Das ganze Leben
The entire life
La vie entière
November 2011
The cultural function of holiness
What makes that a culture can survive?
Our culture works because there are people who do a work and want to achieve something. But maybe there will be a climate change, perhaps a natural resource is consumed or a useful plant grows no longer as it is expected of her. There are many possible changes, which are difficult to manage.
In a culture where nobody does help one an other and nobody does warn others of a coming danger, where no one offers help and protection, there will be many more children who suffer accidents, because they lack the experience to assess the hazards. If there are no people who correct errors and omissions of others for on their jobs, any errors will generate his negative impact. A peaceful social life and a complex economic structure will not be possible under such circumstances. A society will not be able to achieve long-term solutions when everyone only sees his advantage and hides the facts that are unpleasant for him. For this reason it can collapse because of inanities. For this reason the people who do the right things are so important. Without them, society degenerates.
A purely materialistic culture is hungry and dynamic. A starving culture needs new land and people and goods that can be controlled. But because there are no other lands and regions in the world, a culture based on dynamism must ultimately destroy what already exists.
The one who concentrates his thoughts and feelings entirely on the satisfaction of material desires has a difficult task. Because each realization of a desire is the ground on which new desires arise. The woman, who has finally found her perfect hair, wants now to be envied and admired and the hairstyle of her dreams does not stand forever.
The one who directs his thoughts and feelings completely on satisfying the material desires may often find satisfaction, but he will never find peace and holiness, because holiness and peace are states, are non-material values.
The dimensions of peace, beauty and holiness are of great importance for the quality of a culture
Peace and holiness are dimensions in which you want to stay if once you have tuched them. They are the counterpart of a life linked to greed. If young people want to have a future, they must reject the thinking of many elderly people. They must build a better culture!
Clash of Civilizations?
It quite often happens that groups whose interests contradict, start to fight together seriously. The fact that many people participate in such voluntary actions enthusiastically and by choice shows that people are dangerous. Statistics say that people who feel valued and safe are much less attracted to excesses of violence and other dangerous things than people who live in a culture of fightings.
A good culture does not make people better, but it leads to a decrease of excessive violence. A good culture is the foundation for peaceful coexistence.
This access must have consequences. All the people working in cultural areas are invited to make descriptions, images and drafts, which should be used to find the best basis of a culture possible.
Subsequently these ideas and approaches have to be integrated into policy and legislation. It takes courage. Of course. But without courage, we risk that our culture will be caught in a painful downward spiral.