Exploration of the Self in the Multipolar World
Exploration of the Self in the Multipolar World

Author(s): S. Rukmini
Subject(s): Theology and Religion, Culture and social structure , Identity of Collectives
Published by: Naučnoistraživački institut »Ibn Sina«
Keywords: Polarity; Self-exploration; Multipolar; Unipolar; Bipolar; National Self
Summary/Abstract: The world of polarities viz. Unipolar, Bipolar and Multipolar worlds have received greater attention in recent years across the world. Probing into the cause and effect of it is necessary for Mankind to understand the very meaning of polar/polarity. The word ‘polarity’ meant a body that exhibits opposite properties or powers in opposite parts or directions/a relationship between opposite characteristics or tendencies. The author puts a humble effort to understand whether the polarity is something real or is it just a mental perception. This paper primarily highlights on stating that polarity is just a mental perception and nothing else. It further states that only when we transcend the mind and look within, we are able to explore the Self and its nature which facilitates in understanding the very cause of polarities in oneself and the world we live in. Secondly, the paper discusses at length ‘What does the word ‘Self’exactly mean? Where is the world leading the Self to? How many Selves does one have? Does Man have One Self, two selves or multiple selves? If it is two then which one is the original Self? If it is multiple? Then is it the Individual Self or the Social Self or the Political self or the National Self? Which Self? The paper clarifies which Self it is. Thirdly, what are the repercussions of that Man, the Supreme of God’s creation would be confronted with the ignorance of the knowledge and experience of the‘Self’. Finally, the paper tries to arrive at a solution for the existing polarities in the world by putting forth the scriptures and the lives of enlightened souls whose lived experiences have been a mirror to understand the individual self and the role it plays in the aforementioned other selves viz., Social Self, Political Self and the National Self. Further, in understanding the individual self alone can one understand the cause of polarities in the Universe. Polarities, in the real sense, never existed before nor exists now and never will exist in the future for they are just mental perceptions in oneself and the projection of it into the outer world. Jean Baudrillard avers, “We are living in a hyper real world a world that captures the inability to distinguish “The Real from the signifier of it…” this inability is the very cause for the origination of polarity.

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