The Few, the Many, and Us

The humanist, the capitalist, the communist, the engineer, the pragmatist all met in this blog by Miguel. I have to confess that amidst all the tension of quarter grades and Communities of the World my perspective got fussy. I really forgot the reason why I chose to teach at TASIS until I read all your reactions to Miguel’s posting. You make me very proud. As a group, you have hit the core issue: should the state decisions and policies benefit the few or the many?

As you study in Rome, large scale decisions were made for the few in the name of the many. Conquering Gaul was for the “glory” of Rome, but in reality it provided Julius Caesar and his generals more land to distribute among war-weary veterans plus a chip on the shoulder to the would-be imperator. The Caesar boosted his troop's morale and credibility plus secured their loyalty.  In China,  the Qin Emperor built one of the world wonders for the “security” of the state (and as you remember according to Confucian beliefs, state goes before individual) in seven years. None of you live in a bubble because in your comments there is the awareness that the GOOD OF THE MANY WILL ALWAYS ENTAIL THE NEGLET OF THE FEW. Andy is right, but also Robert. Who holds the wealth and the lever that decides which humans are expendable in the name of the collective well being? Hyper powers like the Roman Empire and the Han made decisions that ended the lives of many but also pushed population, progress, and even peace… of course perishable, yet Pax.

The problem becomes when the expendable few become the many, at this point FOCDoM takes over and the wheel of history goes for a spinning.  Is an egalitarian system like communism the cure for this historical fist that has befallen upon the expendable? Is capitalism the ladder towards escaping the unfortunate few “status”? What happens when the monster mutates into STATE-CAPITALISM like China? Are all these economic systems just flawed and bound to do atrocities in the name of the collective well-being?

What is the United States without the genocide of its Native American inhabitants or slavery? What is the United States without its welcoming arms receiving the exodus of starving and persecuted immigrants in Elis Island?

What is the former Soviet Union without the forced relocation of steppe people to state farms and labor camps, its gulags and annihilation of dissenters, and the pogroms (skirmishes) to Jews before WWII? What is the former Soviet Union without crushing Nazi Germany from the Eastern Front and defeating Hitler before any other power?

Caramba, maybe we are all well aware of these contradictions but choose to live in a bubble, like Andy said. Or we are pretty much Confucians yet closeted Taoist (like in Han China): we comply we our Ziggurat/Shopping Mall duties in the name of our trusted economic system and abide the law, yet in our privacy and intimacy we believe that state power is futile, flawed, unnecessary and like Jose Oscar pondered, even capable of destroying its own citizens to achieve its goals. 

But if we are not in a bubble, and like Siddhartha, we have realized that this is a world of suffering, and like Emperor Asoka (of the Mauryan Empire) we decide to open temples and multiply good deeds, that this is our time to clear Karma, maybe we are humanists. Take for instance Fafi and Andy, they both participate in drives and fundraisers to help those in need. Although Andy never brags about it, but he and his mother participate in many activities aimed at the improvement of those “expendable” few. So do all of you in school through community service and other efforts.  Now, one thing that we will all disagree with Siddhartha is his detachment to the flesh- but that’s another debate.

I think that the most important thing is to be humanist (like Fafi stated), and perhaps, be a contributing or positive factor to counter act the moments when the collective well-being threatens the powerless. Gabi’s soccer ball is a beginning. Yet we should live in a state of doubt like Osqui, we ought to be pragmatic like Miguel, capitalist like Andy, communist like Robert, and… well, you get the notion.

The Way and its Power

This chapter caught my attention because of the philosophies created during and after the period of the Warring States, specifically Daoism. The grand scheme of conquering and being conquered is very interesting, and significant, but even more remarkable, is how through all the violence, man can detach himself from the survival mind frame to reflect, reminisce, and evaluate himself, his surroundings and how it all fits in the worldly equation, to ultimately create a philosophy of life, society, human interpretation (of basically everything), and how people should function and behave, in the hopes for peace and prosperity within a civilization, but more importantly within oneself.
Daoism ,like Confucianism, is exactly that.
In the core of Daoism, the Daodejing stands as the core text of the philosophy, not religion, with small verses of nature, simplicity, how to live life, what philosophically Daoism is, excetera.
The verse in our History book ,in p.212, talks about simplicity, and completely motivated me to find more verses from the Daodejing. Here are three verse from the Daodejing about Qualities, distractions and the continuity of Tao. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.
Comment and make your own interpretation on those and any other poem that connect to you personally from the site: http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/core9/phalsall/texts/taote-ex.html


Distraction
Too much color blinds the eye
Too much tone deafens the ear
Too much taste dulls the palate
Too much play maddens the mind
Too much desire tears the heart.
The sage provides for the belly, not for the senses;
He lets go of sensation and accepts substance.

14. The Continuity of Tao

Looked at but cannot be seen - it is beyond form;
Listened to but cannot be heard - it is beyond sound;
Grasped at but cannot be touched - it is beyond reach;
These depthless things evade definition,
And blend into a single mystery.
In its rising there is no light,
In its falling there is no darkness,
A continuous thread beyond description,
Lining what can not exist,
Its form formless,
Its image nothing,
Its name mystery,
Meet it, it has no face,
Follow it, it has no back.
Understand the past, but attend the present;
In this way you know the continuity of Tao,
Which is its essence.

Qualities

When Beauty is recognised in the World
Ugliness has been learned;
When Good is recognised in the World
Evil has been learned.
In this way:
Alive and dead are abstracted from growth;
Difficult and easy are abstracted from progress;
Far and near are abstracted from position;
Strong and weak are abstracted from control;
Song and speech are abstracted from harmony;
After and before are abstracted from sequence.
The sage controls without authority,
And teaches without words;
He lets all things rise and fall,
Nurtures, but does not interfere,
Gives without demanding,
And is content.

Go to the link and read poems # 1, 4, 10, 16, 25, 29, 34, & 60. They'll help you grasp what Daoism is better (if a definition can be grasped).

Over Population, China a window of our future?

Through the history of China, one can notice that the common man is not given many rights. When making the Great Wall of China it took millions of people. Those people worked in dangerous terrain and many lost their lives. In modern china we can still see this type of projects were many people are affected negatively, such as the making of the Three Gorges Dam (the world’s largest man-made producer of electricity from renewable energy) or even more recent, when making the beautiful buildings where the Beijing Olympics were held. In the making of this two modern projects MILLIONS of people where displaced and kicked out of their homes. This is where one can become aware of how the human mind works. If you have millions of marbles, it does not hurt you to lose a few thousand if it makes you more powerful. In the case of the Chinese however, since they have billions of people, it does not bother them to lose a few million to be more powerful. The Chinese have so many people, that the life of one person could count for nothing. We can notice this sad truth in an article of a newspaper (Prof. Terris should have it), where the body of a baby is seen in a side of a street for a whole day and no one pays attention to it, until one man finally puts the body in a shoe box and throws it away.
Now, many people might say that sometimes you have to sacrifice a few percent (which may still mean a big amount) for the benefit of the majority. This will mean losing some of the key rights of the individual. I just want to hear what you guys have to say about this, and come up with solutions (be creative) to the problem of overpopulation which your children may have to face since the population is expected to more than double in the next 60 years. Soon it won’t be only China and India who will be facing this problem. HAVE FUN!!!