SACRED SECULARITY

This book deals with secularity, which Panikkar defines as “sacred” in that it represents the lifestyle to which we are called, overcoming the dichotomy between the sacred and the profane. It is not a question of escaping from the world, but of transfiguring it — which means not merely to redeem it, but to resurrect it. We must “find” the sacred and “create” the secular path. The discovery of sacred secularity seems to be the catalyst that ensures that this transformation is not simply a new look, a new fashion, but a historical mutation. The task is not easy, but it is urgent and also fascinating.
The book addresses various aspects of secular reality, forming a harmonious whole. The first part focuses on the philosophy of secularity, describing the concept, analyzing the sacredness of the secular, and offering some considerations on the challenge that secularity represents for traditional religions.
The second part deals with politics as an important aspect of life: Man is soma, psyche, polis and kosmos. As polis, his belonging to a (political) community is fundamental. This part includes various articles on sociology, which includes also university education.
The third part, dedicated to peace, comprises two books: Concordia and Harmony, a collection of articles illustrating how peace can only be the result of a secularity lived in its sacredness, and Peace and Cultural Disarmament. This last part concludes with some writings on ecosophy, which, as the word suggests, is the wisdom of the Earth that we are invited to listen to and make peace with. The invitation to peace, a goal for the harmonious life of the various peoples on Earth, can be achieved individually by overcoming the ego and collectively by accepting the plurality of cultures and traditions, without any one of them claiming to dominate by imposing a single economy, a single politics, or a single religion. Is variety not perhaps the most beautiful gift to be found in nature also, and even more so among peoples?

INDEX OF ORIGINAL TEXTS IN VOLUME XI

Sacred Secularity: A Historical Mutation. Original edition: “Secolarità sacra. Una mutazione storica.” In La realtà cosmoteandrica. Dio-Uomo-Mondo (Milan: Jaca Book, 2004), 121–82.

“Economics and the Meaning of Life.” Original article: “Economia i sentit de la vida,” in G. Ancochea Soto et al., Neoliberalisme i desenvolupament: Alternatives al neoliberalisme. Com sobreviure al desenvolupament (Barcelona: Edicions de la Universitat Oberta de Catalunya-Pòrtic, Barcelona 2001, 23–36.

“Is the Notion of Human Rights a Western Concept?” Original French text: “La notion des droits de l’homme est-ell un concept occidental?” Diogéne no. 120 (1982): 87–115.

The Spirit of Politics. Original edition: Il “daimôn” della politica: agonia e speranza (Bologna:

“Foundations of Democracy: Strength and Weakness.” Original text: “Fonaments de la Democràcia: Forca i feblesa.” In Els limits de la Democràcia. Annals de la XIII (Andorra la Vella: Universitat d”esiu, 1997), 62–89.

“Politics, Religion, and Interculturality.” In The Earth Has No Corner: Felicitation Volume on the 70th Birthday of Dr. Karan Singh, ed. K. L. Nandan (Delhi: Shipra Publications, 2001), 195–204.

“The Christian God Hidden in America.” Original article: “Il Dio dei cristiani in America latina.” Bozze 13 (Rome) (1990): 97–102.

“Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Sustainable Development: Indigenous and Alternative Practices.” In Interculture (Montreal) (1993): 27–47.

“Europe and the Problem of the Cultural Unity of Humankind.” Original article: “L’Europa e il problema dell’unità culturale dell’umanità.” In Ricerca 19, no. 14 (Rome) (1963): 4–5.

9“Present-Day University Education and World Cultures, Keynote.” Conference of ACUCA (Association of Christian Universities and Colleges in Asia) in 1989.

10“Is There Room for the Temple in the Modern City?” Original text in Changing Perception of Development Problems, ed. R. P. Misra and M. Honjo on behalf of the United Nations Centre for Regional Development, Nagoya, Japan, 1981, vol. 1, 275–88.

“A Theological Meditation on Techniques of Communication.” Original article: “Una meditazione teologica sulle tecniche di comunicazione.” Studi Cattolici 7 (Rome) (1963): 3–9.

“A Religious Meditation on Ayodhya.” Journal of Dharma 25, no. 1 (Bangalore) (2000).

“Let Us Stop Speaking about ‘the Global Village’.” Interculture (Montreal) (1981).

Concordia and Harmony. Original text: Concordia e Armonia, ed. M. Carrara (Milan: Mondadori, 2010). It contains the chapters “Forms and Crises of Contemporary Spirituality”; “Alternatives to the Dominant Culture”; “Religions and the Culture of Peace”; “Political Peace as a Religious Goal’; “A Meeting-Point for Religious Perspectives: Is It Not Justice to Repay Evil with Evil?”; “Diversity as a Presupposition for Unity between Populations”; “Injustice in the World Does Not Leave Us Indifferent”; “A New Society for a New Millennium.”

Peace and Cultural Disarmament. Original edition: Paz y desarme cultural (Santander: Sal Terrae, 1983; rev. ed. Madrid: Espasa Calpe, 2002).

“Ecosophy or the Cosmotheandric Handling of Nature.” Original text: “Ökosophie oder der kosmotheandrische Umgang mit der Natur”: a summary of the lecture Panikkar held on June 2, 1993, within the cycle Natur neu denken (Rethinking nature in a new way) organized by P. V. Dias and H. Kessler at Goethe University, Frankfurt, 1996.

Ecosophy: An Intercultural Reflection. Unpublished original text. 2005.