It is very hard for the individual to feel heard or empowered on the global level, probably even the national level, yet I think you have hit on something important here, Lee. When we blindly follow tradition of fashion to fit in, culture may be divisive. Yet participating in the culture of a community in ways that allow us to care for our fellow humans, participate in and contribute to our larger community, empower us and allow us to feel that we are able to shape our environment in ways that unify and beautify - all of this is available to us through our respective cultures - the means of our immediate society to express itself collectively and allow our expressions to contribute to that. Even this group has a culture to it in the ways we treat each other, listen to each other, express ourselves, form an overall collective expression of the group. When the culture allows the most freedom of expression to the individual to develop the maximum beauty and effectiveness of expression for the collective, the group culture can be a peak experience for the participants.
On Mar 8, 7:38 am, Lee <[email protected]> wrote: > It's a hard one alright. > > I belive that culture is ultimatly divisive, yet we are all cuaght up > in it. It defines us, perhaps then we should be striveing for the > global culture? > > On 7 Mar, 09:57, iam deheretic <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > I tend to agree culture is not our frien, yet it gives us the foundation > > from which we need to examine our lives. > > Allan > > > On Sat, Mar 6, 2010 at 6:24 PM, Molly <[email protected]> wrote: > > > "Culture is not your friend, no matter what your culture is. And this > > > is sort of not a Politically Correct thing to say, because in the > > > present ambience, (sort of, those who haven't gotten the word) there's > > > a lot of attention to recovering our ethnic roots and to expressing > > > our unique ethnicity, and so forth and so on -- I think that's the > > > beginning of understanding. But all terms that stress ethnicity are > > > words applied to groups of people. Have you ever noticed that? Have > > > you ever noticed that you're not a group of people, you're a person? > > > So you may be "Jewish", you may be "Black", you may be this, you may > > > be that but there is no obligation to take upon yourself the > > > generalized quality of these things, because the generalized qualities > > > belong to thousands of people examined at a time. If you misunderstand > > > that you become a caricature. You act out your ethnicity as a > > > caricature. > > > > So culture is not your friend, ideology is not your friend... Who's > > > your friend? Well, to my mind, the felt presence of immediate > > > experience is the surest dimension, the surest guide that you can > > > possibly have. The felt presence of immediate experience. Feeling is > > > primary. All rationalization and intellectualization and analysis is > > > secondary, and comes out of culture. No matter what your culture is, > > > it has answers. Cultures thinks up answers. So a child asks its mother > > > a question, like, "Where do we go when we die?" or, "Why does Daddy go > > > to work?" Cultural answers are always provided, but nobody knows the > > > real answers to these questions -- that's outside of culture. So > > > coming to terms and fully expressing your culture is like a stage in > > > development. And then beyond that lies the aspiration of the felt > > > presence of immediate experience, and its implications. It's a very > > > hard thing to deal with and to do when you are poisoned with ideology. > > > And ideologies are very difficult to deconstruct and rid yourself of > > > through a simple talking therapy of some sort, through simply trying > > > to work it out. The best antidote for ideology is to raise the > > > intensity of the felt presence of experience to such excruciating > > > levels that it simply vaporizes ideological illusion. And this is what > > > psychedelics are for, I think. And it also explains (if you've ever > > > wondered) the incredible phobia of these things on the part of the > > > establishment, the incredibly deep alarm that these things trigger in > > > people" - Terence McKenna > > > >http://www.salvia-divinorum-scotland.co.uk/quotes/mckenna/cultureisno... > > > > What do you think? > > > > -- > > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > > > ""Minds Eye"" group. > > > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > > > [email protected]<minds-eye%2bunsubscr...@googlegroups > > > .com> > > > . > > > For more options, visit this group at > > >http://groups.google.com/group/minds-eye?hl=en. > > > -- > > ( > > ) > > I_D Allan- Hide quoted text - > > > - Show quoted text - -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/minds-eye?hl=en.
