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History and Evolution:
By William E. Steinman:
Part 13, China, India, and:
June 16, 2003:
Let us now give some attention to China, India, and other areas
that do not figure in the evolution of democracy. This is probably
the last attention we will give to China. It is not that the history
of China is unimportant. It is just that it is not relevant to
my goals in this series. As to historians ignoring China in the
past, that is simply careless or dishonest. Some historians will
say not much is known about China. What they should say is we
have made no effort to know. On the other hand, it is reasonable
for me to disregard China after looking at the facts. The facts
are, China did not directly contribute to the evolution of democracy.
So far as I can surmise, democracy never reared it's head in the Eastern world at all. This series is about the evolution of democracy and not much occurred there. They did not get much beyond the early iron age. Until very recently, the Eastern world never outgrew the medieval forms of government. Dynasties, Emperors, kings, and clerics ruled there even into modern times. We might wonder why, since this seems to be a contradiction of my theory that there is an instinctive human drive toward freedom.
I believe this lack of movement is due to the unique spiritual, ethical, and political philosophies there. These concepts permeate their entire culture. Although there are other religious philosophies, the underlying philosophy of China is Confucianism. Confucianism is a very complete set of rules which are very compelling for the Chinese and many other folks. This basic philosophy influences all of the people of China and many other Eastern peoples.
Now, I have no need or wish to undervalue this philosophy. In fact, it is worthy of considerable study, but not in this set of essays. Here I must be brief. Briefly the Confucian philosophy holds that the kingship, not any particular king, holds all power and authority. This power is mandated by heaven and not subject to question. The philosophy then defines all social custom, moral behavior, and human interactions at all levels. It offers a complete set of patterned behaviors or protocols for all conditions and situations. In essence it is a philosophy of submissiveness to authority and custom that had been inbred for about 2500 years.
This tends to circumvent any reaching out for personal achievement. This submissive attitude is also true of India and other areas of the world where the spiritual concepts of Karma and Dharma act to produce a fatalistic outlook in the people. The fatalistic and submissive philosophies of the East may be the most powerful drag on human evolution there is. These notions preclude any dynamic developments toward individualism or freedom of any kind. It creates a submissive attitude toward life and toward authority.
Here is the idea of Karma in Indian philosophy. It is about the influence of an individual's past actions on his future lives, or reincarnations. This concept of karma holds that this life is just one in a long series of lives. Further, this life is predetermined by what the person did in previous lives. This is a natural law, not open to question or discussion. The residual power of what we do and do not do lives on and follows us into our next life. It acts to determine the entire situation of our next life including our social position and character. Thus the law of karma explains the cast system of India quite neatly. It is determine by natural law.
Herein is the notion that your life is the result of what you did in some previous life. It is a fate that you have created and you must just live with it. In its worst sense this means that the conditions of your birth can never be transcended. If you are born the son of a toilet cleaner, toilet cleaning, or something similar, will be your life work. Don't pretend that you can be an emperor or even a doctor. Intelligence and skill are irrelevant to this. So we may as well just go out, sit on hot rocks, and feel noble.
Now, the concept of dharma dovetails neatly into that of karma. It varies slightly from one system to another, but the outcome is the same. In Hinduism dharma is the religious and moral law which determines individual conduct. This law must be followed according to you class and position. It has been codified and the particular document is called the dharmashastra.
Let us think about what this means in terms of our ethical values. Picture a little kid in Ethiopia. He is dying in agony from starvation and flies are eating him while he is dying. These religious philosophies would have us believe that he is suffering this way because he screwed up in some previous incarnation. He broke a rule back there and has simply earned what is happening to him. That is so patently absurd that it deserves nothing but the utmost contempt. It is a form of cultural insanity.
All of the cradles of civilization developed spiritual and religious philosophies. Only the Eastern philosophies turned inward and became fatalistic essentially suppressing the drives for freedom and power. It is only in recent years that we have seen contrary activities in China. These were viciously suppressed, but once the notion of democracy takes root it cannot be destroyed. These people will rise again. They will continue until they succeed in throwing off the yoke.
To its credit China did produce some important technical developments and products. We have them to thank for gun powder and the ability to kill people in larger numbers. It beats heck out of the bow. On the positive side, the first use of paper can be traced to China. For sure, the Chinese have made some major contributions in art and literature. Finally now, they may begin to contribute to the democratization of the world.
Until that begins, our best hope for continued evolution is
right here in the United States. I contend that representative
democracy is the highest possible form of government considering
the current condition of mankind. As we evolve, better forms may
develop. The life force and the drive toward a higher life form
may produce something better. What we must do now is make representative
democracy work. Currently it is failing. We are in decline. Only
a complete fool could look about and not realize that.
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