Musings on Family, Religion and Politics

Every institution in the society sustain themselves through three core parameters: identity, ideology and incentives. Some may say ,ideals,identity and incentives. This could be in various configurations at various points in time of an institution.

The basic institution that sustain society and politics is the institution of family. It is the DNA of all other institutions in the world - from state, economy and Religion too. Family as an institution survived for many thousands of years as it a shared space of human beings to meet their physical ( food, sex), procreative, re-creative, social and psychological needs. Institutions are also about boundaries, basic social contract, notion of reciprocal relations based on certain conditions and norms over the years. Institutions are necessary to sustain human enterprise, creative and procreative urges. While institutions sustains through systems that manage the needs, discipline, incentives, dignity and identity. Family as an institution survived as it the basic system that manage birth, procreation, economic, social and psychological needs as human beings are social and community animals.

Family as an institutions survived, despite all critique of it all through the years, as it is the site three core aspects of human life gets managed: Birth, puberty, and death.- and all these three aspects combine elements of ideals, identity and incentives/interest( needs) . This also involves pro-creation. And eventually all these get negotiated through Identity. It is at the site of family that religion, politics and economy meet. It is also here the organized religion and politics meet basically negotiating, managing and eventually controlling these identities and making identity itself as an ideology that rationalize and control the very institution of family . That is why Marriage often end up as a social, religious and political contract sanctioned by both religious and secular laws.

It is the family that is basic site of economy as it is where the consumption of food, cloths and shelter etc happen. So the basic institutional core of economy is family as the organised need and demand happen at that level( schools, hospitals, food and provisions etc).It is based on this demand that all economic/manufacturing institutions of supply come in to existence. This organised forms of demand and supply around institutions are what make organized economy and employments possible.

There are two aspects of life that human beings do not have definitive control. Despite the growth of all science, technology and institutions these two aspects that define human life are beyond the reach of human made science or technology or constructed rationalism. These are Birth and Death. Both have an important element of mystery and unpredictability and often not in the hands of human beings.
For example, the very act of birth depends of fertility and the formation of an embryo. Usually there are around 400 to 300 millions sperm count in the semen of men at each ejaculate. In some cases the sperm count may be more than that. Women are born with all the eggs they are ever going to have, and they don't make any new eggs during their lifetime. Women are born with approximately two million eggs in their ovaries, but about eleven thousand of them die every month prior to puberty. But the very making of life depends on the biochemistry of wonder when one sperm among 400 millions meets an egg through sheer chance with a bit of mystery.The mystery of the birth begins with that act of fertilization. It is here that 400 or 500 million sperms chases one single egg. This means the chances of a particular human embryo formation is one in 400 or 500 millions as one usually is one among this millions of sperm has a chance to meet the egg. This means every act of birth of particular person (of a part gender, coloure, physical features) is one in 4000 or 5000 million chance! This also means every birth in unique and in tun every single human being is unique and it is not yet possible to replicate another person fully. So if it is X or Y sperm meeting the egg, it can all make the big difference in terms of gender, physical quality etc. And in the very act of birth, a nanosecond can make a huge difference in terms of physical qualities and very chances can affect the child life long.

It is the same with Death as human beings so far have not succeeded in predicting death or stopping someone from dying. Is is this Alpha and Omega of life that in many ways are based on 'chances' or 'accident' that is at the roots of human existential insecurity. It is the hope of birth and fear of death that in many ways control the human behaviour and approach.

And it is precisely due to this 'Hope' of birth and the existential 'Fear'/anxiety of death that human beings can't live by bread alone. The physical and existential insecurity of human being often make them seek metaphysical narratives to sustain themselves. It is the Hope of Birth and Fear of death that make two other important aspects that sustain human life: They are Love and Faith.
It is not just an aberration that people use the word 'Making Love' for the sexual union or consummation usually between a woman and man. Because 'sexual union' is the core existential need to pro-create as well as to feel the physical well-being. In this 'Love' is the life-sustaining psychological force with hormonal implications that induce human beings to 'make love' to pro-create and sustain the species. That is how Love make life possible and sustain life as the very force of creation and creativity. It is precisely because of this Love also acquires a divine dimension. But this very trinity of human life- Birth, Procreation( love) and Fear( of death) get connected through 'Faith' ( loyalty, strong commitment, reciprocal certainty etc). All these physical aspects then get in to metaphysical dimension to create a broader narrative on Love, Faith and Hope. It is at this level of metaphysical narratives that organised belief system began to form.

