Social Science and Spirituality: A Bridge Between Worlds?
Author’s note: I began writing this two weeks ago, and in the days following, with the unfolding of horrific events in Isreal and Palestine, it feels even more relevant to share. What I have to say seems to shift with each day as the crisis unfolds- I’ve shifted from observing the media storm and hesitating to comment, to sharing suggestions on empathic discourse, to feeling the need to call out genocide and war crimes when I see them happening. While I don’t cover it in detail here, I think my argument could be applied to Isreal & Palestine, as well as numerous other issues relating to social and/or environmental justice that may or may not always feature as hot topics on the news agenda.
I also want to note that when I speak of Spirituality here, I am not talking about any kind of organised religion, (which historically have played, and currently play, a role in many conflicts and systems of oppression, as is clearly visible in the case of Isreal and Palestine), nor am I speaking of spiritual tradition belonging to any one culture. Spirituality in this context refers to the collection of practices and wisdom, ethics and philosophies of traditions that are shared across continents; the intersection of yoga, buddhism, daoism, indigenous teachings from across the americas, paganism and many other worldviews that emphasise the sacredness of nature and/or uphold an ethical system that considers the interconnectedness of all beings.
What I’ve been observing since stepping back into academia after five years spent teaching and travelling yoga, is that two distinct groups share a common goal: on one hand we have the progressive social scientists, change makers, advocates and activists in the political sphere, and on the other, an eclectic spiritual community made up of yogis, all manner of healers, shamans and spiritual guides from a variety of cultural backgrounds. What do they often have in common? A shared desire to create a liveable future on this planet (environmental justice), in which all beings are liberated and thriving (social justice). Social Science and Spirituality are two worlds I’m very familiar with, but I don’t often see them connected in practice. The following is an enquiry as to why this is the case, and how both worlds could benefit from the other if they chose to build a bridge of dialogue.
I had feeling the insights I’d collected over all those years studying yoga in depth would be relevant in some ways to my degree (a Communications masters in International Studies), but I didn’t expect to walk into my first lecture on the Ethics of Communication to a powerpoint presentation that began with a Sutra to Prince Abhaya, acknowledging that to roots of ethical conduct in speech date back to early Buddhist thought, (not, as many western scholars would suggest, Ancient Greece). This is something I actually considered when deciding what to share regarding Israel and Palestine; the Sutra suggests that ethical speech must be both true, correct and importantly of benefit to the audience, whether or not it is welcome or agreeable to the audience.
When I approached my lecturer Núria after class, curious that this was the first time I’d seen Eastern Philosophy taken seriously in an academic context, despite seeing its inherent value and relevance through my personal study, she explained that often Philosophy departments look exclusively at Western Philosophy, that Buddhist traditions, any ideas originating from outside of the West, are considered less ‘serious’, and therefore aren’t researched in depth. She mentioned that one scholar (Professor Jay L. Garfield) even called for Philosophy departments to rename themselves as Western Philosophy departments if that’s all they were going to represent. It’s an inherently colonial perspective, to place one (western-centric) school of thought on a pedestal, one culture’s ideas over another, a form of institutionalised white-supremacy in academia. Embedded deeply within this same system is the dualistic model that places the mind over the body, and science over spirituality.
I’m glad to have landed up in a course that is challenging that norm, and taking steps to integrate spiritual ideas into a social science context, but it’s not just social science that has to work on its relationship with spiritual ideas and philosophies; equally I see a reluctance from the spiritual community to engage with with political issues, even when this is an inevitable step in the cultural and social change required on the path towards (key word-) collective liberation that is at the heart of so many of these spiritual philosophies and practices.
In questioning why this might be, I first considered that this hesitance could stem from the toxic positivity culture that is rife in certain spiritual circles; an avoidance of suffering so as not to disturb a carefully constructed facade of peace (this is not a mark of a true spiritual practice, rather one of privilege). In addition, but perhaps connected to this toxic positivity is the economic concerns of many individuals of influence in the spiritual community who have to maintain a living by offering a sellable product (courses, retreats, trainings, classes, books, etc.). To make their content palatable for a broad audience, they might avoid engaging publicly with contentious issues such as climate change, war, or global inequality so as not to ‘put off’ potential buyers.
The irony here is that they are victims of the very same structures they would benefit from engaging in the destruction of - capitalism is what keeps them in selling mode, constantly chasing their tails to maintain a living doing something meaningful. Capitalism also maintains the power structures and inequality that allowed the climate crisis and global inequality to expand to the scale we’re now dealing with.
But there’s more to gain for both communities here than just a (minor) collective goal of taking down capitalism — no biggie! Social science could gain a lot from spiritual wisdom. I’m thinking back to another moment from the last few weeks, chatting with one of my classmates who volunteered for a charity organisation called Seeds of Peace, an initiative designed to bring together Israeli and Palestinian youth through a summer camp programme, in order to facilitate inter-cultural dialogue and peace. I was curious to hear more about his experience with the organisation and was disappointed to hear that they’d shut down this programme. He said it had got too intense, and I assumed he meant that people were arguing with each other, but he said no, people were fainting.
