Kings and Queens

In America we are raised with a belief that all men are created equal.

Perhaps all men take part in the whole of the plan, and if any were missing the plan would not be to perfection – but if we hold a set of values, merits, then quickly we see that men are not equal under any natural sense of equality. They may only be made equal under bureaucratic structures – and we may treat eachother as equals. However, as said, if judged by a set of values, men are in no way born nor do they become equals.

A culture devises stories, myths and religions to communicate values to its people. Those men and women who best represent those values are then set apart, made royal, extolled as unequal/above others. The virtues esteemed are worshipped in celebrities, athletes, scholars, royalty – Gods.

As a boy I would watch movies wherein the King would be shielded by all of his men – his warriors willing to die to protect him. Or men would risk their lives for the most beautiful woman – though there are surely many other women to be had. “Why,” I would ask, “if all are equal should the warriors die for their king? Or the man go to war for a particular woman?”

The truth is self-evident that we are not equal. There are some among us who represent the Gods and Goddesses to a greater degree than others.

Kings and queens should be the greatest among us. They above others should be as the image of Gods – the strongest, cleverest,  the most beautiful. Those we adore as our leaders aught to be the utmost branches of humanity’s tree. Their natural beauty and talent, and the addition of their tribe or nation’s best education and wealth are the culmination of eons of lives and evolution. They are as the tip of Life’s spear. As such, they are the most valuable of all God’s creatures, and must be afforded the sacrifices of their people.

But, as royalty became a calcified class, legalistic and symbolic, bestowed by parentage rather than merit, the station of royalty became metaphorical rather than literal.

Because of the rigidity and ignorance of mankind, the wise men, ironically, to battle this degradation of literal kinghood into metaphoric greatness, the wise men and storytellers created metaphors above even their earthly kings and queens. They made Gods, and Kings of Kings – like David, Arthur, Jesus; and Queens of Queens – Helen, Bathsheba, Guinevere, Penelope. These stories teach us our values, the ultimate aim of humanity.

We learn to serve not the mere people who occupy an esteemed station, but to serve the King of Kings – Queen of Queens. By stories and religion we decree values by which men and women are to be measured, so that we measure men and women not by their titles but against the ideal humans of our mythologies. What all of these systems hold in common is that the trajectory and fate of the tribe – the aim toward the God-Man/Goddess-Woman is important above the value of individual lives.

Our stories dictate what values we hold most precious. If our stories depict values most life affirming, then we must value those people who most embody or best embody those virtues – we must value those people above thousands of others… because they are the culmination of thousands of lives living toward an ideal.

We may read the Odyssey, for instance, through and American lens of equality – and none of the men would have survived even past he Cyclops (If they valued themselves over Odysseus) – it is the men’s trust in hierarchy, their trust in Odysseus’ virtues that causes their obedience to his commands. We see many times with Odysseus and other kings that their men are asked to sacrifice themselves for the sake of their leader.

They do not worship life at an individual level – rather they live in service to the Greater Life, the higher future-humanity. These people hold the values and virtues of the collective above the value of their own personal lives.

Because the men trust the hierarchy, through all but Odysseus die, the Greatest among them lives, and the highest values of the culture are retained in that man.

What virtues to hold in highest esteem, then becomes the preoccupation of the wise and the storytellers… because it is a matter of life and death now, and the eventual birth of the Gods and Goddesses of humanity’s future.

We must be very careful of the traits we worship, because our beliefs and choices in deities will either lead to more life and greatness, or death and desolation.

To say that all are equal is to walk toward a valueless future, and if there is no value in a thing, it will not be worth living for. We must choose what to love – that which we love is worth dying for – A Great king, a beautiful woman, the joy of little children…

We in the west have forgotten our values. Our celebrities and leaders are emblematic of our trajectory toward decay. The stewards of our people are ancient, corrupt, senile, ugly, hateful, disgusting. We have forgotten our virtues, neglected our Gods, indebted the future generations with our burden of follies. Our storytellers have either failed or not been heard – we have listened to the toxic stories of propaganda promulgated by political vampires.

We must assert our desires and hope for a higher kind of leader. We must worship no man as an individual, no mortal woman, but reinstitute the worship of the God Man and the Goddess Woman – and we must live our lives in service to those virtuous spirits. When we encounter such people so blessed as to be closer to the Gods than ourselves, lend them your service in proxy of the greatness of humanity yet to come.

See that you teach and aim your children toward the Gods, so that the work of lives past are not wasted – that strength, beauty, intelligence and the love of life are ever increased.