Neo Humanism PDF Print E-mail
Philosophy
Written by Yash Raj Anand (Gunjan Kumar)   
NEO-HUMANISM: A PHILOSOPHY OF CARE AND LOVE TO ALL

At my master (M.Sc.) level program in environmental science, I was exposed to ecology and environment from very close; eventually I built a strong opinion that nature’s intrinsic aspects include unabated love and care that it bestows upon us so selflessly. While, I was also able to see that man’s interface with nature primarily consisted with - the control, mastering and exploitation of the latter, in all possible ways; that too, for a meagre and momentary goals. All these ever growing and never lasting hedonistic ends of later humanism finally got complicated to an extent that it invited fresh sort of problems which did not have any mitigable solutions left in the little hands of man. This made me establish the fact that the developmental relations always comprise moral issues/problems. 

I began to see that all these problems have their sources on the way we look at the humans. The concept of man has been an evolving one; initially we attributed it as a being, who is - a sinner, weak, incapable and insufficient, vulnerable and totally dependent on nature and finally on almighty God. Then we ascribed it with certain values and rights during the renaissance and enlightenment periods; now it became an autonomous individual with sovereignty, equality, liberty, secularity, freedom and various other rights. Knowledge became power, strong enough to win anything that a man could have imagined in his wildest of the thoughts. Thus, man in humanism found its place at the centre of all that exist. Lot of progress and developmental ends are met, which are mainly through the unwise means of exploitation of nature that involved industrialization, machinization, computerization, consumerization, marketizatioin etc. Many got many things, including the various luxurious forms of lives to enjoy and do what not! But still, even this success remained limited to the few, the significant lot still lagged behind and remained vulnerable, alienated, poor, excluded, sad and problematic.

In the process of our so called developmental efforts, we went on exploiting every ‘other’ the ‘non-humans’ for the welfare of what we thought was ‘Human’, and landed up into the present situation of threats from all over i.e. from global warming, climate change, ice-age, UV-radiations through depleted Ozone layers and many other ecological and environmental calamities. So there must be some significant elements missing in our ‘humanism’.   

Can we imagine human existence without the valuable contribution of what we consider the ‘other’? In other words, can we think of human existence without Air (Oxygen), Water, Food etc? Even the tables, chairs and sofas have a significant contribution to make us, ‘the humans’ more comfortable. So, are they subject to inconsideration and has become insignificant & value less, just because they do not come out and make their claims? The need of the hour is to widen our circumference of humanism and march beyond this anthropocentric outlook to the cosmocentric world view, the one we propose to establish in neo-humanism.

In the philosophy of Neo-Humanism, a significant leap is taken beyond the conventional man-centric thoughts of Humanism to make it more meaningful and hence more successful.

According to P.R.Sarkar, a contemporary Indian socio-spiritual thinker, propounder and pioneer of such vibrant ideas of neo-humanism, ‘Humanism when extended to both animate and inanimate beings becomes Neo-Humanism’. Infact neo-humanism can be seen as a panacea for the present crisis created through our anthropocentric stand so far, which according to Sarkar, is rooted in three fold complications. He mentions it beautifully in his book Liberation of Intellect; they are:

i) Geo-Sentiments:  In the past, and even today, many people are concerned only with their own land or own country. Out of this love of their land they evolved other sub-sentiments such as geo-patriotism, geo-politics, geo-religion and geo-economics. Using geo-patriotism to stir the masses, politicians have goaded them into fighting many bloody wars. The colonialism of the past and the neo-colonialism of today is nothing but a form of geo-economics i.e. the thinking that “let us develop our own country even if it creates misery and poverty in satellite states” is the slogan behind geo-economics.

ii) Socio-Sentiments: Another sentiment which has harmed humanity is socio-sentiment. Here people focus their attention on the particular social group to which they belong. It may be a national, linguistic, social or religious group. Although this sentiment is sometimes more expansive than geo-sentiment (if the particular social group happens to be very large), still it creates a group consciousness which comes into conflict with the sentiment of other groups. The religious wars of the past and even of the present were and are caused by this socio-sentiment. In order to overcome the defects of humanistic sentiments, first humans will have to accept that all creatures have existential value. That is, all creatures have a right to live in the world and develop according to their inherent nature. Humans will have to take steps to see that the habitats of animals and plants are not destroyed even if these plants and animals have no apparent utility value to humans.

iii) Human-Sentiments: Finally, the expansion of the human mind is blocked by another seemingly "good" sentiment that is, "humanism". Love and respect for other human beings or "humanism" should be a noble sentiment uniting humanity and elevating the minds of everyone. However, ordinary humanism has some serious shortcomings. First of all, such humanism does not extend to plants and animals. People talk of "human rights" but continue to deny the rights of plants and animals to exist. Another defect of humanism is that, bereft of a strong spiritual background it often degenerates into pseudo-humanism.

