PBP #9: Eclecticism Part 2

NOTE: I have a lead-in post between the previous post and this one, which can be read here

WARNING: Some abrasiveness ahead.

Last week, I touched on the problem of cultural appropriation and how Eclecticism usually becomes/means this.  To lightly touch back on it, appropriation is stealing the non-material culture of another group, done out of ignorance and/or ethnocentrism.  This more often happens within the New Age Tradition, but all too often happens within Neopaganism as well.  Appropriation is like copyright infringement, and more often than not becomes devoid of the spiritual essence the person was looking for due to our modern, consumeristic, "instant gratification" culture .  I also mentioned that there is another way.

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When the Greeks entered into Egypt, they were both enamored and appalled at their culture.  Egypt was an ancient culture by time the Greeks got there, and was the cradle of philosophy, magic, and mysticism in the Mediterranean, things the Greeks loved.  Yet, their Gods were part human and part animal, and were expressed in a more pantheistic way than the Greek Gods.  However, over time, these two cultures began to meld in places like Alexandria, and began the Greco-Egyptian culture.  In this encounter, Egypt got a little of Greece in it, and Greece got a little of Egypt in it.  From this we got Hermeticism and Neoplatonism, one of the biggest sources of Neopagan religion.  Christianity also found fertile ground here, and so did Hellenistic Judaism, which began the study of the Jewish mystical tradition of the Kabbalah (which was probably inspired by the Pythagorean Tetractys).

Let's look at this from a mathematical/chemical perspective.  Let's call Greece culture A, and Egypt culture B.  If we were to add a bit of B into A, while it would still be predominantly A, it would have some qualities of B.  Likewise, adding A to B makes a predominant B with a little bit of A.  However, these cultures that are a mix of B and A also becomes a culture all its own.  It's like smelting bronze.  Copper and tin come together to make another metal that has properties of copper and tin, but is not those two metals.  Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece are not the same as Greco-Egypt (Ancient Greece is different from the Hellenistic culture that evolved from it to).

A bronze shield, both copper and tin, but also neither copper or tin

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This is called Syncretism.  It happens when two cultures meet and similar practices and beliefs come together in that meeting.  Buddhism is probably one of the greatest examples.  Buddhist monks entered China, Tibet, Korea, Japan, etc.  However,to put it basically (without discussion on the differences between Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana), in each place the practice was different.  It's not as easy to point out with Christianity, due to the nature of the Orthodoxy and the Catholic Church, as well as other high church traditions which make up the vast majority of Christians worldwide, but it happened there to.  Modern Neopaganism is, in some ways, the syncretism of Masonic ritual with Pagan folklore.  Likewise, many African Diasporic religions are syncretisms of traditional African beliefs and Catholicism (going back to the Christian sentence above).

And what makes syncretism different from cultural appropriation?  Syncretism happens on an equal playing field, and starts as a sharing of ideas.  Syncretism is also a two way street in some regards, unlike the overbearing and ethnocentric nature of cultural appropriation.  Some people come to syncretism upon experiencing and living in two different cultures.  Some people come to syncretism by looking into their ancestry and seeing how it jives with their own experiences.  Syncretism feels natural and organic, and unfortunately for some people in our modern gimme-gimme culture, takes time, a lot of time.  But its the time and care that makes syncretism respectful and honorable, and much more fulfilling than appropriation.

One last thing to note, is that syncretism is ultimately inevitable.  Syncretism between European cultures and Asian cultures and Native American cultures and so on, is going to happen whether the cultures like it or not.  There is no way to stop it, even if you tried.  While I doubt that there ever will be a one-world culture, you can't deny that cultures grow and evolve.  Maybe one day they will still be arguing and debating about cultural appropriation amongst the Venusian Neo-Scientologists of Martian Hippie practices and traditions?  Hopefully though, we can grow up and truely sit equally at the table, one day.