Position Paper On East West Cultural Development Centre

Development Reconsidered
The East West Cultural Development Centre is founded on a concern thatglobal
development seems to be heading towards a wrong direction. Even asthe world
is experiencing an unprecedented level of material affluence, wehave a sense
that the current path is not likely to lead us towards thehigher state of
civilisation, which we presume all human beings aspire to.We are becoming
more and more aware of the problems created by the currentdevelopmental
paradigm. We are worried the problems that we can see arejust the visible
manifestations of greater problems that remain unseen.

Yet, we have a strong belief in the destiny of Man. He has progressedfrom his
animal origins through numerous changes in his environment. He hasweathered
societal upheavals to reach the high level of today. Therefore,we have faith
that Man will somehow survive the changes that are occurringtoday. The
question is how painful would this passage be, and the answerdepends on how
aware he is of the real dangers on his journey and howproactively he adjusts
his course.

Troubling Signs
For a long time, sectoral problems have been treated separately.
Problemsregarding human relationships are distinct from problems of
competition,which are in turn different from the problems of technology.
However, as webegin to think more broadly about their causes, we sense that
they are allinter-linked. We cannot think about real solutions for problems
of theenvironment without considering the problems of technology and
competition,which in turn cannot be divorced from societal, interpersonal and
ethicalissues. The interconnectedness of the causal relationships becomes
verycomplex, leading us to either shy away from dealing with them, or else
totake a negative or destructive mindset that believes that progress can
onlybe made by negating most of the ideas and values that have brought
Mankindto the current stage. We believe there is a middle way, which begins
with atrue appreciation of the nature of the issues.

A Sampling of the Problems
It is difficult to discuss problems of global integration whose causes
andeffects are multi-dimensional. We can only attempt this through
puttingforward examples of these problems from a number of areas, and hope
thatthe inter-linkage they have with each other will become clear to
thereader.

Inadequacies of a Narrow Focus on Today's Problems
As the world gets more complex, and the pressure for individuals to excel,or
even just to hold his own, becomes ever more intense throughcompetition,
there is a tendency for individuals to become specialised.This tendency
towards compartmentalisation of problems has been givenendorsement by the
dominant philosophy of problem solving after theEnlightenment, which takes a
deterministic view of the world. Therefore, inmedicine, efforts are made to
identify and interfere with the genes thatgive rise to an undesirable
condition, rather than to work on the generalconditions that promotes the
development of the condition in the firstplace. In education, students are
streamed into specialisation according totheir perceived aptitudes and
abilities before they can even complete ageneral education. This takes away
one of the most basic goals ofeducation, namely to impact on characters. The
end product is a person whoknows the minutiae of his own specialised field,
but nothing about whatmakes his neighbour tick.

As human must build self-esteem on their respective area ofspecialisation,
meaningful dialogue becomes more and more difficult. Ifdialogue is difficult,
how then can conflicts be resolved except throughpower and might?

Breakdown of Relationships
Having a good relationship involves an awareness of the roles, aspirationsand
inclinations of the involved parties, as well have having open channelsof
communications and interaction. In a world where the intellectualdistances
between individuals are widening through specialisation andsubdivision, the
areas upon which broad, meaningful and lastingrelationships are constantly
being reduced. Indeed, it sometimes seems thatthe only areas upon which to
build relationships are the more basic areasof emotions and physical needs.
This causes the nature of relationships tobe very fragile. Fault lines can
develop more quickly than in situationswhere relationships are built on a
broader front.

Sometimes the fault lines can appear within a person himself, as if onepart
of a person's being finds it difficult to live with another. We oftensee this
manifested in individuals whose ambitions conditioned by hisupbringing and
the society conflicts with his own moral leanings, or whenher emotional drive
towards her perceived standard of beauty pushes herbeyond the point where it
makes sense to her body. Just as interpersonalrelationships suffer when they
are not built on a broad front, internalconflicts arise from the lack of
alignment between what the spirit, mindand body truly wants.

On the other end of the spectrum, relationships between groups ofpeople, be
they institutions, communities or nations, are also connected byvery few
bonds, normally defined as the 'interests' of the moment.

The breakdown of relationships would not be such a concern to us if
theeffects were not so devastating as they are in real life. At a
personallevel, they can destroy the will. At the business and economic level
theycreate immense hardships as is witnessed at the present economic crisis.
Atthe national level, great physical destruction can accompany such
breakdownby virtue of the terrifying technologies which countries can bring
to bearin conflicts.

