By Jeeva P
I’ve at all times had a fascination with Marxism, its intent and imaginative and prescient of a classless society, devoid of exploitation, hierarchies and social strata. The society Marx had envisioned had no governments, no police, no armies, in different phrases, no relics of what we name at present ‘the fashionable nation-state’. The utopia had no nationwide boundaries and any human having been born at any nook of this land belonged to your entire world. He was imagined to be schooled primarily based on his pure inclinations or what one calls ‘pure items’, do work that fits and satisfies his ‘inside calling’ and be allowed to wander free everywhere in the planet and settle wherever he needs to. In such a society, I used to be 100% satisfied that man would be capable of surmount each single barrier to happiness and succeed within the mission in the direction of residing a well-rounded and a totally fulfilling life.
However as years handed, I used to be slowly getting uncovered to the concepts of Hindu Philosophy, its strategies and practices that nurture and develop man’s inside consciousness focussing on his bodily and psychological well-being. All these practices of ‘the East’ I later understood have been vital for the event of ‘a person’ versus Western Marxism which was bent on addressing the issues of societies and economies and nations at massive. Having been recognized with a set of psychological points myself, the concepts behind meditation and its emphasis on focussing on the ‘current’ ignoring each the previous and the long run have been in actual fact making a variety of sense to me.
Throughout conversations with my mates, I used to prescribe Western beliefs of democracy, equality, freedom and naturally Marxism for points associated to societal and political sicknesses and Jap beliefs of ‘mindfulness’, ‘yoga’,’spirit’ for points that plague people. In different phrases, if you wish to go ‘out’ and tackle the issues of plenty of people akin to tribes, communities and nations, go ‘West’, learn Rousseau, Robespierre and Marx. If you wish to go ‘inward’, assist a buddy or two, learn the Buddha, Krishna and Vivekananda.
However frankly, regardless of having gulped down reams and reams of non-fiction for years, I barely discovered each these worlds coming collectively, even by chance. Those that have been weaned on the Marxist faculties of thought wasted no time in dismissing Jap concepts of medication, philosophy and spirituality as ‘regressive junk’ concocted by egocentric monks and higher lessons hell-bent on sucking the final drop of blood from the already emaciated proletariat. Alternatively, those that appeared to profess home-grown concepts of spirituality, karma and yoga have been solely too wanting to reject Marxist, feminist and egalitarian concepts as ‘Western imports designed to deprave and destroy the material of the already much-superior Indian tradition’.
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The primary time I noticed a author commenting on each faculties of thought with competence and authority was once I had the chance to leaf by the pages of Jeyamohan’s weblog. His commentaries on Hinduism, its six faculties of philosophy, their functions, and the way they performed a job within the improvement of our societies and cultures through the years have been spell-binding. Alternatively, his essays on his upbringing that occurred in Marxist environments, his issues with Indian mainstream Left events and the methods by which a variety of Indian Marxist intellectuals influenced his literary, political and social concepts provided beautiful glimpses into his deep understanding of Marxism, of issues that gnawed the material of the now-defunct Soviet society, and so on.
This was one massive purpose why I hold referring to Jeyamohan on this weblog now and again in lots of my essays as he seemed to be the one author who wished to handle each single subject that troubled mankind by bringing two apparently incompatible philosophies collectively from each ends of the world. My thoughts harks again to a phrase in Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s speech that he delivered on the midnight of the day of our Independence from the British – ‘to wipe each tear from each eye’ and the affect that such a imaginative and prescient left upon me. A society that had people with no points, no tears, a land the place there isn’t any exploitation, the place the large authorities is both largely benign or non-existent, the place there are not any social and financial ladders to climb or troublesome targets to attain, the place individuals are completely satisfied and content material simply by being themselves!
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I not too long ago had the chance to learn Aldous Huxley’s Island. The protagonist is from England if I’m not flawed who unintentionally is stranded on a distant fictional island referred to as Pala. Quickly he’s rescued by native individuals who surprisingly converse two languages – Palanese and English. Pala is located on the Indian Ocean I assume and there’s loads of oil beneath ready to be exploited by multinational companies overseas. Equally for the protagonist Will Farnaby there’s a lot to be unearthed from Pala when it comes to the native folks’s distinctive tradition, their authorities, their mannequin of society and their financial system.
