European Enlightenment

[Unome]

Like many of you seem to lack, then let's discuss the identity of Europeans.

What is Europa?

Europa is the cultural (and geographical) designation of a common racial ancestry. Despite all the differences between one European country to the next, most of which are superficial, there are certain commonalities between European peoples. The most obvious similarity is racial. Despite the slight phenotypical differences which embody the European sub-races, there are more general phenotypes which identify large regions and populations of Euro people. For example there are Atlantids to the West, Norids to the North, Pontids to the East, Meds to the South, and Nordics in the centre. Along with these main, primary races, there are Euro sub-races including the distinct phenotypes of Brünn, Alpinids, Trønder, Gorids, Baltids, etc. Anthropology measures the differences of European people, as well as the other prominent races throughout the world: Afrikans, Asiatics, and Amerindians.

Without the bloodline, there is no European culture.

Culture is the result, the conclusion, the end product, the ideal, the goal, the purpose, the point, the finality of a person. Cultural Marxists claim that everything can be "Nurtured" into or out of existence; but this is false. Your culture, ideas, thoughts, personality, personage, person, etc. all arise from your genes. Speaking this language or that, does nothing as significant as claimed by Liberal ideologues. If I learn the Japanese language then am I now Japanese? No, and people who claim this, patently are false. It represents a deception, a lie. Because people want to change and be different than what they are. This is a natural compulsion, to become an individual and separate oneself from your group. It is a natural result of biology and probably every organism does this. Because it represents an inherent, universal maturation process organisms have between birth and death. There are different stages of maturation which produce different behaviors and mentalities/attitudes.

A young child, becomes a teenager, then an adult, and through the early stages of maturation, wants to define him/herself as an individual. An individual distinctly opposes society. To be an individual , is also to be anti-social (autistic). And to be independent, is also to be anti-dependent. It is a normal, expected pathology of children to want to distance themselves from what they dislike, and form bonds with what they like. But how can a person distance him/herself from the 'Self'? You cannot, because you can never be other than you are. This is a basic philosophical observation of logic. One of the primary rules of logic is the Law of Identity. Something cannot be other than what it is. But people can —pretend— to be other than you are. And you may deceive people at least for a little while. If you are particularly clever then you may fool people over the course of a lifetime, and maybe not get caught.

But what are you, who are you?

If you are European then you will know who you are. Because this is more than just a label or name, but an identity and concept. What is the European culture and tradition?

I will say a little bit for now and leave more for later. The European culture (and therefore the European people) have a long history, over two millenniums old. To 'Be European' means something. And this is attractive to non-Europeans around the world, those who seek to emigrate to European countries & societies. Why are European countries and people attractive? Well this should be more obvious. The European people produce something that is unique. And you can see this from Euro country-to-country, including US as colonized by Anglo-Saxons and Siberia colonized by Russians. European culture spreads outward; and people also want to move inward to the European homelands (ethnic European countries).

Some main ideas of European identity include moral absolutism (The Universe), politickal imperialism ("The best" shall rule), and cultural creationism. Europeans have an extroverted view of existence, looking outward at both the celestial heavens (Maximum) as well as the microscopic unseen cells, viruses, and elemental materials (Minimum). This gives European people perhaps the best Scientific mindset of all. The universal metaphysics of Europeans then transforms into the politickal arena, Empire and Imperialism. The European leaders do not seek to rule "just their own", but to stand as an example of how all others (humanity, humanism) ought to become. Thus Europeans have a selfless, altruistic politickal ideology. The best European leader seeks the moral & ethical supremacy that would bind all people into a single body; and then he attempts to become this ideal type of man. This ideal type of man harkens back to early European polytheistic paganism, to which there were dozens of different types of gods 'ideals' competing for the crown of European identity. This is still true today. From politicking, through paganism, the European is a type that creates culture, but is less interested in sustaining or destroying culture. Because it is one thing to build, another to sustain, and yet another to destroy. The European type focuses on the first, not so much the second or third.

It is from 'European' lineage that these such ideologies, philosophies, thoughts, beliefs, and identities are formed. Europeans as a common group, a larger race, will reassert all of these principle in austere environments, such as any new colony or foreign land. Therefore it maybe easier to see and understand what is 'European' not in the older, ancestral birthplaces of European peoples, but in new areas where the European identity surges up again and renews itself.

