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Spheronics: True Peace Megascience Contents: https://peacefromharmony.org/?cat=en_c&key=1129
3. Gandhian "Newtonian" Spherons:
Fundamental Social Structure, Substance and Actors of True Peace By Leo Semashko (+coauthors) Publication: English: https://peacefromharmony.org/?cat=en_c&key=1132 Russian: https://peacefromharmony.org/?cat=ru_c&key=1033
In the Foreword, we revealed the motivation social priority of true peace and its spheronics megascience (SM) to prevent the nuclear WWIII. In the SM "Methodology", we revealed the structural-dialectical categorical tools for the theoretical understanding of this science and its subject. This paragraph reveals the system-forming center of spheronics as a holistic transdisciplinary megascience of true peace and its methodology. A similar system-forming center of spheronics is the Gandhian spherons, discovered by Gandhi in 1927, which he defined as a fundamental, eternal social structure, actors and substance of true peace, still unknown to humanity, although it was discovered almost a century ago. In this paragraph attempts to briefly reveal the key attributes of spherons in the Mahatma Gandhi texts, since which a long, almost century, and complex history of their spheronics science begins. The SM history is originally presented here (GGHA, 2022: https://peacefromharmony.org/?cat=ru_c&key=983) The spherons are first revealed by Gandhi in the form of ancient Indian "varnas", according to the structure and attributes of which he recognizes them as the social basis, source and actor of nonviolence in his key teaching of ahimsa, which synthesizes the ideas of religious nonviolence and Tolstoy's non-resistance in a modified form. Nonviolence and peace are identical in this doctrine, which constitutes one of the historical forms of understanding true peace. Ahimsa is defined by Gandhi in the same way as it is defined in the Indian religions of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, as the principle of nonviolent true peace or peaceful nonviolence. At the end of the last century, it was interpreted as a "zone of peace" in Nepal (King Birendra, 1975), or as a fully demilitarized space of true peace in the political program of the 14th Dalai Lama (1987). The identity of non-violence and true peace is a common recognition of Eastern philosophy and religion, which is developed and strengthened by Mahatma Gandhi in his doctrine of “varnas/spherons”. The fragmentary newspaper Gandhian definitions of the category “varnas” and their “Newtonian law of varnas”, which determines their highest organizing role in society, are analyzed in detail in many GGHA publications, especially in the book “Gandhica”, 2019 (https://peacefromharmony.org/?cat=en_c&key=848) and other GGHA projects. Therefore, here we will limit ourselves to only a brief analysis of them in two aspects: in the context of the social production/life spheres integrity and their key social attributes. We emphasize that Gandhi's "varnas" denoted the entire historical "varna civilization" of ancient India reality around the third millennium BC. During this period, India, due to social equality, cooperation and harmony of “varnas” became a world cultural leader and a prosperous nation ahead of, known for its greatest cultural, spiritual and technical discoveries that raised India to the highest planetary intellectual level of that time что Gandhi emphasizes repeatedly in their works. Gandhi's book "My Religion" in English (1955) and in Russian translation (2016) is used here as the initial primary source for the analysis of "varnas". It quite fully collects the Gandhian fragmentary definitions of "varnas" from 1927 to 1948, which constituted the first, Indian stage in the history of spheronics, in the understanding and development of its central category "spherons". The categories of "varnas" and "spherons" are identical in content that we will express by combining these terms: "varnas/spherons" or "varnas [spherons]" but different in historical and spatial scale. Varnas are the socially equal four groups, "categories" of people, covering the entire population of ancient India around the third millennium BC, employed in four spheres of its social production. Spherons are the socially equal four groups, clusters, classes, communities of people, covering the entire population of humanity, any of its societies in history (including ancient India) and differing in employment in one of the social production four spheres that form a social whole. The spherons social universality is proven by world statistics in the GGHA book "Gandhica" (2019). Therefore, varnas are the spherons of ancient India, and spherons are the varnas of humanity as a whole in their scientific definition, deployed in their SM. For these general historical varnas, Gandhi did not introduce a new concept of "spherons" or similar to it. It was introduced by spheronics at the next historical stage of its development, since their scale, spatio-temporal difference is obvious and essential for all their attributive, semantic identity. As can be seen from his quotes below, Gandhi uses the category "varna" in these two different senses, but does not distinguish between them terminologically that makes their analysis very difficult and often leads to confusion of their meanings. Another complicating aspect of his texts on the “varnas/spherons” topic is that he does not separate their analysis from the analysis of the production life spheres of society, in which they are employed and on which they are differ. Gandhi practices holistic thinking by spheres and spherons, which is inaccessible to the traditional, disciplinary and therefore torn mindset, devoid of the bridges with a holistic mindset. In order to build bridges between these cognitive levels and ensure, on the one hand, the understanding of the second, integral in the first, and on the other hand, the transition and rise of the first, traditional to the level of the second, we will divide the analysis of the Gandhian spherons into two parts. The analysis of their spheres and the analysis of their attributes that will make their understanding more accessible to students.
