Godric de
Villehard in Red Blades of Black Cathay chanced on a kingdom (and a
queen) while following the trail of Prester John. Howard makes mention of how
the Norman knights sacked Constantinople, and other ports when the “mercenary”
Venetians denied them ships.
These posts
quite a few times have made mention of mercenary and mercantile activities in
past ages – including Hyboria (Hyborian Bridge 1,5). Mercantilism as a
facet of human behaviour is one thing; it didn’t govern them, since city-states
such as Venice functioned on a self-organizing principle.
This principle
is really the natural one that lines are irregular, that things just happen
(Makkalet Hyborian Bridge 19). Even in towns and cities that are
regularly laid-out, the self-organizing principle of localities develop
spontaneously – until Big Govt steps in.
The
self-organizing principle can be seen in Detroit (C3) and can be seen as
a counterpoint to the coroporate state. It’s a type of social harmony similar
to music. Harmonics – like the development of organic form – is uncertain and
indefinite and also prone to disorder and strife.
Another word for
that is freedom of behaviour – there is never pure order. Where there is pure
order there is no freedom, no irregularity and therefore none of the variations
on a theme that constitute traditional human settlements.
Such as
fantastical or naturalistic architecture, art-deco skyscrapers and the
corresponding romance of its citizenry (the Neapolitan dinginess and disdain
for light). The theme is the psyche of the citizens; their reliance on the
countryside they hail from, the Earth at large. The theme counters the pure
order of a logical system. Otherwise one inhabits a parallel system (Hyborian
Bridge 89).
The parallel
system – of straight-lines from the sun – impresses acolytes and the corporate
dragon of ego-lust. This is what takes the form of (most) mainstream news –
economic, political – and the news is what governs people’s behaviour.
This is why the
principle of self-organization is so indispensable to any rebellion against
mainstream ego-lust. Where there is an Earth-theme there are also bound to be
sensual and romantic relationships with nature, the blood-cycle of strength and
vigour.
So, the hunt and
the chase and the virility of rural pursuits constitute a counter to rampant
ego-lust. Blood and death inspire fear in the ego of the mainstream. I happened
on this news item from Cambridge
Frans Snyder, Fowl Market
Blood sacrifice
is a powerful theme through human history, as well as of course in pulps – see Noto
Hyborian Bridge 71,72 . I happened to see the film of Elektra the
other day. Films have storytelling, music and emotional impact, and Elektra is practically a study in theme-making with her metal jewellery which
says death, armband which says assassin and belt which says destiny!
On the DVD, Sienkevicz made the observation that working on the Elektra
Assassin series with Frank Miller, he had
“..no certainty in the dialogue between
them.”
He seemed to work from chiaroscuro themes alone and let the graphics
take him where they would. This ability of pulp idols to take you into a
thematic world of twilight contrasts is akin to delving into the uncertain
psyche. What that really amounts to saying is that the unconscious is itself a
fantasy-world, and the myths we make are fantasies that we apply to reality.
This is an old idea, going back really to Plato (idealism) versus
Aristotle (realism). While the modern world says there is something called “reality”,
it means neither psyche nor physical reality, because both are interlinked.
It means a parallel reality of straight line accuracy (sun), a
convincing illusion to bolster the ego. Physical reality is something that
happens – like Sienkevicz’s work process – and is not thought. Self-organization;
tribal drumming. The psyche emanates from the physical (Hyborian Bridge 10)
This must be why films like Elektra seem so emotionally real (even
with the CGI). They are in actual fact more psychically real than our outdoor
lives in this era usually get to.
I mean, we do our best with our sex lives and so forth, but what’s
missing is the sinuous pleasure through proportionate balance with reason.
Without balance the pleasure is directed by the reasoning aspect of society.
But, reason is not story, music or emotion – which is what a film is.
While we inhabit a reality which is “certain” (logical), it doesn’t have the
uncertain psychic aura of Elektra. An uncertain reality is sensual
and virile feminine because all those are self-organizing aspects – they cannot
be governed, they just develop (by uncertain rhythms).
That is why a self-governing society has to be uncertain. It’s the old
Western township of Lil Abner. We are being
sold the idea that certainty = reality; by economists, politicians, bankers, AI
pioneers and gene aficionados. In fact, it means a parallel reality that is not
sensual or virile or feminine. A life-by-numbers.
It is pleasing to the ego, almost a comfort-zone that is afraid of the
big bad wolf of the forest. Myth is the fantasy that occurs deep in the human
mind and that connects to the cosmos. Since the cosmos is uncertain and
irregular, that is the reality.
Reality has to contain a fantasy element because that is the nature of
irregularity. By “fantasy” I mean archetypal forms like owls, raven, worms.
Platonic idealism. We are being sold the idea that straight lines are reality
when it is simply a world without archetypes, without art-deco skyscrapers, run
by super-computers run by clockwork.
Superheroes and pulps and heroic fantasy are strongly biased toward the
fantasy-unconscious, sensual, virile and feminine. Perhaps this is a ploy on
the part of the creative unconscious to rebalance society toward a more human
and less abstract/robot state?
Myths are themes, self-governing themes, that cannot be governed, that
just are. The counterpoint to the corporate-dragon of ego-lust that must be
slain by the pure knight so that mundanity can be seen for what it is, a
corporate lie that serves the dollar and not the soul.
