Civilizing the beast, the last metamorphose

Thinking of Nietzsche's three symbols of metamorphoses, the camel (Christian-Platonic asceticism), the lion (rebellious willing), and the child (new value creator). I would add a last as the broncobuster, the horse trainer, the civilizer of the beast.

The camel is the will to nothingness goal of the Inward Path to the God within of Traditional religions. For example, the eastern experience of nirvana, and the beatific experience of heaven or the Father Within of Christ, is a peak experience in the physical mind, after much ascetic discipline, in blocking or overcoming material desires—a will to nothingness. The lion defies fixed philosophies but does so out of rebellion and goes about rebelliously creating fixed philosophy. The child represents the creator of new values assuming there are no fixed values, which is Nietzsche's philosophical preference.

The problem with the symbol of the child thinking there are no fixed values (like the postmodernists) is that there are fixed values, so I would add another metamorphose to the symbols of the camel, lion, or child; I would add the broncobuster, the horse trainer, the civilizer of the beast.

As long as we are alive every cell in our body demands survival and reproductive success. This natural activation can be blocked, subverted, or it can be unknown to us, but it can't legitimately be intellectually or instinctively denied. The biological origin of our social behavior as empirically explained by the evolutionary sciences and sociobiology actually ends the intellectual defense of postmodern relativism. Generally speaking any existing values come from the various social and cultural methods we try (including postmodernism) as attempts to biologically and genetically advance ourselves, consciously or unconsciously.

Evolution moves inevitably in a pattern, even though it has its random elements, and the pattern has a discernible direction, in spite of instances of stagnation and retreat, toward “higher and higher more effective living forms,” as Cattell put it. But even without acknowledging an inward purpose, evolution has been moving toward more efficient forms, more complexity, with occasional stops and side-turnings along the way.

I believe we are aided in this direction by an inward, purely physical, activation of the Will-To-Godhood, or Tirips, which seeks Godhood by materially activating life to evolve toward Godhood, working along with the shaping of outside evolution and selection.

When we define evolving toward higher and higher forms, always moving toward ascending levels of Godhood, the goal of materially evolving to supermaterial Godhood gives natural purpose and direction to modern life and culture, and it need not deprive us of either science or religion. We train and ride the horse of natural biological evolution.