Words of Encouragement for Speakers
"I hope that you will all become eloquent. The greatest gifts of man are reason and eloquence of expression. The perfect man is both intelligent and eloquent. He has knowledge and knows how to express it. Unless man express himself in this day he will remain like a closed casket and one cannot know whether it contain jewels or glass. I desire that all of you may speak on the material and divine sciences with clear and convincing words." (Abdu'l-Baha, Divine Philosophy, p. 103)
A Blogger's prayer:
"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, Yahweh, my rock, and my redeemer." (Psalm 19:14, WEB)
Friday, September 18, 2009
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Tax Apology
An Appeal for Taxes
By John Taylor; 2009 Sep 17, Izzat 10, 166 BE
Nobody likes to pay more for the goods we buy than we have to. However, when the tables are turned and we become sellers, none of us wants to sell our own goods for less than we think they are worth. The same is true for taxes. We all pay taxes, and we all benefit from taxes. Nobody likes to pay more taxes than they have to but neither do they want to get fewer benefits than is right. We want our votes and our tax money to make a difference. An impotent, bankrupt government would be a waste of votes and tax money. Without tax revenue or support from the people, central governments would collapse and the resultant chaotic Mad Max scenario would end in total loss for everybody.
A disproportionate reluctance to pay taxes is a corrupting influence in a democracy. For example, in California in the 1980's an irrational aversion to taxation on the part of voters led to a law forbidding new or higher taxes; this tied the hands of legislators and by all reports has worsened the impact of the present recession. Similarly, economists tell us that the huge deficit of the United States could easily be removed simply by raising taxes, if only politicians dared flout the wishes of voters and lobbyists.
In the case of the superrich and most large corporations, which have not paid any taxes for decades, much could be done simply by eliminating tax loopholes that allow them to pay no taxes at all. National governments have not succeeded in closing the gaping tax loophole at their own borders, the formation of a world government would result in much greater value for money in taxation by closing the world's greatest tax loophole, the so-called "offshore" banking industry.
Jane Jacobs in her last book, Dark Age Ahead, discusses a less obvious problem with taxation, a sort of structural stupidity in the way tax dollars are gained and spent. One chapter of her book is called, "Dumbed Down Taxes." It discusses the tendency of central governments to cling jealously to their right of taxation, even when local and urban governments are in a better position to judge when to tax and how to spend a tax effectively. Local leaders know the situation first-hand and can often be creative in how they levy taxation. She attributes the rise of Europe from the Dark Ages to the spread of two principles in local governance, subsidiarity and fiscal accountability.
"Disadvantaged in almost every way though they were, the early medieval cities typically benefited from subsidiarity and fiscal accountability. Subsidiarity is the principle that government works best -- most responsibly and responsively -- when it is closest to the people it serves and the needs it addresses. Fiscal accountability is the principle that institutions collecting and disbursing taxes work most responsibly when they are transparent to those providing the money." (Jane Jacobs, Dark Age Ahead, Random House, New York, 2004, pp. 103-105)
She cites the case of a proposed tax on hotel rooms by the city of Toronto, the revenue from which was to be spent on promoting the city as a tourist destination. The Ontario government nixed the tax, saying that such taxes must be province-wide or not be allowed at all. Other Ontario cities like as Windsor could see no benefit in such a scheme, and the idea was never implemented. Meantime, Toronto is languishing and its infrastructure crumbling as it is ignored as an international tourist destination. Local areas, and especially cities, should be given the freedom to levy taxes as they see fit, according to local needs and conditions.
"Only very minor taxation, such as property taxes, responsive neither to ability to pay nor to economic expansion, is typically permitted to cities. Because city sources of public revenue are frequently inadequate to needs, so-called senior governments sporadically come to their aid with grants of public money and programs devised for using the grants. These resources are disbursed into many different localities, currently in many different situations, with unlike needs and dissimilar opportunities. Sovereign governments cannot possibly be in intimate touch with all this variation. Even with the best will in the world, the disbursers must act as if common denominators exist, and if these cannot be found, will allow idiosyncratic needs and opportunities to go unanswered."
Next time we will discuss how this problem might be rectified by the introduction of creative taxation of smart card transactions overseen by two new levels of local government, the neighbourhood and the household.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
A PIM in Every Garage
In this series we have been discussing a new technology known as augmented reality (AR), which uses heads up displays (HUD's) to map and embed information into the real, physical world around us. Before continuing, I want to refer back to something I discussed yesterday.
A World Government's PIM
Our previous essay on the Badi' Blog showed how John Amos Comenius in the 25th chapter of his 1670 work "Panorthosia, or Universal Reform" drew up the details of the constitutional convention of a democratic world government. Surprisingly, he suggested that one of its first actions after forming be the following:
"Finally, consideration can be given to the question of a private calendar which each individual can start for himself on an attached sheet of blank paper, as a record of past activities and future engagements." (Comenius, Panorthosia, Ch. 25, para 10, pp. 147-149)
Imagine, three hundred and forty years ago how crazy this idea must have seemed. A world government starting off its agenda by devising a calendar or personal planner for every individual in the world? That must have seemed as crazy as that of a world government itself!
Today, however, it has the mark of genius.
What better way to cut through the chaos and complications of our high tech lives than for everybody to use a standardized planner? How better to coordinate our complex and diverse personal priorities with the needs of all humanity than for each of us to be on the same page, quite literally? How better to get every world citizen committed to the myriad changes that sustainability and environmental friendliness demand of us than to use a standard computerized, interactive planning application?
A calendar and planning program or PIM (Personal Information Manager) that is made up by a world government in Comenius's model would be meant to forge what he calls a "universal bond" with each of his three-branched governing institutions.
First of all, the planner would be designed with the values and needs of scientists and teachers in mind, since the College of Light, a world department of education, would be tasked with making it up. It would also be responsive to religious sensitivities, since it would be approved by an interfaith parliament (the Ecumenical Consistery). The Consistery would enlist the help of all religious groups to adapt the calendar to the needs of believers of every background. Finally, the planner would enlist grassroots support for a comprehensive peace program devised by the political branch of the world governing body, the Dicastory of Peace. This dicastory would see to it that peace is not a distant dream but any everyday, personal priority.
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The recent development of augmented reality (AR) and live data feeds projected onto heads-up-displays (HUD's) will surely make this world planner more intimate and effective than Comenius could have imagined with his low-tech planner based on a blank sheet of paper. Because cars and driving are so ubiquitous, the most familiar model for an AR data feed is the dashboard of a car. A few years ago I speculated on how a dashboard planner display might look.
The Dials on a Personal Dashboard
A dashboard life planner, periodically adjusted by expert advisors, should be made available in order to make everyone a more effective world citizen, to enable us on a moment by moment basis to train and hone our leadership and "followership" skills. Comenius held that all citizens, not only kings and presidents, should be surrounded by a coterie of wise advisors.
