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The Evolution of the United States

Knowledge Base

by Roy Posner and MSS

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Introduction
(top)

The Evolution of Individual Nations
Just as every individual is an amalgam of positive and negative attributes whose being is growing and evolving, so too each nation of the world has an evolving character that expresses both positively and negatively. Each nation can in fact be said to represent a different aspect of human consciousness and capacity. For example, France is said to represent "clarity of thought;" Russia "the brotherhood of man;" the USA "practical organization;" and India "the spiritual teacher (i.e. guru) of the world." Each nation then expresses a ray, or several rays of truth, knowledge, and capacity, reflecting the best of human character and consciousness. Similarly, every nation also expresses its own wanting propensities for falsehood, ignorance, and incapacity. By accentuating the former, and overcoming the latter, the growth, development, and evolution of nations is made possible.

Perhaps the best way to come to know the various capacities of a nation in the current world environment is to examine its level of prosperity. The USA and India can serve as excellent examples, as they represent two contrasting extremes. The USA, on the one hand, has experienced a level of material success bordering on the infinite, even as she has failed so far to embrace the deeper aspects of life. India, on the other hand, who once knew the infinity of spirit and then lost it, is now trying to regain it.  In addition, along the way, she became very poor, but now can utilize a regained spirit to rapidly prosper in an integral -- i.e. not merely material -- way.

Interview on the Future Evolution of the United States
Roy Posner, president of Growth Online, discusses the future evolutionary possibilities for United States. (Under development)

 

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Origins of the USA & Causes of Her Success
(top)

 

General Statements | Place in Historical Evolution of the Earth | Physical Endowments | Practical Organization

Hard Work  | Waves of Immigrants Living in Harmony | Authority Decentralized

Ability to Rise to One's Potential, Talents | Entrepreneurship | Freedom

Self-Reliance, Individuality | True Individuality | Education & Literacy | Other

General Statements
(main)

America's Success and Limits
America's success has come about because she has unleashed the power of the individual through the workings of democracy giving rise to dynamism, organization, and vast material well-being. It is a power that has come through the utilization of the Mind of Man applied at the physical/material level. As a result, she has become the evolutionary leader of the world.

She has not however implemented her power at the higher vital, psychological, mental, and spiritual levels. If she is to remain in the vanguard, she must do so; otherwise Life will look to another for global guidance and strength.

The Key to America's Greatness
America unleashed the power of the individual in democracy and applied the power of the mind at the physical level through production and social organization.  (MSS)

Cause of America's Dynamism, Limitations
America has evolved individuality at the physical/material level based on freedom from social constraints giving rise to all the dynamism and limitations of that same physical plane. (MSS)

 

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Reasons for US's Material Success
Listed are several key reasons for the US's material success:

• it was her time in the evolutionary progress of the earth

• she faced a vast new virgin land, and had access to infinite physical endowments

• the people were hungry for  new start in the new world after oppression and limited opportunity in the old

• the people had the memory of and thus the full capacity to recreate Europe easily and rapidly

• her people were dedicated to hard work

• her people were dedicated to self-reliance

• to facilitate her productivity she took to enormously efficient and practical systems of organization

• she was continually refreshed by the energies of new immigrants

• the immigrants get along is a vast experiment in social harmony

• she was able to uncover the infinity of the material world

• her people felt they had the freedom and lack of social constraints so that they could rise to their full potential

• they believed in education

• power and authority was decentralized into the lower levels of society

Additional Reasons for US's Material Success
Listed are several key reasons for the US's material success:

-Had to tame a wild landscape when they arrived which led to their working extra hard.

-Wanted to desperately get out of the Great Depression and did so in developing supplies for the fighting in WWII.

-A deeply entrepreneurial society based on the valued of personal freedom in the society.

-Walked the fine line between socialism and capitalism. In other words, she practiced entrepreneurialism that led to her great success. Pure capitalism led to failure as in the Great Depression.

-Stupendous physical organization of the means of production.

-Established a well thought out plan at the time of the nation's inception. E.g. the constitution that contained various values and principles.

Reason's for USA's Present Material Success
Let's consider the development of, and the level of prosperity of the USA. When the settlers first arrived in America, they managed the impossible by rapidly recreating the civilization of Europe in a land of virgin forests. They were able to accomplish this because they already carried with them the knowledge of their homelands. With the details of how to recreate a civilization already known, they were then motivated to organize that knowledge and rapidly turn it into practical results. As a result of their adoption of the value of practical organization, a number of developments came about -- including the assembly line, the telephone, the automobile, the suburban home, the interstate highway system, as well as an array of technologies, including various communications systems, the personal computer, and now the Internet.

Though her practical organization continues to release the infinity of matter, the USA is unfortunately still too physical in her fundamental nature. That is, she is amoured with the physical, material reality she creates or sees before her, ignoring other planes of being -- including the psychological, the cultural, and the spiritual. In essence, she needs to raise her laudable value of practical organization from its current physical foundation to these higher planes of consciousness. Though the USA has known vast material success in matter -- achieved by applying true spiritual values such as honesty, orderliness, systemization, etc. -- she still needs to apply these values to other aspects of life beyond the material. That would enable a vast psychological progress, and help her to focus on the true needs of Man, rather than her present preoccupation with the mere material. Such an approach can also help her (a) eliminate the negative byproducts of her technology (such as pollution and radiation), (b) overcome a sometimes vulgar culture that's spreading around the world, (c) reduce her own poverty and vast differentials of income distribution, and (d) surmount her propensity to constantly fight wars and stockpile dangerous weapon arsenals. It can also help shed her single-minded preoccupation with economic growth and accumulation of personal wealth, which come at the expense of other high values. Finally, it can help her overcome her intransigent independence that too often separates her from the needs and concerns of the rest of the world.

There is also a second reason for the US's present material success. The multiplicity and diversity of its immigrant citizens -- with their myriad of approaches, solutions, and accomplishments in life -- has released a tidal wave of energy in the nation. This phenomenon is a direct expression of Sri Aurobindo's renowned dictum and principle of life ''unity in diversity."� Together with its value of practical organization, the diversity of its citizens has given the USA an unprecedented power, enabling her to assume the mantle of economic and cultural leader of the world. What she needs to do now however is to evolve her consciousness beyond her current material view if she is to maintain such a lofty position. All indications are that the big change in the consciousness of the world could happen here first.

Will America Continue as the Evolutionary Leader?
America has become the leader of the world -- particularly in the area of the economy and through its military power. Her status as ''evolutionary leader"� came about because she took to freedom, individuality, organization, mass production, and waves of immigrant population, to name a few. Every individual also had the knowledge of how to recreate Europe in the new virgin land. Thus, America enabled the infinite to emerge out of the physical plane; producing endless material well-being, becoming a model for the rest of the world.

Now the world is catching up, particularly in Asia. New interests are emerging in the world. Will the US continue to be the world evolutionary leader in this new environment? She will have to take to several steps to maintain that status, otherwise some other nation(s) will take up the mantle. First, she needs to overcome her reactionary, conservative tendencies that go back 150 years. Second, she needs to go beyond the material to the psychological, mental, and spiritual view of the world -- holding the individual as sacred and supporting him every way possible. Third, she needs to join the world community as an equal, cooperative partner, not as a renegade looking out for her own self-interests. The era of go-it-alone power has come to an end. World collaboration is the order of the day.

If America moves in these directions, she will maintain her status as the evolutionary leader, and play the central guiding role in society's further progress and evolution.

The test of her collaborative effort will come in two areas: how she takes up the issue of the environment, and whether she radically reduces her nuclear weaponry. If she is to maintain her mantle of evolutionary leader, she will need to move in the right direction on these two issues at least. If she fails, the baton will be passed on elsewhere; to those can lead the world through its next stage of ever-increasing human unity and integration.  

The Promise of a Divided America
400 years ago, newly arrived settlers came to this continent and met with a virgin land consisting of endless forests and lush valleys. And yet, the waves of immigrants who came were able to quickly tame the land. Seeking to replicate Europe in the new homeland, the settlers knew what had to be done. They also they had the life skills of a hundred European generations. The only challenge was how fast and efficiently they could do it.

And so, the immigrant population developed the means to make that happen -- later known as mass production. The people were not only able to organize and develop all of the necessities for life on the new continent, but within 100 years were able to produce them for nearly everyone in the bourgeoning population. This centuries-long movement peaked with Henry Ford's production line facilities used to build the Model T automobile for the common man.

Waves of immigrant population from a variety of lands, the knowledge of the European homeland in the minds of the settlers, and taking to mass production and organization are several of the keys to the enormous prosperity that came to America. So was the drive and energy of the people motivated by new freedoms unavailable in their previous homelands. Individuality arose in place of the oppression, the greater conformity, and the hierarchical structure of Europe. By the 20^th century, America, once ridiculed by Europeans as an outpost of savages, had matched and then surpassed economically and materially all of Europe. The old world's cynicism and arrogance was left behind in the dust by a new pioneer society that continues to thrive until this day.

Then there is the other side of the coin. Somewhere along the line, mostly in the last 100 years, a negative conservative strain has entered the body politic and the population of the United States. Where it issues from and what harmful purpose it serves remains to be determined. But its negative affect on the society is well known -- from the Civil War support of slavery in the South; to a reluctance amongst the hinterland peoples to fight German and Japanese fascism that put the nation at great risk; to the support of a war against the Vietnamese people, who were seeking independence from their colonial masters. Worse still, is their antagonism towards virtually every positive value that has come into society, from the rise of woman, to the rise of new, more sophisticated cultural values. 

It has its roots mostly in non-urban areas, on the fringes of suburbia where it meets the countryside -- where issues forth an endless stream of ignorance and false knowledge. It originates in a barely-educated ignorant, superstitious rural white population, which in turn creates a blowback to a conservative middle class. Though the rural areas express reasonable concerns about safety and security, and demonstrate kindliness toward one another, it is a veneer, which breaks down quickly when these simple people are confronted by the realities of a changing world. This conservative element then reemerges, seeking by-gone eras, unable to embrace the challenges of a modern world. As a result, they become reactionary and anachronistic. Even their religion turns from providing spiritual sustenance and moral direction to a certain narrow-mindedness, a conformity of belief, and eventually radical reactionary political and social points of view.

There is another problem in American society, perhaps more ominous. It can be stated as its ''physical consciousness of violence."� Consider the facts in 2006: 200 million guns held amongst the population; $400 billion a year in military spending, when the next largest nation is spending barely $40 billion per annum; and thousands of nuclear warheads remaining deployed and ready -- even though the Cold War has now long passed. Add to that the glorification of violence in the culture at nearly every level, and you have ominous incendiary disaster waiting to happen. How has this great country that once sought to avoid persecution and nurtured extreme individuality of the Common Man developed this physical consciousness of violence -- a negative power that can easily, and most dangerously, turn on itself at any time?

Some would say that it is the result of another US problem: a view of life that only sees the physical/material as real; with all other planes -- i.e. the psychological, the societal, the spiritual -- relegated to a secondary or even non-status.  One sage has commented that ''Americans think with their bodies."� This means that they tend to relate to life only through what they see, to what is materially visible; i.e. to what their five senses are absorbing from the environment. Their center of perception is thus in a lower sense-orientation of the mind, instead of the clear thinking, higher functioning or logical and rational mind, where one can more readily perceive the wider and deeper truths and conditions of life.

This obsession with the outer physical realities of life occurs in many ways -- in their obsession with their physical bodies; through a wild, mindless fascination with all things physical; and in their unbound glorification of technology and scientific advancement at the expense of deeper appreciation of human values. Watch any newscast and you will see a childlike fascination with the physically visible. Little seems to be understood by the American viewer unless there is a video or a graph or some other physical object to engage him. Also, the American cannot sit still for a minute, nor take to several moments of silence. He needs to rush off and accomplish, never to consider and be. Too many American finds it difficult to seriously and sincerely address the deeper meaning of things. Except, of course, when Nature forces them to do so; when She pulls them out of their shallow existence through a variety of tragedies.

The nation is thus divided between its positive and negative attributes. Among the positive are the continuous waves of immigrant who bring fresh energies and ideas, an overwhelming capacity for physical organization and mass production, and the enormous power of freedom and individuality in the society. Balanced against these are the virulent strains of anachronistic conservatism, a physical consciousness of violence, and an obsession with the materially visible at the expense of the deeper perceptions of the truths of life.

Usually we think of a divided country as a fissure between different segments of the society, or two political parties. Here I am suggesting that the division lies along more fundamental lines. It is between consciousness and unconsciousness that cuts across all strata of the American society.

By overcoming the negative and reinforcing the positive, America can bring about the synthesis that will enable further progress in the nation. Because America is so full of energy, she is ripe for such change. Because she has the physical means and material prosperity, she is ready to move to the next level of consciousness. She is the one country ready to make the decisive evolutionary change.

America has taken on the role as the material leader and pioneer in the world -- despite her known psychological and perceptive limitations. To become the psychological and spiritual leader beyond the material, she must confront her demons and limitations. Otherwise, she will falter. If so, she will be forced to hand over her mantle as Pioneer and Leader to other nations, perhaps those of Asia, such as India. And yet, she is now ready and ripe to make this decisive change. We will watch closely for such developments as the course of events unfold.

 

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Place in Historical Evolution of the Earth
(main)

March of Civilization
It is said that civilization began in Mesopotamia. Man took to agriculture and urban living. It was a physical life of the civilized man. Mind was developed in Greece in later centuries. The evolution of Man continued, but elsewhere. It was Rome that developed law, art, and empires. Again it moved. Europe developed science. Now that center of that movement is in USA, which is focusing not so much on Science as Scientific Technology. Before this movement began the Spirit was discovered in India. (MSS)

The Emergence of the True Individual in Society
Today America rules the world as Great Britain did till the world war. Greece, Rome, and France had such eminence in their time. We see Greece had it on the strength of a culture that enabled it to flower Mind. Rome ruled Europe because of her law. France dominated Europe by her Freedom. Britain's eminence was made possible by her trade. North America dominates the world because the Individual is emerging there in the physical plane. Maybe the Americans are aware of their military, political strength and abundant wealth and do not really see the emerging Individual. That is the route social evolution has chosen. Army, wealth, political power, etc. are the results of the emerging Individual, not vice versa. In the twenty-first century, the Individual will certainly emerge and it will be credited as the century of the Individual. Emerging at the physical level, he ushers in prosperous plenty. At the vital level, he will be the harbinger of Peace expressed as international law and order. At the mental level, the emerging individual will establish the rule of Rationality, abolishing all kinds of superstition, which our present life abounds in. At that level, he will be a psychological individual and his goals will be psychological growth and ethical standards. The real individual is truly spiritual. He will accomplish things from inside and not move in the outer life. (MSS)

Historical World Movements

The world evolved from spirit (as in ancient India) to Babylonia as civilization to Middle East as religion to Greece as birth of mentality to culture, trade of the Renaissance to invention of 20th century Europe to practical organization of the US. Now the US in its full materialism meets the ancient Indian spirit through Indian programmers, completing the cycle and tying the head to the tail.

Advance of Civilization and Role of India and US
Advance of civilisation arrives at revelations which later become their culture. The Greek's intellectual culture, the Roman's love of law, the European scientific enquiry, British patronage of democracy and the American's excelling in practical organisation are such consummations. The Indian discovery of the Spirit as the underlying principle for all these expressions and their reliance on that spiritual approach to shape their daily life are unique to India.  This is the basis of Sri Aurobindo's statement that India would become the Guru of the world.

The world is treating USA as the leader and is taking after her culture. Even in India this is true. I consider this movement in the historical perspective that Nature develops her several facets at several parts of the globe before she achieves her desired consummation. The full cycle of human capacities having been developed successively, what remains now is to unite them all. I see Indians moving to the West in that light. (MSS)

Nature's Recent Historical Path
Science was developed in Europe which was proud of its scientific culture. Pride stands in the way of further development. So, Nature moved away from the self-sufficient Europe to develop further. The next step is not so much Science as scientific technology. Nature chose a humble population of the USA for that purpose. (MSS)

See Additional Entries on the World Movements of History
 

 

Physical Endowments
(main)

Nature's Further Development through US Begins through Her Physical Endowments

• Because Nature has to start with the physical level, she starts with the physical resources. This is seen in the [USA's] vast natural resources, the physical size of the country, the length of the coastline.

• To overcome the rigidities into which civilization has run, Nature to start afresh from the physical created the United States. In this sense it is an ascent.

• Because the immigrants bring with them cultural experience, mental endowments of their own countries, in this experiment we see the evolution in the descent subconsciously. (MSS)

The Boon of the Virgin Soil
Among other things, the distance that separated America from Europe facilitated the development of greater skills. Nature itself has cooperated in that endeavour by the land producing more than the native lands. It can be explained or understood as the virgin soil giving more than a depleted soil. That way we will explain away an evolutionary progress as a physical phenomenon. Such a choice of the mind will become the basis and the potential for organized resistance. (MSS)

 

Practical Organization
(main)

US's Organized Systems of Life Enable Material Success
An organized system enables freedom; freedom to be creative. There is creative prosperity in the US because it has organized systems of life at the level of material prosperity.

