Stages of Social Change

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Determinants of Development

  1. Society is self-existent. It is its own determinant. It is under no obligation to any external force in its evolution.
  2. Geographical climate, historical past, natural resources
  3. appear to be the determinants in the beginning until society discovers
  4. that it is its own determinant.
  5. Natural resources and scientific discoveries are only instruments and not causes of development.
  6. At the point of transition from external determinism to
  7. self-determination, social evolution passes from subconscious to
  8. conscious status.

Society

  1. Individual initiative is social disturbance.
  2. Expansion is evolutionary.
  3. The whole concentrates the whole of itself on one thing.
  4. Today’s awareness is tomorrow’s achievement.
  5. Society makes the Individual decision determination.
  6. Form alone matters to the society.
  7. Social actions are similar to air movement by pressure.
  8. Social movements are amoral.

Social Consciousness

  1. Society exists subconsciously, functions consciously.
  2. Society is an organisation on its surface, but is really a living organism at its core.
  3. All achievement in the society is collective, not individual.
  4. The collective social knowledge moves from experience to comprehension.
  5. The knowledge of experience is the subconscious knowledge of the physical.
  6. Knowledge of experience is unconscious knowledge of the physical.

Development of New Social Consciousness

  1. Life develops by consciousness and consciousness develops by organisation.
  2. Development renders all existing behaviour, belief, functioning etc. obstacles.
    • Society accepting the Pioneer and willing to follow him is development
    • Development is development of consciousness.
  3. New consciousness expresses as change of attitude.
  4. All new economic progress begins with this changed attitude to lifestyle.
  5. Development is stalled when the understanding inverts cause and effect.

Four Stages of Social Change

  1. Social evolution is for convenience sake divided into four stages of Survival, Growth, Development and Evolution. (combine 4&5)
  2. Each of these four stages within their own territory has the four stages.
  3. There is struggle against the lower pull in survival.
  4. The struggle in growth is an upward effort.
  5. Development is development of new forms in the same plane.
  6. Evolution is to create a new plane where new forms and new structures are to be created.
  7. The rules of survival and growth are the same but work in the reverse.
    • Rules are the same in all levels.
  8. Survival has two phases:
    • while the community grows one may aim only at survival;
    • while the community disintegrates the phenomenon of survival takes place
    • Survival in the ascent, survival in decay.
  9. They can be termed as survival during periods of growth and survival during disintegration OR positive and negative survival.
  10. Negative survival consumes several times greater energy than positive survival.
    • Positive survival, negative survival.
  11. Intensity of energy per unit area of action as a co-efficient is the same for survival, growth and evolution though as an absolute quantity there is a phenomenal difference.
  12. The same rule in different periods acts differently in its results or appearance though in essence the rule remains the same.
  13. Opinions, attitudes, understandings, values, accomplishments vastly differ according to the period. A thorough study reveals the full scope of human nature.
  14. The truism “Human intelligence has reached its peak when man was born” will be true not only for intelligence, but for all aspects of human capacity.
  15. Satisfaction at any of these stages is full and appears of equal value.
  16. Collective survival reveals the rules of social behaviour.
    • Individual survival reveals the aspects of human nature.

