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One Universe, One World, One Hope
RECENT natural disasters—the Sichuan earthquake in China (May 12th 2008), Chaiten volcano eruption in Chile (May 6th 2008), typhoon Nargis in Myanmar (May 2nd 2008), Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans (August 29th 2005), the Indonesian earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean (December 26th 2004)—have awakened world awareness that Planet Earth is not as solid as it might look. The human community deplores the great number of lost lives in these catastrophic disasters and is painfully learning once again how to better inhabit the Earth. But in the skies, around the Earth, have not television channels carried throughout the world what the Hubble telescope has grasped of the prodigious energies at work, since the beginning of time, in the whole of the Universe? From colliding galaxies to imploding black holes, from storms of interstellar gazes to the birth of new stars, and so on through billions of light years? The changes that affect Planet Earth are the extreme and local consequences of this universal evolution which scientists continue to explore in greater detail to discover its meaning. This evolution is the stage where the human community is building its own world. How can it better reach its common goal?
No less than the skies, this human world is not without tensions. Some manifest themselves in events, reported in daily news broadcasts. Causes and consequences of these events are most of the time far-reaching and difficult to discern in advance. Two articles in the World section of this issue reflect on two different cases. They might have long lasting influence for years to come. Other tensions are structural and then hidden. They are like the tensions or pressures that exist between tectonic plates when they move against each other and generate destructive earthquakes. The “globalised” world of this time is made up of these conflicting structures, as analysed by two other articles in the Society section. Is there any remedy to this situation?
The present structures of this “one” world and its difficulties were not born overnight. In this regard, the inquiries of historians are of great help. Reflexively they can show in what direction the world has developed itself. Cultural studies, a new academic field it seems, would then do well to foster the knowledge that inter-cultural encounters could generate. This is no less true in re-evaluating past crises or in addressing future evolution, as articles in the History and Culture section try to analyse. Inter-cultural encounters would not dilute the specificities of cultures but open them to assimilate better what is foreign to them.
After all, on Planet Earth there is only one human community, as the global solidarity to help the nations affected by recent natural disasters has shown. The destructions caused by cosmic violence could perhaps generate a call to break open some unnecessary ideological walls. What national pride has blindly built as a protective shield does not help fellow humans to grow awareness of their common dignity. In this regard comparing ethical traditions of different cultures, as one article does, could permit new discoveries. In the end, all nations are facing the same ultimate challenges when their states have to serve their peoples. How can they do it better?
In this year of 2008, China has obtained the responsibility of organizing the Games of the Twenty-Eighth Olympiad of Modern Times. Chinese Cross Currents in its Features Section celebrates this event with two articles. Even if the first six months of the year are to be remembered by many for their difficulties and challenges, the Beijing Games slogan will stand: “One world One dream”. In the Olympic spirit, it should not be a bad dream: it is made “in One Universe, for One World, with One Hope”.
Yves Camus 赵仪文, Editor
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