In the pursuit of love and of God, all the mystics through out the centuries sing the same tune, irrespective of whether they are Parsi, Jewish, Christian, Muslims, Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh or Bhahai. The spiritual exercises of all religions train the human to be selfless and vibrate with love. The grace of the divine dwells in the person as the fragrance of smile.
However, a few things are to be taken into account. A World Values Survey, a two decade-long examination of the values of 80 societies all over the world coordinated by the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research and directed by Ronald Inglehart, which is the largest investigation ever conducted of attitudes, values and beliefs graphically depicts the relationship with economic growth, industrialization and generational change.
[7] The Survey demonstrated that world as a whole now has more people with traditional religious views than ever before, and they constitute a growing proportion of the world's population. This survey also reveals that as a culture progresses through history in economic growth and industrialization and when it transcends to a knowledge society, the traditional religious values are altered and replaced by secular-rational values. Philosophers and social scientists like August Comte, Herbert Spencer, Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud predicted that religion as a powerful influence on humanity would gradually fade and cease to be significant with the emergence of industrial society. These social scientists’ strong prediction that religion was dying became conventional wisdom and pervaded the social analysis during most of the twentieth century which accelerated the secularization process. However, Inglehart with Norris demonstrates through their widely conducted survey that this traditional secularization thesis needs to be corrected and religion still wields immense influence over large section of humanity and still gives meaning to the lives of individuals and societies. This book draws its inferences from a massive base of new evidence generated by the four waves of the World Values Survey executed from 1981 to 2001 in eighty societies, covering all of the world’s major faiths. However, according to them, religiosity persists most strongly among vulnerable populations, especially those in poorer Nations and in failed States, facing personal survival-threatening risks. Critically evaluating this survey it seems to me that their conclusion on religiosity is too generalized because if we compare the industrialized, economically rich multi faith communities in United States there are indications of strong religiosity.
[8] Thus the secularization thesis is proved wrong and a growing proportion of the population, in both rich and poor countries are driven by religiosity and religiously driven value system. Ingelehart has also warned the possibility of inciting hatred because of the cultural differences and his warning has been proved right in the Gujarat riots in India.
[9] This alarming conclusion also indicates how conflicts and tensions can be easily built up by fanning differences leading to communal violence and ethnic cleansing and the necessity of religious literacy.
From this elaborated Survey ranging over three decades and evaluating communities all over the world indicates that religiosity is not outdated and not extinct with industrialization and economic growth. However, there is a change in the value system from traditional to secular – rational as a society grows economically and industrially. It is also important to note how easy it is to flare up communal violence leading to ethnic cleaning because of emphasizing difference. These facts make us to devise strategies for building up peace and harmony on religious education.
An Epistemology for Intercultural Learning: Beyond Rationality
In this globalised world, cultures and religions are on the move as communities migrate resulting in the co-existence of multi cultures and religions which forms as the basic foundation for global peace and harmony. Lack of knowledge about other cultures and religions leads often to suspicion and prejudices that breed intolerance, escalating to violent conflicts. Hence religious and cultural literacy is to be necessarily promoted simultaneously in order to eradicate prejudices and presuppositions about the other cultures and other religions and to build instead social harmony and global peace. However, this epistemological process is to be complimented with praxis so that rational explanations are limited and it can only be transcended by an experiential level. Immanuel Kant in his Critique of Pure reason puts limits to our knowing process.
[10] Only the phenomena can be known through the a priori forms of space and time and the noumenon is beyond the reach of human rationality. It is through the a posteriori judgments that one comes to know the phenomena. A priori is devoid of experience and it is experience that gives us knowledge. Thus Kant emphasizes the importance of experience in the knowing process. However, from the perspective of Pure Reason, it is impossible to experience the totality of the universe, the soul, and God. However, in the Critique of Practical Reason he postulated these three entities as actualities. This Kantian philosophical musing suggests the necessity of going beyond the rational understanding religion and culture. A rational understanding cannot give the experiential element and that is what lacking in today’s intercultural and interreligious education. So in designing, a course on Cultures and Religions, the interactive dimension is very important and is a must.
