{"id":1142,"date":"2013-07-13T01:32:52","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:32:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=1142"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:32:52","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:32:52","slug":"29-the-group-and-the-individual-vol-15-social-and-political-thought-volume-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/15-social-and-political-thought-volume-15\/29-the-group-and-the-individual-vol-15-social-and-political-thought-volume-15","title":{"rendered":"-29_The Group and the Individual .htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\nCHAPTER <\/font><\/b>
\nIII<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nThe Group and the Individual<\/span><\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/font><\/span>                           
\nI<\/span><\/font>T<\/font><\/span> <\/font> <\/span>IS
\na constant method of Nature, when she has two elements of a harmony to
\nreconcile, to proceed at first by a long continued balancing in which she
\nsometimes seems to lean entirely on one side, sometimes entirely to the other,
\nat others to correct both excesses by a more or less successful temporary
\nadjustment and moderating compromise. The two elements appear then as opponents
\nnecessary to each other who therefore labour
\nto arrive at some conclusion of their strife. But as each has its egoism and
\nthat innate tendency of all things which drives them not only towards
\nself-preservation but towards self-assertion in proportion to their available
\nforce, they seek each to arrive at a conclusion in which itself shall have the
\nmaximum part and dominate utterly if possible or even swallow up entirely the
\negoism of the other in its own egoism. Thus the progress towards harmony
\naccomplishes itself by a strife of forces and seems often to be no effort
\ntowards concord or mutual adjustment at all, but rather towards a mutual
\ndevouring. In effect, the swallowing up, not of one by the other, but of each
\nby the other, so that both shall live entirely in the other and as the other,
\nis our highest ideal of oneness. It is the last ideal of love at which strife
\ntries ignorantly to arrive; for by strife one can only arrive at an adjustment
\nof the two opposite demands, not at a stable harmony, a compromise between two
\nconflicting egoisms and not the fusing of them into each other. Still, strife
\ndoes lead to an increasing mutual comprehension which eventually makes the
\nattempt at real oneness possible.<\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/font> <\/span>In the relations between the individual
\nand the group, this constant tendency of Nature appears as the strife between
\ntwo equally deep-rooted human tendencies, individualism and collectivism. On
\none side is the engrossing authority, per-<\/font><\/p>\n


\nPage-272<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

\nfection and development of the State, on the other
\nthe distinctive freedom, perfection and development of the individual man. ,
\nThe State idea, the small or the vast living machine, and the human idea, the
\nmore and more distinct and luminous Person, the increasing God, stand in
\nperpetual opposition. The size of the State makes no difference to the essence
\nof the struggle and need make none to its characteristic circumstances. It was
\nthe family, the tribe or the city, the polis; <\/i>it became the clan, the
\ncaste and the class, the kula, <\/i>the gens. <\/i>It is now the nation.
\nTo- <\/font> <\/span>morrow<\/font><\/span> <\/font> <\/span>or the day after it may be all mankind. But even then
\nthe question will remain poised between man and humanity, between the
\nself-liberating Person and the engrossing collectivity.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/font> <\/span>If we consult only the available facts
\nof history and socio<\/font>logy,<\/font><\/span>
\nwe must suppose that our race began with the all-engrossing <\/font> <\/span>
\ngroup to which the individual was entirely subservient
\nand that increasing individuality is a circumstance of human growth, a fruit of
\nincreasing conscious Mind. Originally, we may suppose, man was altogether
\ngregarious, association his first necessity for survival; since survival is the
\nfirst necessity of all being, the individual could be nothing but an instrument
\nfor the strength and safety of the group, and if we add to strength and safety
\ngrowth, efficiency, self-assertion as well as self- preservation, this is still
\nthe dominant idea of all collectivism. This turn is a necessity born of
\ncircumstance and environment. Looking more into fundamental things we perceive
\nthat in Matter uniformity is the sign of the group; free variation and
\nindividual development progress with the growth of Life and Mind. If then we
\nsuppose man to be an evolution of mental being in Matter and out of Matter, we
\nmust assume that he begins with uniformity and subservience of the individual
\nand proceeds towards variety and freedom of the individual. The necessity of
\ncircumstance and environment and the inevitable law of his fundamental
\nprinciples of being would then point to the same conclusion, the same process
\nof his historic and prehistoric evolution.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>But there is also the ancient
\ntradition of humanity, which it is never safe to ignore or treat as mere
\nfiction, that the social state was preceded by another, free and unsocial.
\nAccording<\/font> <\/font> <\/span>
\nto<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/font><\/span>Page-273<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

