Savagery

For some strange reason I'm in a philosophical mood...

Benjamin and I have been reading the book, Lord of the Flies, by William Golding.  It has been 27 years (where does the time go?) since I last read this disturbing book.  Benjamin is 11 years old, and during various parts of the book, I asked myself if perhaps the subject matter was too intense.  I think the book shows, however, in events that a young boy can understand, some important learning points about human behavior.

In a nutshell, here's a brief plot summary if you haven't read the book or if, like me, it's been a coon's age (raccoons actually don't live that long) since you've read it:

A group of young British boys survive a plane crash on a deserted island with no adult survivors.  They pull themselves together and drawing on skills they've been accustomed to in a civilized society, they elect a leader, Ralph, and organize themselves with assemblies, tasks necessary for survival, and rules that govern their "society."  Ralph is the leader, but Piggy is the brains behind the operation.  Piggy also has the spectacles used for starting fires.

All seems to be going well until a rival leader emerges, some of the boys don't want to work, and they become fearful of a "beast" that supposedly inhabits the island.  These conflicts drive a wedge in the initial unity.  The rival leader, Jack, organizes a hunting party that kills wild pigs.  Instead of keeping a fire going to alert rescuers, the hunters let the fire go out in order to go hunt pigs.  These hunters, led by Jack, become more and more bloodthirsty, begin painting themselves, and develop a dance and chant.  The "Lord of the Flies" is actually a pig's head on a stick that the hunters put as an offering to the beast, showing their descent into savagery. 



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One of the boys, Simon, discovers that the Beast is not a beast at all.  He understands while standing in front of the pig's head, that "the beast" is inside them all.  Actually, they've created the beast.  Simon hurries to the beach to tell the others but stumbles out of the jungle and into the midst of the frenzied, chanting, dancing "savages" who promptly stab and kill him, mistaking him for the beast.  There is a heaviness about their action, but no one wants to speak of it.  Jack's mutinous 'tribe' separates themselves from Ralph and Piggy and a few others.  They attack Ralph's small tribe in the night, beat them and steal Piggy's spectacles.  He can't see without them.



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The next day Ralph and Piggy go to meet the other tribe at Castle Rock to get Piggy's glasses back.  One of the boys leverage a large boulder that falls on Piggy and kills him.  This time there is no remorse.  In fact they all chase Ralph with spears and hunt for him like a wild hog, intending to kill him.  Just prior to Ralph being killed, a British cruiser arrives and a British officer saves Ralph from the savages and tells them that he expected better from British boys.

Heavy stuff, I know.  The book is full of symbolism and I'm certainly not smart enough to figure it all out, but it deals with the conflict between group and individual thought and goals and between civilized, moral behavior and savage behavior.  The author of the book, Mr. Golding, stated the theme of the book as follows:

"The theme is an attempt to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature.  The moral is that the shape of a society must depend on the ethical nature of the individual and not on any political system however apparently logical or respectable."

This is very, very interesting to me.  I try to view things through a spiritual lens.  I try to filter events of the day through that lens.  Everything I do from farming to life, I want to view from that lens, specifically a Biblical Worldview.  I see the parallels of the boys on that island to the current culture we live in.

The boys initially had rule of law and operated under a code, an order and guiding principles, but they soon fell away from those constructs due to the corruptness that resided within them - their fallen nature.  I feel that this mirrors our present situation.  As a people with laws based off of Scripture and time-tested Judeo-Christian values, we had a touchstone, a North Star, if you will to help us determine right from wrong.

We've strayed.  We are now immersed in a post-modern culture engrossed in moral relativism.  You have your Truth.  I have mine.  I think about the last verse in the Book of Judges that says:

In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.  Judges 21:25

Aren't we there?  Everyone does what is right in their own eyes.  Our spiritual moorings to Truth have been cut and we find ourselves drifting farther and farther away, driven like savages or barbarians toward our base desires, lusts and greed.  Like Ralph, Piggy and the boys in "Lord of the Flies," we started off good, but we've gotten off the path and are well on the way to savagery.  We know better - or we should know better than the depravity we've fallen into.  We're better than this.  We need to return to our spiritual moorings.  I believe in the Absolute Truth found in the Bible, God's Holy Word. 

'Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place-- unless you repent.'  Revelation 2:5

God's a God of second chances.  As believers, we can repent and turn to Him and He, like the British officer will "rescue" us.  If we don't know Him, we can turn to Him, trust Him and be rescued as well.  As the author of the Lord of the Flies stated, no political system can save us, no human institution or association can protect us from the beast within.  Our very society depends upon the ethical nature of individuals.  I submit that those ethics are driven by Truths from the Word of God and we'd be wise to return to them.