Sustained human development as a psycho-social evolution from individuality to personality

• Published in: International journal of development issues Vol. 13; no. 3; pp. 188 - 203
• Main Author: Dutta, Dilip
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bingley International Journal of Development Issues 01.01.2014; Emerald Group Publishing Limited
• Subjects: 19th century; Ancient languages; Deception; Ethics; Humanities; India; Knowledge; Management; Monotheism; Personality; Philosophy; Public sector; Religion; Religious orthodoxy; Sanskrit; Schools; Skills; Social evolution; Spirituality; Success; Yoga; India
• ISSN: 1446-8956; 1758-8553
• DOI: 10.1108/IJDI-06-2014-0050

Purpose This paper analyses how Vivekananda, in his quest for sustained human development, explores a new generation of humanity by combining some of the active and heroic personality elements of the West with the meditative and yogic personality skills of the East. Design/methodology/approach Because of Vivekananda’s pioneering efforts in the last decade of the nineteenth century, ancient India’s Vedânta philosophy of human life, along with Yoga system, has now become a common heritage of all mankind. Vivekananda’s assertion that a human being is potentially divine– one of the major tenets of ancient India’s Vedânta philosophy– has been used as the philosophical foundation of sustained human development. Findings A psycho-physical human being’s initial individuality could be developed towards a psycho-social personality with its manifold existence by manifesting the aesthetic, ethical, heroic and spiritual possibilities lying hidden in an individual person Originality/value Persons with different degrees of higher assimilative qualities create different personalities. A psycho-social personality could lead to the path of sustained human development essentially by controlling its mind.