UN General Assembly
1951

56. In this, it is up to the Occident to go more than halfway. In bringing to the Asian continent its own modem civilization, it has so far been hardly aware of the latter’s ancient cultures. Yet it may be that in them is hidden that spiritual strength which alone can ennoble and purify technological progress and save man from becoming the slave of matter. Much as the Orient can benefit from Western science, the Occident can enrich its spiritual treasury by drawing upon the wisdom of the East. It is a challenging enterprise for the United Nations to promote and enlarge the contacts between the two worlds on a cultural and social plane aimed at the growth of confidence, mutual study, co-operation and a deepening sense of their indispensability to one another.