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Msgr
Thomas Menamparampil
I have accepted an impossible task. Trying to deal with Asian cultures in a brief hour is like attempting to describe the universe in a few words. Asian cultures form a veritable cosmos. They differ. There is nothing that I could say that would not be challenged. Aside from being a geographical expression, does Asia mean something more? Has it an individuality of its own? Do the vast families of Asian cultures have something in common? Do the cultural boundaries of Asia coincide with the present recognised boundaries of the continent? (Arnold Toynbee finds it difficult to accept the gulf that is imagined between Asian and European cultures. He says "This fantasy has been begotten when some imaginative Hellenic minds had given a revolutionary change of meaning to the two traditional Hellenic geographical names 'Europe' and 'Asia'... the historian cannot lay his finger on any period at all in which there was any significant cultural diversity between the 'Asiatic ' and the 'European' occupants of the all but contiguous opposite banks of a Bosphorus and a Hellespont...." [Arnold Toynbee: A study of History]). Or, does the cultural mantle of Asia rest lightly on the shoulders of Europe and Africa too? Or, has Europe, with its exuberance of the last half a millennium, made parts of Asia like unto itself? Formation of Cultures Cultures take their shape in societies as a result of their response to the geographical setting in which they live (desert, mountain, island, fertile plain) and the historic experiences they go through (compulsions to feed and defend themselves, the necessity to ensure internal cohesion and external security). Small communities that live a long time in relative isolation develop a definitive individuality and specific character traits. Partly by reason of biological nearness and shared history, and partly conditioned by the environment around them, they develop not only traditions that mark them off from others, but also attitudes, value-systems, meaning-schemes and world-views that clearly distinguish them from other communities. Under threat of famine or enemy attack, people have migrated and settled in river valleys like those of the Tigris-Euphrates, Indus, Yangtse-Kiang forming composite cultures under the patronage of unified political power. Founders of religious movements and architects of imperial superstructures have facilitated further sharing of ideas and institutions and assisted the formation of larger societies and the birth of civilisations (Sumerian, Indus Valley, Egyptian, Gangetic). Even in such highly composite cultures the original 'genes' of earlier simpler societies could be noticed in individuals or small social units, but these could hardly be identified with any measure of certainty or traced to their source. As communities have merged and cultures have inter-related, new identities have resulted especially if the new synthesis found a unifying principle in a new religious intuition. It also happened that a relatively homogeneous society split into two or more units when different religious geniuses appeared on the scene, taking their adherents to their own diverse persuasions. As, often a dominant political force had brought together vastly varying societies, so too, a homogeneous society broke into smaller political units developing dissimilar cultural traditions. Whenever their relative isolation endured a long period of time even by reason of artificial boundaries, these separate cultural streams once again developed definite individuality and distinct character traits, and possibly also a new collective personality, a discernibly different psyche and a collective unconscious. So many forces contribute to the strength of the above-mentioned collective individuality: the duration of mutual interaction and shared history, the power of the original stimulus from a prophetic personality or a political visionary, the strength of the compulsions that imposed norms of internal cohesion on the community for its very survival, etc. Asian Identity Asia has witnessed all the cultural processes I have described above. There are still a vast number of cultures that have remained rich and colourful in relative isolation (on the mountain fastnesses of the Himalayas, the highlands of North Myanmar. Thailand, Laos and Vietnam, and South China, or the islands of Indonesia. There are also the composite cultures that developed in the fertile valleys of the Tigris Euphrates, Indus, Ganges, Brahmaputra, Yangtse-Kiang, Mekong and others. These latter group of cultures that were homogenised at one period of history through the political and religious unification of societies were again diversified through later political evolution and religious innovations. The composite cultures that are usually called civilisations are often known as the "Great Traditions" of Asia. These have received much attention in history and in current thought. But today even the so-called "Little Traditions" are calling for attention. I am working among the Little Traditions. To begin with, characterising the Asian as spiritual, introverted, inclined to synthesising or subjectivity would be generalising too much (Hajime Nakamura); the same as describing all Westerners as materialistic, extroverted. analytic, objective, imperialistic, and capitalistic. The events of the last 500 years should not blind our vision of the total length of recorded history. For example, the West was very religious and traditional even a generation ago. And is still. And may become even more so in days to come. Similarly, internal differences that exist both within the Eastern and Western civilisations cannot be ignored. The Greek and Hebrew elements, which are very different among themselves, combined