A Balance of Ideals

By Charles Feldman (Prana) 

There are many opinions in the world.

In politics, there are debates between those who favor liberty (in which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer); equality (in which the government jails and kills real and perceived opponents, and solidarity (in which minority groups get persecuted due to their religion and/or nationality, and eventually, everyone gets persecuted). The three groups are the libertarians, communists, and reactionaries (fascists and fundamentalists). All societies are an embrace of one or more of these values. Anarchists want 100% liberty, 100% equality, and 100% solidarity all at once. The problem is that we would all have to be saints for this to work.

As far as religious beliefs, there are those who think that disobedience causes the world's problems (fundamentalists), there are those who think that obedience causes the world's problems (atheists), and there are those who think that desire causes the world's problems (mystics).

In politics, we need a balance between liberty, equality, and solidarity. Anarchists want no authority, either government or corporations. Reactionaries want government and corporate authorities, with no opposition allowed to either. Libertarians want political opposition to be allowed, but no opposition to the corporations. Communists want opposition to the corporations, but not to the government.

Believers in democracy want a balance, with both government and corporations, but with opposition to both of them being allowed. Opposition to government means having opposition political parties, a free press, free and fair elections, peaceful protest, and freedom of speech and assembly. Opposition to corporations means allowing labor unions, strikes, repeal of the Taft-Hartley act, social security with the rich paying their fair share into it, progressive taxation with the rich paying their fair share in taxes, and universal healthcare.

In religion, unquestioned obedience leads to tyranny, and unquestioned disobedience leads to anarchy, while doing away with desire leads to Oneness, and harms no one. Mystics can identify with liberty (God-realization), equality (we are all children of God), and solidarity (we are all One). Democracy in society is necessary because we cannot all get rid of the ego. So we need a balance of ideals, and a balance of authority, which leads to a balance of power.

We need to avoid all extremes except for desirelessness, which leads to liberation. The only alternative is continued suffering. Brahmins are the anarchists, who need no constraints because they have self-constraint. Reactionaries are the kshatriyas, who want everyone to follow them with no opposition. Libertarians are the vaishyas, who want to get richer and richer. And the communists are the shudras, who want a forced equality. We need a balance of these values for society to work practically.