Co-existential harmony for Solving Global Problems

Co-existential harmony for Solving Environmental Problems (A philosophical and conceptual study) Dr. Surendra Pathak* Mother earth is considered as one of the most beautiful and harmonious planets in the Universe. Earth may be the only planet in our galaxy that has enough water & environment for the further evolution of life, i.e. plant, animal and human order. Naturally, life on earth is in co-existential harmony1. Unfortunately, global human society is suffering from various problems due to the ignorance of this harmony. Nature cares, loves & supports the human order and reciprocally, human must take care of its only beautiful planet. We must follow the law of mutual fulfillment, and it is necessary for survival of humanity. Unfortunately, directionless & purposeless techno-scientific development damages the natural-ecological and environmental harmony, and creates ecological and environmental imbalances.2 Climate of the world is changing very fast; catastrophes are taking place almost every day, unknown hazardous diseases are surfacing everywhere. The only hope is that every person is capable of influencing the world in some way and that this influence would be positive. We can imagine the seriousness of the problem today, 150 major nations of the world show an ecological deficit. Taken together, the ecological footprint of all nations in the year 2001 is almost 20% bigger than the ecological capacity of the Earth. ³Moderate UN scenarios suggest that if current population and consumption trends continue, by the mid 2030s we will need the equivalent of two Earths to support us. And of course, we only have one´. 3 A poll survey report published in Washington Post µMass Extinction Underway, Majority of Biologists Say¶ ³A majority of the nation's biologists are convinced that a mass extinction of plants and animals is underway that poses a major threat to humans in the next century. The rapid disappearance of species was ranked as one of the planet's gravest environmental worries, surpassing pollution, global warming and the thinning of the ozone layer.´ 4 So we see, at this rate human race could one day perish if we don't look after our planet. 1 However, Human centric philosophy µMadhayatha Darshan Sahastitvavad¶5 elucidates Coexistence, i.e. existential/natural Order among physical-material world, plant/pranic & animal world. The relationships among the material, pranic (cells) /plants and animal orders are mutually fulfilling and mutually enriching and this process is cyclic (avartansheel) in nature. Right understanding between Nature and Human being will be necessary to fulfill the relationship with all these orders. A.Nagraj (2008) further argues that the whole of µexistence is in the form of co-existence¶6, as units submerged in space. Each unit is self-organized within itself (Niyam, niyantran, santulan sahit nishchit aacharan ke sath) and fulfils its harmonious relationship with all other units/order, except human order. Ultimate desire of human being is also to live in the harmony with rest of the nature. It means that no one has to create the harmony; it is already available, it is exists in the form of Co-existential Harmony. One only needs to understand existence and align oneself with it. It is only by understanding these processes in nature, human being can survive & flourish. All the three orders are fulfilling their relationship with human being. Subsequently Human being must organize their life style to fulfill other three orders. Role of human order in co-existential harmony Physical/ Mineral Order ? ? Human Order ? ? Plant /Pranic Order Animal Order 2 Dr. Sandeep Pandey says ³Madhyastha Darshan identifies two distinct and independent components in a human being ± the material body and the consciousness (µjeevan¶ or µchaitanya¶). Spiritualism or Sciences do not recognize their independent existence. Unlike Spiritualism, this is God-centered and mystical in nature, and Science, which is matter-centered and uncertain in nature, Madhyastha Darshan is human-centered and deterministic in nature. Since spiritualism and science have failed to universally satisfy the quest for knowledge of human beings in a manner which could result in a just human order, there was a need to look beyond these two major streams of thinking which have guided human beings so far on earth.´ 7 Socio-political, economic and personal choices must be based on the laws of physics (natural laws) in order to be in harmony with nature including human life. This basic principle was recognized by Karl-Henrik, he further argues (Educating a Nation: the Natural Step) that ³It also happens that nearly all of our natural resources have been created by cells. Over billions of years, a toxic stew of inorganic compounds has been transformed by cells into mineral deposits, forests, fish, soil, breathable air and water - the very foundation of our economy and of our healthy existence. With sunlight as the sole energy supply, those natural resources have been created in growing, self-sustaining cycles - the "waste" from one species providing nutrition for another (i.e. mutual fulfillment). The only processes that we can rely on indefinitely are cyclical; all linear processes must eventually come to an end. For roughly the past hundred years, humans have been disrupting the cyclical processes of nature at an accelerating pace. All human societies are, in varying degrees, now processing natural resources in a linear direction.