S p i r i t ua l i t y S t u d i e s 7 - 1 S p r i n g 2 0 2 1 3 Slavomír Gálik 1 Introduction We are currently witnessing intensive efforts for globalization. Several decades ago, Paul Ricoeur spoke of shaping a planetary civilization. In his view, planetary civilization was the result of advance in the field of science, engineering, economics and politics, spreading all across the globe without any major flaws. According to him, all of these fields share a common denominator –“abstract rationality”– cognitive apprehension, clarity, predictability and efficiency, which constitutes the basis for not only science and technology, but also politics and economics. This form of knowledge typically utilizes the progress principle, which means accumulation of knowledge, accumulation of positive results and linear progress. This definition of abstract rationality and practical applications of such rationality is more or less recognized worldwide. Inventions and innovations in, for example, the automotive industry, or digital industry, merge and accumulate and constitute visible progress. The same applies to economics – it must respect rational rules in order to succeed. This is least true in politics; however, politics faces the test of time simply because excessive influence of emotions and irrational approach is generally harmful in the long run. Unification of the world through science, technology or rational politics and economics faces resistance among various cultures and religions. Cultures and religions are the results of hundreds, even thousands of years of progress, which gives them a considerable amount of complexity and a vast sum of symbols that cannot be processed entirely by abstract reality. Apart from this, they feature spirituality, or mystical core, which also goes beyond the capabilities of abstract rationality. Contact between various cultures and religions may also generate negative consequences – fear of the other, reluctance or even hate that stems from the lack of awareness of other cultures and religions. We assume that understanding other cultures and religions may bring us an opportunity to accept some of their features into our world and, if we do so, these cultures and religions should not trigger negative emotions anymore. Learning about various cultures and religions and accepting dialogue between religions is therefore About the author Prof. PhDr. Slavomír Gálik, PhD., is a philosopher who specializes in philosophy of mysticism, philosophy of media, and history of philosophy. He publishes extensively in these fields. Among his most important publications are books Philosophy and Mysticism and The Spiritual Dimension of Crisis of Contemporary Man. As a head researcher he led a research project on phenomenon of mystical death in European and non-European spiritual traditions. He currently serves as Vice Dean for science, research, quality and foreign relations at the Faculty of Mass Media Communications, University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Trnava, Slovakia. His email contact is s_galik@yahoo.com. extremely important in our globalizing world. A new form of dialogue of spiritual experience appears to be of particular importance in this regard according to Martin Dojčár (2019, 36–37). The ambition of this study is to contribute to the inter-religious dialogue, especially between Christian, in particular Carmelite spirituality and Zen Buddhist spirituality. Our objective is to compare St. Teresa of Ávila, representing Carmelite spirituality, and Rōshi Jiyu-Kennett, representing Zen Buddhist spirituality. We also want to identify relevant methods to find what these two spiritual traditions share and what is different between them.
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