Making Love and procreation is based on basic faith as a social contract and Hope that act of Making Love will pro-crate, leading to birth of a child. Various streams of human beliefs in terms of its metaphysical rational to beat the fear of death ( due to natural calamities, various physical ailments, war etc) got established over the generations as religious beliefs. It is precisely due to this human being begin to see the birth of a 'child ' as a 'gift of God' or 'blessing' and hence we use the term ' blessed with a child'- and it is also due to this we also used the term 'Rest in Peace'- and this 'peace' aspect get transformed in to 'Hope' after death( by overcoming the fear of death) through 're-birth' ( prevalent in many of the pagan, tribal beliefs) or hope of 'heaven' and 'eternal' life. And also the 'fear of hell'. Family sustain through identity ( hence caste, religious and language dimension of 'naming'.) Every religion got institutionalized through managing birth rites( Baptism, circumcision, or dedication to a deity through sacrifice or symbolism) , rites of puberty and rites of marriage and eventually the funeral . Every single organized religion operate through the minds of people through the management of birth, puberty, marriage, procreation and death through rituals that confirm the identity - and the identity is established through a language game of 'naming' a person and the family 'name' then become the basis of dignity and honor of a person.

This institutionalization of sex( love), marriage( faith- hence the norm to be 'faithful' to each other) , procreation( Hope) and Death ( recreated Hope) often politically controlled by religions through a mix of psychological process of consensus ( belief) and institutional process of coercion( social sanction, honour , ex-communication). This is precisely due to this organized regions became the first institutionalized form of power- by managing and negotiating power through control of the family and through collectivization of family in to society. By controlling these aspects of identity, ideals( hence theology and philosophy) and incentives( in this life and beyond) , organized religion became the most powerful institutions within most of the societies through our the history of the last three thousand years. Hence it is from this organized religious streams the idea of marco-power institutions of state with coercive control over a territory emerged.

Since religion operate at the existential, experiential and psychological( emotional) level of human beings through family and sustained through temples, mosques and churches ( basically a collective institutions where families are organized at the societal level) and other places of community worships such as viharas.. And this societal/community institutions also become a site of social and political protection to the families associated/affiliated to them.

The notion of larger politics emerged out of this process. Hence the history of politics till early twentieth century is intermingled with organized institutions of religions in one or the other way. With emergence of modernism and modern institutional framework of 'nation-state' and 'nationalism', the institutionalized religious identity operated in the in the background( for secular) and in the foreground( non-secular formation) of various streams of national identity.

In the history, organized political establishments made use of religious identity and establishments to fight war or sustain power. History of all organised religions is also the history of the war. Because most of the existing religions /streams survived through the patronage of organized political power of Kingdoms or Empires. They propounded peace and then went for war in the 'name of peace'. They propounded "love' and went for war to protect the 'love'. They went for war to sustain 'hope' in themselves. Right from Alexander( Greece) and Darius( Persian empire), to Jihad and Crusade and the tussle between Shaivism and Vaishavism- and both with Buddhism etc are basically the war for domination and control over the territory of earth and more in the territories of human mind. The mother of all politics and war are organized religions. Without the political patronage and the patronage of economy, no religion in the world survived. Most of the rulers in the history often ruled 'on behalf of God' or a Deity. They often rationalized their legitimacy from the sovereignty of their God. Organized religions also provided political ideology for the kingdoms and empire. It is precisely because of this Priests and Prince work together to sustain each other. Priestly class/caste also became the ideologues who justified the established political power ( of Kingdoms and empires). This is one of the reasons that all through the history Political establishment and power invested in the making of grand places of worships of community of power. These included huge temples, Churches, Mosques and all other places symbolizing the economic and political capacity of Kings/queens and emperors. From Angokorwat in Cambodia to the grand churches and mosques in Istanbul/Constantinople, from the Basilicas and Cathedrals in Rome, London or Paris, St Peters Berg or the grand mosques in Cairo or Tehran or the big temple complexes in different parts of India or the grand synagogues in Israel or the Pyramids in Cairo or Mexico city, the city of Petra in Jordan or Machu Pictchu in Peru , one can see the clear linkage on how organised political establishments and religious establishments reinforced each other through our the history.

With the advent of knowledge revolution and advance of science in the 19th century and with the emergence of 'nation-state' where identity often get expressed over a territory, language, race etc, the organized region often took a back seat from the organized political power and religions then went back to its primary site of family and community( collectivization of family in the context of language, food and culture). With this retreat of religion in the background of organised nation state, they still have huge influence through families and identities of creed and castes ( 'Name' and all religious rites from birth to death and after the death). However it is also important to make a distinction between organized religion as an expression of identity-belief based power, and the experience of religion and faith at an individual level.