to give shape to the Western civilisation. So the Brahminic and the Buddhist, the Confucian and the Taoist, and, the Hindu and the Islamic have gone together. Each of these pairs differ greatly. Hajime Nakamura says that while the Chinese and the Japanese are inclined to be intuitive, Indians have strong traditions of a logical and analytical approach. Max Weber thought Confucianism extremely rational and it inspired Enlightenment thinkers like Voltaire and Wolff. The Chinese and the Japanese are often described as non-metaphysical and the Indians as extremely religious. As all general descriptions of the East or West are always bound to fall short of accuracy, so too global characterisations of the Great Traditions of Asia will be found to be inadequate. There are sub-streams revealing different cultural trends quite contrary to the dominant society's main features. For example there are 4636 separate communities in India according to a recent survey (Reuters, New Delhi, 13 June 1993). These are not only remnants of ancient and recent political groupings and religious affiliations, but also the result of occupational specialisations and ethnic identities. Many of these communities have their own traditions, myths, codes, world-views, celebrations and worship, in some cases shared with others, in other cases all of their own. Western society, homogenised by the long shared history of the Roman Empire and the discipline of the Christian Church, more easily produced philosophies defining the rights of the 'Universal man' and set goals before him (human rights, liberation, egalitarian society, democracy). Whether these concepts were made to apply universally in that society is another matter, e.g., with regard to the Jews, Blacks, women, colonial subjects. But these form the core of what Modern man claims for everyone without distinction. On the contrary, Eastern societies that learned to accept and even cultivate ethnic and cultural differences should have developed theories defending the rights of communities. Whether they have done so or not on an elaborate scale, they have certainly evolved working norms and practical codes that regulate the relationships of communities, not all of them equitable. Recently various remedies have been proposed. Some of the Asian constitutions reflect the reality of differences. Pancasila and other formulae have been worked out in various Asian societies. Reservation policies, scheduled caste privileges, etc. attempt to defend the weaker communities. Legislation takes into account the traditions of various communities. Censors black out news report that might be considered offensive to certain communities, or present it in guarded language. A greater recognition of minorities, of indigenous peoples and smaller societies is gaining ground in all countries. Evangelisation of Communities Acceptance of Christ on personal choice is the corner-stone of everything we believe about becoming Christian. In modern society, personal search, discovery, conviction, acceptance, and deepening of one's understanding of religious truths would be considered the stages of appropriation of faith. Quite legitimately too. What I want to ask is this: do communities count in the midst of these individual choices? Are there differences of approach to different communities? May be, the Evangeliser in Asia is often trying to address the Gospel to the 'Universal Man' who does not exist. Or, to the 'Asian' or the 'Indian' on whom you cannot put your finger. The carrier of the Gospel is forgetting the approach of Paul who made himself Greek to the Greeks and Hebrew to the Hebrews, to gain someone for Christ. It is fashionable for the Christian social activist to divide all of humanity into two clear categories: the oppressor and the oppressed. But in Asia other ways of classification are also important. The Asian person is a Sunni or a Shiite, a Hindu or a Muslim, a Han Chinese of one of an ethnic minority, Japanese or Ainu, Burmese or Karen, a Bangladeshi or a Chakma or a Mogh, a Yadav or a Kurmi, a Naga or a Kuki, or one of the very many ethnic groups that inhabit the Eastern Continent. If the Evangeliser does not take into consideration the configurations, strength and various dimensions of cultures and communities to which the Asian individuals belong and address the Gospel in a different manner to different categories of people, making it intelligible to each community, he/she is not likely to make much headway. Here I am not so much referring to linguistic skills or mastery of the idiom. I am referring rather to the 'psychological corridors' of entry and the 'key of compatibility' between the Evangeliser and the community to which the Gospel is addressed. I am hinting at the Evangeliser's ability to enter into the collective subconscious of a new community. I am referring to the need to meet the community amidst its own felt needs, priorities, perceived goals, world-view and offer the Gospel to its collective psyche. Here I am out of my depth. These are concepts that do not allow easy analysis or concrete descriptions. What I am trying to say is that we cannot be mere transporters of ready-made theories or rigidly set formulae. I do recognise the value of these. But they ought to be personalised, transformed and unified in you, until you are able to bear witness to your living faith in Christ in the full context of the community with which you share the Gospel. Inculturation comes from your ability to be born again in the community which you are trying to serve and to express your religious commitment in a rich and powerful manner in a new universe. Even the very members of the community have to do this all over again in periods of transition, or when returning to their own community after a period of absence. I would be unfair our best theories