PART III - LOWER LEFT
What is more important to you:
To see yourself as an individual?
or
To see yourself as part of a wider culture?
Let's analyse this!
But first, a recap:
Part I - the interior individual
• Subjective experiences
• Thoughts
• Emotions
• Values
Part II - the exterior individual
• Objective facts
• Behaviours
• Biological processes
• Observable
Part III - the interior collective
What the hell does that mean?
If you go to a country on holiday, chances are a few things occur immediately:
1) I don't speak the language
2) I don't know what the signs mean
3) People are acting differently + I don't understand their 'rules'
4) Everyone knows what the rules are but no-one speaks about them
This is a classic sign of a lack of understanding of the interior collective
It covers things such as:
• Language
• Customs
• Expectations
• Culture
We can only understand these from WITHIN
I.e. Learning the language, living in that country, understanding the art, etc
To understand myself or another, I need to use language
I need to then interpret the meaning of those words
It is no different here, except on a wider scale
To understand the customs, you must engage with people WITHIN that system
We could study the culture from the outside, but it would be missing something important
We could look at the great Greek columns, but it doesn't tell me anything about what it means to be Greek!
Understanding mythology can be a fantastic insight here.
Why?
The meaning of those myths can only make sense within the culture that it was created
It transcends beyond JUST ONE person
It is a SHARED story, a shared culture, belief and worldview
This is why the lower left quadrant is so important
It gets us beyond our individual viewpoint, and places us within a shared context and a shared history
I am whole, but I am a part
I stand alone as a full human, but I am a human that fits within a larger group
So, 3 quadrants down, and one to go
We have looked at what it is to be an individual - from the inside (1st person) and the outside (3rd person - scientific)
We have now seen the importance of culture, from the inside.
What does the outside of this look like?
You can read the unrolled version of this thread here: typefully.com/_itsmrclark/QSUwBmv
Mr Clark 📝
@_itsmrclark
Helping to normalise difficult conversations through philosophy. Teacher, coach and bibliophile. Also, a lover of extreme music.
