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Yogesvar das offers a richly textured, expertly informed
and well-argued vision for a Spiritual Television Network. This
is a big idea, embracing as it does a service to a worldwide viewing
audience from childhood to old age. The most ambitious and at the
same time most attractive feature of the envisioned network is the
multi-confessional focus. This ecumenical aspect could have posed
a major barrier to the realisation of the idea, except for the author
convincingly charts a heart realm of common ground in the form of
unifying spiritual themes. He draws an essential distinction between
his and other programme approaches that are based on narrow and
potentially contentious religiosity, and handles with finesse the
usual pejorative attitude toward common denominator programming
by raising above common denominational dogmas. The reader wishing
to gain a clearer sense of the types of programmes that might be
carried by a Spiritual Television Network is encouraged to review
the sample of a weekly programme schedule that appears in the original
article.
The three-fold role for a spirituality centred television
network is described by Yogesvar das, based on offering positive
messages, viewer comfort and a nurturing-ground for a new community.
Many key points in his rational for a Spiritual Network are distilled
into the following elaborations upon these three roles. 'Positive
messages' by his description consist of 'good news and practical
tools for solving material problems with spiritual answers, addressing
the issues of today with the in sights of Spiritual wisdom'. 'Viewer
comfort' derives from the assurance that the programmes are 'safe,
non-sexist, free of racial or religious stereotypes, and reinforcing
[of ] positive values and authentic spiritual practices'. 'A new
community', reflecting the culture of democracy, 'would demonstrate
the ability to walk outside the conventional mechanisms of consumer
societysensationalists talk shows, exploitative moviesand develop
a different, more satisfying vehicle for informing people'.
The author marshals impressive statistics to document the great
extent of spiritual interest that suggests a strong audience demand
for a Spiritual Television Network. I certainly concur with this
argument that television is a capable medium with which to address
spirituality, and with his view that a spiritual channel is a much-needed
antidote to the all too prevalent images of sex and mayhem. I also
believe with him that a niche exists for a Spiritual Television
Network in today's environment to technological proliferation. While
it may seem to many that today's expanded channel capacity has only
ushered in greater quantities of shallow and sensationalist programming,
nothing could be more clear than the simultaneous, if not proportionate,
increase in serious programs in the areas of the education and the
arts. A 100-channel service can offer only so many programmes in
areas of news, sports, movies, soaps, music, talk, and game shows
before someone figures out that new programme categories will garner
greater numbers of viewers than will additional shows into timeworn
categories.
One can only speculate as to why a global Spiritual Network does
not exist. The answer, I suspect, is simply that previously nobody
has ever framed the idea of a Spiritual Television Network with
Yogesvar Das's fresh, coherent and sensitive vision. His concept
departs strikingly from a whole array of all too familiar programmes
forms that include religious Hollywood dramas tainted by Hollywood
marketing practices, tracts on hotly disputed issues, and narrow
denominational sermonising. It can hardly be that the break-through
idea for a Spiritual Network came not from the creators of these
familiar programme forms, but form someone profoundly steeped in
the art of fine story telling, who recognises that the qualities
of authenticity, resonance with the human spirit, and universality
can be attained by any storytelling medium when the creative intent
is to honour these qualities above all else.
Yogesvar das has outlined a worthy idea, but as he himself
is quick to point out, much additional work will be required to
translate the idea into a fully developed and viable plan of action.
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