Wisdom can come from anywhere. These were the concluding remarks of the conversation I had with a new friend of mine- an intellectual from Jammu and very typical of his genre: abstract airs about him and lost in the mists of thought and history. As the clouds of smoke from our cigarettes wafted upwards, my new friend talked about the origins of species, the common ancestry of mankind, the branching out of peoples through migrations, and then the reconnection between these sets of people. He talked about learning, synthesis and wisdom and how various civilizations entered into dialogues and mutual learning. This got me thinking. And I basically agree with the implication of my friend’s remarks: ‘wisdom is universal and has no colour, class orientation or nationality’. Understanding and appreciating this may be the beginning of wisdom.
This has special salience in the contemporary world wherein competing truths jostle for supremacy and the condition that obtains contemporarily perhaps best corresponds to what James Rosenau calls ,’fragmegration’ Or , in other words , a condition wherein a dialectic is occurring between the forces of fragmentation and integration. In this fragmegrating world, there are some who posit that the world is going to be divided along the lines of civilizations and others who point out to the resilience of the nation state and its primacy. Others point out to the supremacy, superiority and universality of the western ideals of liberalism and its concomitant democracy. All these are partial truths expanded into theories and theoretical constructs. The reality perhaps stands somewhere in between. The parable of the ‘ six blind men and the elephant’ best explains these divergent and diverging understanding of the contemporary world.
The question is what is the nature of the world we live in? Should this world defined by heightened and intense movement and contact of different peoples be a world of conflict and chaos? Should it be defined by civilizational conflict or dialogue? Should ethnocentric views and philosophies take centre stage? Or should there be mutual learning and a quest for wisdom (whatever its source) and genesis through osmosis?
Wisdom, as my friend posited, is universal. And it can be acquired anywhere and at any place. Every civilization and culture has something unique to offer. Therefore, wisdom lies in synthesis and osmosis. That is, wisdom can be attained by being open minded and receptive to what civilizations and cultures offer. Historically, this may even be said to constitute a norm and even have been standard practice. However, it is with the advent of particularisms like the nation state –hitherto a closed cultural and political container- that ethnocentric approaches to knowledge, learning and wisdom began to acquire narrow, partilcularistic and ethno centric connotations.
Thus, the nature of the world that we inhabit, is more or less defined by fluidity and uncertainty accruing from the current phase of globalization and overlain by a narrow superstructure of beliefs, views and philosophies that each culture and society claims to be its own. This potentially carries the seeds of conflict and chaos unless it is tempered by an approach and philosophy that sees each culture and society as unique in terms of its contribution to civilization, knowledge, progress and wisdom.
What does this mean? This means that we rewind the clock a little and then take the approach and world view of our forebears as the starting point for viewing the world. Yes: our forebears fought wars and entered into conflict. This, however, was tempered by a natural curiosity and a mutual learning approach. It may, at times, have been the needs of imperium and empire that made them do so. But done it was. In the final analysis, it was civilization that emerged the winner.
How can this approach be inculcated? This approach can be best inculcated by a more open world where different peoples get into contact with each other , an intellectual curiosity about others and openness and receptivity. All this needs to be overlain with humility. Arrogance, of any kind , is a recipe for disaster and conflict. In this melting pot world, peoples would then see that we are all humans and an essential humanness defines us all. Yes: difference too is a defining feature of societies and peoples. However, these differences are induced by culture, customs and traditions. And these or some of these can and should be appreciated and savoured. Essentially, this means a cosmopolitan approach and orientation. And it is this orientation that can improve the human condition and lead to world where progress is not viewed and seen in ethnocentric terms but in holistic ones. In the process, much of the gratuitous conflict will be obviated and civilization rather than civilizations elevated to a pedestal. Let us gird out loins , make haste slowly and do our bit in bringing about this world. We owe it to future generations.
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