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Nikola Tesla (1856 – 1943) was an
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In the competition to win the sympathy of the people in the recent presidential election, the issue of the “mental revolution” made a somewhat surprising resurgence.
The history of concept of mental
revolution can be traced back to the first President of the Republic of
Indonesia, Sukarno. Mental revolution d
intimately tied in with one of his famous basic concepts of the state,
Trisakti. More precisely, the concept
was introduced in Sukarno’s state speech at the ceremony proclaiming
Indonesia’s independence on 17 August 1962.
In the speech, the first
President of Indonesia contended that Indonesia must pass through the stages of
revolution again. That, even after emerging victorious in the struggle of the
physical revolution, the mental, socioeconomic, and cultural revolutions had
yet to be won. Thus the mental
revolution would be that the challenge that the Indonesian people would face in
changing their way of thinking and adopting new forms of thought.
The Freedom to Create
A prime example of this can be
found in the writings of journalist Mochtar Loebis, who in 1972, was the voice
and advocate of change. Of a moving of
Indonesian society from one that restrained the mind to one which encouraged
creative freedom.
Another example of mental revolution
can be found in Koentjaraningrat (1974), wherein a social theory was advanced
that required people to adopt a culture that could be thought of as “future
oriented.” A view of life in which high
value would be placed on achievement through work. Values that made them more
confident of their own abilities. Values such as personal discipline and a
willingness to take responsibility for themselves and their own lives.
In 1997 moderate Islamic leader,
KH. Mustafa Bisri, better known as Gus Mus, wrote a magazine article in which
he spoke about the need to change the way people think. Gus Mus said that Indonesia was still in need
of a mental revolution, so that Indonesian citizens who were still in the
colonial mindset could successfully revolutionize their culture, their way of
life, and their mindset.
Adopted by Malaysia
Bung Karno’s views and philosophy
heavily influenced the thought of Southeast Asia’s regional leaders. Particularly in Malaysia where was one of
that nation’s founding fathers, Tun Abdul Razak in 1968, advanced a
revolutionary way of thinking. Those
thoughts were then put into action by Senu Abdul Rahman, the head of UMNO Youth
Movement at that time, in a book described by its author as the engine of
mental revolution in Malaysia
The World History of Mental Revolution
July 14, 1789 was a seminal date
in the revolutionary history of the world as that was the day that the French
revolutionaries stormed the infamous Bastille prison and freed the
prisoners. The French Revolution would
go on to introduce radical changes in virtually every area of life, including
the way people think of Europe and even the world.
In terms of mentality, the French
Revolution brought widespread changes to the world with the spread of liberal
thought, democracy, and nationalism. During the same time period, the
Industrial Revolution was bringing social and economic changes to Europe as the
focus of economic activity shifted inland.
These concurrent revolutions
succeeded in removing feudalism from Europe, extending education and expanding
opportunity for the entire population. This expansion of education increased
the recognition of human rights (HAM). The revolutions of 18th Century Europe
left a legacy for the entire world in terms of transforming forms of thought.
One of the most influential of
these new forms of thought came from Karl Marx who extracted the concept of
mental revolution to seek to remove form
the public’s mind everything that was
dogmatic.
In 1919, as Russia began its
experiment with Marxism, Joseph Stalin took the revolution in thought that
Marxism offered to the next level by offering the theory of the two-stage
revolution in which a communist revolution would be realized first then people
could be “revolutionized” in terms of their culture and ways of thinking. Stalin’s theory was readily adopted by
socialist movements in Central and South America.
In the modern world…
In the modern world, the ideas of
mental revolution have been expressed by John. W. Taylor, an expert in
management science. Taylor has advocated
methods to alter the perceptions of workers based on a tradition of scientific
work.
In the political field, the concept of mental revolution can be seen
in world events such as of the communist revolution in Cuba, and the socialist
regimes taking power in Venezuela, Bolivia, and even Brazil, In all these Latin American nations mental
revolution is being brought to pass by changing the way government operates,
which was bureaucratic and monopolistic. These nations are all coming to the
same conclusion: they want the feudal culture inherited from generation to
generation with its latifundistas (large landowners) to be immediately
scrapped.
The modern revolutionary thinkers
of Latin America want their people to change radically in terms of their ways
of thinking, ways of feeling, and ways of trusting. They seek to involve all areas of life
ranging from economics, politics, science, technology, art, religion, and so
on, so that they can find an actual sense of civil society. Movements that encourage the mental
revolution will transform how people live and bring about a more equitable and
civilized society.
This works is courtesy of http://en.citizendaily.net/the-journey-of-mental-revolution/
