I have always opposed the idea of dividing the world into the Orient and the Occident. It is, however, the tremendous industrial growth that has made the West what it is. I think the difference, say, between India and Europe in the 12th or 13th century would not have been very great. Differences have been intensified by this process of industrialization which has promoted material well-being tremendously and which is destroying the life of the mind, which is in a process of deterioration, chiefly because the environment that has been created by it does not give time or opportunity to individuals to think. If the life of the mind is not encouraged, then inevitably civilization collapses. The words “the Orient and the Occident” mean

I have always opposed the idea of dividing the world into the Orient and the Occident. It is, however, the tremendous industrial growth that has made the West what it is. I think the difference, say, between India and Europe in the 12th or 13th century would not have been very great. Differences have been intensified by this process of industrialization which has promoted material well-being tremendously and which is destroying the life of the mind, which is in a process of deterioration, chiefly because the environment that has been created by it does not give time or opportunity to individuals to think. If the life of the mind is not encouraged, then inevitably civilization collapses. The words “the Orient and the Occident” mean