A really Good Article

[undergroundpanther]

This is the tragedy of the human experience so far: because of human creativity but not because of human choice, the thrust of civilization's development has been toward the ways of power and destruction. Our wonderful qualities of mind and imagination have condemned us to live in chronic fear and insecurity.

This view of the dynamics of the evolution of civilization puts a new light on our problems in coping with "the human condition." The inescapable problem of power that arose with civilization has both intensified the burdens of our condition and weakened our capacity to bear them. It is the wounds inflicted upon us by history that have made us so uncomfortable being what we are. Were the world around us not so threatening, we would not be so defensive.

Conscious megalomania, as Jung observed, is the visible companion of unconscious feelings of inferiority. It is not for nothing that boot camp, to mold warriors, humiliates and terrorizes the recruits. To make "a few good men," first treat them worse than dogs. Thus does the warrior gain his pride.

As the idea of goodness disappears into the idea of strength, so the goal of survival overwhelms concerns about the quality of life. The preoccupation with the external threat means neglect of the interior life. We can see this effect of threat-orientation at both the individual and social levels. The manly values of the warrior are anaesthetic, away from feeling. Toughness includes the capacity to disregard pain, which might otherwise distract the warrior from combating the external threat. But the barriers to the experience of pain cannot function so selectively; thus, blocking the path of pain means turning away from the realm of experience generally. Warrior discipline means putting the uses of the self above the caring for the self. The territory inside, where life is lived, is neglected in favor of the territory outside, where survival must be won.

http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC20/Schmkler.htm

[villager]

1. yes; if empire-controlled "warrior culture" collapses, so does empire

and they can't risk that...

[undergroundpanther]

2. Their fucking dream

Is killing us. So what do we do? Some warriors are too weak to change, too scared to trust and too ego-maniacal to listen to anyone else and too grasping to share anything.The people like Cheney are so pathetic they'll destroy the world if they can't own,dominate and control it..
It's like deep down they want to be humiliated,arrested, killed or something, because they keep pushing against the limits of the law, exempting themselves, while bullying and hurting others ,provoking ire ..How long will this go on? Methinks until someone or some thing puts them out of their and our misery,because they know deep down but dare not admit that they are too blind, projecting too much,and they are too insecure to off themselves.So they want US to do it to them.Get past their billions of defenses and tons of bullshit and put an end to their fears for them..A warrior would just go torture and kill them or if he was a kinder warrior he'd lock them up.. but what would a non warrior do? Tolerate this administration? I don't think so.Hence the intractable problem of power is again staring in our faces..

[OneBlueSky]

3. I used to subscribe to "In Context" years ago . . . they did wonderful thematic issues . . .

that really examined critical issues and proposed innovative solutions . . . great publication that I don't think is around anymore (but I may be wrong about that) . . .

[hfojvt]

4. I thought from the link, that it was Schmookler

I really enjoyed his book "Parable of the Tribes" which I found in the library while going to graduate school.