American Settlers and Organization
The American settlers realised quickly that they had to be very organised if they wanted the American wilderness to co-operate with them and yield any benefits. (MSS, N. Asokan)

Practical Organization, Waves of Immigrants Enabled US's Success
Let's consider the development of, and the level of prosperity of the USA. When the settlers first arrived in America, they managed the impossible by rapidly recreating the civilization of Europe in a land of virgin forests. They were able to accomplish this because they already carried with them the knowledge of their homelands. With the details of how to recreate a civilization already known, they were then motivated to organize that knowledge and rapidly turn it into practical results. As a result of their adoption of the value of practical organization, a number of developments came about -- including the assembly line, the telephone, the automobile, the suburban home, the interstate highway system, as well as an array of technologies, including various communications systems, the personal computer, and now the Internet.

Though her practical organization continues to release the infinity of matter, the USA is unfortunately still too physical in her fundamental nature. That is, she is amoured with the physical, material reality she creates or sees before her, ignoring other planes of being -- including the psychological, the cultural, and the spiritual. In essence, she needs to raise her laudable value of practical organization from its current physical foundation to these higher planes of consciousness. Though the USA has known vast material success in matter -- achieved by applying true spiritual values such as honesty, orderliness, systemization, etc. -- she still needs to apply these values to other aspects of life beyond the material. That would enable a vast psychological progress, and help her to focus on the true needs of Man, rather than her present preoccupation with the mere material. Such an approach can also help her (a) eliminate the negative byproducts of her technology (such as pollution and radiation), (b) overcome a sometimes vulgar culture that's spreading around the world, (c) reduce her own poverty and vast differentials of income distribution, and (d) surmount her propensity to constantly fight wars and stockpile dangerous weapon arsenals. It can also help shed her single-minded preoccupation with economic growth and accumulation of personal wealth, which come at the expense of other high values. Finally, it can help her overcome her intransigent independence that too often separates her from the needs and concerns of the rest of the world.

There is also a second reason for the US's present material success. The multiplicity and diversity of its immigrant citizens -- with their myriad of approaches, solutions, and accomplishments in life -- has released a tidal wave of energy in the nation. This phenomenon is a direct expression of Sri Aurobindo's renowned dictum and principle of life ''unity in diversity."� Together with its value of practical organization, the diversity of its citizens has given the USA an unprecedented power, enabling her to assume the mantle of economic and cultural leader of the world. What she needs to do now however is to evolve her consciousness beyond her current material view if she is to maintain such a lofty position. All indications are that the big change in the consciousness of the world could happen here first.

Source of Practical Inventions
The cultural atmosphere of Europe was missing in the American settlements. That helped focus their minds exclusively on practical inventions and work related issues. (MSS, N. Asokan)

USA and Organizational Efficiency
USA has more records for the life of the last 200 years than any other nation. She has distinguished herself as a nation of practical efficiency. In every other nation these versions of organisation are originally developed while in USA it is original imitation in the sense that populations from cultured nations came to a virgin land and created a new nation from scratch, but from a subconscious or conscious memory of their parent nations. (MSS)

US Planning Capacity
The hard struggle for survival has forged a strong individuality in the Americans. Such a formed individuality will not easily submit to any control even if it be in the form of planning. But nowadays we find Americans to be very good planners. It is puzzling to know how their hardened individuality has been reconciled to meticulous planning. Individuality gets formed by undergoing long experiences which involve much trial and error. On the other hand, planning abridges time and removes trial and error. Americans have compromised with their individualism to the extent they have realised the importance of planning in speeding up progress. (MSS, N. Asokan)

 

Hard Work
(main)

Physical Hard Work as Cause of US's Success
The US achievement is out of practical organisation in the physical plane. (MSS, slightly altered)

USA's Success & Limitation through Physical Hard Work
USA is the richest nation in the world. She achieved this abundance by very hard, hazardous, physical work. Physical work is the indispensable basis of Prosperity but it is not all. In the measure that physical work is informed by vital energy and mental knowledge, it rises in quality. I argue that in India such a work can be raised to Spiritual inspiration. Europe and USA have done it by organising mental education. I would not concede they have organised it. They have followed an empirical path that is partial and sporadic. (MSS)

US's Success and It's Sources of Silence
One is opposed to the other. Where there is activity, there is no Silence; where there is Silence, there is no activity. Sri Aurobindo says Silence sustains activity. Further, He says all those who have reached a little of that inner Silence know the surging waves of energy that are welling up from that immobile reservoir of SILENCE. During a discussion of the history of the USA along the lines of the Theory of Social Evolution, the author of that study asked the group a question: ''We see America is dynamic. If Sri Aurobindo's words are true, we must discover the silence behind the ocean-like activity on that continent."� An American member of the team asked the questioner to recall the physical silence of the American cities as against the noisy roads of India. Westerners, on landing in India, are aware of many things as part of a cultural shock, as anyone entering another culture feels. Of all these things, the din of noise in our towns, at home and everywhere is noticeable to them. America has no noise pollution.

On the roads in America, the noise of the car horn is rarely heard. On our roads [in India], it is the opposite. In not using the horn, the American driver has to exercise a great INNER restraint. The organisation of traffic must be far more efficient than here. It is an inner efficiency, which arises from an inner calm. An audience waiting for the speaker is vociferous, is what we know. In the West, the audience waits in silence. An inner restraint makes the inner silence possible. It is a spiritual principle that silence is more efficacious than the spoken word. OM symbolises that Silence. An American judge at the trial of war criminals in Nuremberg was given a house and three servants. He felt guilty about having any servants and wanted to dispense with them. He was used to working all by himself.

That is the American tradition. In the early days of the settlers, a person travelled to a god-forsaken place and started life. He would have absolutely no help apart from his family, if he had one. Usually a family would come to someone who had already set up in a place. Security first, family next, was the rule for settlers unless they had come to some vacant place with a family. Thus, man withdraws into himself. At work, he had no companion to speak with. After work, he fell plump into his bed often filling himself with liquor. He went into a stupor to get up the next morning and work. It is not spiritual seclusion and spiritual tapas. Mother called work the best prayer of the body. He was all by himself to accomplish. Friends or family were acquired after he succeeded. The enforced silence of his being alone with no one to consult generated the Silence out of, which issued the gigantic dynamism whose work America is today. Americans who come to work directly fall into their work after a 'Hello' or a 'Hi'. That is the maximum of their speech while at work. (MSS)

Strength of Overcoming Difficulties of the Frontier
The difficulties of frontier life have bred in the Americans a fierce determination to survive, which has made them very industrious and productive. They continue these traits long after the frontier has ceased to exist and these traits are rewarding them with a lot of prosperity. (N. Asokan, MSS)

 

Waves of Immigrants Living in Harmony
(main)

Benefit of US Immigrants to Its Success
The diversity of the US's continually refreshed immigrant population is an indicator of the shape of things to come. [That is, the internal harmony among the various people is a harbinger of the harmony of the various peoples of the earth [for the world]. (Paraphrase of MSS)

US's Practical Internal Harmony
The supreme need of several cultures having to live together brought the US a practical harmony in its existence.

Nature's experiment that has been brought several cultures together in the US is a direct antidote to fundamentalism. (Paraphrase of MSS)

All the Races in the US
America was isolationist in the 19th century. On Friday the reverse is true. She is all over the world. All the races on earth have come to the US. (MSS)

Beyond Class; Different Nationalities
Europe and India have suffered from the restrictions of class and caste. America offered an opportunity to develop a society without these anachronisms. Moreover people of different nationalities and ethnic backgrounds were able to come together and work for the common good. This is in line with nature's intention of forging human unity. As such the American nation has become the spot where an unheard of experiment in human unity is being successfully conducted. (MSS, N. Asokan)

Economic Opportunity that Enables Ethnic Minorities to Live Together in USA
When economic opportunities open up, Man has no time or energy for religious conflict, i.e. economics goes deeper into man's existence than what he believes to be his religious conviction. If ethnic conflicts are to acquire life and virulence, it should be in USA, because it is there we find a great number of dynamic ethnic minorities, but the USA is more free from ethnic conflicts than elsewhere. (MSS)

The True View of the Future for the Immigrant in the US
The ideal of the immigrants is the ideal of the nation they have come from. They tried to recreate in different walks of life the attainments of Greece, Rome, and their own countries. The thing that really took them to USA is their quest for freedom, which is the positive side of their settlement. Nostalgia makes them reestablish the old culture. That will be a retrogressive step. In this conflict man has to exercise his choice, which is the human choice. What the US citizen is to discover is not the past European civilization, but it is the essence of the past European civilization in the context of the present American freedom. (MSS)

Multiplicity of Cultures Within Enables the USA to Be a True Nation and Vanguard of the World

An individual becomes a True Individual when he is open to the widest possibilities; when he is unencumbered by the accepted norms; when he does not conform to the narrow influences of the herd. His level of influence and accomplishment becomes infinite like.

Likewise, a nation that is open to the widest possibilities, where its people can move in any and all directions, both outwardly and inwardly, will become eminently successful, and the world leader in its time.

It will rise to greatness when it is open to the widest influences; by the widest variation in culture, as was the case in Greece, Rome, and Britain in their heyday. For better or worse, they serve as the vanguard nation amongst all others.

Currently the US plays that role. It advocates freedom and individuality for its people; and experiences a vast array of cultural influences through its endless waves of immigrant populations. Together with its technological and organizational power, she has become a model True Individual Nation. That in turn has enabled it to be in the vanguard of world leadership.

Where the US goes from here will depend on her ability to expand upon her Individuality. That cannot come through material means alone, but through psychological maturity that embraces higher human values. If she cannot make that transition, then it will be up to other nations to forge that possibility.

India, for one is an excellent candidate, because her Individuality is rooted in a profound awareness of the Spirit and of soul consciousness within. Such a profound inner connection allows for ultimate insight, expression, and action; allowing her to become a True Individual nation, and eventually a leader and Guru of the world.

 

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Groups Get Along in US Because of Vast Economic Opportunity
The reason all of the varying groups get along in the US is because of great economic opportunity that exists there. Any man from any group can reach the top very quickly through hard work and perseverance. Without that opportunity the groups might very well be at each other's throats.

Solvent of Ethnic Conflicts in USA
That a nobody on the street can become a respectable citizen by hard, intelligent work is a SOLVENT of ethnic conflicts and tensions. ... Prosperity dissolves human perversity. (MSS)

Acceptance of Others
Land was in plenty and labour was in short supply in America. Therefore settlers ignored the cultural and religious differences between them and those they employed for work. Paucity of labour is a great leveler of differences. (MSS, N. Asokan)

Authority Decentralized
(main)
Decentralization/Delegation of Authority & Success of USA (vs. India)
The same fund of energy in the USA as in India gets converted into a far greater and better result because of organisational efficiency, which is different from technological superiority.

One part of that organisational effectivity is that in USA the AUTHORITY has moved down from the top and functions at various low levels on its own.

Authority is effectively delegated. Delegated authority defines the personality of the worker. He is thus enthused, energised, and motivated because what he does he sees as his own achievement.

In India, it is still at the conceptual stage. Top management pays lip service to delegation. (MSS)

US Going through Several Revolutions at Same Time
A nation that progresses like USA is undergoing several transitional period, i.e. Revolutions all the time. (MSS)

 

Ability to Rise to One's Potential, Talents
(main)

US Prosperity Due to Freedom to Rise to One's Talents
The American prosperity today rests on the principle of a Man doing any work in which he has talents. (MSS)

America Enables Talents to Blossom
It is talents that accomplish anywhere, but the rewards do not necessarily go to talents. They go to one in position. The older the culture, the harder for pure talents without status to thrive. America accomplished shortly what Europe took ages to accomplish. (MSS)

America Prospered Because There Was Unlimited Opportunity Beyond Caste, Class of Europe
Americans migrated from European countries because the social structure in England and Europe permitted anyone to rise only up to the social status of their father. They were forbidden to go beyond. In the fresh land of wilderness that America was in 1800 or 1900, there was no society to monitor individual progress. There were no classes or castes. Anyone could rise to any level not based on his class, but on his own education and capacity. That is social freedom, freedom from social restrictions. This is one main reason for America being a prosperous nation, flush with achievements. (MSS)

Why Europeans Migrated to America
Europeans migrated to America because the social structure in England and Europe permitted anyone to rise only up to the social status of the father. they were forbidden to go beyond. In the fresh lands of wilderness that America was in 1800 or 1900, there was no society to monitor individual progress. There were no classes or castes. Anyone could rise to any level not based on his class, but on his own education and capacity. (This is also one way the world energies act. If human progress is stultified by classes and castes, Nature creates a New World free of them.) (MSS, slightly modified)

The Emerging Individual and US Dominance
Pujyasri Karmayogi has very aptly and refreshingly referred to the concept of the ''emerging individual"� in North America and sees that as the reason for its dominance in the world's theatre of events. (Consecration, Jan-Feb 2006)

Ironically, Britain, which boasted of the sun never setting on its empire, lags far behind it on all fronts. Why? America enjoys a melting pot advantage with many races having a free existence in its land with cloistering tendencies never raising its ugly head. Its gregariousness was never insular but one of treating every individual as an entity eligible to contribute his mite intellectually, socially and emotionally. In short, individual freedom gravitated towards a collective effort mightily making it gain a global one-upmanship. Morality may at times be in a state of crises but a penetrating secular spirituality makes it a homogeneous state -- an amazing unity in diversity.  (C R Narayanan)

 

 

Freedom
(main)

America's Evolution from Physical Consciousness to Vital Individuality
America has evolved individuality at the physical level based on freedom from social constraints giving rise to all the dynamism and limitations of the physical (e.g. physical self-reliance goes hand in hand with extreme physical possessiveness and selfishness. How can one who has been asked to take care of himself think about giving to other?) America will progress by evolving to vital individuality. (MSS)

America Prospered Because There Was Unlimited Opportunity Beyond Caste, Class of Europe
Americans migrated from European countries because the social structure in England and Europe permitted anyone to rise only up to the social status of their father. They were forbidden to go beyond. In the fresh land of wilderness that America was in 1800 or 1900, there was no society to monitor individual progress. There were no classes or castes. Anyone could rise to any level not based on his class, but on his own education and capacity. That is social freedom, freedom from social restrictions. This is one main reason for America being a prosperous nation, flush with achievements. (MSS)

Freedom as Reason for America's success
-Her people felt they had the freedom and lack of social constraints so that they could rise to their full potential.

-A deeply entrepreneurial society based on the valued of personal freedom in the society.

-The drive and energy of the people motivated by new freedoms unavailable in their previous homelands.

Why US is So Prosperous
The reasons are many and varied  --  technology that is superior, abundant human energy of dynamic citizens, higher level of education, the social milieu, the respect for the individual, especially for women and children, equality of people of all descriptions, an atmosphere of utter personal freedom, etc. etc. (MSS)

America Qualifies for Individuality
We see the American thus qualifying for Individuality. His physical circumstances are ones of unlimited freedom. Vitally, he possesses all that he earns paying no taxes. He permits no social inhibition as he acts in a wilderness where there is no society. His motto is any problem has a solution, thus expressing one touch of infinity. From an isolation which he cherishes, he was compelled to emerge all over the world and has assumed leadership or accorded leadership in all known fields of human existence. He naturally gets into a larger rhythm. In the Second World War his army of 36,000 was very soon blown into four million soldiers. It is seen in his efficiency, the volume of output, its result of global domination. (MSS)

The True View of the Future for the Immigrant in the US
The ideal of the immigrants is the ideal of the nation they have come from. They tried to recreate in different walks of life the attainments of Greece, Rome, and their own countries. The thing that really took them to USA is their quest for freedom, which is the positive side of their settlement. Nostalgia makes them reestablish the old culture. That will be a retrogressive step. In this conflict man has to exercise his choice, which is the human choice. What the US citizen is to discover is not the past European civilization, but it is the essence of the past European civilization in the context of the present American freedom. (MSS)

The US South's Freedom that is Regressive
It is interesting to view the North-South divide and Civil War as the opposition of progressive and reactionary forces in America. From the beginning, the vast freedom of the New World was attractive to both those who wanted to cast off the conservative burden of class structure and evolve a freer society and those who wanted to return or establish a more perfect society along the old lines. Puritans came to America to impose a Puritan rule -- fundamentalism utopia -- free from the impurities of the Anglican Church and monarchy. Southern immigrants and aspirants longed to erect a new feudal aristocracy to mimic the old world aristocracy that was soon to crumble in the French Revolution. Mother says all growth is in freedom, but freedom is always a double edged sword that can be used for progressive or organization of outmoded egoistic demands. Thus even today America is a seedbed of progressive individuality and archaic fundamentalism.