"... our mind, which rules its own body like a queen, is provided with a guard of senses, such as sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. Therefore every king, prince, consul, and even the individual citizen should have (1) his own preacher, as a guardian of his conscience, and a counsellor in the things which concern God, (2) his own lawyer as a supervisor in the things which concern man, (3) his own philosopher or sage to guide him in the business of life, and (4) his own doctor as guardian and director of his physical health." (Panorthosia, pp. 110-110)
While it might be mathematically impossible for everybody to be surrounded by a half dozen human advisors, with a dashboard display the average citizen would have to next best thing. Indeed in many cases dials and displays are more detached, accurate advisors than a human can ever be. Here is how a modern advisory dashboard display might look:
The first dial is a summary of known measures of spiritual health, such as time spent reading scripture, listening to inspiring speakers, attending community meetings, group and individual prayer, meditation, pilgrimage, and perhaps the amount of money given to the poor, as well as other charitable acts.
A second dial is a "justice meter," displaying measures of study and inquiry accomplished, and an indicator of how one is keeping up with career plans and goals. Here are dynamic indicators measuring how well we respect the rights and property of others, how well we negotiate usufruct, and so forth.
The third indicator, science and philosophy, shows metrics of wisdom, such as the quality of one's discussions and teaching, progress in virtues, as shown from feedback from those we interact with which is provided anonymously, and other metrics.
The fourth dial charts physical health through blood pressure, quality of diet, exposure to stress, and whatever other factors physicians consider important.
A fifth character dial might keep track of the virtues that one has chosen to develop. For example, if a person chooses humility, statistical indicators of this virtue, as modelled by exemplars deemed by experts in psychology to have high ratings for this quality, would allow the subject a basis upon which to improve this quality in her speech and actions.
Of course we have to recognize that the best of advisors, dials and indicators, be they automated or human, may still be unable to cure the bungler or fool. However there surely would be fewer fools and bunglers if the tools of assessment and self-criticism are literally placed put directly their eyes using AR and HUD technology. Nothing can replace personal integrity, that special combination of good leadership and good "followership," that makes for a model human being. As Comenius put it,
"It is essential that those who are appointed to rule over others should themselves be honest, wise, pious, brave, and vigilant, since nothing can rule unless it is right, nor enlighten unless it is full of light." (Panorthosia, p. 110)
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Monday, September 14, 2009
World Assembly or Ecumenical Council
Panorthosia and the Authority For Universal Reform
By John Taylor; 2009 Sep 14, Izzat 07, 166 BE
Panorthosia, Chapter 25; The world assembly or ecumenical council, the authority for universal reform.
Never in the history of the world has there been a single language and government for all humanity -- at least, for Comenius, not since the destructive event described in the Biblical story of the Tower of Babel. According to this myth, God dispersed humanity into many political, cultural and linguistic solitudes indefinitely, and millennial prophesy ever since is concerned with a coming restoration in world peace. The enormity of the lack of precedent for this, Comenius recognizes, is daunting but should not be regarded as insurmountable. The chief obstacle to coming together again in one world culture is our long-established custom of thinking of the function of government as making war rather than peace.
"The world has never yet seen jurisprudence and politics in their rightful state, that is, in the fulness of peace. Therefore we must now try to establish this." (Panorthosia, Ch. 25, para 10, p. 141)
The 25th chapter of Panorthosia describes a "World Assembly or Ecumenical Council" which is essentially what we would call a world government. The "authority for universal reform," comes out of this Assembly or Council. The nature of this authority is what I want to discuss today.
The World Assembly, as I understand it, would be a joint meeting of the three ruling bodies, the College of Light for education, the Ecumenical Consistory for religion and the Dicastery of Peace, for politics. Each standing institution was already discussed in its own separate chapter in Panorthosia. Presumably the College, the Consistory and the Dicastery would deliberate apart on a day-to-day basis and only occasionally come together when an issue or concern involves all three of their specialties.
"The procedure of the council entails a definite order of persons, things, and actions. The question which arises concerning the order of persons is, Will the affairs of politics or the church or philosophy be dealt with separately by politicians, churchmen, and philosophers respectively? My answer is No, they will all join forces and deal with them in order of subjects, firstly with education, since educators are torch-bearers for the others, then with the church, considering how we must walk and hold converse with God, and lastly with politics as the foundation, pinnacle, and bond of the others." (Ch. 25, para 10, p. 134)
A World Capitol City
This World Assembly would meet in a planetary capitol city, which Comenius calls, again using Biblical imagery, the Valley of Jehoshaphat. This valley is thought to exist, by some accounts, just outside of old Jerusalem. The valley has long been thought to be the site where the final judgement will take place. Comenius did not take any of this literally. He suggested the following cities to begin with:
"If the question were raised, what site would be a suitable choice for the valley of Jehoshaphat? My answer would be: it must be a place which is 1. conveniently situated so as to be easily accessible by the whole Christian world. 2. able to accommodate the large numbers expected to attend, and 3. equipped with all the facilities required for such organizations. It appears, therefore, that the site most suitable for this task will be some large and wealthy city by the sea, such as the city of Venice, especially with a view to the invitation of Christians from Asia and Africa." (para 9, p. 132)
Comenius cites one authority, Brocardus, who thought that Venice is the modern city of Hamonah where Gog is prophesied to be buried (Ezekiel 34:16). Brocardus "suggests that an assembly of the Christian people should be held there to reform the church and the laws of the whole world..." Comenius is not dogmatic about where the capitol should be, and in other places suggests that it be London, the most cosmopolitan city that he had had contact with.
An Assembly, not a Summit
As we have seen, Comenius saw a large number of representatives convening in the world capital, especially for its opening session, an event literally of world forming significance. Although for practical reasons he accepted that the convention might have to be restricted to Christian Europe, he ultimately intended to become a world constitutional convention.
"But if it is impossible to invite every nation including those who are still unbelievers, or if it seems inexpedient to do so, it will be sufficient in the meantime to hold an assembly of the Christian world, and thereafter to despatch ambassadors with letters to the other nations..." (para 8, pp. 131-132)
This is to be a universal event and every effort should be made to include every country and culture.
"But whom will they invite? I have said that the world should be invited, that is, all nations and peoples under heaven, so that they should be represented by men of their own specially elected from the ranks of scholars, churchmen, and politicians, and in this way they will all be partners in forming common policies for their common welfare, through the philosophers, churchmen and politicians who are delegates from academies, churches, kings, and republics. The situation will require the inclusion of some experts in languages for the purpose of translating decisions and communications affecting many nations." (para 8, pp. 131-132)
Although it may start off staffed by appointees and ambassadors, Comenius saw this world institution broadening its base by setting up a procedure of appointment, hiring and election.
