Gary Coyle
The relationship between ideology and the collective psychologies is both personal and impersonal. While the ruling class may embody some of the aspects of ideology in its popular culture, either through a genuine sense of social welfare or merely as an expedient tactic to camouflage its exploitative intentions, it will always prove deficient in one area or another as it is motivated by self-interest.

Where there is a conflict between the interests of the ruling class and the rest of society, the ruling class will always adjudicate in its own favour. Class interest, which causes the desire to dominate society, is the reason why social classes exploit and oppress the rest of society, and why force is generally required to remove a ruling class from power. The only way that ideology can maintain its integrity and prove its relevance and efficiency is if it is embodied in the hearts and minds of a class of people whose psychology is not conditioned by any of the collective psychologies that periodically rule the social cycle.

In PROUT’s model of society the social cycle can be regulated and kept in its synthetical phase only by a group of ‘de-classed’ spiritual revolutionaries. Spiritual revolutionaries may be defined as:

“Those revolutionaries who work to achieve progressive change for human elevation on a well thought out, pre-planned basis, whether in the physical, metaphysical or spiritual spheres, by adhering to the principles of spiritual morality.” (Sarkar in Idea and Ideology )

Spiritual revolutionaries are de-classed because they do not imbibe the collective psychology of any of the major social classes and must be committed to fighting against exploitation, in whatever form, regardless of which social class is in the role of exploiter. By definition spiritual revolutionaries are spiritualists and have neohumanism as both their subjective and collective goal. Spiritual revolutionaries reside in the hub of the social cycle and work for the dissemination and implementation of ideology. As such they are not dominated by the different collective psychologies and work for the welfare of all members of society, whichever class is dominant. Their primary role is to keep society in the synthetical phase of social motivity, and to inspire an antithesis of revolution against the dominating ruling class thesis as soon as society enters its systaltic pause (of decadence). By mobilizing the oppressed members of society, spiritual revolutionaries can reduce the periods of social exploitation, increase the length of the manifestative (ascending) phases in the social cycle and guide society towards establishment in neohumanism.

From Progressive Socialism, Proutist Universal Publications, Calcutta, 1985

Copyright Ananda Marga Publications 2011