Consumption of our Environment
In simpler ages that have passed, economic activities (agriculture,industry
and commerce) existed to serve the needs of the people. Theseneeds,
presumably, were real.

Today, economic activities has 'advanced' to a state where they do notsimply
react to the needs, but can actually create them. Businessmen aretalking
sinisterly of 'demand chain management.' Man's gratification is nolonger just
having his needs satisfied. It has become the very act ofconsumption itself.

This is the Consumerism that has caused mankind to use up more of theworld's
resources in the last two hundred years than the whole duration ofhis
previous existence on earth. For those of us who are too caught up withour
world of narrow focus, the loss of some exotic endangered species in afaraway
rain forest can be easily brushed aside as being not immediatelyrelevant to
our own state of well being. The same cannot be said whentraditional fares,
such as cod, are slowly but surely disappearing from thesupermarket shelves
and from our dining tables. The unsustainability of ourrunaway consumption is
clear for all to see.

The Commercialisation of Everything
Commerce was once concerned mainly with physical goods. Commerce used tomean
the manufacture and distribution of hard goods such as grains, cloth,machines
and the like. More recently, the services sector has become theobject of
commercialisation -- banking, insurance, food and transport.Still, commerce
used to impact only those parts of the world that isexternal to our selves.

However, commercialisation moves on relentlessly. Today, it seems to bemoving
into the relatively unexploited territory of a person's inner being.Just as
there are physical needs to be created and satisfied, there areemotional
needs upon which the ingenuity and creativity of commercecan workon. Driven
by competition to stake new grounds and spurred on by the profitmotive,
business is now identifying emotional needs and designing productsfor its
satisfaction. Most of this takes place in the world ofentertainment, in
books, movies and TV programmes. Concerned about thesurvivability of Earth in
the event of a hit by a meteor? You can previewthe emotions of such an event
with the cost of a cinema ticket. Recognisethat there is a market segment
looking for a deeper meaning in life? Youcan sample a digital spiritual
experience as you munch your popcorn.

What is wrong with the commercialisation of our emotion needs? Plenty!Our
emotional needs are complex, but we can broadly class them as comingeither
from our animal side or from our human side. For example, fear, atruly
primordial emotion, should be aroused only with caution, for it isthe source
of some of our most ugly actions before they are moderated byreason,
compassion, and a more humanist outlook. Commerce cannot be reliedupon to put
in these factors of moderation. Our animal emotions are commonand many, and
lurks under the surface waiting to be awaken. Our more humanemotions are more
tenuous, and have a shorter history. Thecommercialisation will inevitably
result in the rousing more of our animalinstincts, if only because it is
easier to do so. This is against all theefforts of civilisation and true
progress in the nature of Man.

In summary, excessive commercialisation causes us to waste the
world'sresources, and obstruct the process of refinement of the human spirit.

Perception Replaces Truth
As man got used to receiving his dosage of values through the media,
hisability to make judgement through the balancing and harmonisation
ofdifferent issues becomes impaired. With his judgement thus impaired,
truthis more and more replaced by perception. It is perception that
movesmarket. The same perception, which created the promise of boundless
growthin the Asia economies, has also caused its collapse. Knowing the
importanceof perception, Man adjusts his own actions to emphasise on form
instead ofsubstance.

Motherhood, Apple Pie and Competition?
Competition has been viewed as a virtue by economies that subscribe to
theprinciples of free enterprise. At one level, it does improve efficiency
inproduction, and offer the consumers a wider choice. However, competition
isnow carried to such an extreme that it is accompanied by a wider range
ofnegative effects. The production efficiency which competition demands
canoften only be supported by the economy of scale. This often translates
intolarger and larger market shares, until survival can only be achieved at
thedemise of one's competitors.

The fierce competition of today is creating a very short term,
resultsoriented mindset which demands the ignoring of any issues that are
longerterm or more holistic in nature. Any project that does not yield
immediateresult is considered not economically viable. There is a
tremendouspressure to work closer and closer to moral limits, until this
limitbecomes synonymous with the bound of legality. Businessmen are pushed
totake risks, to gamble and eventually to cheat.

