Integrating Modern Science, Religions and Spirituality for Enhancing Peace and Well Being: A Challenge of 21st Century

7^th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON PEACE AND NONVIOLENT ACTION

7^th ICPNA, Jaipur, November 10 to 14, 2008

TUESDAY,  November 11, 2008

WORKSHOP

1. Introduction

The socio-economic, political and the physical environments around us are changing at a fast pace and impacting human health, peace and development. A review of the present trends strengthens the common perception that in the 21st century, the future holds great opportunities for all-round progress and enhancing wellness but also greater risk for peril and self-destruction. We are standing at crossroads, where humanity must carefully choose its path and future course of action.

The major risks factors for the future peaceful development are presented by (a) the unbalanced materialistic world-vision and (b) loss of ethical values leading to the dominance of  capitalistic economic systems aimed at maximizing profits, accumulation of wealth in few hands, inequitable distribution of socio-economic benefits, increasing social conflicts and emergence of unsustainable and violent life-styles. We suggest that the development of a rational universal ethical system integrating modern science with the essence of religious thought and spirituality could be a long-term strategy to reduce the risks associated with the present trends. This is discussed in greater detail in the following.

2. Present World Scenario and Global Trends

Spectacular advances in science and technology, particularly in the last few decades, have led to great economic progress and creation of wealth by rapid industrialization, production of new materials and products, use of new ways of transportation, instant communication, automation and artificial intelligence, making life more comfortable and exciting by opening new avenues for human creativity and activity. Progress in medical science and health care has led to reduction in mortality and significant enhancement of average life span in almost all the countries in the world.  Today’s dominant world views and life-styles are, therefore, conditioned largely by advances in science and technology, having replaced religion as the final source of knowledge.

2.1. Science, Technology and Economy of Maximizing Profits and Consumerism

Serious doubts have been expressed, nevertheless, in recent years about the unlimited progress of materialistic science in view of the huge environmental pollution and degradation being inflicted by the modern life-styles and socio-economic systems. These encourage unnecessary high consumption coupled with excessive production of material goods leading to enormous production of hazardous waste and depletion of natural resources. Furthermore, tremendous risks are involved in the potential harmful applications and misuse of technologies, for example in the development and production of weapons of mass destruction. Some of the new and dramatic breakthroughs at the frontiers of science, such as the advances in technology of reproduction, possibilities of human cloning, designer babies, animal organ transplantation, embryonic stem cell research, are giving rise to moral dilemmas. These highly debated controversial issues sometimes tend to restrict the freedom of scientific pursuit.

The basic assumption underlying scientific quest, its theories and doctrines is that all phenomena in the universe have a material basis and as such can be explained without incorporating supra-physical or spiritual factors. In contrast, religious knowledge assumes the existence of non-material elements (soul/consciousness, divinity) as essential parts of reality. Most importantly, however, the present ethical values and codes for moral conduct have been derived mainly from the religious philosophies, knowledge and beliefs. Classical science and technologies have not been able to address, as yet, the issues of consciousness and morality in human conduct. The extraordinary achievements of science and technology, however, tend to weaken the faith in the existence and power of a supernatural entity governing the universe. The apparent disharmony between science, religions and spirituality on vital issues of personal and social interests is instrumental in the rapid decline of ethical values, enhanced behavioral problems, socio-economic tensions and violence.

Present world scenario is dominated by the capitalistic global socio-economic systems supported by the advances in modern science and technology. The capitalist economy, based on the concept of private ownership of wealth and assets, is driven by the forces of the free marketplace and greed aimed at maximizing profits by promoting consumption and growth without any limits. In capitalistic societies, individuals are free to compete with each other, to enter into contracts, to buy and sell goods and services, including their own ability to work. The governments in democratic countries are supposed to protect the individual’s right to act freely without interference. The general index used in this system to measure development is the gross national product (GNP), which is only a crude measure of economic progress and does not reflect social wellness. Increasing GNP does not take into account factors important for sustainability and social wellbeing and may hide many negative aspects such as depletion of vital resources, environmental pollution and degradation, health and education status, social disruptions and distress.

