Handbook of Convergence of Cultures[1]
1 PROLOGUE
The Convergence of Cultures is an organism that promotes the convergence of the diverse cultures coexisting in today’s world, towards a culture of nonviolence directed to the formation of a Universal Human Nation.
This text is directed to the valiant people who share this aspiration and are disposed to commit themselves to the transformation of this aspiration into reality.
We live in times where the “worldization”[2] has produced without precedent, influence among cultures as never before possible…
We are not speaking only about the fact that today people all over the world can be in contact with each other thanks to the advancements of communication technology. But rather, apart from the historical accumulation of phenomena such as colonialism and imperialism, the enormous inequality in the living conditions and of survival in different areas of the world, and the resulting massive migration, multi-culturality exists in the interior of territories that are still considered as “national states.”
In these conditions, violence augments when there is not a growing dialogue among cultures having a common project.
On the other hand, sharing a dialogue based on a common project creates conditions that allow for:
• Sharing the progressive elements from each culture.
• Investigating, expressing and rejecting those elements that thwart dialogue.
The Essay on Cultures of the new world
When the New World was discovered, Native American peoples had spread throughout North and South America. Often they were hunter/gatherers, but they had established various civilizations. The Europeans considered themselves far superior to these natives, and European arrival invariably led to native peoples being subjected to European rule. The Europeans brought superior weapons such as fire-arms, ...
It is clear these reflections need to happen from “within” the sentiment of each culture among the members who compose it. It is apparent that in no way should a single culture presumptuously assume to take the central role to be judging and subjugating others. Taking this sterile path only augments an abyss of violence seen among peoples today.
Nevertheless the intention to appropriate the whole by a minority and the intolerant proposals of some leaders that take advantage of the lack of future of individuals and peoples, continues to justify and feed the clash between cultures, discrimination and violence.
It is for this that the members of Convergence of Cultures, coming from distinct cultures, place as their primary objective to improve the conditions of dialogue starting from within their cultures.
The breadth and diversity of possibilities to take action are so ample that this document can only be given as a guideline for the direction, and in this context highlight the importance of taking a proportional action to maintain the direction which we aspire to.
And, on the other hand, from a personal point of view, this approach will surely be experienced as valid if there is growing coherence between what one thinks with what one feels and what one does.
What is important is to create necessary ambits that can rescue every culture’s ideas, beliefs and humanist attitudes, which beyond their differences, is found in the heart of different peoples and individuals.
From this perspective is spawned the need to work together with the most important characteristic placed on the contribution and commitment of each and every one of us.
We are happy to have the possibility to begin constructing a common work that will bring us to dialogue further, with the ambitious objective of elaborating a synthesis with the potential of enriching and illuminating every human being regardless of which culture they come from.
We are speaking then about the study, learning, demonstrating, and profundicizing all of those enriching manifestations that have been developed throughout history and from the vision of each culture, with the intention of constructing a new reality that joins and strengthens us in this critical and delicate historical moment.
In this way we seek to contribute to the elevation and appreciation of the invaluable contributions from each sensibility to the world and human history, initiating a renewed dialogue among cultures that grows without limits.
The Essay on Grading Feedback Work Convergence Posted
Announcement #38: (a / o 6/24/02): Updates, Deadlines & 'Convergence'': 1. All work posted a / o this morning has been read and graded EXCEPT the Final Project papers (Exam) which I'm going to wait until most of the se are posted and grade them together. 2. DEADLINES: All work including the Final Project paper must be posted no later than 11: 00 PM EST on 7/10/02. This gives ne 5 days to grade ...
When we refer to the humanist attitude, we are referring to the following six points:
1. Placing the human being as the central value and preoccupation.
2. Affirming the equality of all human beings.
3. Recognizing personal and cultural diversity.
4. The tendency to develop knowledge above what is accepted or imposed as an absolute truth.
5. Affirming liberty of ideas and beliefs.
6. The repudiation of violence.
What is crucial is the encounter and dialogue between human beings of different cultures who can look at each other and say: “I exist because you exist.”
What‘s The Convergence of Cultures?
The Convergence of Cultures[3] is an organism which forms part of the Humanist Movement[4].The Movement first appeared on the 4th of May 1969, with a public presentation by its founder, Silo, known as “the Healing of Suffering[5]”, held in a mountainous landscape in the Andes, called Punta de Vacas, next to the border between Argentina and Chile.
The Humanist Movement is based on the current of thought known as New Humanism[6] or Universalist Humanism[7] developed in Silo’s work, as well works of various authors inspired by Silo’s.
This current of thought, which also implies a feeling and a way of living, is reflected in several fields of human activity, giving rise to diverse organisms and action fronts. All of them work in their specific fields of activity with a common goal: humanizing the earth, thus contributing to increase freedom and happiness in human beings[8].
Other organisms developed by the Humanist Movement include the Humanist Party, The Community for Human Development, World Without Wars, and the World Center of Humanist Studies.
Why is the Convergence of Cultures necessary today?
In today’s society, coexistence among different cultures is an everyday occurrence. But what is extraordinary about the current historical moment is that it is a period of “worldization” [9] where all cultures are in contact and influencing one another, now more than ever before possible.
The Essay on Psychological Attitudes Towards Human Behavior
Psychological Attitudes towards Human Behavior Psychological attitude towards variety of issues is an important factor determining human behavior in certain life situation. In this research we are going to analyze the book by Victor Frakl called Mans search for meaning in order to find out possible attitudes towards human behavior and how it can be expressed. This book is giving the reader a ...
It is important to distinguish between this process of growing “worldization”[10], and “globalization”. The often mentioned “globalization” pertains to the traditional behavior that imperial centers of power have adopted. As it has repeatedly happened in history, these empires install, develop and make other communities revolve around them, trying to impose their language, customs, clothing, food and social codes. These imperialist structures finally end up generating violence and chaos as a result of their ingenuous oppression and cultural confrontation.
Today it is necessary to generate settings, ambits, to preserve the ideas, beliefs and humanist attitudes of each culture which, beyond all differences, can be found in the heart of the every community and individual.
“These are fundamental aspects humanism are: Its anti-discriminatory attitude and its tendency towards universality, mutual tolerance and subsequent convergence. This attitude what we call the humanist attitude[11] in regions that are far removed from each other, and also to show that we can, of course, find this attitude in distinct “moments” (periods of time) of various cultures. I say “distinct moments,” because this attitude seems to advance and retreat in a pulsating way over the course of history, and many times even to disappear altogether, generally at moments preceding the collapse of a civilization. You can understand that establishing correspondences between civilizations on the basis of their humanist “moments”[12] or periods is a vast undertaking, something of great scope.
If today ethnic and religious groups are turning within themselves in order to find a stronger identity, then what is underway is a kind of cultural or regional chauvinism that threatens to produce clashes with other ethnic groups, cultures, or religions. And yet, if all persons have a legitimate love for their own people and their own culture, then they can also understand that in their people and its roots there exists or has existed that “humanist moment” that makes them by definition universal, makes them of a kind with that “other” culture or religion or ethnic group they are facing. Thus, what we have are diversities that cannot be erased by one side or the other. These diversities are not a hindrance or a defect or something backward—rather, they constitute the very richness of humanity. The problem lies not in diversity but in how to achieve a convergence of all those diversities, and this is what occurs in a “humanist moment,” and is what I mean when I speak of “points of convergence.” (What do we understand today by Universalist Humanism, Silo Complete Works I)
The Research paper on JKL International plc. International Human Resource
INTRODUCTION With the trend of globalisation, the number of multinational companies is constantly increasing as well as expatriates (Business Recorder, 2011). Expatriate management now is an essential issue of human resource department because it takes a large amount of budget from the corporation. It is inevitable for expatriates to face culture barriers in subsidiaries because of unique national ...
