In the early millennia of the history of humanity as we spread outward from our starting point in central Africa, the forces of Divergence were dominant. However, because we live on a globe, in our frenetic divergence we eventually began to encounter each other more and more frequently. Now the forces of stunning Convergence are becoming increasingly dominant.
In the past, during the Age of Divergence, we could live in isolation from each other; we could ignore each other. Now, in the Age of Convergence, we are forced to live in One World. We increasingly live in a Global Village. We cannot ignore the Other, the Different. Too often in the past we have tried to make over the Other into a likeness of ourselves, often by violence. But this is the very opposite of dialogue. This egocentric arrogance is in fundamental opposition to the Cosmic Dance of Dialogue. It is not creative; it is destructive.
Hence, we humans today have a stark choice: Dialogue, or Death!
2. Dialogues of the Head, Hands, and the Heart
For us humans there are three main dimensions to dialogue – the mutually beneficial interaction among those who are different – corresponding to the structure of our humanness: Dialogue of the Head, Dialogue of the Hands, Dialogue of Heart.
a) The Cognitive or Intellectual: Seeking the Truth
In the Dialogue of the Head we mentally reach out to the Other to learn from those who think differently from us. We try to understand how they see the world and why they act as they do. This Dialogue of the Head is vital, for how we see and understand the world and life determines how we act toward ourselves, toward other persons, and toward the world around us.
b) The Illative or Ethical: Seeking the Good
In the Dialogue of the Hands we join together with Others to work to make the world a better place in which we all must live together. Since we can no longer live separately in this One World, we must work jointly to make it not just a house, but a home for all of us to live in.
c) The Affective or Aesthetic: Seeking the Beautiful
In the Dialogue of the Heart we share in the expressions of the emotions of those different from us. Because we humans are body and spirit, or rather, body-spirit, we give bodily-spiritual expression in all the Arts to our multifarious responses to our encounters with life: Joy, sorrow, gratitude, anger... and most of all, love. All the world delights in beauty, wherein we find the familiar that avoids sameness, and wherein we find diversity that avoids distastefulness.
d) (W)Holiness: Seeking the One
We humans cannot long live a divided life. If we are to even survive, let alone flourish, we must “get it all together.” We must live a “whole” life. Indeed, this is what the religions of the Western tradition mean when they say that we humans should be “holy.” Literally, to be holy means to be whole. Hence, in our humanDance of Dialogue we must “get it all together,” we must be (W)Holy. We must dance together the Dialogue of the Head, the Dialogue of the Hands, and the Dialogue of the Heart.
LET US THEN ALL JOIN TOGETHER IN THE COSMIC DANCE OF DIALOGUE!
Leonard Swidler - The Cosmic Dance of Dialogue. Dialogue of the Head, of the Hands, of the Heart
Sept. 19, 2011, 2:34 p.m.
1. The Universe is a Cosmic Dance of Dialogue
Dialogue – the mutually beneficial interaction of differing components – is at the very heart of the Universe, of which we humans are the highest expression: From the basic interaction of Matter and Energy (in Einsteins unforgettable formula: E=mc2 – Energy equals mass times the square of the speed of light), to the creative interaction of Protons and Electrons in every atom, to the vital symbiosis of Body and Spirit in every human, through the creative dialogue between Woman and Man, to the dynamic relationship between Individual and Society. Thus, the very essence of our humanity is dialogical, and a fulfilled human life is the highest expression of the Cosmic Dance of Dialogue.