Dr. Sushma Gandhi
Deptt. of Communication , Management and Technology
Guru Jambeshwar University, Hissar

DIOLOGUE OF CIVILIZATIONS: SOME REFELECTIONS

Dialogue among civilizations is deeply embedded in the Indian tradition of truth peace and non-violence. It believes in equal respect of all religions and inter-faith and intrafaith dialogue to crystiallize the truths common to all religions and to inculcate these among all peoples. It affirms that relations between humans are not to be based on might and coercion but on right, rationality and dialogue. Such a dialogue among civilizations has to be based on equality and mutual respect between nations and peoples.
Dialogue can begin only when one respects the other party and considers him his or her equal. Where the relationship is between the  dominant and dependent, there cannot be any viable dialogue, nor can there be a dialogue between a ruler and his subject. That is why in the phase of colonialism, the subject peoples and races came to be accorded an inferior status in day-to-day relationships. Such mindset of the colonical rulers ascerbated discrimination, exploitation and injustice rendering the ground fertile for oppression, violence and war. The tendency to use human beings as mere means of self-aggrandisement and  subservient to the powers elites' ambition to dominate the weak and poor has significantly  contributed to wars in human history. Placing dialogue in a position of prestige would mean acceptance of equality among individuals and nations.
Dialogue can help identity and discover commonality of interests and the areas where agreement may be possible. By minimizing differences and extending an area of peace, dialogue can become a means of refinement, perfection and progress for individuals and collectivities. Since dichotomy or contradiction may naturally arise among peoples belonging to differing milieus, dialogue may help convert it into consensus and accommodation for the benefit of both the parties. This way a new era of peace and prosperity can begin for the beleaguered humanity. But this would require going to our roots and drawing on our cultural springs of rationality and wisdom.
It would be a great disservice to both reason and religion if we are not able to see the inherent complementarity between them. It is wrong to hold that we can either live by religion or reason. The fact is that reason enables us to truly understand some of the deeper nuances of religion. Reason is a very powerful tool that God has given to man. Yet a man of faith or a religious person is in need of reason as much as the  one who swears by reason.   However at the same time he knows that reason has its own limitations. Undeniably a believer in god has two books i.e.of reason and revelation while a man of reason has only one.  The latter bows only at the altar of reason and lets everything else be subordinate to it. He possesses only the book of nature  to fall back upon and invoke its aid.
Dialogue in Human communication have been instrumental in creating and expanding the the reservoirs of knowledge within a human being and his outer world. They deepen one's consciousness and awaken him/her to self knowledge and let so him/her think that he/she too exists as a sentient  being interacting with other living organisms and the environment. They together enact a multi-partite approach for reaching out and becoming  a part of the outer world which is ever in a state of flux. They invest human life with a dynamic aspect, a power to confront, reality and liberate human essence from the ever-loosening grips of those who wish to appropriate it so that they could set themselves as the sole proprietors of truth.
Dialogue of civilization involves both listening and talking for creating a true conversation. But here listening is no less important because before you talk you must understand the others' viewpoint. For the discourse to acquire scientific character dialogue has to be a conscious effort to discover the relationships of subjects with each other  and for this reason, it has to be thoroughgoing appraisal of the others' positive aspects as well as one's own limitations. To that extent scientific dialogue proceeds at the level of man's self-consciousness.
In art and religion our Higher Self and even God is addressing the human self at the conscious level. In the same way  the artist and a man of religion  at the time of creating art and praying respectively are  both communing with the Creator. Man is elevated by the divine call that he hears deep within his consciousness which makes him a person in the real sense of the term with the essential human attributes.
Both individualism and collectivism are important but they have to focus on the advancement and happiness of the human person. For the individual human being is the starting point of all quest and is also the touchstone of the success of all human institutions, laws, social relations,  civil rights, and to cap all, human rights. The philosophical roots of both individualism and collectivism are the same. Individual persona is the starting point of the both and also the measure of all human progress. Viewed from the vantage point of spiritual wisdom, whatever divergences and antagonisms that exist between individualistic liberalism and collectivistic liberalism are 'superficial and incidental'.
Hindu mysticism considers the human persona to be a world unto himself or herself-- a microcosm which has the imprint of macrocosm in its meta-conscious. Man's creativity and his existential truth of the self is within and does not emanate from his individuality or collectivity. The ultimate source of his validity is that he is addressed by the Voice Divine which invests a human person  with the power of transcendence. With this new-found transcendence a new realisation dawns that he or she is not body alone but a soul too. Also with this realization all chains that bind him or torn and suddenly he or she wakes up in a brave new world of justice and humanity.