What are the goals of the Convergence of the Cultures?
In general terms, the Convergence of Cultures’ goals are: to favor and encourage dialogue among cultures, to fight against discrimination and violence and to bring its proposal to all latitudes.
How can the relationship and the dialogue among different cultures be encouraged?
By organizing meetings and opening ambits, environments for the interchange among people of different cultures. This is not only with the intention of making their own cultures, concerns and aspirations known, but also with the purpose of reaching a genuine dialogue, focused on the search for common ground, to be found in the heart of the different cultures and individuals.
What topics can the dialogue among cultures be focused on?
The dialogue among cultures is based on what they have in common: on the Universal Humanist attitude, characteristic of the humanist moments of each and every culture; on the factors that made humanist moments disappear in the history of a culture; on the conditions that would be necessary today, for these moments to emerge and again be expressed, even improved; on the awareness about anti-humanist attitudes[13] in individuals and societies, manifested as discrimination[14] and violence[15].
“Either we let ourselves be swept along by the tendency toward a world that is ever more absurd and destructive, or we give events a different direction. Underlying this formulation is the dialectic of freedom versus determinism, the human search for choice and commitment versus the acceptance of mechanical tendencies and processes with their dehumanizing end. The continuing concentration of big capital to the point of worldwide collapse would be dehumanizing, as would be the results: a world convulsed by hunger and overflowing with refugees; a world of endless fighting, warfare, chaos, and constant fear; a world of abuse of authority, injustice, and erosion of basic liberties; a world in which new forms of obscurantism will triumph. It would be dehumanizing to go once more round the same circle until some other civilization arises, only to mechanically repeat the same stupid steps again—that is, if this is still possible after the collapse of the first planetary civilization that is now beginning to take shape.
The Essay on List And Define The 5 Components Of All Human Cultures
There are five components of human culture; symbols, language, values and beliefs, norms, and material culture and technology. Symbols are anything that carries a particular meaning recognized by people who share a culture. Language is a system of symbols that allows people to communicate with each other. Values are culturally defined standards by which people assess desirability, goodness, and ...
Within this long history, however, one’s own life and the life of each generation is so short and so immediate that one sees the wider destiny of all as a simple extension of one’s own destiny, rather than one’s own destiny as a particular case of the wider destiny. So it is that the lives people live today are far more compelling than any thought of the life that they or their children will live tomorrow. And, of course, for millions of human beings the situation is so urgent that they have no horizon left to consider some hypothetical future that might come to pass. At this very moment there are already far too many tragedies, and this is more than enough reason to struggle for a profound change in the overall situation. Why, then, do we speak of tomorrow, if the pressing problems of today are so great? Simply, because the image of the future is increasingly manipulated and we are admonished to put up with present circumstances as if this crisis were something insignificant to bear. (Seventh letter to my friends, silo, Complete works I)
How do we denounce and struggle against all forms of manifest or concealed discrimination?
Through different kinds of campaigns, that should galvanize in full force for human rights; for the free movement of the human beings around the planet, and for the option to choose the place and the conditions one wants to live in. To improve the present constructing a common future.
“Human rights are not in universal effect as we would wish, and that is because there is not a universal power of humanity, but instead these rights depend on the power that one part of humankind holds over the whole. Since we find in every latitude that even the most elementary demands for control over one’s own body are trampled upon, we can speak only of aspirations that have yet to be transformed into rights. Human rights do not belong to the past, they are there in the future, calling to our intentionality and fueling a struggle that is reborn with every new infringement upon human destiny. Thus, every demand made, every voice raised on behalf of human rights is meaningful because it shows the powers-that-be that they are not omnipotent, nor do they control the future.” (The Human Landscape, Silo, Complete Works I)
The Term Paper on Impacting factors on human social service
Socio cultural factors are norms, values, beliefs, material and non material objects that are passed on from one generation to another in any given society .Socio cultural factors are crucial in any developmental aspect of a community.(Noyo Ndangwe p230) There is considerable interest in analyzing these factors that are impacting on human social service delivery and these are economic, religion, ...
How to spread the ideas and activities of the Convergence of Cultures
Establish contact with all the cultures in different countries, with the aim of increasing the concentration of individuals and organizations studying and generating activities of the Convergence of Cultures.
Finally, setting in motion social and cultural institutions that act from the base is of the utmost importance, because it allows communities that suffer discrimination or persecution to come together in a context of respect for human rights, finding a common direction notwithstanding their particular differences. The thesis that all ethnic groups, collectivities, and human groupings subject to discrimination must become strong by themselves so as to confront the abuse they are subject to exhibits a significant lack of understanding of the predicament we are all in. It is a position that stems from the notion that “mixing” with foreign elements will cause a loss of identity, when in reality it is precisely their isolated position that leaves them exposed and easily eradicated, or else left in a situation where they become so radical that their persecutors can justify direct action against them. The best guarantee of survival for minorities suffering discrimination is for them to form part of an action front with others to channel the struggle for their demands in a revolutionary direction. After all, it is the system taken as a whole that has created the conditions for discrimination, and these conditions will not disappear until that social order is transformed. (Seventh Letter to My Friends, Silo, Complete Works I
The Convergence of Cultures intends to approach all cultures, in particular those who are discriminated against either because they are a minority or for their rejection of the values of a dominant culture.
The convergence of Cultures is a path to a Universal Human Nation where there is room and freedom for everyone.
“And who will be able to produce this formidable change in direction if not the people themselves, who are precisely the subject of history? Have we reached a state of sufficient maturity to understand that from now on there will be no progress unless it is by all and for all? That is the second hypothesis explored in the letters.
If among the peoples of the world the idea takes hold (and it is good to repeat it) that there will be no progress unless it is by all and for all…then the direction of the struggle will be clear. In the last phase of this destructuring, new winds will begin to blow at the social base, at the grass roots. In ordinary neighborhoods, in the humblest workplaces, the social fabric will begin to regenerate. And this will apparently be a spontaneous phenomenon. Short-range demands will give way to a consciousness of the broader situation. This second possible scenario will doubtless come about only after an incubation period in which the problems will continue to intensify. Then there will begin a period of two steps forward and one step back in which each success will be multiplied in a demonstration effect that will reach even the most remote corners of the Earth, thanks to instant means of communication. This is not about the taking of power in nation states but about a worldwide process in which these new social phenomena, which are the precursors of a radical change in the direction of events, will continue to multiply. In this way, instead of the process of change ending in the mechanical collapse we have seen repeated so many times before, we will see the will to change and the peoples of the Earth beginning to travel the road toward a universal human nation. This second possibility is the alternative on which the Humanists of today stake their futures. They have too much faith in the human being to think that everything will end stupidly. And even though they do not feel themselves to be the vanguard of the human process, they are willing to accompany this process to the full extent of their powers and from the positions in which they happen to find themselves. (Presentation of Book letters to my friends, Silo, Complete Works I)
What is the methodology of action adopted by The Convergence of Cultures?
Active non-violence[16] and non-discrimination are the only coherent method to achieve the goals of The Convergence of Cultures. Not just in the systematic denunciation of all forms of violence that the System exercises, or in the tactics of struggle applied in precise situations, in which any kind of discrimination can be considered; we are referring to a lifestyle, an aspiration for any individual that shares these aims.
