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8 Principles of Sustainable Society
Summer, 2006
 
Murshid's spiritual Masters, Sheikh Shah Sufi Sayed Dayemullah and Shrii Shrii Anandamurti, were more than spiritual warriors. They were spiritual Masters. They were inspiring examples of complete surrender to the Divine Will. When needed, there was nothing they could not know, nor could not do. They could see into the future and knew the challenges that awaited humanity. Yet neither would violate the laws of cause and effect to alter the course of history for personal gain. Knowing the need for spiritual warriors in a time of trial and tribulation, they disciplined and inspired their followers and provided a service to whomever they touched. In this manner, they integrated spiritual practices with the demands of relative reality, and taught us to do the same. This is the essential practice of Progressive Development. The Masters did not seek to avoid or escape the world with its multitude of problems. They engaged with the world full on and gave us a theory and a practice that could help humanity survive and prosper in a "post-capitalist" world.
 
Baba Anandamurti explicitly taught us that the planet would go through a major environmental crisis, and that the global economic system would eventually fall due to inequality, greed and the abuse of the natural world. Capitalism, he warned, would never lead us to an ideal human society, because it did not take the welfare of the whole into account. Consequently, it would fall due to its own inherent weaknesses. In this subsequent period of confusion and chaos, those who possess spiritual vision and strength would struggle to bring ideas and resources to those people who are committed to a new social order, dedicated to providing the greatest good for all.

In the course of social and economic reorganization, there are principles that we must follow. Murshid teaches and follows these principles and uses them to guide our work:
  • The use of all resources must be maximized. We should not waste anything.
  • Control of natural resources should be in the hands of local people and distributed in a rational way, ensuring that people's basic needs be met first.
  • Production should be based on people's needs, not profit.
  • For political democracy to succeed, people must be educated.
  • There must also be economic democracy so that everyone would have a voice in how resources were used, and how meeting basic needs in local communities would be handled.
  • Ensuring that regional eco-systems are protected and sustained would be the responsibility of local governments.
  • Laws would be created to keep money moving within the local economy, and not allow it to be siphoned off by outside interests.
  • Everyone should be employed at a living wage with incentives added to encourage greater service. A maximum wage would also be established to prevent exploitation of the many by the few, just as a minimum living wage would be established.
The Masters also taught us to develop a community land-base for meeting our basic needs and for helping to create a sustainable local economy. Currently, there are several land-based projects that are making the effort to do this. The projects we are most familiar with are Ibrahimpur in Bangladesh, Ananda Nagar in India and Dayempur Farm, Comprehensive Center for Sustainable Living in the United States, all of which are spiritually-centered communities.

What does it take to build a community? Murshid once told me that people would know him not by his personality or miraculous deeds but by the Community he would build. This means that he has given this Community a great deal of thought and has invested all of his heart and energy into building it. He has taught us that the core of our Community, that which gives us our strength and cohesion, is our spiritual practice. Nothing sustainable can be built without putting our spiritual practice first. Through our practice we grow as individuals, and we learn to accept and love others who are different from us. It is not easy working with others. We have opposing needs and opinions, and as pressures mount in our daily lives, it becomes more difficult to face opposition and criticism. Sometimes, it seems impossible to maintain our equanimity of mind. Trust is vital for building community, and it is built very slowly. To build trust, we must take the risk to open up over and over, even after being hurt.
 
This is Progressive Development: At the core is spiritual practice; then comes doing the work of meeting our basic needs, building community and helping our neighbors. This is the work of the Dayemi Tariqat. Many people watch the decline of the present system and feel powerless to do anything about it. We are blessed to have the guidance, the spiritual leadership and the companions to help us stay the course.