At times the world fits, and all is rationale. Then a hurricane of irrational dickheaded-ness leaves you amidst the colossal waste that is the human mind, think a little deeper and poof all meaning or rationale is lost.
Recently I have been accused of being a bit too “foreign”, I am not sure if I was foreign to the beliefs and ideologies of a whole nation or just the persons own beliefs and ideologies. Perhaps it was both, I tend to be wrong in more than way… or in this case “foreign”. I didn’t know nations had beliefs and ideologies, sand and forests don’t care about culture, so why do we tie our minds to a patch of earth we happen to be born on. I believe we are approaching an era where believe it or not, our thoughts are attached to our central nervous system- Oh god forbid.
Clinging to certain ideologies is understandable in an old world confined to its four walls, in this day an age however the walls are expanding and merging within one another. This is not the time to cling and defend old beliefs, rather its time to explore and improve on the existing, it is a time to start thinking beyond the confinement of our four walled boxes.
Do not attack the “foreign” I would rather have you question it.
Foreign is a subjective word as it is, just like "good", "bad" or "normal" often is. Not enough people believe that you can maintain and treasure (non-self destructive) tradition and culture whilst still accepting the new. The illusion of "difference" between people is often man-made.
ReplyDeleteand therein lies the challenge, to be able to distinguish which traditions are worth upholding,which are self destructive and which need to be slightly improved!
ReplyDeleteMore often than not all that is attached to traditions and culture is ignorance and arrogance- The refusal to change because that is how our fathers lived, this is if anything a reflection of the jaheleya phase (pre-islam). This is what the quran has warned of times and times again.
I have to disagree, "foreign" can not be compared with words like "good" or "bad". In any case, I do think I have translated the meaning well within the text. However, I agree that it is very hard to distinguish foreign from "home" shall we say.
Thank you, thank you for such thought provoking input!
P.S Yes, I cant believe I used the word "therein" WIN!
Therein is a great word :D XD
ReplyDeleteThe self-destruction within tradition iiis sometimes hard to identify, though other times it is obvious yet people cling on to it anyway. Either way the identification of self-destruction seems to be something people rarely bother to pursue. A lot of people do NOT like change.
I do think there is a lot within traditions and culture that is not of ignorance and arrogance. The colours in a "traditional" pattern, the beauty in a "cultural" song, the wisdom in a proverb... Not all tradition and culture is just the bad habits of a bygone age. It is unfortunate that there is some that consists of little more than this though...
I do think that "foreign" can be compared to "good/bad". Its all in the weighting and application of the word. "Foreign" could be used purely in a sense of "originating in a different land" to whatever your comparing the "foreign" thing to, and that being the end of it. Unfortunately it is instead given a whole different meaning in terms of prejudices and man-made expectations of the "foreign". Two people could be born to "foreign" countries, but some would say there being, personality and actions can and should be "foreign" to each other.
"Good" could in some sense be used purely as "not bringing harm of any kind" but is unfortunately instead used to mean what is demanded of you by authority, social expectations and opinions. Murder is not good, but some would say that chocolate cake is not not good (due to their random and bias notion of "health" which can be another subjective word as it is!). People love to give words their own extra tidbits and minutiae for their own agendas.
Its all in who is, and how they are using (or abusing) the word. And too many humans love abusing things.
Sorry for the length!!!! :/ but yes, I did use the word minutiae. And it felt good. WORD-OFF!!
I agree completely with everything you've mentioned above. There is no denying that some tradition and culture is beautiful, I was merely referring to the parts of it that are backwards in some ways- And I do realize that "backwards" is also another subjective word. That some people with their change/cake-hating ways might define "backwards" in a different manner... I suppose that makes all words subjective, no? In the end people will see good/bad/foreign/subjective... chocolate cake! In their own way, according to their lifes content, all I ask, is feelings aside.. A little logic, a little science, weighing out the possibilities and making sane logical decision with good intention.
ReplyDeleteBasically, I am asking for perfect mind, forget perfect humans.. I want perfect minds such as yourself. I want a whole society with near perfect minds, and yes I know its very unrealistic and unreasonable.
In my post I had wished that people would attempt to discriminate between good traditions and ones that need changing. It is only a call for attention to the things we do, unfortunately in some areas of the world tradition is set in stone, people do things because it has always been done in this way. Do you see my point? :)