This capitalistic global economic system has encouraged accumulation of wealth and power in a few hands, excessive exploitation of natural and human resources and huge production of waste by obsolescence or “creative destruction.” The dominant binding forces effective in social relationships, under this system, are the private selfish interests and individual benefits with little regard to the interests, needs and wellbeing of others. The urge to maximize profits and increase productivity stimulates the desire to dominate others. These forces have contributed to vast inequities between haves and have-nots resulting in the denial of even the basic facilities (such as shelter, food, health care and education) to the large majority of the population creating an unjust social environment. According to a report, income of richest 225 persons in the world is estimated to equal that of poorest 2.7 billion or 40% of the world’s population. The uneven and unfair distribution of wealth and power between different nations, cultural groups and individuals and continued exploitation of the poor and weak is giving rise to new socio-political conflicts, increasing anger, terrorism and violence as never before.

Over the past few decades, rapid globalization, driven and promoted mainly by economic considerations, has led to the emergence of a global marketplace where large multi-national corporations (MNC’s) can expand, play the dominant role and influence the economic policies and political decisions of governments to suit their own benefits disregarding the general wellbeing, thus creating a conflict of interests between business and society. It is fashionable to talk about corporate social responsibility, but little is implemented in practice to make an impact.

2.2. Role of Religions in the Modern World

Evolution of civilizations and knowledge has been profoundly influenced by religions from the very beginning. Religions are socio-cultural organizations professing faith in certain doctrines regarding the creation, conduct and future of the universe. Most theistic religions believe that a supernatural, omniscient, omnipotent and immortal power (Divinity or God) has created and determines all phenomena in the world for all time to come. Most importantly, many religious belief systems developed over a period of time in different regions of the world have provided guiding principles for regulating human social conduct and spiritual evolution. The moral behaviors are prescribed by scriptures or prophets as the “words of God” in the form of commandments, duties, and rituals, of the particular sects. It is stated that followers who comply with the moral code will be rewarded whereas non-compliance will attract suffering in the present life or afterlife. Religion specific ethics solely based on faith have served a valuable purpose in regulating human behavior in the past when we had little explicit knowledge of how nature works.

History, however, shows that religious fundamentalism is also associated with great risks. Many different religions have been developed over a time period in the world, each claiming to be supreme and professing to present the absolute and universal truth. Very often zealous followers of diverse religions and sects wish to impose their convictions, traditions and values on all others. Excessive importance is accorded to the rituals and modes of worship, neglecting or forgetting the spiritual and ethical dimensions of religious thought. Such dogmatic and blind beliefs in the superiority of their own religions and rituals have often been exploited to convert, cause conflicts and sufferings to gain power and wage wars between civilizations. Unfortunately, such negative tendencies and ignorance about the essential religious doctrines and ethical values among the followers are still very much prevalent and are even being strengthened in some parts of the world. Such perversions have brought religions in disrepute.

To sustain the diversity of cultures in the emerging pluralistic global society, relativistic attitudes respecting different religions, belief systems and world-views are more relevant and need to be emphasized and practiced.

2.3. Emergence of Unsustainable Life-Styles, Environmental Damage and Violence

Lifestyles are expressions of the way individuals live and interpret their lives in relation to the physical and social environments. The life vision and world-views link the socio-cultural and socio-economic structures to personal beliefs, attitudes and behavior. The present global trends, interacting in complex ways, are leading to unsustainable lifestyles worldwide, which pose formidable challenges for the future survival, wellbeing, peace and evolution of humanity. Serious attempts to appropriately change the lifestyle trends are necessary to prevent the likelihood of harm to future generations. Let us, therefore, examine in some detail the major determinants that influence the lifestyles.
A large number of social and personal factors interact in a complex way in the development of lifestyle’s web; these include:

• Socio-Cultural, Religious & Physical Environments
• Socio-Economic Status
• Status of Science & Technology
• World-views & Ethical Systems
• Awareness of Self and Purpose

A simple model depicting the way the various factors may contribute in the current development of non-sustainability of lifestyles is presented in Fig.1a.

