Life is War

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Life is War by W. Lindsay Wheeler

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Life is War is an axiom of Doric philosophy. It has parallels in Christian theology, spirituality and thought as well.

"Life is War" is an observation of reality; or the cosmos as the Ancient Greeks observed. In Ancient Greek classical texts, this concept is accredited as "strife". They saw that the world is full of strife; a cosmos full of dichotomies clashing with each other, what moderns call "competition". This axiom is a product of realism. It extends throughout all levels of reality in what the ancient Greeks percieved in their philosophical principle of Macrocosm/microcosm.

In Western culture and Western philosophy this was an accepted fact. It was a part of life and a teaching of the Bible. It was a fundamental concept of Western thought. ¹⁸ A French officer and essayist, Luc de Clapiers de Vauvenargues observed that

"Everything in the universe comes down to violence; this order of things...is in fact the most general, immutable and important law of nature." ¹⁹

An obscure scholar Johann Valentine Embser c. 1779, praised war as a necessary phenomenon without which virtue, courage, friendship, and generosity would all wither and die. Seeing that "War rejuvenates the people", Embser saw that God put conflict and evil in the world for a purpose and to deny them was tantamount to idolatry. ²⁴ Reinforcing this viewpoint, Pat Buchanan noting that now countries worldwide collaborate in wealth and technology shifts but when power that comes through wealth is threatened, they will go their separate ways. He adds,

"This is the way the world works. Nations are rivals, antagonists, and adversaries, in endless struggle through time to enhance relative power and position. So it has been, so it shall ever be". ²⁷

With the advent of Socialism, the acknowledgment of strife in reality has been superceded by the quest for universal Peace and that all of society must be ordered to obtain peace. Peace has become the ultimate political goal.

Classical Antiquity

Doric philosophy

The German classicist, Prof. Werner Jaeger, encapsulated the Doric philosophy in the Laconic style: "Life is War". He writes:

"It is simple enough, the Dorian ideal of arete taught by Tyrtaeus' poems and by the Spartan and Cretan institutions. It is this: Life is War." ¹

The Greek philosopher and Philodorian, Plato writing in his magnus opus, The Laws, has for his two main characters a Cretan and a Spartan. He has the Cretan, Clinias, relate Doric philosophy from which Plato launches his viewpoint on the ordering of society. To him, philosophy is the guiding system and the Doric viewpoint of 'Life is War' is the foundation of his thinking. In a sense, Plato records for posterity this sage wisdom.

Clinias the Cretan is speaking;

"He meant, I believe, to reprove the folly of mankind, who refuse to understand that they are all engaged in a continuous lifelong warfare against all cities ^† whatsoever." ²
"By reflection on these lines you will discover that our Cretan legislator constructed the universal scheme of all our institutions, public and private, with a view to war, and transmitted his laws to us for observance in precisely the same spirit."²
"The more readily, then, can you satisfy yourself of the truth of what has just been said. Humanity is in a condition of public war of every man against every man, and private war of each man with himself."³
"...that every one of us is in a state of internal warfare with himself."³

Because of this attitude of the Doric Greeks, esp. the Spartans, they were able to, as the Greek historian, Polybius, noted, retain their freedom, safeguard the Laconian territory and preserved the liberty of Sparta inviolate for the longest period of any people. ¹⁴ By putting several elements in strife, they attained a balance of government that preserved their liberty and virility of their race.

Heraclitus

Prof Werner Jaeger points out that "Even Heraclitus had seen the cosmos as the ceaseless conflict of opposites: 'War is the Father of all.'" ⁴

"Heraclitus considered that the warfare and tension between 'opposites' is a good thing because it is the only way in which the equilibrium of the world can be maintained. 'It is necessary,' he said, 'to realize that WAR is common to all, and justice strife, and that all things happen in accordance with strife and necessity.'" ⁵ "Heraclitus rejected the ultimate validity of distinctions such as day/night, winter/summer, up/down, war/peace, life/death. These and other so-called 'opposites'; must, he thought, be viewed together since neither can exist without the other. Their co-existence as part of the same continuum is the fundamental truth about them." ⁶ This pre-Socratic philosopher, Heraclitus, regarded "his Law of Strife as a manifestation of divine intelligence and justice." ⁷

Aristotle

He wrote, "...for war compels men to be just and temperate, whereas the enjoyment of prosperity and peaceful leisure tend to make them insolent." ²⁵

Christian Theology

Scriptural references

The Bible also teaches that the Strife is a fact of life. In the first book of Genesis, after The Fall of Man, God is said to put "enmity", i.e. hatred, between two groups of people: "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed, he shall watch against thy head, and thou shalt watch against his heel." (Genesis 3.16) Going on, God, in punishment of Adam, cursed the ground:

"...Cursed is the ground in thy labours, in pain shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life."

