By Madhumita O’Brien
Recently I saw a Facebook post about the conflict in Israel and Palestine asking if Shrii P. R. Sarkar had said anything about media and information or solving such deep socio-politico-religious conflicts. Immediately neohumanism came to mind as this theory talks in depth about the underlying limitations of thinking that give rise to all sorts of social, political and religious conflicts, as well as the means to overcome these limitations so that we can have peace within and be instrumental in establishing peace in the world. I replied to the post that now is the time to explore neohumanism more deeply and share it with others. After replying I realised that this was more of a challenge to myself than to anyone else, so here I am, writing an article to learn more deeply about neohumanism and how it can be applied and nurtured in our children.
What is Neohumanism?
According to Shrii P. R. Sarkar, neohumanism is “When the underlying spirit of humanism is extended to everything, animate and inanimate, in this universe”. It can also be referred to as universalism, and I imagine it as expanding our feeling of love beyond any limitations so that we feel care, compassion, kinship, and collective responsibility for all human beings, animals, plants, other living beings and inanimate objects in the entire universe. This expanded feeling of universal love comes from the deep spiritual realisation that ultimately we are all One, we are all manifestations of the same Cosmic Entity, and all made of the same divine love. In this state, we feel the connection with others so strongly that we feel their pain as our own pain and their joy as our own joy. This love and connection that we feel is reflected in all our thoughts, words and actions, everything is in complete harmony.
It is only through an artificial feeling of separation that it is possible for us to not feel this harmony within ourselves and with others. This feeling of separation allows us to metaphorically draw a circle that includes some people and beings that we love and care for, while leaving the rest on the outside of the boundary wall of our love – not caring for them or even allowing harm to come to them for our benefit or the benefit of those within our circle of love. An example of this is nuclear testing on a faraway island or at sea. It may be far away from where we live making it outside the periphery of our love, and we might somehow justify that that is ok, but that same place that is far away from us might be very close to home for another person or creature. When our love or emotional connection is limited like this to a certain geographical location, it is termed geo-sentiment. When it is limited to a certain group or community of people, such as of a certain family, religion, ethnicity, political view, etc., it is termed socio-sentiment. Once we overcome these geo-sentiments and socio-sentiments so that our circle of love includes all other human beings in the world (note that we may love the person but not necessarily tolerate their behaviour), then we have reached the stage of humanism. Once we collectively reach this stage, it is natural that we wouldn’t have any wars with our fellow human beings, because war is only possible when there is a feeling of separation from others based on location (geo-sentiment) or social, religious, ethnic, family or political groupings etc. (socio-sentiment). Humanism is still a limitation though, as it allows for a feeling of separation from other living beings and natural resources and a reason to justify us exploiting them for our advantage. We can only have true peace internally and externally when we individually and collectively expand the circle of our love to also include all animate and inanimate entities in the entire cosmos. This is the stage of neohumanism.
How do we reach the stage of neohumanism?
It’s easy to theorize, but how practically do we expand the circle of our love beyond these limitations and create a society based on neohumanism?
Out of geo-sentiment, socio-sentiment and humanism, geo-sentiment has the smallest radius so is the most limiting and needs to be overcome first. The way to overcome this is by expanding our mind through the dual process of studying a wide range of topics and developing rationality. Study can be through any type of media, e.g. reading, listening, or having discussions, as well as through using our five senses to learn directly from the world around us. The process of study is not just blindly taking everything in that we learn and continuing to live as we did before, but includes first verifying that what we read or hear is in fact true by applying the test of our logic, and then making changes in our lives by applying what we learn in ways that are for the welfare of all. The process of study and applying our logic helps us to develop a rationalistic mentality and the process of reflecting on how to best use our new knowledge for collective welfare develops our conscience. Both rationality and conscience are higher functions of mind than sentiment, so they can be used to overcome these limiting types of sentiments.
An example of the application of study is that we may hear that purchasing products with palm oil is the cause of deforestation and loss of habitat for orangutans. We can then look more into the issue by researching different views online and contacting the companies that sell palm oil products. As we go, we apply our logic to see what makes sense in what we are discovering. If we conclude that it is true that the palm oil industry is in fact the cause of deforestation and loss of habitat for orangutans and other species, and we find out that there are also sustainable sources of palm oil that don’t threaten the forest in the same way, we can integrate this new knowledge into our lives by making the choice to only purchase products with palm oil if we know that they are from sustainable sources. Making a small change in our lives like this is one small step in making the world a better place for all. For children it may seem like a big sacrifice giving up some processed foods that taste delicious, but every time that they make the unselfish choice it strengthens the dominance of their rationality and conscience over the power of their taste buds and sentiments, asserts their love and connection with the other living beings on this planet, and helps them to integrate their thoughts, words and actions, which in turn creates peace within their minds and hearts.
Those involved in education will be aware of the learning pyramid, which shows that teaching others what we learn has the highest average learning retention rate of all at 90%. This shows that sharing in an appropriate way the interesting things we learn is a great way to help us on our learning journey. Teaching others also helps to expand their minds too, which is an important step in removing geo-sentiment from society at large. For information that has a practical application, it is important to remember to lead by example.Once geo-sentiment is overcome, our next obstacle is socio-sentiment. The radius of socio-sentiment is more expansive than that of geo-sentiment. It is generally more damaging to society and harder to detect, and it takes a more spiritual approach to eradicate. In order to expand the mind beyond the limitations of socio-sentiment, we need to first realise that we are all one cosmic family and that the very purpose of our existence is to collectively move towards the One from which we all came. Then, with no inferiority or superiority complex, but rather motivated by the principle of social equality, it is our responsibility to speak out against all types of injustice and exploitation and collectively ensure that all living beings have their basic needs met (e.g. food, shelter, clothing, education and medical treatment).
