THREE PHASES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 114, 16 May 1931, Page 8

THREE PHASES

INTERNATIONAL LIFE. UNDERSTANDING WANTED. The ideal of international co-opera-tion and the steps wmea his travels throughout the world had led him to believe necessary to secure it, formed the subject of the address by Dr. T. ZKoo, at the Rotary Club luncheon, at Wellington on Tuesday. Dr. Koo prefaced his remarks by saying that he assumed the subject was one which would appeal especially to Rotarians, whose aims were sympathetic to the ideals of international co-operation. It was his privilege to be able to give them an insight into the question from one who had made observations in many parts of the world. “When you first think of international co-operation,” said Dr. Koo, “you think of the necessity for establishing international goodwill, but, although that is important, it does not go far enough. The first step necessary is to overcome the ignorance that exists between the different peoples about each other. If I were to ask you what you know about India and China, what you do not know would probably fill many volumes, and it would be the same if Indians or Chinese were asked about Western peoples. When we know so little about, each other the position lends itself to misunderstanding very easily.” “When you translate the little misunderstandings that arise into the serious things of life,” continued the speaker, “you will see that our ignorance of each other will sometimes create serious situations. It is our duty, almost, to take steps to learn all we can about each others lives. “There is one definite way of thinking that we have to break. We get into the habit of thinking of each other as types. An American I once spoke to in the United States found it very hard to believe that 1 could be a Chinaman but not a laundryman, and we in China had come to regard Indians in the light of the Indian policemen in China, so that when I came to visit the country I was amazed to discover the true intellectual state of the people. You have to think of each other as per sonalities and then you can get an appreciation and an understanding of each other. My life in China is different to yours, and different also to life in India, and from the observations 1 have made 1 have made this analysis for myself. Three Divisions. “When you see life in India, you see a great branch of the human family, and they have built their life upon one great idea—the idea of man in relation to God. In China it is life as between man and man, and in the west it is man in relation to Nature and his conquest of Nature. You will thus see that each is incomplete, and also that there is no excuse for one country to believe itself superior to another. (Applause.) You cannot take the best footballer in this country and say he is a better player than the best cricketer in this country. When you see this aspect of international co-operation you will see that it is not only necessary for us to feel good to each other, we must also endeavour to supplement each other, thereby rounding out our life as a whole. In the life of Jesus you see the three things coming together in cooperation. You have studied the life oi Jesus, and you see each of the phases of life fully developed, and that makes clear the full meaning of the term ‘the abundant life.’ We cannot got that if we always live at arm’s length to each other. We want to have brought home to us our own shortcomings. In conclusion Dr. Koo said that hi: remarks were based on his own obser vations and the principal poijit was not whether his listeners would agree with them, but that they should help t.ovords a better understanding of the os's niials of the question be Lad de lit