Competition, originally hailed as the protector of the consumers, is
nowcreating a jungle culture in which aggression and predation dominates
allother considerations. The narrow efficiencies realised initially is
lostthrough the wastage of the large scale factors of production which are
maderedundant as major industry players are forced out of business through
theseverity of the economic struggle. It is time to reconsider
whethercompetition deserves to be put on the same pedestal as other
universaltruths as motherhood and apple pie.

Uni-dimensional Profit
When different entities interact with one another, there is a need for
somecommon criteria to govern their decisions and action, otherwise there
willbe no framework for agreement or compromise. Traditionally, money is
thiscommon measure. It allows merchants to figure out whether there is
ajustification moving a commodity from one place or another. It allows
thestatus of a person to be quickly evaluated. It allows for the
moreefficient allocation of scarce resources in situations where there
areconflicting demands on them.

As global integration marches ahead, there are more and moreinteractions that
needs to be evaluated, and money as a measure is beingused more and more as a
measure of worth. It is of course appropriate thatthe success of a business
or the value of an asset be measured in moneyterms. But soon, money has
become shorthand for evaluating everythingelse.

The problem with money is that it is one dimensioned at its best.Therefore an
economic decision which is right for, say, the management, maynot necessarily
be right for the shareholders or the public. A decisionthat is right for the
quarter may not be right for the followinggenerations.

In addition, there are many things that just cannot be measured bymoney. Yet,
economic consideration has so pervaded our lives that we cannotrun away from
using this proxy as a measure of worth. In fact, the proxyhas been used so
often that we begin to think of it is the real thing.Therefore, non-economic
considerations are now measured in monetary terms.It affects the way we
choose our life partners. It affects the choice ofcareers. It intrudes in the
building of our social circles. It clouds ourchoice of treatment in health
care. It skews our ideas about what educationis all about.

Another aspect where the pervasive use of a single measure seem to begiving
us problems is the use of money as a criteria to measure theappropriateness
of our cultural interactions. Differences arising fromreligion, race,
culture, gender, class and education result in greatdifferences in our value
system. Such differences must be addressed as theyare, and not through a
process of reduction into a common denominator.

Amoral Money -- Moral Man
Money is amoral. When we reduce a choice down to dollars and cents wecannot
judge its ethical contents. We cannot extract from such a measure
anappreciation of the emotional and spiritual costs behind them. Our mindsare
shielded from the emotional (and ultimately the ethical) dimensions,which
means that we cannot bring to bear some of the finer qualities ofhuman soul
in the decision making.

Man is a moral animal. Culture contains moral issues. Global integrationis
now bringing together more people from different cultural
backgroundstogether, and they must somehow work out their conflicts in as
painless amanner as possible. The over dependence on money and the profit
motive maymake us feel that we are making rational decision, but in fact we
are notlogical when viewed within the big picture.

The Need to Reconcile Science with Metaphysics
Our education and the societal pressures from the old paradigm push us tolook
at problem analytically, breaking it into smaller components. We seemto
expect the ultimate solution to be at the subatomic level. We deal
withcomplex problems through specialisation and subdivision. We seek truth
downan ever deepening and narrowing tunnel without thinking too much
aboutwhether other tunnels need also be explored. To a greater or
smallerdegree, all modern persons are affected by this deterministic
approachwhich goes also by the name of the scientific method.

At the same time, in response to the problems of fractured relationshipsand
other societal ills, many people are also aware of the need for agreater
spirituality. They sense that they need to take a more unified viewof the
world which recognises that although Man and his profits areimportant, they
nevertheless are only a small part of a bigger scheme ofthings. They need to
have an all-encompassing mindset in order to work outthe complex
inter-relationship, which form part of the problem andsolution.

Unfortunately, the two approaches require looking at things from atotally
different perspective. One takes a downward view into greater andgreater
details, and in so doing ignores those images that are consideredto be not
relevant. The other looks upwards, taking in more and morefactors until it
reaches a cosmic scale, but in the process leaves manypractical
considerations behind. It is easy to take either one of the twoapproaches
exclusively, but our world really requires us to be at oncescientific and
metaphysical. We see too many executives and 'lotus eaters'existing in
disparate selves, but we feel that we really need to put thetwo into one. Our
upbringing does not help us to do this integration.

How We Truly Learn
All modern societies pay attention to the education of their young.However,
very little of the twelve years or so of general education isdevoted to
teaching the young how to live. The bulk of the time is spentimparting the
skills to earn a living. This trend is further reinforcedduring the
university education stage.

