By Minghua Hsiao/ Founder of Freedom Crossing Institute

Freedom Crossing Institute (自由書院) was founded to bridge different cultures, religions, and civilizations. "Crossing" refers to the intersecting, encountering, and gathering of people while at the same time transcending all types of boundaries among inner thoughts, outer social ideas, and most impossible of all, the boundary between life and death.

In the Christian sense, Freedom Crossing refers to eternal love (agape) and to remember the Way of the Cross in which Jesus asked his disciples to deny themselves and take up their cross to follow him. In the Buddhist sense, it is to cross the ocean of suffering to reach the other shore of Nirvana (para-sam-gate). In the Daoist sense, it is crossing the physical form of human life and allowing the transformation (Hua) among human beings and all other natural beings. In Confucianism, it is crossing beyond self to be kind and warmhearted to all humanity (Ren). In Judaism, it is crossing (Ivrim) the Red Sea from slavery to a Promised Land of freedom. In the sense of Islam, it is the bridge of Sirat, thinner than a hair and sharper than a sword, that each person must pass to enter paradise.

In the secular sense, Freedom Crossing is a bridge between two contradictory sides to reach an open dialogue in love. It can also refer to a public square to host open forums. It is present progressive: a free action that is happening Now. In the social sense, it is a human community where all people practice Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. It is the first and ultimate dream of the United States. In the sense of global society, it is the Golden Rule present in all historical civilizations and upon which the United Nations was built: to love your neighbors as yourself.

The goal of Freedom Crossing Institute is to promote a global ethical dialogue for all different types of freedom by bringing together people, art, and ideas. The pandemic era of 2020 reminds us how fragile human lives can be and how easily a society can lose its function. Social trust and solidarity quickly break down as people project their fear onto others. Consistent prejudice is later formalized as violence and discrimination in the social structure. The American ideals of freedom are getting more divided than ever, and the way we treat others who are foreign to ‘us’ is often to maintain ignorance. In the American multi-cultural community, no single person or group has perfect knowledge of all things, and for this reason we believe that Dialogue is key to preparing us for the challenge of post-pandemic life and to reach our full humanity.

FCI aims to trace the thread of common humanity across different civilizations by giving voice to its expression in art, stories, and philosophies. FCI’s specific aims are to 1) preserve and teach classical texts and manuscripts as living documents for contemporary society, 2) build an open forum for storytelling, especially of stories that are unfamiliar, hidden, or forgotten, and 3) dedicate a sanctuary for free expression of authentic stories and true human connection.