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On my first trip to China in 2008, I was quite surprised at what I experienced. Of course there is much to see in a new culture. Many things seem exotic and strange: the architecture, the food ... the customs and language.
But I was surprised because what I saw was deeply familiar. It was in the soul of every person I met. Young or old, businessman or artist, male or female, the impression was the same. Usually, I saw it in an instant.
While I am often known in China as the "son of the God of Stocks, Warren Buffett," my life in the United States has been spent making my own way in music composition. That path of my own choosing, without my father's wealth to pave the way, led to a book that has sold well in China called Be Yourself.
It was my musical background that gave me a profound insight. Through my musical career, I became very close to the American Indian culture. I heard many stories about the tragedies that befell them as America became a country, but I also learned a deeper story of how they viewed themselves and the world around them. They have always had a relationship to the natural world that is very different from the Europeans who took their lands. To many Europeans, America was a commercial enterprise to be exploited. To the Native Americans, the land was something to be honored and nurtured for future generations.
My trips to China have had a different intention from visits by most Americans. I have no business agenda. Yes, I am happy that my book is selling, but my purpose is not to make money, it's to open hearts and minds. So when I arrived in China - with no "deal" to make - I saw a different China. There was poetry in the language, a profound sensitivity to surroundings as shown through feng shui and other practices, a welcoming curiosity and a giving spirit. Qualities that were sometimes too ethereal to describe but too clear to ignore.
It makes perfect sense, of course. Chinese people have been living on the land they inhabit now for thousands and thousands of years. There are deep roots that hold powerful knowledge. People I met in China seemed to carry the spirit of their ancestors in a very real way - as the American Indian does.
So in this Year of the Horse - an animal that has deep spiritual connections to Chinese and the American Indian - there is a great opportunity to honor these shared historic roots and bring their power into the future.
But China must combine history with imagination. This is how the Chinese Dream will influence not just the Chinese, but also all of humanity.
A dream lives in the world of imagination, a place where everything is possible. My American Indian friends know that balance and harmony in all relations is the real key to prosperity - not just in this lifetime, but also for future generations. My Chinese friends know this as well. But Western influences have made the imagination cloudy.
In all the major religions in the West, idolatry is strongly condemned. But it appears that the pursuit of money, wealth and power has become idolized. Man has become inhumane to his fellow man in pursuit of material things. And the result is crushing poverty for many while a few create wealth beyond comprehension. It is now known that 85 people have as much wealth as the poorest 3.5 billion.
As I look at all the Western advertising and products from the moment I get off the airplane in Beijing, and all of the car rides through city after city, one chapter of Chinese history that resonates with me is the Opium Wars.
What I see is a need to infect the East with the same addiction that has a hold on the West: Consumerism. Like opium, the addiction to "stuff" has driven American culture into an anesthetized world of "newest," "best," "most expensive" and "rare" and has cheapened or destroyed our quality of life. Our education system, our food system, our healthcare and more. The spirit of average people has been destroyed in the rush to buy more - and get deeper in debt. The American Dream is impossible to obtain for most Americans.
I'm afraid that this story is starting to sound familiar to my Chinese friends.
The only way to create a different world - a world where more people are allowed to live fulfilled and joyful lives - is to imagine it. And I believe only China has the power to do that. It is the largest tribe in the world.
I hope to see the Chinese embrace their indigenous roots: to dig deep and find the beautiful gems that are in the teachings of great leaders and common elders, in the wisdom of the farmers and in the joy of the children.
There is no need to believe that anyone has a better answer to how we move into the future than the Chinese themselves. But it must be dreamed into existence.
Lao Tzu said, "When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be." Letting go into the world of dreaming requires trust. I believe it is the time for China to trust itself. To reach across lines of old wounds and sorrow and begin to trust that together, the Chinese people can build a future the world has never seen, but desperately needs - a future that puts life before money, joy before objects. It is time to redefine what the words "excellence" and "success" and "rich" - and "enough" - mean. There is no need to climb over someone to get to the top ... it's time to stand side by side and realize that there can be enough for everyone.
It's possible. You just have to believe it.
Contact the writer at features@chinadaily.com.cn.
(China Daily 04/29/2014 page20)
