Cultural Interplay

I saw Downward Facing again, and mused on the fact that Mishelle's play, and my upcoming play, both grapple a bit with yoga's spiritual message.

The yoga-influenced woman in her play is focused on the redemptive experience of being filled with light and goodness. She is paired with a person who makes fun of this goody-two-shoes attitude.

The yoga-influenced woman in my play is focused on limiting attachment as a way of achieving serenity. She is paired with a person who believes that attachments must be treasured.

Neither of these ideas is really particularly East Indian. And the way yoga is influencing American culture is extremely "watered down" compared to born-and-bred caste-based Hinduism. Of course, American culture has long displayed an ability to extract desirable features from other cultures. Right now, we seem to be going through a major and prolonged "encounter" of this sort with Asian culture. I don't mean to overestimate its role, but it's real enough.

Stepping back and looking at the big picture, globalization does not really present us with full homogenization of culture, but it does present us with exposure to more cultures. Which gives you choices. You can attempt to sift through some of what the other cultures present, seeing if there is anything you would like. Or you can just refuse to do so.

The upheavals in the Muslim world seem to be partly a virulent reaction to this experience. Western and East Asian cultures, piped in by TV and the Net and cheap air travel, present ways of being that are very different than traditional Muslim ways of being. Some of our ways, in point of fact, work better than their ways. Ironically, those who wish to assert Muslim superiority often themselves adopt doctrines from the West. You see this with the adoption of Marxist rhetoric, or fascist rhetoric, or democratic rhetoric, for example.

What curious things there are
in the cultural bazaar.