{"id":3035,"date":"2013-07-13T01:45:32","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:45:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=3035"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:45:32","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:45:32","slug":"64-war-and-self-determination-vol-25-the-human-cycle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/03-cwsa\/25-the-human-cycle\/64-war-and-self-determination-vol-25-the-human-cycle","title":{"rendered":"-64_War and Self-Determination.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWar and Self-Determination<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

\n

\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/font><\/font><\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tForeword to the First Edition<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tT<\/font>HE FOUR<\/b> essays published in this volume1<\/font><\/sup> were not
\n written at one time or conceived with any intentional
\nconnection between them in idea or purpose. The first was written in the early months of the war, two others when
\nit was closing, the last recently during the formation and first operations of that remarkably ill-jointed, stumbling and hesitating machine, the League of Nations. But still they happen to be bound together by a common idea or at least look at four
\nrelated subjects from a single general standpoint, \u2014 the obvious but practically quite forgotten truth that the destiny of the race
\nin this age of crisis and revolution will depend much more on the spirit which we are than on the machinery we shall use. A few
\nwords on the present bearing of this truth by way of foreword may not be out of place. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe whole difficulty of the present situation turns upon the peculiar and critical character of the age in which we are
\nliving. It is a period of immense and rapid changes so swift that few of us who live among them can hope to seize their whole
\nburden or their inmost meaning or to form any safe estimate of their probable outcome. Great hopes are abroad, high and
\nlarge ideals fill the view, enormous forces are in the field. It is one of those vast critical moments in the life of the race
\nwhen all is pressing towards change and reconstitution. The ideals of the future, especially the ideals of freedom, equality,
\ncommonalty, unity, are demanding to be brought out from their limited field in the spiritual life or the idealism of the few and
\nto be given some beginning of a true soul of action and bodily shape in the life of the race. But banded against any such fulfilment there are powerful obstacles, and the greatest of them
\n\t\t\tcome not from outside but from within. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t1 <\/sup>The present edition includes two additional essays.
\n\t\t\t\u2014 Ed.  
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 599<\/p>\n

\n

<\/font><\/font><\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tFor they are the old continued impulsions and obstinate recalcitrance of mankind’s
\npast nature, the almost total subjection of its normal mind to egoistic, vital and material interests and ambitions which make
\nnot for union but for strife and discord, the plausibilities of the practical reason which looks at the possibilities of the day
\nand the morrow and shuts its eyes to the consequences of the day after, the habits of pretence and fiction which impel men
\nand nations to pursue and forward their own interest under the camouflage of a specious idealism, a habit made up only partly
\nof the diplomatic hypocrisy of politicians, but much more of a general half-voluntary self-deception, and, finally, the inrush
\nof blinder unsatisfied forces and crude imperfect idealisms \u2014 of such is the creed of Bolshevism
\n\t\t\t\u2014 to take advantage of the
\nunrest and dissatisfaction prevalent in such times and lay hold for a while on the life of mankind. It is these things which we see
\ndominant around us and not in the least degree any effort to be of the right spirit and evolve from it the right method. The one
\nway out harped on by the modern mind which has been as much blinded as enlightened by the victories of physical science, is the
\napproved western device of salvation by machinery; get the right kind of machine to work and everything can be done, this seems
\nto be the modern creed. But the destinies of mankind cannot be turned out to order in an American factory. It is a subtler thing
\nthan that which is now putting its momentous problem before us, and if the spirit of the things we profess is absent or falsified,
\nno method or machinery can turn them out for us or deliver the promised goods. That is the one truth which the scientific and
\nindustrialised modern mind forgets always, because it looks at process and commodity and production and ignores the spirit in
\nman and the deeper inner law of his being. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe elimination of war is one of the cherished ideals and
\nexpectations of the age. But what lies at the root of this desire? A greater unity of heart, sympathy, understanding between
\nmen and nations, a settled will to get rid of national hatreds, greeds, ambitions, all the fertile seeds of strife and war? If so,
\nit is well with us and success will surely crown our efforts.    <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 600<\/p>\n