In the old days, observing the behaviours of our elders, particularlythe
father, augments formal education. In earlier society in which thenature of
the work of the father, whether he was a farmer or an artisan,was there fore
all to see, it was easy to learn about his cultural andmoral values through
his work. The son could see clearly that his fatherwas hardworking, honest,
thrifty, generous or having any of otherqualities. The father was a true role
model.

The nature of work has changed today for such a direct learning processto be
unavailable. The father commutes to a distant office. The complexityof his
work is not immediately comprehensible to a young child. In anycase, he deals
with unseen counterparts, sometime continents apart. Theemotion of his
dealings cannot be seen, as it is reduced to profit and lossaccounts,
insurance claims, litigation, etc. He may have made a momentousdecision for
his company one day, but this fact may not be immediatelyobvious to his
family at home. When he talks about some of the values hehold dear, it is not
immediately clear to the family that he is living hislife according to what
he professes. In such a situation, it is verydifficult for modern parents to
pass on their values to the youngergeneration in as categorical a manner as
his ancient counterpart.

In this situation, the role modelling effect of the father is
greatlyweakened. He ranks after movie stars, pop icons, teachers
andschoolmates.

Unlike the kids of old, modern children are exposed to a more powerfulsource
of influence, which will mold their attitudes, values, and eventheir concept
of the self. This power source is the Media. It sends forthdaily messages of
what constitute the measures of a man's worth. It setsnorms of behaviour that
will become habits, traditions and eventuallycultures for the new generation.
It emphasises the sensational and thesensory, and downplays the need for
contemplation, reflection and research,which should accompany any major
choice.

Because media is ultimately a creature of our economic culture, it
isinevitable that the overall message is one of profit and consumerism.
Thedaily message of the TV's version of Utopia cannot but have an
importantimpact on the whole value system of the growing child.

Political Correctness Replaces Judgement
For someone whose moral values are received via the Media, there are
realproblems trying to deal with complex and multidimensional issues. The
timeand space constraints (such as the 'soundbits') do not allow for the
issuesto be treated in depth or breadth. Therefore, complex issues have to
besummarised into a few buzzwords, which over time, stand as a proxies forthe
complicated issues. Thus, concepts of Democracy, Freedom and HumanRights have
taken on the aura of monolithic truths. The rightness of theseconcepts then
becomes the basic assumptions behind political or moraldiscourse. This is
very unfortunately. In the first place, buzzwords cannotadequately replace
complex issues. In the second place, even if they canact as a useful
abbreviation, there do not seem to be any universalagreement on what they
represent. Human rights to the East could be a pearbut to the West it may be
an apple. Thirdly, the reduction of complexissues into a few concepts takes
away the opportunity to agree on someelements on the issues while awaiting
the resolution of the others.

This intellectual lassitude over time created a way of categorisingissues as
being 'politically correct' or otherwise. It is therefore not'cool' to hold
certain attitudes regarding Race, Gender and Class, eventhough that true
dialogue sometime require certain attitudes to be acceptedas they are. The
concept of political correctness does not resolve issues;it just sweeps them
under the carpet. Political correctness does notconvert anyone to a new way
of thinking; it just holds him back from takingcertain positions in public.

We are of course not suggesting that ideas like Democracy, Freedom andHuman
Rights are not laudable ideas, which we should aspire to. Neither arewe
suggesting that the rejection of certain old attitudes on Race, Genderand
Class is not correct. What we are advocating is a consciousness ofdanger of
reducing our arguments until they rest only on these pillars, andthen assume
that these pillars are can hold up for all situations.

The Problems of Rapid Changes
In order for societies to deal effectively with issues, there need to besome
common agreement regarding the values that governs our choices andactions.
Even if we do not agree on these values, we need to be aware ofthe
differences, so that we can make the appropriate allowance for them.

Values are not fixed: they change with time and circumstances. Thevalues
needed to deal successfully with labourers in a sweat shop in theearly days
of the industrial revolution would not be so useful when dealingwith hi-tech
savvy production workers of today. Values must therefore alsoevolve over
time.

In an earlier age, this process of evolution takes the followingpattern: the
habits which we acquire from day to day living over time gotaccumulated into
a value system. The value system is made rational andauthoritative by
explaining it within a philosophy. Thus habit impacts onvalues, culture and
philosophy, which in turn reinforce or modify thevalues. When the
circumstances change, it may be possible for thephilosophy to influence the
new habits and values that are more appropriatefor the new situation.

