"Only the dead have seen the end of war" -George Santayana.
We inherited warrior genes and a monster culture, nurture & nature, from a mix of adventurers, slaves, thieves, dreamers, pirates, barbarians, nomads, poets, illiterate, stoic and dormant men, women, mothers, brothers, sisters, fathers, rum. You ought to think that the mightiest and most ruthless race would overcome the other tribes, pacifists were long taken out and every time a nation raised up in arms against its neighbor, we've only known war. We have a lust for the Roman Empire and willingly indulge despite the horrors religion has induced in us all, picking up the tab in the afterlife is a small price to pay.
We may live in a society that prides itself free. Take homosexuality, for instance. In Ancient Rome, it wasn't even an issue: it was an openly bisexual state. Roman men were allowed to have sex with the same sex without tarnishing their manly reputation. With the introduction of Christianity in the Roman Empire, towards the beginning of its power decline, Emperor Constantine proclaimed himself a Christian and things were never meant to be the same. Christianity took hold, it spread like wild fire and soon it was easier to be identified as a Christian than anything else in Rome. Christianity did away with most pagan festivities but could not undo the celebration of the solstice, called the Saturnalia. a predecessor to Christmas. A whole different festival breed, lasting longer and involving not just gifting and helping the poor, but also food, drinks of partying on-end that culminated in the sacrifice of one of its most colorful characters: a person chosen among the many willing, always a man allowed the unthinkable, sleep with whomever he wanted, drink from the best wines, stay at the best houses in town, to do for the duration of the festival whatever he wanted. It was known as The Lord of Misrule.
The downside to having his every wish and desire fulfilled was that he'd pay the ultimate price at the end of the festivities with his own life. But it seemed like a good trade-off; who gets to do as they please for a day in life, now for a week? Of course, we have a lot to live for, but back in the days life was far more harsh and part of the fun was, I think, popularity and defiance in the face of death. Life is a celebration and the winter solstice in Ancient Rome was celebrated well beyond the years of the early Christian church when Emperor Constantine made it the official religion of the empire.
Christianity had been a religion of slaves. It had gained track within the empire, initially only being persecuted and exhibited as disposable souls, early Christians endured the sacrifice and faith of their beliefs. Romans were shocked by how willingly Christians let themselves be slaughtered at the coliseum by refusing to fight back gladiators or lions. They saw it as bravery; it was far less honorable. It was sheer martyrdom. Christians believed in the afterlife and so assumed sacrifice as the only true way to obtain their god's favor. A crude, lethal blow, an immense moment's suffering, and awaiting you was eternal bliss in Paradise. No Christian nowadays seems as inclined to self-sacrificial as those early Christians, but when you adopt a ballsy new theology that makes the last moment the most magnanimous and significant, life is not worth it, all that matters is how much are you willing to sacrifice now, in order to be saved later. It has a high existential tag, we have too much to live for nowadays to adhere to such doctrinal nonsense; back then, existence was harsher, and in that case, well you got free labor. It's really a neat trick.
Now, I'm not a serial atheist; I'm not going to debate or try to change anyone's mind. That'd be as futile as trying to change mine. Though I am open to change, this will come in time, with patience, by its own cord and rhythm, not because it's the norm, or someone else's plan. You may listen to someone else's way of seeing things, but you'll use your eyes to see them. The idea that life covers meaning by what awaits us in the afterlife can only sound plausible to brutes and troglodytes. It makes people less concerned with what this life is all about; worry about the other thing when the time comes. It fails to address the fundamental essence of life, this very moment. That this life is all there is, and that that should be enough... is all the more aspiring and awe-stricken truth. What matters most than this very moment, the accumulation of these fleeting instances that pile up and shape the person, the way we were, the way we are, and the way we're becoming. We are never in a fixed state of mind, our body and soul are mutable entities, nothing is as it just was, everything shifts and morphs into a brand-new being, it's a never-ending process until its inevitable plausibility. We either evolve or perish.
The downside to having his every wish and desire fulfilled was that he'd pay the ultimate price at the end of the festivities with his own life. But it seemed like a good trade-off; who gets to do as they please for a day in life, now for a week? Of course, we have a lot to live for, but back in the days life was far more harsh and part of the fun was, I think, popularity and defiance in the face of death. Life is a celebration and the winter solstice in Ancient Rome was celebrated well beyond the years of the early Christian church when Emperor Constantine made it the official religion of the empire.
Christianity had been a religion of slaves. It had gained track within the empire, initially only being persecuted and exhibited as disposable souls, early Christians endured the sacrifice and faith of their beliefs. Romans were shocked by how willingly Christians let themselves be slaughtered at the coliseum by refusing to fight back gladiators or lions. They saw it as bravery; it was far less honorable. It was sheer martyrdom. Christians believed in the afterlife and so assumed sacrifice as the only true way to obtain their god's favor. A crude, lethal blow, an immense moment's suffering, and awaiting you was eternal bliss in Paradise. No Christian nowadays seems as inclined to self-sacrificial as those early Christians, but when you adopt a ballsy new theology that makes the last moment the most magnanimous and significant, life is not worth it, all that matters is how much are you willing to sacrifice now, in order to be saved later. It has a high existential tag, we have too much to live for nowadays to adhere to such doctrinal nonsense; back then, existence was harsher, and in that case, well you got free labor. It's really a neat trick.
Now, I'm not a serial atheist; I'm not going to debate or try to change anyone's mind. That'd be as futile as trying to change mine. Though I am open to change, this will come in time, with patience, by its own cord and rhythm, not because it's the norm, or someone else's plan. You may listen to someone else's way of seeing things, but you'll use your eyes to see them. The idea that life covers meaning by what awaits us in the afterlife can only sound plausible to brutes and troglodytes. It makes people less concerned with what this life is all about; worry about the other thing when the time comes. It fails to address the fundamental essence of life, this very moment. That this life is all there is, and that that should be enough... is all the more aspiring and awe-stricken truth. What matters most than this very moment, the accumulation of these fleeting instances that pile up and shape the person, the way we were, the way we are, and the way we're becoming. We are never in a fixed state of mind, our body and soul are mutable entities, nothing is as it just was, everything shifts and morphs into a brand-new being, it's a never-ending process until its inevitable plausibility. We either evolve or perish.
Pacifist societies exist among us, more predominantly so in the past. But then voracious and militarized nations raised themselves in arms against their neighbors, only the strong eventually survived. We inherited some of those genes, migrations, the social immersion, another land, a different language. These constitute milestones as to the road we've paved and the paths awaiting us farther ahead. For every Gandhi, we get hundreds of thousands slaughtering their neighbors, famine, disease, genocide, atrocities all over the globe. We're headed in the right direction, and this is actually one of the most peaceful moments humanity has experienced in its existence. You gotta think, there's more of us than ever before and yet things are looking up. No longer nations raise against nations, with the exception of a few trouble-makers, war is something that nations avoid at all costs. We're on the right course in some fronts, need improvements on others, and haven't yet started many unforeseen adventures. We're here to stay, we'll thrive, things are good and life is just the most amazing thing there is.
You'll get to play The Lord of Misrule and actually live to tell.
You'll get to play The Lord of Misrule and actually live to tell.
