SCHISM
SUMMARY
An examination is made of the uses of history from the point of view of the
Axioms. Using that perspective the possibility of schism within the Society is
identified. How the Society can properly avoid, and if necessary resolve, that
potentially catastrophic development is then discussed.
The concept that we are alone in the universe summarises the Axioms. They
assert that there is no power or entity in the universe with any responsibility
for or authority over humanity, or interest in our survival or progress. An
important implication of that view is set out in the Treatise on Peace. There
it is concluded that human history is a unique series of events with no
inherent meaning or purpose. Consequently the Society of HumanKind will
attach very little weight to the study of history as a guide to our future or
as an authoritive source of solutions to our present problems. This is an
outcome of an adoption of the Axioms that will cause predictable outrage in
some quarters. Traditional academics may regard it as proof-positive of the
sterility of the thinking on which the Society is based
Much of that reaction will however, be based on a misunderstanding of the
position of the Society on this question. The Society does not say that there
is nothing to be gained by the study of history. A re-reading of the Treatise
on Culture will lay that myth. What it says, with the clarity and confidence
of the Second and Third Axioms, is that an analysis of our past cannot lead to
reliable long-term predictions about our future. The Society will be
reinforced in that view by the observation that such an approach is not only
mistaken, but has proven actually noxious. It has certainly underpinned some
of our more pernicious social movements and theories.
What the Society will look for, and find, in the study of our past is not a
guide to the future of ourselves or our universe, but a record of our past
errors and mistakes. Its purpose in revisiting our histroy will be to try to
work out how those mistakes were made in order to give ourselves an opportunity
to avoid repeating them in the future. The view of the Society on the utility
of history is then, that it can be a useful reservoir of experience from which
we might distil wisdom to help us to deal with commonly occurring difficulties
in our social life, or aid us to avoid them. We might for instance,
reasonably hope to identify recurring problems that have arisen in our past,
and then perhaps trace the courses of action that led us into those
difficulties, or that were found to be useless in resolving them. In that
negative sense the Society will regard the study of history as potentially very
productive.
When that proper approach to the study of human history is applied to the
development of human institutions similar to the Society of HumanKind it will
identify a problem that has afflicted them all. Of schism. Of the tendency
for the original single body of believers to break up into competing groups
each claiming truly to represent the founding ideas. The chronicle of every
great human ideology or religion seems to display that tendency, as well as
giving horrifying descriptions of the sadistic cruelty that can result
from it. The Society of HumanKind cannot realistically hope to be always
totally free of the risk of an outbreak of that common human affliction.
It is even possible, by use of the device of an extreme example, to speculate
on how schism may occur in the Society. We may imagine for example, that at
some future date an event or development takes place that is so profound in its
implications for our survival, or so widespread in its effects on the stability
of our society, that it requires a response by the whole of humanity. The
Treatise on the Philosophy of the Society of HumanKind and the Essay on the
Authority of the World Council of Elders, both conclude that the Society has no
means to impose a particular course of action on the Councils and Committees of
the Society in these circumstances. Those bodies must be fully and properly
consulted, and be allowed to develop and express their own view on the issue,
before the supreme Council of Elders comes to pronounce authoritatively on it.
The Essay goes on to argue that such pronouncements ought then to be regarded
as binding and infallible by every member of the Society. However, no
ultimate power to enforce such a decision is given to the supreme Council. To
do so would be to contradict fundamentally the premise of uncertainty on which
the Society must base both its teachings and its conduct.
In any event, by a consideration of the Principles 2.2 and 3.1 we may take it
that any attempt to reach such a decision will be preceded by a wide-ranging
debate involving the whole of the Society of HumanKind. Wisdom dictates that
such a process should always be gone through, if time permits. All the
abilities of our species and the whole of the power and potential of humanity
can then be applied to the search for the best solution to the problem.
At the end of that process a decision by the supreme Council will have to be
made. We may imagine for the sake of this example that it is not one with
which all sections of the Society agree. If the question is one on which the
survival of our species depends, and if those who disagree with the decision
made on it are a significant number or are well organised and determined, it is
not difficult to predict the outcome. A movement may arise within the Society
composed of people who are sincerely convinced that their Duty requires them to
overturn a decision that they see as a threat to the achievement of its Aim.
In the age of absolute uncertainty inaugurated by the Society of HumanKind no
external authority is available to adjudicate between the parties to the
dispute. The outcome could well be a schism and a civil war within the
Society in which each faction will see itself as the only true hope for
humanity.
