| Third time's the charm.. I found your definition repeated and I want to dissect it: "Spiritual colonialism is the appropriation of the methods of indigenous spiritualities for the goals of capitalism." Reselling anything gotten from one culture into another is definitely what you're describing. My impression of this is that it has always been going on and it has worked extraordinarily well for everyone involved. When the Phyrgian cult of the Magna Mater became popular during a crisis period for the Roman Empire, what resulted appears to be the earliest merging of that Asiatic tradition into Roman religion. There was a governing body eventually called the Quindecimviri. It literally oversaw the absorption of once foreign religions into the lives of Romans. Why was this done? Well.. people from that region were becoming Romans! Some Romans started practicing Phyrgian religion and many Phyrgians defended Rome and became Roman and benefited from citizenship/inclusion for about a thousand years. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quindecimviri_sacris_faciund... So although it most certainly is a great catastrophe for traditionalists defending their authentic practices, it would appear this has been going on for a very very long time. All those people sojourning in India seeking nirvana and samara are there because they are really seeking. All those landing in Western nations endeavoring to be a part of the (currently, things change fast!) predominant political economy participate and have added inclusion benefits because a bunch of foreigners are now no longer suspicious but worshipful of their indigenous practices. Sure! Cash rich spoiled kids seeking after a person's culture while that individual has to labor in their imperial connect is certainly frustrating. The alternative seems MUCH MUCH WORSE. If those same kids think that the nation they're going to are morally and spiritually backwards (and want that the original real colonialism problem nearly everywhere? ) then those self-described superior people will attempt to subject those people to their culture. Of course you're already familiar with that. Somewhere along the line, probably due to convenient geography and necessity the Roman Empire realized that: 1) their client kingdoms had brilliant traditions and thinkers to go with the trade goods e.t.c. 2) the sociology of inclusion meant a thriving empire with a composite cultural and military defense 3)?? The cult of the Magna Mater is still present in the world in Roman Catholicism. Some great Anatolian mother goddess culture operates successfully in South America now. Its appropriation and so on, yes. From a dialectical materialist analysis it looks like pure oppression. To a realpolitik melting pot planet it seems like trial and error. All those people are visiting India because about two hundred years of ignorance finally bore the fruitful and appropriate realization that Indians have a undeniably deep and ancient series of useful insights into the workings of existence. I would feel inclined to believe the hoards of white interlopers are a sign that India invested its few thousands of years wisely! |
The half-baked hippie efforts aren't cutting it. We need something fully baked, and I think we could get it: a comprehensive overhaul of Buddhist and Hindu concepts of Right Action / Dharma for the modern situation of ecological and existential risks.
That's what I want. I don't give a crap about appropriation in most cases, but I despartely want better governance of the West, and that means ingesting all of the Asian trip, not just the convenient 5%.
As do we all!