this viewpoint, two questions arise. Without answering them, we cannot move ahead with our analysis. These are, first, ‘What is the natural (normative) personal ideal of human beings?’ And, secondly, ‘What are the ideals that the various civilizations of the world have put forward, and how far are these in agreement with that natural ideal?’
Man’s Natural Ideal and Ultimate Aim
The question about man’s natural ideal is actually a question about the purpose for which human beings naturally strive in this temporal world – the primary object of the desire of their inner selves. Researching this, if one were to individually ask a large number of people as to what they each wished to achieve in this world, many different answers would be forthcoming. It is possible that one does not find two people whose objectives and desires are exactly the same. However, upon deeper probing, one would learn that the outcomes which people have termed to be their objectives are not the end in themselves but only the means to reach such an end. By and large, that one end is prosperity and peace of mind. Every human being, irrespective of the intellectual status and social class to which he may belong, and in whichever walk of life he may be active, only has one ideal: the achievement of peace and tranquillity, happiness and deep-felt harmony. It would not be wrong to call this the natural ideal of every human being.
A Critical View of Two Popular Collective Ideals
If one were to view the collective sets of ideals presented by various civilizations in their minute entireties, there would be many differences between them, the coverage of which is neither aimed at here nor is possible. However, in terms of broad principles, we can divide civilizations into two types:
(i) Civilizations that are not based upon any religious or spiritual concepts. These present an ideal of superiority to their followers. This ideal is a compound of several ingredients, the important among which are the following:
• A craving for political domination and hegemony
• A desire to exceed everyone in wealth and material well-being, irrespective of whether this comes through geographic conquest or control over commerce and industry.
• A yearning to surpass all and sundry in the manifestations of sociological progress, be it in the arts and sciences or architectural grandeur and civilizational excellence.
This group ideal is apparently not in contradiction with the individual ideal mentioned above. This is because, even after some reflection, it can be easily stated that if the collective ideal is established on these bases, then the respective individual ideals shall also be so established on similar orientations – and, indeed, with even greater vigour. The very fact that millions upon millions of individuals willingly allow their personal ideals to be amalgamated with the group ideal is sufficient proof of its false facade. However, with a deeper view, and also from practical experience, it can be shown that this collective ideal is extremely incompatible with the ‘natural ideal’ of individuals.
It should be evident that at any given point in time, several nations have this collective ideal of national superiority and domination and all of them strive to achieve it. The net result of this competition is strong conflict – political, economic and social – that ensues amongst them and severe disorder caused by the ongoing competitiveness and resistance. So much so, that in this milieu of anxiety and disarray it becomes virtually impossible for individuals to attain peace and tranquillity, prosperity and peace of mind.
It is this situation with which we see the Western world confronted today. However, if we were to assume that there could be a period in history in which only one nation strove for this [domineering] ideal, and that there was no other nation offering resistance, even then there is no possibility that such individual ideals will be successfully manifested in the wake of collective success. The reason for this is that it is a natural attribute of such a collective ideal that it not only generates rivalry between nations, but that it also brings about a competitive mentality amongst the vast numbers of individuals who comprise such nations. As a consequence, domination over fellow national compatriots – enabling them to exceed others in terms of wealth and power, status and luxury, and access to public office – become every individual’s aim of life. They desire to capture others’ means of sustenance and become sole masters of as many sources of wealth, benefit and profit as possible, leaving others only with loss and frustration, so that they become the people of authority and others become their followers and subordinates.
Firstly, there is no end at which the greed for material acquisitiveness of such people is satiated and, therefore, they always remain dissatisfied and troubled. Secondly, when competitiveness of this kind is internalized within the members of a nation, then every home and every workplace becomes a battlefield. Naturally, peace and harmony, happiness and prosperity vanish, notwithstanding the preponderance of wealth, power and material means.
Furthermore, it is but natural that progress defined purely by way of material attributes – one in which spirituality has no part – shall never satisfy human beings. This is because the exclusive attainment of corporeal pleasures is entirely an animal aim. If it be true that human beings are something more than their essential animal existence, then it must also be true that the mere achievement of those pleasures which only gratify their animal nature will not be sufficient for fully satisfying such a supra-animal creature.
(ii) Civilizations whose foundations have been established upon religious and spiritual principles.
Generally such civilizations have declared their collective ideal to be ultimate salvation. Undoubtedly, this ideal carries within it the spiritual element that provides people with tranquillity and peace of mind. It is also true that the achievement of salvation that can become a national ideal can just as well become the individual ideal of its members. However, upon undertaking a deeper critique, it appears that this ideal cannot become a true ideal. There are several reasons for this:
First, there is a certain selfishness that lies concealed within this ‘salvation ideal’, the essential nature of which empowers individualism at the cost of collective enfeeblement. The reason for this is simply the fact that if every individual could attain salvation by doing certain specified acts, totally on his own, there would remain nothing in the ideal that could give it a collective status, instead of an individual one, and which could encourage individuals to cooperate with the group for its establishment. This spirit of individualism is diametrically opposed to the ideal that a civilization holds dear by virtue of being a collective entity.
Secondly, the issue of salvation is very deeply linked with the process specified for attaining such deliverance. Thus, the fact of the salvation ideal being considered right or wrong is profoundly correlated with the suggested procedure for attaining salvation being considered right or wrong. For instance, salvation can neither become the individual ideal nor the collective ideal in religions that consider monasticism and renunciation of the temporal world to be the way to salvation. In order to separate the temporal from the spiritual while still maintaining a pathway for the salvation of ‘worldly’ individuals, the followers of such faiths have been forced to invent ‘middle paths’ like service to the servants of the faith and atonement. The result of this has been twofold: first, this ideal has ceased to remain, in its cohesive entirety, the common ideal of both the individuals as well as the group. Secondly, apart from a small number of faithful followers the ideal no longer holds the loftiness, significance, and magnetism for the remainder of the group that once could have kept them devoted to it. As a consequence, most temporally-oriented people have decided to follow the materialistic ideal outlined above.
On the other hand, religions that have declared salvation to be dependent upon the pleasure of certain idols and deities have failed to maintain the shared values of the ideal. Different groups turn to different deities2 due to which the ideal loses its true unity, the maintenance of which and uniting of all followers within whose fold is the real work of civilization. Thus, whenever the followers of such religions wish to embark upon the path of temporal success – naturally