How does Fethullah Gülen see culture or the cultural dimension of society?
Fethullah Gülen affirms that the cultural dimension is a necessary component of collective or national consciousness, without which a people cannot move forward along a path recognized and valued as their own. He argues that there is a close relationship between the harmony and stability of the ways in which a people conduct their affairs and their cultural resources. Refusing to see the underlying principles and the components that constitute one’s culture is “blindness” and “trying to remove them from society means total confusion.”
Turkish society is complex and its needs cannot be expressed without intelligent reference to the cultural resources of its people. The Gülen Movement therefore attempts to mobilize the universal cultural elements within the traditions, codes and idioms of the past. On the basis of these it develops ways of thinking, speaking and acting that can stand out as independent and free of control and standardization by the traditions, codes and idioms that at present are imposed on people in Turkey and elsewhere.
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