(cont) The warrior is supple and rides with the wind, getting in touch with reality. The physical reality is where differences exist and the reckless sprit creates ripples of small-scale conflict. As noted previously (), the rebellious spirit thrives in small-scale conflicts in ancient societies as one Caesar replaces another. The notion of a mainstream of sameness is foreign to the ancients; the basic balance of differences is lost and you don’t know your ass from your elbow.
Differences are found in rhythmic ways of life which are simple and physical. Even as recent as the 50s, 60s soul singer Joe Tex was a share-cropper who’s family lived by cotton picking. It’s noticeable that Tex’s pattern of speech is countrified and homely, and his simple moral tales laid the foundations both of rap, and country soul somewhat akin to the Flying Burritos.
The country life is found in the rhythms of speech and song
..a preacher man, a guy close to Liza Minnelli’s heart (son of, that is) who performed another Tex ditty to great effect in 72
Speech and patois is something that is related to simple patterns of living, as with Wolverine MacAlistaire (HB147). What I mean is, the reality of the speech is partly rhythmic, not informative.
Journey #8Nowadays, in a world of pure information, such patois is barely heard. Perhaps mainly in rap and such exponents as Kanye West are the rhythms of speech respected.
The basic point is that, unless reality is purely information (number or AI) then it is at base rhythmic and flexible. These are seen in the ecological and artisanal areas that West seems intent on developing in his Wyoming cotton plantation.
The reality of rhythm is continually converted by modernity into the reality of a reflection – or electromagnetism (electricity). It takes the rebellious instinct to imagine in the simple terms of a reality that is at base flexible and ecological and not bound by the iron suit of electromagnetism that attracts the ego of acolytes to number; to the reality of a reflection in a hall of infinite mirrors (HB20)
The reality of a reflection is a fantasy that is at the same time highly convincing – practically real – it fools us even as it saps us of primal strength.
Spirit emanates from the rhythms of living – from physical existence on Earth. It’s impossible to imagine a form of life that doesn’t exist as a flexible rhythm since it’s the most basic spatial/temporal component.
Only a sorcerous fantasy could exist without that component; one that binds our wills with words of malefaction.
Being more down-to-earth, if you take a Gaelic community on the west coast of Scotland that lives IN time it is vastly more rhythmic than the “norm” – see Denizens of the Netherworld2
Going back 10,000 years, the archaeological discoveries at
in Anatolia have uncovered a hilltop temple complex -
The monoliths were laid out by a hunter-gatherer society, suggesting that spiritual considerations well predate a settled agrarian society. It has even been suggested that the work involved in constructing the temple led people to adopt a more settled existence. In other words, the spiritual beliefs came before the agrarian settlements.
The carvings on the monoliths reminded me of Egyptian deities such as Horus, Bastet and Seth (Set) in being fairly ferocious and not merely to do with fertility.
One could hazard a Hyborian connection with the sky gods of the nomadic beliefs predating Ishtar (Yaple). Be it a hunting or a herding culture, the primitive rhythms of living introduce belief and spirit into the ancient world.
These primitive rhythms are still there, but are converted into the electromagnetic, numerical order that our sorcerous fantasy is composed of. When that happens, everything becomes routine because it is based on nothing “real”. The fantasy of routine appears real to the ego but is not IN time.
After all, African drums or Amerindian dances are a form of control mechanism; the society doesn’t need authoritarian figures to tell it what to do.
The fact that society is primitive makes it very real. Japan is one of the most advanced countries on Earth yet has one of the highest suicide rates. One factor may be this split between a very routine culture and an ancient heritage of very pure instinct and ancestor worship.
The maids were leading the youngh woman in the aquamarine kimono across the stepping-stones, her head bent forward, and even at that distance the white nape of her neck was visible to Kiyoaki. It made him think of Princess Kasuga and her creamy white neck.. (Spring Snow, page 20. Mishima)
There is a difference with the routines described by Mishima, which are infused by traditional belief.
In a sense, the routines of modernity are cutting out the primitive side of things and one ends up with words about words rather than a society that exists IN time. These societies are balanced between body and head, as previously mentioned, the serpentine neck and sinuous spine – unthinking, graceful – instinctive actions of quotidian life.