´8 Observations by Karl-Henrik in support of the philosophy of Co-Existence (Madhayatha Darshan Sahastitvava). Problems Facing Global Society As we know that ³Every year, six million children die from malnutrition before their fifth birthday. Every 3.6 seconds, about the time it'll take you to read this sentence, another human being has died of starvation. Five million people die from water borne illness every year. Almost 40 percent of the world's population does not have basic sanitation and over one billion people still use unsafe sources of drinking water. HIV/AIDS takes the lives of 6,000 people every single day, as 8,200 more are infected with it. In Every thirty seconds, another African child dies of malaria, which accounts for the deaths of more than one million children a year. A woman in sub-Saharan Africa has a 1 in 16 chance of dying in childbirth. Her North American counterpart has a 1 in 3,700 risk. More than 40 percent of African women do not have access to basic education, although it's proven that if a girl is educated for six years or more, as an adult her prenatal care, postnatal care, and childbirth survival rates will dramatically and constantly improve. Educated women are more likely to vaccinate their children. Every minute, a woman somewhere dies in pregnancy or childbirth. That's 1,400 women every single day and 529,000 women each year dying from pregnancy-related causes. About five women have already died as you read this.´ 1 A human monoculture without the support of other species is not viable. Anthropogenic, human caused mass extinction of species is a threat to human survival17. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment project reports on the loss of species in the last 30 years of the 20th century. 18The modern life-style and trends of socio-politico-economic systems designed by materialistic ideologies are further aggravating the social & environmental problems. 3 In view of addressing the environmental problems, the World Bank economist JeanFrancois Rischard 9 (2002) seriously argues that the next twenty years will be of critical implication to our planet. Resolution of global problems over the next decade will determine the fate of our planet for the future generations. He points out that the twenty most pressing issues facing the global community, which can be classified in three groups, one, Issues involving the global community, i.e. global warming, biodiversity & ecosystem losses, fisheries depletion, deforestation, water deficits, maritime safety and pollution, second, Issues requiring global commitments, are massive step-up in the fight against poverty, peacekeeping, conflict prevention, combating terrorism, Education for all, Global infectious diseases, digital divide, natural disaster prevention and mitigation and, third, Issues needing a global regulatory approach, i.e. reinventing taxation for the twenty-first century, biotechnology rules, global financial architecture, Illegal drugs, Trade, investment, and competition rules, Intellectual property rights, E-commerce rules, International labor and migration. All this demands a drastic paradigm shifts, in the materialistic modern education orientation, from conflict centric to Harmony centric education. And the priority, approaches and mainstream development strategies of the Nation States must be on the basis of human centric existential harmony, i.e. wisdom based sustainable and cyclic development and balance between production and the consumption of natural resources. This tendency of the consumerist global market to exploit the natural resources for profit alone for generating illusionary paper money at nature¶s cost forms the core of the problem. On the other hand, Russian Philosopher Alexander Chumakov believes that ³At the dawn of global civil society, the test for humanity is to achieve unity while preserving cultural differences as well as the distinctiveness of nations and peoples. Such unity can be reached only by recognizing human values, especially human rights. However, these rights must be strictly determined and more than mere obligations. Hence, the most important task for philosophy is to develop foundations and principles for a world society and to formulate a global consciousness and a humanistic worldview that adequately reflects the realities of our epoch. Our action must increasingly be based on an acknowledgment of global values.´ 10 Solutions of global problems as suggested by most of the Secular Humanists to upholding and strengthening International law, application of the rule of law in combating terrorism, promoting secular values, laws and constitutions worldwide, asserting the rights of children to be free of religious indoctrination, rational solutions to global problems based on international cooperation, strengthening of the µKyoto Agreement¶ to provide an international carbon tax and the voice against unilateral pre-emptive military action, the policy of any country that seeks to promote a sectarian religious agenda, policies based on the presumption of religious superiority, theocracies of any kind, be they Judaic, Christian or Islamic. This requires a shift in our orientation from discriminatory/sectarianism (Race, Class, Caste, Religion, Gender etc.) to Human centric mindset which can be achieved through Co-existential harmony centric global & universal educational content for all, which will create a conducive environment for common humane civil code, universal-global laws & legislations (Common Constitution for all humanity) to resolve the disastrous social & environmental problems plaguing our planet. Today¶s global economic-political and educational policies & activities are influencing the global climate system. Various research data indicate that earth's surface temperature