Mahatma Gandhi about the integrity and qualities of the social production/life spheres Mahatma Gandhi writes: “The whole gamut of man's activities today constitutes an indivisible whole. You cannot divide social, economic, political and purely religious work into watertight compartments.”… “Ahimsa is the attribute of the soul, and therefore, to be practised by everybody in all the affairs of life. If it cannot be practised in all departments, it has no practical value.” (29 Chapter: https://www.mkgandhi.org/my_religion/29spheres_of_life.htm). The core of the social sphere in Mahatma Gandhi is the equality of people. “I believe implicitly that all men are born equal... All whether born … have the same soul as any other… I believe in this inherent equality of all men that I fight the doctrine of superiority, which many of our rulers arrogate to themselves… I consider that it is unmanly for any person to claim superiority over a fellow-being. He who claims superiority at once forfeits his claim to be called a man. That is my opinion. The forms are many, but the informing spirit is one. How can there be room for distinctions of high and low where there is this all-embracing fundamental unity underlying the outward diversity?... I believe in the essential unity of man and for that matter of all that lives.” (30 Chapter: https://www.mkgandhi.org/my_religion/30social_sphere.htm) Mahatma Gandhi sees the core of the economic sphere in love and justice, which provide it with the highest efficiency. In the economy, people will achieve “the greatest material result obtainable by them will be not through antagonism to each other, but through affection for each other… True economics never militates against the highest ethical standard,.. An economics that inculcates Mammon worship, and enables the strong to amass wealth at the expense of the weak, is a false and dismal science. It spells death. True economics, on the other hand, stands for social justice, it promotes the good of all equally including the weakest, and is indispensable for decent life… True economics is the economics of justice. People will be happy in so far as they learn to do justice and be righteous. All else is not only vain but leads straight to destruction. To teach the people to get rich by hook or by crook is to do them an immense disservice… the poor, they would become strong and would learn how to free themselves by means of non-violence, from the crushing inequalities which have brought them to the verge of starvation… exploitation is the essence of violence” (31 Chapter: https://www.mkgandhi.org/my_religion/31economic_sphere.htm) Mahatma Gandhi defines the essence of the true political sphere of society as “Freedom through Love. In the democracy, which I have envisaged, a democracy established by non-violence, there will be equal freedom for all… True democracy or the Swaraj of the masses can never come through untruthful and violent means, for the simple reason that the natural corollary to their use would be to remove all opposition through the suppression or extermination of the antagonists. That does not make for individual freedom. Individual freedom can have the fullest play only under a regime of unadulterated Ahimsa…[It is]A Non-violent Political Structure [of equal varnas/spherons, devoid of nationalism and racism, but patriotic and international.” (32 Chapter: https://www.mkgandhi.org/my_religion/32political_sphere.htm) The religious, spiritual (in our terminology it is ‘informational’) sphere in the teaching of Mahatma Gandhi is the substance of society. He writes: “I believe in absolute oneness of God and therefore also of humanity. What though we have many bodies? We have but one soul. The rays of the sun are many through refraction. But they have the same source.” . (32 Chapter: https://www.mkgandhi.org/my_religion/32political_sphere.htm). Further, Mahatma Gandhi devotes a special section to the analysis of Hinduism and its main conclusion about the equality and harmony of people in the world and nonviolence, criticizing, rejecting and renouncing its idea of untouchability (33 Chapter: https://www.mkgandhi.org/my_religion/33renunciation.htm). The Chapter36 is dedicated to varnas/spherons.
Mahatma Gandhi about the key attributes of the "varnas/spherons" of society.