Plurivocity – Epistemological Basis for a Universal Community
All religions and cultures share common moral and spiritual visions for relating to the Ultimate and the individual. Focusing and emphasizing on these common elements a more harmonious and peaceful global community can be built up. Derrida, a son of Morocco, through his deconstructionist philosophy criticized the Western notion of having a single centre, the written word or a single value system. He argued that Western civilization always rejected or pushed to the periphery other centres and showed that the necessity of the times is many centres or plurivocity rather than univocity. In the Chinese and Indian civilizations the plurivocal discourses and multiple centres are possible and as the world is shrinking, the univocity has to be replaced with the epistemological plurivocity model. Many religions and many cultures are interacting at present in the Western Civilizational sphere and hence the univocal model has to be replaced by a plurivocal model.
Holistic Learning – Japanese Model
In his recent article on comparing the design practices of the Japanese and American Companies, Sotiris Papantonopoulos places the importance given by the Japanese companies, on beyond the rationality, that is through experience.
[11] He summarises the learning process in Japan as holistic and the “Learning with the body permeates all manner of learning in Japan”.
[12] The Japanese learning process has two stages, namely, observation and imitation (minarai) and repetition and practice (kurikaeshi). Minarai is a theoretical step and kurikaeshi is a practical section of imbibing internally the theory through praxis. Therefore apprenticeship with a master is very important in Japanese culture. Thus learning with the body is very essential. It simply means that the learner has to experience it rather than merely it remains in the head. This learning through experience continues until the action can be performed as a complex whole without concentrating. This holistic learning system was developed through out the centuries and widely used by the Samurai warriors in self development and spiritual perfection and commitment to the society. So in short, what I argue is that learning should become and experience and that forms the epistemological basis for the intercultural and interreligious education.
Insights from Personal Experience
For the past one decade I have been conducting the Interreligious and Intercultural programme, “Contemporary Religions in India”. Students from the European Universities like, Lancaster, United Kingdom, Leuven, Belgium, and American Universities like University of St. Thomas, Minnesota, are a few that attended the programme. We used to attend rituals in Hindu temples, Buddhist Viharas, Muslim Mosques, Jain Temples and the Churches of Various Christian denominations and interacted with the believers of those particular religions. The impact of this exposure was immense. The students started to understand and respect these religions better. The students’ prejudices and impressions that these religious ideologies were all wrong were replaced by a respect and admiration by participating in the rituals and listening to the meaning of these rituals explained in depth by the conductor. On the other hand, the believers of those religions showed more respect and understanding towards these students and thus a more friendly approach was generated. From my own personal experience, these exposures gave a more understanding about the other religions and I found that my own prejudices about the other religions were gradually eliminated. I enjoyed the beautiful chanting in the Gurudwara of the Sikhs, the rituals in the Hindu, Buddhist and Jain temples, and the beautiful prayers in the Mosque. Now I could freely get into these places of prayers because they have accepted me as their own. When the Jain Acharya of the pilgrim centre, Sravanabelagola, Sri Sri Charukeerthi Bhatarak inflrms me that he has great devotion to Christ because of his forty days of fasting, it opened for me a deeper dimension of my own Christianity itself. The whole exposure to other religions in me was started when I found the translation of the Christian spiritual classic Philokalia, translated into my mother tongue Malayalam, by none other than Swami Siddhinandhananda of Ramakrishna Matt, a Hindu Sanyasin in Kerala India. I wrote to him asking why being a Hindu, he translated this spiritual classic, which is Christian? In return, he invited me to come and stay with him for a few weeks which I gladly accepted. Interaction with him, I found how knowledgeable he is about the Christian mysticism and I realized now spirituality is transcending religious bounderies. Thus crossing the boundaries of religion and culture is always beneficiary for both the believers and the observers. It is only through such practical experience, that theoretical knowledge can be complemented. Without praxis, theory merely remains in the ideological and rational level and cannot create a harmonised society that can celebrate difference. Thus exposure brings about trust and understanding and a strong bond is built among the communities. Such as example is also given by the Multifaith group in Ohio, United States.
