“No strangers : ancient wisdom in the modern world”

An exhibition of photographs about the daily lives, experiences, culture and plight of indigenous people throughout the world was held at the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh earlier this year. 

For me it was a moving and humbling exhibition and my attention was arrested by its introductory text which was mounted on a board at the entrance. I asked at the Botanic Garden’s reception desk if there were copies of the text. Alas there were none so I borrowed pen and paper and with the help of my wife copied the text (as we saw a number of other visitors do). I have posted it below. 

I believe the author of the text is Wade Davis, a Canadian  anthropologist and writer, who curated the exhibition.

The words leave me with questions about how different human communities relate to each other. I think they offer possible directions for thought about how we exercise our respect for others and how we may help our children respect and care for people from communities different from their own. I believe many of my generation  have singularly failed, and continue to fail,  to do this. 

Here is the text. As ever your comments are welcome.

No strangers : ancient wisdom in a modern world

Over the last decade science has revealed how closely people around the world are connected. We are all brothers and sisters. We are all descendants of common ancestors who  walked out of Africa some 60,000 years ago. Their epic journey continued over 2500 generations, carrying the human spirit to every habitable corner of the world.

If all of humanity emerged from the same fountain of life, all cultures share the same raw genius, How this intellectual potential is expressed is simply a matter of choice and circumstance. 

Traditional societies are not failed attempts to be modern, let alone failed attempts to be like us. Every culture is a unique expression of human imagination and heart. When asked what it means to be human and alive, the peoples of the world respond in 7000 different voices, 7000 languages that together express the full wisdom and knowledge of our species, insights that no doubt will prove invaluable to future generations, even as we continue this never ending journey.

You can find out more about the photographers whose work was shown in the exhibition at 

http://www.rbge.org.uk/about-us/news/stories/no-strangers-ancient-wisdom-in-a-modern-world

To discover  more about Wade Davis visit 

http://www.daviswade.com   

This blog was first posted on the Leaving Dundee blog at  http://www.leavingdundee.blogspot.co.uk

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Are we the cowardly toadies who get just enough to keep us quiet ?

What allows us to wring our hands over poverty ?

Why do we submit to the desires of a few unduly powerful men ? Yes, they usually are men which in itself may say something.

Why do we allow these never to be satisfied greedy few -   the international business and finance tycoons, the politicians of every ilk and the media  - to stop us building a community where we share responsibility, resources, pleasure and suffering more equally ?

Are we the cowardly toadies who accept having just enough as the price for keeping us quiet about the dismally poor existence of so many of our fellow human beings?

If we are, do we want to do anything about it ?

"Wha will fill a coward's grave?

Wha sae base as be a slave?

Let him turn and flee" *

In truth we are the ones who are base for we make slaves of ourselves by taking the hush money   - that meagre dross -  which is sufficient to turn us on to another road and distance ourselves from those who, through accident of birth, and through our denial, are so poor that they have no choice but to scrape out  - inevitably unsuccessfully - a miserable existence while all kinds of rich men's battles make their lives not cheap, but,  as it seems we are accepting, worthless.  



*From the anthem Scots wha hae wi' Wallace bled  by Robert Burns