We in the west have a particular foolishness. In some ways it is an exaggeration of one of our good traits. As a group, Europeans are unique in their curiosity about other cultures and a willingness to embrace alien concepts. Some other cultures are starting to imitate this, but, in general, non-European cultures have exhibited much more xenophobia in the past, and many still are not willing to incorporate alien cultural ideas, even if they will accept western technological concepts. However, thanks to this openness to alien ideas, some in the west have developed a silly idea that the west itself is mundane and ordinary, and that foreign cultures, often the most primitive or alien, are possessed of a greater wisdom.

I discovered this when talking about Japanese Shintoism. It seemed alien to those discussing the topic that Shinto had temples which were unattended, or temples which had hereditary priests, as well as the lack of any central religious hierarchy. They also were surprised at how many local spirits existed in Shintoism.

All of which shocked me, as Shintoism resembles nothing so much as all the pagan faiths that once existed int he west. Provided we disregard the suppsoed druidic hierarchy Caesar claimed existed in Wales, all of the pagan faiths of Europe were very similar in function to Shinto. They lacked a centralized hierarchy, temples existed which were unmanned, and others existed with hereditary priests who held normal day jobs as farmers or craftsmen, local deities existed for rivers or springs. From Scandinavia to the Mediterranean, religion before the Christian era was more similar to Shintoism than it was to anything we call religion today.

Why this is surprising is that many in the west would be unhappy with a claim that our ancestors possessed greater wisdom*, but would gleefully listen to someone extolling the virtues of Shintoism. Because Japan is so seemingly alien, it must be better than the west.

Of course, it is not just the foreign and the alien which many find promising greater wisdom. For some the truth is best sought among the most primitive as well. For them, it is not enough to look at a distant, unfamiliar culture, we must also look at one which is primitive. In their minds, western society has progressed "too far" and the truth is best sought among those who have more direct contact with their roots.

For some this is a simple logical mistake. They have found no wisdom or truth in their own culture, so they assume it must be somewhere else. And since they think their own culture lacking in wisdom, the less a culture resembles their own, the more likely it holds a secret. Of course, the mistake here is a simple one. Just because one has not found wisdom in a culture does not mean wisdom is lacking, it just means the individual has either not tried hard enough or not looked in the right places. A single experience with a given culture is not a good measure of the wisdom to be found therein.

However, that is probably a minority. The majority of those extolling the alien, and especially the primitive, as motivated by a different reasoning. In their minds the west has made a mistake in its development, has moved too far from its primitive roots. In their minds, primitive is pure and unsullied while civilized is bad. It is a stupidity best exemplified by the philosophy of Rousseau, who argued that primitives lived a life of blissful simplicity while modern man is "in chains" and unhappy.

It is a tenacious stupidity. We hear it over in over in claims that hunter gatherer tribes are happier than modern man, in calls to "simplify", in claims that we are too materialistic, in reports such as the one about the generally happy life in Vanuatu. It is a peculiar belief which assumes that simplicity is both the source of happiness and more virtuous.

Now, do not confuse this with asceticism, which has a lengthy, and respectable, religious tradition. Various religions argue that removing attachments to physical wants either can allow a man to turn his mind to G-d, or will at least free him from the illusions of this world. That is not what these people propose. There is a spiritual aspect to their argument, but it is not the renunciation of the material. Their argument is that primitive life itself is inherently good. That, somehow, progress itself makes one unhappy.

In some ways, this is the philosophy of the hard-core environmentalists, that everything modern and western is evil. That nothing is virtuous except the most basic and primitive. It is this hatred of the west and of progress which lies at the heart of so much of their thinking. And, though they tend to substitute non-human nature for primitive humanity, their thinking is not that far from the neo-Rousseau philosophy.

What is sad about this is the result. There is nothing wrong with developing an interest in alien culture, nor even in examining primitive life. The harm comes from the twofold distortions this view encourages. First, it tends to gloss over the very real hardships and the outright barbarism of much of primitive culture. Second, and worse, it encourages many to ignore the very real virtues of western civilization.

And that, in the end, is the real harm, the way in which the many glorious achievements of the west are simply tossed aside by those who glory in the primitive. Which is funny, as most of those primitive cultures they revere would gladly give up their endless struggle for even a fraction of the affluence of western culture.

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* On the other hand, as our pagan traditions are so distant and primitive, some have come to look for wisdom there as well. In their minds, apparently, ancient Europe is sufficiently non-western to be an acceptable source of truth.

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POSTSCRIPT

What is truly funny is how often the west is charged with xenophobia, whole that title more appropriately fits other cultures. Besides our aforementioned tendency to idolize other cultures, we have also shown a very real tolerance of foreign cultures. Just look at how many native cultures and religions survive in the former British Empire for an example. The West, more than any other region of the globe, has refrained from the wholesale exterminations, conversions and forced assimilations other cultures regularly engaged in. There are exceptions, of course. Many early Christian kings forced conversions, the US did attempt to force assimilation on Indian tribes, and so on, but, in general, the west has a much, much better record than any other group.

For that matter, there are many non-western cultures today who would not even understand our concerns about preserving local cultures or religions. The fact that we even can say we made mistakes shows that we have much more concern about such issues than much of the world.