Respect in Utopia

Traditional Utopia tend to be viewed in terms of institutions, such as Plato's discussion of his Republic's military, government etc. In fact, the most important aspect of Utopia is the way each citizen relate to all the other citizens, as well as the relationship with the collective whole, whether it is called social conscience, or the Sovereign as by Rousseau in his Social Contract. There are many reasons for the failure of past attempts at Utopia, from communism's totalitarian control of microscopic detail of daily life, to early and modern Christian communal sharing of all properties. Chief among the reasons, I think, is the neglect to address the major aspect of Utopia, which is characterized by harmonious and smooth functioning relationships among its people, and its institutions. Without harmony, there is no peace, and no utopia. Instead of the pseudo-community described by M. Scott Peck, Utopia must have true community, where the members are sincere in their communication, without fear of rejection, excommunication etc. It does not mean members of Utopia would not engage in heated disagreements, or perhaps even antagonistic opposing arguments. Community requires its members to learn to fight (or more correctly, to disagree) gracefully. Physical violence is never acceptable, except as a means to end physical violence caused by pathology. Verbal disagreement, however, is essential when a community has diversity, which is also essential for the healthy development of any community. To stamp out disagreement is to destroy community, and eventually utopia. To cultivate a healthy respect for each other, even in the midst of a heated argument, to be willing to step aside, and listen to the opponent, is the hallmark of civility. Utopia cannot BE without it.

No amount of rules or regulations that define static institutions will create Utopia, which by necessity, must be the collective manifestation of diverse people living dynamic lives. A careful balance is needed between diversity and civility because as is evident in the history of the last hundred years, it is so often the case that intolerance of diversity leads directly to incivility, and vice versa. Someone once said, I think it was either Tolstoy or Emerson or Ghandi (one of the giant thinkers of the last couple centuries anyway) who said to be the change that you want to see in the world. For all the people who want civil liberties, who want freedom, who want ... yet who are also so willing to give up civiliy in the name of their sacred ideal. Hundreds of years from now, people living in Utopia will certainly look back in history, and compare their actions with those Holy Crusaders who killed and tortured innocent children in the name of what they hold sacred.

I like what Google's motto has to say, "Do no evil." It is simple and to the point. First do no harm, then we can try to save the patient by trying different remedies. We may disagree in the remedy, perhaps even the diagnosis. But first, let us not kill the patient in trying prove our own vanity. The world is in a fragile state as it is, after hundreds of years of industrial pollution and decades of war. Until we learn to respect each and everyone else, we are in danger of destroy what is our only home. Stephen Hawking may be right that we need to colonize space, in order to not have all our eggs in one basket (so to speak), but I think we also owe it to our descendents to protect their inheritance, as well as to our forebearers to safeguard their heritage. It would be a terrible pity to lose the many achievements, the eons of history, and the diversity of culture and languages. Utopia will be a place that preserves as well as cultivates, where explorers can explore, while custodians can safeguard our history. We need both the past and the future.

We need to respect each individual according to the gifts and affinities that has been given, not according to our own imperfect ideal of what Utopia should be and how each human being should be cut and measured to fit into our grand utopia scheme. Someone said life is what happens along the way when you are not looking. Utopia is what happens when people interact with an abundance of respect.