[13]From 2002 onwards the MultiFaith Council of Northwest Ohio conducted activities for interreligious and intercultural exposures. The organization started by enthusiasts like Judy and Woody Trautman, brought together 16 different religious and cultural traditions. According to Judy, co-chair of the council, "When you urge people to get on board with interfaith work, that's the piece that really grabs them. You start working together on a common cause, and it's fun.” This year they have partnered with Habitat for a six-week home build and it became a very popular activity of the grass-roots lay organization. They got together for a potluck and came to know about the other religious traditions and cultures in an unthreatening manner and gradually they could work together in a most amazing way. The Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs all gather together in a most friendly way to celebrate their differences and find unity in building a house supporting a needy one. Kadri, a Muslim member appreciates the Mutifaith interaction for discovering the commonalities they encounter.. "I like the informal gatherings most, the potluck dinners, because I enjoy talking about religion and culture," Kadri says. "I've learned that Muslim, Hindu, and Jewish cultures are very similar in some ways." "My hope is for each faith group to realize that the future of our country depends on ... sharing enough time in our own agendas to meet and mingle and understand the other person," Woody one of the founders says. "Every faith group should say '10 percent of our scheduled time is going to be spent with people of other faiths.' Otherwise, they'll stay to themselves, and, all of a sudden, like global warming, we'll find we have a problem." In their attempt to hammer out the differences and celebrate the similarities, they arranged a local Rabbi, Imam, and Priest to offer classes that explore how the three monotheistic faiths understand "scripture, worship, and acts of kindness."
Robert Bennett, Jr. is a representative of this Multi-faith Council (MC), who asks other religious groups to join in with building the homes for people who are less fortunate. He recruits and manages the volunteers at the building site each day. He enjoys working with people of other faiths and greatly enjoys especially the dinners that he is invited to at the Hindu temple! He loves the food and the people. These people from their lived experience without much education discovered the importance of being together in spite of the differences they encountered and decided to celebrate the difference and to work hard to understand the universality of humanity. This and other unknown group are perfect examples of showing how to transcend beyond the boundaries and making a pilgrimage beyond the borders, building harmonious and peaceful communities. Helmut Schmidt, the former Chancellor of Germany also affirms that “I have learned a little more about other religions and a little more about philosophies I was previously not familiar with. This enrichment has strengthened my religious tolerance”.
[14] These types of creative engagements should be taught in schools and colleges and allow them to experience such interaction so that they will be formed into such a Multifaith culture which enable them to develop their own smaller Multifaith communities in the future reinforcing a global community of peace and friendship.
Leaders of society such as managers, journalists, teachers, policefoce are to be specifically trained in this multifaith culture. The 2002 Gujarat violence was inflamed by the journalists by printing stories of atrocities against the Muslims which infuriated the Hindus and they started rioting en masse. As Ingleheart suggested, hatred can be easily spread and once started it is beyond control causing immeasurable damage both to human beings and goods. Since the world is becoming a flat global screen the interactions can be easier but the repercussions can be dangerous too. So vigilance is important and rumours and suspicions should be checked and eliminated from the very beginning; otherwise like the butterfly effect smaller changes can lead to catastrophes. So a new paradigm of peace and harmony is to be created in order to lead the cultures and religions to go together in a pilgrimage of progress. So multicultural, multifaith education is a must in the curriculum for global as well as local managers and leaders. As a practical suggestion, I have introduced a management, comparative religion, psychological skills together with experience exposure as a master’s programme for crossing the boundaries of cultures and religions. Also for updating for those who are already in the administrative and teaching programmes, a diploma programme of one month, six month is also introduced.
Designing Human Experience
STAFF – A Strategy for Global Peace and Harmony
Peace and Harmony was not elevated to a position to be cultivated as political ideal until recently. War remained as an ideal means for realizing the political goals though philosophers like Kant propagated peace as an ideal.
[15] Now it is indeed a political ideal to be cultivated and fostered. The enlightenment that dawned upon the European political leadership and intelligentsia through the centuries of continued war and its devastating effects led to the formation of the European Union, solving problems through negotiations and in an amicable way. Gandhi and Luther King Jr showed in our own times that political goals can be attained through peaceful means. They were transforming the rigid religions and cultures into malleable forms through constant education – through their lives and exhortations. Silberman in her recent article argues that religions are malleable either to peace or violence.
