The Passion of the Indian(ised) Mind
The truth of the matter is, when Indians - given the advantage their historically critical, introspective, ever-changing, perspectivally-multifarious and multi-faceted culture endows its practitioners - are located in non-discriminatory and truly multicultural conditions without any one culture or its practitioners being purposefully afforded greater social prominence, or marginalised on the basis of the archaic notion of 'race', they will progress to be that which their culture trains them to be - highly intelligent, innovative, creative and vibrant.
This is the legacy of their culture and which is embedded in a myriad and multitude of ways within their cultural practices and perspectives. It would not be untrue to say that 'to be Indian is to not be Indian'. That simply means that the Indian, historically, has never 'enjoyed' the luxury of a static state of affairs due to the constant cultural upheavels that is a feature of Indian history. Thus, the Indian mind has never had the opportunity to rest and enjoy things today the way it has 'always been'. Thus, its critical hyperactivity along with its ability to accept that which is novel and embrace the non-traditional. We can say that Indian culture is dialectical and is in constant flux because of historical conditions that never allowed it to be otherwise. Thus, many components of this culture, via its myths, rituals, perspectives, cuisine, etc, embody this.
But such a legacy is laid waste given inoptimum conditions. This is when positive potentials that may be leftover from their familial experience is channelled down less positive or progressive paths. Thus, Indian passion and vibrance, amongst those occupying lower economic strata, frequently sees it being translated to aggressive tendencies while these very propensities are translated, given optimum conditions, into innovative, insightful and creative produce. Such is also the case given the temperament of children. Some of them are endowed with a more 'hyperactive' temperament. Given optimum conditions and equal access to resources and advantages within a caring environment, this can lead to much vibrance in the right arena. Inoptimum conditions, inversely, may just see such vibrancy being directed down the delinquent path.
When this is considered, it is only to be expected that India has become the brains of Asia and a mainstay behind that of the west - though it may also be argued that Indians becoming prominent in the vaunted fields of today does not do their culturally-trained propensities justice. They are capable of much more. Additionally, its cultural advantage is also that which once produced the likes of the Mahatma (Gandhi).
(one of the main contributory factors behind Indian passion, vibrancy and critical intelligence is the relative conceptual and cultural instability - due to invasions and intercourse with intelligent cultures, failure of emperors to form a state like, for example, China; the non-centralisation of education; the prominence of independent philosophers; etc.)
For an example of close-to-optimum conditions, the reader might want to peruse the following BBC article,
This is the legacy of their culture and which is embedded in a myriad and multitude of ways within their cultural practices and perspectives. It would not be untrue to say that 'to be Indian is to not be Indian'. That simply means that the Indian, historically, has never 'enjoyed' the luxury of a static state of affairs due to the constant cultural upheavels that is a feature of Indian history. Thus, the Indian mind has never had the opportunity to rest and enjoy things today the way it has 'always been'. Thus, its critical hyperactivity along with its ability to accept that which is novel and embrace the non-traditional. We can say that Indian culture is dialectical and is in constant flux because of historical conditions that never allowed it to be otherwise. Thus, many components of this culture, via its myths, rituals, perspectives, cuisine, etc, embody this.
But such a legacy is laid waste given inoptimum conditions. This is when positive potentials that may be leftover from their familial experience is channelled down less positive or progressive paths. Thus, Indian passion and vibrance, amongst those occupying lower economic strata, frequently sees it being translated to aggressive tendencies while these very propensities are translated, given optimum conditions, into innovative, insightful and creative produce. Such is also the case given the temperament of children. Some of them are endowed with a more 'hyperactive' temperament. Given optimum conditions and equal access to resources and advantages within a caring environment, this can lead to much vibrance in the right arena. Inoptimum conditions, inversely, may just see such vibrancy being directed down the delinquent path.
When this is considered, it is only to be expected that India has become the brains of Asia and a mainstay behind that of the west - though it may also be argued that Indians becoming prominent in the vaunted fields of today does not do their culturally-trained propensities justice. They are capable of much more. Additionally, its cultural advantage is also that which once produced the likes of the Mahatma (Gandhi).
(one of the main contributory factors behind Indian passion, vibrancy and critical intelligence is the relative conceptual and cultural instability - due to invasions and intercourse with intelligent cultures, failure of emperors to form a state like, for example, China; the non-centralisation of education; the prominence of independent philosophers; etc.)
For an example of close-to-optimum conditions, the reader might want to peruse the following BBC article,
Sea-Change in UK-India Relations
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