Not only was strife implanted into the souls of men due to their Fall; strife was implanted into the environment. Man must now struggle against Nature for his food. The act of agrarianism is a type of warfare.

The Israelite prophet Isaiah writes:

"I am he that prepared light, and formed darkness; who make peace, and create evil; I am the Lord God, that does all these things." (LXX, Isiah 45:7)

In a passage in the Book of Sirach, (Ecclesiasticus), the theme of strife is reiterated.

"Good is set against evil, and life against death: so is the godly against the sinner, and the sinner against the godly. So look upon all the works of the Most High; and there are two and two, one against another." (LXX, Ecclesiasticus, 36.14)

The Bible teaches that things are put in enmity with one another, by God. It is part of the plan of God that this is the way of reality, of the cosmos.

The Bible also teaches that strife is the peculiar racial characteristic of a certain race. In the book of Genesis, one of the offspring of Abraham by a maidservant to his wife, is Ishmael. He is given the spirit of strife:

"He shall be a wild man, his hands against all, and the hands of all against him,.." (LXX, Genesis 16.12)

The spirit of antagonism is implanted in Ishmael and consequently all of his descendants.

Christian Theologians

St. Augustine, Doctor of the Church and Christian philosopher confirms that: Life is WAR.

St. Augustine in his writings deconstructs Classicism. That the root of the spirit of degeneracy in Ancient Rome of his time is in the error of its philosophy due to its seeking the 'arche' of human existence as a 'physical unity', describing matter as the arche; or a "process"; or purely transcendent, i.e. "the world of the timeless and the immaterial; or salvation provided by a "divine superman", i.e. the Imperator.

With the advent of Christianity, there is a new principle; a new arche and it is the Logos, Jesus Christ Himself. This new arche is, in St. Augustine, "a unity of 'nature of a being created in the divine image and predestined to fulfill the divine will'." ⁸

"This new principle of unity serves at the same time as a principle of division."

Jesus Christ said, "Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword." (Mat 10:34)

St. Augustine places all humanity into two camps; "In human history the new principle of unity and division finds expression in two societies, which may be described mystically (mystice) as Two Cities. These societies are at every point in sharp contrast: 'The one is the city of Christ, the other of the devil; the one of the good, the other of the evil; both composed of angels as well as men."

"This vast generalization serves to comprehend the whole human race, 'all the numerous peoples scattered throughout the earth, living by diverse rites and customs, distinguished by the utmost variety of languages, arms, and clothing'

Furthermore, "It comprehends also the whole of human history: the life of these two societies extends 'from the beginning of the race to the end of the saeculum, during which they are mixed physically but separated morally, on the day of judgment to be separated physically as well." ⁹

"Thus envisaged, human history emerges as indeed a 'conflict of opposites', but the elements of opposition are not what Classicism supposed." ¹⁰ "On the contrary it is a prospect held out to human beings, a prospect for which they are called upon to work and fight because it constitutes the fulfillment of their humanity." ¹¹

St. Augustine confirms the philosophy of Clinias the Cretan in Plato's Laws. Notice how St. Augustine uses the word "city" to describe these two different camps, just like Clinias. Not only does Clinias see the essence of life is war on the outside but Clinias the Cretan beats Christianity to the punch as realizing that an individual is at war within himself. In using the Socratic principle of microcosm-macrocosm, that what goes in at one level of reality is mirrored in the next level of reality, Clinias the Cretan presupposes the Christian knowledge of reality.

St. Augustine validates Plato and the Cretan philosophy of life and makes it a Christian theme.

An Eastern Orthodox Theologian, Apostolos Makrakis, circa 1833 to 1906, writes:

"Being such by nature and in actuality, spiritual society is at enmity with carnal society, which is contrary to it in nature, in laws, in manners, and in sentiment. These two OPPOSED societies clash with one another just as the spiritual nature and the carnal nature clash in each man. Spiritual society attacks with spiritual weapons the nature, the laws, the manners and the sentiments of carnal society, in order to assimilate the latter to itself by imparting to it faith in and obedience to the Logos, the universal King; carnal society attacks with carnal weapons and injures the bodies of the members of the spiritual society in order to efface it from the earth. As a result of this war."¹²

"...it has been waging this war and has abolished the paganism and polytheism of the ancient world, as well as many heresies that sprang up within itself; and there is no doubt that it will also abolish every false religion among men and every false government and false philosophy, subjecting all men to the Logos, the universal King."

