TRAGEDY FATE NEMESIS THE LOSS OF THE SENSE OF
TRAGEDY
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In our modern day Western culture it is generally thought that we have control over our lives- we take this for granted, it is our presumed worldview. But, in many or perhaps even most cultures of the world, the opposite is the norm. These 'other' cultures live in the daily, everyday recognition of a greater and more powerful force than the will and intelligence of an individual.
It is just as obvious to a person of these cultures that the individual does not control his destiny. . . . Rather, they believe, one must live in a constant acknowledgment of a greater force of what could be called 'Fate'.
Carl Jung Carl Jung wrote, "Fate is a superior force: When we are talking about fate we are talking about God, the Divine or the Devil." Outside of our modern age of technology, where man did and does not have so much 'control' over the natural world and lived closer to everything and more obviously at the mercy of natural forces, it was plainly and often painfully apparent that he did not control his world, his destiny or his fate. It was here, in this more original, primitive, environment, that man recognized, believed in and sought to be in harmony with God and in fear of the 'Devil', (or the Gods and nature spirits). More recently, in the so-called 'New Age' we have become ‘Godless’, especially in the West (and all over the world that is touched by the technology of the West), for we no longer see ourselves at the mercy of a superior force or 'law' that we subsequently seek to be in accord with. We have spoiled and lost touch with nature. We no longer stand in humble awe of the mystery of ours and others fate. We have come to believe that we control our fate and our destiny. As a culture, from behind the high walls of our houses and cars, easily available food and superficial fashion, we no longer feel deeply into the idea of fate and what it represents, an understanding which is beyond our comprehension and hidden from us. We no longer recognize the great mystery in which we live and the slender thread by which we live it. We have come to depend on and eat the easily available fast food of the daily news and our 'pop'ular culture. We no longer recognize heroes, but only celebrity. We burn mere incense with our medical treatments, addressing only the symptoms of our diseases, instead of changing our act altogether and removing the cause. We have become so used to the stench of our sickness that we do not even notice it anymore. Our failure to appreciate fate or ‘superior force’ results in a psychic blindness peculiar to our modern age and western man in general. Borne upon the great technological advances of our modern day world, (which mainly increase our insulation from reality), individuals have come to believe that they can control their own destiny, that they alone are in charge of their life. Tragedy and the tragic nature of all things, the ancient 'truth' of life has been forgotten. With the forgetting of this 'truth' comes the rise of what I call -'New Age' thinking (a thinking that takes many forms, but, is always based on the fundamental assumption that people can and do control their life). People are encouraged in countless workshops and self-help books to create their own reality, to manifest their desires and to visualize down to the last detail what it is they seek to attain. Because, it is thought, that if you can see it, if you can visualize it, you can create it. A view of life as predictable and controllable lies at the basis of such thinking. I agree, that in a petri dish or laboratory, or with a machine, this approach is appropriate, but, our life is not such a machine. Of course there are some aspects of life that can be controlled and measured. But the vast majority of life is out of our control. You would certainly agree if you have ever been in an earthquake or a tsunami or a riot or had a terrible sickness or experienced war. Of course this list can go on and on. I suggest that a deeper consideration of the ancient ideas of Fate and Tragedy would provide us a more wholesome, inclusive and humbling truth, a truth that with only a little consideration, could give us a glimpse of the 'nature' of our reality that cannot be escaped or denied. I suggest that a deeper examination of the ideas of Fate and Tragedy will give us a template with which to understand the situation in which we already live. It is important to see the nature of reality so that we can conform ourselves to it, so that we can harmonize ourselves with it, so that we do not waste time in a struggle against something which we cannot change. There is a wonderful story of Lawrence of Arabia. A story that powerfully and beautifully dramatizes the ideas of tragedy and fate- looking at the ideas most widely held in the West today (what I am calling -New Age thinking) and those of the more ancient cultures throughout the world (the Tragic view of Life). Let me tell you that story. "IT IS WRITTEN"
T. E. Lawrence During WWI, Lawrence of Arabia united many of the warring Arab tribes and led them to attack the Turks at the port city of Aqaba which sits at the head of what is called, today, the Gulf of Katherina, a hundred and fifty miles south of the Dead Sea; A place where the modern day Sinai peninsula, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel all meet.