if I were to say that preparation is a negative asset. But I would not hesitate to say that whatever type of preparation that sophisticates us is certainly a hindrance. The trouble with our evangelisation often is that we have grown heavy and rigid with the prejudices of the community we come from, our personal cautions, theological and ideological loads, that we have lost the joy and simplicity of the Gospel, we have weakened its direct appeal to people, and we, all unconsciously, have thrown a veil over the face of Christ. And a further trouble with our approach is that we are too frequently culture-blind and are not able to give a new form and identity to everything that we hold dear in a new cultural world. I am not suggesting that we wrestle with the authorities to sanction the needed change. There is already ample space for the above-mentioned endeavour. I am suggesting rather that we wrestle with ourselves an d be creative in our approach, so that we can become all things to all men. Evangelisation of the psyche is a topic by itself. Doctrines and theories do not form the centre of your strategy, but RELATIONSHIPS do. You educate not by rules and norms, but by relationship. You evangelise more by relationships than in any other way. In this method of approach, clearly formulated statements will be less important (at least at the first stage) than spontaneous witness, even casual remarks that give evidence of deep faith. You will always find that a planned and organised approach meets with resistance, but spontaneous faith expressions win attention. But spontaneity in sharing your faith can manifest itself only when it becomes a part of your personality. It comes so very natural to you, it is just your own way of being Christian. My emphasis here is not on being unprepared. It is on allowing our faith to light up our lives, not only the central zones of our conscious being, but also our subterranean recesses. It is our living faith that can build up another believer. A community responds more easily to evocative symbols than to a well-developed thesis. But of this, a little later. Respect the 'Selfhood' of the Community Christianity has become a part of the collective self understanding of many communities in Asia. In many places, it still remains at the margin of their consciousness, but it is there. Christian communities may be working out a fragile existence in some of the Islamic countries, but in other regions they are flourishing. They manifest signs of abundant growth and are rich in vocations. They benefit from that general atmosphere in Asia that fosters religiosity and respects spiritual values. While some among the Asian middle class may have become totally secularised, the masses are still religious. Religiosity is still a great Asian value. People live by their cultural traditions which they keep alive in their families. Such a climate assists even the Christian community and promotes vocations. Most majority communities in Asia, while welcoming the Christian presence among them, seem to resent its growth. What is noticed is a love-hate relationship. Christians are welcome for the services they render so efficiently, but are carefully watched lest they grow in influence. Some look at Christianity as a threat. Others merely consider it 'alien', while esteeming its ideals, values and services. Others still consider it a useful minority, whose charism of service is good even for the majority community, but which should be kept within limits. Not many would concede to Christianity the same scope for development and growth that the majority community itself enjoys. Is Christianity a threat to the selfhood of communities? In what does this selfhood consist? Is it in its culture, or language, economic interests, system of values, or the unifying dynamic principle that holds the community together, or in its philosophy of life and world-view, or even in its religious faith? In my view, though all these form a part of the 'Selfhood', some more intimately than others, that elusive reality transcends all the above-mentioned things. Though a community may choose any of these or other elements, even a peripheral item, to be the symbol of its selfhood at a given time, and fight to the last in its defence, the selfhood itself is something beyond the sum total of all these elements. People have, of their own choice, changed their ideologies, accepted new philosophies and world-views, adopted new languages, even surrendered their religion in preference for some other faith, and allowed their cultures to undergo radical transformation, but they have still preserved their individuality as a community. Ethnicity seems closest to the individuality of a community, but does it constitute it? A community decides for itself with what it wishes to identify itself. There have been cases when communities have chosen to perish rather than give up one of these elements. I do agree that Christianity can be presented as a threat to the selfhood of a community. But should it necessarily be? Can it be presented as, and can it truly be, an enhancement of the selfhood of a society? On the answer to this question will depend the future of the missions. We should not allow ourselves to be over-influenced by the wrong models we have in our minds of certain earlier periods. Every element mentioned above is a part of the selfhood of the community and deserves our respect. The less threatening you become and the more love and esteem you offer, the more the defences come down one by one, and all the doors open before you. But your own defences still remain. Those too must come down. All you need to do at this stage is to point to Christ. The actual change that takes place when one encounters Christ is a mystery. It is like a song to be sung, not a process to be described! The above