System for a New Era
This class will present the system that P. R. Sarkar articulated for realizing a new era of humanity. Sarkar called this system the “panacea” to solve the problems of human existence, and he designated this new era as the “rule of rationality.” To understand what Sarkar means and envisions, we’ll examine how the five major components he introduced for manifesting this new era – PROUT, neohumanism, aesthetic science, microvita science, and intuitional science – interrelate and interact together as a single, integrated system. We’ll explore how this system is designed according to a set of guiding operative principles that maximize balanced development of physical, mental, and spiritual potentialities and advance humanity towards spiritual and social fulfilment.
PROUT’s Fundamental Premise
All people should have equitable opportunities to develop and express their physical, mental, and spiritual potentialities, while maintaining dynamic balance among individual quality of life, collective well-being, and ecological integrity.
The PROUT Institute identifies four essential conditions for making a transition to a sustainable and equitable future:
- Hope: a rational and grounded sense of hope for humanity’s future
- Vision: a robust vision to guide enduring social transformation
- Empowerment: personal and community vitalization and empowering ideas
- Solutions: a theory-based, solution-oriented approach to social renewal
The Institute’s approach to social engagement is based on developing theory-based solutions to socioeconomic problems. PROUT offers a system of practical design principles intended to bring balanced progress and vitality to the human society.
For more information on PROUT visit https://www.proutinstitute.org/
Example Curriculum
Jason Schreiner, Instructor
Jason Schreiner serves as President of PROUT Institute and is Associate Director of the Teaching Engagement Program at the University of Oregon, where he teaches graduate seminars in engaged pedagogy and courses on social and environmental justice. He regularly presents on P.R. Sarkar’s theories of neohumanism, PROUT, and aesthetic science, and is currently completing a book manuscript titled Philosophy of Neohumanism: Life, Love, and Liberation for All Beings, and developing a reading guide for Sarkar’s The Liberation of Intellect: Neohumanism. Jason is also researching the history of critical liberation thought, which brings P.R. Sarkar into dialogue with key figures in liberation philosophy, critical realism, decolonial theory, anticolonial movements, and the Black radical tradition. Jason also brings years of experience in organic farming and community-based NGOs to his work.
