Earlier this year I read a book called The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of the New World Order by Samuel P. Huntington. It is interesting, and it does have a lot of good insights about the state of the world we live in. However, its outlook for the future, in my opinion, is a little too grim.
Huntington concludes that we are descending into an era during which Eastern and Western cultures will compete, often violently, to rise to the top of the global power structure. In the end, it is not a pretty picture of humanity. The author provides good evidence, and his arguments are quite rational, but I believe his portrait is missing one important variable in the human equation—hope.
Huntington has projected an image into the future based on what exists now. The trajectory that he predicts for the course of humanity is not necessarily inaccurate, if one is to assume that nothing about “human nature” can change.
I, however, happen to believe that there is hope for humanity. All we need is a small change in our way of thinking to deflect ourselves away from the dark future that Huntington predicts. What we need is a little bit of hope that the world really can become a beautiful place for everyone to live.
Of course, this can all seem like “pie in the sky” if there is no real plan to make it a reality. That’s why I want to write a book tentatively titled Harmony of Civilizations. Hope comes from first believing that something better is possible, and I believe it is.