These opposing forces coexisted for two centuries because of the vast area and loose structure of the emerging nation. When the progressive forces of the North reached a certain level of development that threatened to dominate, the South asserted its freedom to live in the past. The war was fought not over slavery but over national integration. The constitutional weaknesses born of the original compromise between independent colonies and a unified federation rose to the surface and threatened to divide the country forever. It was a war between past and future, aristocracy and democracy, agriculture and industry, vital-physical and mental-vital.

 

Self-Reliance, Individuality
(main)

Self Respect and Self Reliance Enables America Preeminence
The character of individual self-respect and self-reliance epitomized by the American pioneers has been the driving force for the rise of America to the pre-eminent position in world affairs. (MSS)

Cause of America's Dynamism, Limitations
America has evolved individuality at the physical/material level based on freedom from social constraints giving rise to all the dynamism and limitations of that same physical plane.

Cause of Strong Individuality
The hard struggle for survival has forged a strong individuality in the Americans. (MSS, N. Asokan)

America's Evolution from Physical Consciousness to Vital Individuality
America has evolved individuality at the physical level based on freedom from social constraints giving rise to all the dynamism and limitations of the physical (e.g. physical self-reliance goes hand in hand with extreme physical possessiveness and selfishness. How can one who has been asked to take care of himself think about giving to other?) America will progress by evolving to vital individuality. (MSS)

Americans are Individuals at Physical Level
America rules the world today. It is understood that her Money rules. She is powerful militarily, and in technology she excels the world. She has had all those capacities since 1825 or 1850 but the world has not taken note of her till 1940 when Hitler began to swallow Europe. Her eminence is a post war phenomenon. The world knows that the Americans are dynamic, efficient, energetic and organized. An American relies on himself and seeks no outside help. He has self-confidence and does not care for the negative comments of others. He invariably accomplishes. He does not seek any help in any work he undertakes. In other words, he is an individual; he has formed himself as an efficient individual which is his external personality. To this external, there is an inner core, inner psychological value. It has come into existence with reference to physical work. What begins as physical individuality has further stages of vital, mental, spiritual and supramental levels. [Then he can become a True Individual -editor] (MSS)

Self-reliance, Integrity in the Child Instead of Wealth Inheritance as Key to Success in America
All successful men in America are men who made it themselves, who made it in the first generation. Therefore, the general belief in America is, the son should be on his own, reliance on wealth prevents the formation of ability.

Bill Gates, having made 64 billion dollars, gives away his wealth. He has endowed each of his two sons with one million dollars each. He believes the boy will be a success if he starts from nothing and any substantial inheritance will spoil him. Our tradition is happy and proud to leave as large an inheritance as possible to posterity.

Europe has practised primogeniture, passing on the estate to the eldest son and leaving all the other children to their own resources. In England, most of the shining talents of the English came from the second sons of a Lord, as they were on their own, while the eldest mostly dissipated the wealth inherited.

Eight hundred randomly chosen individuals with a minimum of $125,000 a year income in USA were studied. It is about Rs. 50 lakhs a year, or 5 lakhs a month. Most of them are embarrassed to be called rich or wealthy. Nor do they desire to furnish their house luxuriously. They want their children to be on their own, and do not cherish the idea of their inheriting great wealth. What they want to pass on to their children is high values such as integrity and honesty.

The wealthiest nation in the world has learnt a valuable lesson that Integrity in the child is more valuable than inherited wealth. (MSS)

Google, the US, and True Individuality
The author of a BusinessWeek article quotes someone from Google: "that while the 20th century was all about conquering nature, the 21st century will be about understanding people."

If we look around we will see that these emerging times is about the emergence and support of the individual, which each person can blossom in full in all areas of his or her life. Interestingly, it is the US that demonstrates such individuality the most, which in turn explains whys she is the leader of the world. I.e. the US is a nation of true individuality.

And yet it is companies like Google who are on the front lines that are driving America to the forefront of thinking for one�s self, and not blindly following the herd. It is youth, like the young founders of Google, who are thinking most broadly and deeply; or as they say "out of the box." And it's these sort of people that invariably bring about the greatest change and have the most impact on society.

True individuality seems to be emerging in the world, and Google, US, and its young, innovative leaders are leading the way.

 

Entrepreneurship
(main)

America's Entrepreneurship and Leadership
America's is not essentially an economy of capitalism, but of entrepreneurship. Most of its prosperity has come through that entrepreneurial zeal -- from Ford to Gates to Jobs to Brin. When it becomes more capitalistic -- i.e. focusing only on money -- it begins to fail, as in the Great Depression when financial speculations ran rampant, and in a milder form as we have seen in recent global speculation and failure related to the housing industry.

Almost all economic growth in America's history -- and it is the world leading nation by far -- has been fueled by individuals deciding to take up an idea or possibility and run with it. That entrepreneurial zeal produced the overwhelming majority of the great companies, industries, and material benefits in the US -- and is still generating the same today. 

Now if only America can have that same impact at the higher psychological and mental planes, it could ignite another, even greater revolution. It can move from its current status as world economic and military leader to pioneer and guide of human potential in an ever more unified world.

US Entrepreneurship
-The US is a deeply entrepreneurial society based on the valued of personal freedom in the society.

-The US has walked the fine line between socialism and capitalism. In other words, she practiced entrepreneurialism that led to her great success. Pure capitalism led to failure as in the Great Depression.

Land of Infinite Possibilities in Seabiscuit
There is one less obvious, though powerful theme that permeates the story of Seabiscuit: it is the atmosphere of ''infinite possibilities"� that prevails in the minds of the people of 20th century America. From the very beginning, the narrator tells us of the infinite potential of America, and in particular the open-ended possibilities that exist in the American West. Not only is there a sense of freedom to do as one chooses, but that environment encourages individuality, where people can think for themselves, unencumbered by the old ways. There is thus a canvas, a landscape of infinite possibility for attaining success and fulfillment. It is in this atmosphere that Seabiscuit's rags to riches story takes place.

Charles at the outset pursues his dream, not wanting to be a spoke in a wheel, or a cog in a machine. As a result, he starts his own business selling bicycles, and then sells cars. In an environment of infinite possibility, he makes his own way, makes his own choices, expresses his individuality to become what he wishes to become. He is unfettered by the views of society, but forges ahead on his own. In a backdrop of infinite potentials, he is able to find fulfillment in life.

In fact, this is such an open-ended, inviting environment for accomplishment, that even when times are hard, when people are down and out on their luck due to the Great Depression; even when there are intense personal problems, the American dream remains alive in the heart of the people. I.e. a person can still find success and happiness in that infinite-like environment. All that is required is for a person to look around and see what is possible, and then choose in the direction that expresses his or her individuality. For Charles, Tom, Red, and Seabiscuit that is precisely what takes place -- despite the national hardship and their own personal problems in this land of infinite possibilities.

Envisioning the Future in Seabiscuit
Life is an open field. There are a myriad of choices before us. Those who are most successful in life are those who perceive and then seize the opportunities that are there before them. In Seabiscuit, the characters, particularly Charles, recognizes opportunities, seizes them, and accomplishes them in full. For example, in the beginning of the story Charles realizes that he does not have to be ''a spoke in a wheel"� while working at the bicycle shop. He perceives that there can be a different way, in which he has control over his own destiny. He heads out west and sets up a shop of his own. That in turn brings an overheated car in front of his shop, which enables him to recognize and prosper in yet another opportunity, the newly emerging automobile industry.

Catching the Wave -- It should be pointed out that Charles did not just perceive any opportunity, but one that reflected an important emerging wave in society. With the discovery of the combustible engine, the paving of roads throughout the country, and the desire amongst the public to move around quickly, easily and conveniently, the automobile was the emerging technology of the time. Charles perceived that emerging wave of opportunity, seized on it, and was taken to the top of his field.

Charles perceived opportunities related to his career in horseracing as well. First, he saw the potential for success in the horseracing field, and entered it. Then he saw the potential in Tom because of the values of honesty and sincerity he expressed; in Seabiscuit, despite his outer limitations; and in Red, despite his many failures to that point. Charles was able to look beyond the present limitations and envision future success in each instance. He proved to be correct on all counts.

Charles not only had the ability to perceive possibilities in ordinary, i.e. relatively positive circumstances, but also in negative ones as well. When he hears from Tom that Seabiscuit is not a great horse yet like War Admiral, rather than be discouraged by the fact, he turns it positive by envisioning a race between the two horses. In fact, later on when Riddle tries to thwart him from achieving that goal, Charles comes up with a series of innovative and successful strategies to lure him out.

Additional Thoughts on Entrepreneurship

 

True Individuality
(main)

America Qualifies for Individuality
We see the American thus qualifying for Individuality. His physical circumstances are ones of unlimited freedom. Vitally, he possesses all that he earns paying no taxes. He permits no social inhibition as he acts in a wilderness where there is no society. His motto is any problem has a solution, thus expressing one touch of infinity. From an isolation which he cherishes, he was compelled to emerge all over the world and has assumed leadership or accorded leadership in all known fields of human existence. He naturally gets into a larger rhythm. In the Second World War his army of 36,000 was very soon blown into four million soldiers. It is seen in his efficiency, the volume of output, its result of global domination. (MSS)

America through Its Individualy is the Pioneer of World Evolution
The secret of American prosperity lies not in any inherent superiority of its people but rather in the way it fosters the development and expression of each person's individual capacities. Here is the point where material accomplishment and spiritual attainment meet. For according to Sri Aurobindo, the emergence and development of individuality is a crucial and significant step in the spiritual evolution of life on earth. Individuality is the means by which the Divine manifests its infinite potential in a finite world. The individual is the pioneer of the world's spiritual evolution and America, more than any other country, respects, nurtures, encourages and celebrates individual uniqueness and individual accomplishment. (MSS)

The Emergence of the True Individual in Society
Today America rules the world as Great Britain did till the world war. Greece, Rome, and France had such eminence in their time. We see Greece had it on the strength of a culture that enabled it to flower Mind. Rome ruled Europe because of her law. France dominated Europe by her Freedom. Britain's eminence was made possible by her trade. North America dominates the world because the Individual is emerging there in the physical plane. Maybe the Americans are aware of their military, political strength and abundant wealth and do not really see the emerging Individual. That is the route social evolution has chosen. Army, wealth, political power, etc. are the results of the emerging Individual, not vice versa. In the twenty-first century, the Individual will certainly emerge and it will be credited as the century of the Individual. Emerging at the physical level, he ushers in prosperous plenty. At the vital level, he will be the harbinger of Peace expressed as international law and order. At the mental level, the emerging individual will establish the rule of Rationality, abolishing all kinds of superstition, which our present life abounds in. At that level, he will be a psychological individual and his goals will be psychological growth and ethical standards. The real individual is truly spiritual. He will accomplish things from inside and not move in the outer life. (MSS)

Americans are Individuals at Physical Level
America rules the world today. It is understood that her Money rules. She is powerful militarily, and in technology she excels the world. She has had all those capacities since 1825 or 1850 but the world has not taken note of her till 1940 when Hitler began to swallow Europe. Her eminence is a post war phenomenon. The world knows that the Americans are dynamic, efficient, energetic and organized. An American relies on himself and seeks no outside help. He has self-confidence and does not care for the negative comments of others. He invariably accomplishes. He does not seek any help in any work he undertakes. In other words, he is an individual; he has formed himself as an efficient individual which is his external personality. To this external, there is an inner core, inner psychological value. It has come into existence with reference to physical work. What begins as physical individuality has further stages of vital, mental, spiritual and supramental levels. [Then he can become a True Individual -editor] (MSS)

USA as Evolutionary Pioneer
We already see a general, wider pioneer emerging and leading the world to this new age of the true Individual. It is the United States. For all its crass materialism and its bullying political tactics, it is the evolutionary pioneer leading the world towards the emergence of this New Individual in our young century. The USA is the evolutionary pioneer because within its borders it has allowed for unprecedented individuality amongst its own people. In addition, it is working out all of the conflicts of society amongst a highly varied populace. This attempt to grapple with the varying sides of issues amongst a plethora of people types, is a semi-conscious attempt for further evolutionary progress. This generates a vast internal energy that spreads in various forms throughout the world enabling her to be in the evolutionary vanguard.

Additional Thoughts on True Individuality

Education & Literacy
(main)

Universal Literacy in Nations
Universal literacy created such a stir in Japan and in many European countries. It played that role in great intensity in the USA. (MSS)

 

 

Other
(main)

Why US is So Prosperous
The reasons are many and varied  --  technology that is superior, abundant human energy of dynamic citizens, higher level of education, the social milieu, the respect for the individual, especially for women and children, equality of people of all descriptions, an atmosphere of utter personal freedom, etc. etc. (MSS)

Article: Keys to US and India's Prosperity

Hypothesis: US Success after WWII Due to Convergence of Social Readiness and War Money Power
At the end of WWII society was ready for great social change; as indicated by the emerging role of women, freedom to travel the country and move, the natural expansive optimism, big technological breakthroughs, the great movement from country to cities, the development of systems of organization that were ready to blossom (e.g. shopping centers, and housing tracks), government development of highways for emerging expansion of the auto, etc. All could utilize the financial stimulus of the war costs, i.e. money stimulation to express themselves. Thus, a convergence of the energies of psychological and social development in society with the material and vital energies of money stimulus that can multiply it.* The great depression only pent these up to gather potential power. The war released it. Perhaps we can say that the US had more of these social development potentials than Europe which was at a somewhat different stage of development. I.e. the US energies were ripe for great expansion because of freedom, opportunity, endless possibility of the land, optimism, turned into a power through technology and money (financial stimulus of war). WWI would have similar dynamics.

[*An original thought. If substantiated, it will make a striking mark. (MSS)]
 

---

USA as Current World Leader
(top)

USA in Evolutionary Vanguard Due to Practical Organization
USA is the evolutionary vanguard, not by culture but by practical organization. (MSS)

USA as World Leader through Capacity
The USA is the world leader not through culture but through capacity.

Nature Selects America as Representative for Success and Basis of Future World Union
Nature has shunned Europe and Asia which are class ridden and caste ridden to create a vast expanse of human physical opportunities which will become the representative of the future world union. That is America. (MSS)

US as World Leader
Nature has let to physical/material leader, not the cultural --  the US -- lead the world.

USA as Evolutionary Pioneer
We already see a general, wider pioneer emerging and leading the world to this new age of the true Individual. It is the United States. For all its crass materialism and its bullying political tactics, it is the evolutionary pioneer leading the world towards the emergence of this New Individual in our young century. The USA is the evolutionary pioneer because within its borders it has allowed for unprecedented individuality amongst its own people. In addition, it is working out all of the conflicts of society amongst a highly varied populace. This attempt to grapple with the varying sides of issues amongst a plethora of people types, is a semi-conscious attempt for further evolutionary progress. This generates a vast internal energy that spreads in various forms throughout the world enabling her to be in the evolutionary vanguard.

Next Great Evolutionary Will Come First in US
The great evolutionary change will occur first through the United States and her people.

How America Should Lead
America should lead by encouraging all nations to partner with one another.

America's Classlessness and Her Vanguard Position
America's classlessness creates great physical opportunities, which puts her in the position to be in the vanguard of human progress and evolution.

America through Its Individualy is the Pioneer of World Evolution
The secret of American prosperity lies not in any inherent superiority of its people but rather in the way it fosters the development and expression of each person's individual capacities. Here is the point where material accomplishment and spiritual attainment meet. For according to Sri Aurobindo, the emergence and development of individuality is a crucial and significant step in the spiritual evolution of life on earth. Individuality is the means by which the Divine manifests its infinite potential in a finite world. The individual is the pioneer of the world's spiritual evolution and America, more than any other country, respects, nurtures, encourages and celebrates individual uniqueness and individual accomplishment. (MSS)

Multiple Experiments in USA Puts Her at Evolutionary Vanguard
The USA in many ways is trying several experiments in social evolution. So she is in the evolutionary vanguard. (MSS)

America's Personal Growth Makes Her Pioneer in World Evolution
Through her attempt to work out her vast difficulties (representing vast possibilities), the US is evolving. In fact she is the vanguard of such evolution, and serves to lead the world through this attempt. I.e. she is pioneering in her attempt at nation-evolution, and for that reason has become the social and spiritual pioneer of the world.

US Opening is Still Alive
The USA which still has the energy of the early settlement desires to know. It keeps the opening she gave herself 400 years ago. The whole world wants to take after America because that opening is still alive. (MSS)

America as Vanguard of Social and Spiritual Evolution
America is presently the vanguard of the world's social and spiritual evolution. Americans are evolutionary pioneers. (MSS)

Will America Continue as the Evolutionary Leader?
America has become the leader of the world -- particularly in the area of the economy and through its military power. Her status as ''evolutionary leader"� came about because she took to freedom, individuality, organization, mass production, and waves of immigrant population, to name a few. Every individual also had the knowledge of how to recreate Europe in the new virgin land. Thus, America enabled the infinite to emerge out of the physical plane; producing endless material well-being, becoming a model for the rest of the world.

