In the seeking for a new spirituality we must remember that there are spiritual traditions that have survived to the present day, which though tainted or regressive in outer aspects, can provide the foundation for a new spirituality. The spiritual traditions of East Asia, particularly of India and Tibet, show the way to a global spirituality. They have never formulated themselves as exclusive belief systems, but have remained open as universal meditation paths.

They have preserved living traditions of spiritual realization, the millennial heritage of humanity, with great living spiritual masters. Such teachers are necessary for all of us to learn from to develop an authentic experiential spirituality, rather than just some speculative or imaginary creation of our own thoughts and opinions. As Western science moves to the East, Eastern spirituality and its science of Yoga is coming to the West. This can serve to link up the two sides of human knowledge for the coming age.

The Western world has prided itself in modernity and rationality. After all it invented these things. Yet if we look at Western culture it is obvious that it has been guilty of various forms of prejudice and narrow mindedness, a Eurocentricism in religion, art and culture. We have been forced to recognize the inhumanity committed in the colonial era, which led to slavery and genocide, and still is producing economic exploitation. We must come to recognize the cultural imperialism which has gone along with it that has portrayed non-European cultures in a negative light, particularly their spiritual traditions, and has reduced their histories to mere footnotes to events in Europe.

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