Different Paths

The Yoga Centre I went to had an American Swami leading it. A tall guy who was full of life and joy. On a weekend retreat I joined, I had a conversation with him about my path and where I had gone, which was towards atheism, and away from religion. I moved to the UK for two gap years between school and university, and was introduced to a much more secular society. When I got back to Cape Town, it was the other extreme. A lot of my fellow students were both very religious, and very evangelical, and I found that difficult in terms of tolerance and allowing for other people’s ways of thinking. It pushed me away and toward a (watered down) Richard Dawkins's “God Delusion” view. 

I did a lot of reading and had to unpack my own relationship and history with religion. By the time I got to Yoga, I was resistant to things like singing. I didn’t do the chants. I had stopped saying the Lord’s Prayer and no longer resonated with the church songs I had grown up singing. It was hard to sing words I didn’t literally believe in. 

In the conversation with the Swami, he explained the philosophy around different paths. His was a non-combative approach that didn’t claim to understand everything. It is not some truth you are wrestling with, that someone else knows. You are grappling with the vastness. There was a recognition of the human limits of ability to deal with the unfathomable. There were four different paths. 

Karma Yoga is the path of action. Where you are able to park your anxiety and focus on contribution through getting stuff that needs doing done. A Bahkti Yogi may find stillness in art, music, creativity, love, relationships and worship. A Raja Yogi targets stilling the waves directly through mental exercises, meditation, and breathwork. The Jnana Yogi is more intellectual with stillness as a cognitive journey coming through study, philosophy, and knowledge. Searching for and finding moments of stillness through and within discussion and reading, in a similar way to what I had been doing in a Christian setting, but without my internal antagonism. 

Interestingly, that conversation with the Swami helped me both make peace with my lack of belief, and to re-engage constructively with the Christianity and the community that I had largely walked away from. One with whom I was not in conflict with, but merely using different tools from.

observable universe

Changing to Accommodate

I had obstacles to overcome with the Yoga Centre I joined. The style did make a few minor adaptations for Western tastes. Like moving breathing exercises to the start of classes, so people didn’t just leave after the “exercise”. And charging, because there weren’t enough people from the community willing to finance the centre. 

The school was conservative, and on the surface seemed religious. I was told Yoga was not religious, but it looks, swims, and quacks like a duck? There are people who treat it like a religion, and the Vendantic philosophy has big overlaps with Hinduism. Again, there are many who will argue that Hinduism and Buddhism were philosophies, not religions. That is not something I understood. I am from a Christian background, which despite the multiple and expanding versions (with a long history of schisms) still (as I understood it) argues that there is one fundamental truth... even if there is disagreement about what that is, you have to wrestle with it. 

That always worried me. If we can’t come to an agreement, we have to go our separate ways. Fortunately, the yoga centre was “holistic”. I could ignore lots of the pageantry, and focus on the practical bits. Proper breathing, diet, exercise, relaxation and mental health. Five basic points to return to whatever you are struggling with.

Creativity and Learning

One of my frustrations with my religious roots was when I was having a conversation with someone, and the tone of their voice changed. Ken Robinson, who passed away in 2020, was one of my favourite presenters. It sounded like he was having a conversation with you. You get the feeling it is two-way, even when it is just him talking. It felt like he was also listening. 

I got really frustrated when people I was opening up to put on their “lecture voice” (it's not unique to religious conversations) or what I called the “Bible voice”. If I was talking to someone about one of the issues that I was facing, and suddenly I realised from their tone of voice, they were not listening anymore. They were telling me a story. The issue I mentioned triggered a story I had probably heard multiple times before. I was a regular once-on-Friday, twice-on-Sunday church attendee. I knew the Bible stories. 

It was difficult for me when someone stopped listening, and went onto what felt like automatic pilot. It was also difficult when I reached some kind of impasse, where the answer wasn't satisfactory, and I was still struggling. The philosophy, as I experienced it, was also antagonistic towards other world views. You do not need to explore widely, as the truth is in the Bible. I went to lots of churches, while I was growing up in Westville, although the Methodist Church and the Baptist Church were the main ones. I did not go to the Temples or Mosques. I did not even go to the Catholic Church. I did read “The Life of Pi”, and felt a kinship for his search where he did end up exploring all these various religions. I read “Sophie's World” which opened up this idea of Philosophy. Of exploring widely around the meaning of life. I loved the name Sophie. The idea of a Goddess of knowledge. At a later stage, when in the yoga world, with a new understanding or perception of what a deity is, or what imagination of god was useful for me, I chose Saraswathi. Saraswathi is the goddess of creativity and learning.