Man, to Vedic seers, was a free being, divine in essence. They did not enjoin that he should turn his back from the world but participate in it as in a festival of rejoicings since both the nature and the world were waiting to receive him with open arms. This reciprocal openness and opening up connoted their meeting in an enduring and fulfilling dialogue among the creatures of one God.
This Eastern world-view is strikingly different from the Western world-view which celebrates man's conquest of nature and calls it progress. Not satisfied with subjugating nature the western man proceeds to impose his will on human communities.  This phase which had been one of the longest and bloodiest in human history is associated with European domination and is known as colonialism.  Essentially its origin may lie in Western man's approach towards nature, the natural sciences and the humanities. His entire approach is basically domineering when we compare it with the pristine Hindu, Islamic and oriental societies" approach to these question.  The critique of modernity must proceed from this premise which lays  emphasis on humanitarian and ethical approaches and leans heavily on the humane values of civilization.
It would be unwise and retrogressive to turn our gaze to the past when the world around us is forging ahead to the ever-beackoning future. Nonetheless we may revert to the past to discover our roots, and to draw sustenance and strength from it and also to cope with the challenges and demands of the future.
Admittedly the world is continuously being transformed by advances in science and technology, communication and information sciences in particular. It will be foolhardiness on our part if we choose to shut ourselves in a dream-world of our own or in our exclusivism, cut ourselves off from the energising and creative forces shaping a new world. Even if we wish to revive and renew our past grandeur and greatness we will have to master, and draw benefit from, the positive achievements of the human mind.
The edifice of civilization rests on human reason, new scientific discoveries and inventions. Our present is but the fruit of our past and our actions in the present are going to determine our future. Societies of the orient like India have very rich religious and spiritual traditions. The need is to pursue our goal of development and modernization by retaining the inherent spirituality in our cultural heritage in our present day civilizational accomplishments.
Our point of departure  from that of  Western liberalism is that the positive goal of freedom and development that it seeks to set before the human society is woefully devoid of  the  spiritual content which continues to inform, though in a lesser degree, every crucial aspect of the oriental societies. That is why the progress in the West though it has been mind-boggling, it has remained truncated, lopsided, discriminatory and ruthless in many respects--a fact admitted also by some notable western social scientists  themselves.
Indian seers considered freedom as the hallmark of religion. Without freedom religion becomes a means of human enslavement. For religion is a cradle of culture, the nursery  of the advancement of reason and the school for the cultivation of liberality, freedom and progress.One accomplished in politics has to have the wisdom of a statesman to adopt and adapt the new sciences and technological innovations for the greater good of mankind. To achieve this, we need to draw on unreservedly all that is life-giving and energising in our past and to use that  for the wellbeing of all.  It is the on-going dialogue that  will secure access for us in other civilizations and cultures. Since our past identity is our strength, therefore, the need of the times is to put it to good use through a life of wisdom and reason. Similarly by responding to other civilizations and cultures creatively, interactively and  with an open arms we can  enrich our own civilization and culture by assimilating the positive accomplishments of other civilizations.
Thanks to the communication and information revolution, the world has shrunk into a global village.  A true knowledge of what the West and Asia  think on the crucial issues common to mankind will help resolve many tensions and discords which have their basis in prejudice and fear of each other born out of ignorance. It will give a fillip to improvement of political, economic and cultural relations between them.  In the Asian mirror Europe can see its own past with its philosophic and cultural moorings, which largely  are common and inseparable from those of Asia.
If the West engages in a profound and sincere dialogue with the Orient it will find practical and efficacious solutions to many of its problems such as the crisis of family, man-nature relationships, the crisis in ethics and values with a direct bearing on scientific research.

Asia is brimming with love for humanity, sense of tolerance, serenity and balance in human relations because of the continuous and profound  dialogue at a deeper level among the congeries of peoples of diverse races,  religions and cultures inhabiting this continent --Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Christians, Sikhs and Parsis--who have been living in fraternal harmony since several centuries. The world-view of the ancient Hindu sages and seers embraced the whole world and considered it one family. To realize this goal in today's world a dialogue among civilization is the imperative  need of our times.