[16] From the historical examples of Gandhi and Luther King Jr, it is evident that peace can take the upper hand and cultures and religions can be coerced to attain political goals through peaceful means. Thus, individuals and communities can be lead gradually through education on the basis of the epistemological model already envisioned, in gradation from suspicion (prejudices), tolerance (indifference), acknowledgement (acceptance), fostering(support) and to fellowships of (nurture) cultures and religions. A perfect understanding and experience of a culture or a religion is impossible because an outsider cannot get into the realm of faith and experience unless one lives a culture or a religion for a long time. This incommensurability of religious and cultural elements can be transcended by the trust they have built up by the dialogue.
Malleability of the Individual and Society:
Promoting Role Models – Ashoka, Gandhi, Mandela and Martin Luther King, Jr.
In all cultures and religions there were and are leaders who tried to establish peace and harmony in their own milieu. I am placing a few role models as I envisage, from my own limited experience and of course there are other models who are worthy of being promoted as role models. The new intercultural interreligious global communities need role models and these role models have to be introduced to the global managers and leaders. Thus showing the examples of heroic leaders who transformed the individual and society through peaceful means the contemporary individuals and societies can be made malleable.
Emperor Ashoka would be a role model who converted from his violent ways of grabbing power, wealth and territory, to non-violent ways and appreciating all religions and governed the empire promoting plurivocity, peaceful co-existence, non-violence and the welfare of hi subjects. In 261 BCE, he wanted to conquer the neighbouring kingdom of Kalinga and led a bloody war that caused the death of 100,000 and many more as injured and caught as captives. It was a turning point in his life. This bloody conquest deeply distressed him and he promised never to use violence to grab power and sought solace in Buddha Dharma. However, he equally treated all other religions and exhorted his ministers and subjects to respect the other religions and cultures. He erected Rock pillars and edicts all over his empire in order to remind them on this vision. Edict number XII is an excellent example and valid even for toady.
[17]King Priyadarshin, beloved of the gods, honours persons of all sects, and householders, by gifts and with various forms of reverence. But the beloved of the gods not value either gifts or reverential offerings so much as an increase of spiritual strength of the followers of all religions. This increase of spiritual strength is of many forms. But the root is guarding o ones’s speech so as to avoid the extolling of one’s own religion and decrying of the religion of another speaking of it without occasion or relevance. As proper occasions arise, persons of other religions should be honoured suitable. Acting in this manner, one certainly exalts one’s own religion and also helps persons of other religions. Acting in a contrary manner, one injures one’s own religion and also disservice to the religion of others. It is concord of all religions that is meritorious, as persons of other ways of thinking may thereby hear the Dharma and serve it’s cause. This is the desire of Devanampriya, beloved of gods, that the followers of religions should be versed in many religions and hold sound and righteous doctrines, and in diverse places this should be stated by those present.
Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948), is a political thinker, social reformer, and above all a religious and spiritual leader of modern India. Deeply rooted in the Indian philosophico-cultural traditions, he represents the Indian genius, at its best.
[18] He had a charisma to bring together millions of people of India and out side under one banner for he noble cause of sarvodaya i.e., integral welfare of the whole person and every person. He is mainly a political thinker driven by spiritual and religious values and his thought can be called philosophy of sarvodaya or welfare of all and it is to be achieved concretely in the economic, social, political, educational, religious, and moral spheres.
Gandhi was deeply influenced by the poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, exploitation, of the poor, religious disharmony, war, and the squandering the gifts of the nature in India, and the world at large. In his search for the liberation of man, Gandhi accepted the solutions found to be true in different religions and persons like John Ruskin, Leo Tolstoy, and David Thoreau. He accepted truth wherever it was found. He creatively and rationally interpreted it in the light of his intuitions and personal experience. His philosophy of sarvodaya the logical out come of the study of the different religions and philosophies, seen in the light of his intuitions, reason and experience, and confirmed by his experience of prayer and listening to his conscience in order to find remedies to the maladies of life is valid even today.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, a political and spiritual activist employed the non-violent methods of Gandhi to achieve civil rights and justice for his fellow human beings and fallen while realizing this dream. His life, in his own words was dedicated to "feed the hungry", "clothe the naked", "be right on the [Vietnam] war question", and "love and serve humanity. He was a new Moses who led the suffering people to the promised land of freedom and equality. He is a prophet for thousands of people who are crying for justice and righteousness and continues to give moral courage to live for their dreams and to pull down the walls of segragation, racial discrimination and diunity through non-violent ways and to dream for a united world of peace and harmony.
