Universal Human Values

One key principle of humanistic education is the transformation of individual consciousness from animal consciousness to human consciousness. It emphasizes the inculcation of right understanding at all levels—from the self to the entire existence—and the development of competence to live in accordance with it. Furthermore, it involves self-exploration as a core process, enabling individuals to realize ethical human conduct, ensuring sustainable use of resources, and fostering actions that protect the environment.

The basic human aspirations are continuous happiness and prosperity.

• Happiness is a state of harmony and is ensured by having right understanding and right feelings in the Self, such as good relationships.
• Prosperity is the feeling of having more than the required physical facility.

To fulfill these aspirations, three essentials are required in order of priority: right understanding, fulfillment in relationships, and physical facility.

Recognizing the co-existence of the Self and the Body is crucial because the human being is a composite of both, and they have distinct needs.

• The need of the Self is happiness (which is continuous and qualitative).
• The need of the Body is physical facility (which is temporary and quantitative).

Understanding this distinction allows an individual to address both needs correctly—ensuring right understanding for the Self and physical nurturing for the Body—thereby achieving true well-being as a human being.

The Self acts as the seer, doer, and enjoyer, while the Body functions as an instrument used to execute the decisions made by the Self.

The family is the basic unit or building block of human organization. Fostering harmony within the family is crucial because it serves as the foundation for practicing right feelings, trust, and mutual fulfillment. If harmony is ensured at the family level, it naturally benefits the entire society by creating a base for appreciating and accepting relationships. This extension of harmony from the family leads to a prosperous, fear-free, and undivided society.

Respect is defined as "right evaluation," which means evaluating a human being based on the Self—acknowledging that others are similar to oneself in purpose, program, and potential—and when individuals are evaluated rightly rather than being over-evaluated, under-evaluated, or otherwise evaluated, they feel respected, which is essential for mutual happiness in interactions.

In the context of nature, interconnectedness refers to the mutual fulfillment and dependence existing between the four orders (physical, bio, animal, and human), where every unit is related to other units and participates in the larger order in a mutually enriching manner, such as the soil nurturing plants and plants feeding animals.

This statement highlights the fundamental difference between the two basic realities of existence: "units" (nature) and "space."

• Nature, comprising the four orders, consists of units that are active and limited in size or boundary.
• Space is all-pervading, has no boundary, is characterized by "no-activity," and is unlimited, serving as the medium in which all limited nature units are submerged.

Professional ethics is defined as the code of ethical conduct within a profession that ensures the right utilization of professional skills to fulfill comprehensive human goals. It involves the competence to integrate universal human values with professional practices, ensuring responsible behavior, honesty, and integrity. This approach ensures that professional work contributes to societal well-being and maintains harmony with the environment rather than being driven solely by profit or greed.

To transition toward a value-based life, individuals can adopt the following strategies:

1. Self-Awareness and Inner Harmony: This involves understanding one's needs and aspirations to achieve balance between desires and actions through mindfulness.
2. Ethical Living: Aligning daily actions with moral values like honesty and responsibility, prioritizing long-term well-being over short-term pleasures, and ensuring rightful acquisition and utilization of resources.

Self-exploration is the primary process for Value Education. It is a process of seeing the reality on one's own right, through one's own investigation, observation, and analysis, rather than accepting mere sermons or do's and don'ts. It is a process of self-discovery where one identifies their innate values.

If a proposal passes both natural acceptance and experiential validation, it results in Right Understanding. This process allows for a transformation from animal consciousness to human consciousness, ensuring that values are realized rather than imposed.

Harmony in the Self refers to a state where there is no internal contradiction or conflict between "what I am" (my current imagination, desires, and thoughts) and "what I really want to be" (my natural acceptance). When the activities of the Self—Desire, Thought, and Expectation—are aligned with natural acceptance, the Self is in a state of harmony, which is synonymous with happiness. Conversely, a lack of alignment leads to disharmony and unhappiness.

In the study of Universal Human Values, there are nine definite feelings (values) in human relationships that can be recognized and fulfilled. Five of the most critical ones include:

• Trust (The Foundational Value): Trust is the assurance that the other person intends to make me happy and prosperous. It is the belief in the goodness of the other's intention (Natural Acceptance), distinguishing it from their competence.
• Respect (Right Evaluation): Respect is defined as "right evaluation." It involves acknowledging that the other is similar to me in terms of purpose (happiness), program (living in harmony), and potential. It eliminates discrimination based on body, wealth, or beliefs.
• Affection: This is the feeling of being related to the other. It follows trust and respect and is the acceptance of the other as one's relative. It is the point where one feels no opposition toward the other.
• Care: This is the feeling of responsibility and commitment toward nurturing and protecting the Body of a relative. It is the practical expression of affection toward the physical well-being of others.
• Love (The Complete Value): Love is the feeling of being related to everyone—to the Complete Existence. It starts with affection for a few and expands to include all. It establishes the basis for an undivided society and the World Family.