It was a key port for all supplies and guns coming through the Suez canal. The city was surrounded on it's back side by a vast 'uncrossable' desert and impassable hills. Considered accessible only by way of the gulf, huge guns had been placed at a fort there to guard and secure the water approach. The guns at Aqaba could only face the water. They were not capable of being turned to face the desert, for no one had ever crossed that terrible stretch of desert hell known as the 'Devil's Anvil'. Lawrence, after much work, cajoling and consideration with the Arab tribes, had decided to take Aqaba from behind, sweeping in and conquering, unanticipated, from the desert itself.
To unite the various tribes of Arabs that dwelt in that area, had been a considerable task. Now, with his campaign to take Aqaba finally underway, Lawrence and his men began traveling at night, as the sun was too intense to travel during the day. After many days of such travel, one morning, as the first light of dawn broke, it was discovered that one of the men was no longer on his camel.
He had obviously fallen asleep during the night and tumbled off his mount onto the desert, knocking himself unconscious. Everyone knew that a man without shelter from the sun, without water and without a camel would never survive in such a situation. Lawrence insisted that someone go back immediately to rescue the man. As a 'Christian', western man, he saw action of this sort as necessary to maintain the sense of rightness, of unity and camaraderie, based on which he felt their whole enterprise succeeding. The Arabs, however, all refused. "No", they said. "He will die." This so-called 'fact' was the law and world view with which they lived their lives. "You cannot change the will of Allah.", they argued. "It is written."
Lawrence, offended with what he thought their too easy acceptance of fate, emphatically replied, "Nothing is written.", and set off, himself, back into the furnace of that desert day to find the man and bring him back. The Arab tribesmen watched him go, and hobbling their camels, set up their awnings and tents and made ready to rest and sleep through the day. That evening, after the blazing heat of the day began to abate, they began to make ready to travel again.
As they did so, on the horizon, they saw Lawrence, on his camel, riding back with the man who had been lost. The Arabs burst out in ecstatic celebration and ran towards him, firing their rifles into the sky and gesticualting wildly. "LAUR-RANCE, LAUR-RANCE, LAUR-RANCE!", they shouted. Lawrence, exhausted, totally spent, was supremely happy. He had proven to them that they could create their own destiny He had shown that nothing was 'written'. He now became an even greater leader among them. He had demonstrated another way to accept the heavy mantle of God and fate. The Arabs came to believe that perhaps for Lawrence, nothing was written. He was free of the normal constraints that fell upon the rest of them. He was a unique and mighty man. They would follow him anywhere. He would write his own chapter in the book of life and they would be there with him to witness it.
Several days passed and Lawrence and his group of Arab warriors neared Aqaba. To escape accidental detection, they began to travel during the day and rest at night, sending out scouts ahead of them. As they approached nearer and nearer to Aqaba, tension began to run high among the men. One night, when they had paused to rest and sleep had settled over the camp, several shots rang out and shouts and a raucous turmoil split the night. Lawrence awoke and ran immediately to see what was the problem. The two main tribes which he had worked so hard to unite, were up in arms, bearing torches and guns and shouting threats at each other. It seems that a man from one tribe had been attempting to steal something from a man in the other tribe. When the thief was discovered, he had shot the man he was stealing from and killed him. Then, the thief had run back to his own encampment. But, the thief had been seen and identified. The tribesmen of the man who had been killed, angrily demanded the right to kill the thief and murderer immediately. The other tribe, while not condoning the crime, refused, absolutely, to let members of the 'other' tribe kill one of their own. They would punish him themselves. It was a volatile standoff. The old enmities arose and the unity of the assemblage and the taking of Aqaba hung in the balance. The situation called for immediate action or a battle amongst the men would surely ensue. Lawrence's voice rang out decisively. "Give me a gun. I will kill him myself. Then both tribes will preserve honor." Lawrence was given a gun and the murderer was brought before him, arms bound behind him and then forced to his knees. In silence both tribes gathered to witness the shot that would fulfill the law. As Lawrence raised the gun to the man's head, the man looked up at Lawrence, and Lawrence saw that the man he was to kill, was the very man he had rescued only a few days before from the desert. Lawrence pulled the trigger and the man fell dead. The next day they rode into Aqaba and took the town.
