This week I had the pleasure to attent a lecture by Tu Weiming. To be honest, I did not know him or his work before. I had only read somewhere that he was a leading Chinese neo-Confucian thinker. Since I seldom get the chance to hear a modern and living Chinese philosopher I bought my ticket right away. The lecture sold out quickly.

According to the program the lecture would be on Europe from a Chinese perspective, so I expected that the western way of life would be challenged. I even had some fears that western arrogance would be confronted by a renewed sense of Chinese moral superiority. Was I about to get a preview of a new clash of civilisations based more on economic power than on philosophical debate?

There was no need for such fears. I should have prepared myself better to know more about the life and work of Tu Weiming. He is a modest man with a broad cosmopolitan perspective on world affairs who has teached at several universities both in the west as in the east. It was a great pleasure to hear his wise words on “the unintended negative consequences of the advent of modernity, such as aggressive anthropocentrism and possessive individualism.” He proposes a new spiritual humanism that can “guide us to survive and flourish in the 21st century by deepening the intellectual and depth of our environmental awareness”.

There was so much in his lecture and his answers during the Q&A that resonated with me that I had to thank him personally for his words.

If you want to hear him speak about spiritual humanism, you can watch this video: