Integral Polity: Integrating Nature, Culture, Society and Economy 1472442474, 9781472442475

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Integral Polity

Transformation and Innovation Series Series Editors: Ronnie Lessem, Trans4m Center for Integral Development, Switzerland Alexander Schieffer, Trans4m Center for Integral Development, Switzerland The world’s economic and socio-political landscape has changed dramatically and created a now-or-never momentum for transformation and innovation. “Business as usual” no longer works. The time has come to fundamentally rethink enterprise, economics and development. The Gower “Transformation and Innovation Series”, with contributions by leading thinkersand-doers from diverse cultures across the globe, combines theory and practice, informing both decision makers and scholars. It provides cutting-edge, viable approaches to the unprecedented challenges faced by business leaders, management consultants, economic policy makers and development agents. The pioneering Integral Worlds approach, developed by Lessem and Schieffer, provides a unique and coherent orientation to the wide-ranging volumes in the series. This approach combines individual, organizational and socio-economic development. Drawing on the particularities of each and every culture, it enhances local identity while contributing to global integrity. It activates the potential for a holistic realignment of enterprise and economics with other major dimensions of society, such as nature and community; culture and spirituality; as well as science, systems and technology.

Latest titles in the series Integral Development Realising the Transformative Potential of Individuals, Organisations and Societies Alexander Schieffer and Ronnie Lessem ISBN 978-1-4094-2353-9 An Integral Approach to Development Economics Islamic Finance in an African Context Basheer A. Oshodi ISBN 978-1-4724-1125-9 Remaking Ourselves, Enterprise and Society An Indian Approach to Human Values in Management G.P. Rao ISBN 978-1-4094-4884-6 Spiritual Capital A Moral Core for Social and Economic Justice Samuel D. Rima ISBN 978-1-4094-0484-2

Integral Polity Integrating Nature, Culture, Society and Economy Ronnie Lessem with ibRahim abouLeish, maRko PogaČnik and Louis heRman

© Ronnie Lessem with Ibrahim Abouleish, Marko Pogačnik and Louis Herman 2015 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. Ronnie Lessem with Ibrahim Abouleish, Marko Pogačnik and Louis Herman have asserted their moral right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identiied as the authors of this work. Gower Applied Business Research Our programme provides leaders, practitioners, scholars and researchers with thought provoking, cutting edge books that combine conceptual insights, interdisciplinary rigour and practical relevance in key areas of business and management. Published by Gower Publishing Limited Wey Court East Union Road Farnham Surrey, GU9 7PT England

Gower Publishing Company 110 Cherry Street Suite 3-1 Burlington, VT 05401-3818 USA

www.gowerpublishing.com British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Lessem, Ronnie. Integral polity : integrating nature, culture, society and economy / by Ronnie Lessem with Ibrahim Abouleish, Marko Pogačnik and Louis Herman. pages cm -- (Transformation and innovation) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4724-4247-5 (hardback) -- ISBN (invalid) 978-1-4724-4248-2 (ebook) -- ISBN 978-1-4724-4249-9 (epub) 1. Economic development--Technological innovations. 2. Business enterprises--Technological innovations. 3. Information technology--Social aspects. 4. Social change. I. Title. HD82.L377 2014 306.3--dc23 2014016620 ISBN 9781472442475 (hbk) ISBN 9781472442482 (ebk – PDF) ISBN 9781472442499 (ebk – ePUB)

III

Printed in the United Kingdom by Henry Ling Limited, at the Dorset Press, Dorchester, DT1 1HD

Contents

List of Figures List of Tables About the Authors

Prologue

An Introduction to Integral Polity: Nature, Culture, Society, Economy Part 1: Introduction Part 2: Southern: Nature/Community: Earth: Direct Democracy Part 3: Eastern: Culture/Spirituality: Air: Big Picture Part 4: Northern: Society/Technology: Water: Interaction Part 5: Environment/Economics: Fire: Individuation Part 6: Integrally-Based Islamic Polity: Mandala as a Whole References

xi xiii xv

1 1 9 11 13 16 18 20

I

IN PuRSuIt of INtEGRIty

1

Disintegrated to Integral Polity 1.1. Introduction 1.2. Frames of State: Commonwealth to Leadership 1.3. Forms of State 1.4. Towards an Awakened Islamic Consciousness 1.5. Conclusion: Necessity of the State/Options of Governance 1.6. References

25 25 27 29 32 34 35

2

the origins of Political order 2.1. Introduction 2.2. The State of Nature 2.3. Social Community to Private Property 2.4. The Power of the State 2.5. The Rule of Law 2.6. The Rise of Political Accountability 2.7. Conclusion: Political Development Then and Now 2.8. References

37 37 38 39 41 43 46 48 48

vi

Integral Polity

II

NAtuRAL AND CommuNAL oRIENtAtIoN: SouthERN PoLIty

3

Natural Grounding: Constituting Africa 3.1. Introduction to Black Civilization 3.2. Towards an Original African Constitution 3.3. Conclusion: The Direction of Civilization 3.4. References

51 51 53 60 61

4

Natural Emergence: tradition and modernity 4.1. Introduction 4.2. Philosophy and Politics 4.3. Tradition and Modernity 4.4. Conclusion 4.5. References

63 63 65 70 72 73

5

Communal Navigation:Development and Auto-centricity 5.1. Introduction: Africa’s General Crisis 5.2. The Nature of the Auto-centric Approach 5.3. Towards a Post-Cold War Global Order 5.4. Conclusion: Prospects for Auto-centric Development 5.5. References

75 75 77 81 82 84

6

Natural Rapoko Effect: food Security at Zimbabwe’s Chinyika 6.1. Introduction: Towards an Integral African Polity 6.2. A Son Was Raised from the House of Gutu 6.3. Mai Mlambo: Towards a Democratic Community 6.4. Conclusion 6.5. References

85 85 88 92 95 96

III

CuLtuRAL AND SPIRItuAL oRIENtAtIoN: EAStERN PoLIty

7

Spiritual Grounding: India’s human Cycle 7.1. Introduction: Nature/Community to Culture/Spirituality 7.2. The Human Cycle 7.3. The Discovery of the Nation-Soul 7.4. Conclusion: The Curve of the Rational Age 7.5. References

99 99 102 105 106 110

8

Cultural and Spiritual Emergence: Spiral Dynamics 8.1. Introduction 8.2. Comparison of Major Schools in Spiral Dynamic’s Theory 8.3. Description of the Different Human Niches

111 111 116 120

Contents

9

10

vii

8.4. Conclusion: Mandala Centre for Integral Development 8.5. References

125 127

Cultural, Political and Economic Navigation: threefolding 9.1. Introduction: Liberty, Equality, Fraternity 9.2. The Social Question: Cultural, Political, Economic 9.3. Shaping Globalization 9.4. Threefolding and the Example of Philippine Agenda 21 9.5. Conclusion: Civil Society and the Beginning of History 9.6. References

129 129 130 135 136 137 138

Conscious, Powerful, Economic Effect: Sri Lanka’s Sarvodaya 10.1. Introduction to Sarvodaya 10.2. The Awakening of All 10.3. Conclusion 10.4. References

139 139 143 147 151

IV

tEChNoLoGICAL AND SoCIEtAL oRIENtAtIoN: NoRthERN PoLIty

11

Social and Political Grounding: Europe Living in truth 11.1. Introduction 11.2. Elements of the Social and Political System 11.3. Building on Nature and Culture 11.4. The Politics of Greed 11.5. Conclusion: The Sacred Geography of Europe 11.6. References

155 155 156 157 161 164 166

12

Emergent Innovation: technology, management, Aesthetics 12.1. Introduction 12.2. Knowledge and Innovation 12.3. Towards Integral Innovation 12.4. The Leadership of Innovation 12.5. Conclusion: The Gaian Point of View 12.6. References

167 167 168 174 175 176 177

Navigation: Self-management/Cooperative Association 13.1. Introduction 13.2. Cooperatives in the Age of Capital 13.3. Co-operation Italian Style 13.4. Conclusion: On Civil Society and the Social Economy 13.5. References

179 179 182 184 189 189

13

viii

Integral Polity

14

Social and technical Effect: Integral Green Slovenia 14.1. Introduction: Living the Truth to Integral Green Slovenia 14.2. Tapping into Slovenia’s Moral Core 14.3. Towards an Integral Green Slovenia 14.4. Conclusion 14.5. References

V

ECoNomIC AND ENVIRoNmENtAL oRIENtAtIoN: WEStERN PoLIty

15

Environmental and Economic Grounding: the American Soul 15.1. Introduction: Inner and Outer Grounding 15.2. Remembering America/Remembering Washington 15.3. Individuality: A Meditation on the Face of Lincoln 15.4. The American Indian: Crimes of America 15.5. Slavery, Frederick Douglass and the Story of America 15.6. Conclusion: The Meaning of America 15.7. References

211 211 213 215 216 218 219 222

Natural, Cultural, Social, Economic Emergence: future Primal 16.1. Introduction 16.2. The Eclipse of Wisdom 16.3. The Primal Political Mandala 16.4. Conclusion 16.5. References

223 223 226 231 234 236

16

191 191 193 196 204 208

17

Political and Environmental Navigation: Politics of Nature 239 17.1. Introduction 239 17.2. How to Bring the Natural-Political Collective Together? 240 17.3. Devising a New Separation of Powers 242 17.4. Variegated Skills for the Collective 244 17.5. Conclusion: Exploring the Common Worlds of Oikos 248 17.6. References 249

18

Economic and Environmental Effect: Brazil’s Curitiba 18.1. Introduction: Soul of America to Curitiba 18.2. Treating Citizens as a Precious Resource 18.3. Conclusion: Bio/mimicry – Design Working with Nature 18.4. References

251 251 252 256 256

Contents

ix

VI

NAtuRE, CuLtuRE, SoCIEty AND ECoNomy: CENtRING PoLIty

19

Integral Ground: holy Qur’an: Start Sustainable Development 19.1. Introduction 19.2. By Way of Tradition 19.3. Themes and Concepts 19.4. Contemporary Topics 19.5. Power and Politics: Medina’s Participatory Democracy 19.6. Conclusion 19.7. References

259 259 260 263 267 268 270 271

Emergent Integral: harmony: Sustainable Development Anew 20.1. Introduction 20.2. The Golden Thread: Wisdom of the Ancients 20.3. Which Natural and Cultural Grammar Do We Follow? 20.4. Conclusion 20.5. References

273 273 275 279 284 286

20

21

22

Epilogue Index

Integral Navigation: the Potential of the Arab Spring 21.1. Introduction 21.2. Cornerstones of Egypt’s History 21.3. The Dynamics of the Egyptian Revolution 21.4. A True Arab Awakening? 21.5. Islam and Sustainable Development 21.6. Conclusion: Where Arab Spring and Integral Polity Fail to Meet 21.7. References Integral Effect: Sekem – Integral Sustainable Development 22.1. Introduction: Towards an Integral Centred Polity 22.2. Reformative Young Adulthood: Emergent Foundation 22.3. Newly Normative Midlife: Emancipatory Navigation 22.4. Transformative Maturity: Effecting Transformation 22.5. Conclusion 22.6. References

287 287 288 292 294 298 302 302

305 305 307 311 323 324 325

327 329

This page has been left blank intentionally

List of Figures

P.1 P.2 P.3 P.4 P.5 P.6 P.7

Sekem’s Sustainability Flower The Mandala of Primal Politics The Elements Altogether Integral Heliopolis University Core and Specialisms Forms of State Integral Leadership Typology

2 4 5 6 7 8 14

1.1 1.2

Governance, State and Politics Forms of State

26 29

6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4

Integral Southern Polity Chinyika’s Rapoko Muchineripi Rock Grass Turned to Gold. The day when 5,000 U.S. dollars was put into the Chinyika economy, the Chinyika people came to sell their inger millet in a long queue waiting to be saved: the day the grass turned into gold Finger Millett Turns to Money. Members of the community proudly show the U.S. dollars they earned from sale of the golden grain – inger millet grain

86 90 91

6.5

94

95

8.1

Ken Wilber’s Four Quadrants

115

9.1 9.2

Threefold Commonwealth and Threefold Person Threefold Image of Society

131 136

10.1

Integral Eastern Polity

140

11.1

The Integrating Role of the European Centre

165

12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5

Reconiguring Truth, Goodness and Beauty Towards Integral Innovation Subjective to Objective Innovation Vision to Action Integral Innovation Typology

169 170 174 175 175

14.1 14.2

Integral Northern Polity Community-based Self-suficiency at Sentrupert

192 199

xii

Integral Polity

14.3 14.4 14.5 14.6

BC Naklo Research Centre Jelovica – Green Company Integral Green Economy of Slovenia Europe in the World

200 203 205 207

16.1

The Mandala of Primal Politics

230

18.1

Integral Western Polity

252

21.1

Sustainable Development: Integral Islamic Approach

300

22.1 22.2 22.3

Centred Integral Polity Sekem’s Sustainability Flower Heliopolis University Core and Specialisms

306 315 322

List of Tables

P.1 P.2

Dimensions of Landscape The New Constitution

5 17

8.1

Comparison of Major Schools in Spiral Dynamic’s Theory

117

14.1 14.2

Dimensions of Landscape Priority Technology Areas

193 198

17.1 17.2 17.3 17.4

A New Separation of Powers In Place of Facts and Values The New Constitution The New Competencies

243 243 243 247

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About the Authors

Professor Ronnie Lessem is a Zimbabwean political economist, and graduate of Harvard Business School, who co-founded the Integral Worlds approach to Integral Development via the Trans4m Centre for Integral Development in Geneva. Professor Dr Ibrahim Abouleish is an Egyptian-born, Austrian-educated engineer and pharmacologist, ecologist and spiritual scientist, who received the Right Livelihood award for founding Sekem, a Sustainable Community in the desert. marko Pogačnik, who studied at the Academy of Arts in Slovenia, is a conceptual artist and earth healer, and an iconic igure in his country, who designed the national lag of Slovenia and practices Sacred Geography around the world. Professor Louis herman is a South African born medical graduate of the University of Cambridge in England, now head of the department of political science at the University of Hawaii, West Oahu, renowned for his Primal Politics.

In our current situation of economic, social and environmental crisis we need new ideas to make us it for the needed transformation processes. It will require new ways of thinking, new forms of organizations and communities. Our past experiences show that relying on governments alone cannot be the solution. The examples of integral polity are very inspiring by starting development from the local context as opposed to the prevailing top-down method. Trans4m gives a valuable orientation to our coming integral age and we all have to ask ourselves where we stand in order to proactively shape our future in a purposeful and sustainable way. Helmy Abouleish, Managing Director of Sekem Group

Integral Polity makes for fascinating reading. I was deeply moved by it. It is as if something deep within me that has been mostly voiceless all these years inally found an articulate voice. And this articulate voice addresses fundamental questions of sustainable development not from the normal standpoint of prevailing theories and frameworks that have failed dismally in creating healthy societies. Instead the authors bring an enormous and exciting amount of wisdom from all over the world, and from different ages, to bear upon the meaning, purpose, and possibility of what they are calling integral polity. Nicanor Perlas, author of Shaping Globalization: Civil Society, Cultural Power and Threefolding

Prologue

An Introduction to Integral Polity: Nature, Culture, Society, Economy RonnIe Lessem, IbRahIm abouLeIsh, maRko PogačnIk and LouIs heRman

All subjects, no matter how specialized, are connected with a center; they are like rays emanating from the sun. The center is constituted by the very core of our convictions, by those ideas which really have the power to move us. E.F. Schumacher, Small is Beautiful

Part 1: Introduction staRtIng wIth the CoRe In our pursuit of what we term Integral Polity, we are seeking after harmony, like the ancient Egyptians did through their goddess Ma’at, and the Greeks through their polis. In effect, what we term such an integral polity is “integral” insofar as it serves to harmonize nature and culture, society and economy. Alternately, again harking back to the ancient Greeks generally, and to Plato speciically, it serves to recognize and to interconnect truth, goodness and beauty. Indeed, such an overall, integrated pursuit, characterizes our core programme, speciically at the Heliopolis University for Sustainable Development, thereby standing on the shoulders of its ancient harmonic heritage. Indeed, for us, such a “core” programme picks up from where the liberal arts in the “West” left off, in the 19th and 20th centuries. In our integral case, though, such a core is invariably focused on a particular society, that is Egypt in this case, while purposefully drawing from other societies across the globe. In fact, standing at the Egyptian historical cross-roads of civilization, we co-authors are spread across such – Ibrahim Abouleish from Egypt in the Middle East, Louis Herman from Hawaii in the American West, Marko Pogačnik from Slovenia in the European North, and Ronnie Lessem from Zimbabwe in Southern Africa. Moreover, and at the same time, Abouleish is an engineer, pharmacologist and environmentalist, Herman a political scientist and philosopher, Pogačnik a conceptual artist and sacred geographer, and Lessem an economist and business academic. So we are overtly transcultural as well as transdisciplinary in our integral reach. We have therefore coined the term integral polity to embody such, as the core of our pursuits. How does this relate to other well-known integral perspectives?

2

Integral Polity

ouR CoRe VaRIatIons on a geneRaLLy IntegRaL theme wilber’s Integral spirituality to Perlas’ Integral sustainable Development Ken Wilber’s Integral Spirituality encompasses his four “quadrants” – intentional, behavioural, cultural and socio-technical (1). Also from the U.S., Don Beck and Christopher Cowan’s Spiral Dynamics spans the pre-modern, traditional, modern and evolutionary (2). Germany’s Jean Gebser, through his Ever Present Origins incorporates the archaic, magical, mythical, mental and integral (3). Most recently Philippine environmentalist Nicanor Perlas’ (4) Integral Sustainable Development (see Chapter 9), spans spiritual to ecological development. These have been developed over the course of the last half century into a now strong enough idea to form some kind of movement. As a philosophy and worldview, as such, the integral worldview is indeed coming of age. So what is our particular contribution to taking this overall integral polity further?

Figure P.1

Sekem’s Sustainability Flower

Prologue

3

sekem and Its sustainability Flower: natural, Cultural, societal, economic Our integral starting point, in fact, is practical as well as philosophical, socio-political as well as cultural-spiritual. For Sekem in Egypt, which is in the Middle East or West Asia, founded by engineer and environmentalist Ibrahim Abouleish (5) is, at one and the same time, ecologically and culturally, societally and economically oriented, as an integral enterprise. From the outset it was established to heal the earth – the desert in this case – as well as to develop the cultural life of Belbies, where it was based, while also safeguarding human rights, and ultimately making an economic contribution. Moreover, Abouleish was inspired, as we shall see (Chapter 22) not only by the Ancient Egyptian goddess Ma’at (harmony) and by the Islamic notion of tawhid (unity or oneness), but also by Rudolf Steiner’s Threefold Commonwealth – embracing cultural, political and economic life – and most recently by Norwegian philosopher Aerne Naess, particularly his Deep Ecology. Sekem, as a speciic enterprise then, has now also been accompanied by the development, via its Sustainability Unit headed by Helmy Abouleish, of a so-called Sustainability Flower, as a means of monitoring and evaluating the performance of any such integral enterprise, in ecological as well as cultural, social and economic terms (see Figure P.1). The Heliopolis University for Sustainable Development, moreover, which Sekem recently established and which is accredited by the Egyptian Higher Education authorities, is intended to take that enterprising cause forward academically, for Egypt and for the world. From Egyptian social innovator, Ibrahim Abouleish, we turn to contemporary American political philosopher, Louis Herman.

Future Primal: Individuation, Discussion, Direct Democracy, big Picture Louis Herman (7) is a political scientist and philosopher, and former medical man, of African heritage now based at the University of Hawai’i West Oahu, in the USA. The lesson of the “primal polis” that he has drawn in his Future Primal (see Chapter 16) is that all moves to decentralize power need to proceed in parallel with strategies for universalizing commitment to what he calls “the truth quest”. Such a democratization of wisdom requires cultivating the ability to move between opposites: local and global, the individual and the collective, humanity and wilderness. He points out, for example, that political decentralization backires if it focuses exclusively on electoral mechanics, which can simply privilege the lowest common denominator of prejudice. Every step towards devolving power requires a corresponding effort to augment and universalize the truth quest – to grasp the bigger picture and to see the connections between part and whole, self and other, enemy and friend. Future Primal identiies an archetypal model of the human search for order that emerges from the evolutionary dynamics of consciousness in the earliest human societies still living in a wilderness ecology. The model identiies four interconnected elements: • • • •

the self-understanding of the searching growing individual; honest face-to-face discussion; participation in a democratic community; the construction of a big picture of our shared reality.

4

Integral Polity

Face-to-Face Socratic Discussion

The Whole Person Individuation

Shamanism Religion TRUTH QUEST Philosophy Science

The Big Picture Big Story/ Myth

The Whole Community/Direct Democracy Figure P.2

The Mandala of Primal Politics

Together, these constitute a four-part structure that can be represented graphically as a mandala, with four quadrants (see Figure P.2). The mandala also is, appropriately enough, the oldest and most universal symbol of order, representing the relationship of the searching individual to the cosmos. Since the model seems to express an archetypal structure of the search for order that is rooted in the primal human condition – the autonomous creative individual, in face-toface community, embedded in nature – we ind it reappearing at those creative moments of transition in history where one order is collapsing, a new one is emerging, and the big questions resurface. We now turn from Egyptian social innovator (Abouleish) and American political philosopher (Herman) to our third co-author, European sacred geographer Marko Pogačnik.

the Four elements: material, spiritual, emotional, Vital-energetic Marko Pogačnik’s (6) integral starting point, as a Slovenian sacred geographer and conceptual artist, whose unique craft takes him around the world, is the four elements that traditionally compose the fabric of life on earth (see Chapter 14) (see Figure P.3): • • • •

the material (earth element), embodying the ecological; the spiritual (air element), representing the cultural; the emotional (water element) relecting the social; and the vital-energetic (ire element), depicting the economic.

Marko goes on to elaborate in Table P.1.

Prologue

Figure P.3

The elements

Table P.1

Dimensions of landscape

Characteristics Life-giving Powers Divine Impulse activities of the elemental beings materialization

landscape Dimensions Vital-energetic Dimension spiritual-soul Dimension emotional Dimension Physical Dimension

Means of expression Power structures Landscape temple nature temple areas Landscape Formations

5

6

Integral Polity

There are thus focal points for all four of the elements even within a small plot of land if it is cared for with love and devotion. The extent to which these are manifest depends largely on the consciousness of the gardener, arguably then, for us, being the natural and communal base for our integral approach to sustainable development. Finally then, we turn to our own Trans4m perspective, represented in this case by Zimbabwean Ronnie – Samanyanga – Lessem.

Integral worlds: south, east, north, west and Centre; Releasing gene-ius The contribution of the Trans4m Centre for Integral Development, based in Geneva, to newly integral worlds, inally (8,9), has been threefold. Firstly, it has brought such an “integral” notion into the realms of economics and enterprise, where it has hitherto been somewhat absent, and now into politics as well. Secondly, it has aligned such “integrality” with, and between different “Southern” and “Eastern”, “Northern” and “Western” worlds. In that sense we link the particular with the universal and the universal with the particular, in the process co-evolving local identity towards global integrity. In other words, at least as far as we – that is Alexander Schieffer and Ronnie Lessem – at Trans4m are concerned, an integral approach in India is different from that in Indonesia or Iceland, and, what is more, they prospectively complement one another. Finally, and perhaps most importantly for the purposes of this book, we have developed an integral approach to releasing the genius, so to speak, of an individual, an enterprise and a community, in a particular world, starting from nature, through culture, onto society and economy: what we will term an all-round polity so to speak.

Water Discussion NORTHERN NAVIGATION Economic Fire Individuaon WESTERN EFFECTING

Integral Polity Truth Quest CENTRE INTEGRATING Ecological Earth Direct Democracy SOUTHERN GROUNDING

Figure P.4

Altogether Integral

Cultural Air Big Picture EAST EMERGENCE

Prologue

7

In Figure P.4, as such, we statically accommodate diverse worlds (integral realities) and dynamically release GENE-ius (integral rhythms) within each world, at the same time aligning our Trans4m approach (grounding to effect) with the “fourfold” approach of Abouleish (ecological to economic), Pogačnik (life giving powers to materialization) and Herman (direct democracy to individuation). Where then, all together, do we go from here?

In PuRsuIt oF IntegRIty Conventional wisdom has it that the “West” leads the way and the “rest” follow, whether in business or economics, politics or even the environment. In our view this is exactly what has landed us in today’s mess. In fact, and conversely, we argue that, in the 21st century at least, societally as a whole if not economically in part, it is the “South” (nature) and the “East” (culture) that need to be taking the lead, and it is for the “North” (politics) and the “West” (economics) to follow, coordinated by an integral centre. Similarly, and again according to conventional wisdom, it is conventionally the public and private sectors that take the lead – with one or other in the ascendancy, depending on the country – while civil society and the environmental sector follow in their combined wake. Again we maintain that the environmental and civil sectors should now take the lead, in the 21st century, and government and business should follow. To that end an integral polity, which combines all of the above, in theory and practice, would play a central, coordinating role. “Integral Polity”, our core, general process and programme then, needs to be aligned with specialist disciplines (see Figure P.5 below), as with the Heliopolis University for Sustainable Development. Before turning to such an overall and integral process in this book, we want to provide an introductory political orientation, both from a “south-eastern” perspective, via Somali-American Ahmed Samatar (10), and from a more orthodox, “North-western” one, via the renowned Japanese-American political scientist, Francis Fukuyama (11). Indeed Samatar starts out by comparing and contrasting a “cadaverous” (disintegrated) with an “integral” state.

Society and Technology BUSINESS Economics and Enterprise AGRICULTURE

ENGINEERING Religion and Humanity

PHARMACOLOGY Nature and Community

Figure P.5

Culture and Spirituality

Heliopolis university Core and Specialisms

8

Integral Polity

+ Integral Figure P.6

Developmental Predental

Predatory

Disintegrated

Forms of State

DIsIntegRateD to IntegRaL state For the Somali political scientists Abil and Ahmed Samatar – Ahmed is currently Dean of the Institute for Global Citizenship at Macalester College in the U.S. Twin Cities – basic political activities precede the appearance of the state and are not conined to its formal arena. Primordial groups as such, typiied by small bands and by kin attachments, have existed and continue to survive, ever so precariously, without a formal authority structure solely designed to perform political tasks. The seeds of what we call the state are buried in those early human activities (Louis Herman, as we shall see – Chapter 15 – resurrects these in Future Primal guise), but the appearance of the state as we have known it is a relatively modern design. States then, for the Samatars, come in many guises: speciically for them, ive possible types that vary from, at one extreme, the highly effective (integral), to its opposite, the dead (disintegrated) (see Figure P.6). Since no state is immune to the vicissitudes that result from the jostling among individuals as well as larger social forces, a quintessential element of human historicity, an “integral state” is emblematic of a moment of delicate balance. Whereas the Samatars adopt a taxonomical approach to statehood, Fukuyama adopts a historical one.

the oRIgIns oF PoLItICaL oRDeR For Fukuyama, to begin with, the European path to modernization was not a spasmodic burst of change across all dimensions of development but rather a series of piecemeal shifts over a period of almost 1,500 years. In this peculiar sequence, individualism on a social level could precede capitalism, the rule of law could precede the formation of the modern state, and feudalism, in the form of strong pockets of local resistance to central authority, could be the foundation of modern democracy. Once the combination of state, law and accountability appeared, then, it proved to be a highly powerful and attractive form of government that subsequently spread to all corners of the globe. We need to remember, Fukuyama emphasizes though, how historically contingent this European emergence was. China had a strong state, but without law and accountability; the Middle East had states and law, but in much of the Arab part it lost the latter tradition. In fact societies are not trapped by their pasts and freely borrow ideas and institutions from each other. But what they are in the present is also shaped by what they were in the past, and there is not one single path that links one to the other. Interestingly enough then, while Fukuyama puts great emphasis on the social, preceding the individual, he omits to ascribe such to Black Civilization, which is where we begin our review of Integral Polity (see Chapter 3). For each of the ive perspectives we adopt, as our overall, integral core:

Prologue

• • • • •

9

natural and communal, cultural and spiritual, societal and technological, economic and environmental, as well as centring them all in a particular moral core (religion and humanity).

We start in each of these cases with origination (grounding) and end with transformation (effect), while foundation (emergence) and emancipation (navigation) take up intermediate positions. Our starting point then, is with nature and community, that is grounding in the earth, and with direct democracy, in the “South”, speciically here in Africa.

Part 2: southern: nature/Community: earth: Direct Democracy natuRaL anD CommunaL gRounDIng: ConstItutIng aFRICa African American historian Chancellor Williams (12,13) took some 16 years in all, during the course of the 1960s and 1970s to explore African history, with a view to ultimately releasing, for him as for us, the genius of African societies. In fact, for him, the traditional worldview of the African, as indeed to be echoed by Herman (see Chapter 15) contained the seeds within it for an ultimately integral perspective which, from his point of view, was contained within cooperative democracy. Such a society, as Williams discovered in Ghana: • • • • • •

retained a highly civilized scheme of political and social organization; had a very deinite form of education; had a religion that involved brotherhood and cooperation; had proverbs which were rich in philosophy of life, as well as poetry; prized character formation as the primary purpose of education; had a concept of universal brotherhood alongside its tribal values.

The recognition of such, today for him, would lead to the type of cooperative democracy Africa needs (see our Chinyika case in Chapter 6), which: • • •

receives its fullest expression not at a national level, but in the way people live day-byday in their farms, villages, and towns; is the way people locally develop closer human relations; is the way the ablest members of the group carry out their leadership responsibilities at a village, district or national level.

Yet inevitably, we cannot merely go back to our traditional past, but need also to ind a way of linking such with our modern present and future.

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natuRaL emeRgenCe: tRaDItIon anD moDeRnIty: ReFLeCtIons on aFRICa Kwame Gyekye (14), one of a signiicant band of contemporary Ghanaian philosophers, picks up from where Williams has historically left off. The conception of democracy, in Western political thought, for him indeed, places a premium on political rights, but has failed to elevate social and economic rights to the same level of concern. Hence the fulilment of social and economic needs is left to the private sphere. Democracy, is therefore conined to protecting and furthering such political rights. This, for Gyekye, is a narrow approach to democracy that needs to be broadened. What needs to be done, he says, in pursuit of democracy and political stability, is to ind ingenious ways and means of hammering the indigenous democratic elements – together with exogenous ones – on the anvil of prudence, common sense, imagination, creative spirit and a sense of history in the setting of the modern world. African nature and culture – and experience for him – may yet bring much needed political salvation. Between the two, in fact, capitalist and socialist concepts, there is a division of emphasis between, on the one hand, individuality and, on the other, social equality. The two values should not be held as incompatible. In fact the core concept, which seemingly links the individual with the social, enterprise with community, is “auto-centricism”.

natuRaL anD CommunaL naVIgatIon: DemoCRaCy, DeVeLoPment, auto-CentRICIty For Professor of African and African American Studies at Penn State University, Eritrean born Kidane Mengisteab (15), the absence of sustained progress in Africa’s development today, and the continent’s failure to stem the tide of its present crisis (even with reforms such as Structural Adjustment Programmes) raises questions about the appropriateness of political and economic development strategies and policies that the countries in the continent have pursued. External intervention by multilateral inancial institutions (MFIs), the governments of the dominant powers, multinational corporations and a host of other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) has also undermined the sovereignty and moral authority of the state. The African state has increasingly surrendered policymaking to external actors, especially the MFIs, the IMF and the World Bank. With increased marginalization within the global economic system and the state’s heavy-handed intervention, some segments of African economies, as a result, have withdrawn from the formal sector and taken refuge in the informal sector. In fact, the rise of the informal sector also signiies a return to a self-reliant auto-centric development. For Mengisteab the shift in the production of export crops to foodstuffs and the relative vigour of the small enterprises that are oriented toward meeting internal social needs are clear indications that an auto-centric approach to development needs to be taken seriously in Africa. The goal of such an “auto-centric” approach is to correct the neglect of internal dynamics in Africa’s development effort. We inally, and in the context of the above, with a view to developing a self-suficient polity, including nature, culture, society and economy, turn to the case of Chinyika, as articulated by Lessem, Muchineripi and Kada (16) in their Integral Community: Political

Prologue

11

Economy to Social Commons, in Zimbabwe with which Trans4m has been extensively involved over the past ive years.

natuRaL anD CommunaL eFFeCt: FooD seCuRIty at ChInyIka When Zimbabweans Chidara Muchineripi and Steve Kada joined a Masters in Social and Economic Transformation programme run by Trans4m in South Africa, early in the new millennium, their people were starving in their rural communities. Introduced at the time to our so-called GENE cycle of transformation, the Chinyika journey, in rural Zimbabwe, with a view to self-suficiency, began with Grounding and Activation of the indigenous soil. The ultimate effect of their individual and communal efforts, at irst for 5,000 and ultimately for up to 300,000 villagers, mediated by the indigenous crop rapoko, was the realization of food security. All happened over the course of seven years. The communal leadership in the meantime drew from, and further evolved, the villages’ horizontal indigenous structures. Through a democratic process in now traditionalcontemporary guise, the Chief, headman, counsellors, village development committees, and extension services personnel were all involved, consulted and contributed to the selection of the project leadership. The leadership, headed by Mai Tembo (Mrs Tembo), coordinator of the community council, clearly outlined its goals and strategy speciically to ight hunger through growing rapoko and in the long run eliminate poverty. Mothers had then awoken to take up their traditional role – the home stands because of the mother – “Musha ndimai”. We now turn from naturally/communally-based self-suficiency to a culturally/ spiritually-based developmental polity, and thereby from Southern Africa to India, and ultimately, via an emergent “Eastern” part of both America (Northern California and Boulder, Colorado) and Europe (Central and Eastern Europe), to Sri Lanka.

Part 3: eastern: Culture/spirituality: air: big Picture CuLtuRaL anD sPIRItuaL gRounDIng: the human CyCLe Sri Aurobindo (17) was an Indian “guru” and political activist who was a very inluential igure in the early part of the last century. Indeed a whole city, Auroville in South India, has been created to establish “the unity of mankind”. In Aurobindo’s terms from the outset: “Auroville belongs to nobody in particular. Auroville belongs to humanity as a whole. But to live in Auroville, one must be the willing servitor of the Divine Consciousness. Auroville will be the place of an unending education, of constant progress, and a youth that never ages. Auroville wants to be the bridge between the past and the future. Taking advantage of all discoveries from without and from within, Auroville will boldly spring towards future realizations. Auroville will be a site of material and spiritual researches for a living embodiment of an actual Human Unity.” Aurobindo, moreover, with the help of German historian Karl Lamprecht (18), came up with the notion of a “human cycle” which, as we shall see in Chapter 8, can be closely aligned with our own GENE, that is with:

12

• • • •

Integral Polity

a symbolic stage linked up with grounding; a typal, or more speciically archetypal stage, aligned with emergence; an individual, conventional and rational stage correlated with navigating; a subjective stage ultimately aligned with our effecting.

The Indian sage as such has the generally “Eastern”, or more speciically Indian tendency to focus on the individual-and-the-universal, thereby tending to by-pass organization and enterprise, which is a more “Northern” orientation.

spiral Dynamics Integral: the emergence of Cultural memes Spiral Dynamics picks up in the latter part of the 20th century from where Aurobindo’s human cycle leaves off in the early part, in effect combining his Eastern spirit with Western technique. Originating in the work of American developmental psychologist Clare Graves in the 1960s, it was extended and enriched by his countryman Don Beck, in terms of so-called “cultural memes” as we shall see in Chapter 8, in the 1980s and 1990s. In fact Beck was heavily involved with South Africa’s transition to democracy. For a contemporary disciple of both, Lebanese American Said Dawlabani (19): • • •

• •

•

MEMEs affect individuals and societies. Different value systems can co-exist in a person or a society. Each value system can exhibit both healthy and unhealthy expressions. Democracy in the West might appear to be a healthy form of expression of the order-given fourth level system, while other forms of government like Iran’s theocracy might be considered an unhealthy expression of such. As a person or culture moves up to a higher-order system, they transcend and include all lower level value systems. When a person or culture solves the problems of existence within their value system, they immediately create the problems which will trigger the emergence of the next value system. Cultures cannot skip a developmental stage. Law and order, for example as such, must precede prosperity and science.

As we shall see in Chapter 8, South Africa’s Loraine Laubscher, who studied under both Graves and Beck, subsequently applied, and evolved Spiral Dynamics in Asia, Africa and the Americas. Such a developmental perspective with culture to the fore, subsequently embodied in emergent, Eastern European guise, is one adopted by Rudolf Steiner, as we shall see, Towards Social Renewal.

Cultural and spiritual navigation: threefold Commonwealth In more explicitly structural guise, Austria’s Rudolf Steiner (20), like, and indeed prior to, his American counterparts, early last century, adopted an integral approach (subsequently to be developed by Ibrahim Abouleish through Sekem – see Chapter 22). Steiner was an Eastern European polymath who devoted himself to developing what he called a “spiritual science” that he termed “anthroposophy”, which postulates the existence of an objective, intellectually comprehensible spiritual world accessible to direct experience

Prologue

13

through inner development. As such he turned, in theory and in practice, to art and music, to health and education, to philosophy and psychology, as well as to agriculture and to enterprise. Overall, and in his focus on societal renewal, Steiner maintained that a threefold commonwealth, constituted of cultural, political and economic life, mirrored, respectively, liberty, equality and fraternity. In other words, and with a view to societal renewal, the pursuit of liberty was to be associated with cultural life, including the arts and sciences, rather than with politics and economics. Politics then was directly associated with the pursuit of equality, or human rights, and economics with fraternity, or indeed association. This, for us overall, becomes the “Eastern” means of navigating our way toward an integral polity, constituted of all of the above. We now turn our attention, to exemplify the effecting of such, that is in cultural, political and economic terms, in south-east Asia adjacent to India, rather than in Africa or Europe, to Sarvodaya in Sri Lanka.

Cultural and spiritual effect: sarvodaya: awakening all For A.T. Ariyaratne (21), the founder of Sri Lanka’s Sarvodaya, some 50 years ago, “a country cannot develop unless one has faith in the intelligence of its people”. How is this intelligence tapped? It was the villagers irst and foremost, not the urban elite or government oficials, that Ariyaratne and his colleagues sought to communicate with; and since true communication is a two-way street, that meant listening, too. For Sarvodaya the villagers were the experts. Instead of coming up with a pre-formulated blueprint for action, organizers instigate “family gatherings” where the local community itself assessed its needs and determined its priorities by consensus. It has permitted, over the course of 50 years, some 15,000 villagers to believe that they count and have some ownership of Sarvodaya programmes. Sarvodaya’s dynamism in sum, for Ariyaratne, derives to a large extent from its capacity to merge people’s spiritual aspirations with engagement in community action. Seeking to “awaken” both person and society, Sarvodaya aims for individual fulilment as well as social transformation. The retelling of history can enrich it and make it more relevant to present ends. When thwarted or misguided, it can turn pathological, tearing the social fabric; but the need itself is legitimate. This brings us onto the “North”, and from culturally-based, developmental polity, to a knowledge-based, societal one. We now turn from nature and community, culture and spirituality, by way of pre-emphasis, to society and technology, starting with former Czech President Vaclav Havel.

Part 4: northern: society/technology: water: Interaction soCIaL anD teChnICaL gRounDIng: LIVIng In tRuth The late Vaclav Havel (22), former President of the Czech Republic, is unique in having been a politician, that is a head of state, who was also a playwright and a philosopher, as well as having been a noted dissident under the former communist regime. Living within the truth then, for Havel to begin with, becomes articulate in a particular way, at the point at which something is born that might be called the independent, spiritual, social and political life of society. This independent life is not separated from the rest of “inauthentic” life by some sharp

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dividing line. Both types frequently coexist in the same people. Moreover, and for the North American philosopher and art historian Iredell Jenkins (23), in his seminal work on Art and the Human Enterprise, there are similarly three psychic components that serve to constitute human consciousness: “the aesthetic component focuses our regard on the particularity of things, the affective on their import, and the cognitive component on their connectedness”. Thus citizens’ initiatives, dissident movements, or even oppositions, emerge like the proverbial tip of the iceberg from the independent life of society. Above all, any existential revolution should provide hope for a moral reconstitution of society, which means a radical renewal of the relationship of human beings to what Havel calls the human order, which no political order can replace. A new experience of being, a renewed rootedness in the universe, a newly grasped sense of higher responsibility, a new-found inner relationship to other people and to the human community, these factors clearly indicate the direction in which we must go. This social theme is picked up, albeit with relatively more emphasis on the cultural, by a group of largely European, but also American and Japanese, social scientists, focused on European-ness and innovation.

CuLtuRaL, soCIaL anD teChnoLogICaL emeRgenCe: IntegRaL InnoVatIon During the 1990s, social scientists from France, Germany, Spain and Italy, as well as the UK, accompanied by North American and Japanese management academics, met regularly in Munich over a period of years to probe into European-ness and innovation. Sponsored by the German based Roland Berger Foundation (24), the aim was to take the European project forward, by broadening the base of innovation, to include cultural and aesthetic, as well as technological and economic elements. Overall, the group felt that the EU project had stalled, because of its over-emphasis on the political, economic and technological, to the exclusion, in an integral sense, of the cultural. Drawing then on Europe’s origins in Ancient Greece, and speciically on the Platonic orientation toward truth, goodness and beauty, the researchers ultimately developed a leadership typology that was inclusive of such (see Figure P.7).

Creaon Technological Progress

Entrepreneurial Inventor

Managerial Innovaon

Opportunis c Mover

Aesthec Appeal Figure P.7

Gied Crea ve

Integral leadership Typology

Elaboraon

Orientaon

Managerial Engineer

Technological Visionary

Systems Architect Charisma c Moderator

Socio Economic Philosopher Ar s c Cer fier

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We now turn, by way of navigation, from emergent innovation to self-management and cooperative society.

soCIaL anD teChnICaL naVIgatIon: seLF-management/CooPeRatIVe assoCIatIon Jaroslav Vanek (25), Czech by birth and then a management academic at Cornell University in the U.S., became an avid student of Yugoslav Self-Management, as a basis for The Participation Economy in the 1970s. This distinctively Slovenian approach to political and economic life and work, for him, that is “the quest of men to participate in the determination and decision-making of activities in which they are personally and directly involved”, is one of the most important socio-political phenomena of our times. Selfmanagement, in Eastern Europe as such, was a variation on the Southern European theme of cooperative social and economic enterprise. For John Restakis (26), a Greek-Canadian, his focus is on how a revolution in human society that began with the rise of democracy in politics struggles to ind its place in the world of economics. If economic democracy is the hidden face of this ongoing revolution, then the history of the co-operative idea is its most durable expression. Today, he maintains, the global co-operative movement appears to have arrived at a crossroads. With the collapse of communism, and with the capitalist system in crisis and facing increasing demands for reform, the case for the expansion of economic democracy has never been more relevant or more urgent. More importantly, there is a need for a middle path that avoids the extremes of market rejection on the one hand (as in the case of Marxism) and the unbridled power of capital as expressed in the idea of neo-liberalism on the other. For a variation on such a co-operative theme we turn from Southern to Eastern Europe, back to Rudolf Steiner, born in Croatia, and to neighbouring Slovenia, where one of us, currently, as a conceptual artist and sacred geographer, Marko Pogačnik, is based. All parts of Europe – north, south, east, west and central – for him, meet in Slovenia. Two straight lines drawn across Europe from Gibraltar to Moscow and from Scotland to Crete would intersect in that country.

soCIaL anD teChnICaL eFFeCt: IntegRaL gReen sLoVenIa Following then in Steiner’s (27) Central and Eastern European footsteps, is our (28) pursuit of what we term an Integral Green Slovenia, involving: • • • • •

a Slovenian soul force, portrayed for Pogačnik (29) as the Breath of Gaia; a self-suficient local community at the heart of the Slovenian matter; a prospectively developmentally oriented research and educational centre as the spirit of Slovenia; a mindful enterprise with its energy-eficient social economy; the embodiment of an integral green economy, represented by the Slovenian polity as a whole.

In the inal analysis, then, as presented in our integral political and economic approach, with which Trans4m together with a close Slovenian government colleague, Darja Piciga, are involved (see Chapter 13):

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The Green Development Breakthrough programmes are focused on long-term solutions. They respond to Slovenia’s strategic opportunities that arise from domestic human and natural resources. They also reduce dependence on imports and bring a balanced regional development in the cities as well as the countryside. Additionally these programmes support compliance with the international climate targets and job creation with higher added value, resulting in increased competitiveness of the Slovenian economy. The Green Development Breakthrough provides a positive vision, innovative solutions and ensures long-term prosperity.

Part 5: environment/economics: Fire: Individuation enVIRonmentaL anD eConomIC gRounDIng: the ameRICan souL We now turn from South, East and North to the “West”. The “West”, conventionally speaking is a far cry from what we perceive to be such. America though, for leading U.S. social philosopher Jacob Needleman (30), based at San Francisco State University, is the fact, the symbol and the promise of new beginning. All that is old and already formed can continue to live only if it allows within itself the conditions of such a new start. Meanwhile our world, as we see and hear on all sides, is for Needleman drowning in materialism, commercialism, consumerism. But the problem is not really there. What we ordinarily speak of as materialism is a symptom, not a cause. The root of materialism is a poverty of ideas about the inner and outer world. The idea of man’s two natures, along with some of its ethical implications, was dramatically expressed in the teaching known as Stoicism, which lourished in the early Roman Empire and which served as inspiration to Washington, Adams, Jefferson and many others of the Founding Fathers of America. Our task, as such, is simultaneously inner freedom and full outer engagement. One of us, Louis Herman, originally South African but now based at the University of Hawai’i West Oahu, picks up from where Needleman leaves off.

enVIRonmentaL emeRgenCe: FutuRe PRImaL Herman is a political thinker (31) with a background that includes medical studies at the University of Cambridge, living on a kibbutz in Israel and research in political philosophy. In his review of nature, culture, politics and economics, he locates human consciousness and the truth quest within its evolutionary context. This allows him to identify an archetypal structure of politics in the San Bushman hunter-gatherers in Southern Africa, his birthplace. He connects this primal template to the Ancient Greeks representing his European heritage, and indeed the kibbutzim representing his Jewish faith. He presents this template as a mandala made up of four interrelated values and processes: direct democracy, the dialectic of face-to-face discussion, the individual growth in wholeness or individuation, and, ultimately, building a “big picture” or cosmology. This constellation forms the core of a quintessentially human politics which he sees in the early stages of its emergence as a future primal politics. Herman’s Future Primal Politics is roughly congruent with what the French philosopher and scientist Bruno Latour has conceived of as a new kind of natural, political order.

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enVIRonmentaL naVIgatIon: PoLItICs oF natuRe For the renowned French sociologist and anthropologist, Bruno Latour (32), political ecology moves the dual arena of nature and politics into the single arena of the collective. He sets such against, for example, social Darwinism, which borrowed its metaphors of “survival of the ittest” from politics, projected them onto nature itself, and then re-imported them into politics. Latour then comes up with another sense of the social, closer to the etymology of the term, as living association and collection. In fact by abandoning the more conventional notion of nature, as separate from man, he leaves intact the two elements that matter the most to him: the multiplicity of nonhumans and the enigma of their association.

Table P.2

The New Constitution

First House: Taking into Account Second House: Arranging in Rank Order

House of Nature Perplexity

House of Society Consultation

Institution

hierarchy

If we look at Table P.2, we see that Latour has substituted a new form of bicameralism for the two houses – for example the U.S. Congress and Senate – of the old Constitution. There are still two houses, as in the old Constitution, but they do not have the same characteristics. We now inally and effectively, in “Western” terms, turn to Brazil’s Curitiba, recognizing that in our “integral worlds” context, the “West” incorporates the Americas as a whole.

eConomIC anD enVIRonmentaL eFFeCt: bRazIL’s CuRItIba Curitiba (33) is a south-eastern Brazilian city with the population of America’s Philadelphia. It shares with hundreds of similar sized cities in the developing world a dangerous combination of scant resources and rapid population growth. Yet it has lourished by treating all its citizens (most of all its children) not as a burden but as the city’s most precious resource, that is as creators of its future. Curitiba has succeeded by combining pragmatic leadership with an integrated design process, strong public and business participation, and an inspiring, widely shared vision. In the restorative process parks have been renewed to revitalize the arts, culture and history of the urban core. The city’s rich ethnic heritage has been honoured and preserved, with a ceremonial gate and special centre created for each main culture. The urban core, relieved of commercial pressures, has been returned to pedestrian priority. In addition, the city has built schools, clinics, day-care centres, parks, food distribution centres, and cultural and sports facilities throughout its suburbs, democratizing amenities previously available only to those who journeyed downtown. We now turn, inally, to the Middle East, potentially if not actually, a place of centring.

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Part 6: Integrally-based Islamic Polity: mandala as a whole IntegRaL gRounDIng: ContemPoRaRy ReLeVanCe oF the QuR’an We now inally come to what we term the Centre of our vision of an Integral Polity, which is also represented by Herman’s mandala of a Future Primal Politics as a whole – that is in the Middle East. London based, Pakistani born, Muslim scholar and futurist Ziauddin Sardar (34), probably the leading Muslim scholar of our contemporary era, has recently written, in his subtle Reading the Qur’an, that such a centring: • • • • •

embodies the true deinition of Muslim society as a qualitative one: “the middle community”, a community of the middle way; refers to the creation of the Universe and uses examples from the natural world (our grounding); employs parables (our emergence), metaphors and allegories; explains (part of our navigation) moral principles; and concerns itself with the practicalities (our effect) of how society should reform and organize itself internally as well as in its relations with other people to advance in ethical behaviour and righteousness.

Muslims, for Sardar then, have generally seen the notion of the “middle community” as key. This implies that a balance must be sought between our physical and spiritual needs, the demands of the body and those of the soul. A distributive, inclusive outlook in all aspects of life is involved, in an environment of open, tolerant welcoming to all. They argue for a more respectful and humble approach to nature, holding themselves responsible and accountable as trustees, people who look after and preserve the environment for future generations. They, in Qur’anic principle if not in practice, demand fair-play, equity and justice in our economic activity and moderation in politics. When Sardar looks around the Muslim world then, what he sees is not “a community of the middle way”, but communities of extremes. Where do we go from here? HRH Prince Charles, in Britain, has an emergent perspective on the harmonic matter.

IntegRaL emeRgenCe: IsLam as a haRmonIC woRLDVIew The geometric code, that Prince Charles (35) – as a student of the world’s primal and ancient cultures – has called the grammar of harmony, was evidently understood by the major civilizations of the world. The temples of India, for example, relected it profoundly. Many of them follow a similar design. At the centre sits a dark chamber, surrounded by a series of rooms that become lighter as they get nearer to the outside world. The symbolism is missed by most, but the point here is that all of creation bursts out of what the mystics of India called the “uncreated light” of the central unity. From this unity lows all of the teeming multiplicity of existence, symbolized by the rich decoration and intricately carved ornamentation of the temple’s outer walls. Again, such temples are models of the universe, both its outer aspect and its inner one. It was in fact, according to Prince Charles, the Arab world that salvaged much of the treasure from the ancient world. Slowly it infused Arab thinking so that when the great

Prologue

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Abbasid Empire rose to prominence from the 8th century onwards the principles of harmony, balance and unity were central to the vast outpouring of craftsmanship and scholarship that characterized what has come to be known as “the Golden Age of Islam”. Its epicentre at Baghdad enjoyed a spectacular lowering in scholarship and an approach to art and design that fused Arab thought and invention with that of Persia, Egypt, Europe and the Far East. Where are we, as such, today?

IntegRaL naVIgatIon: the PotentIaL oF the PeoPLe’s sPRIng For the renowned Egyptian political scientist and development economist, Samir Amin (36), currently resident in Dakar, West Africa, if the challenge faced by the Arab people today is to be met, it is necessary to abandon, once and for all, what he terms backward looking illusions, that is, the whole perspective of the “Islamization of society and politics”. This does not mean rallying to the shoddy goods of Westernization, which can be perfectly compatible with “Islamization” in process, but rather a liberation of the inventive capacities of the Arab people, including those to which Prince Charles has alluded. This is necessary if they are going to become active agents in shaping the future with and at the side of other peoples struggling against dominant capitalism/ imperialism. The “springs” of the Arab people, like those the peoples of Latin America have been experiencing over the last two decades, are what Amin calls the second awakening of the people of the South, and our “Centre”. For us, integrally so to speak, such a full awakening needs to involve, explicitly and in transformative guise, nature and culture, society and economy, within an altogether integral polity. For such, in micro if not yet in macro terms, we turn to Egypt’s Sekem.

IntegRaL eFFeCt: sekem The economic life of Sekem, for one of us, founder of Sekem, Ibrahim Abouleish, begins at a practical level to “heal” the soil through biodynamic methods. In partnership with close friends and colleagues in Europe, and local partners in trade, Sekem has marketed its products, through what it terms “the economics of love”. Its cultural life, in the course of such – now also incorporating Heliopolis University for Sustainable Development – is nurtured and cultivated by the Sekem Development Foundation (SDF), educating the children, youth and adults in cognitive and practical skills, while enhancing their free will. While offering health and therapeutic care, Sekem initiates research into all aspects of life, searching for solutions to major questions. It was Abouleish’s (37) wish, from the outset, for this initiative to embody itself as a community; a community in which people from all walks of life, from all nations and cultures, from all vocations and age groups, could work together, learning from each other and helping one another, sounding as one in a symphony of harmony and peace. Over time and from within the bounds of the community a “Council for the Future” was born. Its goal is to strengthen our direction and simultaneously renew it according to contemporary needs. To do this Sekem drew its inspiration from spiritual and natural science, from religion and art. Furthermore, the “Council for the Future” has created a network based on communication and cooperation between Sekem, its friends and partners, co-workers

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and supporters, as well as scientists and artists from all over the world. Omitted from such a network currently, but as we envisage it, becoming part of it in the future, is a revitalized kibbutz movement in Israel.

References 1. Wilber, K. (2006) Integral Spirituality: A Startling New Role for Religion in the Modern and Postmodern Worlds. Boston, MA: Integral Books. 2. Beck, D. and Cowan, C. (2005) Spiral Dynamics: Mastering Values, Leadership and Change. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. 3. Gebser, J. (1955) The Ever Present Origin. Athens, OH. Ohio University Press. 4. Perlas, N. (2011) Mission Impossible: Sow Courage, Harvest a New World. Manila: Self-published. 5. Abouleish, I. (2005) Sekem: A Sustainable Community in the Desert. Edinburgh: Floris. 6. Pogačnik, M. (2009) Nature Spirits and Elemental Beings: Working with Intelligence in Nature. Findhorn: Findhorn Press. 7. Herman, L. (2013) Future Primal: How Our Wilderness Origins Show Us the Way Forward. Novato, CA: New World Library. 8. Lessem, R. and Schieffer, A. (2010) Integral Research and Innovation: Transforming Enterprise and Society. Farnham: Gower. 9. Schieffer, A. and Lessem, R. (2014) Integral Development: Realizing the Transformative Potential of Individual, Organization and Society. Farnham: Gower. 10. Samatar, A. and Samatar, A. (eds) (2002) The African State: Reconsiderations. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. 11. Fukuyama, F. (2012) The Origins of the Political Order: From Prehuman Times to the French Revolution. London: Proile Books. 12. Williams, C. (1974) The Destruction of Black Civilization: Great Issues of Race from 4500bc to 2000ad. Chicago, IL: Third World Press. 13. Williams, C. (1993) The Rebirth of African Civilization. Chicago, IL: Third World Press. 14. Gyekye, K. (1997) Tradition and Modernity: Relections on the African Experience. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 15. Mengisteab, K. (1996) Globalization and Autocentricity in Africa’s Development in the 21st Century. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press. 16. Lessem, R., Muchineripi, P. and Kada, S. (2012) Integral Community: Political Economy to Social Commons. Farnham: Gower. 17. Sri Aurobindo (1950) The Human Cycle. Twin Lakes, WI: Twin Lakes Publishers. 18. Wientraub, K. (1966) Visions of Culture. London: University of Chicago Press. 19. Dawlabani, S. (2013) Memenomics. New York: Select Books. 20. Steiner, R. (1985) The Renewal of the Social Organism. Spring Valley, NY: Rudolf Steiner Press. 21. Macy, J. (1983) Dharma and Development: Religion as a Resource in the Sarvodaya Self help Movement. West Hartford, CT: Kumarian Press. 22. Havel, V. (1997) Living in Truth. London: Faber and Faber. 23. Jenkins, I. (1969) Art and the Human Enterprise. Cambridge, MA: Archon Books. 24. Berger, R. (1996) The Light and the Shadow: Breakthroughs in European Innovation. Oxford: Capstone. 25. Vanek, J. (1971) The Participatory Economy: An Evolutionary Hypothesis and Strategy for Development. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

Prologue

21

26. Restakis, J. (2010) Humanizing the Economy: Co-operatives in the Age of Capital. Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers. 27. Steiner, R. (1985) The Renewal of the Social Organism. Spring Valley, NY: Rudolf Steiner Press. 28. Lessem, R. and Piciga, D. (2013) Integral Green Slovenia. Unpublished report. 29. Pogačnik, M. (2007) Touching the Breath of Gaia. Findhorn: Findhorn Press. 30. Needleman, J. (2003) The American Soul: Rediscovering the Wisdom of the Founders. New York: Jeremy Tarcher. 31. Herman, L. (2013) Future Primal: How Our Wilderness Origins Show Us the Way Forward. Novato, A: New World Library. 32. Latour, B. (2004) Politics of Nature: How to Bring the Sciences into Democracy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 33. Hawken, P., Lovins, A. and Lovins, L.H. (1999) Natural Capitalism. London: Earthscan. 34. Sardar, Z. (2011) Reading the Qur’an: The Contemporary Relevance of the Sacred Text of Islam. London: Hurst and Company. 35. HRH Prince Charles, with Juniper, T. and Skelly, I. (2010) Harmony: A New Way of Looking at Our World. London: HarperCollins. 36. Amin, S. (2013) The People’s Spring: The Future of the Arab Revolution. Cape Town: Pambazuka Press. 37. Abouleish, I. (2005) Sekem: A Sustainable Community in the Desert. Edinburgh: Floris.

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PArT

I

In Pursuit of Integrity

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CHAPTer

1

Disintegrated to Integral Polity

What is needed for an integral state are men [and women] of sober mind … who don’t cause an absence of bread in the bakeries, who make trains run, and who provide the factories with new materials and know how to turn the produce of the country into industrial produce, who insure the safety and freedoms of the people … who enable the network of collective services to function and who do not reduce the people to a despair and to a horrible carnage. Antonio Gramsci, Marxism and Politics

1.1. Introduction 1.1.1. stateD FoRms anD FRames In introducing our journey towards an “integral state”, or indeed polity, we begin in an unlikely place, that is in Somalia, albeit that over the course of this book we shall be spanning the four corners of the globe, as well as the Middle East. Overall then, and for all of us, whereas the signiicance of introducing an “integral polity”, is to embrace nature and culture, as well as society and economy, as a whole, the focus will be relatively more on matters political-and-societal, than on the other three realms, but always from an overall, integral perspective. In this introductory orientation to our composite work we shall turn, in fact, from political taxonomy to political historiography, and thereby from Somali-Americans, the Samatars, to JapaneseAmerican Francis Fukuyama. As such we instigate the trans-cultural approach we shall continually be pursuing. In Africa, to begin with then, we locate, from the outset, the political divide, or full continuum, between – for political scientists Ahmed and Amid Samatar (1) – the forms of the “disintegrated” state at one extreme, and their “integral” one, at the other. Prior to such, moreover, we shall consider the different political frames, which resonate with our own progressive release of GENE-ius, as we shall see. Moreover, and from the outset, we have selected a Muslim country, Somalia in this case, because without inding an integral orientation to the future of Islamic civilization, the world at large, or international polity, if you like, has little hope of realizing a functional future. For Ahmed Samatar and his brother Amid then – Ahmed is now Dean of the Institute for Global Citizenship at Macalester College in the U.S. Twin Cities – basic or primal political activities precede the appearance of the state and are not conined to its formal arena. Such primordial groups, typiied by small bands and by intimacy or, more precisely, kin attachments, have existed and continue to survive, ever so precariously, in Somalia or, for example, as the Bushmen in the Kalahari desert of Botswana – as illustrated by one of us, Louis Herman – without a formal authority structure solely

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Integral Polity

designed to perform political tasks. Such communities negotiate myriad individual and family interests and idiosyncrasies, in addition to the vagaries of the general material and cultural context, through custom and a set of reciprocal (talantaali in Somali or gemeinschaft in German) but not necessarily equal arrangements. The seeds of “polity” are buried in those early human activities, and indeed will be resurrected by Herman (see Chapter 16), but the appearance of the state as we have known it is a relatively modern design. One would trace the genetic base and evolution through a number of historical thresholds, which perhaps began with “city republican forms” best exempliied by the little known but pioneering Mesopotamian urban experiences and, later, the other more celebrated version in Classical Greece. These early aggregations of large, but by no means universal, interests and networks, provision of public goods, and the subsequent investments of authority in persons embedded in such institutions, give glimpses of some of the enduring characteristics of what we contemporaneously identify as the state.

1.1.2. goVeRnanCe, states anD PoLItICs The evolution of the idea and structuring of the state, then, is complicated, for the Samatars, and has numerous variations. What is relevant here is to note its ancient pedigree, deine its morphology, and point towards its key attributes. They deine the state, as such, as: a constellation of norms, and institutions including those who inhabit them, ostensibly to manage the collective political fate of a given society.

Political destiny includes signiicant contradictions and concerns that add up to such political identity and direction. Structurally, a state, for the Samatars, has the following features: monopoly on coercion, speciic territorial boundaries, a relatively ixed population, economic and cultural functions, sovereignty, and recognition by other states and their organizations. This supreme public power, that is the state, is “a historical phenomenon”; that is, a creation of human beings in interaction which, in turn, also acts in profound ways upon individual and collective life.

Governance

State Figure 1.1

governance, State and Politics

Politics

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27

The Samatars start with political frames, which we will now relate to our own integral approach to releasing GENE-ius, here in a political context.

1.2. Frames of state: Commonwealth to Leadership 1.2.1. gRounDIng to eFFeCt The state is not some formless thing. Rather, its internal constitution can be anatomized. The Samatars suggest, heuristically, four main elements that make up the state: a commonwealth, a regime, an administration, and a leader. For us: • • • •

the commonwealth provides the underlying grounding; a regime promotes emergence; a competent administration underlies navigation; and able leadership embodies a potentially and ultimately integral effect.

We now consider each in turn.

1.2.2. gRounDeD In an oRIgInaL CommonweaLth The primal element of the state is the foundational commonwealth. In its most inclusive sense, this entails the association and spirit of public belonging that is not easily derailed by narrow impulses. We shall see such described in Chapter 3 – by Chancellor Williams, Constituting Africa – as a Natural (Abouleish) Earth element (Pogačnik), embodying Direct Democracy (Herman), accommodating Nature and Community (Lessem/Trans4m). To create an identity large enough to accommodate kinship with the other, naturally and communally, beyond ilial or other exclusive afiliations, is to transmute self into citizen – the oldest of the challenges to the establishment of a political community. Here, then, individual or group interest engages the imperative of a natural and communal bond, characterized in the felicitous expression of Ireland’s 19th-century political philosopher, Edmund Burke, “common affections”. In fact, and for many in Britain ironically, the chief philosophical champion of what has come to be termed the “Big Society” movement, Philip Blond (2), has been attempting to bring Burke’s communal-political orientation back into British public favour, so as to counteract the predominating individualism that is causing no end of societal problems, with more of a sense of an original, and resurrected, Commonwealth.

1.2.3. an emeRgent RegIme as PoLItICaL FounDatIon Returning to the Samatars, an emergent regime, such as a council of elders, is a constellation of oficials assigned to the highest portfolios of executive authority. If a regime is to attain any modicum of acceptance and legitimacy by the larger society, self or factional gain would have to be tamed by a combination of inclusive aspiration, a consciousness of needs, ethical and legal conduct, and effective management. This would invariably involve marrying up elements of tradition and modernity in a particular context.

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Thus, members of a successful regime are the custodians of a community’s or a society’s ideals, of the beliefs it cherishes, of its permanent hopes, of the faith which makes a nation out of a mere aggregation of individuals. The regime cannot limit itself solely to the role of the keeper of tradition and noble ambition; rather, progress depends on the intellect to detect and the courage to articulate the hidden, and even the unutterable, elements of what is often called “vision”. Such a vision would combine the indigenous with the exogenous.

1.2.4. aDmInIstRatIon as naVIgatIon-anD-emanCIPatIon The administrative frame underscores the infrastructure of the state. Here are located institutions (for example civil service, courts, law enforcement, and educational policy, facilities, curricula and personnel) that carry out the day-to-day assignments and preserve procedures and documents of the operations of the state. This is important for the way a society governs itself – one which presents a test case for a regime to monitor itself, the relative autonomy of ofices and institutions, and their competence. Without such a rationally based administration, building on what has come before, there can be no thoroughgoing emancipation. However, if such administration is simply, and bureaucratically, imposed from above, repression will replace emancipation. In other words, the greater the compliance with authentically derived rules and regulations, that is those which serve to balance out tradition and modernity, the larger the dividends for both a regime’s reputation and the viability of public life and order. In contrast, the more the operational organs are tied to the whims of a parochial, self-serving regime interest, the greater the degree of evaporation of the rightfulness of all three frames. This is the ultimate cost of incompetence and corruption, whereby signiicant and inescapable alienation comes with the momentary victory of one group. Authentic, and would-be integral administration, by contrast, absorbs the divisive fallout from oppositional politics. The result is the return of the state, through sound governance, to societal ownership, a source of competence and an architect of common destiny. Without the prior grounding of a spirit of belonging, and a prior regime able to build on such, particularity becomes the norm – the antithesis of a national project. Nepotism and bureaucratic administration, through the operations of the state, then, is an unavoidable and contradictory activity that at once unveils centrifugal issues and facilitates centripetal ideas and action. In weighing the balance of the tension between difference and commonality, it is the latter, albeit accommodating the former, that deines the health of political life in a given society. For, beyond the struggle for power, a rather narrow objective that could easily lead to a desolation of the spirit, a polity it for “symbiotic creatures” is the art of associating men [and women] for the purpose of establishing, cultivating, and conserving social life among them.

1.2.5. eFFeCtIVe LeaDeRshIP The effective leader, then, in the inal analysis, and like a Nelson Mandela in the best possible sense, duly revisiting his or her commonwealth of origin, is the individual who immediately and ultimately embodies the state in question. He/she can make a positive difference in his/her time, leaving behind a legacy of competence, constitutionalism

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and order. On the other hand, the leader can also preside over ineptness, corruption and institutional disarray, whose consequences include an undermining of constructive efforts by others and the killing of civic spirit. We now turn from frames to forms of state, and introduce – via the noted 20thcentury Italian political philosopher, Antonio Gramsci (3) – the notion of the integral state, or polity.

1.3. Forms of state 1.3.1. IntegRaL to CaDaVeRous Each of the four frames of the state, much like the parts of a body, performs at once its own local functions and works in concert with the rest to keep the whole purring along. Any damage to one means trouble for the others; and when the accumulation of deiciencies becomes greater than the assets, the state and its society are confronted with major problems. Put more precisely, in addition to the vitality of the frames, the degree of health or morbidity of the state is also conditioned by its history, endowments of its society, including its nature and its culture, and the vagaries of regional and transnational circumstances. Such a coniguration of frames and forces produces different state forms that, in turn, have consequences for the seminal project of development. States, for the Samatars, come in many guises (see Figure 1.2). For the sake of parsimony, however, one could offer a spectrum that registers ive possible types that vary from, at one extreme, the highly effective – integral, to its opposite, the dead – cadaverous. The primary distinguishing factors include (a) the wholeness of each frame; (b) the degree of coordination; and (c) the depth of interior attachments to fellowship and collective realization.

1.3.2. the IntegRaL state Since no state is immune to the vicissitudes that result from the jostling among individuals as well as larger social forces, a quintessential element of human historicity, an integral state is, for Gramsci as for the Samatars, emblematic of a moment of delicate balance, serving to build up a mentality of collective stake-holding and exude hope. For us, and most speciically for Herman, such a stakeholding arises out of a combination of direct democracy, ongoing interaction and discussion, processes of individuation, and purposeful engagement with a big picture.

+ Integral Figure 1.2

Developmental Predental Forms of State

Predatory

Cardaverous

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Integral Polity

Not only, then, does Gramsci’s integral state succeed in delivering public goods but, particularly important, the leadership generates a degree of moral and intellectual bonding with the citizens. This “organic” afiliation is central to the establishment of the “national-popular”. Africa as such, for the Samatars, has yet to produce an integral state.

1.3.3. the DeVeLoPmentaL state If such a state, then, is the guardian of an integral polity and general prosperity, a developmental state is the next best project. In this context, the state is conspicuously activist in both the improvement of human capital and the enhancement of the productive forces and national accumulation. But, as has often been the record, achievements in the economic and social realms may come at the cost of civic pluralism and basic liberties. Speciically, nature and culture may suffer at the hands of society and economy. Because the developmental state is primarily driven by ambition to quickly mollify external and domestic vulnerabilities of the society, such a singular attention leaves little room for open dissent and debate. In the end, a developmental state is visibly Janus-faced – impressive in marshalling resources and building economic capacity, but relatively less attentive to the creation of an ambience conducive to, as per Herman, republican individuation. Moreover, and in acute cases, heavy disincentives are presented to those who dare to disagree or insist on moral autonomy. There are exceptions to the discrepancy between development and democracy, as the case of Botswana demonstrates. The Botswana state has been Africa’s premier developmental state. Despite the shackles inherited from British colonialism, the state qualitatively transformed its society from a South African labour reserve to one of the fastest growing economies in the world for the better part of the last 35 years. Botswana maintained genuine commitment to liberal democracy since independence. This blending of development and democracy makes Botswana unique among developmental states. Botswana has some of the, most speciically political and economic, ingredients necessary for establishing an integral state.

1.3.4. the PRebenDaL state A prebendal type is typically preoccupied with the protection and reproduction of the immediate interests of a regime and its associates. At the same time, the economy becomes a source of personal and group enrichment, usually in the form of shady rent-seeking, and the political institutions amount to little more than a haven for personal privilege. A key feature of a prebendal state is high dependency – a combination of subservience to external powers, venality, and despotism at home. Unless turned around, and there is time and space for such action, these liabilities increasingly blunt any developmental propulsion, creating a general culture of disregard for the common good. Nigeria has been the archetypical prebendal state, though in recent years there have been moves afoot to evolve in a developmental, if not even integral (4), direction. In fact, it even degenerated into a predatory institution under successive civilian and military regimes. The cost of predation became exceedingly onerous under General Abacha’s regime. Consequently, key organs of civil society struggled against the regime during much of the 1990s. At the end, the military retreated and a civilian government

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was elected. Retired General Obasanjo’s leadership of the past decade made some encouraging attempts in rebuilding public institutions so they could gain legitimacy and suficient capacity to meet the development needs of the Nigerian society. Nonetheless, heavy reliance on rent from oil, ethnic and religious antagonism, and a misappropriation of national wealth continue to be part of political practice, which some members of Trans4m’s doctoral research community are seeking to redress.

1.3.5. the PReDatoRy state The predatory state is synonymous with diabolical politics. When the prebendal state loses what little functional capacity and stability it had, alienation mounts apace. No more even a symbol of disordered legitimacy, the last veils of collective belonging drop, and scavenging over dwindling public resources becomes openly vicious. For the regime, with an ever-narrowing grid, leadership turns into its antithesis – that is, cruel selishness that slides into open criminality. In the meantime, as decay advances, a mixture of dismay and hyper-anxiety over personal and family survival becomes the paradigm of social and political conduct. With the full atrophy of the vital functions of the state, the centaurs become one-dimensional beasts. Together, these factors dissipate the stock of citizenship and mark the beginnings of the death of civic virtue. Moreover, without development of the material and intellectual productive forces, any society risks becoming gradually and unwittingly stagnant and turning in on itself, becoming less able to cope with the effects of internal conlicts. Mobutu’s Zaire, and Taylor’s Liberia, for the Samatars, come to mind as proximate examples.

1.3.6. the DIsIntegRateD state Sadly, the predatory state may not be the last stop in the slide towards optimum degeneration; it can get worse: the disintegrated state. With heightened physical and economic insecurity, and the evaporation of public discourse and life, many take light to anywhere before the inal curtain. Those who stay behind are enveloped by a new barbarism, one deined by a looting of what is left of the commons, further retailing of identities, and prodigality of terror. Thus spoke Nigerian literary giant Wole Soyinka (5), as he relected on such happenings in parts of the continent: How does a sculptor begin to carve with only stumps for arms? How does a village griot ply his trade with only the root of the tongue still lodged at the gateway of memory? The rest has been cut out—often the hand that wields the knife is the hand of the future, the ubiquitous child-soldier—and the air is bereft even of the solace of its lament. A lament can be purifying, consoling, for a lament still afirms the retention of soul, even of faith, yes, it is a cry of loss, of bereavement, an echo of pain but is, therefore, an afirmation of humanity, a reaching out to the world that is still human or to forces that shape humanity. A lament does not emerge from atrocities, for an atrocity is the very silencing of the human voice. It deadens the soul and clogs up the passages of hope, opening up in their place only sterile accusations, the resolve of vengeance, or else a total surrender to the triumph of banality no longer speak of wars on the continent, only arenas of competitive atrocities.

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Integral Polity

The end point of such an experience is the disintegrated state. Every frame is damaged to such an extreme extent that civic life is, simply put, no more. An immediate lesson is how easy it is to demolish in quick time what has taken years to build. The Somali case is an instantiation of this type. So where, for the Samatars, does an Islamic society (not Islamist) like Somalia go from here?

1.4. towards an awakened Islamic Consciousness 1.4.1. DysFunCtIonaL FoRCes The dysfunctional forces, that the Samatars cite, and which an awakened Islamic consciousness would need to ight against, are constituted of at least eight factors: • • • • • • • •

globalization and its nefarious economic and social effects on Islamic communities around the world; the total crash of the national state attributed to destructive policies and corrosive personal leadership; the subsequent descent into unprecedented internecine wars; the spread of clannish war-lordism in pursuit of individual and sectarian interests; an evaporation of ethical values in public affairs; a paucity of a unifying civic action to successfully respond to the prevailing conditions (particularly safety, order, economic well-being); an absence of an attractive vision expressive of collective redemption and a regenerative future; and a glaring loss of national pride that ushered in new levels of dependence and submissiveness to external machinations.

The sharpening contest over the long-term future of Somalia by its people will be shaped by, among others for the Samatars, the presence of social and political Islamism. Such a development, in its generic necessity, seems unavoidable. Both historical identity and the pestilential nature of the present political climate press forth the relevance of a collective salvation informed by Islamic thought. If this is accurate, then, it seems appropriate and timely to start sorting out different orientations that might claim Islam as a source of inspiration. They proffer three broad scenarios.

1.4.2. staRtIng out wIth a ReaCtIonaRy stanCe In light of contemporary global affairs and the preoccupation with “terrorism”, the reactionary scenario is the most common one that jumps immediately into the minds of the ill-informed, especially non-Muslims. Beyond such a stereotypical relex, however, there are occasions when the label indeed its. Features associated with a reactionary Islamic perspective, which can be compared and contrasted with those adopted by both Ziauddin Sardar in theory (see Chapter 19) and one of us – Ibrahim Abouleish in the context of Sekem – in practice (see Chapter 22) include, for the Samatars:

Disintegrated to Integral Polity

• • • • • • •

•

33

a counterfeit innocence and zeal; backward-looking, literal, and completely dogmatic interpretations of the great texts of the Qur’an and the Hadith; brute application of hackneyed positions to every aspect of human life; aprioristic hostility to other faiths; annihilation of basic civic freedoms; imposition of extreme patriarchal domination; intolerance toward secular learning, the play of reason in shaping human affairs, and scientiic explorations and consequent ordering of relationships between humans and the natural world; and suppression of the autonomy of the aesthetic and the reduction of everyday life to an existence bereft of such creativity and joyous sensibilities as art, music and song, poetry, theatre, dance, and sport.

1.4.3. eVoLVIng a ConseRVatIVe ResPonse An immediate attribute of this conservative option (see Samir Amin below, Chapter 21), for the Samatars, is that it is at once more lexible than the reactionary mode and yet saddled with some similar problems. First, a conservative Islamist approach has a modicum of appreciation for the modern world, at least in the areas of administrative management, economic growth, technological adaptation, social welfare and, though highly iltered, a calculating engagement with the rest of the world. Among the deicits are resistance to innovative interpretations of the great texts, major constraints on basic personal freedoms and a limited participatory political order tightly woven into patriarchal preferences. This perspective’s potential liabilities in the long haul might be weighty enough to denude the assets. The Islamic Republic of Iran, Saudi Arabia and some of the Gulf States, in their at times drastically different styles, manifest a basic mixture of these attributes. We now turn to a more democratic and developmental stance.

1.4.4. DemoCRatIC anD DeVeLoPmentaL stanCe This third scenario integrates the best of Somali kinship, Islamic piety, and democracy and development. The Somali tradition of kinship (as distinct from clanism, beset with male dominance) emphasizes general fairness, generosity and obedience to God. At the heart of a worldly Islamic philosophy is the promotion of peace, justice and equality for all. “The basic élan of the Quran”, writes Fazhur Rahman, is its “stress on socioeconomic justice and essential egalitarianism.” On the other hand, democracy’s chief characteristics include individual liberty, choice and constitutional accountability of power, while development underscores a perpetual but measured transformation of the cultural, environmental, scientiic, economic and political spheres of the society. Essential indices for gauging such a strategy are an accent on ethical competence and legitimate achievement; tolerance of, if not respect for, nuance and diversity through a normalization of ijtihad; and freedom of thinking in a non-coercive atmosphere. No Muslim country in the modern world has fully achieved this scenario. A few are slowly moving in that direction, for the Samatars however, such as Turkey and Malaysia.

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Together, transition and synthesis are tantamount to a gearing up for a new ontology. That assignment and what is at stake are even more apparent today.

1.4.5. the stRuggLe FoR IsLamIC CosmoPoLItanIsm If Somalis make headway in their epochal project, then, they will have made a precious contribution to the struggle for an Islamic cosmopolitanism robust enough to simultaneously co-exist comfortably with the multi-civilizational modern world and to negotiate successfully the ambiguities of globalization. To be sure, this is the most daunting option – one whose pursuit will require all the intelligence, creativity, dexterity, discipline and patience that Somalis can muster. Despite the enormous dificulties, it is a journey pleasing to Allah, possible and most thrilling to begin against the humiliating political squalor of the present.

1.5. Conclusion: necessity of the state/options of governance Somalis, for the Samatars in conclusion, are no different from other societies in that none could meet its basic collective needs (ranging from security to environmental and economic well-being, to education and scientiic advancement) without an effective public power. As Adam Smith, the great sage of the Scottish Enlightenment, taught us centuries ago, “the authority and security of civil government is a necessary condition for the lourishing of liberty, reason, and happiness of humankind”. While this is uniform across the modern world, the imperative is greatest among late-developing societies. The state is not and cannot be everything but its absence is a form of acute social homelessness. Even the World Bank, contemporary apostle of market economics, made this landmark assertion in 1997, with regard to the indispensability of the state for a viable society: Good government is not a luxury, it is a vital necessity for development … an effective state is vital for the provision of goods and service, and the rules and institutions that allow markets to lourish, people to lead healthier, happier lives.

The condition of the past 16 years testiies to the supreme deicits that come with the destruction of national political structures. Another decade or more of the present situation is too horrible to contemplate. But, in order to construct a new national and effective state, Somalis will have to address this most dificult of issues: the resurrection of a vibrant people-hood. In that regard, it is a fact that the nationalist spirit of collective belonging has been gravely damaged. The consequences include mutual suspicion, anger, pent-up revenge, outright hate and social pulverization. At the same time, Somalia cannot amount to much even in East Africa, let alone in the world, without a revival of that very national identity. Put another way, if Somalis are unable, at least at the present, to recreate an intimate political community, they still have no choice but to establish a workable civil association that will undergird a capable state. For us, moreover, and as will be demonstrated through this book, even more than a capable state, is indeed an integral polity, that combines natural and cultural, societal and economic functioning, with such

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an all-round integral polity. In the inal section of this book, as we revisit the world’s centre, that is the Middle East, we shall return to some of the themes introduced by the Samatars that have relevance for the world at large. We now turn, in this introductory phase of our unfolding thesis on integral polity, to a more conventional outlook on the political order, still by way of introduction: that of the renowned political scientist, Francis Fukuyama.

1.6. References 1. Samatar, A. and Samatar, A. (eds) (2002) The African State: Reconsiderations. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. 2. Blond, P. (2010) Red Tory: How Left and Right Have Broken Britain and How We Can Fix It. London: Bloomsbury. 3. Gramsci, A. (2000) A Gramsci Reader. London: Lawrence and Wishart. 4. Oshodi, B. (2014) An Integral Approach to Development Economics: Islamic Finance in an African Context. Farnham: Gower. 5. Soyinka, W. (1997) The Open Sore of the Continent: Personal Narrative on the Nigerian Crisis. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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CHAPTer

2

The Origins of Political Order

… man springs from nature, creates a society adequate to his immediate needs out of his reason and will, and then engages in fatal combat with his own creation, to provide the drama of historical change. Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America (1)

2.1. Introduction 2.1.1. the neCessIty oF PoLItICs We now turn from Africa to Europe, as well as Asia and America, not forgetting, though, even pre-human times. Further to a contemporary political taxonomy, as in the previous chapter, we now turn to historiography. The sequencing of political development in Western Europe, as such, was highly unusual, for noted or indeed notorious American political scientist, Francis Fukuyama (2), when compared to other parts of the world. Individualism on a social scale appeared centuries before the rise of other modern states or capitalism; a rule of law existed before political power was concentrated in the hands of centralized governments; and institutions of accountability arose because modern, centralized states were unable to completely defeat or eliminate ancient feudal institutions like representative assemblies. Once this combination of state, law and accountability appeared, it proved to be a highly powerful and attractive form of government that subsequently spread to all corners of the globe. But we need to remember, Fukuyama emphasizes, how historically contingent this particular process of emergence was. China, for him, had a strong state, but without law and accountability; the Middle East had states and law, but in much of the Arab part it lost the latter tradition. Societies are not trapped by their pasts and freely borrow ideas and institutions from each other. But what they are in the present is also shaped by what they were in the past, that is their past grounding, and there is not one single path that links one to the other. What Fukuyama is aiming for in The Origins of Political Order is a middle-range theory that avoids the pitfalls of excessive abstraction (the vice of economists) and excessive particularism (the problem of many historians and anthropologists). Fukuyama is thereby seeking to recover some of the lost tradition of 19th-century historical sociology or comparative anthropology. He starts with a Western analysis of “the state of nature”.

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2.2. the state of nature 2.2.1. soCIabILIty PReCeDes InDIVIDuaLIsm In the Western philosophical tradition, discussions of the “state of nature” have been central to the understanding of justice and political order that underlies modern liberal democracy. Plato and Aristotle argued that a just city had to exist in conformity with man’s permanent nature and not what was ephemeral and changing. Thomas Hobbes (3), John Locke (4) and Jean-Jacques Rousseau (6) developed this distinction and wrote treatises on the question of “the state of nature” (note that they had in mind a much more abstract notion of “nature” than, say, that of the American Indian – see Chapter 15), seeking to ground political rights in it. Describing the state of nature was a means and a metaphor for discussing human (as opposed to non-human) nature, an exercise that would establish a hierarchy of human goods that political society was meant to foster. The French 18th-century philosopher Rousseau, for Fukuyama, was brilliantly correct in certain of his observations, such as his view that human inequality had its origins in the development of metallurgy, agriculture and, above all, private property. But he, Hobbes and Locke were wrong on one very important point. All three thinkers saw human beings in the state of nature as isolated individuals, for whom society was not natural. According to Hobbes, early human beings relate to one another primarily through fear, envy and conlict. Rousseau’s primitive human is even more isolated. For both, human society emerges only with the passage of historical time, and involves compromises of natural liberty. This is not the way things actually happened. Fukuyama labels this the Hobbesian fallacy: the idea that human beings were primordially individualistic and that they entered into society at a later stage in their development only as a result of a rational calculation that social cooperation was the best way for them to achieve their individual ends. This premise of primordial individualism in fact underpins the understanding of rights contained in the American Declaration of Independence and thus of the democratic political community that springs from it. This premise also underlies contemporary neoclassical economics, which builds its models on the assumption that human beings are rational beings who want to maximize their individual utility or incomes. But it is in fact individualism and not sociability that developed over the course of history. That individualism seems today like a solid core of our economic and political behaviour is only because we have developed institutions that override our more naturally communal instincts. Aristotle was more correct than those early modern liberal theorists when he said human beings were political – hence our notion of “polity” – by nature. Everything that modern biology and anthropology tell us about the state of nature suggests the opposite: there never was a period in human evolution, for Fukuyama, when human beings existed as isolated individuals; the primate precursors of the human species had already developed extensive social, indeed political, skills; and the human brain is hardwired with faculties that facilitate many forms of social cooperation. Human beings do not enter into society, according to Fukuyama, and political life as a result of conscious, rational decision. Communal life comes to them naturally, though the speciic ways they cooperate are shaped by the environment, ideas and culture. When norms are invested with intrinsic meaning, they become objects of what the German 19th-century philosopher Hegel called “the struggle for recognition”. The desire for such communal recognition is fundamentally different from the desire for material

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resources that underlies economic behaviour. A great deal of contemporary politics revolves around demands for recognition, particularly on the part of groups that have historical reason for believing their worth has not been adequately recognized: racial minorities, women, gays, indigenous peoples and the like. As political systems develop, for Fukuyama moreover, recognition is transferred from individuals to institutions – that is to rules or patterns of behaviour that persist over time, like the British monarchy or the American Constitution. But in either case, political order is based on legitimacy and the authority that arises from legitimate domination. Legitimacy means that the people who make up the society recognize the fundamental justice of the system as a whole and are willing to abide by its rules.

2.2.2. FRom banD to tRIbe Many believe, Fukuyama goes on to say, that the primordial form of human social organization was tribal. Tribal organization did not arise, however, as one of us, Louis Herman, has pointed out, until the emergence of settled societies and the development of agriculture some nine thousand years ago. Rousseau pointed out that the origin of political inequality lay in the development of agriculture. Since band-level societies are pre-agricultural, there is no private property in any modern sense. Within such a group there is nothing resembling modern economic exchange, or indeed modern individualism. There was no state to tyrannize over people at this stage of political development. Your social world was limited to the circles of relatives around you, and they determined just about everything in your life. Leadership was vested in individuals based on qualities of strength, intelligence and trustworthiness. In this type of society, a “direct democracy” so to speak, leaders emerged based on group consensus; they had no right to their ofice and could hand it down to their children. This, for the Samatars, was the era of commonwealth, and for Chancellor Williams, as we shall see in the next chapter, the original period that constituted Africa. The transition from band-level societies to tribal societies was made possible by the development of agriculture. Agriculture was invented in widely separated parts of the world, including Mesopotamia, China, Oceania and Mesoamerica 9,000–10,000 years ago, often in fertile alluvial river basins. Human beings were now in contact with each other on a much broader scale, and this required a very different from of social organization. In such a “segmentary” society, each “segment” is a self-suficient unit, able to feed, clothe and defend itself, and thus characterized by what the French sociologist Durkheim (6) called “mechanical solidarity”. The segments can come together for common purposes, like self-defence, but are otherwise not dependent on one another for survival; no one can be a member of more than one segment at the same level. In tribal societies, these units are based on a principle of common descent. The most basic unit is a lineage, a group of individuals who trace their descent to a common ancestor who may have lived generations ago.

2.3. social Community to Private Property 2.3.1. LeFt VeRsus RIght One of the biggest issues separating Right and Left since the French Revolution has been that of private property. Rousseau (7) in his Discourse on Inequality traced the origins of

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injustice to the irst man who fenced off land and declared it his own. Karl Marx (8) set a political agenda of abolishing private property; one of the irst things that all Communist regimes inspired by him did was to nationalize the “means of production”, not least land. By contrast, the American founding father James Madison (9) asserted in “Federalist Number 10” that one of the most important functions of governments was to protect individuals’ unequal ability to acquire property. Since the Reagan-Thatcher revolution of the late 1970s and early 1980s, one of the top agenda items pursued by market-oriented policy-makers has been privatization of state-owned enterprises in the name of economic eficiency, something that has been iercely resisted by the Left.

2.3.2. kInshIP anD PRIVate PRoPeRty The earliest forms of private property were held not by individuals but by lineages or other kin groups, and much of their motivation was not simply economic but religious and social as well. Forced collectivization by the Soviet Union and China in the 20th century sought to turn back the clock to an imagined past that never existed, in which common property was held by non-kin. Property and kinship thus became intimately connected: property enabled you to take care of not only preceding and succeeding generations of relatives, but of yourself as well as through your ancestors and descendants. The failure of Westerners to understand the nature of customary property rights and their embeddedness in kinship groups, for Fukuyama in fact, lies in some measure at the root of many of Africa’s current dysfunctions, as cited in Chapter 1. European colonial oficials were convinced that economic development could not occur in the absence of modern property rights, that is, rights that were individual, alienable and formally speciied through the legal system. Many were convinced that Africans, left to their own devices, did not know how to manage land eficiently or sustainably. Westerners assumed that local chiefs “owned” the land, like a feudal lord in Europe. In other cases they set up the chief as their agent, not just for the purposes of acquiring land but also as an arm of the colonial administration. Traditional African leaders in tribal societies found themselves constrained by the checks and balances imposed by complex kinship systems. Arguably as such the Europeans, as eminent African historian Basil Davidson (10) has revealed, deliberately empowered a class of rapacious African Big Men. They thus contributed to the growth of neo-patrimonial government after independence. When tribal-level societies were succeeded by state-level societies, tribalism did not simply disappear. In China, India, the Middle East and pre-Columbian America state institutions were merely layered on top of tribal ones and existed in uneasy balance with them for long periods of time. One of the greatest mistakes of early modernization theory, beyond the error in thinking that politics, economics and culture had to be congruent with one another, was to think that transactions between the “stages” of history were clean and irreversible. The only part of the world where tribalism was fully superseded by more voluntary and individualistic forms was in Europe, where Christianity played a decisive role in undermining kinship as a basis for social cohesion. Since most early modernization theorists were European, they assumed that other parts of the world would experience a similar shift away from kinship as part of the modernization process. But they were mistaken. Although China was the irst civilization to invent the modern state, it never succeeded in suppressing the power of kinship on

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social and cultural levels. From the Melanesian wantok to the Arab tribe to the Taiwanese lineage to the Bolivian ayllu, complex kinship structures remain the primary locus of social life for many people in the contemporary world, and strongly shape their interaction with modern political institutions. So the struggle to replace “tribal” politics with a more impersonal form of political relationships continues in the 21st century.

2.4. the Power of the state 2.4.1. theoRIes oF state FoRmatIon State-level societies differ from tribal ones, Fukuyama maintains, in several important respects. First, they possess a centralized source of authority, whether in the form of a king, president or prime minister. Second, that source of authority is backed by a monopoly of legitimate means of coercion, in the form of an army and/or police. Third, the authority of the state is territorial rather than kin based. Fourth, states are far more stratiied and unequal than tribal societies, with the ruler and his administrative staff often separating themselves from the rest of society. In some cases they become a hereditary elite. Slavery and serfdom, while not unknown in tribal societies, expand enormously under the aegis of states. Finally, states are legitimated by much more elaborate forms of religious belief, with a separate priestly class as its guardian.

2.4.2. the state as a VoLuntaRy soCIaL ContRaCt Thomas Hobbes lays out the basic “deal” underlying the state: in return for giving up the right to do whatever one pleases, the state (or Leviathan) through its monopoly of force guarantees each citizen basic security. The state can provide other kinds of public goods as well as property rights, roads, currency, uniform weights and measures, and external defence, which citizens cannot obtain on their own. In return, citizens give the state the right to tax, conscript and otherwise demand things of them. Tribal societies can provide some degree of security, but can only provide limited public goods because of their lack of central authority. Tribal societies are egalitarian and, within the context of close-knit kinship groups, very free. States, by contrast, are coercive, domineering and hierarchical, which is why Nietzsche (11) called the state the “coldest of all cold monsters”.

2.4.3. the state as the PRoDuCt oF ChaRIsmatIC authoRIty It seems extremely likely, for Fukuyama moreover, that religious ideas were critical to early state formation, since they could effectively legitimate the transition to hierarchy and loss of freedom enjoyed by tribal societies. Max Weber (12) distinguished what he called charismatic authority from either its traditional or modern-rational variants. The Greek word charisma means “touched by God”; a charismatic leader asserts authority not because he is elected by his fellow tribesmen for leadership ability but because he is believed to be a designee of God. Religious authority and military prowess go hand in hand. Religious authority allows a particular tribal leader to solve the large-scale collective action problem of uniting a

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group of autonomous tribes. The only problem, however, is that you need a new form of religion, one that can overcome the inherent scale limitations of ancestor worship and other forms of particularist worship. The Prophet Mohammed’s polity, as we shall see in Chapter 19 for example, did not yet have all the characteristics of a true state, but it made a break with kinship based systems not on the basis of conquest but through the writing of a social contract underpinned by the properly charismatic authority. There is no clearer illustration of the importance of ideas to politics than the emergence of an Arab state under the Prophet Mohammed. The Arab tribes played an utterly marginal role in world history until that point; it was only Mohammed’s charismatic authority that allowed them to unify and project their power throughout the Middle East and North Africa. The tribes had no economic base to speak of; they gained economic power through the interaction of religious ideas and military organization, and then were able to take over agricultural societies that did produce surpluses. Moreover, the power of tribalism remained so strong that subsequent Arab states were never able to overcome it fully or to create state bureaucracies not heavily inluenced by tribal politics. While the founding of the irst Arab state is a particularly striking illustration of the political power of religious ideas, virtually every other state, for Fukuyama, has relied on religion to legitimate itself. The founding myths of the Greek, Roman, Hindu and Chinese states all trace the regime’s ancestry back to a divinity, or at least to a semi-divine hero. State formation in fact needs the conluence of several factors. First, there needs to be a suficient abundance of resources to permit the creation of surpluses above what is necessary for subsistence. Second, the absolute scale of the society has to be suficiently large to permit the mergence of a rudimentary division of labour and a ruling elite. Third, the population needs to be physically constrained so that it increases in density when technological opportunities present themselves, and in order to make sure that subjects cannot run away when coerced. And inally tribal groups have to be motivated to give up their freedom to the authority of the state. This can come about through the threat of physical extinction by the other, increasingly well-organized groups. Or it can result from the charismatic authority of a religious leader. Taken together, there appear to be plausible factors leading to the emergence of a state in places like the Nile valley. Understanding the conditions under which pristine state formation occurred is interesting because it helps deine some of the material conditions under which states emerge. But in the end, there are too many interacting factors to be able to develop one string, predictive theory of when and how states formed. The Chinese state, for example, was centralized, bureaucratic and enormously despotic. Marx and Wittfogel (13) recognized this characteristic of Chinese politics by use of their terms like “the Asiatic mode of production” or “Oriental despotism”. What Fukuyama argues is that such despotism is the precocious emergence of the politically modern state. In China the state was consolidated before other social actors could institutionalize themselves, actors like a hereditary, territorially based aristocracy, an organized peasantry, cities based on a merchant class, churches, or other autonomous groups. This initial skewing of the balance of power was then locked in for a long period, in China, since the mighty state could act to prevent the emergence of alternative sources of power, both political and economic. No dynamic modern economy emerged until the 20th century that could upset this distribution of power. Not until the arrival of the Europeans in the 19th century did China really have to contend with foreign models that really challenged its state-centred path of development.