Wrestling the Truth

Culture of Critique

I had some obstacles to overcome to do yoga. The centre I went to taught very traditional Sivananda Yoga. Sivananda himself was a medical doctor who lived in India. Then when he moved on to his yogic path, he spent a few years doing Tapas. Living a simple life off the generosity of strangers, while wandering and thinking. He then he started an Ashram and mixed his medical life with yoga. He took on some disciples and started a community called the Divine Life Society. 

Now growing up, I had my own experiences with what we called the Hari Krishnas. I remembered people wearing orange who kind of give you a flower or a book ”for free”. Then you feel reciprocal obligation to give them some money in return. I honestly didn't know a lot about the Hari Krishna movements. But what I did know came from a place of fear. The belief that it was almost culty. 

I grew up in a religious Christian environment and I mainly went to the Methodist and Baptist Church. I had a difficult relationship with religion, because it was very much a part of my life growing up. It was my received truth, but received truth with a culture of critique. You can see how the philosophy of western science developed out of a belief in a single truth, because it meant that you could go quite hard at it. It meant that if you did not understand, the fault lay with you. That the truth was true. It does not matter how hard you go because you are not going to dislodge it. And I did go hard.

Story of Self-Reliance

Self-reliance is incredibly empowering. It is a story in which I have been deep soaked. Lower your expectations and you can’t be disappointed. If something needs doing, just do it. Discover your ability to find joy with very little, and every little bit extra will be a delight. One of my privileges is that I don’t feel anybody owes me anything. This frees me up to give generously in the belief that good stuff will come back. To build my ability to stay in it for the long term. To build my ability to cope with the inevitable challenges involved in doing anything worthwhile. If this comes across as a little preachy, it is possibly because I learnt it in Church. Friday nights & twice on Sundays. My path led me away from religion, but our stories don’t change overnight. Bruce Lee said, “Absorb what is useful. Discard what is not. Add what is uniquely your own”. It is hard to understand other people. They didn’t do all their schooling in Westville (Durban, Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa). University in Cape Town. Work in Joburg & London. Gradually, spending time with people allows us to see their stories. How connected our self really is to non-overlapping stories that don’t make sense to us. I’m adding a pinch of salt to my story of self-reliance.

Pillow Fighting my Mom at the Westville Methodist Church

Easily Rattled

Morality and ethics remain even when you have different religious beliefs. Even if you don’t have a higher power. They are the agreements we have with each other that allow us to cooperate and exist in the same physical space. None of us opted in. We were born without our consent. We were born with different lottery tickets. Our effort, skills and knowledge (merit?) determine much of our success, but most of that is determined by the lottery of geography, genetics, prejudice, and social networks. I am no longer religious, but I still have deeply held beliefs about right and wrong. I try hold them loosely where they don’t impact others. But fury still bubbles at injustice. I am easily rattled. Fury isn’t that helpful, but there are lots of big shared problems (Climate Change, War, Poverty, Pandemic, Financial Meltdown) where we have to have the horrible conversations we would rather not. We have to figure out how to have a shared conversation despite different world views.

Noise or Music

God and Money

Words are chunky. The more time we spend together, the more layers of agreed meaning a work can have. Each word in a sentence can mean a sentence. Each sentence a paragraph. Each paragraph a book. If our worlds overlap enough. Like the difference between knowing how to get somewhere you go often, going somewhere often but still needing GPS, or going somewhere for the first time using GPS.

Growing up, I knew exactly what the questions, "Do you believe in God?" meant. God was a very old white dude who used to get rather angry sometimes till he had a son. God knew everything, was everywhere, and could do anything. If a friend and I both believed in God, we both believed in the same God. There were questions, but the questions had answers and we just had to continually do the work. If we both did the work, we would head in the same general direction as we ironed out our misunderstandings.

Increasingly, as Local has become more Global, and Global has become more Local... words have stretched. I don't believe in the God I grew up believing in, but that doesn't mean I am not heading in the same general direction as someone who does. A simple Yes or No doesn't carry as much information. You have to spend time together and dig deeper.

