DEEP TRANSPERSONAL ECOLOGY: GANDHIAN ECO-CONCERN
The CHANGING WORLD
Man’s cultural journey during the past ten thousand years has never been linear, it has gone through many undulations in several dimensions. The achievement of the species that has come to rule the world has led to an inflated ego resulting in reinforcing the acts of commission and omission.
However, among many changes brought about by man’s actions there are some not so desirable. They are not only undesirable, but are a threat and a challenge to man’s ingenuity. Looking back there have been three landmarks in man’s cultural journey: (a) the agricultural revolution, b) the industrial, and (c) the microelectronic or so-called information revolution. In Alvin Toffler’s [1] words these represent three gigantic waves changing in a significant way the course of events and also the lifestyle. Just think the course of human history had there been no knowledge of agriculture. The settled lifestyle gave humans sufficient time to ponder over things, and this culminated in the growth of various art forms, literature, philosophy and, in later stages, science. It would not be incorrect to say that cultural journey of man started in earnest with agriculture. Prior to it lies his history of nomadic life with constant struggle for survival.
The second wave sweeping across human settlements brought another big change culminating in an industrial social order where machines gradually took over much of hard labour. This also brought sweeping changes in modes of transport and communication turning the entire globe into one large community. Of course the discrepancies in living patterns and standards have always been there and so were the notions of justice and fair play. Age of imperialism virtually coincided with the age of industrial revolution. Incidentally, growth of modern science ran parallel to these developments. To an extent science and industrial growth became instruments in the hands of imperial powers to exploit nations relatively less ambitious and ill prepared to understand the imperialists’ designs.
The Second World War can be seen as some sort of a climax to the events initiated during the age of imperialism. During post world war era the imperial order as it then existed was on way to decline and the notion of exploitation took different course. From the days of slavery as a state policy to the present world order with almost invisible manipulating links there has been a wide spectrum of patterns that relate to changing strategies of exploitation, organisation and adjustment to new situations.
THE CRUCIAL ISSUE
Among the many issues facing the world community today there is something that concerns all of us. The irreversible changes in the environment that have been caused by the second wave features of mechanisation and industrialisation have to be taken more seriously than has been done hitherto. The irreversibility we have referred to can be stated in two different contexts:
[1] the process of growth and development and the ensuing changes in lifestyle could not be reversed and there is no going back,
[2] the changes in the environment too are getting close to point of no return and this may endanger the very survival of life on earth. In short we have to devise a strategy that ensures growth and development without irreversible degradation of environment. Is that possible at all ?
To answer this question of growth and development without irreversible degradation to environment we have to understand clearly the meaning of the both the important concepts: that of growth and development, and that of degradation of environment in a much wider context. The wider context includes a better understanding of working of human mind as it is the real thing that needs to be appreciated and tackled. If the environmental problems are concerns of ecology, the problems of mind are the concerns of human psychology and what we wish to imply is that ecological problems need psychological connections if they have to handled effectively on a long term basis. To provide a theory is not enough, one must ensure that the theory when put into practice would work and do so effectively. It is easy to state a theory as to how environmental degradation could be tackled but when it comes to ground reality not anything worth significance has been noticed so far. The problem is much more serious for a country like India whose population has not shown any signs of stabilising and with almost two third population living near or below the poverty line it is rather far-fetched to talk of restraint in consumption and balanced use of resources. With the exposure of all sections of society to modern technology and related innovations, luxurious life style displayed so vividly by electronic media it is only natural for masses to aspire for better living conditions. What we mean to emphasize is that the growth and development in a country like India is still quite far from the state where most of the population gets a reasonably descent living, and the process has got to continue. What is manageable and should be manageable is a control on the rate of population growth which must be tackled on an emergency footing. In a socio-political scenario such as that of ours strong measures are difficult to implement. After the emergency imposed during 1970’s no government has even talked about this problem.
Guiding principles
It was only for a brief period in its recent history that this country was somewhat sensitive to the advice and suggestions from men of vision and for the rest it has been managed and manipulated by opportunists among politicians, bureaucrats and others.
The visionary usually comes up with faint abstract notions which may not be directly implementable. The purity and honesty implicit in such notions are often misunderstood and ignored for this very reason. It is often the case when we carry the name without the content. This has been the case with Gandhi and Gandhian methods.