description may sound too poetical and unreal. But communities have definitively opted for Christ on the Asian Continent and have found the experience enriching. How sad indeed that many an Evangeliser is more skilled in provoking the other to raise his/her defences than in helping him/her to lower them. Whether Christ is able to enhance the selfhood of a community is what many an Evangeliser is asking himself/herself these days. A believer has no doubt. One who has experienced Christ knows what he is offering. He is certain what Christ has meant to him and what He can mean for the rest of mankind. The East Asian Genius When Siddharta was born in the middle of the sixth century BC, Indian civilisation was already ancient. Possibly 1,500 years had elapsed since wandering Aryan tribes from central Asia crossing the Indus River came upon the Dravidian civilisation, already a thousand years old. The happy merging of the cultures of these two great peoples was to influence the rest of South, East and South-East Asia for all time. The key to its success is phrased in that hymn in the Rig Veda: "Truth is one; the wise call it by different names'. The forests of the Gangetic plains and the lofty Himalayas were haunted by God-seekers, who fasted and meditated, and asked what the human being was, what life meant and where destiny led mankind, questions that still trouble human hearts on both sides of the Urals with varying answers. Gautama Buddha, born of the Sakya clan of the great Mongolian stock, set himself to the pursuit of Dharma (meaning comprehensively Justice, righteousness, duty, nobility, truthfulness, loyalty and compassion), after having experimented with and rejected the rituals of the Brahmins and the austerity of the ascetics. Having been brought up in luxury, he was deeply impressed by the transience of all things. He was an intense and dynamic personality, and had watched courtesans in their glamour and in their disarrayed coarseness. He taught renunciation. RENUNCIATION is a key concept in Asia. It is an answer to the illusive nature of things. Selfish desire is man's greatest enemy. It must be overcome through training and meditation. When that is accomplished, he is fully LIBERATED. Among Buddha's followers was a barber from Kapilavastu. Caste-hierarchy and Brahminic rituals (sacrifices) found no place under Buddha's dispensation. This was eminently a TRIBAL INSIGHT. Tribal people always believed in the basic equality of the human being. This tribal insight shook the rest of Asia. May be, Asia needs today those correctives to her ancient wisdom that only tribal simplicity, and direct and pragmatic approach can offer. We should not forget that it was an unknown descendant of a Tribal Chief in West Asia (Christ, the son of David) that shook the Western world and the rest of humanity with His Saving Insights. (The fact that a tribal chief from Mecca too made so great an impact on world society, makes us ask: Are the so-called, 'Little Traditions' so little? Have, on the contrary, the 'Great Traditions' to learn from the refreshing message that the Little Traditions can give even today?). Buddha's organisational skill (Sanghas) can be traced back to his tribal ancestry. The son of this tribal chief of the Sakya clan was eminently practical. There is a touch of experience in all he teaches. He tells his disciples to try things for themselves before accepting anything, "know for yourselves" (A I 189). They were not to speculate too much, but be concerned about others, and show compassion. They were to avoid exaggerations and keep to the middle path. His teaching insisted that to be human is to be a social being. Coming from an egalitarian society, he recommended unanimity in discussions, deference for elders, consensus among members. Buddha's teachings were very different from India's mainstream perceptions (as tribal concepts are even today). And yet Buddhism won adherence. It was never presented as another religion, but as the Truth. Revolutionary as Buddhist concepts were, their fusion with native traditions was hardly noticed. Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Bon and Shintoism were generally accepted as the same, some teachers speaking of hierarchy of levels of acceptance and identification. This eagerness to harmonise has conditioned the outlook of East Asian peoples. A non-confrontational presentation of what is new is possibly their special genius. West Asia may have had another perception. And yet, despite the perceived Islamic religious aggressiveness, it is interesting to note what Peter Hardy speaking in "The Religious Traditions of Asia" about the expansion of Islam in South Asia says, "Non-Muslims became Muslims more through slow acculturation by reason of a change in social belonging than through a dramatic individual change of attitudes and convictions...". And A.H. Johns referring to the growth of Islam in Indonesia speaks of an 'osmosis' and recognises different levels of that religion's intensity among the population. Possibly a tribal psyche still underlies the consciousness of those communities and reveals an amazing openness to new options. Against this background we may understand why we need to return to the point that we raised earlier: Evangelisation through Relationships. (This emphasis on Evangelisation by relationships does not mean to underestimate other forms of apostolate, including direct announcement and use of the media). The New Face of Asia From 1945 to 1995, half a century, East Asia reduced the poverty incidence from 400 million to 180 million. The World Bank has pronounced that nowhere and in no time in human history humanity achieved such economic progress, and considers that the East Asian story is an economic miracle. It is a miracle of the human spirit, not merely of economic effort, driven