PARADIGM SHIFT TO COMBAT POVERTY By T.S.Khanna, March 14,2020.

FOUNDATION FOR BETTER GOVERNMENT,

 PARADIGM SHIFT TO COMBAT POVERTY

BY T.S. Khanna, March 14, 2020.

In every society, there exists a body of beliefs, convictions, sentiments, accepted principles, and firmly rooted prejudices, which taken together, provide a framework of public thought (culture). 

That framework can be traced to certain fundamental assumptions, true or false, tested or untested.  Those assumptions are regarded by the society to be true and factual with such confidence that they hardly bear the character of assumptions in the public mind.  This dominant theoretical framework, controlling and guiding the pattern of public thought, behavior, predilection, and perception of observations/experiences is the paradigm of the society.  Change in a paradigm is regarded as paradigm shift.

Old societies were established with paradigms based on religions emphasizing God as the Supreme Arbitrator and religious leaders as the agents of God.  The unquestionable faith in religious teachings was considered as the only and the ultimate source of knowledge.

Religious paradigms concentrate power in religious institutions and firmly restrict the growth of knowledge since religious teachings are considered as the final truth or facts.  Such paradigms become self-perpetuating dogmas and people accept only those phenomena that fit in with the model of “reality” or “truism” created and defined by the prevailing paradigm.  The religious followers get auto-intoxicated by echoing and endorsing the same beliefs and prides while suspending their faculties for critical thinking.

It is noteworthy that all religious paradigms promoted charity to the poor but not the removal of poverty.  They focused on intra-religious peace as well as on inter-religious wars.  They demanded the designated behavior among the followers by punishing for heresy and preaching the concepts of heaven and hell.

During the 16^th century, for the first time in history, a religious paradigm was challenged and cracked in Europe by Copernicus and Galileo.  With the development of scientific instruments, they proved wrong the centuries old religious belief that the Earth was flat and at the center of the Universe, with Sun revolving around it.  Eventually, their courage and efforts triggered Industrial Revolution in Europe.

The push of scientific facts started a gradual shift in the prevailing religious paradigm.  No new discovery was involved to bring about a shift in the prevailing paradigm.  Motion of the sun or the planet had not changed.  Only the conceptual perspective of how the motion was viewed changed.  That made a great difference.  People born, brought up, and heavily influenced in a religious paradigm cannot develop a vision of the downside of the paradigm and blindly defend it even at the cost of their lives.   The scientific paradigms, however, are constantly questioned and modified whenever new observation of discovered facts warrant a change in the perceived reality prevalent at the time.  That is how the human knowledge progresses and benefits the humanity.

Another substantial shift in European paradigm occurred when the European settlers established the US Government in the 1770s.  The new government was established on the principles: a) Separating the religion from the government, and b) allowing individual economic freedom with equality of opportunity and minimal government interference. 

These values shaped a new paradigm in America, unleashing human potential for economic development.  This paradigm blocked the religious values, beliefs, and customs that obstructed innovations, inventions, discoveries, tackling resources and opportunities leading to economic development. 

This paradigm turned the American wilderness into the greatest and wealthiest country in the world in two centuries.  Poor countries have still not shown much success in thousand years.  The lack of success is not due to the lack of resources but due the hold of religious paradigms. The poor countries are comparable to European conditions prior to scientific revolution.

There is another fallacy afloat that democracy can eradicate poverty.   If our knowledge or belief system is not in order, our freedom works against our interests.  Unless a shift in religious paradigms is created for it to be conducive to economic development, those countries will continue to perpetuate poverty under democracy.  Under the conditions of religious dogmatism and economic ignorance, gullible/incite-able voters vote only their caprice and emotions, not their intellect.  Elected officials, under such conditions, are neither knowledgeable nor interested in poverty removal issues.  Their public stance is for wealth distribution, not for wealth production.

Another disadvantage of religious paradigm is that it places power in the hands of religious leaders doggedly convinced of their self-righteousness.  When the power resides in or is under the influence of religious leaders, it not only obstructs economic development, it also mobilizes resources for religious wars to serve ignorant arrogance.

Traditions direct us to believe that legacies and heritage reflect the highest values.   However, in the wake of quantum jumps in scientific knowledge offering unlimited possibilities to improve human living, it is a compelling time for us to scrutinize our old cherished beliefs, convictions, and customs to their very roots to rediscover, replant, and fertilize them or even replace them to accommodate the practice of growing knowledge for the benefit of humanity.

The values and customs emphasized by various religions may be examined for their positive and negative effects on poverty eradication efforts.  Now there is an opportunity to evolve and establish epoch-making innovative values for a paradigm shift in the poor countries.   Without a shift in their paradigms, no amount of foreign aid can pull them out of poverty and the attendant growing miseries.  The focus may now shift from foreign aid to paradigm shift.

Now is the time to leverage the opportunity to fuse the select values of various religions and develop and establish a syncretic universal religion with values that may combat poverty and human misery as well as minimize religious conflicts.

Now is the time to elevate our intellectual-moral compass to guide the future as we envision  sharply improved conditions for humanity.