Escape from animalism (Cave 1 of 7)

(note: this entry is part 2 of ongoing series starting with the post “Plato’s Seven Caves”)

Early man was much like any ordinary animal.  Sleep, hunt, eat, procreate, sleep.  With no written language, no bank accounts, no mortgage payments, no religions, no paved roads or stop lights, this simple being was merely present.  Internal tensions  (in the form of primary biological drives) would occur, and this human would seek to reduce this tension in whatever way possible.  How simple was that? No heady discussions about systemic implications of un-amortized asset tabulation strategies, no jockeying for membership to upper crust yacht clubs.  Nope.  Just drives, tension, and release.  Lather, rinse, repeat.

For untold thousands of years, it seems, this oddly shaped, oddly hairless human animal went along about his survival business in this way….feel  a  drive/reduce it, feel a drive/reduce  it, feel a drive/reduce it… Are you bored yet?

Well, eventually, so  was he.  Around 40,000 BC this creature started to notice something.  Call it magical thinking, call it the birth of primitive ’cause and effect’, call it the intuited will of unseen gods, but this creature’s mind started to make new meaning out of the tapestry of events that enveloped him.

“ Hey, didn’t that cow just die when the moon was full?   Hey, look, that star dipped beneath the horizon just as my wife gave birth?  Hey, that big storm came along right after I sodomized my goat!”

Cause/effect.  Cause/effect. The wheels started turning. Pretty soon drive reduction took a back seat to collective tribal inquiry.  This primitive animal started to see the world as a survival conversation between humans and those sometimes vicious unseen animating powers that controlled the entire natural world.

Colorful rites and rituals became the chic new survival tools of the day.  Suddenly aware of itself as apart from nature, this creature sought to forge a feeling of security and safety in a world full of dark predators and awesome forces beyond all comprehension or control.  Tribes, groups with shared practices and values, formed around those with insights into this mysterious unseen world.  Together, they could exert greater strength in the face of nature, providing a life of community in collective fear, awe and reverence.

Ritual was the key to staying in nature’s good graces, come what may, ensuring the continuance of a tribe whose value transcended any singular vision or personal quest. Sacrifice was the key to security–both literally and figuratively, come what may.

And so, with this bold leap in thinking, this naked long-limbed creature took escaped from the cave of purely animalistic drive reduction, and let his innate capacity for creativity and curiosity provide him with unprecedented level of physical security and comfort.

Little did he know that it would only  be a matter of time before this comfort would feel like a suffocating straight-jacket on his deep inner yearning to experience life fully.  But we’re getting ahead of ourselves here, aren’t we?  Let’s just appreciate this escape for what it was–a quantum leap forward from the limited realm of physical survival, into the infinitely creative abyss of the human mind.

(stay tuned)

Tagged as: Clare W. Graves, Plato's Cave Allegory