This is a thoughtful series of posts that leads to reflect on the importance of provenance. If we don't know where we've come from, its difficult to understand the context or importance of where we're going. It will be interesting to pull these posts together over the Christmas break and read them beginning to end. Thankyou.
Thank you for your question. I have a few thoughts. It is not really “worship” but respect for the generations that have preceded us. There should not be an obligation where we are forced to comply with the ways of the past that are no longer relevant for today. Here in the US, our culture is very present day oriented. I suspect many 20 year olds would not be able to say who their great grandparents were. So, to speak of “ancestry worship” in our context is a humorous way of saying, we respect the generations that have gone before us. When we tell the stories of those generations their history becomes our history. Many years ago I took my family to Scotland where some of my ancestors are from. To be physically present where our ancestors once were becomes an embodied memory instead of just a story. In many way’s American culture worships youth culture. This is not true in other places. Several years ago I traveled to Africa. There I was called MZee. It is a term of respect for an older man as a person of wisdom. This is probably much more like your Hindu culture where respect for your elders is an honorable practice. That is fine as long as we understand that no one is always right. Therefore, we must think for ourselves, remembering those who have gone before, recognizing that their historical and cultural moment is different than ours. We can’t live in the past. We can certainly remember it who the wisdom we can derive from it.
This is a thoughtful series of posts that leads to reflect on the importance of provenance. If we don't know where we've come from, its difficult to understand the context or importance of where we're going. It will be interesting to pull these posts together over the Christmas break and read them beginning to end. Thankyou.
These posts are organized into six series. All written between 2011 and 2013. I'm posting one every other day. Thanks for your appreciation.
Thank you for your question. I have a few thoughts. It is not really “worship” but respect for the generations that have preceded us. There should not be an obligation where we are forced to comply with the ways of the past that are no longer relevant for today. Here in the US, our culture is very present day oriented. I suspect many 20 year olds would not be able to say who their great grandparents were. So, to speak of “ancestry worship” in our context is a humorous way of saying, we respect the generations that have gone before us. When we tell the stories of those generations their history becomes our history. Many years ago I took my family to Scotland where some of my ancestors are from. To be physically present where our ancestors once were becomes an embodied memory instead of just a story. In many way’s American culture worships youth culture. This is not true in other places. Several years ago I traveled to Africa. There I was called MZee. It is a term of respect for an older man as a person of wisdom. This is probably much more like your Hindu culture where respect for your elders is an honorable practice. That is fine as long as we understand that no one is always right. Therefore, we must think for ourselves, remembering those who have gone before, recognizing that their historical and cultural moment is different than ours. We can’t live in the past. We can certainly remember it who the wisdom we can derive from it.
Yeah. You can imagine what our conversations are like.