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14SPIRITUAL AND MORAL COMPONENTS OF WORLD RELIGIONS AND
MODERN SCIENCE
o. O
O
MPHTM 21.31.41 04.51.59
S.BULEKBAYEV 1
'Abylaikhan Kazakh International Relationship and International Languages University
K. KHALYKOV 2
2 T. K. Zhurgenov Kazakh National Academy of Arts
(Almaty, Kazakhstan)
SPIRITUAL AND MORAL COMPONENTS OF WORLD RELIGIONS AND MODERN SCIENCE
Abstract
The article reveals the deep spiritual and moral meaning of the main religions, which is of great importance in the education of modern youth. According to the author, many people fall into various sects because of ignorance of the true meaning of the great religions. The authors base the idea of the need for a program of religious education. The beginning of inter-confessional dialogue is an example of a fruitful dialogue based on the integral method of Ken Wilber. According to the scientist, the application of an integral approach in the field of religion and spirituality has already made it possible to create an Integral spiritual center, where some of the world's leading spiritual teachers, representing all the major world religions, come together to learn from each other. An example of mutual understanding and problem solving in the framework of Western European culture through Sufism is given on the example of the Holland Sufi scholar H. J. Wittevin in the work «Sufism in action: Spiritualising the Economy».
The article also discusses the need to realize that since all the great religions of the world have the same goals and objectives, and therefore to some extent there is a possibility to overcome the crisis through religion, where the world can be saved through religion. Therefore, the world's religions should combine their efforts and develop a plan for the formation of a future integrated society. Unite their efforts to create a single universal civilization, which should be based on faith and spirituality.
Keywords: world religions, integral theory, inter-confessional dialogue, Sufism, religious enlightenment, spiritual progress, science, string theory.
Introduction
The problem of the interaction and dialogue of the world religions today is extremely important. In our opinion, this is because the world in terms of total globalization has become unusually interconnected and interdependent. If earlier people lived in a stable world, where everything was familiar to them and as usual, but today everything has changed. For example, if in the past, you say, born Chinese or Indian, then you most likely were destined to survive for their entire lives in one culture, one religion, often in one province, sometimes in the same house - live, love and die in several spans of the land. But today, in the context of globalization, we have not only freedom of movement, but also the opportunity to be more thoroughly acquainted with any religion of the world, or have the opportunity to immerse ourselves in virtually every known culture, and study it. In the «global village», which is now the world, all cultures, all religions, all sciences are to some extent open and permeable to each other. Knowledge itself is now global. This means that for the first time in history people have access to the entire sum of human knowledge: discovery, experience, wisdom and reflection of all the major world religions and civilizations. All this knowledge is now available to everyone. In short, over the past few decades of the century we have witnessed an unprecedented historical situation: when a modern man is practically has access to all cultures and religions of the world, when a person has, to some extent, the possibility to a quite broad selection.
Methods
The spiritual and moral component of world religions requires clarification of points of view regarding the proximity
or divergence of the paths and purpose of science, religion and art. «In the culture system, the phenomena under consideration act as its subsystems. However, in the general cultural field, they perform various tasks and functions, operate with various methods and approaches, their worldviews differ in different degrees of mobility. What is the specificity of the phenomena under consideration? When a religion is characterized by the greatest stability and constancy, offering an unambiguous and unchanging understanding of the "eternal" questions of being, science is more mobile, and acts as a process of development and increase of knowledge» [1, p. 41].
Results
Reflecting on this new situation, which the modern mankind faces, the eminent philosopher and psychologist Ken Wilber says, «what would happen if we took literally everything that each of the cultures or religions can tell us about human potential - spiritual, psychological and social development, and represented it to all humanity? What would happen if we, based on the sum of the total of human knowledge that is open to us, tried to find important clues to the fundamental understanding of human development? What would happen if on the basis of extensive cross-cultural and interreligious research, we tried to use the experience of all the great traditions and religions of the world to produce all-embracing, universal, or an integrated map, manuals or guidelines that incorporate the best of what is modern humanity» [2, pp. 56-58].
