HERE COMES THE WILD
“You are wild!”
When was the last time somebody said this to you?
How did it feel?
We pose the question: What is the wild?
Some cognates: chaos, entropy, libido, raw nature, primordial, danger, dark, mysterious, instinct, unstable, unpredictable, power
The wild is everything that civilization is not.
The wild is chaos, reaching back to the primordial strata in ourselves and we will find the wild. In the bosom of Nature the wild is nurtured, we call this the “wilderness” where the light of order has not penetrated. Untamed, instinctual and threatening. These evoke the feeling of the wild.
Civilization is order, and law. Civis is the city itself the very expression and symbol par excellence of nature tamed.
Humans have forever grappled with the wild. Within our own psyche and without, in the wilderness. The balancing of the forces of order and chaos are represented as the balance between civilization and the wilderness.
We speak of balance because the two forces exist in a dynamic equilibrium, at least as far as humans are concerned. When one gains the ascendancy over the other then a balancing will occur.
Internally for humans this may occur when an individual does not pay heed to his emotions and instincts. He “locks” them down and rationalizes them away mentally. This builds tension within, the “animal” has no place to go. Like an animal in a cage it becomes restless. If it is locked down for too long several things may happen. The animal will give up and die. Or it will become tame and work with its new master. Or it will break out escape and wreak havoc. Any which way we look at it the animal must be dealt with, it is there in all of us.
For civilizations the situation is the same. It must deal with the forces of chaos it unleashes and embodies. War is a specific manifestation of this. War can be relatively controlled through mechanisms such as honor, valor, and chivalry. Or it can be denied altogether only to be unleashed in an orgy of indiscriminate bloodletting and utter chaos.
The wild is the source of vitality. It must be tapped in order to maintain the life force, both for individuals and cultures. If the animal dies in the cage then so too will its master follow, having been cut off from the source of life. In this sense the wild is the interface with the primordial well from which we all partake. It is our experience of the chaotic waters of life which sustain us.
As it is so vital it is also dangerous. Confronting the wild brings the danger of death. Risk is always involved with the wild.
Economics is “risk management.” With the rise of our Economic Paradigm the wild has been forced back. To the most critical point. So many animals have died in cages. We have managed the wild so far out of our lives, that there is no longer any recognition of the need to placate it. Thus it bursts through in uncontrollable moments. Rape, killing and suicide are all the revenge of the wild upon those who have sought to banish it. The wild does not belong to any individual it is a common entity; so it is felt by all but has no compunction about individual life.
Volatility in our world is this same mechanism. The history of the twentieth century exemplifies the extremes of volatility. This century experienced the most bloodshed per capita then any other century that we know of. At the same time law and order have spread with the increasing use of technology and energy. The same volatility trend is only increasing. We can conclude by stating that any periods of general peace will have to be followed by a corresponding time of war and death. The longer the peace the greater the reaction. The wild must be placated.
It is amusing to us when moderns criticize human sacrifice as barbaric and “primitive.” It is perfectly clear to us what is going on. These people were intimate with the wild, they knew what it wanted. Granted sometimes the power which comes from interfacing the wild is intoxicating and addicting. Then we have a situation which is as imbalanced as denying the wild, becoming a power-hungry agent of this dark force happens too.
Our current global paradigm has pushed back the wild. We are in a terribly unbalanced state now. The wild is being unleashed. Whether this comes through ourselves unto each other or through nature doesn’t matter. The point is that it is coming, severely and forcefully. The balance must be renewed and the wild is not discriminating.
We can only hope that individual men will have honor. Yes old fashioned honor, which is discriminating, which only exercises violence for truly righteous causes. When the raw power rises within and demands an action the man must control this, and exercise restraint. Mere need and desperation are not justifications for violence. However neither is a revolutionary call to action, the deposing of another class. Every man is sovereign and it is up to him to make the right choice, may his conscience be true.
When was the last time somebody said this to you?
How did it feel?
We pose the question: What is the wild?
Some cognates: chaos, entropy, libido, raw nature, primordial, danger, dark, mysterious, instinct, unstable, unpredictable, power
The wild is everything that civilization is not.
The wild is chaos, reaching back to the primordial strata in ourselves and we will find the wild. In the bosom of Nature the wild is nurtured, we call this the “wilderness” where the light of order has not penetrated. Untamed, instinctual and threatening. These evoke the feeling of the wild.
Civilization is order, and law. Civis is the city itself the very expression and symbol par excellence of nature tamed.
Humans have forever grappled with the wild. Within our own psyche and without, in the wilderness. The balancing of the forces of order and chaos are represented as the balance between civilization and the wilderness.
We speak of balance because the two forces exist in a dynamic equilibrium, at least as far as humans are concerned. When one gains the ascendancy over the other then a balancing will occur.
Internally for humans this may occur when an individual does not pay heed to his emotions and instincts. He “locks” them down and rationalizes them away mentally. This builds tension within, the “animal” has no place to go. Like an animal in a cage it becomes restless. If it is locked down for too long several things may happen. The animal will give up and die. Or it will become tame and work with its new master. Or it will break out escape and wreak havoc. Any which way we look at it the animal must be dealt with, it is there in all of us.
For civilizations the situation is the same. It must deal with the forces of chaos it unleashes and embodies. War is a specific manifestation of this. War can be relatively controlled through mechanisms such as honor, valor, and chivalry. Or it can be denied altogether only to be unleashed in an orgy of indiscriminate bloodletting and utter chaos.
The wild is the source of vitality. It must be tapped in order to maintain the life force, both for individuals and cultures. If the animal dies in the cage then so too will its master follow, having been cut off from the source of life. In this sense the wild is the interface with the primordial well from which we all partake. It is our experience of the chaotic waters of life which sustain us.
As it is so vital it is also dangerous. Confronting the wild brings the danger of death. Risk is always involved with the wild.
Economics is “risk management.” With the rise of our Economic Paradigm the wild has been forced back. To the most critical point. So many animals have died in cages. We have managed the wild so far out of our lives, that there is no longer any recognition of the need to placate it. Thus it bursts through in uncontrollable moments. Rape, killing and suicide are all the revenge of the wild upon those who have sought to banish it. The wild does not belong to any individual it is a common entity; so it is felt by all but has no compunction about individual life.
Volatility in our world is this same mechanism. The history of the twentieth century exemplifies the extremes of volatility. This century experienced the most bloodshed per capita then any other century that we know of. At the same time law and order have spread with the increasing use of technology and energy. The same volatility trend is only increasing. We can conclude by stating that any periods of general peace will have to be followed by a corresponding time of war and death. The longer the peace the greater the reaction. The wild must be placated.
It is amusing to us when moderns criticize human sacrifice as barbaric and “primitive.” It is perfectly clear to us what is going on. These people were intimate with the wild, they knew what it wanted. Granted sometimes the power which comes from interfacing the wild is intoxicating and addicting. Then we have a situation which is as imbalanced as denying the wild, becoming a power-hungry agent of this dark force happens too.
Our current global paradigm has pushed back the wild. We are in a terribly unbalanced state now. The wild is being unleashed. Whether this comes through ourselves unto each other or through nature doesn’t matter. The point is that it is coming, severely and forcefully. The balance must be renewed and the wild is not discriminating.
We can only hope that individual men will have honor. Yes old fashioned honor, which is discriminating, which only exercises violence for truly righteous causes. When the raw power rises within and demands an action the man must control this, and exercise restraint. Mere need and desperation are not justifications for violence. However neither is a revolutionary call to action, the deposing of another class. Every man is sovereign and it is up to him to make the right choice, may his conscience be true.
posted by pjack | 12:16 PM
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