This is the same with other words. Like Capitalism. Like Neo-Liberalism. Like "The Establishment". I believe in all three of those things, but many of my closest friends and family use those words as swear words. I don't think we mean the same thing when we say them.

When I say Capitalism, I am talking about building Capital. The Capital in the "ism". I am talking about reinvestment rather than consumption, in order to build something of lasting and sustainable value. I am talking about being custodians who compound our wealth for future generations. I believe Capital is better placed to work for money than Labour is. Some things can be counted and monetised, some things can't. I believe in a world where we Labour for love.

When I say Neo-Liberalism, I am talking about compromise, best practice, and learning as we go. The new and liberal in the "ism". Where we change enough to Bruce Lee the world. "Accept what is useful. Discard what is not. Add what is uniquely your own". Liberal enough to allow change. Conservative enough to reward those who drive the change and protect the things we love. Constrained enough to restrict change to "win-win" sustainable wealth creation, rather than short-term extraction.

When I say "The Establishment". I am talking about our improving institutions, cooperation, and ability to communicate. I am talking about improving democracy, decreasing Global Poverty, infrastructure, and checks and balances on power. I am talking about the gradual empowerment of individuals and communities rather than being controlled by powers from above.

All of these things have holes. I don't believe in extracting profits while not caring about anybody. I don't believe in short-term selling off public assets to shift wealth to a few corrupt individuals. I don't believe in a political class that controls everybody else.

As Global and Local irreversibly become enfuzzed, we need to be careful with our words and our ears. Like religion and money, the primary function is to build the kind of world we want. Not to divide ourselves into teams and throw rocks.

Personal Schism

Trev:

I grew up in a religious, mostly protestant, mostly white, liberalish community in Apartheid South Africa. One of my watershed moments was being forced to choose between two of the local churches. The one I had grown up in, and the one I was enjoying attending because of my circle of friends. To become a member of the Baptist Church, I had to be baptised. To become a member of the Methodist Church, I had to confirm my baptism. I had been dunked as a baby, which was not recognised by the Baptist church. Being 'baptised again' would mean that my first Baptism was rejected in some way which would upset some people who were important to me. I didn't really know why it was important, but in the end went back to the Church I grew up in for Confirmation classes. The long history of the Abrahamic Religions is a series of these kinds of 'there is only one path' splits. This was my personal Schism.

'The Angel hinders the offering of Isaac'

Rembrandt

Mike:
The Protestant Church grew out of the idea that you should be able to look inside. Rather than a delivered truth, people should be able to look inside. They should be able to be their own ministers and priests. They should be able to read "The Word" in their own tongue and interpret it according to their own contexts. The movement was as much a political statement as a convenient shift in religious beliefs. The Christianisation of the Barbarian Tribes was also an attempt to control them. Vladamir The Great dated all the Abrahamic Religions before choosing Christianity because he liked wine. Charlemagne and Louis The Great were also one country, one religion, kind of guys. It was Louis who kicked the Protestants that headed to South Africa out.

Paul:
You should take another look at the Church Trev. It is not the same place as when you grew up. Also, don't you remember all the good bits? Church provides a centre for the Community. A shared belief that brings people together once a week to think about something bigger than themselves. It is a place to look after each others mental health, and to think about those less fortunate than ourselves. Surely that is a good thing? The Churches in Westville have done a lot of work over the last 20 years. There are more women involved in leadership roles, the demographics of the services are more mixed, they are wrestling with their homophobia monkeys and the various churches are starting to put aside their different interpretations and work together. Even the Catholic Churches are very much part of the mix. And the Mosques and Temples. The door is always open to you. 

Trev:
It does play on my mind that leaving the Church leaves these spaces only open to particular parts of the Community. I now live in the UK, where most villages have beautiful little churches. Churches that are struggling to get people to come. I can't teach Yoga at my local Church because it is viewed as "Hindu". I could, but I would have to strip out the Oms and Chants and bits that freak people out. That is kind of like saying, you can make the Braveheart movie, but I don't want there to be any Kilts. I feel like we get excluded from a lot of the beauty of seeing different perspectives because we are forced to choose which one is "right".

