The Essence of God
Ingenito; My dear student Innoxus, enlighten me on the existential questions that have been tormenting my soul like leeches eating the rotten ulcers in the body. You alone has the courage and honesty to discuss from the heart. Have you ever pondered on God?
Innoxus; Master! I have to ask this question to you. Like a child estranged from the mother and wandering in the wilderness, my heart is troubled with such existential questions. Please enlighten me on this.
Ingenito; The Being or God constitutes the trinity of Energy, Intelligence and Love. This trinity is the essence of the Being or God. Creation is the process of the Becoming of the Being. In this process of Becoming, the Being is in the creation. In other words, the Being – or I shall call it the Creator- is not independent of the creation. The Being is not a person but an authentic Truth that is manifested in all forms of the creations – both inorganic and organic.
In the Book of Genesis, Yahweh reveals itself to Moses in the Mount of Sinai in the following words. “I am THAT I am”. What is THAT? It is the ultimate Reality.
The Hindu religion talks about MAYA which has two syllables; MA means not and YA means THAT. Anything that is not THAT is MAYA or illusion (Illusion is not the appropriate synonym for MAYA but I do not have any other word right now)
If the mind concludes that the earth with all its bio diversity and systems created by human beings is the ultimate reality, independent of THAT or Being, then it is MAYA. On the other hand, if the Being is perceived in all the creations, the MAYA evaporates like a dew drop from the sunlight.
In the book of Genesis, the presence of God in the creation is asserted in the following words; “God reveals in history, nature, time and space”. This statement shall be interpreted as that the creator is in the creations. Lord Krishna also reveals his omnipresence in the creations to Arjuna in the following words” I am the universe, fire, water, wind, the trees, the king, the subject, the life and even death” Krishna even goes to the extent of asserting that He is in Arjuna also.
What then constitutes the essence of God? Quantum Physics asserts with certainty that there exists only one unit of energy in the Universe that is neither created nor can it be destroyed.
This Inness of the Being in the organic and inorganic forms constitutes the mystery of Becoming.
First, in the grand design of the inorganic forms in the Universe and then the organic evolution of life forms in this world.
This evolution is manifested at two levels; first in the eternal conflict in man between his essence and existence. This conflict starts with the fall of Adam, the representative of man. In Adam, the mind came into being or Adam was conscious of his existence. He was the archetype of the Descartes model of existence. “ I think, therefore I exist”. He is the first inventor of ethics, the good and bad and thereby he gets alienated from his essence. He was in total communion with God before his fall. In other words, he identified himself with his essence, the God in himself.
The fall of Adam was the starting point of the evolution of civilization which includes religions, political systems, and economic systems. The eternal internal conflict between essence and existence is manifested through the Hegelian triad of thesis, anti-thesis and synthesis. This process constitutes the evolution of God. Love and Intelligence fashion the Becoming into a cosmic unity based on cosmic justice. We shall find the evidence of this in the evolution of God in the following chapters.
We shall find the presence of this trinity in the evolution.
Birth of the Universe
Innoxus; Dear Master! What constitutes, then is the trinity of evolution. Has this trinity influenced the second evolution of God?
Ingenito; Nobody can answer this question with authority. But I am sharing my views that springs from the depth of my heart or say, subconscious mind. Scientific world is now focused on the search of God and the origin of life in the Universe. Scientific experiments are going on in the western world to find proof for the birth of Universe through a scientific assumption called Big Bang.
The most popular theory of our universe’s origin centers on a cosmic cataclysm unmatched in all of history—the big bang. This theory was born of the observation that other galaxies are moving away from our own at great speed, in all directions, as if they had all been propelled by an ancient explosive force.
Before the big bang, scientists believe, the entire vastness of the observable universe, including all of its matter and radiation, was compressed into a hot, dense mass just a few millimeters across. This nearly incomprehensible state is theorized to have existed for just a fraction of the first second of time.
Big bang proponents suggest that some 10 billion to 20 billion years ago, a massive blast allowed all the universe’s known matter and energy—even space and time themselves—to spring from some ancient and unknown type of energy.
The theory maintains that, in the instant—a trillion-trillionth of a second—after the big bang, the universe expanded with incomprehensible speed from its pebble-size origin to astronomical scope. Expansion has apparently continued, but much more slowly, over the ensuing billions of years.
Scientists can’t be sure exactly how the universe evolved after the big bang. Many believe that as time passed and matter cooled, more diverse kinds of atoms began to form, and they eventually condensed into the stars and galaxies of our present universe.
The big bang theory leaves several major questions unanswered. One is the original cause of the big bang itself. Several answers have been proposed to address this fundamental question, but none has been proven—and even adequately testing them has proven to be a formidable challenge.
If we take a deep look into the structure of the Universe and the atoms, we are amazed to find the hands of Intelligence and Love in the design and functioning of the universe.
There are two worlds in the universe. They are seen world and unseen world. Quantum physics agree that there is only one unit of energy that transform into other forms of energy through a process. This single unit of energy is neither created nor can it be destroyed. There is existence of dark energy – 64% which we cannot see. One such example is Black Holes which is mega energy concentrated in a single point. The gravity is such that it shall draw stars bigger than Sun and consume it without leaving any trace. But we cannot see them as we see the planets and stars.
Now the atoms. Atom is the smallest minute form of matter. The existence of atom defies human eye sight or the most advanced scientific telescope. The existence of atom is proved by the scientists through scientific theories. The existential proof of atom was demonstrated in the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during the Second World War. Inside the atom there is space in which protons, electrons and neutrons revolve at huge speed. If the atoms are split, it releases immense energy. Two questions still defy any rational answer to the scientific world. Who or what created the atom. How is it that minute particles, proton, neutron and a host of other particles, found their way into atom? These atoms are the building blocks of the stars, planets and all inorganic matters in the world. Trillions and trillions of atoms form the planets and stars and mountains in the world. There seems to be the hand of an unseen skillful artisan at work behind this phenomenon.
Now we shall take a look at the solar system. Sun holds all the nine planets and the satellites, say moon, in their fixed orbits through the massive gravitational force of the sun. Let us take a look from the angle of the planets. What holds the Sun as the center of the orbit of the planets? It is the combined force of the gravitation of the all planets. Moreover, each planet holds other planets in their fixed orbits through its gravitational pulls and pressure. Mercury not only holds the Sun at the center of the solar system, but it has a definite role in keeping the Earth in its orbit and vice versa. In other words, it is all for each and each for all.
We shall find the presence of the trinity of the Being in the solar system. First it is the unseen energy field that maintains the cosmic harmony. The divine intelligence designs and maintains the planets in their orbits. Above all, it is the Love that creates the condition for each for all and all for each. The life in Earth is possible only through the presence of this trinity of the Being in the evolution of the universe and the solar system. We shall discuss more of this trinity phenomenon under Thesis, Anti Thesis and Synthesis dialogue.
Evolution of life forms in the world
Innoxus; Master! What was the next logical development, I mean the second evolution of God.
Ingenito; Dear Innoxus, philosophers, theologians and scientists are yet to come up with authentic evidence to explain the origin and evolution of God or the creative force. But I shall enlighten you with my limited understanding of the evolutionary theory.
Religion – mythologies and organized religions – philosophy and science have been attempting to explain the origin of life in this world through their areas of investigation. True philosophy – Sophos – and religion relied on revelation of Truth to explain God and Creation; Science relied on empirical evidence through scientific investigation to find out the origin of life in the world. Let us start with religion and philosophy first.
Genesis, the first of the five books called Pentateuch, starts with an account of creation of life forms..
Creation of life forms began with vegetation, followed by sea based living organisms, say fish, then birds which was followed by wild animals. Finally man was created in the image of God. This is the process of evolution. . However, modern science agrees with this process of evolution in many areas except the beginning.
There has been consensus of opinion among the scientists that the universe and life forms are the outcome of a process called evolution. The geologists studying the rocks and stones for traces of early life forms in the form of fossils or markings have come to a conclusion that early life forms originated in the sea. The Record of Rocks, the reference point of origin of life is estimated to be 1,600 millions of years old. The earliest of the rocks called Azoic rocks contain no traces of life. The first traces of life forms, say fishes, appeared in the Silurian division of Palaeozic Rocks division, about 500 million years ago. The organic evolution are traced from this point.
What are these life forms consists of. What builds these life forms? Modern science has proved with authentic evidence that cells are the primary building blocks of all life forms. Now they talk of genes which contain DNA structure in helix form. Inside the DNA are found pairs of chromosomes. The mystery of the biodiversity of life forms is now resolved very convincingly.
The difference in the number of pairs of chromosomes determines the different species. Like species beget the like due to this constant, say fixed number of chromosomes. Lions beget only lions and human beings only human beings. Inside the chromosomes, the scientists have discovered certain proteins that retain genetic memory. This memory spans seven generations. For example, when a child is born, its genes contain certain hereditary traits that include color of the skin, eyes, and even certain diseases. Besides, the intellectual faculty of the fore fathers and certain emotions are stored inside the genes. Four generations of fore fathers may be black complexioned but the child may be white. This is due to the genetic memory of the genes. The fifth generation of the forefather (great, great and great grant father) might be white complexioned. This is the unbroken chain of life.
The roses may blossom and wither but the rosiness is eternal. Similarly, man may born and die. But human beings exist for ever. In other words, the individual is a link of the chain of life. When he dies, he leaves a part of him through his sons and daughters. He continues to exist.
Is there any similar thinking in religious scriptures? In the Book of Genesis it is said; God reveals through history, nature, space and time. The omnipresence of the creator in the creations is stressed through these words. But in Baghavad Gita, Lord Krishna declares His Inness in the creations; I am the sky, water, wind fire and all the best elements of nature. Moreover, Arjuna I am in you.
All matters are the assembly of atoms and each atom is a mini solar system. .Proton and neutron rotate round a nucleus inside the atom. It should be borne in mind that atom belongs to the unseen world. The gene is a much more complex structure.
The question is what created the atom and gene. Let us now hear what Einstein says of this. He declared openly that he did not believe in the God of the religion. Though a Jew, he had no faith in Yahweh. But confronted by the mysteries of the universe and cosmic harmony – the immense black energy, expansion of the Universe, the order and discipline of the solar system, the multitude of biodiversity – he declared in the Solvay Conference of Nobel Laureates that there is a God and the God does not play dice.
The Inness of the Being in the creation with such order and harmony reflects the unseen hand of the Divine Intelligence or Holy Spirit. The grant design of the universe is designed by the Divine Intelligence.
The Becoming of the Being is the evolution of creation.
The fall of Adam
Innoxus; Dear Master, please explain to me what is meant by the fall of Adam. Is knowledge a sin?
Ingenito; One of the most controversial questions that have been tormenting the theologians of Christianity and Judaism for ages. .