"A very suitable way of enrolling such a council will be to extend the practice which exists elsewhere in the world, where scattered areas assemble in some kind of group, and small groups join larger ones, and so on up to a supreme group. Similarly, colleges of scholars, synods of churches, and assemblies of provinces and kingdoms, being smaller groups, will eventually set up a supreme group, which will finally become a congress or college or council or assembly of the world as fully representative as one could possibly expect on earth." (para 4, p. 130)
A Universal Calendar
This inclusive gathering is a far cry from the national delegates in the United Nations and the sporadic summits of world leaders and conferences held in the name of world federalism. Instead, Comenius saw the convention including everybody on earth by the use of what we now would call a personal planner.
"Finally, consideration can be given to the question of a private calendar which each individual can start for himself on an attached sheet of blank paper, as a record of past activities and future engagements." (para 10, p. 147-149)
This is not just a personal planner, important as that may be. It is a world reforming organization system. Comenius indeed devotes Chapter 20 of Panorthosia to the individual planning process, but subsequent chapters also discuss the complementary planning processes of families (Ch. 21), schools (ch. 22), churches (ch. 23) and politics (Ch. 24). By having a common planning process each level of society is not only synchronized but also engaged in a common educational program that, in effect, affiliates them with the world council and one another.
If there is a greater stroke of genius in the history of human thought than this -- a universal franchise and affiliation of every level of society based on a common planner -- then I do not know of it.
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Sunday, September 13, 2009
Household Finance
The Full Service House at the Household Level
By John Taylor; 2009 Sep 13, Izzat 06, 166 BE
We are considering the financial and economic aspects of life in a UCS housing development. The latest trend in economic research is to try to understand stock markets and other complex financial arrangements as essentially social networks not unlike what goes on on Facebook and Twitter. The huge bubble and burst that took place last year is now thought to have been caused by statistical models of risk that ignore the synergy and irrationality that goes on in social networks. ("Wall Street's Math Wizards Forgot a Few Variables, Steve Lohr, New York Times, September 13, 2009http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/business/13unboxed.html) As this aspect of finance becomes better understood, the advantages of outsourcing financial functions into households and neighbourhoods will become more apparent. We have been looking at one arrangement that might take place after a world body declares perpetual peace, a condition we are calling the UCS.
In a UCS housing development individual bedrooms can be moved from separate apartments to a family household, and from one household compound to another as individuals decide. Similarly, family households as a unit can move from place to place within a neighbourhood, or indeed anywhere else, as required by circumstances. A standard, modular building infrastructure we are calling hillside developments makes such flexible mobility relatively cheap and easy.
In these housing developments residents will always live in what is called in Europe a "full service house," which means that members are served hand and foot, like royalty of old. With this organization, members are not routinely involved in mundane tasks such as shopping, laundering, food preparation or dishwashing. Instead, a full service infrastructure sees to it that each household member is served finished meals, their clothing cleaned, pressed and laid out ready to wear, that errands are run by couriers, and so forth. This saves space in the household -- there is no need for a kitchen, garage or laundry room, for instance. But mostly, it saves residents considerable time, which they can then invest in higher-level household management tasks, such as planning, deliberation, research and teaching.
We are used to individuals acting on their own as commercial entities called "consumers," but here it is the family that acts as consumer, estate holder and purchaser. Large budgetary decisions are always made collectively, on the household level. Instead of spending their lives buying and selling, individuals within the family function largely as citizens, peacemakers, researchers, teachers, artists and worshippers. Those services that take place between and among households, on the other hand, are accountable, paid transactions based on standard contracts and pricing.
Households within themselves are not commercial entities, they are cooperatives. Family members are not paid in money but serve on a voluntary basis out of a sense of duty. Where incentives are needed, a family can issue its own reward points or currency, to be spent within that home for certain privileges. Like a bank or other financial institution, a household can issue insurance and credit to its members and employees, but unlike banks its main internal currency is virtue. The merit of its individuals is systematically evaluated and collects together to embellish an escutcheon to be proudly displayed on its doorway, web sites and other public interfaces.
Thus, in order for a full service arrangement to work economically, somebody will have to perform the services of the full-service house. Someone, for instance, has to grow food in a local garden, take in the harvest, prepare meals and have them sent to dining room tables on time.
In order to do this for all, households will be expected to perform at least one of these local services for the entire neighbourhood. This will often mean setting up a household enterprise for the purpose. A small household might be able to run only one family business while larger household have enough members easily to run two or three going concerns at once.
If a family can provide a certain service for the full-service houses efficiently, it might decide to specialize and do it professionally as its family business. Alternatively, a wealthy household might decide to concentrate on other things and only support the full service house financially by paying the equivalent of rent. Others might take the amateur route and support the full service model by running a small cooperative with part-time workers.
As already discussed, households and families in a UCS development are organized and coordinated by a neighbourhood government with its own planning centre and broadcasting media. Each community of about a hundred families elects a ruling counsel, with day-to-day executive and ceremonial tasks handled by a "first family," who are are either rotated or elected, or both.
Next time we will look at Neighbourhood Finance.
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Saturday, September 12, 2009
Comenian Peace Program
Essential Features of the Peace Program of Jan Amos Comenius
By John Taylor; 2009 Sep 12, Izzat 05, 166 BE
I have written about a dozen essays already on Comenius's peace program this year, and I still have not completely covered the 25th chapter of Panorthosia where he describes the formation of the three world-governing institutions, even going into details of the opening ceremonies. The past couple of days I have been reading over these essays and my other notes on the principle of peace in Panorthosia. Today, let us sum up the most salient features of the Comenian peace program before going into the 25th chapter and those leading up to it in more detail in the near future.
Comenian governance imbues the essentials of human nature into the fabric of world order by means of a system of franchise or affiliation extending from the individual to a world government. Unlike any other political thinker I have heard of, Comenius perceives that although humans are, in Aristotle's words, "the political animal," we are also more than that. As long as we fail to recognize that, we will think of ourselves in narrow, reductive terms. This circumscribed self-image will defeat the very purpose of politics, universality.
"Universal Politics is the light of the human mind so directed to all human affairs that over the entire field of human activities fighting, confusion, and revolution are forbidden, but all things are restored to harmony and contribute their share to the common good of all human society." (Panorthosia, Ch. 13, para 12, p. 205)
We are political animals, but we are also sons and daughters of God, made in His image. Therefore, we must aspire to virtues that transcend mere material benefit, to values that will take us beyond immediate well-being. Before God we are equal and therefore must, in Christ's words, "call no man `master'." He takes this mission statement of Spirit to "call nobody master" as a universal principle meaning not only that there can no single leader at the head of a world government, but also that its committees and senates themselves be divided and dispersed. But there is more. Beyond practical politics and spiritual welfare, human beings are also essentially learners, scientists and teachers -- as Aristotle put it in the opening words of his Metaphysics, "All men desire by nature to know."
Upon these three definitions of what is human, Comenius constructs three institutions of governance, not just for the world level but for each family household, and every level between. A truly ideal way of accomplishing world governance, he said, would be through "three colleges consisting of the most select representatives of mankind..." (Ch. 5, para 25, p. 97) Each would have a separate but complementary technique for establishing enlightenment, salvation and peace.
