The Nomadic Alternative – Page 230

culture as institutionalized rituals arranged on an annual calendar.

The Li Chi or Chinese Book of Rites contains a most explicit text on celestial intervention in human affairs. "All ceremonial usages, looked at in their general characteristics are the embodiment of ideas suggested by heaven and earth; take their laws from the changes of the four seasons; imitate the operation of the contracting and developing movements in nature, and are conjoined to the feelings [ ] of men. It is on this account that they are called the Rules of Prophecy and when anyone finds fault with them, he only shows his ignorance of their origin."

Similarly those peoples who have over-glutted themselves with plenty and security at the expense of others, gradually erect barriers of remorse and ritually throw themselves into voluntary self-destructive torments before being able to reassemble the bits.

This gives plausibility to the Empedoclean notion of periods of 'love' alternating with periods of strife. And I admit it is danger-ously close to Spengler's thesis of the ebb and flow of history according to a logic inherent in time, without in any way subscribing to Spengler's own personal bias.

If the lean season is a time of hellish torment, it is an occasion for heaven-sent mental calm. The connection of pleasure and pain is a phenomenon known to all. The brain sends kind messages to the sufferer, brief glimpses of Eden, which strengthen his resolve to keep on going or comfort his last moments. Along his road of trials, the traveller experiences the exact opposite of his sufferings. If freezing, he burns with inner heat. If parched, he lies beside a mirage of cool waters. If hungry, the whole world is edible and delicious. If fettered, beaten and starving, he experiences a sensation of Olympian freedom (Such are the mechanics of cargo cults and prison revolts..). And when the fangs of oppression glisten in the dark, he finds himself at peace with himself and his people.

Arctic explorers have dreamed steaming and plentiful meals. As a child I was once delirious with sea-sickness on a small boat for