The Convergence of the Cultures makes available the formative topics and the practices of the Manual of Personal Development for the members of the Humanist Movement.
The Doctrine On Which The Ideas Of
Convergence Of Cultures Are Based[17]
Convergence among cultures is the purpose expressed in the name of our organization itself.
But how is it possible to believe in the viability of convergence among the different cultures of this planet at a time when everything seems to move them towards confrontation; and simple dialogue seems impractical even among neighbors of the same culture?
Our conception does not start with admitting generalities, but studying what is particular to human life[18].
When I observe myself, not from a physiological point of view but from an existential one, I find myself here, in a world that is given, neither made nor chosen by me. I find that I am in situation with, in relationship with phenomena that, beginning with my own body, are inescapable.
It happens, however, that the world appears not simply as a conglomeration of natural objects, it appears as an articulation of other human beings and of objects, signs, and codes they have produced or modified. The intention that I am aware of in myself appears as a fundamental element for the interpretation of the behavior of others, and just as I constitute the social world by comprehending intentions, so am I constituted by it.
On the other hand, natural and human objects manifest themselves before me as pleasant or painful and I try to place myself before them to favorably modify my situation.
In this way, I am not closed to the world of the natural and other human beings, rather precisely what characterizes me is opening. My consciousness has been configured inter-subjectively in that it uses codes of reasoning, emotional models, and schemes of action that I register as “mine,” but that I also recognize in others. And, of course, my body is open to the world insofar as I both perceive and act over the world.
All new human beings, in contrast, find themselves living in a world that is modified by others, and it is in their being constituted by this world of intentions that I discover their human capacity of accumulation within and incorporation to the temporal—that is, I discover not simply a social dimension but a socio-historical one.
Viewing things in this way, we can attempt a definition of the human being as follows: Human beings are historical beings whose mode of social action transforms their own nature. If I recognize these characteristics in myself and in others than convergence and dialogue is possible.
If the human phenomenon is socio-historical and human consciousness transforms the world according to intentionality, how can intentions converge in a common project?
Owing to the condition of finiteness and temporo-spatial limitation in which they find themselves and which they register as physical pain and mental suffering.
Overcoming pain, then, appears as a basic project that guides action. This is what has made possible communication among distinct human bodies and intentions in what is known as the social constitution. The social constitution is as historical as human life; it configures human life. Its transformation is ongoing, but in a different way than in nature, where change does not occur as the result of intentions.” Hence, if overcoming pain is a basic project that guides the action of all human beings, why are so many different beliefs?
We continue asking from the particularity of human existence.
When I have a new perception of the world, old perceptions are also action converted into images I retain. What is retained acts along with what I perceive, even though it pertains to the past. What has been retained in me operates in the present with respect to what I perceive, even though the formation of those retentions pertains to the past. In this way the past is always present, always being updated. It is due to what is co-present, to this retention that is updated and superimposed on the perception, that the consciousness infers more than it perceives. And it is in this phenomenon that it is possible to see the most elemental functioning of belief.
What would have seemed unbelievable, not because those objects do not exist but simply because their location would be outside the field of my co-presence, outside the landscape I have been formed by that acts within me, superimposing itself on every single thing that I perceive.
Now then, in any present instant of my consciousness I can observe the intercrossing of what has been retained and what is being futurized in me as they act co presently and in structure. In my consciousness, the present instant is constituted as an active temporal field of three different times. So, in each look that I direct toward an object, what I see is distorted.
So how can such rooted beliefs be transformed?
Social organization continues and expands.
Continuity is given by the different generations of human beings, which do not exist side by side, separate and apart from each other, but rather coexist, interact, and transform each other. These distinct generations, which make continuity and development possible, are dynamic structures. They are social time in motion, without which civilization would fall into a natural state, losing its character of being a society. On another note, in every historical moment, there coexists generations of different temporal levels, of different retentions and futurizations that configures different landscapes about the situation and beliefs.
In fact, a generational dialectic is established among the most contiguous generations that try to occupy the central activity, the social present, according to each generation interests and beliefs. It is the social inner temporality which explains structurally the historical events in which different generational historical accumulations interact, and not just the succession of phenomena, linearly placed one after the other, like time in the calendar.
In a moment, to give an example in general terms, there exist those who were born before the transistor, and those who were born among computers. Numerous configurations are admitted in both experiences, not only in the way of acting, but also in the way of thinking and feeling… and all that which worked in social relationships and in the methods of production at one time, stops working slowly, or, sometimes, abruptly in another.
The economic or social model that is discussed day after day by the opinion-makers is not the central interest for the new generations; rather, they wish that institutions and leaders were not just one more encumbrance on this already complicated world. They are looking for a new alternative, because to them today’s models seem worn out. Yet, at the same time, they are unwilling to follow ideas or leadership that do not coincide with their new sensibility.
Hence it is this generational dialectic which allows for the transformation of beliefs.
In spite of the fact that the human being has the possibility to transform society and transform himself towards overcoming suffering, we can also observe human beings taking power over other human beings, resisting change and imposing their own intentions with violence.
The Human being, because of the characteristic openness and freedom to choose among situations, defers responses and imagines the future, and can also deny oneself, deny aspects of one’s body, deny it completely like in suicide, or deny others. Such freedom has enabled some individuals to appropriate the social whole, that is to say, they deny the freedom and intentionality of others, reducing them to prostheses, instruments of their intentions. It is there that the essence of discrimination can be found, its methodology being physical, economic, ethnic and religious violence. Violence can be installed and perpetuated thanks to the manipulation of the social system of regulation and control, that is to say, the State. Therefore, organization requires an advanced method of coordination, safe from any power concentration, be it private or state. When it is alleged that privatization of all economic areas keep society safe from state power, they are hiding the real problem, which is in monopoly or oligopoly, taking the power from state to a Para-state, maneuvered not just by a bureaucratic minority, but by the particular minority that increases the process of concentration.
The diverse social structures, from the simplest to the most sophisticated, tend to progressive concentration until they become immobilized, and so their stage of dissolution starts, from which a new reorganization process initiates, in a higher level compared to the previous one. From the beginning of history, society has made its own way towards worldization, and so there will come a time of maximum concentration of arbitrary power, with features of a world empire, with no further possibilities of greater expansion. The world system collapse will take place because of the logic of the structural dynamics of every closed system in which disorder necessarily tends to increase. But just as the process of structures tends towards “worldization”, the process of humanization tends towards the openness of the human being, superseding the State and Para-State; it tends towards decentralization and de-concentration in favor of an advanced coordination among autonomous social groups. Everything may end in a chaos and a re-start of civilization, or in the beginning of a period of progressive humanization, depending not on inexorable mechanical designs, but on the intention of the individuals and groups, on their commitment with the change of the world, and on an ethics of freedom that cannot be imposed by definition. And a real democracy with direct participation will be aspired to, a democracy that can be practiced instantaneously thanks to communication technologies, which are already equipped to do it; not to a formal democracy, manipulated until now by the interests of different factions.
A large number of human beings suffer oppressive conditions and yet don’t see it is possible to change their situation!
Necessarily, those who have reduced the humanity of others have caused new pain and suffering, and as a result, the old struggle against natural adversity has been re-initiated in the core of society, but now among those who want to «naturalize» others, society and history, and, on the other side are the oppressed, who need to humanize themselves by humanizing the world. That is why to humanize is to dispense with and overcome objectification to assert the intentionality of every human being and prioritize the future over the current situation. It is the image and representation of a possible and improved future that enables modifications of the present and what makes all revolution and all change possible. Therefore the pressure of oppressive conditions is not enough to initiate the change; it is necessary to realize that such change is possible and depends on human action.
