Social Dynamics: Priests Vs Warriors Vs. Money

(forgive me for the rusticity of this first draft…)

Firstly, Civilization is impossible without morality, or at least a very comprehensive application of social controls designed to protect food surpluses and stored seed grains. These come down to us from the Priestly Castes.

Explaining the existence of Warriors is far easier. Bullies with weapons learn that they can steal, and if they partner up with enough other bullies, they can largely get away with it, losing out, when they do, only to other bullies, or, as they prefer to be called, other gallant warriors. You see, we are often compelled to call them as they like, or they will beat us up. It makes it difficult to speak directly and honestly of a group that traditionally wields so much duress and menace. One must resort to big words so that they do not detect the criticisms.

Looking at History we can perhaps be a bit surprised at how successful the Priests, and Religion, had been in being able to manage the Warrior Classes. In India the Aryans placed the Priestly Brahmins at least nominally above the Kings and the Warriors. In Egypt, Rome and Japan the heads of State expressed their role in Religious Terms, either taking on the mantels of Chief Priest or even that of God. In Medieval Europe, struggling to re-civilize itself, the Warrior Knights could take up the sword only after a religious initiation, that is, certification.

History shows us some colossal failures in this regards, where the Priests had utterly failed to control the Bully Element. For instance, Islam. Islam is an instance where the Warriors themselves tossed out the Priests and effectively wrote their own Religion, espousing Conquest, Pillage and resort to the Sword to solve every little problem, and then only for the guys that wield the sword. And so it is that while Islamic Societies may struggle toward Civilization, enlisting Scholars and creating Schools that do their utter best to submerge and sublimate their Anti-Religion’s core doctrines, doing their best to make a Religion out of it all, still, while the original texts exist, any Barbarian can easily make the Fundamentalist Appeal to return to the Roots of Islam and Kill Kill Kill. And so it is that Islam is doomed to forever struggle in the Sea of Barbarism. A Religion of the Sword, while it may never completely die, will ever be in the throes of death. This is both sad for themselves, as they are their own worst victims, but also for anybody who must have any dealings with them. They will always have some excuse to whip out their swords. Yes, while other cultures are often violent, few other cultures have gone so such a great extent as Islam to so completely give violence a Divine Endorsement. But to be fair, Modern Zionism is doing its utmost to catch up. Why, we hear on the news that Israel supposes that their Zionist Soldiers are the most Moral Solders in the World, and that is because they only kill people who obviously deserve to die, that is, non-Jews.

Anyway, to be fair to everyone, all Religions have some mix of Barbarism, that is, some surrender or compromise the Bullies that inevitably shoved their way into the process of establishing Doctrine and institutionalizing Tradition. No, we do not have to necessarily have to put on our Theological Hats and comb through the Doctrines themselves. We can simply look at the Societies and Civilizations involved, asking ourselves two questions – what was the highest Population Density that this Civilization was able to achieve, and how long did the Civilization last. If a Civilization can last for more than several hundred years while maintaining stable urban populations, then it has what must be a moral religion with some actual influence with the people.

Now, there are Social Systems that are great at getting started. For instance, China has a tradition of imposing enough Law and Order to protect property rights, and so Wealth accumulates quickly, as well as population, but then it quickly erupts into severe Concentration of Wealth at the top and full blown rebellion at the bottom, culminating in Barbarian Invasion, as the Mongols never fail to sense when things become vulnerable on the other side of The Wall. Paradoxically, China, as a territorial jurisdiction has benefited from these cycles of Boom and Bust, as each new wave of Barbarians effectively annexed their Barbarian Territories in with China as they found it, making China larger every time it was ‘conquered’. Oh, remember, Barbarians effectively have no culture, but as a rule accept the culture, even the Religion, of the People they conquer. So it is that Jesus may have been correct about turning the other cheek, as it may just be better not to put up a fight with these Barbarians, but to let them in and then just conquer the Conqueror – swallow them up with Social Assimilation. Oh, but remember that it only works if you happen to be more Civilized than they are… that is, be sure you are not the one who is a Barbarian. Culture rushes into a Vacuum, and More flows into Less. If your Invader has more books than you do, then you need to worry.

Now, talking about China, it is a process of development, and we cannot positively stipulate that they will never innovate enough of a Moral Component in their Culture that they can give some longevity to their Civilizations. Indeed, we might be hopeful that now, after their Communist Revolution, that they might be able to guard enough against what had always spoiled them before, the extreme concentration of Wealth. You see, their Government is still very strong. Remember, despite what the Conservative Libertarians say, no Society has ever collapsed from too much Government, but always from not enough. You see, what happens is this, that when Wealth Concentrates too much in Private Hands, then private individuals in effect override Government or even act to bankrupt and incapacitate Government, exactly the way Republicans behaved so recently in America. A few Rich People acting only in regards to their own interest allows for the collapse of all other systems and institutions of Social Infrastructure, and Civilization collapses. If China can only keep its Government one notch above and in control of its Wealthy Oligarchs, then it is possible that the World may see the most enduring of any Chinese Dynasty in History.

It would be so much easier, though, if they had a compelling Moral Religion, that is, if their Rich Oligarchs were co-opted into Moral and Ethical Belief System that they simply complied with voluntarily.