Now the world is catching up, particularly in Asia. New interests are emerging in the world. Will the US continue to be the world evolutionary leader in this new environment? She will have to take to several steps to maintain that status, otherwise some other nation(s) will take up the mantle. First, she needs to overcome her reactionary, conservative tendencies that go back 150 years. Second, she needs to go beyond the material to the psychological, mental, and spiritual view of the world -- holding the individual as sacred and supporting him every way possible. Third, she needs to join the world community as an equal, cooperative partner, not as a renegade looking out for her own self-interests. The era of go-it-alone power has come to an end. World collaboration is the order of the day.

If America moves in these directions, she will maintain her status as the evolutionary leader, and play the central guiding role in society's further progress and evolution.

The test of her collaborative effort will come in two areas: how she takes up the issue of the environment, and whether she radically reduces her nuclear weaponry. If she is to maintain her mantle of evolutionary leader, she will need to move in the right direction on these two issues at least. If she fails, the baton will be passed on elsewhere; to those can lead the world through its next stage of ever-increasing human unity and integration.   

Russian-EU Alliance at Expense of US Influence
Because the US spurned the Russians after the Cold War and practiced a go it alone policy in dealing with the world, the Russians could suddenly become formidable partners with the EU, thereby weakening America's status and influence worldwide.

The Emergence of the True Individual in Society
Today America rules the world as Great Britain did till the world war. Greece, Rome, and France had such eminence in their time. We see Greece had it on the strength of a culture that enabled it to flower Mind. Rome ruled Europe because of her law. France dominated Europe by her Freedom. Britain's eminence was made possible by her trade. North America dominates the world because the Individual is emerging there in the physical plane. Maybe the Americans are aware of their military, political strength and abundant wealth and do not really see the emerging Individual. That is the route social evolution has chosen. Army, wealth, political power, etc. are the results of the emerging Individual, not vice versa. In the twenty-first century, the Individual will certainly emerge and it will be credited as the century of the Individual. Emerging at the physical level, he ushers in prosperous plenty. At the vital level, he will be the harbinger of Peace expressed as international law and order. At the mental level, the emerging individual will establish the rule of Rationality, abolishing all kinds of superstition, which our present life abounds in. At that level, he will be a psychological individual and his goals will be psychological growth and ethical standards. The real individual is truly spiritual. He will accomplish things from inside and not move in the outer life. (MSS)

US as Military, then Political, then Economic and now Cultural Leader of the World
The world leadership was almost thrust on USA after the second world war. Initially it was a military leadership. Then it became political leadership. Then it became a consequence of economic pre-eminence. Today USA is the cultural leader of the world. (MSS)

Cultural Leader Based on Material Leader
The US is becoming the cultural leader as a result of her material/economic prominence, not because of any particularly great cultural propensities.

Google, the US, and True Individuality
The author of a BusinessWeek article quotes someone from Google: "that while the 20th century was all about conquering nature, the 21st century will be about understanding people."

If we look around we will see that these emerging times is about the emergence and support of the individual, which each person can blossom in full in all areas of his or her life. Interestingly, it is the US that demonstrates such individuality the most, which in turn explains whys she is the leader of the world. I.e. the US is a nation of true individuality.

And yet it is companies like Google who are on the front lines that are driving America to the forefront of thinking for one�s self, and not blindly following the herd. It is youth, like the young founders of Google, who are thinking most broadly and deeply; or as they say "out of the box." And it's these sort of people that invariably bring about the greatest change and have the most impact on society.

True individuality seems to be emerging in the world, and Google, US, and its young, innovative leaders are leading the way.

USA as Leader
-Over a period of a hundred years, the world looked up to London as its capital. The Britisher had conquered several nations and established an empire on which, it was said, the sun never set. It was political power. To be precise, it was military power. Today the USA plays that role. This is because she is an economic power. Of course, behind it lies the political and military power.

-The world is treating USA as the leader and is taking after her culture.

-USA has become the cultural leader of the world by virtue of its economic status.

-If the US is in that role of leader then surely she must rise beyond the infinity she has created in matter; and discover the infinity in the psychology of the individual and the collective, in thoughtfulness and reason, and ultimately in spirit. This is the great challenge she must undertake if she is to remain in that role.

-If the US is to maintain its leadership role that the world has deferred to, it must move beyond merely being a material, economic, power leader. It must become a psychological leader, a leader in the social spheres, a leader of the Spirit. She would be wise to associate with India who can help her move toward a higher psychological and spiritual status. In that way the US can become the integral leader. If she stays at the material-only level, she will forfeit her leadership role, and will suffer in the process.

-The future leadership of the world is not even for the Mind. It goes to the Spirit. Whoever goes after the Spirit will qualify for the leadership of the world. There is a further step. It is not the partial Spirit that seeks to shun life; it is the Spirit that emerges in Life to enrich life spiritually. Material welfare is highly desirable, but a partial aim. Any partial aim will have the other side that troubles. No partial goal can any longer serve the world. The world needs a whole aim or an aim of the whole which will not have side effects or negative fallout. That goal is the Spirit in life. The leadership of the world will go to those that provide this whole aim. (MSS, modified)

-The Force is moving through technology in the US. Rather than moving directly from spirit-oriented India, the Force has taken an unexpected path, moving through the emerging subtle technology of Internet in the US, which extends in collaborative service work with India ... The reason the Force has moved through the US rather than directly from its source India to the world is that the US needs to brings its practical organization, including the infinite attracting Internet, to energize, focus, and make practically real the lessons of spirit. (MSS paraphrased & expanded; and Growth Online)

Emergence of US as Leading Power through Low (Physical) Consciousness (like British Empire)
USA launched the war of Independence.  Her Civil War was to overcome the physical passion for property and the ownership of slaves, an extreme form of physical possessiveness. In WW I she was a supplier and it helped her to overcome her depression. Pearl Harbour was her taste of WWII. Supplying arms to WWII, she became very rich, i.e. she found the physical fight of Europe her avenue for economic growth. After the war, the war-ravaged nations became her market. She too overcame her physicality by participating in the war. Now she is in the phase of economic expansion and is becoming a cultural leader of the world by economic, military, political power, much as England did in the 19th and 20th centuries, based on her military, imperial, and economic power. Japan challenged USA for a while and the Chinese market attracted her. These are symptoms exactly parallel to UK going to the Middle East and Asia for trade and conquest. It ended up in the conqueror being conquered by the culture of the subject nations. The British Empire was the main reason for the interest of the West now in Zen, Buddhism and Eastern mysticism. (MSS)

US Can Lead World to Spirituality through Strong Physical Base
Materialism is the solid foundation from which spirituality can arise. US can lead the world into spirituality from its material base. Of course, it hasn't the spiritual knowledge whatsoever. That it will need to gather from the East, in particular India, or better yet from its own self.

Multiplicity of Cultures Within Enables the USA to Be a True Nation and Vanguard of the World

An individual becomes a True Individual when he is open to the widest possibilities; when he is unencumbered by the accepted norms; when he does not conform to the narrow influences of the herd. His level of influence and accomplishment becomes infinite like.

Likewise, a nation that is open to the widest possibilities, where its people can move in any and all directions, both outwardly and inwardly, will become eminently successful, and the world leader in its time.

It will rise to greatness when it is open to the widest influences; by the widest variation in culture, as was the case in Greece, Rome, and Britain in their heyday. For better or worse, they serve as the vanguard nation amongst all others.

Currently the US plays that role. It advocates freedom and individuality for its people; and experiences a vast array of cultural influences through its endless waves of immigrant populations. Together with its technological and organizational power, she has become a model True Individual Nation. That in turn has enabled it to be in the vanguard of world leadership.

Where the US goes from here will depend on her ability to expand upon her Individuality. That cannot come through material means alone, but through psychological maturity that embraces higher human values. If she cannot make that transition, then it will be up to other nations to forge that possibility.

India, for one is an excellent candidate, because her Individuality is rooted in a profound awareness of the Spirit and of soul consciousness within. Such a profound inner connection allows for ultimate insight, expression, and action; allowing her to become a True Individual nation, and eventually a leader and Guru of the world.

Physical Consciousness of America as Evolutionary Leader
At no time did the evolutionary spearhead have any conscious idea except Napoleon till his conscious choice of decline. Humanity is physical. Its thinking, especially when it represents the collectivity, is physical. At these moments, one can say, 'they [the Americans] think with their bodies'. (MSS)

The Emerging Individual and US Dominance
Pujyasri Karmayogi has very aptly and refreshingly referred to the concept of the ''emerging individual"� in North America and sees that as the reason for its dominance in the world's theatre of events. (Consecration, Jan-Feb 2006)

Ironically, Britain, which boasted of the sun never setting on its empire, lags far behind it on all fronts. Why? America enjoys a melting pot advantage with many races having a free existence in its land with cloistering tendencies never raising its ugly head. Its gregariousness was never insular but one of treating every individual as an entity eligible to contribute his mite intellectually, socially and emotionally. In short, individual freedom gravitated towards a collective effort mightily making it gain a global one-upmanship. Morality may at times be in a state of crises but a penetrating secular spirituality makes it a homogeneous state -- an amazing unity in diversity.  (C R Narayanan)

Advance of Civilization and Role of India and US
Advance of civilisation arrives at revelations which later become their culture. The Greek's intellectual culture, the Roman's love of law, the European scientific enquiry, British patronage of democracy and the American's excelling in practical organisation are such consummations. The Indian discovery of the Spirit as the underlying principle for all these expressions and their reliance on that spiritual approach to shape their daily life are unique to India.  This is the basis of Sri Aurobindo's statement that India would become the Guru of the world.

The world is treating USA as the leader and is taking after her culture. Even in India this is true. I consider this movement in the historical perspective that Nature develops her several facets at several parts of the globe before she achieves her desired consummation. The full cycle of human capacities having been developed successively, what remains now is to unite them all. I see Indians moving to the West in that light. (MSS)

Microcosm of the Coming Social and Cultural Unity of the World

Los Angeles is a vast city of suburbs that seems without end. Not only does the landscape of houses appear endless -- fulfilling the ''American Dream"� of home ownership -- but the multiplicity of ethnic cultures from around the world makes it a melting pot in the extreme.

Recently I flew down from the San Francisco area to Los Angeles to meet with a client who provided employees for a massive condominium construction project near the ocean. The evening before the meeting, I ventured out of my hotel to find some dinner, crossed the wide boulevard, and came upon one of the ubiquitous ''strip malls"� in the area. Amidst a plethora of small retail businesses, at first I discovered a typical (for the US) Italian restaurant on the corner of the mall. However, next to it I was surprised to find a Peruvian restaurant, something I had never seen in the States before. Next to it I then saw a Vietnamese eatery, and next to that a Pakistani/Indian establishment. It seemed that in this small nook of Los Angeles, the world had gathered in close proximity, creating a kind of culinary United Nations. A similar scene is repeated hundreds if not thousands of times in venues throughout the region.

Below the radar of our awareness, the world is slowly but surely moving towards human unity. It has been a slow and irregular process, but it has accelerated in the last fifty years, even more so in the last ten. The unity of humanity occurs, in essence, when the multiplicity the cultures are able to come together, interact, and establish an integral bond, a certain level of vital affection, and ultimately a commonality of deep purpose.

It is important to point out that such unity expresses across a spectrum of depth that ranges from the material to the ethereal; from the mundane to the sublime. At the most basic level, human unity begins when there is political cooperation within and among the nations of the earth. Unity then moves to a somewhat higher plane through the economic integration of nations and peoples. It then makes a vast leap through the social and cultural, and culminates in the psychological and even the spiritual unity. To be honest, we are barely passing through the first stage, as nations still struggle to live in political harmony, though we are also making considerable progress of late in the second stage of economic integration. We have yet to make any substantial inroads into the social and psychological integration, as we each live in our separate worlds, each oblivious to the depths of one another's cultures.

If we examine life closely, we see that the smallest entity can be a microcosm of something much greater. For example, the atom and the electrons that spin around it are a microcosm of our solar system, even the universe itself. In that sense, the single nation of the US is a microcosm of the entire world. Gathered there are most if not all of the ethnic cultures, who are trying to work out a certain level of cooperation, even harmony of purpose. The US is in essence a microcosm of how the peoples of the world (the nations, the cultures, religions, world-views etc.) are trying to move beyond their differences, and enjoin and integrate their vast cultural and social resources. It seems that the symbolic experiment in America is so far working -- which is a harbinger of what is in store one day for the entire world.

The frontiers of social, cultural, and spiritual integration require a vast psychological shift in Man. On the other hand, for there to be this great inner transition amongst the races, cultures, ethnicities, et al, there needs to be a solid material foundation and basis. Physical/material stability and security must always precede the psychological to create a sustainable social environment. Practically speaking for the world that translates as economic stability and prosperity. The reason that the immigrant races/ethnicities get along in the US is that there is the sense that there is continuous economic opportunity and prosperity available. Without it, the basic cooperation that exists amongst the races would fall apart.

It is interesting to note that the US is also beginning to work out the social and cultural unity of the world's races on its own turf. E.g., people of all ethnic persuasions come to a wide swath of meeting places, such as the ethnic restaurants in this strip mall of Southern California, and by interacting in business offices, in schools, and so forth. There, as elsewhere, we see the first glimmers of social and cultural unity. The ability to sample the world's foods in a social setting provides not only the material foundation to explore other cultures, but provides a degree of psychological identity with that people -- enabling further social, cultural, and spiritual awareness, harmony, and integration. These developments are important milestones, flags along the way that mark critical stages in the emerging unity of the world. These are in turn the first glimmers of what Sri Aurobindo heralded for the future when he spoke of the possibility of a Divine Life on earth.

California as US Leader
The US is the leader of the world, and California is the leader of the US.

Winds of Change from California
The wave of innovation in America increasingly blows from West to East from California across the US. Environmentalism, PC revolution, Internet revolution, New Age thinking and management, etc. started and then moved from the SF Bay Area east. Stanford, like nearby Berkeley is a hotbed of New Thinking. To develop such capacities elsewhere, in other areas of the US (and elsewhere) requires a fresh, new view of reality, promulgated by new personal and social values that catch the wave of the future.

San Francisco Bay Area's Effects on World Movements
The Beats and then the Hippies planted the seeds of the global technology movement of PCs, smart Mobile phones, and the Internet we see today. After all Silicon Valley is the SF Bay Area, and the beats, hippies, middle classers, gov�t, and military types all came together in a stew to create the technology that is leading the world into a new era of smarts. (The same is true for the Bay area in initiating the global environmental movement, sexuality, openness and freer lifestyle in the workplace, new age spirituality, east-west cultural integration, etc, etc..) Even the United Nations was founded in the region, indicating an aspiration in the area for world unity and global harmony.

USA's Focus in Scientific Technology
USA which is focusing not so much on Science as Scientific Technology.

The Ridiculed of the Past (as in USA) Become the Admired
Until the First World War, America was a contemptuous word. Before the Second World War, the continental people lost their contempt and replaced it with ridicule. No longer does the word American excite any ridicule in any nation of the world including England, though it is nowhere received with respect.

American military prowess is unrivalled. Its political eminence is seen all over the world. Her economic power dominates more than half the world. She is becoming a cultural leader of every nation. Her food items, dress style, and way of life are welcome all over. One may question their desirability or not. But this remains a fact. She has reached this position because once she was a neglected continent, if not oppressed.

The oppressed of yesterday will be the adored of tomorrow, is a rule history has honoured. (MSS,, extracted)

America Thinks with Their Bodies
American (unfortunately) think with their bodies.

US Aid to Europe Makes Them Satellite for US Markets, & Lost Their Voice
All the nations of Western Europe that received a generous dose of aid through the Marshall Plan have become satellites of the USA and her permanent market. In the field of politics, they have lost their voice to the giver of aid.

Self is the Soul of a nation. It is seen as self-respect and self-reliance. They are not worth parting with.
 

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USA's Limitations, Problems & Challenges
(top)

 

General Statements | Unabsorbed Energy

Moving Beyond Her Physical/Material Consciousness and Focus

Need for Psychological, Spiritual Growth

 

General Statements

America's Success and Limits
America's success has come about because she has unleashed the power of the individual through the workings of democracy giving rise to dynamism, organization, and vast material well-being. It is a power that has come through the utilization of the Mind of Man applied at the physical/material level. As a result, she has become the evolutionary leader of the world.

She has not however implemented her power at the higher vital, psychological, mental, and spiritual levels. If she is to remain in the vanguard, she must do so; otherwise Life will look to another for global guidance and strength.

