"The Fusion of Cultures"

"The Fusion of Cultures"

Author: Wu Siyuan

Realistic meaning

1. It can provide more employment opportunities for the society.

Different cultures often have their own things that are unique to outsiders (either material, spiritual, behavioral, etc.), which can give rise to or enrich related industry.

Things like computers, cars, ships, airplanes, telephones, etc. were all unimaginable to the ancients, and these things were brought by Western culture and created various employment opportunities.

2. People's material and spiritual lives can be enriched.

In ancient times, people had few pastimes: playing the flute, playing the erhu, singing, playing the guzheng, playing chess, reading, painting, writing poetry, fishing, drinking, growing flowers, and tasting tea, basically that's all.

Nowadays, with the introduction of various Western musical instruments (such as piano, violin, guitar, saxophone, etc.), 

the invention of various electronic products (such as video recorders, televisions, stereos, mobile phones, etc.), 

the production of various mobile games and electronic games, 

the introduction of various dishes and ingredients, 

the reference of various buildings, decorations, clothing, etc., 

the collision of various ideas (scientific, artistic, cultural, religious, etc.)

...

All of these have greatly enriched people's lives.

3. The stability of the system (society) will be higher.

Systems that lose the ability to learn are dangerous: you never know how far someone else's technology can develop and what kind of threat it may pose to you.

A closed system is often less resistant to risks - in nature, we can easily find various examples, such as a certain alien species that poses a threat to the local original ecology, a certain kind of greenhouse animals or plants, became maladaptive after being released into the wild.

As far as society is concerned, if it is closed for a long time without contact and communication with the outside world, it is likely to become fragile and abandoned by the times.

Note 1: Why does a closed system (society) become fragile? It may be because the technological level is no longer as good as others, or it may be because the internal competition has become very vicious and fanatical, eventually leading to collapse.

Note 2: Why is it abandoned by the times? It may be because others are suspicious of you, it may be because others want to assimilate you, it may be because others have designs on you, all of these are reasons for others to attack you.

Division of cultural sectors

There can be many reasons for conflicts between cultures: it may be because there is insufficient respect and trust between each other; it may be because one party is aggressive and will actively assimilate or exclude the other party; it may be because of some races, histories, Interest factors...

Note 1: The concept of "respect" is quite vague and highly subjective. As far as I understand it, respect should include at least two aspects. First, based on understanding the other party, discover its merits. Second, we must be able to remain rational even if we criticize something we do not recognize or accept.

Note 2: The concept of "trust" is quite difficult. It is difficult to gain trust between people, let alone between countries, between races, and between civilizations.

----The current mainstream cultural sectors in the world are as follows----

Indian Religion and Culture Section: Belief in multiple gods, based on the theory of karma, retribution, reincarnation, caste system, abstinence and other elements, advocates practicing in this world in exchange for enjoyment in the next life (or jumping out of reincarnation to go to nirvana), aggressiveness Not strong, but relatively negative, mainly including Hinduism, Buddhism (Mahayana, Hinayana), Sikhism and Jainism.

Note 1: There are many methods of spiritual practice, such as abstinence (but with sexual worship), asceticism (torture of the physical body), monasticism, sexual intercourse, meditation, etc. - which some people think is self-destructive.

Note 2: Buddhism advocates "the equality of all living beings", which conflicts with the caste system, so it does not have a large audience in India. However, after several reforms, it has been integrated into East Asian culture.

Abrahamic Religious Culture Section: Believe in the "One True God", oppose idol worship, are highly exclusive, and believers have a strong sense of mission for preaching. Mainly include Judaism, Christianity (Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox), Islam (Sunni, Shia).

Note 1: The "One True God" mentioned here refers to the same God - the gods respected by these religions are actually the same, with similar stories and pronunciations, but different names.

Since they all believe in the same god, why do they often fight each other? There are historical reasons for this: everyone has their own development, reform, and interpretation of the classics, and they are also very pious and do not tolerate heresy, so this is how it is.

Note 2: Although the three religions were born at different times, their origins can be traced back to Abraham, who is considered the founder of the special relationship between God and the Jews. He is also the common ancestor of Hebrews (Jews) and Arabs.

Note 3: Opposing idol worship means also opposing "authoritarianism" (including concepts such as "monopoly", "autocracy", "dictatorship", etc.), because the existence of "authoritarianism" itself requires a certain degree of worship of personal charm.

Note 4: Judaism is mainly maintained and spread by blood, so it is smaller and less aggressive.

Note 5: Christianity has a high degree of secularization because it experienced the Reformation in the sixteenth century.

Most Western countries believe in Christianity and spread ideologies and develop believers in the name of human rights. They believe that God has greater influence on people than secular political power, so there is a saying that human rights are higher than sovereignty.

Supplementary note: Without God, shouldn't people have human rights? No, it's just that human rights should no longer be given a religious color, or even robbed and exploited by them.

Note 6: Islam is highly exclusive, and its degree of secularization depends on the degree of compromise between the secular regime and its religious ideas (the extreme part) - when the secular regime cannot restrict its extreme ideas by law, the people can only be controlled by it.

Supplementary note: In addition to laws, factors such as traditional culture (traditional clothing, eating habits, festival celebrations, etc.), foreign culture (cultures holding other beliefs), interests, education, etc. will also have an impact on the secularization of religion.

Confucian culture section: Traditionally, there is no specific belief in "gods", but it cannot be said that there is no belief in "gods" at all, because the "emperor" itself has the color of "god", and its scope of influence is mainly in East Asia.

To analyze the culture of a place, there are many factors that need to be considered. In addition to (religious) beliefs, there are also historical traditions, ethnic composition, language, literary classics, geographical location, land area, population and other factors.

Cultural fusion

There are both conflicts and the need for cooperation between cultures, so how should we get along with each other? This involves the issue of cultural integration. Integration requires rules. Who should make these rules and how should they be made?

The answer to the first question is: when trust does not exist (conflict is inevitable), I can only be the main one. Otherwise, it is very likely that I will be assimilated by others. At this time, there will be no integration. Just the destruction of the self.

The answer to the second question is: adapt measures to the times, local conditions, and people.

The end

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