"The means or instruments of Philosophy are all books of divine and human authorship according to necessity and choice. Nothing is excluded except what is evil, useless, or harmful. Those of Religion are all manner of ceremonies appropriate to the needs of the occasion, as for example in prayer, sitting, standing, kneeling, or bowing the head, etc. Those of Politics are any measures, popular or unpopular, which make for the introduction and maintenance of peace and tranquillity." (Panorthosia, Ch. 13, para 12, pp. 205-206)
He sums up their respective mandates in a simple, three-word motto. For the educational and scientific institution, the College of Light, the byword is, "Light in Things." The slogan for the political parliament is "Peace on Earth," and for the parliament of religions, "Peace of Conscience." Each is charged with expanding the common ground for love and universal agreement among all of us. The scientific wing seeks enlightenment by making a universal philosophy of enlightenment, the political wing is charged with assuring peace by eliminating disputes before they arise and the religious wing or Ecumenical Consistery would help devise the common features of faith that all humans can agree upon. In the tenth chapter of Panorthosia he describes the mottos would help carry this forward.
"Perfect Philosophy will take the form of universal agreement and harmony between Art and Nature, and its end will be LIGHT IN THINGS, and an abundance of them. The test of perfect Politics will be the restoration of human prudence to the certainty of the mechanical arts, and its end will be PEACE ON EARTH, and a quiet life. The seal of perfect Religion will be full agreement between the human will and the Will of God, and its end will be PEACE OF CONSCIENCE, that passeth all understanding, which would be heaven on earth." (Comenius, Panorthosia II, Ch. 10, para 38, pp. 167-168)
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Thursday, September 10, 2009
Negotiated Usufruct, Part II
Ownership and Augmented Reality
By John Taylor; 2009 Sep 10, Izzat 03, 166 BE
The next technological revolution after computers and the internet will be what is now termed augmented reality, or AR. AR effectively makes the Internet and physical computers invisible and integrates what we see on a monitor into the world our eyes perceive as we walk around. A YouTube playlist called "augmented reality" demonstrates a dozen diverse applications of AR, including some pioneering AR advertisements where a model, simulation or cartoon character seems to spring out of a magazine page, and a smart phone which, when you point it at a street points out names of streets and buildings, gives information about them, or offers directions to reach a certain store or other destination. AR displays soon will permit us to navigate the real world with the same interactive, information-rich aplomb that we do when we surf the Internet.
Back in 2003 when I wrote the early draft for the following paragraphs I had never heard of the term "augmented reality," but of course I knew how fighter pilot's helmets projected information feeds into displays right before their eyes, and I had seen depictions of AR in films like the Terminator series. So instead of AR, I used the term "Heads Up Display," or HUD.
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Dynamically Negotiated Usufruct
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Our problems with ownership today are caused by the fact that owning a physical object is entirely different from owning an intellectual one. Owning a car or house is different from owning the rights to a movie, song or book. In order to use an object you have to take it away from whoever had it before. But if I read a book or watch a movie, the authors do not lose anything. If I pay them, they profit; if I do not, they are not deprived of anything. This was understood as long ago as Aristotle, who pointed out that when a person lights a brand on another person's flame, there is no need to thank the owner, since they lost nothing in the transaction. A flame spreads by nature. It gives itself away freely. Now technology has made it as easy to copy data as an open flame propagates itself.
Our economy today is increasingly based on information services that are free to copy and disseminate around the world at the speed of light. We are becoming accustomed to using Internet services without paying for them directly. Large technology companies like Apple and Google have somehow mastered the trick of profiting from a situation where information spreads far easier and quicker than the most volatile elements known in the ancient world, air and fire. Seeing the success of these new monopolies, owners of intellectual property often want as many people to use it as possible in order to gain market share and advertising revenue.
Our legal system has not caught up with these advances. It still treats a loss of potential profit with the same clumsy severity that it does an indemnity, the loss of a physical object. Government, corporations and other large institutions, who own most intellectual property are profiting while fair use, the public usufruct of intellectual property, is under threat. The subtle strategies that a Google or an Apple have devised to profit from ubiquitous data flow are not, to say the least, being taken up by the legislators, lawyers and judges who handle property law.
I think that the invention of HUD's will allow these guardians of property law to do so. This technology will provide instant visual access to the mass of legal information hiding behind every item of property that we encounter every day. It will allow us to navigate the troubled waters of intellectual property by what I am calling "dynamically negotiated usufruct." HUD's will enable us to negotiate in real time our usufruct, that is, the public use of private goods. It will allow for much more complex and subtle property law.
But what am I doing, you ask, suggesting more complexity? Is modern life not complicated enough? Admittedly, dynamically negotiated usufruct would greatly increase the red tape of owning things.
However, slave-owning societies asked the same question, why trouble ourselves by introducing more complexity? Why spread the burden of manual labor to everybody when we have a free labor pool that toils endlessly for us? History over the past three centuries shows how we gradually learned to get away from chattel labour. We now know that it is not only ethical for everybody to work and profit from their own efforts, it is also more efficient economically.
We have learned to make machines our slaves. As our machines get smarter, the need to sacrifice humans as slaves, or even manual laboururs, seems ever more unconscionable. Modern information technology, we have learned, always makes things more complex in order to make them better and fairer for all. As computing power increases exponentially, complexity every day becomes easier to handle automatically. We find that we can make our way through a crowded scene that would have seemed impassible a decade ago.
Instead of forced labour, our modern taxation system is based on a premise that is the reverse of elitism. Our democratic and meritocratic ideals instil a desire to maximize freedom with the profits of hard work. Morally speaking, we love our neighbour by loving ourselves; we therefore want to spread the benefits of personal thought and effort to as many people as possible. Everybody benefits, and everybody pulls his or her own weight in support of the public thing.
A precedent of universal financial self-reliance was introduced by the invention of universal graduated taxation. This idea approximates as closely as is mathematically possible the ethical goal suggested by the parable of the Widow's Mite. It assures that as many as possible can contribute and sacrifice proportionately for the greater good.
Graduated income taxes are more complex than, for example, the old system of tithing where one tenth of income is paid into a common coffer. Distributed taxation is a modern phenomenon because it would have been impossible in the monolithic, tyrannical, slave-run empires of ancient times. Begun in China, developed in Baghdad during early Islam, and only fairly recently introduced in the West, this complicated way of gathering government revenue offers a trade-off between complexity and equity. Its structure is complicated but the burden of payment is much more widely distributed. When there is universal participation, all benefit from the synergy of each supporting the whole.
Just as the modern nation has learned to rely on complicated taxation, high finance has undergone a similar evolution towards complexity. Corporations and banks are huge, complex organizational structures that would fly apart without complicated accountancy.
