afriend and a research doctor raised a query related to the phenomenon of supremacy of the people of south east asia and japan in many fields — industrial, agricultural and commercial — in spite of their low level in the world of literature, culture, art and other fields which are considered rare compared to west europeans. the friend noted the weakness of those peoples also in the fields of geographical discoveries, research and humanities, and said the reason may be due to the fact that these peoples imitate others and they themselves are not innovative. the industries can be imitated, but not culture and art. this view is sound and explains the situation but does not explain the reasons for limitations in the areas of mental creativity. historically, japan’s economic and industrial development began, for example in 1868, but the elements of its traditional culture could not cope with the huge global modern changes that reached its climax during the past two centuries, and therefore could not compete or even imitate the european culture and literary works. the fear that foreign culture would affect japan’s culture forced tokyo to stay put instead of going global, for example when it comes to industries. the religious beliefs contributed to japan’s cultural weakness, despite the emergence of several reformist movements that called for the renewal of the confucian thought of the deification of the emperor, and the subordination of the individual to the society, in addition to the depth of shintoism and buddhism in the psychology of those countries. these calls failed due to lack of important elements, and to the tendency of these countries to retain the place of power and society in the minds of individuals, rather than urging them to take the lead. shintoism is the traditional religion of japan that focuses on diligent rituals to establish a connection between the present-day japan and its ancient past. this is one of the reasons why we do not find world renowned japanese plays, or chinese symphonies or korean novels. they have also not made any geographical discoveries, not due to their colonialist tendencies, but for other unmentioned reasons. the age of enlightenment in europe, led by france, began in the eighteenth century which helped a human being come out of mental limitations and enter the stage of maturity and the discontinuation of subordination to those who appointed themselves as custodians of the minds. therefore the human mindset started as a result of the virtue of doubt in everything. the doubt in its positive meaning is the desire to find an explanation of the phenomena and identify the underlying causes; and this requires boldness, revolution of many concepts, and disobedience to the clergymen. it was not surprising that the most important philosophers and thinkers of the days of enlightenment, such as jeanjacques rousseau, david hume and voltaire, were among those who were most hostile to the church. it was this suspicion, or the call to disobey the church, made the western individuals have more faith in reason, the advent of the experimental model of science, the emergence of the newton era and the rest of the great scientists. the situation with the asian industrial giants was different. they did not undergo the industrial revolution or the phase of enlightenment, never questioned their beliefs, never had a conflict with the religious establishment, and co-existed with the old doctrine without trying to find an alternative, due to this harmony, and lack of doubt in the doctrine, unlike the communist china. the spirit of creativity in asia has subsided. doubt which is based on the desire to know is the factor behind the renaissance of the west, which opened the door to various discoveries and scientific knowledge, and without doubt they would not have discovered for example the truth of spherical earth, which led to discover lands and new continents. the nile has been running in sudan and egypt for hundreds of thousands of years, but no one has asked from where it originates until an adventurer of the size of englishman john hanning speke in 1858 traced its origin and discovered the lake called ‘victoria’, and this is what happened with the desert of the empty quarter and the pyramids, and the monuments of failaka. e-mail:
