Nov 1, 02
Evolution of Organisation
·
The
Thesaurus collects words according to a grade of significance under two heads
of synonyms and antonyms. It was created
by a medical doctor.
·
A
book at its composition will reveal how concepts overlap and the struggle the
compiler had to go through.
·
Classification
and systematisation make science possible. It becomes difficult when concepts
overlap. To continue to classify in
spite of overlapping concepts requires a clarity which is of a higher order.
·
Our
aim is to define the organisation agriculture has developed.
·
Organisation
is a fixed sequence of acts or activities or even systems created to make
social activities repeatedly possible administered by a central authority.
·
A
man digging a hole is an act.
·
Every
man digging holes in his backyard when the rain descends is an activity, as all
respond to the same occurrence. It can be called acts instead of activity.
·
Men
digging several holes in a wide field while the earth dug out is carried by
other men to a fixed spot under the orders of a supervisor is a system.
·
Several
such systems working simultaneously or in succession under a central authority
so as to erect a building is ORGANISATION.
·
Organisation
can be individual, social, local, state or wider. The character is the same,
the spread varies.
·
Apart
from individual acts, energy, direction, decision, instructions, purpose,
authority, obedience, the LINKS
between them go
to make any organisation.
·
These
organisations are not sprouting on their own as rain that falls from the
clouds.
All are made by men, for a purpose, consciously.
·
Man's
conscious intention itself is a mental organisation which we take for granted
but we do not carry our research into it now.
·
Likewise
the individual possesses many organisations. We shall not bother ourselves with
them. Let us confine ourselves to social organisations.
·
Our
prime concern now is agriculture as an Organisation.
·
A
social organisation is sustained by social energy.
·
Energy
is released by a physical need or vital aspirations.
·
A
physical need is met by the vital aspiration that releases the needed energy
when it is organised into action. The
organisation is done by the mind. The
subconscious as well as the conscious does it.
·
Hunger
is such a need.
·
What
gave birth to agriculture? Is it hunger? Hunger existed before agriculture
emerged. The mental knowledge that
agriculture is possible is the incentive that releases the energy. It comes from the observation that one seed
produces many and MAN can imitate Nature.
·
For
this knowledge of observation to mature into an act of mental organisation that
can be translated into a physical act takes time.
·
In
our consideration of agriculture as organisation we start with it as we find it,
without going into the details of how this organisation is born. Those stages
are
v
Observation
of a seed growing into a plant.
v
Knowing
that one seed multiplies into many.
v
Such
individual observation should mature into a collective observation.
v
Observation
changes into knowledge, i.e. man moves from senses to mind.
v
Note
at each state appropriate energy is needed at the individual as well as
collective levels.
v
The
mind needs a long experience or previous similar experiences to translate a
mental knowledge into a physical activity.
It is done by a descent of knowledge.
That is still another process
v
Each
such observation, knowledge or descent should be collectivised.
v
Now
the collectivity is convinced of the
possibility of cultivation.
v
The
collective conception has emerged.
v
For
the organisation to emerge, SOMEONE should conceive of an organisation of collective effort.
v
It
has to issue out of the previous experience in hunting where the young ones
pick up the game shot by the adult, joint chase of game etc.
v
Observation
and experience of those appearances of collective effort at the level of two
should grow in the mind generally.
v
The actual organisation
should evolve NOT out of thinking and planning but out of doing.
v
To
study research material to discover these occurrences is a scholarly job.
When collected they are to be arranged.
v
That
man can replicate or imitate what Nature is doing is not a mere mental thought as
it involves
1)
observation of a natural occurrence
2)
the
possibility of a human act
3)
that he can do what nature
does.
v
This
is more than a mental conception as mind conceives of what occurs before
it. This is a possibility. Conceiving
of a possibility is a mental faculty.
An act of imitation is a conception of man's whole being, not only of
his mind. (We have not been considering this aspect so far.)
v
This
is a landmark. Hereafter commences the social experience of creating an
organisation. (All these are our assumptions but we do not exactly know what
happened.)
v
Whether
a few men tried individually or
collectively, the possibility had become an actuality in the experience of the
community. From here we can move to the
beginnings of actual agriculture operations that is compellingly a collective
effort of those to whom the above
process is a mental experience.
·
It
may not be possible to trace all the links.
·
When
he was somewhat settled in agriculture we do know that sowing, protecting, and harvesting were essential operations
even if we disregard ploughing, weeding, etc., assuming they were later
improvements.
·
Sowing
involves collecting seeds, maybe a collective work.
·
When
he learnt to guard, the cultivation may be implied.
·
Harvesting
needs the technique as well as cooperation from others.
·
When
man had learnt all these activities and realised these values, whether he
learnt all by himself or collectively, the compelling need for collective
action arose. That is the exact moment of the birth of the idea of organisation.
That action can lead to other actions based on the observation that acts are LINKED. This is a profound idea
whether it is collectively born or individually conceived.
·
That is also a moment of the birth of the collective mind.
·
If
research facts are available to confirm these landmarks, it will be great.
·
The
collective mind conceiving of a chain of action, creating an organisation for
it as a thought and making it a reality is evolution of human nomadic existence
into agriculture settlement.
·
It
was a great transition and its immediate social consequences were many and
important.
·
That
would be the first act of freedom from dependence on Nature.
·
Man
becomes PRODUCTIVE -- a step in social
evolution.
·
Organisation
is BORN.
·
Now
we have to look at its components, close the gap between nomadic life and life
of settlement in terms of aspiration, energy, skill, results, links between
men, communication – its tools, language, vital instincts forming and every
seen and unseen aspect. It is difficult. One real help is from observing now
our transition from thought to action whenever we grow.