The Progressive Utilization Theory (PROUT) is a visionary socio-economic philosophy that offers a new development paradigm. PROUT can be characterized in the following ways.
Holistic Philosophy:
• PROUT is comprehensive, covering all core facets of political philosophy, including the value-based theory of history, political system, economic system, ecological philosophy, social and cultural concepts, future vision, and change methodology.
Synthetic Theory:
• PROUT synthesizes into one theoretical framework a wide array of progressive concerns, such as cooperatives, economic democracy, bioregionalism, economic decentralization, social justice, environmental protection, guaranteed basic necessities, social equity, world government, fair trade, rights of species, spiritual values, global peace, cultural autonomy, and sustainable development.
From Wisdom Traditions to Quantum Physics:
• PROUT has a values base grounded in the holistic cosmology found in such diverse places as the perennial philosophy of the wisdom traditions, indigenous peoples spirituality, deep ecology, and the philosophical implications of quantum physics and modern physics cosmology.
New Alternative Philosophy:
• PROUT is a viable alternative to materialist-based political philosophies: anarchism, communism, and capitalism. It starts from a new, post-materialist worldview that gives a profoundly different political vision from existing political paradigms.
Biosphere-wide Consciousness:
• PROUT is compatible with an emerging shift in planetary Consciousness that synthesizes the strengths of Western, Eastern, indigenous, and holistic scientific contributions to human knowledge.
Addresses Totality of Human Nature:
• PROUT is designed to serve the totality of physical, mental and spiritual - human nature. It does not neglect or suppress the development of any facet of human nature but promotes their balanced and integrated expression.
Material and Spiritual Well-being:
• PROUT does not privilege material development above spiritual development, nor spiritual development above material development. Rather, it recognizes their interdependent contributions to nurturing a healthy, balanced, and fulfilled human society.
Practice Precedes Theory:
• PROUT affirms that doctrines and policies must arise from and get validated by practice and that we must proactively change present policies in response to changing social and economic conditions.
Newly Explained Humanism:
• PROUT expands the concept of humanism beyond a concern for human welfare and attainment to a new humanism with integral concern for all living beings' welfare, including ecology - animate and inanimate. NeoHumanism asserts that the welfare of individuals, groups, and species cannot be separated from the welfare of the Whole.
New Concept of Progress:
• PROUT reconceptualizes the idea of progress from material and technological change to one based on improvement in the all-around welfare of human beings. Progress is best indicated at a material level by an increase in people’s standard of living, at the mental level by the expansion of NeoHumanist Consciousness, and at the spiritual level by the growth of love, inner peace, and cosmic feeling.
Practical Framework:
• PROUT takes core social ideals — economic democracy, social equity, world peace, and ecological protection — and provides a practical framework for their attainment.
From Needs to Fulfilment:
• PROUT is not a reaction to social problems. On the contrary, it is a positive effort to envision and build a healthy, viable and sustainable human society. It does not stem from a critique of current global realities; PROUT starts from the needs of human beings to find holistic fulfilment.
Rejects Conflict in Individual and Collective Welfare:
• PROUT does not place Collective interests above Individual interests, nor Individual interests above Collective interests. On the contrary, it perceives individual and collective interests as inherently interrelated. So, it is because the well-being of Individuals lies in the development of the Collective and vice versa.
Rooted in Cultural Change:
• PROUT asserts that the liberation of society can only arise from the liberated consciousness of individuals. It, therefore, does not give precedence to political change but stresses cultural change, proper education of the human intellect, moral development, and spiritual growth. Change in political power should be a consequence of collective consciousness change, not imposed by so-called ‘vanguard’ parties.
Think Global; Act Local:
• PROUT proposes fundamental shifts in the locus of power. First, the locus of economic, social and cultural power must devolve from transnational corporations and nation-states to local and regional levels. Similarly, the locus of political and military control must devolve from nation-states to world confederation.
Production for Consumption:
• PROUT rejects profit as the core motive for economic activity. While profit is an important practical consideration in operating enterprises, it must uphold such concerns as consumer needs, community well-being, resource sustainability, environmental health, social equity, and worker fulfilment.
Strength of Synthesis:
• PROUT cannot be characterized as either conservative or liberal; neither can it be called libertarian, socialist, or anarchist. Instead, it arises from its own values base, transcends the left-right political spectrum, and possesses the strengths of many social philosophies.
Equipoise and Equilibrium:
• PROUT affirms the importance of sustainability but conceptualizes deep sustainability grounded in maintaining balance at all levels of material, mental, and spiritual development in society.
Follows Nature:
• PROUT models the way nature works. Those with knowledge of ecological science, complexity theory, systems theory, or the philosophical implications of quantum physics will feel a familiarity with its values, principles, and operational structure.
Regulated Market Economy:
• PROUT calls for neither a free market nor a command economy but a regulated market economy. It does not support control of enterprises by large corporations or by the state, but by cooperative, small private entrepreneurs, and — in the case of key industries — by public boards.
Propreitarian to Utilization Economics:
Prout rejects the current propreitarian economics of the private and public sectors. Instead, it privileges progressive utilization of all kinds of resources - material, metaphysical and spiritual (expanded concept of resources) for all-around human welfare - based on recognizing cosmic kinship and inheritance of all living beings.
Coordinated Cooperation:
Re-Distrcting the World:
Prout advocates the governance structure of self-reliant, socio-economic units or Samajas. A Samaj is configured to optimize the socio-economic and positive sentimental energy of the Samaj, for equitable development' - unencumbered by trans-samaj imperialism and exploitation. Accordingly, re-districting India as 44 Samajas and 200 of them for the rest of the world is envisaged to materialize self-reliant Prout socio-economic units of governance.
World Government:
Based on samasamaj tattva, Prout will help in evolving Samaj federal, representative, bi-cameral, world governance structure to resolve, planetary issues.
Citizenship:
Prout offers dual citizenship. The cosmic citizenship in the infinite mental (Bhati or expansion mind) and spiritual (Ananda or Bliss) realms; Community or Samaj citizenship of his volition (Asti or existence), relative to the finite resources, wherein he merges his economic Interests with the economic Interests of the respective Samaj.
"Hararme Pita; Gaori Mata
Swadesha Bhuvana Trayam"
Hara is the father, Gauri (Prakriti) is the mother and the Universe of three worlds'
Physical, Psychic and spiritual - is our Motherland.
Spiritual Humanism:
• PROUT affirms the relativism of post-modernism concerning the phenomenological world. At the same time, it rejects the notion that there is no basis for universal values, asserting instead that a sound and enduring values base lies in the transcendental source of cosmological existence.
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