Friday, July 21, 2006

Religious Cultures

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Do you follow me? Probably not. Let's take another example: China vs Tibet. China decided to cleanse Tibet of 'excessive religion.' They did that through their vastly superior military forces. Tibetan Buddahism was vanquished and the head of that religion escaped to the West (the Dalai Lama). China is now allowing somewhat of a resurgence of Tibetan Buddahism, having tamped down that excessive religion. Nowadays Tibet is open to modern economic ideas as well as a resurgence of their historic cultural religion. Will China allow Tibet to return to the past? No way. China seeks to bring Tibet into the 21st Century while at the same time allowing Tibet to reclaim its religious heritage. China is following the twofold path (whatever that means. Hmm. I take it to mean that the most desirable path is not a single path - religion, for example - but a dual path which gives credit to both new modern ideas and old proven ideas.) Ya follah?

This example is entirely congruent with today's bizarre clash of 'Christianity' (love) and 'Judaism' (money) in America.

Both concepts are (bonk) necessary in a balanced culture - unless, of course, Jesus is just around the corner. But 'Jesus just around the corner' is not a viable idea in modern American Culture. The idea is viable only in strange fundamentalist cultures like that of The 700 Club.