Shri Sarkar maintains that Neo-Humanistic outlook is the only way out i.e. to fight against pseudo-humanism; we will have to be motivated by spirituality (movement of the mind towards the Supreme Consciousness). Humanism can not remain as an intellectual concept; rather it must be nourished by a flow of love and care. When one does spiritual practices, love for all beings arises within, and when this is expressed in individual and collective lives, then spirituality becomes humanity's mission and universalism is attained.

Sarkar through his various writings has given enough indications towards world's social problems and has described the ways in which present social, political and religious leaders have been trying to block the progress of humanity through dogmas, pseudo-humanism, pseudo spirituality and half-hearted and incomplete measures of reform. This is precisely due to the lack of proper insight, vision and maturity added by the self-centered obsessions and rigidity present in our leaders. Despite the dismal record of present and past leaders, we should remain optimistic because once humanity accepts the cosmic consciousness as the goal of life and collectively move towards that goal then we shall overcome all obstacles, small and large.

So a lack of comprehensive understanding about all such complications leads to prohibition of the real-progress and all-round-development of mankind.  Generation of new ideas, particularly in the areas of correct and sustainable policy formation is of an urgent and earnest demand. Specially during this current phase of blind race and severe crisis, where India along with other developing economies pose a strong conviction for rapid industrialization to meet her demand of higher economic growth for fighting poverty. Moreover, India is aspiring to explore its full potential of becoming the highest growing economy surpassing the China. These will lead to more exploitation & more pollution. The developmental correlation with nature and the motherly care that it bestows upon us to the continuous wounds, which we cause in our turn, must be established. The policy makers will have to assume their wider responsibilities and endeavour to make more mature decisions. There is an immediate need to increase the level of sensitivity to the psyche of planners and the common masses equally.

Now this is clear and well established fact that the developed and so called more civilized economies have failed to recognize such rationality in their own turns. They not only have caused a great thereat to humanity but also to the entire flora and fauna of the earth. In terms of misbalancing the eco-system & biodiversity and hence inviting the uncontrollable Global Worming, Various Incurable Diseases, Frequent Natural Calamities and Many Climate Change issues. In this regard, I extend my suggestion that because there is a loss of meaningful linkage between development interventions on the one hand, and comprehensive understanding on the other, between the dynamics of doing and critical understanding, between common global responsibilities for future and understanding the history of experience, the crisis has a moral nature. And due to the negligence of this morality precisely has led us to the trouble of present global economic crisis, which reflects the extent of cruel intentions in man.

Hence a neo-humanistic outlook is pre-requisite to understand the problems and prospects of Growth and Development in the purview of man - nature interface and also by linking them to the contested point of view of moral philosophy. As development being a global moral engagement, setting ourselves the task of regaining a morally meaningful perspective seems to be an unavoidable necessity. This leads to shaping up new forms of social, political and philosophical responsibilities on a global scale whose nature precisely is inclusive and participatory. The neo-humanistic ideas, which propagate care and universal love to all must be studied in a wider scale. As we cannot imagine humans devoid of nature, we got to recognize and value each and every individual (element) sooner or later, and pay their due respects by acting more maturely. Moreover, when we call our selves the most developed creatures then it necessarily becomes our bounden duty to take care the Unprivileged, Underdeveloped and as often believed, the Unwanted.

Yash Raj Anand (Gunjan Kumar)
J.N.U, New Delhi.

Neo-humanism expands the humanistic love for all fellow human beings to inclide all of creation -- plants, animals and even inanimate objects. Neo-humanism provides a philosophical basis for building a new era of ecological balance and human kinship.

One of the important factors in the development of any society is a proper social outlook. In the past, entire civilizations have weakened and crumbled simply because one class or group in the society considered another to be inferior and treated them as slaves. Today one of the greatest weaknesses of contemporary civilization is that there is no proper regard and mutual love amongst humans. Race is pitted against race, religion against religion, linguistic group against linguistic group. The divisions in human society are endless and are sapping the vital life out of our civilization.

