Khaberni - Culture is not merely an intellectual luxury or an ornament that nations use to enhance their image before the world, but it is the foundation upon which human consciousness is built and through which the features of a society are shaped and the contours of its future are drawn. When we ask how culture seeks to build more advanced societies, we realize that culture does not operate in a vacuum; rather, it acts as a soft power that reshapes minds, refines behavior, deepens values, and drives the wheel of change from within before it goes outward.
Culture endows individuals with awareness of themselves and their world, making them genuine partners in the upliftment of their society, not merely followers of commands or imitators of customs, but contributors with their thoughts and will. Culture teaches individuals how to differ without clashing and how to dialogue without compromising their identity. Through culture, values of freedom, justice, and respect are planted and bridges of trust are built between societal components, transforming diversity from a source of conflict into a source of enrichment.
Perhaps the gravest threat faced by societies aspiring to progress is not merely ignorance but compounded ignorance; when one thinks they know, while they are drowning in inherited illusions. Here lies the role of culture in dismantling these rigid mental structures and liberating minds from the molds of repetition and imitation, to open the doors to creativity and innovation.
The role of culture does not stop at building individual awareness; it extends to building the economy and politics through enhancing cultural industries, supporting the arts, encouraging constructive criticism, and raising the ceiling of intellectual freedoms. The more culture thrives, the greater the citizens' awareness becomes, and the higher the level of participation rises, the more rapid the progress.
Nations that invest in culture, and grant it a central position in public policies, do not only build libraries, theaters, or art galleries, but they build the human itself: his thinking, his feelings, his behavior, and his will. And when the human is rectified, the society is rectified, and the desired progress is achieved.