In Gandhi’s definition, “varnas/spherons” are a universal and eternal social structural reality, a “Newtonian law” (i.e. an absolutely necessary law) of any society existence of with the following characteristics and attributes: 1. Varna* [spherons**] is not a human invention, but an immutable law of nature – the statement of [genetic] tendency that is ever present and at work like Newton’s law of gravitation. Just as the law of gravitation existed even before it was discovered, so did the law of varna [spherons]. Varna is the law of life universally governing the human family. (36 Chapter: https://www.mkgandhi.org/my_religion/36varna_caste.htm) 2. The Rishis [Vedic sages of ancient India about 4 thousand years ago] after incessant experiment and research arrived at this fourfold division [four equal classes, estates, clusters by employment, they are the ancient four spherons], that of teaching, of defending, of wealth-producing, and of manual service. 3. Nonviolence [of the varnas/spherons] is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest [nuclear] weapon of destruction. Nonviolence is not the inheritance of cowardice, it is always heroism. 4. Varna [spherons] reveals the law of one's being and the idea of superiority or inferiority is wholly repugnant to it. All varnas [spherons] are equal, for the community depends no less on one than on another. Varna [spherons] ordains that every one shall fulfill the law of [equality] one's being. The law of varna is the antithesis of competition [inequalities], which kills. It ensuresthefairest [equal] possibledistributionofwealth [between the spherons]. 5. It was given to the Hindus to discover that law [of the varnas/spherons]. Hindus by their discovery of this irresistible social tendency have been able to achieve in the spiritual field what no other nation in the world has achieved. Varnashrama, as I interpret it, satisfies the religious, social and economic needs of a community. Observance of the law obviates social evils and entirely prevents the killing economic competition. Fulfillmentofthelaw wouldmakelifelivable, would spread peace and content, end all clashes and conflicts, put an end to starvationandpauperization,solvetheproblemof populationandevenend disease and suffering. 6. Varna [spherons] is no man-made institution but the law of life universally governing the human family.Thoughthelawofvarna [spherons] isaspecialdiscoveryofsomeHinduseer,ithas universal application. It ought to have universal application. That is how I look at the law of varna [spherons]. The world may ignore it today [out of ignorance] but it will have to accept it in the time to come. This is the law of our being. 7. Varna [spherons] has nothing to do with caste. Down with the monster of caste that masquerades in the guise of varna [spherons]. It is this [caste] travesty of varna [spherons] that has degraded Hinduism and India. Our failure to follow the law of varna [spherons] is largely responsible both for our economic and spiritual ruin. It is one cause of unemployment and impoverishment, and it is responsible for untouchability and defections from our faith. Today varna means gradation of high and low. It is a hideous travesty of the original. We have distorted it today and have made ourselves the laughing-stock of the world. Therefore, when people in disregard of the [varnas/spherons] law it leads to confusion of varna and ultimate disruption of society. Today, nations are living in ignorance and breach of that law and they are suffering for it. 8. If we Hindus sincerely reject the [caste] division into higher and lower, then we will heal from mutual envy and mistrust of other communities and at the same time heal them. 9. There is no other God than Truth and the only means for the realization of Truth is Ahimsa [nonviolence of varnas/spherons]. My strivings after Ahimsa have still been imperfect and inadequate. The little fleeting glimpses, therefore, that I have been able to have of Truth can hardly convey an idea of the indescribable lustre of Truth, a million times more intense than that of the sun we daily see with our eyes. In fact what I have caught is only the faintest glimmer of that mighty effulgence [of the varnas/spherons nonviolence]. But this much I can say with assurance, as a result of all my experiments, that a perfect vision of Truth can only follow a complete realization of Ahimsa [nonviolence of varnas/spherons]. God [varnas/spherons] can never be realized by one who is not pure of heart. Self-purificationthereforemustmeanpurificationinallthewalksoflife [in all spheres of life and all the spherons employed in them]. English original: My Religion, 1955, Chapters 36-40: https://www.mkgandhi.org/my_religion/36varna_caste.htm - https://www.mkgandhi.org/my_religion/40conclusion.htm. It is necessary to emphasize the misconception about the identity of the varnas and castes of India, widespread in almost all encyclopedias, including Wikipedia, despite its categorical Gandhian denial. Gandhi saw their connection only in one thing: after a long, thousand-year existence of the varnas of ancient India, which constituted its "golden age", they began to evolve into unequal castes. Therefore, castes originated from a fundamental proprietary transformation of the varnas that excluded their social equality, but they were never identical to castes. The paragraph result is Model-3 below, expressing the structure of the Gandhian doctrine of varnas/spherons.