The economic growth associated with developments of science and technology has fostered energy intensive and highly consumptive life styles resulting in huge increase in demand and supply of variety of products, excessive exploitation of natural resources, increased use of hazardous chemicals and massive production of toxic and environment- polluting waste products. The inefficient and indiscriminate use of energy, water, land, and poor management of waste by the industry as well as the consumers are causing serious environmental degradation and pollution. Excessive use/misuse of man-made toxic chemicals in agriculture, industry, healthcare and at home (petrochemicals, pesticides, insecticides, metals, antibiotics and cyto-toxic drugs, to mention only a few as examples) is contaminating the air, water and food supply. Significant increases in the incidences of environment and life-style related chronic and lethal diseases, new and old, have been observed in recent years.

The continued and unlimited pursuit of such highly consumptive and environment polluting life-styles, encouraged by the socio-economic systems in the developed countries, cannot be sustained by earth’s resources and have already started affecting the environment, health and the global climate. The United Nations Environment Program estimates that on per capita basis, the world is consuming   one third more resources than the regenerating capacity of the earth. According to New Economics Foundation (NEF) think tank, if everyone in the world had the same consumption rates as in the US it would take 5.3 earths to support them. Following similar trends, the consumption and environmental pollution by the growing human populations in the developing countries, like China and India, are also rising rapidly.

There is now sufficient scientific evidence suggesting that human activities, responsible for changes in the composition of the atmosphere, are significantly contributing to global warming. Enhanced concentrations of air pollutants and greenhouse gases (including carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), ozone (O3), and water vapor) derived from burning of fossil-fuels (coal, oil, gas), agricultural activities (use of inorganic fertilizers, animal husbandry) and changes in land use (deforestation, for example) are contributing significantly to global warming. Industrial activities resulting in emissions of carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), halocarbons (CFC’s) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), such as butane and propane, also cause large changes in tropospheric ozone, which may contribute to the formation of ozone holes, permitting more harmful ultra-violet radiations to reach the earth.

In future, the availability of water for human consumption, agriculture, and industry may be adversely affected because of increased salinity of ground water, decreased river flow and enhanced evaporation. According to an estimate by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 120 million -1.2 billion people in Asia, 75-250 million in Africa and 12-81 million in Latin America may be exposed by 2020 to increased water scarcity.

Thus, in the present scenario, non-sustainable life-styles are emerging rapidly and could lead to adverse consequences if the present trends continue. The trends associated with the greatest risks are summarized below:

1. Dominance of capitalistic global socio-economic systems based on maximizing profits promoting self-interest, inequitable  distribution of benefits, accumulation of wealth, enhancing consumption and growth without any limits.
   
   
2. Increasing use of indiscriminate violent and destructive methods as viable strategies in the socio-political environments to express anger, to achieve selfish ends, resolve conflicts and gain power by individuals, by marginalized groups, religious and political fundamentalists, criminals and failed states.
   
   
3. Promotion of hazardous, unethical and inappropriate applications of technology for short-term economic and political gains by vested interest groups with total disregard of environmental and social wellness.
   
   
4. High rates of production of toxic waste coupled with depletion of vital natural resources, leading to serious environmental damage, global warming and climate change.

A challenging task in the 21st century is to check the expansion of the non-sustainable life-styles.

3.  Ideal Life -Vision according to Theory of Purusharthas

What is the purpose of life and how a life should be lived in the human society to ensure social well-being and peace for sustainable development?

In this context, it would be interesting to refer to the “Theory of Purusharthas” expounded in Indian philosophy of life. Theory of purusharthas provides an integrated life-vision and guiding principles for social and personal well-being.  Purusharth is a Sanskrit word meaning pursuit of human values, purposes or goals. Four major goals for human life (chaturvarga) have been described viz.

1. acquisition ofmaterial possessions of all kinds (artha),
   
   
2. pursuit of pleasure resulting from fulfillment of desires (kama);
   
   
3. conforming to the system of moral obligations and values (dharma); and
   
   
4. seeking spiritual evolution through self-realization to a perfect state of eternal bliss free from suffering,  from attachment to worldly objects and desires, from karma,  from the cycle of birth and death (moksha).

