COSMOGONIA

The absence that precedes man’s existence is the form of the beast. (Baal HaSulam)

 

It is necessary for every person to begin in the state of a beast.  The notion of the animal within is acknowledged in Indian thought in the idea of the asuras who precede the gods. The asuras take the body to be everything, whereas the gods seek higher meaning. Without culture and self-discipline, we are paśu (animals). When our habits (pasa) that bind us down to our animal nature are broken, we become truly human (pasupati).

But as human beings, we should not forget that we’re animals with instincts and needs. In order to understand ourselves, we have to remind ourselves of this fact

Where do we draw the line between the individual/beast and society? 

Acknowledging violence as a part of the human condition helps a culture to devise ways to confine it to the theatre of the mind. Ignoring the individual's propensity for violence we run the risk of continuing the mistakes that made the last century one of the most bloody in history.

This is because violence arises out ignorance, by a misidentification with the animal self within. Nature transcends the dichotomy of good and evil. Beauty softens the horror of this, taking our minds into imagination and the domain of divinity. Art, as representation of beauty, intimates transcendence beyond the humdrum. For modern life alienates us from Nature, even our own, Culture is a structure that keeps the animal instincts of man at bay.