Reclaiming Utopia

When speaking of personal transformation and rebuilding the social order, one often hears the objection that this is Utopian, meaning an impossible dream. However, one of the requirements of such a transformation is precisely to have a positive vision of the future. Before beginning a building, all good architects make drawings and models to portray what they have in mind. Actors visualize their performance before going onto the stage. Successful companies develop a shared vision to which all staff members can commit themselves.

Likewise, we need to encourage people in the adventure of imagining the processes by which a world of justice, unity and peace can be attained. At the same time, we need to facilitate the search for and application of concrete, feasible measures to advance along that road, no matter how long and rocky it may be.

Until the late 19th century, the Western world believed in the possibility of a better future, since the concepts of social evolution towards an ideal state and the perfectibility of human beings prevailed. However, as a result of the horrors experienced during the first half of the 20th century, many people became skeptical of human potential. They began to brand any and all proposals of building a world of justice, unity and peace as ‘Utopian’.

This was a serious setback to the people’s ability to form a positive vision of the kind of world they wanted and, consequently, to their ability to work towards that vision. It is crucial to help people regain their faith in humanity and work towards its gradual revitalization.

Delving more deeply into why visions of the future are rejected as ‘Utopian’, it appears that much of the problem resides in how one proposes to achieve it. For example, a world-wide culture of peace cannot limit itself to an isolated community –an island of tranquility in a sea of tribulation– as many Utopian authors have imagined. Rather, it must grow within contemporary society and change its structures and practices from the inside out.

In a possible Utopia, unity cannot take the form of imposed uniformity; just as diversity must not lead to divisionism. As we have seen, these two aspects should give way to a unity in diversity that preserves and cultivates the wealth inherent in plurality while integrating and coordinating the different elements of humanity as a whole. The human body illustrates this possibility perfectly. Although it is a complex biological organism, nevertheless it maintains complete harmony among its diverse cells, organs and specialized systems, without which its great feats would be impossible.

Furthermore, proposals centering solely on personal transformation, in the hope that its cumulative effect will transform society, have not produced the anticipated outcomes. Neither have movements been successful that concentrated solely on changing the structures of society, under the assumption that this would transform its individual members. As mentioned before, this false dichotomy between social and individual determinism should give way to a recognition of the inseparable dynamics between the two.

The world we want will not appear suddenly out of thin air, but must necessarily follow a more or less prolonged historical process, of course with its periods of slow gestation and abrupt turning points. Neither can the long-awaited culture of peace ever be deemed a finished product –the final achievement of an ideal society–, but rather a continual process in which there will always be some new problem to solve, some farther horizon to reach for. Finally, no vision will be successful if it only considers the people’s material wellbeing. Rather, it should take into account human development as an integral whole, including our physical, intellectual, social, emotional, and spiritual aspects.

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