Present and the future of mankind can be understood only in terms of its development so far; over the past billions of years. In the constant process of interaction between man and environment, several changes have occurred in the social as well as natural world. But there is one thing which is constant in the process; that is evolution, a profound impulse in the human nature, which gradually unfolds various hidden possibilities of life. Evolution of human mind since elementary stage of human civilization is progressively moving towards attainment of a reasonable but sensible way of interpreting the social phenomena. 

Even before life appeared, there was the evolution of matter itself. Then life evolved into varieties of forms and complexities and out of that somehow, the human mind emerged. We don’t know exactly how these transitions have taken place, but they have taken place and that is clear.

Here we notice, the entire evolutionary movement is something quite peculiar. First, it is not a random movement; it has a direction to move. Every species grows from lesser complexity to a greater complexity. And this direction has brought us to what we are as human beings today, having a special characteristic that is mind. Mind has the same natural impulse, which aims to uncover various mysteries of nature for which it strives to know something more than ‘what I am’. That inquisitiveness of the human mind is the only driving force to think about their life and develop techniques to have better life. This has led to the formation of knowledge; to what we call science.

In the similar manner, society emerged out of the human instinct to live within a group, preconditioned by a need of security. These smaller groups progressively evolved towards a larger and larger collective unit to what we call society. There is obviously an urge to unite in group-life because we need it. At the same time there is an individual urge, which wants to do what he wants, opposed to the group’s needs. So in the process of evolution, both impulses are found; the impulse for individual fulfillment and the impulse for collective living. Collective and individual demands are not isolated rather interdependent on each other. But problem arises, when demands of these two impulses do not meet and then the society is thrown to a chaotic state.

Today, the crude individualism has failed to understand the collective spirit. The consumerist attitude of man has arrived at the receiving end. At the same time, too much social expectations and constraints have made individual life suffocative. Man has turned to a confused being hanging in between the self and society. Though science and technology has brought certain feasibility at material level, but has not been able enough to solve major problems of the modern world; for example, issues of fundamentalism and terrorism.

Spiritual Life: A Convergence of Science and Society

At the present context, either we are part of a forced uniformity of living or lifeless heterogeneous living. The present forms of cultural, social or political institutions are unable to carry the deeper values. When we look at the past and present condition, it is proved that both reason and religion have failed to address major issues of the world. Reason or intellect has been constantly refuted in search of effective solution to the problems. At the outside of the realm of reason, society has also given a pre-eminent place to religion. But, religion with its fragmented truth, governed by dogmatic tenets is in danger state to uphold social solidarity. 

On the other side, rising level of competition along with the social expectation has made individual life suffocative. At the same time, growing individual needs and his acquiring attitude has put collectivity in danger giving rise to the problems of psychological insecurity, social and racial discriminations, corruption, violence and so on. Sometimes, too much collectivism squeezes individual growth and too much individualism affects the collective spirit.

In the view of the famous western philosopher Ken Wilber, the world all over is in a crisis and the present crisis is due to the “fractured world view”, a world view that drastically separates mind and body, subject and object, culture and nature, values and facts; a world view that is dualistic, mechanistic and pathologically hierarchical. So the only way to heal the world, to heal human beings, is by replacing this fractured world view with a world view that is more holistic, more integrative and less arrogantly human-centered [1]. 

For that, there is needed, not cult and creed, but a sustained and all-comprehending effort towards spiritual evolution. A true sense of spirituality can certainly bring a change towards an effective cohesiveness which bears the secrecy of harmony between collective and individual life. Thakar has felt the urgent need of the qualitative transformation in the human psychic and social structure. 

Relevance of a harmonious living through inculcation of spiritual values amidst diversities and differences is the need of the hour without which we cannot have individual and collective growth together; we cannot have freedom and equality together. That is a certain sense of mutuality; a certain fraternity; a commonality; a deeper thing that unites us in freedom without losing our diversities. 

This is what has been missing in both the socialist and capitalist experiments. It is sure that the present form of cultural, social or political institutions are unable to carry these deeper values. Even today, religion with its fragmented truth, governed by dogmatic tenets is in danger state to uphold social solidarity. Rather all forms of socio-political disturbances are emerging from blind loyalty to so-called religious fundamentalism. The religious life may be the first approach to the spirituality, but very often it is only a turning about in a round of rites, ceremonies and practices or set of ideas and forms without any issue. For that there is needed, not cult and creed but a sustained and all-comprehending effort at spiritual evolution. A true sense of spirituality can certainly bring a change towards an effective cohesiveness, which bears the secrecy of harmony between collective and individual life.

In the early part of the twentieth century, IQ or Intelligence Quotient became the big issue; what is used to solve the logical or strategic problems. In the mid – 1990s, Daniel Goleman popularized research from many neuroscientists and psychologists showing that emotional intelligence – which as a convenient short hand, he terms EQ – is of equal importance to make us aware of our own and other people’s feelings [2]. 

Now, to broaden the understanding of intelligence beyond intellectual and emotional quotient, Zohar and Mitchell added a third ‘Q’ that is SQ or Spiritual Quotient which is the necessary foundation for the effective functioning of both IQ and EQ. To them, the conventional religion is an externally set of rules and beliefs which is inherited from various social agencies. But the spiritual intelligence as defined by them is “an internal, innate ability of the human brain and psychic, drawing its deepest resources from the heart of the universe itself spiritual intelligence is not culture dependent or value dependent. It does not ‘follow’ from existing values but rather ‘creates’ the very possibility of having values in the first place” [3].