Technological advance is making further extensions of complexity and universality possible. A more complex system of ownership incorporating a spectrum of privileges and rights, rather than simple "either/or," I own it or you own it, is becoming feasible. With machines calculating at teraflop speeds we can introduce a very involved system of usufruct. With properly designed displays, it would actually be simpler for users to understand and establish complex uses of property negotiated in real-time.
The breakthrough technology for this is already being tried out in prototype form. Internet-connected Heads Up Display (HUD) helmets and glasses can determine our location and map the world around us. A pedestrian wearing HUD glasses sees dynamically changing labels superimposed on the streets and buildings that he or she is seeing while walking down a city street. A voice gives a running commentary, and a built in computer connected to the Internet, verbally or visually answers questions spoken to it, such as, "How can I get to such and such a place?" or, "What is the history of that building?" The HUD computer interface tailors the display to each person's particular interests; information for tourists differs from what a daily commuter sees and hears.
How can this be applied to ownership and usufruct?
With a live HUD connection I could take a walk through the countryside anywhere in the world. Instead of an absolute "right to roam," including roaming into places where I endanger myself or others, I negotiate my right to be there with automated proxies.
For example, let us say I walk by a garden. A label would pop up informing me that it is now in use by the owners. They are having a picnic now. They are not restricting access at the highest level but if I don't have a good reason for going there I might trample over the little warning light I see at the bottom of the screen, "Possible courtesy violation." If I go further and they are not happy with the outcome of my visit, I may lose courtesy points. So, I walk to the next backyard garden. It is not in use and I am welcome to take a tour. A recording made by the owner proudly points out its features of interest.
Let us say that poor people own the next property I walk by. I agree to pay a suggested donation in micro-pennies in exchange for the right to cross and enjoy the view. If I am on a budget, I can set my touring and visitation program to pay only the poorest owners and avoid touring fully commercial attractions and restricted lands. This spreads my wealth around and gives the means for poor areas to get out of poverty's vicious circle of ugliness and slums. With an income from passers-by, poor peoples' homes and gardens can compete with larger, wealthier places.
Real-time negotiation of non-monetary rewards will attracts tourism in either direction, mixing rich and poor. A poorer person may visit land owned by the wealthy for free but offer reward points for hospitality and courtesy. For other property, if rewards and tax breaks are given for a high number of visits from hikers, there would be no need for payment at all other than registering the visit, as is done by "hits" on a website.
Next time, let us discuss HUD displays of virtues.
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Wednesday, September 09, 2009
On enneads
Like myself, Badi Blog contributor Ed de Jong subscribes to the M-W word-a-day list server. He writes about today's word:
Hey! Another name for LSA's NSA's, etc? :) "Our local Ennead met today and decided..."
Perhaps something like, "The UHJ is, at present, an ennead, though according to its constitution it may be as large as 19 members..."
Here is the definition:
Ennead \eN-ee-ad\ noun: a group of nine
Example Sentence
Immediately following the show, viewers will be able to call or text in their votes for their favorite among this ennead of remaining contestants.
Since ancient times, various groups of people have considered nine to be a very special and sacred number. Legends and literature have long characterized groups of nine as having a special, in some cases magical, significance.
Ancient Egyptians organized their gods into groups of nine; even today, their principal group of gods (headed by sun god Re-Atum) is called the "Great Ennead of Heliopolis."
The "Ennead" English speakers use in that name traces to "ennea," the Greek word for "nine."
"Ennead" is also used generally to refer to other groups of ancient gods. Furthermore, it is the name given to six sets of nine treatises by Greek philosopher Plotinus that were collected and organized by his 3rd-century disciple, Porphyry.
Competition in the UCS
Replacing 'Divide and rule' with 'Unite and reign.'
The founding father of world government was John Amos Comenius. In his crowning masterpiece, the Panorthosia, Comenius drew up a comprehensive plan for a three-chambered world government. Today we tend to imagine a model world government as a primarily political institution modeled upon our absolute, all-encompassing nation-states. Instead, Comenius divided his world-governing institution into a religious parliament, which he called the Ecumenical Consistery, a "college of light" concerned with education and scientific advance, and finally a political institution called the Dicastery of Peace. Each of these is independently elected and, presumably, separately supported by its own taxes and other revenue. The political institution, the Dicastery of Peace, would not dominate the other two; rather it would restrict itself to the purest goal of politics: peace.
The genius of Comenius was to extend the roots of these three institutions right down to the most immediate, local level. Indeed, his division into three is based upon Aristotle's insights into individual epistemology, psychology and the human brain. The individual has three main interests or concerns: knowledge, peace and providence. Human nature longs first to know, to engage in learning and teaching; second, we all need to take care of our immediate, practical well-being, the bailiwick of politics and peace; and third, we need feel that our long-term prosperity is assured under the aspect of eternity, which means religion or spirituality.
Comenius therefore placed the roots of these three branches in the most basic political institution, the family or household. Every home should have its own school, its own parliament and its own place of worship. From here would grow the universal institution, his tripartite world government.
Comenius did not have a name for the society that would result from these new institutions. Since Immanuel Kant, some hundred and twenty years after Panorthosia was completed, wrote up a detailed draft for a constitution for a world government, I have been using his term for the wholly new social condition that would come out of a covenant of perpetual peace: a universal civic society, or UCS.
Without a UCS, we compete with one another destructively, it is everybody against everybody. Leadership exploits the weakness of others. With a UCS, the competition will be to see who can benefit the whole more effectively. This Comenius summed up in a slogan: Unite and Reign. He suggested that it take the place of the old way, divide and conquer. He wrote:
==========
"Then the devilish slogan 'Divide and rule' will vanish away and be replaced by the divine motto 'Unite and reign.' The monstrous Machiavellianism known as the theory of status will also vanish, when the only acceptable theory of status will be righteousness and peace on earth, as described in Psalm LXXXV, 10-13. Wars will also vanish, being the work of Satan and an offence against mankind, originating from the time of Nimrod with Babel in its confusion of languages.
"Therefore when our Babel is destroyed and our languages reunited there will be no more Nimrod to hunt after men in their fury. In future the hunting of kings will be like that of Solomon, a hunt for the glory of wisdom, that is to say, a competition with one another and with God in the wise administration of their subjects. And so the end will correspond to the beginning; as it was when human affairs began before the flood, so at the end of the world, there shall be peace and security."
(Comenius, Panorthosia, Ch. 26, para 11, p. 158-159)
Feedback on the Uses of Professions
Reader Response
A reader, in response to the Badi' Blog entry for August 31, called "Freedom in Science and Education ... Agrarianism in the College of Light, (http://badiblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/stacking-deck-for-agrarianism-in.html), wrote:
"There is some interesting food for thought here. It would be interesting to see what obstacles would arise in attempting to erect such a system. For example, you suggested leaving a lot of utilitarian decision making to teachers and doctors. In the West, the organizations representing these professions are highly political unions and associations; I think it would be difficult to see dispassionate and pure-hearted decisions emerge from such present institutions."
