November 16, 2007

An Ethiopian Perspective - A Simple Sketch of Common Sense

The Purpose of Life for the modern man is to develop a condition of social harmony, where mankind can eventually achieve its higher objectives of Peace, High Culture, Perfection/Prosperity and a tolerant atmosphere of Faith in a human society, so that every Man-Woman can appreciate and enjoy a Harmonious Life.

HARMONY in all aspects of Life – -Individual, social, cultural, natural or spiritual.

In every society at a definite time and space parallel to the natural reality of life, there is a social reality which is working its way through history. This social reality is different for every society and has to be perceived in its relation to the sum total of its intellectual leadership, whatever is available at the disposal of that society. The point is only whether one is aware of this reality and in a position to understand the moments and all the elements of harmony, emanating from the natural and social reality.

And these moments and elements have to be appraised not in their differences but essentially in their unity and complex interactions to be capable of giving the necessary intellectual leadership, in the sense of all godly and human high virtues to keep life at its best quality for that society. If the sum total of the intellectual section of that society i.e. the elite, are not conscious of their social reality in all possible dimensions, like any position and moment of the harmony, they are also simply objects liable to be moved in any direction as the harmony of life finds it necessary.

History has enough testimonies how the inherent necessity of harmony in nature has retaliated either in the nature of Man (revolutions, wars…etc) or on its account (natural catastrophes, destitution, hunger etc.) reminding Man to do something (science, culture…) about its condition. In such circumstances and above all, if the elite of that social reality are blindfolded by their sectional interests, irrespective of what they may think of themselves entertaining an illusion to have a firm command of their conditions, they are degraded to the level of the other objects of the social reality.

They are not subjects with the intellectual capacity to determine and move the history of their society in a harmonious manner. It is in such situations, that societies are at their lowest levels of Collective Intelligence and would drift away into different calamities, human catastrophes of history, be it in the form of wars, internal conflicts, revolutions or human destitutions and destruction. This is the case until the social reality re-establishes its harmony again, when the community at large would somehow function by picking its intellectual subject and pave the way to legitimate a new formation of the elite, eligible for that society at that context of history.

If this community does not maintain the harmony incorporating the high level of philosophical and intellectual capacity necessary for that society, this can also last only until the next phase of disharmony begins. This means to maintain the harmony, the elite i.e. the political class (the total sum of the elite from culture, politics, science and faith) should consistently give the necessary leadership taking into account all the necessary elements of a harmonious life in the nation, a modern nation which can fulfil all the requirements of stability and sovereignty and work for its people, in its sphere of influence towards the high objectives of mankind.

This is the basic consensus, which a nation today needs in order to guarantee an all round and acceptable existence of its members. An intellectual component of a society, which cannot stand up for this basic standard cannot claim to have the intellectual attribute it believes to have and is in effect a playing object of other nations and their leadership. Ethiopia has lost this capacity at least for the last forty years. This stretches deep into the middle period of Emperor Haile Selassie, until the different moments of disharmony began to emerge in search of a new intellectual leadership or political class; which failed until today.

On the other hand, the Ethiopian people, are growing mature accepting the challenge of disharmony and showing their readiness to work for their harmonious destiny. However, the elite are still not capable of resolving their own disharmony to work out a functioning system with the people to come to the social harmony, which that society highly needs at the moment. The Ethiopian people are calling for a human progress and a genuine intellectual leadership which equals their readiness to change their miserable plight towards prosperity and a higher culture, which will bring about harmony and as a consequence the welfare of the society. What is the quintessence of life and what are the dimensions of this HARMONY?