John Ralston Saul: On Equilibrium

By HAROLD BARTON

How conscious are we willing to be of our humanness? This is one of the central issues of John Ralston Saul's new work, which follows on from his highly acclaimed and influential philosophical trilogy Voltaire's Bastards, The Doubter's Companion and The Unconscious Civilisation.

As with these works, On Equilibrium is certainly not light reading, but it is a deeply rewarding mental workout, and the passion, courage and optimism that he brings to his work and expresses so fluently is nothing if not inspirational.

Ralston Saul is as ruthless as ever in his criticism of the status quo, yet he is far from negative. A writer of prodigious intellect and breadth of knowledge, his humour and irony are never far below the surface.

I enjoyed the way that the structure of this book seems to subtly mock the innumerable works of self-help literature that, along with sport and romance, serve in his view to palliate an increasingly self-focused and disoriented citizenry.

"Responsible individualism" is a term that crops up repeatedly in Ralston Saul's writing, and it serves well to explain his view that there are those who place the ego on a pedestal and deny even the existence of society; and others who would subsume the individual as a mere element of human capital.

Ralston Saul argues persuasively for a complex path between these extremes - the path of dynamic equilibrium.

He dissects ideological structures with great precision and reminds us that the ones we reside in are often the hardest to see.

Voltaire's Bastards argued that the Enlightenment project for rational government, which was spearheaded by Voltaire and a response to the chaos and injustice of the monarchist and clerical authority that dominated Europe in the 18th century, somehow failed to yield the promised freedoms.

Ralston Saul believes that the vision of freedom for all held out by the burgeoning democratic movements has been thwarted by the growth of corporate structures that mimic the hegemony of clerics and courtiers of the previous era.

In On Equilibrium he draws attention to the way reason has been used over the past two centuries as the alibi for every utopian project and argues for the restoration of reason as thought, rather than its deification as purity and action.

In The Unconscious Civilisation he proposed a list of six qualities: commonsense, ethics, imagination, intuition, memory and reason that he suggested are fundamental to a balanced existence both on an individual and community level. On Equilibrium argues the necessity for what he refers to as a dynamic equilibrium incorporating all of these qualities.

Each chapter is a fascinating and erudite exploration of one of these qualities, displaying all of Ralston Saul's mastery of insight and historical detail, and reading as a powerful exhortation towards engagement with society and the democratic process for all.

Completed in September 2001, the timing of this publication is interesting in itself: Ralston Saul has a great deal to offer the myriad debates that have arisen after the destruction of the World Trade Centre and the immediate and consequent tragedies thereof.

At the same time, he offers us an example of philosophical and political criticism at its most humane. I thoroughly recommend this book and believe that at the very least you will find it challenging, stimulating and provocative.

Penguin

$24.95