Holism and Transformative Love in the Earth Constitution Glen T. Martin November 2024 Cosmic consciousness is holistic. To the degree that we free ourselves from all forms of egoism, fragmentation, and disharmony, it flows into our lives. Our consciousness responds to the call of the ‘superconscious’ and begins to transcend the repressive and conflicted ‘subconscious’ toward the fullness of life. We encounter the vast emptiness and unsayable mystery that emerges into awareness everywhere and nowhere. The cosmic nisus moves toward harmony, integration, compassion, equality, freedom, and distributive justice. It has become individualized and conscious of itself in us. How do we participate in this process of the superconscious bequeathing its gift of love to all humanity and all beings? Human institutions reflect the egoism, fragmentation, and disharmony of human consciousness, operating historically in what can be termed a ‘dialectical’ manner. Changing consciousness, of course, will result in transformed institutions. However, today, war is institutionalized, racism is institutionalized, religious dogmatism is institutionalized, nationalistic egoisms are institutionalized, and repressive gender relationships are institutionalized. Nevertheless, the dialectical opposite is also true: changing our institutions will result in transformed consciousness. Those who live their lives to the best of their abilities in the service of the transformative love flowing from the cosmos into human awareness need to be thinking about how to transform our institutions at the same time that we are practicing mindfulness and meditative openness to the influx of superconscious cosmic love. Institutions powerfully influence human consciousness, and repressive institutions influence human consciousness in the direction of war, racism, dogmatism, nationalism, exploitation, and patriarchy. Changing consciousness transforms human institutions and human institutions in turn transform consciousness. One is not prior to the other: the relationship is reciprocal. The Constitution for the Federation of Earth was written by hundreds of world citizens inspired by a vision of holism, harmony, and the rule of just, democratic law for all persons on Earth. Study of the Earth Constitution from a holistic point of view reveals a synergistic integration of parliamentary, executive, judicial, and human rights institutions forming a holarchy that brings each person on Earth into a regime of equality, respect, and dignity before the law. The classical democratic ideas of separation of powers coming from 18th century French Baron Charles Montesquieu and the ideas about government arising deriving from the sovereignty of the people coming from British thinker John Locke are here holistically transformed into a dynamic unity that can be compared to the three-dimensional geometrical figure of a torus, a dynamic holism in which the functioning of each part integrates with the functioning of the whole providing a perpetually moving integration of part and whole. Our superconscious intuition of human dignity arises from the unsayable infinity constituting the fullness-emptiness of the unity in diversity of all existence. This dignity is reflected everywhere in the holistic ‘torus’ created by the integrated agencies and organs that make up the Earth Federation under the Earth Constitution. Fragmented and divisive national sovereignty is replaced by the holistic sovereignty of all humankind. The fragmented competition among militarized national entities is replaced by a House of Nations in which each national identity is protected under the principle of unity in diversity, while at the same time each national member of parliament takes a pledge of service to all humanity. The ‘tragedy of the commons’ now destroying the world oceans and biosphere is replaced by common stewardship by the people of Earth. Each central organ of the holarchy complements the others serving, like the interpenetrating holomovement of dark and light in the Tao symbol, as a complementary set of checks and balances preserving the transformative integrity of the whole while simultaneously empowering the dignity and integrity of the parts. In my view this document was inspired by the superconscious nisus flowing through these world citizens working together to create a document designed to save humanity from impending self-destruction while laying the foundations for a flourishing civilization of peace, freedom, justice, and environmental integrity. The oneness of humanity within this constitutional framework manifests in multiple ways such as recognizing that the biosphere belongs to the common heritage of us all as mentioned above—the oceans, the atmosphere, the great rain forests, the northern and southern polar caps all belong to our common humanity to be not only cherished but simultaneously legally protected with due process of law. Under the Constitution, due process of law is afforded equally to all persons, nations, religions, races, and genders, rich or poor. Study of the Earth Constitution reveals our common human future of Earth Federation as a necessary stage on the way to a communion of all humanity within a superconscious nisus that guides the cosmos toward its mysterious fulfillment and our human participation within that fulfillment. The dialectical movement of consciousness influencing our institutions, and of our institutions influencing our consciousness, forms a necessary feature of our human condition. We need to cultivate love, and we need to establish institutions that allow for the cultivation of love. We need to foster unity-in-diversity and we need to establish institutions that foster unity in diversity. At this stage in our evolutionary history, we cannot do without laws, police, human rights with judicial protection, and all the central features of effective democracy. The fractile/holarchical structure of the Earth Constitution parallels the dialectical structure of love as it moves to embrace ever larger wholes. As I have previously written: “World democratic government under the Constitution is designed as a fractal – a representation of unity in diversity elaborated in parliamentary, judicial, administrative, and conflict resolution functions. Moreover, these patterns of democratic governance would repeat at ever smaller levels from the national to regional to local levels. At present we have the chaos of a fractal pattern that has yet to unite and coordinate all its parts. It’s as if the blood were trying to circulate without a whole living body to animate and enliven. “When the holism of civilization is recognized and actualized, humanity will exist on a level closer to Sri Aurobindo’s “super-mind” in deep contrast to its current fragmented level that can be termed “sub-mind.” For contemporary thinkers such as Ervin Laszlo, this holistic pattern formation should be termed “holarchy” (2002, 51-52). Such a formation is fundamentally different from the “hierarchies” that have hitherto prevailed in human affairs—wealth hierarchies, gender hierarchies, caste hierarchies, racial hierarchies, nation-state hierarchies, etc. We need to abolish all such hierarchies in favor of unity in diversity. But this does not obviate the fact that the organic world moves through levels of interconnectedness from relatively simple systems through intermediate levels linking below with above to higher-level wholes. This is precisely what the Earth Constitution brings to humanity. “What would it look like if we federated Earth into a holarchy – from the lowest community levels, through regional levels, national levels, all the way to the global level? Such an emergent Earth Federation government would represent the worldcentric self-awareness of humanity. Human intelligence, now representing the sovereign authority of the people of Earth and reflecting the holism of humanity, could effectively address the elimination of war, the protection of universal rights, and the problems of establishing a sustainable world system. The grass-roots of humanity needs to flourish within a holarchical framework provided by democratic world law. Top and bottom dialectically require one another and empower one another.” These features, as embodied within the holistic framework of the Earth Constitution, help make possible, the transition to a fulfilled human community before it is too late. If one asks how we are to overcome the fragmentation, hate, and fear that pervade so much of human life today we must look to our fragmented institutions that perpetuate and consolidate that hate and fear, such as the dogma of national sovereignty. The very praxis of promoting ratification of the Earth Constitution or the Provisional World Parliament provided for by the Constitution dialectically works to enlarge our consciousness and the awareness of other persons worldwide. In this sense, in the sense of one democratic world system under the Earth Constitution, love and law go together. Love would and should result in good laws, and good laws cultivate and foster love. Holism draws love and law together in synergistic ways that engender the transformative process toward ever greater holism, compassion, freedom, and justice. Let us hold up the Earth Constitution as a beacon for humanity and let us act to embody its rule of holistic love in human affairs. The very future of the cosmic nisus, as it manifests itself in and through us, is at stake in this endeavor.