The reactionary philosopher Joseph de Maistre commented on the sublime nature of warfare as purifying in the late 1790's. In the 1820's, he developed this concept further by subscribing war as part of the will of God:

"The earth cries out and asks for blood...Thus is carried out without cease, from maggot to man, the great law of the violent destruction of living things. The entire world, continuously saturated with blood, is nothing but an immense altar where all that lives must be slaughtered without end, without measure, without slackening, until the devouring of all things, until the extinction of evil, until the death of death...War is there fore divine in and of itself, because it is a law of the world...War is divine in the mysterious glory which surrounds it, and in the no less inexplicable attraction which draws us to it." ²¹

Secular Writers

Francis Parker Yockey recognized this paradigm:

"Life is the process of actualizing the possible. But Life is multiform, and organisms, by actualizing their own possibilities, destroy other organisms. Animals devour plants, plants destroy one another, human beings lay waste entire species and slaughter millions of animals. High Cultures by their existence evoke negative impulses from outside populations. Those who do not share this Culture-feeling, which confers such unquestioned superiority on its possessors, instinctively determine to annihilate it. The more powerful the pressure of the High Culture on the outer populations, the more nihilistic is the negative feeling which forms in the under-populations. The more extensive the Culture-expansion geographically, the wider is spread through the world the external will-to-annihilate among the extra-Cultural peoples. Life forms are hostile to one another; the fulfillment of one is the demise of a thousand others. This is another way of saying that Life is war." ¹⁵

Albert Pike towards the end of his masterful tome, Morals and Dogmas, writes of the final teaching of Freemasonry and the character of masons should have. He teaches that masons not only must struggle against themselves but others for Goodness, Right and Truth. He counsels:

"Life is battle, and to fight that battle heroically and well is the great purpose of every man's existence, who is worthy and fit to live at all. To stem the strong currents of adversity, to advance in despite of all obstacles, to snatch victory from the jealous grasp of fortune, to become a chief and a leader among men, to rise to rank and power by eloquence, courage, perseverance, study, energy, activity, discourage by no reverses, impatient of no delays, deterred by no hazards; to win wealth, to subjugate men by our intellect, the very elements by our audacity, to succeed, to prosper, to thrive;—thus it is, according to the general understanding, that one fights well the battle of life."²⁶

Nature

Physics

The Solar system is based on this tension. Between gravity of the Sun and the centrifugal force of planetary speed, this strife provides harmony and stationary place for planets.

In the Atomic field, the nucleaus filled with protons and nuetrons are opposite of the electrons circling the nucleaus. There is a great amount of resistance between protons a positive charge and the negative charge of electrons.

The Solar system pattern and the Atomic field pattern show a revelance to the Doric principle of macrocosm/microcosm.

Biology

In Nature, one observes constant strife and war. There is war between predators and prey. Ant colonies war against each other. In Africa, Lion prides war against each other. In North America, Wolf packs stake out territorial claims and there is war between packs if they meet.

In mating, a product of love, there is strife where males struggle to mate with females. Tortoises on the Galapagos Islands, fight over mates. Roosters, Stallions, and Bulls are just some of the example of dosmeticated animals that war.

In human society, there is strife between the nobility and the common people and between the old and the young, between the rich and the poor, between male and female, and the humble and the proud. Between every human race, there is a war of survival, trying ever to preserve itself. ^† Any mixing of races is seen as a threat to that survival, and there is some primal instinct, some dark fear that says one may be swallowed by the other. ¹⁶

These are just some of the physical parameters that have strife in them.

Socialism and Peace

With the advent of the Enlightenment, continental thinkers and religious pacificists and mystics began to question the received norms and thoughts of Classical Antiquity and of orthodox Christianity. These thinkers rejected the price of reality and conceived of Peace as an overriding value. ²³ They thought that peace was the normal and natural course of human history and not war and sought to return man to this state called perpetual peace. Socialism, an ideology borne out of the Enlightenment, has taken up peace as a political goal and a necessary fact of life. It tends to abolish war and forcibly institute peace, such as World War I was a "War to end all War". Socialism is caught up in idealism of implementing peace. It is divorced from reality and serves to deceive people in relation to true reality.

