Immortal Thinking

There are some of us, I am lead to believe, who are quite content with the idea of dying some day. For the religiously devout amongst us, dying may be an easier pill to swallow, but I shall venture a guess that few of us escape a mild spell of anguish at this thought, or this kind of thinking. For most people, devout or not, death is a frightening concept. There has been no tangible evidence that life goes on after death and so, most of us either hope very hard, or work very hard at not being forgotten. Since time immemorial, buried in the deep abyss of not knowing, one thing thing we have always been certain of is that when we do not exist in the minds of others, we do not exist. Perhaps for this reason, we have evolved into a people driven by panic and thriving on fast and easy solutions. The faster we make the earth spin, it might be thought, the larger our portfolio of achievements will become in the short time we have.

I recently happened upon an article on the BBC News mobile app that served to demystify the kind of superpower China is becoming. To most any westerner, the word, superpower, has become rather a dirty word, alluding to fascism and conjuring the adage, absolute power corrupts absolutely. However, what the article aimed to do was to offer an alternative view. The journalist stated that China has a negligible history of colonisation. They did not seek to conquer the four corners of the earth in quite the same way as the old powers, England, France, The Netherlands, Spain and Portugal did. They were quite content with their way of life and never doubted that they were the best. To the Chinese, China has always been something to strive towards. And apparently, most of Asia did exactly that. Strong trade relations were set up and, for the most part, they still exist today. To the Chinese, or so the theory goes, there is very little need for urgency in trying to convince others of their power. Their power is quite evident. Bypassing the moral minefield that is Chinese human rights issues entirely, it is this kind of thinking that I find so interesting.

Our current superpower, the mighty United States of America, perhaps lacks the benefit of old age that their European counterparts and indeed China do. This, in my mind, explains their insatiable thirst. I am constantly struck by the overall American reaction to the ongoing recession, which seems to be a reaction to some phantom accusation. Most any opinion on the matter sounds something like this: "We must prevail". Sure, America has been the self-proclaimed leader of the free world for some time. Their currency conveniently provides a middle ground for international trade, keeping them in perpetual business. Their culture is the most well-disseminated in the world, having been assimilated by even the most remote of cultures, such as Bhutan. As negative as these words may seem, I am not condemning America. If the world had no taste for their culture, films, or food, MacDonald's would not have dominated every mention-able street corner. We chose it. The trouble is the way that the head attached to the arm, attached to the hand that feeds us, thinks. It will not become like the rest of us. It must rule the world for it to work. Again, I try, always, to consider the individual. Being a member of the "international class", the modern wanderers that exist, however temporarily, without permanence of a home or culture, I am faced daily with individuals, most often Americans, that understand the world, and who do not travel for the purpose of converting others to the American way of thinking.

We think therefore we are. Should we, however, think more specifically, we could discern two broad ways of thinking. Mattering today and mattering tomorrow. If today is our concern, the solution is simple, for it will  present itself today. But if we are to matter tomorrow, our concerns need to venture beyond what we are capable of today. Perhaps a process of incubation is required, before we leap to actions that will matter when we are gone.

The world must change. But then, this has always been true. Whether we should all think the same way is another matter, one that I am not convinced we are ready for. We have only just discovered each other and much co-existence is still required. If Americana has shaped, to whatever degree, our individual thoughts, then let it be. Where careful thought is required is in the haste of our decisions. I am more than convinced that not every Chinese national thinks in the manner described by the BBC journalist, who accounted for a more holistic mindset, in much the same way as I believe not all Americans think mortally. But speaking only  idealistically, I do not believe that anyone particularly needs to think only in terms of domination. That "you're-either-with-us-or-against-us" mentality has proved only to breed intolerance, for which there is now, more than ever, the least need. Immortal thinking, or mattering tomorrow in a manner I, for one, hope is one of benevolence, is what is required of us if we are to make a success of a world in constant flux of power.

 Hanfred Rauch