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“My own policy is to try to be as non-judgmental about another culture as I can while I’m there. You know, “when in Rome…” and all that. But I’m not a complete relativist either. Aldous Huxley once said that when one is living in a developed secular country, one longs to live in a spiritual country instead. One craves the deep meaningful connections of ancient tradition. “One is all for religion,” he wrote, “until one visits a really religious country. Then one is all for drains, machinery, and the minimum wage.” When Huxley was living in England and America, he read the Buddha regularly and took great inspiration, but when he lived in India and the Far East he read biographies of Henry Ford with admiration. My own experience in Southeast Asia resonates with Huxley’s insight about the ways that different cultures romanticize each other.”
–Stephen T. Asma, Bookslut.com interview, October 2005
December 14th, 2009 at 10:41 am
Good point on the romanticizing of cultures. When you’re visiting a Western country, you’ll long to be in an Eastern one. It’s kind of like moving from state-to-state in the U.S. You think you’ll find paradise on the West coast, but long for the NY skyline. Detachment helps to ease the “romanticizing” of cultures. Travel and experience the cultures with an open mind, don’t build up any expectations in your head
December 16th, 2009 at 3:46 am
So true. I think though this extends much deeper than the cultures. Urban dwellers romanticize rural lives with its share of tranquility, good neighbour relations, green grass and a nice stream. Countryside dwellers romanticize urbal lives with thoughts of McDs, Pizza Huts, fancy buildings, theme parks etc.
And I think it is quite natural for being the creatures we are, we do want the best of everything.