Jessica:
You need a shared story for the place to be Holy. It can't be a free for all. It isn't about being right, it is about keeping stories clean. A genuinely open Community Hall might be great because it is all-inclusive, but it will be excluded from the magic of keeping things pure. Imagine a Buddhist Silent Retreat that now had to accommodate your Oms and Jaya Ganeshas... even though they share a common underlying philosophy, they would probably also tell you to pipe down.  There is nothing wrong with that. Just because Coke, Orange Juice, Milk, and Vodka are nice drinks doesn't mean you can throw all of them into a bucket with an extra thin mint and think your stomach will accept it willingly. Tolerance doesn't mean you can't protect spaces for a coherent story. Even if you admit that it is just a story.

Trev:
Sure, but then how do you create a shared narrative? The rulers of the past just issued "the truth" and then used their monopoly on power to brainwash everyone into that. The new Churches are just political parties. Protestants and Catholics may have made peace, but now we have Partisan Political Parties. In the UK, US, and South Africa where I know most about the politics relative to other countries... the majority of voters are hugely tribal. They interpret "facts" based on the opposite of whatever the other team thinks. Too many people believe anyone who disagrees with them is stupid, evil, or has some other Bad Faith incentive to obstruct and destroy. 

Rory:
It's just noise. People do actually get along pretty well. Particularly if there is money to be made. We huff and puff a lot on Social Media but as soon as you put people into a room together off camera, then people tend to learn social skills that make things work quickly. It genuinely isn't as bad as all the Drama Queens out there are making it out to be. If anything, it is just distracting us from continuing the progress. Yes, Church buildings are emptier... but there are far more cross-community communities springing up. The world has never been more tolerant, less xenophobic, less homophobic, less sexist etc. than now. We just focus on the bad stuff. It makes for a better moan. And we have always loved a good moan.

Trev:
There are more cross-community communities, but they weaken local communities. If we all live in digital land, we have less motivation to make friends with our neighbours. If the shows we watch become global, there is an increasing sameness to our storytelling. There is a larger "structural" risk, because we aren't trying different things. There are no fire breaks for if we try something that seems to work, and it goes horribly wrong.  There is also a local disconnect. In the past, leaders in communities used to live very similar lives to the people they led. Increasingly the CEOs, MPs, Professors, Priests and other leaders live in unrecognisable bubbles. Physical lives separate from mental lives. That means we become these mindless bodies and bodyless minds living different lives.

Alex:
You can't go backward. The communities of old weren't these glorious little neighbourhoods we like to picture. Think about how difficult it is to live in a closed community where everyone knows everything. Where your mistakes follow you like they are burnt into your forehead. There are positives to a separation of physical space from the mental. We all get a little more peace. We also aren't as subject to the geographical lotteries that force us to interact with the people where we were born, and believe what they believe. It is also much easier to physically get off your ass and go visit the people you meet online than ever before. In my experience, people make more of an effort to see you when you don't live where they do. The visit triggers a "must make a plan" attitude, rather than a "but I don't feel like it now" vibe.

Trev:
I get it. But I, like a lot of Global Citizens, probably feel like Theresa May nailed it when she said Global Citizens are "Citizens of Nowhere". It sometimes feels like that. Rootless. I know there is no way to solve this. We are Scatterlings of Africa. Everybody. Everywhere. People have always migrated, and the stories we have used to describe ourselves have always changed. I think that is beautiful, and it allows us to evolve and work through our problems. But it also leaves me feeling rootless a lot of the time. Like my foundations are creaking. Like I have forgotten something somewhere. A sense of unease. Maybe that's just life.

[Mike, Paul, Jessica, Rory, and Alex are fictional]

Maintaining the Theatre

I grew up in a religious community, but I am no longer religious. One tool that you lose when you move away from religion is the theatre of it. You can address the issues, like mental health, community building, gratitude, values and purpose separately. But you lose some of the ancient tools, and have to find creative ways to replicate them. 

Religion can provide the shared rituals, and necessary buffers from everything else. Like the difference between watching TV and going to the Cinema. The Cinema has a certain magic. The lights go down, the phones go off, and the film goes on. Religion can be a shared agreement to focus on something.

Keeping things Holy. Creating space around them. Protecting them. Arriving early and getting into the right head space. Putting the rest of the world aside. 

We are "trigger happy" - words, spaces, people, clothes, smells etc. trigger us to get into a certain frame of mind. Seeing a Rolex on a warrior on Saxon battlefield as they take on the Danes would burst the bubble. That is the strength of dedicated building with songs or words that create the environment to target whatever emotional connection it is you want.