Not only is there a lack of mutual respect among people, but humans have lost all esteem, appreciation and responsibility towards the animals and plants who share this planet with us. Our wanton destruction of the plant and animal life and our unthinking pollution of the air, earth, sea and space threaten to permanently damage the earth's eco-system making it inhospitable for all forms of life.

In his earliest writings on this subject, P.R. Sarkar said that humans must think of themselves as part of one great family comprising all of humanity, rather than identifying with a particular race, religion, nationality or linguistic group. This type of social outlook he termed "universalism". In 1982 he further elaborated on the method of attaining universalism in a series of discourses published in a book Liberation of Intellect: Neo-Humanism. In that book he noted that traditional humanism has not been capable of elevating humanity to the height of universalism and presented a reformulated humanism based on spirituality, and called it "Neo Humanism."

Neo-Humanism is derived from an understanding of the fundamental nature (Dharma) of human beings. Human life has three aspects: physical, mental and spiritual. Regarding the physical aspect, the science of biology has already said much about the workings of the human body. However, the psycho-spiritual needs or humans have not been, up to now fully understood despite the efforts of psychologists and spiritual seekers.

The higher possibilities of human nature demand that the mind be free to expand and to flow towards the Supreme Consciousness (God). When this happens, a human being develops love (devotion) for the Supreme Consciousness and love for all other beings. This love for the Supreme Consciousness should be considered to be the most valuable treasure of humanity. Without it life becomes dry and meaningless.

Today, however, humanity does not have a proper philosophy of life and so the society which we have constructed is not in harmony with the inner longings of the human heart. Materialism pervades all parts of present day life and materialism is crushing the devotional sentiment in humans. As a result of this imbalance between the inner needs and outer realities we find much misery, depression and mental illness in society today.

The solution to this rectifying this imbalance is a philosophy which harmonizes the inner needs of humanity with the outer demands of the material world. In order to implement such a way of life we must know the ways in which the spiritual treasure (devotion) of humanity is threatened. There are three human sentiments which impede the expansion of the mind towards universalism.

When one is obsessed with one's geographical land, this is called geo-sentiment. In the past, and even today, many people were concerned only with their own land or own country. Out of this love of their land they evolved other sub-sentiments such as geo-patriotism, geo-politics, geo-religion and geo-economics. Using geo-patriotism to stir the masses, politicians have goaded them into fighting many bloody wars. The colonialism of the past and the neo-colonialism of today is nothing but a form of geo-economics ("Let us develop our own country even if it creates misery and poverty in satellite states" is the slogan behind geo-economics).

Another sentiment which has harmed humanity is called socio-sentiment. Here people focus their attention on the particular social group to which they belong. It may be a national, linguistic, social or religious group. Although this sentiment is sometimes more expansive than geo-sentiment (if the particular social group happens to be very large), still it creates a group consciousness which comes into conflict with the sentiment of other groups. The religious wars of the past and even of the present were and are caused by this socio-sentiment.

Finally, the expansion of the human mind is blocked by another seemingly "good" sentiment that is, "humanism". Love and respect for other human beings or "humanism" should be a noble sentiment uniting humanity and elevating the minds of everyone. However, ordinary humanism has some serious shortcomings. First of all, such humanism does not extend to plants and animals. People talk of "human rights" but continue to deny the rights of plants and animals to exist. Another defect of humanism is that, bereft of a strong spiritual background it often degenerates into pseudo-humanism. For example, many so-called developed nations give "foreign aid" to less developed countries in the name of humanism, but behind the scenes the multinational corporations of these same nations are extracting all the wealth out of the less developed nations, creating extensive misery for people and massive ecological destruction in their reckless pursuit of profits.

Shrii Sarkar has done more than describe the problems caused by these limited sentiments. He also presents the ways in which to overcome the sentiments which stand in the way of our developing universalistic consciousness. He says that geo-sentiments can only be countered when humans develop their faculty of rationality. Rational thinking is an extremely valuable tool which humans have at their disposal. Through proper study and use of the mind, humans can easily see through the geo-sentiments propagated by demagogues.

