Three attitudes

 

Three human attitudes towards the world are possible.

First, to control the world. To make it bend to our will. To change it so it becomes “better” from our perspective. This attitude can exist in several different forms: the Western Idea of Progress, Christian postmillennialism, black magic.

Second, to break free of the world, to leave it behind completely. To attain a higher dimension of reality. This usually exist in a “supernatural” form, for instance Gnosticism and exoteric Buddhism. Christian premillennialism and other types of apocalypticism seem to be blend traits of both the first and the second attitude. This explains why certain people can seamlessly transition from one to the other, or oscillate between both.

Three, to accept reality squarely and tell what is. To work with the world rather than against it. While this is supposed to be the “pagan” or “Native” attitude, it´s actually extremely rare. Most Natives (certainly today) are rather into number one. Occasionally number two.

It´s extremely difficult to escape from number one. Indeed, the whole point of the human species, of human existence itself, seem to entail number one. It´s baked into the cake from the start. Humans are clever short-term thinkers (or in the best of cases, middle-term). We use this ability to survive, but without planning ahead long-term. The “optimum foraging strategy” of Native hunters and gatherers is a good example. The pregnant female animals are killed first, since they are the fattest and slowest. This is not “conservation of resources”. It works only if human numbers are kept down, which in a low-technological society means by disease or infanticide.

I vacillate between one and two myself. Not sure what the solution might even be. Going back to the Pleroma does have a certain intrinsic appeal, though, since I don´t think this world will ever be completely “reformed”…