First, let us do deep into the pre fall state of Adam. Always keep in mind that Adam is the representative of the human being. Whether Adam lived or not in history is not the question here. There is no history of civilization but evolution of the civilization of mankind. This evolution started from one point. That point is Adam.
Before the fall, Adam lived by his essence like a child. Jesus said; allow the children to come unto me, because the Kingdom of God belongs to them. Adam was not conscious of his existence – food, clothing or house. In other words, the Garden of Eden was a Kingdom of God.
Then he ate the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge. Suddenly he was conscious of his existence. He became conscious of his body and felt uneasy over his nakedness. He covered his body, the naval part of his body with leaves. This is an important point in the evolution of man and civilization. This point is the birth of ethics – what is good and what is bad. We shall say that mind was born. Adam declared unto himself like Descartes’ I think, therefore I exist’. An entirely new dimension in the life of Adam happened here. Adam was the first judge against sex. Hence he concealed his naval part first. –
From that point onwards, the development of human civilization is characterized by the eternal clash between essence and existence. This clash is manifested through the Hegelian triad of Thesis,- Anti thesis and Synthesis.
Innoxus; Dear Master, when Adam was conscious of his existence, what happened to his essence? Was he bereft of his essence or was it with him?
Ingenito; Godliness is the essence of every man including Adam. Godliness is love in one self and love in God. It is the image of God. You are born with your essence and you cannot strip it off. The child is an example. It is full of love. It has total faith in the mother. Similarly, if you are rooted in your essence, you love yourself and others. Moreover, you will have faith in the God, a loving God. You are not alone but part of the world. There is a sense of inclusiveness. But once you are conscious of your existence, the focus shifted to material needs.
First you think of the material needs of the body – food, clothing, and housing. If Adam stops with that there is little harm. The concern for material needs starts grow bigger and bigger. Man becomes concerned about his family. Now he starts acquiring more wealth to ensure the material needs for the future of the family members. When everybody in a community starts thinking on this line, there are islands of families controlling a portion of resources of the earth. This is the genesis of capitalism. Existence is now transformed into Thesis, a system focusing on materialism, leading to socio economic and political inequalities. There emerges a powerful ruling class that controls much of the land and means of production. The vast majority is left outside the mainstream. This is the climax of Thesis. The Essence in man, the godliness or love resists such injustice. This resistance becomes the Anti-thesis. At certain point of time, God spearheads the Anti-thesis through an incarnation. Then the inevitable clash between Thesis and Anti thesis results in the collapse of the Thesis and a new Synthesis is born. This is the process of the progress of the civilization which includes the social, economic and political systems created by man. To put it in simple Marxian terms it is a constant struggle to control the land and means of production by one section and a counter force to de control the ownership.
Innoxus; In the clash between Thesis and Anti thesis, why not Anti thesis emerges victorious, why Synthesis emerges?
Ingenito; This is baffling the philosophers, social scientists and historians. To me it is the mystery of the evolution of God. When Thesis collapses, it incorporates certain elements of Thesis and certain elements of Anti thesis to form Synthesis.
Innoxus; Dear Master, shall you enlighten me with an example from history about this process?
Ingenito; We shall analyze the rise and fall of Roman Empire, the fourth evolution of God here. It is a classical example of the most cruel and inhuman form of Capitalism in the ancient history. The system of slavery was institutionalized with the sanction of the State, the Roman Empire. Except the Roman citizens, the slaves – they are also human beings – were treated like animals. They were forced to work as unpaid laborers in the farms of the Roman citizens, particularly the rich and the powerful. The strong able bodied youth were singled out and imparted heavy training in martial arts. The Romans used to conduct cruel game festival as an entertainment in large stadiums. The slaves or gladiators would be forced to fight against each other in the games with weapons. The winner would get freedom and the loser death.
These gladiators or slaves lived together in large halls. They ate together, slept together. They had only one identity, the slaves. There was so much affection and love between them. All of a sudden, they were forced to fight against each other like mad dogs. They would fight fiercely to protect their lives. The friend of yesterday was suddenly turned into a Satan. The crowd, they were also human beings roared and enjoyed this inhuman fight. A brother was killing his own brother like a mad dog.
The vast resources of Africa, Middle East and Europe were under the control of the small number of Roman citizens who constitute the Roman Empire. The sons of the soil – the natives of these countries had no control over their land. They were alienated from their own land by the Roman Army and Roman Laws. This is the climax of the Thesis.
Now Jesus emerged with his Kingdom of God gospel. This is the Anti thesis, the gospel of love. The Divine Intelligence or the Holy Ghost rebelled against the Roman Empire through Jesus. Ultimately the Roman Empire collapsed and the Christian Empire emerged as Synthesis. Normally, the Kingdom of God would have dawned on earth. What happened? The Christian Empire is a mixture of Roman Empire and the Kingdom of God. Soon corruption set in and the Christian Empire turned into a Thesis – Feudalism emerged. We shall see the details of this process in the fourth evolution of God.
Kingdom of God
Innoxus; Dear Master and the Enlightened One, throw some lights on ‘The Kingdom of God? Does it refer to a place or a mere concept?
Ingenito; My dear disciple, you have never asked a question that has relevance and appropriates to the 21st century. Thank You for your innocence.
Kingdom of God starts with man or it should start with you. Jesus said” Kingdom of God is in you”. It is not somewhere out in the space. It is a condition of the mind. To begin with, it is a state of mind. Jesus insists on following the golden command – the second command of the Ten Commandments – as a pre condition to enter into the Kingdom of God. It is; “Love thy neighbor as you love thyself”. The commandment has two parts. First, Love thyself. Now why should you love yourself?. In the Book of Genesis, we come across the saying that man was created in the image of God. What is the image? The essence of God is Love. Hence the essence of man is also love. When you are conscious of the love deeply rooted in your heart, you shall declare that God is in you. This is how I interpret the saying of the Christ in St. John; verse 13. When Pharisees questioned how Jesus could claim that he is the Son of God, Jesus replied” You are also Gods, is it not written in the Scriptures”. When you realize love in you, you cannot but love yourself because you are the image of God.
Innoxus; Dear Master, when you say love yourself, does it mean that one should love his body?
Ingenito; Really a wonderful doubt. St. Paul in his Epistle to Corinthians declares thus” Your body is the temple of the God”. When your heart is filled with love, then it is the seat of God. It is then a spiritual imperative to love your body.
Innoxus; Dear master, is it not the same as the Paramatma and Jeevatma relationship we come across the Hindu religious scriptures?
Ingenito; Exactly the same. The essence of man – Jeevatma is identified with God, the Paramatma. In other words, the Creator is one with the creation. We shall return to the Kingdom of God. Love of the body refers to the basic physical and mental requirements. In the Lord’s prayer we come across only one request” give us our daily bread”. The body requires food for nourishment. That is the basic and fundamental need. We must develop the culture of enough. Anything beyond is capitalism and in the Kingdom of God, there is no room for capitalistic thinking “not enough”.
Now we shall see the second part of the golden commandment. Love thy neighbor as you love thyself. A teacher of Law asked “who is my neighbour?” and Jesus gave answer through a beautiful parable. “There was a man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and he fell into the hands of the robbers. They stripped him, beat him and went off leaving him half dead. It happened a priest was going along that road and saw the man, but passed by on the other side. Likewise, a Levite saw the man and passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan too, was going that way, and when he came upon the man, he was moved with compassion. He went over him and treated his wounds with oil and wine and wrapped them with bandages. Then he put him on his mount and brought him to an inn where he took care of him. The next day he had to set off, but he gave two silver coins to the inn keeper and told him; ‘Take care of him and whatever you spend on him, I will repay when I come back’ The Jesus asked” Which of these three, do you think, made himself neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” The teacher of the Law answered” The one who had mercy on him” And Jesus said” Go then and do the same”. When you love thy neighbour, you become the neighbour. You will do what he does. The neighbour does help others in utter need out of love. You also help others out of love. Then you enter into the kingdom of God.
When the disciples asked Jesus who would qualify to enter into Kingdom of God, Jesus replied thus; “People from east and west will throng at the gate of heaven. They will shout “Oh, Lord. We prayed in the temples in your name, we performed miracles in your name. But I will tell them; ‘ I was hungry and you fed me not, I was without clothes and you clothed me not, I was sick and you attended me not, I was in jail and you visited me not’ They will ask, Lord when you were hungry, when you were without dress, when you were in jail and when you were sick? I will reply; Have you not seen the poor who were hungry, sick, without dress and in jail. They are me”
Jesus then says emphatically that those who gave food for those who were hungry gave clothes to those who were without dress, attended on the sick and visited the poor in jail are eligible to enter into the Kingdom of God. The world will become Kingdom of God if everybody gets their basic needs out of love.
In the Kingdom of God, everybody lives like a child. The child has no anxiety for future. It is not concerned about amassing wealth and money for future. Again Jesus said; look at the birds, they never sow, nor reap and store food in the barns; God provides them their food. This is the mindset of the child. It has faith in the mother that she will feed her. The child only loves. If we develop such a mindset where essence and existence are in full harmony, we shall create Kingdom of God in this earth.
Innoxus; Dear Master, does not communism or socialism also stress on the basic needs to all, say food, shelter, medical support and political justice? Is communism and Kingdom of God is the same?
Ingenito; At the functional level, there are similarities. But communism or socialism believes in perfect equality. Everybody is equal before law. There is no rich and the poor. Everybody is legally entitled to get their basic needs and justice. There is a political structure and legal system to ensure this equality. But the Kingdom of god is not a social or political system. Love is the only constitution in the kingdom of God. It is a large community of people filled with love because we are the children of the loving father. The hunger of my brother is my hunger; the illness of my sister is my illness. We have equal rights over the resources of the earth as it belongs to our father in heaven. The earth has adequate resources to meet the needs of everybody but not the greed. Greed is the child of capitalism because greed accumulates wealth and it is person centric not community centric. So there is no place for capitalism in the Kingdom of God. That is why Jesus began the Lord’s Prayer with; ‘Our father in heaven; let thy kingdom come’. There is a moral responsibility for every member in the Kingdom of God to utilize the resources of the earth to meet the basic needs. There is no question of taking ownership of the resources of the earth and over exploitation of its resources. There is no room for global warming and destruction of biodiversity as God is revealed in Nature. Destruction of Nature is destruction of God.
In other words, there exists a perfect harmony between essence and existence in the Kingdom of God.
The early converts to Christianity (there was no religion as Christianity immediately after Jesus Christ) lived in small communes. Love in Christ bound them together. Whatever income they earned was placed before the commune which provided adequate money for each member to look after his/her family. The culture of enough was the economic policy of these communes. Each for all and all for each was the social ethics. Love was the religion they believed in. But the conversion of Emperor Constantine and the emergence of Christian Empire buried Christ and the early Christian communes under foundation of the Roman Catholic Church.
Innoxus; Master, is it possible to establish the Kingdom of God in this world. Has any attempt been made after Jesus to experiment this?