\n

<\/font><\/font><\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nBut
\nof this deeper thing there may be something in sentiment, but there is still very little in action and dominant motive. For the
\nmasses of men the idea is rather to labour and produce and amass at ease and in security without the disturbance of war;
\nfor the statesmen and governing classes the idea is to have peace and security for the maintenance of past acquisitions and an
\nuntroubled domination and exploitation of the world by the great highly organised imperial and industrial nations without
\nthe perturbing appearance of new unsatisfied hungers and the peril of violent unrests, revolts, revolutions. War, it was hoped
\nat one time, would eliminate itself by becoming impossible, but that delightfully easy solution no longer commands credit. But
\nnow it is hoped to conjure or engineer it out of existence by the machinery of a league of victorious nations admitting the
\nrest, some if they will, others whether they like it or not, as subordinate partners or as proteges. In the magic of this just and beautiful arrangement the intelligence and good will of closeted
\nstatesmen and governments supported by the intelligence and good will of the peoples is to combine and accommodate interests, to settle or evade difficulties, to circumvent the natural results, the inevitable Karma of national selfishness and passions
\nand to evolve out of the present chaos a fair and charmingly well-mechanised cosmos of international order, security, peace
\nand welfare. Get the clockwork going, put your pennyworth of excellent professions or passably good intentions in the slot
\nand all will go well, this seems to be the principle. But it is too often the floor of Hell that is paved with these excellent
\nprofessions and passable intentions, and the cause is that while the better reason and will of man may be one hopeful factor in
\nNature, they are not the whole of nature and existence and not by any means the whole of our human nature. There are other
\nand very formidable things in us and in the world and if we juggle with them or put on them, in order to get them admitted,
\nthese masks of reason and sentiment, \u2014 as unfortunately we have all the habit of doing and that is still the greater part of
\nthe game of politics, \u2014 the results are a foregone conclusion. War and violent revolution can be eliminated, if we will, though
\nnot without immense difficulty, but on the condition that we get rid of the
\ninner causes of war and the constantly accumulating Karma of successful
\ninjustice of which violent revolutions are the natural reactions. 
\n  <\/p>\n

\n\tPage \u2013 601<\/p>\n

\n

<\/font><\/font><\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

Otherwise, there can be only at best a
\nfallacious period of artificial peace. What was in the past will be sown still in the present and continue to return on us in the
\nfuture. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe intelligent mind or the best intellectual reason and science of man are not the sole disposers of our future. Fortunately for the order of things a greater unseen power, a Universal Will,
\nor, if you please, a universal Force or Law is there which not only gives us all the framework and conditions of our idea and
\neffort, but evolves by them and by the law of these conditions out of the thing in being the thing that is to be. And this power
\ndeals with us not so much according to the devices of our reason, the truths or fictions of our intelligence, but much rather
\naccording to the truth of what man is and the real soul and meaning of what he does. God is not to be deceived, says the
\nScripture. The modern mind does not believe in God, but it believes in Nature: but Nature too is not to be deceived; she
\nenforces her law, she works out always her results from the thing that really is and from the real spirit and character of the
\nenergy we put into action. And this especially is one of the ages in which mankind is very closely put to the question. The hopes,
\nthe ideals, the aspirations that are abroad in it are themselves so many severe and pregnant questions put to us, not merely
\nto our intelligence but to the spirit of our being and action. In this fateful examination it is not skill and cleverness, machinery
\nand organisation which will ultimately prevail, \u2014 that was the faith which Germany professed, and we know how it ended,
\n\t\t\t\u2014
\nbut the truth and sincerity of our living. It is not impossible for man to realise his ideals so that he may move on to yet greater
\nundreamed things, but on condition that he makes them totally an inner in order that they may become too an outer reality. The
\nchanges which this age of reconstruction portends will certainly come, but the gain they will bring to humanity depends on the
\nspirit which governs us during the time of their execution.   <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 602<\/p>\n

