Abbe Osram said:
Why would you cringe if someone else is doing what he feels like doing?
Abbe Osram said:
Why would you say you wish all cultures, ideologies, religions and politics be cast aside if people are doing what they feel like doing?
Culture is not just some intellectual theory for people to be `freed` from. Culture is the consensus of a community and the product of our history. Whilst personally I believe in nature and freedom coming through looking towards it for truth, thats not to say Im right. Also with regard national identify, whilst i am possible the least patriotic person you can find, it is an inbreed function of most species to identify with those who are similar and local.
If you check your history, the people whos skills we hold in such high regards were all tribes people who were territorial.
You can not live without a belief system or culture. As soon as there is a regional variation in customs, that is a culture. As soon as you start having views about the nature of existence, that is a belief system.
I would also argue the point over names not meaning anything in the West. I find I am always having someones reputation precede them, especially if their family has been in a trade for generations, the family name tells you most of the story.
Back to the original discussion though. I just personally find it very odd indeed that a James Smith (name made up) would call himself "Bowing Low Moose" for the duration of his stay in a wood in South Hampshire...I can not see any reason for disassociating yourself from the rest of your life for those times you are going through changes and new experiences, especially those as wondrous as nature. This is where we start getting into the semantics and psychology of it all.
I am btw specifically not talking about those cultures that have it as an integral part of their life, only those who take it on as some sort of special pathway to understanding/enlightenment
Why I wish all cultures, ideologies, religions and politics be cast aside if people are doing what they feel like doing?
--Do they?
Cultures are not a choice, they are mind made objects created by time.
Instead of being free, meeting your neighbor with an open heart people are wearing colored glasses called Belief or Culture.
In Ireland people might judge their neighbors through the colored glasses of history. Woman in Africa are circumcised in a very cruel way because their culture demands it. They like it or not. They will be cut! Jewish and Moslem little boys are not even ask what they want before their foreskin is removed. What is that, freedom? Who is asking them if they want or not? Christians would burn so-called "witches" because the majority of people thought they had sex with a devil and deserved to die. Protestants would kill Baptists until they escaped to the States. Not to forget how the Catholics where treating the new upshots called protestants in their time. Are they all evil? No they are blinded by their believe system. They believe they do something good.
In Sweden is a family on trial right now. Why? This family killed a young man in a very cruel way because he was from another tribe? Do they feel bad about it? No, they are proud because they did what their culture ask them to do if one of their family members dishonored the clan by having sex before marriage.
You said that it is not possible to live without a belief system. But I can tell you that you can!. If you watch yourself, look into your heart and question yourself why you do the things you are doing, than you have a chance to wake up, being simply aware without an identity. Why would you need an identity? You said: "You can not live without a belief system or culture." There you have it again! A believe system, yours! But do you truly KNOW if you cant live a life without a believe system or a culture. If you want to know you can test it:.
Ask yourself: Who Am I ?
First comes maybe your name. You would say: I am Follow Way! Lets cut your name away. What happens to you then?
Do you stop to exist? No, in the concentration camps they took the names away from people and gave them numbers instead but the continued to exist. So its not your name.
Are you your job? Well, lets take that away. And you will see that you still exist after you lost your job. Cut one thing after another away from you and your life in the end you come to the point of your nation, culture, faith etc. If you cut them all away you will see you continue to exist. There are some people who choose to believe that their life is finished if they loose everything they identify with, but thats only an illusion.
Please understand me right. I am not saying you are right or wrong. I only asked you why you bother at all if someone else is changing his name. Thats the most interesting point in our little discussion. In my account you are free to have an opinion like you choose.
Call the whole thing with earth names childish. Fine. I too would feel wired to be named "Running bear". But the interesting thing is, why do I feel in that way.
WE feel wired but we think the guy who has the funny name is wired and we start hassling him, why?. So I start asking myself and wonder why do I feel like that. Than for the sake of an experiment I would give myself the name "little flower in the wind and tell others that this is my new name. With interest I see a funny changes in their faces? Why? Why do they bother that I have a funny name now? Funny enough after a month of humiliation I start to like my new name and it feels quite ok to me .Why that, because I got used to it. Try some experiments too. And you will KNOW and not BELIEF
Cheers
from
Little flower in the Wind!