Varghese Manimala

 

Abstract

 

 

The title that we have chosen may look a little odd, but what we aim at is to look
for new paradigms in the understanding of secularism and spirituality. There seems to
be an urgent need to understand spirituality from different angles altogether. It is not a
break with the past, but a development that is a must, for a history from which the need
for new understanding and new expressions emerges. With regard to spirituality this
applies as well, as there is nothing beyond the law of evolution and transcendence.
Hence, nowadays the need to look at spirituality from various perspectives arises, and
therein also comes the need for new paradigms, which may be able to give expressions
to the aspirations of humankind with better relevance for the modern world. We need to
realize that no absolute standard can be set for all times; and perhaps it is here that all
religious institutions need to be humble enough to admit that they are always on search
and it can never reach the final goal until the end of history, which is not in sight either.
Thus, the Lord of history is challenging us to wake up and meet the world with its
successes and failures and to build up a secularity that is sacred enough for the divine
and the humans, and wherein all creatures can live in accommodation and caring for
one-another in a spirit of solidarity and self-donation. This is the ‘Sacred Secularity’ to
which we need to awaken ourselves, and may the challenge be addressed adequately by us.

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