The first three purusharthas viz. artha, kama and dharma (trivarga) constitute interconnected goals of life essentially in a social setup. Dharma acts to regulate and balance the pursuits of artha, the material possessions, and kama, the pursuit of desires and pleasures, in a way that ensures social stability, harmony and well-being. A balanced relationship between artha and kama regulated by dharma is crucial for the well-being of all the members of the society. Fulfillment of desires usually involves artha as well as interactions, cooperation or conflicts with other members of the society and as such impacts all, in one way or the other. Realizing this empirical truth, dharma offers formulation of an appropriate ethical system of norms, values and rules to determine which type of desires and the means to fulfill them (kama) are worthwhile and ought to be pursued under the given situations and circumstances. Observance of dharma, therefore, becomes a precondition for the success of kama, happiness and social well-being. Dharma also serves in the more personal spiritual process seeking self-realization. Both the roles of dharma, in the social and personal realms, are interconnected and important, since a society is constituted by groups of individuals.

Moksha, the supreme aim of the highest value in human life, is concerned with the spiritual evolution of the individual. Many concepts about moksha and spirituality exist. Moksha is different than dharma, though pursuit of dharma is a step towards moksha, which in turn helps in the practice of dharma. Similarly, spirituality is different from religion, though mystical spiritual experiences of the prophets might have contributed to the origins of religions and conversely the religious practices could lead to spiritual enlightenment.

Spirituality seeks to understand the true nature of the “Self”. The Indian tradition postulates that an essential characteristic of a living-being (jeev), from the very beginning, is the strong blending of a non-material entity, spirit / soul (atman) or consciousness (chetana), with the physical body. The soul, distinct from the body, is believed to be indestructible and it incarnates into a new life-form (such as human, animal, insect, microbe or plant) after the death of the physical body. This cycle of death and rebirth continues till the soul is completely purified, free from karma and achieves salvation (moksha), the supreme goal of spiritual evolution. Though the various Indian religious traditions (Hindu, Jain, Budhhist, and Sikh) may differ somewhat in detail in their concepts and ways to achieve moksha, yet the basic ideas show similarities. Spiritual development begins with the realization that our true self or being is the soul, not the material body. Meditation helps to experience this truth by turning our attention from the external world to the spiritual realms within, thereby transforming the innate personality. Contemplation on the true nature of the soul and its relation with the divine, the supreme reality, brings spiritual enlightenment.  This process of self-realization gradually purifies the soul and transforms the state of consciousness leading to the right attitudes, knowledge and conduct in regard to the nature, the unity, diversity and interdependence of all life-forms, thus generating equanimity, enhancing compassion, understanding and patience towards those around us.

Over the centuries, several techniques of meditation have been developed and practiced for progress on the path of spirituality and well-being. Beneficial effects of meditation on the health and behavior have been demonstrated in recent empirical studies. For example, it has been shown that practice of meditation lowers blood pressure, decreases respiratory and heart rates, strengthens the immune responses and changes the galvanic skin responses. Empirical studies on practitioners of Transcendental meditation and Mindfulness based meditation have confirmed reduced levels of stress and anxiety, greater calm, emotional regulation, self-restraint and compassion.  More recently, neurobiological correlates of meditation and spiritual experiences are being investigated using sophisticated electromagnetic and metabolic imaging methods. These studies have demonstrated, despite rather large intra- and inter-individual variations, statistically significant structural and functional changes in the brains (frontal and prefrontal areas are generally activated) of the subjects practicing meditation. It is noteworthy, that the scientific empirical studies carried out so far support, by and large, the traditional accounts found in scriptures and ancient literature.

Thus, according to the theory of purusharthas, ideal human lives aimed at acquiring material possessions to fulfill desires for pleasure, appropriately regulated by acceptable moral principles and values conducive to social well-being, also lead to further spiritual evolution of individuals. These are essential goals for well balanced, harmonious and progressive societies, ancient or modern. The relative values assigned to the four purusharthas, may vary somewhat depending on the stages of personal and social developments and circumstances, determining the preferred life-styles.

