The Globalization of Spirituality

Very confused article. Are you against philanthropy or against pop-spirituality? If it`s the latter, then I have to agree with you- in this day and age, giving credence to the astrologers, tarot-card readers, feng shui consultants and what-have-you is plain stupid. It panders to the scared superstitious child in us, and that`s just not healthy.

But if you think Warren Buffet giving away 31 billion of his hard-earned dollars or Bill Gates trying to change lives through his foundation is to be tarred by the same brush, you`ve lost me. Completely. However cute your sardonic references are, it makes no sense to me. If someone is doing good, any good, that`s better than not doing it. simple as that.

And frankly, analysing Maslow`s theory is first-year B-school stuff. It`s almost embarrassing to see it posturing as an opinion piece.

(New-age spiritualism has made fantastic inroads into our mind-spaces in the last few years. So, what is spiritualism doing in the midst of the most intense materialism human history has ever witnessed?)

What was the point ?

Saima

Sorry, You failed to make one solid point. Very unimpressive article. This article is written in haste.

You lack goal orientation adn goal directedness. You are all over the place, but, as a matter of fact, you are No where.

Regards

oh la la ! someone could smell some smoke over here.

I recall a cartoon piece (Hagar the Horrible)

`It`s like pasta, it`s messy but yummy.`

I rephrase that line:

`It`s like pasta, it`s messy but yummy in parts.`

No offence meant.

Dear Saima Shah,

The original official translation (till the mid 1980s) of the word Unity, Faith and Discipline was : Itehad (Unity), Tanzeem (Discipline) and Faith (Yaqeen-e-Muhkam - firm belief in yourself)

In the mid 1980s, faith was translated as Imaan as in belief in the religious sense.

But since this is such an issue what about the more obviously ``Ram Rajya`` in practice and what of half naked witchdoctors invoking religion and running on an ego trip and acting like spiritual dictators ... that is the anti-thesis of any positive spirituality if you ask me.

-YLH

Good to see muslims finally waking up and becoming spiritual. Too much kneeling and bobbing can be injurious to your spirituality.

Will have to read the article a few times over to see what the central message here is. At first reading, it seems to be a very Islamic article - where human ideals like inclusiveness are rejected for their own value, but are taken up under the overarching doctrine of temporal necessity that must shape shape all Islamic interactions with non-Muslims.

Instead, we the colonized are flattered that ‘our’ culture is being globalized.


You get flattered and you get to wear pants...

So you gave the west deepak chopra and the west gave you pants...all in all, an awesome bargain for you...

I have pondered the question many many times and came up with the same answer that a human being has absolutely no reason to be `good`, unless he believes in God. Therefore, if one does not believe in God, the so called spirituality is absolutely an unreasonable human trait. Even Budhism, allegedly the world`s only atheist religion, could not do away God for long or that of dogma of reincarnation. Today a Buddhist is good because he believes in the dogma of reincarnation. So what are we left with; Choppra? What he tells you basically is what happens to you in afterlife, without mentioning God. Ask him this simple question - how does he know about afterlife.

striving for inclusiveness will inevitably mean giving up a piece of yourself to make room for new pieces. You cannot pick and choose attributes in the globalized world.

Re: # 10; You should ponder some more. You don;t need to god to be good. Do unto others is a social darwinistic phenomenon copied by god.

``what is spiritualism doing in the midst of the most intense materialism``

whether capitalist`s philanthropy is spirituality or simple indigestion due to over eating -- hard to know -- but it is an old phenomenon.

it is an attempt to relieve gas buildup of materialistic over ingestion and over amassing of wealth -- into a disease called GERD (Gastro-Esophageal Reflux Disorder) caused by an obese life of gluttonous capitalism -- that needs to be relieved by occasional burps of philanthropy.......a form of load shedding......

partly.....spurred by the realization in the later life of these capitalists in mid life crises -- that you can`t take any of it with you into the grave like the foolish pharaohs thought -- because alas there is no afterlife of capitalism in the afterlife -- only of God`s equitable socialism -- if any.

What`s with all the flak?

Saima, you have provided an excellent discussion on globalization and spirituality that is bound to provoke questions regarding the ``Muslimness`` or ``religiousness`` of the diaspora in relation to the subaltern and the popular culture of spirituality of the masses.

Re:urstruly#10

[..I have pondered the question many many times and came up with the same answer that a human being has absolutely no reason to be `good`, unless he believes in God....]

There is a strong reason to be `good` besides pleasing God, which is self-preservation. Lets say there are 2 average, similar people who do not believe in God. Each one of them may want to kill the other one and steal their property to maximize their individual benefit. However, neither will want to actually do this simply because they do not want the other person to kill them and steal their property. They would know that the other person will be defending himself and if they do not succeed in the first attempt, there will be retribution.

Out of self-preservation instinct, they will come up with a contract on not killing each other and respecting each other`s property rights. That is what becomes a social contract and eventually the legal system.

In fact if you think about it, once man decided to be a social animal, it became imperative to establish such a system to function in a society. Religions and all came later and added to this system by giving it spiritual connotations, thus solidifying the social contract even further.

re: SRai # 14

``questions regarding the ``Muslimness`` or ``religiousness`` of the diaspora in relation to the subaltern and the popular culture of spirituality of the masses.``

Very profound. What does it mean?