\n

<\/font><\/font><\/font> <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWe of today have not the excuse of ignorance since we have before us perfectly clear ideals and conditions. Freedom and
\nunity, the self-determination of men and nations in the framework of a life drawn together by cooperation, comradeship,
\nbrotherhood if it may be, the acceptance of a close interrelation of the common aims and interests of the race, an increasing
\noneness of human life in which we cannot deny any longer to others what we claim for ourselves,
\n\t\t\t\u2014 are things of which
\nwe have formed a definite conception. The acknowledgment of them is there in the human mind, but not as yet any settled
\nwill to practise. Words and professions are excellent things in themselves and we will do them all homage; but facts are for
\nthe present more powerful and the facts will have their results, but the results which we deserve and not those aimed at by
\nour egoism. The principle of self-determination is not in itself a chimera, it is only that if we choose to make it so. It is the
\ncondition of the better order of the world which we wish to bring into being, and to make jettison of it at the very first
\nopportunity is an unpromising beginning for so great and difficult an endeavour. Self-determination is not a principle which
\ncan stand by itself and be made the one rule to be followed; no principle can rightly stand in that way isolated and solely
\ndominant in the complicated web of life and, if we so treat it, it gets falsified in its meaning and loses much of its virtue.
\nMoreover, individual self-determination must harmonise with a common self-determination, freedom must move in the frame of
\nunity or towards the realisation of a free unity. And it may readily be conceded to the opportunist, the practical man and all the
\nminds that find a difficulty in looking beyond the circumstances of the past and present, that there are in very many instances
\ngreat difficulties in the way of applying the principle immediately and in its full degree. But when in the light of a great revealing
\nmoment a principle of this kind has been recognised not only as an ideal but as a clear condition of the result at which we
\naim, it has to be accepted as a leading factor of the problem to be worked out, the difficulties sincerely considered and met
\nand a way found by which without evasion or equivocation and without unnecessary
\n\t\t\tdelay it can be developed and given its proper place in the
\n\t\t\tsolution.   <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 603<\/p>\n

\n

<\/font><\/font><\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBut it is the very opposite method
\nthat has been adopted by the governments of the world, and admitted by its peoples. The natural result is that things are
\nbeing worked out in the old way with a new name or at the most with some halting change and partial improvement of the
\nmethod. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe botched constitution and limping action of the League
\nof Nations is the result of this ancient manoeuvre. The League has been got into being by sacrificing the principles which governed the idea behind its inception. The one thing that has been gained is a formal, regularised and established instrument by
\nwhich the governments of the leading nations can meet together habitually, consult, accommodate their interests, give some kind
\nof consideration to the voice and the claim of the smaller free nations, try to administer with a common understanding certain
\ncommon or conflicting interests, delay dangerous outbreaks and collisions or minimise them when they come, govern the life of
\nthe nations that are not free and not already subjects of the successful empires under the cover of a mandate instead of the
\nrough-and-tumble chances of a scramble for markets, colonies and dependencies. The machine does not seem to be acting even
\nfor these ends with any remarkable efficiency, but it is at least something, it may be said, that it can be got to act at all. In
\nany case it is an accomplished fact which has to be accepted without enthusiasm, for it merits none, but with a practical
\nacquiescence or an enforced recognition. All the more reason that the imperfections it embodies and the evils and dangers its
\naction involves or keeps in being, should not be thrust into the background, but kept in the full light so that the imperfections
\nmay be recognised and mended and there may be some chance of avoiding the worst incidence of the threatened evils and dangers.
\nAnd all the more reason too that the ideals which have been ignored or converted in the practice into a fiction, should insist
\non themselves and, defrauded of the present, still lift their voice to lay their claim on the future. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tFor these ideals stand and they represent the greater aims of the
\n\t\t\tspirit in man which through all the denials, obstacles and
\n\t\t\timperfections of his present incomplete nature knows always the
\n\t\t\tperfection towards which it moves and the greatness of which it is
\n\t\t\tcapable.    <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 604<\/p>\n

\n

<\/font><\/font><\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nCircumstance and force and external necessity and
\npast nature may still be too strong for us, the Rudra powers still govern our destinies and the Lords of truth and justice and the
\nLords of love have to wait for their reign, but if the light of the ideal is kept burning in its flame of knowledge and its flame of
\npower, it will seize even on these things and create out of their evil its greater inevitable good. At present it may seem only an
\nidea and a word unable to become a living reality, but it is the Idea and the Word expressing what was concealed in the Spirit
\nwhich preside over creation. The time will come when they will be able to seize on the Force that works and turn it into the
\ninstrument of a greater and fairer creation. The nearness or the distance of the time depends on the fidelity of the mind and will
\nof man to the best that he sees and the insistence of his selfknowledge, unobsessed by subjection to the circumstances he
\nsuffers and the machinery he uses, to live out its truth within himself so that his environment may accept it and his outward
\nlife be shaped in its image.   <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage \u2013 605<\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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