An interesting passage on page 226 of The Holy Book in comparative Perspective contains a quote from a member of the carrier tribe in British Columbia in which the tribe-member discusses the importance of oral cultures. He makes the implication that people involved in literate traditions are in fact promoting forgetfulness and dminishing experience, suggesting that writing things down allows us to forget them whereas passing them down forces us to remember them. Furthermore, this instillment of knowledge within us means that we are forever more involved with our world as the information we know is strictly ours, the traditions and meanings we pass on are kept nowhere but within ourselves so unless our message is passed on, then when we die so to does our history and our meanings within the world around us. I had never thought of things in this way before and instantly have become enamored with the wisdom of the quote. I do however find irony in the fact that it was something I read and in fact this irony has also made me realize the importance to an intellectual community of the ability to so freely exchange ideas on a massive scale. I do not know whether a literate or non-literate tradition is better, but I can’t help but wonder now what the answer to that question is.
Aaron Stein
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