.Humans currently exist in a large number of societies, each with its own identity and culture. These each
retain aspects of tribalism, which is showing more vigorous tendencies as people fear that the globalising process will destroy their cultural identity. Different
cultures need not be obliterated by the formation of any global society, but they do need to be relativised. Regional tribalism must give way, where necessary, to globalism. Just as in
tribalism the destiny of the tribe is more important than that of the individual, so the destiny and well-being of humanity as a whole must now
take precedence over that of any tribe, nation or regional culture.
The culture in which the global society finds its cohesion needs to be able
to draw all human groups and individuals into some form of shared life, a degree of commonality that allows for harmony between peoples and also
with the planetary environment. This global culture need not replace existing cultures but it should provide an umbrella to cover them. Each human culture needs to continue with some independence in its own
locality, in a way that enables it to relate to the whole. This global culture will rest on a shared view of the universe, a common story of human
origins, a shared set of values and goals, and a basic set of behavioural patterns to be practised in common.
A future global culture will need to evolve of its own accord. It will not be
achieved simply by implementing a grandiose plan designed by a body such as the United Nations; even less can it be imposed by the dictates of one
or more strong leaders. Repressive measures taken by powerful human authorities, however well intentioned, can do no more than delay global
disasters, and may instead exacerbate them. A global culture implies a widespread recognition that the coming crises threaten all humans equally,
and requires an urgent collective response to the imminent threats to human survival. For this new culture to emerge, there must be a willingness for
most cultures and most people in the world to work together to achieve a common global goal.
The global culture will evolve, if it evolves at all, out of the spread of global
consciousness (as described in Chapter 8) – a consciousness of the human predicament, an appreciation of humanity's dependence on the earth, and a
willingness to act jointly in response. These are the very things which may be said to constitute the raw material of the spirituality of the coming global
culture. For like all earlier cultures, global culture will depend for its goals, values, motivation and creative energy on the possession of a religious dimension.
Emile Durkheim, one of the founding fathers of sociology, wrote in 1915:
There is something eternal in religion which is destined to surive all the particular symbols in which religious thought has successively
enveloped itself. There can be no society which does not feel the need of upholding and reaffirming at regular intervals the collective sentiments and the collective ideas which make its unity and its
personality.
Historian Arnold Toynbee agreed, understanding religion to be 'an intrinsic and distinctive trait of human nature. It is a human being's necessary
response to the challenge of mysteriousness of the phenomena that he encounters in virtue of his uniquely human faculty of consciousness.' In his
late work, Mankind and Mother Earth, he foresaw that the present threat to humankind's survival could be removed only by a revolutionary change
of heart in individual human beings, and that only religion could generate the willpower needed for such a task. Toynbee observed that since the dawn
of civilisation there has been a growing 'morality gap' between humankind's physical power over nature and the level of its spirituality – a
gap that has increased rapidly in the last 200 years. So he closed his book with the alarming question: 'Will mankind murder Mother Earth or will he redeem her?'
Can there be some global form of spirituality which does for the whole of humankind what the previous religions did for their cultures? And if it is
possible, how will it arise? It will not be based on any one race or ethnic tradition, as religion was in the pre-Axial age; it must arise from and involve
the whole human race. Nor will it emerge from some new divine revelation, like the post-Axial religions; it will need to be naturalistic and humanistic in
origin and form. It is unlikely to originate with one charismatic person and then spread to different parts of the world, as Buddhism, Christianity and
Islam did. It will not be built on some external authority, since people live today more by internalised authority. The vision, goals and values to be
found in any global religion must possess their own inherent power to win conviction; they must appear to be self-evidently true to all humans irrespective of their cultural past.
Whereas the religious traditions from the Axial Period onwards each arose at one point and then radiated outwards, the global religion (if it comes at
all) will probably arise more or less spontaneously out of the common human predicament. It will arise simply because its time has come. Just as the cultural change of the Axial Period occurred more or less
simultaneously and independently at several points on the earth's surface, so the new global form of spirituality may well germinate at many different
points and then take more visible form as those points form a network. In other words, the coming global religion may evolve out of the diversity of
the past, as more and more people become alert to the common threats and dangers ahead. Out of a growing shared experience, human creativity
may collectively rise to the occasion. However, none of these things is certain, and the future remains an open question.
