Circle of Protection

I)
The wolves surround him only in the dead of night
When he is alone in the circle of jagged stones.
Only once have paws broken the circle
(Once was enough for an eternity of shuddering)

Something rises and falls within him
A something which vanishes without the misty breath
Of proud canines waiting, watching him with hungry stare;
A something he cannot find alone in his tower
When the sentinels are at the gate

Yet here he is alone, with the wolves and the cosmos
And the moon

He searches through the night
Like a dancer, like a philosopher
Like both at once
The danger his divine inspiration
His body his parchment
His body his inquiry
Embodied, frightened, inescapable

He knows and feels the struggles
Feels the tingles, the scorching biles
He feels close to death
He fears the howls, and the growls
He hates the stench of dog
He wants to destroy them for defying him
Searching for what it is within which makes him so

Why does it not just go away?
Why can his will not wrestle it down?
Why can it not be dreamed away?

A voice answers to himself, from a place of paradox
Within him and yet not him:
'As the taste of water cannot but help grace your lips
As the chill night air cannot help but cover your skin
As your heaving breast cannot help rising and falling
So your sixth sense cannot turn away from peril'

He asks: 'what is that sense, that sixth sense inside?
What does it find, what does it seek'

He is fortunate tonight; another answer!:
'It seeks the world outside.
And what is it made of but Nature itself?
The push of a creature, its natural desires
The torch that cannot be put out
The striving, the unfolding
Its dignity, its distinction
Against the hostility of all things;
The hostility of a world'

A world beyond! A world sensible by intuition
That cannot be an illusion
Something other than he, perhaps more powerful
The creator which will destroy him
A world inescapable, irresistable
Situations and circumstances
And he laments his condition

II)
In the circle of protection the wolves creep
The wise ones wait, a fool may attack
The fool is the danger, the sight of mangy fur his biggest fear
The circle is not enough
His sixth sense knows it, and he searches for something else
A sign, a weapon, a shield, a hole to hide away
He cannot find one
He must find one

Regeneration?
He fears the wounds
Though the body-hurt heals
Heals itself, the wounds heal,
But fear of wounds never does

Strength?
He fears his lack of strength
Though he is strong
He fears his fear of lack of strength!
Sometimes it prevails
But strength tested eventually fails.

Retreat?
He fears what will happen to his spirit
To fly, and fly again, ever afraid
Ever weak and hopeless
He can never outrun the shadow of fear

Lute-song?
He fears the echo of his favourite strains
Will forever haunt him and contain wolves
In between their notes

Allies?
It is dark
There are none here

Virtue?
Something lights in his chest
The pulsing of virtue
Embedded in his heart
Virtue, his ally, his sole ally
Is this his passage from the wolves?

The voice speaks mockingly:
'What do the flesh-eaters know of virtue?
Whatever your disposition, they seek only your flesh!
What good virtue shone upon unscrupulous men
Let alone wolves?'

The dancer and the philosopher answers
Flitting between the jagged stones, growing ever surer
'I am virtuous, I may die peacefully
I may be blasted from my body into the sparkling yonder
Of the earthly heavens.
From the tale I draw purpose and from the purpose i draw virtue
Did you not know that all life was a story, and virtue the rules of its collective author?
Did you not know that I have one choice, to embody virtue whatever the peril?
I could at least always do that!
Fire cannot harm me, nor water drown me,
The gale cannot push me, the earth cannot swallow me
Though they rend my body, I am virtue embodied!'

He grew in confidence, skirting closer and closer to circle's edge
The wolves looked one to the other in concern
The wise one smiling a wry smile

iii)
His heart raced, his blood flowed keenly
And he gained a suit stronger than any mail
Harder than iron, enduring like stone
Virtue, virtue filled him!

He smiled to himself

The wolves never left that night
But he walked through them all the same
And the solemn creatures watched him vanish
Toward the light of the moon
Fearlessly sleeping like a child between the roots of an oak
Trustingly waiting the day

Selim 'Selim' Talat

They are dominated by fear

‘They are dominated by fear, everyone pretends that there is reason behind their actions, will, kindness, but in reality there is only terror. If you think about it, every action everyone takes is dominated by fear’.

                  
 Imagine these were the words a little evil devil twas whispering over your shoulder, telling you that essentially it is in human nature to be a coward. So, do human beings act out of an instinct of ‘not being hurt’ rather than a transcendent instinct? How about the so called heroes in history who have risked even their own lives in order to protect an ideal and have shown blatant courage?

                  
Fear is a feeling which has huge amounts of control over people, think of religion and how much it uses fear in order to control the masses. Think of how terror has kept systems running in an absurd manner. For example, only fear can allow thousands of people to succumb to the power of one single individual, instead of fighting his power, like in the case of dictatorships. Are our morals based in fear or in striving after ‘goodness’?

The German philosopher Frederick Nietzsche had a lot to say when it came to good and evil. He made a distinction between good and bad and good and evil, and he also asked us to go beyond this; humans beyond good and evil. He claimed that the good/evil distinction was made in ancient times when the first division between the high classes and the lower classes was prevalent; the ‘noble’ upper class and the ‘wicked’ lower class. The rich acted as if being poor was a bad value and you had to live under fear of the self righteous upper class. This was a very effective way to maintain power. Then the good/bad distinction appeared hand in hand with ethical religion, which was more on the side of the lower classes, who suffered and were promised eternal salvation in exchange of their subjugated existences in the face of Earth, making the upper classes the bad ones. This role reversal made the lower classes the good and the upper classes the bad, but if you acted according to the religion’s rules, you could be in the good side again.

When we understand this and consider it, we can take a step out and say I am not evil, I am not a sinner, I cannot be told what is right or wrong anymore. To Nietzsche, and to me to be honest, an understanding of how morals are created liberate us and give us the tools that free us from fear and therefore allows us to imagine, to plan, to create, to be without the ghost of being constantly wrong. So we can be our own angel upon the proverbial shoulder whispering: ‘They are acting out of courage too, look at them. It is so cold this morning and they are out, mothers working hard for their sons and daughters, lovers declaring their feelings, how brave are they, actions can come out of dreams and fear of failure can be forgotten because hope can be stronger, we can go beyond this paralysing spell, we can transcend.’

Eliza Verethilo