modern scientific ideas, if such a state ever existed, and
\nthat is far from certain, it must have been not merely unsocial but antisocial;
\nit must have been the condition of man as an isolated animal, living as the
\nbeast of prey, before he became in the process of his development an animal of
\nthe pack. But the tradition is rather that of a golden age in which he was
\nfreely social without society. Not bound by laws or institutions but living by
\nnatural instinct or free knowledge, he held the right law of his living in
\nhimself and needed neither to prey on his fellows nor to be restrained by the
\niron yoke of the collectivity. We may say, if we will, that here poetic or
\nidealistic imagination played upon a deep-seated race-memory; early civilised
\nman read his growing ideal of a free, unorganised, happy association into his
\nrace-memory of an unorganised, savage and anti. social existence. But it is
\nalso possible that our progress has not been a development in a straight line,
\nbut in cycles, and that in those cycles there have been periods of at least
\npartial realisation in which men did become able to live according to the high
\ndream of philosophic Anarchism, associated by the inner law of love and light
\nand right being, right thinking, right action and not coerced to unity by kings
\nand parliaments, laws and policings and punishments with all that tyrant
\nunease, petty or great oppression and repression and ugly train of selfishness
\nand corruption which attend the forced government of man by man. It is even
\npossible that our original state was an instinctive animal spontaneity of free
\nand fluid association and that our final ideal state will be an enlightened,
\nintuitive spontaneity of free and fluid association. Our destiny may be the
\nconversion of an original animal association into a community of the gods. Our
\nprogress may be a devious round leading from the easy and spontaneous uniformity
\nand harmony which reflects Nature to the self-possessed unity which reflects
\nthe Divine.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/font> <\/span>However that may be, history and
\nsociology tell us only – outside the attempts of religious or other idealisms
\nto arrive either at a free solitude or a free association<\/font> <\/font> <\/span>
\n–<\/font><\/span> <\/font> <\/span>of man as an individual in the more or less organised
\ngroup. And in the group there are always two types. One asserts the State idea
\nat<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-274<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

\nthe expense of the individual,
\n<\/font> <\/span>–<\/font><\/span> <\/font> <\/span>
\nancient Sparta, modern<\/font><\/span> <\/font> <\/span>Ger-
\n<\/font>many; another asserts the supremacy of the State but seeks at the same
\ntime to give as much freedom, power and dignity as is consistent with its
\ncontrol to the individuals who constitute it, – ancient Athens, modern France.
\nBut to these two has been <\/font> <\/span>
\nadded <\/font> <\/span>
\na<\/font><\/span> <\/font> <\/span>
\nthird type in which the
\nState<\/font><\/span>
\n<\/font> <\/span>abdicates as much as possible to the individual,
\nboldly asserts that it exists for his growth and to assure his freedom,
\ndignity, successful manhood, <\/font>experiments <\/font> <\/span>
\nwith a courageous faith whether after all it is not
\n<\/font> <\/span>the utmost possible liberty, dignity and manhood of
\nthe individual which will best assure the well-being, strength and expansion of
\nthe State. Of this type England has been until recently the great exemplar,<\/font> <\/font> <\/span>
\n–<\/font><\/span> <\/font> <\/span>
\nEngland rendered free, pros<\/font><\/span>perous, energetic, invincible by nothing else but the
\nstrength of this idea within her, blessed by the Gods with unexampled
\nexpansion, empire and good fortune because she has not feared <\/font>
\nat any <\/font> <\/span>
\ntime to obey this great
\ntendency and take the risks of this <\/font> <\/span>great
\nendeavour and even often to employ it beyond the limits of her own insular
\negoism. Unfortunately, that egoism, the <\/font>
\ndefects <\/font> <\/span>
\nof the race and the exaggerated assertion of a
\nlimited <\/font> <\/span>idea, which is the mark of our
\nhuman ignorance, have prevented <\/font>
\nher from<\/font><\/span>
\n<\/font> <\/span>giving<\/font> <\/font> <\/span>
\nit the noblest and richest
\npossible expression<\/font><\/span> or to <\/font> <\/span>
\nrealise<\/font><\/span> <\/font> <\/span>by it<\/font> <\/font> <\/span>
\nother
\nresults which the more strictly organised <\/font> <\/span>States
\nhave attained or are attaining. And in consequence <\/font>
\nwe<\/font><\/span> <\/font> <\/span>find<\/font> <\/font> <\/span>
\nthe
\ncollective or State idea breaking down the old <\/font> <\/span>English tradition and it is possible that before long the great
\nexperiment will have come to an end in a lamentable admission of<\/font> <\/font> <\/span>
\nfailure<\/font><\/span> <\/font> <\/span>by the<\/font> <\/font> <\/span>
\nadoption
\nof that Germanic "discipline" and <\/font> <\/span>"efficient"
\norganisation, towards which all civilised humanity seems now to be tending. One
\nmay well ask oneself whether it was really necessary, whether, by a more
\ncourageous faith enlightened by a more flexible and vigilant intelligence, all
\nthe <\/font>desirable
\nresults might not have been attained<\/font><\/span>
\n<\/font> <\/span>by a new and<\/font> <\/font> <\/span>
\nfreer method that would yet
\nkeep intact the dharma <\/i>of <\/font> <\/span>the
\nrace.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>We must, again, note one other fact
\nin connection with the claim of the State to suppress the individual in its own
\ninterest, that it is quite immaterial to the principle what form<\/font> <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage-275<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

