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Comment by Martin Euser on October 25, 2011 at 2:20pm

Anand: in this context of culture wars, it is not so much about biological evolution (which is a slow process), but about evolution of the mind. So, yes, some conflict or tension seems unavoidable to me. And yes, Culture wars depict the story of mental evolution. It might be worthwhile to study Spiral Dynamics, a book from Chris Cowan and Don Beck. They have built on the work of Clare Graves, the researcher who segmented the human population into diverse meme-groups or rather according to values they hold (meme idea especially promoted and developed by his successors) on the basis of his results. (This might not be the popular definition of memes, BTW). Their blue meme seems to me associated with Traditionals, Their orange meme with Moderns, and their green, yellow and turquoise memes with Cultural Creatives. Don Beck has worked extensively with this material as a  consultant to the South-African government in the period right after Apartheid ended. A differential approach to diverse groups is needed, as their meme-world differs. He has written a little bit about that, though not much.

As to your second question: I tend to agree with you on this issue being a matter of different worldviews, different values,  probably Traditionals versus Moderns, although there are subdivisions in both groups: both have subgroups with extreme views within them, that attract the most attention. Whosoever shouts the hardest, gets the most attention,it seems. Conflict sells. Extreme views are reported, moderate views, even from a majority are being neglected. Shame on the media conglomerates for that. They produce biased views.

BTW, today the global oneness teleconference ended. (Talking about Cultural Creatives: this conference was filled to the brim with CCs). This involved thousands of participants from all over the world, and many organizations, with some having half a million of members. Free downloads of forum discussions soon to come at: recordings global oneness. Many leaders of interfaith organizations, UN representatives, cutting edge scientists, and much more! Very theosophical..Something to keep in mind.

This has been organized by the Shift network.

 

Comment by Capt. Anand Kumar on October 25, 2011 at 9:37am

Thank You Martin for this brilliant analysis within the framework of the Three Gunas. Do you think that:

 1. Some feel that the story of evolution of Humans is a story of conflict. Do you think Culture Wars depict the story of evolution too.

2. How can one put the ideas outlined by Samuel Huntington's classic "The Clash of Civilizations" within the framework of three gunas. To clarify, Huntington proposes the clash between Islam and Christianity as the clash between civilizations, but I have always felt that it was a clash between tradition and modernity.