By: Shahab Sabahi, Policy Analyst in Energy Security and Policy Research Group
One of the characteristics of the ancient civilizations is their belief in the duality that underlies the essence of societies’ worldview. Societies, in general, have the fundamental belief in the conflict of good and evil, light and dark, or two eternal discordant forces. Indeed some civilizations had been constantly showing a permanent tendency for embracing dualism and sowed the seeds of dualism while there were such civilizations of Greece, Babel and Egypt revered polytheism and later middle eastern who practiced monotheism and broke away from dualism.
Monotheism had been founded on and the belief in the unique essence of God and spread throughout the world. The triumph of monotheism over dualism significantly shifted the traditional societies’ worldview. The people who had converted to the new belief had nonetheless preserved hidden or open sympathies and respect for their old faith. This enabled them to transmit the remainders of their old beliefs to the collective memory of future generations. Years after this shift, a culture came into being that was no longer tradition, but based on a synthetic patriotic-global-tradition value system. Although this culture discarded the philosophical duality that was the unifying origin of the traditional thought system, it replaced it with triplism. A new complex worldview equipped a primitive people with the means of overpowering an old kingdom, along with its massive social and political infrastructure.
The dualism required a source which could govern and distinguish between good and bad. It needed a purified mandate who could be appropriate authorities for being that source. They were assumed being wise in order to guide their subjects’ life-affairs and setting justice through societies. The simple logic of “suppression of the weak by the strong” had no longer valid.
Once again, in the downturn of heydays of the late twenty century, this heritage of duplicity undoubtedly underlies the ease with which societies submit to two entirely divergent styles in life, administration, and interaction with one another. One thoughtful idea will be needed to introduce new lifestyle without or at least less social status competitions; no matter it roots in traditions or modernity.
One of the characteristics of the ancient civilizations is their belief in the duality that underlies the essence of societies’ worldview. Societies, in general, have the fundamental belief in the conflict of good and evil, light and dark, or two eternal discordant forces. Indeed some civilizations had been constantly showing a permanent tendency for embracing dualism and sowed the seeds of dualism while there were such civilizations of Greece, Babel and Egypt revered polytheism and later middle eastern who practiced monotheism and broke away from dualism.
Monotheism had been founded on and the belief in the unique essence of God and spread throughout the world. The triumph of monotheism over dualism significantly shifted the traditional societies’ worldview. The people who had converted to the new belief had nonetheless preserved hidden or open sympathies and respect for their old faith. This enabled them to transmit the remainders of their old beliefs to the collective memory of future generations. Years after this shift, a culture came into being that was no longer tradition, but based on a synthetic patriotic-global-tradition value system. Although this culture discarded the philosophical duality that was the unifying origin of the traditional thought system, it replaced it with triplism. A new complex worldview equipped a primitive people with the means of overpowering an old kingdom, along with its massive social and political infrastructure.
The dualism required a source which could govern and distinguish between good and bad. It needed a purified mandate who could be appropriate authorities for being that source. They were assumed being wise in order to guide their subjects’ life-affairs and setting justice through societies. The simple logic of “suppression of the weak by the strong” had no longer valid.
With the emergence of the Modern Constitutional system and
following the globalization, internal and external strife between “patriotism”
and “globalization” and “traditions” was finally compelled to face the two
diverging paths: on the one hand, it could not easily detach itself from a tradition
firmly rooted in the long history of tension within the cultures. On the other
hand, it could see the pleasing outlook of the modernity and international
markets. The inescapable introduction of globalization with its values to the
societies, and its unquestioned ascendancy over the contemporary world, added a
complexity to the cultural mixture that threatened the society traditional identity.
Subsequently, the pull toward the modernity and all aspects of modern life, in
both thought and practice, has become so powerful that the confrontation
between tradition and modernity shapes the discourse in developed and
developing societies.
The conflict between modernity and tradition has been; and
still; is tense at particular historical junctures. Yet two conflicting political and social
tendencies are at work. One is the endeavors in using a rational method suited
to the political realities, and the other is the attempt to maintain the
traditions for the sake of keep the nation united. It is evident that both of
these tendencies display an extreme factional bias dissociated from collective
rationality and the interests of people. Once again, in the downturn of heydays of the late twenty century, this heritage of duplicity undoubtedly underlies the ease with which societies submit to two entirely divergent styles in life, administration, and interaction with one another. One thoughtful idea will be needed to introduce new lifestyle without or at least less social status competitions; no matter it roots in traditions or modernity.
