Scholarly Contributions | Spirituality and Global Politics

PERSONAL TRANSFORMATION AND INTERNATIONAL POLITICS

Professor Abdul Aziz Said contributed to many aspects of the study and practice of international politics, but the area in which he pushed the boundaries of the field the most was his focus on personal transformation. According to him, outer transformation in the realm of international politics is only possible through inner transformation at the individual level: the process of self-knowledge leads to a deeper understanding and respect of others, self-governance, and freedom. Said drew on key spiritual concepts such as the “mirror of the heart” and “Love Triangle” to explain how an understanding and transformation of one’s inner state leads to loving actions. Importantly, Said asserts that transformation is not a utopian dream; every person is capable of peaceful outward action in the world.

From his understanding of spirituality as a recognition of unity and pluralism (see Spirituality and Global Politics), Said finds that neither past and present approaches nor future projections adequately address our increasingly interconnected world, leading to pessimistic outcomes. He writes, “international relations based on fear-inducing perceptions of separateness reinforced by artificial boundaries and superficial differences (race, gender, religion, class) lead to increasingly precarious situations for all nations given the pervasiveness of interdependence.”¹ In one of his last projects, an unpublished manuscript titled “Minding the Heart,” Said reviews the various means through which peace has been sought over the years, including a promotion of unity through sameness and coercion, religious-based strategies that are closed to differences, and a pursuit of law that reflects the interests and values of dominant Western industrial nations. He concludes that “none of these roads has led to lasting peace,” and a closer examination shows a common thread running through them: “lack of spiritual consciousness.”² Said comes to a similar conclusion when looking at dominant projections of the future. While environmentalists focus on global warming and famines, others assume a future in which we can “simply be able to push a button and everything will open up.”³ Spiritual consciousness, on the other hand, provides an alternative, accepting “neither the darkness and despair of the former, nor the facile optimism of the latter. Instead, spirituality places the focus for change on the inner world.”⁴ Said asserts, “the reorientation of international relations to a moral framework derived from a spiritual perspective is the world’s best—and perhaps only—hope for transcending separateness and encouraging universal solidarity.”⁵

In a paper titled “The Architect’s Map: Spirituality, Politics and Peace,” Said explains that “like the architect, we are entering a pivotal moment in which reflection upon the mapping of human consciousness (as it constructs identity in either open or closed boundaries) and politics will ultimately either enable or thwart our ability to imagine (and hence build) a global community.”⁶ While closed communities create obedience and can never be truly free, “spiritual reflection (manifest as spirituality) enables the consciousness to move effortlessly across time while social reflection (manifest as freedom) enables the individual to move effortlessly across material space.”⁷ For Said, spirituality must begin at the individual level, and the values it fosters shape the nature of communities and their politics. “We have to start by saving that part of humanity over which we have the most control. And that is our own selves.”⁸ (See also Personal Transformation.)

The Lebanese-American writer and political activist Ameen Rihani (1876-1940) influenced Said’s thinking on the connection between personal transformation and a societal transformation that transcends divisions. Said described Rihani as a visionary leader who by drawing on Sufism as well as esoteric Western philosophies “recognized a creative force of humanity and compassion that knows no sectarian or geographical boundaries.”⁹ In particular, Professor Said shared Rihani’s belief that not “everything in the universe, our world, or our human nature is fully accessible to scientific materialism … [much] of our inner reality and life remain mysterious, especially the age-old quest of the human spirit toward transcendence.”¹⁰ Said also agreed with Rihani’s understanding that the rational and intuitive can function complementarily as “a measure of human creativity”¹¹ as well as Rihani’s firm conviction that there are no specially chosen people; rather, “every single one of us is a chosen human being capable of reflecting on the most important issues we face.”¹² Indeed, drawing on historical and modern examples of figures like Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Jr., Sakena Yacoobi, and Thich Nhat Hanh, Dr. Said states that personal transformational work for outer transformation “is not utopian. This is the life experience of people who realize their true nature.”¹³ Said explains that a spiritual approach to world peace is “revolutionary in a quiet but powerful sense. It is an egalitarian approach because the peace of spiritual consciousness flows as fully within the hearts of the nameless and the forgotten as it does within the hearts of the power elite. Thus, a spiritual approach is powerful because it includes everybody.”¹⁴

For Professor Said, the process of this transformation starts with self-knowledge, “which is the essence of spiritual growth” and then moves toward self-governance, “which becomes the outer measure of that growth.”¹⁵ In the West and increasingly in the East, “the dominant inner current is that of the mind … manifesting as rationalism, secularism, and technification.”¹⁶ When mental activity dominates our lives, Said explains, “we are at the mercy of the objects of our thoughts and desires.”¹⁷ Yet the purpose of spiritual work is not to “transcend” the mind, but to “harmonize the mind with the heart,” which is boundless.¹⁸ Becoming peaceful is thus a “process of emptying” an overly active mind: “peace comes when we make the effort to empty our minds of these nagging desires, and instead accept reality. We surrender to the grace of the moment, realizing there are some things we simply can’t change.”¹⁹ Fear and anxiety can be overcome, Said asserts, when we realize these emotions are caused by our beliefs. In his writings as well as his encounters with people seeking his guidance, Said often drew on the Sufi metaphor of the “mirror of the heart,” encouraging a “polishing” of the heart. “With expanded, sharpened clarity, we are able to recognize our thoughts.”²⁰ (See Poems and Prayers.)

This inner process has a direct impact on our outer relationships. According to Said, “witnessing and harmonizing the streams of consciousness in our own mind make it easier to harmonize with another person’s stream of consciousness … Only if we acknowledge and honor each other’s uniqueness can our relationships be alive.”²¹ For Dr. Said, this is the essence of pluralism, in which groups have the freedom to maintain their own identities while still in active, mutually respectful relationships with others. “The respect of different groups for each other forms the nurturant basis of self-government. When many groups live and interact with respect, they can govern themselves successfully.”²² Said reminds us that “peace is a process and there is no instant transformation … peace has to recreate itself moment-by-moment, in our lives of constant change, through detachment and response.”²³ Detachment is a process of letting go that can lead to deep stillness and discernment of the type of action required, whether nonresponse or an intentional action of conflict resolution. He explains that “because all thoughts carry the sense of self — ‘I’m thinking about that’ — and because the sense of self is itself a thought — only spiritual consciousness can circumvent the root of conflict. It can do this because it doesn’t recognize a distinction between self and other”²⁴ (See also Conflict Resolution and Spirituality).

Professor Said often discussed the concept of the “Love Triangle” in relation to personal transformation and outer peace. At the apex of the triangle are thoughts/love, while words/lover and actions/beloved are at the bottom corners. He explains, “when our thoughts reflect our love, our words are those of a lover, and our actions serve the beloved. We are peace. This is a virtuous cycle. It is the opposite of the vicious cycle of violent action.”²⁵ Further, “the Triangle’s undivided interior represents the oneness of inner peace—the unity of the individual and all the rest of the universe, in love.”²⁶ Ultimately, for Said, “love is a dynamic force, not a state we possess. It is a force passing through us. To receive it, we have to give it to others.”²⁷ (See also Poems and Prayers.)

Throughout his work on personal transformation, Said insisted that individual and therefore international political transformation is possible. The realization of outer peace is only possible through inner peace. As he states, “expanded, deep, transcendental consciousness realizes that self and other are delusions created by thought. The insight that we are one is love: We are connected: We are interdependent: The whole universe is One.”²⁸

Notes