America's Evolution from Physical Consciousness to Vital Individuality
America has evolved individuality at the physical level based on freedom from social constraints giving rise to all the dynamism and limitations of the physical (e.g. physical self-reliance goes hand in hand with extreme physical possessiveness and selfishness. How can one who has been asked to take care of himself think about giving to other?) America will progress by evolving to vital individuality. (MSS)

Will America Continue as the Evolutionary Leader?
America has become the leader of the world -- particularly in the area of the economy and through its military power. Her status as ''evolutionary leader"� came about because she took to freedom, individuality, organization, mass production, and waves of immigrant population, to name a few. Every individual also had the knowledge of how to recreate Europe in the new virgin land. Thus, America enabled the infinite to emerge out of the physical plane; producing endless material well-being, becoming a model for the rest of the world.

Now the world is catching up, particularly in Asia. New interests are emerging in the world. Will the US continue to be the world evolutionary leader in this new environment? She will have to take to several steps to maintain that status, otherwise some other nation(s) will take up the mantle. First, she needs to overcome her reactionary, conservative tendencies that go back 150 years. Second, she needs to go beyond the material to the psychological, mental, and spiritual view of the world -- holding the individual as sacred and supporting him every way possible. Third, she needs to join the world community as an equal, cooperative partner, not as a renegade looking out for her own self-interests. The era of go-it-alone power has come to an end. World collaboration is the order of the day.

If America moves in these directions, she will maintain her status as the evolutionary leader, and play the central guiding role in society's further progress and evolution.

The test of her collaborative effort will come in two areas: how she takes up the issue of the environment, and whether she radically reduces her nuclear weaponry. If she is to maintain her mantle of evolutionary leader, she will need to move in the right direction on these two issues at least. If she fails, the baton will be passed on elsewhere; to those can lead the world through its next stage of ever-increasing human unity and integration.  

Overcoming Her Limits at the Physical/Material Plane
To know the problems of America is to know the limits that exist when we live at the physical/material plane -- i.e. when we look out at life from only that perspective. Examples of our limits at the material plane, or the plane of mind that is dominated by physical phenomenon-

-Seeing only the surface of life.
-Thinking dominated by what it sees and hears, rather than real, pure, rational, logical thinking. "Thinking with the body."
-Valuing matter, material things above all.

-Valuing only the verifiable physical fact, the empirical only (which is what science and technology tend to do)
-Domination of the functioning of one's body without comparable levels of feeling or awareness of other planes, including the vital and mental.
-Limited rational and logical thought.

-(Positive) self preservation through self-reliance, individuality that however cuts one's off from others, the collective, higher values.
-Extreme physical selfishness.
-Extreme physical possessiveness.
-Individual brutality. Fascination with violence (guns, many wars engaged in, proliferation of weapons, nuclear arsenals, gang wars, physical competition, etc.).
-Inability to value the collective, society beyond the individual.
-Limited vital and mental values.
-Seeing money as individual resource, not as a product of society.

The Promise of a Divided America
400 years ago, newly arrived settlers came to this continent and met with a virgin land consisting of endless forests and lush valleys. And yet, the waves of immigrants who came were able to quickly tame the land. Seeking to replicate Europe in the new homeland, the settlers knew what had to be done. They also they had the life skills of a hundred European generations. The only challenge was how fast and efficiently they could do it.

And so, the immigrant population developed the means to make that happen -- later known as mass production. The people were not only able to organize and develop all of the necessities for life on the new continent, but within 100 years were able to produce them for nearly everyone in the bourgeoning population. This centuries-long movement peaked with Henry Ford's production line facilities used to build the Model T automobile for the common man.

Waves of immigrant population from a variety of lands, the knowledge of the European homeland in the minds of the settlers, and taking to mass production and organization are several of the keys to the enormous prosperity that came to America. So was the drive and energy of the people motivated by new freedoms unavailable in their previous homelands. Individuality arose in place of the oppression, the greater conformity, and the hierarchical structure of Europe. By the 20^th century, America, once ridiculed by Europeans as an outpost of savages, had matched and then surpassed economically and materially all of Europe. The old world's cynicism and arrogance was left behind in the dust by a new pioneer society that continues to thrive until this day.

Then there is the other side of the coin. Somewhere along the line, mostly in the last 100 years, a negative conservative strain has entered the body politic and the population of the United States. Where it issues from and what harmful purpose it serves remains to be determined. But its negative affect on the society is well known -- from the Civil War support of slavery in the South; to a reluctance amongst the hinterland peoples to fight German and Japanese fascism that put the nation at great risk; to the support of a war against the Vietnamese people, who were seeking independence from their colonial masters. Worse still, is their antagonism towards virtually every positive value that has come into society, from the rise of woman, to the rise of new, more sophisticated cultural values. 

It has its roots mostly in non-urban areas, on the fringes of suburbia where it meets the countryside -- where issues forth an endless stream of ignorance and false knowledge. It originates in a barely-educated ignorant, superstitious rural white population, which in turn creates a blowback to a conservative middle class. Though the rural areas express reasonable concerns about safety and security, and demonstrate kindliness toward one another, it is a veneer, which breaks down quickly when these simple people are confronted by the realities of a changing world. This conservative element then reemerges, seeking by-gone eras, unable to embrace the challenges of a modern world. As a result, they become reactionary and anachronistic. Even their religion turns from providing spiritual sustenance and moral direction to a certain narrow-mindedness, a conformity of belief, and eventually radical reactionary political and social points of view.

There is another problem in American society, perhaps more ominous. It can be stated as its ''physical consciousness of violence."� Consider the facts in 2006: 200 million guns held amongst the population; $400 billion a year in military spending, when the next largest nation is spending barely $40 billion per annum; and thousands of nuclear warheads remaining deployed and ready -- even though the Cold War has now long passed. Add to that the glorification of violence in the culture at nearly every level, and you have ominous incendiary disaster waiting to happen. How has this great country that once sought to avoid persecution and nurtured extreme individuality of the Common Man developed this physical consciousness of violence -- a negative power that can easily, and most dangerously, turn on itself at any time?

Some would say that it is the result of another US problem: a view of life that only sees the physical/material as real; with all other planes -- i.e. the psychological, the societal, the spiritual -- relegated to a secondary or even non-status.  One sage has commented that ''Americans think with their bodies."� This means that they tend to relate to life only through what they see, to what is materially visible; i.e. to what their five senses are absorbing from the environment. Their center of perception is thus in a lower sense-orientation of the mind, instead of the clear thinking, higher functioning or logical and rational mind, where one can more readily perceive the wider and deeper truths and conditions of life.

This obsession with the outer physical realities of life occurs in many ways -- in their obsession with their physical bodies; through a wild, mindless fascination with all things physical; and in their unbound glorification of technology and scientific advancement at the expense of deeper appreciation of human values. Watch any newscast and you will see a childlike fascination with the physically visible. Little seems to be understood by the American viewer unless there is a video or a graph or some other physical object to engage him. Also, the American cannot sit still for a minute, nor take to several moments of silence. He needs to rush off and accomplish, never to consider and be. Too many American finds it difficult to seriously and sincerely address the deeper meaning of things. Except, of course, when Nature forces them to do so; when She pulls them out of their shallow existence through a variety of tragedies.

The nation is thus divided between its positive and negative attributes. Among the positive are the continuous waves of immigrant who bring fresh energies and ideas, an overwhelming capacity for physical organization and mass production, and the enormous power of freedom and individuality in the society. Balanced against these are the virulent strains of anachronistic conservatism, a physical consciousness of violence, and an obsession with the materially visible at the expense of the deeper perceptions of the truths of life.

Usually we think of a divided country as a fissure between different segments of the society, or two political parties. Here I am suggesting that the division lies along more fundamental lines. It is between consciousness and unconsciousness that cuts across all strata of the American society.

By overcoming the negative and reinforcing the positive, America can bring about the synthesis that will enable further progress in the nation. Because America is so full of energy, she is ripe for such change. Because she has the physical means and material prosperity, she is ready to move to the next level of consciousness. She is the one country ready to make the decisive evolutionary change.

America has taken on the role as the material leader and pioneer in the world -- despite her known psychological and perceptive limitations. To become the psychological and spiritual leader beyond the material, she must confront her demons and limitations. Otherwise, she will falter. If so, she will be forced to hand over her mantle as Pioneer and Leader to other nations, perhaps those of Asia, such as India. And yet, she is now ready and ripe to make this decisive change. We will watch closely for such developments as the course of events unfold.

Problems of US
-America's fascination with the material only view rooted in science, excluding the subtle forces, values, and powers of life causes it to create products of destruction and harm.

-The events of September 11th indicate the unorganized energy of America, as it also indicates the unorganized energy of the citizens of the Middle East. Both are evolving off of one another through their difficult association. Contradictory forces are really complements who need one another to evolve.

-Why the US is perpetually involved in so many wars must be considered.

Cause of America's Social Problems
America in the last few decades has moved towards intensity of drugs, alcohol, music, violence, etc. It is because the traditional family bonds that held the family together are breaking down and are being outgrown, and we seek a higher formation for these loosened bonds that we have substituted these intensities. Eventually we will evolve to the next stage where we find a new harmony and new connectedness, thereby outgrowing these intensities.

USA's Limitations, Problems & Challenges
-The US has found the infinite Brahman in matter. She needs to bring out that same infinite in all of the other dimensions of life and existence. Otherwise she will suffer.

-America's fascination with the material only view rooted in science, excluding the subtle forces, values, and powers of life causes it to create products of destruction and harm.

-The events of September 11th indicate the unorganized energy of America, as it also indicates the unorganized energy of the citizens of the Middle East. Both are evolving off of one another through their difficult association. Contradictory forces are really complements who need one another to evolve.

-Why the US is perpetually involved in so many wars must be considered.

-If the US is in that role of leader then surely she must rise beyond the infinity she has created in matter; and discover the infinity in the psychology of the individual and the collective, in thoughtfulness and reason, and ultimately in spirit. This is the great challenge she must undertake if she is to remain in that role.

America: Embracing the Other Side of the Coin
Life appears as opposites; hot and cold, night and day; truth and falsehood good and evil, to name a few. Mind normally prefers one side over the other -- e.g. beauty over ugliness. But life is not so simple, as these opposites are in truth complementary pairs; i.e. they need one another. We however prefer the side that meets our preference, opinions, and beliefs.

One of the great dualities, which are really complementary pairs is freedom and cooperation. In America, we enjoy our freedom; cooperation is secondary. And yet we cannot have true freedom unless we learn to live together. In Asia, cooperation is paramount; and yet how can one collaborate if one is not free to express one's true individual position in life.

To be successful in life, we must understand and embrace all sides of an issue, including the pairs of opposites, as well as the shadings between the two. The South Korean flag's Yin-Yang symbol indicates the unity and integration between the two. It is a deep value worth embracing.

After great economic expansion during the Gilded Age of the 19^th century, America experienced the great depression. After decades of unbridled material-based individuality, the reality of lack of cooperation reared its ugly head. Unfettered speculation and greed ushered in an era of unprecedented poverty in America. Material-oriented Individuality had gone too far, as all efforts too create rules and regulations -- a direct implementation of the value of cooperation and harmony -- was ignored. The US pulled itself out of its misery through WWII, itself caused by a lack of cohesiveness amongst the nations of Europe before that conflagration.

Sixty years later America forgot all of those events and lessons to be learned and embarked on unfettered material-oriented individuality again. After the Cold War, it saw no need to cooperate with other nations, hence the disastrous Iraq war, and saw no need to put in place regulation for economic control and development. Hence the current financial crisis that threatens the very makeup of the free-market system. In America, a reactionary conservative philosophy that sees government as evil, rather than the complementary force she is has led the country once again down the road of excess individuality at the expense of the harmony and well-being of its people. In the absence of self-control and limited values, life has moved forward and pressed upon the nation the importance of cooperation. If Man won't move in the direction of truth, Nature will. And that means suffering and pain.

America was founded on the premise of individuality and freedom. Instead of true individuality, it has embarked on unfettered economic liberty. That translates that in the field of economics we do not want any chains on us; no watchdog organizations to observe us; no government regulation. We want to do as we please. But life cannot succeed unless the other side of the coin -- cooperation -- is adopted. Though at first perceived as opposites, Freedom and Cooperation are in the end complements of one another; that depend on one another for overall success in life.

The Rise and Fall of Empires
Every empire has risen on the basis of a strength or force that has given rise to a greater form and failed because the form was deficient to give full expression to the force.

1. Greece:

a. Rose by the power of mind. Will Durant says even today it is Hellenic thought that rules the world. Its contribution was in ideas, philosophy, the arts and conceptual sciences (Level 1 & 2) and in architecture (level 3). Sri Aurobindo says Greek thought could not develop further because it was limited to mind and did not know the spirit.

b. On the other side, it did not fully apply mind to organize social life, which the Romans did. Its principle of democracy remained a cloistered virtue.

c. Greece rose by organizing military force, minting coins, developing export oriented trade to compensate for its poor soil.

2. Rome

a. Applied the power of mind to life and generated principles of law, administration and governance which it extended to citizens throughout the empire. It organized the military. Its strength was in organizational social mechanism.

b. Its weakness was in social vital to harness the social energies continuously. The empire died of economic bankruptcy but without any debt, which means it failed to fully understand the power of money and how government could create money. It knew organization at the mental and social level, but did not know how to fully organize the vital energies of society through money.

3. England

a. Fully knew the power of money. It organized national currency, banking and public debt and created a global commercial empire of unprecedented prosperity

b. Negatively it insisted on principles of aristocracy both at home and in relation to its colonies. Therefore it failed to tap the vital energies and aspirations of the common man and ultimately failed.

4.  America

a. Unleashed the power of the individual in democracy and applied the power of the mind at the physical level through production and social organization.

b. Negatively it has tried to resurrect and perpetuate the old power structure of the nation state rather than fully extend power to the individual and to the global society. It has tapped the power of the individual, but not the power of the social collective (only the power of the nation-state), i.e. it remains socially unformed and immature.

c. If America is to continue to be the evolutionary leader, it will have to shift from exercising national power to evolving global power through global institutions such as a world central bank, world currency, world army, world government. Otherwise the evolutionary spark will arise elsewhere.

d. Its response to the environment and nuclear weapons are critical tests of its capacity for leadership. (MSS)

US Presidential Insincerity
Though an individual takes action that appears positive on the surface, he may be masking insincerity that has long term negative effect.

Nixon had expanded the war in Vietnam, played dirty tricks domestically, and was embroiled in Watergate. With his fortunes sinking, Kissinger offered the possibility of going to China. It was not China's benefit that was the motive, but a way to create a wedge against the Soviets. Even the Mother commented on these nefarious tactics in the Agenda, hoping instead for reconciliation between the US and the Soviets. Insincerity was thus there behind.

Reagan was burdened by Iran-Contra scandal. His legacy was also much in question. When he saw the opening through Gorbachev to end the Cold War he went for it, saving his legacy. Even his moronic wife advocated he take it up as a way to save face. Once he left however there was no desire to eliminate the rest of the missiles. All that mattered in the negotiations was getting the upper hand for America. There was no sincere effort to complete the process, which lingers ominously to this very day. Again, insincerity was there behind.

Bush now in power is the latest manifestation of insincerity. It expresses in so many dozens of small and large ways that it borders on the absurd. (McCain has perhaps the most confused and contradictory outlook in modern presidential history. Obama was unconscious of the fact that he was being used by conservative independents to humiliate Hillary Clinton, and thus women.) 

America is looking for advantage not cooperation and communion, demonstrating its adolescent, independent-minded immaturity. How can it lead the world when its self-interests trump the movement toward world unity?

Evolving through Nature's Method of Contradictions
Contradictions are complements in the sense that they represent aspects of a greater truth and through their interaction and conflict they help that greater truth to emerge. The existence of slavery in the USA, a country founded on the principles of freedom and equality, forces the society over time to dig deeper into the roots of prejudice and domination of one group by another and eradicate it at a deeper level. The principle of equality came to America with the impoverished immigrants trying to escape persecution and domination by the aristocracy of Europe in the freedom of a new land. That same freedom attracted the aristocrats of Europe who were condemned and persecuted during the French Revolution to come to America where they could be free to reestablish their aristocratic culture. Aristocracy requires someone to be subordinate. In America the common man is not subordinate, so they brought slaves to serve them. Mother says there can be no growth without freedom. She also says that whenever freedom is given, it becomes freedom for the lower to reassert itself. Here aristocracy reasserted its superiority in the freedom of the New World. Even peasants coming to America longed to become aristocrats so they could enjoy the prestige of their erstwhile lords. The interaction of these contradictory tendencies forces America to evolve a society which accords equality before the law to people of all nations greater than that of any other country. Had it not been for slavery, this never would have happened. (MSS)

Backtracking on Valuing Talents
America that valued pure talents and overtook the world has started being conservative for over a hundred years in certain things in certain areas. (MSS)

Challenges for US
The question is then how can America become one people that is spiritual, pure, cooperative, freethinking, multi-faceted, open, and tolerant; shedding religion, conformity, and hedonism. It will take the shaking of superstition, an openness to truth, the adoption of high educated values, and the emergence of the profound Spirit in life. It can happen consciously, or it can occur unconsciously through Nature's slow method which embraces our current attachment to Ignorance and Falsehood.

