Articles

• February 16, 2024
• Нравственность и мораль

In an era of communication when the Internet, communication facilities and mass media bring together people of different faiths, nations and cultures, it has become necessary to create a new idea uniting everyone. Various world religions and cultures have been forming for centuries apart from each other with hardly any possibility for man to travel and contact other cultures. Now that people fly to any place on the globe on business and vacation, that people of different religions and cultures work at the same enterprise and live in the same house, it is necessary to create a universal ideology to reflect and consolidate the essence of all spiritual doctrines, and to be in a harmony with modern science.

All sensible people all over the world are awaiting a new universal idea to come about which will unite people of all nationalities and religions on one common universal spiritual platform of human life values, and will become at the same time a New Civilization Idea, capable of rescuing this world moving now at full speed towards ecological catastrophes, social conflicts, and economic disasters.

Here I wish to state the essence of the national and universal civilization idea which, if followed, will easily eliminate distortions in the value system of modern man, will unite the society and lead to its prosperity at all levels. This idea is simple, ingenious, clear and easy to understand by everyone. It causes no doubts, is stated briefly, and is easily accepted by everyone. Being the basis of the sustainable progress of the society, it clearly expresses the essence of all spiritual doctrines and objectively, at scientific level, explains a necessity to change the competition-based egocentric development paradigm.

It has to be admitted that all problems of the modern society are the result of incorrect assessment criteria of its progress. According to the evaluation system imposed on the modern society, the state of affairs in some country is estimated by its economic performance: the amount of investment, economic growth, and a level of GDP — a CONSUMPTION LEVEL. While the real progress of a person or a society is not their progress of consumption, but their PROGRESS of RELATIONS at all levels.

The progress of relations is the common denominator expressing the essence of all religions. The commandments of all spiritual doctrines warn against anything which leads to destruction of relations: do not lie — lying destroys relations between people; do not steal — larceny destroys their relations; do not say spiteful words — slander leads to destruction of relations; do not be unfaithful to your husband or wife – unfaithfulness leads to destruction of family relations. Do not kill (including animals or yourself) — murder is the complete cessation of any relations…

From the view point of modern science, man differs from animals by the highest nervous functions, — by the ability to consciously build and develop relations. Progress of relations, thus, is a common ground between science and religion.

Progress of relations as a principle and objective of a human life is a civilization ideology containing a supra global idea of social justice and mutual aid. It is a historically justified «new» idea of revival of the whole world, indicated amongst others in Prof. V. I. Vernadsky’s works.

The priority of relations over consumption is mentioned in many Russian proverbs. “Rather have a hundred friends than a hundred roubles” (or ‘a friend in the market is better than money in the chest’). If your objective is relations, if you have a hundred friends — you will also have a hundred roubles, and even more! But if your objective is money, if you betray friendship for profit, you will have no friends, and later there will be no money as well.

In the same perspective of relations it is possible to consider the expression “Don’t put the cart before the horse!” The horse is alive, it symbolizes relations; and the cart, which follows it, stands for material progress and inanimate things. The difference in what to make the assessment criterion and the objective — improvement of relations or material progress — seems not so big. But if we put the cart before the horse, we will not go far, the cart will fall into a ditch at the first turn of the road, and the horse will break its backbone — that is what we are observing now: we are already destroying our nearest future, the countries are on the brink of social, economic and political disasters because of destruction of healthy spiritual relations between people. If the cart is where it should be, we should not even care about it — it follows the horse. Thus, the priority of relations also entails material prosperity and sustainable material progress!

The well-being and prosperity of the society come only when we are focused on improvement of relationships between people. Only this, and nothing else, should be the objective of the educational system, of both secondary and higher education. Nowadays school graduates are only taught how to make money, whereas their relations even with each other are so bad that murders by teenagers of their family members become more frequent every day. Children do not know how to build healthy relations in the society, how to respect their elders, how to choose a partner in life, how to build healthy relations in a family. They are taught something else. All the films which they have been watching since their childhood make them focus only on money, and all computer games of today are “destroyers”, “moneymakers” and “killers”. All those become their life values.

People need to be loved, and things — to be used. Nowadays things are loved, and people are simply used because progress assessment criteria based on the concept of relations have been substituted by those based on money and economy. The true value is relationship, not money. Only relations, and not money or oil reserves, make the society strong and invincible.

