The Esoteric Inner Self

Headlines across the country refer of the crisis New Orleans as anarchy. Looting, shootings and panic are commonplace. Back in the civilized world, we stare at the television and wonder how this could occur. When helter-skelter occurs in Africa or the Middle East, Americans usually blame it on the fact that these are lesser peoples. New Orleans, though, is American and now is being called “a third world country”. Now others (namely dickheads) may claim that racial and cultural differences are the reason for New Orleans’ chaos. I think it is something else.

Eight years ago, and then again seven years ago, I was mugged. Both events are very clear in my mind. The thing most striking about the situations was not the mugging itself, but my reaction to it. In both situations, I ran and let out a high-pitched scream. I didn’t plan on doing that. In retrospect, it wasn’t the safest action either. I just did it. The animal in me fully took over.

It our civilized world, various things have become common and various things have become esoteric. We all know how to open a soda, but few know how to build a fire or skin an animal. Seeing insane homeless or transsexuals walk the street does not affect many of us, but dead bodies and or even simple sores shock us. High powered computers in our hands are boring, but a breast is interesting. Our ancestors, and a few people in Papua New Guinea would have had it the other way around.

Spirituality, finding God and “knowing Jesus” were once esoteric. The meanings of dreams and the affects of drugs were also fascinating mystical experiences. Now when people approach us about their inner journeys, we roll our eyes and try to avoid them. The frontier is explored and the new lands are no longer exotic.

But man’s journey has been long and, upon coming home, he has found things unfamiliar. We have forgotten the face of our fathers and have become shocked at what we were and, in fact, are. Looting? Killing? Chaos? What happened to dignity, cooperation and morality? Have we learned nothing?

Descartes once asked if you take one animal and physically change it to look like another animal, has it actually become that new animal? He argued that its essence has not changed. Other people argue that it if looks like a duck and walks like a duck, it must be a duck. We may look civilized and may act civilized, but we are, in essence, animals. I guess even Descartes is occasionally right.