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The Chinese patterns of political development differ from that of the West insofar as the development of a precociously modern state was not offset by other institutionalized centres of power that could force on it something like a rule of law. But in this respect it also differed fundamentally from India. One of Marx’s biggest mistakes, for Fukuyama, was to lump the two together under a single “Asiatic” paradigm. Unlike China but like Europe, India’s institutionalization of countervailing social actors – an organized priestly class and the transformation of kinship systems into a caste system – acted as a break on the accumulation of power by the state. The result was that over the past 2,200 years, China’s default political mode was a uniied empire, punctuated by periods of civil war and breakdown, while India’s default mode was a disunited system of petty political units, punctuated by brief periods of unity and empire. Fukuyama then turns to the rule of law.

2.5. the Rule of Law 2.5.1. oRIgIns oF the RuLe oF Law European political development was exceptional insofar as European societies made an early exit from tribal-level organization, and did so without the beneit of topdown political power. Europe was also exceptional in that state building was based less, according to Fukuyama, on the capacity to deploy military power and more on the ability to dispense justice. The law is a body of abstract rules of justice that bind a community together. In pre-modern societies, the law was believed to be ixed by a higher authority, either by a divine authority or by nature. Legislation, on the other hand, is a function of political power, that is of the ability of a king, a warlord, a baron or a president to enforce new rules. In fact, in contemporary developing countries, one of the greatest political deicits is the relative weakness of the rule of law. The Russian federation, for example today, stages elections, but its elites, according to Fukuyama, can break the law with impunity. England made an early and impressive transition from a customary to a modern legal system, which constituted the basis for the legitimacy of the English state itself. Other European countries made a similar transition in the 13th century but based on a completely different legal system, the civil law derived from the Justinian code. The key to this transition on the continent was the behaviour of the Catholic Church.

2.5.2. the ChuRCh beComes a state The rule of law in its deepest sense means that there is a social consensus within a society that its laws are just and that they pre-exist and should constrain the behaviour of whomever happens to be the ruler at a given time. The ruler is not sovereign; the law is sovereign, and the ruler gains legitimacy only insofar as he derives his just powers from the law. The rule of law in Europe was rooted in Christianity. Especially since the rise of radical Islamism in the late 20th century, a lot has been made of the fact that the church and state are separated in the West but fused in Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia. This distinction, for Fukuyama, does not stand scrutiny. The Western separation of church

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and state has not been a constant since the advent of Christianity but rather something more spasmodic. The Justinian Code, in fact, was a highly sophisticated compilation of Roman law produced in Constantinople under the emperor Justinian at the beginning of the 6th century. The revival of Roman law was possible because legal studies had been established on a new institutional basis, in the emerging modern university. At the end of the 11th century students locked to the University of Bologna. The new legal curriculum exposed Europeans to a sophisticated legal system that they could readily use as a model for law in their own societies. Knowledge of the code was thus carried to the remotest corners of the continent, and law faculties were established in other cities such as Paris, Oxford, Heidelberg, Cracow and Copenhagen. The recovery of Roman law had the effect, like English Common Law, of suddenly displacing the mass of particularistic, Germanic customary law that prevailed through much of Europe and replacing it with a more consistent transnational body of rules. Legal scholars have in fact argued that the irst model of the modern bureaucratic “ofice” as deined by Weber was created within the new, 12th-century church hierarchy. Among the hallmarks of the modern ofice are a separation between the ofice and the oficeholder; the ofice is not private property; the oficeholder is a salaried oficial subject to the discipline of the hierarchy in which he is embedded; ofices are deined functionally, and ofice-holding is based on technical competence. All of these were characteristic of Chinese bureaucracy from the time of the state of Qin, though many ofices were re-patrimonialized during later dynasties. One of the peculiar features, for Fukuyama, of European state building was its early heavy dependence on law as both the motive and the process by which state institutions grew. Specialists have grown accustomed to thinking that war and violence were the great drivers of European political development. This certainly became true in the early modern period, when the rise of absolutism was built around iscal requirements of military mobilization. But in the medieval period states gained legitimacy and authority by their ability to dispense justice. The emergence of the rule of law, then, is the second (the irst being state building) of three components that together constitute modern politics. As in the transition out of tribal and kinship-based social organization, the dating of this shift in Europe needs to be pushed back to a point well before the beginning of the early modern period – in the case of the rule of law, to at least the 12th century. Thus two of the basic institutions that became crucial to economic modernization – individual freedom of choice with regard to social and property relations, and political rule limited by predictable and transparent law – were created by a pre-modern institution, the medieval church. Only later would these institutions prove useful in the economic sphere.

2.5.3. the state beComes the ChuRCh In China, religion did not relect social and cultural consensus, but tended rather to be a source of social protest. This was true from Taoism in the Han and Buddhism in the Tang dynasty, to the Christian inluenced Taipings in the 19th century and to Falun Gong today. The Chinese state has never recognized a source of religious authority higher than itself and has easily controlled whatever priesthoods existed. Things were totally different in India, where the Brahmaanic religion developed contemporaneously with or slightly before the period of state formation subordinated

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the political/warrior class – the Kshatriyas – to the priestly class, the Brahmins. Law was therefore deeply rooted in religion rather than politics. In addition to India and Europe, the other world civilization in which a rule of law came into being was the Islamic Middle East. The emergence of modern Muslim dictatorships is a result, for Fukuyama, of the accident of the region’s confrontation with the West and subsequent transition to modernity. Political and religious authority were frequently united in Christian Europe. In the Muslim world they were effectively separated through long historical periods. Law played the same function in Muslim lands that it did in Christian ones: acting as a check – albeit weaker – on the power of the leaders. Rule of law is basic to Muslim civilization, and in fact deines that civilization in many respects. Both Christian and Muslim traditions, along with Judaism, are deeply scriptural, with basic social rules being codiied from an early point. The interpretation of these rules, however, was in many cases uncertain and had to be delegated to a special class of priests – the clergy of the church, in the case of Christianity, the ulama, or scholars, in the case of Islam. In both cases, law came not from political power, as in China, but from God, who has dominion over political authorities. While Mohammed may have become a tribal leader in his lifetime, his authority over his fellow Arabs did not rest merely on his command of force but also on his role as the transmitter of the word of God. While the caliphs that followed him may have claimed universal spiritual authority, their effective jurisdiction fell far short of it. The Indian and Arab paths then diverged greatly after the transition from colonialism to independence. The Indian Republic established a constitutional order in which executive authority was limited by law and legislative elections. The Arab world turned out very differently. The traditional monarchs put in place by the British, French and Italian colonial authorities in countries like Egypt, Libya, Syria and Iraq were quickly replaced by secular nationalist military oficers, who proceeded to centralize authority in powerful executives who were limited by neither legislatures nor courts. The American legal scholar Noah Feldman (14) argues that the rise of Islamism in the early 20th century and the widespread demand for a return to the sharia throughout the Arab world relect a grave dissatisfaction with the lawless authoritarianism of contemporary regimes in the region and a nostalgia for a time when executive power was limited by a genuine respect for the law. He maintains that the demand for sharia should be seen not simply as a reactionary turning back of the clock to medieval Islam, but rather as a desire for a more balanced regime in which political power would be willing to live within predictable rules. Rule of law was institutionalized to a greater degree in Western Europe than in the Middle East or India. In contrast to India, where the Vedas were transmitted orally and written down only at a relatively late point, the three monotheic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam were all based from a fairly early point on authoritative scriptures. The latter were all “people of the book”. But only in Europe was the confusing welter of written texts, decrees, interpretations and commentaries systematized with a view toward making them logically consistent. There was no equivalent of the Justinian code in the Muslim, Hindu or Eastern orthodox traditions. In Europe, the rule of law survived, even as the basis of its legitimacy changed during the transition to modernity. This was the result of an internal, organic process, as the Reformation undermined the authority of the Church and the secular ideas of the Enlightenment eroded belief in religion as such. New theories of sovereignty, based

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on the authority of the king, nation or people, began to replace the sovereignty of God as the basis for legitimacy. But by the late 19th century, the democratic idea had gained legitimacy, and law increasingly came to be seen as the positive enactment of a democratic community. We now turn from irstly state formation and secondly the rule of law to the rise of thirdly political accountability.

2.6. the Rise of Political accountability 2.6.1. moRaL aCCountabILIty Accountable government, for Fukuyama, means that the rulers believe that they are responsible to the people they govern and put the people’s interests above their own. Accountability, as such, can be achieved in a number of ways. It can arise from moral education, which is the form it took in China and countries inluenced by Chinese Confucianism. Princes were educated to feel a sense of responsibility to their society and were counselled by a sophisticated bureaucracy in the art of statecraft. Today people in the West tend to look down on political systems whose rulers profess concern for their people but whose power is unchecked by procedural constraints like the rule of law or elections. But moral constraint still has a meaning in the way that authoritarian societies are governed, exempliied by the contrast between a Hashemite Jordan under its King Abdullah and Baathist Iraq under Saddam Hussein. Neither country was a democracy but the latter imposed a cruel and invasive dictatorship and the former has carefully attended to the needs of various groups in society, despite the very limited powers of the Jordanian Parliament.

2.6.2. FoRmaL aCCountabILIty Formal accountability is procedural: the government agrees to submit to certain mechanisms that limit its power to do as it pleases. Ultimately these procedures (which are usually spelt out in constitutions) allow the citizens of the society to replace the government entirely for malfeasance, incompetence or abuse of power. Today the predominant from of procedural accountability is elections, preferably multi-party elections with universal suffrage. Earlier forms of political accountability were not to the people as a whole but to a traditional body of law that was seen as representing the consensus of the community, and to an oligarchic legislature. Over time, starting in Europe and America, democratization took place. The voting franchise was extended and came to include broader classes of people, including men and property, women, and racial and ethnic minorities. In addition, it became clear that the law itself was no longer based on religion, but needed to be democratically ratiied, even if its application remained in the hands of professional judges. But in Britain, the United States, and Western Europe, the full democratization of procedural accountability did not occur until the 20th century. The very lateness of the European state-building project was the source of political liberty that Europeans would later enjoy. For precarious state-building in the absence of the rule of law and accountability simply means that states can tyrannize their populations more effectively.

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2.6.3. the maRCh oF eQuaLIty At the beginning of his Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville (15) talks about the “providential” fact that the idea of human equality had been gaining ground across the world for the past 800 years. The Protestant Reformation, combined with the invention of the printing press, empowered individuals to read the Bible and ind their way to faith without the interposition of intermediaries like the Church. This reinforced the growing willingness of Europeans to question established authority, starting with recovery of the classics during the later medieval period and the Renaissance. Modern natural science – the ability to abstract general rules out of a mass of empirical data and test causal theories through controlled experiments – created a new form of authority that was soon institutionalized by universities. Science and the technology it spawned could be put to use by rulers but could never be fully controlled by them. The political manifestation of this change was the demand for political rights, that is the insistence on a share in common decision-making power that had once existed in tribal societies but had been lost with the rise of the state. This demand led to the mobilization of social groups like the bourgeoisie, the peasantry and the urban “crowd” of the French Revolution, which had formerly been passive subjects of political power. It was critical to the rise of modern accountable government that this demand was couched in universal terms – that it was based, as Thomas Jefferson would later put it in the Declaration of Independence (see Chapter 15), on the premise that ‘all men are created equal”. Throughout all phases of prior human history, different individuals and groups had struggled for recognition. But the recognition that they sought was for themselves, or their kin group, or their social class; they sought to be masters themselves and not to throw into question the entire relationship of lordship and bondage. The new universal understanding of rights meant that the political revolutions to follow would not simply replace one narrow elite group with another but would lay the grounds for the progressive enfranchisement of the whole population. We have seen this dynamic unfold, Fukuyama maintains, since the collapse of Communism and the emergence of what Samuel Huntington (16) labelled the third wave of democratization. The third wave began with the transitions in Spain, Portugal and Turkey during the 1970s, proceeded to Latin America and East Asia in the 1970s and 1980s, and culminated with the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe after 1989. The idea that democracy was the most, or indeed the only legitimate form of government spread to every corner of the world. Democratic institutions were rewritten, or written for the irst time, in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the former Communist world. But stable liberal democracy was consolidated only in a subset of those countries undergoing democratic transitions, because the material balance of power in each society did not force the different actors to accept constitutional compromise. One or another actor – usually the one that had inherited executive authority – emerged as much more powerful than the others and expanded its domain at the expense of the others.

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2.7. Conclusion: Political Development then and now In the inal analysis, for Fukuyama, the European path to modernization was not a spasmodic burst of change across all dimensions of development but rather a series of piecemeal shifts over a period of almost 1,500 years. In this peculiar sequence, individualism on a social level could precede capitalism, the rule of law could precede the formation of the modern state; and feudalism, in the form of strong pockets of local resistance to central authority, could be the foundation of modern democracy. We need then to disaggregate the political, economic and special dimensions of development, and understand how they relate to one another as separate phenomena that periodically interact. We now turn from the introductory orientation to the political order of African polity, starting with the African American historian Chancellor Williams.

2.8. References 1. De Tocqueville, A. (2003) Democracy in America. London: Penguin Classics. 2. Fukuyama, F. (2012) The Origins of the Political Order: From Prehuman Times to the French Revolution. London: Proile Books. 3. Hobbes, T. (2008) The Leviathan. Oxford: Oxford World Classics. 4. Locke, J. (1980) Second Treatise on Government. New York. Hackett Publishing. 5. Rousseau, J.J. (1998) The Social Contract. Ware: Wordsworth Editions. 6. Durkheim, E. (2012) The Division of Labour in Society. Eastford, CT: Martino Fine Books. 7. Rousseau, J.J. (1984) A Discourse on Inequality. London: Penguin Classics. 8. Marx, K. (2004) The Communist Manifesto. London: Penguin Classics. 9. Hamilton, A., Madison, J. and Jay, J. (2008) The Federalist Papers, ed. and intro L. Goldman. Oxford: Oxford World Classics. 10. Davidson, B. (1992) The Black Man’s Burden: Africa and the Curse of the Nation State. London: James Currey. 11. Nietzsche, F. (2000) Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future. New York: Dover Publications. 12. Weber, M. (1992) Economy and Society. Berkeley and San Francisco, CA: University of California Press. 13. Wittfogel, K. (1988) Oriental Despotism: A Comparative Study of Total Power. New York: Random House. 14. Feldman, N. (2012) The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. 15. De Tocqueville, A. (2003) Democracy in America. London: Penguin Classics. 16. Huntington, S. (2002) The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of the World Order. New York: Free Press.

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II Natural and Communal Orientation: Southern Polity

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Natural Grounding: Constituting Africa

Among the Blacks, democratic institutions evolved and functioned in a socioeconomic and political system which Western writers call “stateless societies”. Far from being just a descriptive term for backward peoples, “primitive” in this context means “first”, and “original”, for us original “grounding”. The amazing thing is and was, for Williams, the uniformity of this Black approach, continentwide. All might live in the same community, but they were often scattered far and wide. It involved then a network of kinsman, all of whom descended from the same ancestor or related ancestors. The ancestor from whom they claimed descent was always “great”, because of some outstanding accomplishments. Each generation of poets and storytellers magnified the ancestor’s image. Their nation, as such, became one big brotherhood. Chancellor Williams, The Destruction of Black Civilization

3.1. Introduction to black Civilization 3.1.1. staRtIng out wIth an aFRICan PeRsPeCtIVe We have now introduced you to the origins of political order, from Fukuyama’s historical perspective, and from the Samatars’ taxonomic one. We now begin our integral journey both within, and around our four worlds – South, East, North and West – as well as the Middle East. In each of these cases we shall seek to ground (origination), emerge through (foundation), navigate (emancipation) and effect (transformation) integral polity, that is in Africa and Asia, Europe and America, ending up in the Middle East, lodged in the Centre. In other words, and to some extent at least, we see all worlds in one, and one world in all. As such, nature and community has a “Southern” edge to it, cultural and spirituality an “Eastern” one, society and technology a “Northern” ring, and economics and enterprise a “Western” one, with the role of the “centre” being that of integrating them all, potentially if not actually. Moreover, and as such, each world, to integrally evolve, needs to embrace all, while honouring each starting point in turn. Starting out, then, with an African “Southern” perspective, we turn to Chancellor Williams, who was born in 1893 in South Carolina, the son of a former slave and a mother who was a domestic. By 1950, having taught American, European and Arabic history, Williams considered himself prepared for intense research on African beginnings, and over the next several years conducted ield studies in 25 different African countries, in 105 different languages. The irst fruits of such was the publication, in 1971, of The Destruction of Black Civilization (1), spanning the years 4500bc to 2000ad. Having spent 16 years undertaking research for the book, and having mortgaged his home to fund such, his intention to produce a three-volume work was foreshortened by the onset

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of blindness. Thereafter though The Rebirth of African Civilization (2) was published. Williams died in 1992, though his books contain his ongoing legacy.

3.1.2. CIVILIzatIon at the CRossRoaDs the Lopsided Course of Civilization Unlike other civilizations, Williams maintains, Western civilization is unique in its universal impact and inluence. Under the attractive slogans of freedom, democracy and Christianity, and with all the trappings of material progress, as unquestionable evidence of its superiority, it seemed to have the great promise of a better world, and it therefore inspired great hope for world-wide wellbeing. Yet Europe today, having built its own great house upon the sinking sands of materialism, sees it slowly but certainly falling, according to Williams, and turns farther West (what we rather term “Northwest”) to its offspring, the United States, for succour and leadership out of the neverending crises. But while the child has built far more grandly than its parents, it has built in precisely the same way, and upon the same shallow foundations. It has plenty of sand to offer – billions in money, billions in armaments, millions of soldiers, surplus food, technical “knowhow” and the like – but, for Williams, it has none of the spiritual rocks so urgently needed to shore up the shaky ediice. The voice that said “man shall not live by bread alone” has become too faint to be heard in the West (our North-west), the values it spoke for, once prominent in the Western faith, has been submerged, with only empty forms remaining. The African peoples meanwhile, seeking a re-birth of their own civilizations or, where none ever existed, a new creation, must now look in vain for positive leadership from that part of the world. And there may be confusion, Williams adds, for somewhere back down the line of the years this civilization took a wrong turn. Did not the more comprehensive view of man and the universe, Newtonian based, give the “West” the right to believe that mankind had at last reached the stage from which, aided by the tools of science and reason, progress could be made indeinitely in the improvement not only of things but of man himself. What happened then? They themselves appeared not to have assumed, as the generations that followed have, that man’s intellectual development necessarily included his moral development.

Christianity Fails western man Centuries before the rise of modern capitalism and the industrialization of society, the Christian Church had abandoned its mission, according to Williams, and had itself become more economic and political than spiritual. What spread across the world as Christianity was merely its shadow. From the 4th century of the Christian Emperor Constantine to the 18th century of the no more Christian Louis XIV, Christianity grew more and more amazingly powerful as an “institution” and weaker and weaker as a moral force in the world. So when Christianity became such a hollow form, it left open a vacuum for materialistic interpretations of history and the growth of economic man. Capitalism then entered the vacuum irst, to be followed by Marxism. Communism in fact rose and spread precisely because it had a positive promise of salvation for the masses of mankind – in the here and now which neither capitalism nor

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the churches offered. That its premises may be false was beside the point, which is that the Christian religion had become so weak that communism could boldly disavow it and at the same time take over the very spiritual appeal and methods of evangelism that had made Christianity a universal religion. Indeed the churches were as competitive and individualistic as capitalism, and as totalitarian as communism. Narrow and authoritarian, for Williams, they presented to mankind the amazing spectacle of not only supporting murderous wars but also of battling among themselves over non-essential religious details which make up their respective creeds. What the kingdom of God went forth to then build was the power structure of the particular denominations. The poor missionaries! Spiritually impoverished themselves, they were sent out to carry religion to lands more religious than their own, and to peoples whose religion was generally an actual way of life and who, therefore, could never understand a religion the doctrines of which were so foreign to the Christians’ lives!

the spiritual-moral base for a new Civilization The great energies of the Church were exhausted then in battling to build up its political power, not its spiritual power. In the latter area, its rightful own, it was never challenged. The secular state won. And the secular Church, having lost its spiritual foundation, had by that fact lost the one truly civilizing inluence in the world. Indeed to make this spiritual-moral order at once the centre of man’s life and the major goal of his strivings should have been the undeviating mission of every truly great religion. It should have been the core of every school curriculum, around which and for which other studies were developed. The highest level of the university would have been devoted to the science and research concerned with progressively discovering what things are of most worth, how to improve man himself and his attitudes and relations with his fellows of whatever race or religion. Education and religion would be the twin vehicle of the spiritual-moral forces that advance humankind. The crisis of our time, for Williams, stems from the failure of education that stems in turn from the failure of religion in which it was born and nurtured. The most vital need in this age of encircling gloom is precisely the spiritual-moral force that Western society, he says, does not have. The best hope for this world lies in the possibility that some of the newly emerging nations which already have a more spiritual culture will, instead of embracing everything Western, strike out along a new line of education in the direction of the kind of civilization that truly civilizes. The one great hope, as Williams sees it, lies in what the Africans themselves think and in what direction they want to go.

3.2. towards an original african Constitution 3.2.1. FaCIng uP to DestIny Williams, then, took some 16 years in all, during the course of the 1960s and 1970s, to explore African history (for us grounding, emergence and navigation), with a view to ultimately releasing – effecting in our terms – the genius of African societies. This took place in four stages:

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irstly, a general exploration of “the destruction of black civilization”, over the millennia; secondly, a review of the distinctively original, continent-wide “African Constitution”: the communitarian form (grounding) of African governance that preceded the tributary monarchical system, that, in turn, preceded representative democracy now spreading across the globe; thirdly, a depiction of how such communal origins were subsequently in most instances dissipated, or destroyed, but in some distinctive cases further evolved (emergence), at least to a point; before inally, how black people should face up to their destiny, at the cross-roads, with a view to their future navigation, and that ultimately we researchers and innovators, through our own processes of Integral Development, need to put into effect.

3.2.2. the two FaCes oF anCIent ReLIgIon: obeDIenCe anD CReatIVIty Williams begins with “the great issues of race” from 4500bc on to the present day, in Africa, initially focused on Egypt. Although, for him then, on the one hand, divine kinship was never widespread over the continent, it seems to be true that the ideas and practices of the divine despots of the Orient did penetrate and inluence a number of African kingdoms. Religion, as such, made the people submissive and obedient, all the more so if their ruler was given a superhuman role such as kinship with the gods and the protecting ancestors. Ancient religion, on the other hand, gave birth to science and learning, art and engineering, and architecture – the resources for a national economy and political control – as well as being the mother of history, writing, music, the healing art, song and dance. The irst historians in fact were professional storytellers and travelling singers. Both recounted the deeds of leaders, important events such as wars and migrations, and how and by whom the society or state was founded. Poetry and music were the creations of the people in general, and, like dance, came so easily that they seemed to be a natural heritage of everyone. As the various musical instruments and singing told a story, the dance also recorded a message, appealing for spiritual aid from God and ancestors, expressing joy for successful harvest, hunting and victories in war or forms of prayer to ward off evil spirits.

3.2.3. aFRICans InVenteD wRItIng: moRe than the neeD to CommunICate The development of writing, as such, is not explained by the simple statement “the need to communicate”. The idea of permanence seemed to motivate the drawing of pictures and symbols which were man’s irst step toward the art of writing. Signiicantly the scribes arose in holy temples. Ancient Greek scholars in fact referred to the completion of their education in Ethiopia with pride, and as a matter of course. So much has been built up against the black race, according to Williams, since those far away times that it will be dificult for many people today to realize that the whites of the ancient world did not seem to regard the question of Ethiopia as the principal centre of learning as at all feasible. Williams then turns speciically to Egypt, and, thereby, to Ethiopia.

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3.2.4. ReConneCtIng wIth egyPt: the RIse anD FaLL oF bLaCk CIVILIzatIon western kingship versus southern Chieftainship As such we go back to the pre-dynastic period of about 4500bc. Many writers refer to this as the “kingless” periods before centralized states appeared with the rule of nobles, oligarchies or hierarchies. From the beginning, Williams says, Westerners applied Western (our North-western) concepts to quite different African institutions. Later they described the same kind of “Southern” societies as “stateless”. They did not understand the African constitutional system, as we shall later see, of real self-government by the people through their representatives, the Council of Elders. In fact the Western concept of kingship was foreign to traditional Africa. What the West called “king” was the senior “elder” who had to be elected and presided over the Council of Elders. Again, the “royal family” concept was unknown to traditional Africa where the chief or “king” was the chief representative of the people before God and man, and at once the personiication of the people’s dignity and the instrument for carrying out their will. At the same time, Williams has continually referred to the African failure to employ the essentials of real nation-building. The glaring weakness in the uniication of the Ethiopian empire, for example, was the absence of any national programme for the development of a national solidarity and a sense of national community and belonging that aimed at overcoming the greater local or tribal loyalties. In other words, African states all too often failed to evolve from their original commonwealth, through an emergent regime to take this forward, followed by an integral administration, and thereafter competent leadership. An almost ierce spirit of brotherhood and sisterhood prevailed in all tribal states. The work of expanding this spirit as the nation expanded was rarely undertaken.

the writing on the african wall That said, as Williams emphasizes, it is the Africans who invented writing, and their system of writing was very different from the Egyptian. It was simpler and had vowels, whereas Egyptian had none. Moreover, as early as 3000bc, iron smelting and toolmaking got under way on a vast scale in Ethiopia at a most crucial period for Africa. Its centre was Meroe, in today’s Sudan, and the biggest iron works were in this capital city of what was then Upper Egypt. This development was at a crucial period because it was the period of increasing migration from the heartland and the scattering of groups all over Africa. They carried their knowledge of this great technological revolution wherever they went. Forgetting the names of some of these ancient centres of importance was nothing in comparison, for Williams, to the tragedy of the Blacks in almost completely forgetting the very art of writing they invented. This was one of the most tragic losses to be suffered by a whole people. In fact “key people” amongst Blacks at the time eagerly grasped Arabic, French, Portuguese, English or German as the best route to status in a new civilization. Here we speak of the period from the 6th century bc to the 4th century of the Christian Church in Ethiopia, and then we turn to the “Arab storm”.

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3.2.5. the ten CommanDments embeDDeD In the aFRICan ConstItutIon Africa was naturally among the irst areas to which Christianity spread. It was next door to Palestine, and from the earliest times there have been close relations between Jews and Blacks, both friendly and hostile. The exchange of pre-Christian religious concepts took place easily due to the residence of so many ancient Jewish leaders in Ethiopia – Abraham, Joseph and his brothers, Mary and Jesus. The great Lawgiver, Moses, was not only born in Africa but he was also married to the daughter of an African priest. Practically all of the ten commandments, for Williams, were embedded in the African Constitution long before Moses went up to Sinai in 1491bc. From the early African viewpoint there was nothing earth-shattering or extraordinary about the establishment of still another cult, the cult of Christian churches. The only unusual thing about the new cult of Christians was that while they disclaimed being of the Jewish faith they worshipped the Jewish tribal god, the god of Israel. The Christians seemed to be expanding the role of a god who had been concerned only with the Jews as his “Chosen people” to a God of the Universe. Meanwhile, while the Christians had given up the slaughtering of animals for offerings, the very cornerstone of their faith was that Jesus Christ, the son of God, was sacriiced for the sins of man, and his blood was shed for that purpose alone. Drinking of the blood (wine) then, and eating the body (bread), are all fundamental, for us emergent, aspects, for Williams, of man’s most ancient religion. We now return to Ethiopia, and to Egypt. The spread of Christianity in Africa gained momentum after the destruction of Ethiopia as an empire, and its world famous capital, the city of Meroe. The “Great Age of Black Civilization”, in 350ad as such, had come to a close. The last phase of the processes of Caucasianization in Egypt, for Williams, was so thorough-going that both the Blacks and their history were erased from memory: the Jewish rule, 500 years; the Assyrian interludes; the Persians, 185 years; the Greeks, 274 years; the Romans, 700 years; the Arabs, 1327 years – the long, long struggle to take from the Blacks whatever they had of human worth, their land and all their wealth therein; their bodies, their souls, their minds, as a process of steady dehumanization.

3.2.6. maIn ChaRaCteRIstICs oF bLaCk hIstoRy The main features of the longstanding history of the Blacks, overall then for Chancellor Williams, can be depicted as: • • • • • • •

building an advanced system of life, then having it destroyed; building again, its being destroyed again, migrating and building somewhere else, only to be sought out and destroyed again; moving, moving, always moving and rebuilding; internal strife increasing as external threats increased; an every-man-for-himself philosophy replacing that of eternal brotherhood in some societies; through it all, new states continually forming, renewing; their lost civilization, their written languages, their lost arts and sciences, having come down in outline from generation to generation;

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inally Africans were still rebuilding their own civilization when that of Asia and Europe was imposed.

Having sketched out these main historical characteristics of the Blacks, Williams now turns speciically to the original African Constitution. This would seem for us to be his seminal “Southern” contribution to our book.

3.2.7. the oRIgInaL aFRICan ConstItutIon: bIRth oF DemoCRaCy origin of african Democracy In this overall light, for Williams, the African Constitution is discussed as a body of fundamental theories, principles and practices drawn from the customary laws that governed Black African societies from the earliest times. The irst task was to divorce traditional African institutions from those inluenced by later Asian and European incursions; to determine what is truly African in origin. Another task was to determine whether an institution called “African” was in fact African in the sense of being universal among the Blacks, a continent-wide institution, as opposed to something particular to a speciic tribe. Williams’ foregoing observations suggest that the constitution of any people or nation, written or unwritten, derives from its customary rules of life; and that what we now call “democracy” was generally the earliest system among various people throughout the ancient world. What was a relatively new development, then, was absolute monarchy. Among the Blacks, democratic institutions evolved and functioned in a socio-economic and political system which Western writers call “stateless societies”. Far from being just a descriptive term for backward peoples, “primitive” in this context means “irst”, and “original”, for us original “grounding”. The amazing thing is and was, for Williams, the uniformity of this Black approach, continent-wide. All might live in the same community, but they were often scattered far and wide. It involved then a network of kinsmen, all of whom descended from the same ancestor or related ancestors. The ancestor from whom they claimed descent was always “great”, because of some outstanding accomplishments. Each generation of poets and storytellers magniied the ancestor’s image. Their nation, as such, became one big brotherhood. Accordingly, instead of irst attempting to conquer and annex other peoples by force, they would approach independent states and seek to demonstrate from oral history that all of them were segments of a shared lineage. All were brothers. This lineage, prior to the rise of kingdoms in particular, was the governing and organizing force, promoted by community consensus. Kinship, found expression in trade and in temporary confederations when attacked by foes. In the much heralded “tribal war” that ensued the main objective was to frighten away the adversary rather than kill. This raises the question of whether we have in fact become more “civilized” today? Have we not substituted the trappings of civilization, Williams maintains, that is our triumphs in science, technology and the computer “revolution”, for civilization ties? Sufice to say that the steady weakening of lineage ties and the spirit of unity was also a weakening of the sense of brotherhood and unity amongst Blacks. Lineage then was the most powerful and effective force for unity and stability in early Africa, and this was so true that a state could be self-governing without the need for any individual ruler, chief or a king. Everyone was a lawyer because just about everyone knew the customary laws.

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The age-grade or age-set, moreover, was the speciic organizational structure through which the society governed. There was seniority in each grade according to age and intelligence. The age-set, then, underpinned the whole African approach to education, which, seemingly, has been totally by-passed in the modern era, rather than being renewed.

original african education Constituted in age-sets Age group A: Childhood: Primary education: 6–12 Each grade had its own social, economic and political role. The children’s set, to begin with, covered the years of game and play. Primary education included storytelling, mental arithmetic, community songs and dances, learning the names of various birds and animals, the identiication of poisonous snakes, local plants and trees, and how to run and climb swiftly when pursued by dangerous animals.

Age group B: Teenage-hood: Secondary education: 13–18 The next grade above childhood involved teenage-hood (these periods varied of course amongst different societies). Now both education and responsibilities were stepped up, becoming more complex and extensive. The youth’s entire future depended upon their performance at this level. The boy was now required to learn his extended family history and that of the society, including also the geography of the region, names of neighbouring states and the nature of the relations with them, the handling of weapons, hunting as a skilled art, rapid calculation, clearing the bush for planting, the nature of soils and which grow best, military tactics, the care and breeding of cattle, bartering tactics, the rules of good manners at home and abroad, the division of the sexes and competitive sports. The girl’s age-group differed from that of the boys. While they had the same intellectual education as the boys – history, geography, rapid calculation, poetry, music and dance – the education and training in childcare, housekeeping, gardening, cooking and marketing, as well as social relations with particular stress on good manners was different.

Age group C: Man and womanhood: Tertiary education: 19–28 The next stage was the irst-line-of-action group. Its male members led in hunting, community construction, preparing the ields for planting, forming the various industrial craft guilds (secret societies, each of which guarded the processes of the art), protecting the far-ranging grazing cattle, the upkeep of roads and paths between villages, and policing where necessary. The young women were generally responsible for planting and care of the farms, the operations of the markets (hence the stress on mental arithmetic in their earlier education), visiting and care of the sick and aged, formation of women’s societies (the media for women’s very real political inluence), and overall responsibility for the home. In those societies where there were female ighting forces, women’s armies were formed from this stage onwards.

Age groups D and E: Eligible for election: 29–40 and onwards There was not much difference, thereafter, between age groups C and D, for both men and women – whose constitutional rights were inseparable – though, at the age of 36, if otherwise qualiied, men and women were eligible for election to the most highly honoured body of society, the Council of Elders, most especially reserved for age-set E, that is from 40 years onwards.

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3.2.8. the eaRLIest aFRICan JuDICIaL system In the chieless state (stateless society), then, the function of the elders was wholly advisory. For this reason they rarely met as a council, except when called by the Senior Elder to an emergency meeting. Matters involving the members of the same family or clan would be settled by the family council, each family or clan having its own elder. Conlicts between families or clans could be brought before any mutually acceptable elder for settlement. The elder’s judgment was not binding, and if there was any remaining dispute additional elders could be called upon to exercise judgment. Moreover the community as a whole was represented at such hearings in the everpresent crowd and would indicate their approval or otherwise. The constitutional theory and principle here is especially signiicant, for Williams, because of the important form it took in all African societies in every part of the continent as societies evolved from those without chiefs to centralized states under chiefs, kings and emperors. In this continent-wide constitutional development the chief or king became the mouthpiece of the people and the instrument for carrying out their will. They still had no ruler in the Asian or European sense. In the chieless societies, on the other hand, the elders were the overseers of land distribution to families. Finally, nothing contributed more to the eficiency and success of self-government without governors than the system wherein each age grade was responsible for the conduct of its members, and that before any misconduct could reach one’s age-grade council it was handled by the family council. Stated another way, each family policed itself, each age group policed itself, so there was little the community as a whole needed to do. It was therefore in the societies without chiefs or kings where African democracy was born and where the concept that the people are sovereign was naturally breathing. Theirs was in fact a government of the people. That this kind of government did “pass from the earth” is what we call “modern progress”. So what does this all imply, for Williams, for the fundamental rights of the African people, as per their original, democratic constitution?

3.2.9. the FunDamentaL RIghts oF the aFRICan PeoPLe Williams, at this point, spells out in more detail what has since been lost by Blacks, starting with the fundamental rights of the African people: • • • • • • • • •

the people are the irst and inal source of power; the rights of the community are superior to those of any individual; elders, chiefs, kings as leaders, not rulers, exercise the will of the people; the family is recognized as the primary social, economic and political unit; the land belongs to no one; it is God’s gift to mankind, a scared heritage; each family has a free right to the land, as a means to make a living; “royalty” means royal worth – highest in character, wisdom and justice; age sets are social, economic and political systems underlying education, roles and responsibilities, division of labour and rights of passage; the community is to be conceived as one party, opposition being conducted by leaders of factions formed by different age groups, with debates being held until there is consensus;

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African religion is a way of thinking and living, not a creed or “articles of faith”, relected in all institutions, whereby politically the High Priests who present the prayers of the people and their ancestors are key, and socially, the “rights of passage” via songs and dances are important.

So much for the profoundly original African local grounding. What then is the contemporary implication of such constituting of Africa, today?

3.3. Conclusion: the Direction of Civilization 3.3.1. the bLaCk woRLD at the CRossRoaDs Cooperative action The irst line of action, Williams says, should centre on the study and development of nationwide, people-involved, self-help cooperative programmes, village by village, town by town and block by block. Each community would do its own development planning, the government’s principal role being to provide advisors, technical assistance and loans when and where these are needed. For people with little or no money, barter and exchange are the irst steps toward economic salvation, the bases for capital formation. Increased food production should be seen as for both wealth and health. Plans should be made, by mutual agreement, in each region to produce goods needed but not produced in the other region. Much of this, as we shall see in Chapter 6, has actually taken place in Chinyika, in rural Zimbabwe. The second great task of government calls for furthering the home front economic development by aggressively working for economic unity on a scale never before attempted, across Africa as a whole. Every one of the great Black nations that Williams studied rose as the result of a wealth-producing system which enabled them to achieve set goals. The crying irst need throughout the African world, however, is dedicated leaders, not just ofice-holding bureaucrats, but men and women leaders who will be more and more in the ield among the people, and less and less preoccupied with ofice work. These will be people on a mission to improve the lives of the people, rather than enriching themselves.

a Crisis of Culturally De-contextualized african Leadership The Black people of the world have therefore come to destiny’s crossroads. And there is, for Williams, a terrible crisis of leadership. The great dificulty is that Black leaders, unlike for example the Jews, do not know what their own heritage is. They are almost wholly ignorant of their own cultural source from which independent, original thinking springs and progress is inspired. They wish rather to draw on the Caucasian heritage and become identiied with it. To be equal to the required task such Black leaders need to stand on their own two feet. Instead, and in connecting with capitalism or communism, the immediate trouble confronting the Blacks is that so many millions of them have been made wholly dependent on the White race for so many generations that they have become mentally lazy.

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The tasks we now face will test, and for us serve to release, the genius of the Black race. If we fail to accept this challenge, Williams asserts, at this critical turning point in our history, we will have proved ourselves unworthy of having any descendants, and our very names should be forgotten by them. Africa needs to return to its origins, its original African Constitution (grounding), and to then renew (emergence), reframe (navigation) and rebuild (effecting) it. In summing up, then, Williams proclaims that his immediate concern is in awakening African people who, after centuries of primitive life, have almost suddenly resolved to come abreast with the rest of mankind. But since the African people are just a part of the human family, and Africa just a part of the world that, in spite of all the opposing forces, is becoming more closely knit, he has viewed it in a universal setting. He has then attempted to take the approach of a stranger from another planet who has found it necessary to study irst the history of mankind and the character of the civilization of which Africa is emerging to become a part. Today’s world crisis, then, demands a new look at the civilization we have. But it is right now in the crucial period that a whole continent of people who had been either asleep or quiescent for centuries, are suddenly rousing themselves. The world has never before witnessed a whole people rising up at once and demanding freedom. Africans, education-wise, are spreading out all over the world to prepare themselves for the tremendous tasks ahead. One of the greatest discoveries of this age, meanwhile, was made in the ield of anthropology, not physics. It was the discovery that in the rush from primitive life man actually left behind some of the more fundamental elements needed for a truly civilized life. Chief among these was – and of course is – the sense of community, direction and purpose. This is why Africa is very important now. It can proit if it sees the precipice towards which we are drifting, and takes the opposite course in an effort to build a different kind of society on a spiritual foundation. Some African leaders are not aware of this their most precious heritage. They are therefore rushing pell-mell to become completely Westernized. The situation throughout the world, however, calls upon them to halt, to take another look at their own cultural values, and to back-up somewhat for a new start from a different base. Preaching about the need for a “spiritual awakening”, and a brotherhood leading to peace and goodwill among men – and all such highly edifying discussion – is idle unless it is followed up with a programme of action that is nationally organized. We now turn from the student of Ghana, Chancellor Williams, to one of Ghana’s most eminent contemporary philosophers, Kwame Gyekye, to take the “Southern” story on.

3.4. References 1. Williams, C. (1987) The Destruction of Black Civilization. Chicago, IL: Third World Press. 2. Williams, C. (1993) The Rebirth of African Civilization. Chicago, IL: Third World Press.

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Natural Emergence: Tradition and Modernity

The problem for Africa today is that it has to a large extent internalised the discourse of its former masters in its research and educational activities, including, as we have already seen, their denigrating views on African ways of life and thought. At the same time there is the opposite danger, that of closing off its heritage without any critical approach, without any attempt to update and renew the intellectual legacy, in a way that allows a higher degree of rationality, and a steadier march towards efficiency and self-reliance. Things have to be considered afresh, therefore, at an equal distance from cultural alienation, which takes up the colonial masters’ prejudices and any self-denigration, both of which results in a kind of intellectual self-imprisonment. Paulin Hountondji, The Struggle for Meaning (1)

4.1. Introduction 4.1.1. PhILosoPhy anD human aFFaIRs While stepping back into the original African Constitution (local grounding), the need for renewal (local-global emergence) requires of societies in Africa that they combine the past with the present and future, and, as such, tradition with modernity. Ghanaian political philosopher Kwame Gyekye (2), following in the footsteps of Kwame Nkrumah (3), is one of a signiicant band of contemporary Ghanaian intellectuals who have engaged in such. In setting the stage of tradition and modernity in Africa, he raises the kinds of question which are very much our concern, in relation to philosophy and transformation on the continent. For Gyekye then, among the issues on which philosophical attention could be brought to bear are the problems of: • • • •

•

inculcating political morality to deal a death blow to corruption; dealing with traditional moral standards that seem to be crumbling in the wake of rapid social change; evolving appropriate, credible, and viable ideologies for contemporary African nations; reappraising inherited cultural traditions to help come to terms with the cultural realities of the times and, thus, to hammer out a new modernity on the anvil of the African people’s experience of the past and vision of the future; nation-building – integrating and wielding together several ethnic groups into a large cohesive political community called a nation state, or, more appropriately, multi-nation state, to help eliminate communo-cultural conlicts and transfer ethnic loyalties to a central government;

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evolving viable and appropriate democratic political institutions that will be impervious to sudden and violent disruptions by the military or the imperious will of a tyrannical or corrupt leader.

Because of the dynamic relationship between politics and economics, unstable and corrupt politics, in the long run, usually begets bad economics. Hence it is not surprising, for Gyekye, that African nations have fared pretty disastrously in the post-colonial era. Despite the constant infusion of capital and other forms of assistance from the developed nations of the world and other international organizations, Africa is in a deep development crisis. The causes, for him, are legion. Choosing an appropriate and effective ideology, irstly, has been a besetting problem. The ideology pursued by a very large majority of African political leaders on attainment of political independence was socialism, though they preferred to refer to it as “African Socialism” because they regarded it as having an African ancestry. The pursuit of socialism was aggressive and unrelenting, but with disastrous consequences that, over time, led some African leaders to change ideological choice or direction. Thus it can be said that African nations in the post-colonial era have been groping their way through an ideological labyrinth. Philosophical insights such as his own, for Gyekye, might serve as an Ariadne’s thread. It would be correct to say that no human culture has remained pure since its creation, free from external inluences. But the most important thing is what to do with the ideas, concepts and institutions that come from different cultures. This is especially so when, as in Africa, these are foisted on it, without its having, or being given, the opportunity to select or adopt what it considers desirable or worth its while, and adapt it to suit its own circumstances. It seems to Gyekye then, that Africa today must deal most seriously with the ideas, values, practices and institutions that it has received from other cultural sources, if the cultural situation in Africa is to be vitalized and made a viable framework for development. The viability of such a framework is determined by the characteristics of that culture. Several characteristics of that culture can be considered obstacles to development.

4.1.2. obstaCLes to DeVeLoPment Science and technology, irstly, do not seem to have fared well in African societies of the post-colonial era. The emphasis has been on transfer from the technologically advanced countries of the world. But without irm grounding in the scientiic disciplines of the technologies, the transfer of technology has not had any real impact on African economic development. Perhaps the whole approach to the cultivation of technology has been misconceived. For Africa to participate meaningfully, serious attention, as we shall see, needs to be given to the traditional African perceptions of science, technology and the external world. An important feature, secondly, of the African colonial and post-colonial experience that has had enduring effects is the mentality required by the African people regarding the perceptions of “the African way of life” compared with “the European way of life”. That mentality almost always leads Africans to prefer European things – values, practices, institutions and so on – even if a closer look might suggest that the equivalent African “thing” is of equal worth. Thus, that colonial mentality engenders apism and so

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subverts originality and creativity, because it makes people look outside rather than inside for standards of judgment. It seems to be that the most enduring effect of the colonial experience on the African people relates to their self-perceptions, to skewed perceptions of their own values – some of which can, on normative grounds, be said to be appropriate for life in the modern world. The continent has been confronted, thirdly, with a deep and resilient development crisis, and with frequent military disruptions of the democratic political process resulting, inevitably, in political instability, uncertainty and confusion, and with a poor demonstration of political morality resulting in pervasive and rampant political corruption. Africa, moreover, has been riven by almost incessant ethnic turmoil that threatens national unity and integration. Related to such, it has been illed with the aforementioned colonial mentality that hamstrings the cultivation of an endogenous innovative spirit. It has been bedevilled by aspects of its cultural traditions that thwart attempts to evolve forms of life in harmony with the ethos of the contemporary world. Moreover those aspects of the traditional culture that can be considered relevant have not been given adequate recognition in the creation of modern political and economic institutions, so that African life on the eve of the 21st century is not only confused but at a low ebb. And many wonder why. In times of wonder, confusion, instability and uncertainty, in times when the deinition and articulation of values and goals becomes most urgent, in times when the search for fundamental principles of human activity becomes most pressing and is seen as the way to dispel confusions as well as the way to draw attention to new modes – of thought and action – in such times, the services of the intellectual enterprise called philosophy, for Gyekye, become indispensable. For philosophy is a conceptual response to the problems posed in any époque for a given society or culture. We start then with a political perspective.

4.2. Philosophy and Politics 4.2.1. what went wRong It is a matter of common knowledge that since the euphoric early days of post-colonial rule, the politics of many an African nation has been blighted in several ways. The political institutions that were bequeathed to the African people by their colonial rulers, modelled, as they invariably were, on those of the colonial rulers, did not function properly. The democratic constitutions that were fashioned by the African people themselves suffered the same fate. This constitutional failure – the failure to rule in accordance with formally established procedures – may be explained in several ways. One may be that the African people simply did not have the ability effectively to operate institutions of government that were alien to them, institutions that had not taken root in – and so had not become part of – their political culture. Consequently, in failing to elicit cultural understanding and legitimacy, these were institutions to which they had no emotional, ideological or intellectual attachments and whose nuances could not be fully appreciated: such institutions could easily be subverted. Another explanation, for Gyekye, might be that the African people lacked certain moral or dispositional virtues or attitudes – patience, tolerance, moderation, incorruptibility –

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indispensable to the operation of these alien institutions. Yet another explanation may be that the political institutions – whether created by colonial or postcolonial African governments – would have worked well but for the disruption of the constitutional process of the military regimes. Why then might this have been? How were Africans traditionally governed?

4.2.2. buILDIng on tRaDItIon oR otheRwIse For Gyekye, about the turn of the last century, Adolphe Cureau, a French scholar who wrote about the people of central Africa, observed that “over the free citizens, the Chief’s authority extends only insofar as it is the mouthpiece of the majority interests, lacking which character it falls to the ground”. A Basotho maxim says “a chief is a chief by the people”. The Ndebele of Zimbabwe say “the King is the people. To respect the King is to respect oneself”. Speciically in an Akan village in Ghana, the chief is chosen from the royal lineage by the head of the lineage in consultation with the members of that lineage. It is necessary that the person chosen be acceptable not only to the councillors, who represent their clan, but to the young men or “commoners” who are the body of the citizens. The injunctions declared to the chief through his spokesman are: • • • • •

we do not wish he should curse us; we do not wish he should be greedy; we do not wish he should be disobedient; we do not wish he should treat us unfairly; we do not wish he should act on his own initiative without consultation.

It is interesting to note, according to Gyekye, that in Ghana’s Akan culture the same linguistic expression (adwabo) is used both for the council, and assembly, and for the market. Judging from the activities and transactions that go on in Akan towns and villages, the use of that expression “adwabo” points to a practice of bargaining, negotiations and compromise that characterizes the deliberations and decisions of councils and assemblies, as well as markets, organized in Akan communities. So how does such traditional practice relate to modern democracies? The problem of democracy is simply how to give institutional expression to the will of the people, how, that is, to make the will of the people explicit in real and concrete terms. In the nations of the Western world such institutions as the multiparty system, periodic elections, parliaments or congresses, constitutions containing a bill of rights, and an independent judiciary, have been created to give expression to the will of the people and to guard against the violation of their political and civil rights. How does this compare with traditional chieftaincies? The institution of the chieftainship was deinitely the lynchpin of the democratic system in the Akan political system. For the nature of the political authority of the chief determines the character of the political process. The hereditary character of the chieftainship may be said to impose a limitation on the choice of rulers, though not on other public post holders. However, and irstly, unlike with the European monarchy, there is no obvious incumbent. Second, just as the will of the people is crucial in the selection process, so is their inluence on the continuance of his regime. The third is that limits to his powers are set both by custom and injunction. A political contract sets a moral and

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legal tone to the chieftainship. Fourthly, nobody is restricted from participating in the assemblies and constitutional bodies. Finally, the chief is unable to dispose of any of the land in his domain without the agreement of the council of elders. So what Gyekye here describes accords with what we previously heard from Williams. Because of the non-existence of political parties, some scholars have supposed that traditional African politics and culture, as such, lacks the concept of an opposition. But the existence of divisions and groupings amongst the deliberations of traditional councils and assemblies, for Gyekye, belies this. Consensus logically presupposed dissensus. Whether or not such an Akan system could have evolved, in time, its own version of a multi-party system, no one can say. Colonialism slammed the door on such an eventuality. Consensus meanwhile, as a procedure for arriving at political decisions, is born of the pursuit of a social ideal of solidarity – itself inspired by the ideal of the interests of all members of the community, and of the recognition of political and moral values of equality, reciprocity and a respect for others. The search for democracy, overall then in post-colonial Africa, has been an odyssey, a long and arduous journey whose end is not yet in sight. Perhaps resorting to indigenous values and ideas of politics could be a redemptive approach. As Gyekye has shown, ideas and values such as popular will, free expression of opinion, consensus and conciliation, consultation and conferring, and trusteeship – all ingredients of the democratic idea – are to be found in African traditions of government. The fact is, though, that these values and practices have never been allowed to shape the contours of modern African politics. The consequences have not been palatable – authoritarian politics and illegitimate seizure of political power are the order of the day. These features of modern African politics can hardly be said to derive from its social and political traditions. There is therefore a need to bring those traditions to bear upon modern political life. But to say this is not to be oblivious to the limitations of applying traditions of smaller and more homogeneous political communities to larger, complex and heterogeneous societies.

4.2.3. the CoLonIaL system anD Its Post-CoLonIaL aFteRmath The colonial system, on the other hand, created a distance between the government and the governed, and the same pattern seems to have been followed in post-colonial Africa. This, in turn, has engendered attitudes of unconcern and insensitivity in affairs of state on the part of the governed. Consequently, the general attitude of the citizen is that it has been possible to injure the state without injuring oneself, an attitude that opens the loodgates of bribery and corruption, something that goes directly against traditional values and practices. The African leaders who took over from the colonial regimes failed to adapt and evolve the traditional policies and practices to suit the needs of the new African, multinational state. The political values of consensus and consultation should have been given institutional expression in preference to a simple version of majority-based party politics. The conception of democracy, in Western political thought, though, places a premium on political rights, and has failed to elevate social and economic rights to the same level of concern. Hence the fulilment of social and economic needs is left to the private sphere. Democracy, is therefore conined to protecting and furthering such political rights. This, for Gyekye, is a narrow approach to democracy that needs to be broadened. What needs to be done, in pursuit of democracy and political stability, is to ind ingenious ways and means

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of hammering the indigenous democratic elements – together with exogenous ones – on the anvil of prudence, common sense, imagination, creative spirit and a sense of history in the setting of the modern world. African culture – and experience – may yet bring much needed political salvation. Between the two, in fact, capitalist and socialist concepts, there is a division of emphasis between, on the one hand, individuality and, on the other, social equality. The two values should not be held as incompatible. This was the great problem during the so-called “socialist interlude”, where one ideology was pursued in isolation of the other, as a kind of post-colonial reaction to the colonial regimes that had come before.

4.2.4. the soCIaLIst InteRLuDe Difference between Communalism and marxism On regaining the political independence of their nations, African political leaders, according to Gyekye, in search of ideologies to guide their policies and actions in matters of the development of their societies, had the options of pursuing capitalism – the free enterprise economic system – and socialism – the system of public ownership of the means of production and distribution. The ideological system chosen by all but a few was socialism. But they preferred to call it “African socialism” to invest it with, for Gyekye, a spurious patina of African ancestry and justiication. Their main argument was that socialism was foreshadowed in traditional African thought and practice. However, communalism in Africa is essentially a socio-ethical doctrine and not a narrowly economic one, whereas Marxist socialism had a much more strongly economic emphasis. Also the modern conception of state ownership is different from the traditional conception of communitarian ownership. For example, traditional ownership of the land includes the rights of an individual to use the land but not to own it. There is no room for such in state ownership. African political leaders then, in anchoring the rationalization of their choice of socialism in the African communitarian idea, misinterpreted it, according to Gyekye, in two ways. First they ignored the obvious elements of private enterprise and individuality in a traditional setting. A concept of private property, traditionally, did exist. Secondly, they made the assumption that a communitarian society could automatically evolve into a socialist economy in a modern setting, which it could not. The reason is that the communitarian doctrine is socio-ethical rather than economic. It is a doctrine about social and moral relations. Socialism, on the other hand, is primarily an economic arrangement regarding public control of the dynamics of the economy. Wealth in fact is highly valued in African societies because of the contribution the wealthy person can make, or is expected to make, toward the welfare of the family, community or state. In African traditional conceptions therefore, religion is to be pursued also for its material or social relevance. Supernatural beings are to be worshipped because of the succour they could, and are expected to provide, for the human-being in his worldly pursuits. The derivation of Marxian socialism then, from the pre-colonial economic culture of Africa, could only have resulted from incomplete historical, as well as conceptual, inquiries into the traditional economic culture and from a distorted interpretation, for Gyekye, of the traditional socio-ethical system. In fact the traditional economic culture exhibited features of both “socialist” and capitalist methods in the management of economic life.

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That having been said, the European colonial governments had not been enthusiastic about developing the indigenous free enterprise system in colonial Africa; that is, even though they themselves practised the free enterprise system, they strangely enough did not want their colonial subjects to pursue such an economic arrangement; the European colonial governments found any emerging social and political power of African business people threatening; state controlled businesses were started by the colonial rulers; state monopolies, too, were pursued by colonial powers. If one were to look for a pervasive and fundamental concept in African socio-ethical thought generally – a concept that animates other intellectual activities and forms of behaviour, including religious behaviour, and provides continuity, resilience, nourishment and meaning in life – that concept would probably be, as continually advocated by South African political philosopher Mfuniselwa Bhengu, African humanism (4). Such a philosophy sees human needs, interests and dignity as of fundamental importance and concern. For the art, actions, thought and institutions of African people, at least in the traditional setting, reverberate with expressions of concern for human welfare. Nkrumah in Ghana, like Nyerere (5) in Tanzania if not also Kaunda (6) in Zambia, saw a logical relation between humanism and socialism. However, it could be argued, Gyekye claims, that such humanistic principles are intrinsic to the capitalist system, which has been more successful in the creation of wealth, which is fundamental to the fulilment of human needs. The humanist ethic will certainly pursue a far reaching social programme, but such a programme needs to be supported by a productive economic system. It is clear then, that in the post-colonial era, African nations have been groping in an ideological labyrinth, due to a misinterpretation of the communitarian system and the lack of profound inquiry into ideology itself.

Political Corruption: a moral Pollution Gyekye’s central thesis, then, is that patterns of corruption can be related to the character of the political system and to the nature and rate of socio-economic change. In postcolonial states, governments are generally perceived as distant entities. In Chinua Achebe’s (7) novel No Longer at Ease, the hero, Obi, is asked “Have they given you a job yet?” The narrator immediately comments “Government was an alien institution and people’s business was to get as much out of it as possible without getting into trouble”. What then are the causes of such corruption? One is the nature of the extended family system, where an individual may bear onerous responsibility for the welfare of his group. Second, the extended family with its web of relatives gives rise to patronage. Third, a communitarian culture encourages the reciprocal exchange of gifts. Poverty itself is a fourth cause, with inlation and the erosion of salaries taking its due toll. Finally, there may be a lack of adequate controls. For Gyekye, corruption is fundamentally a moral problem and should be grappled with from that standpoint. In the African context, the growth of colonial and then postcolonial bureaucracies, with their complicated set-ups, gave rise to fresh opportunities for immoral gains. But corruption also existed in traditional regimes. Some kind of moral revolution is therefore required to deal with such. For example when Jesus substituted “turn the other cheek” for the Judaic “eye for an eye” he was instigating a moral revolution. Similarly, Mohammed sought to institute values of hospitality and generosity beyond the tribe. Some features of the traditional African system of values, in the interest of progress

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and success in politics in a heterogeneous state, would need to undergo a substantive moral revolution. Gyekye then turns to a major, emergent theme of his book, that of tradition and modernity.

4.3. tradition and modernity 4.3.1. the natuRe anD sCoPe oF tRaDItIon The traditional is depicted by sociologists and anthropologists as rural, agrarian, prescientiic, resistant to change and innovation and bound by perception to its past. By contrast, the modern is characterized as scientiic, innovative, future oriented, culturally dynamic, and industrial and urbanized. It is the alleged contrast that grounds the polarity between the traditional and the modern. The contrast, for Gyekye however, is based on some false assumptions. Historical inquiries would show that even though the societies characterized as “traditional” have a large proportion of beliefs and practices inherited from the past, they nevertheless experience varieties of changes over time. The reinement or abandonment of a tradition and the need to revitalize it by adding on new elements are the consequence of two main factors: internal criticism of the tradition undertaken from time to time and the appropriation of worthwhile exogenous ideas, values and practices. The causal factors of cultural change, or transformations of tradition, are therefore internally and externally induced. It would be a safe assumption to make, then, that those cultural values and practices that evolve into tradition were, at the time of their creation, grounded in some historical circumstances, some conceptions of society, social relations, certain metaphysical ideas, and other kinds of beliefs and practices. That is to say the beliefs, practices and institutions are inevitably grounded in some conceptions. But the conceptions themselves, from the point of view of subsequent generations, may not have been rationally enough grounded. So they might discover them to be simply false, inconsistent or morally unacceptable, as inadequate to the realities of the times.

4.3.2. ContInuIty anD Change the notion of tradition Some critics, then, may see tradition, or an element of it, as a drag on the kind of progress they envisage for their societies. Thus they see it as dysfunctional. Others may see it as discordant with a new set of cultural values that a new generation is bent on establishing. Others may see it as simply morally unacceptable. Others may see it as not cohering with other parts of the tradition. Finally, yet others may see the whole metaphysical base of the society as no longer convincing or credible. Criticism may be aimed at merely reining a tradition to bring it into more harmony with contemporary trends, or at abandoning a tradition altogether because it is seen as totally out of tune with the contemporary cultural ethos. Changes may be brought about, primarily, through exogenous causal factors. These come into play in the wake of encounters between an indigenous cultural tradition and an alien one. No tradition can claim to be pure, in the sense of having developed purely

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on its own terms, in total isolation from other cultural inluences. In one way, elements of an alien cultural tradition can be voluntarily assimilated by adaptation by an indigenous tradition; in another, alien cultural traditions may be said to have been foisted upon the indigenous culture. In the history and evolution of cultures the former has been the more common and effective mode of diffusion. The success in moulding and appropriating the elements of an alien culture is determined by the adaptive capacity of the indigenous one. It is the exercise of such which will make the adopted elements of the alien tradition meaningful and understandable to the practitioners of the indigenous tradition, establish a real basis for genuine commitment and attachment to the appropriate elements of the alien tradition, and enable the users of the indigenous tradition to build on, and thus to contribute to the advancement of the received elements of the alien tradition. In the absence of an adaptive capacity, the indigenous tradition may absorb the alien tradition without fully appreciating the real implications of the absorption. An indigenous cultural tradition, however, can also come into possession of alien elements by having them foisted upon them by alien practitioners. The imposition deprives the indigenous culture of opportunities to appraise and select such elements of the encountered tradition as it would consider worth appropriating. This will have a damaging effect, then, on self-perceptions and self-understandings of the recipients of the tradition. Second, the circumstances would be such that it could not be predicted how long the tradition will endure in its new cultural environment. Third, the users will ind themselves absorbed only in the outward frills of the alien tradition; but, not only that, they would also ind themselves confused in the pursuit of the practices and institutions imposed. A particular cultural creation, overall then, will have two faces: a particular face, conined to its local origin, and a potentially universal one, when its transcends the borders of the environment that created it. What, then, about modernity?

the notion of modernity Modernity, for Gyekye, can be deined as the ideas, principles and ideals covering a whole range of activities that have underpinned Western life and thought since the 17th century. Modernity was and is culture dependent, although this should not inhibit the appreciation of the notion, and the exploitation of its practical implications. While it cannot be denied that “modernity” is indigenous to Europe, some exogenous nonEuropean cultural inventions or institutions were appropriated by it along the way, and thereafter uniquely developed by it. In view of the need and desire of human society to advance its material existence, it would be expected that Europe’s modernity, if not also now America’s, would serve as a model in other countries. But the important question is, for Gyekye, is it possible to assume Western models of science and technology and the capitalist economic system without taking into account cultural values of Western modernity in tandem? This question may be answered yes and no. There is a very close link, for example, between capitalism and democracy, individual freedom (distinguished from unbridled individualism) and human rights. At the same time it is possible for a nation or society to become Westernized without becoming modernized, just as it is possible for a nation to be modernized without being fully Westernized. African nations, through their long contacts with

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the West, have, voluntarily or involuntarily, acquired Western values and institutions without becoming modernized, that is industrialized, in any real sense. Thus the link between modernization and Westernization can only be empirical, not conceptual. This logically implies that modernization cannot be deined as Westernization. In fact we can talk of modernization in relation to many different aspects of human enterprise: architectural style, scientiic outlook, commercial practices. Moreover some of the features of Western modernity are being questioned by Western intellectuals themselves: technology and industrialism, undisciplined and unguided by other values, are resulting in environmental degradation, unbridled individualism, a weakening of social ties, and a fragmentation of social and moral values. The approach non-Western cultures are taking to modernity is in fact selective. Such selectivity is feasible if the basic goals of modernity are achieved: a developed economy, scientiic and technological advancement, the installation of democratic politics. The goals of modernization are common human ones rather than particularly Western. Some of the East Asian societies, in particular, have so developed, without donning the entire regalia of Western values and institutions, creatively forging a new modernity that is appropriate to their cultural traditions. But even if modernity cannot be deined by a monolithic set of cultural values, it can be broadly conceived in terms of an ethos – the innovative ethos, that is the commitment to innovation aimed at bringing about the kinds of progressive changes required for the enhancement and fulilment of human life. What follows for Gyekye is that African modernity can be creatively forged from the furnace of African cultural experience, and experience that is many sided, having sprung from the encounters with alien cultures and religions, and from problems internal to the practice of the indigenous cultural ideas and values themselves. The creation of modernity out of the cultural experience of a people will ensure that the institutions that are fashioned and the values that are established are those to which the people will have emotional, ideological and intellectual attachments. Modernity emerging in this way will not only endure but will have real meaning for the people and shape their lives in a more positive direction. Modernity, whatever else it entails, certainly involves transition to a new era: the transition is born partly on the wings of the elegant or worthwhile features of a cultural tradition, and partly through the production of new ideas and the invention of new techniques that have far reaching consequences. The latter may involve whatever can usually and suitably be appropriated and adapted from outside a given culture in addition to what can be acquired from within the culture itself by way of the exercise of the indigenous intellectual, evaluative and adaptive capacities. The former will require the abandonment of negative features of a culture as well as the maintenance – albeit through reinement – of what Gyekye calls the positive features. The creation of modernity in Africa will be a function of both methods of transition. It will also inevitably involve science and technology.

4.4. Conclusion The many-sided nature of the African cultural heritage is not peculiar to the African experience: it is an aspect of the historical phenomenon of cultural borrowing that follows the contours of cultural encounters. As long as people from different cultures appreciate what

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is good in each, and know what would be conducive to the fulilment of their own goals, cultural borrowing will continue to be a lever of human progress. But what is borrowed needs to enrich, rather than confuse or deracinate, another culture. Wisdom and adaptive capacity needs to be profoundly exercised in the pursuit of modernity, a pursuit that requires an innovative ethos. African modernity must be a self-created one, if it is to be realistic and meaningful, sensitive and enduring, and self-sustaining. Modernity is a stage, a signiicant stage in the civilizational trajectory of mankind. It behoves mankind, while it is inebriated by its sophisticated achievements – especially in its scientiic and technological achievements made possible by modernity – to create and maintain values consistent with its conceptions of what human beings, and their societies, ought to be. Modernity is created for humanity, and not humanity for modernity. The essence of our humanity – of which our intrinsic sociality is a natural part – should not be jettisoned in the transition to modernity. For in the inal analysis, the pursuit of such values is always a matter of rational or moral choice that human beings are free to make. This brings us onto so-called auto-centricity, for which we turn to the next chapter, and to the work of Eritrean-American, Kidane Mengisteab.

4.5. References 1. Hountondji, P. (2002) The Struggle for Meaning. Buckingham: Open University. 2. Gyekye, K. (1997) Tradition and Modernity: Philosophical Relections on the African Experience. Oxford: Oxford University. 3. Nkrumah, K. (1996) Consciencism: Philosophy and Ideology for De-Colonisation. New York: Monthly Review Press. 4. Bhengu, M. (1996) Ubuntu: The Essence of Democracy. Johannesburg: Kima Global Publishers. 5. RASIAS (2006) Julius Nyerere: Humanist, Politician, Thinker. Dar es Salaam: Mkuki Na Nyota Publishers. 6. Kaunda, K. (1969) After Mulungushi: The Economics of Zambian Humanism. Nairobi: East African Publishing House. 7. Achebe, C. (2013) No Longer at Ease. London: Penguin Classics.

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Communal Navigation: Development and Auto-centricity

If auto-centric development, capable of responding to the needs of all of the social strata of the nation … is seen to be impossible on the periphery of the system, it is necessary to study another option of “alternative development”, outside of the global constraints. This is the meaning of “delinking”. Samir Amin, Delinking: Towards a Polycentric World (1)

5.1. Introduction: africa’s general Crisis 5.1.1. DIs-IntegRateD DeVeLoPment Having initially revisited the original African Constitution, to ground ourselves in a “Southern” polity, we then reviewed tradition and modernity, at least in a Ghanaian context, as a means of integrally emerging from such, by interlinking the local, indigenous with the global, exogenous. We now turn to a more explicit means of navigating our way through development, from such a Southern perspective, building upon such prior grounding and emergence, with a view to an ultimately integral, political and economic effect. In other words, for us, de-linking needs to be followed by re-linking, in an integral way, one which Egyptian political scientist, Samir Amin, whom we have cited above, and will return to in Chapter 21 in a Middle Eastern context, currently director of the Third World Forum based in Dakar, terms “polycentric”. The absence of sustained progress in Africa’s development, for Eritrean born, Kidane Mengisteab (2) – Professor of African and African American Studies at Penn State University – and its failure to stem the tide of its present crisis (even with reforms such as structural adjustment programmes – SAP’s), raises questions about the appropriateness of development strategies and policies that the countries in the continent have pursued. No doubt different strategies and policies have failed for different reasons. However, the development crisis, he says, has a lot to do with the nature of African political and economic development strategies, which, for us as for him, have not been integral. For such an integral polity, in this instance, is not only one that is true to its “Southern” origins, in Africa in this case, but also emerges, navigates and ultimately effects development together with others, as equals, locally and globally. Yet, and in “dis-integral” contrast, ever since their incorporation into the global economy, African economies have been characterized by extractive relations or the export of primary commodities. The gold exports of the Guinea Coast states (1400–1800); the exports of ivory, gold and slaves by the Abyssinian empire (13th to 18th centuries) and the states of Zimbabwe and Mutapa (13th to 17th centuries); the Atlantic and Indian

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Ocean slave trade (1550s–1850s); and the export of ivory, palm oil and a variety of cash crops from different parts of Africa (replacing slaves after the delegalization of the slave trade) are among the major examples. The colonial state intensiied the extractive relations, materially and economically, while detracting from human relations, culturally and spiritually, thereby failing to develop any form of integral polity. Political and economic strategies and policies largely corresponded to the extractive structures and were driven essentially be external demand. The nature of such changed little under the post-colonial state. The African historian Basil Davidson (3), whom we cited in Chapter 3, aptly expresses the dependency of African development models as follows: Failures and futilities have occurred within a speciic context of the attempt to develop Africa out of the history of Europe or America, and primarily for the beneit of Europe and America, rather than out of the history of Africa for the prime beneit of Africa.

Instead of transforming the peasantry and internally integrating African economies, the prescriptions of modernization theory (4) have largely perpetuated the neglect of the peasantry and the extroversion and duality of African economies. During the 1960s and 1970s some African states oficially adopted “African socialism” and “self-reliance” as alternative development strategies. These strategies, which involve considerable structural transformation, can be regarded as efforts toward an auto-centric development approach. Such efforts, however, remained mostly symbolic, for Mengisteab, with little actual implementation. For example, the peasantry’s access to productivity-raising resources under the ujaama villagization scheme, as interpreted by the late and great Nigerian political scientist Claude Ake (5), of Nyerere’s Tanzania – the most celebrated case of African socialism and selfreliance – was little different from those throughout Africa, notwithstanding Nyerere’s humanistic intentions (see Chapter 4). Despite the differences at the level of rhetoric, they all pursued an urban-based and extroverted development strategy that neglected agriculture and rural transformation. Some African states also attempted to adopt a Marxian development strategy and nationalized the principal means of production. However, the political, economic and social conditions for Marxian socialist transformation were largely absent. Other socialist experiments, Angola and Mozambique in particular, were undermined by protracted civil wars, partly fuelled by external intervention typical of the post-war era.

5.1.2. Loss oF soVeReIgnty The state then, which by its failure, in Mengisteab’s view, is largely responsible for Africa’s general crisis, is presently under crisis itself. Weakened by dependent economic structures, burgeoning debt, growing marginalization within the global economy, and widespread poverty, the African state has found that internally its basis of eficiency has been severely eroded. It is increasingly challenged by ethnic or religious rebellions and by increasing protests and demands on the part of emerging civil society. For, as Gyekye has indicated, it has by and large not succeeded in combining African tradition with modernity. External intervention by multilateral inancial institutions (MFIs), the governments of the dominant powers, multinational corporations and a host of other nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) has also undermined the sovereignty and moral authority of the state. The African state has increasingly surrendered policy-making to external actors,

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especially the MFIs, the IMF and the World Bank. The MFIs, which generally (and often correctly) regard the African political elite as incompetent and unaccountable to its populations, have expanded their role in dictating policy to Africa. Ghana, for example, was one of the irst African states to gain independence (1957). Ironically, the IMF now keeps its own resident representative in an ofice across the hall from the country’s inance ministry (in the 1990s) to keep an eye on the country’s reform programme. The penetration by the MFIs, international NGOs and dominant powers does not stop at the level of the state. Many segments of Africa’s civil society, for Mengisteab, are equally compromised and heavily inluenced by foreign NGOs and dominant powers. Many African NGOs, for example, are essentially national chapters of international NGOs. However, relations between international and national NGOs as well as with the rest of the national civil society are by no means horizontal, and such unequal relations cannot be assumed to promote independent decision-making in Africa.

5.2. the nature of the auto-centric approach 5.2.1. auto-CentRICIsm anD the RIse oF the InFoRmaL seCtoR With increased marginalization within the global economic system and the state’s heavy handed intervention, some segments of African economies have withdrawn from the formal sector and taken refuge in the informal sector. However, the rise of the informal sector also signiies a return to a self-reliant auto-centric development. The shift in the production of export crops to foodstuffs and the relative vigour of the small enterprises that are oriented toward meeting internal social needs are clear indications that an auto-centric approach to development needs to be taken seriously in Africa. The goal of an auto-centric approach is to correct the neglect of internal dynamics in Africa’s development effort. Another essential characteristic, for Mengisteab, of an auto-centric development strategy is to base African economies primarily on social needs and thereby to promote internal dynamics without discarding the beneit of external dynamics. Under an auto-centric strategy, social needs replace external demand as the primary engine for the production system. The strategy thus aims at transforming the marginalized subsistence peasantry to raise its productivity and levels of consumption, thereby fostering integration between the traditional and modern sectors of the economy.

5.2.2. InteRnaL, RegIonaL anD gLobaL IntegRatIon A principal hypothesis of Mengisteab’s, in fact, is that in Africa’s case all three levels of integration – internal, regional and global – are compatible with each other if implemented in a manner that is properly sequenced and balanced. As things currently stand, only enclaves of African economies are closely linked with the global system. The origins of this structural distortion go back to the incorporation of African economies into the global capitalist division of labour, mainly through colonialism. With incorporation, African economies were restructured to supply the colonial powers with inexpensive labour, raw materials and primary commodities. Hardly any production system that would beneit the general population and link it with the global system was introduced.

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African economies have essentially reached a dead end, for Mengisteab, as they remain unable to control the process of capital accumulation and to involve the general population in the modern production process by signiicantly expanding the enclave sector. It seems, for him then, that it is critical for African countries to promote an autocentric development strategy that pays more serious attention to correcting the internal fragmentation by placing the general population at the centre of the production process and thereby realizing the internal sources of dynamism. Access to such factors as appropriate tools, fertilizers, seeds, educational and training facilities, health care, transportation, irrigation, banking services and credits is essential in transforming the subsistence peasantry.

5.2.3. DemoCRatIzatIon anD auto-CentRIC DeVeLoPment Another development that has engulfed most of the African continent since the second half of the 1980s is a wave of democratization. Africa, for Mengisteab in the 1990s, is clearly at a turn in history, as is much of the developing world. The crisis of socialism and the collapse of socialist regimes in many countries has been celebrated as the victory of capitalism and its twin, liberal democracy. For some, the crisis of socialism represented the end of history. The essential principles of liberal democracy, as we saw in Chapter 2, include: • • • • •

securing democratic rights such as freedom of expression and association; separation of powers between executive, legislative and judiciary; a representative assembly elected by popular vote; a limited state and separation of public and private sectors; a premise that there is no inal truth on what is good for society.

A truly minimalist liberal democracy rarely exists in actuality. The current wave of neo-liberalism and globalization, however, has pushed liberal democracy in this direction in many countries. Neo-liberals in fact make a strong case that the state, especially in Africa, is a self-serving predator that uses its allocative power to favour the politically more potent segments of society, thereby promoting a negative redistribution of income. Yet how is the existing deprivation of the peasantry to be corrected? How is a post-apartheid South Africa, for example, to correct the deprivation of the victims of apartheid if the state’s involvement in the economy is to be kept to a minimum? The commercial sector around which the market centres in Africa is too small, too dependent on external sources, and too removed from the subsistence sector to be able to bring about meaningful transformation through a trickle-down process. Without the transformation of the peasantry – and indeed the resolution of ethnic conlicts – the uneven dualism and fragmentation of African economies cannot be corrected. Democracy as such has to be clearly aligned to redistributive forms to be relevant in sub-Saharan Africa. If liberal democracy fails to satisfy the basic needs of all citizens and to narrow societal inequalities not only in terms of income but also in terms of the levels of human resource development, it fails to be genuinely democratic in the political sphere as well. The second problem of liberal democracy is perhaps less fundamental but important, nonetheless. Considering the dualism, fragmentation, gross uneven development and pervasive ethnic animosities and cleavages they face, African countries are still grappling with the dificult task of state-building. Under these conditions, the winner-takes-all majority-rule system is dysfunctional and divisive. It leads to the neglect of the interests and

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concerns of the minority. In extreme cases, majority rule may even lead to civil war and secession. These identiied limitations, for Mengisteab then, do not invalidate liberal democracy altogether. Compared with the existing, self-serving authoritarian regimes, it is worth struggling for. It has the potential to free producers from “extra-economic correction” by separating the market from the state. Safeguarding civil liberties, such as freedom of speech, press and association, protecting human rights, and ensuring the rule of law, are all critical achievements of liberal democracy.

5.2.4. towaRDs a Consensus-baseD sustaInabLe DemoCRaCy The limitations of liberal democracy do not necessarily imply that more viable forms of democracy presently exist. The search for alternative forms of democracy is, therefore, unlikely to die. One possible alternative to liberal democracy is consensus democracy. Among the general characteristics of this type of democracy are that decisions are reached through compromises and concessions rather than through a majoritarian “winner-takesall’ election formula. This implies that power is shared among different social groups, as was the case in originally constituted Africa, albeit on a more localized scale. Some argue that this form of democracy is indispensable in developing societies that suffer from serious internal cleavages. Some of the nationalist leaders of the era of decolonization, such as Nyerere and Senghor (6), argued that a consensus-based single party political system was appropriate for Africa, since African societies were not polarized along class lines. Far from promoting a consensual system though, single parties have degenerated into a suppression of alternative views, ethnic dominance and authoritarian dictatorships. A multi-party system is more compatible with consensual democracy since it allows ethnic groups to choose their party afiliation and induces political parties to accommodate a diversity of groups. In fact during the period of “decolonization” in Africa, the colonial state created democratic institutions in many countries in an effort to leave behind liberal democracies. However these institutions, created hurriedly at the eleventh hour, had little chance of survival since there were no foundations to sustain them. In the absence of a civil society to keep it accountable. The elite by and large used the state to advance its own interests. Under these conditions, these institutions crumbled like a house of cards. Given the autonomy of the self-serving elite, a genuine pursuit of development became largely impossible. The conditions for democracy have now improved notably from what they were in the 1960s: awareness of the relevance of democracy is greater, and the pro-democracy social classes are stronger. The post-Cold War global climate is also in some regards more conducive to democracy than it was throughout the Cold War. The elite that had little organized opposition at the time of decolonization is now facing greater demands for rights, social justice and multi-party democratic political systems. One critical external obstacle to the success of democracy, though, is the marketization drive, which is largely imposed on African states by the IMF and World Bank. Given the magnitude of the deprivation of the peasantry and the consequently internal fragmentation of African societies, for Mengisteab, a democratic state that is active in the redistribution of resources is likely to have more signiicant impact in advancing human resource development and state-building than a liberal and majoritarian democratic system.

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For in the latter case market coercion if left unchecked leaves resource allocation to the market mechanism. It is also more likely to promote auto-centric development by transforming the peasantry and thereby expanding internal dynamics for growth. For the same reasons, consociational social democracy is also more likely to be stable than liberal democracy. As long as large segments of the population are marginalized, allocation of resources by private economic units (via the market) remains essentially elitist, drawing resources towards those with purchasing power. It relegates the transformation of the subsistence sector to the ineffective trickle-down process. Thus, contrary to the expectation of the liberalization school, the market mechanism cannot be a panacea for Africa’s economic crisis, at least until its preconditions are established. Instead we have a vicious circle in which the deprived peasantry, due to its lack of purchasing power, fails to inluence market decisions. As a result, producers bypass the needs of the peasantry and this, in turn, perpetuates their deprivation. The post-independence African state, for Mengisteab then, was simply too weak to fundamentally change the colonial economic structures. Where attempts to bring structural changes and to control the national process of accumulation were manifested, the leaders were either overthrown and/or murdered – as in the cased of Lumumba in the Congo and Cabral in Guinea-Bissau – by the combined forces of imperialism and the domestic elite who beneited from the system and naturally wanted to maintain it. Others, realizing their inabilities to challenge the power of imperialism, chose not to endanger their survival and abandoned the goals of social change. In most other cases, the leaders of the post-independence state have shown neither the commitment nor the competence to bring about such changes. As Claude Ake notes (7), they saw the advantages the inherited social order provides for self-enrichment and chose to embrace it. Accordingly, the elite has intervened in the economy, to a large extent, in order to advance its own economic interests and to create patronage with certain politically inluential social groups or segments of the population. The lack of success, then, in restructuring the economy, in controlling the process of accumulation, and in creating conditions for socio-economic development also undermined national independence from foreign domination. With deepening economic crisis in the 1980s, the African state has increasingly surrendered economic policymaking to the IMF, World Bank and the bilateral lenders. In terms of economic policymaking the African state seems much less independent in the 1990s than it was at the time of formal independence. The solution to the dilemma, according to Mengisteab, lies in reforming the African state and in expanding its capability in order to promote a society-serving developmentalist intervention in place of the self-serving intervention that largely characterizes it at the present time. Promoting a developmentalist intervention does not imply weakening the market. On the contrary, it involves coordinating the role of the state and the market in such a way that the beneits from the strengths of each are maximized.

5.2.5. anatomy oF a mIxeD eConomy anD Its PossIbILItIes As a principal actor in a mixed economy, the state can formulate economic policies that improve the peasantry’s access to resources. Only the state can provide peasants with access to productivity-raising resources such as fertilizers, appropriate tools, better quality seeds, research services and marketing facilities. Additionally, the state can play

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a major role in creating an atmosphere conducive for mobilizing peasants to assume responsibility for their own transformation. The experience of the post-reform Chinese village complex is extremely valuable, Mengisteab claims, in this regard. The village complex in many parts of China is engaged not only in agricultural production but also in industrial and commercial activities, as the Italian-American sociologist, and one time mentor of one of us, Ronnie Lessem, in Zimbabwe, the late Giovanni Arrighi (8) has documented in his Adam Smith in Beijing. Land, property and enterprises are owned by the village collectively but they are also run along the lines of a price system by a uniied management of the village committee. Empowerment of the peasantry, utilizing the price system and collective enrichment, are the lessons that can be learned from the Chinese village complex. It goes without saying that state activity is clearly required in providing infrastructure such as schools, hospitals, roads, railways, power stations and telecommunications facilities. Thus the criteria for economic reforms in Africa should be how to use the state and the market effectively to solve problems and not simply to reduce the role of the state at any cost as the current counterrevolution attempts to do.

5.3. towards a Post-Cold war global order 5.3.1. aFRICa’s oPtIons There are no strong reasons to expect, Mengisteab maintains in the inal analysis, that the prospects for the transformation of the global South and for the alleviation of global poverty will improve under the unfolding deregulated and export-based system, in which global production is engaged in a cut-throat competition for access to the nearly saturated markets of the developed countries. The export-promotion strategy appears to face the paradox that the more it succeeds initially the more likely its eventual failure becomes. The “new capitalism” generates a number of problems for the North as well. Increased exports threaten certain low-tech and labour-intensive industries and the jobs they create. By encouraging the export of capital as well as technological advancement, the strategy also generates a loss of jobs, and balance of payment problems. Under these conditions an auto-centric development strategy that cultivates markets in the largely untapped potential markets of the South by coordinating production with social needs appears to be a viable safety net with considerable potential to alleviate poverty in the South and to stimulate a more rapid global economic development. As emphasized by Samir Amin (see above), auto-centric development does not imply autarky nor does it discourage imports or exports. Rather it is a development strategy that emphasizes domestic needs as sources of its dynamics over excessive reliance on external demand and in so doing diversiies the source of dynamics for global development.

5.3.2. FaCIng InsuRmountabLe obstaCLes Such an approach to development, which involves the empowerment of the poor and the deprived segments of society, faces nearly insurmountable obstacles at different levels. At the national level the elite classes are not likely to surrender their privileges in order to create access to resources for deprived groups. Regional cooperation and integration

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schemes in the South have also been undermined generally by a number of factors, especially the dependent development that has prevented complementarity among their economies. The end of the Cold War has led, at least in the short run, to further consolidation of the North’s control of the global process of capital accumulation and to intensiication of the liberal economic regime. African countries can no longer let the global system determine the prospect of their development and survival. They have to take charge of their own fate and establish internal dynamics for their development. They have to extricate themselves from the feudal – in Mengisteab’s terms – hierarchical relations with the multilateral inancial institutions. An auto-centric approach that fosters internal integration, collective self-reliance through regional integration, and foreign policies that promote South–South cooperation seems to be amongst their best options.

5.4. Conclusion: Prospects for auto-centric Development 5.4.1. FRom exteRnaL to InteRnaL DynamICs According to prevailing development models that guide policy in Africa, for Mengisteab, African development currently hinges primarily on external dynamics. These models, while attempting to bring about close integration of the global economy with a free enterprise market system, grossly neglect Africa’s internal dynamics. He has therefore attempted to demonstrate why such development models are inappropriate for the speciic cultural conditions that characterize African countries. There is little doubt that external dynamics can be an important source of development. In some cases they may even be the primary driving force for the economy. Botswana and Mauritius are relatively good examples in Africa. To be successful, externally-driven development requires a number of preconditions, including the ability to attract a considerable amount of foreign investment, the ability to produce competitive export products with reliable external demand, the ability to obtain access to foreign markets, the ability to maintain favourable terms of trade, a reasonable degree of control over the national process of capital accumulation, and the involvement of signiicant proportions of the general population in the production of tradeables either directly or through linkages. The more diversiied and competitive the production system becomes as a result of these conditions, the more integrated the internal and external dynamics of an economy become. In other words, the external dynamics, by promoting economic growth and raising the standard of living, expand internal dynamics to the point that over time the two become closely enmeshed. The conditions essential for externally-driven development are largely absent, according to Mengisteab, in most of Africa. Most African countries are too small, have insigniicant purchasing power, and are often too politically unstable to attract foreign investments. Moreover, African countries are disadvantaged by the lack of diversiication of their exports and by their inability to exert inluence over the prices of these products. As a result, terms of trade are generally tilted against them. These conditions, in tandem with a host of other factors, including technological dependency and lack of food self-suficiency, have hindered their ability to control the process of accumulation.

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Thirdly, the image of Africa in the advanced, capital-rich countries is so negative that changing it and cultivating the requisites for externally-propelled development are onerous uphill battles. Last, even if African countries modestly diversify their exports, foreign markets are susceptible to saturation and protectionism, rendering the foreigndemand-propelled development strategy rather risky for countries coming late to industrialization. In this context, a development model that relies on external dynamics to the near exclusion of internal dynamics (as African countries currently do) amounts to putting all one’s eggs in a single, highly dubious basket. The aim of an auto-centric approach, after all is to gear a country’s development process primarily to internal and regional dynamics while utilizing external dynamics whenever necessary and available. One critical priority of this approach is ending the fragmentation and duality that characterize African economies by transforming the subsistence sector into an active exchange economy. Transforming the peasantry is, of course, tied to transforming the agricultural sector. At least initially, an auto-centric approach involves rural-based resourceallocation patterns. Extension services that promote the productive capacity of the peasantry are among the critical initial priorities. Such measures mobilize the productivity of a large segment of the population and thereby cultivate an internal market.

5.4.2. towaRDs agRICuLtuRaLLy LInkeD InDustRIaLIzatIon A related characteristic of an auto-centric approach is promoting agriculture-linked industrialization. With the peasantry becoming a more active participant in the exchange economy, agriculture-led industrialization that primarily services social needs becomes a more promising option. These industries are likely to begin as small-scale but they are the type of industries that are positioned to grow with the communities around them. With regional integration their growth potential becomes even greater. To have a chance for success in an auto-centric approach, for Mengisteab then, would have to be rooted in regionalism and collective self-reliance. This involves a number of changes, including restructuring Africa’s extroverted production, transportation and communication systems inward in order to serve internal needs and to foster regional integration.

5.4.3. DemoCRaCy In an auto-CentRIC aPPRoaCh It is too risky, moreover, for Africa, in the inal analysis, to rely either on dictators or on outside saviours, Mengisteab says, to pull itself out of its present general crisis. Only democratic reorganization – which can unleash popular participation, mobilization and internal dynamism – is a dependable prospect. The type of democracy, then, that is likely to be more appropriate for African countries is one that promotes a system of governance in which all the different ethnic and religious entities participate in setting the rules of the game, including the terms of integration of the different entities, how decisions are to be made, and where the boundaries between public and private decisions are to be drawn. Africa has to invent its own democratic procedures out of its historical and cultural context. It has to revisit its grassroots consensual decision-making tradition. Ultimately, for Mengisteab, the extractive enclaves, the self-serving state functionaries, and the external domination of policymaking can all be expected to give way to internally more integrated economies and an autonomous state that promotes societal interests,

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which are essential for an auto-centric approach. An auto-centric development approach to navigating our way towards what we term an integral polity, therefore, is no longer an unrealizable dream. It is rapidly becoming a credible alternative, although it remains a dificult one. To be successful, Mengisteab says however, this approach has to be ingrained in all facets of African societies, including culture. In the inal chapter, that now follows, in this “Southern” integral context, we shall see how nature and culture, society and economy, integrally and effectively, are brought together, through Chinyika.

5.5. References 1. Amin, S. (1985) Delinking: Towards a Polycentric World. London: Zed Books. 2. Mengisteab, K. (1996) Globalization and Auto-centricity in Africa’s Development in the 21st Century. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press. 3. Davidson, B. (1992) The Black Man’s Burden: Africa and the Curse of the Nation State. London: James Currey. 4. Hettne, B. (1995) Development Theory and the Three Worlds: Towards an International Political Theory of Development. Harlow: Longman-Pearson. 5. Ake, C. (1995) Democracy and Development in Africa. Washington DC: Brookings Institute. 6. Senghor, L. (1960) Nationhood and the African Road to Socialism. Paris: Presence Africaine. 7. Ake, C. (1995) Democracy and Development in Africa. Washington DC: Brookings Institute. 8. Arrighi, G. (2009) Adam Smith in Beijing: Lineages of the 21st Century. London: Verso.

CHAPTer

6

Natural Rapoko Effect: Food Security at Zimbabwe’s Chinyika

Africans were basically agriculturalists. The woman was the agriculturalist while the man was the hunter. In Africa, therefore, a woman’s power was based on her very important and central political and economic role. The moral ideals of the system encouraged the matriarchal family, peace and justice, goodness and optimism, and social collectivism. Ifi Amadiume, Reinventing Africa: Matriarchy, Culture and Religion (1)

6.1. Introduction: towards an Integral african Polity 6.1.1. southeRn gRounDIng to eFFeCt We now approach the culmination of our “Southern” integral polity, that is from our grounding, thereby constituting Africa to its emergence through tradition and modernity, thereafter navigated in an auto-centric way, ultimately and altogether effected through “Musha Ndimai”, that is the extended role of the mother, reconstituted in terms of a communal democracy in rural Chinyika, in Zimbabwe. Overall then, and as can be seen in Figure 6.1 below, the Southern journey towards an integral polity follows the course of the three last chapters, combined with what now immediately follows. As we can see from the above, we have come a long way from liberal democracy or indeed state socialism. What then is such a Southern effect, starting indeed from the ground up, in this illustrative case in Zimbabwe, which we liken to a phoenix rising from the ashes of its recent troubled history.

6.1.2. FounDIng anCestoRs The Chinyika story (2), from rural Zimbabwe, constitutes the “Southern” effecting of our integral polity, thereby rooted in nature and community. The authentic development of Zimbabwe, then, neither rests in the hands of international capitalists nor communists, but, as we shall see, in a local identity, duly evolving towards a global integrity. Indeed, for UK-based Basil Davidson again, this time in his book on African Genius (3), the history of the Africans is nothing if not the “handing on of the torch” from generation to generation. It is quintessentially concerned with the accumulation of ancestral wisdom. For it is the appointed ancestors who have given peoples their identity and guaranteed the onward movement of life. They may be private ancestors or public ancestors, family guarantors or national guarantors, but in any case their role is crucial.

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Navigation Auto-centricity Kidane Mengisteab Transformative Effect Chinyika : Communal Democracy Muchineripi and Kada

Integral Polity Nature & Community Africa

Emergent Foundation Tradition & Modernity Kwame Gyekye

Original Grounding Constituting Africa Chancellor Williams Figure 6.1

Integral Southern Polity

The Shona in that respect, in Zimbabwe, think of their great ancestral sprits, the mhondoro, who, as founding heroes, irst taught them to smelt iron from the rocks and how to grow millet and sorghum. It was in this sense that spiritual belief systems lay at the heart of a prospective integral polity for Karanga-based Muchineripi (Paul “Chidara” Muchineripi is the son of the Chinyika Chief, a business consultant in Harare, and now a Doctor of Philosophy) and Baremba-based Kada (Steve Kada was Human Resource Director of a leading Zimbabwean food processing company, and is now also a Doctor of Philosophy) as respective Chinyikan instigators. Their role, as such, together with signiicant others, was to “connect themselves” with those ancestors to whom super-sensible power had revealed the land and how to prosper. There existed, according to Zimbabwe’s contemporary social scientist, Brian Raftopoulos (4), in pre-colonial southern Africa, a large region of broadly similar languages, beliefs and institutions, larger than present-day Zimbabwe and stretching into areas now deined as South Africa, Zambia and Mozambique. Within that zone, there was a constant movement of people, goods, ideas and a multiplicity of self-identiications. “Shona” then, is a collective noun that conlates the linguistic, cultural and political attributes of a Zimbabwean people who did not even know themselves by that name until the late 19th century, and even then could be variously described as Hole, vaNyai or, most commonly, Karanga. As we shall see, it is the Karanga people, along with the Baremba, who feature centrally in the Chinyika story. Many Zimbabweans feel proud that that there were once large “empires”, like those of the Karanga, that could ight against external invaders, but the story of the occupation of Zimbabwe’s dificult landscape by many pioneering groups should be just as much a source of pride. Such small societies, moreover, never existed in isolation, and they maintained their links with their “parent” societies, having left them to trade or hunt, or to make pilgrimages to major shrines. This, for example, applies to the Baremba people, as we shall see, who trace their origins back to Judea, and to Senna in the Yemen. At the same time, such

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people were adventurous over large areas, experimental and innovative. The pre-colonial history of Zimbabwe, for Raftopoulos, is best appreciated from “breaking points”, contexts of build up and fragmentation already written into the larger narratives of the “rise and fall” of states, when new identities emerged and old ones were transformed, negotiated or accommodated. In fact, the reasons for the rapid decline in Zimbabweans’ standard of living, the latest such breaking point, from the late 1990s until just recently, had both long term and more contemporary causes. The longer term legacies involved colonial resource inequalities, narrow forms of capital accumulation that failed to build a broader productive base, as well as problematic development strategies in both the “welfarist” 1980s and neoliberal 1990s. The more contemporary causes are now legendary. In terms of this book though, overall, it is the failure to draw together on the social commons, indigenously, purposefully alongside less common knowledge, exogenously, which lay at the heart of the problem. The more immediate cause, for Raftopoulos, lay in a combination of the increased “threats” around land reform, the large payouts made to war veterans, and the Zimbabwean involvement in the conlict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. By 2000, the Zimbabwean economy had spiralled into a world record decline. By 2007 GDP was 47 per cent lower per capita than it had been in 1980, and 53 per cent below its 1991 peak. By that time an estimated 85 per cent of Zimbabweans were living below the poverty line. In January 2009, after a heavily contested election, ZANU-PF and the MDC inally agreed, after heavy mediation, to form an inclusive government. While then a formal political agreement was established, the political and economic challenges facing the unity government, with Mugabe as President and Tsvangirai as Prime Minister, were formidable. Amongst the most urgent of tasks, according to Raftopoulos, was that of building a more tolerant, and more self-suficient, form of nation, for us a phoenix, or an eagle, like the Zimbabwe bird, rising out of the ashes. This task, after the most recent 2013 election, has been taken up once again by the ZANU-PF party that won a somewhat disputed mandate.

