We can learn to know ourselves and others by immersion in the ocean of language and dialogue fed by the springs of cultural tradition

Only within the open space created by dialogue, whether conducted with our neighbors, with history, with nature or the cosmos, can human wholeness be sustained. We are not born human in any but a biological sense; we can only learn to know ourselves and others and thus be trained in the ways of being human. We do this by immersion in the ocean of language and dialogue fed by the springs of cultural tradition.

Wisdom for Modern Life by Daisaku Ikeda 22/5