Spiritual computing

In 1964 Fr Yves Raguin founded the Taipei Ricci Institute. When I succeeded him in 1996, he told me, 'I have alwasy wanted to integrate Chinese spiritual resources into humankind's spiritual computer'. 

Yves Raguin used a typewriter all his life. He never handled a computer or browsed the internet. So his knowledge of computing was small. But he understood what the computer could do. It enabled you to process the data you entered into it, and to make connections you otherwise couldn’t.

His image of the computer helped us to develop the Ricci Institute in ways that built on the inspiration of its founders. The predecessor of the Institute was the Office for Chinese Studies which the French Jesuits had founded in Shanghai at the end of the 19th century.

Fr Raguin focused the Institute on lexicography and on comparative spiritualities in a Chinese context. We have gone from lexicography to networking with Chinese intellectuals about the role of China in world governance. In 2004, we launched a Chinese-language paper monthly, Renlai (The flute of humankind), and, in 2006, an English-Chinese internet magazine, www.erenlai.com. The magazine has focused on cultural diversity, sustainable development and spiritual empowerment in Asia.

The image of the spiritual computer stays with me in whatever I am doing. Sometimes when I’m writing a boring article or bad poetry, sometimes starting a painting, at other times building a project with members of our team or with friends around the world… Whether as individuals or as a group, we are enriching the network of knowledge that computers process.

If we imagine a spiritual computer of humankind, what would the machine look like? Its basic components are surely our personal experiences and the ways in which we try to express them. At a second level, the computer would be shaped by the in-depth encounters that, by chance or miracle, happen when people can listen and speak to each other in truth, humility and mutual recognition.

At a third level, it would contain the words and deeds of a few people whom we have never met, because of the distance in time and space, but whose quest resonates with ours, and who move us. These people become our spiritual father or mother. In this way spiritual lineages are built across generations. They create solidarity across ages and cultures.

People who strive to be true to what they feel obscurely called to become, recognise each other when they happen to meet. Sometimes their spiritual friendship is through a single meeting, one which they remember for the rest of their lives. Other spiritual friendships develop over a great number of years and are an invaluable support to each partner. They are vital parts of our spiritual computer.

Spiritual discoveries can differ from scientific discoveries. They are likely to disappear if the person who makes the discovery is not supported, nurtured and enriched by a living tradition.

Humankind’s spiritual quest goes through ups and downs. Discoveries must be remade, the quest always begins again. If they are lucky, pilgrims find masters and elders along the way. But sometimes they must struggle alone, because their culture and society stifle their efforts.

No matter how modest any person’s spiritual quest appears to be, it carries enormous importance for the global community. The intertwining of spiritual endeavours creates the tapestry of our collective human adventure. No one can predict its final shape and colours, but its texture continues to be woven through our spiritual computer.

What we are trying to do through Renlai, eRenlai, the Taipei Ricci Institute and the knowledge networks we are nurturing in Shanghai, Chengdu, Beijing and other cities is really very simple.

We are trying to make new resources available on humankind’s spiritual computer, especially the resources that flow from the entry of China into the global community. We want to help people to become informed, reflective and networked, so that we shall all be effective actors in the drama of the international community.

Benoît Vermander SJ

Benoît directs the Taipei Ricci Institute, Renlai Monthly, and eRenlai Magazine (www.erenlai.com). He is also an artist and poet.