08-04-2008, 09:40 PM
First off I want to make it clear that this is not an attack on anyone or any organization.
I have always found it interesting that the East (China, Japan, SE Asia) have cultures that can fall back on aspects of ancient life that are much older than anything that we do the same with in the West.
One example that I find that really stands out is in the area of ancient medicine. Much to the detriment of tigers, elephants, and other animals of SE Asia there still exists a belief and use in some areas of ancient medicinal cures often based around ground up animal parts or plant extracts. Acupuncture is another ancient aspect of the East that dates back much further than anything of similar use in the West.
If find it hard to believe that ancient Spartans, Romans, Gauls did not have their own ancient cures based around plant and animal parts. One can only imagine what ground up animal part the Spartans might have thought could be used to increase virility in men.
So why this difference? Is it just a lack of interest in maintaining links to the past?
Or was it possibly something more definitive.?
Could it be the introduction of Christianity and its often hostility to anything pagan that so to speak wiped the slate clean? War alone cannot be used as an explanation since Ancient China was quite violent and Emperors often destroyed written evidence of past Emperors?
Do the goats of Greece thank Christianity that the now forgotten Spartan medicine of dried goat scrotum is forgotten (yes I made that one up) while the poor tiger is still poached in SE Asia because the link to the past is still there and thus powdered tiger penis is sold in medicinal shops to help "keep the yang up"?
What do you think? I cannot believe that similar medicine, philosophy, etc did not exist in the West like we know it did in the East.
I have always found it interesting that the East (China, Japan, SE Asia) have cultures that can fall back on aspects of ancient life that are much older than anything that we do the same with in the West.
One example that I find that really stands out is in the area of ancient medicine. Much to the detriment of tigers, elephants, and other animals of SE Asia there still exists a belief and use in some areas of ancient medicinal cures often based around ground up animal parts or plant extracts. Acupuncture is another ancient aspect of the East that dates back much further than anything of similar use in the West.
If find it hard to believe that ancient Spartans, Romans, Gauls did not have their own ancient cures based around plant and animal parts. One can only imagine what ground up animal part the Spartans might have thought could be used to increase virility in men.
So why this difference? Is it just a lack of interest in maintaining links to the past?
Or was it possibly something more definitive.?
Could it be the introduction of Christianity and its often hostility to anything pagan that so to speak wiped the slate clean? War alone cannot be used as an explanation since Ancient China was quite violent and Emperors often destroyed written evidence of past Emperors?
Do the goats of Greece thank Christianity that the now forgotten Spartan medicine of dried goat scrotum is forgotten (yes I made that one up) while the poor tiger is still poached in SE Asia because the link to the past is still there and thus powdered tiger penis is sold in medicinal shops to help "keep the yang up"?
What do you think? I cannot believe that similar medicine, philosophy, etc did not exist in the West like we know it did in the East.
Timothy Hanna