We are all different but we are also united by deep bonds. In knowing and shaping nearness and distance, proximity and interconnections, we are engaging in that art of living together, which is the twin offspring of political realism and hope. It is realism set against a pluralist world. And the hope that the madding crowd will not return to haunt us. It’s the realisation of a civilisation made up of many civilisations or of many cultural, religious and political universes, without selling out and without fear of ‘the other’. An awareness of how necessary it is to know how to live together is the beginning of a shared culture.