China News Service, Beijing, 10 February: Why is it unwise to say that there is a "clash of civilizations"?
Author S.R. Barthes President of the Congress of Indian Philosophy and the All-Indian Philosophical Federation
Nature has endowed humanity with great potential. From the perspective of ideological construction and system construction, systematic thinking is one of the important ways to exert human potential and is practical. Every system of thought is the result of an era and a cultural environment. Human thinking does not arise from a cultural vacuum or nothingness. Meaningful human thinking must be rooted in specific cultural experiences, but this does not mean that they are not universal, because human needs and desires are generally the same, so human thought should be both regional and global, both individual and universal. The cultural heritage of humanity is open to all and should be shared by all, without any method of confinement or closure.
While human thought and value pursuits are not divided into regions, each culture has its own unique things that need to be used regionally or regionally. The values pursued by each culture are global and universal, and the ways in which they are pursued and realized have a unique geographical basis.
Photographed in 2006, the Xuanzang Memorial Hall near the ruins of Nalanda Temple. Photo by Shao Fenglei, China News Service
People have many ways of expressing their diverse experiences of reality, so it is inappropriate and unjust that our thinking patterns and ways of life should not be unified, let alone institutionalized. True thought must arise from specific life experiences that are conditioned by culture. Therefore, ideological democracy must be used as a guideline, and reasonable room for debate should always exist. Creative people, who don't always agree, need to get the truth through debate, communication, dialogue, and space.
Cultural pluralism
This is an era of pluralism, where humanity has a wide variety of cultures, and each culture has its own uniqueness. All aspects of culture are an important part of human development. Culture is both individual and social, the whole heritage of a society and the crystallization of the material, intellectual and intellectual wealth that society produces and preserves.
In May 2019, the "GreatEr America, Asia Minor - Asian Civilization Exhibition" was held at the National Museum of China. As an important cultural event of the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations, the exhibition brings together all 47 countries in Asia, including China, and the two ancient civilizations of Greece and Egypt, with a total of 451 cultural relics. The exhibition takes "the juxtaposition of multiple civilizations and the communication of ancient and modern civilizations" as the main line. Photo by Du Yang, a reporter from China News Service
The richness and complexity of reality cannot be understood in terms of exclusivity of "either-or." Dichotomy or exclusivity is not conducive to understanding its diversity, dynamics, openness, and infinite scalability.
Reality is essentially unified, while diversity is the creative expression of reality. One becomes many, and "many" is a creative game of "one", so "one" exists in many, and more exists in "one". As Huayan Zong followed the Huayan Sutra, "One is everything, many is one, all is the same, many are the same." In this holistic view, "one" takes precedence over "many" in terms of ontology or existence, but this does not mean that "one" is superior in value. The basic idea is that since "one" and "many" are two aspects of the same reality, the two are not incompatible, but complementary, and from the beginning of human civilization, the colorful world culture has shone brightly.
On January 8, 2021, in Xijin Gudu Community, Zhenjiang City, Jiangsu Province, Shen Jianguo, a non-hereditary heir, instructed foreign students at Jiangsu University to make chinese zodiac cattle for face sculptures. Photo by Shi Yucheng, China News Service
The multiculturalities of the world are different and amazing, and beyond the differences they also have commonalities and similarities that enable us to understand each other, to coexist peacefully and to strengthen each other. In each culture, there are several currents of thought that continue to develop and evolve, and new schools of thought are added, and there is diversity in unity. Thus human civilization is like a garland woven from various colors of flowers, each flower is a contributor to the mixed aroma emitted by the garland. It's like a symphony of multiple instruments in an orchestra, each contributing to a beautiful tune. Of course, there are some discordant notes, but they should be regarded as anomalies, not normal. Therefore, multiculturalism has been formed, and mutual sharing is beneficial. It is therefore irrational to speak of a "clash of civilizations", since all cultures and civilizations have equal value and utility and are complementary. What is needed in today's era is cultural dialogue, harmony and harmony. Any talk of cultural superiority or cultural hegemony undermines peaceful coexistence and global harmony.
