From Ravi Gulati, Manzil, Delhi

Q. What do learning societies mean to you now after attending the conference? What do you feel are the essential ideas underlying learning societies?

 I cannot say that my idea of learning societies underwent a radical change after attending the conference. Without having the term in my lexicon, the images that floated around the terms 'learning' and 'society', both individually as well as in the context of each other, remain essentially the same. I think all societies, which really means the individuals who make up those societies, learn, individually and collectively.

 Maybe the issue is whether they learn consciously or not. It is to do with how high learning is placed as a collective value in that society. It is to do with how they react to the idea of learning without end - the only way to be always a learning society - even though that locks them up, forever, into a continuing confession of their own present limitations. In that sense, learning societies are supportive groups that enhance each other's individual learnings. They also create space for action that's rational in the context of the collective, even if not in that of the individual.

 Some of the essential elements of such learning societies could be a high value placed on awareness, understanding, observing how people deal with various issues, open eyes, open hearts, trust and respect for all members, non-judgmental of people, a sense of internal holism and completeness that generates strength to welcome diversity without feeling overwhelmed /threatened by external influences, non-exclusive, fluid - easily merging in and out of other learning socieites, egos under check, etc.

Q. What do you feel are the most important questions and issues to focus on if we wish to regenerate learning societies in South Asia?

We need to begin with acknowledging that there already are learning individuals and learning societies. I think the main issue in front of South Asia is to deal with the demon of Developed-countries-are-the-role-model. As long as we are unable/unwilling to chart our own course, as individuals or groups, with confidence AND humility, we won't be able to harness the power of the already existing, nor build on that. A section of society - the elite - sees its own members as natural leaders in society at large, but is itself alienated from it, at least in the South Asian context. How to get them to see, first, their own incomplete and distorted learning, and then, that they need to worry about their fragmentation and co-option enough to make the space in their own lives to correct it. Societies comprising of individuals with enslaved minds cannot 'own' their own learnings even though they might already be learning societies.

 For another section of society that's in-between, that's still going through the process of rejecting its moorings and beginning to follow the example set by the elite, by those claiming for themselves the status of natural leaders, the issue is how they, meaningfully and as equals, interact with the sub-section of this elite that's moving along in its awareness of its golden cage and is beginning to engage in the process of dismantling it.

 For the masses, the question is how they can retain the meaningfulness of their own ways of learning in the face of big changes and the resultant new realities brought on by forces, global as well as national, far beyond their control.

Q. What are the next steps/activities that you think should be undertaken to help unfold learning societies in South Asia?

In South Asia, particularly, where there's the danger of constantly being dazzled by the visible economic prosperity of the so-called developed countries, also constantly contrasted with the visibly precarious economic situation, if not of those contemplating these steps, of millions around them, conscious learning is increasingly being seen relevant only so far as it helps bridge this economic gap. Whereas bridging the whole or a substantial part of this gap from the developing countries end only is going to prove, at best, disastrous for the Earth's ecology, at worst downright impossible in addition to being a disaster, bridging part of it is necessary in order to build healthy societies. Economic incentives are good galvanizers and poor leaders. I feel that any steps/activities undertaken that do not place the economic implications, both of taking those steps and those for the people involved, centrestage, run the danger of being dubbed elitist, no matter how relevant they are to the masses.

 People who care about learning societies need to clarify for themselves these linkages, not as appendages but as central issues, and their first steps need to bring these up as legitimate questions with various individuals and groups of people. In a world where huge funds float around in the name of 'development' and 'doing good', it is easy to bypass this issue altogether, but this alienates the common man who often begins with the question, in his heart if not on his lips, 'how is it going to help me make a living?' That question needs to be addressed constantly.