Perspective

The first thing that struck me when I entered St. Paul's cathedral was how friggin' high the dome was. It's something that does strike me every time I enter a really big room with a very high ceiling - the feeling of hugeness, of great space. On reflection, I find this rather odd. I mean, I walk out in the open quite a lot and the sky is almost limitlessly high. Yet it never evokes the same feeling in me. Nor, as far as I know, has anyone else ever gone, "Crikey, that's HIGH!" when contemplating the sky. It can't be just that we are used to it - I don't believe we've ever felt it. My personal belief is that it's to do with our finite capacity, as humans, to comprehend quantities. The sky is just too high to get our heads around, but the high ceiling of a cathedral is comprehensible.

I get reminded of this every time some white British or American friend of mine decries his country's lack of culture and praises mine. "Oh, your country's culture is so vibrant! You have such deep and great traditions!"

Now, don't get me wrong. I am proud of my country's (India, by the way) past, it's culture and it's traditions. But Western, and specifically Anglo-Saxon people have shaped the modern world. Democracy, free speech, fundamental human rights, parliamentary government, the modern approach to science, western medicine, transport systems, you name it, the West's been the engine behind its development. The reason you don't seem to have your own culture anymore is because the rest of the world has taken to being more like you. Your culture is everywhere. It has grown too big and too ubiquitous to be contemplated as culture anymore. Your culture is the sky, ours is the high ceiling.