A Roadmap for Social Transformation

Change in Collective Values and Outlook

The High-Level Plan document highlighted the prevalence of conformism in our society and the difficulty that it poses for the development of an internal standard for living. It also suggested ways in which blind adherence to social norms could be challenged. This document builds on that analysis by trying to identify social actions that we could take should the challenge succeed. Its purpose is not to determine what kind of society we would want to create for ourselves, but to see how we might be able to take the process of change that is well underway at the level of individuals and set in motion for the society as a whole.

The reason for positioning the article so unambitiously is that it seems to me that we are still struggling to take the first tentative steps towards pervasive change. Looking at the society as it is now, we are yet to reach the very basic agreements that are needed to overhaul it.

The first of these agreements is that our society is severely dysfunctional; that is, that it is working so poorly that it is in need of a major revision. This is not to say that it couldn’t be a lot worse, as indeed it has been in the past, but that there is tremendous scope for improvement. If we fail to acknowledge this, we will be reduced to doing the best we can in living our lives according to the established rules of conduct, at most refining them within the spirit in which they were made.

As obvious as the dysfunction of our present society might appear to some of us, it directly contradicts the myth on which our society is primarily based – the survival of the fittest. The myth gives rise to an environment in which individuals are required to demonstrate their fitness by contributing to society. They are reciprocated for their contribution by means of material wealth – typically in the form of money – which directly impacts on their livelihood. The value of the contribution itself is mostly gauged in terms of short-term material gain.

This in turn gives rise to many undesirable consequences – gross imbalance in the distribution of wealth to the point where basic needs are not being met for the majority of the world’s population, destruction of the Earth’s ecosystems on which we are dependent for our survival, denial of an opportunity (through unemployment) for people to contribute to society, and violent attempts at redressing these imbalances through crime, to name a few.

From the perspective of the dominant myth, however, this is as it should be. These people were clearly not fit enough to succeed. The environment was not useful enough to be preserved. Our descendants are not important enough to plan for. The problem lies anywhere but with the society as it is presently structured.

An intriguing facet of this view is that it is almost exclusively focused on the outside world – it is other people who are lazy and incompetent; it is the environment that has little value in its natural state; and so on. As easy as it may be to apply the unfavourable judgement to the outside world, it is exceedingly difficult to apply it to oneself. This betrays one way in which the view can be challenged. Finding ourselves on the losing end gives us an opportunity to truly examine the social standards that we may embrace unquestioningly when we are successful.

If combined with the observation that many of the factors that influence our success reside beyond our control, it allows us to envision a society where people are rewarded based on the effort that they put in rather than on the results that it produces. When we consider that a popular reason for embracing the myth of survival of the fittest is to ensure that loafers don’t take advantage of the system, rewarding effort rather than contribution might prove to be a workable middle ground – it makes sure that people contribute to the system without penalising those who fail due to factors beyond their control.

Undergoing personal transformation, as described in the Change in Personal Values and Outlook document, provides us with an even more effective challenge to the dominant social myth. By paying attention to marginalised aspects of our experience, we come to recognise the unfulfilling nature of an approach to living that is focused on hoarding material wealth, and begin to desire to live in a society that is built on an entirely different set of values. I have described one such value in the article Experiencing Abundance.

Once we collectively agree that our society exhibits fundamental shortcomings, the question that presents itself is what can be done about them. The challenge here is of an altogether different nature, one of ascertaining how much improvement is possible.

Objections typically centre on the question of human nature and how much it limits the choice of social structures and their smooth operation. It is a commonly held view that human nature is too flawed to give rise to a healthy, functioning society. The flaws in our social structures follow directly from our destructive natural inclinations – selfishness, greed, laziness, and so on. We need material reward as a motivator to ensure that we contribute to society; we need punishment as a cornerstone of our judiciary to ensure that we don’t abuse the society. As much as we may dislike some of the effects of these and other measures, there’s just no way around them; the best that we can do is to trade one set of problems for another.

Unlike the previous stumbling block to change, this one is less focused on the outside world. Exposition of other people’s weaknesses tends to be accompanied with recognition of one’s own. This makes it a more formidable challenge to overcome. If every sign points to our flawed nature, what hope do we have of creating a functioning society that doesn’t actively motivate us or protect itself from us?

Personal transformation provides an effective solution to the problem. On the one hand, it enables us to become self-driven, motivated by a personal desire for accomplishment as defined by our own internal standard. It was this kind of drive that could be seen in the lives of people like Mother Teresa and Mahatma Gandhi. With the motivation becoming internal, external motivators – typically in the form of money and social recognition – are rendered unnecessary.

On the other hand, it allows us to recognise the importance of intention in the moulding of our conduct. If we are committed to being the best that we can be, punishing us for occasionally failing to live up to our ideals becomes counterproductive. It is sufficient to bring this failing to our attention for our behaviour to change accordingly. This makes the punitive aspect of our social structures superfluous, even as their behavioural guidelines remain useful. In other words, we don’t need to behave flawlessly; willingness to strive for perfection will do.

Lastly, personal growth cannot be pursued effectively without finding ways to handle difficult or painful situations in a constructive manner. These skills can be utilised to minimise the adverse effects of other people’s mistakes. Combined with their willingness to voluntarily choose a more beneficial course of action, it enables us to create a functioning society that is entirely devoid of punitive elements.

Once we reach agreement that the society can be made to work significantly better than it does now, the question then becomes one of apportioning responsibility. This points directly to the difficulties outlined in the High-Level Plan document of having to overcome our tendency to adhere to social norms and take personal responsibility for making social changes that we wish to see.

Personal transformation assists us in this respect as well. Firstly, regardless of what triggers personal growth to the level of authentic consciousness, the process invariably becomes internally driven. Deliberate living in turn requires us to take personal responsibility for our conduct. The creation of an internal standard for living effectively dissolves the hold that social norms have over us, and with it the delegation of responsibility to other individuals and social structures.

Secondly, the values that personal transformation leads us to embrace are likely to differ significantly from those of the present-day society. Becoming aware of this chasm adds impetus to the drive for change. Since the change is away from current social norms, we cannot expect the dominant social forces – personified by the state and religious authorities – to drive it. We have to do it ourselves.

Reaching widespread agreement on these three points – that our society is severely dysfunctional, that it can be made to work much better than it does now, and that it is our responsibility to make this happen – would pave the way for social transformation. It would enable us to look beyond the present system to envisage what could be.