Lifting the Veil of Social Construction: The Fourth Principle and the Fate of Humanity

Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains

                                                Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract

Humanity is responsible for its own fate. Humanity is not the center of cosmic creation, nor does the Cosmos concern itself with humanity’s fate. The vastness of the known universe, not to mention the incomprehensible vastness of the unknown universe, is clear evidence that humans are not the center of cosmic creation. The universe was not created for humanity’s sake. Not even Earth, which existed for billions of years before we came along, was created for us. Therefore, the Community of the Cosmic Divine holds that humanity needs to adopt humility and understand that our place in the universe is inconsequential to the Cosmic Divine.

                                    Principle Four: Humanity is its Own Master, Book I, Books of the Cosmic Divine

The words of the Fourth Principle may seem stark and, at first glance, depressing. But what at first may appear to be a declaration of isolation and loneliness – no one is out there watching out for us – can quickly become an empowering realization, prompting us to stop looking for divine intervention and take our fate in our own hands.

Sistine Chapel Panel, the Creation of Adam, by Michaelangelo, Image via Wikimedia Commons (public domain)

But let’s back up for a second: what does “social construction” actually mean? What it means is that beyond the basic necessities of our existence (including, but not limited to, attention to our physical needs for food and water), what is important to humans, and what norms we must abide by, lest we face social and/or legal sanctions, is constructed through a social process. What is “right and proper” behavior is not determined by nature or, for that matter, a higher power. No natural law demands that we cover certain parts of our body, or any parts of our body, unless extreme temperatures make our survival dependent on it.

Nor are there any natural laws that dictate how we should eat, converse with one another, who we should show deference to, or under what circumstances we may or may not touch the shoulder of a fellow human. From the moment we wake up in the morning to the moment we lay back in bed we are constrained by the rules of propriety that govern whichever society we live in.

If you who read this live in, for instance, Pakistan, those rules will be different than if you live in Germany, but no less all-encompassing and life-regulating. We as individuals did not choose to live by these rules, but we as a collective can change them. This is why the very first step to becoming one with the Cosmic Divine is to open our eyes to these manmade normative frameworks and deconstruct the reality we see around us.

This reality will be different depending on which country you live in, but it will even differ within any given nation-state, because nation-states are themselves social constructions, not natural God-given administrative units. It is also not a “West versus East” issue, because social norms will differ within the “East” and within the “West.” Nor should we assume that the “Global South” is more “prudish” than the “Global North” – rules surrounding non-sexual nudity of children, for instance, are far more permissive in, say, India or African countries than in the United States.

Kids swimming in the creeks of Ikorodu, Lagos, by Tobey Collins Okafor, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

In fact, Asia in general has a far more natural relationship with the body than much of the “modern West.” In both Japan and Korea, there are old traditions of bathhouses, which, while usually gender segregated, require patrons of all ages to be fully naked. Communal family bathing in the home is also very common, teaching a distinction between sexual and non-sexual nudity. Similarly, on the Indian subcontinent, children’s nudity is not considered sexual and there is a far more relaxed attitude towards children bathing naked in public than most parts of the “West.”

But more than that – these norms change over time as well. In early 20^th Century United States, these norms were entirely different and children would bathe nude in public, even during physical education class as late as the 1950s and 1960s (whereas today many school districts do not even allow showers after physical education class). In other words, not very long ago the social norms surrounding public nudity in America were drastically different from today. The movement that changed those norms will be the topic of another essay but suffice it to say here that there is rich historical evidence of social movements changing not just laws, but, more fundamentally, social norms in society.

Bathing children in East River, most of them nude. New York City, ca 1908, George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress (public domain)

Parts of Europe still hold on to a sexual/non-sexual distinction with regards to nudity, particularly when it comes to children, but there is arguably a process of “Americanization” of European cultures underway as well. While there are regional differences within the country, much of the United States approaches hysteria when it comes to fear of the naked body – even same-sex changing rooms will have separate stalls where people can undress without any risk of being seen by anyone else or happen to see anyone else naked.

Lifting the veil of social construction, then, means recognizing that these are man-made meaning-constructions. Once we have done this, we have the power to alter them, but only as a collective. Individuals violating the social norms of their society will either face social sanctions (ostracization, physical abuse, etc.) or actual legal sanctions when these social norms have been codified into law.

What the Fourth Principle urges us to do is to take matters into our own hands. We have the power to reverse the negative effect we have had on the environment and our climate. We have the power to remove harmful stigmas around sexuality and gender identity. We have the power to eliminate class distinctions and poverty. We have the power to save humanity from its path to extinction. No higher power will intervene, but we have the power.

And that, to me at least, is not reason for despair, but rather enormous hope.