The Gandhian philosophy structure of the varnas/spherons true peace
Model-3 We add that it is impossible to exclude the existence in the ancient, “golden” history of civilizations similar to the non-violent / peacemaking “civilization of varnas/spherons” of India. The existence of a similar civilization that established the complete equality of men and women, possible on the social equality of the "varnas/spherons" of India, is indicated by the anthropological studies of Riana Eisler (1994) and her colleagues of the so-called "Minoan civilization" of ancient Crete (https://www.peacefromharmony.org/?cat=ru_c&key=831). The Minoan culture lived for more than a thousand years without wars, fortifications and weapons. The humanity has studied in detail almost all of its wars, presenting its history as exclusively militaristic, but ignoring the study of rare, peace-loving civilizations, in fact, deleting their reality from history. Many historical wars are studied in schools, but they know practically nothing about the cultures of peace and nonviolence, like the civilizations of varnas/spherons of ancient India and the Minoan civilization of Crete. This neglect can be overcome in the non-militaristic history of spherons, which is actually still unknown to humanity. The unsurpassed merit of the Gandhian "varnas/spherons" discovery is that they were the first in history to initiate "a substantially new manner of thinking" (according to Einstein) by integral, transdisciplinary spheres and spherons of human society. It has become historically the first model that has remained unknown and unrecognized by traditional, disciplinary broken and positivist thinking to this day, which provides the task of liberating humanity from nuclear genocide and building peaceful, nonviolent civilizations for the entire future of humanity if it wants to have it, which is insoluble for the old thinking. The discontinuity of these two ways of thinking is overcome by spheronics, especially clearly in its global statistics, which contains a tool and an algorithm for the mutual translation of traditional indices/concepts into spheral indices/concepts and back in the operations of their composition and decomposition, which will be discussed in the paragraph below. For the subsequent presentation of spheronics, the presented philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi about society as a whole in the form of monistic tetrad pluralism, embodied in a constant social structure of nonviolent, peacemaking varnas/spherons, will serve as a starting point in all paragraphs of our primer-dialogue. Parallel to the philosophy of Gandhi, the prehistory of peacemaking nonviolence of Orthodox catholicity, which often intersects with it, is presented in our analysis of the works of the following outstanding Russian supporters and researchers: Alexander Gorchakov (1798-1883), Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881), Nikolai Danilevsky (1822-1885) , Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910), Maxim Kovalevsky (1851-1916), Vladimir Vernadsky (1863-1945), George Gurdjieff (1866-1949), Peter Struve (1870-1944), Peter Uspensky (1878-1949), Pitirim Sorokin (1889-1968 and others in our "Historian of Spheronics" (2022). Their earlier analysis is presented in our university textbook: L. Semashko. Sociology for pragmatists. From monism to tetrism. St. Petersburg 1999:
https://peacefromharmony.org/docs/sociologiya-dlya-pragmatikov.pdf
Leo Semashko, 21-05-23 ----------------------------------
№3 Paragraph. Gandhi’s Spherons True Peace Dear coauthors,
After two paragraphs of the primer prelude, I am happy to send you the first paragraph (draft) of its content, dedicated to the substance and actors of true peace - the Gandhian "varnas/spherons". They provide it with integrity and eternity, and for spheronics - "a substantially new manner of thinking" that is inaccessible to traditional thinking, as Einstein argued. It published here: https://peacefromharmony.org/?cat=en_c&key=1132 We welcome your objections, editing, additions and questions to the paragraph text (draft). Best wishes to you and true peace, Friendly,
Leo Semashko 21-05-23 ------------------------
