Culture is the fabric of meaning we create to make sense of the cycle of life and death.
People do similar things around the world and across time because we are all human.
Our minds and bodies are so flexible that we have adapted to every environment on Earth.
Colonial thinkers teach us to see our differences, but what is truly wonderful is how similar we are. “Bim Bom, Bim Bim, Bom, Bom.”
- Africa is the mother of all humanity. Some of our ancestors left 60,000-90,000 years ago.
- Civilization began in Mesopotamia (Iraq) and developed in Africa (Egypt) between 4,000 and 3,000 BCE. 🇮🇶🇪🇬
- Civilization rose in the Indus Valley (Pakistan/India) around 2,500 BCE. 🇵🇰🇮🇳
- Civilization rose in China around 1,500 BCE. 🇨🇳
- Civilization rose in the Americas (Mexico & Guatemala) around 1,200 BCE. 🇲🇽🇬🇹
Latin Culture is as Diverse as We Are
Diversity is a marker of a healthy ecosystem.
Culture is The Hero with a Thousand Faces
“The Hero with a Thousand Faces” is a book on comparative mythology written by Joseph Campbell in 1949. Campbell’s thesis is that the human hero story is the same around the world and across time.
It goes something like this. A young person is cast out of her or his people. They wander a literal or figurative desert for a long time, often 40 days or 40 years. One day they meet a wise older figure who gives them a tool or special knowledge. Meanwhile the people are suffering a calamity. The hero returns to their people and saves them. They “slay the dragon” if you will.
If that sounds like a Biblical story, it is. If that sounds like an Australian Aboriginal story, it is. If that sounds like “Star Wars,” it is. George Lucas spent a lot of time with Joseph Campbell.
The artist is meant to put the objects of this world together in such a way that through them you will experience that light, that radiance which is the light of our consciousness and which all things both hide and, when properly looked upon, reveal.”
Joseph Campbell, “Pathways to Bliss,” 2004
On our pages about “others,” we hope you will see some of yourself and through that recognize our common humanity. That’s the Latin experience because we are the children of all peoples, the great mix.
Separation is an illusion. There are no “others.” There is no “them.” There is only us.
Humans make culture, and culture makes us human.
“That’s the way I want my song. Just two words they call Bim Bom. Sorry but my heart has made it so. Only Bim Bom, Bim, Bom, Bim.” (João Gilberto, “Bim Bom,” 1959)
A todos com coração humano, paz e amor. (To everyone with a human art, peace and love.)