5. Checks on my worldview

Nothing like distance and another culture to bring out one’s worldview. I think I started another posting that way. This one will not be philosophical. Here I will list a few of the checks I have had on the deeply held assumptions of my worldview.

1. “Everyone wants to go for the gold.” While that comes out of the Olympics, it can fit most situations where competition, or at least aspiration for more, plays a part.

The first gentle nudge away from this came in Nice, France, during a visit with a cousin there. Etienne was observing that you don’t find as many outstanding French athletes as we have in the US because the drive that pushes us doesn’t drive them. That would be fame, money, and other tangible forms of achieving the summit.

A friend with French connections living on the Northern Neck wasn’t so sure he agreed, but nevertheless, there must be some truth to what Etienne said.

So is it a universal virtue that we should always strive for more? Or can contentment come at a lower lever of things?

My conclusion is that this is a distinctly western concept. Some in other lands buy into it, but most can walk away from many of the things we assume one needs for living well.

2. Time or experience, schedules or relationships. Yes, I’ve been in Africa for a month, and I have seen the priority of experience over time, of relationship over schedules. What is lost, I find myself asking, if time is put aside for a gathering or a conversation that will stay with me for a long time?

3. “Subdue the earth” can shift into “control the elements and conquer space”. There is a greater ease with the earth that lacks sidewalks and new paint here than we would tolerate at home. Furthermore, I see that is nothing more than what one is used to, not a matter of sloth or a matter of elevated taste.

4. The importance of ancestors. The individualism of the West severs relationships with our ancestors almost immediately at their death. My uncle, John Page Williams, used to set his wry smile and refer to the Shintoism of the Williams clan. We do hold a liking for the stories of our departed. In Africa and most other parts of the world, the life of one’s ancestors is a piece of life that continues. Some of the manifestations of this are carry-overs of spirit worship, but other manifestations are merely healthy ways of honoring the generations of those who bore us.

5. Civility and confrontation. In Asia this would come under “face”. There is a modesty, kindness, forebearance, and silence outside the West where we choose to express ourselves. Manners here are far more restrained and temperate than we would be in similar circumstances. Again, our individualism feels free to assert itself.

I see this disparity in two theatres. The first is in air travel. Flight attendants from lands outside the US are quiet, polite, and attentive. US flight attendants are loud, chatty, and distracted. The other theatre is the international exchanges on theological differences within the Anglican Church. The more prominent US figures usually have only slight restraint on free expression of opinions. Others from our side of the Atlantic are quite adept at parliamentary machinations and push on. Those figures of color in these exchanges manifest their set of manners that let things go by, differing thoughts unexpressed, and civility shown. The conclusions each comes away with are often quite different.