Mirrors and Windows

Abstract

On BoundariesFmntiets are an invention of the mind. We set boundaries for ourselvesand others by what we choose to see as reality and by what wechoose to value. But men and women are social creatures, and individualbehavior is subjected to the control of widely shared social values. Theseboundaries that define the limits of acceptable behavior also tend toreflect and reinforce limits on acceptable thinking.How are such social values developed? How do they change overtime? The intelligentsiaartists and intellectuals-create mirrors throughwhich we see outselves and windows through which we perceive reality.It is these mims and windows that define the boundaries of the mind.The intelligentsia's roleboth as makets of a cultual outlook and productof the milieu-is central to my view of what is happening in the worldgenerally and in the Muslim societies of the Middle East particularly.These important questions will appear throughout this essay like a leitmotif.The intelligentsia needs a space offreedom in which it can performits dual tole and shape the boundaries by which we define ourselves.Are such boundaries important? They cettainly are. Shared values reflectedin predictable behavior not only are the basis of all social organizationbut are at the core of "cultural identity"a hackneyed expressionthat nevertheless remains essential to anyone who lives in a group.' Yetindividuals within a group are not clones, interchangeable units within acollectivity. Each petson interacts with others in an expanding series ofcircles starting with high intensity vis-his the immediate family circleand with decreasing intensity to the limit of the group(s) with which theindividual identifies ...