AN INTERCULTURAL WAVE: Right Now

Thoughts After A Talk on AGEING, DEATH & EUTHANASIA

( inspired by RRU SCC & CBC Radio's Talk "Communication Matters"on June 30, 2014)

 

Floral View beyond Net

People from different cultures think different about aging, death and euthanasia.  While euthanasia has been a controversial topic in the West for its legality and legislation, aging and death are religiously, rather than legally, regarded natural and fated to everyone in the East, for example, with the influence of Taoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, etc.. It seems that the Oriental or non-Christian mentality oriented by the notion of natural call, transmigration, the after-world, or immortal spirituality leads one to think of life from birth to death more conditional, dependent or relational to her/his surrounding, less of her/his independent or personal choice. It is different from that of the West framed by the concept of "free-will" or "personal-autonomy" initiated by Immanuel Kant.However, it does not mean the differences cause no common ground for the West and the East to communicate for more learning and better understanding of each other, since we are "same in nature, but apart in practice" as Confucius says.

Under the Sunlight

Yes, following Confucius' saying, we as being alive with breathing came into this world with no choice of our own at all, while no one escapes death at the end. However, from birth to death, time allows one to grow in brain and body as well as be fostered by her/his living surrounding - of natural, cultural and social attributes.  Before her/his formation of her/his own perception about life, the given cultural surrounding has been framed and constructed through history, and because of the insignificant transportation and telecommunication for people to have efficient and effective access to other parts of the world beyond their own cultural pool, the cultures of different given groups have respectively been  enclosed and stable in a relative sense. Today's prevailing technology development in communication and transportation drives us toward a threshold where personal access to intercultural communication turns daily by a touch of her/his figure over the Internet. Such a change has been ongoing so fast and unexpectedly that not everyone is ready for it at all, which may cause intercultural conflicts much more obvious and often than before...

The Sunny Touch

Frankly, I am optimistic about our world in the future. I would like to say that the frequent intercultural conflicts today may signal the upcoming of intercultural wave to everyone on the earth. Such a wave is to bring new things and ideas to people and ignite personal curiosity about self, others and the world. Such a wave gives each existing culture/given group a chance to renew its preference of life for a better quality of life - perhaps one day our world will go beyond the stage of personal cultural adaptation to the stage of inter-group integration. When will it happen? As we know, everything takes time, so let time tell us.