Criticism for Leo's stage purple video

[kray]

So recently I watched one of Leo's rather old videos, Stage Purple, and I had a few, or really one criticism. The issue that I would want to raise is categorizing Indian culture as stage purple. While I have found what 99% of what Leo says in the video quite insightful and helpful, I do think Leo's understanding of what's less developed what's more developed is a little bit skewed, especially when it pertains to any understanding of Indian/Hindu culture. For starters, to call Indian culture a primitive, stage purple culture is like calling the US a stage turquoise culture. Do some aspects of what can be considered "purple" values over cross with some "Indian" cultural values? Absolutely, and I don't blame Leo or any westerner perhaps for overseeing and simplifying the essence of my culture. Did you know that without western exposure to spiritual ideas from the east, especially from India, there would be no green/hippie revolution as there was in the 1960s. The reason why westerns were so captured by this idea of spirituality is because of the Chicago World Fair in the late 1800s. A man by the name of Swami Vivekananda, or a mystic, was invited to travel to Chicago and introduce Americans and westerners the wonders of yoga. Ever since, India has captured the imagination of many westerners who trying to find inner wellness. But this is not the first time people from around the world went to seek spiritual knowledge from India.

Let's go back thousands of years. Back to Alexander the Great's conquest of Iran and India. When Alexander reached the Northwestern most point of India (today Afghanistan), he thought he would conquer India easily. Not the case. A small chieftain in the area had defeated Alexander's entire army, making him flee back and die like a little loser. Does this show that India in the ancient world was a stage purple society? Let's analyze the reason why Alexander wanted to go to India. It wasn't that he was trying to get "spices" or simply open up "trade routes", he wanted to see a mystic, who could give him infinite "power". See the thing is Ancient Greece and India had been trading for thousands of years until the time of Alexander, and those that came in contact with India also knew that India was rich with mystical and scientific knowledge at that time. Please let us not undermine this, undermining this is erasing history and supporting  a eurocentric, biased version of history and spiral dynamics. 

Shifting from culture, I can also give my personal experience as a Hindu born and bred in the United States. Hinduism is not meant to be a religion, it's a way of life. Hindu simply means and has always meant someone who lives in the area that is Hindustan, a term coined by the Mughals. This included Indian Hindu, Sikhs, Muslims and Christians. So Hindu became Hinduism as a result of separating the religions during the colonial period (you know the favorite divide and conquer strategy of most European powers). What the many practices, rituals, philosophies, etc. of Hinduism are is what has been referred to as Sanatana Dharma. Essentially this culture was about seeking the ultimate nature of this existence. The rituals, yoga, schools of thought (Buddhism was a part of this btw), traditions are essentially doorways to transcend and join this ultimate nature. Hindu's don't just worship a monkey god because we actually believe there is some monkey flying around, no! We worship this monkey a god because we want devote to that specific dimension of life which the diety represents. The root of this practice comes from what is called "Bhakti yoga", the yoga or practice of devotion. The basic idea of the philosophy is that one becomes union with reality through extreme devotion. Hence hindus pray to dieties....we practice this devotion. 

Now do I agree that India is nowhere near as advanced, structurally and socially as the west today, but I would grant that result more to historical reasons/political reasons/societal shifts rather than the culture itself. One has to understand how badly Indian civiliazation was attacked and invaded in the last 1,300 years. The Turkic Muslim chieftains, the mughals, arabs, Europeans, we dealt with them all. And all were in brutal stage red at that time. So in a way, these brutal invasions, with an already fractured civilization, broke Indian society and completely transformed it. And for the last 1,300 years until 1947, most of India was conquered by foreign powers most of the time. It was not until 1947 that a good chunk of India became united under one banner, just that it was missing pakistan, afghanistan, and bangladesh, but no matter the case Indians were united. And today we see just how crazy the development is in India. I can tell you from personal experience that India has changed in the last 10 years. It will become a global superpower. So please, I would not oversimplify Indian culture and put it in some primitive stage purple category. P.S. my bad for the essay lmao, but felt pretty passionate about this topic

[Leo Gura]

I am not claiming that India as a whole is Purple. India as a whole is around stage Blue. However, you can see a lot of Purple in India when you go to the rural areas which are still extremely tribal. India barely even has 1 unifying language. There are 100 different tribes all with their own languages and sub-cultures. This is similar to what is still found in rural parts of the Middle East. India also have a lot of animistic types of Purple spirituality, which is like cult worship. It's almost like voodoo.

Consider: the Modi government had to invest millions in a nation-wide campaign of ads to teach people to shit in toilets rather than on the streets. There's your clue that you're dealing with a lot of Purple folk. Purple folk don't even understand how to shit in a civilized way. Of course the major urban areas of India are way more evolved than that. India has so much diversity, so many highs and lows in the same place. You can find a million dollar luxury high-rise condo next to a slum where everyone shits on the streets and wipes their ass with their hands.

