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Friends,
We are meeting at a critical juncture in the long and tortuous history of the human race on Planet Earth. We are now involved in the most significant and comprehensive of the many transitions that have taken place in human civilisation, the transition to a global society. Powered by science and technology, all aspects of life on the planet have been transformed beyond recognition in our own lifetimes. The brilliant breakthroughs into space technology, extra-galactic cosmology and sub-nuclear physics have opened out infinite possibilities for creative activity in the centuries ahead. Many of the scientific achievements, such as in communications and agriculture, medicine and surgery, have been of inestimable value to the human race. On the other hand, the destructive power of scientific activity has also come dramatically to the fore, specially the capacity for thermo-nuclear weapons of unprecedented lethality of which there are now enough to destroy not only the entire human race but all life on this planet many times over. Another threat is the increasing level of environmental pollution and global warming caused by our hyper-consumerist society.
2. The same curious dichotomy is also found in the field of religion. Along with science, religion represents one of the greatest achievements of the human race. Much that is noble and abiding in human civilisation can be traced back to the great religions of the world – sacred and devotional literature, moral codes and spiritual disciplines, art and architecture, painting and sculpture, dance and music, all have their roots in the religious experience. However, here again it is a cruel irony that over the last many centuries more people have been massacred and tortured, persecuted and pulverised in the name of religion than in any other name. Despite the obvious fact that the immeasurable brilliance of the divine cannot be imprisoned within any one creed or doctrine, and the increasing possibility that there could be millions of other worlds that have nurtured consciousness in our universe, the persistence of fanaticism and fundamentalist approaches is causing unprecedented turbulence in human society. The ancient wisdom of "many paths to the divine" has been largely replaced either by a narrow exclusivism or by a rejection of religion itself.
3. Thus we find that both religion and science have had a mixed record in the past. But as we move into the third millennium AD, it is clear that we can no longer afford the luxury of this ambivalent approach. In new the context, a malign manifestation of disruptive science or fanatic religion can wreck havoc which will not be confined to any one part of the world but would assume global dimensions. The real challenge before philosophers today, therefore, is to construct a new paradigm to evolve a global ethic that would enable the human race to navigate safely the hazards that it faces and move beyond the into a sane and harmonious global society. This involves creative thinking outside the rigid schools and traditions of the past, drawing whatever is best from the cultural heritage of humanity but reaching out boldly to new concepts and formulations. As the World Scientists Warning to Humanity stated in 1993, "A great change in our stewardship of the earth and the life on it is required if vast human misery is to be avoided and our global home on this planet is not to be irretrievably mutilated… A new ethic is required."
4. There have been several notable efforts of late to structure and articulate such a global ethic. An interfaith gathering organised by the Worldwide Fund for Nature in the great Cathedral of St Francis in Assisi in 1986 represented a unique attempt on behalf of five world religions to craft declarations regarding Man and Nature. Later other world religions also joined in the exercise and taken together the Assisi Declarations are an excellent approach to one of the most pressing and urgent problems facing the human race today, the prime necessity of safeguarding our natural environment. If human civilisation is to progress peacefully and creatively on Planet Earth, a pre-requisite is to preserve the planet itself from the gross exploitation to which it has been subjected, particularly over the last hundred years. This will necessarily involve a movement away from hyper-consumerism to more sustainable lifestyles, particularly in the affluent nations, The post-Rio experience has been disappointing, and ecological values will need to become central to any new philosophical formulation for the global society.
5. Another important aspect of a global ethic is the relationship between human beings inter se. Here again the important Parliament of Worlds’ Religions held in Chicago in 1993 came up with a declaration entitled Towards a Global Ethic which is an excellent document dealing concisely but effectively with the whole gamut of problems faced by the human race. Its keynote is the realisation that without a new global ethic there can be no new global order, and that the long-standing rivalry between various religions must be transcended in a creative interfaith dialogue that would stress their spiritual unity rather than their doctrinal difference. The golden thread of mystical experience that weaves together all the great religions of the world needs to be nurtured and the interfaith movement must become much more effective than it has been so far. In this context I would warmly commend the Assisi Declaration, the Chicago Declaration and other such significant documents to the attention of this distinguished gathering. I must add that often in gatherings such as this, we end up preaching to the converted. What we really need is a widespread diffusion and articulation of there concepts so that they reach the general public and sharpen their responses to the evolutionary crisis that humanity now faces.
6. The whole dimension of education in fact is vital for the development of an effective ethical structure. We have to promote an educational paradigm that harmonises the insights of science and religion in a new global ethic so that humanity succeeds in its quest for a higher consciousness. At present the differing and multifarious educational systems around the world not only lack the global dimension, but often propagate attitudes and theories that are anachronistic and negative in their impact. While it is obviously not possible for us to restructure the educational curricula of 200 and odd nations, an important attempt was made in the Report for the UNESCO International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century, entitled Learning: the Treasure Within published in 1996, a document of abiding importance for educationists and philosophers around the world. I had the privilege of being one of the fifteen members of the Commission, and I concluded my personal statement appended to the Report with the following paragraphs which I would like to present on this occasion because they encapsulate the universal concepts that, as I see it, must form the basis of a global ethic:
7. "Let us, then, with utmost speed, pioneer and propagate a holistic educational philosophy for the 21st century based upon the following premises:
* that the planet we inhabit and of which we are all citizens – Planet Earth – is a single, living, pulsating entity; that the human race in the final analysis is an interlocking, extended family – Vasudhaiva kutumbakam – as the Veda has it; and that differences of race and religion, nationality and ideology, sex and sexual preferences, economic and social status – though significant in themselves – must be viewed in the broader context of global unity;
* that the ecology of Planet Earth has to be preserved from mindless destruction and ruthless exploitation, and enriched for the welfare of generations yet unborn; and that there should be a more equitable consumption pattern based on limits to growth, not unbridled consumerism;
* that hatred and bigotry, fundamentalism and fanaticism, and greed and jealousy, whether among individuals, groups or nations, are corrosive emotions which must be overcome as we move into the next century; and that love and compassion, caring and charity, and friendship and co-operation are the elements that have to be encouraged as we transit into our new global awareness;
* that the world’s great religions must no longer war against each other for supremacy but co-operate for the welfare of the human race, and that through a continuing and creative interfaith dialogue, the golden thread of spiritual aspiration that binds them together must be strengthened instead of the dogma and exclusivism that divides them;
* that a massive and concerted drive is needed to eradicate the scourge of illiteracy world-wide by the year 2010, with special emphasis on promoting female literacy, particularly in the developing countries;
* that holistic education must acknowledge the multiple dimensions of the human personality – physical, intellectual, aesthetic, emotional and spiritual – thus moving towards the perennial dream of an integrated individual living on a harmonious planet."
8. It is significant that our gathering is taking place in Switzerland, one of the most beautiful countries in the world, and in this historic city of Geneva. Switzerland is a multi-linguistic nation which has peacefully harmonised many different ethnic groups and has also, despite constant turmoil in Europe for centuries, managed to maintain its neutrality. The home of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the World-wide Fund for Nature, the World Health Organisation, the Green Cross International, the International Telecommunications Organisation and many other global organisations, it was also the venue for the first serious attempt to set up a World Federation – the League of Nations. Today let the new global ethic spring from here and, like the magnificent fountain of the lake of Geneva, become a landmark in the history of philosophy. This is only possible if we realise that ultimately the harmony we seek lies within the deepest recesses of our own consciousness. It is there that we must find the divine light, what the Bible calls the light that lighteth every man that cometh into this earth; the Roohani Noor of the Sufis, the Ek Onkar of the Sikh Gurus, the Light of the Atman of the Vedanta. In the darkness and confusion that surrounds us, it is this inner light alone that can give us the courage, the wisdom and the compassion to move onwards, astride the irreversible arrow of the Time, into the future that awaits us.
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