I want to be GOOD - Part II

In this part, we shall place ancient wisdom contained in scriptures in proper perspective before attempting to abstract common attributes of goodness.

Just as it is necessary to use the Rear View mirror as much as the front windshield while driving, it is necessary to be respectful of the past while charting the future. We can not dismiss the RV mirror because it shows the past stretch which we have already traversed. Those who forget the past will have no future and those who don’t care about future become fossils. Hence it becomes relevant to understand what the old scriptures had enunciated so that we can add, delete or edit them for different geographies and contexts and time periods.

We shall use the word “Scripture” to denote documents handed down to us from very ancient times. The scriptures deal extensively with life practices that lead to vibrancy and dynamism. The philosophy propounded is holistic in the sense that it takes into account all the stakeholders involved in an issue and the specific needs and constraints of each. There are no isolated silos or compartmentalized treatises. The ancient Indian thought leaders found it quite comfortable to deal with a heterogeneous, non-linear, fuzzy and asymmetric world. Unlike their Western counterparts they did not artificially try to reduce the real world into a homogenous, linear, deterministic and symmetric framework. The texts do not promise an ideal solution in every instance.  But they help us find an optimal solution for every context. 

Scriptures contain valuable notes to improve one’s critical thinking abilities. These notes can compete favorably with modern day coaching classes that promise to make one smarter. They contain several modeling techniques to understand the world – through the eyes of chemistry, physics, sociology or politics. While we appreciate the need to “define” words before using them, the scriptures contain standards to qualify as to what constitutes a good definition. It cautions us against over specification or under specification.  The large number of anecdotes contained in them provides a benchmark against which we can test our own solutions. They also contain anecdotes where a particular line of action failed to provide the answers and even situations where the actions aggravated the original problem. Today’s management education is based on discussing Case Studies; Indian scriptures had used Case Studies as an effective learning pedagogy several thousands of years back.

The scriptures are an end product of an iterative effort over several centuries, with commentaries on the original text, commentaries on commentaries and so on. These commentaries were challenged by others and the authors had to defend their works. For example, challenging debates were held with the Budhists. This process of constant churning and aggressive review ensured that what remained was truth acceptable and applicable for all times.

Codes of appropriate behavior began as guiding propositions that are to be developed and deployed on the ground. The early norms of morality were down-to-earth in character. For example, exhortations to be sympathetic originated from awareness that a sense of sympathy could draw societies back from fragmentation and self-destruction. These norms were very vital to society’s survival.  However, over time they got projected into the sky (the perceived abode of a “God”) and reflected back to earth in the form of commandments and prescription for rituals. It is this distortion / misinterpretation that created aversion to scriptures.  For example, the word “Yoga” conjures up detailed contortions of the body called asanas. Yoga literally means unity. It means aligning the ambitions of a group of people toward a common goal. A school can not excel if it has bright students but incompetent teachers; similarly it can not excel if it has good teachers but poor infrastructure in terms of classrooms, laboratory, library etc. An organization can not excel if it has superb production teams but unfriendly after-sales teams. The alignment of the goals of all stakeholders toward a common objective is the message behind yoga. When you practice Yoga, you will not be working for your own agenda which could be at cross purposes with the agenda of others. The alignment between an organization’s processes and achieved results is yoga. Yoga leads to repeatable and consistent performance leading to sustainability.

Similarly the word yagna brings to mind a place where ghee and other materials are confined to fire. Actually the real message behind Yagna is teamwork, defining the roles and responsibilities of each person so that there is no confusion. The way relatives share responsibilities during a family wedding is yagna.  The way teachers and students share responsibilities during the school annual day celebration is yagna. During the yagna, the individual expertise inherent in every team member gets fully expressed and at the same time gets synthesized with expertise of other team members to achieve a common goal.

The ancient documents are invariably in the form of a dialogue or conversation. A dialogue ensures that we are seeking solutions to the correct problem. In isolation we tend to offer excellent solutions but addressing the wrong problem, the version of the problem as understood by us and not the problem that begs the solution. Even if the solution is wrong or suboptimal, it is better that the problem is correctly understood. Ancient systems of learning emphasized dialogue so as to arrive at a consensus on problem definition. One of the greatest among modern thinkers Russell Ackoff used to say that it is better to do the right thing wrong than do the wrong thing right. In the former case we learn from our mistakes. In the latter case we make the wrong thing wronger by doing it right!

The fact that we ourselves created the behavioral norms does not entitle us to do away with them. We need periodic reminders to be sympathetic and fair minded even if we do not believe that there is a God who has a hand in ordering us to be so. We can’t agree collectively as a single monolithic society on a code of good behavior. Christianity used to have a list of 7 key virtues that it believed all its followers should heed. They also gave us the famous 10 commandments. Hinduism lists six bad traits to be avoided. There is no scientific answer to exactly how many virtues one might choose to be guided by; yet what seems central is to recognize that we probably need some kind of a list to correct our worst tendencies. The diversity in the framework for goodness drives the need to be tolerant of each other and brave enough to talk about misbehavior.

Religion and Spirituality

A language comprises syntax (alphabets, rules of grammar etc.) and semantics (the meaning conveyed). The syntax is the external manifestation and semantics is the inner content. Religion is like syntax and spirituality is like semantics. You have been told in the language class that your writing should be devoid of grammatical mistakes and also that the sentences should convey a train of coherent thoughts that the reader can understand. I personally consider the meaning part more important than the grammar part. To use the metaphor of music, religion is like the notation of a song and spirituality is like the lyrics of the song. Religion is like the blue dress of the Indian cricket team and spirituality is like the grace behind Tendulkar’s cover drive. If you take the totality of scriptures, according to my rough estimate, about 15% is devoted to linguistics and how to communicate. This is today a fashionable training module in corporate offices under the name “Soft skills”. The coverage also includes aspects such as negotiating skills.

If religion sticks only to unverifiable and enforced dogmas, it may result in dividing society and cause conflicts; it may shut out dialogue. Spirituality however is pursuit of truth and is closer to science. Akin to philosophy, it encourages discussions. Similar to science, it allows for falsification of its doctrines. It develops and disciplines the mind and balances the emotions. It is cohesive unlike religion which may become coercive at times. Spirituality removes cobwebs from our understanding of the world just a science does and it brings in logical clarity in thinking.

Scriptures have emphasized that we need to ensure our survival and we have to create wealth for ourselves before we can care about the community; after all we are also members of the same community. Scriptures do not demand of us to neglect our family and indulge in the service of the rest of the community. Similarly, the texts exhort businesses to make profits for themselves before they indulge in Corporate Social Responsibility. They have given us emergency exits where survival becomes paramount. Suppose you have been taught to find the root cause of problems by constantly digging deeper into causes and effects. In modern management they use a tool called the Fishbone diagram for conducting such an exercise. When your house is on fire you can not be logging on to your computer and looking at the Excel sheet of possible causes and start reasoning about the current cause by eliminating other factors. Your duty is to first escape by any available means.

The code of ethics does not ask you to never get angry; it gives representative examples of situations when getting angry is justified. If you fail to get angry when the situation demands, your subordinates will not respect you and they will take you for granted.  This is a great feature of the scriptures; it prevents one from getting ossified with standards and processes. Several discussions in the texts talk about balancing flexibility and robustness, submission and dominance. They discourage blind faith in a particular dogma because extremism leads to fundamentalist tendencies, madness and violence.

In the next and concluding installment we will derive a common code of goodness based on ancient wisdom and corroborated by case studies from ancient as well as modern times.

                                                                                                …………. To be continued