Firstly, there are not any nuclear households in Pala. There are Mutual Adoption Golf equipment with completely different households clumped collectively. Youngsters born to some should select deputy fathers and moms and are allowed to maneuver throughout households freely. This helps them uncover folks with completely different inclinations, psychological make-ups and upbringing. Individuals with irregular childhoods typically develop as much as fret adults and make the error of avenging their previous by punishing their future kids. It’s defined that the society of Pala is made up of Adoption Golf equipment akin to these which not solely save kids from troubled mother and father but additionally put together them to embrace and navigate a wide range of people as they develop up.
Those that are acquainted with Marxism would possibly discover parallels to this method in Marx’s concept of communes the place each child belongs to each household within the commune and vice-versa.
Secondly, there isn’t any mass manufacturing of commodities in Pala and therefore no want for large-scale industrialization that pollutes the setting and jeopardises particular person well being. People are taught as early as their childhood to practise meditation and numerous thoughts management methods in order to derive contentment and happiness from their present monetary and social state. No particular person is allowed to build up fortunes greater than not less than 4 or 5 occasions the common wealth of a person within the island and therefore there isn’t any purpose for people to really feel jealous or insecure about their place within the financial ladder. This eliminates the necessity for a aggressive mentality and likewise scotches aspirations in the direction of indiscriminate consumption and accumulation. In such a society of completely satisfied and content material people, there could be no want for capitalist mass manufacturing and profiteering on the expense of working plenty and valuable pure assets. For those who suppose Huxley’s concept of Utopia as soon as once more approaches the postulates of Marx, you aren’t mistaken.
Thirdly, since there isn’t any purpose to pursue large-scale industrialization, there isn’t any want for the Palanese to innovate with respect to agriculture and commodity manufacturing besides when completely essential. There may be one line within the e-book that I might like to quote – “know-how is customized to go well with human wants and wishes and never the opposite method spherical”. After I was studying these strains, I felt like I might have written them had I had Huxley’s alternative and prowess to put in writing an bold novel akin to this. Aren’t we people innovating merely both for innovation’s sake or with the one intention to maximise earnings for a specific company’s shareholders? Aren’t we in such a pursuit, destroying the livelihoods of 1000’s and 1000’s of households who’ve been weaned on a specific know-how or a mode of manufacturing for nearly all their lives? What number of handloom weavers, farmers, carpenters, blacksmiths, painters, clerks, writers and industrial workmen have we despatched house on account of their lack of ability to vary with the occasions with utter disregard to the issue of offering them with various livelihoods?
Fourthly, there isn’t any massive, absolute authorities for the island as a complete and the entire of Pala is run by small, neighborhood primarily based ‘municipality’-like buildings that possess virtually full autonomy with respect to funding and administration. This concept too comes near Lenin’s finally unrealised concept of Soviets (village councils) with which he had deliberate to construct the big empire from the underside up.
Fifthly, Huxley with out going an excessive amount of into element expounds the Indian concept of yoga of affection the place women and men are taught practices of Tantric love that helps them totally discover their sexual dimensions. This follow Huxley hints by a pivotal character is prime for people to stay completely satisfied and content material not solely in relation to relationships but additionally for every of them to evolve as well-rounded human beings.
Huxley by the novel additionally devises a set of strategies the place kids are categorized primarily based on their skills, their pure inclinations, aspirations and even bodily structure. This categorization helps lecturers to offer various kinds of coaching for every class measuring their progress with out a one-size-fits-all yardstick for all of them.
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It’s fairly apparent that Huxley’s novel Island will not be a masterpiece in relation to the vital features of storytelling and characterization. Other than the psychological arc of the protagonist Will Farnaby, there’s completely no single, coherent thread that leads us from one occasion to the opposite in the entire narrative. Each episode is random and expository and serves primarily to offer us a glimpse into Huxley’s concept of a utopian, completely satisfied society. There are in fact areas the place Huxley’s prowess as a prose-writer involves the fore however general, he makes no try and deliver them collectively within the context of a compelling story. Another grouse for me with Huxley was both his full ignorance of Marxist beliefs or his aware refusal to acknowledge them regardless of having written this e-book virtually a century after their delivery and widespread dissemination.