Violence

For most, violence is a thing to fear and avoid. For a few, it is glorified and exalted as a rite of passage. For others, it is a thing of hatred and scorn. At the same time such individuals violently appose violence and don't seem to realize the joke is on them. For nearly all though, those who partake in violence are idealized as heroes because the do what others can not do. They stand against fear of pain and lose and enter battle wholeheartedly. This is why we idealize mixed martial artist, soldiers, police officers, action stars, etc. They go where others cannot and do what most fear. But, why is this? Why does conflict so enchant us? Why is the warier so highly regarded even in the modern age?

One could point to the central role the warier has played throughout human history. In the earliest societies, everyone was engaged at one point or another in violence to protect the family, clan and tribe. As the division of labor was established with ever larger and more complex societies, a distinct warier class began to develop. It was the responsibility of this group to insure the safety of the society and that safety was often challenged. Latter as societies became ever larger and more divers, the role of the warier class was directed in many cases towards expanding and enriching the state. The age of empire was born and violence for violence's own sake was also born, or so it would seam. Gladiators, death matches, duels, cage fights. All of these may appear to be nothing more than brutal entertainment. Indeed, in part they are. However, these are also ways of returning to and tapping into the older tradition of the warier in single combat. A trait that had been lost as warfare became, not clan against clan, but standing army against standing army. The prevalence of such traditions throughout the world suggests at something more than a limited phenomena. Rather it appear that it is the innate human need to live whether vicariously or directly, the path of the hero into violence and conflict.

We would do well to recognize this and attempt to understand it. The gods of war live on today and threaten to tear us apart if they are not given their proper due. Rather than repress and fear our violent instinct, they must be recognized and honored. We are a predatory species To hunt and to fight remains ever a deep drive for us all. All that differs is the expression of it. The rise of full humanity will require nothing less than acceptance and embrace of this nature and its harnessing to whatever good and productive end it can be put to.