Can the Society avoid this disaster? How can a movement so dedicated to
individual liberty and lack of central authority hope to cope with such a
crisis? The reader may think that the answer lies in the Principle of
Progress. It enjoins all members of the Society to avoid any action which
would be disruptive of our social order. But disputes within the Society
itself can be distinguished from the ambit of that Principle. All the parties
can properly turn to the Principle 3.3 and claim that their action does not
breach its rule that ' any form of social order that is consistent with the
maintenance of the Conditions of the Dogma is permissible '. The negative
form of that Principle, so important in other areas of our lives, nullifies any
value it might have in dealing with this problem. It is to be hoped that, by
custom and practice, the Principle will also be applied to the internal order
of the Society. However, the Society will find it extremely difficult to
extract from the Axioms and Dogma an explicit defence of that proposition
compatible with its other teachings.
If the Principles provide no reliable solution, how can the Society hope to
cope with the dangers of schism? Where is a preventative to be found? The
key to the answer lies in the uncertainty that permeates the whole of the
thinking of the 'Foundations'. Shine that light on our example and what do we
see. We recognise the old enemy 'certainty' in the schismatics; the certainty
that they are right and their opponents wrong. That they, and they alone,
have reached the right conclusion, and that there can be no value or merit in
the opposite view. If once the possibility of error enters their position the
justification for their action collapses, and with it their schism.
A schism however, is a division with two sides, and both need to be certain
if the split is to persist. It is true that schismatics need to commit the
error of certainty. But so too do their opponents in the Society, including
the members of its Councils and Committees and not excepting the Elders of the
supreme Council if they are parties to the dispute, which they surely must be
if the civil war described in this Essay is to break out. In the era of the
Society of HumanKind two rights will make a wrong. It is as much incumbent on
the Elders and Executives of the Society to display and profess uncertainty as
it is on those who may disagree with their decisions. Indeed, by virtue of
their
privileged positions of power and influence, those who have responsibility in
the Society are under a greater obligation than others to remain true to the
Axioms under stresses that may confuse less well-informed and experienced folk.
It is not suggested however, that the defenders of the Society should simply
capitulate to schismatics. To do their Duty they must confront them,
but they must do so solely on the grounds of the universality of uncertainty.
They should never rely on either the strength of their own beliefs, or on the
authority of their position. To translate that prescription into practice,
the only sure preventive of schism within the Society of HumanKind is for all
parties to any profound or fundamental dispute within the Society to adopt the
posture recommended in the Essay on Evangelism. All those involved in the
disagreement should adopt the stance of the seeker after enlightenment hoping
to be persuaded to the opposite view. No-one honestly entering a dispute with
that attitude can emerge determined to destroy their opponent simply because a
consensus has not yet been reached.
Which leaves one final problem to be resolved. How are we to ensure that
schismatics, or potential schismatics, are drawn into a debate with the rest of
the Society in the first place? The impulse to schism is surely compounded of
powerfully held beliefs, together with a sincere conviction that the other side
are so mistaken in their thinking that they cannot be convinced. Schismatics
need to believe that others are incapable of understanding or accepting the
argument being put forward.
It was for this, as well as for other reasons, that the Ordinances of the
Society contain a specific provision to limit the power of higher Councils to
direct or control the decisions of lower level bodies. That may seem at first
blush to be a permanent invitation to schism. The actual effect however,
should be that no decision on any major or important issue is reached without
an exhaustive attempt having been made by every Council and Committee to come
to a common agreement. That effort will create the opportunity for the
prescriptions of this Essay to take effect.
In view of the importance of those provisions of the Ordinances, this is the
right place to add that it will be wise for the Society to reinforce the formal
procedures laid out in the Ordinances by the adoption of an invariable rule of
practice. Every decision taken by the Society, no matter how apparently minor
or mundane, should be subject to an attempt to create a consensus amongst those
affected whenever time permits. The custom should also be that every
contribution to any such discussion in the Councils and Committees of the
Society is couched in the language of uncertainty, and prefaced by an
acknowledgement of the authority of the supreme Council to determine finally,
by the issue of a Credenda if necessary, any issue that cannot otherwise be
resolved by compromise and a consensus.
In sum, only by the development of a lifelong preference for listening rather
than for preaching; by a constant humble recognition of the unalterable
fallibility of our species; and by an acceptance by all adherents of our
inevitable uncertainty, will it be possible for the Society of HumanKind to
avoid the traps and chasms of schism to which all its predecessors seem so
prone.
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