On Tuesday 17 Jul 2007 11:12 pm, Neha Viswanathan wrote: > This whole notion of Hinduism is rather recent isn't it?
The idea is to find what evidence points to it being recent, and what evidence points to its being ancient. The question repeatedly gets mired in the mindlessly repeated arguments of proponents of the two polar viewpoints to the extent that discusions end up not showing anything new, but morph into an exercise in trying to characterize any given opinion as being supportive of an RSS viewpoint or a Leftist viewpoint, and in character assassination of the proponents of each polar viewpoint. I believe that: a) It is possible that information exists that neither represents the "leftist" view nor the RSS view but could sometimes be in agreement with one or the other in some way. b) In order to find that it is necessary to get out of the vicious cycle of classification, characterization an subsequent character assassination c) I believe that we must Move on to actual individual documentation of narratives and observations that can eventually build up into a huge body of documented social experience that serves as research material about the true state of mind of modern India and what has been recorded in folk memory b) Furthermore I believe that the ability to easily document and store individual viewpoints in the form of archived discussions, blogs and online material is an ideal starting point for the eventual resolution of contentious issues. Let me end this post with a barbed semi insult - even if it is flamebait to jog minds. is it possible at all that my thoughts are more advanced than those of a lot of people on this issue in that I do not seek to dispute or fight, but rather seek to resolve by breaking people out of their boxed-in opinions that I see repeated again and again. Are people on here (and outside) actually more biased than they should be in seeking to characterize and classify and fit others' opinions into moulds that they have in their minds - moulds based on one's individual woldview? What degree of intellectual honesty can be maintained when one steps out of one's personal views and starts looking at the views of one's family circle (parents, grandparents, cousins, in-laws) and discovers things that one might have denied in oneself. If you dig deep enough you will discover the little lies we tell ourselves to differentiate ourselves from what we think we should not be like. Is there going to be anger, denial and resentment at this self-discovery? I mean no insult, but I do intend to provoke. shiv
