SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic—When the curtain opened for Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Eduardo Brito National Theater, Pelegrin Castillo felt it carried “a very necessary message for this world so besieged by totalitarianisms of different signs.”
“But to have the experience of seeing such an exquisite presentation, so well achieved of that great diversity and of that humanism with a transcendent sense for me is a reason of great satisfaction.”He noted how important it is to keep traditional culture. “Very important because art, culture, is the highest expression of the soul of the people, and it has a lot to do with the identity of a nation.”
Mr. Castillo said that, even with changes, it’s important to keep continuity and look to the past. “China gives an example to the world precisely through the preservation of identity: not forgetting the ancestors, their experiences, their life experiences, and integrating them to the present in order to project a better future.”
“The world is in urgent need of the search for truth. In the motto of the Dominican flag, the message of the Gospel of John stands out: ‘And you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.’”
“That is to say that Dominicans have a mandate to seek the truth. When we see these types of expressions, we see the points of union. We see that in all of humanity there is a search for that truth, for that benevolence, for that spirit of justice and, most importantly, all of that leads to a great transformation.”
He sees the need to transform ourselves. “The world needs a great spiritual transformation—what could be called a ‘new axial age’—that will bring about the rebirth of that spirit, that sense of a humanity that recognizes itself as part of the great Being, of the existence of God: for Him, and by Him, and in Him.”
