Civilization

numan · Feb 24, 2017

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You can be said to have an understanding of the rudiments of civilized life if you can understand the meaning of this little story. It is my own translation from the 3rd century BC Chinese philosopher, Huai Nan-zi.

THE OLD MAN ON THE FRONTIER LOSES A HORSE

Among the people who lived close to the border, there was a man who was adept as a sage. The man owned a mare which one day escaped and went off into barbarian territory. Everyone pitied him, but the old man said : "What makes you think it is not good fortune?"

Several months later, his mare returned, with a superb barbarian stallion following her. Everyone congratulated the old man. But he said: "What makes you think this cannot be a misfortune?"

The family was richer by a good horse, and the old man's son liked to ride it. One day the son was thrown from the spirited stallion, broke his hip and was lamed for life. Everyone pitied him, but the old man said: "What makes you think this is not good fortune!"

One year later, there was a large incursion of barbarians into the borderlands. Every able-bodied young man was drafted and went off to war ---but the old man's son was rejected on account of his lameness. Of those who went off, nine out of ten were killed. The son was spared because he was lame, so he and his father had each other to rely on for support.

So good fortune changes into bad fortune; bad fortune changes into good fortune. There is no limit to transformation; its depth cannot be fathomed.

The Chinese have the Dao; the poor Americans only have the Dow.
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numan · Feb 26, 2017

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When I visited the Imperial Palace in Beijing, in the throne room, above the throne was a giant placard with the three Chinese characters "WEI WU WEI".

Literally, the three characters translate to: "DOING WITHOUT DOING".

However, in Chinese this really means something like ACHIEVE WITHOUT STRIVING.

This is a principle of Chinese civilization which has permeated that society for thousands of years, and which one ignores or violates at one's peril.

One small instantiation of this principle produced what the Japanese call jujitsu and aikido.

It is as fundamental to East Asian civilization as "love thy neighbor" has been to the culture of the West. Just as "love thy neighbor" has been endlessly violated by people in our culture, "wei wu wei" has been violated in the culture of east Asia --- but equally, one must recognize that each principle has had profound influences in their respective cultures.

It is utterly absurd to imagine that G.W. Bush or Trump could ever have, in the Oval Office, a plaque inscribed Achieve without Striving.

Though I could easily imagine that they should have one inscribed Strive without Achieving. ---

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numan · Feb 26, 2017

Civilisation and Barbarism

One of my favourite movies is Alain Resnais' marvelous 1961 classic, L'Année Dernière à Marienbad: "Last Year at Marienbad." It resonates so much with my vision of Western civilization. There are so many wonderful aspects of western culture, and I would feel an unutterable impoverishment of my soul if I were no longer a participant in that civilization, particularly its "high culture." Yet deep in my heart there is a kind of disgust for the core of that civilization.

What is it that I find so repellent about Western civilization? In a word: grandeur. Even worse: folie de grandeur. Running like a cancer through the Western soul is an obsessive and unceasing egoism and vanity, an urge to present oneself as more than one really is. There is a dreadful pomposity about so much of the traditional high culture of Europe; one sees it in music, architecture, painting, cuisine, even furniture! Everything is unremittingly grand, crowded with ornateness, so often wearying to eye, ear and mind. All those nobles and prelates insisting on their portraits being crammed into the most sacred works of art! Since the artists were the creatures ---- indeed, the slaves ---- of the nobility and the Church, they had no choice but to flatter the obscenely inflated vanity of those who held power over them.

L'Année Dernière à Marienbad exemplifies all this magnificently. There is never a moment's respite from grandeur, it is stifling, obsessive and delirious. The people are slaves to convention, to formality, to the lies of their delusions. There is not an inch of space on which to relax, to be human. Remember the wonderful scene in the formal gardens of the spa: the trees, bushes, buildings cast shadows: but the people do not! They wander like aimless ghosts through the grandeur of European civilization ---- and its wreckage! The film has a quality of dream, nightmare, delirium ---- even of the after-death state.

When I compare China with Europe, I find the high culture of traditional China immensely more refreshing and appealing. Chinese high culture is a super-sophisticated refinement of peasant culture. It rarely loses touch with the human and humane soil out of which it grows. Traditional Chinese architecture was usually constructed of wood, it seldom strove to intimidate and awe, it was built for human beings, not princes and demi-gods, and its ideal was to blend in with nature and the landscape.