Owing to our focusing on relations we have won the war against fascism: our grandfathers covered pillbox embrasures with their chests for the sake of others, with the idea: “let me die, but may those after me live better!” Owing to its relations orientation Russia rose from full ruin within two five-year periods (within 10 years!!!) and became a world superstate. “All people are friends, comrades and brothers!”, “Get in trouble yourself, but help your comrade out of it!” — these verbal formulas, put in the hearts from the cradle, secured rallying of people and their remarkable achievements in all areas of art and labour.

SELF-ACTUALIZATION OF EACH CITIZEN AS A GOAL OF A HEALTHY SOCIETY

Actualization and self-actualization are the main and true values of life. Not money. Money is just a means which, if made to be a goal, only hinders the progress and prosperity of the society. Creative self-disclosure and selfactualization (spiritual progress) of each individual is an objective of a society focused on progress of relations. To reveal talents within us and to be truly actualized is possible only having no attachment to money, acting in a spirit of a hobby and service to people, in an atmosphere when there is no envy, when you are not considered a competitor or a rival and when all your abilities are appreciated. Self-development, self-actualization and a full revelation of our talents are possible only when we advance in relations. Love means focusing on well-being of others — unlike individualism which develops from setting oneself in opposition to them.

When a person concentrates on economic performance, on personal profit — he becomes an individualist inclined to antisocial acts. Profit-oriented education makes people sociopaths dangerous for the society, and for each other.

Focused on economic rates, people start living an unnatural, artificial life, playing social roles imposed by «fashion-makers», from time to time suppressing high feelings inside and sometimes acting cruelly to conform to social standards of prestige, prosperity and position such as “to be above others“, “ not to be a loser“, etc. All their relations with others become very mercenary: what can I get from them, how can I use them?

When we concentrate on money and personal benefit — we do not truly live because we concentrate on future. Whereas improving relations with others means living in the present, living HERE and NOW. Having relationships and regarding everyone as a particle of God is a truly spiritual life, life in the present. Paradoxically enough, striving for money, for personal benefit, people do things depriving themselves of a good future. If we concentrate on development of relations, we concentrate on what good things can be done for people NOW, and our proper actions in the present secure our good future. It is a “dialectical paradox”, which principle needs to be experienced rather than understood. Since childhood my life principle has always been the following: “If you are useful to the society, the society will take care of you: do not think how to take from others; think how to give!” The more so as disclosure of all our inner abilities is possible only without being attached to money, acting in a spirit of serving the world.

Only striving to be useful to people, a person can reveal his true self and really feel like Someone Useful to Others, thus becoming a self-actualizer. Actualization is when someone actualizes us, admitting our contribution and giving us praise. It is important. But self-actualization which does not depend on opinions of others is much more important. It is internal pleasure which comes to us from within when we feel that we live for others, that we don’t live in vain. The difference between self-actualization and actualization is the same as between dignity and pride.

Pride is based on comparison of oneself with people around. The person is proud when he surpasses others in something or when he is praised. Dignity is in turn an internal self-esteem which does not depend on comparison with others, on external recognition and praise. Dignity is a self-actualization itself, an internal satisfaction and self-esteem which comes when we feel the value and fulfillment of life using and developing our inherent talents when serving others. Only a person focused on relations, not on economy, can bring the maximum benefit to the society and become completely actualized and self-actualized.

Only making relations a priority and focusing on their development, people can respect themselves, gain respect and confidence of others, live totally, creatively, joyfully, freely and spontaneously, expressing themselves in the present — unlike those who suppress their inner voice of conscience for their profit, artificial honours, fame and prestige. The best masters are those who don’t create for money. Another paradox is that people are ready to pay the most money for masterpieces which are created not for money, but in a stream of spontaneous creative manifestation and revelation of oneself in a spirit of service to people — to bring them pleasure! Those who aim to make others happy with all their existence just cannot produce defective things or act dishonestly.

Those focused on the well-being of others are like self-directed rockets, aimed to bring benefits to each and everyone in any situation. Those who are mercenary need to be always corrected because the more a person thinks of himself, the more aggressive and less sensitive he is to the needs of others. The Bible says, ‘the further one is from God — the more commandments there are for them’. And angels have only one commandment. Because the less we love, the less natural we are. And the more “prostheses” in the form of artificial rules we need to direct our actions for the benefit of others.

