“national sovereignty [is] the strongest barrier to the effective formation of an international mind”
Nationalism is an outgrowth of the paranoia that infects human consciousness. And a very poisonous infection it is. “Last summer [2019] several scholars warned that a ‘new cold war’ between the superpowers could plunge the world into an intense military rivalry and thwart necessary cooperation against planetary threats like global warming, disease and deprivation.”[i]
Nationalism means loyalty and attachment to a nation, leading to a belief in superiority, rather than a Global worldview of equality. It makes anyone who doesn’t agree with you the other and therefore a pariah. Of course this leads to violence, and that’s where we are in America: “The road ahead looks even more forked than usual. Not only is the course of the corona virus pandemic uncertain [April 2020], but its possible social, political and economic consequences seem to point in wildly divergent directions: toward greater solidarity or intensified conflict; away from entrenched inequalities or deeper into authoritarianism; back to normal or through the looking glass.”[ii] It doesn’t seem like “back to normal” (P-B) is a good idea!
In America “There’s a symbiotic relationship between nationalism and religion. Human beings often mix their political belief with religious fervor. It allows them to think that they’re God’s agent. … It doesn’t take much theology to understand that what many of them at the Capitol that day [January 6, 2021] believed was that they were an army of God.”[iii]
Douglas Murray in his book The Strange Death of Europe (2017) provides an example of a decidedly “wrong view” of the direction humanity is taking, advocating for disintegration over integration. “A majority of his own countrymen, as a recent poll revealed, are proud of their former empire, and one might even argue that a xenophobic fantasy to regain imperial glory and power fueled Britain’s decision to leave the European Union.”[iv]
Transcending the illusions inherent in our institutions, which block the creation of higher states of awareness, is necessary to avoid increased human suffering. Both religion and nationalism are false-self driven worldviews trapping humanity in self-destructive behaviors. “As the Indian writer Rabindranath Tagore, a horrified witness to Europe’s suicidal nationalism in the early 20th century, once wrote: ‘In human beings differences are not like the physical barriers of mountains, fixed forever—they are fluid with life’s flow, they are changing their courses and their shapes and their volume,’ in what is a ‘world-game of infinite permutations and combinations.’”[v]
Insight # 93 comes to us from John Dewey (1859-1952) who was an American philosopher, psychologist and educational reformer. Dewey saw nationalism as a barrier to creating a sustainable human community through cooperation in organizations like the United Nations.
“Yet these interests are cut across and thrown out of gear by the traditional doctrine of exclusive national sovereignty. It is the vogue of this doctrine or dogma that presents the strongest barrier to the effective formation of an international mind which alone agrees with the moving forces of present-day labor, commerce, science, art, and religion.”[vi]
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Additional Reading:
- Nationalism, The ABC’s of Simple Reality, Vol 2
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[i] Odell, Rachel Esplin. “Can Democrats Avoid Trump’s China Trap.” The New York Times. May 11, 2020, p. A27.
[ii] Scott, A. O. “Once Upon a Timeline in America.” The New York Times, Sunday. April 26, 2020, p. 7.
[iii] Draper, Robert. “The Problem of Marjorie Taylor Greene: What the rise of the far-right congresswoman means for the House, the G.O.P. and the nation.” The New York Times Magazine, October 23, 2022, p. 43.
[iv] Mishra, Pankaj. “The Strangers in Their Midst.” The New York Times Book Review. September 17, 2018, p. 20.
[v] Ibid.
[vi] Durant, Will. The Story of Philosophy. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1926, p. 394.
