A Vision for Humanity
Some time ago I had the great pleasure of being part of a group that met with Brazilian theologian and social activist, Frei Betto. At the time he was a Special Assistant to President Lula, heading a division of the government’s anti poverty Zero Hunger project. Our meeting was held within the awesome surrounds of the offices of the President in that architecturally inspired city, Brasilia.
We were a group of Ageless Wisdom students who use meditation as a means of service to humanity. While part of our discussions concerned the important role meditation and prayer can play in world renewal, the main theme was the inspiring work being done to eliminate hunger in Brazil. Considering Frei Betto’s background, and the warm atmosphere of our conversation, we should not have been surprised by the way the meeting ended – even if it was held in a room of the offices of the President of one of the most populous countries of the world. Yet there was something so deeply moving about it that memories of it continue to haunt me. Agreeing to lead us in a brief period of meditation, the Special Assistant to the President asked us to stand in a circle. “Please hold hands.” And then, in his quiet gentle voice he said: “Please close your eyes so you can see more clearly”.
I was reminded of this story when reflecting on the role that vision plays in our lives – and particularly the vision we have of humanity. We all have some sense of where things are headed and of what is really going on in the world, and this sense plays a powerful role in the way we respond to news of events and to the things that happen around us.
To see more clearly means to develop insight and far-sightedness, to see from a perspective of altitude. And to do this we need, for a time at least, to close our eyes. Then we can begin to see the incarnated world of time and space as the place in which a great drama is unfolding – it is not the time of consecutive moments, of seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks and years which frames this drama but rather the broader time of past, present and future; a dynamic in which the world is in process of becoming; a purposeful dynamic in which countless individual souls are maturing consciousness through experience; a dynamic in which, through memory of the past, through the intensity and beauty of the present, and the ever important sense of future destiny we are, each of us, constantly making the future. It is in this sense that vision conditions the way in which we design our lives and build towards the future.
Closing my eyes and reflecting upon the world of past present and future it seems to me that culture and civilization are in the midst of tumultuous change, driven, to a major extent by two powerful ideas or evolutionary surges propelling us all into the future. These have been building up through the generations, emerging into dominant historical forces throughout the past 50 years or so. First is the momentum towards wholeness: interdependence, synthesis, universality, globalization – call it what you will. Second is the momentum towards individuality, diversity, creativity, rights and freedoms. Together these two energies converge in the ‘slogan’ that shapes and conditions our times: Unity in Diversity. We are, it seems to me, heading towards an Age of Interdependence.
In social affairs and the human psyche there is an awakening sensitivity to wholeness, interdependence, universality. I am not suggesting, as we sometimes hear in New Age circles, that we are living in an age of enlightenment or that Love and Light are the dominant energies of our time. Clearly this is not the case. Yet there is a dynamic in psyche and society in which the ancient instinct of separation and identification with the separated self is being balanced by and in a state of tension with the newly emerging notion of wholeness. There is evidence of this dynamic in all fields of experience, of thought, of arts and sciences and it is through this dynamic that a new world is being born.
In the emerging global community it seems amply clear that the tension between living synthesis and national self-centeredness is at the heart of international relations. Just look at the issues that are so central to the economic, political and social affairs in all nations: environment, climate change, world trade, human rights, minority rights, the relations between men and women – in all of these issues there is a massive conversation taking place reaching into the sitting rooms and dinning rooms of most homes. It is a conversation that plays itself out in local and national politics as well as law, business and economic life, the arts and so on.
The problems we face are very much problems of our interdependence: global poverty affects all; world trade issues are fundamental to the economic debates in all societies; climate change is a topic of heated discussion in national and even local legislatures. These issues reflect the fact that the agenda of human affairs is being set by our collective response to issues of living synthesis – it is not surprising that the response includes a strong measure of resistance to the processes of dialogue, multilateral agreements, participatory planning and consensus building. The tension between separation and synthesis is a logical and to be expected part of the process. Yet the simple physical realities of, for example, climate change, the spread of deserts, global terrorism and global crime are such that ultimately societies have no choice but to adapt separative instincts to the circumstances of a world of unity in diversity.
The second dominant force concerns the sacredness of the individual, and what a force this is in the modern world. Never before in history has there been this focus of energy on the dignity, rights and humanity of each single member of the human race – from the tiniest newly born through to the most vulnerable of the older generation, even reaching back into hot debate about the rights of the fetus. This focus on the intrinsic worth of each separated individual also reaches beyond the human family in on-going serious discussions about the rights of animals, plants and other living forms.
It is a recognition of the potential power of Selfhood, and the importance of awakening the natural abilities of the self that lie behind modern views of empowerment, self-esteem, participatory democracy, microcredit and the entrepreneurial economy. In movements of living spirituality, within the traditional religions and outside of them, it is the powers of soul (selflessness, harmlessness, will to good) which are evoked.
In 1994 the world erupted in celebration when Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as the first President of the post-apartheid Rainbow Nation of South Africa. Mandela, together with his compatriot, Desmond Tutu, has emerged as one of the outstanding heroes of our age. His inaugural speech, broadcast around the world and watched by millions, captured something of the spirit of the modern vision of freedom and the power of the Self: Let each know that for each the body, the mind and the soul have been freed to fulfill themselves. Yet it is a curious quirk of history that it was some words that were not in the speech at all that attracted the most attention. A myth rapidly spread around the world that the inaugural address included a passage from the writings of Marianne Williamson: Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Nelson Mandela never quoted these words, but it is a sign of the significance of the new sense of the sacredness of the Self that millions came to believe the words were written by him, and used by him in his inaugural address.
Envisioning humanity in terms of the working out of dynamics of wholeness and individuality helps us to see the world as a space of becoming or unfolding. There are powerful counter forces opposing these trends, what Hans Kung has called ‘deviant forces’, in the form of fundamentalisms of all kinds and beliefs that ‘My way is the only way’. Yet the big picture shows inevitable movement towards a culture and civilization of Unity in Diversity.
Seeing the present and the future in this way is incredibly empowering. Looking at the world and at events in terms of creative tension between the evolutionary momentum towards Unity and opposing deviant trends calls forth our own commitment to the future. It engages the deepest recesses of the heart as our sense of meaning, purpose and identity are shaped around the will to serve in the unfolding of the future.
Through the impact of these two fundamental ideas of the twenty-first century a new, differently oriented human community is in process of emerging. And the driving force for this comes, I believe, not simply from leaders in different fields of life but from the massed group of all who find a measure of personal meaning and integrity in their will to create a better, more just, loving and unified world. In every town, city and neighbourhood of our extraordinary world there are people whose sense of purpose is unusually shaped by their love of humanity and their vision of a unity that is grounded in integrity and a sense of the inherent beauty and worth of human beings. This group of world servers is a new phenomenon in the history of the world – never before has there been a global group driving the evolutionary wave.
Yet I must be more honest than this. For I also believe that this impulse to bring to birth a new community is not simply a work of human freedom, not simply ‘our’ task, although ‘our’ part in the work is of immense significance. It is an impulse that comes from the within-ness of things, from that mysterious realm where, in the scientist and poet Brian Swimme’s words, the universe shivers with wonder in the depths of the human. The Universe, inner and outer, with all of its potencies of fiery love, and its Great Spirits of Wisdom Vision and Compassion directs us in this path towards a Culture of Interdependence and Right Relationships. But the incarnation of that culture can only happen through us (the millions of ‘us’s), through our lives, through our relationships, our response to vision, our will to be the future. As we play our part (no matter how insignificant our part may appear to be) then we can expect inspiration, guidance and a sense of vision to flow from the Great Ones on the inner side of life.