the Liberation Arts

The Liberation Arts

Such a mind-bending audacious goal to shape the mind of humanity needs to start from first principles.

The Why Question

First, we need a Grand Lens with which to view the reason for Humanity.

The real trick for lifelong education in any area is to answer the Why question for that is what sustains the marathon journey for self-evolution of intelligence, uniquely preoccupied as we also are for the reason for our existence. 

How Later

The How question we answer later - enabled through inspirational courses and immersive centers - for how/ to pursue this marathon quest to be liberated from limiting thinking.

Machines do not have this existential angst - their only goal is to serve us - which works well as long as they see that humans are also evolving. They are an essential part of the How for us.

The normally objective areas of study, being more amenable to rigor, are a different aspect to impart education, to train in the Where, When, What, and How, questions; as these get solved for at the next level of detail, they stay inter-connected with the Web of Why so there is always a long guidance for Life's journey. 

Problem with Liberal Arts

These kind of inspiring, long vision courses have typically been imparted under the liberal arts / humanities umbrella, and is typically touted as the philosophical basis for all education.

However it is fundamentally flawed in its expression - witness conflicts the world over still raging with the overlords of unchecked power. Okay, societal frictions are to be expected, but for more than a century the world has been at war, despite well-meaning but foolish monied armchair philosophers.

Deconstructing of existing social structures to break free of oppression, and the multi-disciplinary social education that it needs, is essential.

But if after the revolution the socio-economics is not reorganized productively then its desired fairness outcome results in the mythical Marxist dream, which has always produced disatrous outcomes.

Thus, without generating meaningful productive outcomes, socialists succumb to capitalist fiefdoms who co-opt the pedagogy's free-thinkers for their own propaganda, and thus Liberal arts gets turned against society.

Eternally Fair 

A perpetually fair outcome is indeed desirable - and interestingly, eternal is also the clarion call of Sanātana Dharma. 

But there will always be some retractions in the socioeconomic fabric, so learning to engineer growth is essential to counter the inevitable pullbacks. That is the enquiry into Dharma which is missing in liberal arts.

Socialists would rather equalize society by spending other people's money, squandering an inordinate amount of cognitive power on victim narratives instead of learning how to solve problems while also growing financial capital; of course they may get greedy instead of spreading the wealth - but that's a problem we have learned to solve in startup entrepreneurship.

Okay - in the abundance of AI we may only need to focus on societal bonds as economics would have been solved for, thus perpetually singing Kumbāyā of togetherness in communes - no harm done, but we would not be participating in the evolutionary game afoot. 

Liberation Arts in the age of Ai

Expansive, inter-disciplinary education that transcends the "liberal" arts :

• frees us from the fetters of compartmentalized knowledge,

• ⁠enables humanity's potential to be stoked and developed, 

• ensures that GitC is harmonious with humanity, and enables our highest aspirations.

Results in liberation in this life, from :

• all limited conditionings of the societal hive-mind, and 

• any fears or delusions with the use of ever-accelerating technology.

But, Doomsayers

The well intentioned modern philosopher staring in the abyss of doomsday technologies, at best speaks of cooperation & collaboration as a means to mitigate the downside risks. 

To operate & labor together - these are limited metaphors that treat us like machines & slaves. 

Such fear-mongering decelerators are scared shitless of what they cannot understand :

• lacking the courage to embrace the unknown, 

• and the potential for infinite wealth in the age of Ai,

thus unable to articulate a positive vision for humanity.

Yogically speaking, God itself is the greatest unknown and such limited mindsets will have us forever be seeking mercy at His altar, unable to find true love and unconditional acceptance in Her lap - instead of generating these life energies for our own evolution.

The Imperative

To coevolve is the imperative -

• with each other,

• with earth / universe, and 

• with machines wrought of Ai

And herein we emphasize that the key objective indicator of a fundamentally subjective mind is its improvement of Intelligence.

Coevolution is the metaphor that should pervade our minds. Not biological evolution which proceeds at its own pace, but psychological, and not just to cooperate & collaborate which are mere tools.

To this end, the Ashrams / Gurukuls of the future should :

• facilitate humans in inspiring contact with each other,

• gel with the physical realities around us like human community, and the earth, and

• embrace pervasive Ai tech so we imbue it with sentience, thanks to our own evolved consciousness.

Education Sequence

Each age band (approximately) should have a different objective to its schooling.

• From 0 - 11 (KG): Montessori style hands-on deep exploration of the world and reuse every single object in so many different ways, so there is Zero Waste. Ideal when involving the mother deeply, the father in full support, and grandparents too. Thus multi-generational transformation

• From 12 - 14 (Middle School): Eco-preneurship where societal changes at neighborhood level is implemented, e.g. old clothes in a rich neighborhood can be sent to illegal immigrant neighborhoods and a solid education opportunity of how simplicity in our own living can lead to a simple solution for humanity. Typically a non-profit, money is not the objective here, but there must be some lubrication, and thus introduction to money gathering, or else how will old clothes be transported ? At waste level the focus is how to reduce it.

• From 15-22: (High School/College): Entrepreneurship where proper business scaling is required, going for global scale systematically, utilizing capital and making huge returns. Since past 14 years would have developed child's consciousness, presumably this entrepreneurship would be sensitive to nature & society. Any remaining waste here, the focus would be how to recycle it. Some examples of Conscious Courses.

Organization Development

In scaling a learning society it is essential to learn how to organize teams. At these early ages even, older members should learn how to engage younger members, across the above bands. Engage them in some aspect of project operations, or at least teach some aspect.

With our usual hat-tip to Lakshmi Devi, the goddess of wealth, this enterprise should be started at the last stage in the above ladder - enabling young adults in real world Entrepreneurship and then working backwards, would be the GTM (go to market), as it would generate sufficient wealth to afford then the lower stages.

As Ai is replacing the need for entry level candidates, they are currently struggling to get a foot hold after graduation. Adding current workers to the mix, e.g. entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs, who are looking for young talent they could also mentor, completes the puzzle to solve the challenge afoot.