Recognizing that race and religion provide the fuel for violence, Socialism advocates anti-racism and that religion is a private matter. Socialists also push for gun control and the abolition of firearms. International Socialism, i.e. communism was to end nation-states.

q.v. Elem. of Soc. Socialism and universal peace

Miscellania

The Old Testament protrays God as a God of war; i.e. "The Lord is a man of war". (Masoretic text, Exodus 15.3) Furthermore, the appellation "Lord of Hosts" is said of God numerous times. Hosts is a Hebrew term for army. The Old Testament reveals God as the Hebrew War God.
Marcus Aurelius writes in his Meditations that "...life is a warfare..."¹⁷
"Baseball is something like a war", so said Ty Cobb, who was the greatest baseball player in history, from a statistical standpoint. He lived the old Southern code of Honor to never give in, admit defeat or back down from a fight. As much as he used his wits playing ball, he just as well used his fists and spikes. "Using his sharp mind to outwit his opponents, he employed a psychological approach. His goal was not just excellence but the utter demoralization of the enemy. Cobb waged total war, and his complex personality bore the scars of his defeats and the marks of his victories." ¹³
William D. Gairdner wrote a book profiling the cultural war in North America and the destruction of the family unit. He titled it The War Against The Family; A Parent Speaks Out on the Political, Economic, and Social Policies That Threaten Us All.

Quotes

"Peace enervates"
"Iron sharpens Iron" LXX Prov 27.17
Speed kills
"War is a great and profound subject which concerns the philosopher as much as the general".—De Maistre ²⁰
"War is divine".—De Maistre
"War is one of the healthiest phenomena for the cultivation of the human race...It is the admitedly fearful extreme."—German polymath Wilhelm von Humboldt ²²
"It is well that war is so terrible, or else we might grow too fond of it."-Gen. Robert E. Lee
"War is hell."-Gen. William T. Sherman

Notes

† In Greek thought, "cities" were the political units of the day. In the above quotes of Clinias the Cretan, one can transpose the word "cities" with "race", for this is what Clinias could have easily meant as well. Between each human unit there is strife/war. This sentence by Mary Rogers (see footnote #16) says the exact same thing as Plato's character, Clinias; "Between every human race, there is a war of survival, trying ever to preserve itself". (q.v. Pat Buchanan's quote in introduction.)

References

Werner Jaeger, Paideia, The Ideals of Greek Culture, Trans. by Gilbert Highet, Oxford University Press, NY, 1944. Vol. III, pg 221.
Plato, 'The Laws', Plato The Collected Dialogues, edited by Edith Hamilton, Bollingen Series LXXI, Princeton University Press. 625e and 626ab, pg 1227
'The Laws', Plato The Collected Dialogues. 626de, pg 1228
Werner Jaeger, Paideia: The Ideals of Greek Culture, trans by, Gilbert Highet, Oxford University Press, NY, l945. Vol I, pg 323
J.V. Luce, An Introduction to Greek Philosophy, Thames and Hudson, NY, l992. pg 46
An Introduction to Greek Philosophy. pg 42.
An Introduction to Greek Philosophy. pg 46
Charles Cochrane, Christianity and Classical Culture. pg 487.
Christianity and Classical Culture. pg 488
Christianity and Classical Culture. pg 513
Christianity and Classical Culture. pg 515
Apostolos Makrakis, The Logos and Holy Spirit in the Unity of Christian Thought, Orthodox Christian Educational Society, Chicago, ILL, l977. Vol II, Psychology: An Orthodox Christian Perspective, pg 64.
"Ty Cobb: Southern Nationalist Hero" by blogger Bedlam Nation posted Sunday, November 19, 2006
The Portable Greek Historians: The Essence of Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, Polybius, edited by M. I. Finley, The Viking Press, NY, NY, l959. Polybius pg 482 and Bk V sec. 48; pg 493
Francis Parker Yockey, Imperium, pg 403.
Marcia Melton, Star-Telegram news researcher, and Mary Rogers, Star-Telegram staff writer, Star-Telegram, "Reweaving history, A Fort Worth African-American family dives into the mysteries of its ancestry, tracing legends of a white ancestor." Posted on Sun, Nov. 19, 2006
1. "Later, others would draw on the work of Charles Darwin to give a new...shape to ideas of this stripe. Races, nations, and even social classes, it would be said, competed with one another like species in the wild, and only the fittest survived." Bell, pg 311.
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, trans. by George Long, Book-of-the-Month Club, NY. 1996. II.17, pg 12.
"During the eigtheenth century, as in previous centures, most Western cultures accepted war as an inevitable, and ordinary, facet of human existence." Bell, pg 5.
Bell, pg 30.
quoted in Bell, pg 52.
quoted in Bell, pg 310.
quoted in Bell, pg 6.
Bell.
Bell pg 81.
Aristotle, Politics, trans. H. Rackham, Loeb. Bk VII, xiii 18; 1334a 25; pg 613
Albert Pike, Morals and Dogmas, L. H. Jenkins, Inc., Richmond, VA, 1871, 1950. pg 853.
Patrick J. Buchanan, The Great Betrayal, Little, Brown and Company, New York, 1998. pg 66.

Bibliography

Bell, David A., The First Total War, Napoleon's Europe and the Birth of Warfare as We Know It, Houghton Mifflin Company, NY, 2007.