This is very interesting and attractive idea of Ken Wilber, in our view, in recent years found many of his supporters. Their arguments boil down to the following points. Firstly, the world's religions have
ceased to fully meet the spiritual needs of modern people, since they were created in a different time, in other contexts and for other people. Today the world is different, as well as the human himself, modern man needs another religion, or rather, some spiritual guidance, which correspond to the increased requirements. Secondly, in view of changed circumstances and changed human maybe it will be very good if the best representatives of the three world religions should come together and socialize together, forgetting for a time, historical or contemporary grievances and claims. Thirdly, perhaps, they could learn from each other, and then jointly develop a new spiritual guidance and values that meet the requirements of a modern man. The goal of all religions is one - to make a man better, more moral and perfect, using its divine word. The launch of such a dialogue has been made.
First, it is beyond doubt is that the leaders of many world religions finally managed to get together for the first time in one place in one country named Kazakhstan. We mean the forum of world religions, initiated by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev. By the way, this forum has become traditional, and the next forum is already being planned. Specifically for this forum, Kazakhstan has built a unique in its architectural design the «Palace of Peace and Harmony».
Second, this is the beginning of uneasy dialogue between different religions. The outcome of this dialogue, despite the fact that it did not led to significant results, was encouraging. Although it would probably naive to believe that the age-old struggle between the religions at once would lead to serious results.
Third, today, we can see the example of a productive dialogue that based on the integral method of Ken Wilber. This man
has managed to create the world's first integral community of scholars - Integral University. According to this scientist, the use of an integral approach to religion and spirituality, made possible to create the Integral Spiritual Center, which brought together some of the leading spiritual teachers of the world, representing all major world religions, and not just to simply listen to each other, but in the first turn to learn from each other. It could be considered as the «teaching for teachers», and it would be one of the most outstanding educational establishments, which could be imagined. In history it has never happened before.
Trying not to get into an argument with these scientists, advocated the creation of new approaches in the field of religion, we can mention only that the World really has changed and it has become a product of human labor. Changes that people made in this world are so grand and ambitious that it is often compared to geological shifts.
Discussion
At the same time, moral and spiritual changes in the parameters of a modern man over the past two millenniums, unfortunately, according to many outstanding leaders of mankind, have not undergone any significant changes. Humanity cannot create better spiritual and moral values that Buddha, Lao Tzu, Jesus and Mohammed did. As reality shows, unfortunately, material progress does not cause automatically the spiritual progress. Human consciousness and culture, as a rule do not keep up with the changes that occur in the material world. A person could not become better morally than it was two thousand years ago. Moreover, there are some signs that it has become worse. All this was not exactly planned progress towards the goals of the
great philosophers of the Enlightenment and the West. Special contribution to these processes was made by the Western economic model based on the culture of individualism, which supplanted the religious culture, and provided a strong impetus for the profit, and for the creation of consumer civilization. This market model extended market relations in those areas that are not relevant to the market. We mean the areas such as state, society, group, education and culture. In the market the main purposes are the interests of a man to maximize profits, in the state, by definition, the public and collective interests should dominate. Spreading of market relations in the field of state and collective relationships inevitably leads to the creation of not just a market economy, for example, like in many post-Soviet states, but also to the construction of a market society. Unfortunately this type of capitalism is very similar by the main parameters to the Latin American type, but not the liberal-democratic type of the West. History shows that in societies in which all areas dominated by market relations, as a rule, the ethical and spiritual aspects are supplanted, not to mention the sacral. Awareness of this problem, in our opinion is crucial to the future of our society. This should be done using programs based on the long-term and well-designed strategy. The success of many countries that have reached phenomenal success, in a relatively short period of time clearly shows that they are achieved through intelligent and farsighted program, due to people's confidence in these programs, also due to the ability to combine the interests of state and business, through intelligent policy based on serious theoretical and ideological grounds. In our view, a good example is the politics of modern China, which course is quite consciously built on
the basis of three philosophical concepts of that country: Taoism, Confucianism and the philosophy of Sun Tzu. Taoism of Lao-tzu is a theory of harmony and balance. Confucianism is a stability and order in society. Teachings of Sun Tzu's philosophy are the philosophy of the greatest success. That is how to achieve maximum success with minimal losses. This culture is consciously woven into the state education system and culture of modern China. The results of this wise and forward-looking policy the whole world can see in the phenomenal success of this country in all areas.
