Tiny Eden is mostly directed against our civilized world & especially against Capitalism. It promotes a return to being True & Natural. The difference between natural versus civilized societies is the acceptance of Aggression. When we talk about Natural then I do not mean that one is a savage club-wielding brute. This image of our ancestors past is misplaced. Anyone who is in tune with nature is aware how ferocious a mother-animal can become in defense of her young. This is not aggression but defense! Natural man going on a hunt to provide for his tribe is not an aggressor, man going to war is one. Civilization changed the role of man in the sense that we changed from a tribal democracy into a from the top down rule. Tiny Eden does show however that a tribal structure & natural living does not mean one has to remain bound to clubs & spears. Inventions & progress are not a matter of civilization alone. Civilization as we know it began about 10,000 years ago with the adaptation to agriculture but mostly to the adaptation of domesticating animals. A very profound event changes our way of thinking. As we began to domesticate animals, keep them in pens or tied to ropes, we realized quite quickly that we could alter their behavior simply by the way how we manipulated them. A quite fierce bull could with a simple castration be turned into a very docile draft animal! Beating and other brutal force behavior would shape the animal into specific behavior patterns, easily manageable by the usually much weaker human. So with ill-conceived logic we then figured that if one can shape an animals behavior this way, could one not also shape a human this way? It is often said that the most dangerous drug is power! What civilization however did was the introduction off property! Tribal cultures do not as such have a sense for property. Most is communal short of personal possessions in the terms of tools and clothing. Agriculture and domestication of livestock did change however in the sense that we now needed to know who owned what and was responsible for what field, well beings of animals and the likes. This sense of ownership was then also expanded to the “Wife”. Since ownership also meant the passing on of property to one’s offspring’s, the knowledge of who is the father/mother of a child became vital. So came into being the various virginity cults, the marriage rituals and the regulations of our sexual conducts – in “clean-speak” Morality. To defend the wealth civilization now brought for a community meant also to manage resources better and the need for expansion – (War) – to gain access to resources not present on local grounds. So defense turned into aggression. With aggression the need for actual “soldiers” became evident and we had the beginning of what we call today the “Military Industrial Complex”. With aggression we needed to teach our fellow men how to not just kill an antelope, but how to kill other fellow men. So the skills of hunting were now re-modified into the skills of war! Who else was better suited for this occupation than the short-tempered male part of our species. And how does one become a Male? Well one has to begin with a Boy. So today we do it with teaching aggression, - (now called competition) – with sport education, training in “team work”, - (speak: training them to function as future soldiers) – and similar. These are the issues that "Tiny Eden" touches on! The Boy-characters in "Tiny Eden" are by no means “Sissies”. They know when to stand up and fight, stand up for the right thing and not back down when under pressure. However what those boys do not do is to being aggressive for no reason. In "Tiny Eden" the boys are defenders and not aggressors. This is the real thread of the book.
Tiny Eden is directed against our civilized world & especially against Capitalism. It promotes a return to being True & Natural. The key difference between natural versus civilized societies is the acceptance of Aggression in civilization. Natural does not mean that one is a savage club-wielding brute. This image of our ancestors past is misplaced. We all know how ferocious a mother-animal can become in defense of her young. This is not aggression but defense! Natural man who hunts is not an aggressor, man going to war for power & resources is one. Civilization changed the role of man. It changed from a tribal democracy into a from the top down ruled civilization. Tiny Eden does show however that a tribal structure & natural living does not mean one has to remain bound to clubs and spears. Civilization began about 10,000 years ago with the adaptation to agriculture but mostly to the domesticating animals. As we began to domesticate animals we realized quite quickly that we could alter their behavior simply by the way how we manipulated them. A quite fierce bull could with castration be turned into a docile draft animal! Beating and force would shape the animal into specific behavior patterns, easily manageable by the much weaker human. So with ill-conceived logic we then figured that if one can shape an animals behavior this way, could one not also shape a human this way? It is often said that the most dangerous drug is power! Civilization began the introduction of property! Tribal cultures do not as such have a sense for property. Agriculture & domestication of livestock did change it. Now we needed to know who owned what & was responsible for a field. This ownership was then expanded to the “Wife”. Ownership meant the passing on of property to one’s offspring’s. One needed to know who the parent is. So came we have virginity cults, marriage and the regulations of sexual conducts – Morality. To defend civilization meant also to manage resources and the need for expansion, War. Defense turned into aggression. With aggression the need for soldiers was evident & we began what we call today the Military Industrial Complex. With aggression we needed to teach men how to not just kill an antelope, but how to kill other men. So the skills of hunting were modified into the skills of war! No one was better suited for this, than the short-tempered male. How does one become a Male? One begins with a Boy. Today we teach aggression, - (competition) – training in “team work”, - (to function as future soldiers). These are the issues that "Tiny Eden" touches on! The Boy-characters in Tiny Eden are by no means Sissies. They know when to stand up & fight, stand up for the right thing and not back down when under pressure. What those boys do not do is being aggressive for no reason. In Tiny Eden the boys are defenders and not aggressors. This is the real thread of the book.
The post can also be viewed on our website http://tinyeden.org in the forum section.