This story presents a great mystery from beyond the walls of our everyday considerations. What is fate? What is written? For whom is it written? Can it be changed? Are we in control of our lives? Can we ever be? "Two bums are sitting on a curb downtown and one says to the other, "Do you believe in fate?" "Hell yes!", says the other bum. I sure wouldn't have chosen to be here on my own." This is a humorous way of considering a great paradox in our lives. Are we impelled by 'fate' or is it our own actions, our own weaknesses or strengths that bring about our destiny? Is there is such a thing as tragedy or unmerited misfortune? Do we 'deserve' exactly what we get? TRAGEDY tragedy: 1. a serious play having an unhappy or disastrous ending brought about by the characters or central character, impelled in ancient drama, by fate or, more recently, by moral weakness, pyschological maladjustment, or social pressures.
As is evident in the dictionary definition presented above, there has been a major change in the definition of tragedy. It is extremely important to note and understand, that in the ancient world, tragedy was brought about by 'fate', whereas, in the modern world it is considered due to some individual 'moral weakness' or lapse. This latter idea(tragedy is the result of moral lapse), corresponds with the modern idea that every man is directly responsible for his fate through his will and/or moral action. The thinking is that if a man acts well, acts righteously, then all will turn out well for him. In our modern culture, we have very little sympathy with the ancient idea of fate as the cause of tragedy. We tend to hold someone responsible, to blame someone. This 'difference' between the ancient and modern cultures represent a profoundly different view of the world.
Isak, Dinesen wrote that the difference between various people of her time could be seen in their views on tragedy. "The true aristocracy and the true proletariat of the world are both in understanding with tragedy. To them, it is the fundamental principle of God and the key, the minor key to existence. They differ in this way from the bourgeoisie of all classes who deny tragedy, who will not tolerate it and to whom the word tragedy means, in itself, unpleasantness." -Isak Dinesen (Out of Africa)
Isak Dinesen In the world of ancient Greece, tragedy was considered an important enough idea of consideration to form a complete and separate category of drama. In these plays, tragedy usually involved noble characters with good intentions trying to accomplish great and good purposes. The 'Tragedy' demonstrated an unmerited misfortune , the unhappy or disastrous result of well intentioned efforts brought about by fate, not by a moral weakness in which one 'knowingly' does something wrong. Think of Oedipus killing his father and marrying his mother and then blinding himself when it is revealed to him what he has unknowingly done. The birth parents of Oedipus, King Laius and Jocasta, heard a prophecy at his birth that their new-born son was fated to kill his Father and marry his Mother. So, wishing to avoid this fate, they bound their babys feet with rope and abandoned him on a mountain to die. He was found by a shepherd and taken to the neighboring kingdom of Corinth where he was adopted by King Polybus and his Queen Merope. Hearing rumors that the king and queen were not his real birth parents, Oedipus went to the oracle at Delphi to ask of his real situation. The oracle too prophesied that he would kill his Father and marry his Mother. Horrified at this and determined to prevent it, Oedipus left Corinth (and his unknown to him, only 'adoptive' parents) and began to wonder the country, determined never to see his country again. On the way to Thebes, he met his real (unknown to him) Father, fell into an argument with him and killed him on the road. Then, after answering the questions of the Sphinx and thus freeing the city of Thebes, he later married his Mother, Jocasta, fulfilling the fate predicted for him at birth and by the oracle.