by an awakening to one's own potential and propelled by the power of determination, and of progress achieved by toil and sacrifice. John Naisbitt in his 'Megatrends Asia' says, "The West needs the East more than the East needs the West". About half a billion Asians are reaching the status of the middle class. That offers an enormous market. Asian families are sturdy. They are like wonderful foundations to build huge enterprises on. China's economy doubled in six years. Ethnic Chinese are the largest cross-border investors, in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. Overseas Chinese networks cover the globe. "The developed world just can't carry the load any more" says Wayne Brooker, Ford's Asia-Pacific vice-president. "The future of the industry will depend on new markets". Asia offers new markets of extraordinary potential. The East is not just Japan and China, as many Westerners often thought. The countries of the ASEAN group - Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Brunei and Vietnam -- have a population of 450 million. India has a population of over 900 million. There are three billion people in Asia, half of them under 25. A recent story in 'Washington Post' spoke of India having the fastest growing middle class in the world. In 1994 BMW found in Vietnam high literacy rates and a strong work ethic to begin their business there. Malaysia has been yearly going beyond their targets. Dr Mahathir Mohammed said in November 1994. "It's time for us all to adopt prosper-thy-neighbour policies". Such policies pay. Indonesia has been doing equally well, if not better. Asia is reversing the brain drain trend. Opportunities are looking Eastwards. As a late-comer to development, Asia has a golden opportunity to install the latest models of infrastructure. "The United States already exports far more to Asia than to the mature markets of Europe", says John Naisbitt. Many Asians are making deprivation a motivating force in their psychological and ethical makeup. Asian peoples are products of their religious thought, which values family over all else. There is a revival of religion in every Asian society. Even the West is catching the fever: Yoga, Zen, Vipasana, Transcendental meditation, Taoist meditation, etc. (Even a few years ago, social thinkers were very sure that religiosity and attachment to traditions were signs of an immobile antiquated society. Today it is impossible to hold such a view). "How rich the World will be when both the cultures and the economies of West and East converge", asks John Naisbitt.
While the task of Evangelisation is more challenging than ever before in Asia today, there are many signs of hope. 1. Every religion on the Asian continent is going through a period of revival. While Islamic fervour runs high in West Asia and some of the Soviet republics, and, Buddhists are rebuilding pagodas in Cambodia and Mongolia, Hindu pilgrim centres are being crowded. In Thailand temple finances are sky-rocketing. Among Christians too there is an evident revival of interest in religion as an experience. Crowds gather around Charismatic preachers, as though to show that a de-mythologised and a rationalistic type of religion proposed to them in modern times does not satisfy their religious needs. There is a hunger for God's Word and an eagerness to evangelise. 2. Countries with a strong socialistic association like Vietnam and China have witnessed the limitations of physical power, and seem to be greatly open to spiritual power and genuine religious influence. Persons who have gone through troubled times and traumatic experiences and have asked themselves ultimate questions about life are amazed to find fellow human beings who manifest inner confidence and a sense of destiny because of their rootedness in faith. Such powerful witness has a great convincing power. 3. Religious groups and Christian organisations that had been pursuing radical social goals during the last few decades, have begun rethinking their philosophy of action, partly due to the collapse of societies that had been radically restructured, and partly due to their own non-achievement despite their high hopes. Their very failure to achieve anything glamorously significant, and the emergence of the frustrated individuals and contending groups have occasioned a rethinking of their goals. Many religious communities have experientially realised that radical social goals alone do not adequately inspire and motivate their members in any permanent fashion or help them to cohere. And if, building on the spiritual strength of an earlier generation that had a firm religious formation, they could go ahead for some period of time, they run out of that reserve strength in due course. This awareness has led groups and religious movements to the central goals of Evangelisation. Some, though, are still in search, not knowing what ails them. 4. Asian people being extremely religious, it has been found that even social goals are better served with religious motivation. Even the best philosophy of economic growth and social development will not have half the force of religious inspiration among Asian people. If in the past Christian workers have ignored this fact, they have before them an untapped potential. 5. Asian societies have by and large preserved several values that the modern secularised society has seriously questioned or outright rejected. Family loyalty is still important to the Asian. Cohesion within his community is precious to him. Sex is something sacred. The marriage bond has certain inner strength and stability. The Asian has still preserved the sense of the sacred; the consciousness of sin; he yet has an awareness of the binding force of moral norms, of the mystery of life, of the transcendent nature of human destiny; he recognises the Ultimate. 