Community: A Baha'i Blueprint Part 4/4

POWER STRUCTURES

The issue of how humans deal with one another and how they develop relationships with one another crosses over into the concept of power and how it is administered within the wider community. Yes, power involves the political order, but more broadly than that it is:

concerned with how individuals relate to each other, how society impacts individuals, and how the various institutions and structures within society interact.

Once again the metaphor of the international community being like a human organism allows us to see how we are meant to structure our usage of power and its effects on mankind as a whole. No individual, or institution, on its own has the capacities to create a functioning and stable society, it is when each cell joins with others to form tissues which then form organs which then form systems, that you see a prosperous and advancing organism or society. Much like individuals must work together in order to form families, then communities, institutions and international organizations and governments. This however is all a system which directly involves and betters its members.

This argues the traditional Western mode of societal structure in which institutions, of varying capacities, compel individuals to act in a certain manner or to conform to a certain rule set and behavioral pattern; this is done either through oppression and tyranny or through the rule of law in a just social order. Prevailing conceptions of power are also largely divisive or competitive expressions of power which yield little positive fruit.

From a Baha’i perspective, the human relationships that give rise to considerations of power cannot simply be reduced to a continual struggle between competing interests, but may be so arranged as to constructively shape human character and contribute to beneficial social outcomes.

In the Baha’i teachings, discipline is not primarily imposed from the outside, but through personal struggle and self-mastery, as an individual exerts an effort to conform to their beliefs in daily life. The Baha’i teachings, however, are not entirely void of extrinsic laws and regulations. Prohibitions and restrictions do exist, their intention to inhibit destructive kinds of action. These however are not intended as an imposition on the autonomy of the individual but rather are a tool to aid man live a life spared from societal struggles . Within the boundaries of law, human beings are not inert and submissive, but empowered to make their mark on the world. An active good is required, rather than a passive good that is merely the result of not doing bad things. This positive effort is cultivated by at least three influences: education, attraction, and reflection. The Baha’i teachings envision a power model not of constant strength or constant weakness, but of a constant battle in search of balance, equilibrium. To struggle and strive at the same time. Social advancement necessitates that it is at the same time incremental and surging, systematic and chaotic, integrated and diverse.

It has been seen, time and time again, that man has grappled and fought for power ceaselessly. This power, however attained, has rarely been for the greater good. While man might acknowledge the benefits of ruling with a just and fair hand, it is almost unheard of for him to do this without any personal agenda or individual gain. These power struggles have seen man kill, brutalize, debase and dehumanize his fellow man for the sake of land or a namesake, again and again. Increasingly in our world we live in now, this is being seen in the form of extreme religious groups and leaders, or tyrannical and misguided individuals who refuse to hand power over to their people. It is a challenge which to overcome, seems impossible in this day and age, and it is, unless there is a fundamental shift in mankind’s attitude towards it.

Man must take himself out of himself and see his body as a tool and resource with which to aid mankind, power must no longer be a tool for self gain but a manner through which loved ones as well as fellow man can benefit and have the opportunity to prosper. Power should not be desirable, rather something which is innate within all of us, and if the occasion arises when it needs to be exercised, it should be done so through ceaseless service to mankind.

PROCESS VS PROGRESS

Community building, indeed all social advancement, must be viewed as a process, not a series of isolated events. As humans, we are programmed to be fixated by successes. We feel the need to see progress through individual achievements, as it allows us to maintain spirit and focus. This however is not conducive to a successful continuum of real progress.

What is needed is a process, a concerted effort not to focus on the singular advances seen through events, but rather to see the larger vision, the final goal.

This mode of thinking about community building reframes how we view it, it allows us to expand our vision and keep a perpetual momentum which builds steadily for a sustainable future. If international discourse could see more in process than singular events, progress would be made much more often. Focus would not be directed toward tiny steps seen in resolutions, agreements, treaties etc, but they would be rightly seen as the stepping stones in a continuing journey.

CONCLUSION

Through my reading and study on this topic, I have come to realize that there is no concrete model of what a community is. We know the principles and values which should be instilled within a community in order for it to excel, but we do not know what form this will take. Community is not a constant, it is an essential wave which flows and changes and by necessity must be perpetually present. What we need is not a rigid, unchanging “model” of what a community should be, but rather a flexible framework whose scaffoldings are all the same but with the rest subject to change. This opens community development up to the possibilities present within each culture, and prevents communities from attempting to squeeze into a mould which was not made for it. This is the essence of true development; individually tailored community building which instills a core set of principles in a framework filled with each community’s own nuances, quirks, cultural traditions and way of life.