Meguro UNESCO Short News
This year's Retreat was held, as in other years, in Wada-mura, Nagano
Prefecture on July 26th through 28th.
This issue carries an abstract of Mr. Eiji Hattori's lecture and the report
by an advisor, Mr. Shigeo Tajima.
The lecture started with an explanation of the five revolutions that
human beings have experienced.
"The first revolution was about 5 million years ago when human beings
branched from monkeys as Australopithecus. This can be referred to as the
revolution of the birth of human beings.
The second revolution, an agricultural revolution, seems to have taken
place about 10,000 or 12,000 years ago. Agriculture enabled an increase
in the human population by leaps and bounds. This was a really big revolution
in that human beings moved away from 'gathering' activities.
The third revolution was an urban revolution, which took place about 5,000years
ago, when people who did not engage directly in food production first appeared.
The fourth revolution, a spiritual revolution, took place 2,500 years ago.
Around this time, philosophers who listened to the conscience of human
beings appeared. Confucius, Buddha, Socrates and others were born synchronically,
to pursue an understanding of the sublimity of the soul as if they were
trying to find God in the human mind. At this time, there was a search
for the morals that true mankind should have.
The fifth revolution, a scientific revolution, took place in the 17th century.
This did not have synchrony as did the last revolution and only Europe
experienced the revolution at that time. The scientific revolution developed
into the industrial revolution, which led to the world domination by Europe.
It has been about 300 years since then. The 300-year period brought about
the sweep of material civilization and an eagerness to pursue convenience."
"Culture is an ethos unique to each race and comprises a sense of
values, aesthetics and morals. These reside in the soul of each people.
This is 'culture'. On the other hand, 'civilization' has its own system.
It can be seen as an instrument, for example law, which allows people in
a community to live sensibly and cooperatively."
"While so called 'civilization' has continued developing since the
17th century in this scientific revolution, the culture and the inquiry
into humanity has not progressed but retrogressed. The civilization process
has been sacrificing further important human mind and culture development.
The inner self has been impoverished while the external self has been swollen.
This has led to war, devastation and environmental destruction. I would
like to define the civilization that is on the verge of destroying Earth
as the "deforesting civilization". This civilization believes
in a value defined by Descartes and Baron that says 'human beings have
a right to control nature'.
In the 19th century, 'progress' was regarded as supremely valuable, but
it is now destroying the world."
"Now is the time for us to reflect on this concept. Does progress
really lead to human happiness? Progress shoots human beings forwards,
because progress is possible only when we regard time as a straight line
that goes from the past to the future. But the theory that time is rectilinear
is not shared universally. A theory of curvilinear, circular, or transmigrating
time, had already been shared throughout the world with synchrony. The
five revolutions mentioned before were marvelously synchronic and had this
same theory of time. The civilizations that had this theory of time were
not 'deforesting civilizations' but 'civilizations of gods dwelling in
woods'. It was a belief in a divine spirit or numen that was thought to
live with innumerable gods."
"The scientific revolution of the 17th century changed civilization
and the value of 'gods dwelling in woods'. Everyone believed the new values
were the original and true ones, and poked their way progressing to the
present
century where Earth is being destroyed, wars are being fought and people
are killing each other. Now, violence is sweeping the world. Violence is
rampant in Kosovo, Timor, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Rwanda, Africa, South America
and other countries that used to be in peace, and even countries far from
the Balkan Peninsula from which all major wars started. Japan has seen
an increase in juvenile delinquency, a private and abnormal form of crime
for Japan. This country is not an exception. We must look at the present
state of this kind of violence and find the cause."
The lecturer mentioned the warning of oceanographer,Cousteau, who said
that Easter Island, which had a rich heritage of a megalithic culture called
Moai, was destroyed because all the trees were cut down. He then said that
Earth was at risk of following in its footsteps.
"One of the problems is that human beings have to live depending on
the limited resources from the planet called 'Earth'. We have to address
the impending environmental issue of whether Earth can really survive until
the end of the 21st century. When we think about the environmental issues,
we also have to pay attention to the population problem."
"It is said that in 2050, the population will be 9 billion, almost
the critical limit. When the population reaches 10 billion, Earth will
never be able to provide enough resources necessary to sustain human beings;
water, food, oil, coal, etc from which various kinds of energy are generated.
What will happen then? The ethnic conflicts that we have now will be intensified.
It is possible that violence will be more terrible in the near future.
Violence will not be restricted to racial disputes, but for the survival
of each individual. It might take a very cruel form."
The impassioned lecture that was sometimes in English for the convenience
of overseas students, ended with the following words.
"We have to succeed in a sixth revolution, an 'environmental revolution'.
Let us return to the theory of circulation, which represents the original
state of human beings. We should not deforest hills where gods dwell. We
should not cut trees that are a part of nature. We should live with nature.
In other words, we live with or within nature. The environmental revolution
will make us regain the recognition that we are part of nature. We can
call it a theory of circulation and re-creation too. If we cannot succeed
in that revolution, mankind will die out before the end of the 21st century."
"UNESCO is the only organization in the UN that addresses issues of
human soul. Everyone is asked to participate in this. Everyone is asked
to reform his or her consciousness. Organizations like UNESCO can find
its meaning of existence there. Please bear in mind that the starting point
for resolving every problem is to reform the consciousness of each and
every person."
Summarized by Yukio Okusawa
The
tape was audio typed by Mr. Hirotsugu Yoshizawa