Ingenito; Before Jesus, say about 500 AD, Pythagoras made a bold attempt to establish a model commune system based on the Kingdom of God, though he was not conscious of the term Kingdom of God. But he met stiff opposition from the capitalist forces and his community was persecuted and his commune was destroyed.
In the 20th century, two persons attempted create an egalitarian community based on the universal principles of equality to justice and opportunity. First, the Grama Swaraj model of Gandhi. Gandhi visualized a Utopian social, economic and political model. Each Panchayat is an independent political and economic unit. The land belongs to the Panchayat which provides everything for the basic needs of the community members, but to their greed. This is the spiritual content of this model. Cottage industries and village crafts define the economic policies of the Grama Swaraj. The political structure is secular in the sense that it accommodates everybody irrespective of caste or religious background. It is unfortunate that the Indian Constitution buried his Utopian model under the volumes of economic and political policies.
Innoxus; Dear Master, please bear with me for the intrusion. Do we not have the Panchayat Raj system in working all over India through constitutional amendments?
Ingenito; The present Panchayat Raj system is only an extension of the Parliamentary and Legislative political systems. We have a three tier system of governance. The Parliamentary system regulates the Union or Central Government, the Legislative system regulates the State Governments and the Panchayat system regulates the villages. The common evil in these three systems is that they are controlled by political parties with the blessing of the big business corporate houses. The Gram Swaraj died through abortion with the birth of the free India.
Now let us see the other bold experiment. First you must know the person who attempted the model. Innoxus, have you heard of Polpot, the communist chief of Kampuchea, the erstwhile Cambodia?
Innoxus; Yes, yes, I have heard about him. The cruel military dictator who massacred tens and thousands of innocent people. Am I right?
Ingenito; No, you are not right. Your understanding is conditioned by the massive brain washing conducted through media by the western countries, particularly United States. Polpot was a Buddhist monk and a poet by nature. Can you imagine a Buddhist monk and a poet be a cruel man killing tens and thousands of people? Buddhists are trained to be soft. But a poet has highest level of emotional integrity. Polpot is a mixture of both. He went to study religion in Sobourne University in France. There he came across two influences. First, the commune system of Marxism of Chairman Mao Tse Tung of China. Second influence is Kibbutz commune of Jews. In both systems, the land and means of productions are under the control of the commune. All the members of the commune are treated as equals. But there is a qualitative difference between the two systems. In the Chinese commune system, everybody worked in the commune and they got equal wages. They had to look after their families with their earnings. Since the commune owned all means of production and land, the price of the goods were determined by the commune. The prices of the essential commodities were always within the earnings of the members. However, in the Kibbutz system, the commune takes care of the all needs of the members which include education of the children, medical assistance and even marriage expenses. The community members have no need to save money or acquire wealth for future. Impressed by the plus and minuses of these two systems, Polpot developed an innovative but revolutionary politico economic system based on agriculture. It has many similarities with the Kingdom of God and much dissimilarity.
First he closed down all the major industries, except arms industry, and the universities. He also dared to abolish currency, particularly dollar. He divided the country into small communes – like the districts in India. The communes were the real owners of the land and all the means of production. Agriculture, cottage industries and village crafts enjoyed the patronage of the State. All the members of the commune get same dress and same food. They lived in large halls. Individual house ownership – the embryo of Capitalism – was not allowed in the State. There was community kitchen in each village. The State took over the responsibility of the education and future job of the children of the commune members. But everything was done through gun point because Polpot believed in the doctrine of Justice articulated by his mentor, Chairman Mao. That is Justice is born out of the barrel of the gun. It was not love that united the commune members as one family. It was fear that united them.
Do you know what happened to Polpot and his agrarian commune? America was so scared of Polpot. If Cambodia survived even without dollars, then there was a possibility that more and more third world countries might emulate this move. America survives as a world power only through its dollar – the world currency. To say no to dollar means no to America. Hence it was hell bent to destroy Polpot. But it was very difficult task for America to do away with Polpot alone as he enjoyed total support of Mao and the Chinese Army. Now America found the enemy’s enemy – Russia which was also annoyed by the agrarian commune system. The then Soviet Union considered that only Russia had monopoly over communism. They were equally scared of Polpot and his rival commune system. At this point, both Russia and America joined hands and instigated Vietnam to wage a war on Cambodia and eliminate Polpot. When Vietnam invaded Cambodia, Mao ordered the Red Army to attack Vietnam. Russia launched a massive border war on China. The Red Army was alarmed at the turn of events. China has a separate constitution for the army. The role of the Red Army is to secure the borders of China against foreign invasion only. Hence the Red Army Generals revolted against Mao and persuaded him to ditch Polpot. Mao could not but oblige Red Army. Polpot was eventually overthrown by Vietnam and Polpot and his Utopian agrarian commune are now buried in the jungles of Thailand.
There is one important lesson from history. Capitalism will not allow the emergences of Kingdom of God in this world.
Innoxus; Master, I have two doubts. Is Kingdom of God is a system of charity? For example, I was hungry and ye fed me etc. Second, is it possible to establish or create a model based on the Kingdom of God in the world now?
Ingenito; I sincerely appreciate the innocence and insight of your questions, my dear disciple. There are two interpretations regarding the Kingdom of God. One is based on charity. The Church from the beginning to the end of the 20th century focused on this charity approach. There is an inherent contradiction in this approach. Giving food to those in hunger requires two actors – a giver and a receiver or a rich and a poor. There is inequality. There is another interpretation based on the right to life and livelihood. This interpretation seemed to be near to the content of Kingdom of God. Here the right is not the legal right but the divine right. We are the children of God as He is our beloved Father. Hence we have a divine right to life and livelihood. This right is based on love and not on charity. There is no giving and receiving but only sharing the resources of the earth with love.
Now your second question. Yes, there is a possibility to establish a Kingdom of God in this earth through the neighborhood communities. The early Christians lived in neighborhood community social system. It is a group of 30 people who are members of the neighborhood. They sit together and discuss their problems, the problems of their families and their locality. They are held together by the love of Jesus. Each member is concerned about the other. They share all their resources among themselves out of love. There is no question of giving and receiving. The money should be common. The need of the individual is the concern of others. The children belong to the community and not to the individuals. There is no question of orphans as the community is the parent. The economic ethics is the ethic of enough.
Each member promotes one such neighborhood community and the thirty members promote another thirty communities. Once all the members in a Panchayat are mobilized under neighborhood communities with the gospel of love and ethics of enough, they take political control of the Panchayat through election. Now the Panchayat is a mini Kingdom of God as it ensures the basic needs of all the members through its resources. The greed of individual has no place in the Panchayat. In short it is a pure socialistic system.
If all the Panchayats in India become neighborhood Panchayats, then India will be a Kingdom of God. When this model is replicated throughout the world, then the entire world will be a Garden of Eden or Paradise. There will be no wars, no famine, no poverty and no corruption. Hundreds of billions of dollars now spent on arms industry will be diverted to social securities like education to all, safe drinking water, high quality medical services, housing etc.
Innoxus; Dear master, it is a wonderful idea. But who will initiate this process?
Ingenito; Why not you? The whole process should start from an individual with a commitment and willingness to sacrifice his life to the cause because the capitalistic system with its die hard adherents, say politicians and the rich will be all out to destroy such a system from emerging. Hence the initiator or the originator should imbibe his fire and missionary zeal to an army of equally committed volunteers who will spread this new Gospel until the last bastion of the capitalism is wiped out.
I and Thou – the experience of Love or God.
Innoxus; Dear beloved Master, tell me honestly how to experience God in me? Is there any scientific method or shall I use my reason and experience God?
Ingenito; Dear Innoxus, the first question reveals your innocence and spark of intelligence. The next question reveals your inquisitiveness. However, I am obliged to answer both since you are my trusted disciple.
To experience God, first you must have an understanding of God. What is God or Being? This understanding leads to experiencing God. The Being or God is the ultimate measure of itself, no measure beyond it. Love, Cosmic Energy and Divine Intelligence constitute the essence of God. You shall call them the trinity of God. These trinities are present in all the creations, be it Universe or life forms in the earth. They are present in you also. If you shall identify them in you, then only you shall experience God.
Now the question is how or at what level this experience happens.
Let me ask you a series of questions and please give me your honest answers. Then only you shall experience God.
Let me start with the trinity of man. What is a human being? What constitutes a human being or what qualifies a two legged animal to call itself a human being.
Every individual has three parts which I call trinities. First body.
Tell me Innoxus, who are you? Are you the body? If you lose your right hand, will you say that you are Innoxus without right hand or still you are Innoxus? When you were born with 3 kg body, you were also the same Innoxus as you are now at 60 years of age with 70 kg body. What does it mean? You are not the body but the body belongs to you. Let us go further deeply. What is your birthday?
Innoxus; 15/10/1944
Ingenito; Can you remember where were you in January, 1944? That is nine months before your birth.
Innoxus; I do not remember.
Ingenito; You are exactly right. You do not remember but you existed then. Half of you was floating in the fluid inside the testicles of your father in the form of a cell or gene. There were billions of your brothers and sisters floating along with you. When this half entered into the womb of your mother, met the ovarian seed of your mother or your other half, Innoxus was medically born. You do not remember that. But it is certain that you are not the body but it is your body. May I take the liberty and say that you are independent of your body?
Have you ever pondered where you are inside your body, say liver, heart, brain etc? The truth is that you are nowhere in your body but you are everywhere.
Innoxus; My dear Master, how is it possible to know that I exist without the mind? I can realize my existence without my hands but not without my mind. Is it wrong if I say that I exist in my mind? I think, therefore I exist.
Ingenito; Do not quote others. It is dangerous to live under the shadow of other people. Leave Descartes. Go deep down unto yourself and find the truth. Mind is the product of socio – cultural conditioning of a specific period. If mind exists in the brain, then where it does exist. Brain, biologically speaking, is a bundle of flesh made up of genes. Genetic science has proved very convincingly that certain proteins in the genes carry memories of previous generations and play a determining role in the formation of your body and mind – the color of the skin, eyes, certain behavior patterns etc. Modern psychology talks about three level of consciousness that influence your thinking process and behavior. What is mind but the combination of the three? Is it not your mind? I have my own mind.
I will ask another question. I give you an orange. Now what will you say. “ I have an orange or I am orange?’
Innoxus; I have an orange
Ingenito; The same is the case with mind. When you have a mind, then you are not the mind. My dear Innoxus, do you not exist when the mind ceases to be. What happens when you lapse into deep slumber without dreams? Does it not resemble death? Morning you awake to say good morning. Do you not exist without mind for a few hours?
