Why Does Race Exist in Humankind?

[hyok]

What do Taoists think?

[Guest paul walter]

What do Taoists think?

 

 

I imagine because humans mis-use their sense faculties and come to all sorts of wrong conclusions about perceived 'difference'. Of course someone else may come up with some genetic excuse for the idea of race...?

 

Have you thought of the distinction between races and nations-discrimination based on territory? Paul.

[Sunya]

I imagine because humans mis-use their sense faculties and come to all sorts of wrong conclusions about perceived 'difference'. Of course someone else may come up with some genetic excuse for the idea of race...?

 

Have you thought of the distinction between races and nations-discrimination based on territory? Paul.

 

correct!

 

There's actually no such genetic distinction for race. Scientists view 'race' as a myth, there are cultural groups but perceived differences stem from slight disparities in appearance which arose through environmental adaptation. The belief in race is when you hold a cultural group to have a genetic origin separate from another cultural group.

[Marblehead]

I have seen nothing in Lao Tzu or Chuang Tzu that even come close to speaking of races of man. None whatever.

 

Therefore I find no reason to even consider the issue.

 

I do remember a passage though (paraphrased):

 

Judge the individual according to the individual.

 

Peace & Love!

[nac]

There are completely different species within the animal kingdom which look closer to each other than the many human "races". Biologically speaking, however, this perceived difference is deceptively superficial. There is always more genetic variation within a population than between populations of different "races". We're an adaptable species. When our ancestors wandered across different parts of the world, their progeny adapted to local climates and other conditions. For example, people living next to the Baltic sea evolved one mechanism of growing blond hair, while Australian aborigines living in a southern temperate zone developed a completely different one:

 

 

Europeans thought these people were mixed races, although they should've known better considering the fact that these people naturally change hair color twice in a lifetime. They're born blond, which slowly darkens to a dark brown as they mature, and then turns white with age!

Edited April 15, 2010 by nac

[lifeforce]

What do Taoists think?

 

Maybe you should ask this question on a Taoist forum.

This forum has turned into e sangha :lol:

[hyok]

I have been thinking/theorizing on the subject of race, not in terms of biology and evolution, but in terms of the Tao and how race may reflect the Yin/Yang polarities of Heaven and Earth within the process of biological manifestation in design.

 

In my contemplations, the dominion set forth by Heaven and Earth has placed humanity in the top tier of lifeforms thus being the primary focus of spiritual incarnation and development. From examining the physical and behavioral aspects of racial clans, it seems as if they reflect the essence of Yin, Yang and its in-betweens. This by no means is a statement as to any race being superior or inferior. I do not think that is relevant, but consider the data and analysis below and come to your own conclusions. Could race be a reflection of energy manifest in evolution of the human form?

 

White race: Anglo-Saxon, Ashkenazi Jew

Nations: EU, United Kingdom, Israel, United States

Behavior: Colonialism, expansive wars, strong military, wealth creation, low population.

Physical: multi-colored hair, eyes, light skin.

 

 

Asian Race: Far East

Nations: China, Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia, India

Behavior: Internal development/quarrels, perseverance, adaptive, high population

Physical: Black hair, brown eyes, pale skin.

 

Middle East – More White than Asian

 

South America – More Asian than White

 

Africa – More Earth carnated race?

 

 

This is a very rough theory, but I am just throwing it out there to see what you bums think.

Edited April 15, 2010 by hyok

[Marblehead]

Maybe you should ask this question on a Taoist forum.

This forum has turned into e sangha :lol:

 

Not totally while I am still here. Hehehe.

 

Sure, there are a lot of different philosophies being spoken of here but that's good, I think, as long as there is no disrespectful negativity going on and I haven't seen any recently.

 

Taoism embraces all who are respectful. After all, All is Tao by any other name.

 

Our words are what causes the most misunderstandings but our words are a part of our philosophies so it is understandable that we will have these misunderstandings.

 

Anyhow, which race are we talking about? NASCAR? Or the Daytona 500?

 

Peace & Love!

