How does this relate in our practical dealings? The first thing we need to understand is that a true grouping begins only when there is a central aim and ideal. Otherwise, it is like a crowd jostling in a traffic-jam accusing and abusing or indifferently moving against one another. For the ideal becomes a magnet drawing all those who feel a natural call. A group which does not have a clear shared ideal is doomed to failure sooner or later. A group must have a group-ideal, a subject of common interest. If the objective is purely one individual’s subjective or objective growth, then the group cannot survive long. But we have ideologies, a set of principles and norms, a list of dos and don’ts, but rarely an ideal. The manager of a group must remember that he is only representing this ideal. If he deviates from the principle and starts considering himself greater, the group will eventually collapse. Take the case of the family. In the Indian tradition, a husband and wife go round the fire to solemnize the marriage. This reminds both that neither is more important. The fire of aspiration, of sacrifice, of purification is the main thing. The moment the husband tries to place himself at the centre, he has to either burn in the fire of purification or else be reduced to ashes. This lack in the true ideal of marriage is one of the main causes of the instabilities of domestic life. Of course there are other causes, also deeper and subtle.
The aim itself can be extrinsic or intrinsic. Extrinsic aims are fragile and short-lived. They depend on the creation of a rigid outer discipline and mechanical regimentation. But as the group evolves, it begins to develop intrinsic aims. Thus, the aim of conquest for looting may change into a thirst for power, or else a war into national spirit. Amassing or attracting wealth might change into growth of equality or, on a still higher level, a pursuit of perfection or, still further, manifesting beauty through form, design and colour.
The higher and wider the ideal, the more heterogeneous are the elements that can be accommodated into the group. The more narrow and low the goal, the more homogeneous should be the elements. But a low goal, by its very nature, is short-lived. For instance, a group may get together to generate money through dishonest means. Naturally, it can be constituted only around dishonest people and dishonest people are bound to be dishonest to one another. Sooner or later, they will cheat one another until the group collapses as the most clever scoundrel swindles the rest! Such things are much more common than we believe. The underworlds, the dishonest firms, are full of such short-lived stories. And yet something in man is drawn to this.
Once the central aim or ideal is established, the rest follows — the policies, decisions and plans — all must be seen in those terms. To have conflicting, contradictory or even separate ideals is to sooner or later invite trouble, conflict, rivalry or even shutdown. The heterogeneity of the people themselves does not matter. But to profess or seek a different aim from the group-aim is a serious issue. Even if the elements are few and even if the unit is homogenous, like a family, if the ideals are different, the group will scatter. But if one is firm about the goal, then differences of opinion and varied mutual interests can be settled by seeing it in the context of the ideal. All that cannot withstand the pressure, then, moves out and gives place to others. This would form the principle of a free and natural grouping. That is, people should be drawn by feeling a natural inner urge and call. To draw them in by portraying another picture they might like to see, only creates confusion. The next thing is to nurture this ideal by the right kind of environment. For this one should be willing to wait and work patiently. In this work the bottleneck, the first shortcoming, the real limitation, is the human factor. Of course once the ideal is established, the rest follows, as is very evident in the life of a nation. The members living there begin to come under its influence, willingly or unwillingly. Then the problems are less, even though not eliminated. So we find the same individual who hardly works under one set of conditions begins to wake up to his responsibility under another. This is often attributed to the work-culture. But the work-culture, the ethos grows as a natural outcome of the intrinsic aim. It is not something that can be enforced for long through law and reward. This is a fundamental truth of human nature we seldom understand — all motivation is in its deepest sense intrinsic. And an ideal is a living thing.