The traditional Chinese gentleman has been described as one who was a Confucian when he held office, and a Daoist in private life. Chinese gentlemen were expected to master five skills: calligraphy (an extremely powerful and subtle form of Chinese writing), painting, poetry, playing the qin (a type of zither with silk strings and no frets), and the game of wei-qi (a Chinese game better known in the West under the Japanese name go). He was expected to have other accomplishments as well, but these five were basic. Note that they were all highly portable; three of them required no more than paper, ink and brush ---- and a refined consciousness.

Compare these with the heavy impedimenta of European nobility, and you may gain a tongue-tip taste of true, refined elegance.
_________________________________________

The civilized are those who get more out of life than the uncivilized, and for this the uncivilized have not forgiven them.
---- Cyril Connolly
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numan · Feb 28, 2017

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Interestingly, America has seen a wave of classical string players coming out of Korea and Vietnam. They are winning most of the American awards for young violinists. China is just getting warmed up. It takes an "ideal" American student to compare....

In 1978 I was walking through a village in the Western Hills, outside of Beijing, and heard someone in an upper window playing Mozart on the violin---and playing it quite well. It was moving to know that something of beauty had survived the brutality of the so-called "Cultural Revolution."

The same year, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra came on tour to China---I think it was the first tour after the Cultural Revolution by a major western symphony orchestra.

I attended the performance in Beijing. It was a very mixed audience---tickets were still being alloted to soldiers, factory workers and the like who had no knowledge of Western music. The Toronto Symphony played a number of warhorses, and one rather long, "aggressively modern"---and very atonal---piece, which I thought was a mistake, given the circumstances. The applause through the performance was rather tepid.

As a finale, A member of the orchestra played a traditional Chinese melody on a native Chinese two-string fiddle. That was more appreciated by the audience. Then, to everyone's amazement, the full orchestra took the same melody and gave it a full orchestral treatment. It was a very powerful experience, and when they finished, the audience went wild with applause !

Won't it be ironic if the best of Western culture is preserved by the Chinese, whilst the synthetic "culture" of American info-tainment plummets ever further into the abyss of the barbaric caterwauling of "pop" music?

I am reminded of the image I retain of a French Riviera beach, where very black Africans in business suits were selling trinkets to French nude sun-bathers.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

· · ·

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numan · Feb 28, 2017

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I am quite aware that many treasures of high culture are preserved in the United States and that there are many more-or-less civilized citizens who can appreciate them. Why not? The USA is a rich country, and can well afford these luxuries for the few.

As a whole, though, in the greater society, these treasures are few and far between. They are the tattered remnants of beauty, tiny islets crumbling before the onslaughts of the savage sea surrounding them, lashed by waves of frenzied info-tainment, and the barbaric screams and whoops and hollers of the cannibal hordes who encircle them.

The remnants of beauty and harmony and taste are reduced to being museum pieces --- no longer guiding stars for living society, which descends ever further into disorder, crime, murder---and worst of all---bad taste!
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tecoyah · Feb 28, 2017

Beauty found so simply fired
A season scent, tendrils wrapped
Heated embrace
deeply breath inhaled
Words are placed and thought inspired
No pedestal or frame
All is in place as nothing failed
No institute required

For beautiful in boredom mired.

RoccoR · Mar 8, 2017

The Political Fray > Philosophy > Civilization
numan, et al,

This maybe an inspired view point; but maybe misguided through the twist in the information chain.

EXCERPT FROM: numan said:
... Why not? The USA is a rich country, and can well afford these luxuries for the few.

(COMMENT)

Most people (layman on the subject) are easily mislead about the Wealth of a Nation or what exactly that means. These laymen generally use the Gross National Product (GNP) and call it a day. Using that standard, you would say (the thumbnail view is the market value of all final goods and services produced in 2016) the wealthiest nation in the world were:

TOP FIVE WEALTHIEST NATIONS

• United States,
• China,
• Germany,
• Japan,
• UK

In fact, you would not be far-off if you were to say that the US hold about a quarter (≈25%) of the worlds wealth. (Having said that, do you feel that wealthy?) Most people in America do not. Why, because of the distribution of wealth.

