culture of pluralism requires this of us as we struggle with our diversity.
There can hardly be respect, reverence, and refinement unless they arise
from the depths of the traditions that have fashioned us. However, out of
these depths will emerge an appreciative awareness of others who also
have sounded the depths of their traditions. It is at this level that creative
encounter occurs; it is here that we begin to learn from each other and
from each other's traditions.

The superabundance of the culture of pluralism requires a sense of bal-
ance. Otherwise, there will continue to be chaos, fragmentation, and con-
flict. Otherwise, diversity represents only what Updike referred to as the
culture of "too many voices, too many attempts to please this or that seg-
ment of the imagined audience . . . [a culture with] no real aesthetic, no
sense of anybody being in charge . . . too many people trying to inform us."
The culture of "too many voices" is a superficial culture. In the midst of this
superabundance, there must be people who know who they are, people
who face outward from the tradition of their roots, looking at others hon-
estly, with reverence, respect, and refinement. Therein is the balance, the
way in which we develop a state of mind that is instinctively defensive of
diversity.

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