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Yesterday, Now, or Later? 247

denominations. Dr. Pradhan became a regular churchgoer in both, and he
established his contacts with the local population predominantly through
the congregations. He was often invited to people’s homes for coffee after
church, and the topic, usually, was religion. He used to explain that his
parents respected Hindu rituals but that he stopped doing this, because it
would take him too much time. His Dutch hosts always wanted to know
what he believed—an exotic question to which he did not have a direct
answer. “Everybody over here talks about believing, believing, believing,”
he said, bewildered. “Where I come from, what counts is the ritual, in
which only the priest and the head of the family participate. The others
watch and make their offerings. Over here so much is mandatory. Hindus
will never ask, ‘Do you believe in God?’ Of course one should believe, but
the important thing is what one does.” 25
The Chinese Value Survey research revealed an important difference
between Eastern and Western thinking. The CVS questionnaire, designed
by Eastern minds, did not detect the uncertainty avoidance dimension. The
IBM and Rokeach Value Survey questionnaires, both designed by Western
minds, did not detect long- versus short-term orientation. The other three
dimensions deal with basic human relationships that were recognized by
the questionnaire designers both in the East and in the West.
Uncertainty avoidance was described in Chapter 6. It deals ultimately
with a society’s search for Truth. Uncertainty-avoiding cultures foster a
belief in an absolute Truth, and uncertainty-accepting cultures take a more
relativistic stance. In Western thinking this is an important choice, refl ected
in key values. In Eastern thinking the question of Truth is less relevant.
Long- versus short-term orientation can be interpreted as dealing with
a society’s search for Virtue. It is no accident that this dimension relates to
the teachings of Confucius. As mentioned earlier in this chapter, Confucius

was a teacher of practical ethics without a religious content. He dealt with
Virtue but left the question of Truth open. In Eastern thinking the search
for Virtue is key. In Western thinking Virtue is secondary to Truth.
The 1990–93 WVS asked respondents to choose between two
statements:

1. There are absolutely clear guidelines about what is good and evil.
These always apply to everyone, whatever the circumstances.
2. There can never be absolutely clear guidelines about what is good and
evil. What is good and evil depends entirely upon the circumstances
at the time.