Russian-EU Alliance at Expense of US Influence
Because the US spurned the Russians after the Cold War and practiced a go it alone policy in dealing with the world, the Russians could suddenly become formidable partners with the EU, thereby weakening America's status and influence worldwide.

The US South's Freedom that is Regressive
It is interesting to view the North-South divide and Civil War as the opposition of progressive and reactionary forces in America. From the beginning, the vast freedom of the New World was attractive to both those who wanted to cast off the conservative burden of class structure and evolve a freer society and those who wanted to return or establish a more perfect society along the old lines. Puritans came to America to impose a Puritan rule -- fundamentalism utopia -- free from the impurities of the Anglican Church and monarchy. Southern immigrants and aspirants longed to erect a new feudal aristocracy to mimic the old world aristocracy that was soon to crumble in the French Revolution. Mother says all growth is in freedom, but freedom is always a double edged sword that can be used for progressive or organization of outmoded egoistic demands. Thus even today America is a seedbed of progressive individuality and archaic fundamentalism.

These opposing forces coexisted for two centuries because of the vast area and loose structure of the emerging nation. When the progressive forces of the North reached a certain level of development that threatened to dominate, the South asserted its freedom to live in the past. The war was fought not over slavery but over national integration. The constitutional weaknesses born of the original compromise between independent colonies and a unified federation rose to the surface and threatened to divide the country forever. It was a war between past and future, aristocracy and democracy, agriculture and industry, vital-physical and mental-vital.

US and Europe

US and Europe are currently contradictory complements; i.e. they are in mental conflict at the surface, though secretly each knows what the other side does not, and can be of aid to them if the other side is open to it. On the surface we see a conflict of ideas. Viewed from the depths, it is an indicator of an emerging higher harmony beyond current points of view, which invariably express through events of history.

 

America has entered the vacuum created at the end of the Cold War. When attacked, she moved to fill the vacuum -- moving in fact in a hundred directions at one.

 

She put full effort to prevent terrorism in her own nation, and remarkably thus far there has not been a single serious incident since 9/11 in the US.

 

But going in so many directions to overcome evils she perceives, she has extended herself beyond her material and psychological capacity. For every victory there seems to be a defeat. Also, her conservative tendencies have rallied support for this sometimes mindless, multi-pronged approach. (The physical does not know bounds; it just moves until the mind tames her unruly tendencies, like the bridling of a wild stallion.) 

 

Europe knows this. She herself however also has no power yet to enter the vacuum. She is trying too to work that out (e.g. we see the emergence of something akin to a European rapid reaction force), though she spends as much time waving from the sidelines in protest of US unilateral action.

 

The US, consciously or more likely sub or unconsciously, is energized to solve threats. The Europeans are mostly unenergized, yet see the US going it alone. The US sees the European weakness. The European, the US's high-handed approach. Thus, they are contradictory complements.

 

A world army, parliament, etc can resolve this difference. Or Nature will take its course, and it will come through a slow painful process. Or it can be a major negative event that unites the two sides, forcing them into a new common strategy.

 

Europe failed before the rise of fascism. 80 million died to bring the UN, and the European Union. There was also the negative role of religion as a support. We want to avoid Nature's methods, by substituting Soul. Moving out of regional ego will evoke the Soul, replacing Nature. We can thereby avoid catastrophes of all kinds in the future by moving on a common front. The more prepared we are together through common purpose, the less likely negative catastrophic events will tend to arise in the world on their own.

 

The back end pressure of Asia's rise, will also force America to consider its own flank, especially economically. Asia can be an instrument of the further unity of purpose of US and Europe.

 

Another perspective is that the US and Europe are not that far apart. It is just the current US government, representing a certain conservative element that accentuates the problem; though that force is unlikely to give way soon. The US itself has its own contradictory complements.

Insincerity of Europe, America, the Britisher
The European or American cannot be sincere as they are prejudiced and unemotional. The Britisher has organized his insincerity as diplomatic objectivity. He excels others in his incapacity to be true or sincere. (MSS)

Environmental Degradation
Those who settled in the new world did not have the wisdom to co-exist peacefully with the native Indians. They destroyed the Indian civilisation indiscriminately and then proceeded to destroy the environment as well. That has left future generations of Americans with a lot of work to restore the health of the environment. (MSS, N. Asokan)

 

Unabsorbed Energy

Energy of America Not Absorbed for Harmonious Use
The vast energy released in the US has not been fully absorbed for harmonious productive use. Too often it flows unharnessed, without direction, without the required level of awareness and consciousness that would turn it into productive power that enables useful material and non-material results. Even with its great achievement, that even greater potential has yet to be realized. Another way of saying this is that the excess energy has not been organized into a directed power for yet-higher achievement. As a result, there are huge gaps in an otherwise powerful, prosperous, and positive nation.

The events of September 11th are just the negative cutting edge of those unabsorbed negative energies coming directly from the Middle East, and flowing indirectly out from the US.

Surplus of Energies of USA
[USA's surplus of energies has not been organized and used for productive use, hence its problems. -editor]

• Asian countries organise themselves as a nation around an emotion, European countries around an action. The US has done so on the practically productive organization that has cultured units of activities and subunits of action.
• The US has unprecedented energies at the most basic level of social survival.
• Its first organization was for production and distribution coupled with conquering new frontiers physically.
• This energy as it rises to higher levels becomes education, custom, culture, money, ways of enjoyment, religion, science, etc.
• The US has been less threatened at her borders than an emerging nation usually is and that energy too has become a surplus.
• Science in the US has laid emphasis on technology which consumes less energy than original scientific exploration.
• The excess energy from various causes often is left unorganized. [MSS]

Ways USA's Energies are Not Organized
Consider the ways the US 's energies remain unorganzied:

-It has the highest gap between its rich and poor of any major industrialized nation in the world.
-It has a vast minority prison population held hostage in an attempt to overcome its high crime rate.
-It has an optimism about itself matched by an indifference, a lack of humility, even an arrogance towards other nations. (September 11th was a negative life response to this.)
-It engages in actions that are hypocritical to its stated values; e.g. it supports dictatorships and such, and otherwise supports policies and actions in the world in the name of expediency.
 

 

Moving Beyond Her Physical/Material Consciousness and Focus

Evolution of the US Beyond the Material
One author in praising the recent re-rise of American culture -- in design, technology, and other ways -- is again expressing the Godhead of US Materialism. It is powerful, but only the shallow surface of life. The psychological and spiritual are far beyond these. America is still a distant trailer in these areas. They will have to look to the East for guidance, who themselves are incorporating America's surface to give greater power to the profound, yet somewhat dormant psychological and spiritual ideals inherent in their cultures. From that influence and a sincere introspection and looking within, the US will develop that deeper poise as well. These are ironic connections indeed,  but is true to the multi-dimensional unfolding of the world energies.

Physical/Material Cause of America's Dynamism, Limitations
America has evolved individuality at the physical/material level based on freedom from social constraints giving rise to all the dynamism and limitations of that same physical plane.

From a Material to a Human-Centric World
American has become the economic and military leader of the world. Through vast organizational capacity (mass production) and several waves of immigrant population, she has become the pioneer leader of nations. She is a microcosm that the world seeks to emulate.

And yet America suffers periodically as she is now experiencing in the current world financial crisis. It is a reflection of her limitations of consciousness. It is her material-oriented view of reality that is too often devoid of a more complex psychological view of existence.

The Indian sage Karmayogi of India put it this way, ''Americans think with their body."� That is, US citizens are oriented to what can be seen, heard, and touched; to what mind perceives of the world outside itself through its senses. America's preoccupation with sense knowledge causes her to have a material, mechanistic, technological view of life, which shields her from deeper truths and values. Hence, she suffers as she does now in the current financial crisis, rooted in speculation and greed of the material surface.

To continue to be the world pioneer and leader, America must develop deeper vital, psychological, and mental values. Otherwise, others will take up the mantle of truth leadership. India is one fine candidate in that her tradition has deep roots in the most profound truths of life. These psychological and spiritual insights are what the world secretly yearns for, as the American-led material view that has led to the current catastrophe has proven unworthy for the next stage of human progress and development. The world may embrace America's dynamism, energy, organization, and creativity to create infinite-like material well-being, but humanity is beginning to see that much more is needed for sustaining a stable and meaningful life.

Thus, the current financial crisis is a sign that the reign of the material view of the world is coming to an end, and a new era of more complex psychological and spiritual values is at hand. Who will be the pioneer in this area remains to be seen. America who has been the beacon has lost her glow. Yet even she can discover qualities that take her beyond the mechanistic, scientific, material view, and thereby perceive these deeper truths. She can begin by putting Man at the center of life. When the individual human is idolized and cherished, instead of mere material and financial gain, then a new era of life on earth will have begun.

Moving from Physical to Human Values
[In response to the financial turmoil that has emanated from the US circa 2008.] We in the US are mostly a physical, material-based society. By that I mean we are not just interested in material objects, but we value only what can be seen and touched. We thus have a surface view of existence. More subtle qualities, like psychological satisfaction and mental values, are less valued because we our energies are absorbed by what can be perceived by our senses, as opposed to what can be thought through and envisioned. In that sense, we are still primitives, not too far above the animal. The West has a particular problem in this area, with the US the worst. Interestingly we have the most energy and drive, bit funneled through a mechanistic, material approach to life. Adoption of human values is the next frontier of growth in society. The US can lead the way and continue to be the world leader. Otherwise, others will take up the mantle (especially from the East). The economic failure is the focus on a material orientation towards life, where human values are secondary. It is a good lesson for us, a hard slap across the face.

Overcoming Her Limits at the Physical/Material Plane
To know the problems of America is to know the limits that exist when we live at the physical/material plane -- i.e. when we look out at life from only that perspective. Examples of our limits at the material plane, or the plane of mind that is dominated by physical phenomenon-

-Seeing only the surface of life.
-Thinking dominated by what it sees and hears, rather than real, pure, rational, logical thinking. "Thinking with the body."
-Valuing matter, material things above all.

-Valuing only the verifiable physical fact, the empirical only (which is what science and technology tend to do)
-Domination of the functioning of one's body without comparable levels of feeling or awareness of other planes, including the vital and mental.
-Limited rational and logical thought.

-(Positive) self preservation through self-reliance, individuality that however cuts one's off from others, the collective, higher values.
-Extreme physical selfishness.
-Extreme physical possessiveness.
-Individual brutality. Fascination with violence (guns, many wars engaged in, proliferation of weapons, nuclear arsenals, gang wars, physical competition, etc.).
-Inability to value the collective, society beyond the individual.
-Limited vital and mental values.
-Seeing money as individual resource, not as a product of society.

Physical Consciousness of US Needs to Be Overcome
Though her practical organization continues to release the infinity of matter, the USA is unfortunately still too physical in her fundamental nature. That is, she is amoured with the physical, material reality she creates or sees before her, ignoring other planes of being -- including the psychological, the cultural, and the spiritual. In essence, she needs to raise her laudable value of practical organization from its current physical foundation to these higher planes of consciousness. Though the USA has known vast material success in matter -- achieved by applying true spiritual values such as honesty, orderliness, systemization, etc. -- she still needs to apply these values to other aspects of life beyond the material. That would enable a vast psychological progress, and help her to focus on the true needs of Man, rather than her present preoccupation with the mere material. Such an approach can also help her (a) eliminate the negative byproducts of her technology (such as pollution and radiation), (b) overcome a sometimes vulgar culture that's spreading around the world, (c) reduce her own poverty and vast differentials of income distribution, and (d) surmount her propensity to constantly fight wars and stockpile dangerous weapon arsenals. It can also help shed her single-minded preoccupation with economic growth and accumulation of personal wealth, which come at the expense of other high values. Finally, it can help her overcome her intransigent independence that too often separates her from the needs and concerns of the rest of the world.

Beyond the Old American Material Dream
The American Dream emphasizes economic growth, personal wealth, and independence. Hereafter these are otiose.

Man at the Center of Life
The world economic system is undergoing a severe shock. It was caused to a large degree by Man's ignorance and greed. Though its vast expansion and success has been rooted in the infinity that comes from individual freedom, it was tripped up by missing human values that could make the system Whole. Because the Human Being has not been at the center of our economic system, only the Part could express, which invariably breeds failure.

Freedom and collaboration are human values. They represent Beingness and Oneness of the Spirit functioning in creation. One without the other cannot succeed. Freedom is fulfilled through collaboration, and vice versa. Without their integral union, there is only a Part and therefore failure. Thus, Communism came to an inglorious end, and Capitalism is going through its current upheavals. Nature in Her evolutionary wisdom seeks to move from the Part and create the new, the dynamic, and the Whole.

Human values are not however limited to freedom and collaboration. They are endless. There is also truth, knowledge, tolerance, compassion, love, beauty, delight, and a hundred others. Our economic system has been primarily focused on material values alone -- not the psychological, including the fulfillment of the individual. When we shift our consciousness and put the Human Being at the center of life, then upheaval and convulsion will be reduced, and life will progress smoothly, harmoniously, and infinitely.

Beyond Economic Conservatism
Economic deregulation, no taxes, et al (of Reagan, Thatcher, Bush) is an anomaly in the world. It exists, has exited mainly in the US. The Europeans and much of the rest of the world know no such thing. Now the US is just joining the world in the movements towards cooperation between the people, government, and the market, instead of the rules of the jungle market-only ANAMOLY of American economic conservatism. And it will happen not just in economics but in other ways, as I believe events in the coming years will bear out.

Physical of US Reflected through Guns
The American equivalent of terrorism is the aspiration to carry a gun. On the day guns are abolished by law, America will be finally free of its physicality. (MSS)

Source of US Obsession with Guns
The ever-present danger of attacks from the native population forced the settlers to load themselves with arms. That habit continues to this day with a good number of citizens carrying lethal pistols and firearms. (MSS, N. Asokan)

Overcoming America's Violent Culture
America's violent culture -- e.g. through huge cache of guns amongst the population, attraction of violence in the media and on the streets -- breeds war. She must overcome her physicality to be a true leader in the world.

Isolationism of US as Problem in World Wars
The USA was encouraged to be in isolation because of the distance from other continents. Isolation is a virtue for developing the foundation of physical wealth and military security. That isolation which was a virtue in the beginning has a tendency to become an anachronistic obstacle. In the first world war, the USA was not quite willing to get involved. Even in the second world war, until Pearl Harbour, they kept themselves aloof. As a matter of fact, the two wars indirectly helped to build the economy of USA. (MSS)

How USA's Low Physical Consciousness is Challenged by War Paralleling the British
USA launched the war of Independence.  Her Civil War was to overcome the physical passion for property and the ownership of slaves, an extreme form of physical possessiveness. In WW I she was a supplier and it helped her to overcome her depression. Pearl Harbour was her taste of WWII. Supplying arms to WWII, she became very rich, i.e. she found the physical fight of Europe her avenue for economic growth. After the war, the war-ravaged nations became her market. She too overcame her physicality by participating in the war. Now she is in the phase of economic expansion and is becoming a cultural leader of the world by economic, military, political power, much as England did in the 19th and 20th centuries, based on her military, imperial, and economic power. Japan challenged USA for a while and the Chinese market attracted her. These are symptoms exactly parallel to UK going to the Middle East and Asia for trade and conquest. It ended up in the conqueror being conquered by the culture of the subject nations. The British Empire was the main reason for the interest of the West now in Zen, Buddhism and Eastern mysticism. (MSS)

USA's Success & Limitation through Physical Hard Work
USA is the richest nation in the world. She achieved this abundance by very hard, hazardous, physical work. Physical work is the indispensable basis of Prosperity but it is not all. In the measure that physical work is informed by vital energy and mental knowledge, it rises in quality. I argue that in India such a work can be raised to Spiritual inspiration. Europe and USA have done it by organising mental education. I would not concede they have organised it. They have followed an empirical path that is partial and sporadic. Suppose any nation sees the need or possibility of organising mental education, that nation will rise far higher than others, as the USA which has organised the practical work has gone ahead of Europe. (MSS)

What Attracted Attacks on US?
The law of inner-outer correspondence says that the outer reflects the inner condition. This is true for the individual or the collective, such as a nation. What condition would have attracted Pearl Harbor and 9/11 attacks would be a useful investigation into the limitations of the US's consciousness, including its physical consciousness. E.g. the US was reluctant to get involved in WWII.

Need for Negative Conservatism to Play Out
The conservatism of America has to run its course. Though anachronistic it needs to play out so that it too can be uplifted to a higher consciousness and status. Obsession with guns, weapon proliferation, distain for taxes, obsession with abortion, America's right to power, self interest at expense of international view, etc. are negatives that need to play out and evolve to something higher

Re: Democrats' Continual Self-destruction
I don't think it is so much that the Democrats have thrown it away, as there has been a virulent strain if conservatism rampant throughout American society. This poisonous perception needs to run its natural course, until it is shown for what it is -- falsehood -- and a more enlightened view issues forth thereafter. Meanwhile Americans out of ignorance will continually fall into its trappings until they see for themselves what misery it creates.

