A Man of the West

I want to state, unequivocally, that I am a man of the West. I state this not as a matter of pride, nor as a matter of opinion. I state it as a matter of fact. I am building toward writing something that might be dangerous and contentious, but to do that I need to lay some groundwork. I will be using the ideas and thoughts expressed here to build upon and use later, and for the sake of clarity it is important that people understand what I mean when I say certain things. So my goal today is to explain what the West is, contrast it with other constructs, and then explain my opening statement.

In the U.S., the West can evoke images of the cowboy, a rugged individualist, strong when need be, gentle when need be, and an iconic part of our heritage. But that is not what I mean. I refer to the bigger picture, and refer to the cultural heritage shared by nearly half the world.

The West was framed by the Ancient Greeks, the Ancient Romans, and the Ancient Hebrews. From these roots, we developed a monotheistic religion that has shaped our spiritual and cultural roots. Some refer to it as Judeo-Christian, and as far as our religious thinking goes, that is correct. The Ancient Greeks and Romans provided us with our philosophical and governmental roots. Democracy came from Ancient Athens, branched government with checks and balances came from Ancient Sparta, and was refined in Ancient Rome. These ideas spread by conquest, both political and religious.

Consider the people that shaped us from that time period. Moses, Abraham, Elijah, David, Solomon, Jesus, Peter and Paul shaped our spiritual ideas. Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Augustine, Cicero, Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius helped shape our philosophical and political ideas. These august people created ground-breaking, monumental ideas upon which future ideas were formed.

The conquests mentioned previously spread throughout the Hellenic empire, then the Roman Empire, then to the subsequent empires founded upon those principles. Geographically, I’m referring to Europe, North and South America. This western influence has affected other areas of the world, but when I refer to the West, I am referring to these geographical areas.

The greatest influence, in my opinion, of Western Thought is the concept of rights. This concept was described and explained in Ancient Greece, refined in Ancient Rome, then was combined with Judeo-Christian spirituality through the Catholic Church to create the concept of Natural Rights.

Natural rights are considered fundamental, universal and inalienable, and are not dependent on the laws or customs of any particular culture or government. This is the basis for our Declaration of Independence, and the U.S. Constitution. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by our Creator with certain, unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

So the West has this common background, history, and a common set of ideals. It’s not about skin color, social class, or education levels. It’s similar to looking at the settings of a house, and being able to say that it is in the suburbs. It stands in stark contrast with the East.

The East was historically referred to as The Orient. It is geographically located in West Asia, Central Asia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia. The dividing line, though, is more cultural than geographical. The subcultures within the East are varied, and include Arab subcultures, Persian subcultures, Indian subcultures, etc. Some of the philosophers who shaped Eastern thought were: Confucius, Sun Tzu, Laozi, Mao Zedong, Parshvanata, Siddhartha Gautama, Mahavira, Bodhodharma, Bhai Gurdas, Miyamoto Musashi, Yi Hwang, and Muhammad.

Historically, the region was considered the “Far East“, and served as the “other” to thinkers in the West. Each region has a history of warfare and conquest. The Persians attempted to absorb the Hellenistic city-states, Alexander the Great moved east from Macedonia, all the way to India. Ghengis Khan ruled a vast portion of the East at one point, and had contact with Europe, Persia and what is now the Middle East.

So, in very general terms, the world is divided into the East and the West. That brings me back to my premise. I am a man of the West. I am Roman Catholic and live in the United States of America. My faith is based on the mono-theistic tenets of Judaism, and the later teachings of Jesus, then Saint Peter and Saint Paul. My country was founded upon these Judeo-Christian beliefs, and upon the concept of Natural Rights. In and of itself, being a man of the West doesn’t make me any better, or worse, than a person of the East. It’s just different.

That difference is something I seek to address, and as I stated earlier, I wanted to clarify some terms before I got into it. I hope you found this interesting, as well as enlightening.

What is to come may be worrisome and create unease. But that is for later.