This struggle is not among mechanical forces, is not a natural reflection of them; it is a struggle among human intentions. And this is precisely what allows us to talk about the oppressive and the oppressed, about fair and unfair, heroes and cowards. It’s the only thing that gives sense to the practice of social solidarity and the commitment to the liberation of the discriminated, be they majorities or minorities.
Human destiny is guided by intention which, is becoming increasingly conscious in people, opening the gate towards a universal human nation. From what has been mentioned before, it emerges with evidence that human existence does not begin and end in a vicious enclosed circle, and that a life aimed towards coherence must open up, widening its influence to people and different contexts promoting not just a conception and a few ideas, but precise actions that should make freedom increase.
“Hunger, thirst, sickness, and all bodily injury are pain. Fear, frustration, despair, and all mental hurt are suffering. Physical pain recedes in the measure that society and science advance. Mental suffering recedes in the measure that faith in life advances, in the measure that life gains meaning.
If, perhaps, you imagine yourself to be a fleeting meteorite that has lost its brilliance upon falling to earth, you will accept that pain and suffering are simply the nature of things. But if you believe you have been thrown into this world to fulfill the mission of humanizing it, you will be thankful to those who have come before you, who have built with great labor the steps that allow you to continue the ascent.
Namer of a thousand names, maker of meanings, transformer of the world, your parents and the parents of your parents continue in you. You are not a fallen star but a brilliant arrow flying toward the heavens. You are the meaning of the world, and when you clarify your meaning you illuminate the earth. When you lose your meaning, the earth becomes darkened and the abyss opens.
I will tell you the meaning of your life here: It is to humanize the earth. And what does it mean to humanize the earth? It is to surpass pain and suffering; it is to learn without limits; it is to love the reality you build.
I cannot ask you to go further, but neither should it offend if I declare, “Love the reality you build, and not even death will halt your flight!”
You will not fulfill your mission if you do not apply your energies to vanquishing pain and suffering in those around you. And if through your action they in turn take up the task of humanizing the world, you will have opened their destiny toward a new life…”
(The inner landscape, Silo, Complete Works I)
What are Cultures?[19]
The word “culture” has several meanings and etymologically it’s taken from an ancient Western language, Latin, and derives from the verb “colere” cultivate. This is already a first difficulty in front of the possibility of different words that in some other languages express what we want to express with the word “culture”.
And surely this goes beyond the idiomatic problem. We also have the problem of meaning: what is a “culture” or rather what are the cultures?
Once we attempt to give an answer to these questions it’s not an idle question to ask ourselves: Is possible to have a dialogue between different cultures that are so different?
So question upon question, we would like you to accompany us in this reflection about this theme that inspires us so much.
Many works have been written in order to comprehend the functioning and the destiny of the cultures. In all of those attempts we can recognize some interpreting contributions. Nevertheless, investigators, anthropologists, sociologists and philosophers haven’t given consideration to the landscape with which they counted on to give direction to their looks and they considered the human being as a simple epiphenomenon of their object of study.
Let’s see some cases.
In 1871, the English anthropologist Edward Tylor in his book “Primitive culture”, defined culture as “that complex group that includes knowledge, beliefs, art, morals, laws, customs and all capacity and habits acquired by man as a member of society.”
Oswald Spengler between 1918 and 1922 – that is to say during the last months of the first World War and the immediate post-war – published “The Decline of the West” in a period when consciousness of a social, economic, political, intellectual and values crisis was beginning to be accentuated,
According to an “organic logic of history”, culture is interpreted as an organism. Each culture/organism represents a world unto itself; between civilizations no communication is possible since each civilization creates its own values and between them there are no common values. The protagonist of history is not man, but rather the “culture”. As an organism, it follows the same course as nature: birth, development according to a necessary destiny and an inevitable decline. This decline occurs when all of its potentiality has been realized, followed by an inflexible process of decadence.
The Spengleriana vision of “civilization” (Zivilization) as the last moment of a culture (Kultur) did not impede Arnold J. Toynbee from assuming it as a unit of investigation. Already in the introduction of “A Study of History” – eleven volumes written between 1934 and 1954 – he discussed the problem of the minimum historic unit. Toynbee abandons “national history” and is interested above all in the comparative study of the civilizations. He identifies 26 civilizations.[20] According to Toynbee, the subject of history is not a biological being that is marked by destiny, but rather an entity guided by impulses or detainments between the open and the closed. A type of reto-response realizes social movement. Finally, according to his understanding, the great religions transcend the disintegration of the civilizations and are what permit us to intuit a “plan” and a “purpose” in history.
When the Cold War ended, Samuel P. Huntington in his article “The Clash of Civilizations” In 1993 and later in his book “The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order” from 1996, returns to confront the theme of the cultures. In opposition to “The End of History” formulated by Francis Fukuyama, Huntington affirmed that the conflicts of the 21st century will be verified with greater frequency and violence throughout the dividing lines between cultures (or civilizations such as the Islamic, Occidental, Chinese, etc) and no longer for political-ideological reasons as had occurred in the 20th century.
Some studious people, defined the civilizations using the theory of groups.
Others focused their attention on technological development, emphasizing how the industrial civilization goes progressively re-placing the previous agrarian civilization and predicts an ulterior transformation relative to the society of information. The “scale of Kardashev” classifies civilizations on the technological state, principally measuring the quantity of energy they are capable of utilizing.
Some feminist movements identified a change of civilization with the beginning of the masculine domination over women.
Environmental movements identified it with the beginning of the excessive exploitation of the natural resources, which has to be counterarrested with sustainable development.
Finally, John Zerzan, one of the principal exponents of anarco-primitivism, sees civilization as something that obliges human beings to live in an unnatural way, to oppress the weakest and to harm their environment. His works criticize civilization as inherently oppressive and defend the return to forms of life of the prehistoric hunter-gatherers.
What are the cultures for New Humanism?
In the first place, we observe that the cultures are an exclusively human product. We do not see its traces in the animal world.
Therefore, if we want to answer the question “what are the cultures?” it’s necessary to first answer the question “what is the human being?”
We observe that the human being is an historic being whose mode of social action transforms his own nature thanks to the reflection of the historical-social as personal memory.
In other words: in the human being there doesn’t exist a human “nature”, if there is something “natural” in the human being it’s change, history and transformation.
This allows us to liberate ourselves from the ideas of a “natural order”, a “natural moral”, natural law”, “natural institutions”, because in that field everything is historic-social and nothing exists by nature.
It also permits us to liberate ourselves from the idea that the human consciousness is passive. On the contrary, the copresence of the human consciousness works thanks to its enormous temporal amplification and if the intentionality of the consciousness permits us to project a meaning, the characteristic of the human being is to be and to make the meaning of the world, transforming it.
But why does the human being need to transform the world and transform him or herself? Because of the situation of finitude and temporal spacial lacking in which one finds oneself and registers physical and mental suffering.
The surpassing of pain is not only a simple animal response, immediate, reflex and natural, but it is also a differed response and a construction in front of the future possibility of pain or the presence of pain in other human beings that are experienced as suffering.
So the surpassing of pain appears as a basic project that guides the action.
