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EPILOGUE

This has been a recounting of the beginnings of thought and action – of people who have been together in a certain spirit.

Beginnings. Not achievement or success. A glimpse of what can be. An assurance of what already is-in endeavor, in meeting of hearts.

Rejoicing, in being alongside, getting across, at the mercy of others. Forgiving and being forgiven. Loving and being loved.

Taking heart to go on – and keep going on, in hope, whatever the obstacles – to keep developing that spirit, in fellowship. Not infallible but listening, learning, committed, open.

The people, the land, resources are infinite. They take us all the way back – or forward? – to the divine, dharma mystery-ever further beyond, ever deeper within.

There is enough for all. Plenty. No need for competition. We must care, share, forgive, trust – begin anew – wipe the slate clean and start afresh – again and again.

We must love – all the time. Our deepest need - our deepest desire – our nature – our ashima – non-violence – reverence for life. Our deepest concern – sarvodaya – welfare of all – unto this last – the least of these my brethren – longing for brotherhood-clear hearts-peace, with justice.

Also, all the time, there must be clear-hearted understanding of violence – violence in our hearts – in all our hearts – in society – the fact of violence – the necessity of violence.

The established powers, authorities – priests, politicians, parents, teachers, employers, trade unions – use violence everyday. Plain, open,

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unabashed violence. Hidden, veiled, subtle violence. Guns, batons, prisons – dogmas, laws, rules – altars – pulpits, platforms. Maintaining, defending established structures – oppressing people.

So the people must organize for defense, for resistance. They must fight because they love; they must fight for their ideals, their vision, their right to humanity.

But it must not be hate, dressed as love; not self-interest, disguised in high-sounding phrases. Workers and peasants and their leaders can be reactionary, too. The voice of the people is not always the voice of God.

We need maithraya, purified by renunciation – crucifixion of the ego, the false self – that the true self may emerge.

We need leaders, alongside the people. They can't plan-organize-socialism for the villages from fancy houses in town. They must learn from the people, trust them and win their trust. Socialism has to be lived by leaders in communion with the people.

What is the use of research in laboratories in foreign countries, if we cannot research in the laboratory of life among our people?

Lectures – pep talks – cannot produce or elicit hard work. But when leaders – committed, sharing in the struggle for liberation, with true Concern for justice, radical reform, revolution – experience oppression at first hand, then the spirit – the vision – begins to come alive.

Also, we need leaders who can help the people to break down fear and distrust of one another. Not only to break down but to reconcile the divisions of the left – divisions of creed, race, caste and class. Help the oppressed to understand the futility of venting their frustrations in violence on one another which facilitates the divide-and-rule policy of the oppressors.

The people must unite across all boundaries – in the cause of liberation. It is not a straight fight between the rich and the poor. The area of the battle is everywhere. The enemy has to be engaged on many fronts – in the heart and mind of man and in the structures of society at the national and international levels.

Land reform is fundamental. It means trusting people – sharing resources – sharing responsibility – reforming relationships – exploring motivations – discovering what makes people "tick" (come alive).

What makes people "tick" – work-play-struggle – is not merely the will to survive, get on, succeed, but comradeship, being together, in common understanding, sharing the struggle for liberation, moved by a vision and a purpose, conscious of the power to create – build – a new

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way of lift, a new rhythm of life and work and play, where people can be people, not things, not tools, machines.

Land reform will be resisted by vested interests, national and international, in many diverse ways: threats, reprisals, lobbying, pretended support, sabotage. So it has often had to be carried through by governments – especially the great pioneering experiments – by the exercise of force. No one can be happy about any form of violence at any time. Some forms of violence have indeed been tragic. But no one should have any illusions that radical change can be achieved without considerable cost it may be possible – as time goes on – and precedents are established – and people get more organized – and vested interests themselves begin to recognize the patterns of things to come – it may be possible for land reform to be achieved by more congenial forms of compulsion. After all, taxation, too, is violence – not free-willing offering.

But strong, resolute action is necessary by leaders with real conviction and firm hold of the socialist vision. There must be really radical land reform. The dislocation that will result can only be justified if a real creative re-ordering-restructuring- of society is intended and planned. Then, there must be concern for those who are to be expropriated. They have the right to live as human beings. Ways must be found of integrating them, wherever possible, in the new society so that they may contribute their skills, their know-how. But high ceilings and conventional compensation are bunk. Leaders who are really committed and really trust the people and are confident of their support need not pretend to conform to bourgeois canons of decency and respectability, and to outmoded concepts of legality. But, of course, any land reform will be a complex compromise between what is ideologically desirable and what is politically possible.

Through it all, the dialogue must continue. The revolution of heart and mind must continue. Often, the oppressed stand against the struggle for liberation. This is because their thinking and habits have been "colonized" and they fear the unknown. Also, practical difficulties and failures tend to strengthen the forces of reaction. Lapsed liberals get disillusioned and cynical and become the greatest reactionaries. Here, leadership is necessary. The people must understand what land reform involves. This must be discussed and acted on at all levels – especially the grass-roots level. The people must organize for thought and action.

Finally, always, there must be reverence for life, reverence for personality. Reverence for the land, too – reverence for nature, for the environment. Exploitation of man and pollution of environment are directly connected. It happens when people are out of harmony –

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themselves and among themselves.

So we come back to the need for integration – of religion with life, meditation with action, peace with justice. People, together in a certain spirit: this must deepen, widen through the years across the world – ever further beyond, ever deeper within.