The World Needs a Different Philosophy

Tango, as a drop in the ocean of human civilization, reflects both the beauty and pollution of this world. The problems we have in tango today are not just problems of the dance, but problems our world faces as well.

Just like how we see tango affects how we dance it, how we perceive ourselves affects how we behave and live. Over millions of years of evolution we humans gradually differentiated ourselves from beasts . The difference between us and animals can be summed up in one word: humanity. Our understanding of our own humanity reached a height in the 14th-17th centuries. Unlike the distorted images of man in contemporary art, his/her dignity, nobility and beauty are themes of the Renaissance. The consequent sublimation of human spirit led to the rebellions against all restrictions on human liberty, the establishment of democracy, the discharge of human creativity, the advancement of science and technology, and the prosperity of modern civilization.

In this process, however, mankind has alienated itself. We left footprints in every corner of the Earth. Farmlands replaced forests, cities replaced farmlands, pollution replaced purity, materialism replaced idealism, extravagance replaced simplicity, competition replaced cooperation, stress replaced enjoyment, monopoly replaced sharing, corruption replaced integrity, legalism replaced common sense, individualism replaced fraternity, self-interest and personal entitlements replaced communal interests and common cause, sexual liberation replaced marriage, single parent family and gay family replaced traditional family, trans-gender replaced natural gender, GMOs and synthetic food replaced real food, virtual economy replaced real economy, games replaced classics, artificial intelligence replaced human intelligence, machines replaced people... Modernization has led mankind farther and farther away from nature and humanity. The ecosystem has been destroyed. The environment has suffered irreversible damages. Natural resources are depleting. Traditional morality has been subverted. Individual persons, genders, races, special interests, political parties and nation states are infighting with each other. It seems that human liberty, the very thing that has led mankind to prosperity, is leading us to division, conflict, war, and self-destruction. (See Tango Is the Search for a Dream.)

Someday, ideas like returning to nature, conservation, environmentalism, humanism, collectivism, equality, fraternity, solidarity, cooperation, common-interests, teamwork, sharing, and harmony, etc., will replace ideas like egoism, liberalism, individualism, feminism, materialism, capitalism, self-interest, competition, aggression, power politics, conquest, winning, etc., to become the consensus of most people, I hope. But by then it may be too late.

The world needs a different philosophy, not narrow-minded, self-centered, and unbalanced ideologies, but an idealism that can lead mankind to fraternity, solidarity, magnanimity, cooperation, and harmonious coexistence. Hopefully, tango will play a positive role in the return of humanity, because it embodies the values that make us human. (See Philosophies that Separate Two Worlds.)