See: Global Finance: What do we mean when we apply terms like “richest” and “poorest” to entire countries? February 13, 2017 Author: Jonathan Gregson

You'll come to understand that the US is not so rich in comparison to other nations in the world. In fact, the none of the TOP FIVE nations ranked by GDP are in the IMF TOP TEN ranking when considering purchasing power.

The TOP FIVE ranking based on the GDP-PPP (GDP, adjusted for purchasing power parity) are:

•∆• Qatar
•∆• Luxembourg
•∆• Macao
•∆• Singapore
•∆• Brunel Darussalam

EXCERPT FROM: numan said:
As a whole, though, in the greater society, these treasures are few and far between. They are the tattered remnants of beauty, tiny islets crumbling before the onslaughts of the savage sea surrounding them, lashed by waves of frenzied info-tainment, and the barbaric screams and whoops and hollers of the cannibal hordes who encircle them.

(COMMENT)

I'm not sure I know how to apply this or what it really means.

EXCERPT FROM: numan said:
The remnants of beauty and harmony and taste are reduced to being museum pieces --- no longer guiding stars for living society, which descends ever further into disorder, crime, murder---and worst of all---bad taste!
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(COMMENT)

Throughout America, as well a many other nations, there is this natural tendency to move from order to disorder in quasi-isolated economic systems. The appreciation of Beauty and Harmony in varies from one sub-culture to the next.

In fact, America is moving away from being the Mecca of Science and Philosophy. It is gradually moving away from encouraging greater levels of education. This educational and economic entropy cannot be reverse under the myopic governing leadership within the American Environment. And in this negative movement, the appreciation of the priceless artefacts that are thousands of years old diminishes.

Most respectfully,
R

RoccoR · Mar 8, 2017

Aufgeblassen, et al,

I actually like these proportional % scalars. But they often, as this one does, set another question in play.

Aufgeblassen said:
% of population below poverty line would be a good measure. NONE of the countries with LESS poverty than the U.S., would I prefer to, or consider living in.

(COMMENT)

Look at the vast difference between the % of Americans in poverty and that of Taiwan, South Korea and Belgium. Obviously their government is much more successful at managing a country than Washington.

Number_in_Poverty_and_Poverty_Rate_1959_to_2011._United_States..PNG

This is not the only reason people in America are moving away from the failure generating mainstream political parties. It goes along way to explaining how The President got elected. And now, the same failures calling themselves Members of Congress are ignoring the problems of America AGAIN, and playing politics against The President.

Countries that are rich, are not as dominated by failed political incumbents as America and that demonstrates (only in part) how and why America's deteriorating. (See 2017 ASCE Infrastructure Report Card coming 9 MARCH 2017)

The economic and foundation health of America come only after decades of failed leadership and lack of focus from Washington.

Most Respectfully,
R

RoccoR · Mar 8, 2017

REF: The Political Fray > Philosophy > Civilization
Aufgeblassen, et al,

Yes, as a matter of fact, this type of argument the political aspect of the Congress (as opposed to the "Administration") have effectively used for more than half a century.

War on Poverty After 50 Years
Rachel Sheffield and Robert Rector
The Heritage Foundation
Summary In his January 1964 State of the Union address, President Lyndon Johnson proclaimed, “This administration today, here and now, declares unconditional war on poverty in America.” In the 50 years since that time, U.S. taxpayers have spent over $22 trillion on anti-poverty programs. Adjusted for inflation, this spending (which does not include Social Security or Medicare) is three times the cost of all U.S. military wars since the American Revolution. Yet progress against poverty, as measured by the U.S. Census Bureau, has been minimal, and in terms of President Johnson’s main goal of reducing the “causes” rather than the mere “consequences” of poverty, the War on Poverty has failed completely. In fact, a significant portion of the population is now less capable of self-sufficiency than it was when the War on Poverty began.

That is $22 trillion on anti-poverty programs which have failed completely.

Aufgeblassen said:
Since 1965, the number +/- 2 points at the most, being relatively stable, indicating you can't really blame one Administration or party.