Edited April 15, 2010 by Marblehead

[gendao]

^^ Interesting categorizations..

 

Lee Brown made some interesting mythological claims about the "4 races:"

At the beginning of this cycle of time, long ago, the Great Spirit came down and He made an appearance and He gathered the peoples of this earth together they say on an island which is now beneath the water and He said to the human beings, "I'm going to send you to four directions and over time I'm going to change you to four colors, but I'm going to give you some teachings and you will call these the Original Teachings and when you come back together with each other you will share these so that you can live and have peace on earth, and a great civilization will come about."

 

And he said "During the cycle of time I'm going to give each of you two stone tablets. When I give you those stone tablets, don't cast those upon the ground. If any of the brothers and sisters of the four directions and the four colors cast their tablets on the ground, not only, will human beings have a hard time, but almost the earth itself will die."

 

And so he gave each of us a responsibility and we call that the Guardianship. To the Indian people, the red people, he gave the Guardianship of the earth. We were to learn during this cycle of time the teachings of the earth, the plants that grow from the earth, the foods that you can eat, and the herbs that are healing so that when we came back together with the other brothers and sisters we could share this knowledge with them. Something good was to happen on the earth.

 

To the South, he gave the yellow race of people the Guardianship of the wind. They were to learn about the sky and breathing and how to take that within ourselves for spiritual advancement. They were to share that with us at this time.

 

To the West He gave the black race of people the Guardianship of the water. They were to learn the teachings of the water which is the chief of the elements, being the most humble and the most powerful. When I went to the University of Washington and I learned that it was a black man that discovered blood plasma, it didn't surprise me because blood is water and the elders already told me the black people would bring the teachings of the water.

 

To the North He gave the white race of people the Guardianship of the fire. If you look at the center of many of the things they do you will find the fire. They say a light bulb is the white man's fire. If you look at the center of a car you will find a spark. If you look at the center of the airplane and the train you will find the fire. The fire consumes, and also moves. This is why it was the white brothers and sisters who began to move upon the face of the earth and reunite us as a human family.

IOW:

 

Native Americans (red) were to learn how to live ecologically off the land.

Asians (yellow) were to learn qigong/neidan.

Africans (black) were to learn how to "use water" (this metaphor is not clear).

Europeans (whites) were to learn how to technologically harness fire & electricity.

Edited April 15, 2010 by vortex

[Aetherous]

Really interesting quote, Vortex! Loved it.

[gendao]

^ Thanks! I'm not Native so don't know where Lee Brown (Cherokee) got that from or how authentic it is...but if it is ancient knowledge, would certainly be rather prescient. Any Natives here who can comment on the authenticity of these prophecies?

 

OT, here's some more interesting excerpts from his speech in 1986, that contains some references that are far more eerily relevant today:

The First Shaking of the Earth would be so violent that this bug would be shaken off the earth into the air and it would begin to move and fly in the air. And by the end of this shaking this bug will be in the air around the world. Behind it would be a trail of dirt and eventually the whole sky of the entire earth would become dirty from these trails of dirt, and this would cause many diseases that would get more and more complicated.

 

In the First World War the airplane came into wide usage for the first time. That was that bug moving into the sky.

I wonder if this might be referencing chemtrails?

One that I used to listen to many times, over and over, was Thomas Banyaca. He was authorized to speak in English about what was on the stone tablets, and he has dedicated his life to doing this. And they began to tell us at these gatherings, "You're going to see a time in your lifetime when the human beings are going to find the blueprint that makes us." They call that now DNA, deoxyribonucleic acid. They said, "They're going to cut this blueprint." They call that now genetic splicing. And they said, "They're going to make new animals upon the earth, and they're going to think these are going to help us. And it's going to seem like they do help us. But maybe the grandchildren and great-grandchildren are going to suffer." The elders said long ago, "They will release these things, and they will use them." This is going to be released not too long from now. They are making new animals. The elders talked about this. They said, "You will see new animals, and even the old animals will come back, animals that people thought had disappeared. They will find them here and there. They'll begin to reappear."

