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Our eyes looking out to sea and our hair streaming in the wind
We shall sail henceforth for the Sea of Darkness Cheerful and lighthearted as a young traveller.
We were departing for China with our hair streaming in the wind, and here is the Sea of Darkness. The worldwide ecological environment is in mortal danger in soil and sea, forests and atmosphere. The Third World is facing insoluble indebtedness, suburban youth is threatened with mass dereliction, our uncontrolled agricultural surpluses are unable to cope with hundreds of millions of famine-stricken people. Such is the Sea of Darkness before us. Some people, in Baudelaire's own words, may nevertheless be sailing for Darkness of Chaos with the light heart of a young traveller, fascinated by the achievements of computers, space technologies, high-tech communications and the like. I have met such people and they do exist, in China itself as well as in the West. But others are more careful, more demanding, more realistic in the long run, and not only among French intellectuals.
Long ago, the French Catholic radical thinker Pascal was, just like so many of us, fascinated by the unique position of China in world history. He wrote in his sundry notes, his Pensées:
Historie de Chine quoi éclaircir
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Il y a de quoi aveugler et de
Mais la Chine obscurcit, dites-vous. Et je réponds: la Chine obscurcit mais il y a clarté à trouver. Cherchez-la
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There is in China enough to blind us and enough to illuminate us.
But China makes things obscure, wouldn't you say! And I reply: China makes things obscure, but there is light to be found. Seek it out!
Yes, there is light beyond the Sea of Darkness. I thank you.