By Asghar Ali Engineer,
Sahitya Academy, New Delhi had organized a two day seminar on the above subject in Puducherry (formerly Pondicherry) which is known for Auroville and being close to nature. Prof. Alok Bhalla and Kishore Saint and the thought of this subject was inspired by Freud’s Modern Civilization and Its Discontents this they acknowledged in their concept note. Since Freud was a psychoanalyst many leading psychoanalysts including Sudhir Kakar were invited who presented a lead paper. I was one of the keynote speakers as besides psychoanalysts and psychologists, academics, writers and social analysts were also invited.
The purpose of this article is not to discuss contents of the seminar or to throw light on various papers presented there. Suffice it may to say that it was quite stimulating seminar and exchange of ideas were quite enriching and the two conveners deserve our praise for selecting scholars and titles of papers. However, here in this paper I wish to throw light on nature of discontents and its causes.
Speaking on the subject I said that there are mainly two sources of discontents: Animal instincts which civilization requires to suppress and sublimate and two, pursuit of pleasure or consumerism. What is civilization after all? To overcome animal instincts which human beings inherited as he/she evolved from original animal kingdom to human-hood. These instincts are aggression, anger, sex, greed and acquisitive tendencies. Freud of course gave primary importance to sexual instinct suppression of which results in various forms of neurosis.
Since we are discussing the whole issue in the context of contemporary Indian civilization which is developing expanding, liberalized, globalized economy, of which consumerism is hall mark, it (consumerism) also becomes one of the potent sources of discontents. And, it is important to note that I am using consumerism more as a symbolic expression for human greed.
Gandhiji had said that real test for development of economy should be what it does to the poorest and the weakest but mahatmas are mahatmas only because we just respect them and not because we take their wisdom seriously and use it for acting upon it. If we take Mahatma’s words seriously we will have to suppress our greed firmly and which would really reduce our discontents.
Today consumerism is one of the most powerful sources of our discontent. We call it consumerism as it is not based on our genuine and simple needs but on artificial needs created through high pressure advertisement. This is what Gandhiji was against and he stressed that economy should be need-based, not greed based. Greed-based economy creates more and more discontents which, in turn, lead to violent conflict.
Of course here I am not proposing to discuss psychological aspects of discontents but material aspects which leads to violence in our society, particularly communal violence which is its specific form. We find near absence of communal violence in medieval society and so much prevalence of communal violence in modern contemporary society in India. In last century in Europe this modern society produced a Nazi and a Fascist leader i.e. Hitler and Mussolini. They were glorified by their contemporaries but subsequently condemned
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In India too we have leaders who pursue power by inciting hatred between two principal communities i.e. Hindus and Muslims. In medieval times when we were more ‘orthodox’ than modern we produced great religious thinkers like Ab’ul Fazl and Faizi, Akbar and Dara Shikoh, Baba Farid, Nizamuddin Awliya and Moinuddin Chishti and so on who built bridges with other communities and dialogued with them and earned universal respect.
It is important to note that even in medieval ages, though conflict was not along religious lines as communal historiographers would have us believe but nevertheless power was pursued through violence and in fact, it was the main source of violent conflict. Among ruling classes brother did not spare brother and father his son when it came to pursuit of power.
However, we claim to have established democratic system and supposedly fight election to serve people and solve their problems. But behind this frantic rhetoric there is hidden sword of religion, caste, language and ethnicity, particularly of religion as the largest minority in India is religious one. As capitalists use advertising for creating ‘discontent’ and entice us to buy what we do not need, these communal politicians use religion to provoke hatred where it hardly exists and grab power as the capitalists grab wealth.
As these capitalists use all tricks possible to sell their products and grab wealth and respectability these politicians use divisive pressure on religious, caste and other lines to grab as much power as they can and become respectable. The latest example in contemporary India is those of Mr. Bal Thackeray and Mr. Narendra Modi. Both used highly provocative religious rhetoric to divide Hindus and Muslims and cause great bloodshed in their respective states.
Thousands died in Maharashtra and Gujarat during the riots that these communal and regional leaders provoked and earned ‘respectability’. It is great irony that the main political class also began to admire them and though they openly and brazenly violated our constitutional provisions, instead of being punished, Earned high respect’ and even began to be called as ‘national heroes.
When recently Bal Thackeray died, massive number of people turned up in the funeral and everyone wanted to be counted among mourners including Bollywood actors, industrial magnates and of course the main political class in the country and they all paid rich tributes to his memory as if the country has lost a great leader. Are we civilized? We all have to ask this question. How much unrest the leaders such as Bal Thackeray and Narendra Modi (who is being projected as ‘prime ministerial; material by his party and also by a section of industrialists).
Such an approach causes distress to millions of people who are uprooted and whose loved ones are separated forever from them. A civilized person is highly sensitive to others’ suffering and also a civilization is based on certain fundamental values like compassion, justice, love and wisdom. But these worthies who create so much discontent in our lives to satisfy their insatiable hunger for power want to pass themselves as most civilized people.
How civilized they are we can judge them from their deeds, not from their rhetoric. Bal Thackeray and Narendra Modi are typical representatives of such a civilization. It is bound to create Maximum discontent. It is, as I often say result of love of power whereas real civilization promotes power of love. More you love power more discontent it brings for people and more one exercises power of love, more satisfaction it brings.
In fact according to Freud suppression of instinctual behaviour leads to neuroses and hence he says there is no one in this world who does not suffer from neurosis, only the degree varies from individual to individual. He particularly focuses, as all of us know, on suppression of sexual instinct. Freud may or may not be right in his sexual theories but the people I am talking about with obsession for power go totally haywire when they lose power. Their rhetoric gets totally out of control and they provoke communal hatred out of all proportion to claim, what they think is their monopoly i.e. political power. May be they end with disaster.
This is what happened with Narendra Modi in 2002. He was apprehensive he would lose power and hence provoked worst of the last century’s communal madness and won power in December 2002. Lakhs of people were uprooted from their homes and hearths and thousands were killed. Even mass grave was later discovered. A pregnant mother’s womb was also not spared. The foetus therein was also murdered.
Can such madness for power bring satisfaction to anyone? Is it not neurosis, neurosis for power? The focus of Freud was an individual neurosis. Whatever damage it causes is to an individual. In case of Thackerays and Modis, it is damage on a mass scale and they end of creating collective neurosis. Naturally it spells mass disaster. And what is worse fearing voter sensitivity the secular state also accords state honour to such individuals. Unfortunately the Government of Maharashtra, being ruled by “secular” Congress; agreed to give state honour to his funeral.
The modern civilization, to sum up this discourse, is causing discontent throughout the world. The ruling classes to satisfy their greed for power and pelf are doing everything possible to bring about maximum discontent to the common people. More discontent they spread more powerful they become. America is super power today not because it is most humane and greatest democracy but only because it is awfully equipped with weapons and can inflict maximum damage to those who chose to defy its power.
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Asghar Ali Engineer is a Mumbai-based scholar.