The difference between natural versus civilized societies is the acceptance of Aggression.
When we talk about Natural then I do not mean that one is a savage club-wielding brute. This image of our ancestors past is misplaced. Anyone who is in tune with nature is aware how ferocious a mother-animal can become in defense of her young. This is not aggression but defense! Natural man going on a hunt to provide for his tribe is not an aggressor, man going to war is one.
Civilization changed the role of man in the sense that we changed from a tribal democracy into a from the top down rule.
Tiny Eden does show however that a tribal structure & natural living does not mean one has to remain bound to clubs & spears. Inventions & progress are not a matter of civilization alone.
Civilization as we know it began about 10,000 years ago with the adaptation to agriculture but mostly to the adaptation of domesticating animals. A very profound event changes our way of thinking. As we began to domesticate animals, keep them in pens or tied to ropes, we realized quite quickly that we could alter their behavior simply by the way how we manipulated them. A quite fierce bull could with a simple castration be turned into a very docile draft animal! Beating and other brutal force behavior would shape the animal into specific behavior patterns, easily manageable by the usually much weaker human. So with ill-conceived logic we then figured that if one can shape an animals behavior this way, could one not also shape a human this way?
It is often said that the most dangerous drug is power!
What civilization however did was the introduction off property! Tribal cultures do not as such have a sense for property. Most is communal short of personal possessions in the terms of tools and clothing. Agriculture and domestication of livestock did change however in the sense that we now needed to know who owned what and was responsible for what field, well beings of animals and the likes. This sense of ownership was then also expanded to the “Wife”. Since ownership also meant the passing on of property to one’s offspring’s, the knowledge of who is the father/mother of a child became vital. So came into being the various virginity cults, the marriage rituals and the regulations of our sexual conducts – in “clean-speak” Morality.
To defend the wealth civilization now brought for a community meant also to manage resources better and the need for expansion – (War) – to gain access to resources not present on local grounds. So defense turned into aggression. With aggression the need for actual “soldiers” became evident and we had the beginning of what we call today the “Military Industrial Complex”.
With aggression we needed to teach our fellow men how to not just kill an antelope, but how to kill other fellow men. So the skills of hunting were now re-modified into the skills of war! Who else was better suited for this occupation than the short-tempered male part of our species. And how does one become a Male? Well one has to begin with a Boy. So today we do it with teaching aggression, - (now called competition) – with sport education, training in “team work”, - (speak: training them to function as future soldiers) – and similar.
These are the issues that "Tiny Eden" touches on!
The Boy-characters in "Tiny Eden" are by no means “Sissies”. They know when to stand up and fight, stand up for the right thing and not back down when under pressure. However what those boys do not do is to being aggressive for no reason. In "Tiny Eden" the boys are defenders and not aggressors. This is the real thread of the book.
Tiny Eden is directed against our civilized world & especially against Capitalism. It promotes a return to being True & Natural.
The key difference between natural versus civilized societies is the acceptance of Aggression in civilization.
Natural does not mean that one is a savage club-wielding brute. This image of our ancestors past is misplaced. We all know how ferocious a mother-animal can become in defense of her young. This is not aggression but defense! Natural man who hunts is not an aggressor, man going to war for power & resources is one.
Civilization changed the role of man. It changed from a tribal democracy into a from the top down ruled civilization.
Tiny Eden does show however that a tribal structure & natural living does not mean one has to remain bound to clubs and spears.
Civilization began about 10,000 years ago with the adaptation to agriculture but mostly to the domesticating animals. As we began to domesticate animals we realized quite quickly that we could alter their behavior simply by the way how we manipulated them. A quite fierce bull could with castration be turned into a docile draft animal! Beating and force would shape the animal into specific behavior patterns, easily manageable by the much weaker human. So with ill-conceived logic we then figured that if one can shape an animals behavior this way, could one not also shape a human this way?
It is often said that the most dangerous drug is power!
Civilization began the introduction of property! Tribal cultures do not as such have a sense for property. Agriculture & domestication of livestock did change it. Now we needed to know who owned what & was responsible for a field. This ownership was then expanded to the “Wife”. Ownership meant the passing on of property to one’s offspring’s. One needed to know who the parent is. So came we have virginity cults, marriage and the regulations of sexual conducts – Morality.
To defend civilization meant also to manage resources and the need for expansion, War. Defense turned into aggression. With aggression the need for soldiers was evident & we began what we call today the Military Industrial Complex.
With aggression we needed to teach men how to not just kill an antelope, but how to kill other men. So the skills of hunting were modified into the skills of war! No one was better suited for this, than the short-tempered male. How does one become a Male? One begins with a Boy. Today we teach aggression, - (competition) – training in “team work”, - (to function as future soldiers).
These are the issues that "Tiny Eden" touches on!
The Boy-characters in Tiny Eden are by no means Sissies. They know when to stand up & fight, stand up for the right thing and not back down when under pressure. What those boys do not do is being aggressive for no reason. In Tiny Eden the boys are defenders and not aggressors. This is the real thread of the book.
The post can also be viewed on our website http://tinyeden.org in the forum section.