When you start to look at everything as a social scientist, things seem a lot less significant. Viewing everything as a social construct, as a product of a particular society in a particular period, frees you to explore ideas more deeply and analyze the roots of seemingly inevitable occurrences and sacred values. Religion is a good example of this, as once you begin to delve into its history and the way humans have constructed religions from the beginning of social life, it becomes clear that it can be nothing but a product of our imagination as it struggles to navigate the natural world. Deeply ingrained cultural characteristics reveal themselves as bonding agents of a particular group. Increased knowledge of various societies and their organization throughout history reveals the temporal nature of any era's superficial values and standards and the magnitude of world history-- in essence, it helps us realize our own smallness and the relative insignificance of our any one individual or group in relation to the immense tapestry of cultures and peoples on earth.
[to be continued..]
roam. eat. learn.
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