Invisible Bars
\r\nIt is difficult, in these times of global communication and culture, of speed, sometimes of haste and collective emotionalism to take the time to reconcile ourselves with the slow, dense time of critical reason, of knowledge, understanding, and complexity. Day-to-day mingling and personal involvement is what awakens minds, brings awareness, and spurs the desire to go further, to understand better, and to carry out a dialogue. This is why we must really live and work together on shared projects.
\r\nOver and beyond all the theories that could be devised, it is important to ask everyone: how many women and men from outside your "own circle," your "own culture," or your "own universe of reference" have you met during the past month? With how many of them have you exchanged views, debated, or even worked at a common social, cultural, or political project? How many women and men have you met in the past month, or two or six months, with whom you have experienced cultural, religious, and social diversity, been positively questioned, and been compelled to reconsider your way of thinking, your certainties, and your habits as well as some of your prejudgments and prejudices? It is easy to think of oneself as "open" in a universe peopled with always the same citizens and friends, and where openness is thought rather than actually experienced. Mental ghettos are not mirages; they actually exist in palpable reality: being "open" inside one's mental or intellectual ghetto does not open its door but simply allows one to harbour the illusion that there is no ghetto and no door. The most dangerous prisons are those with invisible bars.
\r\nCompiled From:
\r\n \"What I Believe\" - Tariq Ramadan, pp. 114, 115