Culture Creators

"Creativeness is something which proceeds from within, out of immeasurable and inexplicable depths, not from without, not from the worlds necessity." Nicholas Berdyaev 

  Sumeria is a civilization that historians believe is the oldest on the planet. Some archeology indicates that Sumerian history goes back over 200,000 years. Hard to believe, I know! 

  The Sumerians appeared to have a succession of rulers and gods that were constantly at war with each other. Kind of like the Caesars of Rome, taking each other out for the throne. It was and is a big deal to be the ruler of a civilization. It appears that the ruler's position was so important because they were the ones that not only called the shots but also created the culture. Think about it. The ruling class were the ones in the know, referred to as the gods. The rulers seemed to have all the good stuff and had control of the knowledge base. Writings suggest that the gods were the ones that introduced important information, wisdom, technologies, and philosophies to the ruled class. Yes, the Sumerians had all of that and then some. There are records of medical procedures, libraries; you name it. Now, you will have a difficult time with this and even more difficult finding the primary sources that give up this information. But it is out there, and I am not making this up! 

  So what does this have to do with being creative? Good question. In an earlier post, I was working through how the culture we live in is not always our friend if you are creative. A true creative! Phenomena events create culture, and an individual creates these events. The individual is a culture creator, and the created event is adopted as popular enough it becomes a cultural phenomenon, and a wave is produced from the phenomena. At this point, something is added to our culture, and we are all influenced by the phenomena. A culture creator is someone who will now experience fame of some kind or another. Culture now exists as the creator of the culture and the recipient of the culture. A human has created every cultural phenomenon, but what inspired the event? That is an interesting question, for sure! 

  Back to the Sumerians and subsequently the Greeks. Who were the culture creators? Who was directing the traffic? 

  Archeology speaks of those that directed traffic during recent and far-off cultures. Making a bold claim at this time, I am going to suggest that the gods of these cultures were the creators of culture. Who else was able to transfer the highlights of culture in such a short period? The archeology from these periods indicates that it was, in fact, the gods that were the transferrers of information. They were creating the indicated civilizations via technology transfer, religious beliefs (a big one), and driving the everyday cultures to operate in the desired fashion. Consider the ceremonial rituals of the bloody Aztecs! The gods of the day were empowered in their bloody ceremonies, and the natives were always present, cheering them on. 

  The first modern definition of culture by a gentleman named Edward Burnett Taylor says this. "Culture stands for all areas of human activity irrespective of their beneficial character. Culture comprises the level of knowledge of a given community, religious rites, customs, system of beliefs, ethical principles, skills and patterns of behavior acquired during upbringing in a given community." Notice he says the level of "knowledge and system of beliefs." I maintain that it is the created culture that as Berdyaev states, that creates a "culture of slavery of thought and principles." And in a slavery culture created by the gods of civilization, the narrative and memes are difficult to expunge from your way of thinking and paradigm. It controls your every thought and conversation. 

  We currently live in a culture referred to as Western Civilization or the Western World. Something or something has been directing traffic since the beginning of time, and culture is created for us to assimilate and live in. It drives the conversations and thoughts of those living in the culture. It affects everything about us. David Bohm states, "Most of our individual assumptions are the product of our cultural conditioning and our collective background." Now that is an exciting thought. 

  Till next time.