Editing T. S. Eliot’s Conception of Culture (section)

==== Conclusion ====
“A people is judged by history according to its contribution to the culture of other peoples flourishing at the same time and according to its contribution to the cultures which arise afterwards.” Culture and religion are those which the individual and society collectively strive towards, and not merely something they possess. They are not frivolous constructs or impediments to a ‘spiritual’ way of life, but rather, prescribe a whole way of life for a people and confer meaning to trivial pursuits —one cannot afford to remain indifferent.

The question of what culture really is underlies the problem of almost every relation — the relation of countries with each other, the relation between communities and castes; the relation between the country and its colony, the colonist with the native. Without a significant understanding of what culture entails, navigating these perplexing and complex relationships and devising policy, crafting theories or formulating educational frameworks tends to be fraught with contradictions and fallacies. We risk a deterioration of the culture that adds zest, a flavor to life, what Eliot says “makes life worth living” and entire civilizations worth having existed.

Eliot’s work distilled ideas that perhaps take little effort to understand once verbalized, but are quite challenging to articulate — with an ease that only a seasoned poet, writer, philosopher and intellectual might possess. This je ne sais quoi I allude to is best captured in the following lines taken from the book:<blockquote>“Culture can never be wholly conscious — there is always more to it than we are conscious of; and it cannot be planned because it is also the unconscious background of all our planning.”</blockquote>Authored by Sai Priya Chodavarapu. 
Published by Brhat.[[Category:Art and Culture]]