Thinking Global Co-becoming: An Open Invitation

“Thinking Global Co-Becoming: An Open Invitation” is a text that emerged from discussions held from 2024 to 2026 by intellectuals working in Taiwan, Beijing, Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, Chicago, and beyond. They are a group of scholars who work with- and publicly teach- ideas and narratives from East Asia’s classical and modern humanist traditions. Motivated by a sense of deep concern, and indeed outrage, over the violent state of our world, this group of scholars began talking about what it would actually take for people within this world to not just co-exist among one another, but co-become (gongsheng 共生), that is, to give full play to the vitality and diversity of all life forms (sheng) in a globally shared commons (gong), allowing the myriad of things to flourish each according to their own beautiful, dazzling, particular lines of flight. The following document invites scholars, artists, policy-makers, and citizens from countries all over the world to think about what a transnational, transcultural project of gongsheng could mean for the 21st century. The document is written in a firm belief that at this moment of poly-crisis, a profound and drastic ontological reset is required of the world. If we are to have any hope of forging a future of care over violence, provision over profit, we must first recognize the awesomely relational and correlative nature of our existence on earth.