Immediately my mind shifted to the knowledge of the embodiment of trauma, something taken to be common knowledge in the spiritual circles I find myself in, but evidently not so much of a consideration in the world of peace-building and mediation. I thought of ‘The Body Keeps the Score’, one of the books we read in my bookclub, all of the insights about treatment for complex PTSD that involve a deep understanding of the nervous system and the body. I thought of my friends who have training in neuro-somatic therapy and wondering, where were the trauma informed coaches, why didn’t they consider the physical, embodied component of group trauma work? Maybe this organisation simply wasn’t aware of the current literature on trauma.
As our current global system promises to continue proliferating trauma on a mass scale, due to climate ignorance and rising conflict and inequality, it seems obvious that we should address the cause of the fire (the root causes of these issues - such as colonialism and capitalism, requiring the imaginative power of social scientists) as well as putting out the flames (compassionately supporting the healing of those who bear the scars of trauma from having experienced war, conflict or climate devastation firsthand, which could usefully involve the spiritual community).
This conversation with my classmate happened a week or so before the Hamas attack that brought the topic of Isreal and Palestine back into the media landscape this week. Watching the vitriol and reductionism begin to seep through social media from all angles brought me to question — Where’s our sense of collective humanity? Why can’t we see that someone else’s suffering could just as easily be our own? Where’s our compassion? Another insight came a week later from my ethics lecturer Núria— compassion in Sanskrit is Karuna, sharing the root of the word Karma, action. To be compassionate is to act to alleviate the suffering of others, not simply to feel it on their behalf.
So much of the spiritual path, regardless of where we draw inspiration from, is about facing our own shadows. But the real work of that practice, the highest embodiment of it, is to look outside of ourselves and face the shadows of humanity. That means recognising the divine in all beings, and actively seeking to bring about the collective liberation, particularly of the oppressed and the voiceless, not just the liberation of ourselves.
So often I see spiritual communities denouncing the shadows of the world, but then turning away to carve out their own bubble of light within it; living-off grid and becoming self-sufficient in order to step outside of the shackles of capitalism, but in doing so, leaving those who are still stuck in the system to suffer. Equally they may do their part for climate change, go vegan or grow their own food, but only they get to enjoy the benefits of nutrient rich soil and organic produce. What about the health of those living in inner cities who can’t afford to set up an organic homestead? The scope is small when you’re only considering your personal choices; why not bring your values out to the world; lobby governments, get engaged with local movements, support indigenous Landback initiatives, become an educator and spread knowledge of regenerative practices?
A spiritually aligned political activist would have so much more to give our social and environmental movements — imagine bringing ideas for how to change the world to the table, rooted in a connection to the earth so deep that you pray to it daily? Imagine showing up to those discussions, the protests and the picket lines, with an understanding that there is some essence within every living being that we all share. Imagine if we saw the humanity in each other rather than our divisions. We are living in a crisis of belonging, an era of identity politics. We need to lose the ego and remember our spirit. Indigenous communities and those engaged in spiritual practices are already living this way, but only some have stepped out into the world of activism, to bring their way of living to the world.
What if we built a bridge from both sides? Rather than leaving it to the spiritual community to politicise, what if social sciences began to reach toward spirituality? If social sciences were to consider spirituality seriously, they would have to consider the cultures and ideas associated with spirituality, and in doing so, decolonise their own academic practices. Historically some of the most persecuted and colonised societies have offered some of the most profound wisdom. The native tribes of the amazon and the people indigenous to the Americas, the sages of India, the monks of tibet and the Himalaya, just to name a few, offer worldviews rooted in compassion, deeply connected to the earth and in touch with her rhythms, multiple pathways for liberation, a strong ethical framework and a detachment from materialism and greed, all of which offer potential antidotes to the colonial-capitalist global order. Those ideas deserve to be studied and taken seriously.
So what would the bridge between the worlds of social science and spirituality look like? In part it means inviting the right people to the table, ensuring a dialogue between worlds. I also see value in gathering around that common vision I mentioned earlier; further distilling to a set of goals that support the realisation of this shared vision, and working on them through both perspectives. A suggestion of what that might look like —
-deconstruct capitalism, and look for alternative economic structures
-challenge the patriarchy and hierarchical structures
-de-colonise, including trauma informed group therapy & anti-racism work
-(bio)diversify & safeguard our natural landscapes
-protect and centre indigenous experiences and elevate unheard voices.
Then there’s the not-so-simple question of how to achieve those goals. Though it might seem complicated, and a mammoth task, its the reality of the problem we’re faced with. In my next article as I reflect on Fixing the Future 2023, a conference I attended last weekend, I’ll go into more detail about how we can make that overwhelming task manageable. Spoiler — it involves the power of community, something the spiritual world is very accustomed to building.
Ultimately, in a world rife with crisis, we are faced with a simple choice between action and apathy. Only one of those choices has a chance of brining us closer to the kind of (collective) world we want to live in, the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible, and we have a much stronger chance of realising that vision the more we build bridges to bring our (individual) worlds together - the academic, the political, the social, the scientific, the spiritual.