GM crops, microbes & animals?

Grandchildren will not have time for grandparents. Parents will not have time for children. It will seem like time is going faster and faster. The elders advised us that, as things speed up, you yourself should slow down. The faster things go, the slower you go. Because there's going to come a time when the earth is going to be shaken a third time. The Great Spirit has shaken the earth two times: the First and Second World Wars to remind us that we are a human family, to remind us that we should have greeted each other as brothers and sisters.

 

When you see people living in the sky on a permanent basis, you will know the Great Spirit is about to grab the earth, this time not with one hand, but with both hands. When this house is in the sky, the Great Spirit is going to shake the Earth a third time, and whoever dropped that gourd of ashes, upon them it is going to drop.

 

They said that, after the Eagle lands on the moon, some of these people will begin to leave these prairies of stone and come home and take up some of the old ways and begin to make themselves reborn, because it's a new day. But many will not. And they said there's going to come a time when in the morning the sun is going to rise, and this village of stone will be there, and in the evening there would just be steam coming from the ground. They will be as steam. And in the center of many of those villages of stone, when they turn to steam, the Native people will turn to steam also because they never woke up and left the village.

Uh-oh...

[hyok]

I really like how the Native Americans refer to the Great Spirit. I think it might be literal, like in sheer size even. lol.

[gendao]

[nac]

We Indians are a mongrelized caucasian and negrito race, with the north being more caucasian and Dravida slightly more negrito. Genetic testing has confirmed that Indians correspond to more or less one race. Most peoples east of India and Persia and mongoloids. Tibetans are a branch of mongoloids with big eyes and darker skin. It doesn't make much sense to classify all of us under a single "Far Eastern" race.

[Marblehead]

I can remember a long time ago when I was in grade school we were taught that there were three races of man:

 

African, which originated in Africa

Caucasian, which originated in the Causus Mountain region

Peking, which originated in China

 

Of course, this was just myth based on the ignorance of science at the time.

 

It is said that there were two distinct migrations out of Africa between ice ages and this is what has cause the great diversity amongst the different peoples of the planet. The peoples of the first migration who lived through the ice age evolved according to the climatic conditions where they were during the ice age.

 

Peace & Love!

[hyok]

We Indians are a mongrelized caucasian and negrito race, with the north being more caucasian and Dravida slightly more negrito. Genetic testing has confirmed that Indians correspond to more or less one race. Most peoples east of India and Persia and mongoloids. Tibetans are a branch of mongoloids with big eyes and darker skin. It doesn't make much sense to classify all of us under a single "Far Eastern" race.

 

As I said, it's a rough theory. I'm Asian myself so it is not like i'm trying to screw us, but I guess growing up in the states has left me quite ignorant about my own people.

Edited April 16, 2010 by hyok

[ralis]

correct!

 

There's actually no such genetic distinction for race. Scientists view 'race' as a myth, there are cultural groups but perceived differences stem from slight disparities in appearance which arose through environmental adaptation. The belief in race is when you hold a cultural group to have a genetic origin separate from another cultural group.

 

I agree that humans have a need to categorize others that are different, generally from a racial point of view. Science is trapped in a reductionist paradigm with few exceptions. However, the point you raise is the age old argument of "environmental vs. genetics. Actually both criterion are necessary for evaluating variation among all species.

 

 

ralis

[gendao]

We Indians are a mongrelized caucasian and negrito race, with the north being more caucasian and Dravida slightly more negrito. Genetic testing has confirmed that Indians correspond to more or less one race. Most peoples east of India and Persia and mongoloids. Tibetans are a branch of mongoloids with big eyes and darker skin. It doesn't make much sense to classify all of us under a single "Far Eastern" race.

Yea, that would make more sense. Geographically "Asian," yet genetically more "dark" Caucasian.

 

However, the American Indians would fall more under the "Asian" category.

Chinese Olmecs?

Chinese in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica?

 

I was really struck by the Asiatic appearance still exhibited by modern Navajos when I passed through the SW a few years ago: