A collective mind is not the same as the cosmic mind but the average momentum of a collection of unit minds. A unit mind resides in a physical structure, and the cosmic mind resides in itself. A collective mind, on the other hand, resides in the minds of us all to the various degrees of our respective involvement and perception.
What is that collective mental average? Let’s say you and I along with some others have decided to walk together to a certain place. Usually, you walk faster than me but since we have decided to walk together, I am able to walk a bit faster than what I would usually do and you walk a bit slower. The same is the case with the other members of our walking party. We walk together with a collective average speed. This is somehow how collective minds function, taking the shape of an average:
The average reactive driving forces derived from the unit reactive driving forces are the reactive driving forces of the collective mind, whose manifestations are the new events on the pages of history.[1]
Society is the expression of parallel psychic waves, and arises because of the mental tendency of moving in unison.[2]
Within this concept of the collective average there is plenty of scope for individuals to affect the collective while the collective continues to affect each one of us.
The Human Mind Is Itself a Collective Mind
In the chapter on animated evolution in The Cosmic Kaleidoscope there are details on how the human mind is a collective mind, consisting of innumerable cell minds of various parts and configurations, such as a single cell mind, a finger mind, hand mind, etc. Our mind is the collective mind of numerous part minds of our human biological structure. In the same way, a collective mind is a collection of the feelings, thoughts and sentiments of one or more people regarding past, present and future existence.
The coverage of our mindstuff gives a collective “I”-feeling to the various elements of the mindstuff. In the midst of being fragmented into a thousand different bits and experiences, we still feel “this is me”, and all those unit minds in us form the basis for that experience. The I-feeling itself is induced by our soul substantiating our intuitional pure self, which in turn substantiates our ego.
Special Interests
There is a particular class of people who generally enjoy thinking about the collective mind of the past more than anybody else does. They are the warrior-minded among us who relish the great efforts that went into establishing past and present splendours of civilisation. You can tell from their interest in great historical events pertaining to their society, such as the celebration of national treasures and the like.
Likewise, there is a class of people who generally enjoy more the thought, idea, and vision of the state of our collective future. They are the intellectuals among us who are really among the more forward-thinking among us and tend to like to challenge our collective psychology in that direction.
In particular, the collective mind is of great interest to anyone with an interest in organization and association. No wonder generals, politicians, teachers and business people study the state of collective minds to achieve their aims and obtain their goals.
Democracy
The spirit and practice of democracy is an example of the activities of a relatively modern collective mind. Yet, mark the terms “average” above. No collective idea, such as democracy, means the same to all the unit minds of that collective mind.
- To a few hardcore democrats, the idea of democracy may mean everything. We may think of such democratic enthusiasts as true blood democrats or blind believers in democracy.
- To a majority, democracy may mean different things, and not everything.
In terms of a collective mindset, an idea, such as that of democracy, provides the various individual human minds with an intellectual idea of their collective “I”-feeling: “We are democrats.” Such a core idea of a collective mind functions much like the endoplasmic coverage of the unit mindstuff. It unites the units and provides them with a sense of collective “I”. If this ideological common denominator is invested with subtle human sentiments, it will reflect the values of those sentiments both outwards and inwards towards each unit members of that community or collectivity. The individual and collective progress of the members of such a society will be related to those values. Conversely, in case the collective mind is centred on crude dogmas and other suppressive, exploitative ideas, the static tendency of such ideas will reflect on that society and its collective mind.
For instance, democracy works very well as a cover-up or smokescreen for economic exploiters. They may say: “In the name of democracy everybody is entitled to earn as much as they like to do.” (At the same time, there may not be much of a democracy within their organisations. Salaries, for instance, may be dictated to run at sub-subsistence levels and employees may not have a real say in how things are run and how the wealth of the company is distributed.)
The reality is that in the name of democracy, some do as they like and get all the others to do it for them. Some capitalist exploiters nowadays accumulate so much wealth that large numbers of people languish in poverty and lack of progress. We may even have reached a point where global capitalism, based in democratic countries, are to a large extent responsible, directly or indirectly, for wars, hunger, and other manmade catastrophes. What type of democracy is that? It only goes to show that to some the main idea of a collective mind may mean something, to others it may mean quite the opposite. For instance, to some, democracy may mean “the right for me to state my mind”, to others “the right of us all to state our minds”, “the right of others…” etc. Thus, a collective mind may be of many different sentiments, a sort of anarchy. That is exactly what makes democracy a golden framework of capitalism—customers may be led to think that their needs are catered for by anything and still believe that democracy means freedom.
The Direction of the Collective Mind
A central principle in Ananda Marga ideology is that the good of the individual lies in the collective and vice versa. Many of Shrii Sarkar’s socio-spiritual and socio-economic concepts are related to the collective mind and its psychology, such as the spiritual essence of the philosophy of Neo-humanism,[3] existential value,[4] the theory of the social cycle,[5] maximum utilization,[6] psycho-economy,[7] psycho-economic exploitation,[8] anti-exploitative sentiments, socio-economic units (samajas),[9] and nuclear revolution[10]. A more exhaustive discussion on the subject of collective mind and its socio-economic-political, cultural and further significances would demand a volume of its own.
