In our diverse world, the tapestry of human culture offers a myriad of different customs, languages, and traditions. However, fundamental similarities bind us across cultures amidst this diversity, revealing a shared human experience. Understanding these cultural similarities enriches our appreciation of other cultures and enhances our connections, fostering more vibrant and exciting relationships with people from different cultural backgrounds. By understanding these universal themes, we can better evaluate cultural differences in a context that allows for common ground amidst our differences.
Every culture strives to attain the following basic needs. Survivalists recognize the four "threes" as Survival Basics. These four remain the most essential.
All other aspects of culture rest of these four items.
As we've seen in another blog, religion underscores every culture in the world. Dedication to spiritual or religious beliefs provides meaning and context to life's mysteries. While the gods and traditions may differ, the underlying quest for understanding one's place in the universe persists worldwide. This shared pursuit of spirituality often provides a moral framework that governs personal and communal behavior.
Language! This cultural similarity is fundamental to even religion. Although religions and other aspects of culture use symbols, those symbols have to be explained by using a language. Every culture uses communication to encompass verbal language, body language, and symbols. Though languages differ, the universal purpose of communication fulfills the drive to express needs, desires, and emotions. Language development across cultures underscores the human need to connect and convey understanding. A language unites communities with a sense of identity and belonging within each culture. Although languages differ widely in form, grammar, and vocabulary, translation work overcomes the blankness on people's faces when confronted with a foreign language. Interpretation and translation enable the cross-cultural exchange of ideas as cultural contact and global communications evolve.
One of the most vital cultural similarities between all cultures is the emphasis on family and community. Across the globe, family structures might vary—from nuclear families in Western societies to extended family units in many Eastern and African cultures—but the central role of family remains prevalent. Our families shape our identities, instill values, and serve as support systems. Significant events like family gatherings and milestones, such as births, weddings, and funerals, bring people together in every culture.
Hospitality also permeates every culture as a key cornerstone of similarities. Welcoming strangers and offering them food, shelter, and warmth is an honored tradition across many societies. Hospitality is a vital common ground that creates connection points that foster trust and friendship. Kindness and generosity are universally applauded traits, whether it's the Japanese tradition of omotenashi, the Arabic custom of coffee serving, or the South African concept of ubuntu.
Shared celebrations and festivals highlight the joyful aspects of cultural life. Every culture has its own festivities that mark critical historical events, seasons, or religious beliefs. Many such festivities require religious events, yet the underlying desire to gather, celebrate, and enjoy fellowship is ubiquitous. Festivals, whether the colorful Holi in India, the Lantern Festival in China, or Thanksgiving in the United States, reflect our shared human sentiment of cultural unity.
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The arts, encompassing music, dance, literature, and visual arts, provide universal glimpses into the human soul and another profound overlap among cultures. Music, for instance, serves as a common language, transcending linguistic barriers. Many cultures love concerts from other cultures. From indigenous tribal music to contemporary pop, musical expressions stir emotions and connect people from varying backgrounds, offering an opportunity to discuss the arts on neutral common ground.
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Education transmits and preserves a culture by passing down customs, traditions, values, and knowledge from one generation to the next, shaping individual identities and societal norms within that culture. Education provides cultural continuity across generations. The desire to maintain the status quo resides deep in every culture, but the desire to learn and impart wisdom in general is a unifying trait across all cultures. Whether through informal storytelling or formalized schooling, every society recognizes the importance of educating its youth to preserve its heritage and prepare for the future.
Closely associated with education, oral or written storytelling universally passes on knowledge, moral values, history, and entertainment. Despite variations in style or medium, storytelling serves a similar purpose worldwide: educating listeners while providing cultural continuity.
The role of food will never disappear from any culture. Every society places significant emphasis on culinary practices—not only as a means of sustenance but also as a medium of cultural expression and social interaction. Meals are often bonding moments, with communal dining customs strengthening familial and community ties, whether through a shared Italian banquet or an Ethiopian injera.
Humor and laughter underscore human interaction in every culture. Although what is considered funny can differ across societies, the ability to laugh and experience joy transcends cultural boundaries. If used properly, humor can break down barriers, ease tensions, and build camaraderie, serving as a crucial connection point among individuals.
Each culture celebrates the concept of beauty with diverse standards. Whether through nature, art, or human endeavor, the universal appreciation for beauty enriches the human experience and provides a source of inspiration and creativity with cultures. Even the human body can give a sense of beauty and become a subject of reverence in every culture. While perceptions and adornments vary widely, the human form is universally acknowledged and celebrated through various cultural lenses—from Greco-Roman statues to African sculptures.
The search for truth and understanding is a hallmark of human society, with cultures everywhere seeking explanations for natural phenomena and life's most significant questions. This pursuit is evident in ancient philosophies, modern scientific endeavors, and personal reflections that resonate globally. Inquiring minds from around the globe have contributed to humanity's collective wisdom. Soloman began writing the Proverbs, as found in the Bible, around 970 BC. Confucius initiated his Analects in 475 BC. They are five hundred years apart but raise the same questions.
