Welch Who On Earth Are You?

A Handbook for Thriving in a Mixed-Up World
1. Auflage 2020
ISBN: 978-1-0983-1349-4
Verlag: BookBaby
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 190 Seiten

This book explores the fundamental cultural values that define who we are. It asks, where do these core beliefs come from? And how do we hold our norms in balance with others in such a diverse world? In a light-hearted and conversational manner, this book examines different beliefs about human equality, our concept of self and others, how language defines us, the importance of time, our norms for personal space, and coping with uncertainty. These ideas are illustrated with personal anecdotes from a lifetime spent living all over the world. Readers will gain new perspectives and insights into their own cultural wiring and practical advice to help them thrive in our mixed-up world.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Welch, Peter

Leseproben

Introduction

‘The only normal people are the ones you don’t know very well.’

- Alfred Adler

No Such Thing as Normal

This book asks important questions about the values and behaviours that define us. Where does our personal culture come from? How does it change over our lifetime? How do we deal with significant differences when we meet them? Most importantly, how do we hold our beliefs in balance with others and thrive in a mixed-up world? We are living in a time of cultural convergence and divergence. Global societies are more connected than they ever have been before. Yet this great movement of people and ideas has left many feeling that the values and behaviours they care about are under siege. Political populists divide the world sharply into an ‘us’ and a ‘them’ and sow division. Having positive and practical answers to questions about cultural differences is becoming more urgent. This book will ask you to reflect on who you are and what you care about. It will also ask you to think about and empathise with those other people over there who are nothing like you.

We will start with the most fundamental of all questions. What do you believe is the purpose of your life here on earth? A nice easy start! Your origins, your personality, and life experiences will shape your cloud of thoughts gathering over this question. From Armenians, Bhutanese, Canadians to Zulus, the interplay of these influences might be enormously different. Here are ten possible answers, which you might combine or ignore as you wish:

1. I want to be successful, to earn money, respect and status.
2. My purpose is to serve faithfully my god or gods to the best of my ability.
3. I want to love deeply, travel widely, jump off cliffs, eat everything and cram in as many exciting experiences into my short time on earth as possible.
4. It is my duty to support and honour my family and my community and serve the next generation.
5. All I have to do is to survive and pass on my genes. Job done. Pass the test tube, please.
6. I seek to understand myself and other people and find out what life is all about.
7. I have no purpose. Nor do you, idiot. Life is meaningless. We’re drifting alone in a godless universe, etc.
8. I want to create beautiful or significant art, music or writing, which can affect others. You’re blocking my light, by the way.
9. It is enough to leave the world a better place than when I found it.
10. No idea, mate. Don’t ask.

Each one of these responses would be normal in a particular part of our world. I was born into the middle of the middle class in Nottingham, England, with a drive to pursue one of these answers above all others impressed upon me. My father was an Anglican priest. My mother was a teacher, a counsellor, a consultant and an occasional sex therapist. Lucky me! Yes, it made for some fascinating tea-time conversation. And I grew up trying to work out what made me, and other people, tick. For the longest time it was utterly mystifying why anyone might have any other answer to this question or any other life programming.

Most of us start out in life with the comforting notion that our personal beliefs and values are both sensible and normal. As we grow, we may become more aware of social, cultural and political otherness, but most of us steadfastly maintain a cheery faith in our basic normality. It is just easier to dismiss differences as superficial or based on a lack of corrective experience. Those other people who drive on the wrong side of the road or cannot understand the social function of an orderly line at the checkout, or eat monkey brains for dinner, are simply wrongheaded, rude or just plain weird. If they could just spend time with us and speak our language, they would no doubt see the error of their ways. Over time, those other people could then see that the way we do things makes complete sense.

This comforting idea is often ballasted by an even bigger one: beneath the surface, under the skin, we are all really the same. We want to believe that human similarities far outweigh our differences. Doesn’t everyone gaze out on the same world with the same human needs and desires, even if they may express these rather strangely at times?