In the example given earlier about orangutans, the appropriate actions to speak out against exploitation might include writing to companies and encouraging them to only palm oil if it is sustainable, lobbying supermarkets and regulating authorities, and encouraging others to boycott unsustainable palm oil or even researching and finding viable alternatives so that companies don’t feel the need to use ingredients that cause harm to others. And to ensure the survival and basic needs of the orangutans are being met, we might want to volunteer at or support a wildlife sanctuary that rescues orangutans, or creatively find other ways to help these members of our extended family.
If basic needs are not met, there will invariably be conflict, for example in some countries now such as Haiti, people who would prefer not to be criminals are turning to crime to feed their families. So, overcoming socio-sentiment requires an internal spiritual approach as well as action in the world to bring the inner world and the outer world into harmony. Both of these approaches are important and need to be in balance. Spiritual practice without serving society can be seen as a form of selfishness and leads not to real spiritual progress but to an imbalance between the internal and external world that can even result in psychic disease. On the other extreme I have seen many well-intentioned activists who were fighting for social justice burn out or even develop psychic diseases such as depression because they didn’t have a firm spiritual foundation from which to draw inspiration, strength, and optimism. The spiritual practice called kiirtan can be of such support to these types of service minded people.
What is kiirtan and how does it relate to neohumanism and peace?
Kiirtan is singing a mantra1 while ideating on its meaning. There are many types and variations of kiirtan in different cultures and spiritual traditions. One mantra that can be used for kiirtan by people of all ages, religions, and cultural backgrounds is “Bábá Nám Kevalam”, which like many kiirtan mantras is in the Sanskrit language. This mantra is perfectly aligned with the spirit of neohumanism as in essence it means that everything is an expression of cosmic consciousness. It has such an expansive meaning that by doing kiirtan using this mantra the mind expands beyond any negative thinking or narrow sentiments, and it can help us to feel a deep sense of peace within ourselves and with others, flooding our hearts with universal love and our existence with positivity that we can then spread into the world. I could almost write about kiirtan forever, but the only way to really appreciate it fully is to experience it. This is best done in a group setting, but listening or singing along to a recording can be a good first step. The online radio station www.babanamkevalamradio.org is one option for listening, and on that page there is also a link to the live Kiirtan of Peace, which was started over a year ago by neohumanist-minded musicians in Russia and Ukraine as a way to “affirm and strengthen the deep bonds of spiritual unity that connect us with each other and transcend the illusion of differences”.
The Kiirtan of Peace quickly spread into a global effort which I became involved in. Prior to that, I didn’t feel that the war between Russia and Ukraine mattered to me as it is on the other side of the world and I didn’t know anyone there. As a result of the kiirtan programme I now feel a deep spiritual connection with many people in Russia, Ukraine, and other parts of the world, and I care much more about what is happening in different parts of the world. Although those places are still far away from me physically, they are now closer to my heart – my circle of love has expanded enormously. The Kiirtan of Peace has helped many of the people there maintain their positivity and mental balance during these challenging times. With the latest conflicts in Israel and Palestine we are actively reaching out to people from those areas so that they can also experience the benefits of this kiirtan programme and grow their feeling of universal love and welfare.
Kiirtan with Kids
Kiirtan is a wonderful thing to do with children too. The words are easy and repetitive, and you can use any melody – just change the words of familiar songs to Baba Nam Kevalam, or even make up melodies together. I find that young children prefer happy sounding songs in a major key rather than melancholic melodies in minor keys. This album by Arun Jacobson of the Progressive School of Long Island has some wonderful children’s songs with neohumanist themes and many of them lead into beautiful and catchy kiirtan melodies: https://arunj.bandcamp.com/album/songs-for-childrens-meditation-v1
How to nurture neohumanism in our children
Kiirtan and meditation are wonderful tools that we can share with our children to expand their minds and hearts, but even more is needed for them to grow up as universally minded neohumanists. We need to support them in learning about this world and beyond, and processing what they learn in a way that develops their rational minds and conscience. We need to support them in expanding their circle of love to include everybody and everything, and in becoming confident, with the strength that this love gives them, to speak up against any injustice and to be inspired and empowered to always do what they can to help transform this world into a peaceful home that meets the needs of all of its inhabitants.
It is helpful to remember that neohumanism is natural. Children possibly come into this world with a deeper sense of connection than we currently have, so we just need to nurture that connection. It is important to be humble and treat them with respect as by learning humility and respect from us, they will be more able to easily integrate these virtues into their lives. Instead of feeling the need to dominate nature and others, they will more easily retain their innate sense of harmony and spread that in the world. Sow the seeds of universalism in their minds through songs and stories. Empathise with them when they need support and give them opportunities to serve others. Give any rectifications to their behaviour in a loving and rational way. If they challenge what we say or do with their rationality or logic, reflect on it and make any necessary changes to our behaviour. Give them opportunities to connect with nature, to connect with others in all walks of life, and to connect with their deepest self. There are so many more things that could go on this list, but the most important is that we lead by example by continually reflecting on our own thoughts, words and actions, and bringing these in line with the ideals of neohumanism. Together we can be instrumental in establishing peace in this world.
Madhumita is a mother of 2 living in Nelson, New Zealand. She works part time as a music teacher, aiming to integrate neohumanistic and other spiritual songs and kiirtan into her teaching methodology. She volunteers for the Akhanda Kiirtan of Peace and HPMGL.
1 Mantra means a sound or collection of sounds which, when meditated upon, will lead to spiritual liberation