In short, today in our society, we have the need for a large-scale and long-term national program for religious education. The program which would be based on religious grounds, culture, psychology, and the peculiarities of our people. In short, our believers, not in words but in deeds should feel a lively interest in them from the state, which is finally should understand that in the realm of its constitutional responsibility, as a secular state, religious affairs should also be provided. It helps to protect the spiritual health of the citizens from any kind of bacilli on a «religious cover».
It is high time the authorities should take care to ensure the believers produced a strong immunity against the aggression on the basis of faith. «A way to prevent such diseases is known - the "spiritual vaccination" of the population». [3, p. 28] The most effective way is an education. It is very important today, through competent education to reveal the philosophical, spiritual, moral, social and scientific foundations of world religions. Thereby a bold move should be made to eliminate the very possibility of maturing extremists or terrorists from the national youth.
It is generally accepted that the great religions have not only the spiritual and ethical meaning, but also a great social and scientific sense. It is regrettable only that the educational level of our clergy, especially the representatives of Islam, is not high enough. Very often, the level of preaching and worship our mullahs boils down to, either to read the Quran, or hold «Janazah» (The ritual burial of the body after death). Unfortunately, they cannot reveal well the real meaning of this great religion, completeness of its wealth, scientific and social content. This can be explained, but that does not make it easier.
Unlike our country, we can cite many examples where many scholars in the West converted to Islam because in this religion they found answers to many scientific questions. Surprising fact of conversion to Islam of the great French oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau. According to this scholar, only in the Quran he found the answers to the questions that tormented him for years, that is the answer to the explanation of the nature of the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic Ocean. The well-known scholar of Islam Valeria Porokhova says that in the West several prominent scientists, some of them Nobel Prize winners in recent years, accepted Islam. One of the winners, explaining the reason for his conversion to Islam, said that he has found the answer to his problem in the Holy Quran. According to his statement, if he knew the Quran before, he 20 years earlier could have made a discovery for which he received the Nobel Prize. In this regard, we can pay attention on the book «Sufism in Action: Spiritualising the Economy» [4, p. 69]. The author of this book is Hendrikus Johannes Witteveen. This man is a Dutchman by origin. By religion he is a Muslim of Sufi direction.
He did not simply converted to Sufism, but he deeply researched it and wrote his work on the basis of Sufism, which argues that many of the unsolved problems within Western culture have their own answers in Sufism. This statement is made not on the basis of bare assertion, but based on the deeply informed and reasoned evidence. These findings seem very powerful from the views of the outstanding economist of the world, former finance director of the International Monetary Fund, Minister of Finance of The Netherlands, and university professor.
From the viewpoint of modern physics the most appropriate form of keeping and transmission of information is the wave hologram [5, pp. 2-4]. Not only inorganic objects, but also biological systems can be compactly described using it. Theoretically justified and experimentally proved that every biological cell it is both a source and a receiver of the correlative wave holographic information. Based on these representations, modern physicists constructed superstring theory, which also operates with the holographic principle. The basis of the latest unified field theory is the notion of elementary particles as tiny (about 10 times smaller than an atomic nucleus) vibrating superstring in a loop shape, the mode of resonance oscillations of which specifies the type of a particle. «Each elementary particle is composed of a single string that is, each particle is a single string and all strings are absolutely identical. Differences between the particles arise from the fact that the corresponding string are affected by different resonant vibrational patterns. What seems to be different elementary particles, in fact are different "notes" on the main string. Universe that consists of a huge number of these vibrating strings akin to the cosmic symphony. "What seemed different
particles, are in fact "notes" that were performed on the fundamental string. From the position of superstring theory Creation appears boundless orchestra, orchestrated by the transcendent Composer...» [6, p. 113].
