Talk as much philosophy as you please, worship as many gods as you like, observe all ceremonies, sing devoted praises to any number of divine beings—liberation never comes, even at the end of hundreds of eons, without the realization of the Oneness of Self. —Shankara
We can no longer ignore the insights of our most profound thinkers. Possibly the greatest of the philosophers of the East, Shankara, reveals to those of us who will listen, the solution to all of the problems facing the human community today.
Rita Chin, author of The Crisis of Multiculturalism in Europe, has some valuable observations concerning one of those problems which is, in fact, only a symptom of the collapse of the global civil society. “Multiculturalism, in Chin’s account, appears largely to be a problem for people who have long been accustomed to an identity built on domination and exclusion, and are panicked by its slow crumbling.” (1)
The operative word in that last sentence is “accustomed.” The human community has been conditioned to a narrative or context containing outmoded and delusional beliefs, attitudes and values. This worldview has created an identity among our species that over “time” will result in our self-destruction. Our time is almost up and we must turn to those sages who have recommended a new worldview which will result in a new identity for all of us and new sustainable behaviors.
In his book, The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam, Douglas Murray seems to feel that Europeans may be engaging in self-destructive behavior. Rita Chin agrees: “Chin vigorously tackles the ‘shared presumption,’ recklessly echoed by even mainstream politicians in Britain, France and Germany, that multiculturalism is a failure. ‘Declaring multiculturalism dead,’ Chin argues, ‘is a way of white Britons, Germans and French telling immigrants, ‘We don’t recognize you; you aren’t a part of our society.’” (1)
It is imperative that we learn to live together in one Global Village. “The human being is human because of the nurture of other human beings and will not survive without them. Or, if love and caring are supplied only minimally, he may survive biologically but without the qualities of humanity that elevate him above the common animal host.” (2) Civilization itself hangs in the balance.
Among the related pairs contained in Simple Reality which help us distinguish reality from illusion are integration and disintegration. The people of the Global Village have chosen to go down the path of disintegration.
Click on the link below to see what the path of integration looks like.
Insight #55: Who sees all beings in his own Self, and his own Self in all beings, loses all fear. — Isa Upanishad
Link:
- Oneness on this blog and in the printed book The ABCs of Simple Reality, Vol 2, by Roy Charles Henry, page 13.
References:
- Mishra, Pankaj. “The Strangers in Their Midst.” The New York Times Book Review. September 17, 2018, page 21.
- Gaylin, Willard. Adam and Eve and Pinocchio: On Being and Becoming Human. New York: Penguin, 1990, page 84.
