Some cultures are COMPLETELY different nowadays compared to how they were back in their heyday, back during their respective golden age. The ancient peoples would not recognize their own culture if they were transported through time to modern day. Or more specifically, they would not recognize the people that now reside in the same geographic location.
There is a notion in sociology and history of the "collective consciousness," the soul of the people. The culture has a sort of sentience, an awareness, a certain disposition and a way of looking at all aspects of life -- education, religion, sex, lifestyle, common occupations.
••Ancient Egyptians.
••Ancient Aztecs and Mayans. Nowadays they promote a culture of Mariachi bands, Spanish senoritas dancing in fiery crimson dresses with fantastically flouncy skirts. Don't get me wrong, I love all of it, it is so much fun. In addition, many of them practice Catholicism nowadays in place of their old, native polytheistic belief systems.
But it is not *them.* Luckily one of the Mexican restaurants where I live is paying homage to the old-school Mexican culture-- that of the native Indians. Getting back to their roots.
••Ancient Rome. They are much much better now than back then. Back then they were vile thugs. Bloodthirsty, sick, depraved creatures that derived their pleasure from the torturing of human beings. They enslaved the ancient Greeks and absorbed (cough*stole*cough) all the Greeks' culture, from their gods to their Doric and Ionic columns. They fed on dreck that was beyond disgusting, gruesome, as entertainment.
But now modern-day Italians are all romantic and sexy, a trend that has been in place for the last few hundred years or so. With their classical music, their sexy actors and futbol players, their reputations of being the world's greatest lovers. And there's that whole Vatican City thing.
••Ancient Greece. They are not really *worse off* now per se. Just different.
••United States. Obviously completely different. Not sure if this is a fair comparison because the population is comprised of numerous different groups, which is caused by huge onslaughts of different cultures. Whereas the above-mentioned places have not had significant amounts of immigrant influxes.
How can a collective population of souls just be suddenly violently derailed like that? how can it be so impacted that the people are unrecognizable nowadays?
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Hmmm... The cultures of China and India, by contrast, have retained pretty much the same culture as what they had four thousand years ago. There are technological advances and infrastructure, sure. And they have developed majors of study in university that adeptly cover all modern branches of science. But in terms of the culture -- the religious traditions, the food, the personal that can become the political, those introspective as well as social dynamics -- are still quite similar. They still preserve the music and art, the dress, the rituals, the ceremonies. Those are still practiced widely all over the place and much of the ancient tradition is retained.
There is a notion in sociology and history of the "collective consciousness," the soul of the people. The culture has a sort of sentience, an awareness, a certain disposition and a way of looking at all aspects of life -- education, religion, sex, lifestyle, common occupations.
••Ancient Egyptians.
••Ancient Aztecs and Mayans. Nowadays they promote a culture of Mariachi bands, Spanish senoritas dancing in fiery crimson dresses with fantastically flouncy skirts. Don't get me wrong, I love all of it, it is so much fun. In addition, many of them practice Catholicism nowadays in place of their old, native polytheistic belief systems.
But it is not *them.* Luckily one of the Mexican restaurants where I live is paying homage to the old-school Mexican culture-- that of the native Indians. Getting back to their roots.
••Ancient Rome. They are much much better now than back then. Back then they were vile thugs. Bloodthirsty, sick, depraved creatures that derived their pleasure from the torturing of human beings. They enslaved the ancient Greeks and absorbed (cough*stole*cough) all the Greeks' culture, from their gods to their Doric and Ionic columns. They fed on dreck that was beyond disgusting, gruesome, as entertainment.
But now modern-day Italians are all romantic and sexy, a trend that has been in place for the last few hundred years or so. With their classical music, their sexy actors and futbol players, their reputations of being the world's greatest lovers. And there's that whole Vatican City thing.
••Ancient Greece. They are not really *worse off* now per se. Just different.
••United States. Obviously completely different. Not sure if this is a fair comparison because the population is comprised of numerous different groups, which is caused by huge onslaughts of different cultures. Whereas the above-mentioned places have not had significant amounts of immigrant influxes.
How can a collective population of souls just be suddenly violently derailed like that? how can it be so impacted that the people are unrecognizable nowadays?
---
Hmmm... The cultures of China and India, by contrast, have retained pretty much the same culture as what they had four thousand years ago. There are technological advances and infrastructure, sure. And they have developed majors of study in university that adeptly cover all modern branches of science. But in terms of the culture -- the religious traditions, the food, the personal that can become the political, those introspective as well as social dynamics -- are still quite similar. They still preserve the music and art, the dress, the rituals, the ceremonies. Those are still practiced widely all over the place and much of the ancient tradition is retained.