Spiritual kinship for a better society

We all know of the fact that the whole societal structure stands on the foundation of “awareness". This awareness results in the feeling of kinship which serves as the uniting force. It is this awareness and the kinship which leads man to relate to others in various kinds of relationships. These relationships lead to intersections based on some mutually accepted and acceptable norms and mores.

For example, one of these norms or mores is honesty. Everyone in a society expects reasonably honest dealings by others. At the same time, it is expected that everyone would lead a life of self-control and would adjust their self-interest and liberty to the interests and liberty of others. Further, the relationships, by their very nature, imply co-operation among individuals and groups. Now let us reflect on the above components. If the awareness of the presence of others is not on the spiritual level but is only on the physical level, then we have an only physical kinship and miss the important spiritual kinship.

Not only does this weaken our total force of kinship but it also demolishes the spiritual foundation on which is built the belief and the awareness that the whole of humankind is a family. So, by neglecting the spiritual aspect in relationships, not only does the society lose its force of cohesion but it also loses the checks and balances provided by the spiritual relationship.

This, in turn, leads to degeneration in relationships and self-control, for it makes a man selfish and materialistic. Thus, the mores and the relationships having deteriorated, the sense of family-type co-operation also is lost and the whole social structure shows cracks and divisionary trends. If, therefore, we now wish to build up a Better World or a Better Society, the first essential part of the Action Plan should be to have the awareness of the self as Soul and to have the awareness that others also are of our kind, i.e. they are souls.

This will lead to spiritual kinship, besides the physical kinship and would bring in the element and spiritual love in our relationships which in turn, would lead to co-operation and life of true balance of liberty and self-control and of materialistic and spiritual values.