Individuality, Democracy, Education & Culture

Individuality, freedom and democracy

These are very closely related. People with individualistic traits normally want freedom of operation and democracy gives much more freedom than monarchy, dictatorship or communism. The leaders of the French Revolution, Voltaire and Rousseau and leaders of the American war of Independence were highly individualistic men who resented the oppressive authority of the monarchy and the mother country.

Individuality and Education

There is no field more conducive to individuality than education. Individualists are     people who think in their own unique way and they exhibit creativity and originality. Education can train people to become individualists by encouraging original thinking and by promoting traits such as self-reliance, persistence and lack of fear of social ostracism, etc.

A major reason for the rapid advance of Western countries is that their educational system is geared to developing an individualistic personality while in the Asian countries such as India the educational system is geared to producing students who will be conforming to prevailing social customs and beliefs. If the educational system in India is redesigned to promote individualistic personalities, we can expect acceleration in the growth of this country very soon. 

Individuality and Culture 

If culture is understood as the pursuit of higher ideals and not just refinement of   manners, then individuality definitely helps in the promotion of culture. When American youth in the 1960s got disenchanted with the pursuit of wealth, comfort and status that were the goals of the established society, they expressed their individuality by showing an interest in higher things like spirituality, back-to-nature movement and romantic love without the conventional bindings of marriage. Though outwardly their protest against the establishment made them look unkempt and become irregular in their life-styles, the essence of their protest was an individualistic aspiration for higher cultural and psychological and spiritual pursuits. 

If one is a conformist, one simply honours the beliefs, customs and usages of the community or class that one is born into without hardly bothering to find out whether they are worthwhile. If on the other hand, a person has an individualistic turn of personality, he may not agree with the established values and practices of his community and may look for fresh values outside his circle as we find the hero of Pride and Prejudice novel by Jane Austen Mr. Darcy doing by courting Elizabeth who is outside his social circle.

Individuality and Social Progress

Individuality and collective unity are not mutually opposed as they appear to be superficially. Society gives the support of the collectivity to the Individual thereby enabling him to do many things that he cannot do by himself while the pioneering and innovative acts of individuals help society progress and advance. As such their interaction can be a healthy and mutually beneficial association. Society therefore stands to gain by fostering the individuality of its members since such individualistic members will only accelerate the development of the society in the long run when their actions begin to have their effects on the larger society around them.

Individuals who seem to be breaking established social customs and regulations may appear to be destabilizing the society. But such dislocations are only temporary and a higher stability will be restored later on. Luther severely disturbed the peace and order prevailing in Europe when he came out with his protestant principles. When the Catholic Church failed to crush his rebellion, the situation calmed down and the followers of the Protestant sect were much freer to continue their worship without the restrictions of the church coming in the way.

The Hippy generation and their unconventional ways were a sign of individualistic protest against the empty and hollow pursuits of the conventional society which was merely after money and social status and nothing more worthwhile. Their protest seemed to disturb the order and regularity of conventional society. But after some two decades of their protest, society seems to have learnt some useful lessons from that experience. There is better awareness of environmental health and safety, more importance given to real worth and true accomplishment than to formal social status and outer appearances, etc.

Sri Aurobindo and The Mother have predicted the emergence of the supramental spiritual individual in the coming future. He may have nothing of the disturbing effects that are associated with individuals who initiate social reforms and cause revolutions etc. Since he operates from the unity of the Supermind which has seen the whole, his impact on the society may be smooth and gradual and help in the transformation of society to the higher level without the dislocations normally associated with individuals bent on social reform.