Being Chinese can be a down or up, a debit or credit on our life ledger. For those of us who are Chinese and want to know our Chinese-ness and how that has shaped us or is still shaping us on an UNCONSCIOUS level, this is a lifelong challenge. This challenge occurs on so many levels. To really examine this process we need a psycho-cultural approach. This immediately implies we require knowledge from psychology, anthropology and sociology just to mention three perspcetives. To understand one self psychologically is hard enough but to understand how our culture and society have shaped us truly needs a multi-coloured perspective.
To attain some understanding of our spiritual and psychological/cultural growth which is the basis for authentic relationships with our selves and others is a journey worth pursuing no matter how challenging. However, there are interesting ways of getting to the core of this challenge that is, who are we as Chinese? are we being too Chinese? is that an advantage or disadvantage? and what do being too Chinese mean? i know i am being Chinese when i am overly picky about how things are done. The Confucianist perfectionist in me wants every detail attended to, resulting in high stress in some situations as there is perfection impossible to achieve. When I am overly competitive, aha, is the Chinese in me rearing its head ?
Self questioning is a good technique to use for understanding our Chinese self. Other methods such as story-telling, journalling and dreaming through relaxation and contemplative techniques derived from a Taoist/Jungian perspective can also be useful. A workshop on Am i being too Chinese and how is that going to help or impede me in living with and forming relationships with others could be useful, dont you thing? Let me know.
2 comments:
To me, being Chinese means so many things - respect for my elders, respect for experience and wisdom in others, continuous self-education and self-improvement, being diligent and disciplined, try not to waste and be frugal, be caring and considerate of others and be less self-centred. But to have lived for so long (over 30 years) as an 'Australian', I have learnt that one needs to be a cultural chameleon to be 'successful' in the 'West'.
i like the term 'cultural chamelon', a term most aptly described some members of the Chinese diaspora, who like you, have lived in 'foreign' lands for many decades.
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