6. We spoke of the revival of religions on the Asian continent. There is also an openness to persons who symbolise service, or stand for values, or offer a prophetic message. While there is resistance to anything that is sectarian and dogmatic, there is respectful attention to anyone who transcends various human differences and speaks as a human being to fellow-human-beings on problems of perennial human interest. Pope John Paul II has given us an example of this form of ministry. Any sharing about the Divine of an experiential nature wins attention and regard. Generosity and authenticity in a person are the strongest arguments in favour of what he stands for. Conclusion I will end this paper with a brief personal reflection. In the recent past, the presentation of the Christian message inclined to be intellectual, theoretical, doctrinal, historical. Without denying the value of this method in the least, we may observe that the approach to the Asian mind in the field of religion should probably be different: personal, experiential, symbolic, poetic. At present even some Asian Christian thinkers who are most eager to be assertive of their Asianness unconsciously follow another path. They are too argumentative and occasionally contentious. That is not the Asian way. The person of Christ is highly regarded in Asia. Anyone who shares his/her lived experience of his/her faith wins a hearing. Symbols convey a message not merely to the mind of a person, but to his psyche... in fact, to the whole person. Modern culture with its worship of precise sciences has nearly banished symbols from the average man's cognitive processes. The commercial and the technological mind considers the use of traditional symbols archaic and outmoded. Myth and mystery have given place to the computer and the calculator. This may have its practical advantages. But the consequence is that the mystery of religious realities has no place in the modern man's psyche. Every effort to evangelise through verbal formulation is bound to meet with partial success only, because mystery cannot be fully captured in precise vocabulary. On the contrary, symbols both reveal the Truth, and leave you with a sense of wonder at the inexhaustible hidden dimensions of the same Reality. They grip you and commit you to the greatest causes. Symbolism is the language of the inner man, in which insight and intuition play the greater part. And faith is not far from thence, in these areas of human life and activity, the scholar has no advantage over the average person. And excessive logic and rationality may merely act as a drag. Christians of an earlier era were assisted by sacred art, religious music, seasonal celebrations, feasts and fasts and change of colours. Along with various forms of demythologisation has come in recent years, a dull, drab, colourless, prosaic view of life and of human realities, leaving no space for a sense of mystery, admiration and wonder. In an effort to satisfy the consequent hunger, with none to help him, the human person swings either in one direction to various forms of 'FUNDAMENTALISM', or on the other to some sort of esoteric spiritual experiences. The Asian psyche that is resistant to cold logic and arguments about historicity, is open to symbols, figures, signs, persons, experiences. When 'inculturation' will not be merely a theologian's exercise, but a community's manner of expressing its faith in stirring symbols, a new phase of Evangelisation will begin in Asia. It is enough to see how people crowd to sacred places, shrines, rivers, mountains, healers, and holy men. Prophetic personalities are like 'LIVED PARABLES' for Asians. One may think of a Mahatma Gandhi or a Mother Teresa. Asians understand the value of fasts, austerity of life, renunciation, service. But all these should not merely be things accomplished, but symbols of and pointers to spiritual realities. We should not rejoice solely in the number of children we educate, or sick persons we heal in our missionary institutions. We cannot be fully satisfied with the enormous amount of social work done or social goals achieved by our missionary personnel, or even with the increasing number of priests and religious we form to take up the missionary tasks that lie ahead. Can all these visible achievements be made 'SYMBOLS' of Transcendent Realties, and reminders of Abiding Truths? Can they be made to speak of, teach, describe and point to something beyond what is 'visible', to higher things than those that can be counted and measured and calculated? A praying community, for example, would be a pointer to the Eternal. The future of Evangelisation will depend greatly on this undefinable qu ality of all our life and work. Gordon Bowles ends his book 'The People of Asia' with these few lines: "Every continent, and doubtless, every ethnic group has added a part, no matter how small, to the accumulated store of human knowledge and experience. Possibly the people of Asia have even contributed the lion's share. While it might be said that Asia lost the lead with the commencement of the Renaissance, the age of discovery and later the Industrial Revolution, the people of that continent have already begun to meet the challenge of the modern world. There is no way of predicting in what directions and to what lengths their creative ingenuity may carry them, particularly if they heed the admonitions of many of the teachers and sages of Asia's great civilisations. Many times in the past the people of Asia have taken the leadership. There are signs that they could do so again in the future". A great future awaits on the continent of Asia, where the pursuit of Truth is the highest human ideal, for conveying the message of the One who said, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life".
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