It is when we give our attention to the question of the unity and diversity
within the limited area that we know best, and within which we have the
most frequent opportunities for right action, that we can combat the hope-
lessness that invades us, when we linger too long upon perplexities so far be-
yond our measure. ¹

-- T. S. Eliot, "Notes Toward the Definition of Culture"

Although human societies still tend to respond to religious and cultural
diversity aggressively, through conquest and conversion, we are always
conscious of the need to move beyond our natural inclinations in this re-
gard. T. S. Eliot suggests that the issues of unity and diversity cannot be
contemplated in an idealistic or abstract manner, but only "within the
limited area that we know best, and within which we have the most fre-
quent opportunities for right action." In other words, we must arrive at
some workable context in the struggle to deal with unity and diversity. By
affirming only some vague ideal of transcendence or unity, we become
revolutionaries in defense of an unrealizable society or rationalists with
little or no effect on life itself. The contemplation of our otherness must
take place in a particular context. As Eliot puts it, we can only recognize
the significance of both unity and diversity from within a particular area;
we can only do something about these matters--genuinely contemplate
our otherness--if we stand within human circumstances that make the
problem real. I can only have an appreciative consciousness of the multi-
plicity of others, I can only wonder at the richness of my own tradition, if
I stand within to examine others and contemplate the significance of this
posture. Accordingly, there is no escaping the dilemma that pluralism
seeks to resolve. To ignore the significance of those who stand within the
limited area of a religious and cultural tradition is to judge them as be-
nighted or ignorant; such an approach contributes little that is substantial
to the resolution of matters of unity and diversity.

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