Rise up, show up, link up, lift up.

I've been alerted to this simple, yet powerful, injunction. I will contend that it is a fitting re-interpretation of the religious notion of Ascension, which will be celebrated tomorrow, 9th May, in the Christian tradition.

Ironically tomorrow is also the annual Victory Day celebration in Russia where its apparent military might will be on display. These two celebrations present the stark alternatives for humanity. That is why this friendly reminder of our opportunity tomorrow is to re-interpret the religious notion of 'ascension' as a rising in consciousness towards a greater fullness of being.

Hamlet's dilemma

In Shakespeare's profound play, Hamlet, our stricken hero laments:

"The time is out of joint. Oh cursed spite, that I was born to put it right."

Hamlet is deeply troubled by the dire state of affairs in Denmark and his sense of responsibility to do something about it. We too today, those who care for the condition of humanity in the world, might feel burdened by the need to do something about it.

Hamlet ponders:

"Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles,

And by opposing end them."

Engagement

Hamlet's question is whether he must go along stoically with 'what is', or rise up and do something about it. So too do we 'look the other way' - or do we engage? More importantly though - how are we interpreting the situation, and with what attitude do we engage with it?

This time

Already in 1936, in the Preface of the Third Edition of 'Holism and Evolution', Jan Christian Smuts penned these prophetic words:

"We are passing through one of the great transition epochs of history;we are threatened with reaction on the one hand and with disintegration on the other …If the soul of our civilisation is to be saved we shall have to find new and fuller expression for the great saving unities — the unity of reality in all its range, the unity of life in all its forms, the unity of ideas throughout human civilisation, and the unity of man’s spirit with the mystery of the Cosmos in religious faith and aspiration. Holism is … a groping towards the new light and to new points of view.”

Those words, 'reaction' and 'disintegration', ring as true now as they did in the thirties of last century - and indeed the 'soul of our civilisation', however we might interpret that, appears increasingly under threat. What did Smuts mean when he identified the need for a new and fuller expression for the great saving unities?

Re-engaging the vertical dimension

I have been re-reading E. F. Schumacher’s book, 'A Guide for the Perplexed’ (1977). I've considered the insights against the context of growing despondency, especially among younger folks, about their diminishing prospects of living a good life in the face of the relentless erosion of human and natural regenerative capacity. Reading Schumacher’s profound insights has reinforced the original insights offered by Smuts who introduced the idea and practice of holism in his seminal work: ‘Holism and Evolution’ (1926).

Upward evolutionary progression

Without mentioning holism, Schumacher’s insights fundamentally endorse the holistic description of an upward evolutionary progression in living systems towards, as Smuts put it,“… rational and spiritual self-realisation."

According to Schumacher, and thereby endorsing the original view propounded by Smuts, the loss of this 'vertical dimension’, this upward progression, is a function of scientific materialism that fails to understand or even adequately describe, the nature of life, mind,and the even rarer capacity of self-reflection.

Schumacher addresses the limitations our technological materialistic science bluntly:

“Anything that we can destroy, but are unable to make, is in a sense sacred. And all our explanations of it explains nothing.”

Horizontal plane

As a consequence, according to him, growth and expansion in that soul-constricting worldview, is doomed to remain horizontal. It's about control of territory and resources, a growing compulsion to advance the technological manipulation of the outer material world and the people in it.

Only way out it up

The alternative, evolutionary view of growth and expansion, is vertical. The over-reach of our planetary eco-systemic limits shows that the only way ‘out’ now is ‘up'. And 'up' is an inner journey into a deeper quality of selfhood; one that embraces the enabling living milieu into its own identity and being. From this holistic perspective the living milieu is not a resource to be exploited by humanity, especially the technocrats, but a life-giving context to be revered and nurtured in deep collaborative co-creation. It is this inner journey that will enable the transformation of humanity's conception of wellbeing.

Pilgrimage to a Holistic Future

That is why the Holos.Earth project https://holos.earth/? has initiated a metaphoric ‘Pilgrimage to 2026' where we will celebrate the centenary of the publication of 'Holism and Evolution’. This pilgrimage is not a horizontal journey to some sacred shrine 'out there’, it is rather to the sacred space ‘in here’ - a vertical evolutionary rising up in consciousness and ethical response informing our everyday practice.

Halfway mark

Intriguingly Schumacher’s ‘Guide to the Perplexed’ (1977) comes a little more than 50 years after Smuts’ ‘Holism and Evolution’ (1926).and just under 50 years to the Centenary Festival of 2026. Re-engaging with it mindfully might serve to enable us to comprehend and review the evolution of our thinking and practice - and to create a vision of a holistic future for the next 100 years.

Ascension Day

That is why tomorrow, 9th May, (Ascension Day in the Christian tradition) in a free on-line presentation we will offer a comparative analysis of the teaching of Smuts and Schumacher. The intention is to curate the living principles of holistic systems practice with which to begin the restoration of humanity’s creative re-engagement with the sacredness of life - see: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/contemplating-self-transcendence-wholeness-claudius-van-wyk/

You are warmly invited to join this free one and half hour interactive presentation and interactive dialogue @ 18h00 BST (19h00 CEST) tomorrow, Thursday 9th May, 2023.

Here is the Zoom link: Join Zoom Meeting https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81113114966?pwd=0gF2MPm9GCBMvOX42xYPscbifhnQQk.1Meeting ID: 811 1311 4966Passcode: 118013