Tetsunori Koizumi, Director
Globalization, seen in the context of the evolution of civilizations, has brought about some notable changes in the way challenges and responses between civilizations take place. For one thing, it is now possible to promote communication and cross-fertilization between civilizations with varieties of new means of communication which globalization as the information revolution has brought into our lives. There are some indications that challenges and responses in the world of the twenty-first century are giving rise to a global civilization of a sort—from an increasing participation in the citizens’ movement for basic human rights to an expanding awareness about our common fate as a species in the global village. While these are hopeful developments, there are other indications that threaten the cohesion and stability of the world as a system of civilizations, including terrorist attacks, ethnic conflicts, and military invasions.
Globalization, in view of these hopeful developments as well as troubling events taking place in the world around us, must be said to have been a blessing as well as a curse in the evolution of civilizations. The upshot is that the world of the twenty-first century is yet to develop a truly global civilization. The United Nations, while it has tried to develop a global civilization with its efforts to promote universal human rights and sustainable development, is unlikely to become a world government with the power to enforce its laws and regulations. If the top-down approach is unlikely to work, it is up to each and every one of us to take up the challenge of creating a truly global civilization so that the global village becomes the place we can all call “home.”
Every individual, as a societal member of a specific civilization, acts in the space of social transaction of that civilization that surrounds him/her in his/her cultural, economic, and political life. At the same time, the individual inhabits in his/her own world of psyche. These two worlds—the social world of civilization and the individual world of psyche—are not independent from each other but are interdependent, linked by a network of correspondences that exist between them.
One obvious case that points to the presence of correspondence between the social world of civilization and the individual world of psyche is the sense of affinity and comfort the individual feels towards his/her own civilization as the provider of values and norms that guide him/her in social life. This does not deny that there are some individuals who feel alienated by their own civilization, finding themselves at odds with the prevailing values and norms of social life.
What, then, is the individual world of psyche like, shaped and commanded by the workings of the human mind? Like civilization, the individual world of psyche, or the psychic world, has the horizontal as well as the vertical dimension. The horizontal aspect of the psychic world is shaped and commanded by the rational mind, or Ego. It is Ego that defines the personal mental space for each individual, in which he/she forms the sense of identity separate from other individuals. However, the mental space shaped and commanded by Ego constitutes the surface structure of the psychic world. There is another layer to the psychic world, the deep structure of the psychic world, which is the world of unconsciousness shaped and commanded by Self, the term Carl Jung employs to distinguish it from Ego. (The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche, 1969)
The world of unconsciousness is mostly hidden from the individual in the conduct of his/her daily affairs, except for occasional glimpses into it through dreams. The world of dreams is, however, the shallow part of the world of unconsciousness, for it is mostly the world of the individual unconscious. The deep part of the world of unconsciousness, the world shaped and commanded by Self, is the world of the collective unconscious, which is shared by all members of humanity, normally inaccessible to the individual except in the form of archetypes such as the Great Mother and the Wise Old Man. In order to accomplish “globalization from within”, it is essential that the individual learns to dip into the world of the collective unconscious, which is universal and shared by all members of humanity.
Correspondence between the social world of civilization and the individual world of psyche also shows up as correspondence between the outstanding characteristics of a civilization and the common personality traits shared by the members of that civilization. One mechanism by which this correspondence comes about is through what sociologists call socialization. Another mechanism is through the workings of what Freud called Super Ego (Civilization and Its Discontents, 1961). On the positive side, Super Ego helps to shape the individual’s ethical imperatives and moral sentiments. On the negative side, Super Ego for the members of one civilization can be different from that of the members of another civilization, leading to conflict and confrontation when the members from two civilizations meet.
Given that every civilization in the world today has become, more or less, a hybrid civilization through centuries of contact and communication with other civilizations, “globalization from within” will not be accomplished until every civilization evolves itself into one that incorporates the common values and norms. As civilization is something that is created and shaped by human activities by individuals as artists and philosophers, scientists and engineers, industrialists and merchants, politicians and religious leaders, it is up to each and every individual to start acting as a global citizen in his/her respective role as a member of global civilization, which defines the values and norms of the global village.
What is required of the individual is, first, to absorb the hybridity of global civilizations and, then, to transcend that hybridity to find the sense of belonging and identity in the global village shaped by that global civilization. From the psychological perspective, the task of accomplishing “globalization from within” is nothing but the task of discovering Self, which, by integrating the workings of our both conscious and unconscious minds, enables us to become one with the universe.
The spiritual traditions of the world provide us hints and instructions as to how we can go about accomplishing “globalization from within”, which goes by different terms. Hinduism calls it moksa, or liberation, which can be accomplished through jnana-marga (the path through knowledge), kama-marga (the path through work), or bhakti-marga (the path through devotion). The Buddha inherits this Hindu tradition by expounding on the path called arya-ashtangika-marga (The Noble Eightfold Path) that would accomplish “globalization from within” which he calls nirvana. When Jesus pronounces, “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” (Matthew 5:44), he is telling us the importance of discovering love as an agent of transforming the individual world of psyche into heaven, for love is an entity, or a form of energy, that envelopes and pervades all things in the universe. Meister Eckhart (c.1260-c1327) echoes the same advice when he says: “There is a huge silence inside each of us that beckons us into itself, and the recovery of our own silence can begin to teach us the language of heaven.” (Directions for the Contemplative Life) Each one of us must find the path of “globalization from within” that fits our temperament and orientation if we are to restore the global village as a hospitable place we can all call “home”.