Nationalism

Author: (Eng) Eri Kaiduri, translated by Zhang Mingming
Translator: Zhang Mingming / Country:
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-01-01
Features: In the happiness of the world, no level of enjoyment is lacking. In the works of God, the unique value of every part is respected. His persistent attention to every spark of energy in even the lowest creatures shows his pride, no less than the pride displayed in the harmony of the immeasurable whole. Therefore, in fact, not only is this world imperfect and struggles for perfection, but this ultimate perfection, when it comes, will be a harmony of all the diverse creations produced by nature or God, each with its own possibilities. In this view of the world's diversity, spontaneity is given priority over simulation, thereby changing the conventional view of nature. In the system of natural laws, the concept of nature implies regularity, consistency, maturity, and finality. However, regularity and consistency suggest simulation, simulation suggests artificiality, and according to the view of diversity, artificiality is non-spontaneous, therefore non-natural. Now, nature means it ignores symmetry and balance, means it denies any suggestion of artificial, conscious arrangement, means it is primal, unrefined, and immature. Spontaneity is the gift of those who retain their own characteristics, uncorrupted by the veneer of civilization; while those who have not cherished their own individuality, running from one culture to another, from one civilization to another, are homeless parasites, destined to enter an artificial state and lose creativity. Herder said: "The primitive person, who loves himself, his wife, and his children with a tranquil joy, does limited things for his tribe as he does for his own life, and takes joy in this—in my view, he lives a more authentic life than the educated mortal, who is carried away with delight in the phantom of his entire species, the phantom of a name. The primitive person has an open space in his hut for every stranger, and he welcomes every stranger as a brother with serene kindness, asking him no questions about where he comes from. But the turbulent heart of vague cosmopolitanism is a hut that is open to no one."
This emphasis on diversity merely continues and slightly modifies a traditional view, which, as A. O. Lovejoy expressed in his classic work The Great Chain of Being (1936), has been an important theme in European thought since the time of Plato. Many writers have pointed out that diversity is an important characteristic of creation, because God, with his infinite goodness, did not deny the life of any possible species of creation in his subjective will, however lowly and humble it may be. And in this new variant of this view, the diversity thus prompted by God begins to mean not only that every culture, every individuality has a unique and incomparable value, but also that cultivating our own characteristics, without allowing them to merge or combine with other characteristics, is a responsibility that falls upon us. Only in this way can we act morally and advance the progress of the world. Schleiermacher believed: "Only when a person becomes aware of his individuality in his current actions can he ensure that his next actions do not violate this individuality. Only when he always demands of himself to examine the whole of humanity, to oppose every other possible individual expression with his own individual expression, can he maintain his unique sense of individuality."