PROGRESS OF RELATIONS IS THE PROGRESS OF THE SOCIETY AS WELL AS SPIRITUAL PROGRESS

The Vedic culture, being a historical essence of the Russian world outlook, is based on the idea that we all have three bodies — three informational systems holographically connected with each other: a physical body which we see in a mirror, a social body and a body of the Universe which is a material manifestation of Vishnu (the Supreme God). Each of us is a cell (tissue or body organ) both in the body of the society, and in the huge cosmic divine body. To reach spiritual perfection, a person should learn to keep healthy his physical body and to maintain both healthy relations in the social body and ecological equilibrium — this is a concept of stable social progress.

Spiritual progress is progress of relationships at all levels: both between people, and between people (noosphere) and the surrounding biosphere, natureand the representatives of all life forms now occupying our planet. As we all live in a closed biosystem which is also a part of ecological thinking, it means that it is necessary to forbid everything that destroys ecology — thus we can care about future generations, and for those who believe in reincarnation (hinduism and buddhism followers) it will be caring about their own future as well: for we will be living in this world ourselves! Progress of relations at all levels, which also includes caring about our children and grandchildren as well as about all future generations, is stated in the definition of stable social progress: “no generation has the right to take more than it can replenish later and leave to other generations!”

Acceptance to follow this principle means giving up intensive farming, savagely exhausting soil on “after me the deluge” principle with transition to natural farming, growing food in a natural and environmentally friendly way. Now that fertile soils are being rapidly destroyed by chemicals and erosion, and natural products and life forms are destroyed by GMO technology, return to natural scientific (including non-arable) technologies in 4-6 years time can restore soil and return minerals to it. This will help to raise crop yield by 1,5–3 times, preserving soil for future generations. But for this it is necessary to give up the idea of getting immediate profit for the sake of which privately owned antisocial corporations through farm lobbying destroy Nature and private ecological subsistence productions leaving mankind literally without any future.

We care about Nature, about our grandchildren (and about ourselves if we are destined to be born here once again) as well, when we recycle paper, metal and glass that is certainly a bit more troublesome than to throw it all in a trash bin and then have it burnt in garbage incinerators. But instead we save Nature from depletion and deforestation of hundreds of woods which we do not plant.

Those enter the spiritual world who have learnt to act in this educational material system — in the cosmic body and in the social body — as a healthy part of all these bodies, i.e. whose relations with the surrounding world rise up to the level of relations of those who live in the spiritual world — the level of complete harmony much spoken about by ancient saints and philosophers. The state of the social body is defined by its metabolism — the quality of relations of its various parts including relations with Nature — the cosmicbody. Sanctity is a healthy mental state, when a person ceases to oppose their interests to those of people around them, when they act in harmony with the world as its part. This is a state of HAPPINESS (In Russian the words ‘happiness’ and ‘part’ have the same root, the former originating from the latter), into which a person is so eager to return.

The meaning of life of all living creatures is in having pleasure (everyone strives for life pleasures and tries to avoid pain); but the meaning of a HUMAN life is to achieve the highest level of pleasure in a state of Happiness — an emotional unity with the world — in love.

The holographic principle of the universe is admitted by modern science. It means that there are the same principles at all levels of Creation, and all these levels are interconnected: each fragment of the universe contains the information about everything. That is why it is possible to grow the whole body just from one cell: the cell contains information about the whole body. And even about the whole Universe. It is one of the fragments of multilevel connections between micro- and macrocosmos: between a cell in the body and the body itself, between us and Space. Just like it is possible to receive any information on the Internet from any place in the world.

Ecosocial thinking is a concept according to which in order to reach perfection a Soul should learn:

1) To keep its body physically healthy;

2) To maintain healthy relations with others not opposing one’s personal interests to theirs, i.e. to live for the benefit of the social body;

3) To care about the surrounding world, concerning Nature as one’s Mother and material manifestation of God.

It contradicts neither modern science, nor any existing religion.

It can and should become a platform uniting all people on the planet. This platform is the crown of all philosophies, sciences, the crown of common sense and — the essence of all spiritual doctrines. The only difference is that atheists may consider the conscious progress of relations between people and the surrounding world as the display of human evolutionary perfection; for believers, however, it will be manifestation of their love to God — Creator of All Things.

