Faith and the future of humanity

The MUIS Lecture on Faith and the Future of Humanity was held on 21 June 2019. It was attended by 550 participants including religious and interfaith leaders, community leaders, student leaders, academics, senior public officers, diplomats and members of the public. The lecture explored the role of the world’s faith traditions in shaping the future of a compassionate humanity that can overcome its current challenges.

Ethical living: To begin with, Ms. Armstrong defined faith as the practical art for ethical living, rather than a set of beliefs or dogmas. Years of practicing this art will allow an individual and society to embody compassion gracefully. Thus she foresees that the future of humanity will be shaped by focusing less on beliefs and fine-tuning the creative and relevant application of our faith traditions today.

Two pillars of ethical living: To perfect the practical art of ethical living, Ms. Armstrong highlights two pillars that all faith traditions have revealed to humanity. The first is to live in the present moment and the second is to be of service to both the cosmos and to humanity. The former is our responsibility towards our inner selves. By immersing ourselves in current dilemmas empathetically, we may receive divine grace on how to apply our scriptures. The second is our responsibility towards our others, or our ‘extended selves.’ Service to them would include managing climate change, saving endangered species, alleviating inequity, embracing diversity, and facilitating the cultural paradigm shift from a world-centric value system to an integral value system, just to name a few.

Living in the moment – challenges & revelations: Ms. Armstrong emphasised that the only real way to shape the future is to profoundly look at all the dynamics that are going on now and to promptly take the required action to achieve the desired future outcomes. She reminds us that living in the moment used to be a religious and ethical experience. The Prophet Muhammad lived intensely in the moment. When he was preoccupied with any challenging matter, he would grow pale, weak and begin to sweat. Ms. Armstrong noted that only at such empathetic depth was divine guidance revealed - always in direct response to something that was happening to the community.

Living in the moment – reading scriptures: If this was how divine guidance was revealed, how then should scriptures be read, understood and applied in the modern period? In “A History of Scripture,” Ms. Armstrong shares that until the modern period, scriptures were read for their principles, higher objectives and generic meaning, rather than being read literally. The spirit of the text was applied to the readers’ own context, just as the Prophet was speaking at the moment. This methodology, a profound religious mystical experience, was shared by Jewish and Christian scholars. It is called “Heroz.” Ms. Armstrong also paraphrases an Islamic mystic and philosopher, Ibn Arabi, who said “every time you recite the Qur’an, it should mean something different to you. Because God has something in mind for you, now.” Don’t look for Orthodox views and don’t read your own ideas into the scriptures. Open yourself and allow them speak to you and your circumstances.

Service – alleviating humanity’s inequity: On a personal level, Confucius, who was one of the earliest to articulate the golden rule, said one ought to look into their hearts, discover what gives them pain, and refuse under any circumstances to inflict that pain onto another. Socially and in all spheres of life, from economics to politics, Ms. Armstrong highlights that the Qur’an is a “cry for practical compassion to build just and decent societies, where the poor and the vulnerable are treated with dignity and respect.” According to a Chinese sage called Mozi, when we expand our perception of every living being as an extension of ourselves in a single interwoven whole-of-being, no one would inflict serious violence or oppression on another.

Service - managing climate change: There are lessons to learn from the Rigveda, one of the earliest scriptures which had a deep sense of wonder about the natural order and the preciousness of the cosmos. Their attempts to heal the broken universe back into health was central to their practices. A Chinese Philosopher, Zhang Zai wrote the “Western Inscription” which celebrated the sacred triad of the Divine, nature and humanity and their interwoven relationship. Today, neo-Confucianists feel that their scriptures can contribute to manage climate change and they have strongly endorsed the Earth Charter Initiative which aims to cultivate values and principles for a sustainable future.

Way forward: Our task of shaping the future of humanity lies in our ability to collectively resolve the current dilemmas by perfecting the practical art of ethical and compassionate living. For the wisdom of faith traditions and spiritualties is not solely for personal development, but should also inspire people to transform themselves, their families and societies, to celebrate diversity as well as care for our integral wellbeing to advance the cosmic condition.

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