CHAPTER II

THE DIVERGENCE

If one considers what is commonly called classical antiquity This refers primarily to the civilizations of ancient Greece and Rome, which are traditionally viewed as the foundations of Western culture., and if one compares it to Eastern civilizations, one easily observes that it is less distant from them, at least in certain respects, than is modern Europe. The difference between the East and the West original: "l'Orient et l'Occident." Throughout his work, the author uses these terms to represent two fundamentally different worldviews: the traditional, stable East and the modern, changing West. seems to have been always increasing, but this divergence is, in a sense, one-sided. It is one-sided because it is the West alone that has changed, while the East, generally speaking, has remained substantially as it was during that era which we are accustomed to regarding as "ancient," and which is nevertheless still relatively recent.

Stability, one might even say immutability, is a characteristic that people quite readily recognize in Eastern civilizations—particularly that of China—but it is perhaps less easy to agree on its interpretation. Europeans, since they began to believe in "progress" and "evolution"—that is to say, for a little over a century—want to see in this stability a mark of inferiority. We, on the contrary, see it as a state of equilibrium The author suggests that "stability" is not stagnation, but rather a successful achievement of balance that the West has lost. which Western civilization has proven itself incapable of reaching. This stability is evident in small things as well as great ones; one can find a striking example in the fact that "fashion," with its continual variations, exists only in Western countries. In short, the Westerner, and especially the modern Westerner, appears essentially changing and inconstant, aspiring only to movement and agitation, whereas the Easterner presents exactly the opposite character.

If one wished to represent schematically the divergence of which we speak, one should not draw two lines moving away from each side of an axis; rather, the East should be represented by the axis itself, and the West by a line starting from that axis and moving away from it like a branch separating from the trunk, as we said previously. This symbol would be all the more accurate because, fundamentally—at least since so-called historical times—the West has never lived intellectually (insofar as it has possessed an intellectuality at all) except through borrowings made from the East, whether directly or indirectly. The

Classical antiquity: The period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome.
Progress: A modern Western concept suggesting that society is constantly moving toward a better or more "advanced" state.
Evolution: Used here not just biologically, but as a social theory that cultures develop from "primitive" to "complex" forms.
Equilibrium: A state of physical or intellectual balance; used by the author to describe the lasting power of Eastern traditions.
Fashion: Used as a metaphor for the West's obsession with constant, often superficial, change.