We can’t get around holding ourselves as the life-form to be emulated. We are the life-form with philosophy. We are the life-form that explores without necessity, spending, for example, billions of dollars on telescopes and spaceships, drilling through Earth’s crust, and diving to the ocean’s greatest depths. We are the life-form that creates art for art’s sake and that creates without necessity. We are also the ones that see symbols as either threatening or empowering.
For millennia our life-form has made and preserved representations of both ideas and reality. For millennia our life-form has purposely destroyed those same representations. In a recent manifestation of conscious destruction, ISIS militants destroyed ancient statues housed in Mosul’s museum, and that destruction seemed to draw the world’s attention as much as their purposeful atrocities against the civilians they attacked. We might note that the barbarism of this current group was directed at artifacts that survived from ancient Assyrian and Akkadian cultures that were known in their own time for similar acts of barbarism.
There are other life-forms on our planet that can deal with symbols. Dolphins, primates, and even chickens seem to be able to distinguish among symbols. None of those life-forms, however, goes out of its way to destroy symbols. Purposeful destruction of symbols through book-burning or hammering is, regardless of our disdain or our acceptance of the practices, a mark of the special nature of our life-form. Yes, we can destroy what we create, and just as we can create for creation’s sake, we can destroy for destruction’s sake.
For many, the destruction of ancient art in Mosul is a sign of true barbarism, catching as much attention as the beheadings and live immolations. But the destruction of ancient art is also a sign of consciousness that is vastly different from that of all other known life-forms. “Civilized people” won’t condone such barbarism, but they should realize that the barbarians share consciousness with them. “Civilized people” can also use that fact as a point of departure for reflection.
You probably won’t be happy the next time a local “barbarian” causes you some grief—a scratch on your car, a bit of vandalism, a jump in the line, a tire track in the grass, some litter—but you can attempt to understand how that barbarian is related to your civilized mind. You can also ask whether or not you ever consciously damaged someone else’s icon.
History relates that we will never rid ourselves of barbarians. The future will tell whether or not we will join them.
For millennia our life-form has made and preserved representations of both ideas and reality. For millennia our life-form has purposely destroyed those same representations. In a recent manifestation of conscious destruction, ISIS militants destroyed ancient statues housed in Mosul’s museum, and that destruction seemed to draw the world’s attention as much as their purposeful atrocities against the civilians they attacked. We might note that the barbarism of this current group was directed at artifacts that survived from ancient Assyrian and Akkadian cultures that were known in their own time for similar acts of barbarism.
There are other life-forms on our planet that can deal with symbols. Dolphins, primates, and even chickens seem to be able to distinguish among symbols. None of those life-forms, however, goes out of its way to destroy symbols. Purposeful destruction of symbols through book-burning or hammering is, regardless of our disdain or our acceptance of the practices, a mark of the special nature of our life-form. Yes, we can destroy what we create, and just as we can create for creation’s sake, we can destroy for destruction’s sake.
For many, the destruction of ancient art in Mosul is a sign of true barbarism, catching as much attention as the beheadings and live immolations. But the destruction of ancient art is also a sign of consciousness that is vastly different from that of all other known life-forms. “Civilized people” won’t condone such barbarism, but they should realize that the barbarians share consciousness with them. “Civilized people” can also use that fact as a point of departure for reflection.
You probably won’t be happy the next time a local “barbarian” causes you some grief—a scratch on your car, a bit of vandalism, a jump in the line, a tire track in the grass, some litter—but you can attempt to understand how that barbarian is related to your civilized mind. You can also ask whether or not you ever consciously damaged someone else’s icon.
History relates that we will never rid ourselves of barbarians. The future will tell whether or not we will join them.
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