It is that intention that has made communication possible between beings and diverse intentions which we call “social constitution”. The social constitution is as historic as human life, it configures human life. Its transformation is continuous, but in a different way from that of nature, in which the changes do not occur thanks to intentions.
Things being like this, we are now in conditions to answer the question “what are the cultures?”
The cultures can be understood as the sets of responses that the human groups generate throughout their process of adaptation to the environment in order to satisfy their necessities for the surpassing of pain and suffering.
The cultures incorporate the social experience, landscape and natural conditions in which a human group was formed (its art, tools, architecture, forms of production, mode of organization, etc.) as well as their aspirations, beliefs, myths, and codes useful to their relationship. These tangible and intangible elements are configured in such a way that they transform the existing conditions, while expressing the values that give direction and meaning in our personal and collective ambit.
The cultures are not a simple reflex response in front of the conditionings and external determinisms. Before all else they are the expression of human intentionality are temporal configurations in which the future is primary.
Cultures are also the accumulation of historic memory that is transmitted through different forms converting the cultural into the established. But even though the established culture tends to perceive itself as something immobile and permanent, it is also subjected to a transformation.
These are some considerations that bring us closer to our theme. They have greater development and fundaments in our Notebook of Convergence of Cultures which will certainly be enriched with the numerous contributions that we need.
The more profound aspects of a culture, starting with one’s own, can be difficult to perceive and can be revealed when the dialogue is deepened. A dialogue that by experience we know is possible in the moment in which we put as a condition the human being as the central value.
Attitude of dialogue
The profound recognition of the value of all cultures, the important of diversity for the evolution of life on our planet, are key for dialogue.
We believe in strengthening our actions in this direction is the sole intent today, where everything tends towards differentiation, to construct bridges among human beings where the tendency of our connections is to fall apart.
Organization of Convergence of Cultures
The Convergence of Cultures is an organization with an international character; in this sense its members, independently of the place in which they act, feel part of a single humanizing worldwide action which is expressed in diverse yet convergent ways. It is organized as a “Federation” which groups all the Base Teams worldwide.
Base Teams
Are the fundamental structure of Convergence. They develop their activities on the neighborhood level, in schools, universities, the work place, via Internet, etc.
The figure Team Promoter is the most important. Anyone can be a promoter of a Base Team beginning with forming a group.
These groups (base teams) are initially coordinated by the person who initiates them. When a group in formation reaches a minimum development (10 participants) and with permanence over time, it constitutes (is/considered) a Convergence of Cultures Team (Base Team)
Teams are composed of full members and supporters (adherents).
Full Members: Give impulse to and develop the activities of CC; they participate with the annual economic contribution and they participate in the voting.
Adherents: Received information and participate in the activities.
The base team has an annual election whereby all full members participate and vote to confirm or replace the initial coordinator of the base team.
The participation is open to all without any discrimination.
All those who are seeing this presentation could, for example, begin participating in CC immediately.
Activities
Growth, communication, and formation
Growth: Action oriented to people, networks, and organizations with the objective of informing them of our projects, proposals, and tools, and invite them to participate.
Communication and Interchange: with other teams of the CC and with organizations attuned to our objectives.
Formation of members: placing the tools of personal, social and cultural development found in the official materials at the disposal of the members.
Joint Functions
In proportion to the development, the teams will develop necessary functions. For example: a spokesperson, relations with other organizations, legal and bureaucratic, press and diffusion, etc.
These functions are chosen by vote of the members according to necessity, and they are exclusively at the service of the whole: they respond to a mandate with precise guidelines.
National Coordination
When a country has at least 10 Base Teams, the full members of the country vote for a National Team for up to 8 posts.
For the first election, a national promoter team made up of members of base teams will determine the times and means to hold the election.
Functions of the national teams are:
• Coordination of joint activities
• Materials and Archives
• Legal
• Administrative (economics and web)
• Press
• Relations
• Ideological
• Spokesperson
The elected functions are for a period of 2 years and can be reelected. They are exclusively at the function of the whole: responding to the mandate of precise guidelines.
World Coordination
Coordination at the world level is in charge of the elected national teams and voted every two years by the full members of the organism worldwide.
• The functions are:
• Coordination
• Information
• Web
• Developing positions to conflicts
• International Press
• International Relations
These functions are exclusively at the service of the whole: they respond to a mandate with precise guidelines. They can be reelected.
In the case of important decisions, those that affect the positioning and development of the whole, a general consultation will be held with all the base teams through the national teams. If necessary, a worldwide vote can be held regarding any theme as such.
Organizational Synthesis
Convergence of cultures in an organization of a worldwide character. It is organized as a “Federation” which groups all the Base Teams worldwide.
Its forms of participation are open and flexible.
It is an organization of a human base in which each person takes care of what they construct.
The most important position is the Promoter of new teams.
The fundamental structures of Convergence are the “Base Teams”, formed by full members and supporters.
The national and world teams fulfill functions of coordination at the service of the whole.
All those who see this presentation can begin to participate in Convergence of Cultures immediately.
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[1] This handbook was elaborated by the world promotion Team on January 2010
[2] It differs radically from the concept of Globalization. This last term corresponds with the homogenizing current pushed by imperialism, financial groups and international banking Globalization expands at the expense of the diversity and autonomy of national states, of the identity of cultures and subcultures. The mentors of globalization intend to mount a world system (*New Order) based on the “open” market economy. N.H. pleads for m., process to which different cultures tend to converge without losing their lifestyle and their identity. The process of m. favors national federations and federative regionalizations approaching finally to a model of world multiethnic, multicultural and multiconfesional confederation, that is to say, a universal human nation.” (Dictionary of New Humanism, Silo, Complete works II)
[3] Previously known as the “Center de Cultures”
[4] Name given to the group of people that take part in the proposals of N.H.(*).
These proposals, in general terms, are embodied in the Document of the H.M. (* Humanist, document).
The H.M. is not an institution, even when it gives birth to numerous groups and organizations. The H.M. does not intend to exert hegemony over the different humanist and humanitarian currents (* Humanitarianism), differentiating itself from them clearly. It does establish specific relationships with all the progressive groups in terms of nondiscrimination, reciprocity and convergence of diversity. (Dictionary of New Humanism, Silo, Complete Works II)
[5] (Silo, Complete Works I)
[6] The representatives of this movement have a clearly defined position about the current historical moment. For them it is crucial to construct a humanism that will contribute to the improvement of life, and cope with discrimination, fanaticism, exploitation and violence. In a world that is rapidly becoming globalized and showing signs of increasing collisions among cultures, ethnic groups and regions, supporters of N.H. propose a Universalist Humanism (*) that is both plural and convergent; in a world in which countries, institutions, and human relations are becoming des-structured, fragmented. They work for a humanism capable of rebuilding social forces; in a world in which the meaning and direction of life have been lost, they emphasize the need for a humanism capable of creating a new atmosphere of reflection, in which the personal sphere will no longer be irrevocably opposed to the social, nor the social opposed to the personal. These exponents, interpreters and militants encourage a creative humanism, not a repetitive humanism; a humanism that, aware of the paradoxes of the times, aspires to resolve them.
N.H. favors the modification of the scheme or structure of power for the purpose of transforming the present social structure, which is rapidly becoming a closed system (*Planetarization) in which the practical attitudes and theoretical “values” of anti-humanism (*) increasingly predominate. (Dictionary of New Humanism, Silo, Complete Works II)
[7] Also called New Humanism (*).
Characterized by an emphasis on the humanist attitude (*).
