Fusion and Confusion

When people of two different cultures attempt to communicate with each other, they often encounter difficulties. There are several factors that serve to frustrate the efforts of these two different people to converse with each other. One of these impediments is the fusing together of two concepts in the mind of one of the participants in the conversation.

For the sake of illustration let us take the concepts of success and happiness. In the mind of the Western world the concept of success is fused together with the concepts of fame and wealth and happiness is intimately associated with instant gratification. If a person who is inculcated with the mentality of the modern Western civilization attempts to talk about happiness and success with a person from another culture that does not share in these artificial associations, there is bound to be some misunderstanding between them. Whenever the…