The real ‘YOU’ is not mind. YOU exist independent of mind except that you are conscious of mind only when you are awake
Similarly, if you have a mind, then you are not the mind. This realization will take to another step, very close to the door of experiencing God. Hindu religion calls it Siddha Samadhi and Bhava Samadhi. Siddha means mind and Bhava means emotions. Your brain has two parts – left side and right side. The right side is the seat of logic, science, the faculty of reason etc. The right side is the seat of emotions like love, anger, mysticism etc. Mind is the combination of both. (The scientists are still in the dark to understand fully what mind is) Now Samadhi is sepulcher. You should bury your mind along with your emotions in the sepulcher. Now you rise to the third level – the level of no- mind. What Isaiah says “search God in the stillness of the mind” may be this. When the mind becomes still, there is no – mind.
Innoxus; How shall I rise to the level of no – mind?
Ingenito; Hindu sages have developed a technique called Dhyana. First you should find a teacher who will train you in Siddha Samadhi and Bhava Samadhi and no – mind. This no – mind is the seat of Divine Intelligence or Holy Spirit and God. Mysticism is the experience of this no – mind. Osho insists on No – mind throughout his discourses. He calls it dynamic sleep. You are totally asleep and totally conscious of your existence. It is deep silence and bliss. You can experience light and God at this level.
Now let us discuss the’ I and Thou’ concept. It is Martin Buber, the Hassidic mystic who preached ‘I and Thou’ concept. It is not a concept, rather it is Truth.
There are three levels of’ I and Thou’ experience. The first level is what Jesus sais” I am in my father and the Father is in me”. Experiencing the God in man is the first experience of God. He announces the Kingdom of God in the name of the Father. When he was in agony prior to crucifixion, he prayed to God thus” Father it is not my will but thy will let this chalice go”. He was totally in union with God throughout his mission. “I am going to my Father who sent me”.
Innoxus; Dear Master, Is it the same as the image of God?
Ingenito; Exactly the same as I understand it. The image of God contains the trinity of God; the Cosmic Energy, Love and Intelligence. When you are conscious of this in you, then you have the first ‘I and Thou’ experience. We come across a passage in John; 13 in the gospel. When Pharisees questioned the Son of God status of Jesus, he retorted back with “You are also the gods. Is it not written in the scriptures?”
Innoxus; Dear Master, please bear with me for interruption. Is this I and Thou experience unique only to Jesus? Is there any mention of this experience in other religions?
Ingenito; Dear friend, I appreciate your boldness. The Christians will shudder to think in this angle. This experience is the birth right of humanity. The child is born with this relationship but it is not conscious of it. That is why Jesus said “Unless you become a child, you cannot enter into the Kingdom of God” . when his disciples blocked a child from reaching Jesus, he rebuked his disciples and asked them to allow the child to him with the following words” The Kingdom of god belongs to them”
Many religions have mentioned about this relationship. In Tamil religious literature, you shall find Siddhas, the sages, say, ‘These people search God in many places except in themselves”. In the holy book of Vedas, the relationship of Paramatma and Jeevatma is mentioned. It refers to the first relationship between the I and Thou. Adam had this experience before his fall. He had direct communication with god in the Garden of Eden. He had the heart of a child then. When mind came into being, this first relationship was cut off. That is his fall or the fall of mankind. The child has no mind and hence it is born with this relationship.
Now let us discuss the second relationship of ‘I and Thou’
When asked which of the Ten Commandment is the best, Jesus replied that the second commandment is the best as it is inclusive of all the other commandments. Hence it is called the Golden Commandment. Do you what is it?
Innoxus; Yes I know; Love thy neighbor as thou love thyself”
Ingenito; You cannot have the second experience of I and Thou unless you have the first experience. Jesus says the parable of Good Samaritan who is your neighbor. Once you love your neighbor, you become the neighbor and you will do what he has done. He emphasized this second relationship of ‘I and Thou’ when his disciples asked him who would qualify to enter into the Kingdom of God. To this Jesus replied; many people from East and West will flock the gates of Heaven but it will be closed to them. They will shout” God, Have we not prayed in your name and performed miracles in your name. Why have you shut the door? To this I will reply” I was hungry and you fed me not; I was without dress and you clothed me not; I was sick and you attended me not; I was in jail and you visited me not” They will then reply;
“Oh! Lord when you were hungry, when you were without dress, when you were sick and when you were in jail?”
I will tell them” Have you not seen the poor without clothes, hungry, sick and in jail? They are but me”
This is the second relationship of “I and Thou”. When you experience the God in you, then you realize that the same God exists in Thou, your brethren. At this level, I and Thou are one and the same. Then only you shall pray authentically’ Our Father thou art in Heaven’
Innoxus; Dear Master, you said that the second relationship is not possible without the first relationship. That is first one must have the ‘I and Thou’ relationship with God. Then only one must develop the second ‘ I and Thou’ relationship with the neighbor. But the great EVR and Karl Marx had profound love for the poorest of the poor. But they never believed in God. Do you mean to say that they did not have the second ‘I and Thou’ relationship?
Ingenito; Dear man, you ask a lot of wonderful thought provoking questions now. EVR, Karl Marx or all other atheists rejected the personal god or the alter ego of the religions. This God is the projection of the mind and not the truth. But God as Truth does not belong to religion. I am absolutely certain that the hearts of Karl Marx and EVR were filled with love. Where there is love there is God. So EVR and Karl Marx had the first experience of God in themselves through love. They are highly religious people not men of religion. Love flowed from their hearts towards their poor brothers and sisters. In other words, they had the ‘I and Thou’ relationship of God and the’ I and Thou’ relationship of neighbor.
Now the third relationship. ‘I and Thou’ relationship with Nature.
In the Book of Genesis it is written that God reveals in Nature, Time, Space and History. In The Baghavad Gita, The Holy Song of the Hindus, Lord Krishna declares that He is in the trees, fruits, flowers, water, fire, universe and in everything created. God in Nature idea is found in all major religions and religious groups all over the world.
Innoxus; Dear Master, is it not then Pantheism?
Ingenito; Yes, Pantheism is the pure form of religion. The early Greek philosophers considered animated Nature – Hylozoism – the Ultimate Truth. The tribal communities all over the world still maintain this faith as part of their religion. If you love Nature, it will protect and nourish you. Take the example of the devastating Tsunami. It is the civilized human beings who suffered the human casualties. When the Tsunami devastated Andaman Islands, not one human casualty was recorded among the tribal community. They understood the language of Nature and escaped. The animals and birds became restive and ran towards the higher areas of the hill just before the outbreak of Tsunami in the sea. Realizing a catastrophe, all the tribal families living in the low areas immediately joined the exodus of the animals, birds and reached the higher areas for safety. What do you understand from this? Nature is so concerned about you and protects you if you develop the ‘I and Thou’ relationship with Nature.
Mother Nature is so pure that it provides pure air, pure water and herbal plants to cure your illness. The modern civilized world has to learn a lot from the tribal medicines.
The tribal judiciary is also Nature oriented. The tribal community does not have the Penal Code like the civilized modern communities like us. When an individual violates the tribal law or community ethics, he is ex communicated from the community. He is cut off from the ‘I and Thou’ relationship with the community. He is condemned to live all alone with Nature. This social exclusion provides him an opportunity to reflect and repent. He realizes his sin and returns back to confess his sins to the tribal chief and ask for pardon. The tribal chief forgives his sins and the sinner is integrated into the community.
Innoxus; Master, bear with me for a last question. Shall I assume that what you have been describing above is also the experience of God by Jesus?
Ingenito; I am not qualified enough to say anything about the experience of God by Jesus. Have you not read that Jesus spent forty days in the wilderness and prayed without food? When he completed the prayer, it was written that angels nursed him. He had the experience of God then. We come across similar experience situation in the life of Prophet Mohamed. He also spent forty days in a cave in Arabia. Finally, Angel Jibriel (Gabriel) appeared before him and taught Holy Quran to him. The Hindu Sages and Rishis have spent years in mountains or caves to get enlightenment and experience of God.
I will be able to say anything on the experience of such great men only after I get such mystic experience. What I have been describing above is to help you get an understanding of the experience of God and not the real experience.
Miracle and Faith
Innoxus; Dear Master, What is a miracle? We come across miracles in all religions. Are they true? Shall I understand miracles through my mind? Ludwig Feuerbach calls miracles as wish fulfillments of man. Is it true?
Ingenito; Ludwig Feuerbach is very much against the organized religion and how religion exploited the poor or adherents of the religion. Feuerbach is of the conviction that God is the projection of mind. Yahweh, according to him, is the ‘alter ego’ of the Jews. Hence a saint is needed as an intermediary to satisfy the wish fulfillment of the man. I have my own doubts whether he had the mystic experience of God of the Oriental religions.
Let us discuss the miracle from the stand point of mysticism and no mind. We shall deal with the miracles of Jesus here. We shall classify the miracles of Jesus under three categories. They are; miracles performed through faith, miracle as social protest and finally miracle of love.
First we take the miracle of healing the man with withered hand. When this man was brought before Jesus, he looked into his eyes and asked” Do you want to be cured?” He replied yes. The force of the personality of Jesus was such that the mind of the man became still. He rose to the level of no – mind. There was no thinking and hence no doubt existed. He was totally focused on Jesus. Then Jesus asked him to extend his hand. He simply extended his hand. Then Jesus said to him “Thy faith has healed thee” It was the ‘I and Thou’ relationship. The man with the withered hand temporarily lost his consciousness of his existence. He found himself one with Jesus. It was the manifestation of faith. My understanding is that all the miracles of physical healing were performed in this level.
Innoxus; If the miracle of healing were performed through the faith of the recipient, what about the miracle of raising the dead to life. The person dead, say Lazur? How he could have faith in Jesus?
Ingenito; This is miracle of love. The love of Jesus was manifested through this miracle. Let us take two such miracles. First, raising the dead. It is appropriate here to understand the Jewish custom of burial of the dead and the poor level of medical knowledge of the Jews. Once a person was found dead by the family, the body would be wrapped in clothes and placed inside a cave like structure and the mouth would be closed with a huge stone. This is the typical Jewish tomb. Whether the person was really dead or was in a state of coma, nobody knew. There were no hospitals in Judea with modern medical equipments to test and issue medical certificate that the person was dead.
Some fifteen years back, a group of geologists found a Jewish grave and opened it. To their horror, they found the skeleton of a person standing against the entrance rock. The researchers concluded that the person might have been presumed wrongly as dead whereas he might have been in a state of coma. He had been buried while he was in coma. He might have regained his consciousness later and found himself trapped in the tomb.
This seems to be true. The Jews about 2000 years back did not have knowledge to distinguish between death and coma. But Jesus had the Divine Intelligence to identify the difference. He was so filled with love that he intervened and raised them to life. It was the power, the spiritual power in him that performed this miracle of love. He raised only two persons from ‘death’. He did not practice a policy of raising the really dead from the grave. Had he such a policy, the entire Palestine and Judea would have been littered with dead bodies and community health catastrophe might have set in.