This idea of superstring theory has a striking resemblance to the mystical vision of Hazrat Inayat Khan, who was more than a half century ago, wrote this: «The life absolute from which has sprung all that is felt, seen, and perceived, and into which all again merges in time, is a silent, motionless and eternal life which among the Sufis is called Zat. Every motion that springs forth from this silent life is a vibration and a creator of vibrations. Within one vibration are created many vibrations». And also: «When a man observes the life of space, the motion of stars and planets, he learns the law of vibration and rhythm, where everything is perfect and unchanging, he realizes that the space system operates according to the law of music, the law of harmony» [6, p. 86].
As seen from this parallels recent advances of modern science are in harmony with the spiritual worldview that is so clearly expressed in the Sufi Message.
Many modern people are not aware of such facts that the world-famous writers Leo Tolstoy and Ivan Bunin, by the end of their lives converted to Islam. Somehow, this fact that the Great Russian writers changed their religion from Christianity to Islam is almost not raised in the Russian media. It is unlikely to be called unmotivated decision. In this regard we can recall such prominent boxers as Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson, who once shocked their fans with their original decisions. And finally, most recently the king of pop music Michael Jackson, the hero of hundreds of millions of music lovers in recent years, also converted to
Islam. What lies behind this? Spontaneous random decision or a conscious choice? The desire to shock people with his decision, or was it a deliberate choice of a man who did not find the answers to his spiritual quest and demands within the existing culture and religion, moved to another religion like Islam, because only there he found the answers to the questions tortured him.
Of course, not only Islam has scientific sense, but other religions as well. Including the Bible. Take, for example, the idea of creation of a human from Adam's rib, which from the standpoint of traditional materialism treated at best as a fantasy or imagination, at worst, as a fairytale. However, in light of new scientific ideas cloning actually is the explanation for an act of the Creator. We have similar examples of deep scientific insights much more in the world religions, which, unfortunately, occur often because of its not deep examination by religious leaders and believers.
Summarizing the following it can be said that only in recent decades, mankind has gradually come to understanding that science and religion are the only alternative ways of comprehending a common reality that people face in their life, and it's hard to say which of them reflects it most closely. The deeper people penetrate into the mysteries of the universe, the more prepared grounds they get for asserting the possibility of reconciliation the knowledge with the belief, and the need for their mutual benefit. Along with the scientific meaning of the great religions, in our opinion, it should be thoroughly and convincingly revealed for today's youth the idea that the great religions like Christianity and Islam are the main spiritual basis for the unity of our society. Sometimes in the media we
can see the attacks on religion. Of course it should be seen as a direct attack on the unity of our people and therefore as a threat to the unity of our country. We can quite agree with the well-known Russian scholar of religion Y. A Mikhailov, who says that when we hear about the ills that plagued our society today, usually what immediately come to mind are alcoholism, drug addiction, substance abuse, low fertility, high mortality, homelessness, addiction to gambling, the fall of morality and legal culture, lack of spirituality, vagrancy, egocentrism, degradation of family, embezzlement, glorification and romanticization of the criminal world, low entrepreneurial activity of the population, the hypocrisy of politicians, etc. [3, p. 185].
