The Futurists are worried between the two prevailing concepts of- world war and world survival. Whether the growing trends are creeping towards world war in some form or the other or the whole world is safe and leading towards survival of man and nations. In future, however, every one is expecting that the whole globe will be dominated by new economic order. The people of the world are more concerned about their basic needs of food and survival despite the population explosion. The world planners are busy engaged in planning new policies towards building a new economic order. Organizing and building up national economies at every level has been the task of nations today. The spread of technology is fast leading to new stabilization process and the production and substitution techniques have been fast intensified and this trend is going to be the trend of twenty- first century. In future it is clear that there will be decrease of domination of one nation over the other. As a result of this, it is possible to witness the dismantling of power-politics among the developing nations. The most important problem of environmental hazards and their implications will have to be solved with utmost care. Planning of cities and urban areas may be equally emphasized by the nations in future.
Due to increased understanding among nations a sort of harmony will be established between production and substitution of food stuffs, throughout the world. It is to be noted that there will be a marked difference between urbanization, modernization and westernization concepts. The approach towards this basic ideal of economic and social order will be different. Modernization will not be equivalent to Westernization. Copying the West and adopting their models may not help India and other group of developing Nations. More of emphasis in this direction will lead to complete dependence on other countries. The economic models of the West will be attractive, superficial and artificial. The model meant for the West may not be the model for the Indian conditions. Modernization implies a progress towards a determined future society. Increasing the standard of living through restructuring of our economic order and eliminating the imbalance between the rural and the urban communities will be of great use in the race towards Modernization process for the future of India and its indigenous conditions. Many thinkers, particularly of Gandhian order feel that mere induction of the Westernconcepts by educated Indians have lead to faulty modernization which is based on mere imitation. As a result of this the educated technicians, engineers, scientists and such other professionals and talented and skilled people from different parts of India have been fast migrating to the West- mostly to America, Europe and Australia. This ‘gold rush’ is however minimized to a great extent in our country mainly for two reasons. Firstly India itself has made great strides towards modernization through its indigenous growth of science and technology. If India by any means has imported technologies and scientific devices it has been successful in making these imports its own indigenous moulds and shaped into our conditions. Secondly there is a growing awareness among the educated non-residential Indians (NRI) that living and setting in alien countries is no good for diverse reasons known to every one. For this most of the Indians want to come back and develop industries to suit Indian needs keeping in view the rural areas. This awareness is growing from time to time and in future the growth of science and technology is bound toco-exist with our tradition and heritage. This trend of the future science technology and their progress is bound to develop urban areas and rural villages to become self- sufficient. We cannot undermine the socialization of society at any cost. During this process the artificial barriers between the rural and urban; urban and metropolitan are bound to be diminished in future years to come. The contribution of knowledge and the role of education which are co-existent in nature generate new confidence among the Indians in future and this process of new faith and confidence has already beeninitiated in our country. Scientists and writers in India have started contributing their views and substantiating their reasons for new society that is to be born in the coming years. Futuristic trends analyzed through technological methods have made it clear that India can no more depend on other countries for its integrated development. This movement was originally initiated by our late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru by saying that India is on the threshold of new scientific temper. No one can stop it as the scientists and technologists have realized the danger of brain-drain. These ideas of scientific socialism have influenced the writers and thinkers throughout the country and we see clearly that the writers of this generation have started thinking in terms of science and technology. This is the only trend which will make our country strong and great.
It is a common belief that in the coming years due to the rapid growth of population we have to undergo the common hazards of pollution. There are a number of after effects of pollution throughout the world. Even in the most of the big cities in India we discover the evil effects of pollution due to ecological factors. Many scientists and medical experts have already predicted that due to growing pollution many psychological qualities of life are bound to be impaired. It is needless to say that space will restrict human activities in the coming years. As it is, we see today that a number of educational institutions are devoid of play grounds. As a result of this most of the schools have become cages. There is no play-way in education. In this context space is going to restrict all sorts of human activities in the coming years. It is needless to mention that noise will grow due to traffic jams and urban crowding. Increase of vehicles like cars, trucks, busses, two wheelers and other vehicles which emanate smoke will prove