On this platform self-actualization of everyone is the manifest and objective of the social world order: the body is healthy when each cell in it is healthy too. It is very curious that in Sanskrit — the mother tongue of all modern languages — the concepts of ‘vocation’ and ‘religion’, which are different nowadays, are defined with one word — ‘dharma’. I.e. a healthy harmonious social world order means that man’s religion must be the use of his inherent talents (called ‘vocation’) to serve the society. It is a concept of dharma. Each cell of the body has its function. In our body there are a lot of tissues consisting of different types of cells: reds blood cells, brain cells, bone cells, liver, muscles and immune system cells — they all differ from each other by nature. Just like a person who is sent to our world by God with different inclinations, realizing which by serving the society (the social body) he becomes happy. A person who follows his dharma (nature) is said to be in the right place, to be a born master — be it a surgeon, a musician or a builder.

When a person does what he likes (what he is created for as a cell of a certain type) — he reaches the highest perfection. Because, when we are engaged in business to which we are inclined, we put all our soul in it and we reach the highest perfection in that business which is inaccessible for those who do one thing, and think of quite another. We can learn to walk on arms, and eat or play the piano with legs if we are paid for it. Nowadays a lot of people do for money what is unnatural for them because orientation to economy deforms their mentality. But when everyone is engaged in the right business for them, and if they are appreciated in the society not for money, but for what they are — the world will rapidly improve! Everything will come in its place. We only need to set healthy priorities in the society.

Orientation to money deforms mentality dramatically (in Latin ‘psiheya’ means ‘soul’). In money-oriented countries more and more people are mentally very sick. In America — most mentally abnormal country — half of sick-lists are insane people. They admit it themselves in their favourite phrase: “each person should have his own lawyer and psychotherapist.” And they are proud of it. Why a lawyer? Because in a society focused only on money, everyone tries to deceive others: to take more and give less in return, or not give at all – to receive for no particular reason, just for ‘moral damage”. That is why everybody there sues each other — people sue people and corporations sue corporations. And in the environment where relationships are destroyed only those prosper who profit by destructions of relations: ‘psychotherapists’ who know nothing about the nature of the Soul, and relations scavengers — ‘legal’ system together with sexindustry and alcohol and drug dealers.

The deepest sexual satisfaction after which people are not obsessed by sex any more is experienced only by heterosexual pairs who love each other. This fact established by sexologists as early as in 1930s is carefully hidden from people nowadays. Those pairs who do not love each other as well as unisex pairs (gays or lesbis) do not get any deep emotional and sexual discharge. Therefore, they become even more sexually active and inclined to depressions, sexual distortions, sex crimes, pedophilia, zoophilia and violence. Growth of sexual violence is a result of destruction of deep and lofty relations between people going for their quantity, not quality. Even in this regard focusing on building lofty relations will give everyone a huge and invaluable benefit.

Analyzing the social arrangement in ancient Vedic Slavonic and Indian societies, we may understand that there was monarchic socialism there because the head of the state was to secure healthy social relations in the society. That is why he was called God‘s deputy on earth: he carried out the function of the immune system taking care of the health of the social body. In Russia tsar’s advisers were soothsayers (in India — brahmans) — people, who advised the tsar how to lead the society to keep human relations the main value to satisfy the Lord. This concept reflects the essence of all spiritual doctrines.

This system of social government was successfully used in various parts of our planet for centuries. Even modern archeologists, investigating the Indus civilization (inhibiting a part of modern Iran, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan), state that it was a prospering society. Prospering in every sense, with the perfect lay-out of cities and houses (which is mostly a dream now). But most important is that there was no exclusively privileged nobility in this society, and there was no need to have an army though there were many different nations. In all that huge empire there were no disagreements.

It is the answer to a question which often is asked in this context: “Are there any examples of societies with high quality relations consisting mostly of actualized people?” According to Sanskrit treatises, the main, and sometimes the only one, task of ancient governors was to see to it that the whole society consisted of actualized and self-actualized persons striving for the common benefit.