Spirituality emerging from the spiritual intelligence of man has been defined by many philosophers and scientists. Bowman defines that the spirituality is a lifestyle lived at depth. The contemporary spirituality concerns for human dignity and human being’s relationships with self, others, the transcendent and indeed to everything that exist [4]. Spirituality is the person’s conscious effort to integrate all aspects of human life, values and experiences at depth and in terms not of isolation and self-absorption, but of self-transcendence towards the ultimate value recognized [5-7]. In the view of the Downey and Macquarrie, spirituality must be liberating and enhancing and have belief about the destiny of humanity and the world. Contemporary spiritualists draw a close connection with psychology and particularly with individuation [8,9]. 

Shalini Modi separates spirituality from religion and says spirituality is less of a religion and more a way of life. Spirituality is not divorced from the material reality of this world – rather it is the ‘inner life’ of this material reality. It means she says, there is a deep appreciation of some basic interconnection between all the seemingly discrete objects, creatures and happenings in the cosmos [10]. 

Sudhir Kakar, psychoanalyst and academician pronounces, “The human mind is dictated by both the body and the spirit”. He says, “the spirit is that unseen energy where ‘I-ness’ disappears, connections are made and there is no separation between the self and the universe”. He has shown his concern for the traditional countries like India and China which are blindly embracing the western rationalist view and believe that information and knowledge is more important than imagination and intuition. His emphasis on spirituality or spiritual life is free from religious connotation. His idea of ‘spiritual’ is not confused with the pseudo-religious God clubs that are the national pastime of so many Indians. Rather he speaks of it in a transformative sense; it is the moment when a person transcends the self and connects with a larger universal energy [11].

The Necessity of Spiritual Revival and Its Emerging Trend

Albert Einstein in his book “Ideas and opinion” has clarified the true purpose of religion and the spiritual necessity of the human society. He says, “The satisfaction of the physical needs is indeed the indispensable precondition of a satisfactory existence, but in itself it is not enough. In order to be content, men must also have the possibility of developing their intellectual and artistic powers to whatever extent accords with their personal characteristics and abilities”. For this goal “the possibility of the spiritual development of all individual is to be secured” [12]. 

Prof. K. M. Srinivas is of the view that the time has come to turn towards modern spirituality. The traditional Eastern spirituality, historically, tends towards other-worldly beyond. But he says, most of the modern spiritual teachings of the east are moving towards a healthy life-embracing spirituality which does not reject life and world but aims at a spiritual fulfillment of the life and world [13]. 

A scholarly interest in spirituality emerged largely because of the growing popularity of the term in the wider culture. In the annual conference on Sociology of Religion organized by The British Sociological Association in 2004 there was focus on the necessary revival of spiritual society. Many people distinguish spirituality from religion and frequently cast spirituality in more favorable light than institutionalized pattern [14].

In the last few decades, the media played an active role in creating awareness on spirituality. Newspaper columns, self-help books and television shows rekindled the role of spirituality in our daily day-to-day lives, making spirituality more accessible and attainable. Moreover, huge number of westerners and eminent persons of the world are now showing interest to imbibe Indian philosophy and spirituality. Even there are more human faces in the present corporate world. Corporate social responsibility became the best practice not to further the cause of business but with the aim of sharing wealth with grace, ease and joy [15]. 

Jain has derived idea from Sri Aurobindo and urge to pay attention to the core base of the human values in our day-to-day dealings – which in turn will yield a high crop of spiritualized intuitive human force to manage the affairs of the society. He says, the need of the time to lead value-oriented life. Values are meant to help the process of ‘becoming’ – in the sense of transformation of the levels of consciousness to purer, higher level. What values one possesses along with the skill will determine one’s effectiveness and high degree of one’s effectiveness is visible where the base of both values and skill is strong and the weakness in either will undermine the effectiveness [16]. The Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh also illustrates the necessity of transforming individual consciousness and that way bringing change in the collective consciousness through the practice of spirituality [17]. 

This emerging new society with its preoccupations of culture, language and identity, is characterized by a spiritual resurgence rooted in the lived experience of the individual [18]. Social evolutionary theorists concur that evolution proceeds from pre-secular to secular and further onto post-secular societies [19]. Despite of emerging trends of spiritualized life, there are many conservative societies which are still rigid of their structured belief patterns and hence are found to be potential threats of human unity.

Spirituality is not bound to a rigid definition or a fixed mental rule. It aims to strive for holistic growth of the collectivity while confirming to individual differences. At the same time, it provides a greater and more intimate sense to all human activities including social and scientific ones. At one point, it brings awareness to go deep into the source, which is both, one with all things and unique from all things.

A spiritualized culture always creates rooms for new fields of research which starts with power of mind to a greater sphere of thought to act more sensibly with humanitarian values. Science with the touch of spirituality throws an added light on the existing condition of human living. Thus, scientific discoveries and inventions get proper direction for its application for the humanity by going above any sort of individual or collective interests. Had it been the basis of science earlier, perhaps the nuclear destruction during the 2nd world war could have been avoided. Present world has serious challenges to break rigid fundamentalism and embrace spiritualism. But this has been confirmed to focus more on universal integrative values for global peace and human unity. Therefore, a science of living with spirituality accept spontaneously the freedom of each individual and yet hold it together for the larger unification

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2. Goleman, D. Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ. Bloomsbury Publications, 1996.

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4. Bowman, T.J. Spirituality at Work: An Exploratory Sociological Investigation of the Ford Motor Company. PhD diss., London School of Economics and Political Science, 2004.

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16. Jain, B. “Management by values: Indian ethos.” Human Values and Social Change, edited by Ishwar Modi, Rawat Publications, 2000.

17. Hanh, T.N. Creating True Peace. Free Press, 2003.

18. Forman, R.K.C. Grassroots Spirituality: What It Is, Why It Is Here, Where It Is Going. Thorverton Publications, 2004.

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