This is written for those people for whom neither blind faith nor cold science are enough.
“The world will be saved by the Western woman,” is a quote widely attributed to His Holiness the Dalai Lama. There have been mixed reactions to his pronouncement, some of them quite funny. For those who may be bemused by it I’ll attempt to give my personal interpretation of it.
As a spiritual leader the Dalai Lama is prone to talking in the language of symbols, as many spiritual leaders do, for the simple reason that symbols tap into the archetypal contents of our psyches and therefore transcend cultural and religious differences. Symbols are truly transpersonal and transglobal.
So let’s analyse the Western part of the quote first. Western culture has been through two major transformations in the past 2,000 years. From highly energetic religious fervour to the dispassionate objectivity of science.
For all its ability to adapt, Western culture has reached a point where it now has the power to destroy the world. Whether you see this as an apocalyptic nuclear war or as the collapse of ecosystems is immaterial. The point is that the power to do this (and conversely to save it) resides in humanity. It is our choice whether creation, as we know it, will continue.
That kind of power is terrifying to admit because it puts us on a new level of responsibility, one that most people will instinctively eschew, because of its sheer burden.
This burden is borne by those who are aware of the responsibility now resting on humanity’s shoulders – those who have adopted the Western pattern of using innovation and technology to better lives – no matter which part of the world they hail from. This is what His Holiness means by ‘Western’ – any country, society or, individual that accepts advancement must also accept responsibility. It does not mean that only Western powers bear the burden. In fact, as recent history indicates, Western powers don’t necessarily provide exemplary leadership in all spheres.
The ‘woman’ part of the quote is easier. The feminine aspect of our psyches is relationship oriented, as well as being compassionate and affectionate. It has the ability to link and connect, as opposed to the male affect of going it alone. What His Holiness the Dalai Lama is therefore referring to is the so-called feminine approach to the problems that face us. It is about the ability to work as a team, to reach out, to be inclusive.
This capacity does not reside solely in women though. It resides in every psychologically developed individual regardless of society or gender. Those people who have integrated the opposites of a Western achievement and individual-oriented approach to life with the path of feminine connectedness, within themselves, are the ones able to forge a new way to the future.
If you consider the etymology of these seemingly opposite stances you obtain greater insight into what His Holiness is saying.
Religion, derived from the Latin ‘ligare’, means to bind or connect, and has as its essential purpose the maintaining of man’s connectedness with God. Science, on the other hand, boldly gave up the connection with the other and opted instead to pursue an increase in human knowledge. The origin of the word science is from the Latin ‘scire’ meaning to know.
So the phrase ‘Western woman’ is a marriage of these two concepts.
In symbolic terms the reconciling of two opposites brings about the birth of something new, the child of the union. What is this child? The word consciousness comes from the Latin ‘con’ which means together or with and ‘scire’, as above. Therefore consciousness means to know with withness or relationship.
Jungian, Edward F. Edinger, says: “The age now dawning will provide a synthesis for the thesis [of religion] and the antithesis [of science]. Religion sought linkage while science sought knowledge. The new world-view will seek linked knowledge. On the collective level, consciousness is the name for a new supreme value coming to birth in modern man.”
This is what the Dalai Lama means when he says Western woman. It is a metaphor for the synthesis of the separating and the connecting themes within us.