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"Culture is the whole complex of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features that characterizes a society or a group. It includes creative expressions, community practices and material or built forms." —from // Our Creative Diversity: The UN World Commission on Culture and Development Report // ​ ​ “Culture is the way in which a group of people solve problems and reconcile dilemmas (Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner, 1998, p.6).” Through time, issues that are solved, become part of the implicit knowledge of a group. They become part of a shared meaning that creates basic assumptions that the group depends upon to make meaning of its world. These filters of our culture are the lenses through which we see others and through which others see us.

// When we engage someone from a cultural background different than our own, we are no longer in a one to one exchange. Present are the generations from each culture that have created an invisible lens through which our perceptions and expectations have been formed (Bacon & Spear, 2003). These filters operate automatically and so it is important to develop a common language to create understanding between cultures. With a common language, we can better understand how our worldview and that of others may differ. //