On 17th March, many Irish celebrated St Patrick’s Day with typical Irish flair and copious amounts of Guinness.
Of course, it was St Colmcille who brought Christianity to Ireland, not St Patrick. There were no snakes either. There is no fossil record of snakes ever being in Ireland.
The snakes were a metaphor for Druids, practitioners of the old ways, dating back to the followers of the Goddess Danu, the Fir Bolg and Tuatha De Danaan. St Patrick was very good at killing them and therefore worthy of sainthood, according to the Roman Catholic Church.
Even the Gaels, a race coming from the east that eventually conquered the original Irish with steel weapons (at the end of the Bronze Age), were advised by the Druids of the Emerald Isle.
The Gaels were wise enough to realise that although their weaponry was far superior, their opponents had superior spiritual and governance systems. Thus they adapted to those of their foes, to ensure their victory was sustainable over time.
Imagine how much better off we may have been if our forebears had the wisdom to learn and study indigenous law and spirituality and incorporate it into our ways. Indigenous legal systems did work quite well, and their spiritual systems developed over the millennia were /are unequalled.
Unfortunately, there would have been no chance of destroying the country in hell-bent colonial exploitation, so that idea just never had a chance. The opportunity to trade these concepts for our advanced physical world would have made for better bedfellows in the long run.
It does seem to be true that the races from the European continent have had the edge in colonial aspiration and development of technology, while those races from warmer more abundant climes have had more time to co-operate and evolve spiritually.
It makes sense if you imagine the lost opportunity cost of not developing technology in a climate where one harsh winter could see out half your tribe. The emphasis was on survival, both from climate and enemy alike.
Of course the world has changed and globalisation has occurred through trade and travel, homogenising ideas, aspiration and finance, but not people. People have largely stayed in the countries of their ancestors, not withstanding a bit of immigration and emigration around the edges.
The result is that the cultural flow from one social well to another has not been balanced because any flow has been from poor countries with lower standards of living but better social systems to wealthier countries where aspiration is matched with outcomes.
Languages remain a barrier, cultural norms are contravened and friction can often be the outcome, at least in the first generation or two.
To many average Aussies, this deal is one way and not to their advantage. However, if we integrate the cultural and social systems of our poorer but often wiser immigrants, we win big time, just like the Gaels in Ireland did, well until St Patrick came along anyway.
So if you are sliding to the right on immigration, just remember the lessons of history. Take Iran for example.
Some have called Iran the Empire of the Mind, because no matter who conquered them, the Persians were always able to provide the best systems for governance and administration and thereby slowly replace their conquerors, while absorbing the best cultural and social practices on offer in the process. Let’s make the most of our immigrants in Australia and learn from them, so that they feel like they’re giving back for the great opportunities our country can offer.