6.1.3. baCkDRoP to ChInyIka The colonization of Zimbabwe, for the primary instigators of this Chinyika story, Paul (Chidara) Muchineripi and Steve Kada, by the British, had the profoundly debilitating effect of an imposed and dominant “Western” conventional economic system. The country, from 1890, was subjected to restructuring according to exogenous “Western” or indeed “Northern” thinking, and the exogenous economic philosophies that prevailed. The indigenous communities under the dominant colonial system were shaken from their cultural roots. The country evolved into a newly colonial political and economic system, thereby falling under exogenous, crudely capitalist sway. The state of poverty in the Chinyika locality is historically rooted, therefore, in the inlexible economic structure, a dual formal-informal economic system, the coexistence of what was perceived as “superior” white (formal) and “inferior” black (informal) economic systems. The mutually beneicial interchange between the Lessems (father Abraham and uncle Jack Lessem of one of the authors) and the Muchineripis therefore, under the guise of African Trading, was more the exception than the rule. In pre-independence Zimbabwe more generally then, the rich white elite, who resided on the railway line cities, like Salisbury and Bulawayo, enjoyed superior sets of conditions to those in the hinterland of the rural areas, indeed like Chinyika. Chinyika locally and country as a whole nationally,

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being a microcosm of the international and continental social and economic structures, found itself embodying the global reality of dependency. The coexistence of small modern enclaves, moreover, in the midst of traditional societies and a small group of progressive wealthy elites amid masses of poor, shows no sign, for Raftopoulos, of disappearing. The advent of independence, and the ill-considered mix of capitalism and socialism that followed, has not improved the conditions of the poor, both in urban and rural areas. Instead, they appear to have become poorer. The food security situation had deteriorated to the extent that both urban and rural residents, as was the case in Chinyika prior to 2005, required food aid from NGOs. Chinyika apart, this situation has not been alleviated even in the face of land redistribution by the ZANUPF government. A sad occurrence was that the rich, now black and white, continued to get richer at the expense of the rural poor. The Chinyika story, as told by Muchineripi and Kada, picks up from where this overall situation, as per Raftopoulos and for Davidson, leave off. We now turn more speciically to the Chinyika project.

6.2. a son was Raised from the house of gutu 6.2.1. a wake uP CaLL Out of the Chinyika community, then, a son – Paul “Chidara” – was raised from the house of the Gutu chieftainship, and was moved by the suffering of his own people. He woke up to the call of his ancestors to save his people from the scourge of hunger and poverty. Chidara then, who had become a successful business person and management educator, as we have seen, was woken from his slumber of individual success, prompted by his participation in the master’s programme in social and economic transformation, and then responded to his “fathers voice”. More importantly, awareness gripped him and reminded him of his responsibility to his people as the son of a chief. Emotively aroused, he initially decided to feed the people who were starving in Chinyika by buying bags of mealie meal (corn) and grain, and distributing these to them. While in the process of facing this challenge and responding to his “father’s voice” to take care of his people, Chidara Muchineripi enrolled on the Trans4m master’s (MSET), unknowingly together with Steve Kada, in 2005. That was the beginning of the establishment of the Chinyika Community Development Project. Chidara then reconnected with the voice that called his people to revisit the source of their food security in the past, the nutritious food and meals that came out of the sweat of their labour. A community that never starved.

6.2.2. the PRImaCy oF FIngeR mILLet the transformation Journey The voice echoed through poems and drama. One villager, at a ield day function inspiringly recited the following poem. The grass that turns into gold The grass that gives people their livelihood The grass that is fed to people and their livestock

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The grass that connects the Chinyika people with the ancestral spirits The grass that acts as a medium between the people and the spirits The grass that has value beyond money The grass that makes and gives life to people The grass that derives its life from the soil but also gives back to the soil the nutrients that nourishes the soil The grass whose seed grain lives forever The grass that pervades through every aspect of the Chinyika people’s lives The grass that makes delicious food and drinks The grass that is used to celebrate success and to talk to the ancestral spirits The grass that gives the human body everything it needs. The grass that makes and gives life to people, the grass that turns to gold the magical grass.

The poem summarizes the value and the importance of inger millet, one of the “key actors”, as it were, for the Chinyika people. The Golden grain, rapoko (Figure 6.2), was going to play a critical role in their transformation journey. It would be at the centre of all their activities in developing food security in the Chinyika households. Through this re-visitation of the past, Chidara reconnected with the tradition and culture of growing indigenous small grains. For him, the voice of his father had always echoed throughout his lifetime. At the same time, his mother, while she was alive, had not abandoned the clan’s cultural farming norms, and she remained a custodian and implementer of the traditional grain growing and food preparation. She was a typical African mother of her community.

western Culture has its Virtues but africa must Retain its humaneness Muchineripi and Kada then, after becoming co-researchers, spent endless hours together in Chidara’s special gazebo thatched structure, while they participated parttime together on the Master’s in Social and Economic Transformation, run by Trans4m in South Africa, at his home in Harare. He was illed with great emotion as he narrated the story of his village people, promoted by the reminder, through his education and research, of his grounding. He would clench his ists, put his hands on each side of his body and stamp the ground as if in a dance. It was as if he would be planting himself in the soil of his ancestors as he rooted himself in the centre and soul of Chinyika’s traditional past. Chidara’s father, as a chief, had passed on the oral tradition of a true African to his family and subjects. “A true African does not completely abandon his culture despite getting a Western education. Western education had its virtues but the African has to maintain his humane nature.” It is considered immoral, as such, to watch and let a poor person or family perish of hunger when the other person has more than enough. Chief Chitsa of Chinyika, in addressing people on one of the ield days, said, “Munhu ega ega, mwana ega ega anofanira kuziva kwaakabva” translated as: “each person, each child must look back and know where they came from and be responsible to himself and his community like what we have witnessed today. Our son Paul has demonstrated that each one of us must be responsible to their people.”

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Figure 6.2

Chinyika’s rapoko

6.2.3. PubLIC-PRIVate-CIVIC PaRtneRshIP Muchineripi then, representing Chinyika community in his capacity as designate chief, and Steve, representing the business sector as HR Director of Cairns Foods, played their respective catalytic roles. As such they created a relationship between the private sector and the rural community, there by institutionally extending – with the Zimbabwean Department of Agriculture ultimately also playing its governmental part – the actor network. On the one hand, Cairns Foods, through their agronomists, provided the Chinyika community with technical advice in growing the traditional and horticultural crops. On the other hand, the Chinyika people provided Cairns Foods with a wealth of knowledge for purposes of product development. Cairns, in its own transformation process, was turning towards foods with a traditional base and lavour in addition to the current Western-oriented food products on the market.

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Figure 6.3

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Muchineripi rock

Cairns in fact, at the time in 2005, produced Western products like wines, cornlakes, breakfast jams and tinned vegetables. Thereafter, through its newly constituted research and development team, it evolved a product prepared from small grains, speciically sorghum and rapoko. The urban African elite was now turning to more traditionally based products like porridges, peanut butter and organically grown crops. A market opportunity for traditional small grains like rapoko, peanuts and pumpkins was slowly emerging. Through the private sector, production of these high nutrient content foods, together with communities like Chinyika, resulted. At the same time, the government sponsored agricultural extension oficers had hailed the reintroduction of rapoko on a greater scale than before. Altogether they revisited the traditional knowledge base of growing rapoko and preparation of the delicious meals that the people are now enjoying. The Karanga people, who constitute the majority of the Chinyika people, are known as people of the soil. Their life depends on the soil, for they till it. They grow their crops on it and draw water from the ground. They bury their dead in the soil. Soil is their power. It gives them their identity. Their identity is also wrapped up with that of their longstanding chief of recent times, Muchineripi. It is as if Muchineripi rock came to life and talked through the people. The spirit engulfed everyone who sat or stood on the rock (Figure 6.3). Questions were raised. One elder poetically asked: ‘Why are the children, mothers and fathers starving? Why have the people forgotten what used to happen on this rock? Where your forefathers gathered rapoko and millet in abundance? Where children played around while fathers and mothers pounded rapoko ears with sticks and winnowed the grain from the chaff? Where granaries were filled with golden brown rapoko grains? Arise the children of Chinyika. Arise and be who you should be!’

Indeed the people of Chinyika did arise to democratic communal effect.

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6.3. mai mlambo: towards a Democratic Community 6.3.1. InDIVIDuaL eFFoRt – CommunIty beneFIt Through the re-awakening that has been taking place among the Chinyika community, as well as in neighbouring communities today – extending from 5,000 people in 2006 to up to 300,000 in 2013 – individual effort is being channelled, and realized, in the context of communal beneit. Such practical realization is encouraged to the extent that it does not create selish egoistic individuals. The unifying force between the individual and the community is the focus on ighting the resurgence of food insecurity and the continued battle against poverty to realize the capacity and strength that the people have in growing enough food and to alleviate poverty. Such realization has also been enhanced by activities like groupings for meetings, sharing of information, presence of visitors, attention by facilitators and researchers. What has been gratifying to see is the assistance that the government extension oficers are rendering with great zeal. Families have been coming to work together and pooling their resources without feeling isolated and “individualistic”.

6.3.2. a tRaDItIonaLLy DemoCRatIC PRoCess In order to coordinate these developments the leadership originally drew from the villages’ horizontal structures. Through a democratic process in the traditional manner, the chief, headman, counsellors, village development committees, extension services personnel were all involved, consulted and contributed to the selection of the project leadership. The leadership, headed by Mrs Mai Mlambo has clearly outlined its goals and strategy speciically to ight hunger through growing rapoko and in the long run eliminate poverty. They have clearly distanced themselves from the very sensitive partisan politics. They do not align the project farming activities with any political groupings. The committee’s main purpose has remained that of building a community consciousness that creates enlightened peoples’ actions to ight both mind and material poverty; to thereby decolonize the mind.

6.3.3. the PoLItICaL RoLe oF women ReDeFIneD In the process of putting together the project leadership, the role of a woman has been re-deined. The challenge to take up responsibility has been greatly accepted by the women of the community. This has been evidenced by the number of women who turn out for the project meetings. Indeed, the attending of meetings, the ield days involving demonstrations of ploughing, sowing and harvesting, have mostly been led by the Chinyika women. The inluence of the “mother” has been relected through the number of active youth who are getting involved in the project activities. Mothers have also shown their cooking skills, which are exceptional when it comes to preparing traditional dishes of rapoko/millet “sadza”, thick porridge, meat and vegetables. When preparing for large gatherings, the mothers call upon their youth whom they have trained to do the cooking

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chores, to assist with the heavy tasks of gathering irewood, drawing water and even food preparation itself. Women’s self-expression has manifested itself through drama and singing. The large gatherings provide an opportunity for women to sing and dramatize the social and economic challenges facing the community. Their drama illustrates the problems of irresponsible and lazy fathers and mothers who do not work hard in their ields, and fathers who spend most of their time drinking and neglecting families. They also highlight problems created by diseases like HIV/AIDS. Although men participate in these dramas it cannot be denied that it is usually a women’s initiative. Mothers are out to educate both the young and old. Mothers have awoken to take up their traditional role – the home stands because of the mother – “Musha ndimai”.

6.3.4. towaRD a seLF-suFFICIent CommunIty The contribution to a successful rapoko harvest cannot be under played. The active participation of the women has had a profound impact in the whole farming project. The village harvest has so far recorded average yields of between one and two tonnes per household unit. Most of the grain has been retained for consumption by the families. There was, however, surplus tonnage which community members agreed to sell and raise income for themselves. The surplus tonnage sold at two selling and pick up points came to 10 tonnes. Individual families brought their bags of grain (rapoko) to the central selling points and had their grain weighed and paid at the rate of USD 0.50c per kg. The decision to buy the surplus grain from the Chinyika communities was made after the harvesting season, in 2009, when it was assessed that a good number of the Chinyika people could afford to sell some of their grain after giving consideration to the need to build food reserves. The harvesting season starts in May when the crops are harvested and put in places for the crop to dry, before they are cleaned or separated from the chaff or husks to make such ready for permanent storage in granaries. The process is usually inished in August/September each year. At the end of September families will be in a position to know how much has been harvested in terms of tonnage so that a decision on whether to sell some of it or not to sell can be made. Then the family as the household makes an assessment of their needs compared with what is available, whether to sell some of the crops or not to sell. After the committees had also made the general assessment of the total yield of the season for the community and were satisied that the community could afford to sell the surplus inger millet grain, the staple crop of the Chinyika people, a date at which the buyer would buy the grain from the families was set. A day in October 2009 was ixed to allow individuals time to prepare the grain for sale. Due to severe shortages of cash in the whole economic structures of the country, there were no other buyers other than the social business set up by Muchineripi’s family. Chidara and Steve borrowed money from the bank for the purpose of buying the golden grain from the Chinyika people. The idea was to buy the grain, take it to Harare, leave it for three months then sell it when there is a general shortage of the grain in the market in Zimbabwe, hopefully at a proit.

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Figure 6.4

grass Turned to gold. The day when 5,000 u.S. dollars was put into the Chinyika economy, the Chinyika people came to sell their finger millet in a long queue waiting to be saved: the day the grass turned into gold

The villagers came to sell the grain in large numbers. In order to spread the money out to as many people as possible, the maximum allowed for each family to sell was grain worth $150.00. This was the day when the dreams of the Chinyika people came true, the day when they could turn their golden grain into real gold, in the form of U.S. dollars, the oficial currency now in Zimbabwe (see Figure 6.4). The villagers had not been in possession of so much money for 10 to 15 years. Faced with a severe economic crisis $20 in a family was a lot of money let alone $50, which some families made while a few made up to $150. People were overjoyed, for the irst time in many years, to get real money with which they could buy many things the family needed (see Figure 6.5). The local shopping centre was full of activity with villagers for the irst time able to buy necessities. The $5,000 made a real difference in the local economy. Most of the families kept the money for inputs such as fertilizers for the cropping season. The idea was to ensure better yields for the coming season so that families can sell more grains than they sold in 2009.

6.3.5. the Day FIngeR mILLett tuRneD to goLD This then served as a good example of what Muchineripi and Kada, together with Nakirai (Chidara’s wife), wanted to achieve for the Chinyika communities where every household can sell their produce to get money to enhance household self-suficiency. The day marked a turning point in the lives of the Chinyika people. Now they could see what Chidara and Steve wanted to achieve. The community have experienced it in a small way, which would help to put them on the ladder of development, indeed politically as well as economically, through the mediation of nature and culture. They could now see the ultimate objective clearly at the top of the ladder and were now motivated to get there faster.

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Figure 6.5

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Finger Millett Turns to Money. Members of the community proudly show the u.S. dollars they earned from sale of the golden grain – finger millet grain

muchineripi Rock: Rising together From the ashes This led the community to go back onto the Muchineripi rock to take the irst step to creating a Learning Centre. Upon the rock of re-awakening a traditional hut has been erected and stands at the highest point of this fairly lat granite rock. This hut stands as a beacon of a community’s vision, hope and intention to rise from the ashes of indigenous knowledge destruction. It is a challenge not only for the community but the nation. The agronomy department at Cairns has contributed greatly to the transfer of farming knowledge and helped in the integration of the modern and traditional knowledge of growing rapoko. This has become the beginning of interaction that should see both the community and the private sector share knowledge and information to the beneit of all (although in 2009/2010, because of the country’s economic crisis, Cairns has fallen on very hard times). Cairns as a company drew a maxim of partnership with the rural communities that stated: “Together we grow”. What then, as of 2010, were the next steps towards what Trans4m would term releasing the “GENE-ius” of Chinyika, speciically, and Zimbabwe, generally?

6.4. Conclusion 6.4.1. ReLeasIng the gene-Ius oF ChInyIka Muchineripi and Kada were introduced, on the master’s programme mentioned above, to the GENE cycle of transformation, based on Trans4m’s “integral worlds”. First it involved Grounding in and activation of indigenous soil, in their case most speciically that of Chinyika. Second, it involved Emergence and co-development, through a process of communal learning, in partnership with Cairns Food and its agronomists.

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At the same time, Cairns Food itself was awakened to its African heritage, which led to a culturally more authentic approach to doing business. Third, a Navigational and knowledge creation (conceptualizing) role was played by the government’s agricultural extension oficers, by the agronomists from Cairns, and, indirectly perhaps, by Trans4m (Geneva). Finally an actualizing Effect role was played by the Chinyika people. At this stage also, a irst initial learning institution had been established: a small hut hosting the village learning centre. The ultimate effect, at irst for 5,000 and ultimately seven years later for up to 300,000 villagers, was the realization, economically speaking, of food security, and socio-politically, of, if you like, an evolved polity, combing tradition with modernity. As such, there has been the auto-centric development of a village democracy, where nature and community generally, and women – natural and communal mothers so to speak – occupy pride of place. Indeed, all of such has arisen, despite, rather than because of, national politics, which has been purposefully kept out of this natural and communal process. Of course the result has been that such an integral polity, born out of nature and culture, society and economy, is not evident on a national stage. In effect Zimbabwe in particular, and Africa in general, has not yet risen, as Gyekye and Mengisteab have afirmed, nationally and regionally, to the “Southern” integral occasion. Indeed, as we (5) intimated in our companion volume on Integral Economics, such integral structures and processes, both economic and now also political, are emerging at a “mesa” – in between micro and macro – level, but not yet at a macro one. We now turn from Africa to Asia, and from the South to the East, for our next step in our overall, integral journey.

6.5. References 1. Amadiume, I. (1997) Reinventing Africa: Matriarchy, Culture and Religion. London. Zed Books. 2. Lessem, R., Muchineripi, P. and Kada, S. (2012) Integral Community: Political Economy to Social Commons. Farnham: Gower. 3. Davidson, B. (1969) African Genius. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press. 4. Raftopoulos, B. and Mlambo, A. (2012) Becoming Zimbabwe. Harare: Weaver Press. 5. Lessem, R. and Schieffer, A. (2010) Integral Economics: Releasing the Economic Genius of Your Society. Farnham: Gower.

PArT

III Cultural and Spiritual Orientation: Eastern Polity

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CHAPTer

7

Spiritual Grounding: India’s Human Cycle

The idea that India possessed a priceless, spiritually superior civilization was a welcome salve to the injured pride of a people that had been taught for some two hundred years to regard everything English as superior. In Nehru’s words, Gandhi wrought in the consciousness of India a psychological change, almost as if some expert in psychoanalytic methods had probed deep into the patient’s past, found out the origins of his complexes, exposed them to his view, and rid him of a burden. Jonathan Schell, Unconquerable World: Peaceful Protest is Stronger than War

7.1. Introduction: nature/Community to Culture/spirituality 7.1.1. a DIVIne PoweR Is behInD the moVement As we turn from the South to the East, generally, and from Africa to India, speciically, the whole tone changes, along the way towards Integral Polity, from nature and community to culture and, more emphatically, spirituality. Ironically today, as China and India, in particular, lead the contemporary “Eastern” economic charge, such an archetypally Eastern, spiritual emphasis, is lost. Yet, to the extent that we ground ourselves in the work of the great 20th-century Indian sage, Sri Aurobindo (1), we ind such deinitive “Eastern” origination: • • • • • •

there is the ineffable Divine; this Divine has a Purpose for man; the purpose is progressive, All Round development; the State is an agent for the Facilitation of such development; this facilitation cannot be forced, but Individuals and Groups will take Society and the state to the next stage of its Development; society participates in this Integral adventure.

7.1.2. the sPIRItuaL anD PoLItICaL mIssIon oF auRobInDo Aurobindo Ghose (2) was born in Calcutta in India in 1872, and received his early education in Britain, at a private school and then at King’s College, Cambridge. In 1907, Sri Aurobindo led the Nationalist Party in Bengal, stressing the need for independence. At the same time he felt India had a mission to perform in the community of nations:

100 I n t e g r a l P o l i t y A divine power is behind the movement. The Zeit-Geist is at work to bring about a mighty movement of which the world at the present juncture has need. That movement is the resurgence of Asia and the resurgence of India as not only a necessary part of the larger movement but its central need. India is the key-stone of the arch, the chief inheritress of the common Asiatic destiny.

This was Aurobindo’s vision of a free India. In the period 1908/1909 he was placed in jail, and a decisive change came over him during that period. He decided to get away from political life, in the conventional sense, to immerse himself in Yogic selfeducation and to prepare himself for the task of broadcasting the “eternal message” of India. His commitment now was India and laying the basis through it for the future of mankind.

7.1.3. InVoLutIon anD eVoLutIon As such, Aurobindo sought to heal the divide between Matter and Spirit by advocating a theory of Evolution, which has two processes: the process of ascent and the process of descent. While the former is called Evolution (Matter to Spirit), the latter is termed Involution (Spirit to Matter). The individual and the universal, meanwhile, are two poles of one and the same Reality. Individual transformation will be followed by universal transformation, thus giving rise to a new race of human beings, capable of an upward evolution of consciousness. Psychic awakening is a major milestone in the life of an individual. It is awakening to one’s uniqueness. It is becoming a unique integer. For Aurobindo moreover, the individual lives in society and by society. It is only in harmony with the society that he can realize his best self. The individual, as such, is neither an epi-phenomenon of Matter or Energy nor a mere social animal. He is not a Lockean being who enters into contractual relationship with other individuals to realize economic goals. He is not the dumb driven brute of Hobbes, who surrenders himself to the mighty Leviathan or State. He is also not the Rousseauean “innocent” who merges his unique personality into the generalized people of the General Will. The individual, for Aurobindo, is a divine “soul”, a self-expression of the universal. The individual, then, is not only the manifestation of the Eternal Spirit but he is also the key to evolutionary progression. In other words, he is to grow to the divine in the world, in society; and he has to grow in accordance with his nature, because each individual is unique in himself. So in the inal analysis society, economic systems and political arrangements are evaluated to the extent that they promote such individual realization. If society gets in the way of such, the society has to be changed. Society moreover, like the individual, has an “inner self”, a group soul, and a subjective power of the divine spirit. The nation or society, like the individual then, has a body, an organic life, moral and aesthetic temperament, a developing mind and soul. It represents a collective being, a collective reason and a collective will. By this collective action it attains self-consciousness and self-distinctiveness. In the ancient Hellenic and Roman societies, according to Aurobindo, the rational, ethical and aesthetic aspects of life were emphasized. In the old cultures of Asia, though, these were considered stepping stones to spiritual consummation. Thus while Greece

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and Rome were proud of their art, poetry and philosophy, and cherished these even more than their political liberty, Asia exalted saints, religious thinkers and spiritual heroes. Modern societies, on the other hand, exalt economic organization, political liberty and the comfort of their social life. They acknowledge only two gods, life and science.

7.1.4. a new woRLD oRDeR Sri Aurobindo’s World Order, then, is not an exercise in fantasy. He sees it as part of the progressive evolution of man. He tells us that for tens of thousands of years man remained primitive. When he stepped into the age of reason he freed himself from totem and taboo, making tremendous strides forward in the arts and sciences, giving birth to modern consciousness. Man had become rational in science and technology, but was still subject to the tragic inluences of the previous infra-rational age. According to Aurobindo, liberal democracy cherished liberty, but this liberty becomes laissez-faire. It creates disparities and inequalities and this leads to socialism. Socialism proceeds to regimented society and again deprives man of his liberty. So for his New World Order Aurobindo is satisied with neither democracy nor socialism. He seeks a new fraternity where the individual will be free to form groups – economic, social, educational, religious, philosophical – on a voluntary, spontaneous basis. This new order, then, will be based on liberty, equality and most especially fraternity. Liberty, as such, is the attribute of the soul. It is the entelechy through which the individual’s soul realizes itself according to the laws of development. The pursuit of liberty, however, runs counter to equality. In the absence of such equality liberty becomes meaningless and empty. So equality must put a check on liberty. They cannot be harmonized in the absence of fraternity. The ideal way for large aggregates to emerge, as such, is through evolutionary co-operation. Aurobindo suggest, then, that the Asiatic and the African and the European nation-states can form one or two larger aggregates on the basis of race, language, religion or shared ethos. These in time will confederate for purposes of the all-round economic, social, cultural development of mankind. Psychologically, mankind is becoming increasingly conscious of the usefulness of the larger aggregates. Advance in the ield of science and technology has diminished distances and facilitated the circulation of ideas. The diffusion of different cultures and the interaction thereof has loosened parochial bonds of loyalty and given rise to experiments in international co-operation in the ields of education, health, science, culture, labour, food and agriculture. Metaphysically, the unity of mankind is, for Aurobindo, a part of nature’s eventual intention. The nation-states must therefore become conscious of their “souls” in which alone they can ind unity with other nations in a common aspiration towards the truth of the Spirit. This can then circumvent national egoism that stands in the way of the unity of mankind. In other words, a new religion of humanity must evolve. A deeper brotherhood, a yet unfound law of love is the only sure foundation possible for a perfect social evolution. It is in the soul that it must ind its roots. This political thought is a synthesis of the spiritual insights of the East and the theoretical generalizations of the West. The speciic means to that end Sri Aurobindo has lodged within what he termed The Human Cycle.

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7.2. the human Cycle 7.2.1. emboDIeD In auRoVILLe Sri Aurobindo’s philosophy, spirituality and indeed polity has been embodied in a whole city, that of Auroville in South India, created to establish “the unity of mankind”: Auroville belongs to nobody in particular. Auroville belongs to humanity as a whole. But to live in Auroville, one must be the willing servitor of the Divine Consciousness. Auroville will be the place of an unending education, of constant progress, and a youth that never ages. Auroville wants to be the bridge between the past and the future. Taking advantage of all discoveries from without and from within, Auroville will boldly spring towards future realizations. Auroville will be a site of material and spiritual researches for a living embodiment of an actual Human Unity.

We now turn to Aurobindo’s speciic interpretation of “the human cycle”, worked through with Karl Lamprecht (3), a German 19th-century historian.

7.2.2. symboLIC to subJeCtIVe For Aurobindo, to begin with then, modern science, as at the turn of the last century, has long attempted to base itself upon physical data alone, even its study of Soul and Mind. It is not surprising therefore, for him, that in history and sociology, as well as the natural sciences, attention should have been concentrated on external data, laws, institutions, rites, customs, economic factors and developments, while the deeper psychological elements so important in the activities of our mental, emotional, “ideative” being should have been neglected. Karl Lamprecht, on whom Aurobindo draws for his human cycle, established a Centre for Comparative History in Germany, stipulating psychological forces as the basic forces in all of history. Indeed they together derived from the collective psyche of every nation and not from the idiosyncratic forces of individual psyches. Lamprecht was still haunted by a sense of the greater importance of the economic factor. Basing his work in the history of German society, in particular, Lamprecht then proposed, together with Aurobindo, that such a human society goes through four or ive distinct psychological stages: symbolic, typal and conventional, individualist and subjective. Obviously such classiications are likely to err in their rigidity and to substitute a mental straight line for the coils and zigzags of nature. The nature of man and his societies is too complex, too much of a weave of many-sided and intermixed tendencies to satisfy any such rigorous and formal analysis. Yet the overall form of the following analysis may throw some light on historical evolution.

7.2.3. staRtIng wIth symboLIsm Firstly symbolism, and a widespread imaginative or intuitive religious feeling, has a natural kinship with “grounded” primal formations. When man begins to be predominantly intellectual, sceptical or rational he is already preparing for the individualist society and the age of symbols and conventions lose their lustre.

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If we look at the beginnings of Indian society, in the far off Vedic age, not only the actual religious worship but also the social institutions of the time were penetrated through and through with the symbolic spirit. So for the men of old, the poet was a seer, a revealer of hidden truths. Images were used because they could hint luminously in the mind what precise intellectual words, apt only for logical or practical thought, could not hope to manifest. Overly rigid “savage” communities have already passed out of the symbolic into the conventional stage on a curve of degeneration rather than growth. Symbolic forms then become ixed.

7.2.4. symboLIC – tyPaL – ConVentIonaL Overall then, the irst symbolic stage of evolution is predominantly religious and spiritual, with other elements – economic, psychological, ethical – subordinated to it. The second, typal stage that follows creates the social ideals that remain impressed on the human mind, even when the stage itself is past. In its dynamic symbolic-typal phase of “emergence”, in our terms, such a phase may be associated with the development of “archetypal” images. As these cease to have a living root in the idea, or to spring out of the inner life of man, they become a convention. This conventional stage is born when the external supports –that is the outward expressions of the spirit or the ideal – become more important than the ideal itself. The tendency of the conventional age of society is to ix, to arrange irmly, to formalize, to erect a system of grades and hierarchies, to bind education to a traditional and unchangeable form, to subject thought to infallible authorities. In this conventional period there is much that is helpful to human progress, but it is still a copper age, as it were, and not the truly golden; this is the age when the Truth we strive to arrive at is not realized, not accomplished. The form prevails and spirit recedes.

7.2.5. staID ConVentIonaL to InDIVIDuaL ReVoLt a Revolt against a Petrified type An individualistic and emancipatory age of human society, thirdly, comes as a result of the corruption and failure of the conventional, as a revolt against the reign of the petriied typal igure. The individualism of the new age is an attempt to return from conventionalism to some solid bedrock of real and tangible Truth. And it is necessarily individualistic, because the old moral standards have become bankrupt and can no longer give any inner help; it is therefore the individual who has to become a discoverer, a pioneer, a navigator. It is in Europe, for Aurobindo writing early in the 20th century, that the age of individualism had exercised its full sway. Yet the truths that Europe found covered only the irst, more obvious physical and outward facts of life. If its rationalistic civilization had swept so triumphantly over the world, it was because it found no deeper and more powerful truth to confront it; for the rest of humanity was still in the inactivity of the dark hours of the conventional age. The individualistic age of Europe, then, was in its 20th-century culmination a triumphal progress of physical science.

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Limits to modernity In the modern era, however, there are in operation forces which seem likely to frustrate or modify development before it reaches its consummation. In the irst place, rationalistic and physical science has over-passed itself and must before long be overtaken by a mounting lood of psychological and psychic knowledge which cannot fail to compel quite a new view of human being and open a new vista before mankind. At the same time the Age of Reason is visibly drawing to an end; novel ideas are sweeping over the world and are being accepted with a signiicant rapidity, ideas subversive of any merely economic rationality. Secondly, the West in its conquest of the world has awakened a slumbering East. Some believe, Aurobindo having been one, that Asia will reproduce Europe’s Age of Reason with all its materialism and secularist individualism while Europe will be pushing forward into new forms and ideas. However, if the East follows its own bent and evolves a novel social tendency and culture, that is bound to have an enormous effect on the direction of the world’s civilization. It now seems that social development and well-being is not merely a lourishing of a bourgeois class, or the mass. In addition there is the deeper truth that individualism has discovered, the individual not being merely a social unit, not merely a member of the human pack. He is something in himself, a soul, a being who has to fulil his own individual truth and law, his own part in the truth and law of collective existence.

7.2.6. ComIng oF the subJeCtIVe age Rediscovering the substantial truths of Life The whole tendency of development of an individualistic age of mankind goes back to the one dominant need of rediscovering the substantial truths of life, thought and action. For these have been overlaid by the falsehood of conventional standards no longer alive to the truth of ideas from which their conventions started. The need of a developing humanity, moreover, is not always to return to old ideas. Its need is to effect a larger fulilment in which, if the old is taken up, it must be transformed and exceeded. For the underlying truth of things is constant and eternal, but its mental igures, its life forms, its physical embodiments call constantly for growth and change.

when east meets west: universal and Individual Throughout the East the subjective Asiatic mind is being driven to adapt itself to the need for changed values of life and thought. What it did not do from within, has come on to it as a necessity from without and this externality has carried with it immense advantages as well as great dangers. A revolutionary reconstruction of religion, philosophy, science, art and society is the ultimate outcome. It proceeds at irst by the light of the individual mind and reason, by its demand on life and experience of life; but it must go from the individual to the universal. Of the universe we are a part; in all but our deepest layer we are the subject; a small cell in the tremendous organic mass: our substance is drawn from its substance and by the law of life the law of our life is governed.

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Discovering the subjective secret of ourselves In Europe and in modern times this substance has taken the form of physical science, by the laws of the physical universe and the economic and sociological conditions of human life. Yet our economic state and social institutions are themselves governed by our psychological demand on the possibilities, circumstances, and tendencies created by the relation between the mind and soul of humanity in its life and body. Therefore we must go deeper and discover the subjective secret of ourselves and our surroundings. This we may attempt to do for a time through the power of critical and analytical reason, but not for long. For in our study of ourselves we cannot but come face to face with the soul in ourselves and the soul in the world, Aurobindo maintains, and ind it to be an entry so profound and complex, so full of hidden secrets that intellectual reason proves to be a fumbling seeker; it is analytical only of supericialities. More and more we need to live within our souls and act out of such rather than loundering on the surfaces. In this process the rationalistic ideal begins to subject itself to intuitional knowledge and a deeper self-awareness; the utilitarian standard gives way to the aspiration toward self-consciousness and self-realization.

Deepened subjectivism and self-consciousness The art, music and literature of the world, always a sure index of the vital tendencies of the age, have also undergone a profoundly deepened subjectivism, the great objective art and literature of the past no longer commanding the mind of our age. Often, however, they describe the malady of life rather than its health and power. At the same time, in the practical dealing with life there are progressive tendencies which take their inspiration from profounder subjectivism, in, for example, new ideas about education – bringing out a child’s intellectual and moral capacities. Such subjectivism, in fact, is a return to the lost knowledge of the ancients. First deepening man’s inner experience, restoring self-knowledge to our race, it must end by revolutionizing our social and collective powers of self-expression. Yet, the nascent subjectivism preparative of the new age has shown itself not so much in the relations of individuals or in tendencies of social development, which are still largely rationalistic and materialistic, but in the new collective self-consciousness of man: the discovery of the nation-soul.

7.3. the Discovery of the nation-soul 7.3.1. FRom InDIVIDuaL to gRouP souL The primal law and purpose of a society, community or nation, for Aurobindo then, is to seek its own self-fulilment; it strives rightly to ind itself, to become aware within itself of the law and power of its own being and to fulil it as perfectly as possible, to realize all its potentialities, to live its own self-revealing life. The nation or society, like the individual, has a body, an organic life, a moral and aesthetic temperament, a developing mind and soul for the sake of which it exists. There is only this difference between individual and society, that the group-soul is much more complex.

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At irst, for this very reason, it seems more crude, primitive and artiicial in the forms it takes; for it has a more dificult task before it, needs a longer time to ind itself, it is more luid and less easily organic. When it does succeed in getting out of the stage of vaguely conscious self-formation, its irst deinite self-consciousness is more objective than subjective. And so far as it is subjective, it is loosely and vaguely so. Yet potentially, in its inner self, there lies a great corporate soul with all the dangers and possibilities that go with it. Moreover it is necessary, if the subjective age of humanity is to produce its best fruits, that the nations should become conscious not only of each other’s souls and learn to respect, to help and to proit, not only economically and intellectually, but subjectively and spiritually, each other. How have such ideas been born out, for Aurobindo then, in Ancient Indian culture?

7.3.2. the theoRy oF anCIent InDIan CuLtuRe Our spiritual evolution, then, ascends from the relative to the absolute, through the inite to the ininite, through all divisions to oneness. Man in his spiritual realization begins to ind and seize hold of the satisfying intensities of the absolute in the relative, discovers the reconciling law of a perfect unity in all divisions and differences. The limitations of reason, moreover, become very strikingly naked when confronted with the great order of psychological truths and experiences we have hitherto kept in the background – in the religious life. The unaided intellectual reason faced with the phenomena of the religious life is naturally apt to adopt one of two attitudes: either it views the whole thing as a mass of superstition, or it patronizes religion, getting rid of it by explaining it away, in material terms. Religion is judged in terms of its externalities, just like an ignorant foreigner trying to judge a civilization by its dress, outward colour of life and social manners of the inhabitants. The deepest heart, the inmost essence of religion, apart from its outward machinery of creed, cult, ceremony and symbol, is the search for God, the Absolute, the One. That has been the work of spiritual philosophy in the East and (much more crudely for Aurobindo) of theology in the West. The widest spirituality does not exclude or discourage any essential human activity or faculty, but works rather to lift all of them up out of their imperfection and groping ignorance, transforms them by its touch and makes them the instrument of the light, power and joy of their divine being. At this point Aurobindo returns to the central theme of his book, the “human cycle”.

7.4. Conclusion: the Curve of the Rational age 7.4.1. InDIVIDuaLIsm oPens the way The present age of mankind, for Aurobindo in conclusion, may be characterized from the point of view of a graded psychological evolution of the race as a more and more rapidly accelerated attempt to discover and work out the right principle and secure foundations of a rational system of society. The modern age has resolved itself into a constant series of radical progressions. A principle of society, put forward by the thinker, seizes on the

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general mind and becomes a social gospel; brought immediately or by rapid stages into practice, it dethrones the preceding principle and takes its place as the foundation of the community’s social or political life. We have already seen that it is individualism which opens the way to the age of reason and that it gets its impulse and its chance of development because it follows upon an age of dominant conventionalism. It is not as if in the pre-individualistic, pre-rational ages there were no thinkers upon society and the communal life of man; but they did not think in the characteristic method of the logical reasoning, critical, all-observing, all-questioning way. Moreover they did not proceed on the constructive side by the carefully mechanizing methods of the highly rationalized intelligence when it passes from the reasoned perception of a truth to the endeavour after its pure, perfect and universal orderly application. Their thought and their building of life were much less logical than spontaneously organic and intuitive. But reason seeks to understand and interpret life by one kind of symbol only, the idea; it generalizes the facts of life according to its own strongly cut conceptions so that it may be able to master and arrange them. Having then taken hold of an idea it looks for its largest general application. And in order that these ideas may not be a mere abstraction divorced from the realized or realizable truth of things, it has to be constantly comparing them with facts. It has to be always questioning facts so that it may ind the ideas by which they can be more and more adequately explained, ordered and managed. It has always to be questioning ideas in order, irst, to see whether they square with actual facts and, secondly, whether there are not new facts to suit, by which they must be modiied or enlarged, or which can be evolved out of them. Of course such rationality has its great advantages, as well as its disadvantages.

7.4.2. InDIVIDuaLIstIC DemoCRaCy Man may for a time, for a long time even, live by the mere tradition of things whose reality he has lost, but not permanently; the necessity of questioning all his conventions and traditions arises, and by that necessity reason gets its irst real chance of an entire self-development. Reason can accept no tradition merely for the sake of its antiquity or its past greatness: it has to ask, irst, whether the tradition contains at all any still living truth and, secondly, whether it contains the best truth available to man for the government of his life. This reason which is to be universally applied, for Aurobindo though, cannot be the reason of a ruling class. It cannot be the reason of a few pre-eminent thinkers. It must be the reason of each and all seeking a basis of agreement. Hence arises the principle of individualistic democracy, that the reason and will of every individual in the society must be allowed to count. Secondly, each individual must be allowed to govern his life according to the dictates of his own reason and will so far as that can be done without impinging on the same right in others.

7.4.3. soCIaLIsm anD the LImIts to DemoCRaCy In practice it is found that these ideas will not hold for a long time. For the ordinary man is not yet a rational being; emerging from a long infra-rational past, he is not naturally able to form a reasonable judgment, but thinks either according to his own interests, impulses and prejudices or else according to the ideas of others more active in

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intelligence or swift in action who are able by some means to establish an inluence over his mind. Secondly, he does not yet use his reason in order to come to an agreement with his fellows, but rather to enforce his own opinions by struggle and conlict with the opinions of others. Socialism, in recent history, is a good case in point. Labouring under the disadvantageous accident, for Aurobindo, of its birth in a revolt against capitalism, an uprising against the rule of the successful bourgeoisie and the plutocrat, socialism has been compelled to work itself out by a war of classes. On the one hand, it is well to get rid of this great parasitical excrescence of unbridled competition. On the other hand, socialism sets out to replace a system of organized economic battle by an organized order and peace, and in the process it therefore must do away with the democratic basis of individual liberty.

7.4.4. ImPosItIon oF the CoLLeCtIVe state It is the individual who demands liberty for himself, a free movement for his mind, life, will, action; the collectivist trend and the State idea have rather the opposite tendency, they are self-compelled to take up more and more the compulsory management and control of the mind, life, will, action of the community – and the individual’s as part of it – until personal liberty is pressed out of existence. But if both equality and liberty disappear from the human scene, there is left only one member of the democratic trinity. But such fraternity without liberty and equality can be nothing more than the like association of all individuals, functional classes, guilds, soviets – under the absolute control of the collective State. In Russia the Marxist system of socialism was turned, as such, almost into a gospel. Originally a rationalistic system worked out by a logical thinker, Marx, as a discoverer and systematiser of ideas, it was transformed by the peculiar turn of the Russian mind into something like a social religion, a social cult. Thereby the seizure of the life of the community takes place, by a dominant individual leader, a Führer, Nazi, Fascist or Communist party. If this trend becomes universal, it is the end of the Age of Reason. Reason cannot do its work, act or rule if the mind of man is denied freedom to think or freedom to realize its thought by action in life.

7.4.5. the enD oF the CuRVe oF Reason every society Represents a Collective being The rational collectivist idea of society has at irst sight a powerful attraction. There is behind it a great truth, that every society represents a collective being, and in it and by it the individual lives. More, it is only by a certain relation to the society, a certain harmony with the greater collective self that the individual can ind the complete use for his many developed or developing powers and activities. The right organization of social life on a basis of equality and comradeship ought to give each individual his proper place in society, his full training and development for common ends, his due share of work, leisure and reward, the right value of his life in relation to society. The pity of it is that this excellent theory, quite as much as the individualist theory that ran before it, is sure to stumble over a discrepancy between its set ideas and the actual facts of human nature; for it ignores the complexity of man’s being and all that

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complexity means. And especially it ignores the soul of man and the soul’s supreme need of freedom, and of self-control, not a mechanical regulation of the mind and of the will by others. Obedience too is part of the path to self-perfection, but not the obedience to mechanized government and rule.

workings of a group-soul: Pre-rational and Post-rational Each society in the inal analysis, as Aurobindo has intimated, develops into a sort of subsoul or group-soul of our humanity and develops also a type of mind, evolves governing ideas and tendencies that shape its life and institutions. The group-soul works out its tendencies through a diversity of opinions, wills, a diversity of life, and the vitality of its group-life depends on such. In fact, in the old infra-rational societies, at least in their inception, what governed was not the State, but the group-soul itself, that for Williams constituted Africa in one communal respect or another (see Chapter 3) evolving its life through customary institutions and self-regulations to which it had to conform. This entailed a great subjection of the individual to the society, but it was not felt, because individualism was not yet born. Democratic liberty, subsequently, tries to minimize this suppression, leaving free play for the individual and restricting the role of the State. Man needs freedom of thought and life and action in order that he may grow, otherwise he will remain ixed where he was, a static human being. The State can only combat such by an education adapted to its ixed forms of life, and education that will seek to drill the citizen in a ixed set of ideas, aptitudes and propensities. Life, on the contrary, is a mobile, progressive and evolving force. Its progress involves the development and interlocking of an immense number of things that are in conlict with each other and seem often to be in absolute opposition. To inding these oppositions some principle of standing-ground unity, some workable lever of reconciliation which will make possible a larger and better development on a basis of harmony, must be increasingly the common aim of humanity as it evolves. The integral truth of things as such, is not the truth of reason but, for Aurobindo, that of the spirit.

7.4.6. towaRDs a DeePeR bRotheRhooD Reason mechanizes in order to arrive at a ixity of conduct and practice amid the luidity of things. While such a mechanism is a suficient principle in dealing with physical forces, it can never truly succeed in dealing with conscious life. Reason is neither the irst principle of life, for Aurobindo, nor can it be its last, supreme and suficient principle. And the perfect social state, as such, must be one in which governmental compulsion is abolished and man is able to live with his fellow-man by free agreement and co-operation: a free equality founded upon spontaneous co-operation, not on governmental force and social compulsion is the highest anarchical ideal. A deeper brotherhood, a yet unfound law of love is the only sure foundation possible for a perfect social evolution. It is in the soul, moreover, that it must ind its roots; the love that is founded upon the deeper truth of our being. At this point Aurobindo is ready to conclude, by revisiting and resurrecting religion, in his own guise. In conclusion, if the spiritual age of which Aurobindo has been speaking is to be effected, it must unite two conditions which have to be simultaneously satisied but

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are most dificult to bring together. There must be the individual and the individuals who are able to see, to develop, to re-create themselves in the image of the Spirit and to communicate their idea and its power to the mass. And there must at the same time be a mass, a society, a communal mind or at least the constituents of group-body, the possibility of a group-soul which is capable of receiving and effectively assimilating, ready to follow and effectively arrive, not compelled by its own inherent eficiencies. Such a simultaneity, for Aurobindo in sum, has never yet happened. Steve McIntosh, in the new millennium as we shall now see, at the Integral Centre in Boulder, Colorado, picks up today from where Aurobindo left off in the old one.

7.5. References 1. Sri Aurobindo (1950) The Human Cycle: The Psychology of Human Development. Twin Lakes, WI: Twin Lakes Publishers. 2. Ranchan, S. and Gupta, A. (1988) Sri Aurobindo as Political Thinker. New Delhi: Konark Publishers. 3. Weintraub, K. (1966) Visions of Culture. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

CHAPTer

8

Cultural and Spiritual Emergence: Spiral Dynamics

Mandala (Sanskrit for “circle”, “completion”) is a term used to refer to various objects. It is of Hindu origin, but is also used in other Dharmic religions, such as Buddhism. In the Tibetan branch of Vajrayana Buddhism, they have been developed into sand painting, expressing the belief that knowledge cannot be fixed, but needs to be regenerated again and again. In practice, mandala has become a generic term for any plan, chart or geometric pattern that represents the cosmos metaphysically or symbolically, a microcosm of the universe from the human perspective. Lessem and Schieffer, Integral Research and Innovation

8.1. Introduction 8.1.1. auRobInDo to LaubsCheR VIa gRaVes, beCk anD wILbeR Interestingly enough, as we have seen, Sri Aurobindo (late 1800s and early 1900s) was a political activist for the irst part of his adult life, and then a spiritual leader in the second half, well into midlife and maturity. Seemingly, for this marriage of culture and spirituality with politics and economics, the inner and the outer realms of human activity so to speak, we need to turn from the “East”, India in his case, to the “West”, America in this instance. However, this is a special kind of West that draws upon the East, as well as, we would argue, the North if not also the South. Aurobindo’s major contribution was made in the early 1900s. Almost a century later Loraine Laubscher (1) repeated this important contribution, now fusing together South, East and also North-west. Laubscher also played an active political role in her adult life. The second part of her life was spent on connecting people from the “South” with people from the “West” and the “North”, contributing to awareness and consciousness, also manifest in spirituality (thus integrating the “East”). Although she studied individual and cultural behaviours internationally over an extended period of time, her major contribution is to Africa and speciically to South Africa. She reminds us passionately and continually that our Core (2) can be found in the “South”. Revisiting our roots can lead to groundedness and to remembering the old ways. Laubscher graduated at age 83 with a PhD from the Da Vinci Institute of Innovation and Technology, documenting her oral history through auto-ethnography. Loraine’s thoughts were heavily informed by Austrian polymath Rudolf Steiner’s – see Chapter 9 – anthroposophy (3), as well as American academics Russell Ackoff’s systems thinking (4), Clare Graves’ psychological map (5) and later Spiral Dynamics described by Don

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Beck (6) the last applied in developing countries. As with Aurobindo, a communion happens in her work between culture, spirituality, politics and economics, providing an integral approach in decoding the complexity of diversity. In the 1990s, Don Beck played an active, overtly political advisory role, with former President De Klerk and the new President Nelson Mandela, in fostering the birth of the new South Africa, drawing on the “cultural MEMES” (7), as they called it, embedded in the country’s Crucible. The highlight of Don Beck’s work in South Africa arose during the infamous rugby world cup match where White and Black were united as Nelson Mandela wore the famous green rugby jersey. The work of Don Beck is kept alive in almost all the universities in the country, in many corporations and in individual organizational development practices. Laubscher accompanied Beck on all his 64 visits to South Africa. Together they connected with most politicians in 1989 and 1990. They have also been to almost every mineshaft in South Africa and consulted many a corporate leader on how to deal with different cultural MEMES (referred to as NICHES by Laubscher). Laubscher has the unique ability to truly connect to what Graves and Beck have termed “Purple” (Kin Spirits) and “Red” (Power Gods) and to translate these niches to “Blue” (Truth Force) and “Orange” (Strive Drive) management (see 8.3.1. below). Laubscher’s (8) real contribution has been to enable leaders in different settings to optimize the performance of their diverse workforces, to enable political systems to accommodate entrepreneurship and to enable productivity at the bottom of the pyramid to be stimulated. She continues facilitating and lecturing on the topic, together with Rica Viljoen, from Mandala Consulting. Together Laubscher and Viljoen integrated the work on Spiral Dynamic Niches with multi-cultural research on Inclusivity. Don Beck still relies heavily on the work of Clare Graves (5) who, after decades of doing qualitative and quantitative research on individual and cultural dynamics in multicultural contexts, developed the original framework that we now popularly refer to as spiral dynamics. This chapter will revisit original Gravesian theory and portray how varied authors interpret it differently. This theory has resonated with peers for longer than 40 years and today is still viewed by many as a visionary meta conceptualization describing various biophysical social stages of development of a person or culture or, for us here, polity. In the new millennium, spiral dynamics made its way into the Middle East, with a view to resolving the perennial conlicts between the Palestinians and Israelis, with Don Beck now supported by his Lebanese-American colleagues Said Dawlabani (9) and his partner Elza Maalouf, through their Centre for Human Emergence in the Middle East. At the same time, in the new millennium, an attempt was made to fuse the work of Beck and Wilber, thereby termed Spiral Dynamic Integral, as we shall see later in this chapter. Although the marriage did not last, practically speaking, conceptually, as we shall see later, depicted in the work of Esbjorn-Hargens and Zimmerman (10) on Integral Ecology, “Spiral Dynamics Integral” lives on. Finally, in turning from the American North (Graves in New York State) to the West (Wilber in Colorado and Beck in Texas), on to the Middle East (Dawlabani and Maalouf from Lebanon), we come ultimately to South Africa. Therein Loraine Laubscher, together with her colleague Rica Viljoen (11) – see also (8) – as disciples of Graves and Beck, now in an African context, have teamed up with Trans4m, in which one of the authors, Ronnie Lessem, was a co-founder together with Alexander Schieffer. Together, Trans4m and Viljoen from Mandala Consulting have recently established a Mandala Centre

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for Integral Development. Laubscher is also heavily involved with the creation of the centre. The purpose of such is to advance the theory and practice of spiral dynamics in conjunction with Trans4m’s (12) Integral Worlds. Thereby a new “Spiral Dynamics Integral”, as it were, has been born, out of a marriage, in this instance, between East and West, North and South. We shall now turn, to begin with, to the work of Clare Graves, to start us on our emergent, spiral dynamic integral journey.

8.1.2. gRaVesIan bIo-PsyCho-soCIaL moDeL oF human DeVeLoPment Graves had originally proposed that all those forces shaping society, whether individuals, groups or cultures, should be looked at from a more integral perspective that takes into account biology (brain capacities), psychology (how people think) and sociology (where people live), and reviews them within the context of an ever evolving dynamic culture. He placed the resulting dimensions that he identiied into eight known hierarchical levels of existence called value systems, to which these groupings can belong. This formed the very irst comprehensive psychological map of the human experience, which became known as the bio-psycho-social model on which spiral dynamics today is based. Value systems, for Graves as for Beck, oscillate from expressive, individualistic systems to collective self-sacriicial systems. In individualistic systems individuals gather enough energy to break away from the collective. On the other hand collective systems are sacriicial. With the passage of time, existential problems arise within each value system that cannot any longer be solved by the thinking system at the current level. Crises occur, for example as we see in Egypt today (see Chapter 21) and the value system of individuals or culture may shift into a completely different system, crossing the chasm between individualism and collectivism (or the other way around). For Graves, the different value systems consist of different levels of activation in our neurological being. Unlike many of his contemporaries in the humanistic psychology movement at the time, Graves irmly believed that society, or social factors, play a critical role in how humans and cultures evolve. He warned that we assume incorrectly that the nature of man is ixed and that there is a single set of values that humans should live by, when indeed the nature of the value systems is open and evolving. Later Don Beck would refer to Graves’ psychological map as “spiral dynamics”.

8.1.3. Don beCk’s masteR CoDe Don Beck (13) insists that changing life conditions lead to adaptation. A person or a culture is confronted with changing life conditions and is forced to respond with coping mechanisms to adapt to the new realities. Beck introduced the term MEME to describe the different value systems after coming across Richard Dawkin’s book The Selish Gene (14). A MEME refers to a set of values or an organizing principle. A person or a culture will evolve to a different value system or MEME only if crises occur – the current value systems in the brain cannot make sense of the changing life conditions and the need for a new system is born. It is the coupling of these two factors into what Graves termed a “double helix” model where psychological human capacities can recalibrate higher and lower levels in response to changing life conditions, which forms the culture or the social part of the model.

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There are eight states or codes, as Beck refers to them, that can be viewed as the basic structures of human psychology and sociology. He describes the spiral as a Master Code. The codes do not necessarily represent types of people, but value systems in people. Systems are not good or bad but rather a set of values that can adapt to be congruent with changing life conditions. He refers to unhealthy and healthy versions of these value systems. Beck also warns against irstly assuming that “higher is better” (thus implying that one must progress on the spiral as an evolutionary scale), secondly assuming that spiral dynamics are simplistic, and lastly that we should not attempt to change people into something they are not. In addressing socio-political and geo-political dilemmas, Beck suggests that design of such a polity, so to speak, should happen from the complexity level of a healthy, sustainable and responsible economic or political system. The natural silhouette in the value system of the people’s capacity and culture of the system should be relected. Beck labelled these dynamics MeshWorks. Beck promised Graves years ago that he would continue to develop the work further. He kept the intent of the spiral and interpretation thereof alive for us to continue to work with today. People active in the Spiral Dynamic Integral movement and authors like Said Dawlabani and Elza Maalouf (Middle East), Graham Linscott, Loraine Laubscher and Rica Viljoen and Alan Tonkin (South Africa) keep Gravesian philosophy and practice alive today. In the late 1990s Beck established the irst Centre for Human Emergence (CHE) with the following mission: The Center for Human Emergence will help facilitate the conscious emergence of the human species using a synthesis of profound breakthroughs in human knowledge and capabilities, encompassing natural patterns coherence, mega-integration, uniication, expanded whole mind capacity, deep intelligence and consciousness.

Currently there are CHEs in Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Middle East. Each is an active community where ideas are readily shared and connections are made across country and culture boundaries. A Centre of Emergence was created in 2013 at the Stellenbosch Business School in South Africa and efforts for continued involvement with South African politics leading up to elections in April/May 2014 are expected.

8.1.4. wILbeR’s stages oR LeVeLs oF DeVeLoPment The American integral philosopher Ken Wilber (15) synthesized Spiral Dynamics, together with more than 100 other developing models. He refers to value systems as waves or levels of development. These waves are almost like different frequencies and can blend and interweave like the colours of the rainbow. Ken Wilber and Don Beck connected on overlaps in their approaches and a branch of spiral dynamics called Spiral Dynamics Integral was developed by Beck. Wilber (16) explained:

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Figure 8.1

Ken Wilber’s Four Quadrants

What our awareness delivers to us is set in cultural contexts and many other kinds of contexts that cause an interpretation and a construction of our perceptions before they even reach our awareness. So what we call real or what we think of as given is actually constructed – it’s part of a worldview.

The Indian sage Sri Aurobindo (see Chapter 7), the sociologist Pitirim Sorokin (17) and the philosopher-linguist Jean Gebser (18) largely inluenced Ken Wilber’s thoughts according to Carter Phipps (19) who recently published an intriguing book called Evolutionaries. Phipps continues to explain that especially Gebser’s emphasis on the structures of consciousness and culture is central to Wilber’s philosophy. Wilber’s “four quadrants” in Figure 8.1 below, was incorporated by Don Beck into the Spiral Dynamics Integral stream. Wilber indicated that spiral dynamics are relatively easy to use and described the Gravesian value systems as eight distinct waves of consciousness. The irst six levels can, according to him, be described as subsistence levels or irst-tier thinking. A revolutionary shift happens in consciousness as the second-tier evolve. The second tier is described as “being-levels”. He argues that second-tier thinking is needed to lead the human evolution. According to him less than 2 per cent of the population falls in this category. We now turn to Laubscher’s human niches.

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8.1.5. LaubsCheR’s human nIChes anD thInkIng systems “Human niches” was a term coined by Loraine Laubscher after years of applying the spiral dynamics theory in Africa and other developing countries. She is not in agreement with the popular belief that “Beige” (Survival Sense) (see 8.3.1. below) is not visible anymore and that only 10 per cent of the population is “Purple” (Kin Spirit). According to her, this igure is closer to 50 per cent worldwide. The term, “human niches”, describes the areas in which people excel because of the questions of existence they pose – thus their thinking systems. By understanding the different thinking systems, the unique gifts of a person or culture can be appreciated. Colinvaux (20) deines a niche as a speciic set of capabilities for extracting resources, for surviving hazards, and for competing, coupled with a corresponding set of needs. This deinition, however, does not take into account the thinking pattern of the individual. He explains that our niches are what have changed since ancient times. We are no longer hunters or gatherers, but have become farmers and industrialists. Laubscher adopted the concept of human niches by taking this thinking further. It is our thinking patterns that have changed over time, and new thinking patterns have led to new and different realities. The renowned originator of “lateral thinking” De Bono (21) also began to speak about thinking systems. Laubscher, then, has dedicated her life to studying thinking patterns in the brain that create human niches. She is the only African who worked with Clare Graves personally. She translates human niches through value engineering and value circles. A value circle is an inclusive group process that focuses on group problem solving while integrating value management and human niche theory. Together with Don Beck, she impacted many a South African leader’s worldview forever; not to speak of the numerous “Purple” people that she inspired over the years.

8.2. Comparison of major schools in spiral Dynamic’s theory 8.2.1. gRaVes, beCk anD LaubsCheR In Table 8.1, the various Gravesian value systems, Beck and Cowan’s MEMEs, Laubscher and Viljoen’s human niches and Wilber’s levels of consciousness are presented. Table 8.1 presents a short description of the different schools that can be found in the literature. The systems are divided into irst-tier and second-tier systems. The authors of the various schools interpreted the theory through his or her own worldview. In this chapter the view of Graves, Beck and Laubscher on spiral dynamics are highlighted. The major differences in interpretation between Laubscher and Viljoen and other schools of thought on the topic are based on the following philosophical assumptions:

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Table 8.1

Comparison of Major Schools in Spiral Dynamic's Theory

graves (x) Questions of existence Value systems

experientialistic existence second being Level

Cognitive existence First being Level

Personalistic existence sixth subsistence Level

materialistic existence Fifth subsistence Level

saintly existence Fourth substence Level

egocentric existence third subsistence Level

tribalistic existence second subsistence Level

automatic existence First subsistence Level

Second Tier Laubscher and beck and Cowan (x) Viljoen (x) Value systems / human niches and memes thinking systems beck (2013) master Code and meshworks Second Tier tuRQuoIse tuRQuoIse, Fractal, archetypal, globalView Interconnected-ness holistic/experiential yeLLow, both Individualistic and Collectivistic human yeLLow, FlexFlow niche for survival systemic/Integrative of self and others / functional First Tier gReen gReen, humanbond Collectivistic human Relativistic/ Niche Sacriicing self sociocentric for earth, Inclusive oRange Individualistic human oRange, striveDrive materialistic/achiever niche expressing self through success bLue Collectivistic bLue, truthForce human niche absolutistic/saintly Sacriicing self for future / conserve ReD human niche Individualistic ReD, Powergods expressing self through egocentric/ personal power / exploitative Individualization PuRPLe Collectivistic human niche PuRPLe, kinspirits Our People /Sacriicing animistic/tribalistic self for tribe / metaphorical beIge Individualistic survival / self beIge, survivalsense automatic/Instinctive preservation / unconscious

wilber (x)

Levels of consciousness

Centauric Late vision logic

Centauric middle vision logic

Centauric early vision logic

mental-egoic

mythic-membership

magic-typhonic

magic-typhonic

archaic-uroboric

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• • • • •

• • • • • •

The Beige system – Survival Sense – is still alive and not extinct. The global population of Beige has a much larger presence than initially described. We do not have to “ix” or “convert” Purple (Kin Spirit) and Red (Power God). Leaders in systems, however, have to design from an integrated second-tier angle to ensure optimization of various human niches. There are low and high manifestations of human niches, for example a person that broke away from Purple will irst become low Red with all the side-effects thereof, before he matures to become high Red. Various interpretations of the spiral can be explained by the unique human niches of the interpreter. Human niches are attitudinal not behavioural. Red energy is needed to individualize and form an identity. The repression of a social uprising, a manifestation of low Red, should be worked through and not suppressed. The strive to be better, or become second-tier is repositioned. In interpreting different systems to determine the human niche, one should carefully look at the philosophy and the actual behaviour which are often in two different niches.

It is very clear that there are different thinking systems and that we should be very aware of the systemic dynamics in the ecosystem where we function.

8.2.2. ReCent DeVeLoPments In the FIeLD oF sPIRaL DynamICs We now turn more speciically to spiral dynamics as various authors recently interpreted it. Rica Viljoen refers to the human niches as archetypes or fractals. Each niche has unique properties that make it different from other niches. Laubscher speaks of low and high manifestations of human niches. Viljoen applies Jungian philosophy – based on the work of Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung (22) – on spiral dynamics and describes integrated manifestations and shadow manifestations of the different thinking systems. She (Viljoen) emphasizes the importance of using the spiral dynamics theory in organizational transformation. She highlights the importance for a multi-cultural organization of understanding national cultural dynamics and of gaining insight into differences in worldviews of people in the organization. The importance of adaptive and contextual intelligence are emphasized. Understanding the context in which an organization operates can be of great assistance in ensuring organizational productivity. She also works closely with Laubscher in understanding the dynamics of developing economies. Human niche theory has been incorporated in organizational research where more than 52,000 employees of 42 countries co-created organizational solutions. Dr Kincaid Kotzé (23) developed the Lens Value Quotient (VQ) that relects Clare Graves’s theory of human development. It is explained through the existential contributions by Sartre (24) and Heidegger (25) and indicates the different ways humanity views the world and interacts with it. Worldviews are the basic drivers or needs that inform our everyday existence and this relates to a description of human consciousness. Consciousness as such is deined through what motivates us, what we view as lacking in our lives and how we create meaning through fulilling these areas we care about.

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Lens VQ results are explained in our ability to facilitate change (Flexibility); where we go back to under pressure (Latent worldview); where we function in general (Manifest worldview) and where we aspire to be (Aspirational worldview). Said Elias Dawlabani, together with his partner Elza Maalouf, have been working with Don Beck, in recent years, on a peace-building project in Israel-Palestine. To promote such they have established a Centre for Human Emergence in the Middle East, including a Build Palestine initiative. As such they have picked up form where Beck left off in South Africa in the 1990s. Beck, Dawlabani and Maalouf work closely with Viljoen and Laubscher to forge a new solution in South Africa that also can be applied in the Middle East. The driving force behind the above, for Dawlabani then, is the “double helix” between our internal states and external worlds, described as follows, further to the work of Graves and Beck: •

•

MEMEs: Humans possess within themselves the capacity to exist at different levels of psychological development that relect different perspectives on what the world is like, and different complexities that exist. Life Conditions awaken MEMEs: Memetic patterns of cultural emergence involve Time, Place, Problems and Circumstances: − Time: this is the location along the overall line of human development. Economic policies become increasingly misaligned with the times that people live in, which is why they invariably fail. Time orientation is also very different between the different MEMEs. Purple, for example, departs from the present and the past is just as close as the future to them. Red has a very short timeframe. Blue asks the question of how to sacriice today to build a future. − Place: where we live has a direct impact on our capacities. Laubscher explained that our brains are formatted in the lingo of our mother tongue resulting in analogue and digital thinking systems. − Problems: these are the human challenges presented in terms of needs, priorities, concerns, and requirements for a particular individual, group or culture. Beck emphasizes continuously that the stimulus for adaptation is changing life conditions or problems that cannot be solved from the same thinking system. − Circumstances: one’s socio-economic class, level of education, race, gender and family lineage play a crucial role in deining life conditions. Laubscher explains that often a child grows up half a level higher than his or her parents. Later the disconnect between the niches leads to conlict that may result in a reshufling (sometimes even down the spiral) to a thinking system with which we can make sense to be able to adapt to changing circumstances.

Real systemic models are needed to deal with transformation in society. By examining changes in “life conditions”, spiral dynamics and Said’s MEMEnomics book penetrate through various layers of thinking systems in order to provide answers that inform a lasting and sustainable change.

8.2.3. ChaRaCteRIstICs Common to aLL VaLue systems Dawlabani then describes characteristics common to all MEMES, as initially identiied in our Prologue:

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• • •

• • •

MEMEs affect individuals and societies. Different value systems can co-exist in a person or a society. Each value system can exhibit both healthy and unhealthy expressions. Democracy in the West might appear to be a healthy form of expression of the order-given fourth-level system, while other forms of government like Iran’s theocracy might be considered an unhealthy expression of such. As a person or culture moves up to a higher-order system, they transcend and include all lower level value systems. When a person or culture solves the problems of existence within their value system, they may create the problems which will trigger the emergence of the next value system. Cultures cannot skip a developmental stage. This is true still in the age of technology and the knowledge economy. Law and order must precede prosperity and science. The role that money plays, speciically, in the evolution of humanity and in the modern history of our economy, and where we stand as far as the role of money today an how we can design a sustainable economic system for the future, all become simpler to understand, for Dawlabani, once seen through the prism of value systems.

For Laubscher, moreover, we must indeed be very careful not to study other systems from our thinking system and then try to heal, ix or develop them into what we believe are better or more appropriate thinking systems. Together with Viljoen, Laubscher has worked on identifying the unique gifts that every thinking system displays. The unintended implications of each system are also considered. The following section presents a brief description of irst- and second-tier niches, once more building upon the prior work of Graves and Beck, as interpreted by Laubscher and Viljoen.

8.3. Description of the Different human niches 8.3.1. the FIRst-tIeR human nIChes beige: the First-level human niche: “survival” In the Beige level of thinking systems all energy is directed toward survival through innate sensory abilities and instinctual relations. At this level humans form loosely organized herd like structures that often change format. Beige is still active in all countries. It is especially visible in East Asia, Haiti, Egypt, the Middle East, Portugal, Brazil and other South American countries, in Indian slums, and in many parts of Africa including squatter camps in South Africa. Laubscher explains that breeding patterns in society can be studied to understand how Beige develops. High population growth leads to an exponential increase in Purple (Kin Spirit). Limited economic resources systemically put pressure on living conditions and Purple slips back to Beige. The impact of drugs should also be considered. Often people that are drug addicts ind themselves homeless and in Beige. She (Laubscher) reminds us that the spiral describes a living system and changing life conditions will lead to adaptation. Beige is an individualistic system where the motto is express yourself now so as to survive. When the person or culture has solved the question of existence and of “survival”, Beige gives way to the second-level system.

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Purple: the second-level human niche: “our People” Traditionally it was believed that in Purple the emphasis is still on survival, but unlike the Beige system, survival is achieved through banding together as a tribe. Laubscher explains that Purple is a very different thinking system than Beige. In Purple people have the capacity to connect and form groups. This community building does not only happen to hunt together in tribes as originally documented. The way in which identity is deined should be explored in order to understand the human niche, argues Viljoen. In Purple identity is deined in relation to the interrelatedness with each other and with nature. Self is not identiied as a separate entity, but in relation to the collective, resulting in a very real experience of nature and community. This connectedness results in a deep realization that everyone is part of a bigger system and that elements like the earth, plants, stars, moon and sun also have spirit. The seasons of the earth are celebrated through rituals as the rhythms of nature directly impact the living experience in Purple. A very sacred or magical existence is the result of this thinking system. Ritual is the order of the day. Purple is a collective system, where individuals sacriice the self for the family, the clan, the leader, the union, the group, the or ultimately “our people”. The group is typically organized in a circular form with males and females serving the needs of a typical male elder, leader or father of the household. Ancestors play an important role here as the future is directly impacted by the blessings of those that passed. The group, or clan, preserves sacred objects, places, events and memories; the group observes the traditional rites of passage, the seasonal cycles, and tribal customs. Purple has the gift of storytelling. Parables and metaphors are used to describe real life experiences. Purple read human niches more accurately than any other irst-tier niche. They do this co-consciously; they react to it. Fraternities and sororities in First World countries, teams in professional sports, following for example heavy metal bands and certain corporate tribes are manifestations of Purple. Much religious thinking, especially in Third World countries, embodies such, as do certain trade union activities. Wealth is divided communally, land and territory has a sacred meaning, barter and subsistence are the order of the day. Purple do not ask economic or materialistic questions. They just want to have a better life for their children, good shoes and a good burial. Only when changing life conditions require Purple to adapt or die will this thinking system shift. The boundaries of this system begin to open up as members start to resist the outside world and their children start to interact with the complexity around them. Individuals break free in an attempt to identify self and ind them in the next system that is individualistic.

Red: the third-level human niche: “Visible Risk” Red is an expressive individualistic thinking system and represents the irst emergence of real and effective individual action, and ego. An individual in Red wants to break away from domination or the constriction of Purple. He wants to stand tall, receive attention from others, demand respect and call the shots. In politics, while it may use the appearance of a participatory process, unhealthy Red is likely to corrupt the vote as the question that the thinking system presents is not how can we be fair or truthful, but “how can I get power”. Initially, low Red is displayed in the form of conlict, aggression

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and corruption. High Red on the other hand is hero-like or warrior-like. This wonderful human energy is needed to breathe life into a subdued Purple workforce. The innate ability to take action is visually mirrored in behaviour and results in people that portray a sense of always being in control. The most powerful gets the spoils and decides how they are distributed. In terms of social structures Red is the level of empire, ranging in functionality from the vicious to the heroic. The social uprisings that today are broadcast daily on international news channels, as we see in Egypt, can be explained as Red breaking away from Purple. Often these uprisings are suppressed, not allowing the maturation that is so critical for Red to become highly functional. Red forms gang-like patterns where the person with the most power is viewed as the leader. Rebel groups and unions often have Red leadership. Red is the human niche that takes society out of Purple and creates real proactive humans. A modern day expression of such is the ruler of Dubai who is attempting to move a whole culture up the emergence ladder several stages in the blink of an eye. Low Red is selish, predatory and violent. It was ships of Red merchants form colonizing powers that conquered new lands and exploited resources there. A modern day example here is Robert Mugabe, the president of Zimbabwe. Tribal societies need to go through Red to get to the next stage of democracy; facilitating this transition is one of the greatest challenges today. A contemporary manifestation of a Red economic system is Russia today, with its oligarchs. Often Red leaders hold onto power. However in high Red the person is ready to let go, and power does not serve him or her anymore. The next stage can be ushered in.

blue: the Fourth-level human niche: “stabilizer” Traditionally it was believed that the Blue level of thinking systems is the beginning of what most people think of as civilization. Purple and Red people feel quite belittled by this statement. Further, Blue is often described as the “Truth Force” because it is organized around an absolute belief in one right way and obedience to authority. Examples of such are the monotheistic religions, God country and apple pie, and communism. Blue is a sacriicial system, where individuality is sacriiced to the transcendent cause, truth or righteous pathway. Blue believes that righteous living produces stability now and guaranteed future rewards, is impulsively controlled through guilt, and everybody has his or her proper place. Laws, regulation and discipline build character and moral ibre. Education is handed down from authority. Blue also sacriices the self to gain later – in that sense it is risk adverse. Laubscher describes Blue as saintly, absolutistic and stabilizing. Viljoen speaks to the effectiveness, eficiencies, compliance and reliability of highly functional Blue. In contrast, low Blue follows rules without thinking about it, resulting in ineficiencies, corporate creep, poor customer experience and disillusionment. The organizing principle in Blue is structural and different hierarchical levels of authority are contracted, followed and respected. The challenge that the Third World faces is that most of its value system stack, for Dawlabani, as for Beck, is Purple and Red, along with a weakened Blue system. Before it can further evolve it needs basic Blue, to be effective and reliable, provide safety and security, and impose a form of justice and stability. The high aspects of high Blue include control of Red violence and the creation of a more stable society based on the rule of law. In Blue there is an emphasis on fairness, equity and uniform treatment. Blue has also created progress over Purple and Red in eliminating human suffering (9).

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The absolutistic nature of Blue becomes claustrophobic in high Blue. This paves the way for the ifth-level MEME, once again as an individualistic expressive system.

orange: the Fifth-level human niche: “Calculated Risk” At this point the stronger and more enterprising members of the group begin to realize that they are being held back by adhering to the rules and procedures of the group, and that they could create better results through individual action. For the irst time traditional religion is being challenged. Orange believes in better living through technology. The main idea behind it is that we can shape, inluence, promote progress and make things better through the use of scientiic methods, quantiication, trial and error, and search for better solutions. In this thinking system innovation, progress and success are important. Orange also seeks to manipulate the world’s resources in the most eficient and effective manner. Orange is optimistic, risk-taking and self-reliant. It is the human niche of material prosperity through merit. While Blue often looks to the past, Orange looks to the future. Orange is not risk averse like Blue but has an enterprise and calculated risk mentality. Orange decision-making is based on bottom line results. Options are tested to see which works best. Achieving the desired outcome is of prime importance. An Orange economic system is symbolized by the capitalist ideology in the West, where individual property rights and private ownership of resources are the foundation. Low Orange is materialistic and opportunistic. High Orange is successful, especially in the conquering of the inancial world. The world has been conquered through technology-based competition, but this “good life” is somehow unfulilling. The consequences of not caring for the environment, for example, have begun to come to light, and the absence of the spiritual element has become more apparent. The gifts and lessons of Purple are often forgotten now. Sometimes, however, the strive to conquer becomes empty, preparing the ground for the next human niche.

green: the sixth-Level human niche: “Inclusive” The Green thinking system, which is the last in the irst tier of levels, appears in the search for inner peace and human connection. Inclusivity and connectedness become the highest values. The well-being of all the people is a critical consideration. Green wants to sacriice self, now, for both self and others, for humanity, unlike Orange. Green responds to the lack of internal fulilment of range by seeking peace with the inner self and through exploring the more caring and spiritual dimensions of humanity. When outer-directed, the ideal green social organization is the network, governed by consensus decision-making. The role of Green is to renew humanity’s spirituality, to bring harmony, and to focus on the enrichment of human development. Green often shies away from conlict, as all different opinions are valued. In this way Green can paralyze itself. While ownership of resources remains private, it is heavily taxed and regulated. Awareness of the environment, and of the health of the planet, as well as the worker, is woven into every public and private decision. The knowledge economy is a contemporary manifestation of the early life conditions of Green. Rooted in the World Wide Web’s undeclared mandate to democratize access to information, the knowledge economy is redeining the values of the sixth-level system as it matures. Green, however, is well

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known for being overly permissive, especially with Red, and has trouble dealing with the harsher realities of life. The warm, human aspirations of Green begin to wear thin as the realities of complex social problems appear. The lack of solutions through group effort give way to individual initiative again and the amazing upward journey on the spiral continues at a much higher level of complexity, now in the second-tier system. A quantum leap in terms of thinking patterns takes place and a second tier of thinking systems emerges.

8.3.2. the seConD tIeR human nIChes yellow: the seventh-level human niche: “systemic/Functional” As the irst human niche in the second tier, Yellow again is concerned with survival – but this time around the focus is on survival of the self and survival of all others. This niche is concerned with functionality. It is an individual and expressive thinking system, taking many of the healthy expressions of Green, Orange, Blue, Red and Purple and integrating them into a more effective system. It recognizes the different evolutionary stages and works to unblock the hurdles standing in the way of a healthy systemic low for all of humanity with the understanding that chaos and change are a natural part of the process. From an economic policy perspective this thinking system must design what is naturally appropriate for a culture in order for it to emerge economically, Dawlabani explains. The same principle applies to leadership in both private and public domains. Leaders should design interventions from Yellow – thus assisting large-scale transformation. Unlike low Western Orange practices that exploit the resources of Third World countries or low Western Blue practices that want to ix developing countries from their fundamentalist perspectives, Yellow looks at the cultural content of each human niche in the irst tier in these countries and designs economic policies that take on the form of an indigenous ecosystem relecting the culture’s MEMEtic values. As Yellow begins to spread and conditions change, it becomes apparent that individual approaches to global problems are less effective. At this point Yellow begins to transition to the eighth and last known value system when there is an acceptance of the need for coordinated action to deal with the world’s problems.

turquoise: the eighth-level human niche: “Integral-holonic” To Turquoise inally, the world is a single, dynamic organism with its own collective mind, and the self is at the same time distinct and also a blended part of a larger, compassionate whole. Everything connects to everything else, and holistic, intuitive thinking and cooperative action is expected. A full-merit system of exchange recognizes the totality and eficiency of serving the biosphere will replace all monetary forms of exchange. The emerging science of biomimicry and its construct of an economic ecosystem provides an early glimpse of what a future Turquoise would look like. Turquoise can see the patterns in chaos and have fractal-like properties. The sense occurs that a person is one with cosmic energy. The cosmos is viewed as the ecosystem that should be protected. It may seem esoteric to others. Ultimately, the roots of all these interpretations and manifestations of human niches, can be found in the stated view of Graves that the systems refer to bio-psycho-social-

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spiritual systems in individuals and cultures as they develop and the view of Don Beck that describes the spiral as the invisible scaffolding in our unconsciousness.

8.4. Conclusion: mandala Centre for Integral Development 8.4.1. IntegRaL woRLDs For one of the authors, Ronnie Lessem, as co-founder of the Trans4m Centre for Integral Development in Geneva, from an initially European perspective, the continent has been beset, in the modern era, by, for him, an inauthentic polarity between capitalism (Adam Smith was a Scot) and communism (Karl Marx was German), which belies the cultural variety of Europe, if not of the whole world. Trans4m’s “integral realities”, then, draws on a similar quaternity to Wilber’s, but lodges there in the “South” (we); the “East” (“I”), the “North” (Its) and the “West” (It). Moreover, and like spiral dynamics, what Trans4m calls its developmental “integral rhythm” is Formative (Beige, Purple); Reformative (Red, Blue); Normative (Orange, Green); and ultimately Transformative (Yellow, Turquoise). For Mandala Consulting, founded by Rica Viljoen in South Africa, working for the last ive years in close cooperation with Loraine Laubscher, spiral dynamics has taken an intriguing “Southern” turn. Ansuné Coetzee, also from Mandala, is working alongside Laubscher to integrate the Value Circles theory into development initiatives. Coetzee will also be closely involved in the newly formed Mandala Centre of Integral Development. For Laubscher and Coetzee, as for Viljoen, the different human niches are less hierarchical in nature than they are for Graves and Beck.

8.4.2. manDaLa In PeRsPeCtIVe At this point, a quote from the illustrious Afrikaner adventurer, writer and philosopher, Lauren van der Post (26), would be illustrative: European man walked into Africa by and large totally incapable of understanding Africa, let alone of appreciating the raw material of mind and spirit with which this granary of fate, this ancient treasure house of the lost original way of life, was so richly illed. He had, it is true, an insatiable appetite for the riches in the rocks, diamonds and gold … but not for the precious metal ringing true in the deep toned laughter of the indigenous people around him.

That “precious metal” to which Van der Post metaphorically refers, in spiral dynamic terms would be “Beige” (Survival) and “Purple” (Kin Spirit), which lies low in the Graves/ Beck order of things. Laubscher and Viljoen warn that the spiral should not be viewed hierarchical, but as a group of diverse niches at which individuals and societies excel due to the speciic question of existence that they ask. It is an ever-evolving fractal and a cyclical, emerging form of a mandala. In that sense the newly forged Spiral Dynamics Integral, between Trans4m represented by Ronnie Lessem and Alexander Schieffer, and Mandala represented by Rica Viljoen, Loraine Laubscher and Ansune Coetzee, as per our newly emergent Mandala Centre for Integral Development, takes a leaf out of our second author, Louis Herman’s (27) book:

126 I n t e g r a l P o l i t y The mandala is the oldest and most universal symbol of order, representing the relationship of the searching individual to the cosmos. Since the model seems to express an archetypal structure of the search for order that is rooted in the primal human condition – the autonomous creative individual, in face-to-face community, embedded in nature – we ind it reappearing at those creative moments of transition in history where one order is collapsing, a new one is emerging, and the big questions resurface.

To that extent, the different cultural niches or thinking systems, so to speak, are cyclical and interactive, as well as being linear and accumulative. It is a system of emerging waves not rigid categories. As indicated elsewhere, the circle and the spiral, as well as the line and the point, have their altogether integral part to play in the whole integral polity (28). To that extent a Mandala Centre for Integral Development, emerging out of South Africa, has a Southern (circular – grounding), Eastern (spiralling – emergent), Northern (linear – navigation) and Western (pointed – effect) ring to it, as should be expected in Mandela’s “rainbow nation”. We shall end this chapter on emergent culture and spirituality, and its connection with an integral polity in Eastern-WesternNorthern-Southern guise, with an amazingly insightful quote from the renowned 19thcentury South African novelist Olive Schreiner (29) in her Thoughts on South Africa, written in 1901: In South Africa, in eighty years’ time … there will be a great and independent nation, and it will be unique, unlike any other in the world … The blood of the brave Bantu folk may predominate, but it will be a race blended of Asiatic and other peoples; there will be strains of Dutch and French blood, and the Malay, the Indian and even the Hottentot will have a place in it. The two great blended varieties, dark and light, will form the South African nation of the future, their two streams of life, racially distinct, but always interacting.

It is in that respect that the founder of the new political party Agang, Mamphele Ramphele (30), has maintained that the path of “walking together” must take precedence if healing and transformation is to ensue in the country. Ramphele has accepted the invitation by the Democratic Alliance (DA), the biggest opposition party in South Africa, to be its candidate for the ofice of president of South Africa. As both Agang and the DA have “Blue” thinking systems, the co-operation makes systemic sense. Agang and the DA will be walking together for the beneit of the freedom for which the original freedom ighters fought during the Struggle. We end this chapter where the last one began. In the worlds of Sri Aurobindo: Our irst decisive step out of … our normal mentality is an ascent into a higher Mind … capable of the formation of a multitude of aspects of knowledge, ways of action, forms and signiicances of becoming … [Its] most characteristic movement is a mass ideation, a system of totality of truth-seeing at a single view; the relations of idea with idea, of truth with truth are not established by logic but pre-exist and emerge already self-seen in the integral whole.

We now turn from the spiritually laden human cycle and culturally laden spiral dynamics to the threefold linkage between culture, economy and polity proposed by the “Easterly” oriented Austrian polymath, Rudolph Steiner.

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8.5. References 1.

Laubscher, L. and Viljoen, R.C. (2013) “Human Niches Spiral Dynamics for Africa”. PhD dissertation. Modderfontein: Da Vinci Institute. 2. Lessem, R. and Schieffer, A. (2010) Integral Research and Innovation: Transforming Enterprise and Society. Farnham: Gower. 3. Steiner, R. (2006) Autobiography: Chapters in the Course of My Life: 1861–1907. Herndon, VA: Lantern Books. 4. Ackoff, R. and Emery, F.E. (1972) On Purposeful Systems. Chicago, IL: Aldine-Atherton. 5. Graves, C. (1974) “Human Nature Prepares for a Momentous Leap”, The Futurist, April, pp. 72–87. 6. Beck, D. and Cowan, C. (2005) Spiral Dynamics: Mastering Values, Leadership and Change. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. 7. Beck, D. and Linscott, G. (1991) The Crucible: Forging South Africa’s Future. Durban: New Paradigm Press. 8. Viljoen, R. (2014) Inclusive Organizational Transformation: An African Perspective. Farnham: Gower. 9. Dawlabani, S. (2013) MEMEnomics: The Next Generation Economic System. New York: Select Books. 10. Esbjorn-Hargens, S. and Zimmerman, M. (2009) Integral Ecology: Uniting Multiple Perspectives in the Natural World. Boston, MA: Integral Books. 11. Viljoen, R. (2008) “Inclusive Organizational Transformation through Inclusivity”. PhD dissertation. UNISA, Pretoria. 12. Schieffer, A. and Lessem, R. (2014) Integral Development: Realizing the Transformative Potential of Individual, Organization and Society. Farnham: Gower. 13. Beck, D. and Cowan, C. (1996, 2006) Spiral Dynamics: Mastering Values, Leadership and Change. Malden, MA: Blackwell Business. 14. Dawkins, R. (1989) The Selish Gene. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 15. Wilber, K. (2000) Integral Psychology: Consciousness, Spirit, Psychology, Therapy. Boston, MA: Shambhala. 16. Wilber, K. (2006) Integral Spirituality: A Startling New Role for Religion in the Modern and Post-modern World. Boston, MA: Integral Books. 17. Sorokin, P. (1985) Social and Cultural Dynamics. Piscataway, NJ: Transaction Publishers. 18. Gebser, J. (1986) The Ever Present Origin: The Foundations and Manifestations of an Aperspectival World. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press. 19. Phipps, C. (2012) Evolutionaries: Unlocking the Spiritual and Cultural Potential of Science’s Greatest Idea. New York: Harper Perennial. 20. Colinvaux, P.A. (1980) Fate of Nations. New York: Simon and Schuster. 21. De Bono, E. (1971) The Mechanism of Mind. London: Pelican Books. 22. Jung, C.G. (1954) On the Nature of the Psyche. 1988 ed. London: Ark Paperbacks. (Contained in Collected Works Vol. 8). 23. Kotzé, I.K. (2009) “Spiral Dynamics: An Expression of Worldviews”. PhD Thesis. Pretoria: University of Pretoria. 24. Sartre, J.-P. (1948) Existentialism Is a Humanism, trans. P. Mairet. London: Methuen. 25. Heidegger, M. (1962) Being and Time, trans. J. Macquarrie and E. Robinson. New York: Harper & Row. 26. Van der Post, L. (1956) The Dark Eye of Africa. Cape Town: Lowery. 27. Herman, L. (2013) Future Primal: How Our Wilderness Origins Show Us the Way Forward. Novato, CA: New World Library.

128 I n t e g r a l P o l i t y 28. Schieffer, A. and Lessem, R. (2014) Integral Development: Realizing the Transformative Potential of Individual, Organization and Society. Farnham: Gower. 29. Schreiner, O. (1923) Thoughts on South Africa. London: Fisher Unwin. 30. Ramphele, M. (2008) Laying Ghosts to Rest: Dilemmas of Transformation in South Africa. Cape Town: Tafelburg.

CHAPTer

9

Cultural, Political and Economic Navigation: Threefolding

We adhere to the principle of socially engaged spirituality. Our task of inner and societal transformation requires access to the deepest sources of meaning and identity that we can tap so that we can continue to have strength and do not burn out. We will therefore seek and nurture our own paths to a sense of the Divine in all that exists. We advance our spirituality not for ourselves, but ultimately to serve others and to nurture the world. Our search is for a spirituality that will not take us away from this world but will give us the creative power to manifest in world affairs the implicit essence of the evolutionary process of Divine Creation. Nicanor Perlas, Integral Sustainable Development

9.1. Introduction: Liberty, equality, Fraternity 9.1.1. thReeFoLDIng As we saw in Chapter 7, Sri Aurobindo grounded his impending new world order in liberty, equality and fraternity. Hitherto at the time of the French Revolution, for Frances Edmunds (1) the founder of Emerson College in the UK (a higher education institute based on Austrian polymath Rudolf Steiner’s work) a call sounded forth, the call of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. Steiner thereafter, during the calamitous years of the First World War, brought forward, as an answer to that call, his ideas on what he termed a Threefold Commonwealth – cultural, political and economic. Steiner in fact saw himself as a “spiritual scientist”. As such he developed a unique approach to navigating social renewal (2), thereby renewing culture (liberty) – including art and architecture, health and agriculture, philosophy and education – as well as politics (equality) and economics (fraternity). In 1917, after 30 years of so-called “spiritual-scientiic” research, according to Edmunds, Steiner had come to describe how the body consists of three distinct though related organizations, a nervous-sense system centred in the head, a rhythmic circulatory system centred in the chest and a limbic-metabolic system centred in the abdomen. They represent three different principles: the nerve-system comprising the brain, nerves and senses being related to conscious thought; the rhythmic circulatory system comprising lung, heart and circulation as the centre of the rhythmic functioning of the body to the life of feeling; and the limbic-metabolic system aligned with will.

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9.1.2. the thReeFoLD natuRe oF man In other words the picture of the “threefold commonwealth” (see Figure 9.1 below) can be viewed as directly parallel to that of the threefold nature of man. However, Steiner’s ideas on such could not be realized at the time, early in the last century, and are still far from being realized today (Sekem in Egypt, as we shall see in Chapter 22, being one prominent exception). Why then is this? It is, for Steiner, because of the overwhelmingly centralist trend in thought that is ever looking for singular, “head leadership”, whether by individual “leaders” or “entrepreneurs”, such as America’s Bill Gates, or the late Steve Jobs, or Britain’s Richard Branson, or indeed by singular ideologies, such as capitalism or communism. Where then, irstly, do we genuinely ind liberty? Certainly not in free markets, nor even in liberal democracy, but essentially, for Steiner, in the sphere of thought. We would expect every individual to be entirely free to think his own thoughts, to worship in his own style, to pursue his own cultural interest, in fact to conduct his own cultural life untroubled and untrammelled by any question of outer control. Where, secondly, shall we seek and expect to ind equality? Most surely before the law. Justice belongs equally to all, for Steiner as for Edmunds, before humanity and before God. This is not the same idea as a welfare state administered from above. Rights and justice belong to the sphere of the heart, and the guiding impetus here should spring from the heart in the mutual concern of (wo)men for each other, directly related to political life. What, thirdly then, should be understood by fraternity or brotherhood? Fraternity in effect springs from the gifts we bring to one another in the services we render from one another. This directly engages the question of work and what we mean by economic life. At every point in economic life we touch the sphere of morality and there fraternity arises. Indeed this is a far cry from the way business and economics is conventionally conceived today. In summing up then, in threefold guise: • • •

liberty of thought relates to the nerve centre system, and belongs to the cultural sphere; equality relates to the heart and the rhythmic system, and belongs to the rights sphere; fraternity concerns work, production and consumption, related to human will and the metabolic-limb system, belonging to the economic sphere.

We now turn speciically to the economic and the political, in light of the cultural, from Steiner’s navigational perspective, that is in the guise of the social question.

9.2. the social Question: Cultural, Political, economic 9.2.1. what Is LabouR FoR? Steiner raises the fundamental question, then, how is “labour” conceived of in the present time? It is conceived of, he says, on the basis of self-interest, thereby promoting our egoism. We work for our own sake, for the sake of our pay. In the future, he maintains though, we will work for our fellow human beings, because they need what we can provide.

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T



F


N ss s s  Rhythmic circulatory system Cultural sphere Polical sphere Liberty Equality Figure 9.1

g

 Limb metabolic system Economic sphere Fraternity

Threefold Commonwealth and Threefold Person

Labour in the past was tribute, for Steiner, in the future it will be sacriice. It will have nothing to do with self-interest, nothing to do with compensation. If we base our labour on consumer demand with regard to what humanity needs, we stand in a free relation to labour and our work is a sacriice for humanity. Then we will work with all our powers, because, operating out of a raised level of consciousness, we love humanity and want to place our capacities at its disposal. That has to be possible, and is only possible when our selfhood is separated from our labour. And that, for Steiner, is going to happen in the future. If you were to found a small community today in which everyone throws all their income into a common bank account and everyone works at what they can do, then your livelihood is not dependent on what work you can do, but rather is effected out of common consumption. This brings about a greater freedom than the coordination of pay which mere materially based production serves to bring about. If we adopt such a communal approach, as indeed we saw in the case of Chinyika (see Chapter 6) we will gain a direction which corresponds with needs. We want to strengthen the soul then, culturally so to speak according to Steiner, through the law of its own inner being, so that it learns to place its powers at the disposal of the whole from points of view other than – including laws of justice – the law of wages and self-interest. Thus labour becomes anything but a burden. It becomes something into which we place that which is most sacred for us, our compassion for humanity, and then we can say: labour is sacred because it is a sacriice for mankind.

9.2.2. CuLtuRaL DIFFeRentIatIon wIthIn euRoPe In that overall context, moreover, and for example, English, German and Russian social structures, bearing upon the threefold commonwealth, cannot be the same. They must be differentiated. Within the English-speaking culture, for Steiner, intelligence is instinctive. It is a new instinct that has arisen in the evolution of mankind – the instinct to think intelligently. The Russian people differ from the English as the North Pole does from the South. In Central Europe, he says, human beings do not have intelligence instinctively, they must be educated. Among the Russians, then, a man of intelligence must be a man who is awake, who has attained a certain level of self-consciousness. The civil servant who has studied much may not be enlightened. But the worker who thinks about the connection with the social order, who is awake as to his relation with society, is a man of intelligence. Whereas therefore in the West intelligence is instinctive, born in one, and in the middle one is trained to it, in the East it is something that awakens out of a certain depth within the human soul.

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In other words, human beings awaken to intelligence. Whereas the English-speaking people let the intelligence sink down into the instincts, the Russians want to cherish it. In practice, therefore, we must expect differentiations. We must not imagine that people are the same all over the world, or that the social question can be solved the same way all over.

9.2.3. the thReeFoLD touChstone The touchstone then, for the so-called “anthroposophical” movement that Steiner founded, and as we have already seen, is threefold. Indeed, and in that capacity, irst such a movement must show itself equal to the scientiic and intellectual requirements of the time. Second it has to have something vital to say about the burning issues of the present day. Third, it needs to consciously explain the different religious needs of humankind to themselves. A spiritual science dealing with the realities of our time must be able to, navigationwise so to speak, allude to labour, capital, credit, the land, about the things connected with life today, on the development of the social life, as easily as it can speak about the relation of humans to the divine being, on loving thy neighbour and so forth. This is what humankind has omitted to do for so long – to ind the real connections, from the highest realms down to the most immediate and concrete developments and processes of life. This is what theology has left undone. Theologians talk from the above downwards, telling people to be good and so on. But they are unproductive, they are even sterile, Steiner maintains, when it comes really grasping the burning issues of the time. External scholarship and science, without the elevation of inner cultural and spiritual consciousness, can speak of these immediate things of life, but they speak in a way that is remote from realities. Just as for the individual human being, then, we must know how the blood circulation rhythmically regulates human life, so we must know what is pulsating in the most varied ways in social life. Think of how different it would be if in any establishment the workers were immersed in the soul and spirit of the enterprise’s whole economic process, whereby they were able to understand how they stood within it through the fact that they produce a particular commodity. This is very different from what prevails today in both capitalism and socialism.

