Five Fundamental Principles of Prout: A Brief Summary
1. There should be no accumulation of wealth without the permission of society.*
It is the responsibility of society to provide all individuals with the minimum necessities of life. If some individuals accumulate more than their fair share of resources, then, since material resources are limited, it follows that many individuals will not have their need for minimum necessities satisfied.
This principle strikes at the fundamental weakness of capitalism which allows a few individuals to accumulate wealth, even if it results in the starvation of millions. It clearly establishes the basis for a collective approach to economic questions. Underpinning this idea of a collective approach is the implication that the Earth’s resources belong to all, and are to be used for the welfare of all. In the theory of cosmic inheritance, all the wealth of the universe belongs to every living being, including plants and animals.
(1) Economic decisions should be determined in large part on the basis of collective necessity, and, thus, excessive accumulation of limited wealth, excessive utilization of limited resources goes against the collective interest and the welfare of all. The major component of the Prout economy is the prominence of the ‘Peoples’ Economy’. The People’s Economy includes access to health care, education, shelter, nutritious food and water, and other minimum necessities of a dignified life, as well as means to purchasing those minimum necessities. (2) The first principle is an ethical statement in contrast to capitalism. There is a shift in looking at economics, of relating with others as the focus on “What is good for me?” to a focus on: How does this affect us? What can ‘we’ do? How should we organize to meet our needs? (3) To accomplish these goals, there must be conscious control and approval of the accumulation and use of resources by society. The locus of control in approaching these collective challenges in the use and accumulation of wealth must be society.
2. There should be maximum utilization and rational distribution of crude, subtle, and causal resources…
This principle encourages society to utilize all resources of the universe to satisfy human needs. The transfer of wealth from the poor and middle class to the rich is accelerating at an alarming rate. As long as there are great disparities in wealth distribution, individuals, communities, and even whole societies will be left behind. ‘Rational distribution’ means that the minimum necessities of all should be guaranteed, but that individuals who have contributed special services to society should be given special rewards to encourage their work and to encourage others, also, to contribute more to society. Rational distribution does not mean equal distribution.
Crude resources refer to material resources, such as land, food, minerals and energy. Subtle resources include the ideas, concepts, and knowledge attained by intellectual pursuit. Causal resources refer to spiritual longing, universal love, and lasting happiness. These three types of resources lay the foundation for ethical and cooperative relationships, which are essential for productive economies.
Utilization of resources is for satisfying human needs, not for profit. Maximum utilization with consumption-driven rather than profit-driven production implies effectiveness and efficiency. Rational distribution is intimately linked to purchasing capacity to obtain goods, services, and education. In the United States, the average household could buy more goods and services in the 1950s than in 2017.
With 20% of the world population consuming 80% of world resources, a more equitable and sustainable rational distribution of resources is needed. Poverty could be eliminated with the rational distribution of resources. It’s not that we need to grow the economy to alleviate poverty, but rather we need to reduce economic and other inequalities where the over-accumulation of a few has manufactured poverty for many. The average American household earns nearly $200,000 per year, (when averaged out with billionaires), yet nearly half the country lives near the poverty line, struggling from paycheck to paycheck.
3. There should be maximum utilization of all physical, mental and spiritual potentialities of the individual and human society.
This principle refers to the utilization of human resources, and states that a healthy society must develop the potentialities of all people. By denying large segments of humanity chances for educational and economic development, the present day society is not correctly utilizing precious human resources. This principle also calls attention to the need to balance collective good with individual good.
4. There should be a proper adjustment among the crude, subtle, and causal utilizations.
This concerns the harmonious, balanced, and proper application of utilizing potentials and utilizing resources. The maximum utilization of one resource may have a detrimental impact on another. This principle is about maintaining a proper and balanced adjustment.
Society should inspire people to work for the individual and collective good, and thus provisions should be made so that all can earn their minimum necessities through appropriate work.
This point can be applied in many ways. The purpose is to maintain proper adjustment and balance as we come to the realization that we are utilizing various resources; we are behaving certain ways that impact our physical, psychological, intellectual and spiritual well-being. For example, someone who likes to play video games, needs to make sure that they aren’t playing video games so much that they stop eating and sleeping, or ignore their spouses, children, and family duties. We don’t want to be so consumed with work that we neglect developing ourselves, intellectually, spiritually, and physically.
In pursuing easy to obtain fossil fuels and excessively producing them, we have to make sure that we aren’t causing great harm to the environment because we are narrowly focused on short term profit rather than the environmental consequences of our production. We need to not be eager to have access to cheap goods and services so that our continued consumption in the globalized production changes, necessitating that large groups of workers effectively work in slave labor, sweat shop conditions where their wages are suppressed so as to keep the costs of goods low.
Society should inspire people to work for the individual and collective good, and thus, provisions should be made so that all can earn their minimum necessities through appropriate work. This principle calls for society to make proper use of comparatively rare faculties in people. It is a great waste to force those with exceptional talents and skills into other fields of activity than where those faculties could be expressed and be beneficial
For society. For instance in the Cultural Revolution in China in the middle-late 20th century (1966-1976),
intellectuals were persecuted and forced to do degrading manual labor, instead of their being encouraged to use the rare skills that these creative and intelligent people could have offered to society.
5. Utilizations vary in accordance with time, space, and form; the utilizations should be progressive.
This principle provides society with a means of adapting to changing circumstances, and also calls on humans to utilize scientific research in order to bring about the welfare of all.
The application of Prout principles adjusts with changing circumstances, and this application of Prout principles is to be of a progressive nature. True progressive change brings about the all-around improvement of lives of human beings, of plants, animals, and the inanimate worlds. In the face of myriad challenges and resistance to change, the fifth principle requires an assessment of changing environmental, economic and political conditions in order to create newer, more efficient, more effective, and more subtle utilizations.
Developing the inner spiritual aspect is perhaps the main purpose of Prout by creating a society which becomes so well developed that utilizations become increasingly subtle. This is made possible through a well organized economic and social fabric which maximally develops all dimensions of human existence, where the stewardship and sense of family is not only extended to all human beings, but also to the realms of plants and animals.
*The titles/ labels of the Five Fundamental Principles have been taken from Principles of a Balanced Economy by Ramesh Bjonnes.