Who
hasn’t been cornered by this impossible question and forced to
stutter some superficial reply? For there are so many dimensions to
this complex experiment that it is impossible to grasp all of them.
But it raises the question, how do we evaluate success or failure in
Auroville?
My
impression is that we tend to use very conventional indicators. For
example, we pronounce a productive unit successful if it generates
plenty of income for the common pot, whereas an ambitious initiative
that folds after a short period is deemed a failure, along,
sometimes, with the ‘dreamer’ who launched it.
But
do such crude indicators tell the full story? Isn’t it conceivable
that a profitable unit may not be expressing some of Auroville’s
key values? Or that a ‘failed’ initiative may generate valuable
learning that can be put to good use in the future? And isn’t it
sometimes necessary that an attempt at a highly idealistic project is
made, even though it fails, so that that vision is kept al...
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