Need for Psychological, Spiritual Growth
(top)

New American Dream; Psychological Prosperity
So far the American Dream has been material prosperity. Now they should turn inward and seek psychological prosperity.

US Can Move to Be a Psychological Leader
If the US is to maintain its leadership role that the world has deferred to, it must move beyond merely being a material, economic, power leader. It must become a psychological leader, a leader in the social spheres, a leader of the Spirit. She would be wise to associate with India who can help her move toward a higher psychological and spiritual status. In that way the US can become the integral leader. If she stays at the material-only level, she will forfeit her leadership role, and will suffer in the process.

US Needs to Turn Inward
It is now time for the US to turn inward to evolve.

America's Evolution from Physical Consciousness to Vital Individuality
America has evolved individuality at the physical level based on freedom from social constraints giving rise to all the dynamism and limitations of the physical (e.g. physical self-reliance goes hand in hand with extreme physical possessiveness and selfishness. How can one who has been asked to take care of himself think about giving to other?) America will progress by evolving to vital individuality. (MSS)

From a Material to a Human-Centric World
Americans have become the economic and political leaders of the world. Through vast organizational capacity (mass production) and several waves of immigrant population, she has become the pioneer leader of nations. She is a microcosm that the world seeks to emulate.

And yet America suffers periodically as she is now experiencing in the current world financial crisis. It is a reflection of her limitations of consciousness. It is her material-oriented view of reality that is too often devoid of a more complex psychological view of existence. The Indian sage Karmayogi of India put it this way, ''America thinks with her body."� That is, she is oriented to the visual, to what can be seen and produced and manufactured. Her visual, material, mechanistic, technological view of life shields her from the deeper truths and values of existence. Hence, she suffers as she is now when the realities of life catch up. The current financial crisis is one rooted in speculation and greed; psychological diseases of the material surface. Had deeper principles and values been in place, instead of mere obsession with material gain, such crisis could have been avoided.

To continue to be the world pioneer and leader, America must develop deeper vital, psychological, and mental values. Otherwise, others will take up the mantle of truth leadership. India could be a fine candidate in that her tradition has deep roots in the most profound truths of life. These psychological and spiritual insights are what the world secretly yearns for, as the American-led material view that has led to the current catastrophe has proven unworthy for the next stage of human progress and development. The world may embrace America's dynamism, energy, organization, and creativity to create vast material well-being, but humanity is beginning to see that much more is needed for sustaining a stable and meaningful life.

Thus, the current financial crisis is a sign that the reign of the material view of the world is coming to an end, and a new era of more complex psychological and spiritual values is at hand. Who will be the pioneer in this area remains to be seen. America who was the beacon has lost her glow. Yet even she can discover qualities that take her beyond the mechanistic, scientific, material view of life and perceive these deeper truths of life. She can begin by putting Man at the center of existence. When the individual human is idolized and cherished, instead of mere material and financial gain, then a new era of life will have begun.

Article: Keys to US and India's Prosperity (and need for US's inner progress)

US's Aspiration
The US wants to know. Prosperous, it wishes to rise up to spirit. (MSS)

Students Overwhelming Aspiration for Spirit
A hundred thousand freshmen who started college last year [2004] answered a survey. Four in five reported interest in spirituality. This survey was conducted in America. Three out of four said they were searching for the meaning or purpose in life. Those who said they were seeking spirituality took care to say that they are not religious or ritualistic. (MSS)

Moving to Higher Harmony in America
"In 1999, Gertrude Himmelfarb, a social historian, argued that America is becoming ''One Nation, Two Cultures"�. One is religious, puritanical, family-centered and somewhat conformist. The other is tolerant, hedonistic, secular, predominantly single and celebrates multiculturalism. These value judgments are the best predictor of political affiliation, far better than wealth or income." (The Economist)

The question is then how can America become one people that is spiritual, pure, cooperative, freethinking, multi-faceted, open, and tolerant; shedding religion, conformity, and hedonism.  It will take the shaking of superstition, an openness to truth, the adoption of high educated values, and the emergence of the profound Spirit in life. It can happen consciously, or it can occur unconsciously through Nature's slow method which embraces our current attachment to Ignorance and Falsehood.

East Meets West to Know Infinite in All
The West is evolving material reality to infinity, even as it fails to see the Infinite behind. Now as the movement of technology moves from the US and enjoins India and the East, it can know through this movement of the Infinite behind, not only the material, but every aspect, dimension, current, and force of creation.

US Can Lead World to Spirituality through Spiritual Base
Materialism is the solid foundation from which spirituality can arise. US can lead the world into spirituality from its material base. Of course, it hasn't the spiritual knowledge whatsoever. That it will need to gather from the East, in particular India, or better yet from its own self.

US Discovering Spirit
-The practical organization of the US is currently physical which enables material prosperity. However, the practical organization of the US must rise from its physical basis to a spiritual basis. [The levels in between include the development of her social, psychological, and rational/mental resources, culminating in the spiritual.

-The Westerner has material success in matter because he has applied true spiritual values to that endeavor such as honesty, orderliness, systemization, etc. [He still needs to apply spiritual values and methods to life, to society, to mind and thought, etc. That will make what it has now accomplished in the material realm seem pale by comparison.]

-The US has found the infinite Brahman in matter. She needs to bring out that same infinite in all of the other dimensions of life and existence. Otherwise she will suffer.

-If the US is in that role of leader then surely she must rise beyond the infinity she has created in matter; and discover the infinity in the psychology of the individual and the collective, in thoughtfulness and reason, and ultimately in spirit. This is the great challenge she must undertake if she is to remain in that role.

-If the US is to maintain its leadership role that the world has deferred to, it must move beyond merely being a material, economic, power leader. It must become a psychological leader, a leader in the social spheres, a leader of the Spirit. She would be wise to associate with India who can help her move toward a higher psychological and spiritual status. In that way the US can become the integral leader. If she stays at the material-only level, she will forfeit her leadership role, and will suffer in the process.

-The future leadership of the world is not even for the Mind. It goes to the Spirit. Whoever goes after the Spirit will qualify for the leadership of the world. There is a further step. It is not the partial Spirit that seeks to shun life; it is the Spirit that emerges in Life to enrich life spiritually. Material welfare is highly desirable, but a partial aim. Any partial aim will have the other side that troubles. No partial goal can any longer serve the world. The world needs a whole aim or an aim of the whole which will not have side effects or negative fallout. That goal is the Spirit in life. The leadership of the world will go to those that provide this whole aim. (MSS, modified)

-The Force is moving through technology in the US. Rather than moving directly from spirit-oriented India, the Force has taken an unexpected path, moving through the emerging subtle technology of Internet in the US, which extends in collaborative service work with India ... The reason the Force has moved through the US rather than directly from its source India to the world is that the US needs to brings its practical organization, including the infinite attracting Internet, to energize, focus, and make practically real the lessons of spirit. (MSS paraphrased & expanded; and Growth Online)

Also See Thoughts on Interrelationship of USA and India

Beyond Learning from the EU -- Inner Growth for US
Europeans often remark that Americans "live to work," while Europeans "work to live." The average paid vacation time in Europe is now six weeks a year. By contrast, Americans, on average, receive only two weeks. Most Americans would also be shocked to learn that the average commute to work in Europe is less than 19 minutes. When one considers what makes a people great and what constitutes a better way of life, Europe is beginning to surpass America."  from The European Dream by Jeremy Rifkin. Comment: There is nothing wrong in USA trying to catch up with the EU in respect to these indices, but, if they [the US] turn inward [i.e. psychological and spiritual development], it is immaterial whether they catch up [in these ways] or not. To be well fed is no sin, but it is no virtue to be sought after. It is necessary, not valuable, when one is in poverty. (MSS)

Bush and Oil
It is one of the great ironies of history that as we go through a catastrophic oil and environmental crisis, the sitting president of the world's leading country is from a family of oil men. It is no irony nor coincidence, but Nature's way of addressing and weeding out the reactionary and the false.

Life Responds Negatively to Outworn Values
The book 'The Secret' has taken the world by storm. Its central message is that we attract that which we are psychologically inside. When we are positive within, conditions that are favorable present themselves on the outside. When we are negative, the opposite takes place.  I have presented this to my readers as the principle of "inner-outer correspondence." That the inner and outer are interrelated; therefore as soon as we shift to the positive, favorable conditions suddenly present themselves. again, the opposite with negative shifts in consciousness. The result is what I call a ''Life Response"� event.

This phenomenon of life response can happen to an individual or a collective of individuals, such  as a business, community, or nation. In the years 2001 to 2008, George Bush, Jr. (#43) has led the US. In the wake of the end of the Cold War, he saw little need to collaborate with the other nations of the world, adopting a go it alone policy, particularly in the wake of 9/11.  Unfortunately, the laws of karma, also known as Sow/Reap in western parlance, created conditions in direct opposition to his original intent. First, the war in Iraq turned into an unmitigated disaster, while attracting the hostility of many nations, including the disenfranchisement of our friends. Secondly, the Russians who were shamelessly ignored in the wake of the Cold War, awoke to directly challenge US power in the world. Life was in essence responding to Bush's narrow, ignorant view of conditions and the actions he took to make them real. These results to his narrow view and action is what I call Negative Life Response.

Likewise Bush and his adherents believed deeply in unfettered, free-market capitalism. He believed that government should not interfere in a market fully capable of acting on its own. The result of this narrow view has been near collapse of the financial system of the United States, including the organizations engaged in speculative transactions. Echoing the days of government-free financial speculation sponsored by the Coolidge administration, which precipitated the Great Depression, Bush was doomed to similar results. His life view was out of step with the progress of the society, which was seeking higher social values, not the laissez-fair, free-market, every man for himself business values of the jungle.

Life responds negatively when we try to foster outworn values. When they are reactionary, then calamity or something similar ensues. Just now we are seeing the negative life response of a completely outworn philosophy that is at odds with the aspirations of the world.

And yet it is a strange thing that it in the final analysis it was absolutely necessary in the greater scheme of things. It was necessary in order to shine the light of day on these false beliefs so that they will not show themselves again. It is Nature's secret way of progressing through the negative conditions of life. We can choose to progress through higher consciousness or through those who are proponents of the opposite. Nature is happy to progress either way. She is neutral, awaiting the decisions of Man. Whichever path we take, She will enjoin us with the right type of response thereafter. It is one secret of her subtle and profound methods.
 

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Miscellaneous
(top)

 US Presidents | The US Civil War

 

Influence of the Hippy Generation
 

US Presidents

FDR's Courage
-His personal courage in dealing with his disease translated later on into giving others the courage to overcome their fear of the sudden onslaught of poverty. It encouraged them to keep their money back in the banks.

FDR Backed Off On Fully Implementing Social Values
He could have stood firm and applied all of his vastly progressive social values, but he backed off in the name of "practicality."

FDR and Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor was the direct attack on the USA that relieved it of its physical consciousness that was unwilling to fight the war, a thing FDR and Churchill intensely advocated.

FDR and Subtle Knowledge
Out of long experience, some people are able to have knowledge in a work, often a precise information, that proves to be a supreme secret known to no other. That is what we here describe as subtle knowledge.

FDR's acumen in the New Deal, Churchill's intuition to hold out against Hitler single-handedly, Rajaji's [Gandhi] lifting the nation in 1954, Gandhiji's quelling the Calcutta riots of 1947 are eminent examples of subtle insight. (MSS)

Taking the Wider View and FDR
When we take the other man's point of view or the view of his feelings, the subtlety opens with respect to that problem.

Courage, Love, Sympathy, Compassion are intense human characteristics that open the inner man wider. By acting from such opening, the subtle body opens.

Being wedded to higher principles of work suddenly reveals to man his subtle abilities.

FDR looking at the monetary crisis from the more basic economic point of view gave him success. (MSS)

American Chance for Socialism Under FDR
FDR who came upon the New Deal had a wonderful success, made the people reverse their attitude. [They acceded to his advice that the only thing to fear was fear itself.] He had before him the greatest ever opportunity of creating an egalitarian socialist government that would have cancelled Russian violence. [Ed. The idea is that if the West had adopted these values, the Russian oppression under Stalin would have been cancelled in the subtle plane.] American would have become the socialist nation leading the world. Instead, FDR went back to monetary policies and war [WWII] came to save the situation, making the US the arch enemy of socialism. But as a result of what can be called the irony of fate or life -- in my words according to the wider theory of social evolution -- the US pays its working population more than any socialist country. In fact, workers in the US are enamoured of becoming mini capitalists. (MSS, with addition)

Roosevelt and Other's Action Expressing and Mobilizing Forces of Tremendous Intensity in Life
The forces that act in our lives include forces of material nature such as weather and gravity, but also social forces such as political power, social status and peer pressure, and psychological forces such as the power of ideas, ideals, opinions, beliefs, emotions, sensations, impulses, desires and aspirations. All these forces meet and interact in the cauldron of life to influence the course of the acts, activities, systems and organizations. When Martin Luther posted his Ninety-five Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg in 1517 to launch the Reformation, when Roosevelt halted the banking crisis in 1932 by appealing to the American people over the radio, when Churchill single-handedly inspired the British people to resist Nazi aggression at a time when all of Europe had capitulated, when Gandhi stirred the Indian masses to cast off two centuries of British imperial rule, when Gorbachev unilaterally dismantled the iron structure of communist authoritarianism that ended the Cold War -- their acts expressed and mobilised forces of tremendous intensity to confront opposing forces and destroy or alter entrenched forms of social organization. (MSS)

Kennedy and Khrushchev
-These were two progressive forces in their nations. They were moving towards reconciliation. Dark occult forces did not wish their success. It was left for thirty years later.
-Both directly or indirectly supported Auroville, the international city of the future.

The Mother, Kennedy, and Khrushchev
The Mother believed throughout the 1950s to the 1970s in the rapprochement between Russia and the US, and worked inwardly for that goal. She thought it might happen when Khrushchev and Kennedy were in power in the early 60s, but noted that hostile forces worked for their removal. The rapprochement never took place in her lifetime. Though she was not alive when Gorbachev almost single-handedly ended the Cold War, we could perhaps believe she had a hand in his emergence and the "velvet revolutions" that ended the Cold War that followed in the late 1980s. (MSS)

Kennedy and Cuban Missile Crisis
-Kennedy took up the creatively recommendation of an advisor that saved the day -- and the world -- during the Cuban Missile crisis. He had been told that the new, creative way of looking at things is always the solution to a new crisis. Kennedy's consciousness was open to the new, as he was already open to its theory.
-The Mother's Force negated the Cuban Missile crisis and the invasion of Chinese into India simultaneously.

Much later in the 1960s a friend of John F. Kennedy took interest in The Mother and examined in depth the philosophy and yoga of Sri Aurobindo. He met The Mother and asked her what were the external signs by which one could discern the attainment of the Force, the Supramental power in a person. His question was reminiscent of Arjuna asking Sri Krishna in the Bhagavad-Gita on the battlefield of Kurekshetra, ''How does a realized person sit, walk and speak?"� The Mother explained to him the three conditions that would reveal the attainment of the Supramental consciousness and told him that of the three, equality, was the most significant. The visitor arranged for Kennedy to visit The Mother, but it could not take place. (MSS)

Nixon
The Mother said Nixon was a brute.

Nixon and China
Nixon who was a brute helped develop an opening with the Chinese. It shows that good can come from the worst elements.

Nixon and China
To solve military conflicts politically was a longstanding rule in history. To solve political conflicts by economic strategies is not used in the same measure. Nixon opened up the Chinese market to the USA and now a war between the two countries is unthinkable. (MSS)

Carter's Prophetic Insight into Energy
-President Jimmy Carter who was condemned in his time (the 1970s) by an abusive majority warned of the severe consequences of not conserving energy through higher standards for vehicles and other forms of conservation. Thirty years later his warning has come true, as the world scrambles to adjust.
-Conservation of energy thus is a form of "maximum utilization of resources"; one of the greatest of human values, which attracts great fortune from life when adopted. (See entries on maximum utilization of resources)

Reagan, Carter, and Bush Sr. & the End of the Cold War
-The Cold War ended despite Reagan, not because of him. He threatened world annihilation. A prayer went up to the Divine which was answered through the actions of Gorbachav.
-When the Soviet Union and its satellite countries saw how Carter related to youth when he was president, its own youth began to rise up. Carter's effect on the end of the Cold War is not understood. It is too subtle for people to see.
-Bush Sr. at least had a more sophisticated international view than Reagan.