As the basic pillar of the holistic view of reality and life, multiculturalism is a pluralistic and pluralistic point of view, which provides the basis for peaceful coexistence, win-win cooperation, care and sharing, rational use of natural and human resources, the interconnection of all existence and its reciprocity. Multiculturalism advocates the noble ideals of equality, fraternity, justice and non-violence. Its philosophy of inclusion, coexistence, coherence and harmony ensures the flexibility of adaptation and the reconciliation of opposites, which are very much needed in this day and age. Multiculturalism is particularly beneficial in the areas of intercultural communication, religious harmony, conflict resolution, social cohesion and peaceful living. This understanding leads to complementarity, mutual cooperation, mutual trust, and provides democracy for thought and life. Advocate the spirit of peaceful coexistence, tolerance and mutual assistance.
The global sharing of human culture
Sharing a future is both intragenerational and intergenerational. It means limiting needs, desires, and possessions, suppressing unlimited cravings, unlimited accumulation and unlimited consumption, and leaving natural resources to future generations. Acquiring wealth is not a bad thing, but avoid obsessive attachment to or improper use of wealth. The guiding principle in this regard is "use only what is necessary and leave the rest to future generations". Sustainable production and equitable distribution are necessary, and everyone is equal in access to natural resources, so there should be no expropriation, which means that intragenerational equity also means intergenerational equity.
As we feel, the contemporary global environment is not satisfactory, and when violence and other ills are ubiquitous, this requires a paradigm shift in our value perceptions and lifestyles. We are going through a critical period of oscillating between the best and the worst.
At present, mankind is facing a multifaceted and multi-level crisis. The survival of humanity has come to a crossroads, a time when unity and harmony can triumph and scientific miracles can alleviate human suffering and ensure quality of life. And it is precisely at this time that the forces of terror and violence and the low-level human impulses are coming at a global scale, and the rational human mind is faced with a difficult situation of how to deal with the current situation. Therefore, it is imperative to explore the deeper and higher levels of human resources, so as to inspire civilization to move forward in this way. What is needed in this era is cultural dialogue, mutual understanding, harmony and harmony.
In the 21st century, with a rich and diverse heritage, human beings are still looking for new paradigms, new insights, new intuitions and new ways to achieve global peace and harmony, so people of insight around the world need to seriously reflect. There is widespread misunderstanding of the nature of reality and the meaning of human existence, leading to the corrosiveness of values on a global scale, the loss of dignity and authenticity of life, and the prevalence of negative values disguised as true values.
In the current era of globalization and rapid transit systems, the world has shrunk and multiple cultures coexist, requiring us to live in peace and harmony for better, healthy development. There has been migration and emigration since the beginning of human civilization, but in modern times this process has accelerated, and multiculturalism is a long-established phenomenon. On the positive side, this is a welcome sign that it has enriched human civilization.
On the evening of May 15, 2019, the Asian Culture Carnival of the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations was held at the "Bird's Nest" of the National Stadium in Beijing. The picture shows the symphonic interactive chorus "Our Asia". Photo by China News Service reporter Hou Yu
The Vedic sages said in ancient times that making the whole universe one big family speaks to our sense of belonging to the same world. All cultures have striking similarities, both commonalities and differences. Within the framework of identity and difference, multiculturalism deserves praise. This requires our constant efforts to maintain unity in the midst of differences and to promote harmony among followers of different cultures. The universe is the unity of plurality, harmonious coexistence is established in this process, the universe is not a chaos that has nothing to do with its essence, and harmony is natural and intrinsic. (End)
Respondent Profiles:
S.R. Bhatt, President of the Congress of Indian Philosophy and the All-India Philosophical Federation. Retired Professor and Former Head of the Department of Philosophy, Delhi University, India. His research interests include ancient Indian philosophy, logic, epistemology, ethics, value theory, philosophy of education, philosophy of religion, comparative religion, and socio-political thought. His representative works include Philosophy of the Five Nights (English, 1968), Ramonuga Vedanta Studies (English, 1975), Knowledge, Values and Education (English, 1986), Buddhist Epistemology (English, 2000), Self-Concept and supreme soul in Indian Thought (English, 2003), Vedic Wisdom, Cultural Inheritance and Contemporary Life (English, 2010), etc.
Source: China News Network