Individuality and history

June 30th, 2023

Human history can only start with a first glimpse of a display of individuality that, in effect, was remembered as a defying point of future actions or standing of particular individuals connected to that event. In archaic societies, there was no real history because there was no individuality. Archaic societies dealt with anxieties about life and death by living the life of their dead ancestors. Individuality can only be asserted by breaking the mold of ancestral archetypes and remodeling them into something new and distinguished from the previous and prevalent ones. Without breaking with the cult of ancestors and breaking with the cult and myth of eternal return, all individual selves are fulfilled only by assimilation into the ever-growing and safely kept fellowship of ancestral souls. The only ideology in archaic societies was the spiritual unity and exaltation of a clan life — that was the fundamental symbol of a tribe and belonging to it. And without belonging — there is no satiation of primeval need to be a part of a bigger whole.

Is it really different now?

We are all individuals with booming personalities on display through the wonder of social media. And each individuality is worth exactly as much as any other one. But no matter how unique we might be, there is always a need for the comfort of belonging to a group or a tribe — be it a small group of only a few people or a national or racial, or religious. Our self-worth is based on the actions of previous generations and our self-imposed duty to perpetuate the sacred unity of a group we belong to. Only moving beyond the clique of well-known and predictable can create an appetite for exploration of the unknown. It doesn’t bring courage though — to muster strength to risk and to stand out is the only truly individual trait afforded to us.