The German word Weltanschauung literally means “world view”; it combines “Welt” (“world”) with “Anschauung” (“view”), which ultimately derives from the Middle High German verb schouwen (“to look at” or “to see”). When we first adopted it from German in the mid-19th century, “weltanschauung” referred to a philosophical view or apprehension of the universe, and this sense is still the most widely used. It can also describe a more general ideology or philosophy of life.
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Culture or or World Idea is not the way we think of an idea or view; culture as World Idea is a bubble in which you live and in which all your choices are offered. But you have no choice to live inside or outside the bubble. Hence our dilemma when we see the wrong view of culture, and must choose a right view, both choices are still in that culture.
(SEE TALK HERE) This is like two sons: One obeys the father and imitates him and choose the Father’s view as fight view; the other rebels against the father and choose an opposite view as right view. Both sons still live in the Father’s house, the good son in the big bedroom, the other son in the basement. Neither chooses to leave the house because they will be the good or bad son wherever they go. Culture is like a Cult. It doesn’t want you to leave. But when you rebel and create an alternate culture—like the hippies did in the. 60—you are still in the culture, but unconscious that your “right view” is shaped by the culture. The. Fish Bowl just has a pairs of sub-cultures. In political cultures you have For Obama; Not Obama…For Trump/Not Trump.
There is no way out of this, just as there is no way out of the Operating System on my computer. I update my OS, but I’m still in it. I have no choice. Oh, I can by a PC, but I’m still in the OS of the computer. There is only way out is to get a pen and paper. So what is the Way?
One can make one’s culture transparent to the Transcendent. I’ve been talking about this in my morning FB live talks, starting yesterday.
The basic operation of culture is division, fragmentation, seeing the Many instead of the ONE, and culture does this by saying the ONE is within culture, like the ONE religion, or the ONE theory that explains everything, Culture is all many Ones, each claiming to be the One…but the ONE is That which includes all the Ones, and this whole or One is transcendent to the culture.
From inside culture you cannot perceive the ONE because all the One’s we are allowed to see are given by Culture. This creates religious wars in culture as the One battle each other to be the One culture.
All the Hitlers and Napoleons wanted to create the One culture that had no competition.
Even Trump wants to create the One America within America, which, of course, divides America. But in his heart he thinks he is seeing the One without a second (and that One is God, the whole of everything.) All One’s are metaphors or misplaced God—but even God is a One that culture offers us to choose. So God (the idea) is also in culture.
What to do?
Realizing there is no escape, No Exit, there is a shift from trying to get outside of culture by dividing culture into good and bad, one stops the effort, and turns towards the surrender of the Will to the One, and allows the ONE to reveal itself. This is the spiritual journey, the pathless path of letting go when you find the pain of culture nailing you to a cross.
This is the path of Eckhart Tolle. This is Buddhism. The path is not to find the One through division, through the moral division of culture into good and bad. The path is from the heart which is through unity. Instead of separating one’s self from culture, only to find one’s self still attached to culture like a mouse sticky pad, one embraces or goes into the pain of culture. But remember this pain of culture is not caused by culture, so one can’t blame culture or others.
When blaming culture (other people and conditions; remember the meaning of conditions is culture) ends, there is no longer the rub of culture, and when the conflict or war stops, culture, the opaque inside wall of culture becomes transparent. You are now a creative person, and culture becomes the means of your art. You use culture for your liberation instead of your prison. One is still in culture, but now joyously instead of in suffering. Now One with culture instead of divided against it holding up in some rebellious sub-cultures in the basement plotting the overthrow of the Father.
You no longer need to be UP and the other Down. You view becomes inclusive instead of exclusive. You have reversed in yourself the force of culture from division to unity. Instead of seeking God (or the ONE) through elimination of false gods, you seek God or the One by including all gods, all fragments of the broken culture.
Thank you.
Are you suggesting that if “your culture” was Nazism that one should have submitted to that? Tell that to a Russian or a Pole or any decent human being. When you wrote “submit to the Father,” I read “submit to the Fuhrer.” THE Leader. THE One.
And if the 60s redefined the culture, does not that nullify your entire thesis?
The Buddha too revolted against HIS culture, that of the Hindu caste system. But moreover, some things have changed since 500BCE Northern India. We aren’t untouchables or serfs or living under a foreign power (as with Jesus). We live in a modern Republic. We are citizens and as such it is our civic duty to give constantly tend to our responsibility in that regard.
Besides, I think we should all now recognize that what YOU call culture is simply the viewpoint of one white male from a certain era. Meanwhile, there is black American culture. Asian American culture. Gay culture. Lesbian. Gender queer. There are people who think the world is flat as Voyager II just left the heliosphere and the Chinese landed a probe on the far side of the moon.
Indeed, even national culture is at odds with Global cuture everywhere. So maybe just speak of humanity. Or a human culture that is varied, multicolored, beautiful, horrendous, heroic and evil.
Anyway, the 60s weren’t the only significant moment in human history, and there are as many experiences of that time, good and bad, as there were people living then (which was too goddamn many, apparently).