hazardous. There will more and more smoke and dust. This condition according to the ecologist and futurist will increase and several harmful effects on health are sure to manifest. Among the countries, Japan is such a nation which has realized all these harmful effects on peaceful living and so it has enhanced its technological revolution to the extent of sound proof, dust proof and communication control. It is planning for home-education on television; even advanced technological training and education is imparted through electronic media. This country had already left its impact of development on several other advanced countries like United States. This trend is expected to gain ground in the future years to fallow. Futurists are predicting the absence of peace all aver the world. On the other hand a section of them are optimistic about harmony and tranquility of mind due to globalization process. Man will be drawn nearer to mechanical robot in future- is true. He will suffer from neurosis and psychosis in the coming one to two decades. These pronouncements are made by many futurist thinkers of modern period. They also point to a gloomy picture of alcoholism, drug, addiction personal frustrations, crimes and even suicides. We also stated that the number of juvenile delinquents will increase enormously. But there is a strong opinion that the nations of the world so far had enough experiences of such dangerous consequences and so in the coming years man will learn to live harmoniously in peace and content. He will also try to introspect when he tries his best to search in the outside world of externalities. In spite of every disturbance and dislocation he will try to search for peace within himself at all cost. This is that we call as the movement towards man-centered philosophy. Some pessimists among futurists are of the opinion that apart from alienation, animosity and rigid uniformity in styles of life of the common people the real causes of times will remain unchanged and uncured. This amounts to a belief that the faith in futurism and humanism made us to belief that in the coming years due to fast growing ideals of convergences, confluence a sort of globalization process, and awareness is doubled-edged in its functions. On one side, man will fight boldly with ecological hazards or his survival. The pollution due to metallic compounds and metallurgical smelters will meet with strong resistance. Secondly,at the same time, the future man has to plan for his peaceful survival by destroying the lethal weapons in the same tone. He will positively learn to enhance the long-standing philosophy of humanism and universal peace. Future man will soon realize that mental solutions to the diverse problems are insufficient mediums to deeper problemsof life. Many miseries can thus be eliminated through psychic development. As man’s efforts to change the climatic conditions of life will be fruitful so also his efforts to improve the quality of life will be enhanced to stop when material prosperity has been the sole goal of industrial society in the past so also the psychic development may be the sole clue to solve the diverse and complex problems of man and his race. Only then prosperity of the individual can be balanced with the progress of industrial society. As energy consumption has enormously increased in these days, so also increased human understanding and pyschisation is bound to grow in the future years to follow. As the movement towards globalization processes is bound to bring with it many advantages, so also movement towards decentralization from altogether different standpoint is possible wherein man will be the unit of social order and his psychological and psychic powers will be the main conservation of energy – resources of man. Looking into the past of man we have witnessed many states of human society right from the hunter-gatherer, the agriculturists, the industrial man and the post-industrial civilization. The human civilization from the scientific angle has not stopped here. However, man has entered the electronic society, the space age and the age of extra- sensory, audio-visual communications. Prophetic thinkers like Sri Aurobindo have visualized the conception of Superman in the coming years. We got the basis of rational and scientific foundations for such a visionary exception. Long back many western thinkers like Bernard Shaw. Nietzschehas also predicted the coming of SuperiorMan. There is s difference between the ‘Superior Man’ and the ‘Superman’. Superior Man is superior from the stand-point of existing race of mankind. But the conception of Superman is altogether different from the earlier explanation. In Sri Aurobindo the superman is the Gnostic man, a new category by himself. He is a transformed man of new consciousness. Biologists explained the emergence of man in a linear way right from the birth of amoeba, a unicellular organism to the multi cellular animals like monkeys and different species of early man. In this context, this organic theory of evolution lead by Charles Darwin failed to explain the conception of superman except the organic perfection in the different species of animal kingdom. Sri Aurobindo in modern times has projected the idea of superman which is the product of long experimentation in the living laboratory of man. No where has Sri Aurobindo connected the improved man of consciousness with the instinctive animal origins. In future he has to follow everything which emanates from man in terms of scientific advancement of civilization. The most important ingredients at work will be ‘aspiration’ and ‘grace’. Man will aspire for higher and higher existence for himself and ultimately the Divine through a process of involution which will make it possible for the emergence of the present man into the Supermanhood. This in itself is the culmination of futuristic thinking which elevates human ambitions and extends human consciousness to the endless unknown with a renewed hope and faith in human achievement of higher goals which are attracting the present man to enter into ever-new domains of evolving consciousness.