The second instance of miracle of love is multiplication of fish and bread. You may know that Jesus used to preach in deserts, the base of mountains and sea shore. He did this so that the poor people from every nook and corner of the rural areas could visit him and get the Gospel and healing. People from about fifty kilometers from all directions would gather at one place to hear him. Majority of them used to walk all the way. There were no public transport facilities in those days. Neither were hotels on the way. The only option was to have adequate food till they return back to home. But there were very poor people who had very little reserve food. But their intention was to hear Jesus and get healed. When Jesus completed his sermon, he was concerned about the plight of those poor people. He knew well that there were people who had surplus food but they would not share their surplus with others.
Hence he asked his disciples how much food they had. They said two fish and five loaves of bread. He commanded them to serve this food to all people. Those who had surplus felt a sense of shame and disclosed their surplus. The disciples collected them, served everybody and still they had surplus food to fill many baskets. This miracle is considered to be the miracle of the miracle of Jesus. There was a sudden change in the mind set of those who had surplus. The change was’ love thy neighbor as you love yourself’. The focus shifted from their selfishness towards the hunger of their brethren.
There is another category of miracle. Miracle as social protest. We shall take the case of converting water into wine.
Wine plays an important role in marriage ceremonies of the Jews. In the feast following the marriage, the first meal would be served to the rich class, priests and persons with political power. The food items would be lavishly served to them so also wine. Next in order were the middle class. The poorest of the poor would come last. Normally by the time the last meal was served, there would be shortage of wine. Nobody bothered about the poorest of the poor. The same thing happened in a marriage function in Cana. Jesus was so furious over such social insult meted out to the poor. Hence he asked the servers to fill the wine drums with water. Now the water mixed with the sediment of the wine and turned into a slight yellow color. He prayed to God and asked the servers to serve that to the poor as wine. Innoxus, just visualize the situation of the rich man who hosted the party. Was it not a slap in his face?. Jesus protested the social injustice and voiced for the equal treatment of the rich and the poor.
Shall we now discuss about terrorism – whether terrorism is Anti thesis or reaction against the corruption of Thesis
Thesis, Anti thesis and Synthesis
Innoxus; Dear Master, please throw some light on the Hegelian triad of Thesis, Anti thesis and Synthesis. What they mean and illustrate these with examples from History?
Ingenito; I understand that Hegel used this triad only once in his works. However, since you asked for illustrations, I shall explain how I have understood these terms. Please do not ask me whether my understanding fits with Hegel or not.
Now Thesis;
Thesis is the Establishment. It encompasses the political system, economic system, the religion and the social structure in any age. However, the political system and the religion influence and control the econmic and social structures. Thesis emerges as the Synthesis of the previous age and its intention is always good; to serve the people. The relevance and appropriateness of the Thesis to the people of its age is determined by two elements; justice and love. If these two elements are present in the Thesis, then the community that lives under the Thesis, represented by the political system, is a paradise or Kingdom of God. It is unfortunate that if we take an ariel view of the history of civilizations, this is not so. Focus on materialism and capitalistic elements in the economic system envelop the Thesis with corruption. Love and justice are manipulated and replaced by greed and power. If you need an example, you can analyze the Roman Empire as a case study. There are many positive elements in the Roman Empire. Historians agree that two great contributions of Roman Empire to the world are; Roman Judiciary and a standing army. Besides, Roman Empire guaranteed economic security to its citizens.
Now we shall look into the corruption of Roman Empire. It provided economic, social and political security to its citizens only. Those who were not citizens of Rome were treated as second class citizens. Their right to life and livelihood is determined by Rome. There is a discrimination against citizens and non citizens. Nearly 80% of the population of the known civilized world lived as second class citizens under Roman law. There is another class of people, the slaves who were treated like animals to work in the farms of Roman citizens and provide pleasure in the games – an inhuman entertainment in which the slaves fought against each other like mad dogs and at times they fought against wild animals to entertain their masters – the Roman citizens. The most inhuman class based stratification.
The economic wealth of the nations in Europe, Asia and Africa were plundered by the Roman army to maintain the economic prosperity of the Roman citizens. In Rome, the social esteem was determined by the quantum of wealth possessed by the man. This qualified him to acquire more economic and political power. Greed was the norm in economics rather than need. It was purely a capitalistic society which institutionalized social inequality and injustice to others.
Now Anti thesis;
Anti thesis is always impregnated in the Thesis. We read in the Book of Genesis; the cry of the Israelites reached the ears of Yahweh and He commanded Moses to go to Egypt and free Israelites from slavery. You can see that Anti thesis is a historical process and an event.
Now we once again go back to Roman Empire. There was agonizing cry from all parts of the world reeling under the weight of the Roman Empire. The agony of the salves tore and bled the heart of Love. There were voices of dissent against the corruption of the Roman Empire but these voices were quelled. The first recorded revolt against Roman Empire sprang from the slaves and not from the enslaved kingdoms. Spartacus, the gladiator led the revolt but he was ruthlessly crushed by the Roman army. He was the first human right defender in the recorded history of the world. This is the genesis of Anti thesis. But the real threat or challenge to Rome emerged from an unexpected source.
The Kingdom of God preached by Jesus emerged as the Anti thesis that ultimately destroyed Roman Empire. The first sentence of the Lord’s Prayer is an attack against the unjust socio economic system; “Our Father thou art in Heaven”. If God is our father, then all are His children. How can one child be a slave and other child be the master of the house? Impossible. It was a revolutionary thinking in those days. The gospel of Love is the total rejection of the inhuman and exploitative capitalistic system of the Thesis called Roman Empire. The fifth sentence of the Lord’s Prayer totally rejected the capitalistic thinking; “Give us our daily bread”. It is the ‘ethic of enough’ totally opposed to the ethics of ‘not enough’ or greed of the capitalists. Love is the constitution of the Kingdom of God of Jesus.
Dear Innoxus we shall discuss the process of the Anti thesis and how it caused the collapse of Roman Empire under the Fourth Evolution of God later.
Finally, the Synthesis; Certain positive or good elements of Anti thesis and certain negative elements of Thesis get synthesized in the Synthesis. Once again, we shall take the example of Roman Empire. The collapse of the Roman Empire was not followed by the establishment of the Kingdom of God as Synthesis. A small section of the early Christians practiced the gospel of love among themselves and formed their own Kingdoms of God. It was a commune life and all the basic needs of the members were taken care of the community. At the level of Establishment, there was a change of the system.
The Roman Empire was replaced by the Christian Empire. Let us have a brief look into the social, economic and political structure of the Christian Empire. The system of slavery was rejected by the Christian Empire. The Church, another powerful establishment, accepted everybody, in principle. There was no discrimination on the basis of nationality, creed or ethnic background. Church was inclusive and not exclusive like the previous establishment.
There seemed to be equality. But the capitalistic elements of the Roman Empire survived the collapse and squeezed into the economic system of the Christian Empire. The same ethic of ‘not enough’ became the unofficial economic policy of the new empire. This facilitated the emergence of Feudalism. Lords controlled vast stretches of lands and held sway over the masses from their manor houses. The bonded labor system of Feudalism was the diluted form of slavery.
There was only cosmetic change in the political structure. The Caesar was replaced by Emperor who followed many of the judiciary practices and standing army system from the Roman Empire. Gradually church became a Feudal power.
Eventually, the capitalistic elements in the Synthesis get the upper hand to corrupt the Synthesis and a new Thesis emerges. Marx is right when he says; the history of the world is the history of constant struggle to control the resources and means of production.
Dear Innoxus, we shall find elaborate account of Thesis, Anti thesis and Synthesis in the Evolution of God series later.
The fall of Eve – a prelude to slavery or the genesis of capitalism
Innoxus; we come across in the Book of Genesis that Eve tempted Adam to eat the forbidden fruit from the tree of Knowledge. Does it mean that Adam would have been in eternal bliss had not Eve tempted him? Why God unnecessarily created devil so that it tempted Eve?
Ingenito; Do not believe that Adam and Eve are historical persons. It was a folk story popular in the Middle East. It was incorporated into the three major religions Judaism Christianity and Islam – that flourished from the spiritually fertile soil of Middle East. The origin of human being remained a mystery in the primitive religions. Hence some unknown mystic might have developed the story of Adam and Eve. This unknown mystic must be the first capitalist in the history of mankind.
When you walk down the corridors of the civilization backwards, you can reach the genesis of civilization. You shall be surprised to find an unholy alliance between pre capitalistic society and primitive religion. The capitalism that exists now did not exist in the beginning of the civilization. But a capitalistic thinking was present in the embryo form.
Let us now see what happened to Eve? The creation of Eve itself reflects the male chauvinism of the folk lore author. “ Then Yahweh, God formed Man, dust drawn from clay, and breathed into his nostrils a breath of life and Man became alive with breath,” Man was first created with the image of God. Yahweh God said, “ It is not good for Man to be alone. I will give him a helper who will be like him” Dear Innoxus, can you identify
The serpent tempted the women – she was not Eve then – to eat the forbidden fruit. “She took its fruit and ate it and gave some to her husband who was with her. He ate it. Then their eyes were opened and both of them knew they were naked”. Thus the fall of Adam was preceded by the fall of Eve. This fall is fabricated by the male chauvinistic priest class to reduce woman into a commodity and it had been used for the welfare of the family and community.
Global warming – the last sin of capitalism
Innoxus; Dear Master, why do you call global warming as the last sin of capitalism and it is a crime against God?
Ingenito; Greed is the mother of global warming. Gandhi made an observation once; the earth has everything to satisfy the needs of humanity but not its greed. This insight is relevant and appropriate in the context of global warming.
The Industrial Revolution changed the face of economy and politics at global level. The mushrooming growth of industries in the western capitalist countries produced huge quantities of consumer goods which destabilized the harmony of demand and supply equation. The supply was so overwhelming against demand and a politico economic compulsion was thrust on the European countries to find out new markets for their finished products and raw materials.
Hence the European powers started colonization process to sustain the tempo of industrial revolution.
The ugly face of colonialism was that the Christian European countries used religion – say Christianity – as a political weapon to justify colonialism which opened the doors of new markets in the third world countries.
Though the Great Depression temporarily halted the unbridled growth of industrialization, the world economy, particularly the US economy quickly recovered through redefining the economics.
Consumption took the front line in the economic system. The line of thinking behind consumption theory is that continual increase in consumption will generate proportionate increase in the production activities – which means higher level of industrial production. The industries then require more labor force which gets wages. Now the governments get huge taxes from the corporate business houses and labourers. The net result is prosperity.
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) also defines development as a function of choices; the more choices you have the more developed you are. The classification of First World, Second World and Third World countries are based on this definition. Now the dream of every country and every citizen is to attain the economic prosperity of the First World Countries.
This is acceptable to United States but the problem is that US wants to control the global economy. This is the dilemma of globalization and hence the last sin of capitalism.
Innoxus; why do you say that it is the last sin of capitalism? Can you explain this with proof?
Ingenito; why not? Let us honestly analyze the social and environmental cost of globalization.
