Joni Finegold
CONF 701 -- Theories of Social Harmony
Autumn 1998
"What is the underlying theory of social harmony / human
nature reflected in any one of the above mentioned text books?
Spell out the book's core theoretical policy and practical implications."
In his unpublished manuscript, The Hydra, Adam Curle speaks of not what generates social harmony, but what is preventing it. He identifies a global cycle of interdependence, exploitation, and deprivation he calls "the Hydra" as the generator of disharmony. However, the Hydra is not self-generating. Instead it is the manifestation of the frustration of humanity's inherently peaceful, happiness-seeking nature. Awareness of this frustrated nature and its feeding of the Hydra is the means toward social harmony.
Curle uses the analogy of the Hydra of Greek mythology to illustrate of the global force preventing social harmony. The heads of the Hydra are "the corporations, the governments, the banks, etc." The nature of the Hydra is the "collective goals of control and profit." While each alternatively needs and competes with the other, the elimination of one head will not kill the beast. The face, the shape of the Hydra may change and its mechanics and patterns of action are impermanent. Despite this constant metamorphosis, the religious belief in profit and competition expressed in capitalism and its variants nourishes and stimulates the growth of the Hydra.
The heads of the Hydra are the multinational economic institutions but "the centre of the Hydra's body, its heart, is the people." The Hydra represents interdependency between the elements and occupants of the global system. As long as humanity accepts the manifestations of the competitive, profit-driven global system, this system will perpetuate violence and deprivation of social harmony.
Curle believes it is not natural to humanity to be violent or competitive. He asserts, "We are born with a basically pristine nature." We are endowed from birth with wisdom, generosity and compassion, but we learn behaviour that contributes to the destructiveness of society. Curle sides with the "nurture" side of the nature versus nurture argument of human nature. He states, "We are not simply the product of our parents' genes, but of our whole human environment." In contrast to other authors on peace and conflict, such as Gordon Fellman in his book Rambo and the Dalai Lama (1998), humans do not have an innate propensity towards competitive struggles and violence. Violence is learned from "childhood neglect or abuse, by violence or indigence, or by perverse example." We are not eager to compete, to struggle for power.
Instead, the desire for happiness drives human nature. True happiness or, as Curle calls it, primordial happiness, is the state arising from the fulfillment of needs. He lists these needs as:
His definition of needs encompasses the survival needs of shelter, protection from threat and the elements, and a sense of constancy. To this he adds not only a fulfillment of basic physiological needs, but the pleasure of stimulation by fulfilling needs -- not just any food, but tasty food, not just any garments, but attractive ones. He also considers service, a "chance to take some role in the ordering of local, national, or international affairs," another basic need.
Achieving this happiness required by our nature is "the basis of everything we do... [because] not doing it would be even worse." Curle's happiness is Freud's "pleasure principle" put in a positive light. Freud defined the pleasure principle as the urge "to rid the person of tension, or...to reduce the amount of tension to a low level and keep it as constant as possible." (Hall, Calvin S. A Primer of Freudian Psychology 1979. (New York) New American Library p. 22.) Curle sees it not as the reduction of negative emotions, but the addition of positive ones.
Unfortunately, most humans last experience
this capability for achieving primordial happiness is in early
childhood. After this, externalities distort and obscure the craving
for fulfilling this congenital hunger. This craving for fulfillment
of true needs becomes falsely directed as a craving for material
and ego-boosting gains. Even where there is material wealth, or
personal "achievements," the hunger still exists. This
feeds a vicious cycle of frustration. A person is ignorant of
their true needs or co-opts the illusion that material goods and
social status are their true needs. They acquire these goods and
status, but still feel hunger for something more. This hunger,
this denial of needs, leads to anger, hatred of other, and violence
towards the self and other.
Not only does lack of happiness inspire violence, but violence is a barrier to happiness. "Where there is violence, joy is tarnished and broken. Where there is no happiness, violence flourishes."
