Race: A Working Definition

Because an understanding of what constitutes race has changed over time, it becomes necessary to posit a meaningful definition of race--that is, one relevant to the current groups in existence--which not only has a solid foundation in reality, but also encourages racial continuity rather than dissolution.

Race is a biological reality. A race is essentially one variant of a larger category. Biology identifies races as distinct population groups within a species. Such groups approximate ethnic groups in the human domain.

Race is an historical entity. History seeks to understand the world via familiarization with two dimensions: space and time. Over the course of time, evolution occurs given any change in environment. This may signify a change in location, but it does not preclude the possibility of environmental change without any relocation. Observation along the historical axes leads one to witness the evolution of population groups--given the understanding of geographically specific selective agents and the need for adaptation to precise habitats--resulting in races as unique as their environments. The formation of new races following contact between populations becomes evident, as well as evolutionary divergence because of genetic drift due to any of a number of necessary conditions. It is vital that both of the historical axes, space and time, are considered when assessing the formation of a group’s genetic composition. It follows, therefore, that any assertion from a standpoint purely of physical location is untenable for the very fact that it neglects to consider time as a factor. In the world of becoming, time is merely a measure of change, after all.

Race runs deeper than genetically transmitted physical characteristics. Among many species in the animal kingdom, individual members of a given pack, flock, school, swarm, or similarly exclusive group will associate, identify, protect, and empathize with--ultimately, understand--members of their own group, rather than, or sometimes even at the expense of, outsiders. Such nepotism is exhibited because the group forms a nexus of biologically determined solidarity.

Likewise, human groups that share an ethno-cultural heritage, consisting of a common means of communication (language), tradition of practices (customs), and origins (history) collectively form a race. The final element is often underestimated, but is just as important as the others. It is inevitable that each group will view the occurrence of events through time with bias toward their own group. To do so is only instinctive, for the perpetuation of one’s group is, evolutionarily speaking, at stake. For this reason, there can never be absolute impartiality in the pursuit of historical truth; what each individual perceives as such will only be true for the group which he unwittingly works to sustain.

Race and culture are concomitant. They are inextricable from one another. One begets the other, but the order of occurrence matters little, for the same evolutionary path is followed. The relative isolation achieved by a group, whether genetic (reproductive) or behavioral (cultural), fosters further divergent development for that body--both physically and otherwise--so long as there is no exogenous interference. In the case of classical cultural synthesis, a unique cultural character is retained by a population even with external influence. The adoption of a foreign culture by a group, for example, inevitably results in either a syncretism which molds the new cultural expressions around the metaphysical core of the old, or a synergism which nevertheless gives rise to a unique culture entirely. However, in the case of interbreeding en masse between populations, a nascent race is formed, and the former races as such--precise genetic pools or populations--become extinct within such a region, as a new gene pool evolves. Corresponding to each new race, new cultures emerge: languages change, customs are transformed, and the formative history surrounding a culture--its mythos--is rewritten. With this understanding, it becomes cogent to say that, with the emergence of human civilizations, race became ethnicity.

Why Race Is Important: Race in the Context of Idealism

An atom of carbon as part of a molecule of atmospheric carbon dioxide falls to the earth with rain, and is assimilated by field grasses. Although some carbon molecules are converted to glucose, this atom forms a part of the plant structure. Grazing livestock synthesize similar carbon compounds and produce methane, which cycles back into the atmosphere. This one, however, is excreted through animal waste, and degraded by a detritivore. An insect internally cycles the carbon before it is released, once again having formed a molecule of carbon dioxide. Though the carbon atom remains intact, all entities of a larger scale are eventually broken down into the countless elemental components which formed such an assemblage.

Nutrient cycles could be outlined for nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorous, and many other elements--and when these cycles are superimposed, one may move one step closer to understanding the complex interwoven processes which together compose life--but for now, the point is a facile one: all objects are formed from innumerable constituents.

Correspondingly, each individual is a composite of myriad causal components which coalesce to form a single entity. No single component of the individual--whether of mind or body, idea or corporeality--is purely individualistic, for the individual functions as a part of a larger organic system: the world of objective reality.

In an age of uncertainty, like that of the present, ballast appears fleeting and meaning seems to unravel with time. Man reaches: for spirituality, for that which is greater than the temporal. What he finds could be called a variety of names, but succinctly, it translates to an ideal, the cognizance of which awakens his very being. And so, once he has ceased to look for transcendental meaning in the ephemeral, and realizes that the ideal must be manifested, that is to say, perpetually striven towards, it becomes clear that a bridge between the actual and the ideal must be built, even if it is to be endless. Further insight will reveal that the process of its construction began immeasurable aeons since, for the bridge stands above time.

One form of this bridge is race. Though empiricism shows that in the current time what most closely approaches race is the ethno-cultural group, the inner dimension of race must be understood in order to grasp the entirety of what the concept encompasses.

Race is a spiritual tradition which eclipses the sum of its profane elements. A given race embodies not only the genetic disposition that a group has evolved--varieties with which science has become familiarized--but also intangible characteristics. Many of these may also be genetically determined, and therefore, will be found to vary with race. Science, however, has not been able to ascertain the mechanisms by which such characteristics fructify, and it is doubtful that an understanding of the supramundane could ever be quantified according to the protocols of science, much less that an empirical method of study could apprehend such intangibles without necessarily consigning them to reductionism. In truth, the significance of a given heritage is far beyond the scope of intellectualism, for it operates as much on the level of experience as it does thought.

Race is a spiritual lineage. Members of such a line exhibit a similitude in their folkways--signifying both praxis and beliefs--because of an underlying unitary mythos, or archetypal pattern of values of a people, the character of which becomes evident through all of its various arts. (Though mythos is different from ideology, which is an explicit orientation, the former often will become the basis for the latter, which becomes apparent in more extensively developed art forms.) The manner in which a particular race views the world will give rise to a specific ethos, which in turn will affect the way in which members of a race experience and interpret the world around them. Thus, particularities of experience are unique to each race, and the meaning of each experience will vary according to cultural context.

What is had through race, ultimately, is the transmission of wisdom gained through shared experiences which allows for a continued struggle towards the ideals set forth by a particular mythos. This is the nucleus around which all other satellites of endeavor revolve. Even the implementation of a system of values is tied to this spiritual understanding.

Outside of context, meaning does not exist. In a world without inherent values, culture provides a specific context from which meaning can be extracted; thus a frame of reference for the effectuation of a system of values is established. This has been the modus operandi of harmonized civilizations throughout history. When the dissolution of race occurs, a cultural vacuum is created, and any higher collective meaning and purpose are destroyed. Thereby, a positive feedback mechanism is formed which eventually results in the death of a civilization.

The opportunity for the continuation of a great legacy is at hand. As all seeds of becoming in life finally wither, so too, will this possibility eventually fade.