Community Initiatives for Life Essentials
Every human being, every living being, indeed every being exists for one pursuit alone - the pursuit of happiness. One can go beyond this and question if anything truly exists, but lets take that as a given for now. The search for happiness is manifested in myriad ways - for the vast majority it lies in the mundane and sheer pursuit of wealth, fame, pleasures, sexual gratification. For some it lies in intense self-sacrifice and introspection; for others it lies in utter perversions. Yet all of these pursuits are variants of the same theme, grades along the same spectrum, in essence the same, in essence a spiritual pursuit, in essence the meaning and purpose of existence, of the search for truth.
You may have a difficult time understanding this. This is not an intellectual philosophy, it is a reality that can be and must be experienced. Understanding this requires a state of evolution that the vast masses have not yet consciously reached. And without the experience, these are mere words.
But what does this have to do with Development? Especially Sustainable Development, the buzzword which has academic and corporate types excited with visions of profits under the banner of 'helping others'?
Know that there is no 'helping others'. Indeed, at a stage of evolution you will find that there is no 'other'. Leave that for now. We play the game of life, and we have to play by the rules. We are entrusted with the task of taking the dream in all seriousness, and we must do so. That is the only route to waking up. And each of us plays the game, lives the dream according to his or her stage in evolution.
Development
If you remotely understand this discussion, know that Development relates to self-development, through the seeming act of 'helping others'. The dream we are born in places humanity, living and non-living beings at a given balance. We are programmed to believe in certain fundamental rights, in the concept of the dignity of life, of tolerance and love for man and beast, for peace on earth and beyond. And the game of life presents us with the challenges that we see all around us, of inequity, hatred, violence, exploitation, abuse of humanity and nature, lack of opportunity, you name it. Indeed, many conclude from this that the universe is chaos, that there is no higher intelligence at work in the design of the universe, that there is no 'God'.
Yet the path of evolution through the dream requires us to work our way up - first, to accept things as they are, and then to work to the fullest of our creative energies to 'improve' things, to 'help others'. Our hearts ache for our brethren, for their needs, their lack of access to what we consider to be the basics of a life with dignity and fulfillment - the rights to education on essential life skills, to a clean and nurturing environment, to economic opportunity, to good health, and to basic freedom of choice and expression. These are all inter-related - to each other and to other dimensions of fundamental rights. And underlying these and going beyond is the fundamental pursuit of life, explicitly as the search for peace and happiness, implicitly as the search for truth. (read more on The Nature of Reality - An Indian Perspective)
Sustainable Development
The term Sustainable Development is in wide use today. Development refers usually to economic growth. Sustainability refers primarily to a balanced use of environmental resources so as to retain a base capital for future generations. An oft-quoted definition of the term Sustainable Development is based on the 1987 Bruntland report - 'meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs'. There is much to appreciate in this call for self-restraint.
Yet there is intellectual weakness in the above use of both terms. Economics certainly cannot be a sole or overwhelmingly dominant criterion for determining development. Our definition of Sustainable Development is based directly on the core purpose of life. We define Sustainable Development as interventions that offer the individual and community opportunities to acquire and maintain basic rights for a life with dignity, without degrading the rights of others to the same, without the need for continual external assistance, and most importantly without ever losing sight of the core purpose of our existence.
Ultimately even this definition is very limited. Because in the long run, it is an individual pursuit, one that only we ourselves can work towards with our uniquely individual efforts. And the goal can only be our own development. Achieving the goal of self-development, of self-realization, is the whole expression and purpose of life.
In the absence of this deeper understanding, one works in the vacuum of ideological ambiguity, with no direction for the true goal. This is what we see in the so-called development sector, a field so intensely marked with self-promotion, hype and overall confusion.
Let us at least begin with ideological clarity as we work to 'help others'...