So, in spite of hearing his fate and attempting to avoid it (on the parts of his parents and himself), Oedipus came to fulfill it perfectly. Was it written? Consider Agamemnon sacificing Iphigenia so that the Greek fleet could sail at Aulis. Here was a king who had asked the best men of all Greece to fight and die for him and his brother. Did not the oracle tell him that the only way the fleet could sail was if he sacrificed his beloved daughter? But he was slain by his own wife Clytemnestra upon his triumphant return from Troy over ten years later. Consider Orestes killing his mother Clytemnestra. He was told to do this by the oracle of the God Apollo, to avenge the death of his Father, Agamemnon at her hands. Then Orestes was pursued and driven mad by the Furies who tortured him for what he had done. What else could or should he do? The Greeks found great dilemma and healing truth worthy of contemplation in these stories.
Orestes pursued by the Furies after killing his Mother- Clytemnestra
When I look around, I see that I am not in charge of my life. Not in some "I can't get to the store if I want to" sense, but, rather in the sense that I can not really get there through my own efforts- alone. Perhaps a good metaphor for this is the old fashioned sailor. He can put up his sails, but, he cannot control the wind. He is totally at the mercy of the weather. He is at the mercy of the sea, of storms, typhoons, currents and becalmings. Imagine you are out on the vast and moving ocean, perhaps rounding the cape of Good Hope. You would distinctly feel and notice as so many have before you, that you are not ultimately in charge of your journey.
"No one ever lived more from day to day than I, or was more dependent on chance. It is the inescapable chain of events that has brought me to this point, rather than I who have caused these things to happen." -Isabelle Eberhardt, The Oblivion Seekers
Isabelle Eberhardt
Let us now consider another particular aspect of fate, that force greater than ourselves. Let us consider an aspect that has sometimes been called the 'Devil' in modern times but which the ancient Greeks called, Nemesis. NEMESIS
Nemesis
Nemesis, in today's usage, usually refers to the one who seeks to impose retribution . For the ancient Greeks, from whom we have both word and concept, Nemesis was the Goddess of retributive justice and Divine vengeance.
Darius on throne Here is a story that gives you an idea of who Nemesis was and what she represented. When the Persian armies of Darius invaded Greece, they hauled with them, at tremendous effort, a huge piece of exquisite white marble with which, they expected, to erect a trophy, memorializing their victory over the Greeks. They subsequently failed in their quest to do so on the plains of Marathon and were defeated. Left behind in their retreat, that very same block of marble was seized by the Greeks and hauled thirty miles inland where it was carved into a statue of the Goddess Nemesis by the famous sculptor, Phidias. It stood in Greece in the city of Rhamnus, the principal sanctuary of Nemesis. The Greeks made the statue to honor that Goddess Nemesis. She represented a force of life which was out of their hands, both theirs and those of the Persians. She represented the individual and inescapable destiny which determined the life every mortal being.
Nemesis, was one of two younger sisters of the Fates. These two sisters helped the Fates carry out their work. The first sister was Tyche or luck, representing chance or capriciousness. Tyche distributed good or bad fortune and the accompanying signs of wealth and progeny irrespective of the industry or virtue of the individual. Notice how she stands with her foot on the shoulder of the man below. It is a symbol of being under the foot of, or in submission to, luck.
Tyche With Tyche, it did not matter who you were or how you acted, she might bless you with good or bad fortune. If you ever go to Reno or Las Vegas you can see a whole city dedicated to Tyche. But the lack of justice of Tyche was countered and balanced by her sister Nemesis. For, whereas Tyche awarded her blessings indiscriminately, Nemesis was moved by a sense of divine justice. One way a person could transgress against the Gods in ancient Greece was by an excess of good fortune itself. . . Even though a person may be blessed by all the fruits of Tyche or Luck, Nemesis would provide the divine retributive and balancing force that would bring low the offending individual. The Greeks tell the story of the king of Samos, Polycrates, who became terrified of the incredible good luck that pursued him.