Some cultures are more warlike than others, but every culture supports some sort of military establishment. From shooting poison darts to nuclear submarines, every culture seeks to defend itself in some form. The more warlike cultures use their military for offensive purposes.
Every culture strives to fight crime, as defined by their society, by installing a judicial system founded on the ethics and morals of that culture. While those ethics, morals, laws, and governance structures vary, the desire for justice is uniform across cultures. Every society has established rules to maintain order and resolve conflicts, reflecting a shared recognition of social justice as a pillar of social harmony, even though cultures vary widely in their ethical and moral differences.
Rites of passage carry people in all societies into the next phase of life (or death), marking transitions from one stage of life to another. Be it a coming-of-age ceremony, marriage, or induction into adulthood, every culture develops rituals and practices based on that culture's religion around these milestones. Every culture treats these processes with a dignity that respects life's transitions. The customs may vary, but understanding life's impermanence and honoring lived lives forces every culture to ask questions about the future after death.
Gender roles and
relations determine who is in charge within a culture. Male-dominated
and female-dominated cultures maintain the authority structure the
expectations of each person, depending on rank in society. In some
cultures, women cook and men plow the fields. In other cultures, men
cook and women run businesses. Gender roles often detemine the
appropriate clothing for men, women and children. As a culture changes,
the roles that men and women play also change. Traditional roles fight
against change, but some cultures have changed so much, that their
younger generation wants to return to the more traditional roles. Even
in a culture when the roles of men and women overlap, those roles still
present themselves as cultural similarities.
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Mankind has been concerned about environment preservation since humans attempted to grow a garden in changing seasons. The balance between animal and planet life added to the problems. Killing too many of one kind of animal threatened the existence of other species. Heat was good because it killed certain insects, but it burned down barns. Cold was good because it didn't burn down barns, but it froze water pipes. A culture that survived on fishing died out when the fish left the area. A culture that required a massive amount of energy to power their society exploded when the nuclear power plants melted down. And constant warfare contributed to the growing economies of those providing the weapons while wiping out those receiving the effects of war. Climate change, the latest dilemma, continues to worry humans because nations with lots of oil under their scorched deserts believe that God gave them oil to use. The continual changes in the earth's atmosphere and humanity's obsession with war keeps every culture busy attempting to survive under the changing conditions. The more advanced cultures believe it is their duty to save the planet for future generations. And yet no one in this present generation will be around to witness how well that worked out.
Emotional humans recognize and understand expressions of emotions such as love, fear, joy, and sadness. Cultural norms dictate different expressions or suppressions of emotion, but the sentiments are undeniably a shared human experience.
Friendship, a deeply valued human connection that grows from changing emotions, exists at numerous levels within each culture. The bonds formed through mutual respect, understanding, and shared experiences provide support between individuals in every society. Proper cross-cultural communication uses friendship to transcend cultural boundaries. Cultures define love in different ways. As the most well-known emotion in every culture, love appears in many forms—familial, platonic, and romantic. Songs, stories, and poems from every culture attest to love's power and influence over human thoughts and actions, making it another point of connection among people worldwide.
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Every culture celebrates ingenuity and innovation as
cultures use resourcefulness to solve problems and enhance the quality
of life. The drive for progress and the ability to create reflects an
inherently human quality that knows no bounds. Even in cultures with
minimal material goods, people constantly seek ways to improve things
unless the "improvement" violates a religious law or tradition. The photo on the left is an ingenious oil press.
Celebrating success in our achievements, such as sporting events, artistic accomplishments, or academic success, brings communities together in every culture. The shared joy of reaching new heights exemplifies our collective human aspirations. Jealousy, a negative trait of humans, also surfaces when others are successful.
Viewing every culture as a puzzle shows us how cultural similarities pertain to broad categories while the cultural differences present the world with a unique tapestry of humanity. Different aspects of every culture are the same and different at the same time. Same functions, different expressions of those functions. Same pieces of the puzzle with each culture cutting the pieces differently and using them in different arrangements to make their culture work properly.
One culture's view of social justice won't mix with another culture's view of social justice, but social justice, as a piece of a culture's puzzle, exists, contributes and support every culture.
Each puzzle, being different, requires a thorough study of the pieces of a given culture to understand how it works within itself. Cross-cultural communication and relationships require that understanding to succeed. All the sins of humanity (hate, jealousy, arrogance, superiority, racism, war, etc.) arise between cultures without that understanding.
When you are faced with another culture, ask yourself the three questions.
1. What does this piece of culture look like in your own culture?
2. How does this piece fit into your own culture?
3. How does this piece work in your own culture?
Like a piece of clothing: 1. It's a shirt. 2. It goes with the pants. 3. It provides protection from the elements and draws attention to the person wearing it.
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Then we should ask the same three questions about the culture we are interested in and make comparisons with our own culture. Having a friend from our chosen culture to discuss the similarities contributes significantly to our understanding of the differences, avoids misunderstandings, and provides us with opportunities to communicate better with people from other cultures.
Cross-Cultural Relationships will change us. The outcome will be phenomenal.
What's Next? Culture's Four Survival Basics