"Iliad and Odyssey should be considered no differently than the work of Helen Riefenstahl. This glorious heroic poetry was purposed to inverse all human traditions up to that time and to convince humanity on the right of the rulers to be inhumane."
What’s the biggest of humanity’s problems?
We have evidence that human greed has been disastrous during pre-historic ages. [1] We, also, have evidence that in several occasions, humans became aware of the disasters that greed brings to them, so that they consciously managed to limit it.
Limiting greed seems to have been, firstly, directed towards any form of power. [2] This seems to have been a common practice even for developed communities such as the Cycladic [3] or even the Minoan. [4]
Secondly, in several occasions, limiting greed seems to have been directed towards a sustainable fitting inside the natural environment.
Who brought back Power?
Our societies are formed under Power. Power, not only is greedy but, even worse, needs to spend enormous amounts of resources in order to cope inside the antagonistic environment itself creates. A vicious circle and a catastrophic trap.
But, who brought Power to the human societies?
Enslavement by war of course! A human invention like no other.
We live inside a majestic lie teaching us that Agricultural Revolution is the biggest invention of human kind. This might have been true until the first enslavement occurred. The first enslavement, instantly, turned the weapons of the powerful to means of production and the community of the enslaved to a productive human herd. The right to command and order entered the world of the humans in blood and pain. [5]
Why can’t we acknowledge that Power keeps us in deep shit?
Even clever and well-educated people won’t admit the obvious: there’s nothing natural about Power in human societies. On the contrary, Power is totally unnatural since it defies any reasonable thought on surviving and maintaining ourselves and our world. Power, goes along with its vital need for expansion and, therefore, fails all laws of natural selection. Power, is fed exclusively by destroying human and natural resources. Power, is now, globally, leading humanity to a tremendous failure and suffering.
How does Power relate to War?
Anthropologists, to my knowledge, agree that, the only possibility for an authoritarian personality to enjoy commanding has been the short periods of war. Periods of war would be short, since no reasonable person or tribe would seek its extinction.
Under unknown circumstances, but in specific occasions, war ended to enslavement of the weaker.
Enslavement, immediately, turned war to constant. Constant war made the war-leader to a constant leader.
Under these circumstances communities accepted the leader’s constant right to command.
How does Power relate to State?
Any community that became a ruling one would be transformed to something socially unknown up to that time. Order, hierarchy, private property and submission of women seems to have been inevitable under such circumstances, and have appeared forming several variations while struggling each time to oppress the egalitarian traditions. Athenians and Spartans are two, well known to many, such examples.
Most importantly though, every enslavement would form a dipole of a ruling community and a subjugated one. We wouldn’t admit it, but, that’s what a State is. Now, here is a funny question: could we ever expect of a State to be a Community?
Yeah, sure, there are no slaves now though, so, how do our States relate to the ones of the ancient world?
Though, there are still leaders who wouldn’t blush referring to race superiority, and, I believe, we could easily turn to that mentality if some don’t keep on opposing it, this is not the case in public speech right now. What we are persuaded to accept is that, each community consists of successful humans and failed ones. Each of the successful or the failed carry the complete responsibility of there success or their failure. So, since the criteria of success have been set at least 150 generations back in the courtyards of vicious military leaders, [6] we, oppressors and oppressed, accept that, success means antagonizing other humans, using other humans whenever possible, and even, when needed, extinguishing other humans.
Let’s make a glossary now, using this prism:
Civilization. The effort of humans, throughout the total of human history, to use the human achievements for the benefit of all people. It could be said, the effort to free Prometheus, the ancient representative of sharing, from the chains that State and Violence put around him, and extinguish the power that order his boundary.
Community. The vast family of humans in which the well being of each person is important for each other person.
State. The complex formation of communities that consists of ruling and subjugated communities.
Nation. A mythological entity that presents ruling and subjugated communities as a “natural” unity.
Classes. The misleading division of a State that implies that each State consists of one community and one nation separated to classes.
Means of production. Each community forming a State has different means of production. The ruling community has basically the weapons and relies to them whenever other, more elegant and “humane” technics of oppression fail. The subjugated communities have for means of production what they always had: their creativity and hand power. A parenthesis should be made here to mention the interest of Cyrus for the specialization of his cooks and technicians. Specialization might exist mostly as a demand of authority to please its various needs than a need of the human kind in general.
Hierarchy. We are taught that recieving commands is a natural condition for the human socialization. What an outrageous lie! Let’s try commanding in our close family or friendly environment. We’ll probably appear silly or obnoxious to our loved ones. If we insist we’ll probably be avoided. What’s there for hierarchy then? It’s the reflection of the dominant culture trying to invade all of lives aspects. Money is the Trojan horse that makes ordering a daily habit in accordance to the hierarchical placement of our bank account. The bigger this account is, the more we can order people as long as they have smaller accounts.
Development. The disastrous vital need of the dominant communities to survive the competition presented as a need for each State and Nation for the benefit of all of its members.
Imperialism. Sargon of Akkad invented imperialism by enslaving neighboring communities. Imperialism, just like development, is vital for every dominant community. For sure, it’s not capitalism that invented imperialism.
Fascism. Fascism, through ages, has been the ideal form of State as far the interests of every dominant community.
Analytic presentation of these thoughts
War and Coercion / https://war-and-coercion.
[1] The distraction humans brought to the mammals’ population of the Americas 11.000 years back can be compared to the one that made the dinosaurs disappear. However, the indian culture that survived this period is rich of nature preservation teachings.
[2] E.g. Totem and Taboo, (The Taboo of Authority) -S. Freud, The Community against the State -P. Clastres.
[3] Fortified settlements appear 4.300 years ago. Prior to this, settlements are found next to the sea while there is evidence of goods’ exchanging hundreds of kilometers way. Up to that time there is, also, no proof of central authority, and belongings appear to had been communal.
[4] During the Minoan era, besides the magnificent paintings left representing peaceful and ritual actions, there is not any representation of war action found, and, most unusual, there isn’t any record of authority, such as kings’ names and actions.
[5] “Friends and allies, we owe a lot to Gods, because they gave as the ability to achieve what we believed we were meant for. Because now we have a lot of fertile lands and people who by cultivating it will maintain it for us. Even more, we have houses and all we might need inside them. And, of course, none of you by obtaining these should believe that has obtained alien goods. Since there is an internal law among the people, meaning, when a city is lost for its defenders, their lives and possessions belong to the conquerors. Therefore, you will not possess by injustice what you possess, but instead by charity you will not deprive them from what you might let them keep. ...
... By no means though, we should transfer knowledge of martial arts and practices to the ones we intend to make our workers and subjects, but instead we should preserve the superiority in these practices, knowing that gods offered these as means of freedom and happiness. And just as we have taken the weapons from them, we, should never be left without weapons, knowing well that those who in every occasion are very close to the weapons, are those having them for their use when they need them. ...”
Xenophon, Cyrus Education, Book Zeta, Speaking to the Equals.
[6] Iliad and Odyssey should be considered no differently than the work of Helen Riefenstahl. This glorious heroic poetry was purposed to inverse all human traditions up to that time and to convince humanity on the right of the rulers to be inhumane. A few more thoughts on this are described on this link: http://proxeiro-tetradio.
