DUTY-CONSCIOUS INDIVIDUALS
FORM A BETTER SOCIETY
Religion stresses individual responsibilities (vis-à-vis God and vis-à-vis fellow creatures of God), while contemporary secular culture, in which religion plays only a very peripheral role, focuses much more on human rights. This is due to a basic difference between the two worldviews. Religion emphasises the reform of the individual and the purification of one’s inner state and behaviour, while many secular ideologies emphasise changes in the external structures, processes, and environment of society or the social system. Accordingly, religion focuses on human duties, while, in contrast, many secular ideologies focus on human rights.
The source of all kinds of good and evil lies in human nature and not in society as such. Society has no nature in itself. It is nothing but a collection of individuals. This means that starting from individual change, we can bring about change in society by changing the individuals who comprise it on positive lines. However, if we try to reform society as a whole, our efforts will not yield any positive results. To usher in positive change in a society, we have to address and seek to reform individuals who comprise the society on duty-conscious lines. Then, a collection of such reformed individuals can emerge who can manifest positive change as a group of transformed individuals in society.
This approach to social change is a realistic one. It is based on reality. All changes result from one’s will, and the human will is found in the individual, not society. What is of utmost importance in this regard is to address and awaken the will, and this can be done only in and by an individual. The will can be awakened within an individual, not society. This individual-centric approach is the only realistic approach to social transformation. Trying to address and reform society as a whole instead of the individuals who comprise it is not a realistic approach.
The natural fact is that it is not ‘the system’ or ‘society’ but, rather, individuals who play all the various social roles, and so, it is individuals who must change if we want society as a whole to change. Since individuals are the building blocks of society, if one wants to bring about any real change in society, one will have to begin one’s efforts at the level of the individual. One will have to bring about a change in the thinking and conduct of individuals on positive lines.
This point is directly relevant to relations between religious communities. Harmonious relations between religious communities can only arise so that individual members relate harmoniously. This requires a transformation of the consciousness of individual members of the various communities to value people of other faiths, appreciate the goodness in their religions, cultures, and ways of life, and be committed to living in harmony with them.