If you plotted gov't. spending vs. poverty rate, you would see only an upward sloping line for poverty! Indicating gov't spending does not help the poor, so cutting way back is indeed a good idea.

Yes, this is a mathematics slight of hand. While you are reasonably accurate in that "Since 1965, --- being relatively stable, this does not represent the actual impact. During that same period, the number of Americans in poverty increased by 20 Million citizens.

The increase in anti-poverty spending and the unchanged level in poverty is merely suggestive of a poor performance -- in the overall basket of anti-poverty programs. This is just one element of evidence relative to the poorest of quality leadership in Washington.

Most Respectfully,
R

numan · Mar 8, 2017

'

By Country: income inequality and violence

By Country: Income Inequality and Social Mobility

Every year, more than 1% of the USA population experience homelessness---several times higher than in most European countries. 39% of those USA homeless are children.

And yes! The chart is right! The USA scores very low in social mobility! Another propaganda myth bites the dust!
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numan · Mar 8, 2017

Aufgeblassen said:
That chart is pretty irrelevant! If poor in country "A" and country "B" are at exact same level, it does not matter if the differential is twice as high for one of them, because POOR ARE AT SAME LEVEL! It is BETTER to have a moderate differential, than almost NONE at all; that would mean EVERYBODY is POOR!

Overblown gibberish !! ---

The bottom line is "poor" families here are MUCH better off, and have not one, but several cell phones, large TVs, microwaves, nice cars, etc., but if you look at 3rd world countries, not so much! - hello? So "income disparity" does not mean nearly as much as if you live in a "wealthy" country vs. 3rd world one.

Nonsense!

It is obvious from the chart that, except for three or four countries at the top of the chart, all the countries are "wealthy" countries, not third world ones!
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RoccoR · Mar 9, 2017

Aufgeblassen, et al,

I'm not so sure that this is accurate.

Aufgeblassen said:
The REAL measure of a country, would be DEVELOPMENT. How developed a country is. This is the one parameter that lifts a country out of poverty. Problem is, it is difficult to put a hard and fast number on it. It is like porn - we know it when we see it.

(COMMENT)

In your introductory chart of "Population Below the Poverty %" from the from the Aufgeblassen Posting #11 (supra) --- you will notice that the bottom ranked country is "Israel." So I went to the UN Development Programme and looked-up Israel on the 2015 Human Development Index. You will notice that Israel ranks 18th World-wide. In fact, it is by far, the most developed country of ALL the Middle East and Persian Gulf Countries and any Arab League Nation across North Africa. That includes the Turkish Republic and every single oil rich country in the cartel.

While I would agree that the Human Development progress of any nation is a "Key Element," I would not say it is the most important aspect. Everything we have discussed contributes to net present value of any nation. That would even include such indicators as the technical and scientific measure such as the contributions to the world recognized by the award of Nobel Prizes.

Just One Man's Opinion --- Respectfully,
R

tecoyah · Mar 9, 2017

Aufgeblassen said:
Are those TV commercials about sending money to Israel FAKE then? I think they say like 40% of Israelis are in poverty. That is understandable, with as much as Israel has to spend on defense from hostile neighbors all around and terrorists to boot.

I always say that the U.N. should have put Israel in a part of Greenland in 1948, instead of that hotbed, which was a very bad idea. The world might be terror-free now if they had thought the whole thing through better! :smug:

If we go by TV commercials the U.S. is full of starving children, homeless Veterans, Tortured pets, and limp dick men.

RoccoR · Mar 9, 2017

Aufgeblassen, et al,

Well, there is all sorts of misinformation about Israel floating out there in cyberspace. And various Arab factions within the regional area are dedicated to producing anti-Western and Anti-Israel propaganda. It is very well produced and has just enough truth in it to sound credible.

Aufgeblassen said:
Are those TV commercials about sending money to Israel FAKE then? I think they say like 40% of Israelis are in poverty. That is understandable, with as much as Israel has to spend on defense from hostile neighbors all around and terrorists to boot.

(COMMENT)

If you look at the actual figures, say from the CIA Fact Book - Israel (Page last updated on January 12, 2017), you will find that the actual numbers are like this:

• Labor force - by occupation:

agriculture: 1.1%
industry: 17.3%
services: 81.6% (2015 est.)