The vision of future poetry envisaged by Sri Aurobindo is characterized by the intuitive vision apart from the poetic art. According to him there are different grades ascribed to lesser poets, greater poets and greatest poets or sublime poets. A sublime poet is explained as a poet –seer who is gifted with a unique poetic vision. Such a poet can foresee the future and his inner sense is always alert to assimilate the Divine workings. These sublime poets are gifted with both self-knowledge and vision of truth alike. It is said that such poets are capable of activating their inner sense of the organs of knowledge- commonly known as ‘Gnanindriyas’. It is not that the other poets can’t predict about the future events. In a way, every man can foresee the future rightly or wrongly. His life-sense is always directed towards the future happenings. This is the sole secret of his progress and growth. His senses, thoughts and emotions are all converged into the discovery of the natural happenings. In this context, according to Sri Aurobindo ‘all poetic utterance is a discovery’. It is difficult to draw a hard line of demarcation between poets and poets. For example lesser poets on some rare occasions can reach the border line of greater poets. Their consciousness is lightened, enlarged and even widened so as to experience the ‘poetic vision, experienced by the sublime poets -though this experience of poetic vision is short-lived in them. On the other hand, the intuitive vision of the sublime poets originates at the highest vision of the greatest poets and grows towards ever-new visions towards greater truths. For this reason, a poet-seer is different from a gifted poet at his best. Mostly a poet of any category is gifted with a life – science, an inner vision apart from intuitive vision of a higher order. Sri Aurobindo in his ‘Future Poetry’ delineates the dominance characteristics of a poet, philosopher and a scientist. According to him a poet is mostly visionary, idealistic whose thinking is above the ordinary world. A poet is compared with a lunatic and the lover by the western tradition. All these three are in a habit of disengaging themselves from the earthly mundane activities of life. Nevertheless they have a commonness of the feelings of sensitiveness towards man and nature. Coming to the philosopher, Sri Aurobindo says that he is endowed with ‘Viveka-Buddhi’ that is discriminative wisdom and thought. Philosophers have a synoptic view of reality. He has an inner vision and also a universal appeal. Both these equalities are blended and sometimes overlap each other. In Greek thought, most of the philosophers were astronomers and futurists. The role of their insight was successful and predicting many things of the future i.e. the solar and lunar eclipse, the height of the pyramids which were beyond the reach of measurements or mathematical calculations. All these predictions were based on two main things. One upon their astronomical calculations and the second is on their inherent capacity of forecasting of future events. All futuristic thinking in this respect is based upon mathematical calculations, visionary predictions based on discriminative thought-process. The third category mentioned by Sri Aurobindo is of scientists. A scientist is always absorbed in his numerical calculations and analytical observations. It is not that a scientist is devoid of any intuitive vision. Infact a poet a philosopher and a scientist all are gifted with a deep sense of reason and intuition in different proportions and variations. Very few among them are gifted but their effort and aspiration cannot be over-looked.. Sri Aurobindo emphasizes on two important factors which are at play in futuristic thinking. They are effort and grace. Effort is explained as Aspiration and Grace as Divine Grace. In this light all future poetry is based upon the transformation process that is at work in man. Sri Aurobindo refers to the spiritual transformation as the culmination of all these stages of transformations. He calls future poetry as the Divine emanation called the ‘mantra’ - in this particular context of the integral energy-force. These energy forces serve as mystic aids to poetical expressions. In Sanskrit the expression which is commonly referred is considered as a unique creation. He can be raised to the highest heights of Superman hood in every way. This process of Superman hood according to Sri Aurobindo has already started. There are two processes which are at work explained as the Ascent and the Descent. Where Divinization of Man is a truth in Sri Aurobindo, Future Poetry as a divine or a ‘mantra, becomes equally a truth. Sri Aurobindo in his future poetry cites the example of Homer, Shakespeare, Dante, Valmiki and Kalidasa as visionary contributors to Future Poetry. Each of these poets has his own peculiar nature and condition of life and yet there is one common thread of Divine emanation running through them in different degrees which is responsible for the creation of future poetry. Future poetry is infact future vision of life to come. This has already started with the transformation of Man and the Supramental flow of energy after breaking open the golden gates. This view of Sri Aurobindo’s thought is fast being accepted everywhere in every form, in every expression which includes the poetic creations. The ‘sublime poets’ or the seer poets seem to lay more emphasis on thought- in the poetic creations. In the under- current we discover the coming events about future happenings more about man and the world “to be”. In this context poets ‘to be’ are no less than the prophets, the seers of truth. The message of the poet has always been the message of prophet, but in a lesser degree of authenticity. When Sri Aurobindo refers to Tagore and Walt Whitman, Valmiki and Kalidasa he also refers to their futuristic predictions and visions. Visions of life-events are always different from the vision of life as it is. Visions of life are mostly the premonitions of the poets ‘to be. Poets of the present emphasize more on the stream of life-events. Now and then they focus on the vision of life itself in their poetry. In fact metrical talent and the quality of the image are not sufficient for true poetic creations. Rhyme and meter and imagination, imagery etc., are insufficient mediums to unravel the mystery of the mission hidden in the future poetry. Future poets are always torch bearers. They discover the present world and always try to see it better and better in a creative process of becoming. This automatically means shaping into new race. Commonly the poets try and establish living relations, intellectual contacts, and spiritual communions with the higher world or over soul. It is in this sense; popular poetry is altogether different from philosophic verse which again is altogether different from prophetic poetry. Popular poetry may be a thought-rendering indication. On the other hand, the prophetic poetry is a medium of new message to mankind about God, Man and Nature and Consciousness which is over mental, the visions which are rarer to human mind and spiritual ascent which is the sole food of the soul. Future poetry is never a continuity of either the past or the present. It is the mantra of the soul towards which the future civilizations moves in strides to realize its ‘Swadharma’ or own nature. This is what we call the evolutionary process in itself. For this reason the past and the present become redundant and meaningless. Very often we connect the past to the present and draw the present into the future for our conclusion whereas the integral concept is very different. As man is a new category by himself and he is nothing to do with other forms of creation so also the future is acategory by itself, it has nothing to do with the present or the past. Future is a nisus towards the unknown destiny which means an endless growth towards progress, perfection and fulfillment. It is in this context if we view Sri Aurobindo’s Future Poetry we are not only bewildered but once enlightened, enriched and enlivened to understand the workings of the nature and the super-nature by all means.