Sudanese or American? (4) What is Civilization?
I returned from the most civilized and contemplative experience in my life: 12 days in a luxurious Caribbean cruise. A Sudanese village boy among about 3,000 civilized White Christians. Who am I? And how I relate to this American civilization that I live in?
Washington: Mohammad Ali Salih:
What is civilization?
I have come to believe that it is, basically, education and science, and it is relative. Even a tribe in the jungles of Africa can be more or less civilized when it is compared to a neighboring tribe.
A tribe in, say, the jungles of Congo, that knows how to create fire by rubbing together two pieces of wood, has more knowledge that the tribe that doesn’t. In ancient times, the Nubians, on the Nile River in Northern Sudan, knew how to systematically lift water in a bucket to irrigate their crops; the Pharaohs of Egypt built the pyramids; the Phoenicians of Lebanon knew how to make wine out of grapes; and the Mesopotamians of Iraq built chariots
Later, as the Western civilization started to ascend, the Germans invented the printing press, the British the steam train and the Americans the space shuttle.
But, I believe civilization is not only scientific advances; also, it is advances in ideas that help to organize, and to explain, life. Especially to explain the unknown: how and why we, and our surroundings, were created or developed?
I have come to believe that the top spiritual knowledge is the belief in a supernatural power, and I will call this power God, but it doesn’t have to be this particular name. I have come to respect others who don’t share me this believe. I have come to believe that, by nature, a person tends to look for something to explain the unexplainable and to put faith in: a supernatural, a cow, a statue, a tree, ancestors or one’s own self.
After all these years, I now try to compromise with everyone by suggesting to him/her to make his/her conscious the higher judge. I say: “Just worship your conscious.”
Finally, I have concluded that these individual conscious judgments tend to generally agree on the need for two basics: freedom and justice. Accordingly, I believe that the two most important questions throughout history have been: am I free? Is this fair?
Back to the example of the tribe in the jungles of Congo, it shouldn’t be judged only by its ability to make fire, but, also, by whether it uses the fire to, say, burn other tribes’ huts.
This brings me to the “White Christian Ship” of my 12 days Caribbean cruise. Although the Western Civilization, after the rise of the nation states, separated between state and religion, I have come to believe that Christianity was, and still is, the corner-stone of the two parts of this civilization:
(1) Scientifically, Christianity has encouraged many scientists to invent and encouraged many explorers to explore because they were seeking the blessings of God. For example, Christopher Columbus was not only looking for a short way to India, but, also, was ready to Christianize whatever people he might find there.
(2) Morally, Christianity has been the guiding light to explore what is right and what is wrong. I can clearly see in the US Constitution the spirit of God as the Founding Fathers tried to answer the two basic questions about freedom and fairness.
So, when I describe my 12-day in the “Christian White Ship” as the most civilized experience in my life, I mean both scientifically and morally. And I will try to examine the two parts.