First the environmental cost. I am going to ask you one question. Which model of development you prefer? An economic model that destroys the ecology to promote economy or a model that destroys economy to promote ecology.
Innoxus; I will prefer neither models. I want a development model that promotes economy and ecology simultaneously.
Ingenito; wonderful! This is the Gandhian Economics – the ethics of enough. In the words of Gandhi “The world has everything to satisfy the needs of everybody but not the greed”. But globalization is the opposite of Gandhian economics. It is based on the ethics of greed. Let us analyze certain statistics.
Globally the annual production of crude oil is estimated to be 96 million barrels per day or 35 billion barrels per year. This accounts for about 33% of the energy demands per year globally. China and USA alone accounts for 56% of the global oil consumption.
The environmental cost of such huge fossil fuel based energy consumption is disastrous for the humanity. Fossil fuels emit four deadly green house gases – Carbon dioxide, Nitrous Oxide and Methane – into atmosphere. It is estimated that more than 38 billion metric tons of green house gases are emitted into the atmosphere. Out of these 8billion metric tons of Carbon dioxide is emitted through agriculture and land use operations. This is the root cause for global warming.
Unless corrective measures are taken right now humanity is condemned to face an environmental holocaust in the near future.
The Second World War
Innoxus; Dear Master, in your system of thought, the collapse of Feudalism caused by Industrial Revolution and Napoleonic wars and the resultant synthesis was colonialism. Throw more light on the nature of this synthesis Ingenito; The synthesis is the rise of colonialism, the most inhuman form of political and economic system after the system of slavery. It is unfortunate that one of the most misunderstood events in the history of the world is the controversial Second World War and its outcome. I consider the Second World War as a holy war to set right the evils of colonialism. I rank this above the Crusades or Jihad.
Innoxus; Oh! Master, how outrageous is this. How do you justify the horrors inflicted by the Second World War, particularly the Holocaust?
Ingenito; Again you have misunderstood Innoxus. I am not justifying anything. The entire dialogue is not indented to justify any events in the history of civilization. It is an attempt to search the Truth. If you are interested in Truth, please listen to me.
Industrial revolution demanded new markets for the capitalist systems in Europe. Local market reached a saturation point. Still production capacities of the industries were unlimited. Hence, the only alternative is to capture new markets at any cost. This is the motivating factor for the European countries to conquer and colonize the third world countries that do not have technology or superior army. But these poor countries had two resources; one is huge market for the industrial goods of the European countries, second abundant natural resources and cheap labor. The capitalist system realized that these territories would satisfy their greed.
National rivalries among the European powers surfaced in open battles in the soils of these poor countries. Each country wanted its share of market around the globe. For example, the entire South East Asia was divided by five European countries and the British, Dutch and French had the lions share. Portugal and Germany had a peanut share. The entire African Continent was colonized among seven European nations.
Julius Nierrere, the former ruler of Tanzania made a sarcastic comment on this” When the Europeans visited our country we had our land and they had their Bible. They asked us to close our eyes and pray. When we opened our eyes, we had Bible in our hand and they had our country”
The cruelest face of colonialism was that the European powers projected the citizens of the colonized countries as barbarians who should be civilized through education, law and western culture. Indigenous culture was branded as barbarian culture. They created cartoon heroes, say Phantom and Tarzan, to justify the colonialism. Have you read these comics Innoxus?
Innoxus; Yes Master, I have read them when I was young.
Ingenito; Tell me your impression of Tarzan
Innoxus; Tarzan is a Good Samaritan who always fight against injustice and protects the weak and poor. Am I right?
Ingenito; Religion, particularly Christianity entered into an unholy alliance with European politics to justify the political slavery of third world countries.
This attitude of the colonial rulers was the outcome
Plundering the wealth of the colonized countries was the single agenda of the European powers. The sons of the soil or the citizens of the native third world countries did not have any control over their political destiny or economic resources. (Data from Marx)
Another cruel face of capitalism was that it transformed human beings – the image of God – into commodities. Labor is a commodity in the economic dictionary of the capitalists. Bonded labor system was institutionalized through money hungry labor contractors and the surplus value of labor flowed into the coffers of the colonial countries.
Globalization – the final battle of capitalism
Innoxus; Dear Master, will the globalization survive as the final stage of capitalism or will it collapse due to the inevitable emergence of an anti-thesis, If so when will it happen?
Ingenito; Dear Innoxus, you have asked an appropriate and relevant question in the context of the 21st century. To understand the emergence of capitalism as a global power, it is imperative that we need to travel through the pages of history two thousand years back.
Certain historians point out that globalization had its genesis with the mission of Jesus, though Jesus never intended it. Jesus commanded his disciples to go farther and preach the Kingdom of God to Gentiles. His disciples faithfully carried out the mission of Jesus. But two important politico economic changes happened in Europe after Jesus. I wish to call them synthesis – emergence of new systems.
The first system that replaced the inhuman system of slavery and the political domination of the Roman Empire was Feudalism which was the diluted form of slavery. Productive land and the means of production including capital was concentrated in the hands of a miniscule but powerful rich class called Lords who controlled the whole economy of the State from their manor houses. The other important actor who controlled vast estates was the Catholic Church. I am not going to discuss here in detail the Christian philosophy or the doctrines of Church that defended feudalism. We shall discuss it later. At the political front two powerful empires replaced the Roman Empire; Holy Roman Empire and Byzantine Empire. They controlled about30% of the world. America was not yet discovered; China, India and Russia remained outside the political influence of these two empires.
The unholy alliance between religion and politics reached its peak during this era.
Capitalism was in a more diluted form in feudalism than it was in the Roman Empire. In the Christian Empire, Pope replaced the Caesar. The only difference was that Pope did not have a standing army. But he indirectly controlled the armies of the Christian kingdoms as the official head of the Holy Roman Empire. There was also a marginal change in the quality of labor. The laborer was no more a slave but the laborer transformed into a bonded laborer under feudal system.
The surplus value of labor was systematized and institutionalized in the feudal economic system with the sanction of the Church which also had an army of tenants in their vast estates. Capital accumulated from the surplus value flowed into the coffers of the landlords who controlled the land, means of production and labor from their manor houses.
Innoxus; Dear Master, bear with me for the interruption. Is it not Karl Marx who exposed the surplus labor in the colonial capitalistic system? Was it present in the feudal system? If so how? How do you say that the bonded labor system enjoyed the sanction of the Church?
Ingenito; Karl Marx never invented the theory of surplus value in capitalism. The greatness of Marx is that he exposed the surplus value of labor present in the capitalist system through brilliant analysis of the cost of production which includes wage, taxes of the govt, cost of raw materials and the profit generated by the bourgeois entrepreneur. The profit is nothing but the surplus value of the laborer. Surplus value was present long before Marx in all forms of capitalistic societies. Even in the primitive societies, the women did all the household chores and even worked in the fields, tended the cattle as unpaid laborer. The husband, as the head of the family, enjoyed the surplus value of the labor of the wife. In the system of slavery, the slaves were treated as animals and they got food like animals. The only difference between the animal and slave was that the slave got meager clothes. That is all.
In feudalism, the bonded laborer got wages that was barely sufficient for him to meet his basic needs. But he had to work for longer hours in the estates of the Lords. For example, if he worked for ten hours in the estate of the landlord, he got wage worth two hours of work. The monetary value of the eight hours of work was appropriated by the landlord. This surplus value of labor was transformed into capital in the hands of the landlords.
St. Augustine developed a sin theory during this period and it was recognized by the Pope. St. Augustine maintained that God allowed sin to exist along with virtue. But He has given the free will to the man either to choose virtue or sin. If a man suffered in poverty it was due to his sin but he could attain salvation if he changed his heart from sin. This sin theory justified the economic injustice in the feudal system. The capitalistic forces always infiltrate into religion and politics to secure its position intact in any synthesis. This is why synthesis always ends up as another exploitative thesis.
Now we shall see what happened after the collapse of feudalism in Europe. Industrial revolution emerged as the anti thesis to feudalism in Europe, resulting in the collapse of feudalism and emergence of colonialism as the new synthesis.
Innoxus; Master, I have a doubt. I remember reading in the history books that it was Napoleon who brought about the collapse of feudalism. If it is so, is he not the anti thesis to feudalism?
Ingenito; History books conceal the biases and prejudices of their authors. They are merely reports of events happened in a certain period. That is not history. Please remember that anti thesis is always not an event but a process that is impregnated in the thesis. At times, an individual emerges as an anti thesis and rebels against the thesis. For example; Jesus. He rebelled against the system of slavery and Roman Empire with his Kingdom of God as anti thesis. In the case of Jesus too, the grumbling discontent against Roman Empire and the system of slavery reached a flash point in Jesus. Any individual or system deserves to be called anti thesis if the individual or the system destroys the thesis and facilitates the emergence of a new system or synthesis.
But in the case of feudalism, Napoleon simply challenged the divine ordained theory of kings. Only kings and his descendents were eligible to become rulers not the subjects. Napoleon destroyed that myth.
Socialism emerged as a critique of capitalism. Marxism began essentially as a reaction to the Industrial Revolution. According to Karl Marx, industrialization polarized society into the bourgeoisie (those who own the means of production, the factories and the land) and the much larger proletariat (the working class who actually perform the labor necessary to extract something valuable from the means of production). He saw the industrialization process as the logical dialectical progression of feudal economic modes, necessary for the full development of capitalism, which he saw as in itself a necessary precursor to the development of socialism and eventually communism.
During and immediately after the Second World War, the United States, the United Kingdom, and other allied nations engaged in a series of negotiations to establish the rules for the postwar international economy. The result was the creation of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank at the July 1944 Bretton Woods Conference and the signing of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade at an international conference in Geneva in October 1947.
This vision was articulated in the Atlantic Charter, issued by Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill at the conclusion of the August 1941 Atlantic Conference. The Charter’s fourth point committed the United States and the United Kingdom “to further the enjoyment by all States, great or small, victor or vanquished, of access, on equal terms, to the trade and to the raw materials of the world which are needed for their economic prosperity,” while its fifth point expressed their commitment to “the fullest collaboration between all nations in the economic field with the object of securing, for all, improved labor standards, economic advancement and social security.
After the Second World War, the world was polarized into two three camps; The whole of American Continent , about 35 countries, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines and 16 Western European countries aligned with United States and 9 East European countries aligned with USSR. Nearly 45 third world countries (formerly the colonies of the European countries) formed a political block called Non aligned Movement, headed by Jawaharlal Nehru of India, Marshal Josef Tito of Yugoslavia and Abdul Gamel Nasser of Egypt. About half of the world fell directly under the economic and political domination of United States led globalization. United States entered into military alliances with European, Asian and South American countries like, NATO, CENTO and SEATO to protect the economic interests of capitalism. This is the scenario after the Second World War. Historically this period was called the Cold War era.
Innoxus; Master, what was the position of China in the cold war era.
