The Orient: Myth and Reality

If we try to grasp the Orient, it trickles through our fingers like desert sand. What is the Orient? It is best described as the contrast of opposites: the Orient is what the Occident is not. Once again let’s cite the differences: technology, religion, individualism, and so on.

The Occident’s victory lies, of course, in the superiority of its technology and industrialization, its conquered world markets safeguarded by highly sophisticated weaponry and political domination-—and the by-product, its triumphant culture. In regard to technological developments, centuries ago the East lapsed into a deep sleep.

Referring to this dichotomy, L. S. Senghor [the poet and political leader of Senegal] whom I esteem and val...