European culture is derived from European blood, as is true for all the other peoples of the world…

[Comte Arnau]

If I learn the Japanese language then am I now Japanese?

No. But neither is race alone a defining factor. If a Europid is born and raised in Japan, if his language is Japanese and he identifies with the Japanese culture because that's where he's always lived, no European is going to consider him European just because of his biological ancestry.

Reducing things that are complex to one or two factors is way too simplist. I do believe there is a European identity based on ancestry, identitarian ethnic differences (languages being the most obvious, as well as the Christian tradition) and a series of historical events that led to this concept. Some of these things might be found elsewhere but not the whole pack. Naturally many Europeans would deny it or not consciously identify with it, usually because they mistake Europe with the EU or who knows what.

[Unome]

no European is going to consider him European just because of his biological ancestry.

Then list some of these other factors?

Modern Europeans are too focused on language and not focused enough on ideas. Does a rose by any other name still smell as sweet?

[Comte Arnau]

Then list some of these other factors?

This is not a shopping list. Some factors are essential to all human groups, but many are derived from European history. The key point to me has always been the connection between the Roman tradition and the peoples from the North, specially in Carolingian times. At least, as a turning point for the West as a concept. Many are the factors that one could derive to define the European spirit from that very moment until the two World Wars.

Modern Europeans are too focused on language and not focused enough on ideas. Does a rose by any other name still smell as sweet?

Languages are very important because they are not just tools for communication as many always say here. They forge an identitarian sense in a community, creating a deep bond between the people and the landscape of the territory, both physical and human, giving sense to a number of folk traditions and producing a specific culture, a distinct literature (which isn't always translatable), and essentially a particular way of looking at the world. When they are relatively close, with frequent interactions and shared references, they can be the base of a civilization. This is why, at least before the global era, civilizations like the European (or Western) and the East Asian one were so blatantly different, and why nowadays even after decades of interaction, the Eastern literary canon looks so far away in all aspects from the Western one. Or art and customs in general.

Why don't Europeans abandon their languages and adopt English as the only language of Europe? Because Europeans are very aware of what language means for identity. The fact that a few of them have become international or that nowadays many immigrants learn our languages natively doesn't rub the real picture out: that all European peoples feel an essential bond with the language they speak.

[Norman]

If a Europid is born and raised in Japan, if his language is Japanese and he identifies with the Japanese culture because that's where he's always lived, no European is going to consider him European just because of his biological ancestry.[/QUOTE]
Well, that is the difference between ancestry and ethnicity.
But seeing europe as one unit is like saying california is just like arizona.
Every nations people or even province-inhabitants are shaped by its environment and history and conclude into a peoples spirit. It mostly defines who they are, how the interact internally aswell as externally.
Germany has seen a couple of bad times and a general pesimistic view, so they have become savers. It is also said about us that we watch out more for our neighbours and workforce. On a political level we are more divided.

Of course I can go on with individual procedures regarding certain topics, but overall this is what culture is, not just the painting at a wall. And this (mind-)set of handling things is what defines me as
ethnical german. Our neighbours have their own spirit and procedures and I don`t think this is handled otherwise in the US or anywhere else. Therefore it is hard to grasp but easier to feel.

[Comte Arnau]

Well, that is the difference between ancestry and ethnicity.
But seeing europe as one unit is like saying california is just like arizona.
Every nations people or even province-inhabitants are shaped by its environment and history and conclude into a peoples spirit. It mostly defines who they are, how the interact internally aswell as externally.
Germany has seen a couple of bad times and a general pesimistic view, so they have become savers. It is also said about us that we watch out more for our neighbours and workforce. On a political level we are more divided.

Of course I can go on with individual procedures regarding certain topics, but overall this is what culture is, not just the painting at a wall. And this (mind-)set of handling things is what defines me as
ethnical german. Our neighbours have their own spirit and procedures and I don`t think this is handled otherwise in the US or anywhere else. Therefore it is hard to grasp but easier to feel.

I quite agree with most of what you say, I just want to leave it clear that pointing out the elements that define Europe as a concept doesn't mean I see Europe as a unit and I sincerely hope it never becomes one. Maybe one of the few things I actually like about the EU is the motto, In varietate concordia, Einklang in Vielfalt.