Phoenixes' are mythological creatures that are depicted as fiery birds. They have been quite often used in fantastic literature. Perhaps their most unique way, as most know, is their ability to be reborn from their ashes. They die old and are born new. The cycle of life continues from the past selves' ashes. It is that aspect I would like to inspect today with you.
Evolution has become something of a fiery paradigm after the realisation of the immanent nature of things. Everything was changing. Back before, most religious schools depicted the universe as the ultimate perfection. But that was challenged by Darwin and Copernicus. All the observations showed that there were no principles that could last for an eternity. The only transcendental reality becomes the immanence itself.
Human cultures are lagging as they are the average among most. Any abrupt change or justification needs some time to propagate in society. And when the new paradigm arrives, it is usually the time when a newer paradigm appears as well. Societies' ability to change is quite slow.
The human character can be thought of as an individual's own culture. Their culture has very similar characteristics concerning society. The individual's culture is called the "character". It is that aspect that makes someone present in the whole world. It is the way a person lives and behaves.
When reality changes, if an object does not catch up with it, it is going to be probably selected and destroyed. But catching up with reality requires some decisions or costs. It is that aspect that ultimately guarantees the future of this living thing.
Humans are pretty elastic in terms of adaptation. However, that is tricky. Human character is very hard to change because the ultimate pain is the pain one can bring to themselves. Everyone one of us has some feedback, inhibitions and tendencies. Changing those requires extraordinary energy and power. Nietzsche called this a representation of the will to power. The will to power is the power to change power itself. It is another day's topic how the term will to power has been used to brainwash and implement the ideas of carnage for political power.
I started saying you phoenixes and then said the inelastic nature of humans. For our own lives, we are birds of flame. Believe me or not, that is the case allegorically. Everyone has the power to burn their past selves and be reborn from their ashes. But why a so few doing this? It is the Ice of Phoenix. This has been the darkness most cultures depict. It is depicted as corruption and stagnation. It is a situation such that the thing itself rots and decomposes within itself. This is worse than evil because it destroys everything.
Every character, when they develop, will have some ice in themselves. Those ices would try to kill the most beautiful and living bird from within by extinguishing its fire. Every self should know this threat. When the ice grows and takes the heat away, the only thing our birds can do is burn themselves altogether with the ice and be born anew from its ashes. This process is harrowing for the bird, and the ones who watch this process feels deep sadness watching the bird gone. But in the end, the phoenix is reborn from its tears of flame. It is again the time for flying!
When a fiery bird sees a fellow of his fallen to the ground by the weight of those ices, it is their most profound desire to share their flame and reignite the other. Hence, the other can be born into a new one. They eventually know that the other would do the same if they were not overwhelmed by their own ices. Phoenixes are beyond glory, freedom, love and power. They are only themselves and free from their selves. They die and are reborn.
Let us fly higher with others!
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Initially published for Polyhedron on 11/15/2022
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