Our own culture is easy to overlook until we step out of it
“Culture is the sea we swim in — so pervasive, so all-consuming, that we fail to notice its existence until we stop out of it. It matters more than we think.”
–Eric Weiner, The Geography of Bliss (2008)
Yes, and stepping out of our culture, can help us see ourselves as grateful. ‘…most Americans born after World War Two have been encouraged to believe we can have everything. Of course, this sets us up for misery. If happiness depends on the ratio of fulfilled desires to total desires, no person whose desires are infinite can be satisfied. In fact long ago Tolstoy defined wealth as, “the number of things on can do without.”…The opposite of yearning is savoring the exquisite now….We yearn to stop time, to make our lives an endless Indian summer. But the message of autumn is to accept what is given.”’—Mary Pipher (2003), Letters to a Young Therapist.
I’ve been thinking a lot of “western” and “eastern” culture/society/people/mentalities (etc). I think they each have pros and cons. I was born, raised and have only lived within America but I’m not so closed minded that I automatically shun anything not of the “west”.
June 8th, 2009 at 4:20 am
Right said
June 8th, 2009 at 6:51 am
Yes, and stepping out of our culture, can help us see ourselves as grateful. ‘…most Americans born after World War Two have been encouraged to believe we can have everything. Of course, this sets us up for misery. If happiness depends on the ratio of fulfilled desires to total desires, no person whose desires are infinite can be satisfied. In fact long ago Tolstoy defined wealth as, “the number of things on can do without.”…The opposite of yearning is savoring the exquisite now….We yearn to stop time, to make our lives an endless Indian summer. But the message of autumn is to accept what is given.”’—Mary Pipher (2003), Letters to a Young Therapist.
June 8th, 2009 at 7:10 am
It should read, “Culture is the sea we swim in… so stop peeing in it.”
June 8th, 2009 at 10:19 pm
Getting to step out of one’s culture is one of the things that makes travel so wonderful.
June 10th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
I’ve been thinking a lot of “western” and “eastern” culture/society/people/mentalities (etc). I think they each have pros and cons. I was born, raised and have only lived within America but I’m not so closed minded that I automatically shun anything not of the “west”.