• Unemployment rate:

5% (2016 est.)
5.3% (2015 est.)
country comparison to the world: 53

• Population below poverty line: 22%

US Figures
This weekMonth agoYear agoUnemployment Rate4.84.84.9

Read more: Unemployment Rate
Follow us: @Bankrate on Twitter | Bankrate on Facebook

The official poverty rate is 13.5 percent, based on the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2015 estimates. That year, an estimated 43.1 million Americans lived in poverty according to the official measure. According to supplemental poverty measure, the poverty rate was 14.3 percent.

Aufgeblassen said:
I always say that the U.N. should have put Israel in a part of Greenland in 1948, instead of that hotbed, which was a very bad idea. The world might be terror-free now if they had thought the whole thing through better!

(COMMENT)

Well, the UN did not decided the placement of Israeli immigration and the Jewish National Home. The was decided in 1920 by the Allied Powers (the Principle Victor of the Great War) at the San Remo Conference. This was utilizing the the Treaty of Lausanne, which replaced the Treaty of Sèvres, and which the complemented the Armistice of Mudros (the defeat of the Ottoman Empire).

In Article 16, to the Treaty of Lausanne, "Turkey hereby renounces all rights and title whatsoever over or respecting the territories situated outside the frontiers;" and "recognised by the said Treaty, the future of these territories" as decided by the Allied Powers.

The San Remo Conference, concluded in Arpril 1920, paved the way for the hand-off of the territories from control by the Occupied Enemy Territories Administration (OETA) to the Civil Administration established by the League of Nation Mandates in July 1920; in the case of the Jewish National Home, the Mandate for Palestine (1922) applied.

Whereas the Principal Allied Powers have also agreed that the Mandatory should be responsible for putting into effect the declaration originally made on November 2nd, 1917, by the Government of His Britannic Majesty, and adopted by the said Powers, in favour of the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people,

• But I digress here from the TOPIC and force myself back on the tracks.

Most Respectfully,
R

numan · Mar 9, 2017

Aufgeblassen said:
I think they say like 40% of Israelis are in poverty....

Like I said....

----

--- Eek! --- Like Speak!!

I never suspected that you had sunk as low as that !! ---

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numan · Mar 9, 2017

Aufgeblassen said:
I always say that the U.N. should have put Israel in a part of Greenland in 1948, instead of that hotbed, which was a very bad idea. The world might be terror-free now if they had thought the whole thing through better! :smug:

Sagacious, Bold and Turbulent of Wit....

I have a better idea.

Now, now --- don't everyone start offering me the Nobel Prize all at once; 'twarn't nothin' !

My program for solving the problems of the Mideast is, as usual, blindingly simple, clear and effective. The United States should, in that spirit of true generosity which it incessantly praises itself for possessing in great abundance, give the southern half of Florida to the state of Israel as New Israel, in exchange for removing itself from the Middle East. Surely, in common decency, considering the great evil which the US has inflicted on the Middle East for more than half-a-century, it is the least it can do. Jews obviously like Florida---there are so many there already---so the transition should be easy. After being cooped-up in that dangerous, god-forsaken, postage-stamp-sized desert where they are now, New Israel should make them happy as clams. They will come to see New Israel as the TRUE Land of Milk and Honey which was foretold in their scriptures.

It will be a win-win situation for everybody. The New Israelites will have a safe, clean, prosperous land to develop. They will finally be able to earn their own keep. The United States will no longer need to spend countless billions of dollars of its treasure in the vain attempt to prop up a doomed country in a hostile region. The Arabs will be over-joyed to take possession of the desert wasteland they covet so much. This sense of victory will give a much-needed boost to their sense of self-confidence after having defeated themselves in so many wars. I am sure that in exchange for this settlement of outstanding grievances they would gladly allow those few Jewish religious conservatives who did not want to emigrate to the fleshpots of New Israel to end their days in contentment, happily and peacefully banging their heads against the Wailing Wall.

Also, after a few years, when tempers have had time to cool down, the Arabs will probably be begging New Israelite technicians and scientists to return to the Middle East, in order to help them develop their economies and educational institutions. [That was the way Zionism was originally supposed to work---remember?]

