You know: when you talk about Idealism, you’re
talking about just how great and awesome Life would be if only everyone did
just a little more. A little here, a little there. To be a little bit more open,
or a little bit more kind. To work a little harder, so that those who have to
pick up lots of slack enjoy a life that’s easier by far than what they would
have had to do instead. Usually, the Idealists are the sorts of people who
WOULD do all these things, and they often have to push themselves so much each
day to make things work for those around them. Since the Idealists often excel
in these qualities, it is predictable that those who fall behind might grow
envious of them, and if those shortcomings might be rationalized and recast as
virtues, the Idealist might even be portrayed as intrusive. Yet one conceit
which is entirely beyond justification is the accusation of self-interest. It
may be true that such a change as the Idealist envisions would be of inestimable
relief to one’s Self, which stands to benefit by a far greater margin than
those who disadvantage themselves ever so slightly. Yet the simple fact that
their disadvantage is so minor and the Idealist’s advantage is so great is
precisely what renders the transformation Just, for such a set of affairs may
only come to pass when, up until this time, the Idealist has had to shoulder an
unreasonable burden on behalf of the average person.
[({Dm.A.A.)}]
The Damsel in Distress is one of the oldest archetypes for a
reason, since she represents the birth of the boy’s moral development. She
presents him with a challenge: given power over a helpless embodiment of
femininity, one doubling as sex object and mother figure, he has the choice
whether to inflict harm or healing. While boys who grow up on hero myths might
easily inherit a feeling of entitlement to those whom they rescue, the deal
works, since the rescue is executed and the greater evil assuaged by the Hero,
however self-interested the intent.
The simple act of choosing heroism over exploitation is an
exercise in self-restraint, courage, and conviction, all invariably heroic
qualities, not because they cannot be corrupted towards ill ends, but rather
because higher goals cannot be attained without them, and these higher goals
are not mere pretensions but rather expressions of the longings of the most
piteous and helpless victims.
The Damsel in Distress is not disgraced by her powerlessness,
since most often it is the fate of those possessing a more mysterious power:
that of vulnerability and innocence. The Damsel in Distress redeems the Hero’s
cumbersome and heavy-handed masculinity, but only by being totally vulnerable
to him, grotesque though this predicament might appear, and rightfully so, for
it was produced by the exploitative means of her villainous captor. The very
distinction between the role of captor and liberator, by one’s own choice,
establishes the boy as a man, superior in dignity.
At that point, though, the challenge falls to the maiden, for she
undergoes the same sort of transformation. If she feels no debt of gratitude
towards him, or, feeling it, she acts against it, she has remained a girl, a
child of the Universe, entitled to her own innocence but not much else. Her
rescuer is like a Father Figure to her, whose love must be unconditional by
default, so that she owes him nothing in return, and if he should argue
otherwise, he becomes a tyrannical abuser, no better than her ogrish captors.
In this context, it is no surprise if she should seek the company
of her fellow girls, who coddle her and assure her that, since she was innocent
to begin with, she owes her savior nothing, for he was simply preserving the
Natural Order of Things, and, if his intent were self-interested, then she
ought to be commended for deceiving him towards beneficent means, and the test
of his character will ultimately lie in his absence of personal passion,
regardless of whether such a feeling of entitlement would precede or follow the
Heroic Act.
Yet clearly such a matriarchal conceit does not live up to the
ideals of any Goddess of Justice, for it forces all men to renounce their own
bodies completely in service to weak women, feeble and restrained not only of
body but of Heart and Mind, the latter by their own Nature and Volition,
disincentivizing many men and producing not only more villains but, among
women, a greater tolerance for villainous, barbaric “men” without “creepy”
ulterior agendas.
It should be obvious, however, that such agendas represent not so
much a hidden evil but a biological longing for moral order, one which redeems
the human body as a Source of Moral Authority. The woman who rewards her
Saviour with Love becomes akin to a Goddess in her own right, whereas the other
remains a temptress and a child. Just as the boy who takes advantage of the
Damsel fails a test of Manhood, the girl who does not honour his sacrifice
fails to mature into a Woman. Their reciprocity is dependent upon the trust the
boy places in the girl by setting her free, as well as the respect she shows
for his hopes for the two of them.
In Actual Life, these sorts of relationships govern all good
business, for while we all must fend for ourselves we are tasked with doing so
by noble means, noble means which, since they are essential, cannot be
separated from practical life by being sublimated as ascetic martyrdom. In
business, we all want something, but we must be willing to risk loss in order
to empower our associates, that they might reciprocate.
This risk is no more an
invitation to say “No” than the bondage of the Damsel in Distress is a form of
consent. Disappointments in business are not the results of lofty expectations
but of treacheries; the lofty expectation is, in fact, the End in and of
Itself, the Goal without the pursuit of which nothing good gets done.
When I
throw the ball to you, you do not call me arrogant for expecting you to catch
it, and though I part with it willingly, it is not with the expectation that
you might do with it whatever you will, but rather that you will serve the team
as I intended for you to. So it is in Love, and this is but one function of the
Hero’s encounter with the Damsel in Distress. These stories are not merely the
sublimation of perverse heterosexual fantasies; they are tests in refinement
for deep-seated and inextricable biological impulses. Maturity for the Man lies
in the boy’s ability to set the girl free; maturity for the Woman lies in her
ability to reward him. All else is simply conjecture; the moment that we begin
to deconstruct the intent of the Hero,
“… the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of
thought;
And enterprises of great pith and
moment,
With this regard, their currents turn
awry,
And
lose the name of action.”
The Good Life always comes at a price.
[({Dm.A.A.)}]
The Damsel in Distress is not disgraced by her powerlessness,
since most often it is the fate of those possessing a more mysterious power:
that of vulnerability and innocence. The Damsel in Distress redeems the Hero’s
cumbersome and heavy-handed masculinity, but only by being totally vulnerable
to him, grotesque though this predicament might appear, and rightfully so, for
it was produced by the exploitative means of her villainous captor. The very
distinction between the role of captor and liberator, by one’s own choice,
establishes the boy as a man, superior in dignity.
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