Let us read a few words by Krzysztof Czyżewski: The English edition of the Small Center of the World came out to the world a few days ago. I will remember that it coincided with Mark Carney’s speech in Davos. A time is coming when politicians, too, are beginning to understand that we must go lower—toward the smaller—yet grounded in values and solidarity. For a long time now, we have watched the hegemony of the Great Number turn into violence and domination. It is time to turn understanding into action. For too long we have “gone with the flow,” not believing that it is possible in this world to follow the voice of the heart rather than that of the stronger, who feeds on lies and material wealth. The fall of communist regimes did not change this. The greengrocer from Václav Havel’s The Power of the Powerless, who once displayed in his shop window the slogan “Workers of the world, unite!”—a slogan he never believed in—no longer has to do so. Instead, he now has at hand slogans about the irresistible power of the strong, which he still displays in order to “go with the flow.”
To change this, it is not enough merely to change the political system, open markets, and cooperate globally. We must also build small centers of the world—real sources of strength based on neighborly coexistence, shared responsibility, and spiritual growth over the long term. We must turn the greengrocer into a citizen of the world, rooted in his local community, its memory and its future, and thus hospitable and compassionate toward others, open to expanding the boundaries of what is his own. This is the moment when—using Mark Carney’s words—we move from relying solely on our values to setting the values of our strength in motion.
The small center of the world gives the greengrocer a chance to sit at the table, with the awareness that otherwise he would end up on the menu. Politicians in Davos have their work to do. We—people of culture and education, activists of civil society—have ours. It is good that our paths are beginning to converge. The most important question is: how do we do it? My tiny answer is contained in the notes of a practitioner of ideas gathered in this book.
The book has been translated by Aleksandra Sobczak-Kövesi.
At the moment it is available here.