In pursuit of new wisdom, “[we seek] a truth that will help us deny our limited creature nature and exalt us for our mental or physical or moral prowess. Truth, that, supposedly none has known or seen before – these ideas change and pass like women’s clothing fashions.”
Our desire to defy nature, conquer natural law and evolve toward a state greater than our flawed humanity brings advancement, but leaves us susceptible for manipulation by the Gods of the Marketplace. In time, understanding of natural law is replaced by worship of marketplace ideas, education, entertainment, and even religion, which are ultimately superficial and therefore short-lived.
Entire power structures from kingdoms to civilizations have been built and lived with these marketplace ideas as their foundation. As time cycles, favoring one power structure for another, death and destruction follow the failure of these marketplace ideas and humanity painfully realizes old truths, or natural law, out lives social, government or man-made promises.
When these Gods of government, religion and civilization fail, we are left with the violence of natural law and human nature, which is not kind, good, fair or evil; it just is.
I completely yanked and pasted the prior post from a blog. It was the authors take on Kiplings “Gods of the Copybook Headings”.
I am reminded of an oft quoted turn from Walt Kelley,
Traces of nobility, gentleness and courage persist in all people, do what we will to stamp out the trend. So, too, do those characteristics which are ugly. It is just unfortunate that in the clumsy hands of a cartoonist all traits become ridiculous, leading to a certain amount of self-conscious expostulation and the desire to join battle.
There is no need to sally forth, for it remains true that those things which make us human are, curiously enough, always close at hand. Resolve then, that on this very ground, with small flags waving and tinny blast on tiny trumpets, we shall meet the enemy, and not only may he be ours, he may be us.
Forward!