The humanist attitude is not a philosophy but a point of view, a sensibility and a way of living in relationship with other human beings. U.H. maintains that in all cultures, in their most creative moment (*), the humanist attitude tings the social environment. In such periods, discrimination, wars and violence in general are repudiated. Freedom of ideas and beliefs is fomented, which in turn provides incentive for research and creativity in science, art and other social expressions. U.H. proposes a dialogue between cultures that is neither abstract nor institutional, but rather an agreement on fundamental points and a mutual and concrete collaboration between representatives of different cultures based on their respective and symmetrical humanist “moments” or eras (*Humanist moment).
The general ideas of u.h. are formulated in the “Statement of the Humanist Movement” (*Humanist Statement).
(Dictionary of New Humanism, Silo, Complete Works II)
[8] It is essential to study the Humanist Document of Document of New Humanism in Letter sixth, Letters to My Friends, Complete Works I, or in the Dictionary of New Humanism, Silo Complete Works II.
[9] It differs radically from the concept of Globalization. This last term corresponds with the homogenizing current pushed by imperialism, financial groups and international banking Globalization expands at the expense of the diversity and autonomy of national states, of the identity of cultures and subcultures. The mentors of globalization intend to mount a world system (*New Order) based on the “open” market economy. N.H. pleads for m., process to which different cultures tend to converge without losing their lifestyle and their identity. The process of m. favors national federations and federative regionalizations approaching finally to a model of world multiethnic, multicultural and multiconfesional confederation, that is to say, a universal human nation.” (Dictionary of New Humanism, Silo, Complete works II)
[10] Ibid.
[11] The humanist attitude existed long before words such as “humanism,” “humanist,” and others like them had been coined. The following positions are common to humanists of all cultures: 1) placement of the human being as the central value and concern; 2) affirmation of the equalityof all human beings; 3) recognition of personal and cultural diversity; 4) a tendency to develop knowledge beyond conventional wisdom or that imposed as absolute truth; 5) affirmation of the freedom of ideas and beliefs; and 6) repudiation of violence.
Beyond any theoretical definition, the h.a. can be understood as a “sensibility,” a way of approaching the human world in which the intentionality and freedom of others are acknowledged and in which one assumes a commitment to non-violent struggle against discrimination and violence (*humanist moment).
(Dictionary of New Humanism, Silo, Complete Works II)
[12] Historical situation in which a younger generation struggles against the generation in power in order to modify the dominant anti-humanist framework. Such a period is often identified with social revolution. A h.m. acquires full significance if it inaugurates a stage in which successive generations can adapt and further develop the founding proposals of this process. Frequently, however, the h.m. is canceled by the very generation that came to power with the intention of producing a change of schema or system. It may also happen that the generation that initiates the h.m. will fail in its project. Some have wished to see in the social consciousness (*) of certain cultures the presence of humanist moments represented by a person or group of persons who have attempted to institutionalize this h.m. from a position of power (whether political, religious, cultural, etc.) in an elitist way, “from the top down.” One of the more notable historical examples of this was Akhenaton in ancient Egypt. When he attempted to impose his reforms, there was an immediate reaction from the generation being displaced. All of the structural changes he had initiated were dismantled, which brought about, among other new circumstances, the exodus of certain peoples, who in their departure from the lands of Egypt carried with them the values of that h.m. In other cultures about which current knowledge is not extensive, this phenomenon can still be observed. For example, in pre-Colombian Meso-America, the ruler Topiltzín of the governing Toltec, from the city of Tula, has been credited with the inauguration of the humanist attitude (*) called “toltecayotl.” A similar thing took place with Kukulkán, the ruler of Chichen-Itzá and founder of the city of Mayapán. Similarly, with Metzahualcóyotl in Texcoco we observe the opening of a new h.m. In pre-Colombian South America, a similar tendency appears in the Inca ruler Cuzi Yupanqui, who was given the name Pachacutéc, “reformer,” and in Tupac Yupanqui. Further cases emerge as the number of cultures about which we have knowledge and the depth of that knowledge increases and, of course, as the linear historical account of the nineteenth century is increasingly challenged.
So, too, has the influence of the great religious reformers and cultural heroes been interpreted as the opening of a h.m., which continued forward in a new stage and even at times a new civilization, but which have eventually come to an end, deviating from and annulling the initial direction.
With the configuration of the single, closed global civilization (*planetarization) that is now taking shape, the opening of a new h.m. inaugurated in a top down fashion, from the summit of political, economic, or cultural power, is no longer possible. Rather, we believe a new h.m. will emerge as a consequence of the increasing disorder in today’s closed system, and that it will be protagonized by the social base who, even while undergoing the general destructuring (*),will discover, driven by their immediate needs, the possibility of promoting the growth of minimal autonomous organizations. It is precisely such concrete, local actions that are today on the verge of becoming a demonstration effect (*), thanks to the shrinking of space brought about by the development of technology and, in particular, the growth of communications. The worldwide synchronization of protests that took place within a small generational stratum during the 1960s and early 1970s was a symptom of this type of phenomena. Another example may be seen in the social upheavals that at times exhibit synchronization in geographical points far removed from one another.
[13] This is not a doctrinal position but a behavior that is in practice the inverted image of the humanist attitude (*).
It does not refer to particular situations or to the commission of specific acts that may well be reprehensible from the perspective of humanist ethics. In concrete terms, the a.-h.a. is a personal emplacement or stance in the world, an “objectifying” mode of relationship characterized by the negation of the intentionality and liberty of other human beings. ANTI-HUMANISM: Any practical and/or theoretical position that tends to support a structure of power based on the anti-values of discrimination (*) and violence (*) (Dictionary of New Humanism, Silo, Complete Works II)
[14] (L. discriminare, to separate, differentiate).
It designates a form of treating persons, organizations and states as inferior due to factors such as race, ethnicity, gender, age, culture, ideology, etc.; premeditated depriving or curtailing of rights and privileges. One form of political d. is the restriction of a person’s or group’s right to vote or to be elected to public office.
Any explicit or concealed act of differentiation or segregation of an individual or human group that entails the negation of their intentionality and freedom is d. Such d. is always accompanied by affirming a contrast with such people based on special attributes, virtues, or values that the parties exercising d. claim for themselves. Such a procedure is correlated with an objectifying “look (a sensibility or an ideology) vis à vis human reality.
N.H. condemns d. in all its manifestations and urges its public unmasking in every instance. (Dictionary of New Humanism, Silo, Complete Works II)
[15]. (from L. violentiam, excessive use of force).
The simplest, most frequently employed and most effective mode for maintaining power and supremacy, for imposing one’s will over others, for usurping the power, property and even the lives of others. According to Marx, v. is “the midwife of history.” That is, all of human history ― even progress ― is the result of v.: wars, appropriation of territory, conspiracies, murders, revolutions, etc. Marx claimed that all important problems of history have generally been resolved by force. Intelligence, reasoned discussion, or reforms have played a secondary role. In this sense, Marx is right; he is wrong, however, to the extent that he confers absolute priority to the role of v., denying the advantages of evolution without v. Neither is he correct when he justifies v. with some noble end (although he himself on many occasions expressed reservations about v., saying that no good end can excuse the use of evil means for its attainment).
Advocates of v. of every persuasion justify it as a means to achieve “good” or “useful” ends and results. This focus is dangerous and mistaken, however, since it leads to the defense of v. and the rejection of non-violent means.
It is customary to categorize v. as direct, individualized (authority of father over child), or as indirect (permutational), usually “codified” by social institutions and official policies (wars, a dictator’s power, single-party power, religious monopoly).
