Behind all the progress it has brought, modernism has been found to have problems with the wholeness of the world’s life and all its contents, especially about nature. The understanding that man is the subject of consciousness has had a harmful effect on everything. Modernism impacts the destruction of the balance of the order of creation. (Emanuel Wora).
Its looks elegant and sturdy with all the sophistication and convenience that modernism offers has a significant influence on the development of human life in the world. Although humans as subjects are aware and can know all the facts with their ratios, able to judge something and always be the centre of knowledge, this era is plunging humans into a life crisis that is complex and global in nature.
Many of them are experiencing disorientation or loss of direction. Although no doubt, they make the world their way of life, even their way of life is aimed at the world alone. This happened because of the influence of secularization and the philosophy of pragmatism which had long dwelt in their souls.
Meanwhile, science and technology, which are considered the driving force for the modernization process, are causing humanity’s increasing hedonism and pragmatism. Instead of science and technology giving humanity abundant blessings in the form of material convenience and broadening the horizons of their minds, they get anxiety which is marked by the erosion of human attention to spiritual and ethical. The spirit of modernity slowly eroded the values of truth, honour, and ethics that had once been the strong fortress of every great civilization.
Modern Society Life
Since the opening of the faucet of rational thought by Rene Descartes (1595-1650) with the statement Cogito Ergo Sum (I think therefore I am), it marks a new chapter in the history of human civilization, which is often called the renaissance (modern) era. This era was born as an enlightener and liberator (antithesis) from the hegemony of previous thought (The Church dogma).
As an antithesis, modernism offers a new paradigm whose main characteristics are humanism, empiricism, rationalism, individualism, and independence (free) from the influence of religion. Humans in this era do not want to be governed by faith. As a result, the standardization of truth often refers to rational-empirical-positivistic thinking. And the product of this thought is the birth of science and technology.
Sayyed Hossein Nasr, for example, stated that due to the modern society that is too devoted to science and technology, they are in a spiritual crisis. As a result, they experience emptiness, anxiety, disorientation, unhappiness, and ultimately suicide. (Ahmad Sidqi, The Face of Sufism in the Modern Era; Between Challenges and Answers, p. 7).
Emanuel Wora also stated that the spirit of modernity gave birth to an unstable reality that could open up great opportunities for humans to fall into the experience of fracture or division at the external level (social life) as well as at the internal level (within humans). (Emanuel Wora, Perennialism; A Critique of Modernism and Postmodernism, p. 50)
Several characteristics characterize this reality. First, the separation between the concepts of ethics and epistemology with the world and the body (material reality) put forward an instrumental view of the two factors (world and body).
Second, discontinuity is when new patterns of life that have emerged in the modern era are replacing or eliminating all old practices with traditional nuances. Third, the revocation of the central position of Divine reality (God) in human life and the world.
Meanwhile, Donald Walters stated that due to the conditions of modernity, humans began to feel the need for a solid basis for their morality, which was not obtained from the physical sciences. And in the end, they admit that it takes a power that transcends reality to reunite them, namely to return to traditional science (mysticism). (Donald Walters, Crises in Modern Thought: Exploring the Advancement of Science in Philosophy and Natural Law, translated by B. Widhi Nugraha, p. 10)
Solutions for the Modern Society Crisis
The condition plaguing most modern society raises a new symptom: humans are starting to turn to the esoteric dimension as a life choice to face the deadlock amid modernism. As a result, spirituality (Sufism) is also increasingly becoming a sexy and new primadonna theme in religious studies.
Then, mysticism (Sufism) offers something more profound than science because it does not ignore other views. The world of Sufism has a unified view on essential and substantial issues; by stating that the attainment of the essence of all things is only by the method of mystical intuition and ways of purification of the soul, not by rational reasoning and argumentation.
Also, attaining such a state requires mental practice and a spiritual journey. Because without going through this path, it is impossible for the human heart and soul to receive the emanation of holy lights. Furthermore, Abdul Muhaya, in his writing entitled “The Role of Sufism in Overcoming Spiritual Crisis“, emphasizes that the Sufism dimension can be used as a therapy for the spiritual crisis that has hit some modern societies for several reasons.
First, Sufism is psychologically the result of various spiritual experiences and is a form of direct knowledge of divine realities, which tends to be an innovator in religion. Second, the presence of God in the form of spiritual (mystical) experiences, such as makrifat, itihad, Hulul, mahabah, and so on, can lead to firm beliefs or become a moral force for righteous deeds. And thirdly, in Sufism, the relationship between a servant and Allah is woven out of love. So for a Sufi, Allah is not a scary Essence, but as a perfect, beautiful, loving and merciful Essence, eternal, al-Haq, and always present anytime and anywhere. (Abdul Muhaya, The Role of Sufism in Overcoming Spiritual Crisis, pp. 24-26)
Thus, it is clear that the presence of Sufism in modernism seeks to treat the disease that plagues modern society (spiritual crisis), which is caused by modernism with a rational-empirical, positivist approach that prioritizes reason over spirituality. Because Sufism in a balanced way provides coolness between the two at once, it can also be understood as an instrument for shaping behaviour through a mystical approach and quench intellectual thirst; anticipating this complex and competitive current of modernization. Wallahu A’lam.
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