is rising. This increase can be attributed and caused by increase in greenhouse gases such as 4 carbon dioxide. It is becoming apparent that these climatic changes are negatively affecting physical and biological systems worldwide, Charles H. Southwick 11 well known ecologist argues that how we as humans affect global ecosystems and how these changes impact our health, behavior, economics and politics. Winfried K. Rudloff, Governors State University suggests, ³On one hand, globalization in science and education is rapidly taking place on account of the World Wide Web and the Internet. On the other hand, such high technology-based education is still in its infancy and mostly concerned with run-ofthe-mill subjects that lack focus on urgent global problems. Specifically, most urgent problems such as resource depletion, environmental pollution, over-population, deforestation, the Greenhouse Effect, unchecked militarism, and rampant nuclear proliferation are studied to provide our students with a better understanding of the complexity of these interrelated issues. They should learn how to analyze problems of global importance and find creative solutions. After all, they are the generation of the future which they have to shape through knowledge and state-of-the-arts skills.´12 The big question is what is the underlining cause of such economical and political behavior? Human centric philosophy of coexistence, i.e. µMadhayatha Darshan Sahastitvavad¶, explains that, consumerist social behavior, profit centric economies, sex-lust centric psychological content of media, and uncertainty, disorder, chaos and conflict based ideologies and theories of modern education content comprise the root of this problematic behavior. Lester Brown argues that sometimes the scientific predictions are uncertain due to the complexity of an issue, such as the present state of the world. Human civilization is endangered by anthropogenic environmental degradation, and by destructive social and individual conflicts. Healthy ecosystems are the major supplier of vital resources to humans.13 A. Nagraj proposes that each existential phenomenon is self organized, law of nature is constant, stable & evolutionary process in nature is definite, hence current problems faced by mankind can not only be predicted but also resolved ³Environmental scientists have been saying for some time that the global economy is being slowly undermined by environmental trends of human origin, including shrinking forests, expanding deserts, falling water tables, eroding soils, collapsing fisheries, rising temperatures, melting ice, rising seas, and increasingly destructive storms´ 14. The links between environmental change and acute conflict will help us to evaluate our theory of environmental change and its contribution to conflict. Scarcity of resources from the environment (clean air, water, food, energy, land etc.) leads to violent conflicts within nations, and to war and terrorism between nations.15 Neo-Malthusianism have argued that global environmental change leads to scarcities of resources that could lead to societal collapse. Somalia, Rwanda, and Haiti serve as poster children for such arguments. 16 They also demonstrate how violent conflicts emerge indirectly from resource scarcity. Already today, 150 major nations of the world show an ecological deficit. This situation arises when there is a lack of understanding of Co-existence, mutually fulfilling- mutually enriching cyclic process (avartansheel) in nature and mutually unfulfilling & disorderly relationship of Humans with the rest of the nature. Moreover the production model especially Industrial, adopted by modern man has disturbed the law of natural cyclicity which results into ecological imbalance. 5 In view of the philosophy of Co existential Harmony the human intervention through science & technology into the existential order (such as Atom, cells, Gene) can lead to massive destruction & uncertain behavior of nature which can eventually lead to collapse of civilization and the major factor in this outcome will be the activities propelled by nuclear fission & fusion. The advent of nuclear weapons might lead to mutually assured destruction, and therefore the resolution of conflicts by the rule of international law has become a necessity. Well known scientist Carl Sagan in his widely acclaimed television series "The Nuclear Winter" (1983), explored the unforeseen and devastating physical and chemical effects of even a small-scale nuclear war on the earth's biosphere and life on earth. War and terrorism within and between nations is a critical global issue. An all-out nuclear war causing a nuclear winter would be a catastrophe for humankind; it would not only create social chaos, but also ruin the life-supporting ecosystem beyond repair 18. It is now almost 40 years since the invention of nuclear weapons. We have not yet experienced a global thermonuclear war although on more than one occasion we have come tremulously close. I do not think our luck can hold forever. Men and machines are fallible, as recent events remind us. Fools and madmen do exist, and sometimes rise to power. Concentrating always on the near future, we have ignored the long-term consequences of our actions. We have placed our civilization and our species in jeopardy. Healthy ecosystems are the major supplier of vital resources to humans. Lester Brown says in µPlan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble.¶ ³Our global civilization today is on an economic path that is environmentally unsustainable, a path that is leading us toward economic decline and eventual collapse.