Without the religion, you need to have a shared agreement of what it is you want to make special. You need everyone to want to make it special. Then you need to create the theatre. Maintain it, so you can give the story space to move you.

Donkanofski

I grew up in a very religious community at the tail end of the Cold War and Apartheid. Ideologies end up having strange bedfellows, and we tend to believe the particular cocktail we were born into. Aged 13, I can still remember an argument in my Maths class when I suggested to someone that Jesus was probably a Communist. I was a Church-three-times-a-week boy, so this was a pro-Communist sentiment, and it didn't go down very well. I didn't know about Mao and Stalin, but I did know about a loaf of bread and a fish that fed a lot of poor people. I probably should have been doing my Maths, but my nickname isn't Donkey because I am quiet.

The Apartheid Government was one of the regimes being supported by the UK and America in order to hold the wall against Communism. Mandela was released in 1990, the Berlin Wall fell in 1991, and South Africa held its Apartheid ending elections in 1994. Many members of the African National Congress still call each other Comrade.

Like someone who grew up watching 'The Wizard of Oz', then went to watch 'Wicked', I ended up studying Money because I hated the control it had over me. One of my first courses at University was 'Thinking about Business' (TAB). A couple of friends and I used to call it 'Free Market Indocrination' (FMI) and came wearing red shirts. Twenty years later, we still greet each other with a variation of our nicknames with the addition of a Russianised '... anofski'. Donkanofski, Tapiwanalotaflopski, and Robanobadropski were the Comrades-in-Chief.

As someone who could be described as a Capitalist Activist... I am clearly a convert. But I am probably more accurately described as an Anti-Capitalist's Capitalist. I still believe that money doesn't mix well with certain ideas. My blood still boils enough at Corporate culture, that I far prefer living off a Basic Income (Generated by Capital) to working for money.

In particular, I have big concerns about money mixing with Housing, Health, Law, and Medicine. I still believe there are good ideas, and good business ideas. They overlap significantly, but there are some good ideas that get perverted by money, and there are some great ideas that are impossible (/not a good idea) to monetize. I call myself a Neoliberal, but that is now as much of a swear word as me calling Jesus a Communist in Durban in 1993 South Africa. "The Establishment" is the Wicked Witch, and the torches are out to burn things down. I believe some things are better run privately, and some things are better run by Institutions that are democratically controlled. We are gradually learning which is which as different places try different things. Through trial and error, and global best practice.

Nothing is as simple as any ideology claims. The world is messy. The Wicked Witch of the West has a completely different version of the truth. A truth that works for everyone is hard to come to, if we aren't able to pause and look at things from other perspectives.

Sorry, Thank You, Yay!

When some people move away from faith, they don't move away from the culture. Many of the Atheists I know are Jewish. The Atheists who were Christian hesitate to say the same thing. Alain De Botton talks about Atheism 2.0. Basically, moving on from the break-up/divorce stage to the co-parenting phase. Raising the importance of 'what is best for the child'. Many of us still live in communities where we have important relationships that bind us, despite intense pain we'd rather be rid of. Where the Escape Hatch isn't there any more. At that point, it isn't a question of who is right. It is a question of 'What is the next best step?'

Today is Yom Kippur. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. A day when you genuinely say sorry to people for the things you have done wrong in the last year. Traditionally, it is attached to a 25 hour fast. As it so happens, fasts are actually good for your stomach. A little like brushing your teeth for the insides. An annual spring clean is a good idea. A day of reflection on your missteps is also a good idea.

Yom Kippur

Another non-religious holiday I have always like the idea of, even if the origins are controversial, is Thanksgiving. Although there are other connections, it dovetailed with the seasonal harvest. An annual celebration giving thanks for what we have. Quite often as the religious tones changed, the holidays survived. Keep the tree, change the decorations. Saying thank you is a good idea no matter what you believe.

Thanksgiving

Another one I love is Diwali. A festival of lights. A celebration of knowledge beating ignorance. A celebration that despite the major struggles we face, we tend to chip away at them. Lights shine if we let them.

