War as Ritualized Behavior

One of the most powerful rituals in which we currently engage is the highly stylized way we think about warfare. The notions of patriotism and homeland and so on are surely so threadbare by now that most intelligent people will treat the ideas with some care, even with some skepticism.

As Bruce Springsteen said at a concert some years back, "Blind faith in anything will get you killed." So why is it that, knowing as we do the horrendous damage war does to everything it touches, we still speak the language of glory and victory? It can only be that we are not involved in a process of thinking about reality, but rather a process in which the activity itself has to be mythologized so that we can face it.

A Mythological Ritual Which Assuages Guilt

This mythologizing is as old as humanity itself. The rituals of the hunt were created to salve the feelings of guilt that our primitive ancestors seem to have had about the prey they killed. They preferred to see the animals as willingly offering themselves for our nourishment, as long as they were treated with respect and offered prayer and ceremonies.

This ritual killing was not confined to animals and the unfortunate lower orders. We also have some evidence that kings in ancient Ur, in Sumeria, as well as in China, voluntarily sacrificed themselves at the end of a set period of time, together with their attendants, so that the new ruler could come forward.

In the jungle civilizations of the tropical Americas, human sacrifice was practiced extensively as a way of paying back the earth for the gifts it had given, which had to be "killed" by harvesting and consumption. This ritualized slaughter of citizens practiced by certain civilizations was child's play, of course, compared with the wholesale devastation of the two world wars that took place in the early 20th century.


innerself subscribe graphic


It is a Myth that War is Necessary, Good, Honorable

Yet the myth remains that war is necessary, good, honorable, and somehow beneficial. It isn't. War has far-reaching and often unexpected consequences for the countries that engage in it. For example, thanks to continuous wars since Napoleon's time, the people of France are now considerably shorter in stature than they were before these hostilities began. That's because powerful alpha males, those most likely to go to war, are taller in stature. Once they had been killed in battle, only shorter men were left to reproduce. It's hard to see that this is beneficial.

War as Ritualized BehaviorAt one time, generations ago, it may have been true that warfare of the limited tribal kind, circumscribed by the seasons and the need to gather the harvest in fall, may have had a ritual purpose. It may have been important as a way to face dangers, and therefore to nurture courage. Those days are long gone, yet the myth remains.

The Power of War: A Force That Gives Us Meaning?

But war has one thing we must not underestimate: It serves to focus attention. As award-winning journalist Chris Hedges points out in his book War, it is an activity that gives us meaning, even if the form it takes is less than desirable. When war is declared, we have to let go of petty concerns. We are thrown into a state of emergency. Snap decisions have to be made. All this gives those most closely involved a sense of meaning, and it galvanizes every other citizen into becoming part of the support framework.

Even those who opt out of the activities are affected by it. The usual effects are shortages, the need to be careful with resources, and so on.

When a state of war is declared life immediately changes, and it is almost impossible to maintain the usual pleasantries that soften everyday interactions. War is the ace of trumps that overturns our usual understandings about what matters and how we might want to explore our own inner riches. Certain discussions stop. If you're wondering about your survival, or that of your loved ones, it's hard to engage in other types of discussions, for instance.

Why Are Wars Fought? And Is It Ever Worth It?

War, it seems plain, is a force that upends all we understand. Now, some wars are fought for resources or to defeat oppression, but — and this is a big reservation — most struggles for resources are not about shortages but about equitable allocation of those resources. Wars are more often fought because of some imagined threat to "our way of life" or "who we are." This is often felt most keenly by those who don't actually have a clear idea of who they are or what their way of life involves. These are the very people who respond most readily to vague rallying cries such as "patriotism." And so the discussion becomes confused.

In real terms, war is never worth it. In his book, Chris Hedges cites studies showing that after 60 days in a war zone, 100 percent of those involved show signs of psychological collapse. Put that in context by considering that currently a deployment to Iraq usually lasts a year. These damaged souls then return to their families (if they're lucky) and inflict at least some of this damage on spouses, children, and relatives. War is not a fire through which we pass, and which refines us in the process; it's not a poison that kills only the person who tastes it, either — it's an infection that spreads.

So why is this myth about the glory of war still so strong? One reason could be that we have no similar counterbalancing myth to keep it in check. Wars are sometimes inevitable, even necessary; but if we had a different myth — one that gave us another option we could invest in as heavily as we currently invest in war — then we might find a way of reversing the trend.

©2012 Allan G. Hunter. All Rights Reserved.
Reprinted with permission of the publisher,
Findhorn Press. www.findhornpress.com


This article was adapted with permission from the book:

Spiritual Hunger: Integrating Myth and Ritual into Daily Life
by Allan G. Hunter.

Spiritual Hunger: Integrating Myth and Ritual into Daily Life by Allan G. Hunter.From daily activities such as work and eating to milestones such as graduation and marriage, this discussion debates the myths that guide lifestyles and questions why they exist in the first place. This guide to rituals paves the way to sustaining a fulfilling and happy life and demonstrates how to reinvent old, outdated rituals; get rid of those rites that are entirely ineffective; and create new habits that provide a deeper meaning to everyday life.

For more info and /or to order this book on Amazon.


About the Author

Dr. Allan G. Hunter, author of the InnerSelf.com article: Meeting the Shadow

Allan G. Hunter was born in England in 1955 and completed all his degrees at Oxford University, emerging with a doctorate in English Literature in 1983. In 1986, after working at Fairleigh Dickinson University's British campus and at Peper Harow Therapeutic Community for disturbed adolescents, he moved to the US. For the past twenty years he has been a professor of literature at Curry College in Massachusetts, and a therapist. Four years ago he began teaching with the Blue Hills Writing Institute working with students to explore the memoir and life-writing. As in all his books, his emphasis is on the healing nature of the stories we weave for ourselves if we choose to connect to the archetypal tales of our culture. For more, see http://allanhunter.net.