China, India and the cosmology of civilizational renewal

“India’s journey today is not merely about development; it is also a journey of psychological renaissance.” — Narendra Modi “Realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is the greatest dream of the Chinese nation in modern times.” — Xi Jinping India and China — the world’s two most populous nations, both heirs to ancient, living civilizations — are both in the midst of striking civilizational revivals. In each case, modern national identity is being reshaped not only by economic growth or geopolitical ambition, but by a renewed turn toward cosmological traditions that reach deep into the past. In the West, these traditions are usually encountered through familiar terms such as dharma, karma, wu wei and qi. Over the past century, philosophers, psychologists and writers translated these ideas into narratives of personal growth and spirituality, often in ways that lifted them out of the broader cultural worlds in which they first took shape. Yet concepts such as dharma and wu wei were never merely abstract principles. They emerged from integrated worldviews that linked cosmic order to moral responsibility, social life and everyday conduct. They shaped how people understood their place in the world. Revisiting the deep cosmological foundations of India and China helps explain the renewed cultural confidence visible in both countries today. Those foundations continue to inform their sense of identity, their values and their complementary visions of the future. Varnas and yuga s The differences between India and China come most clearly into view when we look at their distinct cosmologies, the large-scale worldviews each civilization developed to explain the nature of the universe, its moral order, and humanity’s place within it. In classical Indian cosmology, the four yugas (cosmic ages) and the four varnas (archetypal human orientations) form part of a cyclical vision of history rather than a narrative of linear progress. In early thought, the varṇas were not rigid castes but symbolic patterns of human disposition — the contemplative Brahmin, governing Ksatriya, productive Vaisya, and skilled Sudra — each representing a capacity that civilization foregrounds at different moments in the cycle. Fig. 1. The cycle of the four varnas. The arrows emphasize the paradox of progression within recurrence. Some scholars equate our current epoch with the Kali Yuga that is on the threshold of a new Satya Yuga. The four varnas are generic psychological profiles. Most humans have features of two or more Varnas, but one of the four predominates in most people. In modern parlance, he is a born leader, a model worker, a devoted teacher. In the Brahmin/Satya (Age of Wisdom), life is oriented toward insight and alignment between the cosmic and social orders. The Ksatriya/Treta (Age of Order) emphasizes law, governance and disciplined institutions, strengthening political organization even as hierarchy intensifies. Fig. 2. Interpretive correspondence between the four yugas (cosmic ages) and the four varṇas. This correspondence suggests that in classical thought, the social and psychological order was not arbitrary but reflected the prevailing condition of cosmic time. The Vaisya/Dvapara (Age of Productivity)...

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