“Hope” of Traditions for Human Future

Abstract:In this new contemporary cross-cultural human situation，the author submits，cultures are invited and even expected to perform a double task：to universalize their truth experiences；and to overcome their blind spots in mutual criticism and dialogue. By cultural innovation，I understand the following：Each tradition，inasmuch as it is not stagnant，has to innovate，transform and regenerate itself not only from within but also from without. And also the author would like to explore and examine，very briefly，the value of “hope” as embodied in human traditions by focusing，in a spirit of dialogue，on two myths belonging to two different traditions：the Myth of Development-which is very peculiar and important to the modern-western-technological world-view and the myth of ūzhor destiny which is deeply rooted in the Tamil（Indian）psyche. This paper would like to be a small contribution to the dialogue of cultures which indeed has become a contemporary fact as well as a necessity.

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