KVE301/KVE401 Universal Human Values and Professional Ethics
Chapter 9: Harmony in the Society – from Family to World Family Order
Unit 1
Unit 2
Unit 3
Unit 4
Unit 5
Appendix
Society
“Society or human society is the set of relations among people, including their social status and roles.”
By extension, society denotes the people of a region or country, sometimes even the world, taken as a whole. Used in the sense of an association, a society is a body of individuals outlined by the bounds of functional interdependence, possibly comprising characteristics such as national or cultural identity, social solidarity, language, or hierarchical organization. Human societies are characterized by patterns of relationships between individuals sharing a distinctive culture and institutions. Like other communities or groups, a society allows its members to achieve needs or wishes they could not fulfill alone.
The word society may also refer to an organized voluntary association of people for religious, benevolent, cultural, scientific, political, patriotic, or other purposes. Today the term society is currently used to cover both a number of political and scientific connotations as well as a variety of associations.
Extended relationship from Family to Society
As we begin to understand our relationship in the family and live harmoniously in these relationships, we become aware of our relatedness to all human beings. Family is the first place to understand our relationships, recognizing the feelings in these relationships live according to these feelings and attain mutual happiness. Our natural acceptance is to feel related to everyone. We can easily explore this within ourselves. We find that in reality, we do not only want ourselves to be happy but also want to make others happy.
Our competence might be limited at the moment and we might feel we are unable to do so but we spontaneously accept that we wish for their happiness as well, along with ours; this is our intention. We expect the same from the other. We feel relaxed when we are with people who feel related to us and we enjoy a feeling of assurance and trust when we live in this social web.
Harmony in the family is the building block for harmony in society. Harmony in society leads to an undivided society when we feel related to each and every human being. Our natural acceptance, however, is for relatedness with all and we can very naturally expand into the world family. This is the basis of an undivided society (Akhand Samaj), a feeling of relatedness with all. As we begin to understand and become aware of the harmony at this level in our living, we begin to see our responsibility and participation in it.