Everyone who happened to hear something about what Islam is intolerable to in the social sphere they would recall the whole or the greater part of that list. When you begin to understand, it turns out that many people, especially young people, usually don't know the religious system of social values, in particular Islamic. And finally, it's time to realize that all great religions have the same goals and objectives. It is very well illustrated by the parable of the famous Sufi Jalal ad-Din Rumi. «Once upon a time four friends (Greek, Persian, Arab and Turk) found a coin and decided to buy something popular for all of them. But opinions differed: the Greek wanted to buy "stafil", Persian "engure", Arab "eynab" and Turkish "raisins", and as a result of that difference friends came to blows. Then a stranger offered to buy for them that thing they all like. They agreed and got bunches of grapes. This is the same and this is "stafil", "engure", "eynab" and "raisins" they cried. So the truth that the saints perceive in all religions and that different people called it in different ways, because
of misunderstanding that leads to hostility and war» [7, p. 103].
Conclusion
In general, the address of many people to religion in the world crisis is probably because the only way out of this systemic crisis is seen only through religion, that is, the world can be saved by religion, and often it is deemed the Islam. Mikhailov Y. A says, «that people have in their minds a simple idea: only Islam with its categorical rejection of mismanagement, bribery, embezzlement, all sorts of parasitism by other people will put things in order in the state» [3, p. 205]. Indeed, today there is a growing desire to live in a society of social justice, but due to the lack of clear vision on how to achieve it people consider the only way are the principles of divine law. Modern humanity for their own survival of civilization to a much greater extent than ever before needs a guide, provided by divine institution. Therefore, the world's religions should join efforts and develop a plan of becoming the future of an integrated society. Combine their efforts to create a single universal civilization, which should be based on the faith and spirituality.
It is also clear that the future unified civilization must be based on generally recognized norms of international law and the Charter of Human Rights, established on the basis of elements of all religions and ideologies that guarantee the fundamental freedoms of all men, women and children regardless of their skin color or nationality and are included in this natural and social characteristics of each group of people. In short, all the world's religious doctrines have equal reason to be adequately understood by civilized humanity and its representatives to find a fair assessment, and, of course, to be
tolerant of religious and ideological views of each other. The latter is a key indicator of a genuine democracy in modern society. Hence, the dialogue of religions is a
necessary condition and the urgent need for mental health of modern man, the issue that addressed beyound the political environment.
References:
1. Latysheva J. V. Religion, science and art: a single source and the difference of approaches // Bulletin MGUKI, 7 (27) 2009. - P. 40 - 46. (in Russian)
2. Ken, Wilber. The Integral Vision: A Very Short Introduction to the Revolutionary Integral Approach to Life, God, the Universe, and Everything. - Shambala: Boston &London, 2007. - 227 p.
3. Mikhailov, A. It is time to understand the Koran: Collected papers. - 2nd ed. -Moscow: Ladomir, 2007. - 240 p. (in Russian)
4. Hendrikus Johannes Witteveen. Sufism in Action: Spiritualising the Economy. - Vega, 2003. - 192 p.
5. Tertyshny G. et al. The genetic structure of both the source and destination of the holographic media // Sensors and system. - Moscow, 2000. - № 2. - C. 2 - 8. (in Russian)
6. B., Greene. Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the search for the ultimate theory. 3rd ed. - Moscow, 2007. - 262 p.
7. G. N., Sakheb. The Future of Humanity. Islamic outlook. Translated from English by V. Inozemtseva. Moscow: Free Thought. - 1993, № 1. - PP. 103 -113.
