How IT can help in awakening humanity to its inner unity.

One of the major goals of human evolution is human unity. Many great thinkers, seers and sages all over the world have dreamed of this ideal of unity. However in an integral perspective, the ideal is an inner unity consciousness expressing itself in an outer organization of world-unity.

In an integral view, the evolutionary destiny for the individual is a fully conscious being housed in a conscious body and for the collectivity a globally conscious humanity, inwardly conscious of its unity in its mind, heart and soul. This spiritual destiny can be realised only by a spiritual education and culture which makes each individual inwardly aware of the unity of consciousness in her deepest and highest self, where she can feel all others as part of her own self. As we have said already, IT can be a powerful tool for this spiritual education of the individual and the collectivity. It can also help in creating an ideal external environment in which the inner unity of humanity can emerge. This inner unity has to emerge as the result of a moral and psychological change or transformation in the human consciousness. This inner change in the collective consciousness can come either from a strong pressure of the external environment or an inner pressure from the divine consciousness, or from a conscious collective spiritual discipline, or in other words, some form of collective yoga.

The change brought about by the pressure of external environment is a slow process of natural evolution. On the other hand change effected by the inner discipline of yoga is a rapid, accelerated process, which can achieve in a few years what the external method does in a thousand years. But the information and communication technology, by its capacity for easy and quick networking and global connectivity can considerably accelerate the pace of external unification of humanity.

This global cyber-environment will have a corresponding psychological impact on humanity and prepare the human consciousness for the eventual realisation of its inner unity. For example, IT enables people who are geographically separated in different countries and continents to work together in cyber-space. This creates a global social habit which is favourable to the external unification of humanity. In this way, external unification of humanity in the cyber-space will prepare and habituate the human consciousness and life, both psychologically and socially, for the eventual realisation of the inner unity in the inner space of human consciousness.

But ultimately outer connectivity created by IT must lead to inner connectivity in the psychological and spiritual realms. IT can help in broadening the human mind through a greater interchange and sharing of ideas and experiences across global and cultural borders. IT may create global cultural communities based on shared values, ideals and experiences, which may one day supplant geographical and political nationalism. Cultural communities create a deeper bonding at the mental level than the social and political unities. But such global cultural fraternities, if it is organised around dogmatic and exclusive ideals may also lead to intense cultural conflicts on a global scale. Another problem with Information and Communication technology is that it encourages too much of useless chatting whereas inner connectivity requires inner silence. There is no technological solution to these obstacles created by IT to inner connectivity. They can be neutralized only by a system of education, which can internalize ideals like tolerance, mutual understanding, universal humanism and inner peace in the consciousness of people.

Nivas

The author is a student and practitioner in the path of integral yoga.