However, in today's rapid changing world, our habits and values areconstantly
put to the test. We are aware that many of the values we holdare not
appropriate for the complex problems that we have to deal with.Yet, the
changes are taking place so quickly that there is no chance for aphilosophy
for application today to be developed. Hence, we are faced withthe confusion
of having to deal with a myriad of changing values, bothinternally and
externally.

Instead of transcending from our habits and values to a philosophy thatcan
truly guide our actions, we instead depend on ideas of
'politicalcorrectness'. Unable to handle the value and cultural conflicts
thatproliferate through not being bound by a philosophical framework, we
turninward, and instead focus on our self.

The Erosion of Trust
Trust is a certain form of expectation that someone will somehow be guidedin
his behaviour to act in a way which we can understand and accept. Hence,it is
easier to trust someone with whom you share a common set of valuesand
traditions. The element of surprise or unpredictability in his actionis
reduced.

With global integration, people with vastly differing backgrounds arebeing
brought together ever more quickly. Because we know that somewheredeep down
in the psyche of the other person, he is guided by a totallydifferent set of
values, we cannot rely on him to act in a certain way,even if he was to be
acting in the most rational manner. Trust thereforediminishes.

However, the breakdown in trust is found not only between people
withdifferent cultural background. We can see this even with the people who
areclosest to us. The generation gap once thought to coincide with the
thirtyyears or so of a physical generation, is now so narrow that siblings
talkabout this gap when their ages are only years apart. This is a
reflectionof the fact that, through the rapid changes that take place around
us, andthrough the quick shifts in values which we learn from the media,
thevalues held by people separated only by years can exhibit very
greatdifferences. How then can we build trust on such a shifting foundation?

Less Trust -- More Stress
Unless we are all guided by a similar set of morals and ethics, trustcannot
grow. Without trust, we need to be even more vigilant in our dealingwith
others. We continually question the motives of others. We ceaselesslymonitor
the situation to guard against the unexpected. Our stress levelincreases.

This lack of trust exists not only in its external form, that is to
say,between people, groups and organisation, but also internally. Our body
doesnot trust our mind. Our mind cannot depend on our spirit. We find
itdifficult to be at peace with ourselves.

Leadership Lost
The development of a set of philosophy, morals and ethics that can help
theworld regain trust will eventually take place over time. When the pain
ofthe present paradigm becomes great enough, human beings will adjust.
Thequestion is not whether the adjustment will be made, but how can it be
mademore painlessly.

Leadership plays a very important role in this adjustment process.People are
still organised in a hierarchical structure. The self is part ofa family,
which is part of a community, which is part of a state, which ispart of the
world. The values and ethics of the self cannot exist inisolation. There must
be consistency in our value system which isapplicable both at a personal
level and at the cosmic level. Otherwise, wewill not be able to get rid of
the fault lines in our lives. However, it isdifficult enough for individuals
to change themselves. How much moredifficult it would be for them to change
the world? That is why we needstrong leaders.

Leaders can exist in a number of levels. They can be leaders offamilies,
communities or states. They are the focus for the alignment ofthe
relationship structures for the organisation of which they are theleaders.
This relationship alignment is very important, for otherwisedifferent parts
will pull in different direction, and progress will beslow.

Are we suggesting that there is no leadership today? If we talk aboutleaders
who are looking at the narrow agenda which organisations typicallyset today,
then there indeed are leaders. In this definition, a ChiefExecutive Officer
of a firm whose key goal is to maximise the quarterlyprofit would be called a
leader. However, this is not the definition ofleadership that we seek. We are
talking about leaders who truly have aholistic outlook, and who is able to
guide the transition of hisorganisation through impacting on habits,
tradition, culture andphilosophy. We are talking about a true focus towards
where all therelationships within the organisation are realigned. By this
definition,leadership is indeed lacking today.

Leaders: Born or Made?
We will always have the kind of leaders that we want. If our values
favourshort term profits, dominance of might over right, and quick fixes
ratherthan permanent solutions, that the leaders that rise up will be
preciselythose who can deliver according to our values. If our
intellectuallassitude allows us to look at complex problems by putting them
into neat,politically correct boxes, the leaders will also echo our
slogans.Otherwise they would not have survived the ascent.