9.2.4. CuLtuRe, PoLItICs anD eConomICs Socialist thinkers believe that when the old industrial system has disappeared, the antisocial tendencies at work will also necessarily come to an end. An industrial system can, in and of itself, do nothing beyond putting men into life situations that enable them to produce goods for themselves or for others in a more or less eficient manner. So long as this power is employed in the one ield – the production of goods – alone, its social effect is essentially different from what it is when this power oversteps its bounds and trespasses into the ields of law or culture. He or she, in fact, who possesses the means of production, acquires economic power over others. This economic power has resulted in the capitalist allying himself with the powers of government, whereby he or she is able to procure other advantages in society. This economic domination has led to a similar monopolization of cultural life by those

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who hold the economic power. At the same time, collectively, society is incapable of giving birth to economic schemes that can be realized through individuals in the most desirable way. The economic, the political and the cultural, therefore, must exercise their independent powers. Really practical thought, therefore, will not look to ind the cure for social ills in a reshaping of economic life that would substitute communal production for private management of the means of production. Rather, the endeavour should be to forestall the evils that may spring up along with management by individual initiative without impairing this management itself. This is possible only if neither the legalpolitical relationship amongst those engaged in industry nor that which the culturalspiritual sphere should contribute are inluenced by the interests of industrial and economic life. The manager who directs a business must necessarily have a legal relationship to manual workers in the same business; but this does not mean that he, as a business manager, is to have a say in determining what that relationship is. When the economically powerful are in a position to use that power to wrest privileges for themselves, a corresponding opposition to these privileges will grow among the economically weak. Whoever wants to avoid revolutions should learnt to establish a social order that shall accomplish in the steady low of time what will otherwise try to realize itself in one historical moment.

9.2.5. CuLtuRe has FaLLen behInD PoLItICs anD eConomICs In the last few centuries cultural life, for Steiner, has been cultivated under conditions that allowed it to exercise only the smallest independent inluence upon politics or the economy. One of the most important aspects of culture, education, was shaped by governmental interests. Two different currents arise within cultural life. One of them draws its waters from political rights and the other from economic life, and both are thereby occupied with the daily requirements each imposes, trying to devise systems to meet these – without, however, penetrating to the needs of our spiritual nature. All this does is to impose external political and economic systems on our internal nature and culture, and harness (wo)men into them, ignoring what our inner nature has to say about it. It reveals to us nothing of what lies in cosmic processes with which human nature and culture is interwoven. For such knowledge as this needs a worldview that unites both the human world and the world outside the human. Those forces that hold sway in our innermost cultural and spiritual being are not the same forces that are at work in external, political and economic reality. Scientiic thinking cannot penetrate down to those forces when it merely elaborates “natural law” intellectually out of external experience. Yet the worldviews that are founded on a more religious basis, according to Steiner, are no longer in touch with those forces either. They accept the traditions that have been handed down without penetrating to their fountainhead in the depths of human nature. Instead, for him, culturally and spiritually laden ideas are able to carry within them the force of reality when they offer themselves as guides to social – political and economic – action.

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9.2.6. thInkIng, FeeLIng anD wILLIng Spiritual insight that penetrates to the essence of human nature, and culture, then, in one particular society or another, inds there motives for action that are immediately good in the ethical sense as well. The impulse toward evil arises within us only because in our thoughts and feelings we silence the depths of our nature. Accordingly, social ideas that are arrived at through the sort of spiritual concepts indicated here must, by their very nature for Steiner, be ethical ideas as well. Since they are drawn not from thought alone, but from life, they possess the strength to take hold of the will and to live in action. This kind of spirituality can thrive, however, only when its growth is completely independent of all authority except that derived directly from cultural life itself. Political and legal measures for the nurture of the spirit sap the strength of cultural life, while a cultural life that is left entirely to its own inherent interests and impulses will strengthen every aspect of social life. A person brought up and educated within a free cultural life will certainly, through his very initiative, bring into his calling much of the stamp of his or her personality. Such a person will not allow himself to be itted into the social machinery like a cog into a machine. In the end, however, what he brings into it will not disturb the harmony of the whole, but rather increase it. What goes on in each particular part of the communal life then will be the outcome of what lives in the spirits of the people that work there. People whose souls breathe the atmosphere created by a spirit such as this will vitalize the institutions needed for practical economic purposes in such a way that social needs, too, will be satisied. Institutions devised to satisfy these social needs will never work so long as people feel in their inner nature to be out of harmony with their outward occupation. For institutions of themselves cannot work socially. To work socially requires socially attuned human beings working within an ordered legal system created by a living interest in such, and with an economic life that produces in the most eficient fashion the goods required for actual needs. Every institution, for Steiner then, that has arisen within communal life had its origin in the will that shaped it; the life of the sprit as contributed to its growth. Only when life becomes complicated, as it has under modern technical methods of production, does the will which dwells in thought lose touch with social reality. We withdraw in spirit, and seek in some remote corner the spiritual substance needed to satisfy our souls. Individual wills can expand unfettered if, alongside the economic sphere, there is a legal-political sphere where the standard is set, not by any economic point of view but only by the consciousness of rights, and if, alongside both the economic and legal spheres, a free cultural life can ind its place following only the impulses of the spirit. The experiments being made, in the 1920s for Steiner just as is the case in our new millennium today, to resolve the social, and now also environmental, issues we face, seek to ind the solution in economic and technological, if not also political, transformation. We fail to recognize that these transformations can only come about through forces that are released from within human nature, and culture, in itself, that is in the revival of cultural as well as legal-political realms, independent of, though interdependent with, the economic. Further to such, we now turn from Steiner and Edmunds, based hitherto in Central and Western Europe, albeit with an afinity for the

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“East”, to their contemporary Asian counterpart, the Philippine social philosopher and activist Nicanor Perlas.

9.3. shaping globalization 9.3.1. the Language oF a new tRI-PoLaR woRLD Nicanor Perlas (3) is a leading social activist originally based at the Centre for Alternative Development Initiatives in the Philippines, who has recently published, and has since 2011 been promoting (4) Mission Impossible: Sow Courage, Harvest a New World. As such he has taken the principles of the “Threefold Commonwealth”, originally proposed by Rudolph Steiner in the 1920s, and adapted them for our contemporary times. In the process he has established a Global Network for Social Threefolding. Civil society for him then, understands that society as a whole has three realms: the economic, the political and the cultural. It realizes that it dwells in the cultural realm, the public sector occupies the political realm, and the private sector the economic one. It sees that it can wield cultural power to achieve its ends just as effectively as governments wield political and businesses yield economic power to achieve their ends. The emergence of global civil society, for Perlas, changes the world from a uni-polar or bi-polar to a tri-polar one. From 1945 to 1989 humanity lived in a bi-polar world, created by the Cold War between the economic forces of capitalism and the political power of communism. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the bi-polar world started to ebb away. The subsequent “Battle of Seattle”, with the World Trade Organization some 10 years later, had then been preceded by years of work by global civil society. Such a society has broken down the monopoly of the neo-liberal, capitalist centred discourse on globalization. Civil society, in an act of cultural rebellion, re-framed the whole globalization debate in terms of values and meaning, thereby birthing a new history. Through its emergence, civil society also gives birth, consciously or not, to cultural life as an autonomous realm within the larger society. Recognizing the existence of three institutional powers – and the de facto emergence of an autonomous cultural realm through the presence of civil society – is the irst key, for Perlas, to understanding what threefolding is. For the second key we need to turn to social science. There we learn that there are three realms in social life or three subsystems in society – cultural, political and economic. We live in a healthy society, then, if the three realms mutually recognize and support each other. We live in an unhealthy society if one realm dominates and tries to subjugate the others. Because the processes and concerns of the economy are quite different from those of the polity and culture, threefolding recognizes that business, government and civil society will naturally emphasize different aspects of society as a whole. Threefolding then is a balanced way to bring about social healing and social wholeness. It brings an integral and holistic approach to the process and substance of development. As a social process, threefolding can either increase or harmonize the conlict between the three global forces that inhabit the tri-polar world. The quality of the social interaction between the three forces – the three key institutions of social life – will determine, for Perlas, the direction of globalization. He then turns speciically to the Philippines.

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HUMAN BEING

Development of full human potential Holistic science and appropriate technology

S

CULTURE

POLITY

Cultural, moral and spiritual sensitivity

O

Gender sensitivity

C

Social justice

I

Participatory democracy

E

ECONOMY

Community based resource management

T Y Figure 9.2

Ecological soundness

NATURE

Global cooperation

Threefold Image of Society

9.4. threefolding and the example of Philippine agenda 21 9.4.1. towaRDs IntegRaL sustaInabLe DeVeLoPment The origins of Philippine Agenda 21 can be traced back to 1992, when newly elected Philippine President Fidel Ramos invited 18 civil society leaders for a dialogue on sustainable development. These 18 had just returned from the UN Conference on Environment and Development, popularly known as the Earth Summit, held in Brazil. In that dialogue the President agreed to take up the creation of the Philippine Council for Sustainable Development. Finally, in September 1996, the President launched Philippine Agenda 21 (PA21) as its highest development policy. In PA21 the Philippines articulated an image of society that is threefold: culture, polity and economy, building on nature (see Figure 9.2). With its reputation as a global leader in sustainable development policy and processes secured, the Philippines then become the facilitator of the National Councils for Sustainable Development in Asia and the Paciic. Such developments have been mirrored within the United Nations as a whole. More recently Perlas, some two decades later, in 2011, has developed seven distinctly Philippine dimensions of Integral Sustainable Development (ISD): •

Spiritual Development. Modern science, especially astrophysics, is providing evidence that we exist in a profoundly interconnected, living and intelligent universe; that the human species is not a mere product of blind chance and therefore has deep purpose; that our brain structure and other aspects of our biology are geared towards freedom; and that Divine Intelligence permeates the continuous creation and evolution of worlds. As part and parcel of this universal creation, we afirm the divine nature of the

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•

•

•

•

•

•

human being. A sense of the sacred is deeply Filipino and underlies all aspects and dimensions of a truly integral sustainability. Human Development. We will guarantee the right of every Filipino to the development of his or her full human potential always mindful and within the context of contributing to the welfare of society and the planet. We also afirm human dignity and the rights and responsibilities of every human being as self-directed, spiritual individuals with unique hopes and aspirations for themselves and for the common good. Societal Development. We will encourage governance processes that seek to eradicate poverty and advance the quality of life for all. We will mainstream moral and effective governance that will remove corruption, improve the nation’s education and health, end conlict, secure peace, provide adequate housing, strengthen family and community life, and achieve sustainable population levels, among others. Cultural Development. Culture has the power to transform and civil society has a key role to play in this process. We will institute a cultural revolution, a peaceful cultural revolution that will inspire and propel reforms in culture itself, especially education. These reforms would then have the power to re-invent government and business and lead to a Philippine renaissance. Culture, especially the creative arts, is going to become essential in the renewal of our society. This is an exciting dimension of excellence that has yet to be fully mobilized in our quest for a sustainable society. Political Development. We will redesign the political system so that it is open to the participation not only of people in government, but also those in civil society, and business. In this way, we encourage an approach that involves and evolves society as a whole. We will ensure that justice and equality, transparency and accountability become the hallmarks of a more moral and effective governance. Economic Development. We will broaden the foundations of the economy and make its beneits more inclusive. We will align and harness investment, trade, inancial, monetary, and iscal, especially taxation policies towards genuine integral sustainable development that eradicates poverty and improves the quality of life for all. Ecological Development. We will reframe development policy to recognize and respect the environment as among the most important sources of life of a nation. Ecological balance and harmony must thus underpin and inform national development. To achieve this end, MISSION IMPOSSIBLE will encourage educational efforts to understand the full implication of Nature as a Divine creation and, which, therefore, has its own value and integrity beyond narrow human intentions.

9.5. Conclusion: Civil society and the beginning of history For optimist Perlas, ultimately then, the challenges of globalization will be answered creatively and its opportunities harnessed to serve the ends of the human spirit. The achievements of civil society, especially those at the local level, will become the multicultural fabric that will be woven at the world level, the fabric of a new moral and spiritual world order. Global civil society, as such, will continue to act as a countervailing force against the totalitarian tendencies in states and markets that continue to resist the rising star of global society.

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This strategic global role is enhanced as civil society begins to understand its own context, to get a deeper knowledge of its own identity. Comprehensive approaches to sustainable development will start to lourish in many parts of the world. Global civil society will become increasingly mindful about securing and defending the cultural spaces of the world. When these cultural spaces are secured, global civil society will introduce conscious threefolding substance and processes at the country and global levels. In the annals of the New History, then, we shall look back in time to the juncture, to the crossroads of two millennia in the year 2000. The writers of the new history will recount how, in that year, and in the few years that followed, unexpectedly and unpredictably, millions of human beings decided it was time to start the world anew. These were the years when millions began abandoning the false premises of elite globalization. Renewing their hearts and minds, they established thousands of creative alternatives. It was at that time that history truly ended and the New History began. For such a new history, effectively, we turn from the Philippines to nearby Sri Lanka, building on prior ground established by Gandhi in India.

9.6. References 1. Edmunds, F. (1990) From Thinking to Living: The Work of Rudolf Steiner. Shaftesbury: Element Books. 2. Steiner, R. (2003) Social and Political Science: An Introductory Reader. Forest Row: Sophia Books. 3. Perlas, N. (2000) Shaping Globalization: Civil Society, Cultural Power and Threefolding. Cape Town: Novalis. 4. Perlas, N. (2011) Mission Impossible: Sow Courage, Harvest a New World. Manila: Self-published.

CHAPTer

10 Conscious, Powerful,

Economic Effect: Sri Lanka’s Sarvodaya

Development efforts over the last two and a half decades have demonstrated that, however clever or generous the schemes, the local populace will not use or profit from them unless it is internally motivated to do so. To enlist popular participation and commitment, development programmes require a valuebase that is meaningful to the people, relevant to their perceived needs, and affirmative of their inherent strengths. And where are such values to be found? They are present in indigenous religious traditions, which over centuries have shaped the people’s perception of reality and their notions of what is good and true. Principles for the improvement of their present lives can be culled from these traditions, and re-articulated in ways that mobilize people to take responsibility for social change. Joanna Macy, Dharma and Development (1)

10.1. Introduction to sarvodaya 10.1.1. human CyCLe to awakenIng oF aLL We have now journeyed, culturally and spiritually from an “Eastern” perspective, from our Indian-Asian grounding in the human cycle, through our integral emergence through spiral dynamic, onto an Eastern European navigation, via threefolding – cultural, political and economic. Whereas the human cycle is grounded in Asian, Indian soils, the equally developmental approach to spiral dynamics, now spanning culture and spirituality as well as science and technology, politics and economics, emerged in America, albeit inluenced by Eastern philosophy, and the threefold commonwealth that originated in Eastern Europe. We now turn once again to Asia, to the Sarvodayan effect, that is the awakening of all. The founder of Sarvodaya, 50 years ago, was schoolteacher A.T. Ariyaratne (2). Today Sarvodaya operates in some 38,000 villages across Sri Lanka. We start by reviewing Sarvodaya’s philosophy in the light of Sri Lanka’s natural and cultural, social and political evolution.

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Navigaon Threefold Commonwealth Rudolph Steiner/ Nicanor Perlas Transformave Effect Sarvodaya: Awakening of All A.T. Ariyaratne

Integral Polity Culture & Spirituality Asia

Emergent Foundaon Spiral Dynamics Integral Graves/Wilber/Beck

Original Grounding The Human Cycle Sri Aurobindo Figure 10.1 Integral eastern Polity

10.1.2. the saRVoDaya PhILosoPhy Sri Lanka, like many other newly independent nations at the time, for A.T. Ariyaratne, was a victim of Western colonialism for over four centuries. Except for a negligible fraction of the native population who learned the colonizer’s language, embraced the latter’s religion, and adopted an alien culture, the vast majority of the people in these countries were languishing in poverty, ignorance, disease and squalor. During the period of industrialization in Europe and the subsequent commercial expansion toward the East, production of wealth was a material and mechanical affair, from which spiritual and humanistic considerations were totally absent, and was the sole economic philosophy that interested the Western capitalists. Ariyaratne came to the conclusion in the middle of the last century that his country could not go on that way. The dilemma he faced was how to harmonize economic theory with Sri Lanka’s age-old spiritual wealth, its culture, if you like, and its consciousness. The Sarvodaya philosophy – the “awakening of all” – that he evolved (3), then, was syncretic in ideology and a universal concept, indeed interweaving Marx, Rousseau, Ashoka, and most speciically Buddha’s teachings. According to Lord Buddha, man’s suffering is due to his ignorance of the true nature of things. The three particular Buddhist principles to be realized are: • • •

principle of Change: all phenomena are in a state of constant change; principle of Suffering: one who fails to understand such, “grasps” at things; principle of Egolessness: the deceptive notion of “I” is at the roots of anger, hatred and greed.

Long before the socialist economic theories were formulated in the West as a reaction to extreme capitalist exploitation, people practised a socialist way of life based on

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Buddhist philosophy. The concept of “dana”, or sharing, was purely based on the notion that overcoming “craving” is the sole means to happiness, and “shrama” (4), as we shall see, is the notion of “work”. In fact such indigenous philosophies have been all too often ignored by the colonial powers.

10.1.3. PoLItICaL InstItutIons anD tRaDItIonaL moRaLIty the buddhist Influence Sri Lanka is a country with a Buddhist tradition that goes back more than 2,500 years, to the 3rd century bc, despite the vicissitudes the nation suffered throughout its history. At the macro level the traditional king was considered a Bodhisattva or Nascent Buddha. Such a king usually possessed four important characteristics: sharing, pleasant speech, fruitful activities and equality: the king was equal to his subjects, not above them. Traditional morality, moreover, possessed a twofold basis, in outward action and inward feeling that served as a spring of such action. A group of wise people advised the king, and it is in that spirit that one could conceive of the Buddhist monks in the villages today, as moral as well as spiritual advisers to the people. Historically, the monks’ role was interwoven with the people’s agricultural life, irrigational activities, education, health, economic, cultural as well as religious activities. They were therefore a considerable social and political force. They were in turn a repository of traditional morality.

the Colonial Impact With the advent of the colonial powers, however, beginning with the Portuguese followed by the Dutch and the British, the basis of traditional morality was eroded, as exogenous values were forcibly imposed. The traditional morality was superseded. The hiatus created a breeding ground for violence and enmity, endless acquisition of wealth and exploitation of others. Local leaders who took over when the British left had no real appreciation of the political institutions they had been bequeathed, and so they had no real sense of what was essential to them and what could be dispensed with. In fact the British left behind a local elite that was neither British nor Sri Lankan, and that thereby failed to appreciate the inner spirit of the indigenous and exogenous institutions they inherited, instead paying great attention to external trappings. Modern Sri Lankan society, for Ariyaratne moreover, has borrowed the concept of government based on parliamentary democracy that was an organic growth in the West. But the democratic spirit of free inquiry, openness to criticism and absence of hierarchy, he says, does not exist in Sri Lanka. The inner spirit is that of the traditional kingship, which has now become perverted by undigested Western notions. Instead, and for example, the “free press”, bereft of Western traditions of the free exchange of ideas, has become a tool of raw political power. Moreover, for Ariyaratne, in the 1990s in Sri Lanka, the agony of civil war, class war, economic deprivation and mass frustration prevails.

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the awakening Process Yet at the same time, the three principles of Impermanence or change, Suffering and Egolessness have, according to Ariyaratne, conditioned the minds of people in Sri Lanka for centuries. All other things in people’s lives, whether individual behaviour, economic development programmes, or moral conduct, historically sprang from this central Buddhist thought. Sarvodaya’s task was to counter the erosion of all of such by bringing back into public consciousness the liberating sprit of traditional values and morality. As a result the movement has striven for “a no afluence as well as a no poverty society”. What Sarvodaya has been trying to do, for half a century, is to re-build a community which will not give priority to economically sound development projects without taking into consideration their moral, social and ecological costs. Sarvodaya attempts to promote community planning and participatory learning programmes which will once again promote shared values of traditional morality and community life. What the movement has sought to do is to revive the indigenous, age-old perception of reality that people can organize themselves on the basis of their own resources.

10.1.4. the saRVoDaya shRamaDana moVement Sarvodaya thought or philosophy, overall then, is put into concrete action by an integrated threefold programme: an educational programme, through Shrama/dana; a community development programme, through Gramodaya (village re-awakening); a direct participation programme (through village self-government). The shramadana camp, which Ariyaratne irst instigated in the 1950s with his students, at senior school, had two objectives: experiencing traditional social living based on the principles of sharing, pleasant language, constructive activity and equality; sharing labour to complete a physical task that satisies a long felt community need. A youth leader who was assigned to conduct proceedings invited a village elder or a village child to inaugurate the camp by lighting the traditional coconut oil lamp and hoisting the Sarvodaya lag. This was done to the chanting of religious stanzas by monks or to the singing of a Sarvodaya song. This ceremonial opening was followed by a “family gathering”. The pupils-volunteers had come to learn and not to teach. At the same time, a mass education programme was set in place, under Ariyaratne’s instigation, where the history of the village, their habitual customs and beliefs, their problems and aspirations were discussed. Relevant questions from great religious teachers and other great men were read and explained. Song and dance items were intermixed with serious discussions regarding community, national and international problems. Family gettogethers were held daily. Hence one saw the rare sight of a university professor seated on a mat with an illiterate villager.

10.1.5. VILLage LeVeL oRganIzatIon Through their direct participation in organized activities, the Sarvodaya movement in each village has made an attempt to:

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• • •

bring about a change in their ideas, attitudes and objectives according to the Sarvodaya philosophy; bring about improvements in the methods and techniques adopted by people in their day-to-day life, especially in economic production, distribution and consumption; bring about change in their existing organizations and institutions for the better.

The irst activity of the children’s group was to start a children’s library. The children’s organization becomes the starting point for the formation of other groups. The second group organized in the villages is the mother’s group. Some of its objectives are bringing up children in a proper manner, home improvement, religious work, moral re-awakening and activities to supplement the family income. The third group is the youth group. They begin with what they can do in the village such as community development, education and sports projects. The fourth group, the farmers’ groups, has ive clear objectives: • • • •

ensure unity among farmers; win freedom from exploitation and right of participation in framing policy and implementing programmes; safeguard agricultural values; make occupational recognition of farmers a reality.

For Sarvodaya, it was, overall, an endeavour to achieve “dynamic harmony” through non-violent direct action by the threefold programme of education, development and participation. Calling a halt to exploitation or violence in all ields – economic, political, administrative or social – by non-violent direct action was the duty of all who believed in total freedom. The movement today, moreover, some 50 years later, has its own Development Educational Institutes, Village Re-awakening Centres, Co-operative Economic Enterprises and other such bodies.

10.2. the awakening of all 10.2.1. PoLItICaL to sPIRItuaL awakenIng Sarvodaya did not talk, from the outset, about welfare. Instead it talked about awakening. Awakening of the individual to his highest potential; awakening of human groups to their total potential; awakening of the nation to its highest potential. For rural people, such development had six components: irstly, a political element, in the sense of people having an opportunity to participate in decision making; secondly, people look at development as a process where certain social needs could be fulilled; thirdly comes the economic sector. These three sectors then, political, social and economic need to be combined with three others. Development is meaningless if it does not pay heed to moral principles. These are the cultural values that a society cherishes. These are also spiritual values which give meaning to people’s lives. Therefore, if we are to integrate any national development effort six factors are involved: moral, cultural, spiritual, political, social and economic. Ariyaratne then turns to science, both Western and Asian.

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10.2.2. westeRn VeRsus asIan sCIenCe outer Directed versus Inner Directed What conventionally goes under the name of science, for Ariyaratne, is a product of the West. The development of modern science and the expansion of the materialistic inluence of the West on Asian society took place hand in hand. Western expansionism had a deinite objective – limitless greed for wealth promoted through violence, untruth and so-called “science”. The irst deinition of science Ariyaratne was given at school was: “science is the quest of man for a universal knowledge of nature.” The question is, for such Western science, is man himself included as an integral part of nature? In fact there is plenty of evidence, for Ariyaratne, of man and nature working at cross purposes. Man was trying to master nature as if he was not part of it. The story of development of science and technology is a sad tale, of man’s insatiable greed not only to plunder his fellow man but also his fellow creatures in the animal kingdom. Ariyaratne reminds us, thereafter, that the relationship between man’s material planes of existence and his spiritual planes have an internal relationship and only this realization can save him from the mess into which human civilization has degenerated. According to the teachings of the Buddha, our human life moves around the central pivot of the mind-body combination known as numa-rupa, the ive aggregates of which are: • • • • •

rupa – body vedana – sensation sannita – perception sankhara – volitional activities vinnana – consciousness

The world for ignorance or non-science is avijja and that for science is vijja. Buddha went on to explain that there is suffering in the world, which can be removed by the noble eightfold path: • • • • • • • •

samma ditta – right understanding samma sankappa – right thoughts samma vacca – right words samma kammantha – right deeds samma ajiva – right livelihood samma vayama – right effort samma sathi – right awareness samma samadhi – right concentration

The Asian, or “Eastern” scientiic method, then, is integral to the series of personality awakening processes which were liberated to bring about the cessation of suffering. It was not simply thirst after knowledge for the sake of satisfying curiosity or for improvement in production processes. It is with a view to attaining Supreme Enlightenment that knowledge is sought, leading to wisdom. This does not take place through objective instruments and formulation of hypotheses through controlled experiments, which are all impersonal and objective. Science, rather, is born out of inner discipline.

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The scientist disciplines himself by cultivating respect for all beings, through the practice of sellessness, shunning evil and cultivating goodness. Such a development of science does not isolate the scientist from his discoveries, from himself, from others, or from the processes he has generated. There is no discontinuity, as such, between the natural laws of science and the spiritual laws which explain ultimate reality.

transformative action aligned with Inner harmony Overall, for Ariyaratne then: • • • • •

Science has relevance to our modern problems only if it keeps in harmony with our highest spiritual aspirations. The scientiic process and technology must not be alienated from higher wisdom. These processes should enrich our total personality. In releasing these processes, science should always be aware of the limits of natural resources. The institutions that are created for these purposes should be human scale; we must not become subservient to them.

The supreme goal of science is to discover, as such, those psycho-social laws and peaceful processes which will help us realize within ourselves as individuals, families, social groups, village and urban communities, national states and the world community the ways of awakening (Sarvo) one and all (Udaya). It is only when humanity is awakened to this realization that science merges with non-violence. Further, it would lead us to the realization that whatever we think, speak or do, that would bring about harm to sentient beings, and bring about imbalance in nature, is primarily unscientiic. In other words, science becomes a manifestation of ignorance when it brings about violence on man or nature. On the other hand, if science helps us to live in nature, it becomes equated to a process leading to enlightenment. What is it that stands in the way of such? The illusion called “self” takes hold of us, and all other mental evils such as jealousy, ambition, superiority and inferiority complexes. All of this leads to fear, and then to violence and a sense of self-righteousness. How then can we overcome all of this? Firstly, we need to accept that everything physical and mental is subject to continuous change – Anicca. Secondly, attachment brings about unhappiness – Dukkha. Thirdly that which is transient lacks permanence, as “self” – Anatta. The realization of all of the above leads one to seek true emptiness.

Village studies for Development Purposes Overall then, the scientiic researcher as subject, for Ariyaratne, needs to be associated with the process of development, as object. You cannot have two separate personalities: one a researcher and one a development worker. In the development process, the development worker while getting immersed in development comes to occupy the vantage point of a researcher. The researcher prepares the path, the development worker makes the arduous journey: the research could always translate into action what is discovered via research through the development worker within. Sarvodaya’s aim was to inspire the village people to discover their own scale of measurement and apply it to themselves.

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Research is therefore valuable to the extent that it can be utilized to usher in development following the grammar of such development in a particular village. The villager, for Ariyaratne, should participate in research, in all its different phases, and also in implementing its indings. To the extent that they participate, so the research becomes practical, meaningful and ethical. Ariyaratne then turns form research and development in general to peace-making in particular, with which Sarvodaya has been intimately engaged, most especially through the inluence of Vinja Ariyaratne, the son of the founder, for many years.

10.2.3. sCIentIFIC ReseaRCh to PeaCe-makIng Chanda, Dvesha, bhaya and moha The Ariyaratnes starting point is the political structure. It is based on the so-called party system which has been adopted from the West. Political parties, in Buddhist terms, promote the four Deilements: Chanda, Dvesha, Bhaya and Moha. By Chanda they mean bringing about an alienation from one another in the minds of the people. Caste, communal or racial differences are used by political parties, all too often, to promote their own self-interest, instead of promoting compassion and the idea of well-being in the minds of people. Dvesha or ill-will then is manifested as gossip or rumour supplementing so called democratic processes. People fall prey to irreconcilable conlicts, and ultimately violent confrontations, as seen in Sri Lanka today. The third characteristic, Bhaya, is mutual fear. Overall then, without touching the underlying mental deilements, and social realities arising from them, any other kind of philosophizing, in Buddhist terminology, is simply called Moha or ignorance. When ignorance becomes organized, and thereby called social science, it is, for the Ariyaratnes, a disaster. Meanwhile, with the advent of the so-called free enterprise economy in Sri Lanka, as they see it, a small elite beneit and the rest are bent on making quick money, most of whom don’t succeed, and the result is corruption, crime and a skyrocketing cost of living. When any kind of social unrest sets in, small gangs of mostly young people, with no proper schooling and cultural values, take advantage. This kind of psychological reaction is to be expected from people who see a consumerist society around them, but are denied the opportunities of having access to it. So an unhealthy economy supported by a vicious, power-oriented political system, brings about a lack of peace in individuals and communities. In contrast, for Buddha, not only was increased eficiency in production (Uttana Sampada) important, but also the protection of resources and the environment (Arrakkha Sampada), the friendly social milieu in which such economic activities should take place (Kalyana Mittata) and the style of life for which all economic activities are directed (Sama Jeevakata). Production and consumption, then, are not the totality of life in society. They are the material foundation on which higher objectives pertaining to human life and culture have to be attained. Depending on the way in which production, distribution and consumption are developed, so these higher objectives can be promoted or hampered.

sarvodaya’s approach to Peace-making The Sarvodaya approach to peace-making is twofold. Firstly, the movement tries to re-establish a value system, the technologies and structures that would release processes

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leading to a more sustainable society. Secondly the movement addresses itself to the problems that need immediate attention even though their origin is in the present arrangement of the political, economic and social structure of the society. The latter programme involves bringing relief, rehabilitation and reconciliation to people affected by violence. The former is an attempt to remove the cause of unrest. As many as 65 different specialized services, ranging from health and nutrition to village technologies and environmental protection, marketing and distribution, have been developed in a manner conducive to bringing together Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslim communities. Moreover a Peace Brigades Division of Sarvodaya has engaged in many an experiment, aimed at promoting national harmony. One example is to engage Tamil and Sinhalese youths in community service, in each other’s villages. In its Peace Offensive, overall, Sarvodaya works with all available spiritual, moral, cultural, economic and familial forces against violence by starting at the point of human suffering. This offers a third alternative to a military offensive, or a negotiated political settlement. We (5) now turn, by way of conclusion, to Sarvodaya’s overall approach to development.

10.3. Conclusion 10.3.1. PRoDuCtIon-CentReD DeVeLoPment For Ariyaratne, 40 years of treading a Western-oriented development and modernization path that has catered in full measure to a privileged elite class, but not to others, has brought Sri Lanka to a point of social disruption, conlict and bloodshed today. That means that there is something radically wrong with the Western model when it is generally applied. The Western model is production-centred. The production of more and more goods and services and the creation of more and more desires to consume these seem to be the underlying philosophy of the model. In production-centred development the total perspective of human personality, nature and sustainable relationships between man and nature seems to be lost. Human happiness arises only from sense gratiications coming from increased consumption. The higher ideals of human civilization are disregarded. Non-renewable resources are exploited. Markets are looded creating mass consumption societies. The adverse impact of such on human cultures is disregarded. In the context of a free market, foreign goods and services are consumed from borrowed monies. The giant share of such are luxuries consumed by an elite, while short-term suffering and long-term debt payments fall on the present and future generations of the masses. But from the growth rate point of view the elites themselves have adopted, the country has developed. Great discoveries made in science have been applied to develop technologies purely with the objective of more and more eficient mass production, distribution and consumption, without taking into consideration the adverse inluence such indiscriminate applications, for Ariyaratne, would have on human personalities, human family life and the wellbeing of communities.

10.3.2. a DestRuCtIVe PRoCess: the ReaLIty we FaCe The kind of centrally controlled bureaucracies and managerial capitalism presently imposed on human societies purely for the sake of keeping this production-centred

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development going is unsurpassed in human history. When Ariyaratne considers the depth of the globally connected trading, commerce and inancial systems that have been developed to make these systems work, he begins to wonder whether such “global slavery” on human spirit and freedom ever existed before. Governments seem to have lost control of regulating these processes – all too apparent today – even within their own political boundaries. These affect lifestyles and human consciousness analogously to physical pollution in the biosphere. Aside then from ecological imbalances, it is the de-personalization of human beings, leading to a sense of alienation and purposefulness culminating in violent crime, which is the worst. While it is one thing to reject production-centred development, in reality the model is backed by powerful governments and corporations, global inancial institutions, giant communications systems and the armament industry. It is this model that has absorbed most scientists, technologists and global capital. This is the reality we face. Ariyaratne introduces an alternative.

10.3.3. the saRVoDaya aLteRnatIVe Development as awakening The word “Sarva” in Sanskrit means all-embracing, integrating everything pertaining to man, society and nature. “Udaya” means well-being. Sarvodaya is a people-centred development process, involving a total awakening of the human personality, the family and the community: local, national and international. The irst three are micro-, the second three macro-awakening. Without awakening of the individual personality there is not point of talking of helping others to awaken their personalities. No rational, spiritual, religious or sustainable development is possible, irstly then, without the human personality itself being awakened to play a central role in re-building society and the world.

Promoting non-violence Non-violence, as a second key tenet of Sarvodaya, applies both to personal conlicts, and to the social, political and economic structures which should be structurally non-violent, rather than promote injustice and inequality. Valueless centrally controlled monstrous structures, for Ariyaratne, have taken away the emotional and life-sustaining links that existed between human beings and the territories in which they lived. Sarvodaya works toward a more people-centred development process, that is (in the mid-1990s) in 5,600 out of 23,000 villages in Sri Lanka. The biggest problem in Sri Lanka is power, through politics, wealth or gangsterism. Until wealth and the protection of the law is fairly distributed among the people, this problem will not be solved.

overcoming Ignorance If, thirdly, you succeed in overcoming ignorance about yourself then you will learn to love and live with others on grounds of friendship, compassion, equality and co-operation. Most modern scholars fail to understand the importance of building a spiritual-cultural infrastructure

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as a pre-requisite for people-centred development. Social upheaval is attributed to ethnic and linguistic, political and economic causes, rather than to psycho-spiritual insecurity.

10.3.4. sustaInabLe to enLIghtenment DeVeLoPment We have come to a time, for Ariyaratne overall then, that we have to think in terms of not sustainable development, but enlightenment development. As such, he dwells initially upon the non-material dimensions of rural transformation. These “technologies” irstly ensure the psychological and physical security of the member of a community. This is what he terms the preservation of human rights and promotion of human duties as inherent ingredients of social consciousness. Without this kind of security, securely based on one’s own psycho-spiritual ediice, it is premature to talk of employment and income generation. In fact rural communities look at their spiritual goals, moral relationships, cultural life, social conduct and economic pursuits as a whole, and this set of ideas can be transferred to an urban setting. In contrast, if we look at the rubber and coconut industries, the tea plantations and tobacco cultivation, whatever transformation has been brought about through these agro-businesses and technologies has not resulted in a sustainable and spiritually enriching life style for the communities living either within these plantations or on their peripheries. We have not learned the lesson that it is not the technology or the market economy that is the fundamental determinant of well-being, but rather the human being himself within his socio-cultural milieu and the bio-region he is living in, acting and inter-acting together as one physical bio-entity. The culture and the geography of the region become much more important for sustainable development than markets and technologies. No human community or even an individual can exist without technology. In the same manner, whether we want it or not, transformation will always take place within ourselves in mind and body and also outside of ourselves in everything that exists both living and non-living. The recurring problem with human groups from the beginning of our evolution is how best to integrate these two. In recent years, when one looks at the kind of thinking pertaining to technology and development, according to Ariyaratne, one cannot help but perceive a highly manipulative exercise on behalf of political and economic interests. The slavish submission of our “developing” world to their “developed” – Western – world has prevented the former from developing its own technologies and goals.

10.3.5. Laws oF DeVeLoPment Development then, for Ariyaratne, is an awakening process. It involves much more than bringing together factors of production for the most eficient utilization and management of resources for the beneit of society. Awakening involves ideals and thoughts, and a vision that the noblest human consciousness can absorb. The ultimate end of this vision should be the highest joy of living for the individual as well as for the society as a whole. There needs to be, moreover, a consistency between nobility of ends and means – in Sarvodaya such means being non-violent, truthful and self-sacriicial: now in 15,000 villages in Sri Lanka. The fundamental problems pertaining to conlict, poverty and the environment have not been solved in the course of the 20th century. Development is irst and last about human beings. When human beings have become alienated from themselves and their

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environments, something has gone radically wrong. Instead of the human mind and its aggregate consciousness controlling and guiding in the right direction the processes it has generated, the opposite happens, and human beings are no longer able to guide their own destiny. Development goals, then, should change from material ones to promoting self-realization. Everyone should be asking: “Who am I?” (Grounding); “How did I come to be?” (Emerging); “Where am I going?” (Navigating); and “What makes me happy or unhappy?” (Effecting). Furthermore, “What is my role in my community, nation, and in the whole world?” In planning for awakening or development, moreover, we have to be conscious of the limitations placed upon us by the bio-sphere, eco-system and psycho-sphere. Buddha, 2,600 years ago, talked of Cosmic Law pertaining to Seasons (Utu Niyama); Cosmic Law pertaining to Biological Order (Bija Niyama); Cosmic Law pertaining to Natural Phenomena (Dhamma Niyama); Cosmic Law pertaining to Mental Phenomena (Citta Niyama); and of cause and effect in the Moral Conduct of Human Beings (Kamma Niyama). We cannot planning realistically without recognizing the interactions between all of these laws.

10.3.6. buDDhIsm In the 21st CentuRy Today we observe how the world is in search of a meaningful development theory and practice. Development conceived purely along economic lines has not been able to do away with the poverty present throughout the world. The international institutions, for Ariyaratne, such as the World bank, IMF and UNDP have failed miserably. The socialist façade has virtually crumbled and the capitalist world is gradually realizing the contradictory nature of its own development. The thinking few in the West are questioning the sanity of their own theory of development. In this context, for the Ariyaratnes, Buddhists should evolve their own theory of world development. Since Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and now parts of China are becoming developed countries, it is appropriate for Buddhists in these countries to look back critically at their own pasts and try to give the rest of the Buddhist world, the poorer Buddhist countries, the beneit of their experience. Their leadership in this area as scholars, entrepreneurs, publishers, journalists, economists and so on could be greatly appreciated by the Buddhist world. They could become the guiding lights for the less economically developed countries in Asia in the new millennium. Such an emerging Buddhist agenda should include, for Ariyaratne: • • •

•

a clear establishment of a universal Buddhist identity for all Buddhists based on common Buddhist theory; encouragement of existing Buddhist scholarship; drafting a Buddhist theory of development and an action plan for promoting Buddhist communities to meet poverty, powerlessness, violence and disease, and the degeneration of moral standards; with the leading Buddhist counties, playing a lead role economically in creating a new and more humane world order.

We now turn from the “South” and the “East” to the “North”, and from a pre-emphasis on culture and spirituality to technology and society.

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10.4. References 1. Macy, J. (1983) Dharma and Development: Religion as a Resource in the Sarvodaya Self Help Movement. Bloomield, CT: Kumarian Press. 2. Ariyaratne, A.T. (1996) Buddhism and Sarvodaya: Sri Lankan Experience. Delhi: Sri Satguru Publications. 3. Kantowsky, D. (1980) Sarvodaya: The Other Development. New Delhi: Vikas. 4. Bond, G. (2004) Buddhism at Work: Community Development, Social Empowerment and the Sarvodaya Movement. Bloomield, CT: Kumarian Press. 5. Scheiffer, A. and Lessem, R. (2013) Integral Development: Realising the Transformative Potential of Individuals, Organizations and Societies. Farnham: Gower.

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PArT

IVTechnological and Societal Orientation: Northern Polity

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CHAPTer

11 Social and

Political Grounding: Europe Living in Truth

Man pays to everything he encounters a triple interest, compounded of aesthetic, cognitive and affective moments. But man finds it advantageous sometimes to narrow and intensify his concern, and to push nearer to the core of the world by closing his perspectives. In doing so he creates works that are three dimensional, but that concentrate their mass at a point and drive in one chief direction. That is, he creates art, theory and technology. Iredell Jenkins, Art and the Human Enterprise (1)

11.1. Introduction 11.1.1. a DIssIDent euRoPean As we journeyed from Africa, in the “South”, to Asia, and Eastern Europe so the emphasis shifted from nature and community to culture and spirituality, albeit that we invariably gave some signiicant consideration to nature and culture, society and economy. As we now turn “North”, to Europe as a whole, so our orientation changes again toward technology and society, albeit building on nature and culture. Moreover, while the prior Southern and Eastern grounding was in human, and more-than-human, community, as well as cultural evolution, respectively, now the emphasis shifts toward the grounding of the social and political system, including law and justice, albeit a system that builds on, or indeed grounds itself in, what has come naturally and culturally before. Vaclav Havel, late and irst president of what has become the Czech Republic, is unique in having been a politician, that is a head of state, who was also a playwright and a philosopher. Moreover, and in that capacity, he was also a noted dissident under the former communist regime. What follows is a distillation of his thinking, drawing from two of his (2,3) most important books, that is Living in Truth and Summer Meditations. What is perhaps integrally European in his approach is irstly his truth-seeking reaction to the “lies” of communism, and secondly his focus on nature and culture, alongside art, technology and society. Living within the truth, for Havel, to begin with, becomes articulate in a particular way, at the point at which something is born that might be called the independent, spiritual, social and political life of society. This independent life is not separated from the rest of “inauthentic” life by some sharp dividing line. Both types frequently coexist in the same people. Nevertheless the most important attribute of “living with a lie” is marked by a relatively high degree of inner manipulation. It sails, for Havel, upon the vast ocean of manipulated life like a little lifeboat, tossed by the waves but always bobbing back as a

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visible messenger of living within the truth, appearing on the scene, and articulating the suppressed aims of life. Thus citizens’ initiatives, dissident movements, or even oppositions, emerge like the proverbial tip of the iceberg from the independent life of society.

11.1.2. oPPosIng aLIenatIng PRessuRe Such living within the truth, for Havel therefore, is an elementary starting point for every attempt made by people to oppose the alienating pressure of the system. If, as such, it is the only meaningful basis of any independent act of political import, and if, ultimately, it is also the most intrinsically existential source of the dissident’s attitude, then it is dificult to imagine that even manifest dissidence could have any other basis than the service of truth, the truthful life and the attempt to make room for the genuine aims of life.

11.2. elements of the social and Political system 11.2.1. LoCus oF ResPonsIbILIty Historical experience teaches us, according to Havel, moreover, that any genuinely meaningful point of departure in an individual’s life usually has an element of universality about it. In other words, it is not something partial, accessible only to a restricted community, and not transferable to any other. On the contrary, it must be potentially accessible to everyone; it must foreshadow a general solution and, thus, it is not just the expression of an introverted, self-contained responsibility to and for the world. In other words a parallel polis (opposition) points beyond itself and only makes sense as an act of deepening one’s responsibility to and for the whole, as a way of discovering the most appropriate locus for this responsibility, not as an escape from it. Some circles, meanwhile, try to integrate values or people from the parallel world into the oficial structures, to appropriate them, to become a little like them while trying to make them a little like themselves, and thus to adjust an obvious and untenable balance. They muddy what was originally a clear demarcation line between living with the truth and living with the lie. They cast a smokescreen over the situation, mystify society and make it dificult for people to keep their bearings. This of course does not alter the fact that it is always essentially good when it happens because it opens new spaces. But it does make it more dificult to distinguish between admissible and inadmissible compromises. And another and higher phase of adaptation is a process of internal differentiation that takes place in the oficial structures. These structures open themselves to more or less institutionalized forms of plurality because the real aims of life demand it.

11.2.2. towaRDs seLF-oRganIzatIon Above all, any existential revolution should provide hope of a moral reconstitution of society, which means a radical renewal of the relationship of human beings to what Havel calls the human order, which no rigid, bureaucratic political order can replace. A new experience of being, a renewed rootedness in the universe, a newly grasped sense of higher responsibility, a new-found inner relationship to other people and to the human community,

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these factors clearly indicate the direction in which we must go. In other words, the issue is the rehabilitation of values like trust, openness, solidarity, love. Havel believes in structures that are not aimed at the technical aspect of the execution of power, but at the signiicance of that execution in structures held together more by a commonly shared feeling of the importance of certain communities than by commonly shared expansionist ambitions directed outward. They would be structures not in the sense of organizations or institutions, but like a community. These structures, then, should naturally arise from below as a consequence of authentic self-organization; they should derive vital energy from a living dialogue with the genuine needs from which they arise, and when these needs are gone, the structures should also disappear. Both political and economic life should be founded on the varied and versatile co-operation of such dynamically appearing and disappearing organizations. As far as the economic life of society goes, Havel believes in self-management (see Chapter 12). The principles of control and discipline ought to be abandoned in favour of self-control and self-discipline.

11.3. building on nature and Culture 11.3.1. aRt anD the seaRCh FoR the tRuth If there is anything essentially foreign to culture, Havel asserts, it is the uniform. The parallel culture to which he has alluded was born precisely because the oficial uniform was too constricting for the spiritual potential of Czech community, because it would not it inside it and so spilled over beyond the limits within which a uniform is obligatory. Starting therefore with the presupposition that art constitutes a distinctive way of seeking truth in the broadest sense of the word, that is chiely the truth of the artist’s inner experience, then there is only one art, whose sole criterion is the power, the authenticity, the revelatory insight, the courage and suggestiveness with which it seeks its truth, or perhaps the urgency and profundity of that truth. For Iredell Jenkins (4): When our attitude toward things is primarily aesthetic, it is the self-assertion by the things of their own individual existence and autonomy that dominates the experiential situation … We are thus lead to explore the thing from its own point of view.

Even though the second or parallel economic and technological culture represents an important fertile ground, a catalytic agent, and often even the sole bearer of the spiritual continuity of cultural life, like it or not, Havel maintains, it is the irst culture that remains the decisive sphere. Only once the suppressed spiritual potential of Czech community begins more distinctly to win back its culture will things begin visibly to improve, not only in culture itself but in a broader and social sense as well. It will be in the irst culture that decisions are made about the future climate of our lives: through it citizens will have the irst genuine, wide-scale chance to stand up straight and liberate themselves. The second culture’s relation to it will be analogous to that of a match to a glowing stove; without it the ire might not have started at all, yet by itself it cannot heat the room. Agriculture is a good case in point.

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11.3.2. gRunD – the natuRe oF gRounDeDness For centuries the basic component of European agriculture had been the family farm. In Czech, the older term for it was “grunt”. The word, taken from the German “grund”, actually means ground or foundation. The colloquial synonym in Czech also means ground or foundation, or indeed groundedness. The family farm, while standing for the indubitable, traditional and authentic, while also being a source of social conlict, was rooted in the nature of place, personally resided in by generations of farmers and certiied by the results of their husbandry. Modernization, Havel maintains, must not be simply an arrogant, megalomaniac and brutal invasion by an impersonally objective science, represented by a newly graduated agronomist or bureaucrat from the irst culture in the service of the scientiic worldview. This is in effect what happened to Czechoslovakia: the word for it was collectivization. Like a tornado it raged through the countryside in the 1950s, leaving not a stone in place. Huge uniied ields led to the inevitable annual loss of millions of cubic yards of topsoil that had taken centuries to accumulate; chemical fertilizers and pesticides poisoned vegetable products, the earth and water. Czech philosopher Vaclav Belohradzky (5) suggestively unfolded the thought that the rationalistic spirit of modern science, founded on abstract reason and on the presumption of impersonal objectivity, has, besides its father in the natural sciences, Galileo, also a father in politics, Machiavelli. For he irst formulated, albeit with an undertone of malicious irony, a theory of politics as a rational technology of power. We could say that, for all the complex historical details, the origin of the modern state and of modern political power may be sought precisely here, that is, once again in a moment when human reason begins to free itself from the human being as such, from his personal experience, conscience and responsibility and so also from that to which, within the framework of the natural world, all responsibility is uniquely related, his absolute horizon. Just as modern scientists are set apart from the actual human being as the subject of the lived experience of the world, so, ever more evidently, are both the modern state and politics.

11.3.3. ReConstItutIng the natuRaL woRLD Standardized systems and ideologies, for Havel then, have deprived human beings of rulers as well as the ruled of their conscience, of their common sense and natural speech, and thereby, of their actual humanity. States grow ever more machine-like, men are transformed into statistical choruses of voters, producers, consumers, patients, tourists or soldiers. In politics, good and evil, categories of the natural world and therefore obsolete remnants of the past, lose all absolute meaning; the sole method of politics is quantiiable success. In fact this absolute power achieved its most complete expression in the totalitarian systems. And these systems are none other than a convex mirror, for Havel, of all modern civilization. The question about capitalism and socialism, in the context of such modernization, seems to emerge from the depths of the last century. It seems to Havel that these highly ideological and semantically confused categories (isms) have long since been beside

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the point. The question for him is wholly other, deeper and equally relevant to all; whether we shall, by whatever means, succeed in reconstituting the natural world as the true terrain of politics, rehabilitating the personal experience of human beings as the initial measure of all things, placing morality above politics and responsibility above our desires, in making human community meaningful, in returning content to human speaking, in reconstituting, as the focus of all social action, the autonomous, integral and digniied human I, responsible for ourselves because we are bound to something higher. In other words, and in our terms, Havel is seeking to ground himself, and his society, in nature, and thereby emerge through culture, prior to navigating a Czech political way through technology and society. The task therefore is that of resisting vigilantly, thoughtfully and attentively, but at the same time with total dedication, at every step and everywhere, the irrational momentum of anonymous, impersonal and inhuman power: the power of ideology, systems, bureaucracy, artiicial languages and political slogans. We must honour with the humility of the wise the bounds of the natural world and the mystery that lies beyond them. We must trust the voice of our conscience more than that of all abstract speculations and not invent other responsibilities than the one to which the voice calls us. We must not be ashamed that we are capable of love, friendship, solidarity, sympathy and tolerance, but just the opposite; we must set these fundamental dimensions of our humanity free from their private exile and accept them as the only genuine starting point of meaningful human community. We must be guided by our own reason and serve the truth under all circumstances as our own essential experience.

11.3.4. taPPIng ouR euRoPean sPIRIt heroic scepticism in Central europe Why, in the inal analysis then, bother with a never-ending, genuinely hopeless search for truth when a truth can be had so readily, all at once, in the form of an ideology or doctrine? Suddenly it is all so simple. Think of all the dificult questions which are answered in advance! Think of all the laborious existential tasks from which our minds are freed once and for all. The essence of this short circuit, for Havel, is a fatal mistake: the tacit assumption that some ingenious, universally applicable artefact can lift from our shoulders the burden of the incessant, always unique, and essentially inalienable question, and essentially transform man from a questioning being into an existing answer. Havel believes, arising out of its history then, that a distinctive Central European scepticism is inescapably part of the spiritual, cultural and intellectual phenomenon that is Central Europe. Such a scepticism has little in common, say, with the English variety. It is generally rather stranger, a bit mysterious, a bit nostalgic, even tragic, and at times even heroic. Sometimes it gives the impression that Czech people are endowed with an inner radar capable of recognizing an approaching danger long before it becomes visible and recognizable as such. Czechs are keenly sensitive to the danger that a living idea, at once the product and the emblem of meaningful humanity, will petrify into Utopia, or indeed ideology.

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Promoting european uniqueness Life and the world are as beautiful and interesting as they are because, among other things, they are varied, because every living creature, every community, every country and every nation has its own unique identity. France is different from Spain and Spain is not the same as Finland. Each country has its own geographical, social, intellectual, cultural and political climate. It is proper, for Havel, that things should be that way. Though the Czechs can learn from any place in the world that can offer them useful knowledge, at the same time he sees no reason why they should be ashamed of trying to ind their own way, one that derives from their Czech identity. The country is where it is, its landscape is beautiful in some ways and devastating in others, it has its own history and traditions, the political left and right are the way they are and not the way they are elsewhere. Why not try to understand the inner content of this fact, Havel argues, the potential, the problems and hopes connected with it. The country is what history made it. Czechs live in the very centre of Central Europe, in a place that from the very beginning of time has been the main European crossroads of every possible interest, invasion, and inluence of a political, military, ethnic, religious or cultural nature. The intellectual and cultural currents of East and West, North and South, Catholic and Protestant, enlightened and romantic, the political movements of conservative and progressive, liberal and socialist – all of these overlapped here, and bubbled away in one vast cauldron. They combined to form Czech national and cultural consciousness, our traditions, the social models of our behaviour, which have been passed down from one generation to another. In short our history has informed our experience of the world. For centuries both Czechs and Slovaks, whether in their own state or under foreign control, lived in a state of constant menace from without. Each then is like a sponge that has gradually absorbed and digested all kinds of intellectual and cultural impulses and initiatives. Many European initiatives were born or irst formulated in Czechoslovakia. At the same time, its historical experience has imbued it with a keen sensitivity to danger. It has even made us, Havel adds, somewhat prescient; many admonitory visions of the future, such as Kafka’s, have come from here. The ethnic variety of the area, and life under foreign hegemony, have created different mutations of a speciic Central European provinciality.

truth as moral Value The country’s most recent experience, one that none of the Western democracies has undergone, was communism. Often Czechs themselves are unable to appreciate fully the existential dimension of this bitter experience and all its consequences, including those that are currently metaphysical. It is up to us alone to determine, Havel asserts, what value we place on that particular capital. It is no accident here, then, that with the constant need to defend its own identity, the idea that a price must be paid for the truth, the idea of truth as a moral value, has such a long tradition. That tradition stretches from Saint Cyril and Methodius, who brought Christianity to the region in the 9th century, through the 15th century reformer Jan Hus, all the way down to modern politicians like Tomas Masaryk and Milan Stefanik, and the philosopher Jan Patocka. When we think about all of this, the shape of Czech intellectual and spiritual character starts to appear in the outlines of an existential, social and cultural potential

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which is slumbering here and which if understood and evaluated can give the spirit, or the idea, of our new state a unique and individual face. Every European country in fact has something particular to it and that makes its autonomy worth defending, even in the framework of an integrating Europe, as we shall see in the next chapter. That autonomy then enriches the entire European scene; it is a voice in that remarkable polyphony, another instrument in that orchestra. Havel then feels that his country’s historical experience, its intellectual and spiritual potential, its experience of misery, absurdity, violence, its humour, its experience of sacriice, its love of civility, its love of truth and our knowledge of the many ways it can be betrayed, can, if Czechs wish, create another of those distinct voices from which the chorus of Europe is composed. Eastern Europe’s great, speciic experience of recent times is the collapse of ideology. For Havel then, the world of ideologies and doctrines is on the way out for good along with the entire modern age. We are now on the threshold of an era of globality, an era of open society, an era in which ideologies will be replaced by ideas. Building an intellectual and spiritual state based on ideas does not mean building an ideological state. Indeed, an ideological state cannot be intellectual or spiritual. A state based on ideas is precisely the opposite: it is meant to extricate human beings from the straightjacket of ideological interpretations, and to rehabilitate them as subjects of individual conscience, of individual thinking backed up by experience, of individual responsibility, and with a love for their neighbours that is anything but abstract. Such a state based on ideas should be no more and no less than a guarantee of freedom and security for people who know that the state and its institutions can stand behind them only if they themselves take responsibility for the state, that is, if they see it as their own project and their own home, as something they need not fear, as something they can accommodate without shame or love, because they have built it for themselves.

11.4. the Politics of greed 11.4.1. the DIsaPPoInteD geneRatIon There is an unfortunate economic tailpiece, though, to Havel’s avowed political European preoccupation, for “living the truth”. In effect the Czech antipathy toward its past communist regime among the thereby so-called “disappointed generation” (disappointed in communism) was matched, according to American political scientist, Andrew Schwartz (6), in his Politics of Greed, by their fervency for capitalism. This disappointed generation – joined by the youngest Czech adults – justiied capitalism as a programme of change, a plan of action that would return the nation to the West (our “North-west”). To these Czechs, capitalism was not some utopian ideology, like socialism, that had existed mostly in the minds and manuscripts of 19th-century philosophers. Capitalism was a pragmatic economic development strategy that had proved successful in the startling economic growth of Western Europe since the Second World War, combined with the obvious prosperity of the U.S. Havel’s successor, Vaclav Klaus, the unoficial chieftain of the disappointed generation, stated as much: “We are not interested in new experiments; we’ve just ended 40 years of one failed economic experiment and now we want to stick with what has been proved.”

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The Czech passion for capitalism, then, was matched by a shared innocence of “really existing capitalism”. Many young Czech economists learned contemporary economics from classical economic texts such as those of arch neo-liberal Milton Friedman or Harvard’s Paul Samuelson. Few Czechs were well versed in (or took seriously) the modern discourses of institutional economics or in the growth of Asian economies. The disappointed generation supported a capitalist agenda with strikingly little regard for the opinions of those with market expertise, though they themselves came to political life with minimal market experience.

11.4.2. the otheR VaCLaV as heIR aPPaRent oPPoseD to the DIssIDents This disappointed generation, for Schwartz then, found common cause in the ranks of macroeconomists and mathematically oriented economists who had existed in obscurity. Among them were, most especially, Vaclav Klaus. He had worked in the communist state bureaucracy and had been consigned to a life of mediocrity with no hope of career advancement. But he, and other kindred spirits among Czech economists, had an extra qualiication for the adoration of the disappointed generation. They could plausibly claim a technical, scientiic and indeed Western measure of understanding that stood in sharp contrast to the Marxist babble of their superiors. Like religious priests, the economists claimed special dispensation form the trinity of Milton Friedman, Margaret Thatcher and Friedrich Hayek. Klaus in fact published in the dissident newspaper Lidove noviny under the pseudonym F.M. – Friedman, Milton. Together with others of his ilk, he rose to prominence when the communist regime was toppled in November 1989. Czech dissidents like Vaclav Havel as we have seen, unlike the disappointed generation, were outsiders. These true heroes openly battled the hated communists for years. In addition the dissidents communicated in a discourse, as we have seen in this chapter, unintelligible to the pro-capitalist disappointed generation. The dissidents were intellectuals – men and women trained in philosophy, mathematics, physics, literature and the law. The dissidents spoke of morality, human dignity, and of ethics – ethereal matters presumably linked to man’s existential crisis. The rule of law, not the rule of men, was at the heart of the dissidents’ message. The dissidents were the public defenders of the Czech souls. The problem for the dissidents, though, was that the disappointed generation was more furious about earthly concerns – money, career, travel – than moral ones. The dissidents were regarded as “out of the real world” and therefore unable to relate to the concrete, pragmatic concerns of the common people. The disappointed generation sought to better their lives and only secondarily to cleanse their souls. Thus it was the neoliberals, through their control over the economic agenda, especially through privatization policy, rather than the dissidents who loomed as the communist heir apparent on the eve of the upheaval in 1989.

11.4.3. the new CzeCh eLIte: DIssIDent VeRsus neoLIbeRaL Havel then was the revolution’s acknowledged moral authority owing to his wellchronicled resistance against the hated communist regime and to his public exposure of that regime’s absurdity and illegitimacy. At the same time Havel felt (and the dissidents agreed) the only way forward was to institute reforms that would re-establish Czechoslovakia as a bone ide “Western” nation.

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Three factors connected with the composition and orientation of the dissidents worked in favour of the penetration of neoliberals into elite economic policymaking circles. First, Havel and most dissidents, according to their own admission, were persons of the arts and, by deinition, did not understand Western “scientiic” economics. The gap in the education of the dissidents made them willing to listen to the advice of acknowledged “objective” economists, such as the neoliberals. Moreover, the dissidents regarded (in the Central and East European tradition) economics as a non-political, technical ield that could not serve as an avenue for political power for its experts. Consequently they did not fear the neoliberal economists, at least at the outset of the transition. Second, the dissidents were a very small group – perhaps 250 – sitting astride a bureaucracy illed with Communist Party members. To counterbalance the communist inluence, the communists sought reliable outside help. The obvious source was the disappointed generation of professionals who worked in the state institutes and enterprises. Out of the so-called Czech Prognostics Institute, for example, the dissidents appointed Vaclav Klaus as inance minister. Third, it would be an overstatement to say that dissidents spoke in one ideological voice. The ideas of Havel and may dissidents were formed in the failed effort to give socialism a human face in the 1960s. Others, such as Charter 77 author Jan Patocka, co-founded the political party ODA to promote free-market liberalism. The unifying feature of the dissidents then was not ideological consensus over economic reform, but rather the general (and vague) idea that a return to communism was unthinkable and a transformation of institutions along Western lines was necessary. Therefore, the neoliberal economists whose views on economic reform (including privatization) were likely to cause social hardship did not meet strenuous objections from the dissidents. The genius of Klaus and his neoliberal cohort, in fact, was to devise a privatization approach that itted the mood of the new elite and the people. Like many of the reform economists of the 1960s, in Czechoslovakia, Ota Sik (7) had argued that Western capitalism was an unjust system. He developed an ideal political economy, unfortunately as it would turn out, The Third Way, since much maligned in the “West”. Sik’s approach emphasized market mechanisms in combination with worker safeguards, the most important ones being general worker participation.

11.4.4. why haVeL anD CzeCh enteRPRIse manageRs anD woRkeRs oPteD out The disappointed generation, moreover, worried about Havel’s apparent willingness to forgive communists. They feared that Havel would halt radical transformation initiatives and support kinder but less ambitious economic reforms. Havel also abstained from privatization debates because, as Schwartz has already said, he was unfamiliar with Western economics. He believed, moreover, that economics should be handled by trained professionals. This belief was consistent with the traditional Eastern European view that economics, like engineering or accounting, is a technical, bureaucratic chore. By then stepping out of the economic debates, Havel unwittingly opened the space for the neoliberal reformers (and fervent anti-communists) to seize the economic agenda. The casualties of Havel’s political mistake turned out to be the Social Democratic left. The prime beneiciary was his neoliberal namesake, and ultimate nemesis, Vaclav Klaus.

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Unlike Havel, moreover, who opted out of the privatization debates owing to his own shortcomings, enterprise managers and trade unions were hemmed in by the prevalent anti-communist and pro-Western sentiment. When the trade unionists criticized neoliberal theory, they therefore provoked a relex counter-charge. Anti-communists called them socialist. In the wake of such, the Czech government was able to institute voucher privatization without the consent of enterprise insiders. While in November 1989, only 3 per cent of Czechoslovaks preferred capitalism to socialism or a mixed economy, by May 1990, public opinion had reversed, duly shaped by the media, which came out strongly in favour of economic reform and voucher privatization. By this time, Havel himself had endorsed Klaus’s economic programme. In sum, historical legacies and political tactics as well as nationalism combined to account for why the Czech neoliberals were successful. In our terms here, the societal “North”, not to mention a communal “South” and a spiritual “East”, which have been equally left behind, lost out to a crude – that is non/ integral – version of the “North-west”. Vaclav Havel remains, to this day, revered by the non-establishment abroad, while, like Gorbachev, he is dismissed in his own country as, ultimately, a failure. As so often happens, living in the truth is overcome by living by expediency, and kow-towing, in the process, to an ultimately unsustainable version of the “West”. We take the story on from here, in the following chapter, via European-ness and innovation.

11.5. Conclusion: the sacred geography of europe 11.5.1. aPPRoaChIng the saCReD geogRaPhy For Marko Pogačnik (8) Vaclav Havel’s overall perspective has to be considered in the context of a Central Europe that has an integrating, as well as Havel’s centring, role in Europe. Marko perceives the central part of the European continent as a macrolandscape that can roughly be marked by the position of four distinct European cities, Prague in the east, Frankfurt in the north, Bern in the west and Zagreb in the south. Looking at Europe as a geographical body then, Pogačnik identiies its “backbone” as an axis extending from Crete in the Mediterranean towards Iceland in the very north of the Atlantic. Around this axis the multidimensional body of Europe evolves. Crete together with the Aegean and Greece represent the region of grounding, where the vital roots of the European organism reach deep down into the inner dimensions of the planet deriving from there the archetypal powers needed to fuel the life of the continent. Iceland at the other end of the axis he experiences as the “crown” of Europe. Since the continental plates there are drifting apart a vast opening appears. This on the one hand represents the geological phenomena of volcanoes, geysers and so forth and on the other hand functions as a transparent membrane through which the body of Europe is nourished with cosmic energies originating in the vastness of the universe. In this sense Crete can be compared with the coccyx of the human backbone and Iceland with the crown of the head.

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Figure 11.1 The Integrating role of the european Centre

11.5.2. the IntegRaL eneRgy FIeLD oF CentRaL euRoPe For Marko Pogačnik, moreover, the vast ield of energy and consciousness in the centre of Europe, prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall, was ruthlessly divided into two separate parts by what is called the “Iron Curtain”. This harsh division has suppressed the role of the Centre, or what he terms the “solar plexus” of Europe as the ethical-moral core from which the other four parts of Europe derive their identity and the vital impulses for their holistic function. In terms identiied with Slovenia’s Integral Green Economy (see Chapter 12), the role of Central Europe would be indeed the role of the centre (see Figure 11.1).

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11.5.3. Re-CReatIng the IntegRIty oF CentRaL euRoPe In the inal analysis then, Marko Pogačnik sees in the work of Central Europeans such as Rudolph Steiner (Austrian), Vaclav Havel (Czech) and the late president of Slovenia Janez Drnovšek a profound attempt to re-establish the ethical-moral core of Europe. Through such there is a need to transform the inauthentic patterns projected upon Europe during the last century of wars that devastated, most of all, the Central European countries with the “Iron Curtain” ultimately cutting apart the ethical core of Europe. As a result the rational and material aspects of European culture became predominant over the course of the last two centuries which ultimately affected all other parts of the globe. The intuitive and emotional qualities of the authentic “East”, with their feminine potential, were perceived as secondary, mainly belonging to the private sphere of personal interest, and thereby collectively overcome by a masculine form of dialectical materialism (that is Eastern communism). Even worse, the spiritual dimensions of life, which are basic for the integrated European experience, have been reduced to established religions, for Marko Pogačnik, thereby detracting from inherent life processes including those of politics and economics, technology and communications, to which we now turn.

11.6. References 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Jenkins, I. (1969) Art and the Human Enterprise. Cambridge: Archon Books. Havel, V. and Vladislav, J. (1989) Living in Truth. London: Faber and Faber. Havel, V. and Wilson, P. (1993) Summer Meditations. New York: Vintage. Jenkins, I. (1969) Art and the Human Enterprise. Cambridge: Archon Books. Matustik, M. (2003) Post-national Identity. New York: New Critical Theory. Schwartz, A. (2006) The Politics of Greed: How Privatization Structured Politics in Central and Eastern Europe. New York: Rowman and Littleield. 7. Sik, O. (1976) The Third Way. London: Wildwood House. 8. Pogačnik, M. (2005) Solar Plexus of Europe. Zagreb: Sirion Center for Preserving Health and Nature.

CHAPTer

12 Emergent Innovation:

Technology, Management, Aesthetics

… all major languages have what are called 1st, 2nd and 3rd person pronouns. The 1st person perspective refers to “the person who is speaking”, that is I (singular) and we (plural). The second “person who is spoken to” includes pronouns like you. The third “person that is spoken about” is him or her or they and them, if not it. The 3rd person, or “it” is objective Truth, best investigated by science. The 2nd person or you/we refers to Goodness or the way we treat each other, in other words with basic morality. And the 1st person deals with I, with self expression, art, Beauty and aesthetics. Ken Wilber, Integral Spirituality (1)

12.1. Introduction 12.1.1. the LIght anD the shaDow While for Havel it was the relationship between nature, culture – including art and science – and politics that was all important, for a group of European researchers, including one of the authors, Ronnie Lessem, that gathered together for three years in Munich, in the 1990s, sponsored by the Roland Berger Foundation, it was culture and innovation. In fact, as social scientists at the time, our shared concern was the upliftment of the “European Project”, from its primary concern with politics and economics, to a parallel concern with art and science. Our (2) overarching concern, altogether, was with European-ness and innovation. Though the majority of the researchers, as political scientists, sociologists, economists and management academics, came from Europe, speciically from France, Germany, Italy and the UK, there were also representatives from America and Japan. As we enter the knowledge era we, in Europe as we reckoned at the time, ignore our heritage to our peril. For unless we reach into our own roots (in the shadow), and evolve from them, we will forever be bound to others, most notably the Americans and the Japanese (in the light). The most effective proponent of the concept of a knowledge creating company, to date, are two Japanese organizational sociologists, Nonaka and Takeuchi (3). Indeed Ikijiro Nonaka was the Japanese representative within our research group. Finally, it is important to note that a Canadian journalist, Morgan Witzel, who joined our group late in the day, did much to further ground our work in historical Europe, as we shall now see. Interestingly enough Witzel (4) has since gone on to study India, in an emerging political and economic, as well as commercial, light.

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12.1.2. soCRates anD abeLaRD to henRy the naVIgatoR anD aDam smIth The European quest for knowledge, as Witzel recognized, began in ancient Athens in the age of Socrates. It was Socrates who irst steered the course of human inquiry towards things of the physical world rather than the gods and supernatural phenomena; it was the student of Socrates, Plato, who irst elaborated a set of ideals by which humanity could reach through art, science and design. In effect truth, goodness and beauty were the three ideals which Plato viewed as being the goals of a just society. The pursuit of these fundamentals, we argued, have occupied European innovators in every sphere of thought, feeling and action ever since. By 1107ad Paris had become famous as the European centre of learning. Whereas conventional wisdom agreed with St Anselm – I believe therefore I know – a young scholar and theologian Peter Abelard (embarking on a passionate love affair with one of his female pupils, the poor man was castrated by a vengeful uncle) challenged this wisdom. By doubting we come to examine, and by examining so we perceive the truth. Repeatedly condemned by the Catholic Church, Abelard nevertheless set the spirit of inquiry that led to the discoveries of Descartes and Newton ive centuries later. In 1434 Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal set out to explore the limits of the known world; for the world that marked a period of European discovery, but also colonialism. From being an expanse of unknown, the world quickly became a vast frontier where men ventured forth. World trade, in the 16th and 17th centuries, became the new frontier of discovery and imagination. As economies grew they became more complex, and this led in turn to further increases in wealth. That paved the way in 1776 for a 53-year-old Scottish academic, Adam Smith, to say that the invisible hand of the market, without intending it, without knowing it, advances the interests of society. Smith was not so much an innovator as a catalyst for thought and development, who synthesized a previously disorganized ield and made it into a discipline. From Smith came the three factors of production – land, labour and capital. His inluence was further strengthened by relating his economic ideas to the moral dimension of human action. In fact, among the greatest of European innovations is that of the corporation. The prototypes of such were established in northern Italy around the time of the irst crusade (1096), having their origin in high-value, high-risk trade in Eastern goods between Europe and Asia. Companies were therefore founded as societies of traders banding together to invest capital, take advantage of economies of scale and share risk. By the 14th century every major European centre had its stock exchange and double-entry accounting had been established, together with the forerunners of modern business schools – teaching standard business practices. We now turn more speciically to knowledge and innovation in Europe.

12.2. knowledge and Innovation 12.2.1. tRuth, gooDness anD beauty Plato, for Witzel again, was the irst European to reconcile all the various aspects of knowledge. Truth, goodness and beauty, for Europeans, are what freedom is for Americans, or harmony for Asians. For our research group, the following re-coniguration of truth, goodness and beauty emerged (Figure 12.1).

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Truth Reason Technological Progress KNOWLEDGE

Goodness

Beauty

Moral Judgement

Intuion

Efficiency/u lity

Aesthe c Appeal

MANAGEMENT

DESIGN

Figure 12.1 reconfiguring Truth, goodness and Beauty

Knowledge can be newly created, or existing knowledge can simply be made more widely available. Knowledge, in either case, becomes valuable when ideas can be related. While such knowledge is the key ingredient of innovation, place and time are also critical ingredients. Different cultures, then, have different concepts of knowledge and learning. Time refers to the corporate lifecycle, that is creation, elaboration and orientation.

12.2.2. the natuRe anD sCoPe oF InnoVatIon Invention and Innovation – Individual and Collective Innovation, colloquially speaking, is the generation and application of new knowledge. To many innovation is synonymous with technological advancement, but there are, for our integral purposes here, many varieties of innovation. Ideas are often inter-disciplinary or cross-functional in nature. Creative people tend to be cosmopolitan and boundary-crossing. Unlike invention, which is often an individual effort, such integral innovation results from collective effort, and can be aesthetically (beauty), technologically (truth) and managerially (goodness) inspired. It is interesting that, for our largely continental European group of social scientists, management was identiied with “goodness” rather than “utility”.

types of Innovation – technological, managerial, aesthetic All innovations, following Plato, can be roughly divided into three types: those which seek excellence through alternately aesthetic appeal, managerial innovations, or – most commonly recognized – scientiic discovery or technological advancement (see Figure 12.2).

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 H Technological Progress

GOODNESS Managerial Innovaon

BEAUTY Aesthec Appeal

Figure 12.2 Towards Integral Innovation

Innovation and time – Creation, elaboration, orientation In the irst creation stage, often associated with start-ups, enterprises, whether social or economic, public, private or civic, are concerned with the immediate exploitation of good ideas. Often this idea has been the genesis of the irm itself. The second stage, elaboration, is more complex. Now the enterprise needs to defend itself against the competition while simultaneously developing a new tranche of innovations. By this stage it is assumed that the form has copied and even improved on the original innovation. Finally, orientation is the stage where the enterprise contemplates the future and plans how it will use its innovative capabilities to meet challenges and create social, economic or cultural opportunities. This is the visionary stage, which needs a special kind of leadership. We then turned, speciically, to examples of innovative commercial and co-operative enterprises from America, Japan, and most especially Europe.

the Character of successful Innovative enterprises “WESTERN” MICROSOFT (USA) – FOREVER COMPETITIVE Selecting and developing talent We’ve always had the most aggressive approach of any software company in inding people with top IQs – we’re in the intellectual capital business. Creating an intensely competitive atmosphere Microsoft has tried to retain the feel of a small irm, with an informal style but intensely competitive atmosphere – critical and achievement oriented. Every business unit is focused on its competition. Establishing personal responsibility Microsoft’s compensation policy has continually emphasized employee participation in the company’s fortunes. Revenues and costs are fed into a single consolidated ledger, focusing on a particular business unit, marketing channel or area.

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“NORTH-WESTERN” PSION (UK) – FOCUSING ON UTILITY Fostering innovation A good computer product can encompass thousands of potential applications. Aggressive teamwork We maintain a strong intellectual environment. David Potter remains the outstanding individual in the company but he can only be effective if he carries consensus. Freedom and order We balance freedom (through play and creativity) with order (through planning and organization). Planning is not inconsistent with creativity. “NORTHERN” TRUMPF (GERMANY) – UNPRETENTIOUS TECHNOLOGY Culturally embedded Trumpf, a leading German machine tool maker, is deeply embedded in its own regional culture in south-west Germany – pietistic values of unselishness, devotion and diligence Focus on rationality Respect for authority and technical competence, unremitting diligence and ininite politeness are a central feature of Trumpf culture Competence and technik Firstly employees are required to have an excellent education in a relevant area of science and technology; secondly they are expected to have internalized the values of unpretentiousness, a sense of duty, and a strong performance orientation “EASTERN” KAO (JAPAN) – PURSUIT OF WISDOM A philosophy of wisdom Yoshia Maruta, a visionary and philosopher, established a corporate philosophy based on: (1) serving the customer, (2) absolute equality of all people, and (3) the search for truth and the unity of wisdom (origin-oriented research). Building upon knowledge grounds To maintain its ideal of “cleanliness, health and beauty”, Kao has located its knowledge grounds in fat and oil science, surface science, polymer science, biological science and applied physics. Becoming bio-functional We look at the organization as a single living organism in which all members know what the others are doing and can join hands and work together. The integral combination of marketing and R&D creates a “bio-functional organization”.

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“SOUTHERN” MONDRAGON (SPAIN) – CO/OPERATIVE ENTERPRISE Classless society Father Arizmendiarrieta developed a vision of a classless society in the Spanish Basque country, where education would be promoted through work, inspired by the Christian tenet of the dignity of man. Continuous education and development A polytechnic, a management school and a research centre were developed, together with other institutes devoted to technical training, as well as one focused on the management of the cooperative enterprises making up the Mondragon Group Co-operative banking Crucial to the success of these enterprises is the co-operative bank, which helps to launch new enterprises, and the group pension fund Fostering independence and interdependence Ten cultural features stand out: democratic control, employee stockholding, collectively owned capital, group entrepreneurship, narrow differentials (6-1), access to skill and expertise, access to capital, community support, mutual interdependence. We then turned from such speciic enterprises to what we termed universal principles of innovation, whether socially or technologically based.

universal Principles of Innovation – knowledge, Vision and Commerce based Knowledge based Information Sharing – Impersonal and Interpersonal Adopting an organization structure that encourages responsibility in small units is useful, but runs the risk of fragmentation: • • • •

Kao uses lexible project teams, personnel rotation, information sharing systems. Mondragon is a transparent organization with information access at all levels. Nearly all Microsoft’s employees are located at the irm’s central campus. Trumpf has a company newspaper, holds management conferences quarterly, holds conferences of plant, quality and service managers, and strategy week-ends.

Linked basic Competencies – Differing Configurations Basic competencies need to be related in such a way that they can be combined in differing conigurations so that innovations can be spawned. Internal R&D tends to be focused on carefully selected areas that were considered to be in the company’s most differentiating domain; medium- to long-term relationships were then established with other companies able to contribute to these core areas: • •

Trumpf engages in co-operative arrangements with technical universities. Mondragon has many alliances with European and Japanese companies.

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Vision based Leadership – Personifying the Spirit of Innovation Successful innovations are those which begin in the mind of someone who has the power to fulil them. In most cases studied it was the founder or the CEO, who acts as a personiication of the spirit of innovation within the irm. Bill Gates at Microsoft, David Potter at Psion and Dr Leibinger at Trumpf are cases in point. Where top managers are not themselves directly responsible for innovation they nevertheless set the pace for it. Overall then: • • • •

innovation function is located close to the HQ in the region where the irm was born; there is a deliberate strategy of creating a peculiar, distinctive way to innovate; there is special prestige for those directly involved in the process; European business leaders prefer to be perceived by society as successful innovators than as successful businessmen and women.

Commitment – Everybody must Innovate Beyond speciic mechanisms a common feature in many innovative irms was a broad and deep commitment to innovation by all members of the irm. At Banco de Santander innovation became a culture and a challenge; everybody must innovate; innovation became a critical element of the dynamics of the bank. Strategy – Planning and Creativity Innovative irms emphasized stable employment and promotion from within, underpinned by a long-term orientation. Employees were more inclined to promote change if they didn’t feel threatened by it. • • • •

For Psion planning is not inconsistent with creativity and play. The Trumpf Optimization Programme in the 1990s was designed to build upon the competence, knowledge and ideas of all employees. Bill Gates spends half his time managing new product development. Kao has developed a hypertext organization to promote knowledge creation.

Regeneration – A Top Management Obsession Breakthrough – as opposed to incremental – innovation is a top management obsession: • • •

80 per cent of Trumpf products are younger than three years. The French ski producer Salomon focuses on developing cult products. Kao frames its vision in terms of surface science – leading to loppy disks.

Commercialization • • • •

New products in Europe tend to be conceived at a distance from the market, out of a conceptual exercise, and then tested in the market. Flattening of the organizational hierarchy is commonplace. Top management turns vision into reality by committing substantial resources to R&D – Trumpf spends 8 per cent, Salomon 7 per cent of turnover. People are selected, trained, evaluated and promoted for innovation.

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Sciences – Objecvity – Thinking SOUTHERN

NORTHERN

Fine Arts – Subjecvity – Feeling Aesthec Appeal (Beauty)

Management Innovaon (Goodness)

Technological Progress (Truth)

Figure 12.3 Subjective to objective Innovation

12.3. towards Integral Innovation 12.3.1. the CuLtuRaL ComPass It was at this point that we parted form the conventional wisdom on innovation, and drew on a more speciically culturally laden approach. Universal determinants of innovation are not in doubt. What is particular to our work, though, set in a European context, is the importance of diversity. As such we turn to our cultural compass, embodied in our (5) “integral realities”. As such, rational Northern cultures emphasize technological vision and industrial enterprise. This is the case, for example, in Trumpf in Germany. Humanistic Southern cultures have a founding vision which is based on the organization, as is the case for Mondragon in Spain. There is a strong emphasis on groups, and a communitarian approach. Eastern holistic cultures identify with society as a whole, and with a network of organizations as an interdependent organism, as is characteristic of Kao in Japan. Finally, pragmatic Western companies, like Psion, focus their innovativeness on creative responses to the market. The cultural compass, moreover, can be related to both sphere and phases of innovation, as is illustrated below.

12.3.2. CuLtuRaL styLes anD sPheRes oF InnoVatIon Knowledge-contingent innovation relects personal and organizational visions and interpretations of the ideals of truth, goodness and beauty (see Figure 12.3).

12.3.3. CuLtuRaL styLes anD CoRPoRate eVoLutIon Time-contingent innovation relects the current stage in the corporate lifecycle corresponding with the needs for creation, elaboration and orientation. The initial stages of business foundation and survival tend to be more action oriented (Western), whereas later stages call for a relatively greater emphasis on communication and vision (Eastern) (see Figure 12.4).

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Visioning – Intuing

WN

EASTERN

Acng – Sensing Creaon

Elaboraon

Orientaon

Figure 12.4 Vision to Action

12.4. the Leadership of Innovation 12.4.1. InnoVatIon tyPoLogy Our European research group inally turned to perhaps the climactic point of its innovative endeavours, in developing a model of leadership and innovation that spanned technology (truth), management (goodness) and aesthetics (beauty) (see Figure 12.5). Such a typology, then, could apply to a society as a whole, socially and culturally, economically and politically. However, and sad to say, such an integral leadership perspective was too innovative for our sponsors, the Roland Berger Foundation, to take on board in its strategic consultancy, albeit that it was working with the governments of whole societies, in Europe, as clients. Why should this be? For Marko Pogačnik the reason would be the overarching technological pre-emphasis of such a consultancy practice.

Creaon Technological Progress

Entrepreneurial Inventor

Managerial Innovaon

Opportunis c Mover

Aesthec Appeal

Gied Crea ve

Figure 12.5 Integral Innovation Typology

Elaboraon Managerial Engineer Systems Architect Charisma c Moderator

Orientaon Technological Visionary Socio Economic Philosopher Ar s c Cer fier

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12.5. Conclusion: the gaian Point of View 12.5.1. FRom teChnosPheRe to noosPheRe Having worked for over three decades to communicate with the consciousness sphere of Gaia –Earth’s noosphere – it is obvious for Pogačnik (see Chapter 13) that the electronic media rely fully on the elemental consciousness of nature using the capacity of minerals – like silica – to store and process information. At the base of the greatly admired electronic network is the elemental consciousness of nature and the Earth. The elemental consciousness of the Earth and nature for Marko is a most complex sphere of consciousness, our home planet’s noosphere (“noos”, Greek for mind). The layer of Gaia’s noosphere that we human beings are using enables us to exist and create as conscious beings related to the Earth’s noospheric level as distinct from those levels that are located in the deep mineral layers of the Earth’s body. We share Gaia’s noosphere with other beings of the manifested world such as trees, animals, oceans, mountains, rivers, landscapes and so on. It is, all together, one and the same consciousness ield and yet we as beings of rational conceived culture afirm in an almost aggressive way our total independence from it. We can say then that the noosphere of nature permeating forests and deserts, oceans and landscapes is organized in a similar way to our internet, yet in a much more sophisticated and “effortless” manner. The fact that modern society consciously excludes itself from the noospheric network of Gaia and nature is leading us, according to Pogačnik, towards isolation and self-destruction. The ever more dangerous manifestations of the so-called climate change that we experience are the result of human ignorance of the consciousness dimensions of our home planet and fellow beings of nature.

12.5.2. beyonD ConsCIous IgnoRanCe At the same time Pogačnik stresses how important it has been, in the course of our evolution, to achieve relative independence from the Earth’s noosphere – our brains of course still function as part of it! Creating a culture relatively independent from the “Mother Earth” will enable us, in our next evolutionary step, to become partners with Gaia in the process of co-creating our home planet as what some spiritual movements call “new paradise”. If we would still consider ourselves Earth’s children, the creative co-operation with the worlds of Gaia and her evolutionary plan, based on partnership, would not be possible. The drama of such a moment, according to Marko, is whether we will be able to soon enough recognize that there is a more advanced Gaian “network society” around and within us waiting for us to awake to the true reality and to change our anthropocentric attitudes in a radical way. Will we be able to dissolve our artiicially overloaded technical networks in a peaceful way and join in with the multidimensional and much more advanced natures of Gaia’s biological and noospherical “internet”? It may not be realistic to expect that such a “quantum leap” in human evolution could occur in time, given the advancement of the destructive Earth changes. Yet Pogačnik (6), in his book Gaia’s Quantum Leap, shares his experiences of the transformation process that Gaia, the Mother of life, has initiated to avoid destruction of the network of life upon this beautiful planet.

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According to his observations the transmuting process reached the Earth’s surface at the end of the last century. Not being bothered by human ignorance the noosphere of Gaia has in the meanwhile introduced a set of far-reaching changes at the subtle levels of our home planet. Are we ready to co-operate with Gaia’s promising plan? To what extent, then, if at all, can the advent of self-management and industrial, alongside, social, democracy, be seen as such.

12.6. References 1. Wilber, K. (2006) Integral Spirituality. Boston, MA: Integral Books. 2. Berger, R. (1996) The Light and the Shadow: Breakthrough Innovation Shaping European Business. Oxford: Capstone. 3. Nonaka, I. and Takeuchi, H. (1995) The Knowledge Creating Company: How Japanese Companies Create the Dynamics of Innovation. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 4. Witzel, M. (2012) Tata: Evolution of a Corporate Brand. New York: Penguin. 5. Schieffer, A. and Lessem, R. (2014) Integral Development: Realising the Transformative Potential of Individuals, Organisations, Societies. Farnham: Gower. 6. Pogačnik, M. (2010) Gaia’s Quantum Leap. Great Barrington, MA: Lindisfarne Books.

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CHAPTer

13 Navigation:

Self-Management/ Cooperative Association

… we might say that what capitalism has done to the working man is the same as what the white man has done in America to the black man, what Marxist materialism attempts to do to the human soul, and what overuse of the automobile may do to the physique of the Average American. All are forms of mutilation. Co-determination and income sharing, then, are both necessary conditions for reversing the unnatural primacy of material capital over human labor. Looking metaphorically at the process whereby dollars of capital ownership control an undertaking, it is comparable in the political realm to a situation where the British (as absentee stakeholders) would vote in American elections. Jaroslav Vanek, The Participatory Economy

13.1. Introduction 13.1.1. the PRomIse oF seLF-management We now turn from Havel’s European socio-political grounding, that is Living in Truth and the Roland Berger Foundation’s orientation to European innovation, to the navigational promise of Self-Management in the former Yugoslavia, in theory and in practice, before we turn to Cooperative enterprise, and indeed to Industrial, alongside, political Democracy, in middle Italy. For the Czech political economist Jaroslav Vanek (1), based in the 1970s at Carnegie Mellon Graduate School of Industrial Administration in America, in its Stalinist manifestations, the communist revolution led, from the point of view of the enterprise, to a condition which, in the suppression of inner and outer economic self-determination, was worse than conventional capitalism. The notion that control goes with ownership of capital was retained, but all that changed was the ownership – nominally from capitalists to the proletariat, but in fact from the capitalists to a bureaucratic state or party, effectively run by a few grey-faced men. For Vanek, those who went out to ight the scorpions in the Revolution inally turned out to be snakes themselves. Similarly, the effects of capitalism on human personality effectively precluded what he has called lack of integrality, accentuated by the complete absence of political self-determination. Indeed for Elisabeth Mann Borgese (2) – sister of renowned German writer Thomas Mann – based at the Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions in Santa Barbara, in the mid-1970s, self-management for her, in theory at least, was the kernel of Yugoslav political theory and constitutional law as it had been developing since the 1950s. The Yugoslavs, she says, must have written hundreds of thousands of pages on the subject,

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with indeed the Slovenians taking the lead. Yugoslavs then had enacted, for her, selfmanagement in their economic, social, cultural and political organizations. They had built it into their constitution. Self-management, therefore, politicizes the economic enterprise by transforming it into a community which is not bent on proit-maximizing exclusively but on articulating the socio-political and the economic dimension of decision making. This happened, for her, at a multi-chamber level assembly. At the federal, republican and municipal levels, the representatives of the political community shared their decision-making powers with representatives of economic enterprises, scientiic institutions and public health institutions. The micro-community of the enterprise and the macro-community of what used to be the state thus looked very much alike. Indeed over 20 years, from 1950 to 1970, for Mann Borgese, per capita income in Yugoslavia had risen from 200 to 700 dollars, and industrial output had increased ivefold. Self-management in Yugoslavia has then, she adds, deep autochthonous roots in the communal systems of Slav society. It has intellectual roots in Marxist theory – or that part of it that Yugoslav leaders grafted onto the indigenous version. It also had vigorous roots in the partisan movement that routed the fascist invaders in the Second World War and brought the new society into being. In other words, the partisan movement was a self-management system applied to war. In fact the great American urban historian, Lewis Mumford (3), predicted already in the 1930s the abandonment, as cited by Borgese Mann, of the concept of private ownership of natural resources: The private monopoly of the coal beds and oil wells is an intolerable anachronism – as intolerable as would be the monopoly of sun, air and running water … and the common ownership of the means of converting energy, from the wooded mountain regions where the streams have their sources down to the remotest petroleum well, is the sole safeguard to their effective use and conservation.

Here, then, are all the elements of the contemporary theories of self-management, including the concept of social ownership which is the basis of Yugoslav theory. A working society, moreover, is also a learning society that thereby accelerates the process of development. It is an ideology that transcends the dualistic concept of (wo)man and society; it abolishes the dichotomy between manager and worker, work and learning. It is an ideology that adapts to change, and enhances the growth and development of the individual, the society and the economy. It decreases the power of bureaucracy, de-institutionalizes and humanizes. At least that is the self-management theory. What about the practice?

13.1.2. seLF-management In PRaCtICe As a young man Marko Pogačnik experienced the period when the Yugoslav Constitution was being changed in the early 1960s and self-management became the basis of his country’s political and economic system. He was at irst enthusiastic about the idea of a self-managing society but soon became disappointed in experiencing the concept as it actually functioned in Yugoslavia in practice. Soon afterward, in 1965, as

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an artist he came into conlict with the political authorities. In fact it turned out that the self-managing organ of the cultural institution which initially accepted his work for exhibition had no ultimate authority to back-up its decision. Indeed the demands of the local communist clique, operating behind the scenes, had to be obeyed and his works of art were summarily withdrawn from the given exhibition. When, thereafter, Pogačnik with his wife and collaborating artists in 1971 created the community at Šempas, in Slovenia, they were now very aware of how to structure it, so as not to repeat the mistakes of the socialist “community” in which they were living. Indeed, based on such experiences, Marko became aware that working on one’s individual autonomy is an inevitable precondition for a group of people or an enterprise to successfully organize itself in a self-managing way. By “working on one’s individual autonomy” he means following any path of personal spiritual development that suits the needs of the given individual. Only people who make a day-to-day effort to become who they really are, and try to embody their soul and elemental essence in their daily activities, are capable of creating self-managing units of a lasting kind. Inner autonomy of the individual is not in contradiction with the will to create a selfmanaging community because a person, who is aware of her or his inner processes and possible weak points, restrains himself or herself from projecting his or her problems upon the group. On the contrary one is ready to learn from one’s failures and possible illusions mirrored back to him/her by the group. Individual autonomy and self-managing principles thereby work in perfect synergy. The clash with the alien communist system was followed in 1973 by a conlict between the Šempas community and another alien system, that of a young Indian guru based in the U.S. At irst his advanced teachings fascinated the Šempas people, but after they were initiated as his followers it turned out that the guru system he was perpetrating blocked their freedom as a group to make autonomous decisions and to create out of the present moment. It demanded great spiritual efforts to free themselves from the bonds of a system built on hierarchy and personal authority, even if this authority was built upon the great wisdom of Indian sages. Following all of this, Marko Pogačnik reached the that the hierarchical principle of organization is not compatible with the self-management way of groups or enterprises. The present transformational epoch, in fact, is characterized by the transition from a hierarchical (patriarchal) model of managing spiritual and profane forms of life towards a horizontal, participatory and thereby feminine model of organization. In the multitude of autonomous non-religious and non-guru-like spiritual movements generated since the mid-19th century he sees a decisive contribution of European culture to the rest of the world. It started with the theosophist movement, later transformed into anthroposophy, not to speak of the new wave in the 1960s with Scotland’s Findhorn Community and other initiatives. The new principle of organizing groups and initiatives is based upon the love principle, whereby love is not meant in a romantic sense only, but primarily as a special kind of cosmic intelligence that enables integrative processes to evolve related to any aspect of social life. The luid power of the heart represents a nucleus capable of nourishing any initiative or creativity that intends to enrich the life of other beings, not just human beings. This brings us to the cooperative movement, both historically and in Europe, most especially Southern Europe, and in Italy today.

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13.2. Cooperatives in the age of Capital 13.2.1. staRtIng wIth owenIsm John Restakis (4), a Greek Canadian, was, until recently, the Executive Director of the British Columbia Co-operative Association. He portrays in his recent book on Humanizing the Economy a story about how a revolution in human society that began with the rise of democracy in politics, as indeed portrayed in Yugoslavia, continues to unfold as the democratic idea struggles to ind its place in the world of economics. If economic democracy is the hidden face of this ongoing revolution, then the history of the co-operative idea is its most durable expression. The Welsh social reformer and industrialist, Robert Owen (5), in the early part of the 19th century, saw in co-operation the key to wealth creation and a just society. Unlike later Marxism, co-operativism did not reject the market as a source of social evil. Instead, Owen saw in co-operation a means of using the market to meet the needs of all members of society, not just the privileged few. Owen’s irst concern was the moulding of character through the transformative power of humanistic education. The creation of co-operative communities and human workplaces was an extension of this primary principle. It was also the foundation for one of Owen’s most signal contributions to England’s social and cultural development – the rise of education, especially among adults as a mechanism of social change. William Thompson (6) was a fellow Irish reformer and political philosopher, for Restakis, who, even more than Owen at the time, established the intellectual foundations of the co-operative movement and early socialism. While being a friend of Jeremy Bentham his approach to utilitarianism was entirely different. Thompson saw utilitarianism as a social phenomenon, not a personal pursuit. It arose out of speciic social conditions and from the nature of one’s relations with others. And whereas Bentham defended private property and social hierarchy as preconditions to liberty and security, Thompson was a ierce critic of capitalism and all forms of subordination. For Thompson, the key to a just society was the alignment of self-interest with the interest of society, not the subordination of one to the other. How then to start?