Ingenito; Thank you Innoxus for reminding me of the most important actor in this era. China fell into the hands of communists under the dynamic leadership of Chairman Mao Tse Tung. It was involved in a massive reconstruction of its economy through commune system. An unfortunate incident happened in the communist world during the 1950s. Chairman Mao openly clashed with Josef Stalin of Russia regarding the socialistic model to be adopted by China. Mao refused to be a puppet state of Soviet Union and insisted on implanting socialistic system through the communes. He rejected the Soviet model of socialism and political structure. It was said that Stalin insulted Mao in the Second Communist International held in Moscow. China pulled down the Bamboo Curtain, isolated itself from the global politics and focused on strengthening its agriculture base and army. Napoleon once remarked” China is a sleeping giant. Do not wake her. If she is awake she will move the world”. His prophecy turned out to be true during the final assault of capitalism as a full fledged global force after the 1990s.
Now let us see how globalization led by USA devised its evil design to bring the entire world under its influence. Though the number of countries directly under the political influence of Soviet Union was less, it resorted to the strategy of massive subsidized economic assistance and arms to the Non Aligned Movement countries to keep them away from the influence of United States. Soviet Union supported these countries during any confrontation with United States in the United Nations. Globalization was able to spread its tentacles only half of the globe. The other half was able to resist successfully the globalization of their economies, thanks to the support extended by Soviet Union and other communist allies.
Take the example of India. Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi adopted the mixed economy model. Heavy industries, energy, banking sector, public transport are under the control of the State. Only small and medium scale industries – mainly consumer oriented – are in the private sector. But socialism is the political agenda of Congress Party. Though the World Bank and USA ignored India to support its reconstruction of the Indian economy, Soviet Union came forward to assist India in heavy industries. Besides, it provided oil and arms at subsidized prices. USA and its capitalistic western allies were enraged but felt helpless against the military might of the Soviet Union.
But the Goddess of Fortune winked at USA and the globalization process. After the death of Chairman Mao, there emerged a strong man in China in the name of Deng Pshiao Peng. He is known for his widely quoted adage “it is not a sin to become rich”. USA quickly grabbed the chance and entered into close economic relationship with China which opened the windows for capitalism. Special Economic Zone was created in Shangai Province which allowed free flow of dollar and western capitalistic economic model. But China placed a lot of conditions to block the globalization drain the blood of China. The western countries are denied permission to purchase lands but only take the lands on lease, 40% of the profit should go to China and above all Chinese should be given priority in the jobs in the western companies.USA and the western allies agreed as their capital still reaped huge returns.
The second wink of the Goddess of Fortune is the emergence of electronic mass media; say satellite based televisions and internet services. The glamour and glitter of the capitalist countries – not the poverty and unequal distribution of wealth – reached the nook and corner of the Soviet Union and its communist allies. The new breed of leadership emerged after the death of Leonid Brezhnev in Soviet Union. Mikhail Gorbachev declared Glasnost and Perestroika which means transparency and reconstruction. What Gorbachev meant by Glasnost was American style freedom and democracy. Perestroika was capitalist economy. The soviet Russia dismantled its Central Asian and East European communist empire.
The sweep of globalization was complete in the 1990s. The end of the second millennium marked the triumph of globalization throughout the world. Since 1990, America has been pushing ahead with the implementation of the General Agreement on Trade and Tariff, – GATT – throughout the globe. Those countries that resisted the American imperialism – political and economic hegemony – either faced the ouster of the regime through military intervention or crippling sanctions. Ouster of Saddam Hussein of Iraq and Mommar Quaddafy of Libya are best examples of the brute force of Globalization. Iran, north Korea, Cuba and Venezuela are facing the wrath of America through sanctions. This is the warning signal sent to all the countries with a crisp message by America “either fall in line with globalization or get lost”
Innoxus; Dear Master, please explain how America is using sanctions as a political tool to enforce globalization in third world countries? Why should not the third world countries say ‘mind your business’ to US sanctions?
Ingenito; Three factors favor USA to force the rebellion countries to fall in line with its imperialistic designs of globalization through economic sanctions. First, the sheer strength of the US economy; the size of the US economy is about 25% of the world economy. Second factor is cross country investment. Multinational companies are investing in all continents. Moreover, the merger of big multinational companies is going on at faster pace. Third and the most important factor is dollar as the world currency. Let me illustrate this with an imagined example. Let us assume that India is under the sanction list of USA. Dear Innoxus, you have a motor bike. Can you name the company that manufactures this bike India?
Innoxus; It is Kinetic Honda company.
Ingenito; You are right. Kinetic company is a multinational corporation based in the Netherlands and Honda is based in Japan. It is a joint venture company in India. Kinetic is owned by Wasserman Group based in Germany. In kinetic Honda motor bike the economic interests of three countries are involved. Once sanction is imposed on India, the US will declare that no company or country should involve in any trade or business activity in India. Those company or country that defies the ban will be included in the sanction list. If Kinetic Honda Company continues its manufacture in India after the sanction, then US will impose sanctions on Kinetic Company based in Netherlands, Honda Company based in Japan and Wasserman Group based in Germany. These three companies have extensive investment and trade links with a lot of European and US based companies. Now all these countries will be forced to snap all business and trade links with these three companies. Soon these three companies will become bankrupt unless they close down their factory in India. Similarly all countries that have business and trade links with India will close their business activities in India. The result will be disastrous for India. Ultimately India will collapse under the weight of sanctions.
Innoxus; Dear Master, I am still confused. Why this sanction works and how dollar becomes the world currency?
Ingenito; This is the ultimate peak of the growth of capitalism. Until the 19th century, gold was the world reserve currency. The currencies of the countries are backed by gold reserve. But America emerged a global economic power in the beginning of the 20th century. Then dollar replaced gold as global reserve currency. To understand this you must know the economic hegemony of US Capitalism.
USA controls 30% of the oil in the American continent alone with 27 million barrels of oil per day. It also had control over 20% of Middle East oil with 20 million barrels of oil per day till 2000. Only Iraq, Iran and Libya with 8.5% of oil with about 8.5 million barrels of oil per day defied US domination. In the 21st century, US has killed Saddam Hussein of Iraq and Quaddafy of Libya and has taken control of 4.5% of oil or 4 million barrels a day. Iran is still holding its ground under heavy sanctions. The moment Iran opens the doors of its oil refineries to USA, and then Iran will be the darling of America. This is one example. US economy controls 25% of the global economy. This 25% includes the US strangle hold on the whole American Continent. Hence dollar is accepted as the world currency. Besides, US controls World Bank and International Monetary Fund as it is the biggest share holder of these two global financial institutions. In 2013, 124 countries borrowed 6 trillions of dollars from the World Bank. Not less than 2 trillion dollars they received from International monetary Fund.
Dear Innoxus, you will be dumb founded by the interest these financial institutions extract from these countries, particularly third world countries. Let us imagine a situation. India borrows 100 billion dollars from the World Bank to develop agriculture and oil exploration. When it sanctions the loan, World Bank will advise India to purchase the machineries from US companies. The loan of 100 billion will go to the US based companies. .After a certain date World Bank will knock the doors and demands 800 million dollars interest. If India does not have the money, It will recommend International Monetary Fund to provide a loan of 800 million dollars to India to repay the interest to the World Bank. Next year, World Bank will again knock the doors for interest. IMF comes behind and demands the interest for 800 million dollars. This is how the countries fall into the debt trap of capitalism. Once India is not able to repay interest or loan, USA will force India to sell the public limited companies to US based multinational corporations. Moreover, it will force India to cut the subsidies for agriculture, gas and even cut down public welfare measures like free medicine, free education etc. As a result, the poor becomes poorer and the rich richer. This is how capital is accumulated in the hands of capitalistic countries.
Dollar is the most powerful political weapon in the hands of America.
Innoxus; Is there not a way out for us?
Ingenito; The prophecy of Karl Marx will become a reality soon. He observed that when capitalism reaches its peak, it will collapse under its own internal contradictions. The rumblings of the impending collapse have already been heard. Take the example of Greece, a capitalist country in the European Economic Union. Greece borrowed heavily from World Bank, IMF AND European Community. It was not able to repay the interest or debt. The World Bank, USA and the European Banks advised Greece to launch austerity measures. That means cut down subsidies for agriculture and public welfare measures to repay the debt. It even went to the extent of slashing old age pension. Civil unrest erupted in Greece Alarmed, European Community led by Germany pumped a massive credit of 800 billion fresh loan to Greece to save its economy from Bankruptcy and civil war. They feared that the collapse of Greece will trigger a series of collapse of many small capitalist countries in Europe, say Portugal, Ireland, Italy etc. which are already reeling under the debt.
Innoxus; Master, how does this internal contradiction works?
Ingenito; At its peak, capitalism starts destroying its own market, like an octopus eating its own hands to save from hunger. Capitalism will dig its own grave. Take an example of shopping malls. One shopping mall employs 500 workers in India and pays a monthly salary of Rs. 3,000/ per worker. These workers will not be able to purchase any articles from the shopping mall as the costs are prohibitive. Only the rich can afford to purchase articles from the malls. Suppose there are 1000 shopping malls all over India. That means these malls loose 5, 00,000 customers. The same thing happens in auto mobile industry and so on. Hence they depend on the rich class only for selling their products. But a point of saturation will reach for the rich class who are always a minority. Now the malls that face loss close down the business resulting in unemployment. If 500 malls are closed, 2, 50,000 persons lose their jobs. This happens in all industries. Now the govt. is forced to increase spending on social welfare measures like free clothing, free food provisions, free medical service to contain rebellion from these unemployed persons. The taxes from the rich class are not enough to meet the govt. expenditure. Hence they borrow from rich capitalistic countries. They will force the country to slash public welfare spending. This vicious cycle intensifies the inner contradiction. On the one hand, the number of billionaires will increase, say Amabanis, on the other hand, the number of poor will also increase. This will facilitate the clash between thesis and anti thesis. The demand for socialism or communism will gather momentum, resulting in the collapse of capitalism.
Innoxus; Dear Master, what is the position of United States, the patron of capitalism. Is it safe?
Ingenito; America has reached the flash point. The total debt of USA is 17.8 trillion dollars. The combined gross domestic product or the size of the economies of the five large economies in the world – Germany, Britain, France, Japan and Italy – is 15.7 trillion dollars. The total strength of US economy is 14 trillion dollars. The US debt is much higher than this. It is surviving on the strength of dollar as the global currency. An American author has written a book with a title” Rogue Nation”. In the book he analyzed 100 wars launched by USA since the Second World War to protect its economy from collapse. The Iraq and Libyan wars belong to this category. America is making a last ditch battle to avoid collapse from its internal contradiction and hence it is launching war in the oil rich regions to take control of the oil industry in the Middle East.
Innoxus; Master, what is our fate? Will India be also swallowed by globalization sweep?
