through out-competing their peers academically.  A rebellious youth is offered unique and shunned earrings to fulfill their desires to be non-comformist.  Even an environmentally-conscious youth is targeted for t-shirts that state “yay recycling” – t-shirts that have ironically been made at a factory that pollutes the environment.

Manipulative and self-interested social forces are pervasive.  They maintain ignorance and propagate injustice.  Only through empowerment in knowledge can they be overcome.

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- Oppression Justice Knowledge

Oppression

One of the major causes of injustice and oppression is lack of knowledge and perpetuation of ignorance.  This is done through words, actions, and policies of self-interested governments, leaders, corporations, media, clergy, etc.  They seek to retain their power; and because knowledge empowers, they block its access, stifle its generation, and manipulate its meaning.  When an individual lacks or has a twisted perception of self-knowledge, then one cannot see through one’s own eyes; when an individual is coerced – through adversarial policies and oppositional practices – to accept notions by those in power, then one cannot know through one’s own knowledge.  This is injustice.

What does it mean to fight for justice?  To struggle against injustice?  We know our methods must be unifying, yet this does not mean passivity.

One approach, that was mentioned earlier, is empowerment.  This takes the form of empowerment in the access, generation, application of knowledge towards a prosperous world civilization – becoming active participants in one’s own learning.  This includes knowledge of true self and talents, knowledge of humanity’s nature, knowledge of science and religion, and knowledge of physical, spiritual, and social forces that operate in the world.

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Justice

Source of Human Rights

With the understanding that justice requires the spiritual dimensions of human existence to be taken into account in discourse in order to stay relevant to humanity’s real needs, let us turn to the issue of human rights.

What are the reasons for human rights and justice? Why do human beings deserve protection?

Human rights are founded upon the spiritual nature of a human being – that an individual is a spiritual being with the latent capacity to reflect spiritual attributes. One of the purposes of life is to manifest these capacities; and thus, human beings must be free and protected to spiritually develop, to gain knowledge of self, to investigate reality, and to contribute to the advancement of civilization.

Beyond the purpose of an individual’s existence, human rights, on a collective level, are derived from an understanding of the oneness of humankind – that the body of humanity is one. Just as every cell is under the care of the entire organism, each human being is born as a trust of the whole. This oneness intrinsically provides the foundational basis of all conceptions of justice, human rights, and freedom.

For instance, human rights include the imperative to preserve cultural diversity – at least those cultural expressions that are not contrary or harmful to others. This imperative is driven by peace and unity. If peaceful order is to emerge, then complex cultural interactions must flourish. And if unity – and not uniformity – is to characterize humanity’s condition, then diversity must be protected and fostered. Other examples include right of health care, employment, food, shelter, etc. Every individual has the right to live with a certain degree of well-being, both to protect their purpose of manifesting spiritual qualities and contributing to society, and because the well-being of one is the well-being of all. Thus, the operation of justice through societal institutions should ensure the prevention of extremes of wealth and poverty and the preservation of human honor through a dignified livelihood – this, without detracting from individual freedoms of private property and economic initiative.

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- Consultation Discourse Justice Knowledge

Discourse and Justice, Part I

As a community of discourse we need to ensure that we develop the ability to read and examine other people’s views and thoughts on a given subject with fairness. This does not mean that we never reach conclusions or continuously consider new or erroneous explanations without an end in sight, but that we believe the truth exists as a conglomerate of all valid vantage points, in which the different perspectives of many hearts lend insight into the many facets of reality, complex and intricate as it is. To a large extent, the problems in the world today testify to how much we have neglected to consult as a global community on issues of communal concern, neglecting and marginalizing the views and experience of those most affected by our policies and decisions. Ironically the best conclusions, the authors believe, can only be reached when all sides have weighed in and proper consultation is allowed to cement the various view points in an understanding that leads to valid and worthwhile action.  Justice requires that multiple views be incorporated into an understanding of a multi-faceted reality. This is our destiny, in spiritual maturity, institutional structure, and social force of habit.

There are two extreme positions that we have noticed in characterizing public involvement in the discourses of society. When new comers come to the table of discourse on issues related to development, unity, science and its relationship with religion, peaceful resolution to international conflict, malnutrition, disease and poverty, we find that there is a tendency to fall into one or the other extreme position alleviating the difficult burden of studying the discourse at hand to familiarize oneself with its intricate and challenging substance. These are difficult questions and to be presumptuous about how long it will take for discourse to yield fruit on any issue, does no one any good. Patience is an indispensable ally. Humbleness is a must. And a willingness to learn and study, and never be arrogant in the face of new data, facts or even concepts is a whole life’s worth of challenge and success.