Editorial

Citation

Rankin, A. (2005), "Editorial", European Business Review, Vol. 17 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ebr.2005.05417aab.001

Editorial

Editorial

“Only connect!” wrote E.M. Forster, half a century ago, in a very different world. And yet his entreaty expresses very well the predicament of our times. For the era of “globalisation” is one of continual tension between interconnectedness, wrought by technology and economics, and the fragmentation created by growing – and ever more obscene – inequalities, and by the collapse of the political ideologies of the modern era. In the absence of the intellectual reference points once provided by Marxism, liberalism and conservatism, there is a resurgence of ethnic and religious identity politics. Fundamentalisms also fill the void, be they religious, as in the “Islamism” of al Qaeda and the more commonplace bigotry of the “Christian Right”, economic, as in the uncritical obeisance to market forces, or political, as in the Neo-conservatives’ attempts to revive Manifest Destiny. Postmodernism is perhaps the ultimate expression of fragmentation, because it holds no truths to be absolute or objective, except for relativity itself. Beneath all the bustle and noise associated with fragmentation, there is a profound and powerful longing for wholeness that is increasingly taking shape and reaching the level of public consciousness. It is the search for wholeness which this issue of New European addresses.

William Bloom is one of Britain’s, and the West’s, foremost writers and commentators on the body of ideas and practices known as the New Age. Whether as an academic at the London School of Economics, as a promoter of alternative health care, or as a counter-cultural publisher of International Times, his interest has been the spiritual dimension that connects areas of life often viewed as separate: economics, politics and work, as well as artistic creativity, worship or meditation, friendship and love, and our response to the natural world. In a highly secularised Western Europe the word “spiritual” is often viewed with suspicion (it is taken more seriously in religious America). However there is still a huge hunger for spirituality, less as something lost as something to be reinvented. As Bloom points out, a large majority of the British people have withdrawn from organised religion and yet a large majority consider themselves as “spiritual”. Indeed the decline of religion and the rise of spirituality have taken place simultaneously.

The same is probably true of politics: as established parties decline, campaigns and pressure groups proliferate. William Bloom’s new book, Soulution, describes itself as an holistic manifesto. It applies the unifying principle of spirituality to a range of social, political and economic questions as well as making the case for “holism” as a coherent philosophical system. Holism recognises the spiritual dimension in individual human beings, in humanity as a whole and in the natural world. This common thread creates an awareness that all life is interconnected, and so enjoins a respect for all life and an avoidance of extremism, over-consumption and social imbalance. The term “holism” was first used by General Jan Smuts, who wrote a book called Holism and Evolution in 1926. Bloom’s development of the doctrine aims to combine transcendence, or seeing beyond the apparent and immediate, with the re-embedding of humanity in nature. New European is privileged to be publishing an extract from Soulution, which was published in October 2004.

Stuart Millson’s contribution, aptly titled “A tale of two countries”, explores the polarising debate over fox hunting, and field sports more generally, that has galvanised the British political class and mystified foreign observers. His exploration is holistic, in that he looks beneath the surface of the argument for underlying intentions and motives. These are as important as the “issue” itself, because they mould the behaviour of campaigners and politicians. For both sides, Millson explains, hunting has become a totemic issue. The debate is no longer really about cruelty to animals, or class antagonism, or even town versus country. It is about two visions of national life, one valuing tradition and favouring incremental reform that builds upon the past, the other cultural revolutionary, intent on destroying traditions (irrespective of merit or demerit) and reshaping society according to abstract blueprints. This division transcends left and right. Blairism and Thatcherism have both been cultural revolutionary movements, whereas socialism and conservatism both have a strong sense of history. Millson is writing from the perspective of a conservatism that is organic and concerned in a real sense with conservation and stewardship. The value of this type of conservatism is acknowledged in William Bloom’s book as a contribution to holistic thought.

Corinne McLaughlin, of the California-based Center for Visionary Leadership, has taken the holistic principle and applied it to business methods. She and her husband, Gordon Davidson, give excellent seminars on ethical management practices, in the USA and abroad. Here she looks at ways in which businesses (mainly but not exclusively in the USA) have found that adopting labour-friendly and environmentally-friendly policies is profitable commercially. The short-term strategy of unlimited expansion, without regard for social or ecological cost, is inefficient and wasteful. Businesses are finding that spiritual practice – meditation in the workplace, for example – has a positive effect on labour relations and the overall ethos of the company.

Finally, Aidan Rankin reviews A Citizens’ Income as the best means of reforming the welfare state and emancipating the workforce. He also regards it as “a foundation for a sustainable society”, in which economic growth is no longer the overriding principle. Lord combines his robust arguments for a Citizens’ Income with some interesting speculations about human evolution and the future of the Green Party, of which he is a leading member in the north of England. The question the book raises is whether green politics can break the stranglehold of the hard left and fulfil its original promise, which has much in common with the holistic vision of society.

Aidan Rankin