13.2.2. the RoChDaLe PIoneeRs William King (7) was born in Yorkshire in 1786, the son of a vicar. Unlike Owen, who was largely self-taught, King was a distinguished academic who studied political economy, moral philosophy and modern history at Cambridge, and then became a doctor and fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. He settled in Brighton and gained valuable experience as a doctor ministering to the poor, but went from doing charity work to organizing a friendly society that he hoped would eventually allow the poor to do without charity and to meet their own needs through mutual insurance. The key for King was for workers to store up enough capital to gain control over their own labour. They must also generate enough of a surplus to be able to invest in their own enterprise. Possessing both labour and capital the workers can then do away with the capitalist altogether. King advocated the establishment of a shop. Since people have to go to a shop every day to buy food and necessities, why not go to one they owned? The surplus from the co-operative shop would then go toward building the co-operative community that is

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the ultimate aim. The Owenite vision of a co-operative community is thus achieved gradually, from the patient accumulation of capital that comes from using the market in the interest of workers. It was then on account of King’s practical and sage advice on the proper manner of running co-operative business, especially on the importance of carefully limiting credit and a dividend system based on the amount of business that a member conducted within the co-op, that the Rochdale store succeeded where so many had failed. The story of the Rochdale co-ops, then, shifts the focus from the creation of socialized communities as the means to reform society to the transformation of market relations in the service of social ends. When it proved successful, the model became the blueprint for the largest, most durable and most successful mass movement for economic reform in history. It was here that the modern conception of the cooperative as a democratically controlled enterprise took form. And so it was that the small shop in Rochdale was opened in December 1844. The charter, along with the mission to open the shop and build homes had the following modest aim: “That, as soon as practicable, this Society shall proceed to arrange the powers of production, distribution, education and government; or, in other words, to establish a self-supporting home-colony of united interests, or assist other societies in establishing such colonies.” Ten years later the British co-operative movement had grown to nearly 1,000 cooperatives. How then did the co-operative movement evolve in Europe over time?

13.2.3. stages oF Co-oPeRatIon In its irst stage then, lasting from 1817 to 1840, co-operation was at the heart of a visionary social impulse. Philosophers and activists struggled to develop the co-operative ideal of the good society and put the ideal into practice. It was a period when many were persuaded that co-operation was the gateway to a new millennium, a kind of paradise on earth. To this end, hundreds of co-operative communities were established in a grand social experiment spanning countries and continents to discover a model for a just and human society. Robert Owen was one of the pioneers. The second phase of the movement was marked by a shift form the ideal to the pragmatic and by the successful application of the cooperative idea directly to the market by groups like the Rochdale Pioneers. This was in the period between 1844 and the turn of the century. Prior to the First World War the Raffeissen movement in Germany also took root, creating the co-operative credit societies that became a model for credit unions around the globe. The third stage of the movement was the period from the First World War to the 1960s when the co-op model took root in countries the world over and expanded to fuel the creation of thousands of co-operatives in every sector of national economies. In the Netherlands and Scandinavia large sections of agriculture were transformed through co-operative forms of production that today retain a major share of agricultural production. In France industrial worker co-operatives inally established a bridgehead in manufacturing and sizeable consumer co-operatives arose. In Italy the co-operative movement developed a unique capacity to bridge sectors and to transform the manner in which the mainstream capitalist economy functioned across entire regions of the country. It was at this time too that credit unions, consumer co-ops and agricultural marketing co-ops took root in the U.S. and in Canada.

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Co-op success seemed to come with the sacriice of the unifying and comprehensive vision of co-operation as a medium for a just economy on a societal scale. Instead of challenging mainstream practice, many co-ops ended up borrowing from it. In many industrialized nations, the co-operative movement entered a phase of conservatism. Beginning in the 1980s, a new stage emerged for the co-operative movement. With the retreat of many governments from the support of public services that followed in the wake of cost-cutting and privatization in the 1980s and 1990s, co-operatives arose to ill the gaps in human and social services. Restakis then turns speciically to Bologna, and to the region of the world, as well as Europe, where co-operatives have exercised their greatest political and social, as well as economic impact.

13.3. Co-operation Italian style 13.3.1. eConomIC PRosPeRIty, natuRaL beauty anD CuLtuRaL enDowment Bologna is the capital of the region of Emilia Romagna, which, along with the regions of Tuscany, Umbria and Le Marche to the south, constitutes the singular geography of socialist history, political thought and culture in Italy. For the millions of visitors that arrive there annually, its food, fashion and art, along with its stunning landscapes, conjure up images of beauty and quality of life that is, for Restakis, the envy of the world. And so it should be. Few regions have blended economic prosperity, natural and architectural beauty and rich cultural endowment with such enchanting effect. But the blessings that have been so much part of this place have been hard won through a bitter and protracted struggle for political power that 60 years ago had severed the region, and Italy itself, in two. Divided by the political fault lines of left and right, socialism and fascism, Italy was in the grip of a national schism whose repercussions are still being played out. Nowhere did this struggle have a more lasting and surprising outcome than in Bologna and Emilia Romagna. Emilia Romagna is Italy’s most prosperous region and Bologna amongst its most wealthiest and best governed cities. The per capita income of the region’s residents is the country’s highest, unemployment is the nation’s lowest, the distribution of wealth the most egalitarian, and its products – amongst the world’s most coveted brands – account for the second highest proportion of Italy’s total exports. This is the home of Ferrari cars and Ducati motorcycles, of Parmesan cheese and Parma ham, and of the 400,0000 small, bustling irms that lourish in this economic hot-house. At the foundation of this economic powerhouse and a key reason for its success is the world’s most successful and sophisticated co-operative economy. Collectively, 8,000 cooperative enterprises account for 40 per cent of the region’s GDP. Most are small to medium sized, but the larger ones belong to the Lega di Cooperative e Mutue (the Federation of Cooperatives and Mutual Societies) or “Lega” as it is best known. The Lega is one of the three main co-operative federations which, like most everything else in Italy, are historically associated with one or other of Italy’s political parties. The Lega was the irst to be formed and the biggest, with its roots in the socialist movement and in particular the former Communist Party of Italy (CPI). The second largest cooperative, is associated with the Christian Democratic Party and the

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Catholic Church. AGCI (Associazione Gruppe di Cooperative Imprese) is aligned with the liberal and republican political tradition. By the irst decade of the 19th century unemployment, landless labour, growing militancy and an uncompromisingly hostile attitude on the part of commercial farmers combined to turn the farmlands of Emilia Romagna and Italy into battleields of a rural class war. The co-operatives that were formed in this era were instruments of social and political revolution, but also a means of pooling labour and securing scarce employment for landless workers. The co-operatives of northern Italy, meanwhile, are more than just commercial enterprises. They are social and cultural institutions, for Restakis, that grew out of revolutionary ferment. After the devastation of the Second World War, the co-operatives were a central part of the larger political struggle to rebuild Italy along socialist lines. The Communist and Social Democratic parties spearheaded the effort throughout Italy and land reform was an essential part of it.

13.3.2. the FasCIst RePRessIon Bologna was at the heart of the ight against fascism. In fact it was in Bologna that the irst major overthrow of Nazi forces by the partisans took place, in April 1943. Yet Emilia Romagna, like Italy itself, was a region divided. Forli, the birthplace of Mussolini, is just a short drive southeast of Bologna. Italian fascism was born there. Mussolini’s fascist squads unleashed a persecution campaign against the co-operatives and the trade unions from the earliest days of the fascist movement. Their survival today then is not merely an economic success story. It is a triumph of immense political and social signiicance for the people of this region. When the war inally ended and Italy was picking up the pieces of a shattered region, the signal importance of the co-operative movement to the democratic idea was written into the founding principles of the constitution of the new republic. Their power and inluence was not merely ideological. They were a source of employment and pride, producing goods and services that were essential to their communities and conveying to their members a solidarity of purpose that was woven into their day-to-day lives in tangible, visible ways. In Ravenna, on the Adriatic coast, there is a worker cooperative called CMC (Coperative Muratore e Cemeniste) – the Cooperative of Masons and Builders. It was established in 1901 by 35 workers as a small association of manual labourers working on construction. It is today a leading international engineering irm engaged in major construction projects around the globe. The new subway in Milan and the massive tunnelling drills that are being used in the world’s largest construction project, the Three Gorges Dam in China, were designed by CMC. Like CMC in Ravenna, SACMI is a worker co-operative whose origins began just after the First World War, in Imola, and today it is a leading international company in the ield of ceramics. In Imola in fact, much of the housing, the roads and public infrastructure, the inancial services, the social services, the schools, all owe their existence in one way or another to the co-ops that built or operate them. SACMI is among the town’s most venerated institutions. SACMI tapped into the quickening pace of machine production and industrialization that came with Italy’s reconstruction in the 1950s and 1960s. The co-op soon became Italy’s most important designer and exporter of specialized ceramic presses and furnaces as well as a major research centre for new ceramic materials.

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Today SACMI is a new species of global co-op – a hybrid organization that is still owned and directed by its 390 members in Imola, but whose operations include control of 60 capitalist forms, 37 of them abroad, and sales in 100 countries. The preconditions to membership in SACMI are stringent. Employees must have worked there for at least ive years before they can be nominated for membership. The nominee will then be assessed on the basis of their work ethic, their level of skill and most importantly how they relate to other workers and their capacity for being a committed contributor to a democratic organization. These are traits which can only be assessed irst hand. SACMI, overall then, is very cognizant of its social and economic role in the communities where it operates. The co-op spends substantial sums in community and social development projects both in Imola and in its locations abroad. Italian law requires commercial co-operatives to invest 80 per cent of their surplus in a reserve that may not be divided among members. It is a collective and intergenerational patrimony. This cap on the amount of a co-op’s surplus that may be distributed among members is the quid pro quo that allows co-ops to be exempted from having to pay income tax on this undivided capital. It was the growth of this capital reserve that prompted the co-op to pursue its acquisition strategy. SACMI, like many other industrial co-operatives that accumulated large reserves, was able to inance its growth with little or no recourse to outside loans. The indivisible reserve stabilizes the enterprise, encourages ongoing investment in the business, and secures the co-op’s future. It is a collective asset That passes down between generations of members and so becomes a social patrimony. The indivisible reserve acts as a major disincentive for hostile takeovers of co-ops by other irms, as the reserve reverts to the state if it is not allocated within the co-op sector. In times of crisis, the accumulated indivisible reserve is a lifeboat, when access to credit is so dificult. SACMI is in fact only one example of an Italian co-operative that has crossed a threshold to an entirely new economic scale, encompassing local, regional and international dimensions. What is most distinctive about the Italian co-operative movement, however, is the degree to which co-operatives in the last 30 years have emerged as dominant players not only in the regional economies of places like Emilia Romagna, Tuscany and Trentino, where they have a tradition of success, but also the national level too. As a group, co-operatives have exceeded capitalist irms in the rate of employees hired, in the scale of operations and in market share of key sectors.

13.3.3. RenaIssanCe oF the ItaLIan Co-oPeRatIVes Until 1971 then, Italian co-operatives, though numerous, were, for Restakis, of a limited size. But the 1970s marked a turning point for the movement. The model began to take off, accelerating rapidly during the 1990s when cooperatives seem to have capitalized on an accumulation of experience, managerial and strategic skill, the formation of co-operative networks and the skilful deployment of co-operative capital to fuel growth. In 1971 co-operatives with more than 500 employees represented 2.3 per cent of all Italian companies of this size. By 2001 this igure had risen to 8.1 per cent. This growth amongst the largest co-operatives is the opposite of prevailing trends amongst capitalist irms.

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During the 1990s, the number of people employed by co-operatives in Italy grew by 60 per cent against an average of 9 per cent for capitalist irms. In particular, the 1991 census gave the numbers of workers employed by social co-ops as 27,510; this igure had risen more than ivefold, to 149,147, by 2001. Overall then, Italy’s co-operative movement has become larger, more concentrated, more complex and far more powerful within key sectors of the national economy. How has this happened? The answer seems to lie within the ethical and social capital relations among co-operatives themselves once a critical mass of enterprise has been reached. In addition, the presence of coordinating umbrella institutions capable of creating new partnerships, discerning long-term strategic opportunities at industry levels and mediating the establishment of sector-wide resources has been a key factor in the Italian case. One instance that illustrates this networking capacity is the integration and scaling up of the co-op construction sector. The CCC (Consorzio Cooperative Construzione) now has 230 member co-operatives employing 20,000 workers. This co-operative networking strategy has also been applied in the co-operative retailing sector, in the service sectors, in co-op inancial services, in the growing social care sector and more recently in agriculture and food production.

13.3.4. the emILIan moDeL anD the soCIaLIzatIon oF CaPItaL Initially then, for Restakis, the region’s agricultural economy gave rise to the specialized industries that emerged as an extension of its needs. The processing and packaging of food products gave rise to the design of specialized machinery that is still the singular expertise of the area. As early as the irst decades of the 19th century, Emilia Romagna led Italy in the application of machine production for agriculture that evolved to respond to the unique requirements of a whole host of industries, from ceramics and textiles to surgical equipment and high performance cars. Eventually, over 100 industrial districts bloomed in Emilia Romagna, each one composed of highly specialized irms clustered around a town or region and producing a characteristic product for export to the rest of Italy and abroad. This is Italy’s largest exporting region, accounting for 13 per cent of the country’s total. The production model of the industrial districts depended on the willingness of local entrepreneurs to co-operate while remaining competitors. It rested also on the involvement of the regional government in understanding the strengths and weaknesses of this system and devising strategies, in partnership with stakeholders, to allow the system to adapt to internal and external threats. A key to this approach was in understanding that the industrial districts are organic economic forms. They are not static and they evolve. How this comes about is a combination of political vision, the skilful management of competing interests, and the possibilities that are latent in the social relations fostered by a culture of co-operation – the region’s social capital. The 1919 elections, for Restakis, were a watershed for Emilia Romagna as it has been ruled by a Communist administration or some combination of Social Democratic and Communist coalition since that time. What ensued provides a blueprint for how governments can play a catalytic role in analysing, mediating and mobilizing strategic interests in the building of a regional small irm economy. ERVET Emilia Romagna Valorizzazione Economica del Territorio, as a regional economic development agency, is funded and directed by a partnership between the regional government and its key

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allies amongst business, labour and academic institutions. It has undertaken a careful analysis of the region’s key economic sectors, diagnosed the strengths and weaknesses of the irms comprising these sectors and established a series of service centres to provide strategic assistance to the irms and the industrial districts of which they are a part. Some of these centres are engaged exclusively in research, training and technology transfer, and structured along cooperative lines. The pre-existence of political alliances between the co-operative movement, the small artisan irms and the trade unions, along with the extensive co-operative economy already operating on the ground, meant that an entirely new form of co-operative economy could be fostered. It was a system that seemed to draw on the best attributes of co-operation on the one hand and co-operation on the other. Co-operation enabled small irms to take on large contracts and through networking achieve economies of scale and scope that were ordinarily only available to large corporations. In many cases satellite irms were spin-offs established by former employees of a lead irm. The co-operative element embodied in the cluster model was a natural extension of pre-existing social relations in the existing community. Unlike the positional competition of Anglo-Saxon capitalism where the object of competition is to drive one’s opponent out of the market or to ruin them, competition in the industrial districts focuses on product and performance excellence. The logic of this competition is to raise the standard of economic performance not only at the level of the irm, but of the industrial district as a production system and of the region as a whole. We now turn to social co-ops.

13.3.5. soCIaL Co-oPs anD soCIaL CaRe Social care, in the wake of privatization, for Restakis, is being commodiied. The de-socializing dynamics of the Industrial Revolution that were, at least in theory, contained within the market economy, have now reached deep into the public systems that were once the preserve of the state. The colonization of the public domain by commercial interests in the late 20th century is in some ways analogous to the enclosure of the commons in the 18th century. Will civil society then ind the means to reclaim the social and collective foundations of the public systems that are being abandoned by government and annexed by capital? Can social care be humanized? Programmes like basic social security, health care and worker compensation were originally designed to provide a basic standard of care for large classes of people. It was an era marked by a mechanistic industrial paradigm, an age of assembly line automation that paved the way for the service-based consumer society that has since come to replace it. With society awash in material goods, people now expect that social goods and services will also recognize and respond to them as individuals. What has eventually arisen is a twin movement. A push for more pluralistic and private models of care on the one hand – a continuation of free market logic – and a contrary movement toward non-commercial, social economy solutions on the other. The rise of the social co-ops, and other forms of social enterprise, has gained considerable attention since the glow of privatized care lost some of its original lustre. The rise of social enterprise as a new, hybrid form of social care has been met with growing interest. In the co-operative sector, the emergence of social co-ops has been the most signiicant change to occur in the movement for 30 years.

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13.4. Conclusion: on Civil society and the social economy 13.4.1. ReVIsItIng the gReek PoLIs The term “civil society”, as we saw in the previous three chapters, has now entered, or more accurately re-entered, the vocabulary of common political discourse. It is a very ancient idea with roots in the political and moral philosophy of the ancient Greeks and the democratic society in which it was irst conceived. The stress on the moral life which was a central part of Greek philosophy was always bound up in the concept of civic duty and the pursuit of the just society. Aristotle, in turn, held out that the “polis” from which our integral polity has borrowed – the city state – was an “association of associations” and the social reality that made political life possible. In its broadest and most accepted sense, then, civil society is the social impulse to engage in free and democratic association, to create community and engage in the operations of social life, which include politics. This is the sense of civil society used by those like Vaclav Havel and Manuel Castells. Unlike in ancient times, however, civil society is now distinct from the workings of the state as well as from the operations of the private sector. For Havel and a long line of writers extending back to Aristotle, civil society remains the elementary fact of human existence. Alexis de Tocqueville, visiting America in the 1830s, famously attributed the vitality of the young democracy to the richness and diversity of its associational life. Within civil society, a huge proportion of civic activities are carried out by organizations created to provide goods and services through collaboration, by people acting together to realize mutual interests. This economic aspect within civil society has been described as the third sector or the social economy. For both civil society and the social economy, the notion of reciprocity is fundamental. It is also essential for understanding the means by which a new view of social care, a civil view, might be developed as a more humane alternative to current systems.

13.4.2. RetuRn to ReCIPRoCIty The concept of social economy (8), like the term “civil society”, has only recently come back into prominence after a long period of neglect. Originally social economy referred to the theoretical approach irst adopted by the utopian socialists, especially the early founders of the co-operative tradition – Owen, Fourier, Saint Simon and Proudhon. Their primary purpose was the promotion of collective beneit. Their social product was not just the particular goods or services that they produce, but human solidarity – the predisposition of people in a society to work together around mutual goals. We now turn, inally in our Northern integral case, to the very Slovenia that lay at the heart of the self-management movement in Yugoslavia.

13.5. References 1. Vanek, J. (1971) The Participatory Economy: An Evolutionary Hypothesis and Strategy for Development. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

190 I n t e g r a l P o l i t y 2. Adizes, I. and Mann Borgese, E. (eds) (1975) Self-Management: New Dimensions to Democracy. Santa Barbara, CA: Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions. 3. Mumford, L. (2010) Technics and Civilization. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. 4. Restakis, J. (2010) Humanizing the Economy: Co-operatives in the Age of Capital. Gabriola Island, BC. New Society Publishers. 5. Owen, R. (1991) A New View of Society and Other Writings, ed. and intro. G. Claeys. London: Penguin Classics. 6. Kaswan, M. (2014) Happiness, Democracy and the Cooperative Movement: The Radical Utilitarianism of William Thompson. New York. State University of New York Series in New Political Science. 7. Holyoake, G. (2009) The History of the Rochdale Pioneers. Gloucester: Dodo Press. 8. Amin, A. (2009) The Social Economy: International Perspectives on Economic Solidarity. London: Zed Books.

CHAPTer

14 Social and

Technical Effect: Integral Green Slovenia

If a tenth daughter is being born, according to Slovenian tradition, when becoming adult, she is obliged to leave her family and her home and walk through the world for life-long, communicating with plants, animals and other beings. She has to live life beyond the usual and accepted patterns. This myth addresses a hidden and often ignored aspect of the human being related to our capacity to step out of the framework of the culturally accepted patterns. Within human beings there is a potential sensitivity towards plants, animals, landscapes and other beings that is usually suppressed. It represents the base of a new ethically more correct and loving relationship to nature and life itself. Seen in the mirror of the present moment the myth addresses that aspect within us as human beings capable of transcending political, cultural and economic norms. It addresses our sensitivity for the essence of nature, the language of birds and the voice of the heart – while “the voice of the heart” is not meant in the romantic sense but rather as a symbol for the intelligence of the heart dedicated to two basic ethic qualities, love and truth. Marko Pogačnik, Desetnica: The Myth of the Tenth Daughter

14.1. Introduction: Living the truth to Integral green slovenia In our “Northern” journey toward an integral polity (see Figure 14.1. below), building at least to some extent on what had come before, we started out with Czech social dissident and ultimately president, Vaclav Havel, living in truth, as our grounding, with a view to reconstituting the natural world as the true terrain of politics, thereby placing morality above everyday politics. Thereafter a group of social scientists based primarily in Europe, but also including Africa (including one of the authors, Ronnie Lessem), Japan and America, sponsored by the Munich-based management consultants Roland Berger, further evolved such “Living in Truth” to now also incorporate Goodness and Beauty. Indeed, picking up from where Plato left off, with truth, goodness and beauty, they co-evolved an approach to European innovation that now only encompassed our four worlds – humanistic and holistic, rational and pragmatic – but also incorporated truth within science and technology, goodness within management, and beauty in aesthetics. This, in turn, also became a composite model of integral European leadership. Such an approach more recently, implicitly if not explicitly, is now being adopted by Slovenia, a Central European country with a long history of social-economy-oriented organizations. At the end of the 19th century, the system of co-operative societies which began to develop evolved into a mass social movement and as a defence mechanism of farmers, workers and craftsmen against the growth of capitalism. In the period leading to the war,

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Navigaon Social Economy Ichak Adizes Transformave Effect Integral: Green Slovenia Pogacnik/Piciga

Northern Integral Polity Technology & Society Europe

Emergent Foundaon Integral Innovaon Roland Berger Foundaon

Original Grounding Living in Truth Vaclav Havel Figure 14.1 Integral Northern Polity

such a social economy encompassed an extensive network of associations, co-operatives, charitable enterprises, trade unions and professional organizations and unions. Noteworthy is the fact that the values which form the basis of such organized self-support and solidarity are still very vivid in the minds of people, which is an important source for the future development of the social economy in Slovenia. The end of the Second World War, however, and the arrival of the socialist social system, broke up this social economic tradition. In addition to the reach tradition of social-economic enterprises, a diversity of sustainable practices have developed in Slovenia over centuries, for example of sustainable forestry (1) and rural tourism (2). As a country with extraordinarily rich biodiversity and landscapes due to its location at the junction of several ecological regions, Slovenia’s natural endowment has been enhanced by a tradition of close-to-natural forest management and by low intensity farming (3). In the inal analysis, then, the contemporary movement toward an Integral Green Slovenian Economy and Society has picked up from where Havel left off. Building upon nature and culture, set in the context of an emerging European “network state”, it is also, through its partner Trans4m, linked, locally, with a global integral green network, globally, most speciically in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

14.1.1. the FouR eLements: mateRIaL, sPIRItuaL, emotIonaL, VItaL-eneRgetIC Marko Pogačnik’s (4) integral starting point, as a Slovenian sacred geographer and conceptual artist, whose unique craft takes him around the world, is the four elements that traditionally compose the fabric of life on Earth:

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• • • •

the material (earth element), embodying the ecological; the spiritual (air element), representing the cultural; the emotional (water element) relecting the social; and the vital-energetic (ire element), depicting the economic.

Basic for Marko’s work is the decomposition of the borders that divide the visible and invisible, material and spiritual dimensions of landscape and life in general. His approach encompasses the beings of nature, like plants and animals, as well as the beings embodying the consciousness of Gaia, the Earth soul, traditionally called “elemental beings” or “nature spirits” which appear to modern human beings as invisible. Secondly, for him, there is no real border between human beings and the landscape. There are only human cultural projections that divide us. The human being is a micro-landscape integrating the plant, animal and elemental essence as well as similar power-structures that exist in the landscape as energy meridians and focuses of vital and cosmic energies, not to speak about the Gaia-consciousness that human beings share with all other inhabitants, visible and invisible, of our home planet.

Table 14.1

Dimensions of landscape

Characteristics Life-giving Powers Divine Impulse activities of the elemental beings materialization

landscape Dimensions Vital-energetic Dimension spiritual-soul Dimension emotional Dimension Physical Dimension

Means of expression Power structures in the Landscape Landscape temples sacred areas of nature Landscape Formations

There are indeed focal points for all four of the elements even within a small plot of land if it is cared for with love and action truthfully relating to all beings and the essence of Gaia. The extent to which these are manifest depends largely on the consciousness of the gardener, arguably then, for us, being the natural and communal base for our integral approach to sustainable development.

14.2. tapping into slovenia’s moral Core 14.2.1. saCReD geogRaPhy In the CRossRoaDs oF euRoPe Slovenia not only lies at the crossroads of Europe (5), as allegedly does the Czech Republic (see Chapter 12), but also, in one of its most renowned old tales (6), bears the image of a giant ish – Faronika – carrying the world on its back. To that extent Slovenia not only, politically and economically, through being the prime instigator of self-management in the former Yugoslavia, had an important role to play in Europe, but also culturally and spiritually, has symbolic importance. One of us, Marko Pogačnik (7), as a Slovenian conceptual artist, designed his country’s coat of arms in 1991 when Slovenia, splitting from Yugoslavia, became an independent country. One could call him a “sacred geographer” of worldwide repute, digging more deeply into Slovenian

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soil, together with that of other places worldwide, including the Middle East (8), which has a bearing on our inal chapter. Marco Pogačnik’s irst steps (9) into earth healing, as a sculptor at the time, were taken in the mid-1960s. Together with the poet Iztok Geister he founded an art movement in Slovenia called OHO, which was concerned with the processes of transformation in art and culture. It was an attempt to change the fundamental principles upon which our modern human-centred culture is based. With the help of conceptual art performances, as well as street-and-land art, they tried to open up ways to perceive the world around us free from human projection. At that time their tools were limited to artistic techniques. The next step came at the beginning of the 1970s, when together with his wife Marika and a group of friends Pogačnik started a rural community at Šempas in Slovenia, north of Trieste. They left behind the urban environment and settled on a deserted farm in the Vipava valley to enter into conscious and loving communication with earth and nature. The Šempas Family functioned simultaneously as an self-suficient organic farm, art group and spiritual centre. Pogačnik’s true work with earth healing started in the mid-1980s when he developed his sculpture work into a kind of earth acupuncture which he called lithopuncture. The name derives from the Greek “lithos”, the stone, and the Latin “puncture”, for a stitch. To balance a place or a town structure, stone pillars with sculpted cosmograms would be positioned on chosen “acupuncture points” of the place. The vital role in lithopuncture projects play cosmograms, visual signs used to address the consciousness of the place and through this initiate the healing process. Pogačnik proposes, in his modern “Geomancy”, or indeed “Sacred Geography”, ive dimensions of an all-encompassing reality: •

•

•

•

•

The most subtle dimension within a given landscape is the dimension of eternity which is beyond practical experience. It gives a sense of sacredness to holy places of nature and different cultures. Secondly follows the soul dimension which can also be called the archetypal dimension of reality; an expression of Gea, the soul of planetary creation. Practically this dimension manifests on the Earth’s surface in the form of landscape temples and sacred sites of nature. The third dimension of this multidimensional reality may be called the dimension of consciousness. The dimension of consciousness covers a great range of manifestations, from mental to emotional consciousness, from intuitive to rational. The elemental consciousness of mountains and oceans, rivers and forests, plants and animals is an important part of it. Approaching denser extensions of multidimensional reality we arrive within the fourth ield of the vital-energy dimension. There is no form yet but an intense low of life forces, what the Hindus call “prana” and the Chinese speak of as “chi”. Nowadays the expression bio-energy is the most common. Fifthly and inally we have arrived at the ground level: the material dimension which inds its manifestation within the functions of linear time and physical space.

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14.2.2. CaRRyIng the woRLD on Its baCk: FaRonIka as a sLoVenIan symboL In one of his meditations on archetypal images of the Slovene tradition in September 1992, Pogačnik was taken deep down to the primeval waters within the Earth arriving at the entrance of a cave, and saw a grey leaf-like ish. He looked into the eyes of the ish and recognized it as Faronika. A famous Slovenian folk ballad tells of her: Jesus is swimming in the sea, in a deep sea. A fish woman is following him, it is Faronika. “O wait fish woman, wait fish woman Faronika! We want to ask you what is happening in the world.” “If I flip my tail then the world will be flooded. If I turn onto my back then the world will perish.” “O don’t do it fish woman, fish woman Faronika. Think of the little children, don’t do it, And think of all women in childbirth.”

Following the experience, Pogačnik realized that beyond our rational organized world there are powers and forms of consciousness that make the existence of our reality possible. Archetypes presented in the language of different traditions are not mere images but a memory of the basic powers of life that represent a reality behind the known reality. In the case of the ish Faronika mythos he afterwards could ind practically, within each landscape, explored acupuncture points of balance related to the ish Faronika archetype. On a deeper level the ish Faronika represents the Earth Soul, the identity of our home planet. The ancient culture from which the Faronika mythos derives its origin knew how crucially important it is for a sustainable society to keep alive communication with the gigantic consciousness that is usually called Gaia, the Mother of Life – a knowledge that is largely lost to modern civilization. In the ballad cited above, even Jesus, as the supreme representative of the Christian epoch, who has been incorporated into the poem, is trying to develop a dialogue with Gaia, the Earth Soul. But how can this be developed nowadays? The ancient rituals of Slovene people have been forgotten. As a result Pogačnik is currently developing a set of body exercises, in effect a set of body cosmograms, that would enable us human beings to come again into touch with the core of our planet. He calls them “Gaia Touch” exercises. Besides the ish Faronika myth there are other archetypes in Slovenian folklore (as in the traditions of other cultures) that can be interpreted as a link to potentials hidden within the folk soul of a nation. These potentials lie dormant within the subconscious of the country. If awakened they could represent a source of inspiration and energy to fuel a country’s development and even economical blossoming. As such, Pogačnik also describes his dialogue with the archetypal being called beautiful Vida (Lepa Vida), in Slovenian folklore, carrying the regenerative power of pure water as her gift to life, set against the degradation of water systems caused by environmental desecration.

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14.3. towards an Integral green slovenia 14.3.1. beyonD CaPItaLIsm anD soCIaLIsm Building upon this cultural and spiritual backdrop, now with explicit socio-political and economic intent, Trans4m, through its Centre for Integral Development, was asked by Dr Darja Piciga, who at the time – in the spring of 2013 – was working for the Slovenia Ministry of Agriculture and the Environment – to contribute toward the development of what she termed an Integral Green Slovenia. This invitation resulted from our two-year cooperation which started in 2011, in the course of preparing a strategy for the transition of Slovenia to a Low-Carbon Society by 2050. The draft strategy provides a vision of Slovenia in 2050 as a highly integrated and inclusive society with business focusing on promoting sustainability through an enhanced quality of life and natural environment (10). By the spring of 2013, Piciga had managed to mobilize a wide network of Slovenian transformation agents from all sectors of society. The “integral” notion in the vision for Integral Green Slovenia was drawn directly from Lessem and Schieffer’s (11) book Integral Economics: Releasing the Economic Genius of Your Society. Within it we argued that, building irst upon its own “moral core”, a particular society needed to build up a communally based self-suficiency, culturally based developmental economy, knowledge based social economy, and life based living economy, thereby transcending both capitalism and communism per se. As Slovenia had its own distinctive orientation toward sustainability and social economy, transcending both free market and state planning principles, it was in a good position to take up such a challenge. Slovenia’s 2005 Development Strategy (12) incorporated four key development goals: • • •

•

an economic development goal – to reach the average level of economic development in the EU in 10 years; a social development goal – to improve the quality of life and welfare; an intergenerational and sustainable development goal – to apply the principles of sustainability across all areas of development, including sustained population growth; and Slovenia’s development goal in the international environment – to become an internationally distinctive and renowned country.

Our particular focus is on the third and fourth goals, taking into account the second, and bearing in mind that Slovenia, for us, does not merely “catch up” with the EU but play a lead “green integral” role. Indeed Plan B for Slovenia, published by the Civil Society Initiative for Sustainable Development (13) in November 2012, received wide public support through a petition (over 10,000 signatures), considerable media attention and endorsements of nearly 200 associations, municipalities and businesses: Slovenia has a viable opportunity to exit the crisis if we base our development on country’s natural and human resources. Plan B 4.0 proposes such a development model that we call “The Green Development Breakthrough”. The Green Development Breakthrough consists of seven vertical programs and ive horizontal areas. The vertical programs include: sustainable mobility, energy eficiency in buildings, transition to renewable energy sources, resource

s o c i a l a n d te c h n i c a l e f f e c t : I n t e g r a l g r e e n s l o v e n i a 197 eficiency and waste management, forests and wood value chain, food self-suficiency with the emphasis on organic farming, and green tourism, while horizontal areas are green iscal reform, innovation, education, entrepreneurship and competitiveness, spatial and housing policy, the management of protected areas and funding for environmental NGOs. The Green Development Breakthrough programs present opportunities for employment and an improved competitive position of Slovenian economy, as well as an increased life quality of people in Slovenia.

While our proposal for an “Integral Green Economy” vigorously endorsed such, we placed more explicit emphasis on both what we term a Slovenian “moral core”, and its very distinct culture – as the crossroads of Europe – alongside its nature and community, its technology and society, its economics and enterprise. Moreover, we question the exclusive emphasis on a “competitive position” in Europe, and in the world, over and above a “co-operation stance”, thereby picking up from where our own physical and human nature leaves off.

14.3.2. sLoVenIan InDustRIaL PoLICy as a baCkDRoP: sIP In its opening summary of its SIP (14) as one of the key sectoral documents of Slovenia’s development strategy, the Government of Slovenia stated: In order to maintain and improve economic competitiveness in this period of inancial and economic crisis, which has hit Slovenia harder than most other European Union member states, it is important to strengthen the healthy core, represented by industry as the generator of innovation, growth and jobs. … The vision of SIP is to improve the business environment, to support entrepreneurship and innovation, and to develop promising technological and industrial areas that correspond to social challenges, in order to create the conditions for the continuous restructuring of existing industries into energetically, materially, environmentally and socially effective industries of knowledge and innovation, leading to longer-lasting and better employment opportunities, as well as increased integration in international business … The basic condition for increasing investment in technological and economic development is the improvement of the business environment by respecting the principles of sustainable development. Improving the business environment refers to 10 areas of measures, including the integration of the concept of corporate social responsibility … Another important area is strengthening entrepreneurship and innovation, which is the key to expanding productivity, employment and the economy … SIP also deines activities for the long-term development of industry. (SIP, pp. 3, 4)

From our integral perspective, as we have now seen, we would argue that not only is a Slovenian moral core understated in the above SIP analysis, but nature and community (Southern) and culture and spirituality (Eastern) should be more strongly emphasized. However, once the SIP moves onto its “priority areas” there is an integral shift in orientation toward a more overtly “green” perspective. This is systematically elaborated through: searching new sources of growth that are represented primarily by responses to social challenges with the introduction of a new paradigm of development, resulting from concepts of green growth (OECD), the green economy (UNEP) and a materially-eficient and low carbon society (EC), which are based on improving eficiency (energy, material, environmental and social) instead of relying on increasing consumption of space, raw materials and energy. (SIP, p. 4).

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Table 14.2

Priority Technology Areas

Challenge environmental and energy challenge and the eficient use of natural resources based on sustainable production and consumption sustainable mobility Food, health and ageing population

Potential ket – key enabling technologies

Priority technology areas* environmental technologies (technologies for the eficient use of energy, including the economical use of energy, renewable energy technologies, technologies for increasing material eficiency etc.)

Key industrial sectors* energetics / “smart” systems sustainable construction manufacturing (especially woodprocessing, metal and electrical industry and electronics)

Chemical and process industry technologies for sustainable mobility automotive industry biotechnology and other challenge- Pharmaceutical industry related technologies Food-processing industry and sustainable food production sustainable tourism ICt nanotechnology, micro- and nanoelectronics, photonics, electrical industry and electronics biotechnology, advanced materials, new materials advanced manufacturing and metal-processing industry, process technologies engineering and tool-making

Source: SIP, p. 4.

14.3.3. CommunIty baseD seLF-suFFICIenCy: sentRuPeRt We now pick up from where the SIP leaves off, starting, in our “integral green” terms, with an orientation toward communally based self-suficiency. Sentrupert is a village in the traditional Lower Carniola region with a total population of 2,800. In the past it was the cultural and economic centre of the Mirna Valley, but after the railway line bypassed the town the centre shifted to nearby Mirna. The local parish church, from which the settlement gets its name, is dedicated to Saint Rupert, dating back to 1163. In 2011 the Municipality of Sentrupert built its irst ever open-air museum of hayracks, which are unique to this area, in the southern part of the village. The collection includes the oldest preserved one from 1795. The main organizer, Rupert Gole, the Mayor of Sentrupert, is also piloting, and indeed pioneering, a self-suficient economy in his municipality (see Figure 14.2). While he starts with wood, Jelovica, as we shall see, ends with it. We believe that our strategic natural material is wood. Therefore we have designed a wood processing centre in which wood waste will emerge as our village’s source of energy. We seek to become a model for the rest of Slovenia. Sentrupert, as we have now seen, centred upon the “Breath of Gaia” for its moral economic core, while then building primarily on nature and community, is also, secondarily, aligned with its own culture (hayracks) and also spirituality (Saint Rupert – Catholicism). So there is more to the opening act of the integral green economy, in Slovenia, than meets the immediate technological and economic eye.

s o c i a l a n d te c h n i c a l e f f e c t : I n t e g r a l g r e e n s l o v e n i a 199

Figure 14.2 Community-based Self-sufficiency at Sentrupert

14.3.4. CuLtuRe-baseD DeVeLoPmentaL eConomy: bC nakLo We now turn more explicitly to culture – including agriculture – and spirituality, via the research and educational establishment, BC Naklo. The Biotechnical Centre Naklo, located in the rural outskirts of Ljubljana, was founded in 1926, and today functions as a biotechnical gymnasium, incorporating primary, secondary and tertiary education, in agriculture, horticulture, food-processing, as well as nature conservation. It also has its own organic farm, as well as a retail outlet, while functioning as a catalyst for the development of agriculture, locally and regionally. More speciically, and educationally, it is driven by its interest in working with students, teachers, partners and individuals that have a positive social and environmental impact. As such, and more speciically, it promotes Slovenia’s national heritage, develops intercultural relations, develops cooperation and team work, and generally promotes the exchange of our experiences. From a research perspective, moreover (see below), BC Naklo is engaged in both nature-oriented (seed production, medicinal plants, dairy production, biotechnology, sustainable energy, agro-systems) and culture-oriented (education and tourism) research (see Figure 14.3).

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Ar

ry

!r Seed Producon Biotechnology

E!aon RESEARCH UNIT AT BC NAKLO

Sustainable Energy

Medicinal Plants

Figure 14.3 BC Naklo research Centre

In fact, and as of September, 2103, BC Naklo and Trans4m, with the intermediation of Darja Piciga, have decided to form a Slovenian Centre for Integral Development together. The intention then is for the Centre to build on the paradigm of integral development and on the concept of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), duly initiated by UNESCO, with its rich implementation at national, European and national levels, with a special emphasis to be put on the moral core (values) and the cultural dimension of sustainable development.

14.3.5. knowLeDge-baseD soCIaL eConomy: se anD sR Social Inclusion to Social Enterprise (SE) The European Union, in its overall orientation set within a market-based European economy, has given pride of place, aside from the Green Economy, with which we are altogether concerned, to Social Inclusion, Entrepreneurship, and Responsibility. In 2008 a report (15) was commissioned into social inclusion, and thereby social enterprise, in Slovenia, by the OECD. For its academic authors, Spear (UK) and Galera (Italy), against the background of rising unemployment amongst certain groups, people with low skills, gaps in general-interest delivery, and growing social exclusion, social enterprises can be regarded as a unique way whereby innovative solutions can be found at the local level in strong co-operation with public agencies. The Slovenian economy and, consequently, the sustainability and effectiveness of the Slovenian welfare system were hit hard by the recent inancial and economic crisis. Following positive and stable economic growth which lasted for more than ten years, the 2008 global crisis caused a deterioration in economic conditions: the manufacturing and construction sectors were severely affected; despite anti-crisis measures amounting to EUR 75 million in 2009 and EUR 140 million in 2010, employment declined substantially owing to workers with ixed-term contracts being laid off, redundancy and irm bankruptcies alongside a general contraction in economic activity which also affected wages, and growth in gross wages started to slow signiicantly. This explains the increasing political interest in the social economy, and social enterprises in particular, as vehicles whereby crucial economic and social concerns could be successfully tackled.

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When compared to traditional associations and operating foundations, social enterprises place a higher value on economic risk-taking related to an ongoing productive activity, that is to say the production of goods and services for sale. On the other hand, in contrast to many traditional co-operatives, social enterprises may be seen as more oriented to the whole community and as putting more emphasis on the dimension of general interest. As a consequence, social enterprises can combine different types of stakeholders in their membership, whereas traditional co-operatives and often associations have generally been set up as single-stakeholder organizations. Thus in Slovenia this ultimately led to the passing, in 2012, of the Social Entrepreneurship Act.

social entrepreneurship We would argue that BC Naklo, while being a public enterprise, also has many of the facets of social entrepreneurship. According to the BC Naklo Prospectus (2013): Located on the edge of the nature park in Gorenjska, as a high quality educational, research and development institution, we engage with nature, and thereby healthy food production, also involved in landscape management in cooperation with the sector, while encouraging entrepreneurship and innovations, centred upon our Inter-Enterprise Educational Centre.

In the Social Entrepreneurship Act (16), passed by the Slovenian National Assembly in 2102, it was explicitly stated that: Social entrepreneurship shall strengthen social solidarity and cohesion, promote the participation of the people, support voluntary work, improve society’s capacity for innovation in addressing social, economic, environmental and other issues, ensure the additional supply of products and services in the public interest, develop new employment possibilities, provide additional jobs and enable social integration and vocational reintegration of the most disadvantaged groups in the labour market (social entrepreneurship objectives).

We now turn to social responsibility.

Social Responsibility (SR) IRDO (Inštitut za Razvoj Družbene Odgovornosti, or Institute for the Development of Social Responsibility) (17), was founded in 2004 as non-proit organization in order to research and accelerate the development of social responsibility in Slovenia and elsewhere. IRDO’s main purpose is to promote the networking of key activists concerned with social responsibility, whether in government, business, other institutions and organizations, or civil society, and to share common activities and campaigns for raising awareness in society at large about the need for, and the importance of such. IRDO’s activities are based on the EU deinition of (C)SR. For the European Union, the threefold character of social responsibility reads (ISO 26000) (17) as follows:

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• • •

Social responsibility is one’s responsibility for one’s impacts on society, meaning other humans and their organizations, rather than one-self only. Social responsibility is based on interdependence, meaning respecting the fact that nobody exists and works independently. Social responsibility is aimed at holistic approach, meaning that the humankind must give up exaggerated one-sidedness, which has been prevailing over the recent decades and centuries under the cover of the market fundamentalism and producing monopolies and related abuse, by-passing both market forces and also the combined concepts of the French and American revolutions: equality, brotherhood and freedom.

We now turn from the social to the living economy, and to the quintessence of Slovenia’s Integral Green Economy.

14.3.6. LIFe-baseD LIVIng eConomy: JeLoVICa Founded on wood Founded in 1905, Jelovica is a company with a very long Slovenian tradition. Since its inception its business has always been connected with a range of wood products and in recent decades, this has mostly included wooden windows, doors and prefabricated wooden houses. Throughout history the company has sailed in calm and stormy waters. At the beginning of this century, Jelovica lost most of its markets and sought new opportunities. However, the business environment also changed. Company modernization and a review of the vision was crucial for the newly successful era of integral “green” Jelovica (see Figure 14.4). Wood, although a “high-tech” product of nature, is still used all too often in inadequate ways, with a lack of innovation and lack of added value. The mission of Jelovica is to change that. Forests and wood are an important sink for carbon dioxide and storage for carbon. Wood is an environmentally friendly material and the only material that can be used fully in the entirety of all its lifecycles – even after the end of its life span. In 2012 the company received an award for being the most environmental company in Slovenia. This year they have received many invitations to various initiatives, innovative projects or programmes to encourage and move a whole society toward green, sustainable, nature- and human-friendly living. Their wooden kindergarten, speciically, was identiied as an example of best practice because it can be easily replicated and has, as such, a positive impact on nature, local communities and people in the whole cycle of production, usage and demolition of the building.

becoming Flexible and Responsive Since taking over Jelovica at the end of 2007, its new chief executive Gregor Ben฀ina, with a new team, introduced a number of changes into a company that many thought had no future. Today, Jelovica has not only revived its fortunes but is showing that Slovenia’s wood industry has major strategic potential for investors, both at home and abroad. From 2008, in Jelovica, management started with changes that followed some basic values and provided a vision of the “company to be”. What this meant was that everything related to wood should, of course, be environmentally friendly and energy-saving. Jelovica’s products,

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Figure 14.4 Jelovica – green Company

processes and way of operation needed to become sustainable. Going green should not just be a buzz word but a way of business. These were the guiding principles on which they decided how to change the company. The challenge was how to create a more lexible company that would be able to respond to the requirements of the different and demanding markets. Through the constant development of new energy-saving products and sustainable, emission free processes, the company achieved more and more recognition both at home and abroad. Consequently, Jelovica has become an important international player in the production of energy eficient prefabricated wooden houses and wooden windows, with the related services that it offers. A lot of the focus was not only on the sale of the products, but again on redeining the scope of the product. In this way, value was added to the company.

Centre for energy efficient solutions Due to recent investments in knowledge and technology, thereby partnering with several universities in Slovenia, Jelovica today is able to realize the most demanding of projects. These involve building, out of wood, not only customized individual houses, but kindergartens, schools, hotels and more. Jelovica now has a presence in Slovenia, Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Italy.

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Co-operating with experts from different education institutions, Jelovica researches and tests new products. Constantly searching for new energy-saving construction systems and other natural materials, through which Jelovica develops new guidelines in the construction of prefabricated buildings, gives the company an important innovative boost, thereby being both lexible and responsive to market demands. In 2012 Jelovica opened a modern and innovative sales channel called the CER – Centre for Energy Eficiency Solutions. A new business model, where the customer gets information, can consult with the company and can attend different educational events on energy eficient means of construction, will be implemented in Slovenia as well as abroad in neighbouring Croatia in cooperation with more than 15 companies. By installing a new solar power plant on the roof of Jelovica’s factory in Preddvor, they have mastered the sustainable production of prefabricated wooden houses and buildings. Today, they gain more power and thermal energy from natural renewable sources than they consume in the production process. In addition to the energy from the new solar power plant, some is also generated by their own hydro power plant and from scrap wood. Energy needs are therefore entirely satisied from renewable sources: biomass, sun and water. With their sustainable production they are responsive to the local environment and integrate well into the strategy of the Municipality of Preddvor – where their plant is located – as a green municipality.

14.4. Conclusion 14.4.1. RetuRn to PLan b In the inal analysis, we return, as per Living Economics, set within the overall context of an Integral Green Slovenia, to the recent Sustainable Development Initiative for Slovenia, cited earlier (14): The Green Development Breakthrough programs are focused on long-term solutions. They respond to Slovenia’s strategic opportunities that arise from domestic human and natural resources. They also reduce dependence on imports and bring a balanced regional development in the cities as well as the countryside. Additionally these programs support compliance with the international climate targets and job creation with higher added value, resulting in increased competitiveness of the Slovenian economy. Green Development Breakthrough provides a positive vision, promotes innovative solutions and long-term prosperity.

14.4.2. towaRDs an IntegRaL gReen sLoVenIa In the light of the review conducted herein, we might reconigure the above not only as a “concept map”, as it were, but also with a view to catalysing an Integral Green Slovenia. The newly integral result is shown below (Figure 14.5), with the local exemplar in bold capitals and the global one alongside it in italics. What we wish to emphasize, in this integral review, is that each economic path – self-suficiency, developmental economy, social and living economies – builds on what has come before, as well as being centred upon the Slovenian moral economic core, its Earth Soul.

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Figure 14.5 Integral green economy of Slovenia

In other words, while such notions as a “Green Economy”, as well as “Social Entrepreneurship” and “Social Responsibility” are commendable, and well worth taking note of, they do not build speciically on the moral core of Slovenia. For us, such economic integrity, aligns, so to speak: • • • • •

a Slovenian soul force portrayed by Pogačnik as the Breath of Gaia; a self-suficient Sentrupert as the heart of the Slovenian matter; a Centre for Integral Development at BC Naklo as the spirit of Slovenia; a mindful IRDo with its overall orientation towards social responsibility; the embodiment of a an integral green economy, represented by Jelovica.

In the inal analysis, then, with a view to building up an Integral Green Slovenian Economy (IGSE), each of the abovementioned has a vital role to play, as exemplars, but they serve as representative philosophies, theories and practices rather than as a complete manifestation of what we might term Slovenia’s IGSE. Moreover, and as we have seen, in terms of our integral “Northern” polity, Havel’s Central European “grund” (grounding), the Roland Berger Foundation’s emergent innovation, and John Restakis’ humanization of economics, not to mention Slovenian Social Economy and sustainability, all have a European – if not also Canadian – role to play, prior to the IGSE effect.

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14.4.3. ReLatIonshIP between euRoPe anD otheR ContInents Relating, in the inal analysis, to physical geography, it is important to note that Australia is positioned at the back of Europe on the other side of the globe (see Figure 14.6). To reach there one has to pass the North Pole and the Paciic. This position corresponds to what is called the causal dimension of life where a matrix (archetypal patterns) of different aspects of Gaia’s original creation is stored – the matrix of life beyond any cultural expression. Africa on the contrary is positioned “in front” of Europe, strongly relating to the Fire Element. Positioned thereby at the front of life means that the continent can be seen as a huge storage of the life forces of Gaia, capable of nourishing all forms of life in their embodied (materialized) forms. If Africa today often shows a great scarcity of lifesustaining forces, this is because of a lack of a home grown, rationally based civilization (which has been in the past imposed upon Africa) to handle the resources of Gaia’s life powers in a cyclic and co-operative way. Indeed that is exactly what Chancellor Williams has been calling for in his approach to Constituting Africa (see Chapter 3). The big circle depicting Asia represents the whole spectrum of tools that Gaia has developed to further the diversity of creation upon the surface of our home planet, relating to the forms of natural as well as cultural expression. The present day extremist political regimes in Asia and the tendency of its economies to submit to the most sophisticated technologies are, for Pogačnik, directly opposing the intention of Gaia to develop Asia as a means of inspiration towards the future development of the planet and its evolutions. America is obviously a twin continent. Connected to the quality of the air element it represents the elemental consciousness of Gaia, her noosphere. North America would then correspond to the masculine, spiritual aspect of Gaia’s consciousness – also called the “Sophia” aspect, and South America to the emotional dimension of Gaia’s noosphere closely related to the feminine. This emotional quality, where the consciousness of Gaia is concerned, is not meant in the psychological sense of the word. It rather addresses the cosmic network of all-connectedness which represents the state of pure being that all beings of the Earth and the universe share. For the balance in and of the Earth, moreover, of greatest importance is both the major Paciic and Atlantic Oceans positioned at each side of the Earth. The waters of the oceans and seas with their mineral solutions represent vast stores of Gaia’s memory. The Paciic Ocean is introverted relating to the memory of life’s origins emanating from the Earth’s core. The Atlantic relates rather to the manifested world, holding subsequently the memory of the Earth’s evolutions. In this connection Pogačnik makes clear that the dramatic events happening at the Asian shores of the Paciic, like the devastating recent tsunami in Indonesia, megatyphoon in the Philippines, and the broken Fukushima nuclear reactor in Japan, relate to the inability of the present civilization to connect to the origins of life and to nourish the connection in such a way that would be co-creative with Gaia, the life sustaining essence of our planet. In the inal analysis, then, the Earth expresses her different dimensions through the ive continents. In this context Europe represents the source of Gaia’s inspiration towards transforming her natural creation into different forms of culture. First in the epoch of classical Greece and later during the Renaissance this inspiration spread as a global wave

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over the world, unfortunately often in a destructive way. Europe is positioned at the place of the ifth element at the centre not because of its past dominating position in the world but because of its potential role as a mediator between Gaia and human civilization. In this sense Europe should be able develop a new model of co-existence between human culture and the spiritual dimensions of Gaia, our home planet. We now turn from “North” to “West”, from Europe to the Americas.

Figure 14.6 europe in the World

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14.5. References 1. Anko, B. (1985) Forest Ordinance for Carniola. Ljubljana: Forestry Faculty, University of Ljubljana. 2. Verbole, A. (1997) “Rural Tourism and Sustainable Development: A Case Study on Slovenia”. In H. De Haan (ed.), Sustainable Rural Development. Aldershot: Ashgate, 197–215. 3. OECD (2012) OECD Environmental Performance Reviews: SLOVENIA 2012. OECD Publishing. 4. Pogačnik, M. (2007) Sacred Geography: Co-Creating the Earth Cosmos. Great Barrington, MA: Lindisfarne Books. 5. Gow, J. and Carmichael, C. (2010) Slovenia and the Slovenians. London: Hurst and Company. 6. Kropej, M., Smitek, Z. and Dapit, R. (2010) A Treasury of Slovenian Folklore. Radovlijica: Didakta. 7. Pogačnik, M. (2007) Sacred Geography: Co-Creating the Earth Cosmos. Great Barrington, MA: Lindisfarne Books. 8. Pogačnik, M. and Pogačnik, A. (2006) How Wide the Heart: The Roots of Peace in Palestine and Israel. Great Barrington, MA: Lindisfarne Books. 9. Pogačnik, M. (2009) Nature Spirits and Elemental Beings: Working with Intelligence in Nature. Findhorn: Findhorn Press. 10. Tome, N. (2013) Plan B: Sustainable Development Initiative for Slovenia. Ljubljana: Civil Society Initiative for Sustainable Development. 11. Lessem, R. and Schieffer, A. (2010) Integral Economics: Releasing the Economic Genius of Your Society. Farnham: Gower. 12. Šušteršič, J., Rojec, M. and Korenika, K. (eds) (2005) Slovenia’s Development Strategy. Ljubljana: IMAD. 13. Tome, N. (2013) Plan B: Sustainable Development Initiative for Slovenia. Ljubljana: Civil Society Initiative for Sustainable Development. 14. The Government of the Republic of Slovenia (2013) Slovenian Industrial Policy – SIP, 310001/2013/5. Ljubliana: The Government of the Republic of Slovenia. 15. Spear, R. and Galera, G. (2008) Improving Social Inclusion at the Local Level through Social Economy: Draft Report for Slovenia. CFE/LEED (2008) 9/REV1. 16. Klavora, V. MP and the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia (2012) Social Entrepreneurship Act. Ljubljana: Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs. 17. Mulej, M. and Dyck, R. (2014) Social Responsibility Beyond Neoliberalism and Charity. Sharjah: Bentham Science Publishers.

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CHAPTer

15 Environmental and

Economic Grounding: The American Soul

The established roots of human meaning and the cornerstones of democracy – freedom, honesty, caring relationships, a belief in the next generation – derive their power from the mutual respect of individuals and from an investment in community at home and abroad. The ancient truth remains. It is through the empathic intimacy of human relationships, not in the accumulation of material goods, that true prosperity is secured. Have then the goals of America’s original social experiment been hijacked by its commercial success, threatening the delicate balance between individual desire and social responsibility, or will the nation in its migrant wisdom effectively apply its market and military dominance to enhance the wellbeing of the world’s peoples? John Whybrow, American Mania (1)

15.1. Introduction: Inner and outer grounding 15.1.1. a new begInnIng We now turn, penultimately so to speak, that is before we reach for our global centre, to the “West”, but not to such a West as we conventionally know it. For the “Western” grounding we now seek is one that builds upon the “rest”, rather than dominating over it. So we no longer consider America to be a “super power”, but rather consider the Americas, South America and North, West coast and East to be a newly integral beginning. The United States of America, for leading U.S. social philosopher Jacob Needleman (2) based at San Francisco State University, is in fact, the symbol and the promise of a new beginning. And in human life, in our lives as they are, he says, this possibility is amongst the most sacred aspects of existence. All that is old and already formed can continue to live only if it allows within itself the conditions of a new beginning. In that context, on the cover page of his recent book on The American Soul, Needleman accordingly has four pictures, one in each of the four corners of the page, of, respectively, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass and two American Indians. Indeed they embody, as we shall see, an “integral West”, rather than the domineering America that conventionally prevails over us. Life itself is the mysterious, incomprehensive blending of the new and the old, of what already is and what is coming into being. The question of America is therein: if America loses the meaning of its existence, according to Needleman, and if, in fact, America is now the dominant cultural inluence on the world, then what will become

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of the world? The question of America leads all of us directly to the question of the purpose and destiny of human life itself in this era.

15.1.2. the IDea oF ameRICa Our world currently, as we see and hear on all sides, is, for Needleman, drowning in materialism, commercialism, consumerism. But the problem is not really there. What we ordinarily speak of as materialism is a symptom, not a cause. The root of materialism is a poverty of ideas about the inner and outer world. Less and less does our contemporary culture have, or even seek, commerce with great ideas, and it is that lack, for Needleman, which is weakening the human spirit. Therefore materialism is a disease of the mind starved of ideas. No such ideas, moreover, exist alone. Great ideas are always part of a living system of ideas, all of which are necessary for the full understanding of any one of them. When we speak of the idea of America, we are speaking of many interconnected ethical ideas, both metaphysical ideas that deal with ultimate reality, and ethical and social ideas, which all together offered, originally at least, hope to the world. The idea of America, with all that it contained within it about the moral law, nature, God and the human soul, once relected the timeless, ancient wisdom that had guided human life since the dawn of human history. It is necessary today to recover this resonance, this relationship, however tenuous and partial, between the teachings of wisdom and the idea of America.

15.1.3. the InneR meanIng oF DemoCRaCy One of the most central of the tenets of ancient wisdom is the idea of man as a being who exists between two worlds – an inner world of great spiritual vision and power, and an outer world of material realities and constraint. Both worlds call to us, and as long as we live, we are obliged to give each its due. The idea of man’s two natures, along with some of its ethical implications, was dramatically expressed in the teaching known as Stoicism, which lourished in the early Roman Empire and which served as inspiration to Washington, Adams, Jefferson and many others of the Founding Fathers of America. The most politically powerful man of his time, the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, and one of the least powerful, the freed slave Epictetus, who was a mentor to the Emperor, both adhered to the Stoic philosophy. Our task, as such, is simultaneously inner freedom and full outer engagement. As for the idea of democracy, the Founding Fathers – Washington, Jefferson, Franklin and others – never conceived of it solely as an external form of government. The meaning of democracy was always rooted in a vision of human nature as both fallen and perfectible – inwardly fallen and inwardly perfectible. To a signiicant extent, democracy in its speciically American form was created to allow men and women to seek their own higher principle within themselves. The higher reality within the self was called many things – reason, conscience, Nature’s God. When this idea is left out, or treated as though its meaning was obvious, then the ideals of independence and liberty lose their power and truth. The idea of America once had this power of uniication.

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15.2. Remembering america/Remembering washington 15.2.1. the aRt FoRm oF ameRICa Is goVeRnment To love America, Needleman goes on to say then, is not merely to love your roots, or your grounds – it is to love the lower, coming out of the ground, that has not yet blossomed, the fruit not yet ripened. To love America is to love the future, and perhaps it is this that sets the love of America apart from what other men and women of other nations feel about their home land. You are born Greek or German or Japanese. But to be born American does not mean the same thing. You become American. There is something in yourself that can develop and evolve. So to be grounded in the “West” is to be illed with potential. The great art form of America, then, serving to harness that potential, is government and especially the Constitution. Other nations and cultures have produced cathedrals, epics, poems, music, systems of philosophy that far surpass what America has brought forth. In this art form, it seems to Needleman, America is pointing toward the most essential art of the future – the art of human association, the art of working together as individuals and groups and communities. This is the essential art form of the coming humanity. Without it nothing else can help us. It is through the group, the community, that moral power and a higher level of intelligence can be sought, if only we can discover the way of constructing association with others in communities, groups and combinations of men and women. America was to be the irst nation created intentionally by thought and moral choice. What force then lies at the origin of the Constitution of the United States, beyond what may be labelled economic, political, legal, military or religious? What enabled the Constitution as we know it to come into existence? For Needleman, and as we shall see for one of us, Louis Herman in the following chapter, the answer is to be found in the superhuman struggle of individuals to listen to each other. The fact is, for Needleman, something remarkable did take place at this meeting of ordinary men in the summer of 1787. And the fact is that something this extraordinary lies at the very foundation of America and even, to a signiicant extent, at the roots of modernity itself. Something redolent of the miraculous is at work here, some collective human action is at work that can serve as a symbol of the power of the authentic community. This is the power of listening from a deep source which opens people to the thoughts and views of their neighbour, to something wiser and iner. The Constitutional Convention is a speciically American symbol of the art and power of community.

15.2.2. washIngton anD the RenunCIatIon oF aCtIon the american Ideal of self-improvement A nation and a culture like America’s, which thrives today on ever-accelerating outward motion and “doing” – this nation began with a man, one of those able to listen profoundly to others, whose action was in its way a renunciation of action. The “note” sounded by Washington, at the end of the Civil War, Needleman maintains, was one of letting go, as he retired to his farm at a tender age. Simultaneously, in him therefore, existed extraordinary sellessness and immense ambition, “non-action” and boldness,

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heart-rendering gentleness and terrifying ferocity, great striving and a capacity to see faults in himself, and to free himself from them. The ideal of self-examination and self-empowerment, of working intentionally and methodically on one’s faults, has always been – in one form or another – characteristic of the American psyche. It should be noted that it is when the ideal of self-improvement, Needleman maintains, is torn away from the ultimate context of service to others, when it is pursued primarily for one’s own individual beneit, that it becomes the also typically American – today more than ever – but hardly admirable, obsession with personal material gain and success. Again and again with Franklin, with Washington and Jefferson, they were all, for Needleman, gods of the community, of moral care.

the great Renunciation The actual words of the Founding Fathers show how they considered the importance for the world of the American experiment. To them, and none more than Washington, the birth of America represented the irst attempt of its kind in human history to bring moral and spiritual values into the day-to-day life of mankind, and to them the very future of the world depended on this effort. What they saw, for Needleman, was great, and we must try to honour them for seeing it. However, as is so often the case in human life, what they failed to see was equally great. They were not of the stature of Moses, Jesus or Buddha; we must both re-mythologize what was great in them and also confront what they failed to see. Thus Washington could not really see the whole of America, and – sincere as his moral struggle, his battle of the will, was – he did not and perhaps could not see the nature of the American Indian. The full reality of the American Indian spiritual tradition was surely invisible to many of the U.S.’ greatest forebears, just as was the human essence of the black slaves. This would live on to haunt America, to the present day. It should not altogether negate, though, the greatness that lay in the American soul, especially to the extent that such a soul force embraced the whole of the America(s), north and south, east and west.

the Forge of experience We are familiar with the revolution in the sciences brought about by the emphasis on experiment and experience that was brought into Western thought in the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. We are less familiar with the emphasis on experiment and personal experience – this vision of the need to be free from blind belief – which is central to the sphere of moral life as well. Washington, Jefferson, Franklin were all telling us that in our lives and our science we should try things for ourselves, to work together in the forge of experience and thereby to sense and feel with body, mind and heart what we are and what we need. America, then, was the creation of a collection of men in whom traces of ancient interior spiritual truths were honoured alongside the need to organize an immense new world of phenomenal potential wealth and power. This simultaneity of the spiritual and the material was of quite new coloration and energy. This simultaneity, for Needleman, was America. What does this speciically mean then, for the “Western” grounding of our integral polity?

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15.2.3. thomas JeFFeRson: DemoCRaCy as the CommunaL seLF Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence There can be no politics, for Needleman, without psychology. And there can be no psychology without metaphysics, without a vision of the real world: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. The Jeffersonian view of human nature is diametrically opposed to the Calvinistic doctrine of man’s essential corruption and incapacity, and accords great powers and capacities to the human soul. Since every right implies a power, to grant man so many rights can only be based on an exalted vision of human powers. What may have seemed questions of only external, political relevance – questions that one can safely think about without reference to metaphysical or psycho-spiritual issues – now draw irrevocably into the heart of spiritual philosophy. In fact we are so troubled by the striving to get what we want, especially in comparison to what others may have or not have, that our thought rarely moves in a metaphysical direction – in the sense of asking ourselves what these rights are telling us about the structure of our being.

two americas; two Democracies Needleman then, drawing on Jefferson, comes to the conclusion that there are two Americas, and two democracies. There is the democracy of external order and action: the government of men and women in the material world. Yet even this external democracy could not exist without a process of self-development in men and women. Individuals within America’s democracy cannot conduct their government without the development of their essential nature as human beings. Jefferson and many others identiied this process of self-development with the education of the mind. But for Jefferson the education of the mind is only part of the necessary process of self-development without which external democracy would inevitably fail. The second democracy, the second America, is not the democracy of personal preference; not the democracy of desire, but the democracy of conscience. Jeffersonian democracy symbolizes the possibility of both democracies existing one within the other, one allowing the other to lourish, each in its own way and at its own level. Hamiltonian or pragmatic, political democracy is one-dimensional. Jeffersonian democracy’s ultimate aim is to protect the interior democracy. External democracy without spiritual democracy will otherwise inevitably destroy itself and the people within it.

15.3. Individuality: a meditation on the Face of Lincoln 15.3.1. tRue anD FaLse InDIVIDuaLIsm Needleman cannot emphasize too strongly that at its origin American individualism is a spiritual ideal; it is not primarily social nor economic nor – in the familiar sense – psychological. One tends to hear the word “spiritual” and associate it with what we are generally familiar with as religion – belief systems, theology, allegiance to particular doctrines. But to believe

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in a religious doctrine in itself implies little or nothing about the state of the soul. It all depends on how the belief is held. Inwardly, one can believe in a religious doctrine in such a way that the doctrine serves the ego. Conversely, it is possible to turn away from all religious doctrine, yet inwardly be freer and more open to experiential contact with the actuality that is called God. Spirituality, for Needleman, is not necessarily the same thing as religiosity. The former has to do with the state of the soul; the latter often refers mainly to beliefs, opinions, or behavioural patterns. It may seem paradoxical, but the study of the great teachers and guides of the world often reveals an individual’s spiritual force manifesting as a rejection of religion. At its heart, at the origin of all religions or schools, there is the experience of individual presence – the conscious presence that is as yet uncaptured by forms of thought, language or social organization. That there should exist at the centre of American culture the ideal of such a man, such a human thing, is not unusual in the history of nations and cultures. That this man should have been the most politically powerful man in the nation – that is remarkable. Needleman does not know quite how to measure Abraham Lincoln, as such, against igures and legends such as Luther, Socrates and Moses. What he does say, with some degree of certainty, is that Lincoln’s face calls us to the whole question of individuality as a conscious presence that transcends the ordinary meanings of the word “individualism”. There is the materialistic narcissism of consumerism; there is the psychological narcissism of New Age self-development; there is the narcissism of political and social apathy. Against such “narcissism” is placed the duty to participate in the governance and needs of the community. The face of Lincoln is not that of a solitary or a recluse. Or perhaps we would say yes it is the face of a solitary, who in his time was, ironically, perhaps the world’s greatest and chief agent of action.

15.3.2. the ameRICan IDeaL oF InDIVIDuaLIsm The American ideal of individualism thus links to the ancient, timeless vision of personhood – the Zen Buddhists speak of such as one’s “original face” – for Americans this idea is best represented by the face of Abraham Lincoln. We now turn to the contradictory forces in the American soul, to which we alluded earlier.

15.4. the american Indian: Crimes of america 15.4.1. ContRaDICtoRy FoRCes In the ameRICan souL The crimes of America, for Needleman, are as much a part of its meaning as its ideals, and to embrace one without the other will lead us nowhere. We need a new and more precise understanding both of what is possible for us and how we fail, and a new understanding of what we ourselves actually are, and of how we can and must change. Obviously, no search for meaning of what it is to be American can turn away from the fact that America was built on the destruction of its native peoples and on the institution of slavery. To a great extent, the material success of America rests on these crimes and others like them. The greatness of America as embodied in its Constitution and its legendary leaders stands in stark contradiction to these titanic immoralities. For Needleman, though, neither side of

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the contradiction eclipses the others. When the real feeling, the deep sense of pondering of each side of this contradiction appears in the American soul, something entirely new may be glimpsed in its heart and in its actions. People need to apprehend what is good in America, without self-inlation; and what is evil, without self-lagellation.

15.4.2. CuLtuRe oF the ameRICan InDIan: natuRe oF PeaCe The irst thing that strikes Needleman, about the American Indian, is his or her relationship to nature. For us in modern society it is only in special moments that we directly sense meaning in nature. Experientially and psychologically, nature, virgin nature, is only part of our world. For the Indian, nature is the world. We do not understand the Indian’s relationship to nature, perhaps because – even with all the knowledge science brings us – we simply do not understand nature itself. Perhaps it is from the Indian that we confront the fact that we do not understand the earth – and what the earth really needs from us. Secondly then, of all the features that characterize the Indian’s vision of nature and reality, perhaps none is more mysterious and frequently overlooked or set apart than the emphasis he puts on “peace”. The power of the storm and the sky; the wisdom, that is the secrets of the animals and the forest; freedom from all social artiice; and solitude, the mysterious capacity to be with oneself and the powers of the wild; and courage, the capacity to withstand pain and suffering; and silent force, the power to move through nature without making a mark, to disappear into the forest beyond all discovery; and cunning, involving ighting skill and physical prowess: what could “peace” mean to such a man? For the American Indian – and this idea lies at the hidden root of every great spiritual teaching of the world – to be at peace means to be at peace with one’s conscience. And to ind such intelligence requires, in turn, an effort of exceptional people working together to respect each individual’s fragment of truth until an objective, all-inclusive truth descends into the community from “above”, that is, from the Great Spirit. Such an objective truth may be linked with the world “justice”. To live at peace is to embrace life in all its aspects, all “four directions”, all “four winds”, all the creatures outside and within.

15.4.3. what ReaLLy was DestRoyeD Our own modernity, in fact, has lost its relationship to the wisdom tradition, the seeds of which were carried in the minds and hearts of many of those who came irst to American shores from Europe but were forgotten in the material expansion and success of the empire. If we are seeking to re-mythologize America, it is to capture the last drifting seeds of this wisdom and re-plant them, as it were, in a soil – our earth – that is desperate to nourish them – soon, now. The question now deepens as to what is lost in the assault on the culture of the American Indian and the incomprehensible murder of men, women and children. Not only was a way of life lost, but also a way of seeing – that is a state of being, a state of consciousness, higher than our own. Can we now do for man and for the earth what the culture of the Indian was designed to do? Can we help bring to the world and to ourselves the energy of the Great Peace? Although America betrayed all its ideals by slaughtering the Indian, can it accept that there is no recompense for this crime except to continue the work that formed the essence of the Indian culture, to bring to the earth what the Indians brought. Without that, all

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other compensation and atonement, for Needleman, will be perilously incomplete. We now come to the second major American crime.

15.5. slavery, Frederick Douglass and the story of america 15.5.1. the bLaCk man as the souRCe oF ameRICa’s RemembeRIng To look at slavery in America and its continuing echo of racial hatred and injustice is to see more than a condition that America is obliged to repair with all the moral and social energy it can bring; it is also, for Needleman, to see the inner human condition. It is to see that America too, no less than the slave-masters of Egypt and Rome, no less than the blind, murdering armies of every nation in history, is asleep to conscience. Slavery and its omnipresent effects have the power to never let us forget that we have to become different beings as well as act according to the good laws of the land. Laws by themselves, the Constitution by itself, cannot bring justice. Needleman then turns to Frederick Douglass. Born into slavery in 1818, Frederick Douglass had escaped to the North at the age of 20 and had become widely respected for his courage and intellect as he travelled throughout the northern states speaking about the meaning for America of slavery and its horrors. His great gifts as a writer and speaker, and in the actions of his life, was not only to make white Americans feel the monstrosity of slavery, but also to present to them, with unsurpassed insight and sensitivity, the meaning of the idea of America itself. He understood America and deeply embraced its ideals even as he recoiled at what American had become. In an impassioned oration in 1858, he comes to his central idea. Like man, America imagines it is free, imagines it is one, imagines it prizes independence, liberty and justice – but in fact, like man, America swarms with contradictions. It is precisely because America was only yesterday conceived as an expression of humanity’s greatest moral ideals that its contradictions and failure of will call out most clearly and sadly. America then, for Douglass, must bow its head at the contradiction it represents. Then and only then can a man, a people or a community, really begin to repair its crimes; because only then through this process of remembering what it is and what it was meant to be, only then does it allow into itself the process whereby it can repair its own moral and spiritual contradictions. America must remember its contradictory self. And it is the slave, the black man, living in chains, physically or otherwise, who is the instrument of remembering.

15.5.2. the oPPResseD PeoPLe stILL ContaIneD the oRIgInaL FIRe Douglass, in Needleman’s view, interiorized the American Revolution. It is a revolution from within that is being spoken of as such – from deep within the Self. American then was becoming rich and successful, but inwardly it was already dying and drying up. But the people it had oppressed and enslaved still contained the element that had brought the original ire to the nation. The crime of slavery (in both its broad and narrow meanings) was the outward expression and echo of the deeply human sin of forgetting the inner Self that is the only real source of power and virtue in a human being or in a group or in a culture. And Douglass’ rebellion is one of a thousand echoes – most of the others are lost in historical obscurity – of the process of remembering the Self that in the past had brought

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about the glory of the Revolution and was destined to bring about the agony of the Civil War, and which eventually led to Lincoln’s decisive redeinition of the meaning of America. Indeed this became the basis of such hope for the world: the idea of a nation founded on the intrinsic sacredness of all men and women – in Christian language the equality of “all souls”. Yet blind to its own contradictions, America’s twisted perceptions, coldness of heart and brutality of deed amount to nothing less, for Needleman, than a rejection and forgetting of its own essential nature, its own Self. In every nation and civilization, every active thrust toward the good has met its resisting force from within its own bosom. What is harder to recognize are the occasions in history when the opposing force is understood for what it is and where a third principle – in Christian language, the Holy Spirit – reconciles the two opposing forces. We need to understand that to a signiicant extent, the American Constitution, according to Needleman, was created to allow forces to confront each other in a manner that makes room for the appearance of the reconciling principle that preserves and even deepens unity, union. Louis Herman will revisit such in the next, emergent chapter, heralding our primal future. The Constitution itself, then, is to be understood as that essence of America which will allow the descent from above of the force that will bring reconciliation between White and Black. This is the myth, that is to say the sacred story, the sacred meaning that is echoed by the structure of the American nation. To deny this possibility, to assert that the essential mind and heart of America serves to favour slavery, favour the monstrosity of evil, that would be an unforgettable sin, that would be, for Needleman, the death of America. For Douglass inally, paraphrasing Isaiah 59: … a change has now to come over the affairs of mankind. Walled cities and empires have become fashionable. The arm of commerce has borne away the gates of the strong city. Intelligence is penetrating the darkest corners of the globe. Oceans no longer divide, but link nations together … space is comparatively annihilated … the iron shoe, the crippled foot of China must be seen … Africa must rise and put on her yet unwoven garment.

15.6. Conclusion: the meaning of america 15.6.1. In seaRCh oF the seConD DemoCRaCy Without the inner meaning of democracy, for Needleman therefore, the outer forms will not withstand the forces of subjectivity, fear and suggestibility that spin our world again and again into false hope and eventual violence and despair. It will become more understandable that attempts to imitate or follow the model of American democracy by other nations and communities – Eastern Europe beware – may not lead toward the resonant hope that was and still is implied in the American vision, precisely because the sense of a second “inner” democracy is not seen or embraced. The deeper meaning of democracy can be seen only by understanding the deeper structure of the human self. In fact, as America evolved through the 19th century, vast capital, submitted to the hard-driving Protestant ethic, lourished under the bold and brilliant monetary and inancial innovations of Alexander Hamilton. With the continuing opening of the

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frontier, the culture of “the irst democracy” emphasized individualism at the expense of community and do-it-yourself free enterprise at the expense of older and gentler forms of agrarian co-operation. The “second democracy”, for Needleman, is a community devoted solely and entirely, as per Vaclav Havel (see Chapter 11) to truth. It does not accumulate wealth. It does not put “ships upon the sea”. It does not make war. It is not “strong”. it is not an “economic force” in the world. It does not have an army. It does not make treaties. It does not devise inancial innovations. How then does it exist? In order to bring home more forcefully the re-visioning of the American story, for Needleman, it is now time to summon, for him, America’s greatest prophet.

15.6.2. waLt whItman anD the meanIng oF ameRICa Twenty years after Lincoln’s death Walt Whitman said: He was quite thoroughly Western, original, essentially non-conventional, and had a certain outdoor or prairie stamp … I should say the invisible foundations and vertebra of his character, more than any man’s in history, were mystical, abstract, moral and spiritual – While upon all of them was built, and out of all of them radiated, what the vulgar call horse-sense, and a life bent often by temporary but most urgent materialistic and political reasons.

From the very beginning of his essay on Lincoln, Whitman cries out for what Needleman has referred to as the mythic meaning of America: For, I say, the true nationality of the States, the genuine union, when we come to a mortal crisis, is, and is to be, after all, neither the written law, nor (as generally supposed), either self-interest, or common pecuniary or material objects – but the fervid and tremendous IDEA, melting everything else with resistless heat, and solving all lesser distinctions in vast, indeinite, spiritual, emotional power.

The purpose of such an idea, that is democracy, says Whitman, involves:

Independence Supplanting old belief in the necessary absoluteness of established dynastic rulership, as furnishing the only security against chaos, crime and ignorance … man, properly trained, in sanest, highest freedom, may and must become a law, and a series of laws, unto himself, surrounding and providing for, not only his own personal control, but all his relations to other individuals, as to the State

equality Our idea of quality, Whitman tells us, is a trace, an echo of the ancient doctrine of inner transcendence that was brought to the world by the teachers of wisdom, Jesus no less than Buddha or the sages and saints of India and China. But for Whitman the political idea of equality is not just a symbol, but it also opens up the question of the cultural and social conditions within which democracy serves its deepest purpose.

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To be a voter with the rest is not so much; and this, like every institute, will have its imperfections. But to become an enfranchised man, and now, impediments removed, to stand and start without humiliation, and equal with the rest; to commence the grand experiment of development, this is something.

the Individual Whitman’s Democratic Vistas presents a continuous back and forth movement between an emphasis on the idea of the People and on the idea of the Individual. It is the same back-and-forth we see in the logic and actions of Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln. The people is not the crowd. The Individual is not the ego. It is the ego and the crowd that opposes each other. But there is another kind of self-identity, mysterious and concrete, waiting, as it were, at the horizon in the subtle light of morning. This mysterious selfhood constitutes the hidden meaning of the idea of democracy: the government “of the people, by the people, for the people”. Bibles may convey, and priest expound, but it is exclusively for the noiseless operation of one’s isolated self, to enter the pure ether of veneration, reach the divine levels, and commune with the unutterable.

15.6.3. beyonD the ameRICan ILLusIon: what ameRICa ReaLLy means Within the “world” that is America as it actually is, for Needleman, there waits another America, another world. Within, behind what America is, there lies what American means, what Jesiah Ben Aharon (3), a disciple of Rudolf Steiner, in his book on America’s Global Responsibility, calls the Western mystery stream. We are naïve only when we confuse the two, when our feeling of hope is directed toward the outer America that we perceive with the senses, rather than the America we grasp with the mind and heart. Behind all the political and economic machinations of the Founders of the country, there existed in their hearts and minds a passion to create “an American place” in the midst of the world, where the Good can be sought and lived. They believed there existed the Good – some called it God, others called it Reason – and that the Good could enter human life. If then we believe that the outer America is the real America, we are deceived by ourselves, and, as the prophets of Israel warned, we are certain to perish – irst inwardly and then outwardly. The laws of America, the political structure of American government, the respect for the Constitution, the rituals and symbols of the American republic – all of this external America bears traces, some brilliant and others faint and shadowy, but traces of a great vision of truth and wisdom that have nourished the soul of mankind throughout history. We need to ind our way back to the other America, the inner America, which is to say that the modern world itself needs to ind its way back to the fundamental reality of the inner world, what the ancients called “the world of the soul”: a force, an intensity of feeling and knowing that deines us as human beings, that is our place in nature, on earth and with each other. Because of the material prosperity of America, and because it seemed, and actually was, after the fact, so intimately connected with market capitalism and its successes, the illusion was embraced that man’s life can be morally and materially perfected mainly through external exchanges involving, among other things, external forms of government and social order. This illusion was America’s illusion, and some time ago it became the whole world’s illusion.

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It was this illusion that fuelled the successes of Marxist communism and ultimately brought it down, just as all illusions, sooner rather than later, come to nothing.

15.6.4. the seCRet oF ameRICa: tIme anD the FutuRe We need to rediscover, then, the meaning of the American idea of independence as an invitation to the individual and the community to love and serve the common good under freely chosen obedience to a higher law. Here lies the secret of America – that it still has the future, that is offers mankind a future. The remnants of other nations and cultures may strike the sense of wonder in us with the greatness of their art and beauty and customs. But in these places, in Needleman’s view, we are looking into the past. In America we are looking into the future, but still a real one. Spatially and temporally, America is still uninished – as man, the uninished animal, is still. Lincoln, as such, is neither an unattainable saint nor a self-seeking politician. He is a symbol – for the developing soul – of what to struggle against and what to struggle for in our own process of development. Neither saint nor sinner, but a symbol of the search – the “truth quest” as Herman will later reveal – as are all the great warriors of myth, legend and scripture through the ages – the Islamic Ali urging the greater Holy War of self-overcoming. Arjuna of the Bhagavad Gita confronting the inner enemies ‘on the battleield of life”. The ancient cultural symbols of the warrior and the statesman become redeined as aspects of the inner quest, representing that capacity in ourselves that can identify the disparate and warring parts of our own nature, and, under the embrace of conscious mercy and rigor, allow these parts to ind their places within a greater inner unity of the self. And now, Needleman concludes, Walt Whitman gives us words for the journey: I hail with joy the oceanic, variegated, intense practical energy, the demands for facts, even the business materialism of the current age, our states. But woe to the age and land in which these things, movements, stopping at themselves, do not tend to ideas. As fuel to lame, and lame to heavens, so must wealth, science, materialism – even this democracy of which we make so much – unerringly feed the highest mind, soul ….

We now turn to our emerging Primal Future, picking up trans-culturally from where American philosopher Needleman, and his American Soul, have left off.

15.7. References 1. Whybrow, P. (2005) American Mania: When More Is Not Enough. New York: W.W. Norton. 2. Needleman, J. (2003) The American Soul: Rediscovering the Wisdom of the Founders. New York: Jeremy Tarcher. 3. Ben-Aharon, J. (2003) America’s Global Responsibility: Individuation, Initiation and Threefolding. Great Barrington, MA: Lindisfarne Books.

CHAPTer

16 Natural, Cultural, Social, Economic Emergence: Future Primal

The old Lakota were wise. … They could despise no creature for all were of one blood, made by the same hand and filled with the essence of the Great Mystery. They knew that man’s heart, away from nature, becomes hard; they knew that lack of respect for growing, living things soon led to lack of respect for humans too. So they kept their youth close to its softening influence. Chief Luther Standing Bear, Land of the Spotted Eagle (1)

16.1. Introduction 16.1.1. a VIsIon oF PoLItICs anD eConomICs attuneD to ouR LaRgeR ReaLIty Jacob Needleman, in the previous chapter, has opened our eyes to what we might term an integral grounding of the “West”, that is the United States of America in this case, rooted in its indigenous (“Southern” African and “Eastern” Indian) as well as exogenous (“Northern” European and “Western” American) worlds. One of us authors, Louis Herman (2), currently a political philosopher in the University of Hawai’i West Oahu’s Department of Political Science, takes this story on from here, building on what he calls our “wilderness origins” to take a “future primal” politics forward. Herman was born into an orthodox Jewish family in South Africa, emigrated with his family when he was 12 to England, studied medicine there at Cambridge University, then went to live on a kibbutz in Israel, thereafter studying political science at the Hebrew University. He inally ended up as a political philosopher at the University of Hawai’i. Interestingly enough Hawaii is the only American state where Caucasians are a minority. It is also located in the middle of the Paciic Ocean between East and West. Herman, by historical heritage and by current residence, beautifully represents the trans-cultural nature and scope of the emergent realm, as does the trans-disciplinary character of his medical, anthropological and political pursuits. All past cultures and civilizations, for Herman,1 have had some intuitive sense that humans lived within a larger process – a story whose ultimate origin was the most profound and sacred mystery. Each had cosmology, a story of origins that formed the foundation of its way of life and guided its economics and politics. The viability of a society depended on the success of its cosmology in tuning its way of life to the larger ultimately unfathomable reality that created and sustained all of life. Today, though, the 1

Thanks to New World Library for permission to uses excerpts from Future Primal in compiling this chapter.

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story we tell ourselves about our politics and economics has run its course. It is exhausted. Humanity enters the 21st century then in a state of tremendous crisis. It is a crisis of planetary dimensions involving every major social and biological system, affecting almost every aspect of our individual lives. Most of humanity is oblivious to the depth and breadth of the destruction. In the words of Van Dusen Wishard “we are sleepwalking through the apocalypse”. In our new millennium, then, the primordial experience of the mystery of our earthy origins has ceased to be a moral force in our lives. All our dominant institutions, from the global marketplace to the factory model of industrial production, were constructed on the basis of a radically constricted understanding of the place of the human in the cosmos. We urgently need a new vision of politics and economics that is attuned to our larger reality. From where might such be derived? Herman points out that early hunter-gatherer societies, immersed in an unpolluted wilderness on which they depended absolutely, recognized the critical importance of a primal resonance between the natural world and human consciousness. They explored it through their shamanic systems of religion and mobilized this understanding in the service of healing the individual and the community. Politics, economics, religion and philosophy were inseparable. When we approach contemporary politics from such a perspective, he reckons, magniicent possibilities open up: of ways of life profoundly better, truer and more beautiful. His vision of a future primal politics is rooted in an understanding of the order of these irst human societies. It also draws from other models of politics throughout the history of civilization but differs from them, and distinguishes itself from all ideologies in one fundamental respect: at its centre is awareness of the ultimate mystery of our origins, and with it the necessity for grounding any political order in an ongoing process of creative searching – the truth quest.

16.1.2. bRIngIng souL baCk Into PoLItICs – tRuth Quest Our modern use of the word politics has become as thoroughly debased and misunderstood as the practice it is commonly used to describe – seeking and wielding power over others for personal gain. On the scale of public opinion, politicians rank somewhere “between prostitutes and used-car-salesmen”. The whole business of politics is considered as far from its Socratic roots in philosophy and “cultivating virtue” as one can get. To move out of this dead end, for Herman, we need to retrace our steps to ind a way forward. If we go back two and a half thousand years to Ancient Greece, we can ind the origin of the word politics in the Greek polis – the self-governing, autonomous, democratic city state – where “politics” simply referred to the affairs of the polis, and as the concern of all, it was regarded as the most ennobling and meaningful of all human activities. Hence we have drawn on such for our integral polity. Herman, then, uses the word politics in the original, inclusive sense, to mean the universal human struggle, individually and collectively, to seek and to live the best possible life. Political philosophy can then be reconnected to its original Socratic intention as the search for the “the good life”. This has two primary aspects. On the one hand, there is what Socrates called “the improvement of one’s soul”, or what we loosely understand as personal growth, since the Greek word for soul is psyche, from which we get our psychology. On the other hand, there is the improvement of one’s society. Traditionally, this sort of Socratic knowledge was called wisdom. By contrast, in today’s universities,

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“political philosophy” refers to an obscure sub-speciality within the discipline of political science. So here, for Herman, is our central failing. Our system is set up so that political and economic decisions that are made according to the conviction that if individuals, organizations and nations follow self-interest, the “invisible hand of the market” will automatically convert selishness into the best possible outcome for the largest number. We have created a political culture that has eliminated in principle the need for the individual to consider and take responsibility for the good of the whole. We have abandoned the truth quest in public life.

16.1.3. FouR ReVoLutIons: PRImaL, agRICuLtuRaL, InDustRIaL, IntegRaL Looking back then over the past two hundred thousand years of human existence, we can identify three increasingly sudden leaps in human self-understanding – three revolutionary discontinuities in our way of being. The initial “primal revolution” was associated with ire-making and the appearance of language and symbolic culture. With this leap into the realm of imagination and self-awareness came an expanded arena of freedom, creativity and choice; with choice came the reality of good and bad choices. The evolutionary trajectory had produced a species – homo sapiens – which had entered the realm of morality with the question “what is the best way to live?” In compact bands of nomadic hunter-gatherers this question was constantly addressed in the everyday low of discussion and storytelling. All participated in the life of the self-suficient, more or less egalitarian community, where the political economy was based on simple reciprocity, co-operation, caring and sharing, as was intimated by Chancellor Williams in what constituted Africa (see Chapter 3). All had some direct experience of the social and cosmological whole. Around ten thousand years ago, agricultural civilization started walking out wilderness. Ground was held, ploughed, seeded, irrigated, harvested and defended. The initial domestication of wild plants and cereals was most probably the achievement of the woman-as-gatherer and her plant wisdom. The irst Neolithic civilizations on old Europe were, as far as we know, correspondingly peaceful and egalitarian in nature and goddess-worshipping societies. Over time agricultural civilization made possible growth in population, which was accompanied by an increasing division of labour, specialization in knowledge, and more sharply deined hierarchies of wealth and power. Hunters became soldiers, shamans became priests, and captives became slaves who built the fortiications and monumental architecture that deined cities. Warrior societies became more patriarchal, and the power and inluence of women declined. Religious and political wisdom passed into the hands of scribes, bureaucrats and professionals. The most recent leap in human awareness has been accomplished through industrial capitalism, inspired and guided by the political philosophy of liberalism, which advocated freeing the rational self-interested individual from the constraints of religion, tradition and arbitrary government. Liberalism helped liberate the individual from a calciied and corrupt feudalism. It produced the astonishing understandings of modern science and its near miraculous technology. But this revolution, for Herman, has deformed crucial dimensions of what it means to be human – in particular, the organic connection to other humans and to the larger world of nature form which our humanity emerged. We face a situation where humanity has become almost godlike in its technological prowess but demonic on how it directs that power.

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Arguably, then, today we are on the cusp of a “fourth revolution” in human selfconsciousness. Thanks to science and critical scholarship we have a depth understanding of all three revolutions that no previous generation could have hoped for. We are in a position to recognize the enduring but partial truths of each and to integrate their wisdom in a higher, more inclusive syntheses. Such an understanding would join together what has been fragmented; it would integrate the earth-based wisdom of primal societies, which sustained humanity for nine-tenths of the time we have been human, with the achievements of classical civilizations and the past 400 years of science and industrial capitalism. It would bring us into a fuller and more creative partnership with the evolving earth community through, in our terms, an integral polity, lodged, in Herman’s terms, within a future primal consciousness.

16.1.4. the manDaLa DynamIC oF the tRuth Quest as a FounDatIon FoR a new PoLItICs Future Primal then presents a model of what Herman calls “the truth quest” as an archetypal dynamic of the human search for order, which itself becomes the core of a new political practice The model is comprised of four interconnected elements, these being: • • • •

participation in a democratic community (our “South”), the construction of a big picture of our shared reality (our “East”), honest face-to-face discussion (our “North”), and self-understanding of the searching growing individual (our “West”).

Together, these constitute a four-part structure that can be represented graphically (see Figure 16.1) as a mandala, with four quadrants. The mandala is also, appropriately enough, the oldest and most universal symbol of order, representing the relationship of the searching individual to the cosmos. Since the model seems to express an archetypal structure of the search for order that is rooted in the primal human condition – the autonomous creative individual, in face-to-face community, embedded in nature – we ind it reappearing at those creative moments of transition in history where one order is collapsing, a new one is emerging, and the big questions resurface. This is the situation, for Herman, in which we ind ourselves today. This means the vision of Future Primal differs from past paradigms of politics in recognizing that the ongoing search itself – the primal truth quest – needs to be at the centre of the new politics. How then did our contemporary world come to this point?

16.2. the eclipse of wisdom 16.2.1. the JouRney home We now know that the earth was once nothing but wilderness/nature. We know that out of an African savannah, incubated in it, nurtured by it, a primate lineage gradually evolved into hominids. Then hominids slowly developed the self-relective, creative consciousness capable of language, art, religion and politics. The San Bushman populations of Southern Africa have now been conirmed as the closest living relatives

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to that aboriginal population from which all modern humans descended. They probably give us the best image of our shared “African Adam and Eve”. Their traditional cosmology is most likely among the oldest on earth, seeming to recede back into the Paleolithic origins of human consciousness. Traditional bushmen led an existence that in some ways seems enchanted, moving in nomadic small egalitarian bands, held together by an ethos of caring for and sharing with one another, while being sensitively attuned to the natural world that constituted Africa (see Chapter 3). By contrast, the dominant political and economic institutions of our modern world were created from radically different assumptions about our origins. Political philosophers like John Locke accepted the Genesis account of the earth’s creation: that the planet was young, that all plant and animal species appeared as a result of separate acts of divine creation, which culminated on the sixth day in the miraculous appearance of human beings. They believed that the natural world existed as raw material for the central human project of productive labour – converting wilderness into wealth. The wilderness was merely “waste” until transformed by labour. Locke’s view then was precisely the opposite of Herman’s own deepest experience of primal wilderness, an experience that seems to have been central to all wilderness-based societies.