Diwali

There are lots of difficulties in the world. Lots of fights and clashes and issues and pain. We don't have to go nuclear on the whole situation though. We don't have to rage, and burn, and slash, and destroy. We can still build on the good bits. See the good bits. As Bruce Lee said, 'Use what is useful, Discard what is not, Add what is uniquely your own'.

Natal

Os portugueses foram os primeiros europeus a explorar o litoral da África do Sul. Tendo desistido de séculos de cruzadas, o mar oferecia uma rota comercial alternativa ao Oriente. Essa foi a justificativa comercial. Parte da justificação religiosa foi Preste John - um mítico rei cristão, isolado do mundo cristão pelos muçulmanos vitoriosos. Bartolomeu Dias foi o primeiro europeu a navegar pela costa, mas os portugueses não marcaram presença. Angola e Moçambique mais tarde se tornaram o foco português. Eu cresci em Durban, Kwa-Zulu Natal. 'Natal' fornecendo um lembrete da conexão portuguesa. O comércio com os portugueses em Mombasa enriqueceu o fundador da Nação Zulu - Shaka. Como Portugal, a Grã-Bretanha é relativamente pequena. As histórias coloniais são diferentes. A corte portuguesa mudou-se para o Brasil em 1807. No século XIX, a Grã-Bretanha dominou as ondas e Portugal voltou a ser pequeno.

A Família Real embarca para o Brasil

Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan was washed by several cultural waves. Indo-European languages show how our tongues are linked, even if our ears hide behind alternative words and accents. The area was once inhabited by Indo-Iranians. Written history starts with its annexation into the Achaemenid Empire of Cyrus the Great. In the 8th Century, Oghuz Tribes moved there, and those who converted to Islam rather than Christianity or Shamanism were known as Turkmen. Like the Romans who converted to, and (temporarily) took control of, Christianity (till the Germanic people stepped in...), westward-moving Turkmen later led the Ottoman Empire. The languages spoken in Turkey, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan belong to the Oghuz family of the Turkic language group.

Turkic Language Family

Indo-European Language Family

Empowered and Connected

Rather than looking at individual companies that are gathering information about us to affect our decisions, it is more powerful to look inwards. I am not particularly concerned about my privacy for my purposes. That is because I know I am an incredibly stubborn person. I am a contrarian. A Donkey.

I often wish I was more compliant. I completely understand the Conservative World View. I just can't help myself. Instead of unravelling everything, there is someone to whom you can go and ask, 'What should I do?'. There is an answer, 'This is how it is done'. The Abrahamic Religions all emphasise surrender. Abraham is asked to sacrifice Isaac, and 'God wills it' is sufficient justification.

Abrahamic Surrender

I grew up in Protestant Churches - Methodist, Anglican and Baptist. The heart of the birth of Protestantism is in the name. Protestants didn't do what they were told. They read the Bible in their own tongue. Translated, from the translation, of the story that had been past down over the centuries. Then they thought about it. Prayed about it. Then acted. That powerful step of 'personal thought' combined with the democratisation of knowledge was a powerful driver of the enlightenment.

I moved away from the Church while at university. The problem with answering 'What should I do?' , with 'What do you think' is that it is an open question. It opens up options. Choices. Discussion. Worries. Doubts.

What we think is heavily influenced by what we see, who we spend time with, and what happens to us. We are primed to act far more than we would like to believe. 

I do worry about Privacy. Not my own, but that of the people who make me who I am. My story is not my own. It is the combination of all the people in my life. People who I trust enough to ask me really hard questions should I make decisions that do not resonate with the relationship we have.

I have lots of friends who hold me to account. Who ask me challenging questions. We become far more difficult to manipulate when we are empowered and connected.

Tajikistan

Civil war has often followed independence from foreign conquerors. Tajikistan became an independent nation following the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union. Its Civil War lasted from 1992 to 1997. This was not because of ethnic diversity. The vast majority are Tajiks, an Iranian group of people speaking a variety of Persian. Like the Germanic Migration Period (375-568) and the Bantu Expansion (from 1,000 BCE reaching South Africa by maybe 300 AD), distinct 'Nations' of people are often connected by hints at the past in their word choices. Their primary language has Persian roots. The second language is mainly Russian. The religion is mainly Islam. Lingering reminders of the various powers that have come and gone. The majority of ethnic Russians left when the Soviet era ended. The Civil War was fought between regional groups with opposition parties seeing reduced Russian influence as an opportunity for their brand of ideology.

