Statement of Purpose
Dr. Glen T. Martin
I believe that human beings are under an absolute obligation to transform both themselves and their world into living realities of peace, justice, and freedom.
This must be our highest purpose, as individuals and as a species. It is a purpose that requires penetrating to the very depths of existence and drawing from those depths the inspiration, wisdom, and energy to live day in and day out in the light of this purpose.
This purpose is realized in human life through the wisdom of critical social theory, the compassion that arises from identification with all human beings and all life, and the nonviolence that acts for revolutionary transformation without perpetuating the violent legacy of the past into the future.
Critical social theory involves active engagement of our reason, intelligence, and insight. It requires penetrating beneath the surfaces of society and our brutal world order to see the deeper structural mechanisms that perpetuate exploitation, war, hate, fear, domination, and injustice. This tradition stems in large measure from the work of Karl Marx but encompasses many critical social thinkers up to the present.
Compassion arises from the depths of existence insofar as we have dissolved the immature ego and discovered the deeper self in which we are one with all other persons and, indeed, all life. It arises when we experience the unsayable suchness (tathata) of existence prior to language and thought. In this unmediated awareness, we realize the illusion of the ego that is merely a linguistic and psychological construct, containing no substantial reality of its own. This does not obliterate the freedom, distinctness, and alterity of the other person. But it mitigates the ego of domination and competition to the point where commiseration (sharing the misery) with the oppressed becomes possible.
In this ecstatic union with the Other, there arises great compassion in which the suffering of others becomes my suffering. At the same time, my experience of this suffering is absorbed by the ground of existence itself and does not destroy the deep ecstasy and joy of being alive in this wonderful, mysterious, universe.
The energy of compassion integrated into the penetrating insight of critical social theory results in a life of active non-violence directed toward revolutionary transformation of oneself and our brutal and corrupt world order. Non-violence, expressed in thought, word, and deed, does not mean acceptance of injustice, exploitation, domination, or corruption. It means direct confrontation with all of these aspects of our current world order in the light of our absolute obligation for an eschatological transformation to a world of peace, justice, and freedom.
The wisdom and compassion arising from the depths of the universe place an absolute obligation upon us to transform both ourselves and our world order. In terms of our situation at the dawn of the twenty-first century, this means the realization of democratic world government under the Constitution for the Federation of Earth. It means a transformed planetary economics under the Constitution toward a democratic socialism in which every person on Earth is considered valuable in themselves.
The exploitation and dehumanization of the current world economic and political order must be abolished. Economically, politically, and militarily our current world order is a product of the immature ego and is social manifestations. It is a product of the ego of domination and exploitation that is behind the oppressive imperialism at the heart of the current world order. This ego of domination and exploitation is institutionalized in both the system of "sovereign" nation-states and in global capitalism. Both these institutions perpetuate human immaturity. We are obligated to ascend to planetary maturity, to one democratic world order of peace, justice, and freedom.
The purpose of my life is to live from this absolute obligation. I believe the purpose of human life is to live from this absolute obligation. A planet of peace, justice, and freedom is not merely some pious and arbitrary ideal. It is the meaning of human existence on our precious planet Earth. Our divine-human destiny is to participate in the realization of the kingdom of God on Earth within this holy cosmos.