Ralph Mercer, Guest Editor:
Welcome to this edition of Neohumanist Review on the emergence of enlightened leadership In this special issue, the selected authors take us on a journey beyond traditional political discourse to explore the concept of the Sadvipra. Through a diverse collection of essays, our contributors examine how this ancient ideal can be woven into the fabric of a technologically advanced, complex, and entangled 21st century.
We open the issue by initiating a dialogue on how the Sadvipra functions as a philosophical allegory within Neohumanist thought and invites readers to craft their own stories.
Aslı Şimşek guides us into the digital frontier by applying Causal Layered Analysis to the emerging structure of “Technofeudalism.” She contends that current AI narratives privilege efficiency over embodied experience.
Sohail Inayatullah engages in a comparative dialogue between three civilizational thinkers: Sima Qian, Ibn Khaldun, and P.R. Sarkar. By analyzing their cycles of virtue and social cohesion, he suggests that alternative social movements and Sadvipras serve as metaphors to challenge the status quo.
Satya Tanner suggests that the shift from societal “teenagerhood” to “Gaian adulthood” requires leaders to engage in deep inner work, including emotional mastery and developing cooperative ecosystems. This demonstrates how leaders can foster cognitive flexibility and healthy boundaries to build trust-based cultures.
Stephanie Ezra invites us into the “philosophical laboratory” of foresight games through the lens of “speculative ethnography.” She examines the tension between algorithmic governance and invites us to consider whether relying on a single Sadvipra might instead evolve into distributed ethical infrastructures.
We feature a core text from Shrii Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar himself, reminding us that political harangues cannot create true leaders. Instead, leadership belongs to those imbued with “Cosmic ideation” and a spirit of tireless service.
Marcus Bussey closes the guest authors section with a call for “Prophetic Leadership. Drawing on the work of Boaventura de Sousa Santos and Cornel West, he combats the cynicism by urging us to reclaim our imagination.
Ac. Shambhushivananda Avt., Editor-In-Chief:
There was a time, not too long ago, when human beings and other ape-like creatures were on par and shared the same forest dwellings.
Since, humans have surpassed all other creatures in dominating the Earth. We have split the atom; gone beyond the stars; discovered the secrets of life and genes; developed nanotechnologies; enhanced their vocabularies, invented money as a medium of exchange; and built digital organizational networks that span the earth. The innumerable achievements of our minds are indeed awesome.
Yet, we remain fragile creatures who swing between life and death, still far from comprehending the hidden variables that work behind our body mechanics. We are far from fully aware of what other life forms and building blocks make up the living universe.
Even on our little planet, peace still eludes us, and abundance is not evenly distributed. Welfare and happiness remain distant for the bulk of humanity. Basic survival remains a real struggle for most citizens around the world.
Commercialization of war stares at us and makes us vulnerable to powerful elites who rule our world and dictate the future of human communities. As long as culture and civilization play second fiddle to technological advancement, there will be no contentment. As long as wide disparities persist, inter- and intra-species clashes will still prevail. As long as the existential value of every entity in the universe is not recognized and respected, there will be no harmony.
As long as leaders are guided by love for power rather than the power of love, there will be no genuine and sentient peace and no all-round progress. Through collaboration, cooperation, and negotiation, our world can be led towards a harmonious future.
Our main task is to raise the consciousness of the masses so that neohumanism becomes the dominant paradigm on this planet. To do all this requires enlightened leadership. We have chosen this theme for this edition so we may move further towards an equitable, harmonious, and compassionate future.
Neohumanism extends the love of the human heart to embrace all beings. It empowers us with universal love, morality, discipline, hard work, service, sacrifice, compassion, patience, and more. Enlightened leaders have a historic role to perform, sowing the seeds of an evolved human civilization.