There are also other ways of categorizing v.: as physical or psychological; as open or concealed. In society, other more precise gradations of v. can be observed ― at the level of the family, of the nation, of world politics, as well as in the relation of the human being with nature, with other animal species, etc. All around us we can observe one or more of these elements, manifestations, or states of v., carried out to resolve problems or to achieve desired results at the cost of harming or inflicting suffering on another individual or group. V. is not necessarily oriented toward any specific enemy (though such cases do occur); rather, it is exercised to obtain certain concrete results, and it is therefore regarded as necessary and useful. Often, the one exercising violence believes they are acting in a just manner. This is the origin of the concept of distinguishing between “black” (unjustified) v. and “white” (justified).
V. is multifaceted. In the majority of cases it is viewed as an ethical category, as an evil, or as a “lesser evil.” Today, v. has become pervasive in all aspects of life: it appears continually and on a daily basis in the economy (exploitation of some human beings by others, coercion by the State, material dependency, discrimination against women in the workplace, child labor, unjust taxes, etc.); in politics (domination by a single or small number of parties, the power of certain leaders, totalitarianism, the exclusion of citizens from real participation in decision-making, war, revolution, armed struggle for power, etc.); in ideology (the imposition of official viewpoints, the prohibition of free thought, subordination of the communications media to private interests, the manipulation of public opinion, propaganda of ideas that are inherently violent and discriminatory but convenient to the ruling elite, etc.); in religion (subjection of the interests of the individual to clerical edicts, stringent thought-control, prohibition of divergent beliefs, persecution of heretics); in the family (exploitation of women, dictatorial control over children, etc.); in education (authoritarianism of teachers, corporal punishment, prohibition of diversity in curricula and teaching methods, etc.); in the armed forces (arbitrariness of officers, unthinking obedience of soldiers, punishment, etc.); in culture (censorship, prohibition of innovative currents and movements, prohibitions against publishing certain works, edicts by the bureaucracy, etc.).
If we analyze the sphere of contemporary societal life, we continually come up against the v. that curtails our liberty; for this reason it is practically impossible to determine what sorts of prohibitions and suppressing of our will are truly rational and useful, and which ones are contrived and anti-human in character. A special task of authentically humanist forces consists of overcoming the aggressive features of contemporary social life: to promote harmony, non-violence, tolerance and solidarity.
When people speak of v., they generally mean physical v., this being the most overt expression of corporal aggression. Other forms of v., such as economic, racial, religious, sexual v., and so on, can at times act while concealing their true character, and lead to the final subjugation of human intention and freedom. When these forms of v. become manifest, they are also exercised through physical coercion. Every form of v. has discrimination (*) as its correlate. (Dictionary of New Humanism, Silo, Complete Works II)
[16] Generally refers to some or all of the following: a system of moral concepts that disavows violence; the mass movement led by Mahatma Gandhi in India in the first part of the twentieth century; the struggle for civil rights by African-Americans in the United States under the leadership of Martin Luther King; and the activities carried out by Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana. The activities of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Andrei Sakharov, S. Kovalev and other famous dissidents opposed to Soviet totalitarianism may be included as well.
The idea of n-v. is expounded in the Bible and in the writings of other religions in the exhortation ”do not kill”. This idea has been developed by numerous thinkers and philosophers; Russian authors Leo Tolstoy and Feodor Dostoievsky expressed it in profound formulations. Tolstoy’s formula proclaiming the supremacy of love and the “non-use of violence against evil,” or better, the impossibility of fighting one evil with another, found worldwide resonance, inspiring a somewhat singular sect of “Tolstoyists”
Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) formulated the ethics of n-v. in his own way, basing it on the principle of ahimsa (the refusal to use any form of violence against the individual, nature, even insects or plants) and on the “law of suffering.” Gandhi was able to organize the Satyagraha, an anti-colonial non-violent movement uniting many millions of people. This was expressed in massive and sustained civil disobedience against and noncooperation with the British authorities, reaffirming Indian identity and freedom, but without recourse to violent methods. The people called Gandhi Mahatma (“Great Soul”) for his courage and unyielding adherence to the principle of n-v. This non-violent movement prepared the ground for Great Britain to renounce its supremacy in India, though Gandhi himself was killed by a paid assassin. Unfortunately, in time the principle of ahimsa was completely forgotten, and the subsequent political process in India and Pakistan was accompanied by great bloodshed and unrestrained violence.
The struggle of Martin Luther King also ended without fully achieving its objectives, as he, too, was assassinated while speaking at a mass meeting.
Nonetheless, the concept of n-v., including non-violent forms of protest, continues to be a vital, evolving force in the world. Daily mass actions by lower strata of workers, meetings and protest demonstrations, strikes, womens’ and student movements, farmworker and peasant demonstrations, leaflets, neighborhood newspapers and periodicals, appearances on radio and TV, all these constitute the contemporary forms of the ethic and practice of n-v.
N.H. strives to reduce violence to the greatest extent possible, to move completely beyond it in perspective, and to set in motion all methods and forms of bringing resolution to conflicts and opposing sides along the path of creative n-v.
N-V. is frequently equated with pacifism (*), when in reality the latter is neither a method of action nor a style of life but rather a sustained protest against war and the arms race. (Dictionary of New Humanism, Silo, Complete Works II)
[17] This chapter, presented in the format of questions and answers, is an approach of the doctrinarian bases in which the proposals and methodology of the Convergence of Cultures are based, as well as the other organisms of the Humanist Movement. All the answers are a summary of “Fourth letter to my friends” Silo Complete Works I.
[18] The reference of the h.b. in situation is the body itself. It is in the body that the relationship between the human being’s subjective moment and objectivity takes place, and it is through the body that the h.b. can understand itself as “interiority” or “exteriority,” depending on the direction it gives to its intention, to its “look.” Before the h.b. is everything that is not himself, everything that does not respond to his intentions. Thus, the world in general and other human bodies – which the body of the h.b. affects and has access to and which it also registers the action of – set the conditions in which the h.b. constitutes itself. These conditionings also appear as future possibilities, and in future relation with the body itself. In this way, the present situation can be understood as something modifiable in the future. The world is experienced as something external to the body, but the body is also seen as part of the world, since it both acts in the world and receives the action of the world. Corporality is also something that changes and, in this sense, a temporal configuration, a living history launched toward action, toward future possibility. For human consciousness, then, the body becomes the prosthesis of intention, responding to intention in a temporal sense and in a spatial sense; temporally, to the extent that it can realize in the future what is possible for intention; spatially, as representation and image of intention.
In this becoming, objects are extensions of corporal possibilities, and other bodies appear as multiplications of those possibilities insofar as they are governed by intentions recognized as similar to those governing one’s own body. But why would the h.b. have the need to transform the world and to transform itself? Because of the situation of finiteness and temporo-spatial deficiency in which it finds itself, and which it registers, in accordance with various conditionings, as pain (physical) or suffering (mental).
In this way, the overcoming of pain is not simply an animal response, but a temporal configuration in which the future has primacy, and which becomes a fundamental impulse in life, though it may not be felt as urgent in any given moment. Thus, apart from responses that are immediate, reflexive, and natural, deferred responses and constructive activity to avoid pain are motivated by suffering in the face of danger, and these are re-presented as future possibilities, or as present actualities when pain is present in other human beings. The overcoming of pain, then, appears as a basic project that guides action. It is this intention that makes possible communication among various bodies and intentions in what is referred to as the “social constitution.” The social constitution is as historical as human life, is configuring of human life. Its’ transformation is continual, but in a mode different from that of nature. In Nature, changes do not come about due to intentions. Nature appears as a “resource” for overcoming pain and suffering, at the same time that it is a “danger” to the human constitution; hence, the destiny of Nature itself is to be humanized, intentionalized. And the body, insofar as nature, insofar as danger and limitation, has the same project: to be intentionally transformed, not only in physical location but also in motor capabilities; not only in exteriority but in interiority; not only in confrontation but in adaptation.