Religion exists at five level. 1) At the experiential level of an individual an intensely emotional psychological need to deal with insecurities, disappointments and also happiness, hope and love. So when a person prays to God it is an intensely personal experience based on his/her choices, inherited or acquired beliefs and conviction in certain values. 2) At the level of knowledge and culture:Almost all alphabets, knowledge process , compilation and collectivization of knowledge through multiple narratives of stories, poetry , art and architecture negotiate through religion 3) At the level of Philosophy and Theology of life,sustenance and death- or as organized systems of knowledge that got institutionalized to build a larger meta-narratives of Universe( Brhaama). It is interesting the term 'Yahova' come from the root of Yaha( Universe)- So Yahova becomes a Universal God of a pastoral community of Jews as they could not have a territorial god or fertility goodess of agricultural communities.
The notion of 'Brahmmav'( the one who is in control of Brhamma- Universe) also emerged from the pastoral communities that stretched from West Asia to South Asia. The point is all these 'names' of God or Gods have something to do with the 'cultural semantics' and language context. 4) The Religion exist as Rituals- these are codified practices that link the physical world to the 'metaphysical' or linking individuals to Institutions and local to the Universe, Life to death and beyond death. These rituals are the binding force that link a family unit to the institutionalized regions where identity get established through 'naming' rites or rituals. 5) At a fifth level Religion exist as a political establishments of power that establish control over Identity, religious legal framework, sanctions, coercion and prositilization and politicization through multiple means. It is this fifth aspect of Religion that survived in partnership with organized political power. Often they became the two sides of the same coins of managing power in the society.

However, most of the ordinary people's beliefs are around the experiential aspect of religions. So it is important to make a distinction between the first level of experience of religious beliefs or prayers etc from the fifth aspects of organised religious establishments. While the number 1 to 4 of the religion are linked in many ways, number five is not really linked to the personal experiential aspect of religion.

Hence, one has to make a distinction between the power establishments of religions and experiential faith and prayers of ordinary people. All through the History power establishments used identity or ideology of religious establishments for both to rationalize their power and fight war or capture power and sustain organized power. The organized Political power sustain through coercion as well as collective consensus .Organized Religious establishments were ideological Enterprises to derive legitimacy for organized Political power. Hence Priests , Prince collaborated to capture Power all through the history and they needed merchants to sustain the power of organized Religious and Political power establishments.
Established and organized religions all through the History combined identity and ideological to capture and sustain power. This needs to be differentiated from experiential or belief locations of ordinary people in God or Goodness due to multiple reasons of existential and livelihood insecurities and idea of fairness that existed from the beginning of human civilization. There are existential, ethical as well economic reasons that sustain the experiential beliefs of ordinary human being in God and Goodness of God. However this is different from organized religious power establishments that sustain itself by using the collective identity of religions for rationalize Political power.
The three thousand years of history power establishments used organized religion,: between Vedic Religion and Buddhism : between Greek pagenism and Persian Zoroastrianism ; between Shaivism and Viashnavism ; between Catholic establishments and Muslim power establishments: between Catholic power establishments and Protestant power establishments,; between Hindu power establishments and Muslim rulers : between Sunni and Shia power establishments.
This discourse changed only towards the end of 19 the century with the emergence of knowledge revolution due to enlightenment, and emergence of science and technology, leading to modern secular and then democratic discourse. The idea of greater common good is a discourse that arose along with the ethics and philosophy of Enlightenment and modernity.

But politics and Political discourse are not linear process with a logical end ( though communism itself based on this linear assumptions of 'progress' as a modern idea ). Hence contestation of power often use multiple rational and in the post 19th century these discourse are woven around various kinds of nationalism where religious ideology itself is used to build nationalist discourse. whether Brexit, Hindutva or ISS all of them now use Nationalism with different political or ideological shades to capture or sustain power. That is how nationalism , hyper-nationalism , patriotism and jingoism emerged as the holy cow of organized political power in the 20th century and continue to do so even now. However, these multiple narratives of nationalism also co-exist with new notions of inclusive internationalism and universalism based on universal secular normative principles beyond the confines of a nation-state. And of course the very idea of greater common good is built on universal normative framework that give legitimacy to the ideas of Sustainable Development, inclusive Democracy and human rights for all.

However, such a perspective of universal framework has been in constant tussle with the various shades of exclusive nationalism that once again emerged in the context of reactive neo-conservatism. The emergence of reactive neo-conservatism also need to be seen as a reaction to the hyper institutionalization of many liberal values where people often see 'classical liberal values' as establishment of elite power that led to corruption, subversion and elite capture. Hence the present tendency to once again use established religious establishments and identity is a reactive tendency wherein people at the lower end of economy and politics felt that they got a bad deal in the widened gap between the rhetoric and reality of liberal values.