Quotes About Culture

In fact the English word 'demon' is full of a value judgement that is wrongly attributed to the words rakshasa and asura.

A line has been drawn around her hut. She has been told very clearly that only within the line do the laws of culture apply; here she is Ram's wife. Outside is nature, where the rules of marriage make no sense; she is just a woman for the taking.

The ego is the product of imagination. It is how a human being sees himself or herself. It makes humans demand special status in nature and culture. Nature does not care for this self-image of human beings. Culture, which is a man-made creation, attempts to accommodate it.

For when a bride enters the husband's house she brings with her not just the promise of a new generation but also new food, a new culture and with that new thoughts that enrich her husband's household.

Mythos gave purpose, meaning and validation to existence.

Fate. Free will. God. Three frames of reference that have sustained cultures for centuries. Three frames of reference that can never be proved or disproved.

Serpents are worshipped across India to ensure the fertility of land, as well as for children.

In the Ramayana many women are killed or mutilated on the grounds of them being demons: Tadaka is the first amongst them and Surpanakha is the most well known. But there are others such as Ayomukhi, Simhika, Surasa, Lankini and even Mandodari, the wife of Ravana, and Chandrasena, the wife of Mahiravana. It is difficult to digest that these are simply metaphors for wild, untamed nature. There is clearly an acceptance of male violence against women.

Control creates domesticated animals. The purpose of society is to inspire humanity, not tame them

Control creates domesticated animals. The purpose of society is to inspire humanity, not tame them,' said Ram.

Devdutt Pattanaik

Travel, realized the wise men, was an important way to widen the outlook of otherwise inward-looking communities.

Within there is regard for the law of marriage; without there isn't any. Within, Sita is Rama's wife. Outside, she is a woman for the taking. Ravana knows that if he enters Rama's hut and forces himself on Sita he will be judged by the rules of society. But when he forces himself on Sita outside the Lakshmana-rekha, he will be judged by the laws of the jungle. Within, he will be the villain who disregarded the laws of marriage. Outside, he will be hero, the great trickster.

Dharma must not only domesticate nature, it also needs to ensure there is harmony between nature and culture.

In nature, nothing is contaminated. In culture, the polluted are cast out.

Kali with the most primal form of nature, before culture and outside culture, unaffected by rules and opinions of humanity. She is power, raw and elemental, both venerable and frightening. Human society is created within her; she ultimately consumes human society.

Jakarta. Aku setuju. Kota ini biangnya dualisme. Antara ingin Timur dan berlagak Timur, sembari terdesak habis oleh Barat sekaligus paling keras mengutuk-ngutuk.

You can tell how high a society is by how much of its garbage is recycled.

Shoulda gone to China. They give away babies like free iPods. They put them in guns and shoot them out at sporting events.

Robbery is not just the robbery of money or human flesh; it involves the soul murder of cultures which will soon die if they have no more songs to sing.

Dad says that everyone invented baklava." It occurs to me now to wonder what that means. Aunt Aya rolls her eyes. "Your father? He is the worst of the worst. He thinks he cooks and eats Arabic food but these walnuts were not grown from Jordanian earth and this butter was not made from Jordanian lambs. He is eating the shadow of a memory. He cooks to remember but the more he eats, the more he forgets.

Much of what passes for gratitude today appears to be a sort of secular prosperity gospel.

My favourite setting are England, because I was born here and love it, and Spain, because it's fabulous and so romantic.

In this convoluted world where sex has become a party favor rather than a solemn, beautiful part of love between two people, I think virginity is sexy. I don't like promiscuity. Oddly, at the turn of the 20th century, even men were expected to wait until marriage to indulge. I think that's sexy, too. Okay, I'm a dinosaur, I admit it. I don't belong in the modern world.