ghjk

1. Unity and Renewal
of Humankind
Joshva Raja, UTC, Bangalore

2. Unity of Humankind
 Oneness/Sameness – Living together in Unity
sharing resources with human dignity
 Monism – Belonging to Self – distinctions
 Unity VS Diversity
 Equality VS Differences
 Ecumenism VS Exclusivist views
 Pluralism VS Religious Coexistence
 Community VS Individualism

3. dualism (dvaita),
qualified monism
(visishtadvaita) and
monism (advaita)
are the three main schools of
metaphysical thought.
Indian Thoughts

4.  madhva said: - man is the servant of
god - and established his dvaita
philosophy. ramanuja said: - man is a
ray or spark of god - and established
his visishtadvaita philosophy. sankara
said: - man is identical with brahman
or the eternal soul - and established
his kevala advaita philosophy.

5.  A Dvaitin wants to serve the lord as a
servant. He wishes to play with the lord.
He wishes to taste the sugar-candy. A
Visishtadvaitin wants to become like lord
narayana and enjoy the divine. He does
not wish to merge himself or become
identical with the lord. He wishes to
remain as a spark. A jnani merges himself
in brahman. He wishes to become
identical with brahman. He wants to
become the sugar-candy itself.

6. Self
 Self – Natural, Human and Divine within everyone
 Martin Buber – Transcending the Self
 Natural self - reflective, reactive, destructive-
constructive, forgiving-destroying, selfish-selfless,
control,
 human self - educative, Liberative, give-take,
negotiate, adjustment, calculative, mutual co-existential
agreement, power seeking,
 divine self - sacrificial, giving, selfless, service to all,
no-boundaries,

7. Unity -Bahai
 Unity is of various kinds. Limited unities, such as unity based
on a common language, a common nationality, or a common
race are no longer adequate in the present age. `Abdu'l-Bahá
defined two levels of unity which yield benefit to humankind
today. The first is an intellectual realization that humanity is
one interdependent organic whole; and so any harm that
befalls one part of it affects all.5 As our thinking becomes
more universal, there gradually evolves within the individual, a
global consciousness, an awareness of the oneness of all
humanity at the spiritual level. This results in a spiritual
regeneration of humankind and in a higher level of unity, a
spiritual unity, which is even more beneficial for humanity.

8.  Another unity is the spiritual unity which emanates from the
breaths of the Holy Spirit. This is greater than the unity of
mankind. Human unity or solidarity may be likened to the
body whereas unity from the breaths of the Holy Spirit is the
spirit animating the body. This is a perfect unity. It creates
such a condition in mankind that each one will make sacrifices
for the other and the utmost desire will be to forfeit life and
all that pertains to it in behalf of another's good . . . This
unity is the very spirit of the body of the world . . . His
Holiness Jesus Christ . . . promulgated this unity among
mankind. Every soul who believed in Jesus Christ became
revivified and resuscitated through this spirit, attained to the
zenith of eternal glory, realized the life everlasting,
experienced the second birth and rose to the acme of good
fortune.6

9.  Some people think that unity inevitably means
uniformity. The Bahá'í aim, however, is to
preserve the rich diversity of human language,
culture, tradition, and thought on this planet,
while at the same time removing the causes of
conflict and contention that exist. The mere fact
that there are differences between people
should not inevitably lead to dissension and
strife. Looked at from another perspective, the
existence of differences could be celebrated as a
source of richness and variety.
 Tree and flowers

10. Narratives and Unity
• Breaking the narratives of disunity
• Distancing the narratives from the experience of
the real self
• Looking at the use of the narratives rather than
the rational or emotional conviction or
attachment to it
• Deconstructing the narratives with the
intercultural, inter-denominational, inter-
religious interactions

11. Narratives of Disunity
 Fear of evil
 Stereotypical images of the other
 Population explosion - misguided narratives of
the other - other as evil -
 monolithic group - with fundamentalist fixed
narratives
 Threat from outside that is the other
 Population and resource sharing
 Grassroots dialogue

12. Narratives of clashes
 Clash of Civilizations? - Huntington
 Clash of Economic interests? Chomsky
 Clash of Fundamentalism? Tariq Ali
 Clash of Ignorance? Edward Said
 Clash of Ideologies?
 Clash of Castes; linguistic chauvinism;
regionalism; racism; religions?
 Clash of Powers?
 Clash of Egoisms?

13. Population and Resource Sharing
people Resources
10-15%
20-30%
55-70%
60-70%
10-20%
7-10%
Unity impossible

14. Contrasts-dilemma in Unity
 Unity Vs diversity
 Not towards oneness rather towards living together in peace
and harmony
 Not accepting a religious pluralism rather dialogic interactive
coexistence
 Beyond ness as growing together
 Pluralism Vs religious coexistence
 Equality Vs differences
 Ideological threat - respect for human dignity - recognising
other’s rights
 Not eliminating the differences - equality is not sameness - not
discrimination against differences

15. Contrasts II
 Community Vs Individual Freedom
 Liberal Vs Cultural protectionism
 Neo-liberal prosperity Vs Poverty
 Non-violence Vs Oppression
 Human dignity/right Vs relationship
 Development Vs ecological balance
 Evangelism Vs dialogue

16. Lessons for Unity from A
Communication Perspective
 Contact, Relationship and understanding – not
communication is sin
 Recognizing ‘Commonness’ of all Communities
building – Discrimination at all level is wrong –
No culture has evolved without giving or
borrowing from other cultures – Breaking the
barriers -Denominational - Administrative -
doctrinal - economic - religious…

17. Lessons 2
 Meeting Points – Code – Recognition – Dialogic
– Pakistan India dialogue initiatives
- RSS Christian dialogue
 Walking down the streets to meet people -
Anna Prasada and Anna Dhana in Whitefield
 Eating with Refugees and Pavement dwellers
 Breaking boundaries – Aesthete – mad man –
lovers – drunkard – dreamers (Peter and Paul)

18. Christ as Example
 Church as one body
 You in Me and I in You
 Different sections of the body
 Accepting the other as they are with differences
 Going beyond oneself being guided by the Holy
Spirit
 Community and Communities

19. Unity in Christ
 Accepting others as they are
 Go to the people where they are
 Establishing contact and relationship among
those it is impossible to make
 Bring about understanding among the warring
communities
 Removal of Ignorance about the other and thus
communicate the right code to the people