^^ Important.
Following would have been off-topic in original thread -
<!--QuoteBegin-HareKrishna+Jun 13 2009, 10:39 PM-->QUOTE(HareKrishna @ Jun 13 2009, 10:39 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->You can call wishfull thinking ,but i hope the jat-goth-getae conection is true in some way.My self being a dakia-getae.Especialy if jats have really a strong sense of justice,a feeling also dear to me.
[right][snapback]98719[/snapback][/right]<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->Romani, why would you make genetic connection into a requirement? Is character a genetic trait? (I don't know.) Being an Indian, I am in some degree genetically related to Indians on this board as well as to other Angelsk-enabled Indians writing things outside of IF, and still have surprisingly very little in common with most of them.
If you are attracted to a sense of justice, then that could well be because this is a vital principle for you. Perhaps you are attracted to others that place a similar emphasis on a sense of justice, <i>because</i> you yourself value it so much.
There is such a thing as recognising spiritual kinship with people. And that bond I suspect is far stronger than a mere genetic relation. It's the difference between friends and distant family: you consciously <i>choose</i> your friends to be those people you admire and share things in common with. Why then should it be pivotal for you to find yourself physically related through some distant past to people who at some point in time placed an emphasis on whatever character trait you value?
Let's pick a straightforward example. For instance, being an Indian - and Tamizh what's more - I'm sure I am not related to Julian genetically, but don't need to be either in order for me to admire him or to recognise him as being a true and great-hearted friend of Natural Traditions and humanity, and therefore harbour fellow-feeling for him. There's no remote sense of loss by my not being genetically related to him.
The world would be a very lonely place mentally/spiritually if we were not allowed to feel an affinity to those people who were not somehow directly related to us. Have never felt any sense of jealousy in sharing my own ancestors with others. I think I actually learnt this from my grandparents, because they most seriously regarded themselves (and hence, so did I) as being equally grandparent to many other children in their village. Likewise I lay strong and valid claims to other Hindus' direct ancestors as being my own. Even where there may not be any visibly direct or recent genetic transmission to me. And I do so because they - well, they simply belong to me; completely, and in the only sense that matters. I don't have to defend such a statement, of course - it's perfectly natural; and have moreover noticed that this is the usual thing among Hindus in Bharatam. (The opposite is true too, obviously: I recognise no meaningful affinity with some who may or may not turn out to have whatever degree of genetic linkage with me.)
One last thing before this rather drab monologue ends: surely a keen sense of justice is not unique to the ethnic groups you mentioned, nor to your own known ancestors nor even to your own person. Perhaps it is shared by many more populations and subcommunities (and individuals) than have been advertised with the same.
Following would have been off-topic in original thread -
<!--QuoteBegin-HareKrishna+Jun 13 2009, 10:39 PM-->QUOTE(HareKrishna @ Jun 13 2009, 10:39 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->You can call wishfull thinking ,but i hope the jat-goth-getae conection is true in some way.My self being a dakia-getae.Especialy if jats have really a strong sense of justice,a feeling also dear to me.
[right][snapback]98719[/snapback][/right]<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->Romani, why would you make genetic connection into a requirement? Is character a genetic trait? (I don't know.) Being an Indian, I am in some degree genetically related to Indians on this board as well as to other Angelsk-enabled Indians writing things outside of IF, and still have surprisingly very little in common with most of them.
If you are attracted to a sense of justice, then that could well be because this is a vital principle for you. Perhaps you are attracted to others that place a similar emphasis on a sense of justice, <i>because</i> you yourself value it so much.
There is such a thing as recognising spiritual kinship with people. And that bond I suspect is far stronger than a mere genetic relation. It's the difference between friends and distant family: you consciously <i>choose</i> your friends to be those people you admire and share things in common with. Why then should it be pivotal for you to find yourself physically related through some distant past to people who at some point in time placed an emphasis on whatever character trait you value?
Let's pick a straightforward example. For instance, being an Indian - and Tamizh what's more - I'm sure I am not related to Julian genetically, but don't need to be either in order for me to admire him or to recognise him as being a true and great-hearted friend of Natural Traditions and humanity, and therefore harbour fellow-feeling for him. There's no remote sense of loss by my not being genetically related to him.
The world would be a very lonely place mentally/spiritually if we were not allowed to feel an affinity to those people who were not somehow directly related to us. Have never felt any sense of jealousy in sharing my own ancestors with others. I think I actually learnt this from my grandparents, because they most seriously regarded themselves (and hence, so did I) as being equally grandparent to many other children in their village. Likewise I lay strong and valid claims to other Hindus' direct ancestors as being my own. Even where there may not be any visibly direct or recent genetic transmission to me. And I do so because they - well, they simply belong to me; completely, and in the only sense that matters. I don't have to defend such a statement, of course - it's perfectly natural; and have moreover noticed that this is the usual thing among Hindus in Bharatam. (The opposite is true too, obviously: I recognise no meaningful affinity with some who may or may not turn out to have whatever degree of genetic linkage with me.)
One last thing before this rather drab monologue ends: surely a keen sense of justice is not unique to the ethnic groups you mentioned, nor to your own known ancestors nor even to your own person. Perhaps it is shared by many more populations and subcommunities (and individuals) than have been advertised with the same.