Analyzing the contemporary societies in the light of theory of Purusharthas, one could celebrate the extraordinary success in developing affluent, comfortable and pleasure seeking life-styles, thanks mainly to the advances of modern science and technology. However, at the same time, emergence of the potentially harmful and unhealthy trends, as discussed in sec. 2.3., send strong warnings that the non-sustainability of the highly consumptive life-styles could cause environmental damage, social instability and violent conflicts, which might lead to decadence or even likely self-destruction. The major reasons for such an imbalance are:

• Over-emphasis on the materialistic aspects giving priority and high value to accumulation of wealth and possessions (artha) to fulfill all sorts of desires and passions for pleasure (kama) without restraint. 
• Creation of moral void due to loss of faith in the religious belief systems and ethics (dharma). This has been induced mainly by inter-religious differences, the impact of extraordinary achievements of modern science and technology on the common man and apparent incompatibility between religious and scientific worldviews.

To sum-up, the non-sustainable and violent life-styles are expanding primarily due to the loss of the regulatory roles of the present ethical systems. Weakening of ethical values has seriously perturbed the balance between the four purusharthas.

It is suggested that the balance between the various determinants of life-vision and styles can be restored by integrating the essential principles of modern scientific knowledge, religions and spirituality to develop, propagate and implement a rational universal ethical system based on a holistic world-vision.

Hopefully, successful formulation and compliance of a rational universal ethical system as envisaged here will put a break in the further expansion of non-sustainable life-styles and help to develop life-styles that promote sustainable well-being and peace in all sections of the global society. This is depicted schematically with the help of a simple model in Figs 1a and 1b.

A  Attitudes D Demands, Desires L Laws N Needs, Necessities R Rules S Supply T Traditions V Values   Consumer Capitalism supported by advances in Science & Technology becomes the major life-style determinant in the Global Society.

A  Attitudes D Demands, Desires L Laws N Needs, Necessities R Rules S Supply T Traditions V Values   Integration of Science, Religions & Spirituality for developing a Holistic Worldview & an Universal Ethical System

The ethical systems developed by different social groups and cultures at different time periods in the history of mankind can be broadly classified in 3 categories:

• Mystical systems: living in accordance with commandments, duties, and rituals, prescribed by scriptures or spiritual experiences of prophets of the particular religious sects.
  
  
• Naturalistic systems: living in society in harmony with laws of nature based on the natural cause and effect relations.
  
  
• Universal or Intercultural systems:  Finding common grounds, values and norms between different cultures and religions in the spirit of unity in diversity, interdependence, equality and non-superiority.

Modern knowledge societies prefer reason over dogma as the valid method for establishing moral conduct. Codes of human conduct need to be in conformity with the Natural Laws based on natural cause and effect relations. Therefore, our ethical systems should be reframed to meet the present challenges in the light of a rational and holistic view of modern advances in scientific methodology and knowledge about (a) natural material world; (b) innate instincts, desires, emotions, interests and needs of human beings; (c) evolution of consciousness and modifications of human behaviors by conscience, mind and reason, development of cultures, religions and social organizations.

This is a challenging and complex task requiring cooperation and collaboration of scholars from many disciplines. We expect that the current advances in our understanding of physics, biology, neurosciences with increasing interest in studies of consciousness and spirituality, religions and social sciences will enable us to meet this challenge. Outlines of an action plan that may be helpful to initiate efforts are given below.

1. Formation of a Task Force:  This will be a small core group (6-10 members with one Principal Coordinator) of dedicated scholars and experts from different disciplines. The group should include philosophers and scientists (physicists, biologists, geneticists, neuroscientists), psychologists, sociologists, scholars in comparative religions, practitioners of yoga and meditation. The members can form study circles to help them in the areas of their interests. The task force will define the areas that need to be discussed.
   
   
2. Formulation of a Project Proposal: The task force will formulate a proposal for further work with well defined objectives and coordinated sub-projects. This proposal will be reviewed and discussed in a meeting to be convened by the Principle Coordinator within a period of one year after the setting-up of the task force.
   
   
3. Submission of the final Project Proposal for sponsorship by an interested and adequately equipped academic institution/ university and funding by national and international agencies.