Book Review ~ From Goan Voice Canada

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                From: http://www.goanvoice.ca/printerfile.php


               EVOLVING WORLD CULTURES: A Framework With A Canadian
Interpretation
              Author: Henry D'Souza

              Summary From Back Cover: This informative and
multi-disciplinary study presents a model
              for viewing globcultures. It provides a new definition of
"culture" and a tri-polar paradigm for
              conceptualising cultural similarities and differences, while
stressing the dominance of
              little-known international culture over national and ethnic
cultures. The study of cultural
              development from the time of recorded history reveals more
consistency with the "Out of
              Asia" theory than with " Out of of Africa" one. Economic
disparities between North and
              South can be explained partly by cultural prejudices and
partly by racial subjugation through
              education and finance. The book argues that if traditional
policies of encirclement continue a
              racial war is inevitable despite the fact that the world is
moving towards an integrated
              civilisation.

             Excerpts from Chapter 4 - CULTURAL ROOTS

              .....Most westeners see their civilisation, and therefore
their education, as originating in the
              Aegean and receiving its real character from the culture of
Greece, Rome and
              Jerusalem".....

              .... Western education is founded on Christianity, which
together with Judaism, are eastern
              religions.....

              ....The story of the sacred tree in paradise also has its
parallels in the ancient world. The
              Indus Valley seals, 2000B.C., show a tree guarded by a spirit
while a composite creature, a
              tiger demon, tries to steal it. A thousand years earlier, or
is it later, in Mesopotamia the
              sacred tree is guarded by a composite animal with an
elephant's head and a bovine body.
              Mathieson quotes the Nuer in Africa as saying that the tree
where man was born still stood
              within living memory. Shastri states that the sacred tree was
usually the pipal or acacia but
              others were chosen later. In the case of Buddha the bodhi tree
inspired revelation.

              There are other religious borrowings with adaptations. The
seven-branched menorah of
              Judaism is like the thicket without the ram associated with
the statue at Ur. The tale of the
              Flood occurs in a Persian pre-historic epic: after a Divine
warning of another Ice-age, a
              fortress, var, was filled with the finest animal and plant
species so that procreation could
              continue. India's pre-Vedic Noah was Manu. The roots of the
Bible can be traced through
              the Jewish Torah, 400 B.C., the Persian Avesta, 500 B.C., the
Buddhist Pali Canon which
              was expounded between 500 and 250 B.C., the Confucian
Analects, 500 B.C., and the
              Vedas, 4000 B.C.. Just as a select group of priests compiled
the Rabbinical works of the
              Jews, the Talmud and Midrah, the "rishis" had their
interpretations collected in the Indian
              Upanishad. No wonder the consultants to Life's The World's
Great Religions concluded that,
              "without question it( Hinduism) has influenced western thought
indirectly for centuries....


Posted by JJD'S

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