Some state that people are compelled to make scientific and technical progress only because of severe life conditions. But it is not true. Self-development of each person was the basic principle of ancient India prospering for many centuries in all respects. It is hardly worth saying that in Vedic India there were no outer threats or severe weather conditions, etc. People studied and developed independently, creatively, happily, leaving behind many masterpieces in almost every sphere of art and science. The level of prosperity of India before the barbarous invasion of the English is not worth mentioning either. Five hundred years ago it was the richest country in the world. In the streets and temples there were golden sculptures with precious stones instead of eyes. The Orlov diamond — the biggest diamond in the Diamond Fund in Russia — is an eye of one of those Indian sculptures.

Omitting the reasons for concealing the facts of existence of advanced ancient cultures, it is necessary to mention that these were cultures with the highest (nowadays inaccessible in many respects) level of knowledge based on socialism — the responsibility of each member of the society for the well-being of others.

Problems in the modern society, as many political strategists fairly claim, started to appear when Anglo-Saxons imposed on the whole world the Roman Law, demonic by its nature, created by patricians — Roman oligarchy – to legitimate social inequalities. According to this Law, each society member can now possess practically unlimited material resources without any social obligations to the society for their use. Before that in all cultures a person was responsible for using what he owns for the common benefit.

Returning to theological subject, it has to be noted that God intentionally created us interdependent as the spiritual world is the world of unconditional selfless love, the world of selfless lofty relations, which we learn through multilevel connections in this world. As we are inherently spiritual, it is natural for us to care for the benefit of others. Distortion of this healthy mental state is the main reason of all social (as a matter of fact, mental) illnesses and conflicts.

The purpose of true spiritual doctrines is to give people the highest taste of life — the taste of selfless lofty relations — and to recover metabolism in the social body. The problem is not in the political system but in a concept by which we are guided, while making a choice. When education at schools and the competent policy of mass-media make people concentrate on progress of relations with each other, all economic, social and other problems will disappear automatically because happy people want to make others happy too.

CRITERION OF ASSESSMENT

While first discussing this concept, some people have an assumption that it is impossible to put progress of relations into figures, unlike economics. But it is not so. On the contrary, economic indexes do not correspond to reality because under the pretence of making large investments private transnational corporations destroy the economies of the whole countries and get control over their money and resources which formally, according to the figures, belong to those countries. What is the point in enlarging the number of investments and artificially increasing growth rates of the Russian economy if all the profit goes abroad, if it facilitates an even greater cleavage of the society making the rich much richer and the poor even much poorer, thus increasing social pressure (social illness)?

Economic rates do not reflect the real situation in the society. In fact, it is reflected only by socioeconomic level indicators of relations between people: the number of officially registered marriages, abortions, divorces, the number of abandoned children in orphanages, of homeless and unemployed, the level of crime, household violence, corruption, social conflicts, mental diseases, suicides, stresses and their attitude to nature — what shall we leave to others? Only by these figures, not any others, we can judge the social situation.

The health of the social body depends on healthy relationships between all its parts. The assessment of its growth rates according to economic performance — ‘its bodyweight’ — does not reflect its health status, because bodyweight increase can be a result of even greater adiposity of separate parts of the social body due to metabolic disorder. Ask any physician: what is the proper health assessment criterion: bodyweight increase or metabolic improvement? Even not having a medical education, everyone can give the right answer. A healthy, harmonious bodyweight increaseis possible only having a healthy metabolism.

HOW TO CHANGE THE SOCIAL OUTLOOK?

For this purpose the political decision of the head of the state is required to replace economic assessment criteria of the social progress by evolutionary ones. I.e. to recognize and vest by law that only improvement of relations between people, and between people and the surrounding world, really brings humans to the highest evolution level, and make them Human. (“Now that we have learned to fly in the sky like birds and to swim under water like fish, we only need to learn to live on the Earth like Humans.”)

Improving human relationships is the main task of all state leaders, who rely on common sense and science, especially if they claim that they and their citizens trust in God. There is no more time for demagogy. It is time to take practical actions, aiming at improvement of human relations — improvement of the social body. To change the situation, it is necessary to adopt the progress of relations concept instead of consumption ideology and build a state ideology, policy, legislative base and educational system accordingly, — especially in mass-media. First of all, it has to be admitted that mass-media is not just ‘an entertainment industry’, but an educational, life values forming system. At secondary and high schools children are given isolated theoretical knowledge, and TV explains to them how to apply this knowledge in life and what the values and the meaning of life are.

