The Secrets of Culture is a very personal insight into the life and work of the author, IGCAT expert D. Paul Schafer, as he shares his quest to look for and “unlock all of culture’s secrets and ensure that culture plays a central (rather than marginal) role in the world.” A must read for anyone concerned with current economic models of governance, people who care about what is happening to our planet and those that want arguments to advocate for arts and culture.
This book follows the line of thinking from his previous books which together underline the authors’ belief that we need to move from the present economic age and into a new cultural age for the survival of our planet and the well-being of the citizens that live on it. He shares the concerns of many that see production and consumption exhausting our planet and forcing an unequal distribution of wealth.
He also realised early in his life that the “arts epitomize culture and provide a gateway to the cultural world and understanding of culture.” His approach is much more holistic, recognising that culture and cultures are made up of many factors. He envisages a world where ‘development’ would no longer be understood only in economic terms but from a cultural perspective – including knowledge, beliefs, morals, law, customs and in fact ways of life. He understands that happiness can be sought through intellect and imagination and therefore his book advocates bringing the arts back into educational life, arguing “What education in the arts does for the development of the senses, physical fitness does for the development of the body.”
Thank you to D. Paul Schafer, who I admire and appreciate, for making the arguments that we urgently need to move to a more cultural and human approach with the potential for “cooperation, collaboration and exchanges among diverse people and countries in the world.” I hope, I live to see the cultural age fully realised.
A review by Diane Dodd (PhD)
25 May 2015