This book will demonstrate that the conclusive answer to that question is no. Minimising cultural differences is self-deluding and potentially hazardous. Actually, human values, beliefs and priorities vary so significantly around our small, blue planet that the idea of any of us defining ourselves as the benchmark for ‘normal’ is rather absurd. Of course, one’s answer to the essential, opening question would be completely different depending on where you came out in the world and the influences surrounding you. Yet it seems to be part of our psyche to place ourselves at the centre of the cultural universe and believe that there is a natural gravitational pull to our way of thinking.

A Global Village?

Some fifty-plus years ago, the Canadian media theorist, Marshall McLuhan, foresaw that modern communications would shrink our planet down to the size of a ‘global village’.1 He was proved right in so many important ways. Virtual and personal connections between peoples of the world continue to proliferate in our own time. Through this increasingly hectic mixing up of all colours, creeds and characters, we global villagers share much: international money markets and globalised business practices; political, environmental and nuclear jeopardy; global fashions and culinary tastes; travel selfies from every corner of the world. If Rihanna gets a new tattoo on a Friday, we villagers can gossip about it all weekend in Rotterdam, Riyadh or Rio.

While we are certainly closer than ever before in some practical ways, we cannot be said to inhabit a global village marked by shared community values and common purpose. This great mixing up of peoples and ideas has led to precious little cross-cultural understanding writ large. Indeed, in America and many parts of Europe, we are currently living through a troubling moment of knee-jerk nationalism and suspicion of otherness.

‘History does not repeat itself, but it certainly rhymes,’ as Mark Twain may or may not have said.2 In precarious times, demagogues find an audience when they denigrate other people who don’t fit into their imagined and more perfect, original village. Human beings are hard-wired to divide people between in-groups and out-groups. In their turn, it is too easy for liberals to denigrate the folks that vote for xenophobia as being ignorant and reactionary. In fact, while never excusing prejudice and racism, fear of difference and change is part of our core human programming. What such voters lack is a clear and optimistic vision of how letting other cultures in can be enriching not only economically but in all aspects of our lives. We urgently need a compelling case for multiculturalism and actively embracing difference.

In our vibrant cross-cultural cities - in New York, London or Paris - a generation of global citizens are creating new and more fluid ways of living. It is amazing to watch the variety of faces on a London tube train compartment sitting together quietly on a Sunday morning. There might be a British African-Caribbean lady dressed-up for Pentecostal Church; there might be a hungover East End hipster, a black-hatted Hasidic Jewish man, Japanese tourists, a Polish hotel clerk coming home from the night shift, a Ghanaian drummer-busker and an English gentleman on his way to the cricket at Lords. All of them ignore one another with magnificent indifference. This new village has norms of respect and tolerance and a cool and groovy attitude of live and let live. The benefits of joining in are better food and music options and variety as a spice for life. To be part of this new Londoner or a New Yorker in-group can be wonderful (for those who can afford it!). Group members also get to feel more sophisticated than those out-of-town hicks who have never eaten Mongolian hot stone cuisine.

Unfortunately, this mixing together can often be superficial. Incredible diversity can surround us without really understanding or drawing upon its deeper richness. Although entirely admirable, showing respect or tolerance can be passive behaviours, while being open-minded to other cultures can mean never stretching beyond acceptance of different externalities. When we live in a multicultural community, we may stay within our own bubble of normality. This way of living may store up problems for the future when scarcity of resources or important social choices may necessitate a deeper dialogue.

The Cultural Iceberg

The enormity and profundity of cultural differences around the world can be illustrated by imagining a huge iceberg in the ocean. The things that are easy to see make up the smaller part of the iceberg above the waterline. Obviously, people come in all different shapes, sizes and appearances around the world. They speak a dizzying array of other languages, some of them very strange and unintelligible. They dress exotically and eat funny foods with other utensils and sometimes just with their bare hands. Global citizens get very good at navigating and genuinely appreciating such variety. We are happy to share an Indian Balti meal, for example, dipping our naan bread into a spicy curry and licking our fingers afterwards. These may seem to us to be delicious acts of open-mindedness and cultural sophistication.

However, the greater size and significance of...