Introduction
CULTURAL HERITAGE has a profound impact on human destiny because it leaves a deep imprint on the human mind and heart. Human culture is like an ocean with billions of waves: religion, philosophy, tradition, art, and history. Each individual floats within the cultural ocean like a tiny iceberg. Three-fourths of the individual's personality remains hidden underneath, while only a small part is known to oneself and to others. These tiny icebergs shatter against one another and finally dissolve. This ocean is the cosmos in which we live; it belongs to Providence. It is a manifestation of the fundamental truths over which we human beings build a world. We suffer, not because Providence wants us to suffer, but because of our way of life and our attachment to the floating, fleeting, and glittering objects of the world. Misery and strife are not the creations of Providence but of humanity. This is why the seers of the Upanishads cried, "Remove this glittering veil so that we can see the face of Truth." This cry is futile if one persists in living in a self-created world full of pain and misery. Culture is like a work of art that has been painted with numerous colors by countless painters over many generations; it is like a colorful tapestry that has been woven for centuries and passed on from generation to generation by every society. Its colors intermingle to make an exquisite weaving that cannot easily be separated for analysis and study. Similarly, the human personality is a colorful tapestry that is woven of many habit patterns. A habit is a groove created by repeated actions. The word personality comes from its root, persona, a Greek word meaning "mask." We behave according to our personality. Our childhood per-sonality is the strongest personality that we carry with us. All that is good or bad in the adult human being is the result of childhood habits. I am one who has been observing human culture. I have studied cultural behavior and tradi-tional hang-ups; I have examined the environments in which modern children are raised, and how children develop problems in childhood. I have come to the conclusion that most of our problems are sown in our childhood. We look the way we are and the way we are is mainly the product of our childhood education. If we have many fears in childhood and we learn to be meek and weak, later in life we will not be able to help ourselves. I have seen highly intellectual people, even those who are considered to be very great, become uneasy in the evening when the sun sets because they are afraid of ghosts. In their childhood they had been taught that there are ghosts who are very powerful, who can hurt and harm you, and even kill you. Even if someone tries to understand and analyze this ghost business, he will not be able to convince the unconscious. The seeds of belief that are sown in childhood become the guiding principles of the adult. Human culture seems to be stuck in a pool of stagnant habits that are preventing civilization from attaining the next step of progress. Most of us live to please others, rather than living the way we want to live. This creates multiple personalities. We go on using false masks, one over the other. As a result, even our closest friends, relatives, and associates, can never know us. We do not even know ourselves. Although multiple personalities are sometimes considered to be creative aspects, actually they are not. Today if a person is a poet, orator, dancer, musician, and artist, he is considered to be versatile. But how many people are able to adjust to the many facets of their various personalities and integrate all of them into one? This is rarely seen. In order to comprehend and analyze the human personality one needs to understand life in its totality. Society is wrapped in the ancient rags of useless customs and traditions that foster selfishness. Tradi-tion and truth are two distinct realities. Tradition is not truth nor does it encourage growth. Relying on tradition, the ignorant find delight in their self-created whirlpools of misery. It is difficult to go beyond the traditional influences that develop from childhood onward; they remain until the last breath of human life. In India traditional values are given more importance than the realities of day-to-day life. This has been a great curse for our society. Even today we are not ready to change our traditional values that are blended with selfishness, attachment, and sense gratification. We have become a society of orthodoxy, and that orthodoxy has guided the destiny of our society toward isolation. Feeling that our values are superior, we have resisted the full exchange of cultural ideas. We are like a lake that supplies water to others
About the Book
SPIRITUALITY/PARENTING/ CHILD DEVELOPMENT "If parents would pay full attention to their children in early childhood, give them tender loving care, and allow them to grow according to their inborn tendencies, our society would be full of creative geniuses who have the capacity to love, to share, and to be aware of the reality of coexistence the philosophy of live and let live. If we transmit this philosophy to our children, they will hear the cry of peace, and there will be actual peace here, there, and everywhere." "There is no better foundation for a happy life than a happy childhood.
About the Author
Swami Rama, who grew up in the Himalayan cave monasteries, began his synthesis of Eastern and Western traditions with his work as a consultant in a research project on voluntary control of involuntary states with the Menninger Foundation in 1970, Founder of the Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy, and the Himalayan Institute Hospital Trust, Swami Rama was a yogi, researcher, scientist, artist, and humanitarian. In Let the Bud of Life Bloom, he gives us relevant, practical insights into forming the basis of a happy life through a happy childhood. Through blending the best of our ancient values with new inventions, children can be raised to grow into healthy, creative adults.
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