Can peacemaker find 20 minutes to read 5 pages about Gandhi? Dear coauthors-peacemakers, On the last Sunday, May 21, you received the first, key paragraph of 5 pages, dedicated to the Gandhian spherons as a substance and actor of true, global and eternal peace (https://peacefromharmony.org/?cat=en_c&key=1132), about which Immanuel Kant and many other thinkers wrote. This paragraph is the system-forming center of both our peacemaking primer-dialogue and our megascience of global peace - spheronics, which we, the GGHA members have created during 18 years, also based on the Gandhian spherons idea. Without spherons of nonviolence, there can be no understanding of true peace. (Earlier, we used to designate them the synonymous term “spheral classes of the population”, i.e. groups of people employed in four spheres of social production. This cumbersome term was replaced by the logically most adequate term “spherons”, about which we have long been discussion.) Gandhian varnas/spherons are carriers, actors of nonviolence, without which it is impossible to think peace, which is incompatible with violence. Nonviolence and peace are identical. All peacemakers, without exception, recognize this. only extreme militarists, fascists, Nazis and terrorists of all stripes are capable to deny and ignore the identity of peace and nonviolence. In our team of coauthors, by definition and experience, there are none them, thank God! Therefore, due to the key, extremely important role of this paragraph (5 pages), we urge each coauthor-peacemaker to find 20 minutes of time to read 5 pages of this paragraph and write 2-4 objections and/or questions on this text no more than 5 -20 lines and send them to ALLfor joint discussion today-tomorrow. Who cannot send them to ALL, please send them to me personally. For most of the coauthors this will be a simple 20 minute job because they read Gandhi and wrote a lot about him in different contexts, these are Rudolf Siebert, Matt Meyer, Rodney Atkinson, Ken Leslie, Takis Ioannides, Helga LaRouche, Ashok Tholana, Lukas Pawlik, Rosa Dalmiglio, Bishnu Pathak, Olga Kashina, Andrey Smirnov, Irina Medvedeva and all others. It is hard for me to imagine that a peacemaker would refuse to find 20 minutes to read 5 pages about Gandhi and express ANY OPINION about this text. ANY OBJECTION. ANY QUESTION, ANY THOUGHT.
It's hard for me to imagine WHAT COULD STOP A PEACEMAKER TO SPEND 20 MINUTES TO EXPRESS HIS IDEA ABOUT GANDHI. If it is absent or if the peacemaker REFUSES to express it, then, as you understand, OTHER questions arise already about the person of such a peacemaker: WHY, HOW, WHAT LOOKS LIKE, WHAT IS HIDDEN, WHAT IS ITS TRUTH? And so on.
Why is it so difficult for us peacemakers to find only 20 minutes to read 5 pages about the greatest peacemaker - Mahatma Gandhi and formulate 2-4 objections and/or questions? Or is it the voice of one crying in the wilderness? In the desert of WHAT? Published: https://peacefromharmony.org/?cat=en_c&key=1132 Best wishes, Leo Semashko, 25-05-23 ------------------------------
Dear Professor Leo Semashko; Greetings from Nepal! I accept your both proposals. 0.5 pages of objections, additions, and comments, but I unintentionally lost the file. Please resend me. on the other hand, I am ready to send 3 pages of docs on the Eastern Philosophy of True Peaceby June 5, 2023, by next Monday. Thank you so much, Sir. With best regards, Bishnu, 29-05-23 Dear Professor Bishnu, Greetings from Russia! We are very glad that you have accepted our invitation to be an active coauthor and the Eastern, from Nepal, editor-in-chief of our peacemaking primer-dialogue. We invite you also to find two professionals in the field of Indian and Chinese philosophy of true peace as your assistants as the chief Eastern editor, and also as coauthors of our primer with generalizing paragraphs "Indian Philosophy of True Peace" and "Chinese Philosophy of True Peace". Of course, this is a difficult organizational task, but look for these coauthors, first, from the GGHA members lists for 18 years from India and China (I will help you here), as well as from the co-authors of Transcend, IPRA and known to you Indian and Chinese national associations of philosophers and sociologists. We are asking our US Editor-in-Chief, Professor Matt Meyer, IPRA Leader, to help you find professionals from India and China. As for Chinese professionals, Rosa from Italy, who has been working in China all her life, could also help you. Please, as the chief Eastern editor, do not hesitate to answer ALL of our coauthors and respond to all subsequent paragraphs with short (up to 10-15 lines) objections and questions for the dialogue (instead war clash!) of different civilizations in our peacemaking primer. As you requested, I am sending you the 3rd, key paragraph on the Gandhian spherons in the attachment, which is published also here: https://peacefromharmony.org/?cat=en_c&key=1132 Best wishes for your health and true peace, friendly, Leo 29-05-23 ----------------------
Dialogue: Pro and Contra
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