Mandela
Mandela is a cultural icon for reconciliation and international integration. He fought against apartheid and stood for freedom and equality and was confined to prison for 27years in a small cell for sabotaging the South African Government. After his release from prison in 1990, he became the negotiator for his people and exhorted them to reconcile with their opponents and showed the golden way of reconciling with the oppressors and thus beginning a new era of peace and harmony. Thus, Mandela is a role model for showing national and international reconciliation. There are many cultures who were oppressed and still oppressed and Mandela shows the way of peaceful reconciliation and the resolution of conflicts through negotiation than with vengeance.
Designing Courses for Intercultural Education for a Harmonious Society.
Based on the epistemological foundation that I envisaged, for global leaders and manages, short term (senior leaders) and long term (forming to be leaqders) holistic management courses can be designed.
c) Science – Religion clubs
In introducing the multi cultural multi religious perspective and the unity and diversity of humanity, science – religion clubs can work better. Science is done experimentally while religion and culture is to be learned experientially. Science has its methodology of observation, experiment, hypothesis formation, law statement, theory. Thus those who have trained in this way’s of science can understand the unity. Science becomes the common denominator and irrespective of race, nationality, age anybody trained can work together and did not feel the diversity. Science, facilitates life through its discoveries, knowledge and technology. However, such a methodology cannot be developed for experiencing cultures and religions as they are diverse and celebrate difference. However, they give meaning to human life. If school children who are the club members belonging to different religious traditions, can work together on common projects and celebrate unity. When there are no possibilities for a direct contact with multi religious groups, due to the advancement of technology, teleconferencing can be conducted. In the virtual space, the students could interact and their young minds can be made malleable for a peaceful and harmonious society. As belonging to diverse religions and working on cultural and religious themes and projects they can celebrate the difference which will lead to an experiential way of understanding religiosity which will ingrain in their minds and will help to build a peaceful and harmonious society.
d) MultiCultural Townships
It is the style of the day to live in townships with all kinds of modern facilities. A model intercultural, interreligious township can be developed where people belonging to various cultures and religious traditions can live amicably. Such townships could contain, model schools, Colleges, teachers training facilities, hospital, technical training facilities – all accommodated into a University, playing grounds, multifaith prayer centers (temple, Vihara, Gurudwara, Church, Mosque) health clubs etc. Thus communities can live together and these can become a training place to expand the harmony and peace communities. An ideal place would be Bangalore which is already multicultural and multireligious with a technical and educational city with salubrious climate. The Government of India and the State Government of Karnataka are interested in developing private townships and thus a model Global multicultural multireligious village can be established. In the long run such model villages could be established in all over the world to be the bulwarks for globalised, peaceful and harmonious communities. Let me quote again from the great mystic who sung about the Universality of Humanity. It is the singular aim that we all have to strive to achieve! Then as we cross the boundaries of cultures and religions and become literate about other cultures and religions, we respect the other and appreciate ourselves, building I-Thou relationships fusing into a mobium.
Conclusion
Association of disconnectedness and conditions of unsettlement are also the fruits of Globalisation and in such a situation how humanity should strive for a peaceful and harmonious society? Cultural and religious identities are all the more emphasized and hence they are not entities to be discarded. They are effective means for creating a networking of relationships in the globalised society, of a flat world. If humanity is not making affirmative action for peace as a political goal, ethnic, cultural, religious genocides will be repeated which have been experienced through out the centuries as crusades, jihads, holocausts, genocides and ethnic cleansing. In a small way they are all happening in all over world. It is the duty of the enlightened to strive for global peace and the others will definitely come along. The physical theory of the solitons suggests that it is only a few that is going ahead, while the majority follow the leaders. So to train and mould world leaders of open mindedness through holistic intercultural and interreligious education for the next generation is the essential task of today. Entities like Al Akhawayan University, Ifrane, Morocco and the organisation The Scholarship are giving leadership in this endeavour along with others and I wish all the best for them and let us pledge our resources and energy on their behalf. Let me conclude this presentation with a quotation from my favourite mystic, Jalaluddin Rumi.
