The foreigner

Cultural diversity

Variety of ideas and gifts for men

The eyes of the almighty, there is neither plain nor height, no man is small and no man is imposing. The Thousand and One Nights

As we have seen in the preceding pages, human differences are used to build humanity.

For example, to build a building, different skills are required (manoeuvres architects, engineers painters, masons heads work). All of these possibilities, as an entity capable of developing our world as it is.

Altruists who are unaware

On the other hand, every human being, by its very existence, totally involved in the evolution of humanity . Yourself as others, give our whole life to human evolution.

This simple fact should forbid us to challenge the presence of a particular individual on earth (and yet, for eugenics, the death penalty and racism, there are "useless" people on earth).

for the mecaniqueuniverselle, every man is essential to humanity. It is also "fundamentally equal" to other men. This principle is valid for the individual and for the human group .

The same, the other

Constructive diversity

The evolutionary shift

The absurdity is especially the divorce of man and the world. Albert Camus

Some make the difference of evolution The evolution of inter group difference is a chance for humanity. Today on earth, all human diversity is represented ( as to enable us to understand ) . Nomadism in the tribe, country, nation, our entire history is before our eyes.

The beginnings of the interdependence

Some small groups of people seem to have survived the extinction that can garner knowledge. Intuitively, they refused assimilation to provide their heritage to the world (we can thank all these human groups). We can not fail to see in this convergence, something magical.

After decades of arrogance, science is finally starting to actually use this offset. This is the case when it is interested in giving healers or shamans for example.

This difference in growth is important for the current progress, but not only. Without it, in fact, we can not fully access our history.

A fundamental shift

The offset direction changes

Human evolution and equality

Indeed, our species has evolved in many places and at different rates . If she had grown consistently, much of our past would remain unknown. Anthropology ( and its derivatives such as ethnology ) are relatively new science. They date back to colonial expansion. These sciences were born of curiosity the other. Love for the difference. If the world had moved on a single model, they would never have existed, since all groups are the same.

Of ethnology

The beginnings of anthropology dating from the nineteenth century. If mankind had evolved consistently, the first ethnologists would have had only one civilization to study. That of a nineteenth century already industrialized. A rational nineteenth century and with writing. A world full of men who have long since forgotten that they were nomadic hunters, gatherers * ...

* They had disappeared from the West long before it acquires the writing, photography and cinema ..

Through its international cultural events, our species has earned an amount of knowledge about itself. Peaceful confluences between Western science and early civilizations *, are for many.

* We do not yet understand all the contributions of civilizations such as the inuit, The aborigines, The indians, nomads .

Equality between self and foreign

The diversity of gifts

Ethnologist and Ethnography

For the overall progress of humanity, the contribution of ethnography is equal to that of the anthropologist . Without ethnography, or the ethnologist or ethnological not exist. On the whole, human progress is the result of all men without distinction. Some deal with hardware upgrades . Other decipher our history. Still others, preserve the ancient wisdom . Some are the analyzing material, other the material analyzed.

It is therefore to challenge the western pride when he underestimates the absolute interdependence of the various human groups. Challenge the heresy that the highly industrialized world is qualitatively superior to the world highly spiritualized .

The universal spiritual consciousness

The diversity of evolution, are technical. All groups have the same importance in the overall progress of humanity. Each has a core value . A value in every tribe, every nation, every community of humanity. This is the " spiritual awareness ." In other words : "the ability to conceive a higher power (God ) ."

The twentieth century global village

The coincidences of evolution are quite stunning . For the first time in the twentieth century, the man knows all human groups that make up humanity. The same century, acquired the necessary skills to meet the foreign and culture * .

* although the practice remains unsatisfactory .

November 2, 2001 Session of the General Conference of UNESCO adopted the Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity
This declaration is a legal instrument recognizing for the first time, cultural diversity as " common heritage of mankind " and considering its preservation as a concrete and ethical imperative inseparable from respect for human dignity.

The gap between the highly industrialized and highly spiritualized world, found himself in many ways. In the form of a clash of civilizations (S. Huntington ) or as a powerful tool symbiotic exchange .

It is only a matter of level of awareness and education in respect of others.

To the symbiosis

Humanity is evolving towards unity

The civilizations

The word progress is meaningless as there will be unhappy children. Albert Einstein

The technological superiority of the West, is a fact. It can serve as a guide to highly spiritualized civilizations ( such as Hinduism or Islam ) . But it can not be used as reference for global evolution. That the West is gaining technology, it often loses spirituality. She lost in wisdom and morality in human relationship, etc. harmony .

Western civilization has much to learn from other cultures, to bring them. Offer our technical and social progress must be made in respect and exchange. The West is not higher. While the criticism he speaks to some foreign cultural archaisms, is healthy. It often helps to make a difference . But to pay off the West must also accept criticism from its own excesses. The industrialized world must welcome the judgment and wisdom from other communities.

2001


The Declaration of Unesco