I was asked to give a talk on the subject East-West Relations Need to be Redefined to members of the Senior Citizens Club, Patiala. Some members of the club told me, “You will be addressing the intellectual cream.” Many members are retired IAS officers, other civil and military officers, and other highly-educated people. Patiala can be called the educational, cultural, arts and intellectual hub of Punjab. When the intellectual cream of Patiala wants to listen to a topic, that shows there is a genuine interest about the topic. In other words, the enlightened segment of society feels that the equations between the East and the West are changing and the balance of power is shifting from the West to the East. There is also a genuine concern and interest to find out the underlying causes of this shift of power.
The balance of power depends on two things: economic power and military power. In both of these areas, the East is becoming more powerful than the West. In the economic field, China has become the leading power of the world. It can be called the manufacturing hub of the world. We can look at China’s share in the world trade and in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP); both are increasing while the western share is declining. If we take Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) instead of GDP, then the trends will become even clearer. Whereas GDP tells us the total economic output in dollars, PPP tells us how much that money is worth in that country. Not only China’s share in world trade is increasing, the trade deficit of the other countries with China is also increasing. China has also been able to displace America and become the largest trading partner of those countries. Look at the American allies; China has become the largest trading partner of Japan, South Korea, and the European Union. Even in a country in the region traditionally considered America’s backyard (Brazil), China has replaced America and become its largest trading partner.
Russia is scoring big victories in the military filed. It is showing its military muscle to the world. Russia has taken the lead in the fight against IS in Syria. Every day, Russia is showing its military power and technology. From a submarine in the Mediterranean Sea, it can attack targets in Syria with great accuracy. It has brought the most advanced S-400 missiles to the Middle East. Russia has firmly made its point that it can strike any target in the world from any area. If we call the launching point, A, and the target point, B, then it is obvious that the points A and B can be located anywhere in the world. Therefore, Russia can hit any target in any country from anywhere it likes. Russia has also shown that it is willing to use its military power anywhere and in any situation. It can be safely concluded that Russia has formidable military power and is more willing to use its military power than any other country at this time. Compared to Russia, America now seems to be hesitating and reluctant to project and use its military power.
Many people are curious to know what are the main reasons for rise of the East and decline of the West. I feel the main cause of these trends lie in the Eastern and Western philosophies. The western philosophy, which made people aggressive and ambitious, led the West to its present dominant position. However, with these traits, the success was bound to be short-lived and in the long run, these traits became more of a liability rather than assets. On the other hand, the East has emphasized those values and traits which will lead to success in the long run.
The West has not really understood the difference between information and knowledge, and between knowledge and wisdom. For the West, information automatically leads to knowledge, and knowledge automatically develops into wisdom. However, for information to become knowledge, we need assimilation or absorption. Similarly, for knowledge to become wisdom, we need experience. The West has flooded the world with information. However, it does not mean that people have become more knowledgeable. Most of this information stays in the computers and does not actually become a part of you. For example, an ordinary person raised in the East develops a mathematical sense which many well-educated people in the West lack. They have become too dependent upon their computers and calculators. A person in the East goes to buy some vegetables with a bag and asks the vegetable seller or vendor to give him 500 grams of peas, one kilogram of potatoes, 2 kilograms of onions, 250 grams of ginger, and one kilogram of tomatoes. After he orders all of these things, he has a fairly good estimate of how much it is going to cost and if all of the vegetables will fit into the bag. On the other hand, a westerner, for a simple calculation, has to use a calculator. He has very advanced and sophisticated computers and other gadgets, yet he has lost the basic mathematical sense.
Egalitarianism is another major problem with the west. There is no respect for age or experience. Without experience, there cannot be true wisdom. Another problem is tendency toward absolutism. This leads to an attitude that for me to be right, you have to be wrong; while the east upheld relativism, which means that we both can be right in our own way. Add arrogance to this equation and we have a perfect recipe for ignorance. The end result is that in spite of the flood of information, the west has failed to make people any wiser. This situation can be compared to castaways following a shipwreck, where people die of thirst even when they are in the middle of an ocean of water. The reason is that they are unable to absorb this water (hypertonic saltwater).
Western information combined with Eastern wisdom, or western technology combined with eastern philosophy, can help the whole mankind to meet the challenges and solve the problems the mankind is facing. However, this can only happen if the west is willing to give up arrogance and learn the virtues of humility. According to Sri Guru Granth Sahib, humility is the essence of all virtues.
Dr. Sawraj Singh, MD F.I.C.S. is the Chairman of the Washington State Network for Human Rights and Chairman of the Central Washington Coalition for Social Justice. He can be reached at [email protected].
