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Confluence
of civilizations will be better
Sawraj
Singh
Some
scholars feel that there is a clash of civilizations. This clash
can be between the Western and the Eastern civilizations. Some
scholars see a growing confrontation between the Christian and the
Islamic civilizations. Samuel Huntington’s book The Clash of
Civilizations and the Remaking of the World Order really promoted
this concept.
If
we analyze the history of human development and progress over m any
thousands of years, then one fact becomes apparent. The most
fundamental clash is between the lower centers (basic instincts) and
the higher centers (spirit or awareness). Therefore, being civilized
means bringing the lower centers under the control of the higher
centers.
According
to the Eastern spirituality, the journey of human development and
spiritual elevation starts from the body and travels to the mind,
intellect and finally to the soul. The body and the mind seek
pleasures from the sensory organs (sensual pleasures). This tendency
leads to lust, anger, selfishness and greed, possessiveness,
extravagance, arrogance and vengeance.
On
the other hand, the intellect and the soul bring a higher level of
pleasure, the spiritual ecstasy by bringing one in a state of
equipoise. This tendency leads to moderation, restraint, dedication,
selflessness, humility and forgiveness. All civilizations try to
make a person a better person. Therefore, the basic human values are
similar. Their ultimate goal is the same; they are just advocating
different paths. Should we keep fighting over the different paths or
unite in finding the commonality of the goal?
In
any given situation, finding a common minimum factor helps to unite
people. What is the common minimum factor, which can unite the
people of the world? The development and the growth of means of
communication and transportation have already transformed us into a
global community, but we are lacking a global perspective. This is
the most fundamental cause of tension and unrest in the world today.
How
to resolve this contradiction is the common minimum factor, which
can unite people. The consumer culture, which is the product of
unadulterated traditional capitalism, is the root cause of our
problems. Consumer culture promotes the lower centers in order to
make us better consumers. It makes us selfish, greedy, extravagant,
arrogant and vengeful. Traditional capitalism is based on the
concepts of profit and unending expansion of markets. There is no
concept of restraint or balance within consumer culture. In the last
two centuries, the dominant Western civilization has been primarily
influenced by the consumer culture.
Because
of this, even though there has been unparalleled growth in the
fields of science and technology, we have not been able to bring the
benefits of this progress to the majority of the population of the
world. Also as a result, we have other problems such as
environmental damage to a degree, which was never seen before. More
plant and animal species have disappeared from earth in the last two
centuries than in any other time in history. The natural resources
have been over-utilized, resulting in environ mental pollution and
problems such as global warming.
The
depletion of the ozone layer in the atmosphere is leading to a
pandemic of skin cancer that is much more serious than the SARS
virus which has received so much publicity. The fact remains that
whereas the SARS virus has killed a few hundred people, millions of
people will die fro m skin cancer. It is predicted that skin cancer
will become the number one cause of death in America, overtaking
heart disease.
Has
the progress in science and technology made us healthier people? We
have been able to control many infectious diseases, but overall, we
perhaps have the unhealthiest population. Look at the incidence of
obesity, depression and related diseases. Why are we losing overall
health? It is because health is not only determined by our physical
and mental status but by our spiritual status also. Consumer culture
promotes values exactly opposite to the founding Christian values.
We
have a deep spiritual crisis. The superstructure is contradicting
the infrastructure. Moreover, the Western prescriptive spirituality
can not now fully meet the spiritual needs of the population because
of the social and political system being more individualistic; while
the prescriptive spirituality is more collective and unable to
accommodate the different levels of individual spiritual
development.
The
Eastern cultivational spirituality can complement the Western
prescriptive spirituality to fill the spiritual gap. There are many
good ideas and concepts in different civilizations, which can help
us, solve problems and meet challenges faced by all mankind. Looking
at the different civilizations as a rich pool of resources can be
termed a “global perspective.”
In
the contemporary situation, we have globalization without a global
perspective. We need to make up for this deficiency. Once we change
our outlook then we can have access to many great ideas and
concepts.
For
example, the Western world mostly became familiar with the Sikh
religion during the Second World War. The Sikhs were identified as
the bearded and turbaned loyal soldiers of the British. But the Sikh
religion is much more than that. The Sikhs are saints and soldiers
at the same time. Khalsa is the highest developed form of a person.
When a person becomes a perfect human, this state is termed “Khalsa.”
The Sikh religion is chronologically the last major religion to
evolve in the Indian subcontinent.
Therefore, it can be
considered the essence of the Eastern spirituality and zenith of
Indian thought. It’s ideas and concepts of diversity, pluralism,
tolerance, universal brotherhood and universal well-being can be
very useful in the current world situation. In the end, the
confluence of civilizations will prove far better than the clash of
civilizations.
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