"A Little Modesty, Herr Mozart"

Who can gainsay the brilliance of Western culture? The entire world loves it. And, despite what they say about self-loathing in Europe, no part of it loves it more than the West itself.

But to say that it is any culture — even the European-American culture — that has achieved the penultimate in civilization is to acknowledge only what is on the surface. The great Isaac Newton said that he saw much further than others not because he was, particularly, a genius, but because he stood on the shoulders of giants. (Never mind that Newton said this to disparage Leibniz; that's an entirely different story.)

Before the rise of the West, there were several civilizations that arose and maintained a degree of greatness unrivaled in their times. Leibniz aside, it is a truism that we, in the West, live in the best of worlds, since at the height of these previous civilizations, the people there, too, lived in the best of worlds — at that time. Some civilizations have endured and some rendered obsolescent, and none have attained the technological or scientific accomplishments of the West. But let us not, in our pride in what we have achieved, forget that others that have come before this civilization achieved just as much, or nearly so, and without as much the benefit of other cultures.

The West has achieved much, but at a horrendous cost. Millions have been killed in the name of progress, and the power to destroy has fast outpaced the power to create. A great imbalance exists, and an overabundance of pride can only lead to tragedy.

The ultimate in ethical development has been attained not, after all, by the West, with its history of virulent colonialism against indigenous peoples, but by the adoption of universalistic principles developed in the Middle East and elsewhere — by Jesus Christ, for example, whose people were persecuted for centuries by Europeans.

As educated people we must avoid the belief that we are so much better than anyone else. In many respects, we are not, and to pretend we are only garners resentment around the world. The sooner we humble ourselves, the less others that around the world will be inclined to maintain that resentment.