Clinton
-He was the true spokesman for the Baby Boom generation, and its idealism. His knowledge was many-sided, and he was vastly inquisitive like the youngsters of his generation.
-The hippies brought a vision of the future to man. It was a momentary glimpse. It was a vibration from the heavens.
-The idealism of the hippies were surrounded by distinct excesses. (The Mother said they could not quite hold the spiritual Force that was descending at the time on the earth. They were the only ones open to it.) Clinton paid for one of those excesses.
-Clinton's peccadilloes were the cause of Gore losing the following election.
-Gore had to lose because the country needed to experience the results of its ignorance under Bush, Jr.
-The contempt heaped on the progressive Clinton for minor transgressions has come back in spades to haunt the perpetrators in the administration that followed.

Clinton as Representative of Rising Tide of Baby Boomers
A leader of a nation doesn't rise so much because of his talent, charm, and knowledge, but because he represents a rising tide in the society. E.g. Clinton in the US represented the Baby Boomers. What rising tide does you leader represent?

Leaders rise to power as a result of a compelling rising tide in society. The individual represents an emerging element of society, and that is what pushes that person to the top as leader. (MSS)

Bush, Jr.

-He represented the trailing edge of consciousness. The evolution was moving forward. He represented like Reagan the pull in the opposite direction.

-Bush's religious arrogance, false sense of American supremacy and a closed minded sense of national confidence rest on an increasingly deteriorating moral foundation, all of which combine to draw attention to our hypocrisy that will render the country ineffective for a lack of credibility. (KWW)

-9/11 is a reflection of Bush Jr.'s consciousness. It is not coincidence that it came on his beat.
-The way he was initially elected was amidst great controversy. It was a predecessor event of all the tragedy that would follow -- 9/11, the invasion of Iraq, and the catastrophe of hurricane Katrina on the Gulf coast.
-Bush who spent his earlier years railing against government has used all of the resources OF government to fight terrorism, wage a war in Iraq, and to deal with disasters such as Katrina, among other problems. The reality of office/life always overrides one's limited views. (When the BJB was in power in India they were the main implementer of Singh's progressive economic policies, something India was ready for, even though they were previously against!)
-In his ignorance Bush, Jr. went after Sadaam instead of Osama who perpetuated 9/11.
-Falsehood that is set in the physical consciousness, learns through the wrath of the physical.
-Bush's values the distance he and others around him are distanced from those who are not prosperous.
-A president represents a force that is emerging in society-- like Carter and the new South, and Clinton and the Baby Boob generation. Bush, Jr. in part represented the Christian fundamentalists who were beginning to get a voice during those times.
-For 100 years now the US has begun to show a regressive conservative streak. She who sought freedom from oppression in her origins, is now partly limited by conservative, reactionary force that is trying to hold back new forms of freedom.

-Bush (and the Supreme Court) neglected to heed the claims by 50,000+ blacks in Florida of non-representation during the contentious count of the 2000 election. Five years later the lives of blacks are devastated due to inaction, and other reasons in hurricane Katrina. One is the predecessor of the other.

Bush and Oil
It is one of the great ironies of history that as we go through a catastrophic oil and environmental crisis, the sitting president of the world's leading country is from a family of oil men. It is no irony nor coincidence, but Nature's way of addressing and weeding out the reactionary and the false.

Also See Thoughts on the Recent History of the World

 

US Civil War

Emergence of US as Leading Power through Low (Physical) Consciousness (like British Empire)
USA launched the war of Independence.  Her Civil War was to overcome the physical passion for property and the ownership of slaves, an extreme form of physical possessiveness. In WW I she was a supplier and it helped her to overcome her depression. Pearl Harbour was her taste of WWII. Supplying arms to WWII, she became very rich, i.e. she found the physical fight of Europe her avenue for economic growth. After the war, the war-ravaged nations became her market. She too overcame her physicality by participating in the war. Now she is in the phase of economic expansion and is becoming a cultural leader of the world by economic, military, political power, much as England did in the 19th and 20th centuries, based on her military, imperial, and economic power. Japan challenged USA for a while and the Chinese market attracted her. These are symptoms exactly parallel to UK going to the Middle East and Asia for trade and conquest. It ended up in the conqueror being conquered by the culture of the subject nations. The British Empire was the main reason for the interest of the West now in Zen, Buddhism and Eastern mysticism. (MSS)

The US South's Freedom that is Regressive
It is interesting to view the North-South divide and Civil War as the opposition of progressive and reactionary forces in America. From the beginning, the vast freedom of the New World was attractive to both those who wanted to cast off the conservative burden of class structure and evolve a freer society and those who wanted to return or establish a more perfect society along the old lines. Puritans came to America to impose a Puritan rule -- fundamentalism utopia -- free from the impurities of the Anglican Church and monarchy. Southern immigrants and aspirants longed to erect a new feudal aristocracy to mimic the old world aristocracy that was soon to crumble in the French Revolution. Mother says all growth is in freedom, but freedom is always a double edged sword that can be used for progressive or organization of outmoded egoistic demands. Thus even today America is a seedbed of progressive individuality and archaic fundamentalism.

These opposing forces coexisted for two centuries because of the vast area and loose structure of the emerging nation. When the progressive forces of the North reached a certain level of development that threatened to dominate, the South asserted its freedom to live in the past. The war was fought not over slavery but over national integration. The constitutional weaknesses born of the original compromise between independent colonies and a unified federation rose to the surface and threatened to divide the country forever. It was a war between past and future, aristocracy and democracy, agriculture and industry, vital-physical and mental-vital.

 

Other

Lack of Culture in US
America is a young nation of several hundred years. She has not developed Culture, as have the nations of Asia, and elsewhere.

Contradictions are Complements in World Events
The conflicts between Israel and the Palestinians, the dispute between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, and the 9/11 attacks on the US are examples of the great phenomenon in life of contradictions being complements. Each side has weakness and blame that only the other side perceives, and it is only in their contradiction and conflict is the truth of each side's weakness revealed in the interaction with the other side. This enables a further, higher harmony. This is Nature's way.

Europe vs US Solutions to Problems
"Americans are more willing to employ military force to protect what we perceive to be our vital self-interests. Europeans are more reluctant to use military force and instead favor diplomacy, economic assistance, and aid to avert conflict and favor peacekeeping operations to maintain order." from article The European Dream by Jeremy Rifkin. Comment: Being culturally mature, Europeans refrain from military solutions. (MSS)

Conflict Economic Globalism and Energy Issues Bring World to Higher Unity
The conflicts of the emergence of economic globalism is bringing the world to greater world unity. The issue of energy and oil supplies does the same.

100 Years Conservative Strain
Bush reflects a conservative strain that has been slowly poisoning America for nearly 100 years. Ultimately, it will need to be overcome.

Validity of Presidential Elections in USA
In 2000 during the presidential elections in the USA it was revealed that voters in Florida had created defective ballots; much of which had been from elderly Jews. Also tens of thousand of blacks in line to vote could not do so because time had elapsed. (Their work condition, etc. forced them to vote late.) The conservative run Supreme Court did not deem these worthy of looking into. Bush won, though he had fewer votes than Gore under the electoral vote procedure. If these events in Florida and elsewhere had been accepted, Gore would have won. Now it is revealed than in the 2004 election 1.3 million ballots were deemed defective and were not counted. Most of those ballots come from poor citizens. If counted Bush would have lost to Kerry (as votes in Ohio, New Mexico and elsewhere would have reversed). In one sense both elections were a fraud, and injustice prevailed. Blacks, Jews, elderly, native Americans, Hispanics, and others were the direct political victims; the Americans citizenry as well. The winner should not have won, but did so because of the low social values towards those unempowered in society. Life goes on. 9/11 followed the 2000 election, which was a predecessor event indicator of the horrible tragedy. The 2004 election was a predecessor to the heightened dilemma that the US faced in Iraq thereafter. Katrina too was its successor, where many blacks were destroyed. These election outcomes appear to be negative life response to previous insensitivity, obliviousness, and unconsciousness. It is a sad reminder of the falsehood that permeates life. It also shows serious holes still unaddressed in American society.

The Mother & America
The Mother says She has much in common with America. (MSS)

US Government Debt and Insufficient Taxation
We have been asking government for huge expenditures without collecting the commensurate taxes from the public. Loopholes in the code and deep write offs in paying our taxes cause the imbalance in the government balance sheet. No one wants to address this! In Europe, the tax rate is 25-35%. In the US it is closer to 15% after loopholes for companies and what we, the general public can take as a deduction in our April 15th forms.

The fact is we want more benefits from the government, and don't want to pay for them. Conservatives want smaller government via less taxes, but less taxes causes bigger government in the form of huge debt.

Everyone is thus at fault. The general public, the companies, and those who rule the government at different points. Coming to grips with the truth requires great courage. In the short run, tax hikes (especially negating the loopholes) will be necessary. In the longer term, we will all have to come to terms with the truth. E.g. the public wants more from the government, but are unwilling to pay for it (through requisite taxes). Slowly we are moving to the European model. Higher taxes are necessary. Longer term, a frank discussion of what we want and how to pay for it is mandatory. The underlying truth must be explored.

 

Also see East and West

 

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A Study of American History
New!

an unprecedented, profound study
based on principles of social development
and spirituality

(www.mssresearch.org )

 

 

TO BE CATEGORIZED

 

USA

US Technology + Indian Wisdom = Ultimate Evolutionary Journey for Humanity

The US through its technological prowess is organizing the world in unprecedented directions. On the other hand, India now has the evolutionary spiritual wisdom to fill those vessels with an infinite consciousness that will take humanity on its Ultimate Journey.

 

Formula of Life that Bridges Material Prosperity and Spiritual Realization

-It has been said that the Hour of God is here. On earth it is fulfilled by relating the two ends of Material Prosperity and Spiritual Realization. One person can join these two ends, and through his experience present the Formula of Life for all the world to take up, enabling the rapid fulfillment of this auspicious time for Man.

-The world fulfils itself by relating the two ends of Material Prosperity and Spiritual realization. It is its destiny.

-The spiritual realization of India which was at one point partial has become whole in recent decades as a result of the evolutionary realizations of individuals such as Sri Aurobindo that took India beyond her static spiritual wisdom.

-The practical organization of the US is currently physical which enables material prosperity. However, the practical organization of the US must rise from its physical basis to a spiritual basis.

-One or more individuals, by living a life that includes both, can build the bridge between, reconcile the two worlds of material prosperity and spiritual realization. Such individuals can then develop their shortest method into The Formula of life, which the whole world can then readily follow, fulfilling its purpose and destiny. (Karmayogi's remarks paraphrased)

 

Future Relationship between US and India

A reader writes: "I feel like US is essential for India to guide the World into transformation.US' strength as such and with more economic vigor is an essential condition for a safe world and US should accept India unconditionally and work much closer to overcome the struggles...asuras will start surrendering...they have already started! What do you say sir?"

Response: The US has already helped India a great deal economically in terms of showing them the way to do things. Here in Silicon Valley, the impact has been enormous, in both directions. India has learned many of the lessons, but I sense will try to avoid the negative ones, like the way the US almost brought down the world financial system, nearly plunging the world into depression. Will US accept India unconditionally? It has to change its values. There are signs of this, e.g. as it goes through its current struggles, moving to a more human centered existence. But then the other wanting forces overwhelm. Traditional US economics is not enough for US because it will plunge back into catastrophe mode. It needs something higher, beyond the surface, the material, and the mechanistic. It can begin by overcoming obsession with gadgets, guns, and militarism.

As for security and safety, the US can no longer afford to be the policeman of the world. It is draining its resources and its people. A world army or rapid reaction force or something similar must begin to take its place, backed by a World Parliament. While the US can provide strategic military pressures, its ability to actively engage in wars to help other nations by itself is coming to a close, or else she will be further strained to the bone.

OF course, events will take their own course, but this is what I now (2011) see as the general movement amongst these parties.

 

On the US and India's Future Leadership Role

Let the US give up her material and mechanistic first view of things, and adopt more mature and subtle values so she can continue to lead the world. If not, India can take over that leadership role and propel the world forward through higher practical and spiritual-like values.

 

Beyond Technology to Human Values

Apple and others have brought wonderful technology to the world. The problem is that we don't seem to see the same level of advance in terms of Human Values and Consciousness. That is the Real Frontier of progress, and is the basis of solving most of the problems of the world.

America is a material and mechanistic believing society; and its craving for technology is one more proof. When it goes further and focuses on the Human Being and his aspirations, then we will really begin to have a mature society.

The recent financial debacle that almost brought down the word economy is a testament to America's obsession with the material over the really real and truly meaningful. Technology alone, like finance-speculation, will not bring us forward. Supporting the individual Human Being and his growth and well-being through higher personal and social values are the real key to the future.

Gadgets from Apple or others are not enough. It is merely form, not essence; the container, not the Truth and Knowledge that should be inside.

 

The Basis of America's Accomplishments

Energy directed by an aspiration for high accomplishment became the Force for unparalleled material and social accomplishment in America. That force was transformed by practical organization and technology into productive Power. That power, channeled through skilled, educated, hardworking people with a flair for invention and innovation has produced all this material abundance and set an example for the whole world. (Garry Jacobs, MSS, from 'The Book')

 

The Evolution of USA

USA as Microcosm of the Unity the World is Moving Towards

Step by step the world is experiencing increasing Human Unity, with infinitely variable cultures rising, connecting, and influencing one another, propelling the world forward. It is a wonderful global example of Sri Aurobindo's famous dictum "unity in diversity." It is also an indication of a progressive movement of society away from seperative ego, and towards embracing the Other.

Interestingly, the United States is a microcosm of that unfolding, as its constantly refreshed immigrant populations interact, enabling that nation to thrive. America is thus a forerunner of what the world itself secretly aspires for, and will achieve in the new millennium: a mixing and integrating of cultures, ideas, and approaches to life that propagate ever increasing movements of Harmony and Oneness.  (2009-2011 Q1)

 

The Psychological and Spiritual Leader of the World

America has been the material leader of the world, but humanity is evolving and looking for the Psychological leader. If America can't develop itself along these lines, it will no longer be in the forefront, and some other nation or people or region will step forward to become the psychological, and even the spiritual leader of the world. India, for one, is an excellent candidate, because her deep, profound, untapped perceptions of universal existence. Sri Aurobindo indicated that her destiny was to become the guru of the world. (2009-2011 Q1)

 

Evolution of the US Beyond the Material

One author in praising the recent re-rise of American culture -- in design, technology, and other ways -- is again expressing the Godhead of US Materialism. It is powerful, but only the shallow surface of life. The psychological and spiritual are far beyond these. America is still a distant trailer in these areas. They will have to look to the East for guidance, who themselves are incorporating America's surface to give greater power to the profound, yet somewhat dormant psychological and spiritual ideals inherent in their cultures. From that influence and a sincere introspection and looking within, the US will develop that deeper poise as well. These are ironic connections indeed, but is true to the multi-dimensional unfolding of the world energies. (2009-2011 Q1)

 

India's Destiny as World Leader

America has been the economic/material leader of the world, but that does not guarantee her future leadership in other domains that are progressively becoming more important in the world, such as the central role and support of the human individual.

On the other hand, India will increasingly utilize its profound psychological and spiritual knowledge into the nature of existence. As a result, she will combine extremely advanced mental perception of Reality, bordering on the cosmic -- what  sage and seer Sri Aurobindo called "Supermind," -- with a vast dynamism and energy, enabling her to become the intellectual, psychological, and spiritual leader of the world, leaving others behind. (2009-2011 Q1)

 

The US Adopting Social Values

With every passing day, the Unites States adopts additional social values, fulfilling the intensions of socialist thinkers of yesteryear, yet without the baggage of a command economy. It is an irony of history that a market economy driven nation like the US is adopting each new social/socialist value one by one.  (2009-2011 Q1)

 

Emulating America's Behavior, Not Her Values

America has risen to the forefront of the modern world by exercising powerful human values like freedom, individuality, organization, and tolerance. It is expressed mostly at the material level. At the psychological, mental, and spiritual level, she is still immature across these values. When the individual human is placed at the center of life in the US, instead of off to the side in the name of industry, she will graduate to a deeper implementation of her cherished values.

Meanwhile the rest of the world emulates her; more particularly, her excesses. Nowhere is that more obvious than in Japan, where she has adopted America's most superficial, material behavior and married it to an isolation, homogeneity, and insularity that remains till this day. Others take to America's excesses as well, forgetting the American values that made her great. It is difficult in many nations to adopt individuality, let alone a multiplicity of cultures in their own towns and cities.

Every part, every nation, region grows from where they are now. America can grow and become psychologically mature. Japan can join the world and bring beauty to the world. Europeans and Indians can become entrepreneurial and individual, and so forth. As they do, they will not only grow and mature as a culture, but attract powerful positive circumstance as a result. Just as America has for over two hundred years.  (2009-2011 Q1)

  

Human Values, not Financial Obsession

Financial stock market obsession is turning America into a snake pit. Human values need to come first, or else she will have to relinquish her role as world leader. (2009-2011 Q1)

 

 

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