CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION

To provide social, cultural and moral-psychological mechanisms of resolving important global issues (e.g., global human integration, saving the biosphere, removing global problems, and addressing global risks, as well as building a resource saving system of production and consumption), which are spelled out in the Planetary Project, we must form and promote a mobilisation ideology, a new anti-crisis way to understand the world. It must be based on planetary ethics, which, in its turn, must be built on the foundation of global spiritual synthesis. This synthesis can only be founded on resolving cultural and value-symbolic issues in a compromise-based way.

There are major differences in how different nations view and understand moral-ethical categories, ethical problems, belief in the higher forces and basis of existence, their religious practice, goal setting and behaviour. Experience shows that even objective recognition of universal human values has not made them equally central in social and artistic cultures, education or upbringing in different countries. Not less important is the fact that a whole range of social problems (e.g., personal status, rights and freedoms) are crucial for the social policy of modern countries. Cultural-historical values underlie any social policy, because they feed into political culture and are formalised and legitimised by national legislation.

As social scientists, philosophers and futurologists had envisaged in the 19th and 20th centuries, the 21st century opened with a conflict of cultures. Value systems of the East and West, of traditional and modernised societies, and of continental and island civilisations have clashed. From a planetary point of view, we cannot accord different merit to different cultural-historical value systems. We must raise a question about the need to resolve contradictions, conflicts of interest and mentality differences in a peaceful manner. Cross-cultural communication will contribute to the dialogue of cultures and civilizations striving for compromise and mutually beneficial partnership in achieving survival, and promoting peace and development.    

Cross-cultural communication will help overcome the difficulties that global human integration and global problem solving are facing today. Such issues facing planetary ethics could be referred to as cultural-psychological and social-ethical. The following are the biggest among them:

  • the global world exists, whereas neither the global community nor global consciousness exists;
  • no spiritual-ethical and value grounds for integration models, environment protection practices or joint resource management have yet been developed; by the way, no universal or compromise-based models exist in principle;
  • universal human values and human rights do not enjoy universal respect, and instead of being shared face unconstructive criticism and resistance from some cultures and ideologies;
  • biocentric, vitality and environmental values are not accepted on a global scale or in all ideological forms; on the contrary, they are discredited and devalued under the guise of pseudo-spiritual interpretations;
  • destructive cults are wide spread, popular and influential in many countries, while authoritarian and totalitarian sects, extremist and militaristic ideologies threaten human life, health, rights and mental health as well as the integrity and quality of the ecosystems, and plant and animal life.

The above and other general and private problems cover the planetary ethics application area. We must solve these problems by changing constructively people’s worldview and mentality, and by acting flexibly in the communication space between civilisations.

Cross-cultural communication can and must also be used in fulfilling planetary governance cultural objectives:

  • Ensuring cross-cultural co-operation of all constructive public forces to save life on Earth;
  • Developing and implementing a system of ecological education of people starting at an early age;
  • Developing a universal bio-centric ideology, ethics and morality on compromise-based global spiritual synthesis;
  • Popularising bio-centric and environmental values with all possible means of information and propaganda;
  • Saving traditional cultures, ethnic groups and their historic heritage from extinction;
  • Rooting out totalitarian, authoritarian and destructive sects and cults;
  • Eradicating illiteracy and backwardness.

From the point of view of the Planetary Project, we believe that creating a compromise-based civilisation model must be the end result of cross-cultural communication; this planetary unification model should be acceptable to different nations and cultures.

We encourage users of this website to share their experience of cross-cultural communication facilitating international co-operation, resolving social, political, cultural and environmental issues. All interesting and successful case studies will go a long way to developing a cross-cultural dialogue between people and nations.

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