Farmers, teachers and doctors are terribly underrepresented and misrepresented in the present world order. Paradoxically, the fact that they are politicized, that is, selfish, contentious and fractious, removes them from politics in the broader and higher sense. They have little say over policy. No partisan or advocate for a narrow interest can be trusted with the interests of all. Their very selfishness excludes them from the influence that they should have by rights.
What I am imagining in this essay series is an entirely new order where at least one third of our democratic rights are expressed in elections that are organized around our professional affiliation. This voting would begin with self-assessment, votes and peer reviews starting in earliest childhood education. It would constitute the meritocratic element of society. With proper training, we could express this civic right by regular elections of our colleagues in whatever line of work we have chosen. These representatives would then be promoted to influential consultancies. These chosen experts would be a major pillar of the social structure. A professional association or union is a mere afterthought compared with this.
Take agriculture as an example. Farmers should come first, that is, they should have first dibs on every exposed surface to the sun. Our whole urban and rural environments need to be designed for this. Unfortunately, in our present system they come last.
I had an interesting conversation with a member of the Niagara area farmer's professional association last weekend at the Smithville Fall Fair. They were promoting an awareness by consumers of the need to "buy local." Many food products pretend to be made by local farmers but are not, even in farmer's markets. His group conducted a survey of people going into grocery stores. They put buying local and buying organic surprisingly high on their list of priorities. But when they interviewed them coming out of the store it became evident that their highest priority are convenience and ease of preparation. This pretty much precludes what they said they wanted before they came in the store.
I was impressed with how modest the farmers' goals are and the pettiness of the obstacles keeping them back. He pointed out that stealing of crops is a major problem for farmers, even in the country. City dwellers come out and abscond food as if it grew there all by itself. He told about an innovative urban farmer who is farming empty, unused lots in downtown Toronto. His problem of being plundered is even worse.
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Wealth in the UCS Series
Usufruct, Dynamically Negotiated, I
By John Taylor; 2009 Sep 08, Masa'il 01, 166 BE
In February of 2003 I wrote an essay for the Badi' Blog called "Dynamically Negotiated Usufruct," in response to a debate in Scotland reported in the press ("Land Reforms in Scotland Give Big Estates the Jitters" by Lizette Alvarez, New York Times, 20 February, 2003). The new Scottish parliament had just passed a controversial law limiting the right of landowners to eject trespassers. This so-called "right to roam" law permitted hikers the freedom to cross private tracts, fields and forests. Owners contended that this law is Marxist and a threat to basic property rights, while others held that this law corrects a centuries-old imbalance where fewer than 400 people own more than half the land in Scotland.
As always happens when factions split into contending sides, both have an impressive set of half-truths to back them up.
On the one hand, property derives from a holy attribute of God, Sovereignty. Without ownership, we could not be sure of control over our means of livelihood. The philosopher John Lock held that protecting this right is why humans formed society in the first place. If a government arbitrarily seizes property, it betrays its reason for being and thereby makes itself an enemy of the people. Influenced by this, the people's convention during the French Revolution wrote the "Universal Declaration of the Rights of Man" offering the following definition of ownership,
"Since property is an inviolable and sacred right, no one shall be deprived thereof except where public necessity, legally determined, shall clearly demand it, and then only on condition that the owner shall have been previously and equitably indemnified." (Article #17)
Since then our idea of property has broadened to include intellectual products, which now constitute the basis of most industries. Rights are understood in a more complex and multi-faceted way. We not only have to worry about arbitrary seizure of property by a tyrannical central authority, Big Brother, but also infringement by anybody at all. Little Brother (tyranny of the many) can copy anything at virtually no cost. Big Sister complicates the picture as well; as equality of the sexes becomes universal we can expect the legal system to change too. Law enforcement may involve more negotiation and networking and become less arbitrary.
On the other hand, the rights of the many can outweigh those of the few. An item of property or a spread of land could never benefit a short-lived mortal more than the public. Everybody potentially benefits from more extensive right to walk or hike where we please. Free access to view the beauty in a landscape is surely a fundamental right that must be protected.
Indeed, now that global warming is making us all environmentalists, we see that the integrity of plants, animals and other natural ecosystems is in our interest. This may sometimes mean subjugating universal human rights to those of other species. By giving the public a right to view land, its beauty and popularity can be used as a reliable indicator as to whether its owner is responsible or not. Seen in this light, the right to roam tends to protect the planet from pollution and other crimes against nature.
On the other hand, the landowners of Scotland complain that the "right to roam" law indemnifies them. Owners of private leisure and sporting clubs worry about the loss of privacy if anybody can wander over, for example, a golf course. A Mr. de Savary was reported as saying that if it is next to impossible to bar someone from his land,
"I'm not sure they can't walk all over the golf course and get hit on the head by a ball and be killed. And the owner of the golf course will be liable."
Liability, safety and privacy are all important, legitimate concerns.
In my 2003 essay, I argued that the root of the problem is a rigid, obsolete and Procrustean concept of property. Exclusive ownership and sole tenure are simplistic and absolutist. They draw an artificial line between public and private, human and natural.
Next time I will look at how the UCS, applying a new technology known as augmented reality, might spread the costs and benefits of ownership among all with a legitimate claim.
Monday, September 07, 2009
How to improve the air you breathe
Researcher Kamal Meattle shows how an arrangement of three common houseplants, used in specific spots in a home or office building, can result in measurably cleaner indoor air.
http://www.ted.com
http://www.ted.com
Identity Seminar
I recommend this speaker who will be talking soon at Louhelen Baha'i School. My daughter and I attended her two day seminar last fall at McMaster University. If you want to read more about our experience, go to the Badi Blog for Early October of 2008.
Spiritual Identity: A Seminar on Sexuality and Spirituality
Spiritual Identity: A Seminar on Sexuality and Spirituality
Presented by Mary K. Radpour
Sponsored by the Bahá’í Association for Mental Health and the Bahá’í Network for AIDS, Sexuality, Addictions and Abuse
September 24–27
Adults and Youth (accompanied by an adult)
Sunday, September 06, 2009
Wealth in the UCS
Agronomy and a Landed Oligarchy
By John Taylor; 2009 Sep 05, Asma 17, 166 BE
We recently finished a prolonged discussion of the democratic element of the universal civic society (UCS). A UCS refers to the condition of society after the formation of a world government. Today we move on to its material element, that is, how a UCS would handle finance, money and wealth. We saw at the beginning how Aristotle wrote that "under oligarchy there is a property qualification." An oligarchy is an energetic moneyed class ruled by enlightened self-interest. The history of the rise of modern institutions of high finance, banking, credit, bonds and stock markets demonstrates the many potential benefits of a healthy, vigorous oligarchy.
The good aspects of oligarchy become especially apparent when the wealthy are tied by agronomy (an economy where the majority of the population are involved in farming and gardening) to the land and are rooted in and bounded by a particular locality or region. The existence of borders, language barriers and other artificial cultural divides restricts the overall wealth of oligarchs and, worse, gives one oligarchy unfair advantages over others.