16.2.2. CLassICaL LIbeRaLIsm: mateRIaL, meChanICaL, suPPLy anD DemanD Classical Liberalism, as it has come to be expressed by the United States, relies on three impersonal mechanistic understandings that converge, for Herman, in eliminating the need for the individual to consider the good of the whole. The irst is the mechanicalmaterialism of Cartesian-based science, which values only the measurable knowledge of the tangible world and dismisses as unknowable and unimportant most of the things of the mind. The second is a minimal form of collective decision-making and conlict resolution based on a mechanical system of elected representatives, separation of powers, and checks and balances. The third is the law of supply and demand embodied in the invisible hand of the market that supposedly converts self-interest into the collective good. Taken together they make selishness and lack of introspection into virtues; ipso facto the rich have the truth and should rule. That having been said, in the wake of the corrupt and decrepit feudal institutions of the medieval era, the American Constitution was a revolutionary and liberating advance. Today we rightly celebrate its achievements: the rights and freedoms of the individual; the eficiencies of industrial production; the cornucopia of wealth; the endless succession of technological miracles; and the massively expanded perspective of science and the reliability of its inferences. However, America’s founders, to which Needleman alluded in the last chapter, could have no inkling of how their ideas might translate in a 21st-century world. They wrote almost a century before Darwin and Marx and without the revolutionary insights of Freud and Einstein. We now know that neither human beings nor the universe operate like clockwork, and we are also painfully aware of the failings of 18th-century clockwork thinking as a basis for politics and society; most particularly, we’ve witnessed the depersonalization of mass bureaucratic societies and the failures of electoral and market mechanisms to ensure the good of the whole. Without a truth-loving culture no electoral mechanism can protect us from demagogues who manipulate fear and ignorance in

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their pursuit of power. The miracle of an ever more productive consumer society – Adam Smith’s promised “wealth of nations” – now confronts us with a double bind: we face an immediate political crisis whenever the economy fails to keep growing, and we face the ultimate environmental catastrophe if the economy continues to keep growing. All the while wealth is inexorably concentrated in the hands of the few. Here we have to face squarely the most damaging and least understood consequence of the Liberal paradigm; the deinitive elimination of a culture based on the love of wisdom – the truth quest – which ironically, as both Needleman and Herman point out, was close to the hearts of the Founding Fathers. In the absence of the quest, which is both an individual and a collective effort, the culture fragments and society lurches between a cynical, pragmatic materialism and a closed-minded fundamentalism. Today the majority of Americans regard politicians as morally equivalent to prostitutes, while many hold rigid ideological and religious beliefs in which bizarre individual interpretations are taken as divine certainties.

16.2.3. PeRIagogue: we aRe eaCh ResPonsIbLe FoR the gooD oF the whoLe The pursuit of wisdom then cannot be simply legislated and bureaucratically enforced. Instead, at the centre of such a revolution in political culture and consciousness must be the moral, intellectual and spiritual regeneration of the individual – what Plato called periagogue – a “turning around of the soul” toward a love of truth, beauty and the good. The turning around of the soul toward the quest inverts the current Liberal assumption that self-interest – and private proit – should be the main driver of every economic calculation and replaces it with a consideration of the whole. When individuals try to balance self-interest with a consideration of the bigger picture, they discover, as Socrates did, that deep self-interest actually includes concerns for the good as a whole. Thomas Jefferson, as we saw in Chapter 15, recognized that as our understanding changed, so our institutions needed to follow. This is our political challenge today, to clarify a reliable method for understanding the human condition and its possibilities for improvement, so we can rethink government and economics. The recovery of the truth quest proceeds as it has always done on two levels, following the simple ancient wisdom of the alchemists: “as above so below, as within so without”. In the process of weaving together our personal and collective stories, guided by the Big Story of an evolving universe and a concern with the common good, we make a surprising discovery: we ind ourselves already on a path with heart, engaged with the practice of a new ethics and politics.

16.2.4. ReCoVeRIng the bIg stoRy As modern scientiic cosmology has shown, the universe is not so much a place within which events happen as an event in itself, and humanity is part of that event, which continues to unfold as human awareness expands. We are only beginning to grasp what it means to emerge from a growing universe. Full realization, for Herman, involves rethinking everything. But for the most part we continue to revere institutions constructed on 18th-century assumptions of a clockwork “box” universe – an empty place within which things happen according to universal mechanical laws. Our political culture conidently marches forward, treating mystery as a problem to be solved or rather

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dismissed as woolly-mindedness, a distraction from the serious business of business. But Einstein knew otherwise, and put it clearly: “Mystery is the most beautiful thing we can experience. It is the source of all true art and science.” As we grow up, society trains us to ignore the distractions of the beauty of existence and to focus on what is practical and useful. But the memories of childhood remain to be awakened at quiet and unexpected moments, surprising us with a fresh experience of the world. At these times we are reminded that our consciousness, our very capacity to know the world, is a product of some larger, unknowable order that we can come to know through loving attention to the natural world. Nevertheless the ultimate origin of the primeval ireball of the universe will always remain the most profound mystery – the ever-receding horizon of our knowing. The heart of the problem of our contemporary civilization, then, is that we have forgotten the primal experience of the natural world of creation as a sacred miracle. We don’t recognize this truth, nor do we appreciate its importance for ordering human life, and so we fail to create our institutions accordingly. We can extend Einstein’s insight by saying “Mystery should also be the source of all true politics”.

16.2.5. the PoLItICs oF mysteRy Many primal societies had a deep intuitive sense of humanity’s embeddedness in the natural word, which itself emerged from the mystery of creation. Traditional religions functioned as religion in the traditional sense of the Latin root religare – to “bind again” or reconnect. Religion seems to have emerged in part as a corrective to growing ego-driven action, reminding the individual to come down to earth, to return to source, to remember that all things are kindred and brought together by the same Great Mystery. Science helps us embellish this primal insight, showing with great quantitative precision how the biochemical processes keeping us alive are woven into the entire fabric of the living biosphere, how all atoms that constitute the molecules of our chemistry emerged from the mystery of that great primordial ireball. Ironically, as the precision of our knowledge increases, so the objectifying attitude of science represses our subjective, felt connection to this living evolving reality. Having literally lost our souls, we stand autistic in the face of nature. Our spiritual disorder was transparent to relective Native Americans, who responded to the arrival of Europeans irst with confusion, then with frustration and anger, and inally despair. Indian faith, as we saw in the previous chapter, sought harmony of man with his surroundings; the White man sought dominance of his surroundings. As the Lakota chief, Standing Bear (1) put it “For one man the world was full of beauty; for the other it was a place of sin and ugliness to be endured until he went to another world there to become a creature of wings, half-man and half-bird.” What does this mean, for our “Western” integral polity?

16.2.6. the manDaLa stRuCtuRe oF the PRImaL Quest Relecting on the questing human individual as he or she emerges within the primal community, Herman shows how we can identify four primary values and processes that constitute the necessary, minimal coordinates of the quest. This structure, for him, functions like a Jungian archetype, a deeply rooted way of thinking and behaving.

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NAVIGATION Face-to-Face Socratic Discussion

The Whole Person Individuation EFFECT

Shamanism Religion The Big Picture TRUTH QUEST – CENTRE Big Story/ Myth Philosophy EMERGENCE Science

The Whole Community/Direct Democracy GROUNDING Figure 16.1 The Mandala of Primal Politics

The four quadrants of the mandala represent the distinctiveness of each element (see Figure 16.1). The surrounding circle represents their interconnectedness in continual dynamic interaction, converging in the unity of the single centre point – the quest itself. It is helpful to imagine each value of the four quarters as an independent good, an end in itself while simultaneously a necessary means for the realization of the others, in which all collectively constitute the truth quest. Each can be expressed as both a noun and a verb; each describes a goal and a process, each is an end and a means to an end. Herman then describes how these operate in small nomadic hunter-gatherer communities, and then how they reappear at transitional moments through history, from the Greek polis to the present time. Since each value is actualized to the degree that all the others are also pursued, the mandala describes a synergistic relationship between its constituent elements. We ind this synergy optimized in small-scale, self-suficient, tightly bonded communities where individuality is prized, while human needs are met in a co-operative and caring fashion. The paradigmatic example of such a hunter-gatherer society is that of the traditional San Bushmen of Southern Africa. The early success and resilience of their way of life is testimony to the life-enhancing power of the mandala dynamic. The fact that we ind this constellation of values and practices reappearing at liminal periods of transition and creativity – from the classical Greek polis to Renaissance Europe – suggests that here we have an archetypal template for an open-ended, creative politics – a primal politics. Since the mandala of primal politics is rooted in the deep structure of what it means to be human, it can function effectively as an ideal and offer criteria for development, without having to be embodied in small-scale self-suficient communities. Its values can guide us in whatever institutional or historical setting we ind ourselves toward actualization of the optimum form. The more completely we understand the big story telling us into being, the better able we are to respond creatively to the challenges of our

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moment by applying the discipline of the mandala. We now deal with each of the four “primal political” elements in turn.

16.3. the Primal Political mandala 16.3.1. the whoLe PeRson, oR InDIVIDuatIon Firstly then for Herman, since all our knowing is inevitably refracted through our unique trajectory through life, all we have to teach is contained within our story. As we struggle to grasp a shared reality, we are forced to relect on our uniqueness and to recognize that of others, and so we ind ourselves returning to the wisdom of the Delphic Oracle: “Know Thyself”. Certain socio-economic structures enhance this process, others repress it. The small size and self-suficiency of the primal hunting group impelled every adult to participate in all the deinitively human activities: hunter, gatherer, artist, healer, musician, learner and teacher. Conversely, the social hierarchy and division of labour of classical and industrial societies restrict the degree to which the individual can play multiple parts in the life of the community. The Greek ideal of arête or excellence, was the cultivation of the whole person, the consummate amateur who would participate creatively in all aspects of life, and thus grasp the fullest range of what it meant to be human. Jung called this path of healing through wholeness individuation. It is a process that involves the whole of one’s life and proceeds according to the depth and variety of lived experience. Wisdom concerning health, healing and “the best way to live” requires immersion in the great experiences of life – both good and bad. Jung (3) offered this advice to students who wanted to practise psychiatry: Anyone who wants to know the human psyche would be better advised to bid farewell to his study and wander with human heart through the world. There, in the horrors of prisons, lunatic asylums and hospitals, in drab suburban pubs, in brothels and gambling-halls, in the salons of the elegant, the stock exchanges, socialist meetings, churches, revivalist gatherings and ecstatic sects, through love and hate, through the experience of passion in every form in his own body, he would reap richer stores of knowledge than textbooks a foot thick could give him, and he will know how to doctor the sick with real knowledge of the human soul.

This recommendation to open oneself to the fullness of the human condition is always constrained by socialization into a particular historical society. The more punishing and rigid the society, the more the ego refuses to recognize its connection to all the opposites of the human condition. A good political example of individuation through embracing opposites is that of Nelson Mandela who struggled against the racist apartheid regime of South Africa. In 1976 Mandela had been in jail for over a decade. The black townships were exploding in anger over the law requiring that the Dutch-based Afrikaans, the hated language of Apartheid, become the mandatory language of instruction in black schools. Mandela shocked his fellow prisoners by immersing himself in Afrikaans and the history, poetry and politics of their oppressors. Addressing his jailors in Afrikaans he discovered that many were simple country boys who had never had a face-to-face relationship with a black man. He quickly understood that the violence of Apartheid

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was driven by ignorance and fear, in particular the fear that democracy would mean a black majority bent on revenge and the destruction of the Afrikaner culture and way of life. When Mandela eventually met with the racist minister of justice, Jimmy Kruger, he surprised Kruger by addressing him in luent Afrikaans, and then made a case for the release of political prisoners by citing two Afrikaner heroes who were jailed under a pro-British government. He reined this approach with Kruger’s more sophisticated successor, Kobie Coetzee, who eventually came to trust Mandela and helped expand their talks into negotiations with the ANC. Such encounters with the enemy – face-toface, soul-to-soul –became a model for leaders and ordinary people, to be repeated over and over, many thousands of times in the last few years of Apartheid. Mandela drove this teaching home after his release during a television interview. When asked who his political hero was, Mandela shocked political correctness by answering “Kobie Coetzee”. He explained that Coetzee was an Afrikaner hardliner at a time when negotiating with a “terrorist” was political suicide. It took a heroic exertion of imagination and moral courage for Coetzee to open himself to Mandela’s world. Coetzee, like Mandela, had transcended fear, anger and greed; like Mandela he had committed himself to the larger truth that drives individuation. Mandela’s capacity to discover and afirm within his own soul the Afrikaner oppressor transformed both himself and his jailers. His example made it possible for a majority of South Africans, poised on the edge of a racial war, to envision a multiracial polity and a nonviolent reconciliation after Apartheid. The good life requires this paradoxical individuality, on the one hand free and self-directed, on the other hand connected in loving relationship to the entire community of beings.

16.3.2. FaCe-to-FaCe soCRatIC DIsCussIon Face-to-face discussion, secondly, confronts our personal truths with that of a diversity of others, each on his or her own trajectory through life. Such communication offers a direct way for grasping the dialectical logic of truth through contradiction, since it confronts us in the most inescapable way possible with our in-between situation. We are constituted by a larger shared reality which each individual experiences differently. Honest, empathic engagement of the other is essential to grasping a larger whole. The previously cited example of Mandela’s transformation of his jailers exempliies the synergy between individuation and face-to-face discussion. Individuation promotes coming to consensus through discussion and discussion stimulates individuation. It is signiicant that the Greek polis that gave us philosophy and direct democracy grounded both in face-to-face discussion. The face-to-face situation is at its most universal in the primal band. Bushman politics, for example, swam in an ocean of discussion and storytelling. In such a situation the individual was stimulated and challenged to keep thinking and move around the medicine wheel of life – to keep growing as an individual.

16.3.3. the whoLe CommunIty anD DIReCt DemoCRaCy Direct democracy, thirdly, expresses the value of communication free from the distortions of concentrated wealth and power. It also expresses a society’s commitment to providing the

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education and resources necessary to maximize the individual’s participation in face-toface decision-making. Nelson Mandela (4) again gives us a vivid description of direct democracy from his youth, when he lived with the Regent at Mqhekezweni, the seat of the tribal chiefdom of his Thembu people. For Mandela: Everyone who wanted to speak did so. It was democracy in its purest form. There may have been a hierarchy of importance amongst the speakers, but everyone was heard, chief and subject, warrior and medicine man, shopkeeper an farmer.

We also see something approximating direct democracy in the early days of the kibbutz (5), for example, when all adult members of the community gathered in the general assembly to make collective decisions for the community though face-to-face discussion. The San Bushmen give us our most complete model of direct democracy where each individual participates directly in decision-making. Each also relates directly to the entire non-human community of being – surrounding wilderness – as an integral part of political reality. Each is free to come and go as he or she pleases. As is typical among many hunter-gatherer societies the San have no powerful chiefs. As one individual remarked to a visiting anthropologist inquiring about chiefs in this much vaunted egalitarian society: “Of course we have chiefs! Each one of us is a chief over himself.” We now turn, inally, to the “big picture”.

16.3.4. the bIg PICtuRe, the bIg stoRy – mythos Big pictures are symbolic representations of the whole. They are visions, paradigms, worldviews and epic narratives that serve to connect the lives and passions of the individual to larger, more encompassing realities – family, tribe, nation, civilization, species and ultimately the living earth and the evolving cosmos. Without such nested pictures of wholes within wholes, or stories within stories, we drift, unprepared, easily surprised and distracted. Our energies become dissipated, and we lapse into selishness and cynicism. These big pictures only become politically signiicant and morally compelling to the degree that they are processes through the mill of the other mandala components – self-relecting individuals, similarly motivated, in free discussion within the community. Today, according to Herman, we are in crisis because we are in between cosmologies. We have no consensus about a story of origin and meaning that expresses the reality of the contemporary human condition. Herman offers the mandala dynamic as the core organizing feature of a new story. It is unlike any previous story in its relexivity; it recognizes the gradual emergence of storytelling in a community of individuating individuals as the deining feature of a future primal politics. He shows how this dynamic emerged in small-scale, self-suficient, self-organizing communities still living close to nature. He then describes it reappearing in history in times of social upheaval and transformation. We see it most emphatically in the creative explosion of classical Greece; we see it in the ferment of the Renaissance, with its sudden interest in the natural world and the celebration of the whole person as “Renaissance Man”; we also see it emerging again out of the chaos of the English Civil War in the 17th century before the institutions of Liberalism had hardened, when peasants driven off manorial estates seized public land and organized themselves into a variety of democratic and spiritually based communities like the Levellers and Diggers.

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We ind elements of the primal complex now reappearing during our contemporary crisis. We saw it in the early Israeli kibbutz which built up the country; and we see it now in a steadily growing eco-village movement and the co-operative model outlined in Chapter 13. We can see primal principles emerging in the small Buddhist nation of Bhutan, and we see them exempliied by spiritually attuned leaders of liberation movements, such as Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela. The lesson of the primal polis is that all moves to decentralize power need to proceed in parallel with strategies for universalizing commitment to the truth quest. Democratizing wisdom requires cultivating the ability to move between opposites: local and global, the individual and the collective, humanity and wilderness. Decentralization backires if it focuses exclusively on electoral mechanics, which can simply privilege the lowest common denominator of prejudice – for example racists voting to expel foreigners. Every step toward devolving power requires a corresponding effort to augment the truth quest – to grasp the bigger picture and see the connections between part and whole, self and other, enemy and friend. Since the mandala of primal politics, for Herman, is rooted in the deep structure of what it means to be human, it can function effectively as an ideal and offer criteria for development, without having to be fully embodied in small-scale communities. Its values can guide us whatever institutional or historic setting we ind ourselves in. The more completely we understand the big story, the better able we are to respond creatively to the challenges of our moment by applying the discipline of the mandala. What, in the inal analysis, does this all mean for how we go about coming to an agreement about a vision of “the best way to live” – the Good Life?

16.4. Conclusion 16.4.1. a tao oF PoLItICs: a ReVoLutIonaRy aPPRoaCh to ReVoLutIons Herman draws on the insights of the well-known historiographer of science, Thomas Kuhn, to bring out the most novel and radical dimension of his model of the truth quest. Kuhn (6) developed the concept of “paradigm” to distinguish between two fundamentally different, but related, modes of cognition in scientiic research – normal and revolutionary. Normal science its the popular image of the laboratory scientist conducting systematic manipulations of relevant variables, accumulating data, and coming up with new insights. This is closer to rule-guided puzzle-solving than those creative breakthroughs associated with the revolutionary achievements of science, like the evolutionary theory of Darwin or the quantum physics of Einstein, Heisenberg and Bohr. Herman, then, applies Kuhn’s analysis to our current political crisis. First of all, we can understand political philosophies as “paradigms of the good life” that give rise to political societies that function according to rules and regulations established by the ruling paradigm. Liberalism, for example, can be seen as such a paradigm. As liberalism, moreover, has globalized it has become almost invisible and increasingly synonymous with the reality we accept. But, as Herman shows, the bigger, more relective picture reveals that the liberal paradigm of endless economic growth is a dangerous absurdity when it means a declining earth economy.

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Liberalism was a human creation to serve speciic needs at a particular time and place. As we saw, thinkers like Hobbes, Locke and Adam Smith collectively constructed a more inclusive explanation of the failures of feudalism and the possibilities of transformation. Their work in turn provided the philosophical framework for new institutions for governance and economics, which would give us what we thought we wanted: domination over nature, unlimited wealth, and freedom from tyranny. This paradigm succeeded beyond our wildest dreams in achieving the irst two goals, but it has replaced, in Herman’s view, the personalized tyranny of monarchs with the impersonal tyranny of limited liability corporations and corrupted market mechanisms. Human intelligence – wisdom, knowledge of the good of the whole – has been sidelined, with catastrophic consequences not simply for our way of life, but for all life on earth. The anomalies of global industrial society are pushing our liberal paradigm into a state of terminal crisis. In politics, revolutions are resisted for the same reason they are resisted in science. Retooling is expensive, and the community sustained by the existing paradigm has a vested interest in preserving the status quo. In the case of a political society, the stakes are ultimate, since we are dealing with a framework for a total way of life, protected by wealthy elites, armed with the power of law, the police force, propaganda, the army. Revolutionary change is often associated with terrifying violence. Academic political science tends to be of little help in this situation It functions like a kind of “normal political science” operating within a market-driven, bureaucratically administered system of rewards and patronage of the university, of course shaped by the institutions of liberalism. Under such conditions political philosophy has become a vestigial activity, a specialization within academic political science, primarily concerned with interpreting, deconstructing and critiquing classical works of the past according to prevailing intellectual fashions. None of this can be really transformative, since without the creation of alternative structures of meaning – the task of an authentically revolutionary political science – critique leaves existing power structures unchallenged. The status quo rules by default.

16.4.2. a meta-PaRaDIgm FoR PoLItICs: a moRe baLanCeD state oF exIstenCe This is where, for Herman, the larger evolutionary perspective of big history offers a breakthrough in understanding both revolutions and the unique political possibilities for our moment. When we look at what the great revolutionary paradigm builders of Western civilization actually did, as opposed to what they told us we should do, we can see some patterns roughly equivalent to the practices constituting the truth quest described by the primal complex. Socrates and Plato, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau and Marx were passionately involved in the troubles of their times. They all responded out of a heightened awareness of the human predicament of living in the in between (individual and collective). They experienced the limitations of the prevailing big picture as a personally felt crisis of order, requiring diagnosis and therapy according to a vision of political health. Their visions tended to be worldviews, big pictures, creative works of synthesis touching on the foundational issues of politics: human nature, the individual, the community, the natural world, government, economics and epistemology.

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These symbolic constructions were shaped by the life story and situation of the philosopher, and to some degree by the logic of the dialectic – relective self-examination and discussion carried out in a spirit of egalitarianism among a virtual, if not an actual, community of similarly motivated philosophers. Finally, they were all concerned, directly or indirectly, with action and saving or transforming of worlds. Here we can see, for Herman, their method relects the four deining elements of the primal dynamic – individuation, democratic community, discussion and the integration of knowledge into big pictures that guide action. The enlarged perspective clariies the depth dimension of the primal truth quest. It is a method of revolutionary political science that is also the core of a new politics; or to put it the other way around, it is a model of political order that is also a way of searching for order. The primal political complex inserts into the heart of practical democratic politics the revolutionary discipline previously reserved for the geniuses of classical political philosophy. Using the language of paradigms, we can understand the primal mandala as a paradigm for a radically democratic politics that has at its centre the practice of political paradigm deconstruction and reconstruction. In this sense, it could also be regarded as that elusive meta-paradigm for politics that constitutes a revolution in our understanding of political revolutions. The reference to such a meta-paradigm would help lift competing ideologies to the level of discourse of the primal quest, where the four quadrants of the mandala – self-knowledge (our “West”), face-to-face discussion (our “South”), democratic relationships (our “North”) and the ongoing construction of the big picture (our “East”) – would all be mobilized in decision-making. It would constitute a relective leap that would be both a radical novelty and the recovery of the core of something ancient. It would establish as the mainspring of political action an ongoing process of psychological, intellectual and spiritual growth in the soul of the questioning individual in the community. This would help create a culture in which the community regularly pursues the big questions in personal and political life and thus is more capable of responding to change without waiting for the system to crash. Such a model embodies the ancient Socratic wisdom that the never-ending search for the best way to live is itself the summum bonum, the core practice of the good life we seek. Like a spinning gyroscope, the primal dynamic keeps our thinking and actions moving around the essentials of what it means to be a conscious, questing human at this extraordinarily decisive moment on our marvellous evolving planet. There can be no end to history, or the quest, as long as there is more life to be lived through, about and understood. The mandala, for Herman, like our own integral worlds, offers a model for political transformation without violence, since it works continually to challenge the lure of power and privilege with love for the beauty of the path with a heart – the pursuit of the truth quest – a tao of politics. We now turn, via French philosopher Bruno Latour, to politics and nature from his navigational, and thereby constitutional, perspective.

16.5. References 1. Chief Luther Standing Bear (1933/1978), Land of the Spotted Eagle. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press. 2. Herman, L. (2013) Future Primal: How Our Wilderness Origins Show Us the Way Forward. Novato: CA: New World Library.

n a t u r a l , C u l t u r a l , s o c i a l , e c o n o m i c e m e r g e n c e : F u t u r e P r i m a l 237 3. Jung, C.G. (1978) Collected Works, vol. 7, quoted in Aniela Jaffe, ed., C.G. Jung: Word and Image. New York: Bollingen. 4. Mandela, N. (1994) The Long Walk to Freedom. New York: Ballantyne. 5. Russell, R., Hanneman, R. and Getz, S. (2013) The Renewal of the Kibbutz: Competing Constructions in Modern Culture. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. 6. Kuhn, T. (2012) The Structure of Scientiic Revolutions. 50th Anniversary Edition. Chicago, IL: Chicago University Press.

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CHAPTer

17 Political and

Environmental Navigation: Politics of Nature

In America the Great Work of the First Peoples was to establish an intimate relationship with Earth powers through such ceremonies as the Great Thanksgiving of the Iroquois, and the vision quest of Plains Indians. In India the Great Work was to lead human thought into spiritual experiences of time and eternity and their mutual presence, with unique subtlety of expression. The Great Work of the classical Greek world with its understanding of the human mind and creation of the Western humanist tradition. The Great Work of Rome in gathering together the peoples of Western Europe and the Mediterranean worlds into an ordered relation with each other. The Great Work of Israel was in articulating a new experience of the divine in human affairs. Thomas Berry, The Great Work (1)

17.1. Introduction 17.1.1. westeRn gRounDIng to naVIgatIon Our “Western” integral journey, to date, was grounded in the American soul, and had emerged through a newly primal form of politics, combining an afinity with the primeval wilderness with a cosmic consciousness, ready now to assume a newly integral form of natural-political navigation. Interestingly enough we shall turn to France for such, and to the French anthropologist and sociologist of science Bruno Latour (2), best known for his work Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory. While his focus, as a social researcher, on the actor network, gives him good “Western” credentials, it is his (3) more recent work on Politics and Nature which, as we shall see, assumes more transformative, political and institutional proportions. Why and how should that be?

17.1.2. why PoLItICaL eCoLogy has Let go oF natuRe unified science versus Integral sciences From the outset, Latour (3) invites us to dissociate the sciences – in the plural and in small letters – from Science – in the singular and capitalized. He asks us then to acknowledge that the discourse on Science has no direct relation to the life of the sciences (in the same way that we have evolved diverse polities), and that the problem of knowledge is posed quite differently depending on whether one is brandishing Science or clinging to the

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twists and turns of the sciences, in plural, as they developed. What Latour has done for political ecology, as we shall see, is thereby resonant with our integral worlds. Political ecology, for him as such, moves the dual arena of nature and politics into the single – albeit integral, as we shall see – arena of the collective. We are simply hen, for Latour, at the crossroads between two immense movements whose contrary inluence has for some time made the interpretation of ecology dificult, that is the emergence of nature as a new concern in politics, and the disappearance of nature as a mode of political organization. Having then distinguished the sciences from Science, and political ecology, as he sees it, from Naturpolitik, Latour goes on to consider a third displacement, as he terms it, so as to draw the maximum beneit from science studies and the ecology movement. He sets such against, for example, social Darwinism, which borrowed its metaphors from politics, projected them onto nature itself, and then re-imported them into politics in order to transform politics and economics into an exercise involving the proverbial “survival of the ittest”.

what successor for the bicameral Collective? The combined indings of science studies, political ecology, social science and comparative anthropology now come together, for Latour, to raise one single question. What collective can we invoke, now that we no longer have two houses – natural and social – only one of which – the social – acknowledges its political character? Once freed of what has been a bicameral cold war, humans take on a very different aspect, and instead of existing by themselves, they are able to unroll the long chain of nonhumans, without which freedom would be out of the question. For Latour Science is dead; long live research and long live sciences. So where does he, and indeed do we, go from here?

17.2. how to bring the natural-Political Collective together? 17.2.1. the meanIng oF Res PubLICa toDay What kind of constitution, speciically then, will allow us to achieve a common world? The venerable word “Republic”, in fact, is admirably suited for such a task. As has been frequently noted, it is as if political ecology is found again in Res Publica. Literally meaning, in Greek, the “public thing”, the ancient etymology has linked the word for thing and the word for judicial assembly since the dawn of time. So we have to become capable of convoking the collective that will be charged from now on, as its name suggests, with “collecting” the multiplicity of associations of humans and non-humans. What would that speciically mean? In the fall of 1997 for example, in Kyoto, there was just one conclave to welcome the great igures of the world, princes, lobbyists, heads of state, captains of industry, scientists and researchers from every discipline. Such a single conclave decide how the planet was faring and how we could all behave toward it from now on. Yet the Kyoto conference did not bring together the two ancient assemblies, one for politicians and one for scientists, in a third house that would be bigger, broader, more organic, more synthetic, more holistic, and more complex. How, then, are we going to manage to convoke the collective on new grounds?

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17.2.2. how PoLItICs Can InteRnaLIze the enVIRonment Why not conceive of the convocation quite simply as the reuniication of things and people, objects and subjects? Political ecology would then be deined as the conjunction of ecology and politics, things and people, nature and society. Unfortunately for Latour, the “collective” cannot be achieved by a simple adding together of nature and society. For if it were enough to bring “man and nature” together in order to resolve ecological crises, the constitutional crisis that ecological crises have unleashed would have been resolved long ago, whereas it is just beginning. The procedure for bringing them together has in fact to be redesigned from top to bottom. For the time being, there is nothing in political philosophy, in the conception of the social world devised by the human sciences, that allows us to incorporate nature, which is why Herman came up with his emergent Primal Future. That said, “a natural contract” will not easily intervene, institutionally and systemically that is, to replace the social one. No matter how long the digestive process then takes, the boa constrictor of politics cannot swallow the elephant of nature. A body produced to be foreign to the social body will never be socialized. The historical importance of ecological crises, then, stems not from a new concern with nature, but on the contrary, from the impossibility of continuing to imagine politics on one side and, on the other, a nature that would serve politics as a standard, a reserve, a resource and a dumping ground. Political philosophy abruptly inds itself in a position where it needs to internalize the environment that it had viewed up to now as another world. What would that mean?

17.2.3. LeaRnIng to ConsIDeR the otheR as a sPokesPeRson In, for example, the Kyoto forum, each of the interested parties would, at a minimum, agree to consider the other as a spokesperson, without inding it relevant to decide whether the other represents humans, landscapes, chemical-industry lobbies, South Sea plankton, Indonesian forests, the U.S. economy or NGOs. “Discussion”, a key term of political philosophy that has been mistakenly understood as a well-informed notion, available off the shelf as it were, has now to be quite profoundly modiied. Speech is no longer a speciically human property, or at least humans are no longer its sole masters. Latour does not claim that things “speak on their own”, since no beings, not even humans, speak on their own, but always through someone or someone else. The right to speak then, in the new assembly, is for humans and nonhumans alike. Democracy therefore can only be conceived if it can freely traverse the now dismantled border between science and politics, in order to add a series of new voices to the discussion, voices that have been inaudible until now, the voices of nonhumans. To limit the discussion to humans, their interests, their subjectivities and their rights, will appear as strange a few years from now as having denied the right to vote to slaves, poor people and women. At this stage of the learning process, Latour emphasizes, he does not have the solution to the problem of spokesperson; he simply asserts that there are two problems, one on the side of scientiic representation and the other on the side of political representation, but there is one problem: How we can go about getting those in whose name we speak, to speak for themselves? By refusing to collaborate, political philosophy and the philosophy of the sciences has deprived us of any opportunity to understand this question. Political ecology is

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determining clearly for the irst time the problem that we are going to have to solve. It belongs neither to politics nor to epistemology nor to a blend of the two: it is situated elsewhere.

17.2.4. assoCIatIons oF humans anD nonhumans If a maxim had to be stitched onto the lag of political ecology, it would not be, as some of its militants still believe, “let us protect nature”. It would be a different formula, for Latour, one much better suited to the surprises of its practice “No one knows what an environment can do …”. Let there be no misunderstanding, he goes on to say, political ecology is not going to be simpler, nicer, more rustic, than the old bicameral natural-social or indeed left-right politics. It will be both simpler and more complicated: simpler because it will no longer live under the constant threat of a double short-circuit, by Science and by Force, but also much more complicated, for the same reason. For want of short-circuits it is going to have to start all over and compose the common world bit by bit. Indeed, it will have to engage in integral politics. So where do we go from there?

17.3. Devising a new separation of Powers Scientists conventionally, in their modesty and innocence, have deined “the facts”, leaving it to the politicians and moralists to deine values. It is from that long dogmatic sleep, Latour maintains, that we need to awake. What then is wrong with the way the word “fact” is currently used? Apart from the recognized matters of fact, we know how to recognize a whole gamut of stages where facts are uncertain, warm, cold, light, heavy, hard, supple matters of concern. These are deined precisely because they conceal the researchers who are in the process of fabricating them (Latour’s doctoral thesis was based on ethnographic research into such “scientiic procedures” in the laboratory), the laboratories necessary for their production, the instruments that ensure their validation, the sometimes heated polemics to which they give rise. The notion of fact has another, better-known defect: it does not allow us to emphasize the work of theory that is necessary for the establishment of the coherence of the data. The opposition between facts and values, in fact, unfortunately intersects with another difference whose epistemological history is very long, the opposition between theory and “raw” data. An isolated fact, for Latour, remains meaningless as long as one does not know of what theory it is an example, manifestation or prototype. By accepting the value-fact distinction, moreover, moralists – whether religious or secular – agree to seek their own legitimacy very far from the scene of the facts, in another land, that of the universal or formal foundation of ethics. In so doing they risk abandoning all “objective morality”, whereas we, on the contrary, must connect the question of the common world to that of the common good. At this point Latour approaches, in his own way, our “integral worlds”, most speciically our release of GENE-ius, through his “new separation of powers” (Table 17.1).

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Table 17.1

A New Separation of Powers

Power to Take into Account: How Many Are We? First requirement (formerly contained in fact): you shall not simplify the number of propositions to be taken into account in the discussion: Perplexity – Grounding. Second requirement (formerly contained in the notion of value): you shall make sure that the number of voices that participate in the articulation of propositions is not arbitrarily shortcircuited: Consultation – Emergence. Power to Arrange in rank order: Can We live Together? Third requirement (formerly contained in value): you discuss the compatibility of new propositions with those already instituted: Hierarchization – Navigation. Fourth requirement (formerly contained in fact): once propositions have been instituted, you no longer question their presence: Institution – Effect.

-----We now turn from the separation of powers to the separate powers to take into account, and to arrange in order (Table 17.2).

Table 17.2

In Place of Facts and Values

Power to Take Into Account: How Many Are We? Perplexity: Requirement of external reality (grounding). Consultation: Requirement of relevance (emergence). Power to Arrange in rank order: Can We live Together? Hierarchy: Requirement of publicity (navigation). Institution: Requirement of closure (effect).

If we look at Table 17.3, we see that Latour has substituted a new form of bicameralism for the two houses of the old Constitution. There are still two houses, as in the old Constitution, but they do not have the same characteristics. The new Constitution corresponds to the two complementary requirements of collective life: how many of you are there to take into account – for us grounding and emergence – and are you able to form a good common life – for us navigation and effect? Instead of an impossible frontier between two badly composed universes, it is rather a matter of imagining a shuttle between the two natural and social houses of a single expanding collective.

Table 17.3

The New Constitution

First House: Taking into Account Second House: Arranging in Rank Order

House of Nature Perplexity

House of Society Consultation

Institution

hierarchy

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Every new proposition goes through the four compartments – our integral worlds – of Table 17.3, responding in turn to each of the essential requirements: • • • •

grounding – it induces perplexity in those who are gathered to discuss it and who set up the trials that allow them to ensure the seriousness of its candidacy for existence; emergence – it demands to be taken into account by all those whose habits it is going to modify and who must therefore sit on its jury; navigating – if it is successful in the irst two stages, it will be able to insert itself in the states of the world only provided it inds a place in the hierarchy that preceded it; effecting – inally, if it earns its legitimate right to existence, it will become an institution, part of the indisputable nature of the good common world.

What variegated scientiic and political, economic and moral skills are then required to operate in this way?

17.4. Variegated skills for the Collective 17.4.1. the ContRIbutIon oF sCIentIsts What can we expect of the sciences, once they have been delivered from Science? • • •

•

Give perplexity the formidable asset of appropriate instruments and laboratories, to detect scarcely visible phenomena (task number 1). Contribute to the work of consultation (task number 2), thereby dealing with emerging controversy and engaging in experimental testing. Put in order of importance the heterogeneous entities in a homogeneous hierarchy (task number 3), a task that moralists used to claim as theirs, forbidding scientists, who were limited to the facts alone, to touch it. Who then (task number 4) would want to deprive the institutional orientation of researcher-and-innovator’s skills?

If we have criticized Science for its confusion between perplexity and the certainty of instituted facts, it is only because Science claims it can leap directly from one to the other. There is no longer anything illegitimate in the fact of using the competencies of scientists not only to obtain consensus but also to shelter it right away in forms of life, instruments, paradigms and black boxes: •

•

The demand for autonomy in questioning (task number 5) mistakenly confused for the moment with an indisputable right to knowledge, recognition and budgets – has for the time being only one weakness, that of being a privilege reserved for scientists! Apportioned out to all the members of the collective (humans and nonhumans), this demand is going to prove decisive for the good health of the collective. Nothing ultimately is more indispensable (task number 6) than the multiplication of the great narratives through which researchers “package” the entire collective human and nonhuman history in a grandiose generalization, from the Big Bang to the evolution of life from the amoeba, to Einstein, to “the theory of everything’.

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17.4.2. the ContRIbutIon oF PoLItICIans At irst glance, it may seem strange to ask politicians to make a grounding contribution, right alongside that of laboratory researchers, to the perplexity of the collective (task number 1). No one will deny, moreover, that politicians have the skill that will allow them to contribute decisively to emergent consultation (task number 2). Despite appearances to the contrary (task number 3), politicians have always dealt with associations of humans and nonhumans, cities and landscapes, things and people, genes and properties, navigation-wise so to speak, in brief cosmograms. It is probably the last competency of the politicians, for Latour, the one that produces a scenario – Herman’s “big picture” – for the collective whole (task number 6), that is the most effective and has been neglected the longest. The collective, as we understand now, is not a thing in the world, a being with ixed and deinitive borders, but a movement of establishing provisional cohesion that will have to be started all over again every single day. Because both scientists and politicians delight in the art of transformation, the former to obtain reliable information on the basis of the continual work of instruments, and the latter to obtain the unheard-of metamorphosis of enraged or stiled voices, political ecology has to bring together the scientiic and the political ways of intermingling humans and nonhumans. What about, though, the role of economists?

17.4.3. the ContRIbutIon oF eConomIsts With the economists of the Old Regime, according to Latour, the collective was stiled, obliged to deine itself as natural and self-regulated domains, subject to indisputable laws capable of producing values by simple calculations. Talking about economics as a speciic sphere reduced politics, then and more especially now, to a rump agency that cannot do the job. When homo economicus designated the foundation of universal anthropology, the inquiry into the composition of the world ceased at once. Thinking they had come across an instance of self-regulation, the economic adherents of natural equilibria made a small mistake on the placement of the preix “self”. Yes economics is a self-relexive discipline, Latour says, but it does not designate any self-regulated phenomenon; it simply allows the “public” to see itself, to conceive itself, to constitute itself a republic. If we stop a moment to measure the immense dificulties of the tasks of hierarchy and institution, he goes on to say, we can easily grasp the crucial real contribution of economizers. For they are going to make it possible, in his view, to give a common language to the heterogeneous set of entities that have to form a hierarchy (task number 3 – our navigation). Nothing could better link black holes, rivers, farmers, the climate and human embryos in an ordered relation, in one integral cosmogram (more often than not a fourfold one). Thanks to the economic calculation, all these entities become at least commensurable. Instead of defending its virtues by imagining a metaphysics, an anthropology and a psychology entirely invented to serve its own utopia, as was done in the 18th and 19th centuries, perhaps in the 21st century we may inally recognize such from its account books. Latour maintains then that economics has the unique capacity to give a common language to those whose task it is precisely to discover the best of common worlds. Economics, as such, is no longer politics: it no longer dictates its terrifying solution in the name of laws cast in bronze that would be external to history, anthropology and

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public life: it participates humbly in the progressive formatting of problems, in setting down on paper arbitrages that no other procedure could manage to reduce. Dangerous as infrastructure, economics becomes indispensable as documentation and calculation, as secretion of a paper trail, as modelization. Latour, then, in this economic context, says little about the tasks of perplexity and consultation, for the dominion of modernism has been such that political economics thought it described them, whereas it scarcely touched them at all. This is the astonishing paradox of a movement that does not even have words to speak of the intimacy of the relations it has woven, more than any other collective, between goods and people. The old version of economics, consisting of objects to be bought and sold and of simply rational subjects, blinded us to the depth and complexity of the connections that humans and nonhumans have always woven together, links ceaselessly explored by merchants, industrialists, artisans innovators, entrepreneurs and consumers. It would take a very different anthropology to begin to take account of, or ground itself in, this immense world. Let us simply realize, Latour asserts, that no one is better able to detect the invisible entities and involve them in the collective (task number 1) than those who are on the alert for the possible attachment between humans and nonhumans, and who can imagine in order to redistribute bonds and passions, likes and dislikes, recombinations of goods and people that are as yet unknown. By freeing up this “economic” competence, we are going to link the fate of humans and nonhumans, possessors and possessions, more intimately. Persons will be more solidly associated with goods and goods with persons. We now turn to the contribution of moralists.

17.4.4. the ContRIbutIon oF moRaLIsts Latour then moves to the fourth calling he has chosen to reinterpret, following from scientists, politicians and economists, that of moralists. Detached from facts in all their details, moralists can be of no use. Once they have been brought back to the right path, as it were, and obliged to participate in common tasks, their qualiications become indispensable again. He deines morality as uncertainty about the proper relation between means and ends, extending Kant’s famous deinition of the obligation “not to treat human beings simply as means but always also as ends” – provided that we extend such to nonhumans as well, something that Kantianism, in a typically modernist move, speciically wanted to avoid. This requirement to treat no entity simply as a means, which is also found in expressions such as “renewable resource” and “sustainable development”, is going to contribute in a decisive way to the tasks of perplexity (task number 1), institution (task number 4) and totalization of the collective (number 6). As such it is going to make them, paradoxically, much more dificult to accomplish without discussion (task number 2). In the eyes of morality, indeed, the closure of the collective (task number 6) by any global scenarization at all is not only impossible but illegitimate. For the moralists then, we can never call it quits. With them, the collective is always trembling because it has left outside all that is needed to take into account to deine itself as a common world. A spider, a toad, a mite, a whale’s sigh, these are perhaps what have made us fall short of full and entire humanity, unless it was some unemployed person, some teenager on a street in Jakarta, or perhaps it was some black hole, forgotten by everyone. To every “we want” of politics, the moralist will add “yes, but what do

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they want?” Far from opposing the scientists, the moralist will add to the stabilization of the paradigms a constant anxiety over the rejected facts, the eliminated hypotheses, the neglected research projects. The moralists protect the disrupters, the recalcitrant parties, with an inviolable right of asylum. If we cannot come to an understanding – politically, scientiically, economically – without setting the majority of beings aside, thanks to morality, outcasts will be able to make themselves heard once again. How then does this all function, constructively so to speak?

17.4.5. enteRIng the Common DweLLIng: the oIkos Latour then recapitulates the four types of investigations that form the new competencies (aligned with our own) he promises to deploy (Table 17.4). The old Constitution, even with the best of intentions, could not succeed in accomplishing any of these four, for us integral, tasks, because it burdened them from the start with impossible mortgages. The desire was naturally to gather in external reality, as faithfully as possible, but the same effort prevented the requirement of perplexity unfolding, because when the distinction between facts and values was imposed prematurely, the candidates for existence never found their places. All Republics then, for Latour, are badly formed, all are built on sand. They hold up only if they are rebuilt at once and if the parties excluded from the lower house come back the next morning, knock at the doors of the upper house, and demand to participate in the common world, the cosmos, the name the Greeks gave to the wellformed collective.

Table 17.4

The New Competencies

Perplexity to meet the grounding requirement of formative reality: • investigating the best way of detecting propositions, making them visible, and getting them to talk. Consultation to meet the emergent reformative requirement of relevance: • investigating the best means of constituting the jury capable of judging the effects of each proposition on others. Hierarchy to meet the navigational requirement of newly normative publicity: • investigating the contradictory scenarios that ultimately make up an optimal hierarchy. Institution to meet the effective requirement of transformative closure: • investigating the means to be used to stabilize the inside and outside of the collective.

To grasp the competencies of the two houses, Latour now looks, for us in conclusion, into the dynamics of their arrangements.

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17.5. Conclusion: exploring the Common worlds of oikos 17.5.1. Change oF moRaL DIReCtIon We no longer have to oscillate, then, between the irrefragable right of humans – extended or not by their future generations – and the indisputable rights of “things themselves” to enjoy existence. The question becomes whether or not we have caught the totality of these beings in our nets – sheep, farmers, wolves, trout, farm supports and wandering streams. If we have, we now have to conduct experiments on the compatibility of all these propositions, these cosmograms, by discovering, through another trial, how the assemblage is going to resist if one rejects – excludes – a single one of its members. What, for example, is a ish without water? What is a producer of corn without a protected market? Morality has thereby changed direction: it obliges us not to deine foundations, but to recommence the process of composition while moving as quickly as possible to the next iteration. The foundations are not to be found behind us, but ahead of us. We are therefore required to register as quickly as possible the appeal of excluded entities that no morality ever again authorizes us to exclude indeinitely.

17.5.2. sCIenCe PoLICy: the aRt oF goVeRnIng thRough the LeaRnIng CuRVe The art of governing, for Latour then, is not the necessary arbitration of reason or the necessary arbitrariness of sovereignty; it is that to which one is obliged to have recourse when one can no longer beneit from any shortcut. When we have to compose the common world little by little, going from one trial to another along the invisible path of a painful learning curve, we need this power to govern. In modernism, there was never any real feedback, according to Latour, because the past was excluded and characterized as archaic, as outdated irrationality, as subjectivity that had to be expelled to leave room for indisputable objects of the modern world. As such the moderns failed to beneit from experimentation, and bounced back and forth between absolute knowledge and unforeseen catastrophes, since they never managed to read in events the meticulous exploration of their own collectives of humans and nonhumans. We need, for Latour, not political science but science policy, that is a function that makes it possible to characterize the relative fruitfulness of collective experiments, without its being monopolized right away by either scientists or politicians. Indeed, from the standpoint of a new Constitution, politics becomes as unrecognizable as the sciences: moreover, neither politics nor the sciences are powers any longer, but rather skills put to work, in a new way, to stir up the collective as a whole and get it moving. The only recognized powers are those of taking into account and putting in order, in which all trade and professions share, according to their calling. In relation to such, administrators play a critical role.

17.5.3. extenDeD PoLItICs For Latour, in conclusion, we restore order to our assemblies if we distinguish the power to take into account, and the power to put in order:

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• •

the irst power is going to retain from facts the requirement of perplexity, and from values the requirement of consultation; the second power is going to recuperate from values the requirement of hierarchy, and from facts the requirement of institution.

The contribution of the sciences, moreover, is going to be much more important than that of Science, since it will bear on all the functions at once: perplexity (grounding), consultation (emergence), hierarchy (navigation) and institution (effect), to which Latour adds the separation of powers and the scenarization of the whole. The big difference is that the politicians’ contribution is going to bear on all six tasks, thus permitting a synergy that was impossible otherwise, when Science was concerned with nature and politics with interests. These functions are going to become all the more realizable in that the contribution of the economists and then that of the moralists will be added, deining a common construction site that takes the place of the impossible political body of the past. We now turn, inally and effectively, in this “Western” context, to Curitiba in Brazil.

17.6. References 1. Berry, T. (1999) The Great Work: Our Way into the Future. New York: Bell Tower. 2. Latour, B. (2005) Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 3. Latour, B. (2004) Politics of Nature: How to Bring the Sciences into Democracy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

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CHAPTer

18 Economic and

Environmental Effect: Brazil’s Curitiba

The World Social Forum is an open meeting place for reflective thinking, democratic debate of ideas, formulation of proposals, free exchange of experiences and interlinking of effective action, by groups and movements of civil society opposed to neo-liberalism, and committed to building a planetary society directed towards fruitful relationships among Humankind and between it and the Earth. Boaventura de Sousa Santos, Another Production Is Possible (1)

18.1. Introduction: soul of america to Curitiba 18.1.1. the west not as we know It As we come to the culmination of our “Western” integral polity, thereby serving to release its particular genius, we are in for a surprise. For we (2) have come to the conclusion that the proverbial “West” is a misnomer. It is really the “North-west” in over-simpliied guise, including, most especially, the USA and Western Europe. For us then, the authentic West is closer to in fact the American Soul, in Needleman’s terms, both indigenous and exogenous, and to that extent, for us, includes the African and the Indian, the European and the American, of all the Americas. For our example of integral effect, therefore, we turn to Brazil, and to one of its best known cities, Curitiba. Ironically, in that overall, integral respect (see quotation above), we would see the World Social Forum, based in Porto Alegre, another city in southern Brazil, as a “South-western” phenomenon, to be compared and contrasted with, say, the “North-western” Washington Consensus.

18.1.2. the westeRn IntegRaL PoLIty Our initial Grounding, within the American Soul, drew in particular on what got left out of conventional, Anglo-Saxon “Western” wisdom, and that was the American Indian. For Needleman, for the American Indian, nature is the world. We do not understand the Indian’s relationship to nature, he says, perhaps because – even with all the knowledge science brings us – we simply do not understand nature itself. Perhaps it is from the Indian that we confront the fact that we do not understand the earth – and what the earth really needs from us.

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Navigaon Polics of Nature Bruno Latour Transformave Effect Curiba: Restorave Economy Mayor Lerner

Integral Polity Environment and Economics Americas

Emergent Foundaon Primal Future Louis Herman

Original Grounding Soul of America Jacob Needleman Figure 18.1 Integral Western Polity

Moreover, when it comes to our Emergence, we need to take note of the fact, in terms of Louis Herman’s Future Primal, that all our dominant institutions, from the global marketplace to the factory model of industrial production, were constructed on the basis of a radically constricted understanding of the place of the human in the cosmos. We urgently need a new vision of politics and economics that is attuned to our larger reality. As we evolve a newly integral form of politics, drawing indeed on our wilderness heritage, or grounding, we need to take heed of such a big, cosmic picture, set against, in addition, direct democracy, face-to-face discussion, and our overall individuation. This is a far cry from politics as we know it. For our integral navigation, subsequent to our grounding within the fully-ledged soul of America, and a newly emergent primal future, we reconstitute, via French anthropologist and philosopher of science Latour, our conventional bicameral politics (as per the British House of Commons and House of Lords, or the American Congress and Senate) as now a House of Nature and a House of Society. Each of these, moreover, and navigationally so to speak, will take both of the above matters into account, through naturally and socially accommodating perplexity and engaging in consultation, on the one hand, and by arranging things in order, via institutionalization and progressive hierarchization, on the other. The actualization, and ultimate effecting of all of this (see Figure 18.1), from such soulful grounding and primal emergence, through thereafter natural and social navigation, is illustrated through the case of Curitiba.

18.2. treating Citizens as a Precious Resource 18.2.1. towaRDs a RestoRatIVe eConomy anD soCIety Curitiba, as described by Paul Hawken (3), in his Natural Capitalism, and updated by Brazilian environmentalist Daniel Conrado, as an example of a “restorative economy and society”, is a south-eastern Brazilian city with the population of America’s Philadelphia.

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It shares with hundreds of similar sized cities in the developing world a dangerous combination of scant resources and rapid population growth. Yet it has lourished by treating all its citizens (most of all its children) not as a burden but as the city’s most precious resource, that is as creators of its future. Curitiba has succeeded by combining pragmatic leadership with an integrated design process, strong public and business participation, and an inspiring, widely shared vision. In the restorative process, during the period of the 1970s and 1980s, parks were renewed to revitalize the arts, culture and history of the urban core. The city’s rich ethnic heritage has been honoured and preserved, with a ceremonial gate and special centre created for each main culture. The urban core, relieved of commercial pressures, has been returned to pedestrian priority. In addition, the city has built schools, clinics, day-care centres, parks, food distribution centres, and cultural and sports facilities throughout its suburbs, democratizing amenities previously available only to those who journeyed downtown.

18.2.2. mayoR LeRneR: bRaIn oF a teChnoCRat, souL oF a Poet It all began in 1971, when Brazil was still under military dictatorship. The governor of Parana state chose as mayor of its capital city a 33-year-old architect, engineer, urban planner and humanist named Jaime Lerner. Informal, energetic, intensely practical, with the brain of a technocrat and the soul of a poet, Lerner was selected not only for his knowledge of the city’s needs but also for his supposed lack of “political” talent. The governor wanted someone politically nonthreatening. Unexpectedly Lerner turned out to be a charismatic, compassionate and visionary leader who ultimately ended his three terms, totalling a record 12 years, as the most popular mayor in Brazilian history, who has truly “lit up” his people’s lives, through education of all kinds, in all places. In fact his leadership and example were adopted by all the mayors that came after him, even from opposition parties, in a way that permitted his goals to continue to be pursued.

18.2.3. estabLIshIng LIghthouses oF knowLeDge anD heaLth PRogRammes With nearly 100 children born daily, Curitiba has consistently spent 27 per cent of its budget on education. Its 120-odd schools, many reused for adult education at night, have achieved one of Brazil’s highest literacy rates: over 94 per cent by 1996. Environmental education, too, starts early in childhood and is not just taught in isolation but integrated across the core curriculum. Similarly, when gangs tore up the lower beds at the new Botanical Garden, their vandalism was interpreted not as a venting of hostility but as a cry for help that led to their hiring as assistant gardeners. At the same time libraries termed “Lighthouses of Knowledge” emerged with the aim of having one within walking distance of every child’s home. A ten-volume text on Curitiba’s history, culture and civics has been developed that is fundamental to all primary schooling. Moreover, strengthening civil society is the focus of many other important programmes in Curitiba. The larger bus terminals contain “Citizenship Streets”, clusters of satellite municipal ofices that bring City Hall to its constituents where they change bus lines. These Citizenship Streets also offer information on training, business loans and job opportunities; the largest one is integrated with a street market. They also provide shops, cultural spaces, and sports and arts facilities for community use.

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The health of children was taken very seriously, beginning with the programme called “Mãe Curitibana”, that follows pregnant women from the beginning of their pregnancy through to delivery. It provides all the necessary examinations as well as educational workshops covering general health and good care of the baby. There are around seven thousand professionals involved in this programme, spanning physicians, nurses, nutritionists, dentists and health agents. The number of children’s deceases in Curitiba in 2013 was the lowest in its registered history, that is 216 deaths for under-one-year-olds, and 9.6 per cent less than that in 2014.

18.2.4. a FLow oF InteRConneCteD, eVoLVIng soLutIons All of Curitiba’s mayors subsequently have followed Lerner’s policies, leading to a low of interconnected, interactive, evolving solutions, mostly devised and implemented by partnerships amongst private irms, non-governmental institutions, municipal agencies, utilities, community groups, neighbourhood associations and individual citizens. Curitiba’s best-known innovations are in “growing along the trail of memory and of transport”. As Lerner puts it “memory is the identity of the city, and transport is the future”. Lerner relied on urbanists and architects, all of whom approached transportation and land use, hydrology and poverty, lows of nutrients and of wastes, health and education, jobs and income, culture and politics, as intertwined parts of a single integrated design problem. Curitiba’s system for using buses, for example, was switched from manual routing and scheduling to homegrown software, later commercialized. The bus system, moreover, is entirely self-inancing. Each lane of express buses carries 20,000 passengers per hour, as much as a subway, but costs 100 times less. Although the city has the highest rate of automobile ownership in Brazil, it now has no trafic problem thanks to a benign neglect of cars. Curitiba now enjoys the country’s cleanest urban air. Designing land-use, moreover, in conjunction with transport policies, has reduced congestion and smog, saved energy, revitalized neighbourhoods and solidiied civic spirit. Undergoing consistent evolution since 1974, the Transportation Network has incorporated express buses, feeder buses, “Ligeirinhos” (rapid buses), articulated buses, inter-hospital lines, a tourist line, boarding terminals, tube stations. Becoming today’s Integrated Transportation Network, it now stretches out beyond the city’s territorial limits to include the Curitiba Metropolitan Area. However, from 2007 to 2012 the attractiveness of a well-developed city with a good quality of life brought thousands and thousands of people from all over the country, bringing new problems to the mayors. The transportation system is facing a new challenge and the trafic low has thereby increased one again. Yet Curitiba continues to be one of the most healthy capital cities to live in, in Brazil, as a model and ever-innovative centre. Problems have become part of solutions, and crises have resulted in creativity.

18.2.5. aCknowLeDgIng natuRe’s IntRInsIC gIFt The problem of looding had become acute when Lerner irst took ofice in the 1970s. His designers decided to switch from ighting looding to exploiting the water as a gift of the habitat. They used small ditches and dams to form new lakes, each the core of a new park. Unused streamside buildings were turned into sports and leisure facilities.

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Community groups sprang up to protect the parks, using them for environmental education and integrate this into school programmes. Sixteen parks, cherished as public assets, formed the irst line of defence for this vital water resource. All of this provided permanent protection for vegetation, moreover, in the low-density one-third of the city, and tax relief for woods and gardens. Over 1,100 private woodlands are now registered, and the tax-relieved private green space exceeds four square miles. All these features allowed rainwater to soak in where it falls, which has massively greened the city. Curitiba also planted hundreds of thousands of trees everywhere: “We provide the shade, you provide the water”. The trees are the city’s lungs, cleaning the air and blocking the noise. The city protects nearly seven square miles of parks, nine forests, a Botanical Garden, ive Environmental Gardens, two Environmentally Protected Areas. Curitiba’s C’-ROM catalogues the 242 species of known birds. Today there are more than 26 parks and woods, which in addition to squares, gardens and pocket gardens provide 36 square meters of green public area per inhabitant.

18.2.6. ResouRCe PRoDuCtIVIty: a baLanCeD eConomIC aPPRoaCh Curitiba’s economy was traditionally that of an agricultural market and food processor. Mayor Lerner realized early on that to serve and employ its burgeoning population, the city would need to balance its commercial and service businesses with new and light medium-sized companies. Before land speculators could move in, the city therefore bought, in 1975, 16 square miles of land for its Industrial City. To ensure affordable housing near the jobs, it pre-installed low income dwellings, schools, cultural facilities, streets, bus links and protected open space. Curitiba is in that sense an industrial “real city”, with a proper infrastructure, where housing, leisure, social equipment and transportation are fully integrated within and around it, connected by transportation axes. International irms are well represented, partly because of the high quality of life. The city has recruited 500 non-polluting industries. Whereas in 1980 its per capita income was only 10 per cent above the Brazilian average, by 1996 it had surged to 65 per cent above the norm. The city’s evolution, moreover, has required new inventions throughout the years. Petty services and the recovery of ancient trades were combined with housing facilities at the “Vilas de Ofício” (Trade Villages) in 1994. Training and professional opportunities for young people and adults were provided at Trade Lines and Schools. City monitoring showed an increase in the number of unemployed and underemployed people in 1997. The answer came in the form of the “Linhão de Emprego” (Jobs Route) and the Metropolitan Emporium (4).

18.2.7. PRoFessIonaL PRobLem soLVIng: eVeRythIng Is ReCyCLeD In Curitiba, moreover, everything is recycled. A gunpowder magazine became a theatre. A mansion was converted into a planning headquarters, an army headquarters into a cultural foundation, a foundry into a popular shopping mall, and the oldest house into a publications centre. The old railway station became a railway museum, and a glue plant a Creativity Centre where children make handicrafts. A quarry became a famous amphitheatre, a garbage dump was converted into a Botanical Garden that is home to 220,000 species, and another derelict quarry was transformed into the Free University of the Environment.

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These innovations owe much to the city’s municipal departments. They’re often led by women and heavily populated by architects, as professional problem solvers, rather than by more traditionally oriented bureaucrats. Because health, moreover, depends critically on sanitation and nutrition, Curitiba found a creative way to fund both by turning garbage into value. Two thirds of the separately bagged recyclables are recovered and sold. Sorting stations, built from second-hand parts, hire the homeless, the disabled and recovering alcoholics.

18.3. Conclusion: bio/mimicry – Design working with nature Ultimately, teasing apart the strands of the intricate web of Curitiban innovation, according to American environmentalist Paul Hawken, reveals the basic principle of natural capitalism at work in a particularly inspiring way. Resources are used frugally. New technologies are adopted. Broken loops are closed. Toxicity is designed out, health in. Design works with nature, not against it. The scale of solutions matches the nature of the problems. A continuous low of service and value rewards everyone involved in improving eficiency. As education rejoins nature and culture to life and work, myriad forms of action, learning and attitude reinforce the healing of the natural world, and with it, the society and the politics. For Curitiba has discovered a way to build on a soul force, embodied in its urban community, to evolve its culture and spirituality, through building lighthouses of knowledge, as its natural and societal agenda, and to establish vibrant enterprises, speciically, and an urban economy, generally. Such, altogether, constitutes its “Western” integral polity. We now turn, inally, from South and East, North and West, to our would-be centre, in the Middle East.

18.4. References 1. De Sousa Santos, B. (ed.) (2006) Another Production Is Possible: Beyond the Capitalist Canon. London: Verso. 2. Lessem, R., Schieffer, A., Tong, J. and Rima, S. (2013) Integral Dynamics: Cultural Dynamics, Political Economy and the Future of the University. Farnham: Gower. 3. Hawken, P., Lovins, A. and Hunter Lovins, L. (1999) Natural Capitalism. London: Earthscan. 4. http://www.curitiba.pr.gov.br/idioma/ingles (last visited March 2014).

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VINature, Culture, Society and Economy: Centring Polity

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19 Integral Ground:

Holy Qur’an: Start Sustainable Development

19.1. Introduction 19.1.1. the sIgnIFICanCe oF the CentRe gRounD In this inal section of our book we move toward the geographical centre ground, that is to the Middle East, the birth place of the world’s three great monotheist religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. While, on the one hand, the region today remains a troubled part of the world, in such countries today as Syria, Libya and the Yemen, on the other hand this is the time of the so-called Arab Spring. Meanwhile Islam (1) which predominates in the Arab world, of all three monotheist religions, is the one that most purports to occupy the centre ground (2), that is in between not only Judaism and Christianity, but also Eastern holism and Western pragmatism, Northern rationalism and Southern humanism. At the very heart of Islam is the Muslim’s holy Qur’an.

19.1.2. the hoLy QuR’an In ouR ContemPoRaRy tIme The Pakistani born futurist Ziauddin Sardar (3) – arguably the leading post-modern Muslim scholar of our time – wrote his seminal work (4) in 2011, Reading the Qur’an, from his particular, contemporary perspective. The signiicance and meaning of the verses of the Qur’an, for Sardar, have to be rediscovered by each generation in the context of its own time. It is in that light that he explores the holy Qur’an, the very grounding of the Muslim religion and worldview, in relation to individual and community, politics and society, science and technology, art and imagination, ethics and morality, and ultimately humanity and the environment.

19.1.3. LeaRnIng anD knowLeDge CReatIon: the gene-Ius oF the QuR’an The Qur’an, to begin with for Sardar, teaches through the use of a diversity of material. Apart from the Prophet Mohammed and his community, it refers to stories from the lives of previous prophets, such as Musa (Moses), Ibrahim (Abraham), Nuh (Noah) and Lot as well as Isa (Jesus), familiar from the Torah and the Bible. It frequently refers to history and the rise and fall of empires. In its own version of our release of integral GENE-ius, it:

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• • • •

refers to the creation of the Universe and uses examples from the natural world (our grounding), employs parables (our emergence), metaphors and allegories, to explain (part of our navigation) moral principles, and concerns itself with the practicalities (our effect) of how society should reform and organize itself internally as well as in its relations with other people to advance in ethical behaviour and righteousness.

Learning, for Sardar, involves a great deal of thinking: and the Qur’an constantly urges its readers to think, ponder and relect. When the Qur’an, moreover, urges us to seek understanding, it is not simply the understanding of the world around us. It is also the understanding of our inner world of feeling and experience, love and emotion, self and the soul. When the Qur’an asks us to look at the cosmos and relect, it is suggesting we look at the interconnectedness of things, how everything is connected to everything else. Sardar then takes us through the way of tradition, themes and topics, and contemporary issues, all in the Qur’an.

19.2. by way of tradition 19.2.1. oPenIng ChaPteR oF the QuR’an: aL FatIha In ouR tIme Sardar’s personal journey is an attempt to engage directly with the Muslim’s holy book. His objective is to search beyond the impasse of an idealized but unrealized understanding and discover how the Sacred Text speaks to the pressing concerns of our time and the predicaments of the world in which we live. When the principles and some of the methodologies are released from the embalming crust of tradition and applied to contemporary circumstances, they generate different ways of achieving a purpose and a meaning which are, for Sardar, enduring.

mother of the book: Rabb: sustainer of the worlds Praise be to God, the Sustainer of the Worlds.

Al-Fatiha, the opening chapter of the Qur’an, establishes the basic meaning of religion. Revelation, irstly as such, is God’s self-declaration to humanity, and the God who speaks to us in the Qur’an, is the Sustainer of the Worlds. The key word used here is Rabb, which has connotations of nurturing, fostering and sustaining a thing from inception to inal completion. Rabb, as such, is “lord of the worlds”, with an emphasis on plurality, that is on human diversity as an intentional and purposeful part of God’s creation, a central message of the Qur’an. Of the 99 attributes of God cited, two are the most frequently mentioned: Rahman and Rahim: Merciful to all, and Compassionate to each. •

“Rahman” has the meaning of a womb (Chinese “yin” from the tao), as well as kinship, loving kindness, mercy and nourishing tenderness.

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•

“Rahim” is the active connotation (taoist “yang”): it is the beneicence that has to be earned through good deeds.

19.2.2. the seConD ChaPteR: aL-baQaRa taqwa, god Consciousness and alleviating Doubt This is the Book, a guidance to the God conscious.

Taqwa, or what Sardar terms “God consciousness”, to begin with, is central to the concept of Islam, and to the second chapter of the Qur’an. It is the moment of insight, the lived experience of knowing something beyond ourselves. However, such insight does not come immediately, all of a sudden. As we read the Qur’an we have to explore, analyse and interrogate. Doubt and certainty, as such, are not diametrically opposed. Unless we reason with and through our doubts, we can have no conidence in our certainty. Certainty that is never questioned, that is not tested by doubt, can become prejudice, complacency, the blind following of tradition that undermines the spirit and meaning of the very guidance that should be applied to our daily circumstances in the conditions of the times in which we live.

Paradise – Juxtaposing a Fall from grace with a message of hope Oh Adam! Dwell you and your wife in the Garden; and eat of the bountiful things therein as you will; but do not approach this one tree, lest you become wrongdoers.

The parable of Adam and his wife is a conceptual account of our origin. Here we learn not only of the creation of humanity, but how we can deny and debase our humanity. Their fate, the fall from grace, is an ever-present possibility for all who stray from the straight path of God’s guidance, and will not repent and reform. This new order takes a distinctive place within God’s creation. God introduces humanity as khalifa. This is a central concept of Islam, and can be translated as “trustee”. We must all then answer for our own actions – for our relationships with our fellow human beings; we must answer for how we care for and utilize the resources of the world. We are responsible for handing on the trust of this world in as good a state as possible for the use and beneit of those who come after us. To be human, moreover, is to have abilities: this is symbolized in God teaching Adam the “names of all things”. The word for names (ism) is understood to mean the ability to deine and distinguish between things, the essence of reasoning and conceptual thought. We are created with the capacity to be knowledgeable beings with the ability to learn; learning and knowledge are by their very nature cumulative. To know the names is the basis of language. As the Qur’an makes clear (30:22, 49:13), the diversity of human languages, cultures and races and nations is part of the intention of creation. Therefore, whatever the language or cultures of our birth, the challenge is to employ these endowments, to use our abilities to make the best of life on earth. But those who live creatively and constructively according to god’s guidance need have no such fear. As such we can learn from those who came prophetically before.

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a middle Community We have appointed you a community of the middle way, so that you might bear witness to humankind, and that the Messenger might be a witness to you.

The true deinition of Muslim society, for Sardar, is a qualitative one: it must be “the middle community”, a community of the middle way. For him it infers and recalls the idea of “the straight path”. Thus ummat wasat, the community of the middle way, signiies – in principle though seldom today in practice – a just, equitable, balanced, moderate people, who shun extremism of all kinds. Muslims have generally seen the notion of the “middle community” in geographical terms, but for Sardar such is incidental. The notion of the “middle community”, for him then, is primarily a tool of self-relection. It implies that a balance must be sought between our physical and spiritual needs, the demands of the body and those of the soul. A distributive, inclusive outlook in all aspects of life is involved, in an environment of open, tolerant welcoming to all. It argues for a more respectful and humble approach to nature, holding ourselves responsible and accountable as trustees, people who look after and preserve the environment for future generations. It demands fair-play, equity and justice in our economic activity and moderation in politics. When Sardar looks around the Muslim world though, what he sees is not “a community of the middle way”, but communities of extremes – of obnoxious, ostentatious wealth in the midst of abject poverty, of religious zealots and self-righteous chauvinists, of despots and demagogues. He sees communities vacillating between a truncated and fossilized tradition and vague imaginings about how to rekindle and recapture the glories of Muslims’ history. He sees communities of debate and concern offering plans for modernization, reform and revolution that turn out to be cul-de-sacs that do nothing or little to address the real problems, the dire condition in which so many Muslims live. Sardar also sees those who peddle the panacea of violence, the quick ix of the gun and bomb, the panic politics of animosity and destruction of supposed enemies, as if that is any answer to the predicament of making a better, more peaceful and sustainable world. Muslims are divided, sundered and factional within, he says, as much as they cherish a sense of superiority over other societies that they lack within themselves; not racing to do good deeds, but chasing all forms of human frailty and perversity with steadfast determination.

Virtuous People: Faith in knowledge not blind Imitation In the creation of the heavens and the earth; in the cycle of night and day; in the ships that plough the oceans for the proit of mankind … these are signs for people who relect.

Where then does virtue reside? Sardar suggests that the transition from patience and prayer to the virtue of the love of knowledge is crucial to realizing how the fortitude and endurance derived from faith becomes an active, hopeful and liberating aid – and something quite distinct from, and with no connection to, fatalism. The middle community, then, consists of people who use their reason to study the natural world and think about the physical and material laws of the universe. Indeed, they even relect on the ingenuity we as human beings are capable of

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(“the ships that speed through the sea”), by linking the practice of virtue to the pursuit of knowledge. Yet blind imitation (technically known as taqlid) of religious scholars of yesteryear and today, he says, is the norm in contemporary Muslim societies. There is no virtue for Sardar in such; the Qur’an categorically denounces it “Do not follow blindly what you do not know to be true” (17:36). Instead, each believer is required to use reason, pursue knowledge in the widest sense, and gain the ability for discernment on moral and religious issues. Things moreover change. What is “good on earth” in one particular context may not be so good in another. As such, good is not deined once and for all. It has to be constantly sought, re-established from context to context, through critical engagement. This is one of the most notable virtues of “a community of the middle way”: it adjusts to change, younger generations constantly question their fathers and forefathers, as society itself and our moral consciousness with it evolves and our understanding of what classiies as good changes.

Charity and usury: social transformation and Degradation God has blighted usury and blessed free giving with manifold increase.

Charity, for Sardar, based on his reading of the Qur’an, is accepting an obligation toward and responsibility for the living conditions of our fellow citizens, our fellow human beings. The most fundamental basis of the Qur’anic vision is that we cannot be good in isolation. The real afirmation of faith is to appreciate the common humanity of all people and work to improve the lives of everyone. Poverty is a pernicious condition, which erodes human dignity and blights human potential. It is the duty of believers to intervene and work to eradicate the blight. The call to give to charity can be seen as the Qur’an’s way of urging Muslims to establish pragmatic and perpetual institutions for the social transformation of society. Across the Muslim world, such charitable institutions were known as waqfs, pious foundations. Muslims seeking spiritual advancement would leave a legacy in the form of property or a plot of land as a trust in perpetuity to be used for the beneit of humanity. Such trusts supported universities and hospitals, scholarship and earning, and funded research and travel. They played a vital part in enabling the lourishing of science and civilization in the classic era of Muslim civilization. Contemporary Muslims, for Sardar, have forgotten the intellectual, educational, scientiic and cultural dimensions of charity. Sardar now turns from the interpretation of the Qur’an, verse by-and-across verse, to key themes and concepts that arise, starting with prophets and revelation, and ending with nature and the environment.

19.3. themes and Concepts 19.3.1. the onLy Constant Is Change Verses that appear contradictory often expand on what was said earlier, or explore the same issue from a different perspective or in a different context. To prove a particular point, the Qur’an uses one argument and sometimes another. It explores the same idea in different contexts, so that verses about the same topics can have different aspects. The underlying themes that emerge relate to change, changing contexts, multiple perspectives and

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a constant struggle to discover what constitutes goodness in particular circumstances. While emphasizing, then, that change is essential, the Qur’an insists that it should be measured and lead to social and cultural transformation without turmoil or violence. It is not change that should lead society; rather, society should lead change. Equally important is the point that change necessitates a shift in perspective.

19.3.2. usIng hIstoRy as a guIDe to the PItFaLLs oF the FutuRe All creation, for Sardar then, is not only subject to change but has also to accommodate and adjust to change, or lose itself. The Prophet himself had to adjust to change: irst he prayed facing Jerusalem, then, after the instruction from the Qur’an, he changed his direction toward Mecca. So change is the only constant in the universe. The Qur’an, then, gives particular consideration to history and is full of historical passages. As such, it uses history as a guide to the pitfalls of the future. The emphasis is always on the lessons that can be drawn from the historical narrative. Indeed the narratives of ancient peoples were used for four speciic purposes: •

•

•

•

First, to encourage the study of history – “Many ways of life have passed before your time; travel about the earth and get to see what has happened to those who give lie to the truth” (3:137). Second, to promote the study of historiography – what use is the study of history if one cannot develop theories and ideas on ideologies, cultures and social foundations which bring power and prosperity to nations or lead them to decay? The analysis of the past “should be a clear lesson for all men” (3:138). Third, the believers are challenged to redeem the history of the future; to put the lessons into practice – like Moses, history can be used “to bring your people out of the depth of darkness into the light: and serve as a reminder for all who are patient and grateful in adversity” (14:5). Finally, as an accumulation of these goals, to infuse a consciousness of history.

What matters in the inal analysis is not might, power, the afluence of material means or even the accumulation of knowledge, but righteous conduct. Revelation demands that we constantly think outside the box of our earthly concerns by keeping in mind the intersection of time and timeliness.

19.3.3. tRuth anD PLuRaLIty: husbanD eVeRy PaRt oF goD’s CReatIon The plurality of religion, for Sardar as such, is a constant and recurring theme in the Qur’an. Far from adopting a hostile attitude to other religions, the Qur’an promotes, he says, acceptance of religious plurality and treats other religions with equality. Both the Torah and the Bible, in fact, are regarded by the Qur’an as revealed texts. Jews and Muslims, for Sardar moreover, are closer to each other than Muslims and Christians. Both have similar codes of conduct, laws and jurisprudence (the Shari’a in Islam and the Halacha in Judaism). The dietary arrangements of both religions are almost the same (halal and kosher). That is why, when persecuted in Christendom, Jews always found a welcoming refuge in Muslim lands; in Moorish Spain, Jews and Muslims produced a dynamic, learned society with a strong accent on multiculturalism.

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Instead of arguing over theological issues, we should ensure that there is freedom, equity, fairness and accountability in human societies. We have to ensure the eradication of poverty and give everyone the dignity of fair wages and gainful employment according to their abilities, education and justice for all. Humanity is one, but it is a humanity that thrives on diversity and difference.

Individual and Community: our Relations with all god’s Creations The term the Qur’an uses for “community” is umma. Its single most important implication, for Sardar, is not that the Muslims are a single global community, but that Muslims should be deined by how they become a community in relation to each other, other communities, and the natural world. It is the concept of taqwa, as previously mentioned then, that relates individuals to society. Most Muslims, Sardar maintains, think that such “God consciousness” is acquired through prayer and devotion. But for him it manifests itself, rather, through our human relationships, and our relations with all God’s creations. Taqwa is therefore represented on how loving and caring you are, how you display humility and respect, how you interact with your environment, how you participate in building a dynamic, viable community. So we have not only to concentrate, communally as such, on individual acts of goodness, but also to work to ensure that the institutions and organizations of our society are it for the purpose of giving everyone the best opportunity to fulil their potential and lourish. It is about making the right decisions about the provision of services – everything from energy and sewage to schools and hospitals – so that the needs of all people are catered for. It is about building peace, ensuring mutual tolerance, working for and insisting on good government – all actions necessary to build taqwa in society. It is about making reasoned and informed choices, moreover, about science and technology and all the ethical questions they raise. It is about inclusion and participation for all people in the life of society.

Reason and knowledge: Pursuing knowledge as a Form of worship Reason then, after revelation, in the Qur’an, is the second most important source for discovering and delineating the “signs of God”. The cosmos is presented as a “text’ that can be read, explored and understood with the use of reason: “in the alternation of night and day, in the rain God provides, sending it down from the sky and reviving the dead earth with it, and in his shifting of winds there are signs for those who use their reason” (45:5). Thus, reason is a path to salvation; it is not something you set aside to have faith, it is the means to attaining faith, a tool of discovery and an instrument for getting closer to God. Knowledge as such is not the domain of a chosen few, but every individual should seek knowledge as a religious duty. The emphasis on knowledge in the Qur’an, for Sardar then, is eye opening: again and again we are urged to study nature, explore the cosmos, measure and calculate, discover the situation and histories of other nations, travel the earth in search of knowledge, learning and wisdom. “It is he who has made the sun a shining radiance and the moon a light, determining phases for it so you might know the number of years and how to calculate them. God did not create all this without a true purpose” (10:5). The word used for knowledge in the Qur’an is ilm. It signiies that knowledge is a form of remembering God. Thus the pursuit of knowledge becomes a form of worship.

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The Qur’an seeks to establish a society of “those who know”, a knowledge society, a society where reason and relection, thought and learning, are not only valued but also grounded in everyday reality. The situation in the Muslim world today, where science and learning are conspicuous by their almost total absence, where irrationality and fanaticism are the norm, indicates just how far many Muslims have deviated from the teachings of the Qur’an. The question for knowledge, in fact, is a challenge to seek to comprehend that which serves the purpose of achieving greater justice and equity for all, while accepting that however much we know, we remain limited, inite and fallible beings who do not know it all. In a Qur’anic perspective, knowledge does not confer mastery and it always carries responsibilities and obligations to distinguish between what we can do and whether it can be done.

nature and environment: the theology of ecology The Qur’an, in the inal analysis, contains a “theology of ecology”. The themes of the unity of nature and our responsibilities toward the environment run throughout the sacred text. Nature is invoked in numerous verses. Moreover the most central concepts of the Qur’an, as far as Sardar is concerned, have a direct bearing on ecological thinking and environmental action. Tahweed – the Islamic term for unity – irstly becomes an all-embracing value in relation to the unity of humanity, of man and nature, and of the unity of knowledge and values. As such, nature is not there simply to be exploited and abused. Indeed, given the intimate connection between nature and man, its abuse is nothing but self-abuse. Just as human life is sacred, nature in the Qur’an is a sacred institution. The earth, “with its palm trees, its husk grains, its fragrant plants” (55: 10–13) is there for our beneit. But it has to be treated with respect, justice and balance. The second most important concept in the Qur’an, as far as nature is concerned, and as we have seen, is khalifa – trustee. As trustees of God on earth, it is our individual and collective responsibility to maintain the balance or harmony of nature, preserve and conserve the environment with all its lora and fauna, and treat God’s creation with respect and reverence. Nature therefore is a trust or amana, and a theatre for our moral and ethical struggle. While we enjoy temporary control over nature, we have no sovereign authority. The Qur’an views nature, then, essentially from a teleological perspective, and therefore the claims of “dominion” over her has no place. In the Qur’an, nature is a “sign” of God: “there are truly signs in the creation of heaven and earth, and in the alternation of day and night” (3:190–91). All creation is sacred; there is no such thing as a profane planet. Looking after the environment, and maintaining harmony and balance between people and nature, are thus part of our function as human beings. When we cease to appreciate the beauty of our planet, we also forget our true origins and inal destination. To be mindful of God, the Qur’an tells us, is to be close to nature. Amana and khalifa are not just theoretical concepts. The Prophet established two types of inviolate zones bordering around towns and watercourses: haram and hima. The haram zones, within which certain activities were forbidden, were maintained around wells, watercourses, towns and cities. Around wells a space was left to protect them from impairment, to provide room for their operation and maintenance, safeguard the water

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from pollution, provide resting areas for livestock, and room for irrigation facilities. Around towns and cities, people could not cut trees or forage or burn, to ensure that wildlife and habitat were protected and the carrying capacity of the town or city was not exceeded. The hima zones were set aside outside cities and towns speciically for the conservation of forests and wildlife. The Qur’anic verse “all the creatures that crawl on the earth and those that ly with their wings are communities like yourselves” (6:28) led moreover to the irst full-ledged charter, according to Sardar, of rights of livestock and animals. Contemporary Muslim societies, sadly though, have lost much of their traditional consciousness and concern for the environment. The reasons are varied: not least, the decline of Muslim civilization itself, along with the ravages of colonialism and then the mad rush for modernization. But in the age of climate change, Muslims are duty bound, in Sardar’s view, to return to the ecological insights of the Qur’an and to implement them in their individual lives, as well as their use and treatment of the environment. Sardar then turns to the inal part of his Reading the Qur’an.

19.4. Contemporary topics 19.4.1. the ImPaCt oF CategoRy mIstakes There are, for Sardar, three category mistakes. Most Muslims, irstly, think that the only valid interpretation of the Qur’an is the one made in history, particularly by the irst generation of Muslims. This irstly, for Sardar, is a theory of decline: no progress is possible if all progress has already been made in history, over 1,400 years ago. Secondly, moral evolution comes to a grinding halt if we think that all morality ends with the Qur’an. Finally, your fate is really sealed if you believe that the Qur’an is the repository of all knowledge and there is nothing for you to discover. These three category mistakes undermine the ethos of the Qur’an and are the main sources of the degeneration, discord and current impasse in Muslim societies. The discrepancy between theory and practice, Sardar fears, becomes even more evident when we look at some of the burning issues of our time, starting with the rule of law, and pursuit of social and economic justice.

19.4.2. the shaRI’a: RePRoDuCes the ConDItIons oF meDIeVaL tImes Literally, the word Shari’a means “the way to a watering hole”, a place where one can drink and refresh oneself. Today when people look to “Shari’a law” for guidance, they are actually looking at iqh, the rulings of medieval jurists, rather than looking directly at how the Qur’an treats the issue. So the legal injunctions developed to solve the problems of a bygone era based on the social and cultural circumstances and understanding of a medieval society have come to be seen as the law and morality of Muslim societies for all times! And it bears little resemblance to what the Qur’an actually says. That is why wherever the Shari’a is imposed (and it is always imposed), as for example in Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan under the Taliban, it reproduces the conditions of medieval times, totally disconnected from our own. Yet the Shari’a, as a way to a watering hole, should be the source from which the believers quench their thirst for knowledge of contemporary relevance. It should be a problem-solving methodology that requires Muslims to exert themselves and constantly

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reinterpret the Qur’an. Just as the Qur’an has to be reinterpreted form epoch to epoch, so the Shari’a has to be reformulated to accommodate and make sense of changing contexts. What is needed, on the one hand, is a robust study of the history of ideas to unravel the immovable object the Shari’a has become; and, on the other hand, there is a desperate need for robust reasoning about how to recover the means of making laws consonant with the Qur’anic principles and values that operate its moral and ethical framework to serve the actual needs of a particular society today. The Shari’a, for Sardar, has to become a vigorous, dynamic work of human reason, and, by way of conclusion – for us here, in terms of our centred, integral polity – participatory democracy.

19.5. Power and Politics: medina’s Participatory Democracy 19.5.1. InDIVIDuaL anD CommunIty The Qur’an, as a whole, describes itself as a “guidance” manual outlining how to live a good life. It deals, as such, with governance of the self as well as society. The consistent emphasis is that becoming a good person is impossible without accepting responsibility for the advancement of a good society. The responsibility for undertaking transformative action is placed on the individual working within him- or herself and within the community as a whole. The Qur’an does not present a prescriptive view of a speciic kind of political system or system of governance, but fulilling its objectives demands a style of engaging with society that could be termed, according to Sardar, participatory democracy. The results of abuses of power are illustrated in the Qur’an in a number of narratives of historical people. The import of these verses is clear: God hates tyrants. Power has to be exercised on the basis of mercy and compassion and be used to uphold justice and equality in all its manifestations. Apart from prophet-kings, moreover, who are a special case, the Qur’an does not look with favour on monarchs. Instead, it suggests that power should be acquired through a social process. It should be generated, organized and distributed as a collective endeavour, involving everyone. The function of a political leader, as such, is to do justice, uphold the law and work to fulil the needs and requirements of the community. This is clear from God’s advice to King David: Judge fairly between people. Do not follow your desires, lest they divert you from God’s path (38:26).

If the leaders do not fulil their obligation to promote justice, in social, economic and political terms, and uphold the law, the people are duty-bound not to obey them. The believers are told explicitly: do not obey those who are given to excess and who spread corruption in the land rather than doing what is right (26:150–52).

The Prophet, then, did not declare that the Qur’an was his constitution, but framed the constitution of Medina through a process of consultation, involving negotiations, contested argument and the inclusion of both Muslims and non-Muslims. Laws are dynamic, they

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change according to context, circumstances and changing societies; and since they regulate society, society itself has the right to participate, for Sardar, and have its say in framing laws. The city state of Medina recognized no superiority based on heredity, class, social status, political position or rank, or indeed any distinction between master and slave: it was a democracy beyond that envisaged in ancient Athens.

science and technology: an hour’s study of nature is better than a year’s Prayer The Qur’an does not simply suggest science is important. It points toward methods for doing science. First, it urges readers to appreciate the importance of observation: “let man observe out of what has been created” (86:5). Second, it emphasizes the signiicance of measurement and calculation: “everything we have created in due measure and proportion” (15:21). Third, after observations, measurements and calculations have been made, we are asked to draw inferences: “there are messages for those who use their reason” (2:164). Finally, we are asked to proceed on the basis of evidence: “God himself proffers evidence” (3:18). Experimental science, as we know it today, began for Sardar with Muslim civilization. “Scientiic method” evolved out of the work of such scientists as Jabir ibn Hayan (who was a Christian), who laid the foundations for chemistry in the late 8th century, and ibn Al-Haythem, who established optics as an experimental science in the 19th century. From astronomy to zoology, there was hardly a ield of study that Muslim scientists did not pursue vigorously, or to which they did not make an original contribution. The nature and extent of this scientiic enterprise can be illustrated by four institutions considered typical of the “Golden Age of Islam”: scientiic libraries, universities, hospitals and instruments for scientiic observation. Muslims, consciously and deliberately, abandoned scientiic inquiry in favour of religious obscurantism and blind imitation. The idea of knowledge, which included scientiic and technical knowledge, was reduced, over centuries according to Sardar, to mean only religious knowledge. A major driving force behind the scientiic spirit of Muslim civilization, in its Golden Age, was the notion of ijtihad or systematic original thinking, based on the Qur’anic injunction to think and reason, “to use their minds” (2:164), which became fundamental to the classical view of Islam. However, the religious scholars, a dominant class in Muslim society, feared, in Sardar’s view, the continuous and perpetual ijtihad which would undermine their power. So they banded together, over a number of centuries, and managed to close the gates of ijtihad: the way forward, they suggested, was taqlid, or imitation of the thought and work of earlier generations of scholars. Ostensibly this was a religious move, but given the fact that the Qur’an propagates a highly integrated view of the world and emphasizes that everything is connected to everything else, the reduction had a devastating effect on all forms of inquiry. The “minds” were closed not only on religious but on all forms of scientiic and technological inquiry. Moreover, the pursuit of science must be a socially responsible activity; it needs a reasoned moral and ethical framework for its means and ends, as well as in setting its priorities for research and development, to make its fullest contribution to the advancement of society and knowledge. To be true to their beliefs, for Sardar, Muslim societies need to put as much effort into science as they do on prayer, and place science where it belongs: at the very centre of Islamic culture.

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19.5.2. aRt anD ImagInatIon: exPanDIng human ConsCIousness The purpose of religion, culturally as well as socially for Sardar, ultimately, is to expand human consciousness, to be fully and continually aware of what is beyond the limitations of our created nature. The existence of God is the imperative to stretch our imagination and understanding of the Ininite. Therefore Islamic art tends to be abstract and aims to create the impression of ininity and transcendence. So in a variety of plastic arts we see the play of geometric outlines: lines transformed into patterns, patterns combined into modules, modules combined to produce larger motifs, and repeated endlessly to produce movement. Combination and repetition – central to the structure of the Qur’an itself – go on ad ininitum to generate an intuition of ininity, that which is beyond space and time. Such aesthetic impressions can be seen in arabesques, witnessed on carpets, walls and furniture, and are the inspiration for design elements of architecture from the conception of buildings to the decorative detail of the interior. A logical consequence of the importance of the words of the Qur’an is the development of calligraphy: representations of words as an art form. Primarily calligraphy uses the verses of the Qur’an itself to communicate the feeling of reverence and awe through line, shape, colour and movement – and transforms word into art. Music too, for Sardar, has played its distinctive role: Muslims constantly hear the Qur’an, whose aesthetic dimension is expressed through sound – by recitation. Poetry, moreover, was the traditional art form of the Arabs, and the Qur’an notes that Mohammed was seen by many people as a mad poet, rather than a messenger of God. Indeed, poetry has been a key instrument for releasing the religious imagination, surrounded by sounds and imagery, going beyond reason in unveiling the truth and discovering what it is to be human. It remains a vibrant art form across the Muslim world.

19.6. Conclusion 19.6.1. a DynamIC, InteRConneCteD text ReLateD to tIme anD PLaCe The Qur’an then, in conclusion for Sardar, is a dynamic, interconnected text. It does not present a static view of society; but actively encourages change, evolution, progress, and asks us constantly to change. Its meaning evolves, develops and changes the more connections we make, and the more we see the Qur’an as an interconnected text. Context, irstly then, is everything in the Qur’an. It is an eternal text; but it is also a text revealed in history, over 1,400 years ago, to a prophet who lived in the Arabian society of the 7th century, albeit that it addresses and seeks to change the moral, social and cultural conditions of that period. Learning as much as possible about the language, customs, personalities and circumstances of that time in history has enabled Sardar to determine what is speciic and what is universal. Moreover it is doubt and open-mindedness that keeps the text alive and capable of revealing its relevance through different situations and circumstances. Sardar’s second observation is related to the irst. A great deal of what is justiied nowadays on the basis of the Qur’an – from autocracy to theocracy, suppression of freedom of expression, obscene accumulation of wealth to gross inequity, oppression of the rights of women to the denial of rights to minorities, exclusive ownership of truth to

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suicide bombing – has no relationship to the sacred text whatsoever. The more people, he believes, that use the Qur’an to justify their age-old customs and traditions, obnoxious behaviour and violent actions, the further they are from the spirit of the sacred text. Muslim attitudes to women, apostasy, other religions, freedom of expression, democracy, morality and ethics, the delusion that the Shari’a is divine, are all irmly anchored in dim and distant history where great jurists supposedly gave inalterable opinions and interpretations. However relevant they may have been historically, they have no relevance, for Sardar, today.

19.6.2. the QuR’an InVItes us not to Look baCkwaRDs but to see aheaD The Qur’an inally invites us not to look backwards but to see ahead. Sardar, as such, draws three vital future lessons. First, in interpreting the Qur’an, we must distinguish between legal requirements and moral injunctions. Laws need to be just, ethical and equitable. To produce genuine insight, secondly, when reading the Qur’an, we need a higher order of questions: not just what the Qur’an says about individual behaviour, but what we can learn about combining individual fulilment with individual acceptance of social responsibilities. Such complex questions would lead to a more holistic and deeper understanding of the sacred text. Thirdly and inally, in reading the Qur’an, Sardar has come to realize, it is not a one-dimensional, reductive act. Rather, it is a process, involving synthesis, looking for interconnections, discovering context, wrestling with contradictions. When, therefore, Muslims accept the Qur’an as nothing more than a given set of dos and don’ts we make their faith less and less relevant to the world in which we live. We now turn from the grounding of Islam in the Middle East generally, to its context within Egypt speciically, as well as in the world at large. To help us along that harmonic way we draw, surprisingly perhaps, on British royalty.

19.7. References 1. Allawi, A. (2009) The Crisis of Islamic Civilisation. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. 2. Sardar, Z. (1987) The Future of Muslim Civilization. London: Mansell. 3. Inayatullah, S. and Boxwell, G. (2003) Islam, Postmodernism and Other Futures: A Ziauddin Reader. London: Pluto Press. 4. Sardar, Z. (2011) Reading the Qur’an: The Contemporary Relevance of the Sacred Text of Islam. London: Hurst and Company.

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CHAPTer

20 Emergent Integral:

Harmony: Sustainable Development Anew

Most ancient Greek scholars came to Egypt to study in Alexandria. Pythagoras, for instance spent 22 years there. One of the most secret, and sacred sciences they studied was Ancient Harmonics. This involves the harmonic interaction of everything in the universe through resonance. It teaches the laws of Harmonics as the way of creation, and manifests them in Music, mathematics and other sciences. These are all ways of expressing the laws of creation in our sensory world. The Jesuit monks later preserved this science, using it in herbal medicine and water detection. Ibrahim Karim, Back to the Future for Mankind (1)

20.1. Introduction 20.1.1. heaLth anD baLanCe We now turn from a speciic centring in the Middle East, via Islam speciically, to the more general “emergence”, that is renewal, of ancient harmonics, which take us back, as it were, to the future of mankind, building on the Egyptian Goddess Ma’at in the process. Indeed the sustainability revolution, for Britain’s Prince Charles (2), a student of many primal cultures as well as those ancient and modern (as articulated in his recent book on Harmony) involves rediscovering the principles that produce the active state of balance which is just as vital to the health of the natural world as it is for human society. When people, in that context, he says, talk of things like an “environmental crisis” or a “inancial crisis”, what they are actually describing are the consequences of a much deeper problem which comes down to what Prince Charles calls a “crisis of perception”. It is the way we see the world, for him, which is ultimately at fault. If we simply concentrate on ixing the outward problems without paying attention to this central, inner problem, then the deeper problem remains, and we will carry on casting in the wilderness for the right path without a proper sense of where we took the wrong turning. All of the solutions Prince Charles suggests depend for their success on looking at the world in a different way. It is not strictly a new way, and that is why it is important to travel back in time to see the world as did the “primary peoples” of the world, as well as the “ancients”, but it is a way of seeing things that stands very much at odds with what has become today’s only reasonable way of looking at the world.

