Culture and Civilization
The best expression of the human mind is possible in its relationship with the objects that belong to the System of Life. The System of Life is the system that controls everything that belongs to the Real World that lies outside the worlds that humans make based on their reasoning. That means there are two types of objects that control our consciousness.
The objects that belong to the System of Life.
The objects that we make as part of our civilizations.
Since the best expression of the our mind is possible in its interaction with the objects that belong to the System of Life, they must be called the ‘Objects of Culture’. The basic emotions of love and pity that are necessary for making one a human being disappears when human consciousness gets conquered by the objects that humans make. This is because these objects cannot generate these emotions that are necessary for the upgrading of consciousness. It is always better to have different words for different objects for clarity of thought. The objects that we make must be called the ‘Objects of Civilization’. ‘Objects of Civilization’ are ideologies, religions, many objects that belong to our economy, etc. When consciousness gets conquered by the ‘Objects of Civilization’ the mind gets alienated from the sensibilities that are necessary for the expression of culture. This alienation of consciousness from the ‘Objects of Culture’ leads to the degradation of all types of human relationships. Relationships mean relationships with the members of the family, society, and other components of the System of Life. The way of life that takes care of the sacred relationship with the components of the System of Life really expresses spirituality as these objects belong to the ‘Kingdom of God’. The alienation of consciousness from the ‘Kingdom of God’ happens because of the promotion of faith in objects that are alien to the System by religions as a necessity for the expression of spirituality though nothing in the Real World works on the basis of this faith.
‘Brahadaranyaka Upanishad’ (India, the Upanishads were written sometime during the period from 1400 B.C.E. to 800 B.C.E.)
“The worlds have deserted him who knows the worlds in aught else than the Soul, Beings have deserted him who knows beings in aught else than the Soul, Everything has deserted him who knows everything in aught else than the Soul.”
All things will desert us even if we know everything without having the sensibility of the soul for the components of the System of Life. Confucius said: “The Tao is the course by which all things should proceed. For things to fail in this is death; to observe it, is life. To oppose it in practice is ruin; to conform it, is success.” All human agencies are failing because they have become expressions of reductionism that violate the holistic System of Life.