THE RELATIONSHIP OF EAST AND WEST

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28346, 3 August 1957, Page 3

THE RELATIONSHIP OF EAST AND WEST

The Interplay of East and West. Elements of Contrast and Cooperation. By Barbara Ward. Allen and Unwin. 82 pp.

Miss Barbara Ward delivered these three lectures to an audience of more than 2500 people at McGill University in 1955. Students, professors and other citizens of Montreal received them enthusiastically, and deservedly so, for she brings an original and stimulating mind to one of the most vital problems of our generation—the relationship of the peoples of the East and west For the last 400 or 500 years Western civilisation has been an aggressive fo"ce violently disturbing and altering other civilisations and we have now to face the question of what version of modern society, evolved in the West, the peoples of Asia are going to adopt- Broadly speaking the choice is between capitalism and that other version of the Western way of life, Communism. In these lectures Miss Ward contrasts the different political, ideological and religious beliefs of West and East and makes plain the effects of the expansion of Western ideas on the pattern of life and thought in Eastern countries. She shows how the Asian ecpnomic system is largely collapsing and how in the Asian npnd aggression and capitalism, Imperialism and the West have become inextricably confused. She believes that the suspicion and resentment which now predominate can only be abated by practical aid provided very largely

under international auspices. In the East, religious beliefs have always subordinated material reality to an emphasis on the already determined pattern of divine purpose. In the West, the concept of man playing an active part in the progressive unfolding of God’s purpose has not only led to intellectual curiosity and scientific achievement, but has enabled this to take place without making necessary a repudiation of religion. Though the great religions of East and West have followed different paths, they have a great deal in common; and since Western religious thought has already had to withstand the onslaught of a selfstyled “ scientific” humanism which is now being deployed forcefully against the ancient religions of the East, the West has a special contribution to make in helping Asiatic peoples to adjust their ideas and way of life to modern influences. “Having now made the biggest of all gadgets —which is the hydrogen bomb—we may have come to the conclusion that what is vital is not our material gadgets but the purpose of life which they may or may not help up to fulfil. And in rediscovering the purpose of life,” concludes Miss Ward, “we may be able, East and West together, to discover the moral unity without which political and economic unity will only oe built on sarid.”

This book is by no means a religious tract. It is a penetrating analysis of the factors involved in the relationship between the peoples of the East and West, studied with profound insight and care, with a view to learning how the civilisations of both may be harmonised for the peace arid happiness of mankind as a whole. That Miss Ward concludes that basically the problem is a moral and religious problem may ,not be surprising. One is reminded of a succinct statement of a distinguished professor of one of America’s universities, (a lifelong opponent of the teachings of philosopher John Dewey): “A little knowledge leadeth a man away from God; much bringeth him back.”

This lucid volume deserves the widest possible reading. Certainly no student of international affairs no politician or man of affairs can afford not to read its masterly yet cool appraisement of the present day relationship of East and West.

Noreen’s First Case. By Helen Dawson. Dent. 151 pp.

Helen Dawson’s first detective story is written for intermediate and young secondary school girls with a taste for mystery reading. After a somewhat hesitant beginning, the book settles down to a sound plot which builds up in tension and holds attention to the last page. Set in an English girls’ boarding school, it tells of a girl detective who is disguised as a pupil and sent there to uncover a series of intimidating incidents which threaten to close down the school. The story has an unusually clever twist and with more experience the young author should develop into a writer of best-selling “who-dunits,” wholesome enough for any school library.