This week's historical readings - Thucydides, in particular - demonstrate some of the ways in which Greek culture set the precedent for the development of future societies. Indeed, within these readings we can easily see representations of ancient Greek culture in our own lives. There are two big takeaways for me:
1. Where men exist in collectives/societies, war is inevitable.
2. Ritual ceremonies contribute to the foundation of society.
On War
"Even after the Trojan War Greece continued in a state of upheaval and resettlement, with no opportunity for peaceful growth." (Thucydides, page 8)
Substitute Operation Iraqi Freedom for the Trojan War, and Iraq for Greece, and this sentence would be relevant today. What is it about the nature of men that compels them to battle? Were women the majority of leaders around the world, would there be as much global conflict as there is today? I think back on Amartya Sen's interview to which we listened last week. It doesn't seem possible to me to balance justice and war. I don't understand the desire to conquer, seize, and kill. This is contradictory to what Thucydides writes later on: "we are not angry with our neighbour if he indulges his own pleasure, nor do we put on the disapproving look which falls short of punishment but can still hurt." (page 91) If on the one hand you are not obsessed with your neighbor, and on the other hand you fight a war with your neighbor, then how do you reconcile this contradiction within yourself? It seems to me that war boils down to men's egos - both in ancient Greek life and in our world today.
On Ritual
". . . the bones of the departed are laid out, and people can bring offerings to their own dead." (Thucydides, page 89)
I was struck by the account of funeral rituals during war times. It is quite amazing to visualize the gathering of bones, laying of offerings, and weeping women. State funerals were accorded to those high in the military chain of command, and eulogies were tributes that could embolden the living and stir them to aspire to the greatness of the dead (what a concept!). Ritual - whether religious or not - is of great consequence on many levels: sociologically, anthropologically, psychologically, educationally. Ritual binds people together, giving them common experiences upon which to draw in times of sadness, celebration, anger, etc.
Rituals are all around us. I only wish it were easier to objectively identify and analyze the ones in which we participate.
Reading the second half of your post I was struck by how often rituals like the ones you describe have important communicative purposes, be they to memorialize events or people for future generations or to express individual or social values in a particular moment. I think you're right that we're all engaged in rituals every day that we don't even recognize as such, but depending on how we define "ritual" we might find that they almost always have communicative purposes.
ReplyDeleteI keep going back to your last paragraph; it makes a fantastic point, the ritualization of common activities as a basic element of human experience.
ReplyDeleteI think it requires a very specific type of mind structure to be able to go beyond our own rituals, as most of the time they are already assumed in our minds as something given.