今日世界已不斷縮小成為一個地球村，各種不同的文化、精神傳統五方雜處，接觸頻繁。正如孔漢思所指出的，我們今日要面對的是一個「典範轉移」的大時代。大家要和平相處，就必須建構一個低限度的「全球倫理」，促成全球意識的覺醒，將各傳統本有的「金律」－不殺、不盜、不誑、不淫的禁令給予創造性的詮釋以適用於當前的情況。在全球化趨勢不可抵擋的同時，世界各地也有強烈的本土化趨勢。文中指出這兩種趨勢不必一定互相矛盾衝突。但有好的全球化與本土化，也有壞的全球化與本土化，我們必須作出智慧的抉擇，而這也有助於我們找到正確的態度來看待海峽兩岸的情勢。

Today the world has turned into a global village in which different spiritual traditions interact with one another in our daily lives. As Hans Kung has pointed out, this is an age of "paradigm shift" for the awakening of a global consciousness. In order to live together peacefully, there is an urgent need to construct a minimalist global ethic, which comprises the Global Rule, the injunctions such as "do not kill, steal, tell lies, commit adultery", that can be found in all the traditions, gives them creative interpretation that they can apply to the present situation. We also find an indigenous movement side by side with the globalization movement. The two tendencies need not be in conflict with each other. But each could move toward a healthy or a disastrous direction. Such would depend on our wisdom to choose the right course for the future. Insights learned from such reflections would also help us to face the problems between the two sides of the Taiwan strait.