While I was living in Jamaica, I managed to help earn a few pennies by typing and editing literary and academic texts. One such was a student’s philosophy dissertation. She was not an agile writer or an original thinker but she did put together some others’ work in a coherent way, to the effect that philosophy originated from Africa, and had been misappropriated and bastardised by the Greeks. To put it more precisely, the Greeks dissected and separated the wholeness of the “All That Is” for the sake of intellectual power. Since the Roman Empire, Europeans and their cultural descendants have used that power to infect the world with their destructive domination, destroying “barbarian” cultures everywhere.
The motive for the student’s analysis was apparent: to raise the pride of black people by subverting the supremacy of European civilization. Despite my education and European ethnicity, I was deeply impressed. My whiteness had been exported to Australia in an earlier generation, just as the Jamaican student’s blackness had been exported from Africa: we shared captive ancestry. I had been uprooted and re-exported to England at the age of four. Somehow I acquired a rebelliousness which leads me always to question authority, whilst retaining a reverence for the richness of the past.
European civilization was upheld as the glory of the world, an embellishment upon every territory which it colonised. Indigenous populations were “savages” often wiped out with impunity by white settlers.
“Without exception, the earliest Europeans to catch a glimpse of traditional Aboriginal camp life noted the boundless joy, exuberance and independence of the children. No other people seem to be as lenient or indulgent toward children as the Australian Aborigines, and many anthropologists have declared it to be the most child-centred society they have ever observed.
. . . . . .
“Aborigines openly and unaffectedly converse with everything in their surroundings – trees, tools, animals, rocks and such – as if all things have an intelligence deserving of respect.” (Robert Lawlor, Voices of the First Day)
a wayfarer’s notes 
Just heard a report on NPR on how indigenous peoples around the world are doing badly.
It sure will be great if people ever just realize everybody's a person, and your own group isn't better than all other human groups. I remember in high school an Asian-American trying to convince me that the theory of evolution “really” originated in China (because something sounding a bit like it was part of some Chinese myth she knew about…)
If she wanted to demonstrate her ethnic superiority, she would have been better off pointing to the long period of time where there was civilization in China, and the Europeans were still hunter-gatherers!
But it's all nonsense, except for the damaging effects of cultural chauvinism on those whom it has historically oppressed.
LikeLike
'The Tempest' deals with the issue of 'civilisation' and 'barbarians'. Shakespeare, being someone who does not see in black and white, sees both sides of the argument. For example the 'civilised' (e.g. Trinculo) get drunk and make fools of themselves and Caliban ('cannibal') has some of the most beautiful lines of poetry in the
play.
LikeLike
not meant as an argument, only as an observation – but it does seem that people the world over have always had a propensity to kill/overtake each other and trash each others' cultures in the process.
Confucious wrote his Analects in the midst of several hundred years of vicious, war-lord driven fighting before things settled down and that particular 'civilization' was able to take hold and become the glory of the world.
The caste system in India got it's origin in invasions a couple of thousand years ago – conquorers suppressing the locals again, because their culture was “superior.”
And to offer a really unpopular example, it was black tribes in Africa that were only too happy to extend their wars on each other and sell other tribes into captivity.
It doesn't seem to me that this behavior is a product of the Greeks, or Rome, or Europe – but dates back to include all people. All that matters is who is on top in any given millenium; that group will suppress/destroy/demean the others.
LikeLike
The civilised have always been arrogant imposing their ideas on those considered uncivilised, whose land they occupied. It is still going on. An off shoot of this superiority is 'eugenics' Which started long before Adolf Hitler.
Aryans invaded India thousands of years ago, as Hayden rightly said and imposed the caste system, which unfortunately still being practiced.
I have lived with the tribals of south India. They never knew what paper money was. undisturbed, they lived in very remote areas deep inside the forests. Then came deforestation agriculture and Christian missionaries. Now they have the taste of money. The natives have lost their original way of living, To earn more paper money they push their women folk to towns, into cheap labour and prostitution. They beat and kick their women get the money drink and gamble.
LikeLike
Thanks all for these comments. I accept what you say about the universality of the phenomenon and it is not just an “original sin” ofthe Europeans. The case of Jamaicans – formerly enslaved – and Australian Aborigines – formerly treated despicably – struck me most forcibly because of my own connections with them.
It's not that I especially endorse the view that the Greeks perverted some wonderful wisdom of the Egyptians, nor am I a Rastafarian.
The impact for me was to encounter for the first time philosophical views other than the dominant European-based ones. It was especially poignant to realise that philosophy is no mere pastime of the idle rich but can be essential to the empowerment of the downtrodden.
I tell a lie, of course. It was not the first time. I had encountered Marxism and also Islam, but had not, in my own particular life path, been attracted to them. In other circumstances, who knows?