Tajik Girls celebrating Persian New Year

Samoa

Unlike other islands which were colonised and the populations replaced, the Samoan people's ancestors reached their country about 3,500 years ago. Only a small minority are not indigenous. In most countries, that is the other way around. People tend to wander. Including Samoans! The island group, including American Samoa (still part of the US) were known as the "Navigator Islands" because of their seafaring skills. Although Europeans visited from 1722, contact was limited until 1830s when English missionaries and traders began arriving. Germany, the United States and Britain started backing military efforts to support their respective business interests. Backing different local groups, there was an eight-year Civil War (1886-1894). A proxy for war between colonial powers. In 1899, all three sent warships resulting in the Somoas being divided between Germany and the US. Britain backed off in exchange for Tonga. New Zealand took over after World War I, and independence came (for what was known as Western Samoa until 1997) in 1962.

Samoa v South Africa

(2007)

Secular Church

What would you include in a secular 'Church'? Do you think it is possible? I often walk past the beautiful old churches in the UK, which is a progressively less religious country, and think how great it would be if these buildings still acted as 'third places'. Not work. Not home. Most of the people in my world either are religious or were religious. At least culturally. Much of the traditions, celebrations, and glue that hold the community together come from a shared story. My beef with one story being 'true' or not, is the division it causes when disagreement comes along. If Church/Temple/Mosque simply meant, 'what is the story that binds us all', then perhaps we can start to build more festivals, feasts, and traditions that reintroduce community. That find common ground.

Community

Inequality on Display

Two big drivers of some of the bloodiest wars the world has seen were Conspicuous Consumption and Work Ethic. War was partly a commercial venture. Having lost the Crusades (1095-1291), a series of 'internal' Christian wars raged between 1522 and 1700. Leaders craving power used powerful stories to create angry bases to further their interests. Conspicuous Consumption is spending money on luxury goods and services, to publicly display wealth and power. Work Ethic is the belief that hard work and diligence have an innate moral benefit. When lots of people are poor and struggling, it can't be hard to get people angry by pointing at people who aren't working as hard, and yet are displaying their wealth. Indulgences (a payment to reduce the punishment for sins) were used to finance buildings such as St. Peter's Basilica. The German Monk, Martin Luther asked, "Why does the pope, whose wealth today is greater than the wealth of the richest Crassus, build the basilica of St. Peter with the money of poor believers rather than his own money?".

Bishops selling indulgences

München

Munich (München) is the largest city in the German state of Bavaria (third biggest in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg). It is a city founded "near the Monks" of a Benedictine monastery. Catholic Munich was a stronghold in the Counter-Reformation. The Reformation started in 1517 and while the core motivation was theological (sale of indulgences, reliance on scripture etc.), it was an opportunity for power bases to grow with rising nationalism. Around the same time in 1530, Henry VIII made England's church independent for other reasons. The Counter-Reformation was the fight back, and part of the Thirty-Year War (1618-1648). Ferdinand II wanted to restore Catholicism as the only religion in the Empire. The Protestants called on the support of King Gustav of Sweden - leader of the most powerful army in Europe at the time. Between 25-40% of the population of most German states were killed in this period. Directly through killed soldiers, and indirectly through famine, disease, and destroyed livelihoods. Ferdinand II lost (dying during the war), and though Bavaria was independent at the end of the war, his son Ferdinand III was the last Emperor to have any real power over the Holy Roman Empire. The unification of Germany only happened in 1871.

Holy Roman Empire (962-1806)

Bloody War

Peace of Westphalia

Palau

Even good ideas need to be good business ideas in order to happen. Good business ideas can require cover to make them seem like good ideas too. Like the Crusades before them, Religion and Commerce were two key drivers of European Colonialism. Commerce provided the financing. Religion provided the excuses. The islands of Palau were claimed by Spain on first (in passing) sighting in 1522. In 1697 when a group of Palauans venturing to the North West were shipwrecked, they represented their islands to a Czech missionary using pebbles. The missionary drew a map and reported it to his Jesuit superiors causing great interest. Even today, this society is engaged in evangelisation in 112 nations on six continents. Following the defeat of Spain by America in the 1899 War, they sold the islands to the German Empire. Since 1994, the islands have had independence under a compact of free association with the United States.

Spanish East Indies 1888