lore¹ (lɔr, loʊr)

n.

1. the body of knowledge, esp. of a traditional, anecdotal, or popular nature, on a particular subject: nature lore; local lore.

2. learning, knowledge, or erudition.

3. Archaic.

a. the process or act of teaching; instruction.

b. something that is taught; lesson.

 

 

law of the jungle

noun

1.

a state of ruthless competition or self-interest

a code that dictates survival by any means possible, and that is presumed to be in effect among animals in their natural state, or people unrestrained by any established law or civilized personal or civic control. 
 

(Wikipedia)  "The law of the jungle" is an expression that means "every man for himself," "anything goes," "might makes right," "survival of the strongest," "survival of the fittest," "kill or be killed," "dog eat dog" and "eat or be eaten,". The Oxford English Dictionary,^[1] defines the Law of the Jungle as "the code of survival in jungle life, now usually with reference to the superiority of brute force or self-interest in the struggle for survival."

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 'THE CITY IS NOT A CONCRETE JUNGLE-
IT IS AN URBAN ZOO.'

DESMOND MORRIS.

Once upon a time...

...there was a neoliberal economist, who alongside a PR man (who considered himself a disciple of both Edward Bernays and B.F.Skinner), advised the President of the World on many important matters.

The economist, who we'll call Tim (we have to give him a name, after all!), was a proponent of social darwinism, and believed that greed and self-interest represented the greatest values a man could have.

As you can imagine, Tim wasn't a particularly pleasant man to be around (unless you are someone like him),
and actually despite his apparent success in life, was basically empty and unhappy.

Had he heard us say this, however, he would no doubt have grown angry or dismissive, and scoffed at even the idea of such irrational, weak 'sentimentalism'.


Results were what counted- tangible, physical results.
Man is an automaton.
We eat, we fight, we fuck, we sleep, we die.


The markets follow the law of the jungle, and conflict makes the world go round...

Every day....

....Tim, as we're calling him, read and studied, produced and experimented with complex theories and equations, based on game theory, free market economics and modern social psychology.

None of this left much time for a social life, and Tim numbed his emotional and sexual frustration with strong drink, and even stronger porn.


Wars were his favourite hobby.
Not fighting them- no, he was far too clever (and he'd consider himself too important) to do that.
But he did like to watch them, analyse them, and- whenever the opportunity presented itself- cause them (or at least contribute to their taking place, through his economic advice).

War is the natural end- and perhaps even the goal- of certain ways of thinking.

Some considered that the only way to ever achieve peace and end human conflict, would be one great war, that would leave only the 'fittest' alive, with enough resources and space to make competition unnecessary.

Tim was in this camp, but in the meantime goods and services had to stripped from the human garbage that made up the bulk of humanity.


I told you Tim wasn't very nice....

One day...

...the President of the World died, and the new one didn't want anything to do with Tim.

Not because he disagreed with his ideas- he was if anything more extreme, but because he already had his own team of ogres and leeches to twist events.


Tim was thrown into doubt.
Was this an indication of his lack of importance, his irrelevance- his......mediocrity?!

He began to think that he must find a way to claw himself back to the top of the pile;
the only place worthy of a real man.

For many years, he had been convinced that some essential insights into the human realm could surely be found, by observing the desperation, cruelty and ruthlessness of nature.

If he could catch and distil some- as yet unfound- element, if he could deconstruct, describe and claim some fundamental law of the jungle, he would both make his name and fame, and have the secret to unlimited conquest.

At this point, he probably broke into an evil genius cackle!     mwoohahaha!


He decided to go to the source, and set off with a small team to the deepest heart of the rainforest...

Because of that...

...he felt many of the pressures of the modern, 'civilised' world (what does that even mean?!) lift, and he found himself free from worrying about what other people thought.

He could put all of his energies and focus, into discovering the secret of ultimate survival and world domination!


All was going well, until his team all fell ill with some unnamed tropical disease.
They soon died, leaving Tim on his own.

No way would he go back without the key to winning everything, so he struck deeper into the jungle, looking for proof of the nastiness of the Universe.


Of course, if the Universe was always that nasty, he wouldn't have been able to wander for as long as he did, without being eaten up or mauled or poisoned by something or other.
(Actually, if things were as bad as his bitter little mind imagined, life wouldn't have even developed in the first place!)


He became as lost, geographically, as he had always been spiritually.

He wandered for days; hungry, thirsty and desperate, and thought that all was lost-
until the jungle started to.......speak to him...!


Without words or even images, the great, throbbing, living mass began communicating with Tim.
(Who decided that he had gone completely fucking mad!!!)

But after the jungle voice led him to food and water, and made him avoid a huge drop that would surely have killed him, he realised that he was being- he had to admit it..........helped!

If his life hadn't absolutely depended on this phenomena, he would have been utterly disgusted and rejected it, but he was after all willing to follow any method that could lead to his own, personal gain.

Because of that...

...he practically gave up thinking for himself, at least for a while, and his previous ideas didn't exactly get forgotten, but more fell out of use...

He was healthier and better fed than ever before in his life, and had the animals and plants (and let's not forget the voice) for company.

But now, without the alchohol and pornography, his needs and frustrations began to overwhelm him.

One day, whilst wandering through a clearing, he found what appeared to be a garment of some kind.
Picking it up, he could not ignore the smell of feminine sweat coming off it.
His deep desire for company and sex was aroused wildly, and he ran about, looking everywhere for the owner of the garment.

He found nothing and no-one, and was beginning to grow despondant, when he heard a sound behind him.

Spinning round, he was confronted with a number of fierce looking men, pointing crude spears at him (as we've all seen in an untold number of movies! LOL).

To make a short story even shorter (!), after fearing they would kill him, he offered them everything he had, in return for his life.

The men, not understanding his language or gestures, thought he was offering them a gift, and in return let him come to live with them.


The generosity, compassion and friendship these 'primitive' people showed him, broke down once and for all the cynicism in his mind, and finally removed the thorn from his heart.

Until finally...

...having married the female owner of the discarded garment, he took her and returned back to 'civilisation'.


You could be forgiven for thinking that the story ends terribly, with the girl unable to live in the modern world, and Tim treated with scorn, mistrust and contempt.

But the thing that saved them was the voice of the jungle, which stayed with them and always showed them the right things to do and say.

Now Tim saw the world differently, and was able to gradually communicate some of this to others (who were as sad and as lost as he himself had been).


He taught them the law of the jungle, the real one,
the one that lives on in those stories we hear of Eden,
and of the garden with running streams, where the true believers will end their days...