Ingenito; Integration of India into the globalization process started in the Congress regime of Prime Minister Narasimha Rao. It got accelerated during the period of Manmohan Singh. Now Mr. Narendra modi has sealed the fate of India. He has already declared privatization of railways and insurance. Disinvestment of shares of the core industries has been going on. Already agrarian sector is suffocating under the slashing of subsidy. Cooking gas and kerosene follows next. Within the next five years, water and energy will be totally privatized. Multinational companies will fix the price of drinking water. Your right to livelihood will be dictated by Western Capitalists.
The world will see the cruel face of globalization after the year 2020 when the Intellectual Property Right will come into force through GATT. The growth of capital will take a new dimension. Under this Act, the price of any commodity produced anywhere in the world will be determined by the company or country that has Patent Right. I will illustrate this with an example; Paracetamol tablets are now produced in India. It is an effective pain killer and reduces fever. It is freely available in govt. hospitals and Primary Health Centers through health subsidy scheme of the govt. Even if you purchase it in medical shop the cost is less than one rupee per tablet. Assume that a multinational drug company in USA has the patent right for Paracetamol. After 2020, it will declare the global price for this tablet. Assume that the company has fixed a price of Rs.30/ per tablet. All the western drug companies will follow similar policy. What will happen? India will be forced to raise its health subsidy by 30% to enable the poor get these drugs at the current price or free of cost in govt. hospitals. But the World Bank and USA will not accept this massive health subsidy as this move will affect India’s capacity to repay the debt with interest to western capital. Already India’s debt is around 480 billion US dollars. By 2020 it will cross one trillion mark. India will face the dilemma of Greece. The internal contradiction will create a civil war like situation. If the govt. uses brute force like armed forces to quell the civil disturbances, it will strengthen the Naxal forces or a new breed of terrorism. This will happen all over the world.
This will eventually emerge as the anti thesis to the thesis – the globalization.
Innoxus; Master, what will be the result of the clash between the globalized capitalism and the anti globalization forces, say thesis and anti thesis.
Ingenito; The result will be disastrous. US led global economic imperialism called globalization will collapse by 2050. It will face the fate of earlier thesis, say, system of slavery and Roman Empire, Feudalism and the Christian Empire, and Colonialism. That is the prophecy of many well informed political and economic pundits. It may ignite a third world war. Who knows?
Innoxus; Master, is there not a peaceful way out?
Ingenito; There is a well known adage; where there is a will, there is a way. To find out the way, we need a dream. This is a dream. We need to dream a brave new world where no direct elections to the National Parliaments take place; no direct elections to State Assemblies; not even to Panchayats.
Dream instead of a world where parliaments come to the streets. The whole world gets organized into neighborhood parliaments of about 30 neighboring families. Each neighborhood families become a kind of mini world or mini nation.
These families are sensitized and inculcated the ethics of enough and love which will be the unwritten constitution of the neighborhood families. Love of the neighbor bonds them together voluntarily without any external compulsion. Each neighborhood parliament has a neighborhood cabinet, with a neighborhood chief minister and ministers for various concerns like health, hygiene, environment, income generation, children’s education etc. All the families are thus organized and federated under village parliament which will also have a cabinet like the neighborhood parliaments. Next tier is the federation of all village parliaments under Panchayat level Parliaments. The pyramid goes to the top through state level, national level and world parliament.
Once this dream materializes, the pro capitalistic democracy will vanish and new political culture called sociocracy will emerge. This sociocracy will be based on the following five principles
Principle One; principle of numerical uniformity
The numerical uniformity is maintained at all levels, from Panchayat to world parliaments. Each higher level is represented by the lower level. This numerical uniformity will replace the bigness of the present democratic parliamentary system which maintains its numerical superiority through manipulation.
Principle Two; small is beautiful
Small is always beautiful. A small forum provides opportunities for participation in decision making and governance
Principle Three; Principle of recall
We need not wait for five years to call back an elected representative through elections. If we are not satisfied with a representative, we shall convene the parliament and recall the person and send somebody else to articulate the concerns of the people.
Principle Four; Principle of Subsidiary
Subsidiary units get the focus here. Vitality, dynamism and power are concentrated more at lowest levels possible. Higher levels never take up the issues and concerns handled by lower levels of this governance structure. Higher levels deal only with those issues that are beyond the capacity of lower levels. For example river water issue.
Principle Five; Principle of Convergence
This means that once you have such a network everything convergences at this network. Everything is done through it. This reinforces the structure further and further.
Innoxus; Master, this seems to be a utopian dream. Is it possible to realize this dream?
Ingenito; Everything is possible if there is a political will among the people. Let me cite one example from our neighbor. In Kerala, they have Kudumbastree forums which are similar to our Self Help Groups. Later they formed Vanitha Ayalkootum which is a grass root neighborhood parliament. Soon it gathered momentum and spread to many districts. The base units were soon federated under village level Ayalkootums and then Panchayat level Ayalkootums. The political parties were alarmed at the emergence of the women political force. The govt. then resorted to a dirty political blackmail and stopped the movement at Panchayat level only. In the recent Panchayat elections, women have won more than 50% of the Panchayat President seats. This is the display of sheer political will of the neighborhood based women. Tomorrow these women shall contest in Assembly elections and assert the gender power.Who knows?
Innoxus; Dear Master, Will the capitalistic forces now deeply entrenched in the present day political structure allow this to happen? Will they not use force to nudge this dream in the bud?
Ingenito; Of course, yes. The only viable and practical strategy is to wrest control of the market from the hands of capitalism. Dear Innoxus, do you know what constitutes the real strength of capitalism?
Innoxus; The control of global market
Ingenito; Yes, you are right. The strength of capitalism lies in their monopoly over the global market. What is market? Market is the people not a place. Capitalism has brainwashed our minds to assume that market is a place. Never.
Each neighborhood parliament will have a minister for market. Thus all the higher level parliaments have their own ministers for market. The base unit – the neighborhood parliament will discuss the place orders for their products, say provisions, clothes and what not, to the village level which collects the orders and place them to the Panchayat level Parliament. Finally, the district level Parliament gathers orders for the commodities throughout the district from the lower levels. The minister for market at the district level procures the commodities from the producers. For example, the rice, spices, pulses and cereals will be procured directly from Farmer Producer Groups from the neighboring district or states. The immediate result is that the middlemen are eliminated from the market and producer – consumer link is established. The products made by Self Help Groups will be preferred to the products of mullti national companies .In each Panchayat there will be producer groups of those commodities for which it has a comparative advantage.
When this model is replicated at global level the big business houses will either vanish or fall in line with the grass root parliaments.
Religion and spirituality
Innoxus; Dear Master, what is spirituality? Is it the sole prerogative of religion? If so, does it mean that people who inhabited this earth before the advent of religion led a life sans spirituality?
Ingenito; this is a profound question raised by you in this dialogue. Thank you Innoxus! This question had been tormenting my mind for several years till I found out an answer during my aloneness in meditation. What is spirituality? It is a life filled with love. Jesus declared very emphatically that following the golden commandment is adequate enough to enter the Kingdom of God. The golden commandment is this; Love thy neighbor as thou love thyself.
He even went on to declare that this commandment is the sum total of all the Ten Commandments. Shall a person without spirituality ever enter into the Kingdom of God? Whoever has love in his heart is endowed with the gift spirituality, because it is a gift of God. A heart filled with love cries in agony when you are hungry; when you are sick with nobody to attend on you; when you are exposed to rain and scorching heat without raiment; when you are in jail and nobody visits you. The loving heart does not stop short of agonizing rather it risks its precious life to defend your right to food, clothing, shelter and health. It cries out in the market place for social, economic and political rights of the oppressed and the marginalized in the face of stoning and even crucifixion.
Kalil Gibran’s Prophet declares” For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you” But Almustafa assures humanity with the following consoling words” When you love you should not say, “ God is in my heart” but rather, “ I am in the heart of God” Shall a man who is in the heart of God be a man without spirituality even if he has no religion?
Innoxus: Shall we then say that Karl Marx or E V Ramasamy Naicker are men with spirituality even though they have no religion or they rejected religion? Are they not men filled with love for humanity in their hearts? Have they not carried cross on their shoulders to defend social and economic justice to the downtrodden and marginalized poor communities?
Ingenito; One more wonderful question emanating from your innocence. Yes you are right. Karl Marx, EVR, Che Guevara or Mao Tse Dung have the same quality of spirituality as Gandhi or Jesus. Their hearts were filled with love towards their oppressed and suffering brethren.
Innoxus; can we integrate spirituality into our educational system. Is there any syllabus for it?
Ingenito; this is the need of the hour to resolve the conflicts at individual level, family level, community level, national level and at global level. The context of 21st century is conflict.
Ancient Gurukulam system of education has spiritual content. Rishis or men of wisdom were the teachers of such schools. They were residential schools in which Brahmins and princes alone have access to get education. The lower caste people were denied access to Gurukulams.
The Gurukulams have two types of students. They are Brahmins and princes. The Brahmins were selected as the disciples of the Rishis who imparted them spiritual education. Certain influential and rich Brahmin students sponsored by Kings received education on state administration and supported the Kings. Others carry on the spiritual tradition of their Gurus. It was unfortunate that these Brahmins never imparted their spiritual education to lower caste people who had to be content with a projected God and institutionalized religions which were also under the control of the Brahmins.
However, the entire education system has spiritual content.
Innoxus; shall we compare the ancient Gurukulam system with the Greek Academies during the Greek Enlightenment.
Ingenito; the Academies of ancient Greeks, say the Academies of Plato and Aristotle, and Gurukulams have one similarity, i.e. both schools focused on the holistic development of the individuals so that they contribute positively to the well being of humanity. The similarity ends here.
The notorious caste system denied the vast majority of the lower caste Indians access to such spiritual enlightenment. This is why the Vedas, Upanishads, religious scriptures and classical literatures in all Indian languages had been penned by Brahmins.
Now let us take a glance on the quality of education we have in the educational institutions.
Can you recall who introduced the present educational system In India?
Innoxus; I remember that it is Lord Macaulay who was very much concerned about the denial of education to the vast majority of lower caste people. He promoted educational institution to ensure social justice to all. Had he not introduced universal education, we are still illiterates, Am I right?
Ingenito; you are the victim of the present day education and the false propaganda unleashed by the politicians. Lord Macaulay required huge force of skilled labor to serve the British rule in India. The British Empire colonized many countries in all the five continents but it had a small population. Hence all the top level executive jobs were controlled by the British. They require huge skilled labor force to work in the lower level of the administration. In India, only the high caste people had access to education and they also form a miniscule minority.
Hence Macaulay introduced universal education to create a subservient labor force. The British companies and the Viceroy could then extract huge surplus labor that could be translated into British pounds and transferred to the coffers of the British Empire.
Karl Marx analyzed extensively how the British rulers extracted huge surplus labor from India in his famous book “On Colonialism”