´ 19 The use of fossil fuels has advanced technology-based civilization to unprecedented destruction levels because one the one hand extraction of fossils fuels creates tectonic disturbances and on the other hand release of CO2 creates the atmospheric imbalance leading to global warming. However today, we begin to realize that the consequences of our energy choices may lead to climate change, and the demise of fossil fuel based civilization. So the most appropriate alternative for energy resource should be renewable energy. Long term systemic thinking and appropriate action at the global and local levels are urgently needed for achieving sustainability, and civility in the world community. Sustainability is the overarching issue; it rests on three pillars: ecological, societal, and personal integrity. Billions of human beings on the Earth are unhappy due to their inability to satisfy their basic personal needs (physiological needs, safety and security needs, love and belonging needs, esteem needs) as defined by A. Maslow.20 Maslow has been a very inspirational figure in personality theories. In the 1960¶s in particular, people were tired of the reductionist, mechanistic messages of the behaviorists and physiological psychologists. They were looking for meaning and purpose in their lives, even a higher, more mystical meaning. Maslow was one of the pioneers in that movement to bring the human being back into psychology and the person back into personality! At approximately the same time, another movement was getting underway, one inspired by some of the very things that turned Maslow off: computers and information processing, as well as very rationalistic theories such as Piaget¶s cognitive development theory and Noam Chomsky¶s linguistics. But the philosophy of Co existential Harmony explains two types of human needs i.e. one as Material Needs (Food, Clothing, Shelter, Material means) for body fulfilled through agriculture & industrial production and the other as Non-Material Needs 6 for Consciousness (Trust, Respect, Love, Understanding etc.),21 which can be fulfilled only by understanding Niyam, Niyantran, Santulan in natural order and Nyay, Dharma (order), Satya in the relationship. In fact, every man wants to live with perennial happiness and prosperity. Almost all human efforts and time are spent in order to ensure physical (material) comfort with the inherent presumption that comforts will lead to happiness. If we look into this presumption, what appears is that in case of lack of comfort one feels deprived. But it is well known that having enough of comforts cannot ensure happiness. Thus it becomes essential to address the need of happiness and comfort separately. Consequently, one must understand happiness, comfort and the difference between these two needs. Thus perennial happiness can be achieved by living in synchrony with Co existence. Role of Global Civil society Since early stage of Indian civilization there has been an earnest desire for realizing VasudhevKutambakam (Single Global Family) i.e. in the modern sense Global Civil society & ³Global Citizenship´, which are widely prevalent in contemporary intellectual discourses. Chief Editor of the International Journal of Sociology François Houtart says ³the debate on the limits, possibilities and opportunities facing civil society today is an open one. The issue was discussed during the World Social Forum in January in Porto Alegre, Brazil, which brought together spokespeople and representatives of civil society around the world.´ The concept of civil society is very fashionable at the moment. It is so widely accepted as to allow all kinds of interpretations, while at the same time covering all kinds of ambivalences. When the World Bank talks of civil society it is referring to a completely different reality than the one expressed by the Thai Poor People¶s Forum or the Brazilian Movement of Landless Peasants using the same term. It is necessary to analyze this term away from the slogans. Civil society is the arena for social struggles and thus for defining collective challenges, but before reflecting on how to build it we should first take a close look at the different ways the concept is currently interpreted. Global civil society represents the potential of transnational civil society to enhance democracy in global governance. Numerous works are devoted to the role of new ideas, norms, and discourse of transnational advocacy networks 22,23,24. The development of transnational networks may help to create new identities and awareness of global society that would improve the current discriminatory codes and practices based on established political boundaries. Richard Price25 Implies that research into transnational civil society tends to overemphasize the effect of particular campaigns that aspire to liberal and progressive moral change and to downplay the µbad¶ or failed campaigns. In a similar vein, Chris Brown33 suggests that the pitfall of the global civil society scholarship is to assume that transnational advocacy networks would provide a panacea for world ills and represent the universal values of the human race. Then, what factors contribute to the achievement of global civil society, lest we fall for versions of cosmopolitan idealism? Those who turn to history as well as theory suggest that the birth of global civil society could occur only in the further development and maturation of civil society. John Keane26 argues that µso-called domestic civil societies and the emerging global civil society are normally linked together in complex, cross7 boarder patterns of looped and re-looped circuitry¶. The normative divide between domestic and