It is therefore not very useful just to lament the lack of leadership tohelp
us manage the cultural change. There are of course always thoseleaders who
are so concerned by the need for change that they offerthemselves as
candidates. They are often viewed as foods. Unless the groundis ready, these
leaders will not survive.

For a new paradigm to take root, we need these 'foolish' leaders. Theyare
probably born with the right mindset to effect the required changes.However,
we must also create an environment that is conducive to theirgrowth, and we
do this by sharing our concerns with as wide an audience aspossible.

The New Paradigm
In the previous section, we have talked about the signs that indicate thatall
is not well with the 'old paradigm'. The old paradigm was based onshort-term
expediency, narrow focus, deterministic approach,compartmentalisation, and
digested truths. Success is measure in money andmaterial terms. We now think
that this old paradigm has led us down a paththat is not sustainable. In this
section, we attempt to formulate a newparadigm which perhaps may be able to
lead us back to a more sustainablegrowth.

What is Progress?
We have over emphasised the physical and material in our past
development.Many of our problems today arise because the physical and
material side ofour life is changing too fast, while the cultural and ethical
aspects areleft far behind.

If we believe that there are human qualities which distinguish him froman
animal, then we must surely believe that our civilisation should guideus
towards the path that will bring out more and more of our humanqualities. We
have seen the danger signs that the commercialisation ofemotions by the media
is actually bringing out more of our animalinstincts. A better model for
progress must therefore include the paralleldevelopment of human emotions and
spirituality.

Sustainable Development
Competition and the profit motive have pushed the rate of physicaldevelopment
so high that there are questions about its sustainability. Inthe long run,
the world will somehow correct this rate of development to alevel which is
sustainable. The fear is that the process of correction canbe extremely
painful for all. It is far better for humans to proactivelymake those
adjustment needed to ensure long term sustainability.

In the old paradigm, because of our narrow focus, we have tended to
let'nature' do the necessary adjustment that balances our actions. In the
newparadigm, we must make these adjustments proactively.

Morality in a Well
The frog in the well may have a strong view of right and wrong, but it
ishardly likely that his moral standards can be very useful for the
denizensof the outside world. If our paradigm is a narrow one, we cannot
expectthat our morality can transcend beyond our paradigm. However, a
commonlyaccepted standard of morality is key to the successful integration
ofpeople of different cultural background. Without a deep appreciation of
the'big picture', it would be impossible to agree on a set of
universalethics, and without this universal ethics, it can be meaningless to
talkabout right and wrong.

The world is full of examples of people in conflict certain in theknowledge
that they have the truth and right on their side.

Justice and Fairness
Without the appreciation of the 'big picture', it is impossible to talkabout
justice and fairness. If the objectives of the self are not alignedthrough
the family, community and state to that of the world, what appearsto be fair
at one level can become unfair at another. Therefore, we cannotbe truly fair
until we can understand, and if necessary redesign, thehierarchy of
relationship structures that govern our lives.

Review of Relationship Structure
The action of nations and states are but the sum total of the actions ofthe
individuals. If the objectives of our action at the individual levelare
misalign with the objectives at a higher level, the result will
beinconsistency, inefficiency, wastage and disappointment. Yet, when
weactually examine our objectives at different level, they are not pointingto
a same direction. Therefore, we need to relook at the
small-scalerelationships (between individuals) and the large-scale
relationship (between states) to see if they are consistent and compatible.
If not, we will have to question the suitability of the existing roles that
are ascribe toeach entity in the relationship structure.

The Language of our New Vision
As we attempt to transit from the old paradigm to the new, we need toretain
the language and symbolism of the past. Everything that we do todayseems to
be describable in economic terms. Today, we cannot get any thingdone except
to work within the economic system. We have got so used tolanguage of
economics for describing our vision that, if we abandon it now,we run the
risk of not being understood at all. This is our challenge: howto retain the
language of profit, money and materialism to describe avision that will
encompass many cultural dimensions?

We need to be mindful of the need to maximise the use of the old toolswhile
we embark on the process of rejigging the line for the new product,which is a
new vision in the new paradigm.

