They say that Hui-neng, also known as the Sixth Patriarch, gave people who wished to avoid making mistakes the following advice: when asked about a saint, speak about him as an ordinary man; whan asked about an ordinary man, speak about him as a saint.

Therefore, tonight I shall speak about the journal because of which we are all gathered here as about something quite ordinary.

As such, that is, as quite ordinary, the Belgrade Circle Journal is one of a series of phenomena which demonstrate that we can simultaneously inhabit different times.

The time in which we are mostly immersed, here and now, is the time into which we have been driven by national patriots.

That is the time of the Premodern. This is to say, the time of destructive chaos based on the morality of biology, with elements of necrophilia as a local specificity.

On the other hand, the time of which we become part through this journal is the time of the Postmodern. And that is the time of creative chaos. The time of unity. But not of uniform unity, but of unity established through inclusion and symbiosis of differences.

Of course, there is a huge gap between these two times. The whole Modern. However, it is precisely this journal, as an oasis of the Postmodern, along with other phenomena, which can help us to start bridging that gap, to reach the Modern.

The Modern, therefore, includes the following:

- development of science which will be professional, and not a servant of the so-called national interest;

- development of spirituality which will be ruled by eternity, not by state borders;

- development of ethics which will be based on universal values, not on the idealisation of war crimes.

The time into which we are immersed is, naturally, opposed to such development, and the Belgrade Circle Journal will be denounced by all those who are preoccupied with this time. They can be both friends and foes.

The journal should, therefore, be somehow protected. Because it is in the position of Nunez, the only man - as Wells writes - who could see in the Land of the Blind.

Because he made too much trouble, Nunez was blinded by decision of the council of elders.

That is why it is necessary to spend more time in other times.

In order to preserve the views offered by this journal.

[ In the "Bus Café", Belgrade, 20. March 1995. ]

Webmaster: Slobodan Markovic (twiddle@eunet.yu)

All rights reserved. Belgrade Circle Journal encourages the reproduction of material appearing on its pages, provided that the source and the author are cited, except in cases where this would constitute violation of copyright held by other organisations or individuals.