In this regard, Shril Sarkar emphasizes that mental analysis must not be checked by dogmas which he defines as ideas or belief systems which attempt to limit the field of human thinking. In some countries, for example, one may discuss economics only within the framework of a certain philosophy. This is a dogma, not very different from the religious dogmas of some countries where spiritual or social ideas can only be discussed within the bounds laid out by a particular religious faith. All dogmas, whether they are presented as religious, or even are claimed to be "scientific", are dangerous for human welfare. Regarding social sentiments, the best way to overcome them is by adhering to the principle of social equality (Sama Samaj Tattva). Amongst humans, two principle psychologies can be observed. Some people live only for their own selfish pleasure and never think of the needs or rights of others. A more lofty outlook is where people have a determination to move towards the supreme consciousness, and along the way they make a resolve to eliminate the social inequalities which divide humanity. Sarkar explains that the "endeavour to advance towards the ultimate reality by forming a society free from all inequalities with everyone of the human race moving in unison is called Sama Samaj Tattva." (Liberation of Intellect)

Thus, socio-sentiments can only be overcome with the spiritual outlook inherent in the Sama Samaj Tattva The key to removing social inequalities is a "proto-spiritual mentality." Proto-spiritual mentality is the attempt to focus the mind on a spiritual object (the Supreme Consciousness). When this kind of thought becomes the principle of human life then socio-sentiments can be easily surmounted. In order to overcome the defects of humanistic sentiments, first humans will have to accept that all creatures have existential value. That is, all creatures have a right to live in the world and develop according to their inherent nature. Humans will have to take steps to see that the habitats of animals and plants are not destroyed even if these plants and animals have no apparent utility value to humans. To fight against pseudo-humanism, we will have to be motivated by spirituality (movement of the mind towards the Supreme Consciousness). Humanism can not remain as an intellectual concept, rather it must be nourished by a flow of love. When one does spiritual practices, love for all beings arises within, and when this is expressed in individual and collective life, then spirituality becomes humanity's mission and universalism is attained.

Shrii Sarkar maintains that Neo-Humanism is the solution to the world's social problems and has described the ways in which present social, political and religious leaders have been trying to block the progress of humanity through dogmas, pseudo-humanism, pseudo spirituality and half-hearted and incomplete measures of reform. Despite the dismal record of present and past leaders, we should remain optimistic because once humanity accepts the cosmic consciousness as the goal of life and collectively move towards that goal, then we will overcome all obstacles, small and large.

THINKERS ON NEO HUMANISM:

In the opinion of M.N. Roy:

"Humanism is cosmopolitan. It does not run after utopian internationalism,
which presupposes the existence of autonomous national states. A
cosmopolitan commonwealth of free men and women is a possibility. It will be
a spiritual community, not limited by the boundaries of national states -
capitalist, fascist, communist or any other ism, which will gradually
disappear under the impact of cosmopolitan humanism."

Shrii Prabhat Rainjan Sarkar proposes:

"The universe is just like a joint family. Peace and tranquillity depend on
a well-knit socio-economic structure. The moulding of the socio-economic
structure depends on the ideological outlook. First we should have a
constructive ideal. The ideal should not only be a culminating point but it
should be a starting point also.


ideas of world government:

-To materialize the concept of universalism a world government is necessary.
This world government should be a confederation of all the federated states
of the world. These federated states will consist of self-sufficient
economic units or zones formed entirely on socio-economic and geographical
considerations. Economically developed areas have a tendency to exploit
economically undeveloped areas and hence federated states should be formed
of different units. If we take a concrete example inside India, Vidarbhga,
being a Marathi-speaking area, does not want to remain a part of Maharasthra
and wants to become a separate state. Another important example is
Azarbaizan. The Persian portion of Azarbaizan agitated to merge with the
Soviet portion of Azarbaizan to ensure economic development. The different
units or zones formed in this way may be redefined and rename for
administrative convenience. These units may have certain common factors and
these common factors will unite them into federations.

In the initial stage, the world government will be a law-making body and the
different federations will have executive powers to implement the laws
passed by the world government. The federations may or may not fully
materialize the laws of the confederation but they must not go against them.
The confederation will, however, have some executive power for limited and
defined purposes, namely, for maintaining inter-federal peace and
tranquillity and for settling intra/inter-planetary disputes. This will mean
the maintenance of a world militia under the full control of the
confederation.

The federation and the units will also maintain a police force to ensure
internal law and order. The economic units or zones will have parliamentary
boards to govern and dictate politically. These boards will form one higher
board, which will be called federated boards. These federated boards will
govern the different federations. The collection of these federated boards
is called the confederated board or body. This body will look after the
confederation as a whole, but will not ignore the interests of any
federation.