Edited October 10, 2023 by Leo Gura

[kray]

4 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

I am not claiming that India as a whole is Purple. India as a whole is around stage Blue. However, you can see a lot of Purple in India when you go to the rural areas which are still extremely tribal. India barely even has 1 unifying language. There are 1000 different tribes all with their own languages and sub-cultures. This is similar to what is still found in rural parts of the Middle East. India also have a lot of animistic types of Purple spirituality, which is like cult worship. It's almost like voodoo.

Consider: the Modi government had to invest millions in a nation-wide campaign of ads to teach people to shit in toilet rather than on the streets. There's your clue that you're dealing with a lot of Purple folk. Purple folk don't even understand how to shit in a civilized way. Of course the major urban areas of India are way more evolved than that. India has so much diversity, so many highs and lows in the same place.

Yea that makes sense, but do you think stage purple can arise in a culture as recent as the past few centuries? What I mean is that can we theorize that some cultures go backwards as a result of external factors such as war, famine, and extreme poverty?

[Leo Gura]

 

[Bobby_2021]

3 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

I am not claiming that India as a whole is Purple. India as a whole is around stage Blue. However, you can see a lot of Purple in India when you go to the rural areas which are still extremely tribal. India barely even has 1 unifying language. There are 1000 different tribes all with their own languages and sub-cultures. This is similar to what is still found in rural parts of the Middle East. India also have a lot of animistic types of Purple spirituality, which is like cult worship. It's almost like voodoo.

Consider: the Modi government has to invest millions in nation-wide campaign of ads to teach people to shit in toilet rather than on the streets. There's your clue that you're dealing with a lot of Purple folk.

Even most Indian coming from well to do families are unaware of this. The majority of the Indian population in the states of UP and Bihar are in late-stage purple at best. There are 350 million people living in these two states that are so unimaginably backward. Kidnapping, lynching are common stories in these areas. It will be a huge achievement to get them to stage blue IMO.

[Leo Gura]

2 minutes ago, kray said:

Yea that makes sense, but do you think stage purple can arise in a culture as recent as the past few centuries? What I mean is that can we theorize that some cultures go backwards as a result of external factors such as war, famine, and extreme poverty?

Purple has existed all throughout India for over 5000 years. It hasn't gone anywhere. Blue arose on top of it over time.

Edited October 10, 2023 by Leo Gura

[kray]

1 minute ago, Leo Gura said:

 

Okay, but I don’t think temple of doom or Hollywood is a great source for understanding the culture ?

[kray]

2 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

Purple has existed all throughout India for over 5000 years. It hasn't gone anywhere. Blue arose on top of it over time.

Has purple existed in other ancient empires, such as Rome, Greece, and Egypt?

[Leo Gura]

2 minutes ago, kray said:

Okay, but I don’t think temple of doom or Hollywood is a great source for understanding the culture ?

It's an archetype so you can more easily recognize it.

[Leo Gura]

Just now, kray said:

Has purple existed in other ancient empires, such as Rome, Greece, and Egypt?

Of course!

All those empires were like islands of civilization built upon a dark chaotic ocean of Purple.

[Leo Gura]

The reason I link Temple of Doom clips is because it's the classic example of how a Purple undercurrent runs underneath a veneer of Blue civilization.

It's a genius movie that makes the most of the Purple meme. That's what makes it so entertaining.

Edited October 10, 2023 by Leo Gura

[kray]

Just now, Leo Gura said:

The reason I link Temple of Doom clips is because it's the classic example of how a Purple undercurrent runs underneath a veneer of Blue civilization.

 

Yea, and as you said there are some mystical traditions in stage purple that are powerful

[Hello from Russia]

7 minutes ago, kray said:

Okay, but I don’t think temple of doom or Hollywood is a great source for understanding the culture ?

What Holywood, bro, when we have a BOLYwood

I am actually planning to watch some bolywood movies for culture immersion. Though they kinda are trying to mimique west a lot judging from trailers

[kray]

9 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

Purple has existed all throughout India for over 5000 years. It hasn't gone anywhere. Blue arose on top of it over time.

It’s crazy, and in a weird way lucky for India, that stage red never arose in an organized form in India. Given the poverty there, one would expect the crime rate to be at Brazil’s or South Africa’s level, but it’s not, rather the opposite. India is even safer than the US

[Leo Gura]

Just now, kray said:

stage red never arose in an organized form in India.

I think if you study the ancient history of Indian rulers you will see plenty of Red.

[kray]

1 minute ago, Hello from Russia said:

What Holywood, bro, when we have a BOLYwood

I am actually planning to watch some bolywood movies for culture immersion. Though they kinda are trying to mimique west a lot judging from trailers

Yea, it’s kinda cringe. Some elite Indian people pretend as if they don’t know their Indian language and only know English. That’s what happens to you when you go through a post colonial education system.

[kray]

1 minute ago, Leo Gura said:

I think if you study the ancient history of Indian rulers you will see plenty of Red.

Yea in history there definitely were blood thirsty rulers, I think of Ashoka on the top of my head. But I mean in more modern times too.

[Leo Gura]

 

[Leo Gura]

 

[Leo Gura]