The Hydra is the exogenous unhappiness of humanity. Humanity experiences this it through the collective or extended mind. We accept and believe in the need for the Hydra as a common cultural norm. Countries that are capitalist, violence and competitive accept these as necessary for fulfillment of basic human needs for health, wealth, and shelter. Countries deprived of these basic needs aspire to emulate the acceptance of competition and violence of the affluent ones.
Thus, imposed institutional changes cannot tame the Hydra. The key to reforming the Hydra is a change in individual consciousness. Curle believes that once enough people are aware of the nature of the Hydra, human nature, and the link between the two, they will reach critical mass and form a collective consciousness to tame the Hydra. "To tame and transform the Hydra means to tame and transform ourselves, or at least our illusions of acquisition and anger. The first steps towards doing this are to learn about the creature and our relationship to it....Our task is to ensure that its elements are oriented to the advantage of all rather than a few."
Curle's proposal for increasing social harmony, and the purpose to his manuscript, is to inspire self-awareness through education. To be self aware is like Gandhi's "Satyagraha" -- the knowledge and expression of our true capacities. By experiencing and fulfilling our true selves, the highest level of awareness, we will then be "aware of our true nature, acting and feeling in accordance...we experience primordial happiness."
In Curle's view, the purpose of the mediators is to raise the self-awareness of the combatants, particularly those in decision-making roles. "The task of mediation is to reassure, unravel, explain and interpret, but not to advise...the source of the mediators' work is psychological; to change the protagonists' perception of their opponent, of themselves and of the conflict." Curle explains that in his role as mediator, "All I can do is to offer him friendship and the temporary haven of a relationship which is understanding, supportive and undemanding. This may to some small extent lower his inner tension and reduce his anxiety so he can reflect more peacefully and profoundly on he situation." Violence is often a result of thinking clouded by stress and negative emotions such as "anger, desire for revenge, hopelessness, or pressures."
Education is key to giving insight to true human nature and fulfillment of true human needs. Education will create the critical mass of those aware of the Hydra and the need to transform it. Curle believes that, "Peaceful people must be transformed into powerful people eager to struggle...against the rule of the Hydra." This is then self-perpetuating. To work together for the well being of others is a powerful way to evoke primordial happiness. The collective consciousness, thus aware of the negative effects of the Hydra, will call upon the powerful states and international bodies to establish structures for greater justice.
Throughout this transformative process, the linchpin is awareness of and rectification of individual malaise. Personal happiness, true primordial happiness, is the key to greater social harmony. Once we recognize that our happiness need not be gained at cost to others, we will then see that true happiness is a collective wealth to be shared.
Curle's theory of social disharmony and prescription
for social harmony are encouraging. However, although he is by
trade a psychologist, reflecting this in his modification of Freud's
pleasure principle, he does not look at equally compelling classic
psychological views of human nature. He neglects to address the
flip-side of Freud's desire for Eros, the desire for Xanathos.
He does not acknowledge that anger and destructiveness may be
an equal and balancing facet of human motivation. He equally does
not acknowledge Jung's "will to power." Curle posits
that the sole human motivator present at birth is the need for
happiness, achieved through satisfaction of one's physical needs
for survival and one's emotional needs to fulfill a purpose and
serve. However, one must ask, even if this was achievable, is
it desirable? What would the world be like if there was no conflict?
Would we receive enough "stimulus," as he named in his
requirements for primordial happiness, if there were no struggle,
no competition, no achieving against our natural abilities and
nature? More likely, this world would be bland and unmotivating.
We do not struggle for what we need merely to fulfill a primordial
craving, but to fulfill the need for achievement, for competition,
for power. In this, Gordon Fellman takes a more realistic view
of the mechanisms to enhance social harmony. Curle's social harmony
would be false and fragile. However, his recognition of the Hydra
and our role in nourishing it is accurate. We must tame the Hydra,
and as Curle correctly points out, this can only begin at the
individual level of self-understanding and actuation.