Post by Anwaar on Sept 23, 2006 22:34:33 GMT 4
Toward the Garden of Eden
By Anwaar Hussain
All indicators are that the rapidly emerging global civilization is here and here to stay, the teething-pains resistance offered by nationalistic, patriotic or religious forces not withstanding. The beginning of a global society may now be considered unavoidable.
Trends other than the American Neoconservative led Empire building gamble, like the growing integration of the world's economies and their increasing inter-dependence, the ever-rising blending of international social and cultural systems, and the proliferation of space-shrinking new technologies, are the prima facie confirmation of this new reality.
Will this new age, when it does finally get on toward its absolute shape, eventually embody humanity's darkest fears or its most cherished hopes? Will it be our eternal Garden of Eden or will we have created a hell on earth forever to live in.
The question before humanity thus is how to manage the transition to the inevitable global society in a way that mankind’s long-sought vision for an era of peace and prosperity is realized -- rather than the nightmare of a planet gone berserk because the human race failed to take the next necessary step in social evolution in an orderly manner.
Since times immemorial, there have been three distinct sets of forces at work amongst us humans. These forces are represented first by the points men who are the men with vision, the men who, like Atlas, carry the burden of planet earth from point to point on its onward voyage. These are the men due to whose dreams, and on whose orders, monumental changes in the course of civilizations are brought about.
Then are the elites of a society who are men and women having, to a varying degree, certain influence upon public life and opinion. Hierarchically responsible to the points men, it is these elites that are the engine of change in any civilization.
The last is of course the general mass of humanity or the civilization itself at any given point in time. This is the medium upon which the earlier two sets exert themselves. That none of the three classes of men are immune from evil, is a fact as much to do with our humanity as with the Newton’s 3rd Law of Motion.
Yet, how the journey to the inevitable goal would turn out to be depends largely upon the elites of our present societies and upon their consent or refusal to the exhortations of those who are the points men of this fateful passage.
As our bloom or doom depends, to a great extent, upon these elites, their sense, or absence, of the higher calling of the human race and their comprehension of obligation towards the general mass of humanity, could there be a golden rule for them to follow during this transition?
Yes, one dares say, there is one. And that is the virtue of disobedience; disobedience of morally and ethically revolting orders of the points men. For obedience to authority comes natural to all of us, having been instilled in us from the first time we gain consciousness. We are born with a potential for obedience. It is this very obedience, or its blind application, that has been the cause of so much of human misery during the course of civilization. Disobedience to morally and ethically repugnant orders thus has to become the most essential attribute of the elite if we are to see an end to mass murder, mayhem and chaos.
What is ethical and what is moral one may ask. Though the standards of morality may differ from society to society, ethics have almost a universal appeal. Applied individually or collectively, a general thumb rule for that could be, “I will not do to you and yours what I do not wish done to me and mine by you.” This thumb rule will ensure sound judgment, to a large extent, in situations where morality and ethics are often confused.
Likewise, loyalty, obedience, integrity and moral courage too are neither absolute nor relative. They may conflict. Therefore, it is for the elites to decide that when they are torn between obedience to an order and fulfillment of another moral obligation, they must judge which the higher calling in those circumstances is. Upon their judgment will rest the course of civilization.
There have been instances of disobedience both in authoritarian states and in democracies and the ‘erring’ ones have indeed been punished by the points men, sometimes with death. One may also argue that mental suffering that goes with disobedience could sometimes be a greater test of moral courage than death itself. Yet the men of conscience in the elites should be prepared to follow the dictates of their scruples and their convictions, at the same time risking life, career and public dishonor. Disobedience is not an easy thing to do for to disobey is not only to claim a moral superiority over the points men, it is indeed to challenge them openly.
The elites must never lose sight of the distinction between what they are told to do and what they ought to do. Elites must weigh the significance of their actions in terms of the general moral principles, which derive from the basic values of society. Orders or wishes of points men are to be followed as long as they are legal and ethical. Elites are obligated to disobey illegal, unethical or immoral orders.
Complete assurance in moral judgment is seldom attained in the intricate situations which need the makeup of moral evaluation. However, when a subordinate is certain that the moral judgment of a superior is wrong from a professional point of view, he or she is professionally obligated to take action, if from moral or ethical standpoint, then he or she is morally or ethically compelled to challenge that judgment.
The biggest obstacle to this exalted state of the elite is the sense of patriotism and the unquestioning obedience that comes as part of that package. George Bernard Shaw defined patriotism as "your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it." Bertrand Russell called it “the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons." Leo Tolstoy defined it as “the principle that will justify the training of wholesale murderers." Mark Twain wrote, "The soul and substance of what customarily ranks as patriotism is moral cowardice and always has been." By far, possibly, the most famous remarks about patriotism were made by Samuel Johnson who said, “Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.”
Throughout history, points men have routinely invoked patriotic feelings to support military aggression, promote personal agendas, order arbitrary imprisonments, inflict torture and even carry out whole scale murder--acts the orders for which should have been disobeyed and resisted by the elites of the time.
Perhaps the time has come for the elites to realize that we are all aliens here. No territory has ever belonged permanently to any country nor it ever will. The sands of time will eventually erase all national boundaries.
A time has come to call the earth our country; where we must, by a process of justice and international assembly, distribute unselfishly the goods of the world according to the needs of the people. The earlier the elites change their sense of patriotism from having a feeling of love and devotion to their own homeland and countrymen to their planet and fellow beings, the earlier shall we find our Garden of Eden.
It was the disobedience of the elites that got us banished from the Garden of Eden. Let it be their disobedience once again to take us back there.
