Becoming relevant….

It is said that now a days we take a lot for granted and much of it is blamed on our reliance on technology and our embrace of our modern lifestyle. For these reasons among others our modernity has been called into question on many levels; questions concerning our very humanity to its role on cultural death, it has been blamed for our social ills as well as our moral decay.

With evidence which portrays how detached we have gradually become from each other and the tendency for awkwardness when teens are released into social situations, not to mention the inactivity amongst the youth and the loss of age old customs. It would seem that they are all right, our modernity perhaps has handicapped us, leaving us these half beings so reliant on every thing else to work for us and leaving us incapable of working for ourselves.

Yet i have questions myself, for instance did our ancient ancestors begin tool building and using because they wanted to loose touch with their humanity or each other, or perhaps it was so that they would become less apart of nature itself? Were our cultures a way of life because of choice or circumstance? Was the decision to live life a certain way predicated upon an in depth analysis of the constituents of life? and if so how much knowledge did they possess in order to make such decisions?

Whether we want to admit it, like it or embrace it, societies have evolved most of it due to a natural process some from an unhealthy or perhaps unnatural desire to ascend beyond our humanity, seeing ourselves as greater than all and becoming gods in our own eyes. I can hardly say that this is new or perhaps a result from our new found knowledge but it is not.

If we hold change as being inevitable and death and maturation as all natural processes them perhaps what is equally unhealthy is our obsession not to change, not to die, not to mature or grow. Keeping an eye on our past is important perhaps i think so for different reasons, i believe it is important for it provides us with markers so that we do not repeat the pains of where we have been and we have a position to know where we are. Embracing our present gives us equal markers and one is of no use without the other (mutually exclusive i believe it is called) like space and time our past present and future are all inexplicably link and are one thing.

If we are so obsessed with not forgetting the past and reliving it it amazes me that when culture is celebrated only the good is remembered and portrayed and even some ills are poised to have great meaning as if choice was present. Romanticizing about any time period is dangerous for it negates critical thought, and devotion to facing and changing the uncomfortable truths that are necessary to build a life more suited for justice, love and peace.

Our cultures and identities are dynamic entities that help form our lives, they are not stagnant monolithic ideals which binds us. The dilemma of loosing identity and cultural values, is a real one when assessing the historical relevance of any group of people, yet not one which should deny us the acceptance of our present state of being, perhaps if looked as dynamic we could come to the agreement that most unique is the build of an identity which readily accepts the truth concerning all three elements of its space time; here i mean what preceded it its present state and its future aspirations with a devotion for truth, justice, love and peace. Such an identity would be culturally different on both a societal and individual level.

Then perhaps we could demystify the question of what it is to be human?

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