As someone who grew up in Ukraine/Russia and Cupertino what does being European mean? Even more so when Ukraine literally means the borderland between Europe and Asia
Theres a thick European-ness that I miss. It is hard to describe. Hard to feel the grooves of or explain the scent of. In a way if youre European you know and if you are something like American you do not. Its the flavor of the food, the scent of the trees, the urban planning and the civic responsibility. Its being from a place that has a thick history in how it came to be and knows where its going. Its about simply having ones brain inculturated in the European culture early on.
To start with — where were all going in our quest for pan-globalizsm is a society with a decentralized #Ethereum, a decentralized governance and culture. Very much like Burning Man, this society will be all-welcoming and all encompassing. Yet despite this there is something that sticks like a splinter in the mind if you’re born and raised in Europe. It is a continental way of being and thinking which you embody and which you take with you and which can not be taken out of you.
To be European is more than just belonging to a sports team, a flag or a cuisine. Its so much more than a lifestyle; like surfers in Hawaii or dune buggyers in Southern California. To be European is a sense of ineliable identity that you grow up with. One with which you are born with through oral tradition and one which you carry with you like some kind of magical olympic torch throughout your life. There is a horizon in the European perspective — as if one has a destiny, an enventuality and a purpose thats coalescing throughout a rich and dank goey history.
While Europe has done, and continues to do unspeakeable evil, there seems to be a purpose to the madness. There seems to be an ‘all spark’ to the idea that despite government the human spirit is moving towards a fraternity, a unity, coalescing towards a singular purpose. I have seen castles and amphitheatres thousands of years old being utilized for modern community events in Europe. I have seen the ruin of the previous Roman civilization and lessons from its downfall throughout the European continent. And I know of the modern disasters such as Chernobyl, and the fall of the Berlin Wall which have shaped the banks of the mighty river which is modern European policy.
Unlike most Americans, who dont know where they come from, what their government is doing or where theyre going — Europeans understand how they fit into the greater whole. European citizens generally understand their centuries of ancestry and where theyre coming from, what theyre trying to achieve in their lifetimes. There is not a loss in life trying to figure out what ones put on this earth to do. Not an empty vaccum like in America trying to determine ones purpose and wrestling with an omiculture thats oblivious to the uniqness of an individual.
Europe is mushrooming in the forests. Europe is cannonballing into unknown lakes. Europe is traversing the countryside and having camradre with the locals who work hard to power the cities. Its about appreciating the subtile uniqueness’ness of the local foods, cultures, histories — all melting together. The European being is a surcharge, a powering, a welling up inside that pushes you to do better for those around you and to be competitive in doing that. Its the putting the whole ahead of the self and trying desperately to make a better world; first by conquest, then by oppression and finally by consensus. A struggle to make not only human beings who walk upon this earth equals but also figure out why they walk so upon the earth in general.
The European mindset is expansive. It is far reaching. Its like trying to explain the color blue to those who have not seen it — or how many legs a cow has to those who have not witnessed one blind. It is not to say that Europeans are the best at anything whatsoever. As one old man once told me “It is just a way of seeing reality from a certain point of view in the world rather than another”
There are many divisions between Europeans. And alltogether there is strength in that diversity when compared to the vast expanse of US monoculture. Europeans understand when they dont understand a culture they come across. Europeans value small scale structures and the value of having so many diverse drivers of growth. The ability to move between centuries of history within a few short miles on a bullet train. The blending of American independence with eastern socialism. The reconing for how to make some rich while having all contribute taxes to society. There is a common understanding between Europeans that has to be learned in childhood to be understood.
There is no blue eyes or blond hair that describes a European. There is no flick of the wrist or accent that seperates them from the ideal; especially when were moving towards global governance. There is just a common platitude. It is really diffult to put into words as I have tried throughout this story. There is no common identifier other than a vibe — a feeling. Europeans know when they meet another European by their sensibilities, their mannirisms, their squint of the eye when considering how you fit into the puzzle of it all, their determination to make a legacy no matter how big or small.
It used to be called manifest destiny, but a European will drag you kicking and screaming into the future whether you like it or not. We are a people who understand that theres now a limited number of resources, and therefore time to unfuck everything. We are a group that has united under a blue flag to fix our part of the world, to show that it can be done, and to inspire others. We are the tip of the spear, the spark in an engine, the bullshit that fertilizes the crop. We honestly do not care who comes out ahead — we just want to make it happen even if its Africa, or the Middle East or South America or South East Asia. Power to the people, let the chips land however they may.
As a Russian/Ukrainain/Soviet, I am well aware that my people were named by the Nords as the people who row with oars or “Ruslo” the waterways. And perhaps a good metaphor for the European spirit is the knowing that at the heart of it, Europeans have a mutual feeling as if they are “rowing in the right direction” towards an inevitable singularity for humanity. What that is no one can say but you can get a glipse of it during a European sunset when you realize that with your feet planted youre hirling through space at a million miles per hour just like every other human being that has peopled this Earth. And thats quite something — whether you have a European-assembled brain or not.
Its really ephemeral. Its really hard to describe. But its also really true. As true as the American pie, BBQ or hamburger and the idea of the wild wild west. Europe has coalesced into a knowing of the ways, moving with the winds, swinging with the tides. Europe is old. Europe is tired of the bullshit. If there were no governments it would be the people of Europe who would be showing the world a way forward on the decentralized internet. It would be them who show how to be free spirited and free of hate and psycological constraint before anyone else. In rejecting god they are metaphysically the closest to understanding the universe..
