{"id":64,"date":"2013-07-13T01:25:38","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:25:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=64"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:25:38","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:25:38","slug":"63-academic-thoughts-vol-03-the-harmony-of-virtue-volume-03","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/03-the-harmony-of-virtue-volume-03\/63-academic-thoughts-vol-03-the-harmony-of-virtue-volume-03","title":{"rendered":"-63_Academic Thoughts.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n

\n
\nAcademic Thoughts<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

 
\n        T<\/b>he Object of Government \u2014 <\/i>
\nI<\/b>t is the habit
\nof men to blind themselves by customary trains of associated thought, to come to look on the means as an end and honour it
\nwith a superstitious reverence as a wonder-working fetish.
\nThe principle of good government is not to keep men quiet, but
\nto keep them satisfied. It is not its objective to have loyal servants
\nand subjects, but to give all individuals in the nation the utmost
\npossible facilities for being men and realising their highest manhood.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe ideal of the state is not a hive of bees or a herd of cattle,
\nshepherded by strong watch-dogs, but an association of free men
\nfor mutual help and human advancement. The mere fact of a
\ngovernment doing what it does well and firmly, is nothing in its
\nfavour. It is more important to know what it does and where it
\nis leading us.<\/font><\/p>\n

 
\n <\/p>\n

                                                                                                                
\n*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nEuropean Justice \u2014<\/i> The modern court
\nis a curious and instructive institution. Under a civilised disguise it is really the
\nmediaeval ordeal by battle; only in place of the swords or lances
\nof military combatants, it is decided by the tongues of pleaders
\nand the imagination of witnesses; whoever can lie most consistently, plausibly and artistically has the best chance of winning.
\nIn one aspect, it is an exhilarating gamble, a very Monte-Carlo
\n<\/i>of surprising chances. But there is skill in it too and satisfies the
\nintellect as well as the sensations. It is a sort of human game of
\n‘Bridge’, combining luck and skill or an intellectual gladiatorial
\nshow. The stake in big cases is a man’s property or his soul.
\nVae Victis<\/i>!<\/b> Woe to the conquered! If it is a criminal case, the
\ntortures of the jail are in prospect, be he innocent or be he guilty.
\nAnd as he stands there \u2014 for to add to the pleasurableness of his
\ncase, the physical ache of long standing is usually added to the
\nstrain on his emotions \u2014 he looks eagerly not to the truth or
\nfalsehood of the evidence for or against him, but to the skill with<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 446<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nwhich this counsel or the other handles the proofs or the witnesses and the impressions they are making on the judge or jury.
\nOne understands, as one watches, the passion of the Roman
\npoet’s eulogy of the defence-lawyer, pr\u0153sidium m\u0153stis reis<\/i>, a
\nbulwark to the sorrowful accused. For in this strange civilised
\ngame of pitch and toss, where it is impossible to be certain about
\nguilt or innocence, one’s sympathies naturally go to the sufferer
\nwho may be innocent yet convicted. If one could eliminate this
\nelement of human pity, it would be a real intellectual pleasure to
\nwatch this queer semi-barbarous battle, appraise the methods of
\nchief players, admire in whatever climes the elusiveness and fine
\ncasualness of Indian perjury or the robust, manly downrightness
\nof Saxon cross-swearing. And if one were to complain that
\nmodern civilisation [eliminates] from life danger and excitement
\none could well answer him, "Come into the courts and see!"<\/font><\/p>\n

\nBut after all praise must be given what it
\nis due and the English system must be lauded for not normally exposing the accused
\nto the torture of savage pursuit by a prosecuting judge or the
\nsingular methods of investigation favoured by the American
\nPolice. If the dice are apt to be loaded, it is on both sides and not<\/font>
\n<\/font>on one.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

                                                                                                               
\n*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThe European Jail \u2014<\/i> is a luminous commentary on the humanitarian boasts of the Occident and its pious horrors at Oriental barbarities. To mutilate, to impale, to torture, how shocking,
\nhow Oriental! And we are occasionally reminded that if we had
\nindependence, such punishments would again be our portion.
\nEngland forgets that to half hang a man, draw out his entrails
\nand burn them before his eyes was an English practice in the 18th
\nCentury. France has forgotten the wheel and galleys. But these
\nthings have gone out. What of the penal system ? It strikes us as
\nthe refined and efficient organisation of the methods of savages,
\nwho have indeed progressed and have learned that the torture of
\nthe soul is a more terrible revenge than the torture of the body,
\nto murder the human nature a greater satisfaction than to slay
\nthe animal frame.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nAncient nations punished their enemies by death, slavery,<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 447<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\ntorture, humiliation and degradation. The jail system is an organisation of these four principles. Physical death has been reduced
\nto a minimum, it is now only a punishment for murder and rebellion. A century or more ago, every crime almost was punished
\nwith death in England. The principle was \u2014 your life for my
\nshilling, your life for my handkerchief. It is now \u2014 your life
\nfor the life you have taken, your life for the mortal fear you put
\nme into of the loss of my power, emoluments and pleasures. The organisation of slavery is the first principle of the system. I take
\nmy enemy, put him on a dog’s diet, load him with chains, set
\nguards to beat and kick him into obedience and diligence, and make him work for
\nmy profit for a period fixed by myself, careless whether his nature is brutalised or his life shortened in the
\nprocess \u2014 for he is my slave to do my will with, and if I do not
\nkill him for taking my shilling or my handkerchief, it is because
\nI am civilised and merciful, not a barbarous Oriental. For the
\nsame reason, I do not inflict physical torture on him, unless he is
\nunwilling or unable to do the amount of work I have fixed for
\nhim, or either deliberately or accidentally remembers that he
\nwas a human being or behaves like the brute I have successfully
\nlaboured to make him. Even then I torture according to his physical capacity and take care not to maim or kill this serviceable
\nanimal. Degradation and humiliation are as well organised as
\nthe slavery. It is done, not once in a way but driven in daily,
\nhourly, momently, in every detail of his dress, food, conduct,
\ndiscipline. In every possible way I brand in upon his soul that he
\nis no longer such a one, no longer possessed of the name, rights
\nor nature of humanity, but my slave, beast and property \u2014 of
\nmyself and of my servants. It is my object to wipe out every trace
\nof the human in him and I stamp my foot daily on anything in
\nhim that may remind him of such human qualities as modesty,
\nculture, self-respect, generosity, fellow-feeling. If everything else
\nfails, I have the exquisite rack of mental torture, called solitary
\nimprisonment to shake his reason or destroy his manhood.
\nAnd if in the end I have not succeeded, if he comes out a man and
\nnot a brute or idiot, it is not my fault, but his, I have done my
\nbest. This is the European prison system, and it is inflicted on
\nall alike with machine-like efficiency. The curious thing is, that<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 448<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nit is inflicted in part even on undertrial prisoners, who may be
\nperfectly innocent. This also is probably directed by the finer
\nfeelings of the modern civilised accident and intended mercifully
\nto prepare his gentle and easy descent into Inferno around them.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>
\n\u2013 449<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\n\t HOME<\/font><\/span><\/a><\/font><\/b>
\n\t<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Academic Thoughts             The Object of Government \u2014 It is the habit of men to blind themselves by customary trains of associated thought,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-03-the-harmony-of-virtue-volume-03","wpcat-4-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64","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=64"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}