08-02-2009, 08:15 PM
Western civilization over the last few centuries has been oddly schizoid. We often claim that we value freedom and creativity above everything else, and yet we trace our cultural pedigree back to the hierarchic despotisms and state-mandated religions of the ancient Near East. Today, with the contest between freedom and repression once again coming to a head, it seems more important than ever to locate our historical roots not in despotism, but in the most radically innovative and imaginative cultures of the past.
I believe that most of our cultural heritage as Westerners -- including the ultimate foundations of science and democracy -- can be traced back to the self-reliant, inventive folk who tested themselves against the rigors of the Ice Age steppes and found they could thrive even in the harshest of circumstances. If we can reconceive of the proto-Indo-Europeans not as conquering warriors and empire-builders, not as earthbound tillers of the soil, and not as uncouth barbarians needing to be civilized by outside impositions of regularity and discipline, but rather as imaginative, creative, magical thinkers, we may find a fitting model by which to renew ourselves and our society.
I believe that most of our cultural heritage as Westerners -- including the ultimate foundations of science and democracy -- can be traced back to the self-reliant, inventive folk who tested themselves against the rigors of the Ice Age steppes and found they could thrive even in the harshest of circumstances. If we can reconceive of the proto-Indo-Europeans not as conquering warriors and empire-builders, not as earthbound tillers of the soil, and not as uncouth barbarians needing to be civilized by outside impositions of regularity and discipline, but rather as imaginative, creative, magical thinkers, we may find a fitting model by which to renew ourselves and our society.