During a workshop today, we had the opportunity to reflect on the Baha'i approach to social and economic development. It was mentioned that the basic task with which we are are concerned is that of civilization building. For the first time in history, we are trying to build a civilization that is 1) global and 2) that achieves a dynamic coherence between the spiritual and material dimensions of human existence. I was especially touched by the idea that the achievement of true prosperity for all the world's peoples requires that material and spiritual progress go hand in hand. A natural tendency of the human mind is to fragment reality and to create false dichotomies--between the mind and heart, faith and reason, the spiritual and the material. But, in reality, there is one universe, one existence that has both its spiritual and material dimensions which both have to go together. Science and religion are the two knowledge systems that propel civilization and we will need to learn to use them both in ways that humanity has never done so before.
These are a few paragraphs from a statement called "The Prosperity of Humankind", prepared by the Bahá'í International Community Office of Public Information in Haifa, which explore the necessity of achieving this coherence between the spiritual and material. It is an excellent paper and I've included the link below.
"The assumptions directing most of current development planning are essentially materialistic. That is to say, the purpose of development is defined in terms of the successful cultivation in all societies of those means for the achievement of material prosperity that have, through trial and error, already come to characterize certain regions of the world. Modifications in development discourse do indeed occur, accommodating differences of culture and political system and responding to the alarming dangers posed by environmental degradation. Yet the underlying materialistic assumptions remain essentially unchallenged.
"As the twentieth century draws to a close, it is no longer possible to maintain the belief that the approach to social and economic development to which the materialistic conception of life has given rise is capable of meeting humanity's needs. Optimistic forecasts about the changes it would generate have vanished into the ever-widening abyss that separates the living standards of a small and relatively diminishing minority of the world's inhabitants from the poverty experienced by the vast majority of the globe's population.
"This unprecedented economic crisis, together with the social breakdown it has helped to engender, reflects a profound error of conception about human nature itself. For the levels of response elicited from human beings by the incentives of the prevailing order are not only inadequate, but seem almost irrelevant in the face of world events. We are being shown that, unless the development of society finds a purpose beyond the mere amelioration of material conditions, it will fail of attaining even these goals. That purpose must be sought in spiritual dimensions of life and motivation that transcend a constantly changing economic landscape and an artificially imposed division of human societies into "developed" and "developing"."
http://statements.bahai.org/95-0303.htm
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3 comments:
Thanks for sharing this. The kind of schizophrenic dichotomous existence most of us tend to lead, separating out the spiritual and material aspects of our lives - both at the individual and societal level - is no doubt one of the biggest barriers we need to overcome to achieve true and sustained progress. Thanks for pointing that out!
Thanks for sharing this Leila! I look forward to reading the paper you shared. Your post came to mind today when I read an article in the Wall Street Journal about how globalization and technology have actually increased global inequality, according to 4 Nobel Laureate economists.
Based on that such evidence, clearly just becoming more "global" / globalized as a world community is insufficient. The WSJ article indicates that we still have a long way to go (and are actually regressing) in the task of ensuring that all of the world's citizens have at least their basic needs met. But, is this really a surprise if nations are only focusing on meeting material objectives as seek they to globalize? Can we ever expect to meet basic material needs for all people if we fail to consider spiritual principles?
I would be curious to hear more about what you (or others) think "true prosperity" really is. This seems a really important point, one that shouldn't get lost in the conversation about development. We talk so much about "economic development"... as crucial as those conversations are, I also wonder: How can we shift this to a more holistic conversation about human and global development? I think that what you said about science and religion being "the two knowledge systems that propel civilization" and that "we will need to learn to use them both in ways that humanity has never done so before" makes for an important starting point.
Nikhil, I found your brief description of this "dichotomous existence" to be very insightful. And Casia, your comment "Can we ever expect to meet basic material needs for all people if we fail to consider spiritual principles?" seems to get to the heart of the matter. Your question about what true prosperity means has gotten me thinking! It brings to mind the question of the kind of civilization that we want to build. We have to ask ourselves: is it one where a smaller and smaller percentage of the world's peoples continue to amass a larger percentage of its wealth, while the majority of humanity is oppressed and but an object of another's decisions? (It appears this is the direction that an approach to development based solely on materialistic assumptions is taking us, as the article you mentioned seems to demonstrate). Or is this new world that we want to build one in which each human being is considered a participant, a builder of a new civilization that has as its fruit the spiritual and material well-being of all humanity? Of course, bringing about this civilization is no easy task, but Baha'u'llah has brought humanity the teachings (the spirit) as well as the institutions (the form) that we need at this stage in our development to create this new world that we all yearn to be a part of.
Here are some quotes that I found about prosperity:
"Until all nations and peoples become united by the bonds of the Holy Spirit in this real fraternity, until national and international prejudices are effaced in the reality of this spiritual brotherhood, true progress, prosperity and lasting happiness will not be attained by man.
(Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i World Faith - Abdu'l-Baha Section, p. 227)
"Not until the world of women becomes equal to the world of men in the acquisition of virtues and perfections, can success and prosperity be attained as they ought to be."
(Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i World Faith - Abdu'l-Baha Section, p. 288)
"The prophets have come from the lowliest and most humiliated of the nations and in each age the prophet has raised his downtrodden nation to the highest zenith of prosperity and success among the nations of the earth."
(Abdu'l-Baha, Divine Philosophy, p. 43)
This last quote brings to our attention the civilizing power of each of the Prophets--we don't have to think hard to acknowledge the fruits (both spiritual and material) of the civilizations that have sprung from each of the chapters of God's eternal Religion--Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, to name a few.
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