The Role of the Businessman
Because the need to work within the economic system is so entrenched,people
who know the topography well must guide the path leading from theold paradigm
to the new. Therefore there is a very important role forbusinessmen in the
transition. In the old days, businessmen held a lowstatus in society, ranking
after the scholars, farmers and artisans. But inthose days, the emperor had
scholars to guide him. Today, businessmen havemoved up in status that they
are already being held as role models. Throughthe concept of privatisation
and the retreat of 'big government',businessmen are now involved not only in
industry and commerce, but also ineducation, culture, health care and the
spiritual domain. He possesses theright resources, network with the right
policy makers; command the rightfocus and therefore wields the right
influence to effect the change. In anycase, the change to the new paradigm
requires not the tearing down of theeconomic system, but by augmenting it.
Therefore the support and leadershipof businessmen are crucial.

In Search for the New Living Guidelines
Human beings have been around for a long time. Throughout history, therehave
been other periods in which man has to deal with rapid changes. Duringthose
periods, thinkers must have thought hard about the kind ofadjustment,
particularly cultural adjustments, that were necessary to dealwith the
situation. We therefore believe that by researching into the past,we can draw
lessons on how to deal with the current changeful times.

The East West Cultural Development Centre has engaged in research, andhas
organised seminars and round table meetings in order to gather thelessons
from history. After three years of effort, we feel that we have amodel of
human development and a set of guidelines which may help ustowards a more
sustainable development.

We believe that our future effort need not be concentrated in seeking ahigher
and higher standard of living. The current standard of living ishigh enough.
Poor societies may still want to devote large proportion oftheir energy
towards improve the material side of life. For those of us inthe more
developed economies, it makes sense for us to devote more of oureffort --
particularly our intellectual effort -- towards improving ourcultural and
philosophical foundations so that we can better appreciate thehigh standards
of living which we have already achieved.

The Concept of a Good Person
One concept of a good person which the ancients have suggested was
thequalities of 'Virtue, Courage and Beauty'. This suggests that a
personshould be judged from several perspectives. Perhaps we should learn
toevaluate a person from his outlook manifestation, but also from otheraspect
of his whole being. This suggests judging a man in terms of how farhe has
cultivated his 'mind, body and soul'.

Morality Redefined
Many of us believe that the universe progress relentless along a certainpath,
and although from time to time it may be perturbed to deviate fromit,
ultimately it always rejoins the path and continues on its way. This isthe
'Tao' of the Chinese tradition.

If we believe in this Tao, then surely that which causes the world todeviate
from this path is unnatural, futile and therefore immoral.Conversely, that
which facilitates the return of the world to this path isnatural, inevitable
and therefore moral. The quest for universal moralitythen becomes the
identification of those actions which are in line with theTao.

The Tao is Change
One of the observable truths is that there is always change. Change,
then,must be an element of the Tao. Change can be gradual and evolutionary,
orviolent and revolutionary. Left on its own, any tendencies to deviate
fromthe path will eventually be corrected. If the deviation is large,
thecorrection will also be great. On a human scale, gradual change
ispreferable, as it cause less pain. To avoid the pain of large swings
ofadjustment, man can proactively manage events in such as way as to pullthem
back to the central tendency. Therefore a set of guidelines that canhelp us
deal with change through proactive adjustment back to the norm mustbe good
for man. In other word, it can be the basis of a set of new moralprinciples.

The Twenty Words
Through the research of the East West Cultural Development Centre, we
havedeveloped a set of ideas which will help us deal proactively with change
inline with the Tao. These ideas are summarised in the following words:

* Sincerity as the Basis
* Coexistence of the Whole
* Proactive Adjustment
* Complementation of Opposites
* Dynamic Balance
* Development in Harmony

If we examine our actions according to whether they fit with all of thesix
ideas above, we can then feel that our actions will not be too extreme.It
will ensure that we keep the big picture in mind whenever we make adecision.
It will help us to live and work with differences in balance andharmony. It
will warn us not to take too much of a one sided view ofthings, and always to
consider the 'flip' side. It will sensitise us to thecomplex interdependence
of all things. And it will encourage us byreminding us that human, too, is
part of the Tao, and that we can influenceour destiny through our own
proaction.

Invitation to Dialogue
This paper sets out the preliminary thoughts on the position of the EastWest
Cultural Development Centre. On an issue as complex as thesustainability of
development of humankind, there are obviously a lot morework needed to be
done. This paper therefore hope to serve as an invitationof dialogue to
concerned individuals, so that the concerns expressed in thesolutions
suggested can be critiqued and debated upon. Ultimately, the newparadigm can
only be achieved through the rethinking of a large number ofthinking people.

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