С. Б. Булекбаев
Казахский университет международных отношений и международных языков имени Абылай хана
К. З. Халыков
Казахская национальная академия искусств им. Т. К. Жургенова (Алматы, Казахстан)
ДУХОВНО-НРАВСТВЕННЫЕ СОСТАВЛЯЮЩИЕ МИРОВЫХ РЕЛИГИЙ И СОВРЕМЕННОЙ НАУКИ
СМ
Аннотация ^
В статье раскрывается глубокий духовно-нравственный смысл основных религий, который имеет |
огромное значение в деле воспитания современной молодежи. По мнению авторов, многие люди
попадают в различные секты из-за незнания истинного смысла великих религий. Авторы основывают -2
с
мысль о необходимости программы религиозного просвещения. Началом межконфессионального §
диалога назван пример плодотворного диалога на базе интегрального метода Кена Уилбера. Согласно |
<
ученому, применение интегрального подхода в области религии и духовности уже позволило создать а
Интегральный духовный центр, где собрались вместе некоторые из ведущих духовных учителей мира, и
представляющие все основные мировые религии, для того чтобы поучиться друг у друга. Приведен пример взаимопонимания и решения проблемы в рамках западноевропейской культуры через суфизм на примере голландского ученого-суфия Х. Й. Виттевина в работе «Суфизм в действии: духовность в экономике».
В статье также рассматривается необходимость осознания, что если все великие религии мира имеют одинаковые цели и задачи, и потому в какой-то мере есть возможность выхода из кризиса через религию, мир может быть спасен через религию. Поэтому мировые религии должны объединить свои усилия и выработать план становления будущего интегрированного социума, создания единой общечеловеческой цивилизации, которая должна быть основанной на вере и духовности. Ключевые слова: мировые религии, интегральная теория, межконфессиональный диалог, суфизм, религиозное просвещение, духовный прогресс, наука, теория струн.
С. Б. Булекбаев
Абылай хан атындагы Казац халыцаралыц цатынастар жэне эле тлдер/ университет/ (Алматы, Казахстан)
К. З. Халыков
Т. К. ЖYргенов атындагы Казац ¥лттыц внер Академиясы (Алматы, Казацстан)
ЭЛЕМД1К Д1НДЕР МЕН КАЗ1РГ1 FЫЛЫМНЫЧ РУХАНИ-АДАМГЕРШ1Л1К К¥РАМДАРЫ Ацдатпа
Бул макалада казiрп жастарды тэрбиелеу iсiнде Yлкен мацызга ие непзп дшдердщ терец рухани-адамгершЫк магынасы ашылады. Кептеген адамдар улы дшдердщ шынайы магынасын бтмегенд^тен тYPлi секталарга тYседi. Автор дiни агарту багдарламасыньщ кажетттИ туралы ойды негiздейдi. Конфессияаралык Yн катысудыц басы Кен УилбердЩ «интегралды эдiсi» негiзiнде жемiстi диалогтыц Yлгiсiне ие болады. Ралымга сэйкес, дiн мен руханилык саласында интегралдык тэсiлдi колдану негiзгi элемдiк дшдердщ атынан элемнщ жетекшi рухани екiлдерi жиналып бiр-бiрiнен Yйрену аркылы -Интегралдык рухани орталык куруга болатындыгына мэн берiлген. бзара тYсiнiстiк пен мэселелердi шешу батыс-еуропалык мэдениет шецбершде суфизм мысалында голландык суфий-галым Х.Й. ВиттевинЩ "lс-эрекеттегi Суфизм: экономикадагы руханилык" ецбеп мысал ретiнде келтiрiлген. Макалада сондай-ак, егер элемнщ барлык улы дiндерi бiрдей максаттар мен мшдеттерге ие болса, сол себептi кандай да бiр дэрежеде элем дш аркылы куткарылуы мYмкiн, дiн аркылы дагдарыстан шыгу мYмкiндiгi бар екенш угыну кажеттiлiгi карастырылады. Сондыктан, элемд^ дiндер ез кYш-жiгерiн бiрiктiрiп, болашак ьщпалдастырылган социумныц калыптасу жоспарын эзiрлеуi тиiс. Ол ез кYш-жiгерiн бiрiктiру аркылы сенiмге жэне руханилыкка непзделген бiртутас жалпыадамзаттык еркениет куруы тию. ТYЙiндi свздер: элемдiк дiндер, интегралдык теория, конфессияаралык диалог, суфизм, дши агарту, рухани прогресс, гылым, шек теориясы.
