Wish you all a Happy New
Year.
Please let me give a brief introduction to this essay. I
wrote this piece almost 30 years back. After review by a reputed journalist, I
sent this to two major newspapers to be published as a Letter to the Editor.
Obviously they rejected and this essay was buried in my files for several
years. I thought that this essay gives a positive beginning for the New Year.
Therefore, here it is. I hope the ideas, if considered to be valid, get used.
BHA
We live
in a tumultuous period in history.
Science is making rapid
advances in every field that test human capacity for ethical decision-making.
Information technology is breaking barriers and testing the limits of freedom. Science
is wedded to objectivity and data and is unable to bridge the gap with human
needs and human psyche.
At the same time, and
probably because of our inability to face these challenges created by science
and technology, some are retreating into old shells and refuse to accept current
realities. These folks refuse to use objective data to make reasoned decisions.
They are prepared to even refuse to teach children how to reason.
The task of being a leader
of a nation in such times requires both knowledge and sensitivity. I suggest
that leaders of all nations take counsel from an unofficial cabinet, representing
the collective conscience of the people, before making major decisions. This
Cabinet of Collective Conscience (CCC) should consist of a wise elder, a poet
and a humorist.
This is not a novel idea. We
learn from the history books that wise leaders of the past have used such counsel.
There
are technical experts and specialists in senior positions in all branches of
the Government to advise the leader of every nation (President or Prime
Minister) on complex issues. The specialists often see the tree but cannot
imagine the forest. National leaders, such as our President, will have to take
advice from technical experts before they make decisions on major issues.
Decisions have to be based on facts, first and foremost.
However, given the complexity of modern
societies, solutions to problems involving people and nations require more than
technical knowledge. Perceptions, emotions, values and aspirations of people
need to be taken into account.
Thoughtful
physicians and good managers are well aware of this need for technical
expertise and sensitivity to achieve good results. They know that solutions
based on scientific knowledge alone, that do not take into account the feelings
and the values of the people involved are not likely to lead to satisfactory
outcome.
This is
particularly true in the governance of nations. Leaders need a great fund of
knowledge. They also need humility, an open mind to take counsel from experts
in the field and from those who are known for being in touch with the feelings,
values and aspirations of the common man and woman.
I
suggest that the leader of every nation appoints a national repository of
collective conscience of its people to take counsel from. This advisory group,
call it the “Cabinet of the Collective Conscience”, should consist of three
individuals who have a feel for and give expression to common voices of
humanity.
The first
should be a wise elder who is trusted by the society, who is known to speak his/her
conscience, and who cares for the welfare of the people of his country and of
the world. I am thinking of people in the caliber of a Mahatma Gandhi, a Nelson
Mandela or a Martin Luther King.
The second must be a poet. Poets see
things from an esthetic point of view. They look at the universal dimensions of
the world. I am thinking of someone like Robert Frost who said: “We dance round
the ring and suppose; But the Secret sits in the middle and knows” or a Maya
Angelou who said: "I've learned
that people will forget what you said, and people will forget what you've done,
but people will never forget how you made them feel."
Finally,
we need a humorist who can call the king “naked” when he indeed is! A comedian,
a court jester, can say the truth in such a way that makes everyone, including
the “king”, laugh. Through the use of deft humor, he will have the power to
point out the incongruities and hypocrisy of the powerful, just as Will Rogers
did a century back.
How
should such a cabinet be chosen? The best option is for the public to choose.
In this era of interactive communication, it should be possible for people to
vote via internet. I recommend that a short list be prepared by respected organizations,
such as the Library of Congress and the American Academy of Arts and Letters,
and that the people select the final panel from that list.
The
three chosen ones would then represent the voices and the aspirations of the
people. They will be the canaries of our subterranean minds! They do not have
to tell us what their advice to the President was, just as the President need
not take their advice. However, the national leader may choose to tell the
people the advice he/she received, after the decision is made, particularly if
their advice was different from the technical advice. I suggest we conduct an
annual forum, with public participation, where these three express their
thoughts on some of the pressing issues of the society.
Before
making grand decisions, our president and other world leaders should consult
members of their country’s Cabinet of the Collective Conscience. These gurus
will not have the final say, of course. Still, an open-minded leader will be
able to hear the weaknesses, short-sightedness and incongruities in decisions
made solely on the basis of technical advice and his/her own political bias.
More importantly, the leader will have the advantage of checking the cold logic
of the left brain of technical experts with humanity of the right brain, thus
making the final decisions practical and of longer-lasting value.
I am
a pediatrician, and consequently wish for lasting Peace and Harmony between all
people so our children can grow up in a gentler world.
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