LikeLike
Great postVincent. The writer of the paper you reworked had Spirit. Good. The only thing that raises up the downtrodden is not losing hope, and having Spirit. Perfection in these senses does not matter, need pushes.My point of view is Jewish, I will tell you the propensity for this derives from Cain then thru Ham, but when you hear me say it, realize, I am not speaking 'Christian'. The distinction that Jews have for the History of the Old Writings, is entirely a different thing from the usual understanding given to the world thru Christian missionaries and Christian Capitalist Education. The Christian interpretation is centered on their desires for World domination, for the Jews it is a different matter, it is liberal, tolerant, and peaceful, (believe it or not). Long before I knew my 'Jewishness', I was for a while a 'Marxist', studied it and tried to live it. In the long run it failed for me, due to the desire to spead itself violently.In these comments there is much learning and information, that is great, like a good and timely History/Philosophy class. I enjoy this very much, Thanks.Like you say Vincent, it is Man himself, not the civilizations first, nor the social structures, it is rooted in man himself, this acceptance of force and destruction for gain of some kind of wealth, usually misperceived wealth. Cain and Ham have counterparts in every man, none is empty of this evil. The Jew will say Now is a time of Purification of Mankind, a Time for losing this ugliness. May it come in full soon. Talk and discussion is not 'magic' but is like 'magic' to me, gets into the Air and circulates, goes places unknown and unintended, is heard all over the world without cell phones or physical connections, even without internet it would be effective. That is something that I depend on, a G-d given reality that assures final victory.Thanks for an enjoyable and valuable time, Vincent, many thanks.
LikeLike
Man's inclination to feel superior or inferior to others is, in my view, the result of the fragmentation of this universe in which each entity believes he is in some kind of unbalanced, disharmonious relation with others, not being aware of the fact that he is actually part of an all encompassing whole. He may claim to know this in a scholarly discussion, but when landing in more difficult situations the higher awareness is abandoned in a flash. 'Civilizations' that structurally massacre what they call savages or indegenous people, do not deserve the self appointed title in the sense of what it is assumed to express. It is merely an idea or reaction from a fragmented state. I know al this and have given it much thought, but the instant someone harms one of my precious offspring, I forget about this. Fragmentation has some powerful built in self sustaining mechanisms that are difficult to ignore when situations become demanding. Still, not seeing the whole, not being aware that everything is part of that (regardless of how aware or ignorant parts may be) is a property of many civilizations. Breaking fragmentation's security measures is extremely difficult, but if life intends to gain truly meaninful awareness, this is what it has to do before anything else.
LikeLike
Additional comments on PS of 7th June:
Jim: that is hilarious, good to be busy tho, some, lol. I haven’t been able to get a job in 3 years. Age!
Vincent: Give it a try, Jim, you have nothing to lose. The angels have nothing else to do but serve our legitimate needs.
Jim:You are right Vincent, but, there seems to always be a ‘hitch’.
I just tonight got an email from a new Artist Residency Program in Dallas, so I am applying for that, the period of occupation would be a month up to a year. I can just use something, the month would be a good start.
I have faith, and am not in a crunch right now. I will get what is right when it is right to get it. Thanks for the encouragement.
LikeLike
Further comments on PS of 8th June:
Darius: But hurry blagck…
Hayden: wonderful. didn’t know blag, thanks for sharing the link.
Good news for you, bad news for us! miss hearing your thoughts – aren’t I selfish?
Rev. JGS: pretending to know all about a subject, I’ve done that! Nice post!
The Rev. http://manifestationsofasoulpeeled.blogspot.com/
Jim: Blag, I’ll use it. Flannel I knew, but not that way, used for a shirt, flannel, referring to fabric I think, but could be something besides that.
Scrounging is a word I stopped using but didn’t realize the Englishness of it. Scrounge me this or that, get it from somewhere.
Thanks for the lesson, much appreciated Vincent. I love language.
Also, I read the earlier post that you were going to be gone awhile. I am glad you are back, you are back aren’t you? I tend to lose track of time.
Thanks for the links too, I hope to do them justice.
LikeLike
Further comment on PS of 19th June:
Jim: I will check that out—the hitch-breaker? Sounds good, but what if….? Well, here’s hoping.
Let me tell you about that post on kasamba’s blog, she is seemingly confused, one of the commenters tried to make the point but was ignored. This is like all levels of a totality, different people have different ‘takes’ on the real thing.
But sin is like this, for the Jew, it is an act that does not produce good results, like shooting an arrow and not hitting the target.
There is no hell, no punishment, no ‘not going to heaven’, this stuff is christian stuff, not jewish.
the word for ‘sin’ is chatah, and is like the inside mind being out of harmony with the outside situation. But the ‘getting of the two into harmony’ is not the total object of the ‘faith’.
getting the two into harmony, thus being successful in your environment, by virtue of the very experience of that success, enables you to know G-d. He is the one that supplies success.
So He is the fruit of the ‘harmony’ between you and your environment and situation.
As to ‘wants’ physical and spiritual, the lady was referring to the ‘uses’ of each, the body and/or the mind/spirit. The body ‘wants’ activity, function. The spirit too wants such as is its’ normal behaviour and activity.
But religion always gets interpreted at ‘levels’, according to the understanding held at whatever age the adherent is at.
You know you do not need to join anything. That is the best I can do at the moment to explain, but even this does cancel the reality, religion is religion. This is why I am a kabbalist first. It is a direct knowing without a manmade organization ruling.
Now what about this cosmic ordering, does it work? Sounded like it worked for you.
LikeLike