A heads up - Chapter 5 of Basket of Reeds has been posted, as well as another short essay, The White Deer, in Books to Come. The latter was written more than a few years ago, back before my son had turned 16 and could drive. I have attempted a few short essays recently and had to stop - I am not in practice. Too many novels, I think. It is like turning from marathon running to the 100 yard dash. I will work on it.
A comment on the last two postings, which referred to the structure of cultures and their systematic movement in relation to the sacred. I had left with the idea that we seem to be appreciating the end to the Western mode of culture, now turned world wide, that began in misty legend thousands of years ago, was brought quickly to change through the Roman Empire and Constantine's Christianity, and then again to the modern epic through the European transformations of renaissance and exploration. How is it that now many see the end, see Captain Cook coming in his sailing ship coming over the horizon?
From the traditional perspective it becomes clear. But even Karl Marx understood the unease, the sense of a runaway train speeding towards disaster. For Marx, human thought was governed by the modes of production and the relationships fostered by them. Capitalism always seeks to expand markets, and in so doing, created a sense of need - of a constant need for more products to be produced and sold, which created the mentality of never- ending need, perfectly suited to sustain capitalism, but ill-suited for peaceful and well-balanced living. I will not take his philosophy further except to say that in his view what we are experiencing, this feeling of never ending need, leads us to the feeling that we are spiraling out of control, so much so that we fervently wish to stop the train at any cost.
Revolution for Marx, but for the traditionalists? Consider that to them, all is imbued with spirit, with a truth beyond what we ordinarily see, and it is in the recognition of this truth where we find meaning and wholeness. Without it, we are empty shells - even less than animals, who, for all their lack of forethought still live in the way that they were meant to live, while we - without the sacred, are lost, for that is how WE are supposed to live. What has happened in Western and world culture is a demystification of the world. Blame it on capitalism or whatever, but there can be no doubt that the sense of the sacred is being destroyed by a culture of materialism best exemplified by scientific materialism. So much so that the view of the intelligentsia of the late 19th century was that religious and spiritual beliefs were vestigial organs of primitive ignorance. This is still widely held in scholarly circles today, and is being preached in ways small and great to the world at large. With this viewpoint, after all, have come medical cures and lots and lots of stuff. But where has it left the world?
It has left it wanting - wanting, as Marx found, but not for his reasons alone. Rather, stuff has come to replace the sacred and has left many behind as empty shells. They do not know where to turn, because they have lost the sense of the sacred. They can only look at the husk that their selves have become, and see nothing but the shell, and the end - and end they would pray for if they could understand prayer.
I reference "they" but there is some of "they" in all of us. The world is imbued with the materialistic philosophy, just as the Aztec world was imbued with the notion of necessary blood sacrifice to the gods. We feel we cannot escape it, and look forward to its collapse. We fear the end, but hope for it; we fear for our security, but know that it is a sham. We cling to the husk and long for the kernel.
The traditional view, yes; but how will this end come? Or is the end a mirage? Is it not the end that we feel, but a pivot point, a part of our culture that is set like a trap to turn us once again towards something else?
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