The Sun Comes Up Like a God
Its comforting when the morning sun breaks over the tree tops and streams into the windows here at Starbucks. On a winter morning, one’s spirit shouts, “light, light!” I understand in part how our ancestors worshiped the sun as a god. The Mayans structured their cities around their great pyramids, temples for worship of the sun.
My first task of the morning was to reply to a friend. The email received late in the day yesterday was a meditation upon the ubiquity and rock-solid, ancient foundations of racism. The point made was that no one is exempt from the visceral response to defend the tribe from “the other.” The “others” are those of visible difference in skin color, dress, or lifestyle. This proclivity is as deep as our DNA. It can be reduced through self awareness, and ameliorated by life long effort.
The written conclusion from my friend was that there does not appear to be a way forward, a remedy for this toxic tribalism that will tear us apart and wreck the earth as a habitable biosphere. The raw expression of survival by defeating others, and by despoiling Nature is a certain future death sentence.
I confess that I had little comfort, or new ideas to offer in response. Nietzsche wrestled with the same type of concern in his writings. For your consideration, your mindful reflection, — I offer the final segment from the Natural History of Morals section in his Beyond Good and Evil.
203. We, who hold a different belief–we, who regard the democratic movement, not only as a degenerating form of political organization, but as equivalent to the decay, the dimunition of man, making him mediocre and lowering his value: where have WE to fix our hopes?
Toward NEW PHILOSOPHERS–there is no other alternative: in minds strong and original enough to initiate opposite estimates of value, to transvalue and invert “eternal valuations”; in forerunners, in men of the future, who in the present shall fix the constraints and fasten the knots which will compel the will of millennia to take NEW paths. To teach man the future of humanity as his WILL, as depending on human will, and to make preparation for vast hazardous enterprises and collective attempts in rearing and educating, in order thereby to put an end to the frightful rule of folly and chance which has hitherto gone by the name of “history” (the folly of the “greatest number” is only its last form)–for that purpose a new type of philosopher and commander will some time or other be needed, at the very idea of which everything that has existed in the way of occult, terrible, and benevolent beings might look pale and dwarfed. The image of such leaders hovers before OUR eyes:–is it lawful for me to say it aloud, you free spirits? The conditions which one would partly have to create and partly utilize for their genesis; the presumptive methods and tests by virtue of which a soul should grow up to such an elevation and power as to feel a CONSTRAINT to these tasks; a transvaluation of values, under the new pressure and hammer of which a conscience should be steeled and a heart transformed into brass, so as to bear the weight of such responsibility; and on the other hand the necessity for such leaders, the dreadful danger that they might be lacking, or miscarry and degenerate:–these are OUR real anxieties and glooms, ye know it well, ye free spirits! these are the heavy distant thoughts and storms which sweep across the heaven of OUR life.
4 thoughts on “The Sun Comes Up Like a God”
There is always a possibility that some personality will rise to the surface and hold aloft the ideals that so many view as valid, ideals that would catapult humanity into a era of intelligent decision making and a working relationship with our natural environment. But as much as I would desire this to be the case, my overall sense is that our species is not ready for salvation. Al Gore recently updated his book, The Assault on Reason. I have not read this book, but I have heard Mr. Gore interviewed about the content. He seems to believe in a more beneficent nature of mankind and if given a choice, Gore feels, most would opt for truth and reason. It is a nice thought, but one I find naive, for “reason” has been presented time and time again to our species yet we continue to be mired in conflict over the subjugation of the masses by those who tell us they see the light, be it religious, monetary or power based.
It is true that we can cling to the very dangerous notion of – “HOPE”. That lofty but usually unrealistic view of the future where life is better than the present. But “hope” is also the one of the main weapons of the elite. There was once a time when hope fomented revolution, where people could see the light beyond oppression and took the path of cataclysmic change. In today’s manifestation of that same concept, the powerful understand the notion of hope, so they will let it out of their bag of tricks just enough to have people become excited about the possibilities before stuffing it back into their pockets to be released in bits and pieces another day. And we buy it. That’s the difference between Obama’s Audacity of Hope and the reality of the political arena as it stands now. We really had a shot of change eight years ago, but the right wing was ready even then, completely blocking the altruistic black guy. I see little chance of us undoing their work so they will have a lifetime of power. Their plans are working and we will pay the price.
Nietzsche was skeptical of reasons efficacy to get the better of instinct. Nietzsche repeatedly visits the theme of the primal life force, ultimately winning out over reason. That is probably the primary reason the majority do not exercise self awareness, choose not to learn self criticism because it’s easier to be adopted by the herd, and follow the leader. Who does not prefer to believe outlandish promises of a shape-shifter who promises, “all will be well, – I guarantee it.” Thinking is work much like athletic achievement. One must exercise the mind over and over to build strength of judgment for life’s long journey.
I like the simple elegance of Nietzsche’s characterization of human nature. One can be a “herd animal” and enjoy the prescribed common comforts of the masses. Or one can chose to overcome one’s own tendency for playing the victim, and learn to become a ubermensch over the arc of one’s life. This is the road less taken.
In response to Jerry’s friend’s contention about the “ubiquity and rock-solid, ancient foundations of racism,” I feel compelled to note that the concept of “the other” is not a sharply-bordered universal us-versus-them dichotomy between groups.
Rather, it always is a continuum. Nobody inhabits homogeneous us-compartments; everybody is (or loves) someone who imperfectly fits into one or more abstract ideological molds.
Consider: if one insists on interpreting the world as only “us” and “them,” and takes such bifurcation to its logical extreme, “us” does not even exist! The basic unit is “I.” Everyone who is not I — which of course is EVERYONE — is by definition an “other” on one measurement scale or another.
Thus, every human quality — race, sex, nationality, neighborhood, etc. — that could make a newly-encountered person a “them” also CAN make the person an “us.” It depends entirely on what one chooses to look for in the newcomer, and on which qualities one chooses to prioritize.
An example: Just today I conversed for a few minutes with a stranger. His strong accent — Polish, as it turned out — marked him as an “other” by birth. There also weren’t any other people nearby, so I could have been wary of talking alone to a strange man.
But we were in the dog park. When he began adoringly describing the sweet greyhound accompanying him, it became plain that while he may have been a male and Polish “them,” he most definitely was a fellow dog-enthusiast, and thus suddenly an “us” to me.
Emphasizing human commonalities and rewarding peoples’ attempts to perceive them seems to me the best way to move forward. I guess Earth acquiring an extraterrestrial enemy might do it, too, but we have enough problems now without someone new to hate.
A nice logical analysis of the terms which we use to discuss identity and difference. The nuances that you highlight ought to matter to everyone. Sadly they do not. Scapegoating is in every tyrants playbook. Language is delivered with a sharp edge, without the ambiguities that allow freedom of movement, our humanity to be supported. And yes, your prescription for the best way to move forward is one that I would take. Surely the approach would not leave victims in it’s wake.