Dialogue develops, between people or groups who make up a great social body, because something – in that great body – feels either pain or joy. From this point of view a society really does function like a biological body. There are, in fact, two situations in which one is most aware of one’s body: pleasure and pain. In the same way, people seek dialogue either for pleasure or out of painful necessity. The pleasant aspect is related to encountering the other as the bearer of a difference that piques our curiosity – that attracts us. Because we nourish our body and our mind with differences, our culture is nurtured by differences. This is evident starting from the first difference that concerns us as humans – the fact, that is, of being born a man or a woman. And this difference, as we know, gives birth to life, to our world. Human beings have then been able to create an incredible kaleidoscope of cultures, defined in terms of language, modes of thought, social structures, ways of nourishing themselves and producing, ways of dressing and depicting beauty, ways of creating family relationships, ways of courting and loving, ways of representing the divine, types of dwellings, ways of taking care of the body and the soul, ways of dancing, moving, playing, etc.