SOIL, SOUL, SOCIETY – a new trinity for our time

In this inspiring book, Satish has eloquently distilled a lifetime of wisdom and experience into a practical philosophy that can be simply understood and applied by the reader. His involvement with Resurgence over 40 years and Schumacher College and the Small School over 25 has put him at the centre of developments in ecology and spirituality not only in the UK, but internationally as well. Like his teachers, Satish walks his talk and is a powerful example of being the change that Gandhi referred to. This is integrity in action, or, as Lindsay Clarke says in his introduction, an example of courage and imagination. I should also mention that the book is beautifully produced on fine paper with quotations and photographs of Satish himself.

The eight chapters are short and to the point. They draw on various strands of Indian philosophy, and in particular on the work of Gandhi, Tagore and EF Schumacher. His early background as a Jain monk taught him nonviolence and self-discipline as well as imbuing him with sacred texts that had to be recited on a regular basis. This means that the content of one's mind is more structured and uplifting than the usual stream of consciousness reacting to external circumstances. As Satish points out, the self-discipline of spiritual practice is an engine of inner transformation and spiritual resilience. As the title suggests, we need a new philosophical and moral basis on which to go forward. The choice of soil, soul and society representing ecology, spirituality and humanity is rooted in three Sanskrit words: yagna, tapas and dana.

First comes soil, and a reminder that the economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of ecology. This connection is becoming ever more apparent in our agriculture and food systems in relation to changing weather patterns. By harming nature, we are ultimately harming ourselves. The philosophy of yagna encourages us to celebrate the beauty of Nature and to replenish what we have extracted. We can learn directly from Nature rather than just about Nature and to seek a harmonious relationship. The principle of soul is about living in harmony with ourselves - cultivating compassion, seeking truth, appreciating beauty and working for self-realisation. These inner attitudes are reflected in our social structures, which in the West have been based on materialism and militarism, greed and consumerism, leading to huge waste and a lack of fulfilment. Dana is the principle of sharing and generosity expressed in spiritual activism. In this context, the cultivation of peace is also critical; this is challenging in an economy of war with its corresponding psychological insecurities and defence structures against fear. However, all real change begins within and with our mental and emotional processes. We can all help create a little more silence and peace in the lives by living and breathing more mindfully.

Gandhi has been a constant source of inspiration for Satish. Using the term sarvodoya, standing for the well-being of all living beings, he promoted a quality of life achieved through values and personal application of swaraj (literally self-shine) including self-governance and self organisation on a local level; a philosophy of localism rather than globalism, of self-reliance rather than dependence. This outlook can also be applied to meaningful education, emphasising the connection between person and planet and the creation of a genuine civilisation based on 'equality, mutual respect, common good, justice and fairness.' Satish use a couple of telling examples about how Gandhi applied this philosophy to himself.

Tagore provides a further strand of inspiration that was recently celebrated at Schumacher College. He felt that education should be as much about wisdom and knowledge and that children should have direct experience of Nature. Tagore combined poetry with politics and ecology with economics with a strong input from the arts, which Satish has maintained in the format and content Resurgence. For him, the three Rs should be complemented by three Hs involving education of the head, heart and hands. We do well in the first department, but very little emphasis is put on the hands and practically none from the heart. Education should be fundamentally about life, not simply a preparation for work. For his own part, Satish urged his pupils to learn to bake bread and grow cabbages, to find out who they were and how to become their true selves in the context of learning. Our system has given too much emphasis to ideas and concepts at the expense of the refinement of feelings and the development of practical skills.

It was EF Schumacher who encouraged Satish to take on the editorship of Resurgence and be a Gandhian in the West. His emphasis on small scale and intermediate technology has been hugely influential, as has his insistence on metaphysical reconstruction. He was an early member of the SMN and took part in the May Lectures in 1977. It was his own agricultural experience that shaped his attitudes as he sought a balance between freedom and order. Large-scale operations tend to restrict freedom in the name of order; hence the imperative of appropriate scale.

The final chapter succinctly summarises contrasts between the new and the old paradigm, explaining why we need a change of direction from a focus on quantity of possessions to quality of life. At the same time, this means moving away from monoculture towards biodiversity, from mechanistic to organic metaphors, from large-scale uniformity to local distinctiveness, from reductionism to holism, from control to participation. Readers will find their vision renewed and their thinking refined by this inspirational book that argues powerfully for a benevolent idealism to replace the prevailing cynical and ultimately disastrous realism.