Subconsciously or consciously people copy models of behavior spread through films, newspapers, magazines and TV. Education is creating an idea in mind how one should act in this or that situation. The mass-media render the greatest influence on people’s mind and life values formation.

Following the existing economic priority concept, nowadays mass media are guided not by the idea of social well-being, but by commercial benefit. Just like if schools were run not by the interests of the state, but by profit. Undoubtedly, all the classes would be bought up for a good price by the drug mafia, and children would be taking exams how to use tobacco, alcohol and other drugs.

The most effective educational systems are those where knowledge and life values are given in the form of a game, in an engaging fashion. At academician Schetinin’s Liceum, children learn a 4 year course within 2,5 years — because lessons are given there in a game form. Likewise, mass-media spread certain norms, rules and life values in the form of a game — via books, songs, films and TV programs, through pop stars, video clips and news lines. All of them create certain images and stereotypes of social behavior, being, thus, the most important educational system in the modern world.

According to Stanislavsky, the mission of the theatre is to teach by entertaining. That is, in an entertaining fashion to help a person raise his outlook and behaviour to a higher level. According to stage directors, 90 % of theatrical performances in Moscow today do not teach goodness any more and sow lust, vulgarity and cynicism instead – which is a step down, not up. The situation in the cinema and TV industry is even worse. Focused not on social well-being, but on personal benefit (money received for promoting alcohol and securing TV low ratings, unfavourable for our society), heads of many TV channels and films producers are making the society go to the dogs.

Some of them intentionally, and some — for money (being perverted themselves or taking a great interest in the process and forgetting about the goal), they in turn pervert people’s consciousness, though they claim they show life as it is, in the raw. But, having a perverted mind, they may perceive life pervertedly. In general, however, they show the bottom of life – inviting us to take a step there, ‘to live like all others’ — like all the heroes of their TV shows and films do. A vacation in Mexico — a TV show where all the girls are taught that to make their vacation a success they need to sleep with at least six different boys. What is it – the common reality, or the reality imposed on us? Or Home 2 reality show? The Bukins TV serial — is it a serial where teenagers and children learn «normal» family relations? Is that a norm? A real life? No, the life of moral idiots is shown there. Killers are the main characters in films now — people, for whom the value of lives of others, of human relationships is equal to zero. The main thing for them is money. Such films are extremely dangerous.

Instead of showing on many channels the life of morons, moral idiots and clowns from Comedy Club, who for the sake of ratings and money are ready to mock at everything, naming it ‘a normal, real life’, — it is necessary to show something that inspires people to make a step upwards, instead of a step downwards.

When heads of mass media are guided by people’s well-being, and not by profit received by taking advantage of social degradation, the situation will change quickly.

Mass-media make people concentrate on information of a certain quality. And their consciousness and life become of the same quality. Recollect A Man from Boulevard des Capucines movie — the last film where Andrey Mironov participated — which clearly shows that social life highly depends on the quality of information flows. When people’s consciousness concentrates on positive things, they become conductors of positive social changes. When their mind concentrates on negative things, they become conductors of destructive tendencies. The mass-media educational system of today teaches us to be egoistic.

In the Soviet times people were taught that “all people are friends, comrades and brothers.” Now on each TV channel they show trial proceedings, imposing the idea that everyone around us is trying to deceive us and even family members are not to be trusted. That is why nowadays people live and die in complete loneliness even if they are law-abiding. To destroy a society, it is necessary to destroy the invisible connections of love and confidence between people. It is these connections that give us happiness and joy, and make the society strong. When the state and mass-media are focused on progress of relations, the social body will become healthy very fast.

Healthy relationships between people are destroyed by false ideas of freedom and everyone’s independence from each other. Being parts of one body, we simply cannot be independent, as the well-being of each and every one depends on the well-being of others. The globe is very small. We live in one social and bio-system. And we all are closely interconnected.

Instead of antisocial ideas of independence, the Declaration of Interdependence should become the universal civilization idea, proclaiming evolutionary progress to be the progress of relationship between people, as well as between people and the surrounding world.

Sincerely yours,

Alexander Usanin

President of FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE WORLD welfare foundation