Adopting a holistic perspective to preserve harmony in nature involves recognizing that the human being is just one of the four orders of nature (alongside the Physical, Bio, and Animal orders) and that existence is a system of Co-existence. The relationship between these orders is one of mutual fulfillment, not exploitation.

To preserve harmony, individuals and societies can adopt the following approaches:

The Universal Human Order (Sarvabhaum Vyawastha) represents a society where there is happiness in every individual, prosperity in every family, fearlessness (trust) in society, and co-existence in nature. It is the state of realizing the freedom of the individual within the context of the universe.

Introduction

The primary purpose of education is to facilitate the development of clarity on human aspirations and the competence to achieve them. Holistic development refers to the transformation of the individual consciousness from "animal consciousness" (living solely for physical facilities) to "human consciousness" (living with right understanding, relationship, and physical facility).

The Core Concept: Human Consciousness

Holistic development is centered on the shift from living with the assumption that "Human Being = Body" to understanding that "Human Being = Co-existence of Self and Body."

• Animal Consciousness: When a human being lives only for physical facilities, they are unhappy and deprived. This state is described as animal consciousness because physical facility is adequate for animals but not for humans.
• Human Consciousness: This involves ensuring three things in priority: Right Understanding, Relationship (Right Feeling), and Physical Facility. Education must guide students to prioritize right understanding to ensure continuous happiness.

Role of Education-Sanskar

To achieve holistic development, the education system must integrate "Education" and "Sanskar."

• Education: Focuses on developing right understanding or a holistic perspective of the harmony at all levels of existence.
• Sanskar: Involves the commitment, preparation, and practice of living with this right understanding. It includes learning appropriate skills and technology but grounds them in values.

Significance: At the individual level, it leads to a life of continuous happiness and self-organization. At the societal level, it creates a "Humane Society" based on trust and mutual fulfillment, preventing exploitation and moving from domination to coexistence.

The human being is a co-existence of two distinct entities: the sentient "Self" (I) and the material "Body." Health and well-being are the results of harmony between these two. An imbalance or lack of understanding of this relationship leads to disharmony and health problems.

Examples of Trust in Relationships:

1. Relationship with Strangers: Trust prevents the immediate assumption of opposition. Recognizing that a stranger also has a natural acceptance to be happy dissolves fear and allows for fearless interaction in society.
2. Relationship with Friends/Peers: If a friend makes a mistake, trust helps one understand that they intended well but lacked the competence. This leads to a response of help rather than anger.
3. Relationship between Spouses/Family: In close family relationships, doubting intention ("You don't care about me") breaks the relationship. Trusting the intention ("You wanted to help but couldn't") preserves harmony.
4. Relationship in Society (Fearlessness): Trust is the basis of fearlessness. When we trust that others intend our happiness, we do not feel the need to protect ourselves constantly, replacing fear with assurance.
5. Parent-Child Relationship: Parents maintain trust by validating the child's natural acceptance. If trust is broken through inconsistent behavior, the child becomes rebellious. Trust allows the parent to be a guide rather than a dictator.

To understand harmony in nature, one must look at the four orders: Physical Order (soil, water), Bio Order (plants), Animal Order, and Human Order. These exist in a system of Co-existence.

Interconnectedness and Mutual Fulfillment

Each order enriches the others in a cyclic manner:

1. Physical and Bio: Soil/water nurture plants. Plants decay and enrich the soil.
2. Bio and Animal: Plants provide food for animals. Animals help spread seeds and pollinate.
3. Animal and Physical: Animals depend on air/water. Their waste returns to the soil as manure.

Self-Regulation in Nature

Nature is inherently self-organized:

• Population Balance: In a forest, populations of herbivores, carnivores, and plants remain balanced naturally without human intervention.
• Resource Abundance: Nature produces in abundance (more soil than plants, more plants than animals) to meet requirements.

To manifest the Universal Human Order, society requires systems that align with the principles of coexistence and harmony, guided by Right Understanding rather than just profit.