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The Prince then, and his UK-based environmental colleagues Tony Juniper and Ian Skelly, having argued that the reason we have ended up in today’s mess, and why we continue to dig ourselves deeper into it, is because of the “modern” way we perceive things, proceed to take us back in time, as indeed one of us, Louis Herman has already done (see Chapter 16), to reveal a less well-known aspect of the way ancient civilizations viewed their place in the world. This is not to suggest that we should be blind to the fact that ancient societies and their civilizations were, by our modern standards, cruel and inhuman, and ravaged by all sorts of plagues and diseases that modern science has either eradicated or found cures for; that life was short, both in primary and ancient societies, and health-care non-existent. Nevertheless, by looking at their deeply rooted perception of the world and their place in it, expressed so eloquently in their art and the symbolism embedded in their sacred literature, it is possible to see how, as a mechanistic and secular view of the world grew from the 17th century onwards, the seeds that sprouted at the time produced the legacy of our current and increasingly destructive view of the world. What Prince Charles wants to show is just how fundamentally at odds with reality our modern view has become compared with one that sustained the world for thousands of years. It is why we are travelling along the wrong road. To ind the right one we need to turn from nature to culture, and most especially to the wisdom of our “primary peoples”, and thereafter of the ancients.

20.1.2. ReaDIng the woRLD: the wIsDom oF PRImaL PeoPLe Against ever-increasing odds, the “primal” people of the world, as Louis Herman has already intimated, whether in Southern Africa or Papua New Guinea or Native America, in Borneo or Brazil, live in harmony with the Earth. Wherever Prince Charles has had the privilege of meeting them, no matter where they are in the world, he says, they all talk of the importance of their relationship with the living Earth, and almost always in exactly in the same terms. Speciically, as such, they have the ability to “read” the world, including how it is entirely dependent upon their relationship with the Earth. It is contained within their folklore and transmitted from generation to generation, in many cases in the form of stories. There are many references, for example, to the medicinal properties of berries and plants, as well as lessons in social responsibility and manners of behaviour. If this had to be boiled down to one simple deinition of the philosophy of so many of the world’s primal cultures, Prince Charles would say “they know the world that knows them”. As such they are very conscious of the web of interconnectedness; that the Earth depends for its health and survival upon a complex interchange of mutual relationships, all of which are controlled by cycles of repeated patterns. All that they know, all that they dream of in their imagination, all that they say, comes from the Earth, for which they therefore have a profound reverence. In that philosophical and spiritual context, the essence of life is considered to be mysterious, benign, sustaining, seeking expression through its “actualization” of the material world. Once upon a time this rooted approach was not just active in remote indigenous communities. Western civilization was equally rich in instructive myths, and in the teachings of our spiritual texts, but we do not seem to notice it any more. We now turn from the primary peoples of the world, and their indigenous belief systems, to the ancient world, most speciically to Ancient Egypt.

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20.2. the golden thread: wisdom of the ancients 20.2.1. the gRammaR oF haRmony The Westernized view (for us “North-western”) that now dominates so much of the world, has become detached, in Prince Charles’ view, from its important anchors. He thereby starts to consider the most important elements of what he has called “the grammar of harmony” as it was understood by the ancient civilizations. It framed the entire understanding of life. This is necessary in order to provide a wide enough context for a graphic illustration of how harmony works, how the language of patterns which are found throughout nature it together and hold the fabric of the material world together. Finally, he explores the spectacular examples of sacred art and architecture, particularly, during the Golden Age of Islam, including the profound insight their rediscovery of the grammar of harmony attained. Prince Charles unravels, as such, a portrait of these that lie at the very heart of life itself and give shape to things. They are all too easily forgotten in our technically sophisticated, totally mechanized world. Every culture of the past has understood their importance and has used them to underpin the structure of the most important sacred buildings and many secular ones too. These principles also inform their religious symbolism and open up a clear experience of a deeply anchored view of the cosmos and of humanity’s spiritual role within creation. Art and architecture, music and poetry, then, are the means of doing this because they come from the heart rather than from the head.

20.2.2. anCIent egyPtIan FounDatIon CuLtuRe The great architects of the past did not study nature’s patterns simply because they found them pretty; they knew them to be the very patterns of life. By studying the interconnected relationship between growth and order in the universe, the ancients were also exploring what lies at the very core of life – the elements that make it sacred. The journey that the transmission of these shared insights takes through human history twists and turns, for Prince Charles, like a golden thread. At some periods in history it falls into decline in one culture only to be kept alive in another. So, for example, it is not odd to conclude that we have the Ancient Greeks to thanks for the Islamic patterning that adorns every great Mosque from Cordoba to Delhi, just as we have Islamic culture to thank for the precise geometry of every Gothic cathedral, from the South of France to York, whose towers soar into the sky. The culture and thinking of Ancient Egypt, meanwhile, that lourished 5,000 years ago could be called, for Prince Charles, a foundation culture. Many aspects of our “Western” culture have their deepest roots in the land that clings to the banks of the River Nile. From that thin strip of fertility in North Africa arose much more than reeds and wheat. It is a source of our mythology and religious symbolism, our astronomy, geometry and mathematics, even the shape of many letters. They are all distant echoes of an outlook that deined a people whose life revolved completely around the ebb and low of the mighty Nile. Egyptians, moreover, would surely have been haunted by the wilderness and extinction that lay beyond their fertile land and they would have been in no doubt that their lives hinged entirely on the benevolence of the river. Once every year it would lood the plain to swamp the land with a vital cloud of black soil. The Egyptians called this black gold khem; this is where we get the word “alchemy”

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from, and our modern word “chemistry”. Khem was a magical substance without which not a single thing would grow. The river, in fact, did not just bond the Ancient Egyptians to its cycles from a practical point of view; it also framed their outlook and their imagination. Their river’s cycle was woven into their mythology so that their gods became symbols of the perennial struggle between the harsh forces of decay and those of benevolent renewal. Just think of the Egyptian god Osiris, the hero sacriiced in a brutal execution at the turn of a year, who then miraculously rose from the dead to be put back together so that he could redeem the world with life’s vital force. It is through the transmission then, for Prince Charles and his environmental colleagues, not just from one generation to the next, but from one culture to another, that the essential patterning in life is understood. It is a patterning that comes from a careful study of how nature’s balance depends upon the limits that “contain” her unity and coherence. Coherence is another way of describing harmony, and the Egyptians understood how harmony worked. So much of the symbolism in their art and architecture demonstrates that they held harmony to be a supreme and vital state. So much so that their most important deity was considered to be the goddess of harmony.

20.2.3. ma’at as a symboL oF haRmony The Egyptians were well known for their worship of the Sun god, Ra, but it was Ma’at – as we shall see in a later chapter (Chapter 22), she also inspired the integral Egyptian enterprise Sekem – who was supremely important in their imagination. Not only was she goddess of truth, but the Egyptians believed that the whole world was maintained by Ma’at’s active presence. Without her, the entire universe would fragment and collapse into the primordial chaos from which it had come. Ma’at was the very essence of harmony and it was therefore the primary duty of every pharaoh to safeguard her presence. He maintained the laws and administered its justice to make sure that harmony prevailed between Heaven and Earth. To do this the pharaoh had to be both priest and king – a priest on the inside and a king on the outside – someone who had attained complete spiritual integration and had reached his full potential so that he could lead others toward the same. The work of artists in Ancient Egypt was sacred. It was a form of prayer, a vision of the universe conveyed in a pictorial language that did not depict the “outside world”. It mapped their experience of the inner realm, which was supremely important to ancient civilizations, to the extent that they considered the inner world the very ground of reality. In other words, they were bringing alive the realm of spiritual reality in order to empower the lower, mundane world of space and time with spiritual signiicance. This has always been the purpose of sacred art and architecture. It is the process of “earthing” heaven and this tradition is just as alive in many places today as it was 3,500 years ago.

20.2.4. ma’at to PythagoRas For Prince Charles, “tradition”, while all too often referred to as “old-fashioned” or “backward-looking”, is a living presence, as has been illustrated in Gyekye’s Tradition and Modernity (Chapter 4) in West Africa’s Ghana, looking in all cases to the future as much as to the past. That is key to what we consider to be local-global “emergence”, subsequent to local “grounding”. What we can learn from the way ancient civilizations like the Egyptians looked at life is how they saw the same shape to things: the essential, cyclical

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process of growth that is limited by the need for decay, which in turn renews again into another cycle of creation. This is the pattern of nature which gives a deeper meaning to the word “re-creation”, as well as to “renewal” and indeed what we term “emergent”, now in nature as well as culture. Eventually the Egyptian civilization sank into the sand, but not its wisdom which in time, found itself forming the basis of a world-view promoted by one of the founding fathers of Western civilization. Pythagoras was born in the tiny Greek island of Samos, before he supposedly travelled to Egypt in the 6th century bc, and stayed there for 22 years, studying and being initiated by the Egyptian priestly scholars. For Pythagoras, number had a living, qualitative value and was symbolic of the higher realms of reality, those that lie beyond the “actual” world. For Egyptian architect and philosopher Ibrahim Karim, from whom we quoted at the outset, this constitutes Ancient Harmonics. For Prince Charles, as for Karim, life unfolds, as it does for surviving primary cultures today, from an indivisible unity, or Oneness, into a multiplicity of many, all of which can be connected by a third element, of relatedness. In other words, for one thing to be known by another, there must be a “joining together”. The Greek word for such is harmonia. Plato was born around 428bc, some 70 years after the death of Pythagoras. For him the highest study was the study of the harmonies of music and the rations of geometry because they represent the patterns within humanity. Without the whole in balance, neither a work of art nor life itself can sustain itself in a durable and healthy fashion. This takes us onto the role that Islam played, in medieval times, taking the story on, if you like, from where the ancient Egyptians and the Greeks left off. After all, it was the Muslims who acted as the bridge, in those middle ages, between the Ancient Greeks and modern Europe.

20.2.5. the gRammaR oF haRmony Persian “Magic Carpets” of the Middle Ages were modelled on the Islamic garden, because such a garden in the Islamic tradition is symbolic of the inner sanctum of the heart. The soul itself is seen as a garden, the garden of paradise, and so the “magic” carpets transported the desert traveller to humanity’s true home, to the paradise within. All of the many designs in Persian carpets are elaborations of the interplay between the three basic shapes: the circle, the square and the triangle. As we know from Pythagoras, in all ancient traditions the circle is symbolic of the unbroken unity (the world as a whole) of heaven. The square is symbolic of the materiality of our earthly existence (as per the four worlds), and the triangle (as per the Threefold Commonwealth) is symbolic of the world of our human consciousness (centre). The geometric code that Prince Charles has called the grammar of harmony was evidently understood by every one of the major civilizations of the world. The temples of India, for example, relect it profoundly. Many of them follow a similar design. At the centre sits a dark chamber and this is surrounded by a series of rooms that become lighter as they get nearer to the outside world. The symbolism is missed by most, but the point here is that all of creation bursts out of what the mystics of India called the “uncreated light” of the central unity. From this unity lows all of the teeming multiplicity of existence, symbolized by the rich decoration and intricately carved ornamentation of the temples’ outer walls. Again, such temples are models of the universe, both its outer aspect and its inner one.

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In China, 2,000 years ago, a contemporary of Plato, the Chinese sage Lao Tzu (3), wrote in the Hua Hu Ching: The world and its particles are not separate, isolated things but rather one small particle contains the nature of the world just as the world contains the nature of each small particle; the nature of each is the same. The apparently single event is but a variation and a segment of the great whole and the great whole is the combination of all single events. Thus the single event contains the life experience of the whole.

It was, according to Prince Charles, the Arab world that salvaged much of the treasure from the ancient world. Slowly it infused Arab thinking so that when the great Abbasid Empire rose to prominence from the 8th century onwards the principles of harmony, balance and unity were central to the vast outpouring of craftsmanship and scholarship that characterized what has come to be known as “the Golden Age of Islam”. Its epicentre was Baghdad (4), which enjoyed a spectacular lowering in scholarship and an approach to art and design that fused Arab thought and invention with that of Persia, Egypt, Europe and the Far East. It is estimated that within 200 years after the death of the Prophet Mohammed, books were available in libraries that peppered the major cities of the growing empire. By the middle of the 13th century there were 36 libraries in Baghdad alone, where it was possible to read books on history and poetry, Greek and Islamic philosophy, mathematics, astronomy and medicine. Cordoba in Spain alone was said to have contained 400,000 volumes, attracting scholars from far and wide, bringing with them many Ancient Greek texts that had been salvaged from the ruins of antiquity to be translated into Hebrew and Arabic. These scholars advanced their knowledge in science, natural history, law, geography, history and medicine. Their studies covered everything from agriculture to building design and they made tremendous advances in optics and engineering. Their studies in medicine (5) created standard texts on the subject and they invented hospitals equipped with what amounted to emergency and accident wards. Their business acumen led to the development of sophisticated new business practices that are now common to the world – the notion of partnerships, the use of credit and the idea of banks exchanging currency. It is the way, however, that they integrated into their culture the patterning of nature that is of particular signiicance here. The patterns of architecture and decoration that so deined this medieval culture depended on the so-called “Seven Sacred Principles” of Islamic architecture, the chief one being tawid, or unity. On every wall in the room, in every building and in whole cities, the aim was to create a sense of wholeness, the unity that rests in the heart of everyone. A central principle, taught in the universities that lowered from the 8th century (6) onwards in the Muslim world, was that things cannot be understood in isolation. Subjects were not taught separately as they are today. Instead, any one thing could only be known in a connected context within the universe.

20.2.6. wIthIn anD wIthout: the way oF PatteRns From Pythagoras and Plato onto the likes of Shakespeare, Bach and Blake, all of these artists were very clear that there is a harmony to the world that must be maintained. What is more, the difference we tend to see between the outside, material world and what we might think of as our own personal, mental space, for Prince Charles, within, is in fact an artiicial

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distinction. We experience them both as a whole and therefore the balance we achieve within dictates how balanced our behaviour will be without. This is why the ancients considered humanity to be a microcosm of a macrocosm. They saw no separation between man and nature and between the natural world and God. Religion and science, mind and matter were all part of the living world made up of the whole universe. Prince Charles and his colleagues, moreover, have attempted to demonstrate that the ancients’ grasp of the geometry of the cosmos dictated the design of their stone circles and pyramids. In more recent times, furthermore, the fabulous treasures of the world’s current sacred traditions, as well as the biological development of plants (7), the way in which animals organize their communities, the orbits of the planets and even key astronomical cycles of time, all follow harmonic patterns. This golden thread of inner learning, however, has undoubtedly grown weaker as the West’s emphasis on the outer world has become greater. The depth of knowledge yielded when nature studied as “nature” became depleted as she began to be studied as a machine. We need, now, to explore how these inluences began a process of, for Prince Charles, “spiritual asset-stripping” that has now eroded completely humanity’s former insight and wisdom as well as much of the balance that once shaped a very different perspective of the life we inhabit. Such a perspective suggests that it is perfectly possible to live in some sort of shiny, synthetic bubble of convenience so long as we ignore or at least brush under the carpet the corrosive effects that all this is having on the Earth and its essential life-support systems.

20.3. which natural and Cultural grammar Do we Follow? 20.3.1. an abeRRant woRLD-VIew The more Prince Charles has learned about it, during the course of his life and work, the more he has become aware, as we have seen, that there was a similarity between the way ancient civilizations built their sacred cultures and the way the natural world itself is structured and behaves. The ratios and proportions that deine the way natural organisms grow and unfold are the same as those that underpin the structures of the most famous ancient buildings. Seeing this, he began to realize that the great juggernaut of industrialization relies upon a somewhat aberrant kind of language – a man-made one – which articulates a view that ignores nature’s grammar. He found, by contrast, that if people are encouraged to immerse themselves in Nature’s grammar and geometry – discovering how it works, how it controls life on Earth, and how humanity has expressed it in so many great works of art and architecture – they are often led to acquire some remarkably deep philosophical insights into the meaning and purpose of nature and into what it means to be aware and alive in this extraordinary universe. The dominant world-view, in contrast, only accepts as fact what it sees in material terms and this opens us up to a very dangerous state of affairs, not least because the more extreme this approach becomes, the more extreme the reaction tends to be at the other end of the scale. So we end up with two fundamentalist camps that oppose each other, the secular and the religious. Empiricism now assumes authority beyond the area it is capable of addressing and, consequently, it excludes the voices of those other levels of language that once played their rightful part in giving humanity a comprehensive

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view of reality – that is the philosophical and spiritual levels of language. This is why it conveniently elbows the soul out of the picture. We are no longer, therefore, able to view the world much beyond its surface and appearance. We are persuaded, instead, to follow a way of being that denies the non-material side to our humanity even though, contrary to what is supposed to be a growing popular belief, this other half of ourselves is actually just as important as our rational side, even more so. It is our means of relating to the rest of the natural world and this is why Prince Charles has long felt so alarmed that our collective thinking and predominant way of doing things are so dangerously out of balance with nature. Our intuition is deeply rooted in the natural order. It is the “sacred gift”, as Einstein called it. Many sacred traditions refer to it as the voice of the soul: the link between the body and the mind and therefore the link between the particular and the universal. A much more integrated view of the world and our relationship with it existed throughout ancient history and right up to that critical period in 17th-century Europe when Western thinking began to take a more fragmented view of things. Prince Charles’ concern from the very start was that Western culture was accelerating away from values and perspectives that had, up until then, been embedded in traditional roots. The industrialization of life was becoming comprehensive and nature had become “secularized”. In the West the sense of the sacred had been a value that had stood the test of time and helped to guide countless generations to understand the signiicance of nature’s processes and to live by her cyclical economy. But, like the children who followed the Pied Piper, it was as if our beguiling machines, not to say four centuries of being increasingly dependent upon a very narrow form of scientiic rationalism, has led us along a new but dangerously unknown road – and a dance that has been so merry that we failed to see how far we were being taken from our rightful home. The net result was that our culture seemed to be paying less and less heed to what had always been understood about the way nature worked and the limits of her benevolence, and to how, as a consequence, the subtle balance in many areas of human endeavour was destroyed. What he could see then was that without those traditional “anchors” our civilization would ind itself in an increasingly dificult and exposed position. And regrettably this is what has happened. So what is to be done?

20.3.2. sePaRatIng anD ReIntegRatIng Prince Charles wants to do this in a contemporary way – to ind as many possible ways of reintegrating traditional wisdom with the best of what we can do now so as to demonstrate how we make this age it for a sustainable future. So what are the timeless principles that apply today? Nutrients in soils are recycled, rain is generated by forests, and life is sustained by the annual cycles of death and rebirth. Every dead animal becomes food for other organisms. Rotting and decaying twigs and leaves enrich soils and enable plants to grow, while animal waste is processed by microbes and fungi that transform into yet more vital nutrients. And so nature replaces and replenishes herself in a completely eficient manner, all without creating piles of waste. No single aspect of the natural world runs out of proportion with others – or at least not for long. What is more, nature embraces diversity. The result is a complex web made up of many forms of life (8). For this web to work best there is a tendency toward variety and away from uniformity and, crucially, no one element can survive long in isolation.

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There is a deep mutual interdependence within the system which is active at all levels, sustaining the individual components so that the great diversity of life can lourish within the controlling limits of the whole. In this way, nature is rooted in wholeness. The other principle or quality that Prince Charles draws our attention to is beauty. Our ability to see beauty in nature is entirely consequential on our being a part of nature herself. In other words, nature is the source, not us. If we ignore beauty we neglect a vital ingredient in the well-being of the world. Moreover, we have a tendency in the West to emphasize linear thinking rather than seeing the world in terms of cycles, loops and systems, and the intention to master nature and control her, rather than act in partnership. Our ambition is to seek ever more specialized knowledge rather than take a broad or holistic view. In what Prince Charles call this Age of Disconnection we have systematically severed ourselves from nature and the importance to us of her processes and cyclical economy. As a result we are beginning to fall seriously out of joint with the natural order. And there is order. Whether we choose to be part of the process or not, everything in truth depends on everything else. Whether it is the bee to the lower, the bird to the fruit tree, or the man to the soil, we depend on them all – and we neglect this simple principle at our peril. It stands to reason – take away the bee and there is no lower; without the bird there will be no fruit; deplete the soil and soon people will starve. Moreover, just as natural species, once lost, cannot be re-created in test tubes, so traditional, so-called “perennial” wisdom, once lost, cannot be reinvented. This is the real damage being done by our disconnection, which is fast becoming all but complete in the modern world, all the while proving that the great experiment to stand apart from the rest of creation has failed. This is why Prince Charles has argued for so long that we need to escape the straightjacket of the modernist world view. For modernism deliberately abstracted nature and glamorized convenience and this is why we have ended up seeing the natural world as some kind of gigantic production system seemingly capable of ever-increasing outputs for our beneit. We have become semidetached bystanders, empirically correct spectators, rather than what the ancients understood us to be, participants in creation. In the 21st century then, we desperately need an alternative vision that can meet the challenges of the future. It will certainly be a future where food production and its distribution will have to happen more locally; where the car will become more subordinated to the needs of the pedestrian; where our economy will have to operate on a far less generous supply of raw materials and natural resources. But it could also be one where the character of our built environments once more relects the harmonious, universal principles of which we are an integral part. If our goal is to re-establish our rightful relationship with nature and pull back from the brink of catastrophe, we will need to remind ourselves of the essential grammar of harmony – a grammar of which humanity should always be the measure. What inhibits us from such is that we live in an age of disconnection. Slowly but surely, in the 17th century in Europe, God began to be deined as something that lay outside of creation and was separate from nature, and, as that happened, so nature itself came to be seen more and more as an unpredictable force, something likely to be unruly, without inherent order and capable of going its own, sometimes dark way. The irst evidence of this intriguing shift in fact comes in the way education began to break apart. Aquinas’ approach to learning at the University of Paris had been the traditional, classical one, which aimed to arrive at an integrated

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knowledge of reality as a whole – one that was apparent in the outside world, but had its roots on the inner level. In other worlds, it incorporated what was known scientiically or empirically with what was understood philosophically and also sensed spiritually. But this fundamental shift began to take hold, so each discipline began to take its own separate course, and so the integration of scholarship ceased to be the central aim of learning. In time it framed the outlook that allowed science to make its clean break from religion and forge ahead toward modernity. It effectively shattered the organic unity of reality, which could be traced back to Plato and Pythagoras and, before them, the Ancient Egyptians and the start of the Vedic tradition in India. At the heart of things, within a very short space of time, that all-important, timeless principle of participation in the “being” of things was eliminated from mainstream Western thinking. Or, to put it more graphically, with God separate from his Creation, humanity likewise became separate from Nature. In the social sciences, moreover, for the French 18th-century political philosopher Rousseau, for example, society existed to defend against threats and dangers, not for the attainment of the universal good. This was not the view of human nature taken by the great thinkers of Greece and Rome. Figures like Plato and Aristotle did not believe human nature was fundamentally savage. They held that it inclined toward the good and true. It had not been the plan, then, but Western thought, and outlook, were laying the foundations for our present Age of Disconnection.

20.3.3. FRom agRICuLtuRe to InDustRy anD baCk agaIn Consider, for example, as Prince Charles now does in the context of modern agriculture, the legacy of Justus von Liebig who grew up in Germany in the early years of the 19th century. As a chemist, and would-be “father of the fertilizer industry” he set out to deine what makes plants grow. He took crops, set ire to them in his laboratory, and studied the ash that was left behind to identify the minerals that provide plants with their necessary nourishment. His analysis revealed three: nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. They are the three basic materials every farmer and gardener knows today as NPK. He also, in fact, helped to establish the notion in early agricultural chemistry that a plant is little more than a chemical processing factory, turning this vital combination of minerals into energy. Furthermore, by mixing these elements into a solution, Liebig also demonstrated that plants can grow perfectly well without soil. It set agricultural chemistry on the course we have today, that led to an industrialized approach to farming. A century after Liebig conducted his pioneering research, Rudolph Steiner, whom we met in Chapter 9, was asked to deliver what became a famous set of lectures (9) on the emerging crisis in agriculture. He described Liebig’s approach as taking agriculture out of the realm of life and putting it into the realm of death. Only in the realm of death, Steiner said, does his theory work. For his part, Liebig in later life seems to have seen the error of his ways, but by then he could not defeat the monster he had helped to create and today we live with the legacy of his pioneering work, whereby the vast majority of food we eat is produced by a method of farming that has become alarmingly disconnected from the Earth. Despite Steiner’s warning a century ago, together with two world wars and a dramatic acceleration in the world’s population throughout the 20th century, pressure has mounted on agriculture to adopt the clinical eficiency of the factory production

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process. To meet this demand a new approach was devised in the USA, then rolled out to the rest of the world, in countries like India in the 1960s, known as the “Green Revolution”. The yield for every unity of fertilizer applied in those parts of India where the Green Revolution was imposed most vigorously decreased by two-thirds during the early stage of rollout. This has indeed worsened since, which is very worrying, given that the process is promoted ever more around the world. Overall then, for Prince Charles, we would need to value nature’s capacity to self-order her complexity; to recognize nature as our guide, rather than seeing her as a machine that we can abuse to breaking point. Starting off with land and agriculture, it is quite bizarre, he says, how we continue to put our faith in the very substances that are destroying the harmonic cycle which produces our food. It is quite genuinely a form of hubris. We now turn from agriculture and the built environment to health and well-being.

20.3.4. sustaInabLe heaLth, PhaRmaCoLogy anD weLL-beIng For an organism to be healthy, Prince Charles emphasizes, it must be in harmony. The converse is that a body is dis-eased if it does not enjoy an equilibrium. So, although we cannot see it, our health depends on harmony and that extends to the impact of those external things, like fast food as we shall see, that inluence and shape our experience of and response to the world. Human beings are among the most complex of all life forms, and yet it seems that we sometimes regard our collective and individual well-being as something equivalent to looking after a car. We mend the parts as they fail rather than seeking out and securing the causes of health, which tend to include wholesome food, rest, relaxation, exercise, a sense of community, enhanced by the quality of surroundings, relationships and contact with natural spaces. At the same time, our digestive system, our body temperature, our kidney and liver activity, lungs, heart and gall bladder, all work according to rhythms (10), making our bodies like nature, self-regulating. All of this relects the way nature works, and it was these characteristics, and in particular the powers of self-healing, that were once at the heart of medical philosophy. Hippocrates, the igure often recognized as the father of “Western” medicine, pioneered an approach based on the systematic restoration of balance to the body’s equilibrium by enabling the body to beneit from its natural powers of recuperation and recovery. Eating well, exercise, massage and relaxation were at the heart of these treatments and today we know from modern science that he was very much on the right track. From agriculture and health, we now turn to technology and engineering.

20.3.5. sustaInabLe teChnoLogy anD engIneeRIng: bIomImICRy The Prince of Wales picks up, in particular, in his approach to nature and harmony, from a technological perspective, on an approach to engineering called biomimicry (11), which means the imitation of life. Life on Earth, in fact, has been in the business of solving the complex challenges of survival for more than 3.5 billion years. It seems to him, therefore, that the more we understand the innovations that have resulted from this process, the more we realize that many of the solutions that must be mobilized to meet the needs of our expanding population without destroying the natural world that sustains us, have already been invented – not by scientists and engineers, but through the aeons of trials and tests that have taken place in nature.

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One example, close to one of the author’s (Ronnie Lessem) Zimbabwean home, is the Eastgate Centre in Harari, designed by local architect Mick Pearce (12). Constructed in the early 1980s, this commercial building embodies design features developed over millions of years by termites. The remarkable thing about this ordinary-looking structure is that despite the tropical altitude at which it is built, it has no electricity-powered air-conditioning. It stays cool thanks to the ventilation system invented by the termite Macrtermes michaelseni. These little insects build mounds that are self-cooling and these maintain the temperature inside the nest to within one degree of 31 degrees centigrade day and night. Another of innumerable examples, which could reduce environmental pollution, is the development of alternatives to traditional paints. The next time you see a brightly coloured butterly and give the graceful creature hardly a second thought, just remember that on its delicate wings it might carry, not just the body of an apparently insigniicant insect, but also the means to do away with chemical pigments. Some butterlies contain an alternative to the kinds of pigments found in paints. Many of their brighter colours are not colours at all but the result of an illusion created by tiny layers of membrane, in the nano-structures of their wing scales, that interfere with the light. We now inally, in this vision of a harmonically inspired Renaissance, turn to sustainable economics and environment.

20.3.6. sustaInabLe eConomICs anD enVIRonment After many years of investigation, Prince Charles is now convinced that inspiration from nature could be the basis for a new industrial, and indeed economic revolution. Unlike the coal-powered one that began in the 18th century, this would be part of the Sustainability Revolution rooted in building harmonious relationships with our planet’s life-support systems, her rhythms and her cycles. In effect, nature holds so many of the real solutions to our crisis of sustainability, agriculturally and medically, technologically and economically, if only we take the time to look for them. Changing our approach to economics, and the environment, is a huge task, but it is a vital one, and a challenge we need to rise to. Perhaps, therefore, there is a need to move towards the kind of economic thinking that promotes quality of life, he says – drawing on the work of America’s ecological economist, Herman Daly (13) – rather than simply the quantity of consumption. GDP growth was an idea in its time, as we have seen, a mid-20th-century concept that itted the circumstances of the era in which it was conceived, but now the challenges are different, and, for Prince Charles, we need new economic tools to deal with them.

20.4. Conclusion 20.4.1. knowLeDge anD ReLatIonshIP The renaissance that is starting to unfold, both is a lower – that we might liken to Sekem’s (14) Sustainability Flower (see Chapter 22) – that needs nurturing, and is still a very delicate thing. It will in part be built on our technical knowledge of how the world works and how our machines work best, but its economic and cultural foundations have to be set irmly in a “philosophia”, or love of wisdom. In fact, for Prince Charles, what

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Harmony alludes to, overall, is that unless we heed the warnings that come from the depths of human consciousness, where human nature is rooted to nature itself, we shall unleash into the world uncontrollable chaos that no amount of clever technology will be able to deal with. Indeed, and in our modern, secular context, even the word “spiritual” has been debased. It is no longer understood as the unifying principle of nature, the sense in us of the underlying core of the universe, that which impels the unfolding of what is, in truth, an endless moment of creation. We need modern science, for sure, because without it we would have a more limited view of the world, but let us not forget what the sacred texts revealed, what poetry and the other arts give us. It is not knowledge. It is an experience, for Prince Charles, induced by love, and love comes from relationship. The lesson, for him, is that if we fail to reinstate a much deeper awareness of how the world we inhabit really works, as traditional societies clearly do, we must expect an even wider disconnection, both from the Earth and within ourselves. The two are intimately connected. The destruction of nature is ultimately the destruction of vast numbers of species of animals and plants. It is a vicious circle that grinds away at human beings. But we can halt this course of events if we recognize the difference between a world based purely on knowledge and one that balances this knowledge with what we gain from our relationship with the Earth. So, in our lawed dialogue with the world, the fault does not lie in the absence of knowledge. It lies in the absence of relationship.

20.4.2. RetuRn to haRmony In the inal analysis, for Prince Charles together with his environmental colleagues Tony Juniper and Ian Skelly, there is much to be gained from the observance of the natural order and the rhythm of things, whether it be in lines or shapes of architecture or the processes involved in agriculture, and certainly in the natural world as a whole. Through the contemplation of the rhythms of life, it is possible to understand the forces that dominate everything we are aware of and to sense and gain from the harmony that exists between all things in their natural state. As all sacred traditions have sought to show, and as Harmony has attempted to demonstrate, the closer we dance to the rhythms and patterns that lie within us, the closer we get to acting in what is the right way; closer to the good in life, to what is true and beautiful – rather than swirling around without an anchor, lost “out there” in the wilderness of a view shaped solely by 400 years of emphasis on mechanistic thinking and the output of our industrialized processes. We face a future, then, where there is a real prospect that if we fail the Earth we fail humanity. To avoid such an outcome, it is beholden on each and every one of us, Prince Charles asserts, to help redress the balance that has been so shaken by re-founding our outlook framed by a clearer, spiritually intact philosophy of life. Only then can we hope to establish a far more self-sustainable system; only then can we live by more rooted values; and only then might we tread more lightly upon this Earth; the miracle of creation that is our privilege to call “home”. In fact, and as we shall see in Chapter 22, Sekem in Egypt, and the recent University for Sustainable Development it has established in Heliopolis, picks up from where Harmony leaves off. However, before we focus on such, we need to consider the Arab Spring.

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20.5. References 1. Karim, I. (2010) Back to a Future for Mankind: BioGeometry. Cairo: BioGeometry Consulting. 2. HRH Prince Charles, with Juniper, T. and Skelly, I. (2010) Harmony: A New Way of Looking at Our World. London: HarperCollins. 3. Lao Tzu et al. (1993) Tao te Ching. New York: Hackett. 4. Sardar, Z. (2006) How Do You Know: Islam, Science and Cultural Relations. London: Pluto Press. 5. Avicenna (2005) The Metaphysics of the Healing. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. 6. McNeely, I. and Wolverton, L. (2009) Reinventing Knowledge: From Alexandria to the Internet. New York: W.W. Norton. 7. Tompkins, T. and Bird, C. (1973) The Secret Life of Plants. London: Penguin. 8. Capra, F. (1997) The Web of Life: A New Synthesis of Mind and Matter. New York: Flamingo. 9. Steiner, R. (2006) What Is Bio-dynamics: A Way to Heal and Revitalize the Earth. New York: Steinerbooks. 10. Edmunds, F. (1990) From Thinking to Living: The Work of Rudolf Steiner. Shaftesbury: Element Books. 11. Benyus, J. (2002) Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature. New York: Harper Perennial. 12. Hutchins, G. (2013) The Nature of Business: Redesigning for Resilience. Totnes: Green Books. 13. Daly, H. and Farley, J. (2004) Ecological Economics. Washington DC: Island Press. 14. Sekem (2012) Sekem Report on Sustainable Development. Cairo: Sekem.

CHAPTer

21Integral Navigation: The Potential of the Arab Spring

Egypt is the gift of the Nile and the gift of Egyptians to humanity. Blessed with a unique location and history, the Arab nation of Egypt is the heart of the whole world. It is the meeting point of its civilizations and cultures and the crossroads of its maritime transportation and communications. It is the tip of Africa on the Mediterranean and the estuary of its greatest river: the Nile. This is Egypt, an immortal homeland to Egyptians, and a message of peace and love to all peoples. In the beginning of history, the dawn of human conscience rose and shone forth in the hearts of our great ancestors, uniting their good intention to build the first central state that regulated and organized the life of Egyptians on the banks of the Nile. It is where they created the most amazing wonders of civilization, and where their hearts looked up to the heavens before earth knew the three revealed religions. Egypt is the cradle of religions and the banner of glory of the revealed religions. On its land, Moses grew up, the light of God appeared, and the message descended on Mount Sinai. On its land, Egyptians welcomed Virgin Mary and her baby and offered up thousands of martyrs in defense of the Church of Jesus. When the Seal of the Messengers Mohamed (Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him) was sent to all mankind to perfect the sublime morals, our hearts and minds were opened to the light of Islam. We were the best soldiers on Earth to fight for the cause of God, and we disseminated the message of truth and religious sciences across the world. This is Egypt; a homeland that we live in as much as it lives in us. Preamble of the new Egyptian Constitution (2014) (1)

21.1. Introduction 21.1.1. IsLam, haRmonICs anD sustaInabLe DeVeLoPment The previous two chapters have established an Islamic “middle grounding”, through a re-reading of the Qur’an, and thereafter the more deeply, and broadly based, Harmonic emergence – the latter drawing on the “grammar of harmony” reaching across from Ancient Egypt and Greece to the medieval Arab world as well as to modern Europe and America. Such harmonics are associated today, for Prince Charles at least, with a new approach to sustainable development. The question then is, from our centred perspective, what have the uprisings in the Arab World got to do with this all, if anything?

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To address this question, we look back into Egypt’s history before we recapitulate the events of the Egyptian revolution that may lead to a new chapter in history for the country and for the region and even the world. In part, we draw on the most renowned Egyptian political scientist, and development economist, Samir Amin (he is actually half-Egyptian, half-French, and currently resides in Senegal) that is on his most recent book: The People’s Spring: The Future of the Arab Revolution. We also draw on direct opinions and insights from local people, as well as upon historical and current facts to round up the picture of current reality. Thereafter, taking a more global, as well as local orientation, we position such an “Arab Spring” in the more integral context – incorporating nature, culture, society and politics, and economy – as a means of navigation that is in Islamic tune with the kind of sustainable development to which the previous chapter alluded.

21.1.2. beyonD westeRnIzatIon anD IsLamIzatIon If the challenge faced by the Arab people in general today is to be met, Amin (2) maintains from the outset, it is necessary to abandon, once and for all what he terms backward looking illusions, that is, the whole perspective of the “Islamization of society and politics”. This does not mean, he emphasizes, rallying to the shoddy goods of “Westernization”, which can be perfectly compatible with “Islamization”, but rather it means a liberation of the inventive capacities of the Arab people. Indeed we would call such, a release of GENE-ius. This is necessary if they are going to become active agents in shaping the future with and alongside other peoples struggling against dominant capitalism/ imperialism. Moreover, in at least the Egyptian case, we would need to add Ancient Egyptian and Mediterranean European capacities, to those of the Muslim and Christian (Coptic) Arab because historically Egypt has been the meeting point of these civilizations. We concentrate on Egypt because it has always played a leading role in the Middle East, and many Arab countries are watching very carefully because Egypt’s destiny affects the whole region due to its large population, central geographic position and strong military.

21.2. Cornerstones of egypt’s history 21.2.1. a DIstInCt CuLtuRaL heRItage: a FoCus on the InVIsIbLe woRLD The achievement of the Ancient Egyptians and of the Greek and Romans in classical antiquity has been already laid out in Chapter 20 and highlights the longstanding and distinctive cultural heritage on which Egypt builds. For Oxford-based Egyptologist, Jeremy Nadler (3,4) Ancient Egypt not only belongs to the past, it speaks directly to our contemporary situation, and even points the way toward the world’s future. For despite their extraordinary technological skill, which enabled the Egyptians to construct monumental buildings that would last for millennia, the main focus of Egyptian civilization was on the invisible world. Indeed, at Heliopolis, where our Heliopolis University for Sustainable Development is based (see Chapter 22) it was taught that the creator-god emerged irst as solid land, surging up from the abysmal waters. And then he set about creating the other gods.

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The secret essence of divinity, then, is the mysterious identiication with and magical ability to quicken the creative power whereby existence is brought forth from nonexistence. If today we are beginning to rediscover the gods as energies of the soul, then the Ancient Egyptians can help to direct us toward the ultimate divinity of these energies. The direction in which the ancient wisdom encourages us to travel is – like that of contemporary depth psychology – toward deeper self-knowledge. But it is toward a depth that is in the end, for Naydler, trans-psychic: the universal creative power that essentially precedes every god. It is upon the primordial ground of identity with the transcendent power, most especially lodged in Ma’at as we saw in Chapter 20, that the recognition of the divinity of the gods depends. Of course there is a long way to go, millennia in fact, from the world of Ancient Egypt and the Golden Age of Islam, but both, and more, are part of its integral becoming.

21.2.2. the goLDen age oF IsLam unDeR the FatImID CaLIPhate In the Golden Age of Islam also mentioned above, during the later Fatimid Caliphate (973–1171 ad), Egypt was conquered and Cairo was built. It became the political, cultural, and religious centre of today’s Middle East. Under the Fatimids, Egypt lourished economically as well as intellectually. Al Azhar University was founded as one of the irst universities in the world. The end of the Islamic Caliphate, however, started a downward spiral in Egypt’s development and inally ended with the conquest of Egypt by the Ottoman Turks in 1517, after which it became a province of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman invasion pushed the Egyptian system into decline. The defensive militarization damaged its civil society and economic institutions. The weakening of the economic system combined with the effects of Black Death on the population left Egypt vulnerable to foreign invasion.

21.2.3. a shoCk FoR the aRab woRLD – naPoLeon the ConQueRoR The French conqueror Napoleon used this opportunity and occupied Egypt from 1798 to 1801, which was a huge shock for the Arab world that thought of themselves as superior to the Western world. Nevertheless, Napoleon did not manage to hold onto power for long and once he left local forces wrestled power from the French again. This was the time when modern Egypt effectively started and the future king Muhamed Ali rose out of the chaos and established a dynasty from 1805 with a focus on building up a strong military. Thereafter he started modernizing and industrializing the country. That vigorous experiment lasted for the irst two thirds of the 19th century and only belatedly ran out of steam in the 1870s, in the second half of the reign of Khedive Ismail. Three times then, for Amin, in the naval campaign of 1840, by taking control of the khedive’s inances during the 1870s, and thereafter inally by military occupation in 1882, England iercely pursued its objective: to make sure that modern Egypt would fail to develop. This intention to keep such developing, but strategically important, countries like Egypt from succeeding, by the colonial powers, is spelt out very forcibly by British political scientists and journalist Mark Curtis (5) in his Secret Affairs: British Collusion with Radical Islam. To that extent, for one of us (Ibrahim Abouleish), the current misery of Egypt was planned, so to speak, over a century ago by the world powers, especially Britain and America, well before the birth of the Israeli State in 1948.

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Ultimately beaten, emergent Egypt was forced to undergo nearly 40 years (1880– 1920) as a servile periphery. However, the Egyptian nation never accepted that position. This stubborn refusal in turn gave rise to a second wave of rising movements, which unfolded during the next half century (1919–67). The irst moment of those 50 years of rising emancipatory struggles in Egypt had emphasized – with the formation of the liberal Wafd Party in 1919 – political modernization through adoption (in 1923) of a “Western” form of constitutional democracy (limited monarchy). The form of democracy envisaged allowed progressive secularization – if not secularism in the radical sense of the term. The British meanwhile empowered, supported actively by the Egyptian monarchy, the great landlords and the rich peasants into undoing the democratic process made under Wafdist leadership.

21.2.4. the FounDatIon oF the musLIm bRotheRhooD During this period the Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt, by Hassan al-Banna in 1928, with the goal of reclaiming Islam’s manifest destiny, an empire, stretching from Spain to Indonesia. As its inluence grew, it began to oppose British rule in Egypt. In the 1930s the dictatorship of Sedki Pasha abolished the democratic 1923 constitution. After the second world war, the formation of a worker-student bloc gave rise to a rising tide of struggles. Once again the Egyptian reactionaries, according to Amin supported by London, and on this occasion the Muslim Brotherhood, backed a second Sedki Pasha dictatorship. However, without being able to silence the protest movements, elections had to be held in 1950 and the Wafd returned to power. In 1952, the revolution of the “Free Oficers Movement” passed the rule of Egypt into military hands. Gamal Abdel Nasser, the real architect of the 1952 movements, took control as President of the Republic in 1956 and managed to nationalize the Suez Canal that was until then under British control. The whole thing was done from above, not only without democracy (the popular masses being denied any right to organize by and for themselves) but even by abolishing any form of political life. The Muslim Brotherhood was made illegal for the duration of Nasser’s reign, and key members were imprisoned or went underground.

21.2.5. attemPteD moDeRnIzatIon unDeR nasseR anD saDat Under Nasser, Egypt had set up an economic and social system that, though subject to criticism, was at least, for Amin, coherent. Nasser wagered on industrialization as the way out of the colonial international specialization, which was conining the country to the role of cotton exporter. His system, following the model of socialism, maintained a division of incomes that favoured the expanding middle classes without impoverishing the masses. Furthermore, under Nasser, in the 1960s Egypt became involved in the Yemen Civil War, where it unsuccessfully supported the republicans. This involvement ended suddenly with the Six Day War in 1967, in which Israel invaded the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip. As a result, Emergency Law was introduced, suspending the constitutional rights of citizens, allowing imprisonment without judgment, and legalizing censorship. Nasser moreover, like his successors Sadat and Mubarak, never succeeded in fundamentally addressing the issue of poverty in Egypt, nor the issue that only a mere 5 per cent of the land is being cultivated.

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After Nasser’s death in 1970, power was handed to Anwar al-Sadat, yet another military oficial. Sadat completely overthrew the economic and social system introduced by Nasser, and adopted the “Initah” economic reform strategy (initah meaning opening). He also dismissed the Cold War alliance with the Soviet Union and bonded with the United States. Although Sadat released many of its members in the irst years of his reign, the Muslim Brotherhood remained illegal.

21.2.6. waR anD PeaCe wIth IsRaeL In the last years of his reign, when Sadat realized the growing power of the Muslim Brotherhood, he started violently attacking them once more. Three years after taking power, Sadat engaged in a successful secret attack together with Syria against Israel to regain power over Sinai, which later came to be known as the October War. Consequently, in 1977 Sadat made a historic visit to Israel, in order to pursue a peace treaty and Israel’s withdrawal from Sinai. The visit led to huge debates within the Arab world and resulted in his expulsion from the Arab League (until 1989), and later, to his assassination in 1981. His Vice President, Hosni Mubarak, also a high military oficial, followed Sadat. However, whereas such efforts might have achieved piece between Egypt and Israel, no such peace between Israel and the Arab world, which is desperately needed for the health of the region, has been secured. This, for Ibrahim Abouleish, is massive uninished business, which needs to be addressed through authentic dialogue at all levels of society. Indeed, and to the extent that new sources of livelihood are co-created in the Egyptian desert, even in 1 or 2 per cent of such cases, Egyptians and Israelis could advance, together, not only peace but also economic and environmental wellbeing. Indeed, Ibrahim Abouleish himself made many an attempt to inluence Sadat, before he was assassinated, to pursue such genuine peace.

21.2.7. moDeRnIzatIon FounDeRs unDeR mubaRak Sadat and Mubarak, in Amin’s view, dismantled the Egyptian productive system, putting in its place a completely incoherent one, based on the proitability of irms most of which were subcontractors for multinationals. Supposed high rates of growth, much praised for 30 years by the World Bank, were, for Amin, completely meaningless. Egyptian growth was extremely vulnerable, and was accompanied by an incredible rise of inequality and unemployment among the majority of the country’s youth. The seeming stability of the regime, was based on a police apparatus of some 600,000 men (an army numbering merely 500,000) free to carry out acts of criminal abuse. Moreover, Mubarak started opening up the country to the free market, which gave economic opportunists the chance to make their millions, if not billions, at the expense of the poor, who kept getting poorer. That, in turn, produced fertile ground for the further emergence of the Muslim Brotherhood, supposed saviours of the poor. Yet the Brotherhood, like Nasser, Sadat and Mubarak, in turn, had no vision to offer as to how real sources of livelihood could be promoted over the long term. In reality, Amin goes on to say, the regime had perfectly integrated reactionary political Islam (on the Wahhabite model of the Saudis) into its power structure by giving it control of education, the courts and the major media (especially television). The sole permitted “free” speech was that of the Salaist mosques, allowing the Islamists

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to pretend to make up the opposition. De facto support for political Islam destroyed the capacity of Egyptian society to confront the challenges of the modern world, bringing about a catastrophic decline in education and research that had already begun in the 1950s when the military rulers put all its resources into war and the oppression of civil uprisings. During the 30 years of Mubarak’s reign, some radical forces mobilized below the surface that led to some terrorist attacks on Egyptian Copts, government oficials and also tourists. The only active political player under Mubarak was the 1978 established National Democratic Party, of whom he was a member, and which Sadat had created. The passing of different laws, such as the 1995 Press Law, completely inhibited citizens’ freedom of expression and association. The Muslim Brotherhood remained mainly illegal throughout Mubarak’s reign, and the situation stayed similar to that under Sadat: they were tolerated to a certain extent, but whenever the Brotherhood became too strong, key members would be arrested and the rest would go underground.

21.2.8. the RebIRth oF oPPosItIon moVements The regime could still appear “tolerable” so long as it had the safety valve provided by mass emigration of poor and middle-class workers to the oil-producing countries. The exhaustion of that system (Asian immigrants replacing Arabs) brought with it the rebirth of opposition movements. The workers’ strikes in 2007 (the strongest strikes on the African continent for 50 years), the stubborn resistance of small farmers threatened with expropriation by agrarian capital, and the formation of democratic protest groups among the middle classes foretold the inevitable explosion – expected by Egyptians but startling foreign observers. What came next?

21.3. the Dynamics of the egyptian Revolution 21.3.1. PRaCtIsIng PoLItICaL aCtIVIsm Events then since the beginning of the new millennium intensiied dramatically and followed in quick succession. There has been, overall, a constant change in direction, and for Egyptian civil society it has been a time to practise political activism. In 2005, the pro-reform activists of the opposition movement “Kifaja” (meaning “enough”) organized the irst huge anti-government demonstrations. Following these uprisings, in November/December 2005 parliamentary elections took place, in which the National Democratic Party of Mubarak won the majority of seats. Simultaneously, the Muslim Brotherhood got stronger. On 6 April 2006 huge worker strikes from al-Mahalla al Kubra arose, from which later on the famous youth movement of 6th of April was formed. On 6 June 2010 the civilian Khaled Said was brutally killed by two police oficers in Alexandria. As a result, Wael Ghonim created the Facebook group “We are all Khaled Said”, which became decisive for the mobilization of the masses against the Mubarak regime on 25 January 2011. In the parliamentary elections of November 2010 / January 2011, the Muslim Brotherhood did not win any seats and claims of massive election fraud came from all opposition groups. Accordingly country-wide protests followed.

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21.3.2. the bIRth oF the so-CaLLeD aRab sPRIng From 25 January to 11 February 2011 the now world-acclaimed Egyptian uprisings occurred, following those in Tunis, which ended in Egypt with the resignation of Mubarak. The protests followed the Tunisian model, where mobilization of masses were organized mainly through the internet and social networks. Power was taken by the military that saw itself executing the will of the Egyptian people and preventing a potential outbreak of civil war. Shortly, thereafter and under public pressure Mubarak was arrested and his court case started in August 2011. He was accused of being responsible for the victims of the revolution as well as the misappropriation of public property. This was a historic moment in the history of Egypt, and since then has been called “The Egyptian Revolution of 2011”. On 13 February 2011 the military council took over the leadership of the country, dissolved the parliament and suspended the constitution. When the people took to the streets, in 2011, they went out to ight for social justice. Yet it was not long before criminal elements, many of them within the Muslim Brotherhood, took over. Once they came into power, moreover, they produced an “Islamic Constitution” that had nothing to do with the fundamentals, or indeed essence, of Islam, as portrayed by Sardar in Chapter 19. In fact they proceeded to deile national monuments which were not overtly “Islamic” and generally to wreak havoc on Egyptian land. All of this was supported by the Brotherhood in America and around the world. It was as if, for Abouleish, these people were offering to Egyptians and to the world a newly benevolent emperor, and yet ultimately one with, in Hans Christian Anderson’s terms, no clothes!

21.3.3. the RIse anD FaLL oF the musLIm bRotheRhooD In the parliamentary elections that took place in January 2012, Islamic parties won the majority of seats. Then at the end of May 2012, the irst supposedly free presidential elections took place. In mid-June, Mohammed Mursi won the presidential elections with 51.7 per cent of the votes, against Ahmed Shaik, an ex-military oficer and Prime Minister under Mubarak. But on 14 June 2012 the Supreme Court suspended the freshly elected parliament. In December 2012 the new pro-Islamist Constitution with highly controversial presidential decrees was formulated, adopted and ratiied by national referendum though with very low participation. On 28 April 2013 the Tamarod-rebellion took place, backed by the military and funded by a rich elite with the aim of getting Mohammed Mursi out of ofice, and further reinforced by a petition with at least 15 million signatures from Egyptian civilians. The same movement brought about the second Revolution on 30 June 2013, culminating in the interference of the military and the dismissal of President Mursi that followed. The people in the street this time around were those who had suffered from the crass policies of the Mursi regime, including its catastrophic record on human rights. Both, the January 25th and June 30th Revolutions are considered to be decisive and unique uprisings due to the heavy popular participation of tens of millions of people, the signiicant role of the youth, and masses including different classes and ideologies. Is this then not the kind of change, led by the people, to which Sardar has alluded? One could certainly see the public will behind the historic events but there is also

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a lot of evidence, and voices, pointing towards the hidden inluence of the military that thereby wants to secure power for itself. The complexity of the situation makes it impossible to see the absolute truth, but one thing remains certain: the Egyptian people have become thoroughly politicized, and have become much more active in upholding their rights then they had been under Mubarak – and that can be seen as a real achievement towards democracy. So where are we now (as of our writing at the end of January 2014)?

21.4. a true arab awakening? 21.4.1. the new egyPtIan ConstItutIon This chapter was written after a constitutional referendum was held in Egypt on 14 and 15 January 2014 approving the new constitution by 98.1 per cent of voters with a turnout of 38.6 per cent. This new Egyptian Constitution, through which the military has taken back a great deal of power, has been criticized by many, especially because anti-constitution demonstrations were oppressed heavily by security forces. In fact many people that criticized the constitution or the military in public have been arrested. Nevertheless, the 50-member committee that drafted the new Constitution was generally representative in terms of relecting different population groups. Only the Muslim Brotherhood refused to participate. Indeed, and in the inal analysis, Sekem itself had a signiicant inluence on the new Constitution, especially inluencing the cultural and environmental, as well as political and economic elements that have been incorporated. Critical in that regard is Article 32 on natural resources, where the Constitution states: Natural resources belong to the people. The state commits to preserving such resources, to their sound exploitation, to preventing their depletion, and to take into consideration the rights of future generations to them.

And Article 46 on the environment, which states: Every individual has the right to live in a healthy, sound and balanced environment. Its protection is a national duty. The state is committed to taking the necessary measures to preserve it, avoid harming it, rationally use its natural resources to ensure that sustainable development is achieved, and guarantee the rights of future generations thereto.

Regarding economics, Ibrahim Abouleish always argued for including the term sustainable development even though he acknowledges the fact that most people do not understand the meaning behind it. Article 27 is encouraging in this respect: The economic system aims at achieving prosperity in the country through sustainable development and social justice to guarantee an increase in the real growth rate of the national economy, raising the standard of living, increasing job opportunities, reducing unemployment rates and eliminating poverty.

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Article 51, on human dignity, was included after Ibrahim Abouleish shared his inspiration and admiration with regard to Article 1 of the German Constitution: Dignity is a right for every person that may not be infringed upon. The state shall respect, guarantee and protect it.

The implications for the coming Egyptian democratic system are huge, though it is obvious that applying what has been said is another story. But at least it has been said and now Egypt can concentrate on the implementation.

21.4.2. stePPIng baCk anD FoRwaRD at the same tIme It is very likely that the next president of Egypt will again come from the military (in the event, as of July, 2014, it now has in the guise of ex General Sisi). For many people this represents a step backward but for others this moment represents also a new chance to recover from the three years of revolutionary crisis, to bring stability and security again and to start a new level of development. Indeed, and referring back to Spiral Dynamics (Chapter 8), it is a military instigated “Truth Force” that is asserting itself against the Brotherhood’s “Power Gods”. One can only hope that the transition in Egypt towards a brighter future will not be focused only on economic development and political institutions, but in our terms, pay much more heed to natural grounding (as per Sekem, cultural emergence and the Heliopolis University for Sustainable Development – see Chapter 22). The new Constitution supports this hope somewhat. However, looking more closely at the current reality the decisive question remains: How will things be implemented in practice and what are the challenges to be overcome? We start “on the ground” with the environment, the irst natural starting point of an integral polity in Egypt, and indeed the Middle East.

21.4.3. the eCoLogICaL anD eConomIC, soCIaL anD PoLItICaL ChaLLenges aheaD ecological Challenges: towards sustainable Development In terms of the rise in sea level, Egypt is the second most affected country from climate change, especially in the Nile Delta. Currently Egypt is using more resources and ecological services than its ecosystem can sustain within its borders. Additionally, the Nile is heavily polluted. Egypt, overall, lies below the oficial water poverty line with only 800 m3/year per capita. The biggest single water consumer is agriculture, using about 85 per cent of Egypt’s water. As the eficiency of water use in agriculture is very low, there is great potential for future development through improving the irrigation system, but also in the water holding capacity of soils through improving soil structure. Because Egypt suffers from a delayed implementation of water pricing policies, the incentive to be more eficient, especially in agriculture, is still very low (6). However, once the right policies and incentives are set, new, less resource-dependent agricultural methods will be able to secure the future. War over the Nile’s water cannot be the solution.

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In 2008, Egypt became a net importer of oil. For the past ive years, Egypt has been facing energy cuts on a regular basis. Again, the incentive to be more energy eficient and to develop renewable energy is very low, as Egypt suffers from high energy subsidies set at around LE 100 billion per year. Egypt has great potential in terms of renewable, especially solar, energy once the right policies and incentives are in place (6).

economic Challenges: overcoming Poverty Currently, Egypt is confronted with major economic problems. The unemployment rate at the end of 2013 reached over 13 per cent. Most especially Egyptian youth are affected with more than two thirds of the 20–34 age-group unemployed (7). The resulting poverty and income disparity is also putting a lot of pressure on the current economic and political situation. In 2011 the World Bank classiied 25 per cent of Egyptians as living below the national poverty line (8). Rising food prices make the situation worse. Rising world food prices and limited water and agricultural land in Egypt, combined with population growth, climate change and continued desertiication, are creating growing pressures on Egypt’s ability to provide food for its people in the future. The high rate of subsidies for basic commodities like wheat, cooking oil and sugar makes the Egyptian government especially vulnerable to external price shocks. Under the current circumstances, food riots and social disruptions related to food security can only be limited by constantly increasing spending on subsidies. Given the country’s high iscal deicit, maintaining these subsidies seems impossible. Systemic change is needed to address this problem but a highly fragmented landscape of over 30 ministries and the absence of a functioning parliament since the 2011 revolution make any likelihood of strong political decision impossible. For Ibrahim Abouleish, in the wake of the wrenching changes Egypt has undergone in the past three years, which have torn asunder its governmental and physical infrastructure, there is a dire need for the international community to put its weight behind the renewal of the country. The reclamation of parts of the desert, in the same way that Sekem has accomplished, as a means of environmental conservation and also the creation of livelihoods for millions of young people is a current imperative. Sekem is in ongoing conversations with the likely new decision makers in that respect.

societal and Cultural Challenges During the past century, Egypt has been destabilized through war and conlict as described above, the result of several military revolutions, militant Islamist activity, and the intensive Arab-Israeli conlict. As a result, education of the population was chronically neglected resulting in a relatively low literacy rate in 2012 of around 74 per cent, with women at only 65 per cent, according to the CIA Factbook (9). The public education system in general is very bad with underpaid teachers and overloaded classrooms. There is no real incentive for children to go to school and most of them cannot afford the expensive private lessons needed in order to pass the exams. This results in a relatively high oficial child labour rate. Additionally, people face health problems and a very ineficient public healthcare system.

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For instance, Egypt has the largest burden of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in the world, with a 10 per cent prevalence of chronic HCV infection among persons aged 15–59 years (10). Hypertension is also a common health problem in Egypt, often unknown by those affected (11). Given the facts above, it is an achievement for Egypt that its new Constitution includes regulations for minimum spending from the state budget in relation to GDP for healthcare, education, free university education and scientiic research. Another challenge for the country is increasing division among its people. The political economist and documentary ilm author Asiem El Difraoui (12) published very recently a book titled: A New Egypt? Journey Through a County in Uprise in which he portrayed different kinds of Egyptians that represent the multifaceted society. He remarked on the fact that after the fall of Mubarak people realized that they don’t know each other: The salaists could not imagine that there were so many supporters of a liberal state open to the Western world. The secular Egyptians were very astonished about the huge number of salaists. Those who were part of the old regime could not imagine that they were hated so much. The Islamists of the Muslim Brotherhood could not believe that the society would oppose them so strongly. The Army never thought about the people becoming so powerful and that they dare to oppose them. The police realized that they are not the Gods of Egypt but rather that people hate them. Everyone somehow got a bad surprise. One day all the people woke up and realized that they do not live alone in this country. “This is an Egypt that we don’t know” can be heard a lot these days.

Creating a sense of unity among Egyptians must be a priority right now as well as overcoming secular and religious division. The fact that the Muslim Brotherhood are oficially forbidden again and rated as a “terrorist organization” does not help very much to achieve this. It is indeed clear that whoever will be Egypt’s next president will have many missions impossible to be solved that cannot be tackled by only one sector alone, albeit that the new President has come from the military, namely General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. The next section therefore considers his view on the path of democracy.

Political Challenges: the Long way to Democracy In 2006, Sisi wrote a paper titled “Democracy in the Middle East” (13) while studying at the U.S. Army War College. The basic message is: [t]he existing conlicts and tensions in the area need to be resolved before democracy can be more fully accepted by the people. This form of democracy may well be different from the Western model especially with regard to the religious nature of the culture. A democratic system cannot be established over night because irstly the country needs to be organized in a manner to support a democratic form of government, and secondly internal and external security concerns have to be solved. Furthermore, the population needs to be prepared in order to take a participatory role in a democratic process, which requires time to educate them and a strong economy to provide incentives for being educated and improving conditions for the common man.

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Furthermore, he writes: “Ideally, the legislative, executive, and judicial bodies should all take Islamic beliefs into consideration when carrying out their duties.” He refers back to the Caliphate of early Islamic history and argues for the importance of a non-secular form of government that should respect people’s religious beliefs. A irst observation indicates that Sisi favours “stability” over the risks of liberalizing the political system which explains why he stands for a strong role of the military. At least in the current period of instability and insecurity this seems reasonable even though people are reminded of the argumentation of the old Mubarak regime. It gives a little hope to see in the Constitution that “the peaceful transfer of power” is foreseen. Another interesting observation in the context of the release of GENE-ius is that Sisi speaks of integrating Islamic values into a modern form of democracy, which is potentially what Sardar refers to (see Chapter 20) when he advocates using the Qur’an for guidance. This makes integral sense in terms of “grounding” the Egyptian politics, thereby afirmed in the new Egyptian Constitution: Islam is the religion of the state and Arabic is its oficial language. The principles of Islamic Shari’a are the principal source of legislation. (Article 2)

Of course, releasing GENE-ius grounded in religion can only work if we are speaking of a modern, if not post-modern and open way of interpreting the Qur’an, as Sardar has exhibited, not confusing this with radical Islamic views. For such radical views aim to re-establish a caliphate based on Islamic Shari’a in the sense of “taqlid” (the established legal precedents and traditions). Reading Sisi, and the new Egyptian Constitution optimistically, we could see an attempt to provide space for an authentic, integral form of democracy to emerge. We now turn to our penultimate consideration of how Islam can translate into sustainable development, a declared aim for Egypt’s economy and society, before we come to a inal conclusion.

21.5. Islam and sustainable Development 21.5.1. unDeRLyIng IsLamIC PRInCIPLes While the “Arab Spring”, as articulated by Samir Amin, is a major phenomenon in itself, its potential for helping to bring about an integral polity in Egypt at least in the coming decade may be unlikely given all the major ecological, economic, social and cultural challenges, as intimated above, that need to be solved irst. To help us further along the way, we now turn to the work of Jordanian-Palestinian Odeh Al-Jayyousi (14), for as an environmentalist, Islamic scholar, engineer and economist, he has focused, from a more natural and cultural vantage point than a military man like Sisi might do, on sustainable development from an Islamic perspective. To that extent, his springboard is not only the Arab world, in particular, but also the overall worldwide, sustainable development movement, in general, to which, for example, Prince Charles, Juniper and Kelly have heavily alluded (see Chapter 20). Al-Jayyousi speciically identiies key principles, or domains, underlying sustainable development, from an Islamic perspective, which may be in tune with Sisi’s own perspective, implicitly if not yet explicitly, in incorporating religion within democracy as:

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Natural State – fitra Striving for highest resource productivity Amplifying performance with each cycle of use Employing “income” rather than “capital” Affecting a closed-loop flow of matter and energy Establishing a “service” orientation Accounting for Ecosystem Services – mizan Employing a comprehensive concept of wealth Aligning the world’s economy with nature’s regeneration capacity Embodying a measure of wellbeing in economic calculations Designing regulation and tax policies to optimize the whole Respecting All Communities of Life – umam Harvesting species only to regeneration capacity Assuming stewardship for planetary biological diversity Shaping land-use patterns to restrict human encroachment Conserving the variety of the existing gene pool Promoting the Role of a trustee – ummah Wassat Fostering tolerance as a cornerstone of social interactions Enshrining human rights in a framework of planetary citizenship Providing for good governance Ensuring equitable access to life-nurturing support Establishing cooperation to manage global issues and planetary resources understanding the Symphony of Life – tasbeeh and Sujood Acknowledging the transcendent mystery (gahyb) that underlies existence Fulfilling humanity’s unique function (tashkeer and istikhlaf) in the universe Honouring the earth’s intricate ecology of which humans are an integral part Fostering compassion and an inclusive approach to human endeavours Linking inner transformation (dameer) to outer transformation (taghyeer); laying the foundations for the emergence of global consciousness. The ive domains altogether contribute to a good life: Hayat Tayabeh. The good life, from an Islamic perspective, has to do with the positive role of the human to construct and add value to life (Emarat al Ard), to be a witness and trustee and to leave a good legacy. Such a “good” life, from an Islamic perspective, is rooted in notions of simplicity and suficiency (Zuhd) using local resources to attain people-centred development.

21.5.2. an IntegRaL IsLamIC PeRsPeCtIVe Finally, following our own integral perspective, straddling South and East, North and West, from his central vantage point, Al-Jayyousi proposes that a transformative education informed and guided by Islamic worldviews on the unity (tawhid) of mind and soul, natural and social sciences, is the way forward. The future of humanity depends to a large extent on the human capacity to evolve and reinvent seamless connections between culture, economy and ecology.

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Justice Adl

Limiting Mischief/ Good governance Fasad

Good Life/Sustainable Development Hayat Tayabeh

Beauty/Excellence Ihsan

Social Capital/Community Arham Figure 21.1 Sustainable Development: Integral Islamic Approach

In Figure 21.1 we can see, in Al-Jayyousi’s view, how the Middle East could be the centrifugal force whereby “Hayat Tayabeh” can be attained between and amongst the four integral perspectives. The justice of the North, the beauty and excellence of the East, the social capital and community of the South, and the good governance and limit of mischief of the West, all meet, potentially if not yet actually, in the centre. But how can this be more speciically applied in today’s context? We now consider each of the elements in turn.

starting with arham Islam, for Al Jayyousi, considers the social order as natural and necessary because it is in this theatre that the human can realize his/her potential. The social order is where the valuebased policies, decisions and choices are formed as inspired by Islamic values. The role of community (ummah) in commanding good and prohibiting evil highlights the collective intent for good work in all domains of life including social, political, economic and cultural. Arham emphasizes family-community values which refer to the social networks from family to neighbourhood and the people’s interests and opinions in policy formulation and decision-making. This can be realized in a form of democratic, decentralized government in which the civil and private sector take a share in community development. This can also be connected to the principle of zuhd as the obligation on everyone who owns a certain minimum of wealth to pay a ixed sum for the expenditure on the welfare of the poor and the needy. Furthermore, the concept of waqf as trust or endowment funds to support community needs can be seen as a vehicle to contextualize the notion of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and value-based organization. Not only in terms of money but also institutional capacity building.

the advent of Ihsan Philosophically for Al-Jayyousi, ihsan means beauty and excellence in the sense of selfmastery by appreciating the value and meaning of the unity between inner and outer beauty. In our integral rhythm it means that a transformational journey always has to

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start with oneself and then transcend into the outer world of organization, community and society. The concept of beauty is intimate to God and ihsan can be manifested through humans in the form of beautiful geometry, gardens, calligraphy and arches. Hence, art and beauty can be viewed as feedback loop for relection and meditation but also as a mirror indicating to what degree a society understands the “grammar of harmony” as described by Prince Charles. His statement that humankind currently suffers from a “crisis of perception”, hence consciousness, can be fully linked to a lack of understanding the concept of ihsan. One needs only to look at the vast amounts of plain cement block buildings that are everywhere nowadays in Egypt where masses of people live together in tiny spaces to understand the destructive effect on people’s consciousness. Ihsan is intimately connected to “ijtihad” which means in a wider sense applying diligence and intellectual capital to solve current and emerging problems in accordance with Islamic core values and principles. So ijtihad means nothing more than reinventing new tools and methods to make a transition to sustainable development to realize a state of ihsan. Unfortunately, Islamic thought was challenged by the notion of “closing of ijtihad” by the religious scholars of the third Islamic century which is surely part of the reason why a gap has developed between Islamic law and the changing conditions of today’s society. Re-opening the “doors of ijtihad” with great efforts of education and critical thinking and including the society in a critical and open dialogue must be part of the agenda from government and civil society.

turning to adl With adl we understand justice as good governance in its broad sense. More concretely, it means the sustainable rule based on rights. Therefore, the constitution, laws and regulation play an important role. But it is important to realize that laws and regulations are always a trade-off to the process of ihsan because as soon as we deine a norm and write it down it becomes “dead” and people tend to forget the active process of thinking and developing their own ethics. Of, course there must be some core laws and regulations but people must not forget that adl has many dimensions which include justice in the three domains of the social, economic and environment even without explicit laws. How far reaching would we go as humans if we also recognized the need for justice with respect to other species including not only animals but also nature like rivers. Justice from an Islamic perspective is the cornerstone for a sustainable civilization. But it needs to be applied and enforced. We inally consider Fasad.

Limit of Fasad If justice is not enforced we speak of fasad as the state of imbalance and pollution attributed to human-made actions, corruption – a deviation of the natural state (itra) and the balance (mizan) that was created by God. This imbalance is attributed to human activities that do not consider ecological and ethical values. Connecting this to the notion of ihsan, Islam sees humankind’s inward corruption is not only relected in the world’s outward corruption, it is its actual cause. We are now ready to conclude our Middle Eastern-Egyptian navigation.

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21.6. Conclusion: where arab spring and Integral Polity Fail to meet Why then, is the integral potential, to which Al-Jayoussi and ourselves have alluded, by and large not realized in the world’s centre, and where do we go from here? Ziauddin Sardar, irstly, has already given us some clues (see Chapter 19) when he refers to the rigid interpretations of the Qur’an, and of Shari’a law, which have held the Muslim people, and thereby the world as a whole, back. Moreover, as is clearly apparent in Egypt, and even more so in other parts of the Arab world, the so-called “Arab Spring” may be a genuine socio-political, if not also technological movement, via the new social media, but it is much more dificult to see where and how an ecological, cultural and economic transformation is taking place and if substantial progress on managing the existing challenges can be achieved. The Constitution is a promising start but its potential depends by and large on the willingness of the military to give away power and the civil society to ight for a proper implementation of their basic rights. Thirdly, and perhaps most problematically, Islam, while a very important, if not dominant, force, in the centre of the globe (Middle East), is not the only such force. For there are three major religions that emerged from that part of the world – Judaism, Christianity and Islam – and although Islam is the most syncretic of the three, it is not the only monotheistic religion. Furthermore, the more pantheistic inluences, in both indigenous and also Sui belief systems, tend to be sidelined. A critical question that remains is how Islam is interpreted and applied to the modern, if not post-modern, context. Indeed, such a question might be addressed of all contemporary religions. Finally, and most evidently, the overall dynamics in the Middle East are both secular and religious in nature and scope, and these need to be purposefully interconnected, within an integral polity. Mainstreaming Islamic values in the sense of their relevance for sustainable development into all domains of life is surely not something harmful for society. This touches also on the general challenge of humankind to ind a balance between spirituality and materialism. The challenge is to achieve this with a conscious effort and in an inclusive manner. This cannot work unless poverty and illness among the population are eliminated and a solid, open and critical education system is in place and accessible for all. Moreover, and in the inal analysis, the key to such sustainable development is the co-evolution of a peaceful world – most especially for one of us, Ibrahim Abouleish, peace between Israel and the Arab world, in a spirit of mutual love, rather than hatred. The strongest attempt to achieve all of this, integrally, that we have come across in the Middle East, is Sekem in Egypt, complemented by its new University for Sustainable Development based in Heliopolis, and it is to each of these that we now turn.

21.7. References 1. Constitution of the Arab Republic of Egypt (2013) Draft dated 2 December 2013 of the Constitution of the Arab Republic of Egypt. Unoficial translation prepared by International IDEA (www.idea.int). http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/images/publications/20131206EgyptCon stitution_Dec.pdf.pdf (last visited 29 January 2014).

I n t e g r a l n a v i g a t i o n : t h e P o t e n t i a l o f t h e a r a b s p r i n g 303 2. Amin, S. (2013) The People’s Spring: The Future of the Arab Revolution. Cape Town: Pambazuka Press. 3. Naydler, J. (2009) The Future of the Ancient World. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions. 4. Naydler, J. (1996) The Temple and the Cosmos. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions. 5. Curtis, M. (2010) Secret Affairs: British Collusion with Radical Islam. London: Serpent’s Tail. 6. Abaza, H. and Boes, P.M. (2012) “Sustainable and Green Growth for Egypt”. In The 8th Egyptian Competitiveness Report: A Sustainable Competitiveness Strategy for Egypt. Cairo: Egyptian National Competitiveness Council. http://www.encc.org.eg/inside.php?p=temp_text&pid=102&id=28 (last visited 29 January 2014). 7. Aggour, S. (2013) “Unemployment Rates Reach 13.4% in 3Q 2013”. Daily News Egypt. http:// www.dailynewsegypt.com/2013/11/17/unemployment-rates-reach-13-4-in-3q-2013/ (last visited 29 January 2014). 8. World Bank (2014) World Development Indicators 2014. Washington DC: The World Bank. http:// data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.NAHC/countries/EG?display=graph (last visited 11 June 2014). 9. CIA (2013) The World Factbook 2013–14. Washington DC: Central Intelligence Agency. https:// www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/eg.html (last visited 29 January 2014). 10. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2012) “Progress Toward Prevention and Control of Hepatitis C Virus Infection – Egypt, 2001–2012”. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 61(29): 545–9. 11. Mohsen Ibrahim, M. (2013) “Problem of Hypertension in Egypt”. Egyptian Heart Journal, 65(3): 233–4. 12. El Difraoui, A. (2013) Ein neues Ägypten?: Reise durch ein Land im Aufruhr. Hamburg: Edition Koerber-Stiftung. 13. El Sisi, A. (2006) “Democracy in the Middle East”. U.S. Army War College Strategy Research Project, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania. Obtained by Judicial Watch thru FOIA, 8 August 13. http://www.scribd.com/doc/158975076/1878-001 (last visited 29 January 2014). 14. Al-Jayyousi, O. (2012) Islam and Sustainable Development. Farnham: Gower.

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CHAPTer

22 Integral Effect:

Sekem – Integral Sustainable Development

For the last three centuries, the industrial economies of the world have been using up every primary good that can be converted into secondary goods, and doing so at extravagant and steadily increasing rates. Schumacher’s insight that goods produced by Nature are the primary goods in any economy, and those produced by human labour are secondary goods, can thus usefully be extended further. There is also a primary and secondary economy. The cycles of Nature that produce goods needed by human beings constitute the primary economy, while the process by which human beings produce goods is the secondary economy. Thus a farm and the crops grown on it are part of the secondary economy, while the soil, water, sun and genetic potential in the seed stock that make the farm and its crops possible are part of the primary economy. John Greer, The Wealth of Nature (1)

22.1. Introduction: towards an Integral Centred Polity 22.1.1. CentReD gRounDIng to CataLytIC eFFeCt We1 now approach the culmination of our “centred” integral polity, that is from our grounding, in Sardar’s recent Reading the Qur’an to its emergence, via Ancient Egypt, the Ancient Greeks, the Golden Age of Islam, and modern Europe, through Prince Charles’ Grammar of Harmony that serves to link them all (Figure 22.1). The Arab Spring subsequently and navigation-wise, through its socio-political orientation towards the people’s revolution, not only left nature and culture, but also economics and enterprise, substantively behind, and has thereby so far thwarted fully-ledged emancipation. Moreover, the approach to religion and humanity has been all too often reactive, rather than proactive, thereby only going a limited way towards integral navigation. Notwithstanding such, and drawing on prior Islamic grounding, and its own emerging grammar of harmony, and thereafter a fourfold means of navigation (see Sustainability Flower below) at an enterprise level, Sekem, and, potentially if not yet actually, its recently established Heliopolis University (HU) for Sustainable Development, have made a more thoroughgoing attempt to effect a transformation. For, in its case this has arisen out of a: 1 This chapter and Chapter 21 were co-authored with Maximilian Abouleish, Sustainable Development Manager at Sekem Holding and co-founding member of the Heliopolis University Social Innovation Center.

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Figure 22.1 Centred Integral Polity

prior origination in Islam (grounding), foundation through the grammar of harmony (emergence) and emancipation via the concept of a Sustainability Flower (navigation), thereafter effecting integral sustainable development, via Sekem/HU. We will now revisit the Sekem Group – leading to – Heliopolis University for their Sustainable Development journey, over the course of the past three decades, towards an integral approach to sustainable development, actively (Sekem enterprise) and relectively (Heliopolis University), the one serving to complement and co-evolve the other.

22.1.2. abouLeIsh’s FoRmatIVe ChILDhooD DReam: gRounDIng anD oRIgInatIon Drawing substantively from Ibrahim Abouleish’s (2) book Sekem: A Sustainable Community in the Egyptian Desert, and indeed the many years with which we have been working with him and the Sekem Group – now also Heliopolis University – we begin in his childhood, and follow his formative – reformative – newly normative and ultimately transformative journey, from prior grounding to ultimate effect. Of course we recognize that such an integral journey, for both Abouleish and for Sekem, is both cyclical and linear, thereby an overall spiralling process:

I n t e g r a l e f f e c t : s e k e m – I n t e g r a l s u s t a i n a b l e D e v e l o p m e n t 307 I carry a vision deep within myself: in the midst of sand and desert I see myself standing as a well drawing water. Carefully I plant trees, herbs and lowers and wet their roots with the precious drops. The cool well water attracts human beings and animals to refresh and quicken themselves. Trees give shade, the land turns green, fragrant lowers bloom, insects, birds and butterlies show their devotion to God, the creator, as if they were citing the irst Sura of the Qu’ran. The human, perceiving the hidden praise of God, care for and see all that is created as a relection of paradise on earth. For me this idea of an oasis in the middle of a hostile environment is like an image of the resurrection at dawn, after a long journey through the nightly desert. I saw it in front of me like a model before the actual work in the desert started. And yet in reality I desired even more: I wanted the whole world to develop.

We can see then that, in his childhood Ibrahim was well grounded in his Muslim faith, in general, and in the relevant sura form the Qur’an, speciically. During Ramadan his mother told Ibrahim all the stories about the Prophet. He listened reverently and in admiration to accounts of the Prophet’s suffering and endurance, to how intelligently he answered questions, and to how much conidence Prophet Mohammed had in people’s ability to attain freedom. The image of an admirable man was created in Ibrahim’s soul: very gentle and wise, very strong and resolute.

22.2. Reformative young adulthood: emergent Foundation 22.2.1. aDoPtIng natuRe anD ReLIgIon Ibrahim Abouleish was born into a typical, though well off, extended family in Egypt, with homes in both the city and countryside. My grandfather listened to all my childlike questions and found comprehensive answers for me, which were deeply satisfying. He sat down beside the bright white lower with the dancing butterly, and took me on his knee. I leaned back against him, enjoying his gentleness. The butterly opened its colourful wings, and lew from the white blossom up into the sky. We both followed its light for a long time.

Alongside the Islamic faith, from a cultural perspective, it becomes apparent, from an early stage, that young Abouleish had a deep afinity for nature. He was also introduced, when very young, to business and to morality: I was nine when my father established a business and I started becoming interested in industry. Every day after school I changed my clothes and went to the factory. I was greeted by the smell of soapsuds boiling in huge vats. Shortly before establishing his business, in fact, there was a terrible attack in our local area, which was heavily populated by Jews. An ice-cream van was blown up by a bomb planted by extremists, just as the van was surrounded by children. So my father built his factory on the exact spot where the bomb had left its devastation to show that such things could never be tolerated.

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22.2.2. aDoLesCenCe – tuRbuLent tImes my willpower and endurance The years between 1952 and 1956, when Ibrahim was in his late teens, were of great importance for the political future of Egypt, and were accompanied by unrest. In 1954 a Republic was founded by Abdel Nasser, after two years of unrest, during which he and his fellow pupils were given time off school to take part in demonstrations. He had a few close friends who were interested in social and cultural topics. They would go rowing on the Nile when they were off school, and took many bicycling trips across the whole of Egypt. Such excursions tested his willpower and endurance. He always spent the summer in the countryside, at the family home in the village of Mashtul, in the Nile delta 50 miles from Cairo. He talked to the workers about their way of life, took note of their unmet needs, and brought back with him, on a subsequent visit, such things of which they were in need.

22.2.3. young aDuLthooD – InneR anD outeR DeVeLoPment Initial Fusing of horizons One of Abouleish’s uncles, named Mohammad, was a university professor and had a huge library in his house. None of his friends could understand what drew Ibrahim to him, and led the young man to engage in deep discussions with him. Sometimes Mohammad would give Ibrahim a book out of his library, and one day he came across Goethe’s Young Werther written in Arabic. He avidly absorbed this work, which made him want to get to know more about the German people and their writers. Art and science, economic life, citizens’ rights – he deeply admired all these European attributes. The closer he got to inishing school, the more seriously he considered going to Germany to study at university. Having eventually convinced his parents to support him, and having a friend who had moved to Graz, in Austria, he applied and was accepted at university there. He wrote the following farewell to his father: Peace and greeting be with you … When I get back, if God wills, I will go to Mashtul, the village I have always loved and where I spent the best time of my childhood. I will build factories where the people can work, different work than they are used to from farming. I will build workshops for women and girls, where they can make clothes and carpets and household goods and everything that the people need. I know that transport and communication is very important, so I will get the roads tarred and plant trees to right and left of it. I will build a large theatre on your grounds, where renowned artists can give performances for the people of my village. I will build a hospital near the main road and schools for children. I will bring together the men and women of higher learning form the village to help establish the idea, so that the village of Mashtul can become a shining centre in Egypt … Peace be with you.

As it happened, while studying in Austria, and reaching out to another culture, Ibrahim fell in love with his Austrian wife-to-be Gudrun. Their two children would be mixed Catholic and Muslim in their background, if not their faith.

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Practising his Inner Faith When Ibrahim got to the university in Graz he joined the foreign visitors’ club. During the early years, though, he felt quite lonely. So while he put a lot of energy into his studies of technical chemistry, the Qur’an accompanied him through his daily meditations, the same ones he had undertaken throughout his childhood. While Islam is a monotheistic religion, Allah has 99 different names which the Muslim can meditate upon. For one, “Allah is the patient one”, so I practised patience. Because of this, these were years of inner exercise, which had led me to believe, throughout my life, that I am a “practising person”. Through such inner exercises I tried to establish a relationship with Allah. I do not want to be known as a religious person, but as a striving, practising one. I had a goal, an ideal, Allah’s ninety nine qualities. When a situation becomes unbelievably dificult for me I could see how small I was in relation to those names, which made things bearable. In fact, the names are divided into three sets of thirty-three, in terms of: the One (for example creator, wise, evolver, initiator), the Light (for instance watching, destroyer, expander, compassionate), and the Judge (for example strong, just, loving, forgiveness). To BE, meanwhile, is the highest ideal.

Ibrahim’s approach to education, given all the experiences of his life beforehand, inwardly and outwardly, was very different to that of his fellow students.

where the occident and the orient meet Technical chemistry consisted of many different subjects, each one of which would have been an entire subject of its own. Abouleish was inspired by everything. He noticed fellow students, whom he came to teach, had a completely different approach to understanding. They learnt everything by heart. He wondered how one could learn a subject by heart without understanding it properly. During his studies, moreover, Ibrahim noticed inner changes taking place within himself. He became thoroughly involved with European culture, getting to know its music, studying its poetry and philosophy. Somebody looking into his soul would have seen that anything “Egyptian” had been completely left behind, so he could absorb everything new. Because of his childhood and adolescent grounding, though, in Egyptian culture, and in Islam, he could not leave it all entirely behind. He now existed in two worlds, both of which were essentially different: the Oriental, spiritual stream he was born into and the European, which he felt was his chosen course. But he was neither Egyptian nor European. Ibrahim realized this particularly when he was experiencing art. For example, he started hearing Handel’s Messiah with Muslim ears as praise to Allah. The two differing worlds within him gradually began to dissolve and merge into a third entity, so he was neither completely one nor the other. What he experienced was not a cheap compromise, but an elevation, a real uniting of the two cultures within himself. But now he wanted more – he wanted to achieve this state of being a “third” state, in religion too, to transcend to a higher level of being. At the same time he felt reminded of the Golden Era of Islam and the lourishing culture in Egypt at the time.

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meeting sadat and steiner Shortly before the outbreak of the irst Egyptian-Israeli war, Nasser asked Egyptian embassies to invite representative Egyptians from around the world to a conference in Alexandria. Ibrahim knew Sadat, Nasser’s Deputy, from the days of his youth. One after the other people got up to speak in favour of war with Israel. After a short introduction he said “I am in favour of peace. Even the thought of war is harmful”. He heard words like “traitor”. So he told people that “if Israel and Egypt keep the peace, then the money and energy saved from supporting the war could be used for establishing a functioning economy and a cultural life for both countries”. After the conference Sadat took him aside and said: “What you said was excellent”. Ever since, Ibrahim has been true to his vision. War is much easier than peace! In 1972, still in Austria, Ibrahim was again asked to give a talk on the Egyptian-Israeli conlict. He tried to illuminate his inner thoughts on the subject: Without thinking, people let themselves be roused and sacriiced for emotions like national pride, dogmatisms and territorial claims. A justiication for ighting can only come from a perception of complex connections. I don’t believe my contemporary politicians in the Middle East have this thinking ability. The problems underlying this conlict cannot be solved by war, only by education. People need to be educated to understand that their lives do not depend on material objects, whether they can own a piece of land. Neither Nasser nor the Israelis are acting out of an overview of higher ideas, but out of their emotions. I would put, instead, all the money and energy into establishing schools infrastructure and creating jobs. Cultural exchange and research should be promoted, not themes that can divide people.

Abouleish noticed a digniied old lady in the front row, listening intensely. She asked him whether he had heard of Rudolph Steiner. Her name was Martha Werth. Ibrahim said no. She then asked whether he would like to ind out more, which he did. After that Ibrahim went to her house almost every second day. She gave him Steiner’s (3) Philosophy of Freedom, and asked him to read it. She then interrupted him after every paragraph and asked him to repeat it, in his own words. He began to experience the act of thinking through this enormous mental effort. He also began to develop a deep love towards this anthroposophy which in Greek means “the knowledge of the nature of man”. Through it he grasped a tiny part of the whole world, and humanity as well as nature were revealed to him in a new light. He wanted to work though the Qur’an, using anthroposophy to achieve a deeper understanding. What sounds so easy in retrospect was attained gradually with great internal struggle, a daily observation of his relationship with Christianity, with which anthroposophy was closely aligned, and with European culture. Meanwhile his life had taken a new turn, with Martha Werth playing a major part.

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22.3. newly normative midlife: emancipatory navigation 22.3.1. DePaRtIng FRom euRoPe what is your Destiny? “Wouldn’t you like to come with me on a journey to Egypt?”, Martha Werth asked Ibrahim one day. She wanted to know if he had come across Ancient Egyptian cultures? So he decided to take the opportunity, and to go with her. They started out in 1974, and visited Aswan, Luxor, Karnak and the Valley of the Kings. She gave him a new enthusiasm for Ancient Egyptian art and mythology. Ibrahim was shocked by the contrast between the greatness, wisdom and elevation shown thousands of years ago by the pharaohs, and modern Egypt. In the evenings he discussed his experiences and thoughts with Martha. She listened and asked him what he wanted to do? “What is your destiny?”

biodynamic agriculture Could transform egypt’s agriculture On the return journey he thanked Allah that he did not live in Egypt, but in beautiful Austria with his wife and children, a son and a daughter, with his successful career, as now head of research for an Austrian pharmaceutical company. And yet he could not forget the images and encounters he had experienced. Every morning he awoke and realized anew how the events of the journey had transformed him. At the same time he continued to work with anthroposophy and became acquainted with its practical applications in many walks of life. The deeper he was able to penetrate into the matter, the more answers he received for his persistent questioning and inner restlessness. He repeatedly found life-changing solutions suddenly presenting themselves after intense contemplation. Biodynamic agriculture, which was a product of anthroposophy, particularly fascinated him. One day Werth told him about a lecture, being given locally, by a disciple of Steiner’s, George Merckens, an advisor to biodynamic farms in Austria and Italy. At last he found a friend who understood that biodynamic farming could transform Egypt’s agriculture. Ibrahim’s subsequent Italian journey with him was an important step along the path toward his decision to return to Egypt. He developed a vision of a holistic project able to bring about a cultural renewal. As well as the farm it would need several economic projects, a school, and cultural projects as well as a hospital. His irst priority was to educate people. Meanwhile he was certain that a cultural meeting between Egyptians and Europeans could become a healing force in this oppressed country. Most especially in fact the relationship between Germany and Egypt is a very strong one.

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Farewell to europe – I Could Liberate egypt from Its misery Ibrahim then told his children the story of a man who decided to move to the desert with his children and who created a big garden there. Once he had painted the picture in great detail he suddenly asked: “And what would happen if we were that family?” Spontaneously there were shouts of joy. His son was 16 and his daughter 14. His son would ride a motorbike across the desert and his daughter would ride horses. To Martha Werth he wrote a farewell letter: For my soul Austria was like a spiritual childhood garden. Now I hope the souls of Egyptian people can be revitalized by a garden in the desert. After establishing a farm as a healthy physical basis for soul and spiritual development, I will set up further things, following the example of human development: a kindergarten, a high school, vocational education, a hospital and various cultural institutions. My goal is the development of humans in a comprehensive sense. I want to pass on this richness of nature and spirit to Egypt, to sow the seeds I have been given.

In another letter he wrote to a scientist friend, Dr Zwieauer in Vienna: My soul has begun to separate into two parts: an ambitious, successful part and a seeking questioning one, willing to see things in a new light, and to transform and elevate them to a new and higher level. I am consciously leaving the successful part behind me and am giving myself up to the questioning one. With this I am uniting my soul with its spiritual home and am liberating the rigidity of ambitiousness so that I am open for new tasks, encounters and goals.

Ibrahim then was in the process of giving up a successful career as a scientiic researcher in Austria to exchange it for an incredibly unpredictable future in Egypt. He was also in a state of sorrow for the loss of his chosen spiritual, European home. On his last journey through Egypt he had experienced a deep sense of hopelessness caused by the way of life of the country’s population. This had deeply moved him, and his work with anthroposophy led him to sense a way in which he could liberate them from their misery. Meanwhile his faith in God gave him inner strength which had grown out of years of meditation on Allah’s qualities in particular. Ibrahim asked himself what the Qur’an meant by stating: “He is the representative”. He felt this spiritual emptiness in his soul as he travelled in Egypt, and he experienced himself as the people’s representative. Because of this awareness he wanted to establish new social forms for the Egyptian people. The Qur’an goes on to say: “He is the initiator, the originator, the strong one”. Ibrahim felt power in him for this new start, able to develop inner peace through his devotion to Allah and to this day he can still submerge himself in its depths.

22.3.2. how sekem Came to be entering and Cultivating Desert Country After arriving in Egypt Abouleish went to see the Ministry of Agriculture, and told them he was looking for a patch of desert, which he wanted to cultivate using organic methods. He was shown a patch in Belbeis, near Cairo, where the quality of ground was very bad and water supply dificult, but he knew he wanted it. If biodynamic farming could thrive

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in this wasteland, then it would be possible to transfer this model to easier environments. So Ibrahim bought the land and moved over, leaving his family behind in Cairo. Most of the time he was alone, with only now and then a Bedouin with goats wandering by. They could not understand his idea, but they saw it develop before their eyes. The Prophet says every one of you is a shepherd, and everyone is responsible for those under your protection. For those living with their feelings, like the Bedouins in the desert, a concrete step is to establish social forms. This starts with elementary principles: starting punctually, getting up and catching a bus. Since then, the morning circle has been invented, not only to start the day together but also to share a sense of unity and invariably to listen to a beautiful poem, or a recitation, to praise the beautifulness of nature and human beings. After Ibrahim had positioned the irst roads and plotted the ields, the next task was to drill two wells. He did not know how to do this himself so found himself in the position of having to employ people. They terraced the entire ground together and dug canals for the water to low to the ields.

nature and Culture, society and economy Abouleish’s wish, then, was to build a community for people of all walks of life. It had to be built, for cultural reasons, on the borders of civil society. To begin with there was just a two-man team, a Bedouin Mohamed and himself. Mohamed was a local villager who, when he was walking around the local area, came to him, put his hand on his shoulder and said “I am with you”. There was no infra-structure, no energy, nothing. The two of them began the reclamation and greening of the land, and people started coming. It was clear to Ibrahim by that time, in the late 1970s, that the implementation of his dream was a life’s task. In fact it would probably take many generations to progress. Because the whole initiative was, from the outset, a cultural as well as a natural one, Ibrahim had to generate capital. The necessary cash low started with the sale of the extract of a medicinal plant which he exported to the United States. Sekem moved on from there. To create the environment and microclimate people see today they had to plant 120,000 trees. The economic life of the initiative began at a practical level to “heal” the soil through biodynamic methods, in partnership with close friends and colleagues in Europe, and local partners in trade. This associative way of doing business is one of the major success factors underlying the way in which the “mission impossible” of biodynamic agriculture in the desert has worked out. What then are the overall implications for Sekem today?

22.3.3. sekem toDay Sekem aims to establish a blueprint for the healthy corporation of the 21st century. To begin with, as such, it was the irst entity to apply biodynamic farming methods in Egypt. Its commitment to innovative development thereby led to the nationwide application of biodynamic methods to control pests and improve crop yields. Sekem has since grown exponentially into a nationally renowned enterprise and market leader of organic products and phyto-pharmaceuticals, which are now also exported to Europe and other countries. The Sekem group that represents the economic branch of the initiative, includes a holding company with ive main subsidiaries: Sekem for Land Reclamation for farming

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and organic seedlings, fertilization and pest control; Isis for fresh fruits and vegetables as well as for organic foods and beverages (such as juice, dairy products, oils, spices and tea); Lotus for herbs and spices; NatureTex for organic cotton and textile children’s clothes and home wear; and Atos for phyto-pharmaceutical products. Sekem has a highly unconventional business model that incorporates what are usually considered social and environmental externalities and in fact maintains this to be the basis for an increasing competitiveness in the future. While it is a proitmaking enterprise, it does not aim for proit maximization. Through a proit- sharing methodology, it shares its returns with the smallholder farmers in its network called the Egyptian Biodynamic Association (EBDA). Of Sekem’s proit, 10 per cent goes to the Sekem Development Foundation (SDF) that has launched many community development initiatives to beneit communities. These include establishing different schools and a medical centre, celebrating culture and diversity, and promoting peace, cooperation and understanding between all human beings.

22.3.4. sekem aDDRessIng soCIetaL ChaLLenges The societal challenges of Egypt described earlier (see Chapter 21) – such as climate change, resource scarcity, population growth, extreme poverty, absence of food security – need innovative, problem-solving solutions. In that context it is important to realize that the Energy-Water-Food nexus represents a huge challenge for sustainable development in Egypt and agriculture is strongly related to that. Sustainable desert reclamation plays a key role in addressing those challenges and therefore contributing to political stability and the related transition towards an authentic form of democracy. This is not only relevant for Egypt but for the region as a whole. It is within this context of food insecurity and social and environmental challenges that Sekem represents a viable economic – if not also “polity” – alternative, one that builds upon a praxis of sustainable agriculture that resonates strongly with Muslim insights and teachings.

22.3.5. the sustaInabLe DeVeLoPment FLoweR Sekem’s model for sustainable development integrates different spheres of life to a holistic whole where all parts are at the same time independent and interconnected, as seen in Figure 22.2 (4).

natural and economic Realms Sekem’s vision states: • • •

we establish biodynamic agriculture as the competitive solution for the environmental, social and food security challenges of the 21st century. we build successful business models in accordance with ecological and ethical principles. we want to provide products and services of the highest standards to meet the needs of the consumer.