[19]What is to be done, O my friends, for I don’t know my own identity?
I am neither a Christian, nor a Jew, neither Zoroastrian nor Muslim.
I am neither from the East nor from the West neither from land nor from sea;
Neither from middle of nature nor from the revolving spheres.
Neither from dust nor from water, neither from air nor from fire,
Neither from the throne of God nor the earth;
Neither from air nor from existence nor entity.
Neither from India, nor China, neither from Bulgaria nor Scythia;
Neither from the land of the two Iraqs nor from the province of Khurasan.
Neither from the world nor the next; neither from Heaven nor Hell;
Neither from Adam nor Eve; neither from Paradise nor the garden of Eden.
The placeless is my place; the travel is my trace;
I have neither body nor soul for I belong to the soul of the beloved.
[1] John Dunne the American Roman Catholic theologian cited by Rt. Rev. Dr. John A. T. Robinson, Sunday Sermon in Trinity College Chapel, Cambridge, on Sunday, April 23, 1978.
[2] Arnold Toynbee, A Study of History, Oxford University Press, 1934-1961.
[3] Huntington, Samuel P., The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, New York, Simon & Schuster, 1996.
[4] 7th Global Ethic Lecture given by Helmut Schmidt, former federal Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, at the University of Tuebingen, 8th May 2007.
http://www.helmut-schmidt.htm/.
[5] Israela Silberman, et.all “Religion and World Change: Violence and Terrorism versus Peace”, Journal of Social Issues, Vol.61.No.4,2005, pp-761-784. p.762.
[6] Rumi, Mathnawi.
[7] Ronald Inglehart, The Silent Revolution, Princeton University Press, 1977. Ronald Inglehart, Culture Shift in Advanced Industrial Society, Princeton University Press, 1990. Ronald Inglehart, Human Beliefs and Values: A Cross-Cultural Sourcebook based on the 1999-2002 values Surveys. (co-edited with Miguel Basanez, Jaime Deiz-Medrano, Loek Halman and Ruud Luijkx). Mexico City: Siglo XXI, 2004. Ronald Inglehart, Pippa Norris, Sacred and Secular: Religion and Politics Worldwide, Cambridge University Press, 2004.
[8] The past two Presidential elections were fought on the issue of religiosity that showed a very strong and clear indication of religiosity and religiously driven values of the individuals and communities.
[9] Interview of Inglehart on 28 / 07 / 2004 on Forum Barcelona, 2004.
http://www.barcelona2004.org/eng/actualidad/noticias/html/f043945.htm 2002 Gujarat violence refers to incidents that took place in the state of
Gujarat in
India in the year 2002 involving reciprocal violence between Muslims and Hindus. Official Indian estimates, given to Parliament on
May 11,
2005 by the UPA-Congress government of Dr. Manmohan Singh based on Gujarat government statistics that 790 Muslims and 254 Hindus dead, 223 missing and 2548 injured. The report placed the number of riot widows at 919 and 606 children were declared orphaned.
[10] Immanuel Kant, The Critique of Pure Reason, The Critique of Practical Reason,
[11] I am grateful to my friend Sotiris Papantonopoulos for sharing with me his passion for alternative thinking and the content of the design course he is delivering at the Democritus University, Thrace, Xanthi, Greece. This quotation is from a paper he presented in Japan which was selected as one of the best ten among 400 papers.
[12] Sotiris. P. 6
[13] http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0503/p13s02-lire.html
[14] Helmut Schmidt, section III.
[15] Helmut Schmidt. Section VIII. Lecture at Tuebingen, www.schmidt-helmut.htm.
[16] Israela Silberman, et.all “Religion and World Change: Violence and Terrorism versus Peace”, Journal of Social Issues, Vol.61.No.4,2005, pp-761-784. p.769.
[17] Dr. Mrs Kala Acharya and Dr. Mrs Lalita Namjoshi, Tri-dal A Trilateral Dialogue, Hinduism, Christianity and Islam, “Education for Harmony and Peace”, Somaiya Publications, Mumbai, 2006. pp.99-100
[18] Kavungal, Devis. The Philosophical Foundation of Mahatma Gandhi’s Vision of Sarvodaya. Bangalore: Dharmaram, 2000.
[19] Mathnavi