Sentimental legacy includes factors such as language, historical traditions, literature, common usages and cultural expressions. It is the common chord in the collective psychology of a particular group of people which gives them their unique identity and sense of affinity.[11]
The unity that grows from the collective psychology in the social, psychic and economic spheres, is the first step towards a greater unity. This can lead to the formation of a nation or greater internal unity in a country. But once the problem out of which the sentiment grew is solved, the common link is broken. That is why for permanent unity a spiritual outlook is necessary. Every human being has a spiritual thirst. Knowingly or unknowingly, human beings are searching for the Supreme Entity. Yet, ignorant of the right path, they remain confused. One of life’s great tragedies is that so many people do not find the object of their search. Their entire life is spent searching everywhere, but in vain. If people are shown the right way, the entire humanity will converge on the same path. As fellow travellers on the same journey, they will move towards the same supreme goal with unison, with a single rhythm. So, for the unity of the entire humanity, the indispensable factor is spirituality. This supreme treasure teaches human beings that Supreme Consciousness is the Supreme Father, the Supreme Operative Principle is their Supreme Mother, and the entire universe is their homeland.[12]
A mind, driven by many psychic pabula is the prisoner of innumerable predicaments. In such a condition the human mind becomes extroversial, multi-directional, weak and static. It is propelled by the principle of selfish pleasure, which leads it down the path of counter-evolution. It always adopts an analytical approach to life, never a synthetic one. As people have to satisfy their unrestrained psychic pabula with limited objects of wealth, they often create interpersonal and inter-group conflicts. The collective psychology arising from many objectified human minds gives rise to social inequality, economic exploitation, political repression, religious bigotry, cultural perversion and the all-round degradation of the individual and society. Crude psychic pabula cause the degeneration of individual and collective mind, and thus bring about the downfall of the society.[13]
Intellectual trends and cultural evolution cannot exist in isolation from the individual or humanity as a whole, for both intellectual and cultural developments concern humanity. And humanity does not mean merely a few favoured persons in the upper stratum of society, like the special delicacies placed on top of the pile of rice offerings to the gods in the temples. Rather humanity means those people who, like the pile of rice, have borne the weight of those delicacies on their heads. Actually, viewed from a proper sociological perspective, those special delicacies should not represent any particular elite person or people at the peak of society, rather they should be regarded as the combined expression of the collective mind.[14]
Society must ensure the maximum development of the collective body, collective mind and collective spirit. One must not forget that collective welfare lies in individuals and individual welfare lies in collectivity. Without ensuring individual comforts through the proper provision of food, light, air, accommodation and medical treatment, the welfare of the collective body can never be achieved. One will have to promote individual welfare motivated by the spirit of promoting collective welfare.
The development of the collective mind is impossible without developing proper social awareness, encouraging the spirit of social service and awakening knowledge in every individual. So, inspired with the thought of the welfare of the collective mind, one has to promote the well-being of the individual mind. The absence of spiritual morality and spirituality in individuals will break the backbone of the collectivity. So for the sake of collective welfare one will have to awaken spirituality in individuals.[15]
Notes
1. “Questions and Answers [on Society] – 4”, Question 16, Prout in a Nutshell 18.
2. “The Responsibility of Society”, Prout in a Nutshell 5..
3. “Neohumanism Is the Ultimate Shelter”, The Liberation of Intellect: Neohumanism, and Prout in a Nutshell 8.
4. “Pseudo-Humanism”, as above.
5. “The Place of Sadvipras in the Samája Cakra”, Ananda Marga Philosophy in a Nutshell 2, Discourses on Neohumanist Education, The Great Universe: Discourses on Society, Idea and Ideology, Prout in a Nutshell 5, Supreme Expression 2, Universal Humanism.
6. Ananda Sutram 5-14.
7. “Quadri-Dimensional Economy”, A Few Problems Solved 7, Prout in a Nutshell Volume 12, Proutist Economics.
8. “The Fundamentals of Language”, A Few Problems Solved 4, and Prout in a Nutshell 13.
9. “Socio-Economic Groupifications”, as above.
10. “Nuclear Revolution”, Prout in a Nutshell 21.
11. “Socio-Economic Groupifications”, A Few Problems Solved 9, Prout in a Nutshell, Proutist Economics.
12. “Human Society Is One and Indivisible – 2″, A Few Problems Solved 2, One Human Society, Prout in a Nutshell 7.
13. “The Transformation of Psychic Pabula into Psycho-spiritual Pabulum”, A Few Problems Solved 8, Prout in a Nutshell 12.
14. “The Practice of Art and Literature”, Discourses on Neohumanist Education, A Few Problems Solved 1, The Great Universe, Prout in a Nutshell 1, Universal Humanism.
15. Ánanda Sútram, Chapter 5, 3rd principle.