"Relationship is what we are."

I have kept pointing to the essential inclination of capitalism to proceed through self-multiplication, intranationally toward monopolism and internationally toward a neo-liberalist world order under the hegemony of a single power.

 

I came to contrast East Asian traditional thoughts to the neo-liberalist world order after reading a lot about the thoughts during my time, as I became aware of values beyond the level of possession and consumption, which cannot be overwhelmed by the prevalence of the hegemonic and ontological modern paradigms.

 

I learned from the classics that the ultimate value of life lies in the enhancement of human nature. That human achievements lead to values of higher level than material achievements do. And that human achievements are realized in human relationships. Good men, good societies, and good histories come from them.

 

Thus I came to believe that it is the civilizational assignment to the present human society to redirect its attention to relationships. The attention has been driven too intensively to individual existence through the course of modernization.

 

I advise you to try to 'learn' from the classics, rather than just 'read' them. Particularly at this moment of entering the 21st century, we need a serious reflection on civilizational paradigms. It is time, I think, we made sure about the limits of the modern belief in individuality, in contrast to the traditional respect to relationship.

 

[by Shenzi]