It is true that there will be a few losers in the otherwise astounding perfection of this scheme. There will be a few fundamentalist Christians who will be deeply saddened that, due to the absence of a Jewish government in Jerusalem, the End of the World will have to be postponed. I would console them with the reflection that it is the Will of the Almighty that life be a vale of tears for the Elect of God.

Lastly---and this is the clincher---the consideration which will make the American people, nay, the people of the entire world, embrace this proposal with fervor: once this brilliant plan is implemented something finally will be done about global warming! The citizens of New Israel will move heaven and earth to prevent so much valuable real estate from being swallowed up by rising sea-levels!

I am in awe of the wondrous radiance of my beautiful mind!

I AM a True American!

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numan · May 4, 2017

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Americans are not funny (except when they are being serious, of course

). They have no sense of humor. That is why they have to hire foreigners (usually Canadians, Jews and Englishmen) to teach them what to laugh at.

The most amusing (and, to a large degree, true!) series ever to air on American television was Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister. What wit! What finesse! Very droll!

The finest flowering of the post-war Ealing Studios was, of course, Kind Hearts and Coronets! What a priceless send-up of the Victorian Era --- and a bitter-sweet leave-taking of it!

The English sense of humor is the greatest accomplishment of the British people. It is a unique contribution to the human species, a "possession for the ages," which will still be living and fresh long after the transient and trivial British Empire is forgotten.

A college friend once wrote to me: "Sometimes I think that I learned everything I needed to know in first grade--and from British humorists."

A treat which has delighted me ever since I was a child, and which I re-play at least once a year, is "At the Drop of a Hat" by Swann & Flanders, an incredibly funny and sweet (and, of course, erudite) musical revue. Who could ever forget The Hippopotamus Song, the marvelous wom-pom, The Song of Reproduction, "Greenfleeves: funny title for a fong," "the garden's full of furniture, and the house is full of plants," "then it flashed through her mind what her mother had said, with her antepenultimate breath," and "that big six-wheeler, scarlet-painted, London transport, diesel-engine, 97-horsepower om-ni-bus."

One American who was funny (though it is his Jewish sensibility showing through) is Tom Lehrer: "Pollution! Pollution! Use the latest toothpaste, and then rinse your mouth with industrial waste!" And then there is his Vatican Rag: "First you get down on your knees, fiddle with your rosary, bow your head with great respect, and genuflect, genuflect, genuflect!"

I will grudgingly admit that Abbott and Costello's Who's on First is worthy to be the "suppliance of a moment."
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arcturus88 · May 5, 2017

numan said:
'
When I visited the Imperial Palace in Beijing, in the throne room, above the throne was a giant placard with the three Chinese characters "WEI WU WEI".

Literally, the three characters translate to: "DOING WITHOUT DOING".

However, in Chinese this really means something like ACHIEVE WITHOUT STRIVING.

This is a principle of Chinese civilization which has permeated that society for thousands of years, and which one ignores or violates at one's peril.

One small instantiation of this principle produced what the Japanese call jujitsu and aikido.

It is as fundamental to East Asian civilization as "love thy neighbor" has been to the culture of the West. Just as "love thy neighbor" has been endlessly violated by people in our culture, "wei wu wei" has been violated in the culture of east Asia --- but equally, one must recognize that each principle has had profound influences in their respective cultures.

It is utterly absurd to imagine that G.W. Bush or Trump could ever have, in the Oval Office, a plaque inscribed Achieve without Striving.

Though I could easily imagine that they should have one inscribed Strive without Achieving. ---
.

When you lived in ancient imperial China as the emperor, "Achieve without Striving," is easy because your servants did everything for you.

Leftists wistfully long for a time when elitists ruled the foolish masses by force.

arcturus88 · May 5, 2017

numan said:
'
Americans are not funny (except when they are being serious, of course). They have no sense of humor. That is why they have to hire foreigners (usually Canadians, Jews and Englishmen) to teach them what to laugh at.

numan said:
I don't think Americans are that different from the rest of humanity

:giggle:

numan · May 6, 2017

'
As I wrote somewhere before:

There are two mistakes you can make about people: one, is to think that they are different, the other, is to think that they are all the same
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Civilization

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