Copyrights : Anwaar Hussain
By Anwaar Hussain
All indicators are that the rapidly emerging global civilization is here and here to stay, the teething-pains resistance offered by nationalistic, patriotic or religious forces not withstanding. The beginning of a global society may now be considered unavoidable.
Trends other than the American Neoconservative led Empire building gamble, like the growing integration of the world's economies and their increasing inter-dependence, the ever-rising blending of international social and cultural systems, and the proliferation of space-shrinking new technologies, are the prima facie confirmation of this new reality.
Will this new age, when it does finally get on toward its absolute shape, eventually embody humanity's darkest fears or its most cherished hopes? Will it be our eternal Garden of Eden or will we have created a hell on earth forever to live in.
The question before humanity thus is how to manage the transition to the inevitable global society in a way that mankind’s long-sought vision for an era of peace and prosperity is realized -- rather than the nightmare of a planet gone berserk because the human race failed to take the next necessary step in social evolution in an orderly manner.
Since times immemorial, there have been three distinct sets of forces at work amongst us humans. These forces are represented first by the points men who are the men with vision, the men who, like Atlas, carry the burden of planet earth from point to point on its onward voyage. These are the men due to whose dreams, and on whose orders, monumental changes in the course of civilizations are brought about.
Then are the elites of a society who are men and women having, to a varying degree, certain influence upon public life and opinion. Hierarchically responsible to the points men, it is these elites that are the engine of change in any civilization.
The last is of course the general mass of humanity or the civilization itself at any given point in time. This is the medium upon which the earlier two sets exert themselves. That none of the three classes of men are immune from evil, is a fact as much to do with our humanity as with the Newton’s 3rd Law of Motion.
Yet, how the journey to the inevitable goal would turn out to be depends largely upon the elites of our present societies and upon their consent or refusal to the exhortations of those who are the points men of this fateful passage.
As our bloom or doom depends, to a great extent, upon these elites, their sense, or absence, of the higher calling of the human race and their comprehension of obligation towards the general mass of humanity, could there be a golden rule for them to follow during this transition?
Yes, one dares say, there is one. And that is the virtue of disobedience; disobedience of morally and ethically revolting orders of the points men. For obedience to authority comes natural to all of us, having been instilled in us from the first time we gain consciousness. We are born with a potential for obedience. It is this very obedience, or its blind application, that has been the cause of so much of human misery during the course of civilization. Disobedience to morally and ethically repugnant orders thus has to become the most essential attribute of the elite if we are to see an end to mass murder, mayhem and chaos.
What is ethical and what is moral one may ask. Though the standards of morality may differ from society to society, ethics have almost a universal appeal. Applied individually or collectively, a general thumb rule for that could be, “I will not do to you and yours what I do not wish done to me and mine by you.” This thumb rule will ensure sound judgment, to a large extent, in situations where morality and ethics are often confused.
Likewise, loyalty, obedience, integrity and moral courage too are neither absolute nor relative. They may conflict. Therefore, it is for the elites to decide that when they are torn between obedience to an order and fulfillment of another moral obligation, they must judge which the higher calling in those circumstances is. Upon their judgment will rest the course of civilization.
There have been instances of disobedience both in authoritarian states and in democracies and the ‘erring’ ones have indeed been punished by the points men, sometimes with death. One may also argue that mental suffering that goes with disobedience could sometimes be a greater test of moral courage than death itself. Yet the men of conscience in the elites should be prepared to follow the dictates of their scruples and their convictions, at the same time risking life, career and public dishonor. Disobedience is not an easy thing to do for to disobey is not only to claim a moral superiority over the points men, it is indeed to challenge them openly.
The elites must never lose sight of the distinction between what they are told to do and what they ought to do. Elites must weigh the significance of their actions in terms of the general moral principles, which derive from the basic values of society. Orders or wishes of points men are to be followed as long as they are legal and ethical. Elites are obligated to disobey illegal, unethical or immoral orders.
Complete assurance in moral judgment is seldom attained in the intricate situations which need the makeup of moral evaluation. However, when a subordinate is certain that the moral judgment of a superior is wrong from a professional point of view, he or she is professionally obligated to take action, if from moral or ethical standpoint, then he or she is morally or ethically compelled to challenge that judgment.
The biggest obstacle to this exalted state of the elite is the sense of patriotism and the unquestioning obedience that comes as part of that package. George Bernard Shaw defined patriotism as "your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it." Bertrand Russell called it “the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons." Leo Tolstoy defined it as “the principle that will justify the training of wholesale murderers." Mark Twain wrote, "The soul and substance of what customarily ranks as patriotism is moral cowardice and always has been." By far, possibly, the most famous remarks about patriotism were made by Samuel Johnson who said, “Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.”
Throughout history, points men have routinely invoked patriotic feelings to support military aggression, promote personal agendas, order arbitrary imprisonments, inflict torture and even carry out whole scale murder--acts the orders for which should have been disobeyed and resisted by the elites of the time.
Perhaps the time has come for the elites to realize that we are all aliens here. No territory has ever belonged permanently to any country nor it ever will. The sands of time will eventually erase all national boundaries.
A time has come to call the earth our country; where we must, by a process of justice and international assembly, distribute unselfishly the goods of the world according to the needs of the people. The earlier the elites change their sense of patriotism from having a feeling of love and devotion to their own homeland and countrymen to their planet and fellow beings, the earlier shall we find our Garden of Eden.
It was the disobedience of the elites that got us banished from the Garden of Eden. Let it be their disobedience once again to take us back there.
Copyrights : Anwaar Hussain