“I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all the lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any.”
I live along the Front Range of the Rockies, near Cheyenne Mountain, and blog at Cafe Philos.
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5 thoughts on “Gandhi on Cultural Diversity”
This is a great one, Paul!
Let the whole world in, experience all there is to experience, yet hold fast to who you are and what you believe. That’s the primary message I got, but of course it runs deeper than that.
Thank you, Raatkiranii! Every culture seems to present us with opportunities for expanding our awareness of what it means to be human. There’s a certain freedom that comes from learning about cultures beyond the one we were born into. The challenge, as you point out, is to be true to ourselves while yet accepting the world’s riches.
Be open but don’t be enslaved! That was Gandhi’s context I think as he was probably talking in the context of a India under British Rule. But his saying is an eternal one (which is why I liked it) and every individual will read it according to his own circumstances and way of thinking. Whether today or 500 years from now.
Isn’t interesting how Gandhi can have said those words in the context of British Rule, and yet the principle he’s getting at is universal and good for all times?
This is a great one, Paul!
Let the whole world in, experience all there is to experience, yet hold fast to who you are and what you believe. That’s the primary message I got, but of course it runs deeper than that.
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Thank you, Raatkiranii! Every culture seems to present us with opportunities for expanding our awareness of what it means to be human. There’s a certain freedom that comes from learning about cultures beyond the one we were born into. The challenge, as you point out, is to be true to ourselves while yet accepting the world’s riches.
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Be open but don’t be enslaved! That was Gandhi’s context I think as he was probably talking in the context of a India under British Rule. But his saying is an eternal one (which is why I liked it) and every individual will read it according to his own circumstances and way of thinking. Whether today or 500 years from now.
LikeLike
Isn’t interesting how Gandhi can have said those words in the context of British Rule, and yet the principle he’s getting at is universal and good for all times?
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Great quote. I agree.
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