King Polycrates Always mindful of the necessity of preventing the retribution of Nemesis, he would offer greater and greater sacrifices of his good fortune to her, trying to placate this 'irresistable and inevitable' force of fate and balance, but, his luck only became more and more phenomenal. After another incredible great good fortune had visited him, Polycrates had gone out in a ship and thrown a most treasured and priceless ring into the sea as an offering to Nemesis. Then he retired to his palace and a few weeks later prepared a great feast to honor the gods. A great many fish were caught for the occasion and when the cook cut one open, there in the belly of the fish was the ring that Polycrates had thrown into the sea. The ring was returned to Polycrates. Struck with this ominous sign of the refusal of his sacrifice, Polycrates was sickened and soon after, assasinated. To the ancient Greeks, the ideas of Nemesis and her sister Tyche, are inextricably woven together with fate and tragedy. I believe they still are. They are like unwanted children to our current thinking 'parents'- that we control our own fate and can manifest our desires. It is not impossible to manifest and direct our destiny, of course we can do that. But we cannot ultimately and finally control our lives or destiny and if we live long enough we will see many instances of unsought for results and events. Consider how many factors go into any circumstance. Although they are predictable to an extent, they are not so completely. . . this is what Tyche or luck represents. But one does not need to go to Las Vegas or Reno to realize this truth. Life itself represents a gamble, even to the best prepared and most sober and in the soberest of enterprises. Would anyone accuse General Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander of the Allied forces during WWII of being a negative or sloppy thinker? Yet, Eisenhower wrote out an admission of failure on a scrap of paper on the eve of the Normandy invasion. He kept it in his wallet to be issued as a press release if the D-Day invasion of the European mainland in World War II turned out to be a failure. It read: "Our landings in the Cherbourg-Havre area have failed to gain a satisfactorily foothold, and I have withdrawn the troops. My decision to attack at this time and place was based upon the best information available. The troops, the air and navy did all their bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt, it is mine alone." -Ike Eisenhower-June 5, 1944-the eve of the Normandy invasion (Misdated by Eisenhower "July 5")-On display in the National Archives in Washington D.C. Eisenhower with troops 24hrs before D-Day Eisenhower, in spite of a thorough planning, was aware of the huge and potentially 'terrible' amount of factors outside of his control. It humbled him. His letter was an example of being prepared for all circumstances and, I suggest, of the recognition of both fate and nemesis. He recognized superior forces to the ones he had assembled, not the Germans, but the unknown. He did not haul a block of marble for his victory to be immortalized but rather planned for defeat. Eisenhower took responsibility for his actions and realized that the results of his actions were beyond his control. He recognized both God and Devil and was humbled by that recognition. Eisenhower visualized every detail of the Normandy invasion as if the fate of civilization was at stake, and it was. But he also was conscious of and planning for defeat and failure. In this, he represented a man in touch with the ancient culture of tragedy.
Another Way to Look at Tragedy “God created the Law of Karma and then retired.”- Mahatma Gandhi In Hindu and Buddhist philosophy, there is no such thing as tragedy. Everything happens according to the Law of Karma. Gandhi suggests that God 'retired', once the Law of Karma had been created, for nothing else was needed. In Hinduism and Buddhism, according to whether one does good or evil, one ultimately will receive the fruits of his actions. It is the Law. According to this philosophy, the fruits of action are gathered and the expressed over many lifetimes and it is impossible to judge a person on what we can observe in only one life. So, how do we understand fate? How does one understand the Law of Karma? I don’t know for sure, but, I hope I have deepened the questions we might ask in our consideration. I have noticed that I do not control my life, nor, I believe, does anyone else control theirs. I notice, that In spite of all that we do to make something happen, it may not happen and in spite of everything we do to prevent something from happening, it may happen. Far from being an error or lack of the person or group which tries and fails to accomplish something grand, it may be something else… perhaps, ‘It is written” and life is tragic, or fated after all.
I believe there is such a thing as Free will and there is such a thing as Fate or destiny and that both of these operate within the context of the law of karma. This would suggest that things only 'seem' tragic. I am hoping to clarify that one day- God Willing.
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