There are 3 very powerful factors involved in the mix that makes up a Society, and one can hardly point to the strongest or the weakest, as in the course of History each has had its rises and falls. The Three Factors that contend for influence are Moral Religion, Force of Violence, and Money. Ordinarily we would suppose that Force of Violence is the ultimate trump card, but Violence has so often been either seduced by money or converted by Religion. It becomes like the Rock, Paper, Scissors Game. We could dream of the day when Religion would be more influential than Money, but so far in the History of Civilization, a History in which no Civilization has ever yet succeeded, but all have fallen into ruin, the mechanism of Collapse has been identical throughout, that is, Concentration of Wealth. Civilizations rise as Religion sublimates and manages Violence, but fall as greed undoes all the Good.

What does this say about Religion? First I would suggest that Religion needs to focus upon its most important enemy, that is, Greed. You know, I suppose it is all a part of some vast conspiracy that the Wealthy Classes assume control over Religion just to focus Religious attacks upon questions of Sex and Lifestyle. But when you think about it for even a moment, how do questions of Sex and Lifestyle have any impact at all on the Rise and Fall of Civilizations. People will say that Family is the basis of Civilization, but really this is not true. The Civilizations that had been most successful before were not based upon the tiny little Nuclear Family, that is Mommy, Daddy and the Kids, that we hear of so much today. The Nuclear Family is just one step away from treating everybody as discrete individuals. In prior Civilizations people were organized in Extended Families, even Clans, where no mere father had much of a say in anything while Granddad was still alive and kicking. Indeed, some of the older Chinese Regimes had made quite a good use of the strong tendency for the Chinese People to organize in Extended Families and Clans, where they quite frank about imposing Collective Responsibility upon the Families, that is, if they could trace a theft or any crime to any particular family, they would not fuss about which particular individual was responsible, but would exact a toll against the entire Clan. So it was that the Chinese Families learned to more or less police themselves. It was good for the entire family that nobody became a chicken thief. Now, how does that compare to our nation of self serving individuals. Yes, we have only ourselves to worry about, but look how all the crime has added to our worries.

But all of the modern discussions of morality and family values has nothing to do with any useful moral enforcements. Crime and Greed are left on the sidelines, laughing at these useless battles that are probably only served up to be distractions. While we are whipped up into a frenzy to combat sexual peccadilloes, Greed and Crime are given the Blessings of Protestant Predestination, the Doctrine of the Wealthy Classes that say that anything that makes a person wealthy is evidence of Divine Grace, and that an All Powerful God reserves Worldly Wealth as the Reward for His Elect, and that Poverty is the first sign of Damnation for the Reprobate. Remember how Islam was doomed by its attachment to Violence. So it is that the Protestant West is likewise doomed by its marriage to the notion that any success with predatory Greed is the sign of Divine Election, as nothing is more sure to throw Civilization on the rocks of Ruin, as the most recent global economic troubles may be seen to indicate of. Just as we cannot allow the Warriors to make up their own Religion, extolling Violence at every turn and for their own exclusive advantage, so it is that we cannot allow the Wealthy to design their own Religion, as the Calvinists and Republicans have done.

But when we look for any sign of a Moral Priestly Class in this modern world, that could possibly exert itself, do we see anything that could possibly fill those boots?

I know that we are all conditioned to suppose that the Modern Enlightened Scientific Skepticism is supposed to be our Salvation, but remember that this Modern Scientific Skepticism has now been with us for almost 4 centuries now, and has rather pointed the milestones of our Civilization’s collapse than stirred us toward any calmer waters. As reasonable as I ever wish to be, I must concede the point to the Atheists that God cannot be proven, not, that is, by any scientific method, with its double blind studies and control of every variable. The Atheist will win that argument. But what the Atheist does not plan for is that Morality and Ethics rest on just such a foundation as did God. In Logical Terms, Ethics and Morality are no better than Aesthetic Preferences. Everybody KNOWS of some distinction between Right and Wrong, but only as mere preferences – with all things being equal, then people will do the Right Thing. But in every case that MATTERS, things are never equal. Where Self Interest is involved, when Ethics and Morality are only based upon Aesthetic Preference, then people will choose to do wrong to achieve their desired ends. We can see this in America’s choice to use torture and to toss out rule by Law. As a Preference, America knows the difference between Right and Wrong, but as soon as something really matters, than they are as strict in their Pragmatism as the very Devil himself. Even Obama is siding with every War Criminal in History as long as it serves his own purposes.

So, Enlightened Scientific Skepticism is hardly leading us to any Golden Age. But that is still the most powerful Social Current at our avail. My sad conclusion, then, is that this Civilization is doomed.

Now, we could be optimistic that a New and Better Civilization will arise out of this ruin, but remember the example we have of the repeating Chinese Civilizations, that is, quick successive pops with each New Civilization perhaps being only fractionally better than the one that preceded it, and therefore declining just about as quickly. It does no good to suppose that People Learn by their Mistakes. After all, the Great Depression had just happened to us. There are people still alive who remember it directly. Yet, all those lessons had been tossed aside… almost by the very next Generation. No, people do not learn.

What we need is a New Belief System. Yes, a Superstition that we will all agree to agree upon. We need a Religion, that is, a Moral and Ethical System that will make Civilization achievable and then durable. As for the most important Doctrine, well, I am stuck between whether it is more important to suppress Violence then to suppress Greed. Without suppressing Violence, Civilization cannot commence. Without suppressing Greed, Civilization cannot last.