Layers of Being, Time Horizon, Strategies in Culture

In the pair material - ideal, we discuss ontology and epistemology.

In the pair material - spiritual, we discuss society and the person.

I call this layers of being. On closer inspection, there are not two of them, but more:

emotional - material - social - cultural - spiritual - cosmic

Here is the final list. Explanations follow below.

Situations

What are these layers of being made of? They are made of situations.

Life is a continuous flow. A situation is a break in continuity.

If the situation is not forgotten and we continue to think about it, it becomes a problem.

Then a problem can become a task, if:

1. in this situation a person encounters things;
2. a clear criterion of success appears.

A problem can turn into a meeting if the one against you is a person.

A problem can turn into an interview if the one against you is a group.

Or if the one against you is a person, but you act not in your own name, but in the name of a group.

A problem can turn into a match if you act in the name of a group and the one against you is a group.

If you act in the name of a group, and the one against you is things, then the problem becomes an agenda.

Time Horizon

Situations differ by the influence they have on our later life.

The simplest way to distinguish this influence is time.

We remember one situation for minutes, another for a month, a third for many years. I call this the time horizon.

Here is a simple and clear example.

You published a book at your own expense. It has just been delivered from the printing house. Here it is, on the table.

The packages smell of printing ink. You close your eyes for a minute and enjoy the moment. This is the emotional layer.

The book has weight, price, paper quality. All this is material.

But then you carry the book to a bookstore, and, miraculously, they accept it. People begin to buy it. You are now famous. People recognize you in the subway. This is social.

But several years pass, and your book is forgotten. Your friend’s book is not. It is not only read, it is reprinted. And it is clear that it will be read for several generations. This is cultural.

Finally, we know books that have been read for thousands of years: the Old and New Testaments, the Quran, the Vedas. This is spiritual.

Layers of Culture

Strangely enough, culture itself also becomes layered, and its layers can be compared with this table.

Does this stratification have deeper reasons?

Yes. We know them from the chapter Myth - Religion - Science.

Strategies in Culture

The outsider exits the hierarchy. It no longer makes any demands of him.

The wanderer, by contrast, moves from bottom to top, then leaves this hierarchy and enters the next one from below.

The invader moves from any position to any other position in a short time.