The Soul of Nations – Healing and Evolution

Two of the most important, and opposing, trends in the modern world are internationalism and chauvinism, or narrow parochialism. Proponents of internationalism, of a world where countries are no longer divided by narrow nationalisms, often point to the European Union as a promising supra-national experiment. Yet even the EU is experiencing the counter trend, most obviously in Britain’s recent withdrawal.

In other words, while the internationalist dream is an enduring one, and an increasingly urgent one in the face of transnational threats like climate change and terrorism, it is proving very difficult to materialise. Why is this? 

One possibility is that we have not understood the real nature of nations. Wolfgang Aurose examines this in his new book, The Soul of Nations – Healing and Evolution. Rejecting simplistic definitions, he adopts Sri Aurobindo’s view that human communities and nations have ‘souls’ which, as in the case of individuals, have the capability to evolve. This leads Wolfgang to examine the specific ways certain nations act as expressions of their unique and evolving souls (which he defines as their ‘core identity’), as well as to highlight the dangers involved in this process.

Wolfgang illustrates the dangers by reference to his birth country, Germany. Sri Aurobindo remarked by the end of the 19th century that Germany was in a very advantageous position to take the next step in its soul evolution as its philosophers and artists had provided it with the vision, and its scientists and engineers the practical basis for realizing that vision.

However, by appealing to its collective ego rather than to its soul, Hitler led it down a very dark path which, according to Wolfgang, has immeasurably scarred the German psyche. 

Thus, Wolfgang’s main motivation for writing this book is to present models for doing the “shadow work”, or dealing with skeletons in the closets of nations. “For a nation to recognize its shadow and ask forgiveness for its violations makes up a crucial part of the healing and maturing process of its soul. It is this discernment alone that can make a country “great” (again). This is the true self-realization of a nation, which its leaders should aim for.”

In fact, it’s a work that can take place on two levels since, as Sri Aurobindo pointed out, there is a parallelism between the individual sadhana and the sadhana of the group or nation. On the national level, Wolfgang mentions Willy Brandt falling to his knees in Warsaw in apology for Nazi war crimes, as well as South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, as examples of public attempts to expiate national ‘shadows’. 

On the individual level, Wolfgang writes that “each of us must own those parts of our personal history that we do not like or that we deny or deliberately forget. As we do this, we contribute to the evolution of the soul field of our nations.”

Wolfgang believes that on a soul-level all countries are in a state of evolution: “all are ‘developing countries’, moving in an increasingly self-determined unfolding”. The evolution of the ‘soul field’ begins with identification with the land, and develops to where a nation’s political alignment and constitution become the central expression of a shared national experience. 

While some nations are more advanced in this process than others, Wolfgang writes that a further evolutionary step is necessary, and that is “the development of an integral consciousness in a nation in its realized phase. In this phase, the democratic and liberal nation is discovering the individuality of its collective soul”.

But how is this to be discovered?

Wolfgang admits that this core identity “remains a mystery that cannot be explained” because it “is not an empirical entity. It belongs instead to the subtle realms.” This means, as Sri Aurobindo’s disciple, Nolini Kanta Gupta, pointed out, “Only those who have become aware and awake to their own soul will be enabled too to become aware of the self of the country.”

Nevertheless, Wolfgang believes there are other ways in which features of a nation’s soul can be discerned. Following Sri Aurobindo, Wolfgang points out that a nation’s highest achievements in the arts, sciences and technology can give indications of the nature of its unique core being. He also mentions that Jungian psychology, along with newer techniques like Spiral Dynamics, Family Constellation Therapy and workshops like the one which Wolfgang runs with his partner, Soleil Lithman, can help people experience the soul field of their nation and confront its shadows. 

In terms of a larger international unity, Wolfgang concludes that “only the nation that has become conscious of its soul-qualities and transformed its shadow can develop and fulfill its seed mission. Only then is it prepared for a sustainable international unification and for passage into a global society”.

The Soul of Nations – Healing and Evolution is an important work because it stimulates us to examine much more deeply what many of us remain unaware of – the influence of our birth nation upon our thoughts and perspectives – and to take an active part in the evolution of our group or nation soul. This is of particular importance in regard to the development of national pavilions in the International Zone in Auroville, a project which has languished for years, either because we have lacked clarity about how to discover the soul of nations, or because we feel that as an international community we need not pay attention to national identities. In this regard, Wolfgang’s book provides convincing counter-arguments which may help us pour fresh energy into the pavilions project.  

However, I have two concerns. One is a doubt whether some of the techniques Wolfgang mentions for discovering our nation or group soul really do lead us to that target, for there seems to be considerable scope in some of them for vital enchantment, and for mistaking superficial aspects of nations’ cultures for their core.  There is an urgent need for discrimination here. 

The other concern is that his emphasis upon ‘shadow work’ may actually, in certain cases, be counterproductive, because it may lock people in to past negative experiences and perpetuate, rather than abolish, those formations. 

In terms of Sri Aurobindo’s yoga, it is important to identify and bring to light all that may be hiding in the nooks and crannies of our own and our nation’s psyche, but this needs to be done from a higher consciousness. And, once exposed, it is necessary to surrender these shadows to something larger, to offer them to the Light for them to be dissolved. Otherwise, they may merely be suppressed and their influence persist. Perhaps because he is writing for a primarily secular readership, Wolfgang doesn’t mention this step, but if, as Sri Aurobindo pointed out, the discovery of the nation soul is essentially a spiritual experience, this omission may be an important lacuna in dealing with the shadow. 

Having said this, The Soul of Nations – Healing and Evolution is a ground-breaking book which offers new, profound perspectives upon internationalism and the core nature of nations. Doubtless it will stimulate further discussion and discoveries.

The Soul of Nations – Healing and Evolution is available in the virtual bookstore of www.lulu.com as a printed book (145 pages, $14 plus shipping) or as an ebook ($7.75). From the end of July 2021 onwards it is also available on Amazon and in bookshops.