Social evolution

  1. Social existence is one of change. It is not static or stagnant.
  2. Change of social existence is a principled evolution.
  3. Evolution from one plane to another demands conversion of energy on the scale of liquid becoming vapour.
  4. Social development is moving from the subconscious physical experience to conscious mental experience.
    • Social development is Man moving from the physical to the mental.
    • Social evolution begins not at the conscious or even the inconscient part but at the subconscious level as the base of the society is subconscious.
  5. Readiness of the society emerges at the individual, not in all society because the emergence must be organised knowledge or organised action. It is not enough the consciousness is ripe.
  6. To organise consciousness into knowledge or action in one individual, the whole society must supply the consciousness.
  7. Social evolution is a subconscious process in the collective.
    • Collective is subconscious, the individual is conscious.
    • Subconscious collective, conscious individual.
    • All achievements of the society are collective, not
    • individual, i.e. expressions of a cumulative, collective advancement
    • expressed in and through individuals.
    • Only the collective achieves.
  8. The collective achieves, the individual expresses it on its behalf. [A purely individual achievement in a field may be possible, but it would not be representative and would not lead to a social advancement.]
    • Achievement is collective, expression is individual.
  9. The subconscious achievement becoming conscious accomplishment is through the individual pioneer.
    • The pioneering individual makes the subconscious conscious.
  10. In a mature society, the pioneer becomes a leader whereas in an immature society he becomes a rebel.
    • Maturity creates the leader, immaturity the rebel.
  11. Society destroys a leader if he appears too soon.
    • Premature appearance is certain destruction.
  12. The collective appreciates its own perfection in the individual, not the individual’s.
    • The collective concedes no individuality.
    • The non-individual collective creates to crush — creation for opposition-crush or adore, don’t co-operate.
  13. Collective social knowledge moves from experience to comprehension.
    • Experience first, comprehension next.
  14. Knowledge of experience is unconscious knowledge of the physical.
    • Experience is unconscious knowledge.
    • Experience is physical, knowledge mental.
  15. Social development can be unconscious from the physical experience or conscious from the mental knowledge.
    • Unconscious ascent, conscious descent.
  16. Evolution of society has its earlier statures of development, growth and survival.
    • Survival, growth, development and evolution.
  17. The laws of change in each phase are the same in essence. The only change is change required for operating in each plane.
    • Laws are essential, operation is variable.
  18. Even the laws of death, decay, destruction and disappearance are the same but work in the reverse direction.
    • A law is true even when reversed.
  19. These laws are the same for the individual, organisation and the social collectivity.
    • The individual, organisation and society differ in expression, not in essence. Law is the essence, expressions vary.
    • Essential law is the same, expressions are many.
  20. Society is its own determinant and is under no obligation to any exterior force in its evolution.
    • Social determination is self-determination.
  21. Geographical environment, climate, historical past, natural resources appear to be the determinants in the beginning. Ultimately society discovers that it is its own determinant.
    • There is only one determinism, the inner determinism. 17. At that point of transition from external determinism to self-determination, social evolution passes from unconscious to conscious status.
    • Transition from the outer to the inner is from unconscious to conscious.
  22. At that point of transition from external determinism to self-determination, social evolution passes from unconscious to conscious status.
  23. Social evolution begins not at the conscious or even the inconscient part but at the subconscious because society has its base in the subconscious.
    • Subconscious is the social base (neither the conscious nor the inconscient.)
  24. Readiness of the society emerges at the individual, not in all society because the emergence must be in organised knowledge or organised action not as ripe consciousness.
    • Organisation makes for social readiness.
  25. To organise consciousness into knowledge or action in one individual the whole society must supply the consciousness.
    • One man’s perfection is the perfection of the whole.
  26. Evolution from one plane to another demands conversion of energy on the scale of liquids becoming vapour.
    • Crossing the plane, energy explodes.
  27. Social development is by the self-conception of the society.
    • Creative conception is self-conception.
    • Self-conception is creative.
  28. By social development we mean society accomplishing its work by developing an organisation for it and continuing to improve that organisation.
    • Development is development of organisation.
  29. All existing forms of behaviour, belief, functioning etc. become obstacles when development begins.
    • Present is a barrier to the future.
  30. Society accepting the pioneer and following him is social development.
    • The pioneer initiates, society follows.
    • Following the pioneer is development.
  31. Development is development of consciousness.
    • Change of attitude expresses the new consciousness.
      • New consciousness is new attitude.
    • All new economic progress begins with this changed attitude to life style.
      • By changing the attitude, the country progresses.
    • The invisible plane of life is as much a field of production as the factory that manufactures and the land that produces the grain.
      • Life is productive.
    • In fact, being subtle, this life plane is more powerful and more productive.
      • More subtle, more powerful.
    • Historically, all phases of development have begun only like this.
      • History confirms productivity of the subtle.
    • Even when natural resources, scientific discoveries have initiated a phase of development, it will be seen that they are only instruments and not causes.
      • Resources and discoveries are instruments, not causes.