the
\nState may assume. The tyranny of the absolute king over all and the tyranny of
\nthe majority over the individual-which really converts itself by the paradox of
\nhuman nature into a hypnotised oppression and repression of the majority by
\nitself – are forms of one and the same tendency. Each, when it declares itself
\nto be the State with its absolute "L’etat, c’est mai", <\/i>is
\nspeaking a profound truth even while it bases that truth upon a falsehood. The
\ntruth is that each really is the self-expression of the State in its
\ncharacteristic attempt to subordinate to itself the free will, the free action,
\nthe power, dignity and self-assertion of the individuals constituting it. The
\nfalsehood lies in the underlying idea that the State is something greater than
\nthe individuals constituting it and can with impunity for itself and to the
\nhighest hope of humanity arrogate this oppressive supremacy.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/font> <\/span>In modern times the State idea has after
\na long interval fully reasserted itself and is dominating the thought and
\naction of the world. It supports itself on two motives; one appeals to the
\nexternal interest of the race, the other to its highest moral tendencies. It
\ndemands that individual egoism shall immolate itself to a collective interest;
\nit claims that man shall live not for him- self but for the whole, the group, the
\ncommunity. It asserts that the hope of the good and progress of humanity lies
\nin the efficiency and organisation of the State. Its way to perfection lies
\nthrough the ordering by the State of all the economic and vital arrangements of
\nthe individual and the group, the "mobilisation", to use a specious
\nexpression the War has set in vogue, of the intellect, capacity, thought,
\nemotion, life of the individual, of all that he is and has, by the State in the
\ninterest of all. Pushed to its ultimate conclusion, this means the socialistic
\nideal in full force and towards that conclusion humanity seems to be heading
\nwith a remarkable rapidity. The State idea is rushing towards possession with a
\ngreat motor force and is prepared to crush under its wheels everything that
\nconflicts with its force or asserts the right of other human tendencies. And
\nyet the two ideas on which it bases itself are full of that fatal mixture of
\ntruth and falsehood which pursues all our human claims and assertions. It is
\nnecessary to apply to them the solvent of a searching and<\/font> <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage-276<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

\nunbiassed <\/font> <\/span>
\nthought
\nwhich refuses to be cheated by words, if we <\/font>
\nare not to describe helplessly another circle of
\nillusion before we return to the deep and complex truth of Nature which should
\nrather be our light and guide.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n <\/font><\/span>Page-277<\/font><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CHAPTER III The Group and the Individual   \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0                            IT IS a constant method of Nature, when she has two elements of a harmony to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-15-social-and-political-thought-volume-15","wpcat-25-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1142\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}