The Priesthood
What creates culture is a commonly-held view of the world and widely-accepted rules of behaviour.
The world-view is passed from generation to generation by living myth -- stories that are constantly expanded and reinterpreted. Members of the society are dipped in the myth. The myth allows them to see themselves as part of the continuing story of their society. The priests are the "experts" on the way things "really" are.
The rules range from customary ways of greeting all the way to formal criminal law. Again, expertise is required. The priesthood plays a special role here. They are not just story tellers. They enforce the rules. They have an impact on the daily lives of the citizen.
We tend to regard the world view of other cultures as quaint and "interesting", primitive, unscientific ...
We regard the laws and they way they are informed in other cultures as equally quaint and arbitrary.
But our own culture has it's priesthood, which, when viewed objectively, is just as quaint and arbitrary. The only thing that distinguishes our priesthood from the ancient ones is the complex structure -- six priesthoods which barely understand each other, with domains of influence that barely overlap. The effect of this is the world is barely intelligible to the citizen, even if he is a bona fide member of one priesthood or firmly believes in the authority of all six. In practice, the citizen is at the mercy of the priests. His life is controlled in the minutest detail by rules and world views he cannot possibly comprehend.
In each case, it is possible to be profoundly skeptical about the modern priesthood. Inevitably it leads us to question the basis of their authority, and even the inevitability their power over us. In each case, we need to drill down to the "self evident" source of authority and imagine if the world would still make sense without the authority of the priesthood.
PRIESTS
Outside of the world of Islam, religious leaders fight for influence in our culture. They are taken seriously by a minority but they have very little Earthly power -- something that tells us about how little we truly value their world view.
Our laws bear the echo of ancient religions. What is left of their "ethics" and "morality" finds its way into our legal system and culture. For example, we agree with the ancient prohibition against murder, but the rule against it is enforced by the law, not the Church. There is a corresponding shift in our reasons for supporting the principal. We don't expect people to refrain from immorality because God will punish them. We will punish them in this world.
We feel free to toss out rules that were once seen as coming directly from the mouth of God Himself. For example, the First Commandment rule that disobedient children can be killed by their parents is ignored, even by the most "religious" citizens of the modern world.
LAWYERS
Like Biblical priests, these people speak their own arcane and obscure language, mostly to each other. But the law has real teeth. It can take away your house or even your life. This is true even if (or especially if) you do not accept the underlying world view, that our culture is a society of laws and that's the way it must be.
Access to the power of the law must be mediated by these experts whose livelihood depends on the very belief we have in the inevitability and necessity of the legal "system". This is pretty much the same as what happens with priests of all cultures in every time and place.
SCIENTISTS
Scientists get to say what is real. They set the rules for how knowledge is added to what we call "real". Like the lawyers, they speak a private language to each other. The vast majority of citizens accept (or reject) what they say without really entering into the discussion or understanding where the knowledge comes from. Doctors are (ideally) just engineers relying on the relevant Science to keep us healthy.
ECONOMISTS
Almost without exception, national policy is governed by economic criteria. We want jobs, growth, trade etc. This is all based on a fairly small set of economic world views that hardly differ in the details. Again, the economists speak a private language to each other. Of all the priesthoods considered here, their world view is closest to the ancient mythologies. It is not hard to see that it is somewhat arbitrary and seriously at odds with daily experience.
MANAGERS
The daily operation of modern society is governed by managers, who have their own private world view. They are all about "efficiency" -- a concept that rarely translates itself into tangible benefit to the average citizen. Like the economists, they have a world view that can easily be challenged. But, no matter how seriously we take management theory, most of us are at the mercy of managers. We seldom question this fact -- only commenting on whether management is good or bad, or effective or ineffective in its own terms.
The world-view is passed from generation to generation by living myth -- stories that are constantly expanded and reinterpreted. Members of the society are dipped in the myth. The myth allows them to see themselves as part of the continuing story of their society. The priests are the "experts" on the way things "really" are.
The rules range from customary ways of greeting all the way to formal criminal law. Again, expertise is required. The priesthood plays a special role here. They are not just story tellers. They enforce the rules. They have an impact on the daily lives of the citizen.
We tend to regard the world view of other cultures as quaint and "interesting", primitive, unscientific ...
We regard the laws and they way they are informed in other cultures as equally quaint and arbitrary.
But our own culture has it's priesthood, which, when viewed objectively, is just as quaint and arbitrary. The only thing that distinguishes our priesthood from the ancient ones is the complex structure -- six priesthoods which barely understand each other, with domains of influence that barely overlap. The effect of this is the world is barely intelligible to the citizen, even if he is a bona fide member of one priesthood or firmly believes in the authority of all six. In practice, the citizen is at the mercy of the priests. His life is controlled in the minutest detail by rules and world views he cannot possibly comprehend.
In each case, it is possible to be profoundly skeptical about the modern priesthood. Inevitably it leads us to question the basis of their authority, and even the inevitability their power over us. In each case, we need to drill down to the "self evident" source of authority and imagine if the world would still make sense without the authority of the priesthood.
PRIESTS
Outside of the world of Islam, religious leaders fight for influence in our culture. They are taken seriously by a minority but they have very little Earthly power -- something that tells us about how little we truly value their world view.
Our laws bear the echo of ancient religions. What is left of their "ethics" and "morality" finds its way into our legal system and culture. For example, we agree with the ancient prohibition against murder, but the rule against it is enforced by the law, not the Church. There is a corresponding shift in our reasons for supporting the principal. We don't expect people to refrain from immorality because God will punish them. We will punish them in this world.
We feel free to toss out rules that were once seen as coming directly from the mouth of God Himself. For example, the First Commandment rule that disobedient children can be killed by their parents is ignored, even by the most "religious" citizens of the modern world.
LAWYERS
Like Biblical priests, these people speak their own arcane and obscure language, mostly to each other. But the law has real teeth. It can take away your house or even your life. This is true even if (or especially if) you do not accept the underlying world view, that our culture is a society of laws and that's the way it must be.
Access to the power of the law must be mediated by these experts whose livelihood depends on the very belief we have in the inevitability and necessity of the legal "system". This is pretty much the same as what happens with priests of all cultures in every time and place.
SCIENTISTS
Scientists get to say what is real. They set the rules for how knowledge is added to what we call "real". Like the lawyers, they speak a private language to each other. The vast majority of citizens accept (or reject) what they say without really entering into the discussion or understanding where the knowledge comes from. Doctors are (ideally) just engineers relying on the relevant Science to keep us healthy.
ECONOMISTS
Almost without exception, national policy is governed by economic criteria. We want jobs, growth, trade etc. This is all based on a fairly small set of economic world views that hardly differ in the details. Again, the economists speak a private language to each other. Of all the priesthoods considered here, their world view is closest to the ancient mythologies. It is not hard to see that it is somewhat arbitrary and seriously at odds with daily experience.
MANAGERS
The daily operation of modern society is governed by managers, who have their own private world view. They are all about "efficiency" -- a concept that rarely translates itself into tangible benefit to the average citizen. Like the economists, they have a world view that can easily be challenged. But, no matter how seriously we take management theory, most of us are at the mercy of managers. We seldom question this fact -- only commenting on whether management is good or bad, or effective or ineffective in its own terms.
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