It effectively weaponizes the world economy.
A UCS will do the reverse, it will move the economy to a peace setting, just as the famous prophesy implies: it will forge swords into plowshares by shifting the world economy from a war footing to an agricultural, solar orientation.
Why do agronomy and oligarchy go together so well? Because of the fundamental fact that all physical wealth (as opposed to knowledge and information) comes from the star we call the sun. As a result, the ultimate source of wealth is the happy combination of biology and solar energy that grows our food.
This is true not only physically but also spiritually.
Because farmers and agriculturists are in direct contact with nature and its ways, they learn a special set of virtues. They become stoic realists, conservative in the best sense of the word. When they and their virtues come first, everything else falls together. Oligarchy and agronomy embrace, as depicted in the Psalm, "Mercy and truth meet together. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other." (Ps 85:10, WEB) Since it is upon land that the sun shines, a landed oligarchy will tend to spread new wealth around better than any other foundational enterprise. Since the sun shines upon everything gardeners should therefore be placed everywhere on the surface of the earth in order to access the flow of energy in that location.
Thus, an agronomy most efficiently enables a society to approach the ideal state where everyone is, if not a member of the oligarchy, at least has a stake in the commonwealth. This means that the UCS should be so organized that the best chance for ambitious youth to gain wealth in their careers to go into farming or some other agricultural profession involved in exploiting energy from the ultimate renewable energy source, the sun. This would best suit the ecological needs of earth as well as the best in human nature.
The UCS should therefore aim at a modern version of the diversified agronomies that vitalized the most creative times in history, such as Ancient Greece, Babylon and Renaissance Italy. The big question is, then, what adjustments to the economy will make it such that the brightest and most ambitious will always see their best prospects for a better life in exploiting the sun for production? In upcoming essays we will explore how to do this in both urban and rural settings, and how this would affect the rest of the economy in a UCS.
Saturday, September 05, 2009
Love letter using Google Docs
I have been encouraging Baha'is to use Google docs for quite some time. Here is a little demonstration of how this free service can help collaborative writing, e.g., lsa minutes, teaching projects, etc.
Thursday, September 03, 2009
The Meaning of Life is Panorthosic
Finding Purpose in the Principles of Peace
By John Taylor; 2009 Sep 03, Asma 15, 166 BE
Climate change expert George Monbiot reports the latest findings that CO2 being pumped into the atmosphere is not going to go away as previously thought. In the title "Not even wrong" to his latest column, he references a famous quip by a scientist confronted by superstitious claptrap: "It is not only not right, it is not even wrong." Monbiot calculates that as a result of the new findings, nothing on the table among nations is adequate to accomplish anything like the results we need to stop global warming.
"The targets and methodology being used by governments and the United Nations - which will form the basis for their negotiations at Copenhagen - are not even wrong; they are irrelevant. Unless there is a radical change of plan between now and December, world leaders will not only be discussing the alignment of deckchairs on the Titanic, but hotly disputing whose deckchairs they really are and who has the responsibility for moving them. Fascinating as this argument may be, it does nothing to alter the course of the liner." (http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2009/08/31/not-even-wrong/)
This analogy of the Titanic describes the problem perfectly. We should not even expect national governments to be able to do anything about climate, because it is a problem that only a world government is qualified to address. Imagine how far Western and Eastern nations would have got in responding to Hitler if instead of national leaders running the war, the mayors of the big cities, London, New York, Moscow and a thousand other cities tried to deal with it. Urban government is not designed to raise an army or plan beyond a very narrow sphere. The same is true of nationalist governments today.
Monbiot reports that the filmmakers who made the film, "Age of Stupid," are advocating a "10:10" campaign aiming at a ten percent cut in the UK's emissions during the year 2010. They are suggesting that individuals and companies work at this on their own in order to shame national governments into actually doing something substantive to stop emissions. While it is true that decarbonizing the economy will require support on all levels, this appeal to even more fractured and circumscribed power bases shows the direction of peoples' thinking. The very idea of world government is unthinkable.
Monbiot rightly points out that without independent auditing and firm legal backing, the goals of this plan will not mean much. But he agrees that an airy balloon of a plan is better than no plan at all.
In the meantime, the only good news is coming from the financial front, which the present recession is making so urgent that world leaders are actually tiptoeing close to the line between words and deeds.
In July a summit of world leaders seriously brought up the idea of a world currency to replace the De Facto currency since the Second World War, the American dollar. Both the Russians and the Chinese advocated a world currency, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy agreed, saying that we should dump the dollar because "we cannot stick with just one single (nation's) currency." The Russian president even had an example of such a coin stamped, labelled "United Future World Currency," which he distributed to other leaders attending as a gift. He was quoted as saying,
"In all likelihood something similar could appear and it could be held in your hand and used as a means of payment. This is the international currency." ("Medvedev sees single currency dream in G8 coin gift," AFP, July 10, 2009)
A few of my readers sent photographs of this coin, which impresses with its beauty. It is gold coloured and has five leaves of different species, the maple leaf being most prominent; this of course warms the hearts of Canadians. The words "Unity in Diversity" are stamped on one side. This warms the hearts of Baha'is, since it reflects one of the major themes of the Writings of Baha'u'llah. Probably, it is primarily meant to reflect the Latin saying, "E Pluribus Unum," Out of Many, One, which is featured on American currency.
When the time comes to make up a world currency, I would suggest the following words that Comenius suggested be used as a headpiece or proclamation for a world constitution.
"O thou, who art the herald of the coming light, follow the example of the sun, and wherever it goes, so must you go also, and encircle the earth so that you and your rays visit every part of the world touched by the rays of the sun. For the Lord of the universe commands that your benefits, like those of the sun, should be enjoyed by all people." (Panorthosia, Ch. 25, para 10, p. 152)
What better words to print on a world paper currency than these, along with a picture of a sunrise?
Unfortunately, this early proposal at the G8 summit for a world currency, as so often happens in international meetings, did not go beyond words. It is unlikely that much will be done about implementing the foundations of world peace without the support of North and South America. This certainly was what Abdu'l-Baha thought. During His visit to America in 1912, just before the First World War broke out, He was quoted as saying,
"If the republics of the Americas assembled and agreed on the question of peace, and if all of them would turn to the [Peace] Assembly at the Hague, most of the powers of Europe would follow suit. But looking at it from another point of view, if an international war breaks out in Europe, international peace will be established more quickly. Also, if these ideas regarding peace spread among the public, the financiers will refuse to give loans for wars and the manufacture of armaments, the railway companies will abstain from transporting instruments of destruction and the armed forces will not engage in carnage and the spilling of blood. Also the boundaries should be established." (Mahmud's Diary, 278-279)
This profound statement implies that if we knew the principles of peace and a desire the end war really took hold, or even if it grew a little stronger than the profit motive, national governments would lose their power bases. Business, which profits from military spending, would rebel and the military-industrial-academic complex would collapse; even individual soldiers would refuse to fight.
Indeed, if the leaders themselves read what Baha'u'llah had advised them, they would not consider money or military triumph to have anything to do with their true wealth. Baha'u'llah advised leaders to think of their people as their true power base, not wealth, luxuries and other trappings of power. It is not a coincidence that in modern wars and conflicts, civilian populations have become the primary targets. This shows that even military and paramilitary strategists recognize what goes right over the heads of national leaders, that the people are the real basis of power. The welfare of the people themselves are all the glory they should seek.
In fact, Baha'u'llah holds that this is exactly why we all have been brought into being. This is the nature of the human station, what distinguishes us from animals.
"All men have been created to carry forward an ever-advancing civilization. The Almighty bearest Me witness: To act like the beasts of the field is unworthy of man. Those virtues that befit his dignity are forbearance, mercy, compassion and loving-kindness towards all the peoples and kindreds of the earth." (Baha'u'llah, Gleanings, p. 215)
Over the past year I have been examining the works of John Comenius, whom I have come to regard not only as a genius, but also very much a minor prophet. So much of what he says, especially in his posthumous masterwork, Panorthosia, leads up to and supplements the millennial vision of peace that Baha'u'llah advocates. For example, compare what Baha'u'llah says above about progress as our reason for being with what Comenius said in the 17th Century about reform and peace.
"I say that the task must be tackled seriously so that this Universal Reform (the world's last before its end) is not a mere shadow, but a reality whereby we may truly escape from Babylon, and truly release ourselves from the labyrinths, and be truly restored to God and attached to freedom, and truly achieve the supreme end of life, which is peace of mind." (Comenius, Panorthosia, Ch. 19, para 12, p. 14)
Here are two different but complementary insights into our purpose in life. One is to carry forward an ever advancing civilization, the other to gain peace of mind. In fact, what would calm our fears better than knowing that civilization is advancing? I grew up in a time when everybody was afraid of being killed by the atomic bomb. Now we have the creeping fear of climate disaster.
Indeed the two books that I am working on are designed to help find a way out of climate destabilization by means of the Baha'i principles and what Comenius called universal reform, or Panorthosia. At the same time, the principle of universal peace through world government would both end wars and the consequent threat of atomic destruction, and it would allow for universal reform through principle. Which is by way of introducing the next in my Panorthosia essay series, which will describe how Comenius deals with universal peace.
John Taylor
email: badijet@gmail.com
blog: http://badiblog.blogspot.com/
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Tuesday, September 01, 2009
Freedom and the Ecumenical Consistory
Liberty from a Religious Point of View
By John Taylor; 2009 Sep 01, Asma 13, 166 BE
Absolute freedom, like all absolutes, is only possible for God in relation to Himself. This understanding predates monotheism, as evidenced by Aeschylus, who wrote: "For know that no one is free, except Zeus." Human freedom, then, is relative to our nature, which is both physical and spiritual. The physical requires us to compromise spiritual aspirations to some extent. Every religion teaches that we often must choose animal freedom or freedom born of Spirit. Christianity, for example,
"Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." (2 Cor 3:17, KJV)
Islam emphasizes that higher knowledge offers a paradoxical freedom in which submission to a higher Will is the highest ideal. "Indeed, man transgresseth in thinking himself his own master: for to your Lord all things return." (Qur'an 96:1) Justice and righteousness are the outcome of absorption in the Will of One Who knows all.
"Amongst us are some that submit their wills (to God), and some that swerve from justice. Now those who submit their wills - they have sought out (the path) of right conduct." (Qur'an 72:14, Yusuf Ali, tr.)
This is also the essential spirit of Judaism, which has Satan, in guise of a serpent in the Garden of Eden promise Eve that, "Ye shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil." (Genesis 3:5) Freedom on the spiritual level comes of admitting that we can never know what is good or evil on our own, or control what is inherently beyond our nature in a world of materiality. Instead, spiritual freedom is imitation of the deity, who liberates selflessly by nature and by example.
"Therefore be merciful, even as your Father is also merciful. Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Set free, and you will be set free." (Luke 6:36-37, WEB)
Animal liberty is purely physical and therefore based on rule of the strong over the weak; the former fight their way to the top with force and violence. It is not free but only a masked form of slavery. Even the top dog expresses his freedom by indulging bodily desires and appetites that have only ephemeral results. Spiritual freedom is the fruit of imitating an all-loving God, who inculcates virtues like benevolence, wisdom, independence and moderation. These virtues raise the human spirit above violence and the contradictions inherent to carnal leanings.
Immanuel Kant correctly recognized that we will never attain this higher liberation completely or be rid of the damaging freedom of a bestial nature unless and until national governments submit their sovereign authority to a world government. Then the individual will finally be free of injustice, inside and out.
"However fantastical this idea (a league of nations) may seem -- and it was laughed at as fantastical by the Abbe de St. Pierre and by Rousseau, perhaps because they believed it was too near to realization -- the necessary outcome of the destitution to which each man is brought by his fellows is to force the states to the same decision (hard though it be for them) that savage man also was reluctantly forced to take, namely, to give up their brutish freedom and to seek quiet and security under a lawful constitution." (Kant, Cosmopolitan History, Seventh Thesis, p. 256)
Such is the nature of religious freedom. It has implications that we have hardly begun to explore on the international scene. For example, any future world government that is not a tyranny would have to recognize a universal right to convert from one religion to any other religion. This right would only be tolerable to faith groups when it is widely recognized that there are features -- and not peripheral ones but essentials -- of all religions that are part of a faith heritage common to all thinking humans. This emerging entity let us call the One Common Faith, or OCF.
An increasing awareness of our OCF heritage would do more than just give a new human right, the right to convert, to every citizen in the world -- even those who live in regions where compulsion in belief is traditional. It would also enable a world parliament of religion -- an institution that Comenius called the Ecumenical Consistory -- to come into existence. This parliament would do just what the word "consistory implies. It would take the values, ideals and features that are consistent across major religions through the ages, principles like love of one's neighbour and the Golden Rule, and put them into effect on the personal level in order to enable progress on the local and international levels as well. Comenius pointed to this as the common purpose of liberation for all religions:
"For the goal of this first individual reform is that everyone should release himself from the powerful grip of external things and be restored to himself and God, for the purpose of asserting his freedom of thought, will and action upon things which make for his welfare here and to all eternity." (Panorthosia, Ch. 20, para 7, p. 22)
The very existence of a right to convert, an OCF and an Ecumenical Consistory would force all religious groups to raise their standards in order to compete with others. This would benefit all by canalizing the same competitive forces that made the modern business so potent, influential and efficient. As Kant perceived, this restraint on the baser urges of religious groups would, paradoxically, free them to attain higher levels of excellence; it would act on the social aspect of faith like the restraints that train an individuals animal nature to submit the soul to the Spirit, the true and universal liberator.
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