global civil societies is nationalism, a collective sense of unity based on the cultural tradition and the recognized existence of a nation in a particular region. However, according to Edward Shills27, civil society is sustained by national collective selfconsciousness i.e. (Akhand Samaj/One Human Society) because its normative basis is a collective willingness to accept the legitimacy of the law and of authority, which enhances plurality of interests and ideals. Thus, nationalism is also an important vehicle for global civil society. Philosopher A. Nagraj propounded Madhyastha Darshan, which is basically a human centric philosophy. At its core is the co-existentialism. Nagraj has elucidated on the harmony and balance in the humane conduct as well as in natural phenomenon. He has proposed some guidelines (Human conducts) for the humanity that is known as Manviya Samvidhan (human constitution). Keeping human being in the focus, based on human mental faculties he has presented a number of sutras that are of very high value for establishment of universal human order. These sutras enlighten the path to the solutions of present day problems. It guides humanity towards achieving satisfied, prosperous, fearless and co existential life. 28 If we have to identify the role of Global civil society for solving human problem First of all it is imperative to identify and explore the definite human conduct, i.e. to live Niyam, Niyantran, Santulan with natural order and Nyay, Dharma (order), Satya with human society human. Philosophy of Madhyastha Darshan explains the definite and constant conduct of human being. This conduct could be the foundation of global human citizen code and constitution by which we can explore the universal human order. This is possible through the reorient the content of education towards behavioral sociology, Cyclic Economics, humanization of science and technology, consciousness centered psychology, human centric economic & social system and human constitution which can solve the human problems. REFERENCES: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. A. Nagraj, Samadhanatmak bhautikvad, Jeevan Vidya Prakashan (1998) Millennium Goals - Global Problems ~ Global Solutions Forum, www.laroche.edu/global/goals.htm Global Footprint http://www.footprintnetwork.org/gfn_sub.php?content=global_footprint Washington Post, Tuesday, April 21, 1998, ³Mass Extinction Underway, Majority of Biologists Say´ A. Nagraj, Samadhanatmak bhautikvad, Jeevan Vidya Prakashan (1998) A. Nagraj, Samadhanatmak bhautikvad, Jeevan Vidya Prakashan (1998) Sandeep Pandey, Jeevan vidya, http://www.servintfree.net/~aidmn-ejournal/publications/200111/JeevanVidya.html Karl-Henrik Robèrt, http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC28/Robert.htm Jean-Francois Rischard, Twenty Global Issues, Twenty Years to Solve Them (2002) 10. Alexander Chumakov, Human Values: The Key to Solving Global Problems (Abstract), The Proceedings of the Twentieth World Congress of Philosophy (1998), Alan M. Olson (Editor) 11. Charles H. Southwick, Global Ecology In Human Perspective, Oxford University Press, 1996 8 12. Winfried K. Rudloff, Global Issues and Integrative Education, Published in ³Adv. In Educ., Vol III´, pp. 1-6, Ed. George Lasker, IIAS Publication, Windsor, Canada 2000 13. Lester Brown, Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble http://www.earth-policy.org/Books/PB2/ 14. Thomas Homer-Dixon, µOn The Threshold: Environmental Changes as Causes of Acute Conflict¶. http://www.library.utoronto.ca/pcs/thresh/thresh3.htm#top 15. Thomas Homer-Dixon, µOn The Threshold: Environmental Changes as Causes of Acute Conflict¶. http://www.library.utoronto.ca/pcs/thresh/thresh3.htm#top 16. Gleditsch, Nils Petter, 2003. µEnvironmental Conflict: Neomalthusians vs. Cornucopians¶, in Hans Günter Brauch, ed., Security and the Environment in the Mediterranean: Conceptualising Security and Environmental Conflicts. Berlin: Springer (477±485). 17. Global Footprint http://www.footprintnetwork.org/gfn_sub.php?content=global_footprint 18. Charles H. Southwick, Global Ecology In Human Perspective, Oxford University Press, 1996 19. Lester Brown, Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble http://www.earth-policy.org/Books/PB2/ 20. Maslow¶s basic needs http://www.ship.edu/~cgboeree/maslow.html 21. A. Nagraj, Vavharvadi Samajshastra, JeevanVidya Prakshan Amarkantak, (1999) 22. Keck, Margaret and Kathryn Sikkink. 1998. Activists Beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics. Ithaca, NY, and London: Cornell University Press. 23. Higgott, Richard, Geoffrey Underhill, and Andreas Bieler. 2000. Non-State Actors and Authority in the Global System. London: Routledge. 24. O¶Brien, Robert, Anne Marie Goetz, Jan Aart Scholte, and Marc Williams. 2000. Contesting Global Governance: Multilateral and Global Social Movements. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 25. Price, Richard. 2003. µTransnational Civil Society and Advocacy in World Politics.¶ World Politics 55 (July): 26. Keane, John. 2001. µGlobal Civil Society?¶ In Global Civil Society 2001, eds. Helmut Anheier, Marlies Glasius, and Mary Kaldor. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 23±47. 27. Shils, Edward. 1995. µNation, Nationality, Nationalism and Civil Society.¶ Nations and Nationalism 1(1): 93±118. 28. A Nagraj, A.Nagraj, Manviya Samvidhan, JeevanVidya Prakshan Amarkantak, (2008) «««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««.. * Dr. Surendra Pathak, Associate professor, Head, Department of value Education, IASE University, Sardarshahar,(Churu), Rajasthan (Global harmony Association ± President GHA-India) 9