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Figure 22.2 Sekem’s Sustainability Flower

The intertwined natural and economic realms of activity within Sekem’s group of companies begins on a practical level by healing the soil through the application of biodynamic farming methods. Biodynamic agriculture stands for a self-containing and self-sustaining ecosystem without any unnatural additions. Soil, plants, animals and humans together create an image of a holistic living organism. Sekem’s approach of sustainable agriculture includes the regenerative powers of agriculture. The very fact that Sekem’s approach turns desert into living soils through the application of compost and biodynamic methods shows, that desert land can be reclaimed and thus regenerated. For more than 35 years, Sekem has been building up living soils in desert land and implementing closed nutrient cycles with livestock integration and a diverse range of crops, plants and trees. By farming without chemicals, the health of the farmers and the consumers who eat organic products regenerates. The returning wildlife also beneits, which in turn gives back to the farm by helping to keep down insect pests. Sekem’s approach to agriculture stands in direct contrast to business-as-usual industrial agriculture. The latter relies heavily on external inputs, spreads vast areas of monocultures over the planet and even changes the plants’ genetic source codes to increase resistance to pests and adaptation to climate change. Numerous scientiic studies have, however, shown that industrial agriculture and the application of genetically modiied organisms (GMO) affects the ecosystems negatively and in fact rather degrades than regenerates them.

the socio-political Realm Sekem’s vision states:

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• • •

we create workplaces relecting human dignity and supporting employee development. we locally and globally advocate for a holistic approach to sustainable development. we build a long-term, trusting and fair relationship with our partners.

The circle is the characteristic shape for many gatherings in Sekem, from the daily start of work to the end of week assembly. In the morning the employees of each company meet in a circle for a communal start. At the end of the week all businesses and pedagogical institutions gather together. The circle is a symbol of social equality. In fact Ibrahim saw the creatively shaped living form of a community of people as a kind of “life fabric”. During the irst years he was responsible for the weave of the fabric. But over time, the interweaving threads became the tasks and responsibilities of many people, whose efforts all contributed and continue to contribute to the success of the whole venture. The “Co-operative of Sekem employees” (CSE) was founded to addresses all questions concerning civil society in the workplace. It is their objective that all members of the Sekem community grow towards taking responsibility for the community. Ibrahim and Helmy are convinced that an initiative like Sekem can only survive over a long period of time with the help of local, regional, national and international networks. In 1994, Sekem helped form the Egyptian Biodynamic Association (EBDA), which conducts research on sophisticated biodynamic cultivation practices and increases awareness of biodynamic agriculture through mutual collaboration with other institutions. Up to today, the EBDA has supported the transition of over 400 farms with more than 8,000 acres to organic farming practices, including some 4,500 acres on 120 farms that were reclaimed from arid land. The EDBA was also a global pioneer in growing and producing biodynamic cotton. The presence of the EBDA helped in solving many challenges Sekem was facing. The training that EBDA provides to farmers in the international methods of biodynamic agriculture was able to raise awareness of this method of agriculture and facilitate the acquiring of organic products certiication in order to open up new market channels.

the Cultural and educational Realm Sekem’s vision states: • •

we innovate for sustainable development through research in natural, human and social sciences. we support individual development through holistic education and medical care.

The cultural realm is nurtured and cultivated by the “Sekem Development Foundation” (SDF). It has the never-ending task of educating Sekem’s children, youth and adults, consolidating both their cognitive and practical skills, while enhancing their command of free will.

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The SDF, more speciically then, is Sekem’s way of reaching out beyond its commercial activity in pursuit of its goal to contribute to “the comprehensive development of Egyptian society”. It employs 200 people in four main ields: • • • •

a kindergarten, primary and secondary school, and a special needs education programme for the children of employees and the community; a work-and-education programme for children from poorer families in need of further income, a vocational training centre, literacy classes, and a training institute for adults; a medical centre providing modern medical services, and an outreach programme for some 30,000 people in the local area; an Academy for Applied Arts and Sciences for scientiic research in medicine, pharmacy, biodynamic agriculture, sustainable economics and arts.

Since 2012, as we shall see, Heliopolis University for Sustainable Development has become a leading part of Cultural Development. But before we introduce Heliopolis University we again turn back to the grounding of Sekem in Islam and relect how Sekem’s approach to sustainable development is implementing the underlying Islamic values and concepts as brought up by Sardar (Chapter 19) and Jayyousi (Chapter 21).

22.3.6. how IsLam anD sekem aRe ConneCteD Concept of natural state (fitra) Allah’s creation or the natural state (itra) can be referred to as the natural equilibrium or balance (mizan) where full harmony of nature, people and the built environment are given. In the agricultural context it is obvious that there is a divine force that creates live. Growing plants or raising animals is more than just transforming inputs into outputs. Ibrahim Abouleish has often explained this approach to religious people who in the irst place distrusted Sekem’s approach to agriculture, he quoted the Qur’an: 006: 095 It is Allah Who causeth the seed-grain and the date-stone to split and sprout. He causeth the living to issue from the dead, and He is the one to cause the dead to issue from the living. That is Allah: then how are ye deluded away from the truth? (5)

Ibrahim Abouleish has explained how the millions of micro-organisms work in the earth and has intimated how the living earth was connected to the heavens. Biodynamic farming with its composting process and its preparations is thereby adding vitality to the soil, acknowledging its context in the larger picture, and hence is related to a divine idea. Waiting for speciic star constellations before planting can also be interpreted as being inspired by Allah to act correctly: 016: 012 He has made subject to you the Night and the Day; the sun and the moon; and the stars are in subjection by His Command: verily in this are Signs for men who are wise.

To read and understand Allah’s signs in nature people need wisdom and knowledge.

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Concept of knowledge (ilm) The irst surah that Prophet Mohammed received from Allah started with the following imperative to all humans: 096: 001 Proclaim! (or read!) in the name of thy Lord and Cherisher, Who created.

It underlines the value of knowledge in Islam. But according to Jayyousi (see also Chapter 21) (6) the English term “knowledge” falls short of expressing all the aspects of ilm. Knowledge in the Western world means processed information while ilm is an all-embracing term covering theory, action and education. Another surah also illustrates that God wants people to gain knowledge: 002: 269 He granteth wisdom to whom He pleaseth; and he to whom wisdom is granted receiveth indeed a beneit overlowing; but none will grasp the Message but men of understanding.

Harmonizing human action to cosmic processes and recognizing that dealing with nature has a divine context is embedded in Sekem’s approach to agriculture. To grasp this demands a high level of consciousness and human capacity. This is the reason why Sekem puts so much emphasis on education and cultural life in general. Dance movement or painting do not directly transfer speciic knowledge content but make the human soul, for Abouleish, much more receptive and hence more open to nature and knowledge (ilm). The aim of conducting such artistic sessions with farmers and agricultural engineers and workers is – besides the positive effect on teamwork and group dynamics – to enable them to experience something new and to develop their sense for openness and curiosity. The objective is to transfer this experience to their work context and view their world in a different light. Islam refers to the process of consciousness development as a form of beauty and excellence (ihsan).

Concept of beauty and excellence (ihsan) Ihsan means excellence and inner beauty in the form of conscious evolution of individuals, organizations and society (ummah). It also entails continuous development, and value and knowledge creation for all humanity. This realization of beauty is embedded in the approach of Sekem that wants to develop individuals, organizations and societies at large. Nature provides great inspiration for that. In Sekem’s vision statement it says: In nature, every organism is independent and at the same time systemically inter-connected to other organisms. Inspired by ecological principles, representing the wisdom of nature and the universe, we continuously strive to gain and sustain a harmonious balance between (this polarity) and to integrate (it) into our development. (Revisions made by one of the authors, Ibrahim Abouleish)

The development model of Sekem is holistic and rooted in sustainable agriculture. Many challenges need to be overcome on the way towards excellence and to see the fruits of this work requires much time and many generations. Most of the people who irst heard

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about the ideas of Sekem before it bore fruit thought it was a mission impossible and that organic desert greening can never succeed. However, it did and it still does, but only because of people who believe in it. It is that inner transformation that has to come before the outer transformation, the ability to see a vision and the will to bring a holistic and divine idea “down to earth”, that is into reality. The importance lies on the way towards that vision and not on the inal achievement.

Concept of “stewardship” of the earth (khalifa) The human is viewed as a trustee or steward (6) to ensure that all resources, physical and human, are utilized in a reasonable, equitable and sustainable manner to sustain and develop the natural state. 033: 072 We did indeed offer the Trust to the Heavens and the Earth and the Mountains; but they refused to undertake it, being afraid thereof: but man undertook it;- He was indeed unjust and foolish;

The application of chemical fertilizer and pesticides is harming the environment and destroying the fragile balance of the ecosystem. It represents a mechanistic worldview that does not realize the bigger context in which agriculture takes place. The perverse large-scale and destructive forms of “modern” agricultural systems do not consider ecological and ethical values. That is one of the reasons why Sekem is convinced of its sustainable approach to organic and biodynamic agriculture that excludes chemical fertilizer and pesticides and the use of GMO. Stewardship (khalifa), moreover, implies social equality and dignity of all human beings – regardless of skin colour, social status and so on – a cardinal element of the Islamic faith. Within such, the right attitude toward others is not “might is right”, the struggle to serve one’s own self-interest, or “the struggle to survive”, but rather mutual co-operation, to develop the entire human potential. Secondly, resources are a trust (amanah), provided by Allah, whereby the human being is not the primary owner, but just a trustee (amin). So resources are for the beneit of all, for the wellbeing not just for oneself and one’s family, but for the community at large. This includes the whole web of life, from soil organisms to insects to birds to wildlife to plant life. This is explained in the Qur’an as follows: 006: 038 There is not an animal (that lives) on the earth, nor a being that lies on its wings, but (forms part of) communities like you. Nothing have We omitted from the Book, and they (all) shall be gathered to their Lord in the end.

Acting responsibly in the interest of communities implies also that resources should not be wasted. This is also made clear several times in the Qur’an, such as here: 007: 031 O children of Adam! Wear your beautiful apparel At every time and place Of prayer: eat and drink: But waste not by excess, For God loveth not the wasters.

Waste recycling is the underlying principle of composting in general. At Sekem organic waste produced by all Sekem irms and some additional green waste that comes from

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the surrounding farms is used to produce high quality compost that is applied to its own ields and also for sale to external customers. This and many other practices of organic and biodynamic agriculture represent responsible human action and justice towards nature and society. Because justice is such an important cornerstone in the Islamic belief system it is presented below even though it is strongly connected to the principle of khalifa.

Concept of Justice (adl) Justice (adl) corresponds to cosmic, ecological and human justice as well as harmony with the universe. Therefore, ethical governance is the cornerstone for attaining and sustaining progress and thus a good life (hayat tayebah) or, in other words, sustainable development. Human brother- and sisterhood, regardless of faith, would be a hollow concept without socio-economic justice. There are no fewer than a hundred different expressions in the Qur’an embodying the notion of justice, placing justice nearest to piety. 004: 135. O ye who believe! Stand out irmly for justice, as witnesses To God, even as against Yourselves, or your parents, Or your kin, and whether It be (against) rich or poor: For God can best protect both. Follow not the lusts (of your hearts), lest ye Swerve, and if ye Distort (justice) or decline To do justice, verily God is well-acquainted with all that ye do.

The concept of adl has different dimensions and can have different meanings. Next to social justice, which basically means upholding the dignity and freedom of the individual, adl stands for economic justice that one can ind in. for example, the fairtrade practice in the context of agriculture. Indeed, all Sekem operations are conducted according to fairtrade principles even though the oficial logo does not appear on every product because of the expensive accreditation that is done only based on customer demand. All supplying farmers from Sekem get a price premium on their organic or biodynamic products and have long-term contracts with regulated pricing mechanisms which constitute the basis for a fair relationship. In the Qur’an there are passages describing this: 004: 049 O ye who believe! Eat not up your property among yourselves in vanities: But let there be amongst you Trafic and trade by mutual good-will: Nor kill (or destroy) yourselves: for verily Allah hath been to you Most Merciful!

There is also the principle of ecological justice, which refers back to the responsibility of humans towards the earth and nature. Islam teaches that species including plants and wildlife are in a state of prayer referring to the intrinsic value of nature and the ecosystem services. Praying in its wider meaning is about fulilling a task in the bigger context of God’s creation. Al-Jayyousi rightly pointed out that the harm of any species means that we are disrupting the symphony of life and silencing worshippers:

I n t e g r a l e f f e c t : s e k e m – I n t e g r a l s u s t a i n a b l e D e v e l o p m e n t 321 024: 041 Seest thou not that it is Allah Whose praises all beings in the heavens and on earth do celebrate, and the birds (of the air) with wings outspread? Each one knows its own (mode of) prayer and praise. And Allah knows well all that they do.

After appreciating Sekem’s authentic grounding in local nature and culture, and its emergence through European culture – especially Germanic – and consciousness, altogether navigated through the role Sekem plays in Egyptian society and indeed the world, we now need to ask the question: How does Sekem, as an altogether integral polity so to speak, effect Egypt, if at all?

22.3.7. sekem’s ImPaCt on soCIety On the one hand, Sekem managed to inform public decision makers about the advantages of its agricultural approach – with remarkable results. In cotton production Sekem has succeeded not only in reducing synthetic pesticides in its own operations but, more broadly and in co-operation with the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture, in cutting chemical use by more than 90 per cent on Egyptian cotton farms since the 1990. More recently, the leadership of Sekem actively engaged in policy advocacy with the result that sustainable agriculture was integrated into the Egypt National Competitiveness Strategy 2020 that is currently taken forward by UNEP’s Green Economy Initiative launched in early 2013. Additionally, Sekem developed together with its partner Soil & More as a irst mover the market for compost to the extent that today there are so many irms producing compost on a larger scale that Sekem stopped selling to external customers. This means one product less, for Sekem, but another positive impact on societal transformation towards a more circular economy. That said, the overall implementation of sustainable agricultural practice in the country remains marginal. From the total cultivated land in Egypt, only 1 per cent is currently cultivated organically. This can be explained by the strong energy subsidies and the lack of an adequate water pricing mechanism that do not incentivize resource eficiency in farming operations. On the contrary, huge amounts of social and environmental externalities and costs are currently outsourced to nature and, as such, to future generations through unsustainable agricultural practices. Other reasons for the slow up-scaling of organic and/or biodynamic agriculture is the lack of capacity among people and the lack of a long-term perspective among farming businesses as well as inadequate inancing mechanisms to provide enough “patient” capital, as Oshodi (7) has revealed in his companion book to this one, An Integral Approach to Development Economics: Islamic Finance in an African Context. Here, Islamic inance can play an important role in the future to unlock the existing potential in the market. Indeed, there are many other ields that need to be further developed and of course, Sekem is not the only enterprise doing so. Yes, Sekem has a great track record of biodynamic agriculture and community development but it has all happened on a relatively small scale and all driven by visionary, through centralized leadership, embodied mainly by one of the authors (Ibrahim Abouleish) and his son Helmy. This cannot be replicated easily and today Sekem is facing greater complexity with its three new large-scale desert farms spread around the country, let alone the remaining question of whether a Sekemtype holistic initiative can be built up somewhere else by someone else.

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Figure 22.3 Heliopolis university Core and Specialisms

As already mentioned there are many more organizations and platforms that are active in the ield of sustainable development and Sekem has much room left to intensify the relationship and to create valuable local partnerships that are beneicial for both sides. A lot of new knowledge can and must be created in order to take the particular development approach to a next level. This puts a lot more emphasis on the private and civil sector than Egypt has ever seen before, but right now this type of network organizations and movements is exactly what is needed in order to free the GENE-ius of Egypt. This is where the newly founded Heliopolis University comes in as a powerful catalyst and knowledge creator designed to take a major role in up-scaling Sekem’s experience and mobilize more change-makers while still in the process of actualizing this role.

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22.4. transformative maturity: effecting transformation 22.4.1. heLIoPoLIs unIVeRsIty FoR sustaInabLe DeVeLoPment The next stage in one of our authors’ life story (Ibrahim Abouleish), in fact his legacy phase, came to the surface early on in the new millennium when he began to conceive of a new kind of university for sustainable development that would serve to take the Sekem story further on, into society at large, both locally and globally (see Figure 22.3). It took seven years of unrelenting effort to turn the dream into a reality, and in October 2012, Heliopolis University for Sustainable Development opened its doors to its irst group of undergraduate students, in pharmacy, engineering, and business and economics, altogether underpinned by a core programme in nature and community (grounding), arts (including culture) (emerging), science and innovation (navigating), and language, communication and enterprise (effecting). All faculties are supported by a Social Innovation Centre with the role to promote integral development that is to enhance integration between the humanist core and specialized sciences, as well as to promote curriculum and faculty development. Furthermore, the centre engages in identifying and understanding burning societal needs and directing the research capacities of HU to ind, implement and up-scale solutions together with the Sekem initiative and other stakeholders from the society, to release GENE-ius.

22.4.2. the gene Is CaReIng grounding and education The starting point for HU is to ground itself in its local context which is Egypt in general but more concretely the Sekem initiative and its whole network. Of course HU is an independent entity but it serves the needs of society and the surrounding community and as mentioned the Social Innovation Centre plays a key role in identifying these needs in a process of continuous dialogue with stakeholders at the “front” of sustainable development. One essential step for HU is to tap more concertedly into Sekem’s rich experience of community development, desert reclamation and value creation. In terms of the Integral University to which we (8) have alluded in a previous book we are speaking here of, if you like, Community Activism. Moreover the starting process of this outer change is inner transformation, that is beauty and excellence in the sense of ihsan.

emerging and Catalysation The phase of emergence for HU comes through its network of partner universities and other partners from the private, civil and public sector locally and globally. Among them are many partner universities that have already been engaged in projects with Sekem or the Social Development Foundation. The synergetic effect of sharing the same network becomes evident. This also holds true for the EBDA with its more than 400 farmers. It is about connecting the local to the national and global and vice versa. Right now in Egypt, as also elsewhere in the world, it is very important to overcome the general fragmentation

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between different sectors but also between different disciplines and worldviews. In Spiral Dynamics terms (see Chapter 8) we see this as part of the “Yellow” MEME: Catalysing Development of Society. This is the home of the Social Innovation Centre. Like a catalyst it speeds up the process of societal transformation by bringing together the right people at the right time at the right place with a shared calling.

navigating and Research Research is traditionally the most essential role of a university, next to education. However, the quality of research often serves to raise doubts on the ultimate purpose of a university – whether it is aimed towards improving society or just to be an avenue for publications. All too often universities today lack a healthy grounding and hence a sense of what is really relevant. Another problem is the fact that researchers remain atomized individuals in the sense of their research topic being disconnected from their social, economic and political, as well as natural and cultural environment. Research in an evolved sense is about creating a value and knowledge-creating community that addresses a burning issue and strives for a (social) innovation to address such: for example that of desert reclamation.

effecting and application The inal step of effecting comes almost naturally after being grounded in the local context, connected to the right network and having the right knowledge to solve burning issues. This relates, in our integral terms, to transforming education and learning, thereby engaging the students and faculty in real-life projects that serve to release their GENE-ius and that of their society. Sekem, for example, has a longstanding history of sustainably reclaiming desert land. This experience will lead to changing contexts that themselves require a new understanding and grounding. Therefore the never-ending spiralling GENE rhythm starts again.

22.5. Conclusion In conclusion, we have been introduced to Sekem as a holistic development initiative based on the principles of organic and biodynamic agriculture. Islam is one main indigenous pillar of the cultural context of Sekem and its spiritual source of inspiration. The other exogenous pillar is European culture and philosophy. Both together have been authentically integrated in the personality of one of us (Ibrahim Abouleish) and of Sekem in general. Islam offers a story of the origin of the universe and human beings. Humans are trustees (khalifa) to ensure all resources are used in a sustainable manner. Reading the Qur’an informs the mind and soul that our natural and social capital are interconnected and interdependent. Sekem builds on that insight and provides a practical example of Islamic values in agriculture but also in building communities, developing humans and conducting economic value creation, an all-round integral polity so to speak. Finally, Heliopolis University is an important element in releasing the inherent GENE rhythm of Sekem itself and a major step in the trans-personal journey of Ibrahim

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Abouleish. The university will be a platform for societal change for Egypt that can up-scale the valuable experiences made by it and support other people concerned with a healthier more humane future on earth. Consequently, through becoming an Integral University Heliopolis University will be a nucleus for integral polity in society. In fact, what distinguishes our integral polity from politics, and indeed economics, in general, is not only the fact that it traverses nature and culture, as well as society and economy, but also that it is always speciic to one society or another, invariably in relation to others. Instead of domination, or isolation, then, we invariably seek after both differentiation and integration, uniqueness and unity, and thereby integral sustainable development, at core.

22.6. References 1. Greer, J. (2011) The Wealth of Nature. Vancouver: New Society Publishers. 2. Abouleish, I. (2005) Sekem: A Sustainable Community in the Egyptian Desert. Edinburgh: Floris Publications. 3. Steiner, R. (2001) The Philosophy of Freedom: Basis for a Modern World Conception. Forest Row: Rudolf Steiner Press. 4. Sekem (2013) Sekem Report on Sustainable Development 2012. Cairo: Sekem. www.sekem.com/rsd (last visited 28 January 2014). 5. Ali, Y. (1934) The Holy Qur-an: Text, Translation and Commentary. Cairo. http://www.sacred-texts. com/isl/quran/ (last visited 28 January 2014). 6. Al-Jayyousi, O. (2012) Islam and Sustainable Development: New Worldviews. Farnham: Gower. 7. Oshodi, B. (2014) An Integral Approach to Development Economics: Islamic Finance in an African Context. Farnham: Gower. 8. Schieffer, A. and Lessem, R. (2014) Integral Development: Realising the Transformative Potential of Individuals, Organisations and Society. Farnham: Gower.

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Epilogue In the inal analysis, then, this review of a newly integral theory and practice of what we have termed “polity”, inclusive of nature and culture, society and economy, in Africa and Asia, Europe and the Americas, as well as in the Middle East, is intended to give a new lease of life to the increasingly self-seeking and insulated, if not outrightly violent and corrupt, realm of the political. We see an Integral Chinyika (Africa), Sarvodaya (Asia), Slovenia (Europe), Curitiba (Americas) and Sekem and a revitalized kibbutz movement (Middle East), then, as not only making their respective contributions to their worlds, but as also leading the way, when set in their due contexts, and drawing upon the original call of their individual and societal founding, to co-creating their, and thereby our, future polities.

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Index

Abdullah, King 46 Abelard, Pierre 168 Abouleish, Helmy 3 Abouleish, Ibrahim 1, 3–4, 7, 12, 19, 27, 32, 289, 291, 293–6, 302, 305–7, 309–10, 312–13, 317–18, 321, 323–5 Abraham 56, 259 abuses of power 46, 268 Academy for Applied Arts and Sciences 317 accountability 8, 37, 46, 137, 265 constitutional 33 in government 46–7 institutions of 37 moral 46 procedural 46 Achebe, Chinua 69 Ackoff, Russell 111 action 28, 30, 60–61, 65, 68–9, 104, 108–9, 122, 126, 133–4, 141, 145, 174–5, 213, 215–18, 221, 236, 261 civic 32 collective 100 concrete 142 cooperative 60, 124 coordinated 124 environmental 266 human-made 301 outward 141 political 236 social 159 transformative 145, 268 violent 271 actor-network 90, 239 Acts and Regulations Social Entrepreneurship Act 2012 201 Adam (Bible) 261, 319 Adam Smith in Beijing: Lineages of the 21st Century 81 administration 27–8

bureaucratic 28 colonial 40 integral 28, 55 as navigation and emancipation 28 rationally based 28 Africa 9–10, 12–13, 37, 40, 51, 54–6, 60–61, 63–5, 68, 72, 75–83, 85–6, 89, 96, 99, 111–12, 206, 327 ancestry 64, 68 business people 69 central 66 colonial 69 communitarian ideas 68 constitution 53, 55, 57, 61, 63, 75 continent of 78, 292 as a cooperative democracy 9 countries of 51, 78, 82–3 cultural heritage of 68, 72 and democracy 57, 59 development efforts 10, 75, 77 development models 76, 82 economic development 64 economies of 10, 75–8, 83 and governance issues 54 heritage 3, 96 history of 9, 53, 76 humanism 69 institutions 55, 57 judicial systems 59 modernity 72–3 nations of 63–5, 69, 71 nature and culture 10, 75 neglecting of internal dynamics 82 NGOs 77 people of 52, 59, 61, 63–5, 69 and perceptions of science 64 and the political elite 77 of political leaders 64, 68 and polity 48

330 I n t e g r a l P o l i t y post-colonial 67 religions 60 restructuring production, transportation and communication systems 83 sub-Sahara 78 African Genius 85 ‘African Socialism’ 64, 68, 76 African societies 9, 53, 57, 59, 64, 68, 79, 84 African states 10, 55, 76–7, 79–80 African traditions 67–8, 76 Africans 9, 40, 51, 53–5, 57, 61, 63–4, 66, 85, 89, 101, 116, 223, 251 see also South Africans Afrikaans 231 Afrikaner culture 232 Agang (political party) 126 Age of Reason 104, 108 agricultural chemistry 282 agriculture 13, 38–9, 90, 101, 129, 157, 183, 187, 196, 199, 278, 282–3, 285, 295, 312, 314–22, 324 biodynamic 311, 313–17, 319–21, 324 development of 39, 199 industrial 315 modern 282 neglection of 76 regenerative powers of 315 sustainable 314–15, 318, 321 transforming of Egypt’s 311 agro-businesses 149 agro-systems 199 agronomists 90, 95–6 Akan communities 66 Akan systems 67 Ake, Claude 80 alien culture 71–2, 140 Allah 34, 309, 311–12, 317–19, 321 America see USA American Constitution 39, 219, 227 American Declaration of Independence 38 American Indians 38, 211, 214, 216–17, 251 American Soul 211, 214, 216–17, 239 The American Soul: Rediscovering the Wisdom of the Founders 211, 222, 251

Amin, Samir 19, 33, 75, 81, 288–91, 298 ancient Egypt 274–6, 288–9, 305 see also Egypt ancient Egyptian art and cultures 311 ancient Egyptians 1, 3, 276–7, 282, 288–9 ancient Indian culture 106 ancient religion 54, 56 ancient rituals 195 Anglo-Saxon capitalism 188 anthropology 38, 61, 245–6 ‘anthroposophy’ 12, 111, 181, 310–12 anti-communists 164 Apartheid 231–2 Arab countries 18, 42, 278, 287–9, 298, 302 and the failure to achieve peace with Israel 291 medieval 287 and Napoleon 289 and the October War 291 and the predomination of Islam 259 replace traditional monarchs with secular nationalist military oficers 45 and the return to the sharia throughout the 45 Arab-Israeli conlicts 296 Arab people 19, 288 Arab Spring 259, 285, 287–8, 293, 298, 302, 305 Arab tribes 41–2 Arabian society 270 architecture 54, 129, 225, 270, 275–6, 278–9, 285 Aristotle 38, 189, 282 Ariyaratne, A.T. 13, 139–50 Ariyaratne, Vinja (son of A.T. Ariyaratne) 146 Arrighi, Giovanni 81 art 13–14, 17, 19, 54, 101, 104–5, 155, 157, 167–8, 181, 184, 213, 245, 248, 270, 274–9, 308–9, 322–3 creative 137 sacred 275–6 street-and-land 194 traditional 270

I n d e x 331 Art and the Human Enterprise 14 Asia 12–13, 37, 47, 51, 57, 96, 100–101, 104, 139–40, 150, 155, 168, 206, 327 and America 37 economies of 162 and Europe 57 and immigrants 292 science of 144 assassinations 291 atrocities 31 Auroville 11, 102 Austria 203, 308, 310–12 authority 26, 34, 39, 41–2, 44–7, 122, 134, 171, 181, 279 central 8, 41, 45, 48 charismatic 41–2 claiming of universal spiritual 45 divine 43, 99–100, 129, 239, 271, 317 executive 27, 45, 47 hierarchical levels of 122 higher 43 moral 10, 76 personal 181 religious 41, 44–5 sovereign 266 ultimate 181 auto-centric development 75, 78, 80–82 approach to 10, 76–7, 82–5, 96 self-reliant 10, 77 strategy 77–8, 81 auto-centricity 10, 73, 75 Azhar University 289 Baghdad 19, 278 Baremba people 86 BC Naklo Research Centre 199–201, 205 beauty 1, 14, 167–71, 174–5, 184, 191, 222, 228–9, 236, 266, 281, 300–301, 318, 323 architectural 184 and goodness 169, 191 images of 184 inner 318 outer 300 realization of 318 Beck, Don 2, 12, 111–17, 119–20, 122, 125 Beck and Cowan’s MEMEs 116

Bedouins 313 bees 281 behaviour 39, 43, 69, 118, 122, 160, 274, 279 cultural 111 economic 39 ethical 18, 260 obnoxious 271 patterns of 216 political 38 religious 69 Beige systems of thinking 116–18, 120–21, 125 Belohradzky, Vaclav 158 Bentham, Jeremy 182 Berger, Roland 191 Bhengu, Mfuniselwa 69 bicameral collective 240 ‘Big Society’ movement 27 biodynamic agriculture 311, 313–17, 319–21, 324 biodynamic methods 19, 313, 315 biomimicry, science of 124, 283 Biotechnical Centre Naklo 199 biotechnology 198–200 birds 58, 191, 255, 281, 307, 319, 321 Black Civilization 8, 51, 54–6 Black Death 289 black history, characteristics of 56–7 black leaders 60 black people 51, 54–7, 59–60, 112, 219 Blond, Philip 27 Blue (Truth Force) systems 112, 122, 295 Bologna 44, 184–5 Botswana 30, 82 Brahmaanic religion 44 brains 119, 129, 176, 253 human 38 thinking patterns in the 116 value systems in the 113 Brazil 120, 136, 249, 251, 253–4, 274 and the city of Curitiba 17, 251, 253–4, 256 environmentalist Daniel Conrado 252 southern 251 brotherhood 9, 55–7, 61, 130, 202, 291–3, 295

332 I n t e g r a l P o l i t y big 51, 57 deeper 101, 109 universal 9 Buddha 144, 146, 150, 214, 220 Buddhism 44, 111, 141, 150 Buddhist philosophy 141 Buddhist principles 140 Buddhist theory of development 150 Buddhists 150 see also Zen Buddists Burke, Edmund 27 Bushmen (Kalahari Desert, Botswana) 25, 232 business 1, 7, 96, 130, 133, 135, 137, 183, 186, 188, 196, 201–3, 224, 229, 307, 313, 316, 323 consultants 86 environment 197, 202 intellectual capital 170 international 197 and materialism 222 people’s 69 of politics 224 practices 168, 278 running co-operative 183 Cairns Foods Co. 90–91, 95–6 Cairo 289, 308, 312–13 Calcutta 99 Caliphate, Fatimid 289 capacity 13, 31, 90, 92, 119, 121, 131–2, 176, 186, 191, 214–15, 217, 222, 261, 267, 283, 292, 295 adaptive 71–3 people’s 114 society’s 201 capitalism 8, 48, 52–3, 60, 68, 71, 78, 88, 125, 130, 132, 135, 158, 161–2, 179, 182, 191, 196 Anglo-Saxon 188 industrial 225–6 natural 256 capitalists 10, 68, 71, 135, 179, 182, 186–7 Carnegie Mellon Graduate School of Industrial Administration 179 Cartesian-based science 227 Castells, Manuel 189

Catalysing Development of Society 324 Central Europe 131, 159–60, 164–6, 191, 205 Centre for Comparative History in Germany 102 Centre for Energy Eficient Solutions 203–4 Centre for Human Emergence see CHE Centre for Integral Development 196, 205 Centre of Emergence, Stellenbosch Business School 114 change 47–8, 70, 80, 119, 124, 140, 142–3, 150, 173, 176, 180, 188, 194, 202–3, 216, 219, 263–4, 269–70 cultural 70 in life conditions 113–14, 119–21 societal 325 in values 104 charismatic authority 41–2 Charles, Prince 18–19, 273–85, 287, 298, 301, 305 CHE 112, 114, 119 chemistry 229, 269, 276 agricultural 282 technical 309 Chief Chitsa of Chinyika 89 chiefs 11, 55, 57, 59, 61, 66–7, 88–92, 233, 278 local 40 new 202 childhood 58, 229, 253, 306, 308–9 children 17, 19, 39, 58, 91, 121, 143, 217, 253–5, 280, 296, 307–8, 311–12, 317, 319 deaths in Curitiba 254 educating Sekem’s 316 health of 254 libraries started for 143 China 8, 37, 39–40, 42–6, 81, 99, 150, 219–20, 278 and the Gorges Dam 185 and India 99 and the Soviet Union 40 Chinyika 10–11, 60, 84–9, 91, 95, 131 communities 88–90, 92–4 Community Development Project 88 economy 94 people 85, 89–91, 93–4, 96

I n d e x 333 project 88 rural 85 state of poverty in 87 women 92 Christian Church 52, 55 Christian Democratic Party, Italy 184 Christian religion 53 Christianity 40, 43–5, 52–3, 56, 160, 259, 302, 310 in Africa 56 and Islam 45, 259, 302 Christians 44–5, 53, 56, 264, 269, 288 churches 42–5, 47, 53, 185, 231, 287 ‘Citizenship Streets,’ Curitiba 253 civil society 7, 30, 77, 79, 135, 137–8, 188–9, 201, 251, 253, 289, 301–2, 313, 316 borders of 313 Egyptian 292 global 76, 135, 137–8 key organs of 30 leaders of 136 movements of 251 national 77 Civil Society Initiative for Sustainable Development (Slovenia) 196 civilization 1, 45, 52–3, 57, 60–61, 106, 122, 219, 223–4, 233, 263, 274, 280, 287–8 agricultural 225 ancient 274–6, 279 human 144, 147, 207 world’s 104 ‘civilizational trajectory of mankind’ 73 classical liberalism 227 climate change 176, 267, 295–6, 314–15 CMC 185 co-determination and income sharing 179 co-operative movements 182–5, 187–8 British 183 global 15 Italian 186 co-operatives 179, 182–8, 192 commercial 186 industrial 186 traditional 201 Coetzee, Kobie 125, 232

Cold War 79, 82, 135, 240, 291 collectives 240–41, 248 colonial regimes 65, 67–9 common worlds 240, 242, 244, 246–8 communalism 68 communism 15, 47, 52–3, 60, 85, 122, 125, 130, 135, 155, 160–61, 163 in Eastern Europe 47, 166 Marxist 222 Communist and Social Democratic parties 185 Communist Party of Italy see CPI communist regimes 13, 40, 47, 108, 155, 162–3, 187 community 18–19, 59–61, 88–9, 91–6, 107–8, 142, 146–50, 185–6, 197–8, 213–14, 216–20, 231–3, 235–6, 262, 265, 267–8, 316–17, 319 building 324 co-operative 182–3 consciousness 92 consensus of 57 democratic 3, 46, 92, 226, 236 evolving earth 226 human 14, 149, 156, 159 international 296 knowledge-creating 324 local 13, 202 national 55 of nations 99 non-human 233 planning 142 political 27, 34, 38, 63, 67, 180 rural 11, 90, 95, 149, 194 self-suficient 15 urban 145, 256 community activism 323 community development 143, 300, 321, 323 experience of 323 initiatives 314 programmes 142 community life 137, 142 company 95, 168, 171–2, 202–4, 313, 315–16 environmental 202 lexible 203

334 I n t e g r a l P o l i t y international 185 knowledge creating 167 medium-sized 255 modernization 202 pharmaceutical 311 software 170, 254 Zimbabwean food processing 86 conlicts, Arab-Israeli 296 Congo, Democratic Republic of the 87 Conrado, Daniel 252 conscience 158–9, 212, 215, 217–18 democracy of 215 human 287 individual 161 consciousness 3, 6, 27, 99–100, 111, 114– 18, 131, 134, 140, 144, 165, 176, 193–5, 217, 226, 228–9, 318, 321 cultural 160 people’s 301 constitutional accountability 33 Coperative Muratore e Cemeniste see CMC Copts 292 Cornell University 15 corporate social responsibility see CSR corruption 28–9, 63, 67, 69, 103, 122, 137, 146, 268, 301 essential 215 inward 301 political 65, 69 Cosmic Law 150 cosmology 16, 223, 233 cosmos 4, 111, 124, 126, 224, 226, 247, 252, 260, 265, 275, 279 Council of Elders 27, 55, 58, 67 Cowan, Christopher 2, 117 CPI 184 creation 26, 30, 37, 42, 64–5, 169–70, 174, 182–3, 229, 235, 239, 260–62, 264–6, 273, 275, 277, 281–2, 285 of co-operative communities 182 of modernity 72 natural 206 of socialized communities 183 creative power 129, 289 credit unions 183

Crete 15, 164 crimes 146, 216–18, 220 crops 91, 93, 282, 305, 313, 315 CSR 197, 300 cultural, spiritual emergence and spiral dynamics 111, 125–6 cultural compass 174 cultural developments 101, 137, 182, 317 cultural dimension of sustainable development 200 cultural dynamics 112, 118 cultural endowments 184 cultural environment 71, 324 cultural foundations 255, 284 cultural institutions 181, 185, 312 cultural life 134 cultural power 135 cultural traditions 63, 65, 70–72 cultural values 61, 70–72, 146 culture 6–7, 10, 12–13, 16–17, 64–5, 71–3, 111–16, 119–20, 124–6, 132–7, 155, 157, 194–5, 197–9, 216–18, 253–4, 256–7, 274–8 alien 71–2, 140 ancient 18, 195 boundaries of 114 of co-operation 187 communitarian 69 contemporary 212 emergent 126 evolving dynamic 113 foundations of 275 fragments of 228 human 64, 147, 207 human-centred 194 indigenous 71 medieval 278 non-Western 72 political 65, 225, 228 pre-colonial economic 68 primary 277 regional 171 sacred 279 spiritual 53 symbolic 225

I n d e x 335 technological 157 traditional economic 65, 68 truth-loving 227 Curitiba 17, 249, 251–6, 327 ‘Citizenship Streets’ 253 mayors of 254 Curtis, Mark 289 Czech community 157 Czech economists 162 Czech enterprise managers 163 Czech government 164 Czech language 158 Czechoslovakia 158, 160, 162–3 Czechs 15, 158–62, 166, 179, 191, 193 DA 126 Da Vinci Institute of Innovation and Technology 111 Daly, Herman 284 Dawkin, Richard 113 Dawlabani, Elias 12, 112, 114, 119–20, 122, 124 de Tocqueville, Alexis 37, 47, 189 death 31, 63, 219, 254, 277–8, 280, 282 decay 264, 276–7 decolonization 79 Deep Ecology 3 democracy 10, 12, 30, 46–7, 57, 66–7, 78–9, 83, 120, 122, 177, 179, 211–12, 215, 219–22, 232–3, 290, 297–8 economic 15, 182 external 215 individualistic 107 political 215 Democracy in America 37, 47 Democracy in the Middle East 297 Democratic Alliance see DA democratic city states 224 democratic community 3, 46, 92, 226, 236 democratic institutions 47, 51, 57, 79, 179 democratic liberty 109 democratic politics 72, 236 democratic processes 11, 92, 146, 290, 297 Democratic Republic of the Congo 87 democratic societies 189 democratic systems 66, 297 Democratic Vistas 221

democratization 3, 46, 78 democratizing wisdom 234 design 18–19, 114, 118, 120, 124, 168–9, 187, 277–9 elements 270 features 284 interventions 124 modern 8, 26 processes 17, 253 works 256 The Destruction of Black Civilization 51 development 10, 29–34, 38, 42–3, 48, 54–5, 64, 75, 77–9, 81–2, 99, 101–4, 107–9, 114, 135–7, 143–50, 196–7, 295 enlightenment 149 human resource 78–9 individual 316 innovative 313 models 76, 82–3, 196, 318 national 137 people-centred 149, 299 production-centred 147–8 regional 16, 204 socio-economic 80, 104–5 strategies extroverted 76 foreign-demand-propelled 83 Marxian 76 pragmatic economic 161 Dharma and Development: Religion as a Resource in the Sarvodaya Self Help Movement 139 Dharmic religions 111 Diggers community 233 digital thinking systems 119 dimensions 113, 137, 194, 201, 206, 225, 301, 320 causal 206 of consciousness 194 cultural 200, 263 of development 8, 48 ‘disappointed generation’ 161–3 Discourse on Inequality 39 ‘disintegrated’ state 25, 31–2 divine authority 43, 99–100, 129, 239, 271, 317 divinity 42, 289

336 I n t e g r a l P o l i t y doctrines 53, 68, 159, 161, 216 communitarian 68 particular 215 religious 216 socio-ethical 68 Douglass, Frederick 211, 218–19 Dvesha 146 earth 3–4, 6, 9, 121, 176, 194–5, 206, 217, 226–7, 251, 261–2, 264–7, 274, 279, 282–3, 285, 287, 319–21 body of 176 evolutions of 206 living 233, 274, 317 noosphere of 176 powers of 239 surface of 177, 194 Earth Soul 193, 195, 204 Earth Summit (UN Conference on Environment and Development) 136 East Africa 34 East Asia 72, 120 Eastern Europe 11–12, 15, 47, 139, 155, 161, 166, 219 Eastern holism and Western pragmatism 259 EBDA 314, 316, 323 ecological crises 241 ecological development 2, 137 ecology 240–41, 266, 299 earth’s intricate 299 political 17, 239–42, 245 theology of 266 wilderness 3 economic development 40, 60, 137, 196–7, 295 global 81 goals 196 programmes 142 regional agency 187 strategies 10, 75 economic life 3, 13, 15, 19, 68, 130, 133–4, 157, 308, 313 management of 68 reshaping of 133

of Sekem 19, 314 Slovenian approach to 15 of society 157 economic power 42, 132–3, 135 economic reform 81, 163–4, 183 economics 6–7, 13, 15–16, 111–12, 129–30, 132–3, 139, 143, 163, 166–7, 223–4, 228, 235, 240, 244–6, 251–2, 323, 325 sustainable 284, 317 systems of 68, 71, 87, 100, 133, 180, 289 economists 1, 37, 150, 162, 167, 245–6, 249, 298 neoliberal 163 objective 163 oriented 162 role of 245 economy 1, 30, 77–8, 80, 82, 84, 133, 135–7, 168, 180, 182, 184, 228, 299, 310, 313, 325, 327 agricultural 187 co-operative 184, 188 cyclical 280–81 global 75–6, 82 green 197, 200, 205 mixed 80, 164 primary 305 secondary 305 Edmunds, Frances 129–30, 134 education 9, 53–4, 58–9, 101, 103, 105, 109, 141, 143, 182–3, 197, 215, 253–4, 291–2, 296–7, 309–10, 318, 323–4 adult 253 environmental 253, 255 holistic 316 humanistic 182 intellectual 58 moral 46 primary 58 tertiary 58, 199 transformative 299 vocational 312 Education for Sustainable Development see ESD

I n d e x 337 Egolessness, principle of 140, 142 Egypt 1, 3, 45, 54–6, 113, 120, 122, 130, 271, 273, 277–8, 285, 287–91, 293–8, 301–2, 307–14, 321–3, 325 development of 289 and the effects of the Black Death 289 emergent 290 enacting of Emergency Law 290 and Ibrahim Abouleish 1, 3–4, 7, 12, 19, 27, 32, 289, 291, 293–6, 302, 305–7, 309–10, 312–13, 317–18, 321, 323–5 modern 289, 311 occupation by Napoleon 289 and Sekem 3, 19, 130, 285, 302 societal challenges of 314 Egypt National Competitiveness Strategy 2020 321 Egyptian Biodynamic Association see EBDA Egyptian civil society 292 Egyptian civilians 293 Egyptian civilization 277, 288 Egyptian Constitution 17, 243, 248, 287, 294–5, 297–8 Egyptian Copts 292 Egyptian cotton farms 321 Egyptian culture 309 Egyptian democratic system 295 Egyptian Desert 291, 306 Egyptian history 288 Egyptian-Israeli War 310 Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture 321 Egyptian monarchy 290 Egyptian people 293–4, 312 Egyptian politics 75, 298 Egyptian reactionaries 290 Egyptian revolution 288, 292–3 Egyptian society 292, 317, 321 Egyptians ancient 1, 3, 276–7, 282, 288–9 life of 287 representative 310 secular 297 Einstein, Albert 227, 229, 234, 244, 280 el-Sisi, Gen. Abdel Fattah 297–8 elders 55, 58–9, 91, 121

elections 46, 58, 87, 114, 187, 290 contested 87 legislative 45 multi-party 46 parliamentary 292–3 periodic 66 presidential 293 electronics 198 elements 4–6, 17, 27–8, 68, 70–71, 103, 121, 156, 180, 192–3, 207, 218, 230, 234, 275, 277, 280, 282 economic 14, 294 indigenous democratic 10, 68 primal political 231 emergence 6, 9, 12, 16, 18, 37, 39, 42, 44–5, 47, 53–4, 135, 240, 243–4, 249, 305–6, 321, 323 conscious 114 of cultural memes 12 gradual 233 harmonic 287 integral 18, 139 local-global 63 of nature 240 precocious 42 primal 252 of settled societies 39 Emergency Law (Egypt) 290 emergent innovation 15, 167, 205 Emerson College 129 Emilia Romagna Valorizzazione Economica del Territorio see ERVET Emilian model 187–8 employees 118, 171, 173, 186, 188, 316–17 employment 149, 185, 197, 200, 265 empowerment of the peasantry 81 energy-water-food nexus 314 engineers 1, 3, 253, 283, 298, 318 English Civil War 233 English-speaking culture 131 English-speaking people 132 enterprise 3, 6–7, 10, 12–13, 15, 51, 81, 123, 132, 163, 170, 172, 179–82, 186–7, 197, 305, 321–3 charitable 192

338 I n t e g r a l P o l i t y commercial 185 cooperative 170, 172 economic 15, 180 innovative 170 intellectual 65 private 68 proit-making 314 public 201 scientiic 269 social-economic 192 state-owned 40 entrepreneurship 112, 197, 200–201 environment 18, 123, 136–7, 146, 149–50, 241–2, 252, 255, 259, 262–3, 265–7, 281, 283–4, 294–5, 301, 313, 317, 319 business 197, 202 cultural 71, 324 hostile 307 intellectual 171 local 204 natural 196 urban 194 environmental education 253, 255 environmental technologies 198 Epictetus (slave) 212 ERVET 184–7 ESD 200 Ethiopia 54–6 EU 196–7, 200–201 Europe 11, 13, 15, 19, 40, 43–6, 51–2, 76, 103–5, 161, 164–8, 183–4, 193, 197, 206–7, 280–81, 311–13, 327 Christian 45 historical 167 modern 277, 287, 305 old 225 European agriculture 158 European colonial governments 40, 69 European culture 166, 181, 309–10, 321, 324 European innovation 14, 164, 167 European innovations 168, 179, 191 European monarchy 66 European nation-states 101 European political development 43–4

‘European Project’ 14, 167 European state-building projects 44, 46 European Union see EU Europeans 1, 14, 40, 42, 44, 46–7, 59, 64, 125, 155, 159, 167–8, 200, 205, 223, 229, 309, 311 evil 133–4, 158, 217, 219 mental 145 shunning of 145 social 182 evolution 26, 71, 100, 103, 120, 131, 136, 149, 176, 206, 244, 270 city’s 255 conscious 318 consistent 254 cultural 155 graded psychological 106 historical 102 human 38, 115, 176 of life 244 moral 267 political 139 progressive 101 social 101, 109 spiritual 106 of worlds 136 executive authority 27, 45, 47 exports 75–6, 81–3, 187 gold 75 increases in 81 total 184 Facebook group 292 factories 25, 282, 307–8 failures 40, 53, 65, 75–6, 81, 87, 103, 164, 181, 218, 227, 235 constitutional 65 continent’s 10 faith 13, 28, 31, 33, 47, 56, 262–3, 265, 271, 283, 308, 312, 320 articles of 60 Indian 229 inner 309 Islamic 307, 319 Jewish 16, 56 Western 52

I n d e x 339 false individualism 215–16 families 59, 68, 89, 92–4, 121, 145, 148, 191, 223, 233, 300, 312–13, 317, 319 extended 69, 307 human 61 individual 93 matriarchal 85 neglect of 93 orthodox Jewish 223 strengthening of 137 farmers 116, 143, 158, 191, 233, 245, 248, 282, 315–16, 318, 323 commercial 185 generations of 158 occupational recognition of 143 smallholder 292, 314 farming 282, 308, 313, 315 biodynamic 311–13, 315, 317 businesses 321 knowledge 95 low intensity 192 operations 321 organic 197, 316 project 92 projects 93 farms 9, 58, 213, 248, 305, 311–12, 315–16, 320 biodynamic 311 deserted 194 Egyptian cotton 321 large-scale desert 321 Faronika (Slovenian symbol) 193, 195 Fasad 300–301 fascism 184–5 Federation of Cooperatives and Mutual Societies (Lega) 184 Feldman, Noah 45 Filipinos 137 inancial innovation 219–20 Findhorn Community 181 Finland 160 First World War 129, 183, 185 food production 60, 187, 198, 201, 281 formal accountability, concept of 46 fostering innovation 171 four ‘deilements’ 146 free-market liberalism 163

‘Free Oficers Movement’ 290 Free University of the Environment 255 French Revolution 39, 47, 129 Friedman, Milton 162 Future Primal Politics 16 Gaia consciousness sphere of 176, 193, 206 inspiration of 206 life powers of 206 noosphere of 176, 206 spiritual dimensions of 207 worlds of 176 ‘Gaia Touch’ exercises 195 Gaia’s Quantum Leap 176 Gandhi, Mahatma 99, 138, 234 Gates, Bill 173 GENE cycle of transformation 11, 95 genetically modiied organisms see GMOs German people 308 German society 102 Germany, south-west 171 Germany and Egypt 311 Ghana 9, 61, 69, 77, 276 Akan culture 66 Ghonim, Wael 292 Ghose, Aurobindo 11–12, 99–112, 126, 129, 140 global economy 75–6, 82 Global Network for Social Threefolding 135 GMOs 315, 319 God 41, 45–6, 53–6, 59, 212, 216, 221, 260–61, 263–6, 268, 270, 279, 281–2, 287, 301, 307, 318, 320 consciousness of 261, 265 country 122 teaching Adam 261 gold exports 75 Golden Age of Islam 275, 289, 305 Gole, Rupert 198 goodness 1, 14, 85, 145, 167–70, 174–5, 191, 264–5 see also beauty Grammar of Harmony 305 Graves, Clare 12, 111–13, 116–20, 124–5 Gravesian value systems 114–16 Graz 308–9

340 I n t e g r a l P o l i t y Greek philosophy 189, 278 Greeks 1, 42, 56, 176, 194, 224, 230–32, 240, 247, 277, 288, 310 Green Development Breakthrough programmes 16, 196, 204 Green Development Breakthrough programs 16, 197, 204 green economy 197, 200, 205 Green Economy Initiative 321 ‘Green Revolution’ 283 Green Slovenia 192 see also Slovenia Green thinking system 123–5 green tourism 197 group-soul, workings of a 105, 109–10 Guinea Coast states 75 Gulf States 33 Gyekye, Kwame 10, 61, 63–72, 76, 86, 96, 276 Hamilton, Alexander 219 Havel, Vaclav 13–14, 155–64, 166–7, 179, 189, 191–2, 205, 220 Hawaii 1, 3, 223 Hawken, Paul 252, 256 Hayat Tayabeh 299–300 HCV 297 Hebrew University, Israel 223 Heliopolis University for Sustainable Development, see HU Heliopolis University Social Innovation Center 305 Henry (Prince) the Navigator 168 hepatitis C virus see HCV Herman, Louis 1, 3–4, 7–9, 16, 18, 25–7, 29–30, 39, 125, 213, 219, 222–31, 233–6, 241, 245, 252, 274 history 13, 15, 56, 61, 76, 78, 102, 137–8, 141–2, 159–60, 182–3, 218–21, 230– 31, 264–5, 267–8, 270, 278, 287–8 of Africa 9, 53, 76 of Brazil 253 of civilization 224 of Egypt 293 epistemological 242 of German society 102

of mankind 61 natural 278 new 135, 138 nonhuman 244 pre-colonial 87 registered 254 socialist 184 Hobbes, Thomas 38, 41, 100, 235 Holy Qur’an 259 HRH Prince Charles 18–19, 273–85, 287, 298, 301, 305 HU 1, 3, 7, 288, 295, 305–6, 317, 322–4 human, life 33, 72, 105, 132, 144, 146, 211–12, 214, 221, 229, 266 human civilization 144, 147, 207 human cycle 11–12, 99, 101–2, 106, 126, 139–40 human development 113, 118–19, 123, 137, 312 human nature 108, 133–4, 197, 212, 215, 235, 282, 285 facts of 108 vision of 212 human niches 112, 115–25 cultural 126 eighth-level 124 ifth-level 123 irst-level 120 irst-tier 121 fourth-level 122 and Loraine Laubscher 116 second-level 121 second-tier 120 seventh-level 124 sixth-level 123 third-level 121 unique 118 various 118 human resource development 78–9 human rights 3, 13, 71, 79, 149, 293, 299 human society see society Huntington, Samuel 47 Hus, Jan 160 Ibrahim 259, 307–13, 316, 324 see also Abraham

I n d e x 341 Iceland 6, 164 IGSE 15, 191–2, 196, 204–5 IMF 10, 77, 79–80, 150 Imola 185–6 India 6, 13, 18, 40, 43–5, 99–100, 111, 138, 220, 239, 277, 283 and Calcutta 99 and China 99 consciousness of 99 culture of 106 and Europe 45 institutionalization of countervailing social actors 43 mystics of 18, 277 resurgence of 100 Indian 11, 126, 217, 251 culture 217 faith 229 sages 12, 99, 115, 181 slums 120 society 103 vision of nature 217 Indian Ocean 75 Indian Republic 45 indigenous soil 11, 95 individualism 8, 27, 37–8, 48, 103–4, 106–7, 109, 113, 216 American 215 emphasized 220 false 215 modern 39 primordial 38 secularist 104 unbridled 71–2 industrial capitalism 225–6 industrialization 52, 83, 140, 185, 279–80, 290 agriculture-led 83 of life 280 promoting agriculture-linked 83 of society 52 innovation 14, 70, 72, 111, 164, 167–70, 172–5, 197, 201–2, 254, 256, 283, 323–4 emergent 15, 167, 205 and European-ness 14, 164, 167 inancial 219–20

fostering of 171 integral 14, 170, 174 and knowledge 197 lack of 202 managerial 169 original 170 thinking systems 123 time-contingent 174 typology of 175 Institute for the Development of Social responsibility see IRDO institutions of accountability 37 institutions of liberalism 233, 235 integral African polity 85–8 integral approach 6, 12, 112, 193, 306 to decoding the complexity of diversity 112 to sustainable development 6, 193, 306 An Integral Approach to Development Economics: Islamic Finance in an African Context 321 Integral Centre, Boulder 110 integral centred polity 305–7 integral combination of marketing and R & D 171 integral development, promotion of 54, 113, 200, 323 Integral Ecology 112 Integral Economics: Releasing the Economic Genius of Your Society 96, 196 integral enterprises 3 integral form of democracy 298 integral form of politics 252 integral green economy 15, 165, 192, 197–8, 202, 205 Integral Green Slovenian Economy see IGSE integral innovation 14, 170, 174 integral Islamic perspectives 299–301 integral polity 1–2, 6–8, 18–19, 25, 30, 34–5, 75–6, 84–6, 96, 99, 126, 189, 191, 224, 226, 295, 298, 325 all-round 35, 324 prospective 86 Integral Spirituality: A Startling New Role for Religion in the Modern and PostModern World 2, 167 ‘integral state’ 8, 25, 29–30

342 I n t e g r a l P o l i t y and Antonio Gramsci 30 compared by Samatar with a ‘cadaverous’ state 7 emblematic of a moment of delicate balance 8 Integral Sustainable Development 2, 129 Integral Sustainable Development see ISD Integral University 323, 325 ‘integral worlds’ 6, 95, 113, 125, 236, 240, 242, 244 Inter-Enterprise Educational Centre, Slovenia 201 Iran 12, 120 IRDO 201, 205 Iron Curtain 165–6 ISD 136–7, 305–6 Islam 18, 45, 259, 261, 264, 269, 271, 273, 277, 287, 293, 298, 300–302, 306, 309, 317–18, 320, 324 claimed as a source of inspiration 32 grounding of 271 medieval 45 political 291 and sustainable development 298 Islamic architecture 278 Islamic art 270 Islamic beliefs 298, 320 Islamic Caliphate 289 Islamic civilization 25 Islamic communities 32 Islamic consciousness, awakening of 32 Islamic Constitution 293 Islamic core values 301 Islamic cosmopolitanism 34 Islamic culture 269, 275 Islamic faith 307, 319 Islamic law 301 Islamic Middle East 45 Islamic parties 293 Islamic patterning on mosques 275 Islamic perspectives 32, 298–9, 301 Islamic philosophy 278 Islamic piety 33 Islamic Republic of Iran 33 see also Iran Islamic scholars 298

Islamic Shari’a 298 Islamic traditions 277 Islamic values 298, 300, 302, 317, 324 Islamic worldviews 299 Islamization of society 19, 288 Islamism 43, 45 Islamists 32, 291, 297 Israel 16, 20, 56, 221, 223, 239, 289–91, 302, 310 Italian co-operative movement 186 Italian fascism 185 Italian political philosophers 29 Italy 14, 167, 181, 183–5, 187, 200, 203, 311 Japan 150, 167, 170–71, 191, 206 Al-Jayyousi, Odeh 298–300, 317–18, 320 Jefferson, Thomas 16, 47, 212, 214–15, 221, 228 Jelovica Co. 198, 202–5 Jenkins, Iredell 14 Jesus Christ 56 Jewish faith 16, 56 Jews 56, 60, 264, 307 Judaism 45, 259, 264, 302 Jung 231 Jungian philosophy 118 Juniper, Tony 274, 285, 298 Justinian Code 43–5 Kada, Steve 10–11, 86–9, 94–5 Kao 171–3 Karanga people 86, 91 Karim, Ibrahim 273, 277 King, William 182 King Abdullah 46 King David 268 Klaus, Vaclav 161–3 knowledge creating company 167 Kruger, Jimmy 232 Kuhn, T. 234 Lamprecht, Karl 11, 102 language of patterns 275 Latour, Bruno 16–17, 236, 239–43, 245–9, 252

I n d e x 343 Laubscher, Loraine 12, 111–22, 125 leadership 11, 27, 30–31, 39, 52, 55, 60, 92, 124, 150, 170, 173, 175, 253, 293, 321 centralized 321 communal 11 corrosive personal 32 de-contextualized African 60 integral European 191 models of 175 positive 52 pragmatic 17, 253 project 11, 92 responsibilities of 9 typology 14 Lega di Cooperative e Mutue 184 legal conduct 27 legal precedents 298 legal systems 40, 43–4 modern 43 ordered 134 legalizing censorship 290 legitimacy 39, 43–6, 65, 242 acceptance by the larger society 27 acknowledges that the people who make up the society recognize the fundamental justice of the system 39 and attempts at rebuilding public institutions so they could gain 31 disordered 31 and the rule of law 43 Lens Value Quotient see VQ Lerner, Jaime (Mayor) 253–5 Lessem, Abraham 87 Lessem, Jack 87 Lessem, Prof. Ronnie 1, 6, 10, 81, 87, 112, 125, 167, 191, 284 Levellers and Diggers community 233 liberal democracy 30, 78–80, 85, 101, 130 modern 38 stable 47 liberalism 225, 227, 233–5 classical 227 free-market 163 institutions of 233, 235

political philosophy of 225 liberty 13, 34, 101, 108, 129–31, 182, 212, 215, 218 cherishing of 101 democratic 109 natural 38 personal 108 political 46, 101 pursuit of 13, 101 libraries 278, 308 life 89, 100–101, 103–9, 124–6, 132, 134, 137, 191–3, 195–6, 206, 217–18, 220–25, 230–32, 235–6, 274–7, 279–85, 299–300, 308–14 the African way of 64 associational 189 civic 32 civilized 61 collective 26, 243 communal 38, 107, 134 conscious 109 economic 3, 13, 15, 19, 68, 130, 133–4, 157, 308, 313 the European way of 64 human family 147 independent 13, 155 manipulated 155 of mankind 214 of mediocrity 162 moral 189, 214 organic 100, 105 primitive 61 quality of 137, 184, 196, 284 religious 106 reshaping of economic 133 self-revealing 105 social 28, 41, 101, 108, 132, 134–5, 181, 189 of society 265 underpinned Western 71 limbic-metabolic systems 129 Lincoln, Abraham 211, 215–16, 219–22 lineages 39–40, 57, 66 primate 226 royal 66

344 I n t e g r a l P o l i t y shared 57 Taiwanese 41 ties 57 Linscott, Graham 114 livestock 88, 267 Ljubljana 199 Locke, John 38, 227, 235 love 148, 157, 159, 161, 168, 181, 191, 193, 213, 222, 231, 236, 260, 262, 285, 287, 308, 310 the economics of 19 mutual 302 of truth 161, 228 unfound law of 101, 109 of wisdom 228, 284 low-carbon society 196 lower level value systems 12, 120 Maalouf, Elza 112, 114, 119 Ma’at (Egyptian goddess) 1, 3, 273, 276, 289 Mãe Curitibana programme 254 Mahatma Gandhi 99, 138, 234 management 15, 68, 112, 133, 149, 167, 169, 172, 174–5, 191, 197, 202 close-to-natural forest 192 of economic life 68 mandala (symbol) 4, 16, 18, 111, 125–6, 226, 229–31, 233–4, 236 see also primal mandala Mandala Centre for Integral Development 112, 125 Mandala Consulting 112, 125 Mandela, Nelson 28, 112, 126, 231–4 mankind 52–3, 59, 61, 73, 100–101, 104, 106, 131, 214, 219, 221–2, 262, 273, 287 civilizational trajectory of 73 cultural development of 101 individualistic age of 104 life of 214 soul of 221 the unity of 11, 102 unity of 101 market-based European economy 200

markets 34, 58, 66, 79–81, 90, 93, 137, 147, 149, 168, 173–4, 182–3, 188, 202–3, 211, 227, 321 agricultural 255 cultivation of 81 foreign 82–3 free 130, 147, 196, 291 internal 83 potential 81 protected 248 saturated 81 street 253 marriage 111–13 Marx, Karl 40, 42–3, 108, 125, 140, 227, 235 Marxian development strategies 76 Marxist communism 222 Marxist socialism 68, 76 Marxist systems 108 Masaryk, Tomas 160 Mashtul (village) 308 McIntosh, Steve 110 medicine 223, 233, 278, 317 herbal 273 Western 283 Medina 268–9 MEMEs 12, 112–13, 117, 119–20 see also niches, human niches Beck and Cowan’s 116 cultural 12, 112 ifth-level 123 Yellow 324 memory 31, 56, 121, 195, 206, 229, 254 Mengisteab, Kidane 10, 73, 75–84, 86, 96 birthplace in Eritrea 10 and the experience of the post-reform Chinese village complex 81 and the feudal hierarchical relations with the multilateral inancial institutions 82 Merckens, George 311 Meroe (Sudan) 55–6 MFIs 10, 76–7, 82 Microsoft 170, 173 middle community 18, 45, 262–71, 277, 288, 291, 308–9, 314

I n d e x 345 Middle East 3, 8, 17–18, 35, 37, 40, 51, 112, 114, 119–20, 256, 259, 271, 273, 288–9, 300, 302, 327 and Asia 192 Islamic 45 and North Africa 42 military 30, 64, 160, 213, 291, 293–5, 297–8, 302 councils 293 dictatorships 253 disruptions 65 dominance 211 high level oficers 291 mobilization 44 occupation 289 offensive 147 organizations 42 prowess 41 regimes 30, 66 revolutions 296 rulers 292 strength of 288–9 tactics 58 Mirna 198 Mission Impossible: Sow Courage, Harvest a New World 135 mixed economy 80, 164 Mlambo, Mai 92 modernity 10, 27–8, 45, 63, 70–73, 75–6, 85–6, 96, 104, 213, 217, 276, 282 African 72–3 pursuit of 73 roots of 213 and tradition 63–73, 276 Moha 146 Mondragon Group 172, 174 money 52, 60, 89, 94–5, 120, 146, 162, 300, 310 borrowed 93 real 94 role of 120 moral accountability 46 moral authority 10, 76 morality 130, 142, 159, 162, 191, 225, 246–8, 259, 267, 271, 307 basic 167 of Muslim societies 267

objective 242 political 63, 65 sphere of 130 traditional 141–2 Moses 56, 214, 216, 259, 264, 287 Mubarak, Hosni 290–94, 297–8 Muchineripi, Paul (Chidara) 10–11, 86–91, 93–5 ‘Muchineripi Rock’ 91, 95 Mugabe, Robert 87, 122 multidimensional reality 194 multilateral inancial institutions, see MFIs Mumford, Lewis 180 Mursi, Mohammed 293 music 13, 33, 54, 58, 105, 213, 270, 273, 275, 277, 309 Muslim Brotherhood 290–94, 297 Muslim civilization 45, 263, 267, 269 Muslim countries 25, 33, 43, 45, 264 Muslim faith 307 Muslim people 302 Muslim religion 259 Muslim scholars 18, 259 Muslim scientists 269 Muslim societies 18, 262, 267, 269 Muslim traditions 45 Muslim world 18, 45, 262–3, 266, 270, 278 Muslims 265, 267 and the concept of middle community 18, 45, 262–71, 277, 288, 291, 308–9, 314 contemporary societies 263, 267 described as ‘ divided, sundered and factional within’ 262 and the emergence of dictatorships 45 Muslim’s holy Qur’an 259 mythology 275–6, 311 Nadler, Jeremy 288 Naess, Aerne 3 Napoleon 289 Nasser, Gamal Abdel 290–91, 308, 310 National Councils for Sustainable Development in Asia and the Paciic 136 National Democratic Party, Egypt 292 Nationalist Party of Bengal 99

346 I n t e g r a l P o l i t y natural capitalism 256 Natural Capitalism 252 natural-political collective 240 natural resources 16, 180, 281, 294 and Article 32 in the New Egyptian Constitution 294 eficient uses of 198 and the Green Development Breakthrough programs 204 private ownership of 123, 180 natural state, concept of 285, 299, 301, 317, 319 nature 6–7, 16–19, 37–8, 99–102, 136–7, 144–5, 155, 176, 191–4, 201–2, 217, 239–41, 251–2, 256–7, 266, 277–85, 317–18, 320–21 absolutistic 123 abstracted 281 accommodating of 27 contradictory 150 cultural 160 of customary property rights 40 divine 136 essential 215, 219 humane 89 incorporating 288 indisputable 244 inner 133–4 pestilential 32 spiritual 133 trans-cultural 223 nature/community and the impact with culture/spirituality 99–110 navigation 6, 9, 15, 18, 27, 53–4, 61, 126, 179, 230, 239, 243, 245, 249, 260, 288, 305–6 economic 129 emancipatory 311 environmental 17, 239 natural-political 239 social 252 spiritual 12 Naydler, J. 289 Needleman, Jacob 16, 211, 222–3, 251–2 Nehru, Jawaharlal 99 neo-liberalism 15, 87, 162–3, 251

‘network society’ 176 ‘network state’ 192 networking 187–8, 201 networks 19–20, 25–6, 51, 57, 123, 174, 176, 192, 196, 314, 323 cooperative 186 cosmic 206 electronic 176 international 316 noospheric 176 social 293, 300 New World Order (Aurobindo) 101 NGAs 10, 76, 88, 241 NGOs 10, 76–7, 88, 197, 241 environmental 197 international 77 national 77 niches see human niches Nietzsche, Friedrich 41 Nigerian society 31 Nile River 287, 295, 308 Nkrumah, Kwame 63 No Longer at Ease 69 non-governmental organizations see NGOs non-Muslims 32, 268 non-renewable resources 147 non-violence, promotion of 145, 148 nonhumans 17, 240–42, 244–6, 248 Northern rationalism 259 Nyerere’s humanistic intentions 76 October War 291 OECD 197, 200 Oikos 247–8 oppressed people 218 oral history 57, 111 Orange (Strive Drive) management 112, 123–5 organizations 26, 118, 129, 143, 157, 171, 174, 181, 189, 201–2, 225, 265, 301, 318, 322 bio-functional 171 children’s 143 economic 101 hybrid 186 international 64

I n d e x 347 non-governmental 10, 76 non-proit 201 political 180, 240 professional 192 single-stakeholder 201 social-economy-oriented 191 terrorist 297 transparent 172 tribal-level 43 value-based 300 original African constitution 53, 55, 57, 61, 63, 75 The Origins of Political Order 37 Owen, Robert 182–3, 189 Owenite vision of a co-operative community 183 ownership 13, 123, 179 automobile 254 of capital 179 common 180 communitarian 68 exclusive 270 private 123, 180 public 68 of resources 123 societal 28 state 68 traditional 68 Paleolithic origins of human consciousness 227 The Participation Economy 15 participatory economy 15, 179 Patocka, Jan 163 patterns 39, 67, 69, 122, 124, 191, 235, 270, 275, 277–8, 285 archetypal 206 breeding 120 geometric 111 harmonic 279 inauthentic 166 language of 275 planetary biological diversity 299 rural-based resource-allocation 83 studying of nature’s 275

Peace Brigades Division of Sarvodaya 147 peace offensives 147 peaceful protests 99 Penn State University 10, 75 people-centred development 149, 299 ‘People’s Spring’ 19, 288 Perlas, N. 2, 135–6 personalities 134, 145, 148, 270, 324 human 147–8, 179 unique 100 pesticides 158, 319 pharaohs 276, 311 Philippine Council for Sustainable Development 136 Philippine environmentalists 2 Philippines 135–6, 138, 206 philosophers 1, 3, 13, 125, 155, 161, 171, 183, 223, 227, 236, 252 Bruno Latour 252 Edmund Burke 27 Friedrich Hegel 38 Jacob Needleman 16, 211, 222–3, 251–2 Jan Patocka 160 Jean Gebser 115 Jean-Jacques Rousseau 38–9, 140, 235, 282 John Lock 227 Kwame Gyekye 10, 61, 63–72, 76, 86, 96, 276 Louis Herman 1, 3–4, 7–9, 16, 18, 25–7, 29–30, 39, 125, 213, 219, 222–31, 233–6, 241, 245, 252, 274 William Thompson 182 The Philosophy of Freedom 310 Phipps, Carter 115 Plains Indians 239 Plan B: Sustainable Development Initiative for Slovenia 196 plants 121, 172, 191, 193–4, 204, 227, 274, 279–80, 282, 285, 313, 315 fragrant 266 glue 255 hydro power 204 local 58 medicinal 199–200, 313

348 I n t e g r a l P o l i t y new solar power 204 wild 225 Plato 1, 38, 168–9, 191, 228, 235, 277–8, 282 Pogačnik, Marco 1, 4, 7, 15, 27, 164, 176, 181, 193–5, 205–6 starts a rural community at Šempas, Slovenia 194 stresses the importance of achieving relative independence from the Earth’s noosphere 176 political accountability 46–8 political activism 292 political activists 11, 111 political activities 25 political authorities 45, 66, 181 political challenges 295, 297 political communities 27, 34, 38, 63, 67, 180 political corruption 65, 69 political crises 228, 234 political development 37, 39, 43, 48, 137 political ecology 17, 239–42, 245 political economists 297 political economy 163, 182, 225 political historiography 25 political independence 64, 68 political institutions 30, 41, 64–6, 141, 295 political Islamism 32 see also Islamism political life 28, 38, 100, 107, 130, 162, 189, 236, 290 health of 28 modern 67 of society 13, 155 political morality 63, 65 political order, the origins of 8 political philosophers 223, 227 political philosophy 16, 224–5, 234–5, 241 classical 236 of liberalism 225 political power 37, 42–3, 45, 47, 53, 67, 69, 135, 141, 158, 163, 184 political science 223, 225, 235–6, 248 academic 235 discipline of 225

normal 235 political scientists 1, 3, 19, 167 Abil and Ahmed Samatar 8, 25 Claude Ake 76 Francis Fukuyama 7–8, 25, 35, 37–48, 51 Marl Curtis 289 Samir Amin 19, 33, 75, 81, 288–91, 298 political systems 39, 57, 59, 66, 69, 79, 112, 114, 137, 155–6, 268, 298 called ‘stateless societies’ by Western writers 51 and consensus-based single parties 79 development of 46 power-oriented 146 politicians 13, 112, 155, 228, 240, 242, 245–6, 248–9 contemporary 310 contribution of 245 delight in the art of transformation 245 modern 160 ranking somewhere between prostitutes and used-car-salesmen 224 self-seeking 222 politics 6–7, 13, 16–19, 25–6, 40, 64–5, 111–12, 132–3, 158–9, 161, 166–7, 223–4, 226–8, 234–6, 239–42, 248–9, 252, 288 Chinese 42 conventional bicameral 252 corrupt 64 democratic 72, 236 Egyptian 75, 298 human 16 majority-based party 67 and Marxism 25 modern African 67 national 96 of nature 17 new 226, 236 oppositional 28 and power 268–70 traditional African 67 transforming of 240 tribal 41–2 Politics and Nature 239 Politics of Greed 161

I n d e x 349 politics of mystery 229 population 42, 46–7, 77, 80, 83, 115–16, 225, 255, 289, 296–7, 302 general 77–8, 82 growth 296, 314 high 120 including sustained 196 rapid 17, 253 world’s 282 Potter, David 171, 173 poverty 11, 16, 69, 76, 81, 87–8, 92, 137, 140, 142, 149–50, 254, 263, 265, 290, 294, 296, 302 extreme and abject 262, 314 global 81 poverty line 87 national 296 oficial water 295 power 40–43, 45–7, 78–80, 105–6, 131–3, 137, 157–9, 211–15, 217–18, 225, 227–8, 235–6, 242–3, 248–9, 264, 268–9, 289–91, 293–4 colonial 69, 77, 141, 289 creative 129, 289 cultural 135 decentralizing of 3, 234 decision-making 47, 180 devolving of 3, 234 divine 99–100 dominant 10, 76–7 economic 42, 132–3, 135 human 215 inhuman 159 natural 283 political 37, 42–3, 45, 47, 53, 67, 69, 135, 141, 158, 163, 184 rational technology of 158 regenerative 195, 315 structures 53, 235, 291 prebendal state 30–31 precolonial history 68, 87 predatory state 31 Preddvor 204 presidential elections 293 priests 45, 60, 162, 225, 276 primal communities 229 primal cultures 273–4

primal people 274 primal politics 4, 16, 18, 223–4, 230, 233–4 see also politics primal societies 226, 229 primal truth 226, 236 Prince Henry the Navigator 168 principles 57, 59, 106–7, 109, 122, 124, 129, 139–40, 142–3, 196–7, 260, 262, 273, 275, 281, 298, 300–301, 319–20 basic 256 Buddhist 140 central 278 ecological 318 ethical 314 fair trade 320 founding 185 higher 212 humanistic 69 Islamic 298 moral 18, 260 new 181 primal 234 primary 182 Qur’anic 18, 268 private ownership of natural resources 123, 180 private property 38–40, 44, 68, 182 privatization 40, 163, 184, 188 approach to by Klaus Vaclav 163 policies 162 voucher 164 privileges 3, 30, 81, 133, 234, 236, 244, 274, 285 procedural accountability 46 process of development 145, 180, 222 production 68, 72, 76, 81–2, 91, 130, 132–4, 140, 146–7, 149, 168, 183, 202–3, 242, 251 agricultural 81, 183 Asiatic mode of 42 co-operative forms of 183 cycle of 202 economic 143 of energy 203 of export crops 10, 77 factory 282 food 60, 187, 198, 201, 281

350 I n t e g r a l P o l i t y of goods 132, 201 industrial 224, 227, 252 sustainable 198, 204 of tradeables 82 of wealth 140 production-centered development 147–8 Prophet Mohammed 42, 259, 264, 266, 268, 278, 307, 313, 318 Psion 171, 173–4 public life 28, 225, 246 public-private-civic partnerships 90–91 publications Adam Smith in Beijing: Lineages of the 21st Century 81 African Genius 85 The American Soul: Rediscovering the Wisdom of the Founders 211, 222, 251 Art and the Human Enterprise 14 Community Activism 323 Deep Ecology 3 Democracy in America 37, 47 Democracy in the Middle East 297 Democratic Vistas 221 The Destruction of Black Civilization 51 Dharma and Development: Religion as a Resource in the Sarvodaya Self Help Movement 139 Discourse on Inequality 39 Future Primal Politics 16 Gaia’s Quantum Leap 176 Grammar of Harmony 305 An Integral Approach to Development Economics: Islamic Finance in an African Context 321 Integral Community: Political Economy to Social Commons 10–11 Integral Ecology 112 Integral Economics: Releasing the Economic Genius of Your Society 96, 196 Integral Spirituality: A Startling New Role for Religion in the Modern and PostModern World 2, 167 Integral Sustainable Development 2, 129 Mission Impossible: Sow Courage, Harvest a New World 135 Natural Capitalism 252 Naturpolitik 240

No Longer at Ease 69 The Origins of Political Order 37 The Participation Economy 15 The Philosophy of Freedom 310 Plan B: Sustainable Development Initiative for Slovenia 196 Politics and Nature 239 Politics of Greed 161 Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory 239 The Rebirth of African Civilization 52 The Selish Gene 113 Spiral Dynamics 2 Tradition and Modernity: Philosophical Relections on the African Experience 276 Purple (Kin Spirits), referred to by Graves and Beck 112, 116, 118–25 pursuit of modernity 73 Pythagoras 273, 276–8, 282 quality of life 137, 184, 196, 284 Qur’an 18, 33, 259–61, 263–71, 287, 298, 302, 305, 307, 309–10, 312, 317, 319–20, 324 Qur’anic injunctions 269 Qur’anic perspectives 266 Qur’anic principles 18, 268 Qur’anic verses 267 Qur’anic visions 263 Raffeissen movement, Germany 183 Raftopoulos, Brian 86–8 Rahim (attribute of God) 260–61 Rahman (attribute of God) 260 rapoko harvest 11, 85, 89–93, 95 Ravenna 185 R&D and marketing 171, 173 Reading the Qur’an 18, 305 Reagan-Thatcher revolution 40 Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory 239 The Rebirth of African Civilization 52 Red (Power Gods), referred to by Graves and Beck 112, 118–19, 121–2, 124–5, 295 Red economic system 122

I n d e x 351 Red energy 118 Red forms 122 Red merchants forming colonizing powers 122 regenerative power 195, 315 regenerative powers of agriculture 315 regulations 28, 122, 234, 297, 301 and economic calculations 299 mechanical 109 religion 7, 9, 42, 44–6, 53, 101, 104, 106, 215–16, 224–6, 229, 264, 270–71, 287, 298, 305, 307, 309 ancient 54, 56 Brahmaanic 44 Christian 53 contemporary 302 established 166 failure of 53 major 302 monotheistic 45, 122, 259, 302, 309 Muslim 259 plurality of 264 rejection of 216 resurrecting of 109 revolutionary reconstruction of 104 shamanic systems of 224 social 108 traditional 123, 229 universal 53 religious doctrines 216 Renaissance Europe 230 Res Publica 240 research 16, 19, 53, 63, 89, 145–6, 188, 199, 201, 269, 292, 310–11, 316, 324 ethnographic 242 funded 263 multi-cultural 112 organizational 118 origin-oriented 171 pioneering 282 quantitative 112 scientiic 146, 234, 297, 317 spiritual-scientiic 129 reshaping of economic life 133 resource scarcity 314

resources 39, 42, 54, 79–81, 123–4, 142, 145–6, 149, 196, 206, 233, 241, 256, 261, 292, 294–5, 319, 324 exploiting of 122 extracting 116 human 196 marshalling of 30 Restakis, John 15, 182, 184–8, 205 ‘restorative economy and society’ 252 revolutions 15, 57, 133, 162, 179, 182, 214, 218–19, 225–6, 228, 235–6, 262, 290, 293, 296 American 202 communist 179 existential 14, 156 great technological 55 people’s 305 political 47, 185, 236 rhythms 121, 283–5 of life 285 of nature 121 rights 38, 40, 47, 59, 66, 68, 79, 130, 134, 137, 215, 227, 241, 267, 270, 294, 301, 308 civil 66 consciousness of 134 constitutional 58, 290 denial of 270 economic 10, 67 fundamental 59 human 3, 13, 71, 79, 149, 293, 299 inalienable 215 indisputable 248 political 10, 38, 47, 67, 133 rituals 121, 221 rivers 176, 194, 245, 275–6, 287, 301 Rochdale Pioneers 182–3 rocks 86, 91, 95, 125 Roland Berger Foundation 14, 167, 175, 179, 192, 205 Roman law 44 Roman societies 100 Rousseau, Jean-Jacques 38–9, 140, 235, 282 Rugby World Cup 112 rule of law 8, 37, 43–6, 48, 79, 122, 162, 267

352 I n t e g r a l P o l i t y Russians 131–2 SACMI 183, 185–6, 198 sacred sites 194 sacred texts 260, 266, 271, 285 Sadat, Anwar 290–92, 310 Saint Rupert 198 salaists 297 Samatar, Ahmed 7–8, 25–7, 29–35, 39, 51 Samos (Greek island) 277 San Bushman hunter-gatherers 16, 233 San Francisco State University 16, 211 Sardar, Ziauddin 18, 32, 259–60, 262–71, 293, 298, 302, 305, 317 Sarvodaya 13, 139 approach to peacemaking 146 dynamism 13 and establishing the liberating sprit of traditional values and morality 142 lag 142 philosophy of 139–40, 143 programmes 13 Shramadana movement 142 songs of 142 in Sri Lanka 13 Schieffer, Alexander 6, 111–12, 125, 196 scholars 45, 67, 150, 269, 277–8 scholarships 19, 263, 278, 282 schools 17, 81, 116, 144, 185, 203, 216, 253, 255, 265, 296, 307–8, 311, 314 black African 231 inishing 308 high 312 liberalization 80 modern business 168 private 99 secondary 142, 317 Schreiner, Olive 126 Schwartz, Andrew 161–3 science 12–13, 52–4, 56–7, 64, 71–2, 101, 143–5, 167–8, 226–7, 229–30, 234–5, 239–42, 244, 248–9, 265–6, 269, 273, 278–9 of biomimicry 124, 283 experimental 269 human 241

methods of 123, 144, 269 modern 102, 136, 144, 158, 225, 274, 283, 285 physical 103–5 social 135, 146, 240, 282, 299, 316 spiritual 12, 132 Western versus Asian 144–6 scientists 20, 144–5, 240, 242, 244–8, 269, 283 competencies of 244 contribution of 244 Muslim 269 social 14, 86, 167, 169, 191 SDF 19, 314, 316–17 second tier of thinking systems 124 Second World War 161, 180, 185, 192, 290 sectoral documents 197 sectors 143, 183, 188–9, 196, 201, 297, 324 agricultural 83 informal 10, 77 subsistence 78, 80, 83 Sekem 3, 12, 19, 32, 130, 284–5, 294–6, 302, 305–6, 312–24, 327 addressing societal challenges 314 approach of sustainable agriculture ++ 315 approach to agriculture 315, 317–18 community 316 context of 32 cotton production 321 cultural context of 324 development model of 318 economic life of 19, 314 enterprises 306, 319 grounding in local nature and culture 321 grounding of in Islam 317 groups of companies 315 initiative 323 initiatives 323 integral Egyptian enterprise 276 leadership of 321 operations conducted according to fairtrade principles 320 proit goes to the Sekem Development Foundation 314

I n d e x 353 a proit-making enterprise not aiming for proit maximization 313 type holistic initiatives 321 vision statement 315–16, 318 Sekem Development Foundation see SDF Sekem Group 306, 313 Sekem Holding 305 self-consciousness 100, 105, 131 irst 106 human 226 new collective 105 self-development, process of 107, 215 self-discipline 157 self-improvement 213–14 self-interest 130–31, 146, 182, 220, 225, 227–8, 319 self-management 15, 157, 177, 179–80, 193 movement in Yugoslavia 189 system 180 theory 180 self-regulations 109, 245 The Selish Gene 113 Šempas community 181, 194 Senegal 288 Sentrupert (village) 198–9, 205 separation of powers 78, 227, 242–3, 249 Shaik, Ahmed 293 Shari’a law 264, 267–8, 271 Sinai 56, 291 Singapore 150 SIP 197–8 Six Day War 290 Skelly, Ian 274, 285 Slav society 180 slavery 41, 216, 218 Slovenia 1, 4, 15–16, 165–6, 180–81, 189, 191–205, 327 Development Strategy 197 economy 16, 197, 200, 204 folklore 195 industrial policy 198 and Janez Drnovšek 166 Ministry of Agriculture 196 people of 195 polity 15 social economy 205 traditions 191, 195, 202

transformation agents 196 welfare system 200 wood industry 202 Slovenian Centre for Integral Development 200 Slovenian Industrial Policy see SIP Slovenian National Assembly 201 Slovenians 4, 180, 192–3, 197, 204 Smith, Adam 34, 81, 125, 168, 228, 235 social care 188–9 social economy 15, 189, 192, 196, 200 social enterprise 188, 200–201 Social Entrepreneurship Act 2012 201 Social Innovation Centre 322–4 social order 131, 133, 221, 300 social relations 58, 70, 187–8 social responsibility 197, 200–202, 205, 211, 271, 274, 300 corporate 197, 300 development of 201 social scientists 14, 86, 167, 169, 191 social transformation of society 263 socialism 64, 68–9, 78, 88, 101, 107–8, 132, 158, 161, 163–4, 184, 196, 290 socialization of capital 187 societal challenges of Egypt 314 society 6–10, 12–15, 17–19, 28–30, 37–9, 41–4, 58–9, 70–71, 99–100, 102–10, 135–7, 146–50, 155–7, 182–3, 262–6, 268–70, 301–2, 320–5 advancement of 269 agricultural 42 ancient 274 Arabian 270 authoritarian 46 band-level 39 co-operative 191 communitarian 68 consumerist 146 cooperative 15 developing 79 Egyptian 292, 317, 321 friendly 182 German 102 global 137, 235 inclusive 196 independent life of 14, 156

354 I n t e g r a l P o l i t y Indian 103 industrial 231 Islamization of 19, 288 mass bureaucratic 227 mass consumption 147 medieval 267 modern 101, 176, 217 multifaceted 297 planetary 251 political 38, 234–5 regimented 101 segmentary 39 self-managing 180 state-level 40–41 stateless 51, 57, 59 sustainable 137, 147, 195 traditional 88, 285 tribal 39–41, 47, 122 tribal-level 40 socio-economic development 80, 104–5 socio-ethical doctrines 68 sociology 102, 113–14 Socrates 168, 216, 224, 228, 235 software 170, 254 soil 11, 19, 58, 89, 91, 95, 194, 217, 280–82, 295, 305, 313, 315, 317 black 275 enriched 280 indigenous 11, 95 organisms 319 Somalia 25, 32, 34 Somalis 8, 26, 32–4 Soul and Mind, study of 102 South Africa 16, 86, 111–12, 114, 119–20, 126, 223, 226, 230–31, 274 post-apartheid 78, 112 racist apartheid regime of 231 Trans4m 11, 89 South Africans 16, 30, 69, 114, 116, 126, 232 South Korea 150 southern Africa, pre-colonial 86 southern humanism 259 Spain 14, 47, 114, 160, 172, 174, 278, 290 spiral dynamics 2, 12, 111–16, 118–19, 125, 139, 295 Spiral Dynamics 2

spiral dynamics branches of 114 cultural and spiritual emergence with 111 culturally laden 126 evolved 12 practice of 113 synthesized 114 terms of 324 theory of 116, 118 Spiral Dynamics Integral 112–15 spiritual development 136, 312 spiritual dimensions of life 166 spiritual rocks 52 spirituality 7, 13, 51, 99, 102, 111–12, 126, 129, 134, 139–40, 150, 155, 197–9, 216, 256, 302 engaged 129 renew humanity’s 123 widest 106 Sri Aurobindo’s World Order 101 Sri Lanka 11, 13, 138–42, 146–9 state 8, 10, 25–31, 34, 37–9, 41–4, 46–7, 67– 9, 75–81, 87, 99–100, 108–9, 160–61, 188–9, 216–17, 220, 294–5, 301 centralized 37, 55, 59 city 189, 269 collective 108 colonial 76, 79 economic 105 formation 41–2 formation of 41–2, 44, 46 heterogeneous 70 ideological 161 independent 57 liberal 297 medieval period 44 modern 8, 37, 40, 42–3, 48, 158 monopolies 69 multinational 63, 67 post-colonial 69, 76 Stefanik, Milan 160 Stellenbosch Business School 114 stewardship, concept of 299, 319 strategies 3, 11, 33, 75–7, 81, 92, 172–3, 187, 196, 204, 234 acquisition 186

I n d e x 355 draft 196 economic development 10, 75 export-promotion 81 Sustainability Flower 3, 284, 305–6 sustainable agriculture 314–15, 318, 321 sustainable development 1, 3, 6–7, 136, 138, 148–9, 196–7, 285, 287–8, 294–5, 298, 300–302, 305–6, 314, 316–17, 320, 322–3, 325 cultural dimension of 200 goals 196 integral approach to 6, 193, 306 movement 298 Switzerland 203 symbolism 18, 102, 274–7 systems 55, 59, 75, 80, 113–14, 116, 118, 120–21, 124, 126, 155–6, 158–9, 163, 187–9, 191, 281, 290, 292 advanced 56 agricultural 319 communication 83, 148 communitarian 69 essential life-support 279 free enterprise 69 global 77, 82 public 188 rational 106 social 192, 290–91 traditional African 69 Taiwan 150 taqwa, concept of 261, 265 technology 47, 51, 64, 71–2, 101, 120, 123, 144–7, 149–50, 155, 159, 166–7, 191–2, 197–8, 203, 206, 283, 285 challenge-related 198 miraculous 225 renewable energy 198 spanned 175 sustainable 283 transfer of 64, 188 village 147 Tembo, Mai 11 Thatcher, Margaret 162 Thembu people 233 thinking systems 113, 116–22, 124, 126 appropriate 120

Beige level of 120 Blue level of 122 digital 119 expressive individualistic 121, 124 second tier of 124 Third World countries 121–2, 124 Third World Forum, Dakar 75 Thompson, William 182 ‘threefold commonwealth’ 12–13, 129–31, 135, 139, 277 Threefold Commonwealth 3 time-contingent innovation 174 Tonkin, Alan 114 tourism 199–200 Trade Villages 255 tradition 8, 10, 27–8, 63, 66–7, 70–71, 75, 85–6, 89, 107, 133, 139, 160, 192, 195, 260–61, 271, 276 alien 71 ancient 277 co-operative 189 decision-making 83 fossilized 262 indigenous 71 oral 89 orthodox 45 political 67, 185 religious 139 sacred 279–80, 285 social economic 192 spiritual 214 Tradition and Modernity: Philosophical Relections on the African Experience 276 traditional morality 141–2 Trans4m Centre for Integral Development, Geneva 6, 125 Trans4m doctoral research community 31 Trans4m in South Africa 11, 89 transformation 9, 11, 43, 51, 63, 70, 78, 80–81, 95, 119, 126, 134, 149, 163, 183, 233, 235, 245 cultural 264 economic 11, 88–9, 302 process 90, 176 social 13, 263 societal 129, 321, 324

356 I n t e g r a l P o l i t y tribalism 40, 42 Trumpf (German machine tool maker) 171–4 Truth Force 112 Turquoise 117, 124–5 United Nations 136 United States see USA unity of mankind 101 unity of nature 266 university 47, 53, 112, 203, 224, 235, 269, 278, 281, 308–9, 323–5 emerging modern 44 new 302 partner 323 technical 172 University of Bologna 44 University of Cambridge 16, 223 University of Hawai’i West Oahu 3, 16, 223 USA 11–12, 16–17, 46–7, 51–2, 111, 114, 167, 170, 189, 191, 206–7, 211–23, 251–2, 287, 289, 291, 293, 327 culture 216 democracy 219 elections 179 re-mythologizing of 217 and Western Europe 251 Value Quotient see VQ value systems 12, 113–14, 117, 119–20, 124, 146 Gravesian 115–16 lower level 12, 120 values 64–5, 67–70, 72–3, 89, 113–14, 116, 135, 137, 139, 156–7, 200, 202–4, 230, 242–3, 249, 280, 299–300, 318 agricultural 143 family-community 300 Vanek, Jaroslav 15, 179 Viljoen, Rica 112, 114, 116–22, 125 villagers 11, 13, 88, 94, 96, 146 illiterate 142 local 313 villages 9, 11, 58, 60, 66, 81, 92, 139, 141–3, 145–9, 198, 308 violence 44, 141, 143–5, 147, 150, 161, 219, 231, 236, 262, 264

of apartheid 231 terrifying 235 vision of human nature 212 von Liebig, Justus 282 voucher privatization 164 VQ 118–19 Wahhabite models 291 war 31, 44, 54, 99, 108, 166, 180, 185, 191, 220, 291–2, 295–6, 310 civil 43, 76, 79, 141, 213, 219, 293 post-Cold 79 racial 232 tribal 57 unprecedented internecine 32 Washington, George 16, 211–14, 221 Weber, Max 41, 44 Werth, Martha 310–12 West Africa 19 Western civilization 52, 235, 274, 277 Western colonialism 140 Western concept of kingship 55 Western conventional economic system 87 Western democracies 160 Western economics 163 Western education 89 Western Europe 37, 45–6, 134, 161, 239 Western expansionism 144 Western faith 52 Western thinking 280, 282 Westernization 19, 61, 71–2, 275, 288 ‘wilderness origins’ 223 wildlife 267, 315, 319–20 Williams, Chancellor 9–10, 27, 39, 48, 51–7, 59–61, 67, 86, 109, 206, 225 Witzel, Morgan 167–8 worker co-operative, see SACMI worker compensation 188 worker safeguards 163 worker-student bloc 290 workers 123, 131–2, 163, 180, 182–3, 185–7, 191, 200, 308, 318 landless 185 manual 133 middle-class 292 opposition movements 292 workings of a group-soul 105, 109–10

I n d e x 357 World Bank 10, 34, 77, 79–80, 150, 291, 296 World Social Forum 251 World Trade Organization 135 World Wide Web 123 worldviews 2, 115–16, 118, 133, 233, 235, 259, 324 Islamic 299 latent 119 mechanistic 319 scientiic 158 traditional 9 Yellow MEME 324 Yemen Civil War 290 Yogic self-education 100

Yugoslav Self-Management 15 Yugoslavia 179–80, 182, 189, 193 Zagreb 164 ZANUPF government 88 Zen Buddhists 216 Zimbabwe 1, 11, 75, 81, 85–7, 93–6, 122 colonization of 87 economy 87 people 11, 86–7 pre-colonial history of 68, 87 pre-independence 87 present-day 86 rural 11, 60, 85 Zimbabwean Department of Agriculture 90

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