Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Arnold Toynbee

Via Unfettered Mind:
When historians look back at the 20th century, they won't have much interest in things like communism or capitalism: those will be ripples in the great historical picture. What will really be significant is the impact of Buddhism as it enters the West
—ARNOLD TOYNBEE, historian (1889-1975)
Don't know if he is any good, but this sounds like a smart statement. Communism has been knocked out already for a while, now capitalism is bringing itself down as well. We will see what remains after the current crisis. In both cases corruption fuled by reckless greed has brought the systems out of balance.

Talking of balance and the West, the other significant development of the 20th century, science and technology, has been transforming the East in return.