“The West taught us that they are 'materialists' and we are 'spiritualists'. But this is a fragmented lie. We are spiritual materialists. This is perhaps the most important aspect to understand for any cultural regeneration efforts. The original sin is the separation of spirit and matter or, in other words, the absencing of the sacred from everyday life. For our ancestors, making (and being made by) a clay pot was a spiritual act, growing food (and being grown by) was spiritual act, healing (and being healed by) medicinal plants, soil, mountains and rivers was a spiritual act, gifting (and being gifted by) drinking water in the desert was a spiritual act. We are being educated into an anthropocentric and extremely anemic sense of 'self' and relationships. Spirituality has become limited to a specific class-time, day of the week, workshop session or institution. We are left with a fractured spirituality. This has allowed modern civilisation to create businesses without spiritual purpose, compassion and well-being, to create science and technology without spiritual moorings and a sense of humility and limits, and to create governance and politics without spiritual service and oneness.” - Manish Jain, Shikshantar Andolan
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