India, Hinduism, Conservatism & Liberalism

INDIA, HINDUISM, CONSERVATISM & LIBERALISM

Conservatism says order is more important than freedom. Liberalism says freedom is more important than order. The genius of Indian/Hindu civilisation is that it has always aimed at a perfect balance between both order and freedom. Thus Hinduism is both conservative and liberal. But if we are forced to choose between order and freedom, which should we choose? The Second Law of Thermodynamics gives us the answer to this question. It says that a system's entropy (disorder) always tends to increase. That is: the natural tendency is for a system's disorder to increase – and order to decrease. In other words: in the tug-of-war between order and freedom, freedom has the natural advantage – and order has the natural disadvantage. So if we are forced to choose between order and freedom, we must always choose order. If we err on the side of too much order (and too little freedom) that error is reversible – because the natural tendency of the universe will correct this error. But if we err on the side of too much freedom (and too little order) that error is irreversible – because the natural tendency of the universe will magnify this error. In other words: freedom lost can always be regained – but order lost is lost forever.