| Edward Carpenter, Gandhi and the Politics of Identity | 0 comments |
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22 Feb 2008 @ 09:33, by John Grieve
Edward Carpenter, Gandhi and the politics of Identity
Edward Carpenter was a Victorian writer, anarchist, socialist and spiritual adept who,famous in his own time, was forotten for most of the twentieth century and is now being rediscovered. He appears very different from Gandhi, who was famous in his own lifetime and whose reputation has continued to grow since his death, so that now he is considered one of the greatest figures of the last hundred and fifty years.
But Carpenter is comparable in many ways to Gandhi. He came from an upper middle class family as Gandhi did. He followed a conventional path and career until the chance reading of the poetry of Walt Whitman sent him on a path of simple and unalienated living in rejection of the false values of Victorian society. Gandhi went through a similar, if less dramatic, transformation through reading many deep and powerful books.
Carpenter was a mystic and had the honour of being profiled by Maurice Bucke in his classic book “Cosmic Consciousness”(1900) as a living example of the state of consciousness he terms “cosmic” and which he also ascribed to Buddha, Walt Whitman, and other historical figures such as St.John of the Cross, Jesus and Mahomet. Gandhi is known by everyone as “Mahatma” or Great Soul.
Both were visionaries and prophets. Gandhi saw that the gradual evolution of the world would lead touniversal peace and realised that the key to this was the practice of non-violence and truth. Carpenter predicted correctly many subsequent developments of society and the world.
Both had a radical view of civilization, which is a subject close to my own heart. Carpenter had a critique of civilization which is on the same level of insight as the ideas of Freud, Fourier and Marx. Gandhi used the word civilization in an ideal sense as a state of society not yet attained and famously stated that western civilization “ would be a good idea”. It is not very well known but in Chapter 6 of his 1909 book “Hind Swaraj” Gandhi wrote:
“Several English writers refuse to call that civilisation which passes under that name. Many books have been written upon that subject. Societies have been formed to cure the nation of the evils of civilisation. A great English writer has written a work called ‘Civilisation: Its Cause and Cure’. Therein he has called it a disease.”
The writer to whom Gandhi is referring is none other than Edward Carpenter.
But all this comparison of Carpenter and Gandhi would be of little point if it were not the case that Edward Carpenter has something to say to this present generation which is acutely relevant.
Carpenter was a prolific writer and dealt with themes that were taboo in Victorian times such as sexuality and homosexuality. He was one of the first to write about what we would today term “minorities” and “equal opportunities”. His own situation gave him an insight into something that is now cutting-edge and critical. He saw the wretched position of women, both poor and rich, in Victorian society. Also, the marginalisation of people seen then as deviants and criminals. All this was not alien to him and is not alien to us. And of course Gandhi was right there too. Gandhi felt passionately about the plight of Indian women, not a minority surely, but a marginalised majority. He worked hard to combat the evils of the caste system, particularly as it created the stigma of “Untouchability”. He cared greatly for the Muslim minority in India and tried to avert Partition.
The poet Rilke made a profound observation to the effect that “ Our deepest fears are the dragons that guard our richest teasures.” We can rephrase this to say “Over the gateway to the Free Society stands the sign of Identity”.
Ever since the first photograph of our blue planet was taken from outer space, the question of identity has grown more and more powerful. Inner space is the new frontier and has been for the last thirty years.
If we are prejudiced against Jews, or Muslims, or gay bishops or disabled black women or any other expression of the infinite variety of human diversity, then we cannot move forward through the gateway to the Free Society.
As Gandhi often pointed out, quoting the Bhagavad Gita, the real battle is the one which goes on inside ourselves, our own psyches. Gandhi and Edward Carpenter are in agreement here and this is part of their continuing relevance to the ongoing struggle for Freedom.
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