Culture is a garment for the spirit

“For as one comes to understand people who live by institutions and values different from one’s own, at the same time one comes to see that these people are, nevertheless, at bottom quite like one’s own people. The alien culture at first appears to us as a mask, enigmatic or repugnant. On closer acquaintance we see it as a garment for the spirit; we understand its harmonies and appreciate them. Finally, as acquaintance goes deeper still, we do not see, or for a time forget, the culture, but look only to the common humanity of the men and women underneath.”
–Robert Redfield, “The Study of Culture in General Education, ” Social Education, Oct. 1947