In a talk given May 23, 1991, Silo presented his most general ideas about the h.b. in the following way:
“… When I observe myself, not from a physiological point of view but from an existential one, I find myself here, in a world that is given, neither constructed nor chosen by me. I find that I am in situation with, immersed in phenomena that, beginning with my own body, are inescapable. The body is at once the fundamental constituent of my existence and, at the same time, a phenomenon homogeneous with the natural world, in which it acts and on which the world acts. But the nature of my body has important differences for me from other phenomena, which are: 1) I have an immediate register of my body; 2) I have a register, mediated by my body, of external phenomena; and 3) some of my body’s operations are accessible to my immediate intention. It happens, however, that the world appears not simply as a conglomeration of natural objects, it appears as an articulation of other human beings and of objects, signs, and codes that they have produced or modified. The intention that I am aware of in myself appears as a fundamental element in the interpretation of the behavior of others and, just as I constitute the social world by comprehending intentions, so too am I constituted by it. Of course, this refers to intentions that are manifested in corporal action. It is by virtue of the corporal expressions of the other, or by perceiving the situation in which the other appears, that I am able to comprehend the meanings of the other, the intention of the other. Furthermore, natural or human objects appear as either pleasurable or painful to me, and so I try to place myself in relation to them, modifying my situation. In this way, I am not closed to the world of the natural and other human beings; rather, precisely what characterizes me is opening. My consciousness has been configured intersubjectively in that it uses codes of reasoning, emotional models, patterns or plans of action that I register as “mine,” but that I also recognize in others. And, of course, my body is open to the world insofar as I both perceive it and act upon it.”
The natural world, as distinct from the human, appears to me as without intention. Certainly I can imagine that stones, plants, and the stars possess intention, but I find no way to achieve effective dialogue with them. Even those animals in which at times I glimpse the spark of intelligence appear basically impenetrable to me, and changing only slowly from within their natures. I see insect societies that are totally structured, higher mammals that employ rudimentary technology but still only replicate such codes in a slow process of genetic change, as if each was always the first representative of its respective species. And when I observe the benefits of those plants and animals that have been modified and domesticated by the h.b., I see human intention opening its way and humanizing the world.
To define the h.b.in terms of its sociability seems inadequate, because this does not distinguish the h.b. from many other species. Nor is human capacity for work a distinguishing characteristic when compared to that of more powerful animals. Not even language defines the essence of what is human, for we know of numerous animals that make use of various codes and forms of communication. Each new h.b., in contrast, encounters a world that is modified by others, and it is in its being constituted by that world of intentions that I discover that person’s capacity for accumulation and incorporation into the temporal – that is, I discover not simply a social dimension, but each person’s historical-social dimension.
With these things in mind, a definition of the h.b. can be attempted as follows: Human beings are historical beings, whose mode of social action transforms their own nature. If I accept this definition, I will also have to accept that the human being is capable of intentionally transforming its physical constitution. And indeed this is taking place. This process began with the use of instruments which, placed before the body as external “prostheses,” allowed human beings to extend the reach of their hands and their senses and to increase both their capacity for and the quality of their work. Although not endowed by nature to function in aerial or aquatic environments, they have nonetheless created means to move through these media, and have even begun to emigrate from their natural environment, the planet Earth. Today, moreover, they have begun to penetrate their bodies, replacing organs; intervening in their brain chemistry; conceiving in vitro; and even manipulating their genes.
If by the idea “nature” one has meant to signify something permanent and unchanging, then today this idea has been rendered seriously inadequate even when applied to what is most object-like about the h.b., that is, the body. In light of this, it is clear in regard to any “natural morality,” “natural law,” or “natural institutions,” that nothing in this field exists through nature, but on the contrary, everything is socio-historical.
After denying this so-called “human nature,” he concludes with a brief discussion that involves the supposed “passivity” of the consciousness:
Hand in hand with the idea of human nature goes another prevalent conception which asserts the passivity of the consciousness. This ideology has regarded the h.b. as an entity that functions primarily in response to stimuli from the natural world. What began as crude sensualism has gradually been displaced by historicist currents that, at their core, have preserved the same conception of a passive consciousness. And even when they have privileged the consciousness’s activity in and transformation of the world over interpretation of its activities, they still have conceived of its activity as resulting from conditions external to the consciousness.
Today, those old prejudices concerning human nature and the passivity of consciousness are once again being asserted, transformed into neo-evolutionary theories embodying such views as natural selection determined through the struggle for the survival of the fittest. In the version currently in fashion, now transplanted into the human world, this sort of zoological conception attempts to go beyond former dialectics of race or class by asserting a dialectic in which it is supposed that all social activity regulates itself automatically according to “natural” economic laws. Thus, once again, the concrete h.b. is submerged and objectified…
We have noted those conceptions that, in order to explain the h.b., have begun from theoretical generalities and maintained the existence of a human nature and a passive consciousness. We maintain, quite the opposite, the need to start from human particularity; that the h.b. is a socio-historical and non-natural phenomenon, and that human consciousness is active in transforming the world in accordance with its intention. We view human life as always taking place in situation, and the human body as an immediately perceived natural object, also immediately subject to numerous dictates of the person’s intentionality.
The following questions therefore arise: 1) How is it that the consciousness is active, i.e., how is it that it can operate intentionally on the body and, through the body, transform the world? 2) How is it that the human being is constituted as a socio-historical being, that is, both socially and historically? These questions must be answered starting from concrete existence, so as not to fall again into theoretical generalities from which a dubious system of interpretation might be derived – which could then go on even to deny it was an interpretation.
Answering the first question will require apprehending through immediate evidence how human intention acts upon the body. In answering the second, one must begin from evidence of the temporality and intersubjectivity of the h.b., rather than beginning from some supposed general laws of history and society.
These two themes are further developed in the two essays of Silo’s work Contributions to Thought. How human intention acts on the body through the image constitutes the nucleus of the explanations in the first essay Psychology of the Image. The second essay, Historiological Discussions, considers the problem of temporality.
[19] Presentation on the occasion of launching of the organism Convergence of Cultures, Punta de Vacas 3th of January 2010.
[20] Sumerians, Babylonions, ancient Egypt, Hittites, levantine Civilizations (Syrians, Phoenicians, Jews), Minoica Civilization, Classic Civilization (ancient Greece, ancient Rome), Celtics, Vikings, Islamic Civilization, Zimbabwe, Civilization of the Indus Valley (Harappa), Hindu Civilization, (Mauryan and Gupta Empires), Cambodian Civilization (Khmer Empire), Srivijaya (Island of Sumatra), Civilization Majapahi (Island of Java), China Mongol Civilization, ancient Japan, Civilization of the Misisipi, Precolombio Civilizations (Olmecas, Toltecas, Aztecas), Maya Civilization, Andean Civilizations (Incas), Austronesiana Civilization (Kingdom of Champa), Western Civilization (the nations formed after the fall of the Roman Empire) Orthodox Civilization (from Russia and the Balkans).
