The Gorean Compass is a class taught every Thursday at the Gorean Campus in Second Life. The class is taught by Master Gorm Runo who is a well known instructor and philosopher within Second Life Gor. Class times are noon and 6pm SLT and all are welcome to come join in the fascinating discussion
Tal and Greetings
It is good to be back after a two week absence tending to matters down on Earth. It did give me a chance to reflect on some interesting topics for this seminar.
In a class last year, I quoted from the book, The Naked Ape, by Desmond Morris.
One of the students made a point of debunking the reference by informing me that “modern thinkers” had totally repudiated the ideas of Morris and moved into a much more enlightened way of looking at the human condition and natural order.
Of course, this would be true of “modern thinkers” who seem bent on twisting even such things to fit a pre-approved agenda, and the natural order warning of his work would be very upsetting to them.
Here is some of the passage:
“As I have stressed throughout this book, we are, despite all our great technological advances, still very much a simple biological phenomenon. Despite our grandiose ideas and our lofty self-conceits, we are still humble animals, subject to the basic laws of animal behavior. Long before our populations reach the levels envisaged above we shall have broken so many rules that govern our biological nature that we shall have collapsed as a dominant species. We tend to suffer from a strange complacency that this can never happen, that there is something special about us, that we are somehow beyond biological control. But we are not. Many exciting species have become extinct in the past and we are no exception. Sooner or later we shall go and make way for something else.
“Optimism is expressed by some who feel that since we have evolved a high level of intelligence and a strong inventive urge, we shall be able to twist any situation to our advantage; that we are so flexible that we can re-mould our way of life to fit any of the new demands made by our rapidly rising species-status; that when the time comes we shall be able to cope with the over-crowding, the stress, the loss of our privacy and independence of action; that we shall re-model our behavior patterns nd live like giant ants; that we can control our aggressive and territorial feelings, our sexual impulses and our parental tendencies; that if we have to become battery-chicken apes, we can do it; that our intelligence can dominate all our basic biological urges.
I submit this is rubbish.
Page 196-197 The Naked Ape by Desmond Morris (copyright 1967)
It is very likely that such a view, which seems so prophetic by those observing what is happening in Earth society today, is not popular in modern educational circles, or that Desmond Morris is not considered a legitimate voice of science, but there is no doubt this view expressed above contains the very cornerstone of the Natural Order suggested in the Gorean novels.
There has been much confusion about Natural Order and what it means in the Gorean philosophy. Even the dictionary is not much help as the term, as well as, Natural Law, have been around since Plato and have a wide variety of definitions.
One of the early online Goreans named Marcus of Ar had written an essay where he tried to define seven basic tenets of Gorean philosophy that seemed to be universal. It reminded me of the book written by C.S. Lewis, where he was defining some core Christian beliefs. He made the analogy of a big hotel with many rooms. Most of the beliefs held by various denominations of Christians were represented by those cozy private rooms, but before you could even get in the lobby to check out these rooms, you had to accept a few core beliefs.
Marcus of AR identified seven such core beliefs and at #3 he had: “Obey the Natural Order of Things” This is what he had to say on the subject.
Obey the Natural Order of things: This tenet applies to the way Goreans view the world around them. They feel it is futile to attempt to disregard the effect of hundreds of generations of evolution. If a creature is naturally genetically equipped to fulfill a specific function in relation to another, then it is considered fitting and proper that such a creature be allowed to do so, even when such natural predisposition might result in stratification. In regards to human beings, it is understood that stronger, more intelligent, and more ambitious human beings will naturally assume a higher social strata in regards to their interaction with the less strong, less intelligent, and less ambitious. In regard to male/female sexual relations, it is therefore the right of the male, who is genetically predisposed for physical dominance, to control the physical aspects of his relationship to the female. In return, he is expected to behave as the hunter/provider, seeing to the protection of the female to insure the propagation of the race. Females, meanwhile, who tend to be smaller and less physically powerful, are expected to respect the biological truths of their lesser physical stature, while making the most of their genetic predisposition to serve and aid the male, and utilizing their superior emotional empathy and long-term endurance to do so while surviving and advancing the species. Not all women, therefore, are slaves, though the female sex is often referred to by males as “the slave sex.” Gorean females are simply expected to respect and understand that they are less able in areas requiring raw physical strength than their male counterparts, and adjust their behavior accordingly. When one considers the fact that personal combat to the death is a daily occurrence throughout Gor, such behavior among Gorean women is a wise practice to say the least.
If you have watched the news, or been active in social media over the last couple off years, you can imagine the firestorm such a statement would arouse if published outside of Gorean circles. It is the very essence of misogyny and toxic Masculinity in the view of the enlightened “modern thinkers” It is a true example of the “Counter-Earth” view of Gor. The fact that it is most likely also hard cold truth is considered irrelevant.
Also, the fact that there is some evidence that people are being negatively impacted by their departure from “obeying natural order, seems irrelevant. Marcus of AR paraphrases John Noman by suggesting such a departure leads to “”a mass of conflicting drives and emotions, more prone to heightened mental stress, physical illness, psychological disease and a substantially shortened lifespan.”
In the next few weeks, we will examine the other six “core beliefs” from this essay and show how they all relate to a cohesive Gorean meaning of Natural Order, and also how they are in direct opposition to the direction of Earth society and are producing those messed up people John Norman was speaking of. We can also look at how closely these things are being observed in Second Life Gor and examine if we are actually as “counter-earth” as we think we are.
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