The West from East

It is not easy to define what the "West" is, yet for those from "East", this looks like an important need. Depending on our geographical position the west is a relative term of course, yet culturally-politically there are few cultural entities with so clear and stable character as the West is.
I think the very first heartbeats of the western man started with Paulus rising from the dust of the road to Damascus. There is no West without Christianism, and the duality, respectively the intrinsic tensions between moral values and worldly interests are typical for both. Whatever the West did and does, from bloody colonisation to greedy capitalism, must be hidden behind the noble missionary purposes of spreading the faith of Love or the values of democracy. With good right, the easterners are reproaching the West its double standards, on the other hand, ve have to recognise that in Western Europe and North America, the homeland of the West, the interests and values are harmonising quite well.

 In eastern Europe, where the aspirations for prosperity and welfare was and is running high, without the acceptance of the other values, there are clear signs of disappointment with the West. This is because not the East, nor the West did learn enough about the essence of the other, both parties resuming their superficial interests only on the proceeds of the practical life.

Original: Kató Zoltán: Nyugat Keletről (extract)