The name is remembered often but not the ideas it stands for.
The Relevance
Gandhi’s opposition to overdose of industrialisation and his dream of village republics, his emphasis on Ahimsa were always considered in a limited context. Intolerance for others’ views and violence in the name of religion were the factors that defined the pre and post-independence days and it was but imperative that priorities in the context of these ideas remained confined to the needs of that time. And to that extent it did achieve something. Amid the din and chaos of the days gone by this was responsible for some semblance of sanity, and India of today, in spite of all its problems, owes much to the man of vision. Beyond that the man has been deified and confined to the files of history. What we wish to emphasise in the present essay is the fact that the looming eco-crisis in the world and more so in India can only be tackled even partially by re-defining, re-interpreting and refining what the visionary had already suggested. His ideas need not be taken verbatim, that is never the intent and content of an idea. The idea has to be refined, modified and modulated according to the situation without losing the spirit.
Earlier we said that ecological problems could not be effectively tackled without taking into account its psychological connections. In fact that is the reason why no Government in India is serious about it as an emphasis on eco aspects if taken seriously would dent their vote bank. For political parties in this land of ours the nation comes after the party and power. So the whole thing is ignored.
The Way-out
While the freedom of expression needs to be respected certain purposeful and directed control mechanisms can be set. Consider the population problem. Start by rewarding those who accept family planning norms, and discouraging those who do not. For this some simple not-so-strong steps need to be taken. Old age pension and housing could also be taken simultaneously as the sense of insecurity in old age is one of the reasons for poor people to have larger families. Energy for various purposes is something of urgency and energy for lighting and cooking is to be tackled for masses. Soft energy options must be implemented. Solar cookers using direct sun rays could be effective in cooking for most of days in a year. There is problem of locating the device at certain convenient places. The way out would be to have community solar cookers where it would be easy to manage the units without much fuss. In fact in some parts of north India the notion of community kitchen is not completely foreign. What we propose here is the notion of community solar kitchen.
Among other things polythene should have only very restricted use and research must be encouraged to produce bio-degradable materials for packaging. Waste management must be a compulsory thing for cities and large villages. Effluents from various industrial units must be treated compulsorily before allowing them to be drained into rivers. These are just a few examples. Region specific profiles of eco-concerns can be drawn and programmes implemented accordingly.
It is important to know where psychological connections come in [2]. To answer this better we seek an answer to the query: why do ecological issues remain only on paper and hardly ever do we see steps beyond mere rhetoric. Any meaningful eco-concern must put a check on two major things in the Indian context: growth in population, and consumer culture. We have already discussed the first in some detail. The intelligentsia has to come forward to put pressure on governments as has happened with the Lokpal Bill initiation. Similar actions on a wider platform will create the right kind of atmosphere.
Just as we are physically embedded in the environment, so are our minds embedded in a social milieu which to a large extent determines our actions. Of course the consumer culture is limited to a relatively small section of the society yet it sends a message across all sections who then could not remain isolated from its impact. Vulgar display of affluence on ground and on electronic media harm the mental ecology as large scale consumerism and mechanisation harms the physical eco-system. “The world has enough for our need, but not enough to satisfy our greed”—the words of the great visionary had ecological overtones and were much ahead of the times. We with concerted efforts, and unflinching commitment can manage to fulfil the needs of the people ( for a steady population level) but could never be able to do the same with uncontrolled consumerism. These concerns of Gandhi are more relevant today than they were in his times as we are now on the verge of stepping into the danger zone. With most of water resources contaminated, air polluted, vegetables at many places indicating presence of heavy metals we can no more relax considering these warnings as something belonging to a distant future. The time has come to say- it is here and now.
It must start somewhere as a precedent which could be followed by others. Gujarat is one of the states with an industrial base supporting rapid growth and development. It has also been a place where new ideas are experimented with some degree of sincerity. It would not be a bad idea to expect an initiation of an unflinching eco-concern taking place in the home state of the great visionary. It would be a tribute to his greatness and a present to our future generations. Can we take it beyond mere rhetoric.
[1] Alvin Toffler, the Third Wave, William Collins and sons, 1980.
[2] C.M.Bhandari, Deep Transpersonal Ecology: Gandhian Connection, Mainstream, October 4, 2009.
