A notion recently came to me about Malkuth, the "real" world. The insight, admittedly, came as a result of mild depression and cynicism. I can describe this insight and perhaps Malkuth as a whole in one word, 'resources'.
I realized that at this level of the game, everything and everyone is a resource. This can be seen on the most obvious level. The Earth harbours tons of materials that we, as humans, can use such as fossil fuels, ores and minerals. These materials are bound together to produce the many toys and gadgets we use daily. For example, cars are built of ores and fueled by fossil fuels while a computer is a complex mix of plastic from oil, copper from ores and minerals such as silicon in the chips and boards.
The Earth is also home to plants and animals who, in turn, are resources for us. Example #1: paper. Trees cut down in vast quantities so they can end up in our mail boxes as junk mail, on our bookshelves or even on the supermarket shelf as packaging. Some animals are purely resources such as cows which are used entirely, flesh and milk for food, skin for leather, bones for our pets or as flavouring for stews and soups. Of course, plants and animals are resources for each other. I think we forget that we're part of that web of resources. Snuggled in our urban fortresses or selecting just the right neatly-wrapped steak at the butcher, we forget that, in Canada, bears are only a few miles away, tearing open the carcass of a deer and the job title of the guy who sold you that steak comes from a verb meaning to slaughter and kill. Conversely, as we are flesh and bone, we are available sources of meat for other animals. A starving carnivore will risk the consequences of killing and eating a human being. I think may well be only the fear of humans that keeps us from being a regular source of protein for some species or another. Of course, fear is no protection from those species that feel none, or at least are on such a scale that fear of humans loses its meaning. Insects, bacteria, viruses and other such creatures constantly feed on us, when we're sick or sleeping and especially when we're dead. Now that the dead are almost entirely reserved to graveyards (or cremation urns), our corpses represent safe buffets for plants and insects.
Leaving the arena of the obvious, even within human society, we aren't so unique and special as we like to believe. I have a job as a web developer, for example. I don't have this job because the company needs me. There are thousands of people who can serve in this function. Like choosing a steak at the supermarket, the company chose me because I had a combination of qualities they felt were suitable. On the opposite end, I whore myself out as a web developer because I need money. This company isn't the only source of money in the world. Again, like choosing a steak at the supermarket, I accepted the job because the company I worked for had reasonable qualities... hehe, to be honest, wanting to offer me a job and not requiring an international flight to commute were the only qualities I was interested in.
Family: Men need women to produce children. We are for the most part attracted to beauty and youth. Many behaviourists believe this is because youth indicates durability and beauty indicates a lack of disease. Childbirth being traumatic, men instinctively seek women who are strong enough to survive childbirth and disease-free so the children aren't flawed. This translates into the 40 yr old with the 18 yr old girlfriend. The guy thinks he won the lottery but really he's just a slave to his instincts. Men who are slightly more free recognize the need for intelligence, compassion and other qualities that will possibly pass down to the child. On the other hand, women need male seed to produce children and they seek men who are competent and strong. Again, moving to the realm of human behaviour, women are also slaves to their instincts. They want a man who is strong enough to protect them and their children, a man who is resourceful enough to build a better than average nest, a man who has power so the resulting children have an advantage of rank in the tribe of humanity. The lowest of women are those who specifically pursue millionaires. Like those men chasing women half their age, wallet-chasing women are slaves to their instincts. More evolved women recognize intelligence, attentiveness and tenderness as more important qualities in modern society. Resources... what genetic and social advantages do you bring to the table for the creation of a family?
I think I discussed love in my section on the heart. Y'know, maybe I'm buying too much of the scientific mindset. This is the problem with modern Western society. The scientific mindset is the standard; we all assume that it's correct and anything else is superstition. Perhaps I'm coming out of my funk and realizing how silly this commentary is. Perhaps I'm sliding back into maya. I feel foolish because Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance tackled this very issue, the idea or realization that the scientific mindset creates a quality-less world and the struggle between the scientific and the romantic. Back on topic, I'll at least finish riding this train to the last station. So, what is love? Big question, probably bigger than can be addressed in my little observation on resources. However, if science is correct than the unconditional love of a child is the love of a child that is totally vulnerable in the world and bonds psychologically with its caregiver. Scientists have experimented with this bond and found results such as birds bonding with golf balls and jeeps. The love of the parent is simply the hope of virtual immortality, the extension of one's DNA into another generation... hehe, the hope that you're not obsolete and your product line (bloodline) isn't end-of-life. The love between two lovers is simply pair-bonding, filling (or disguising) that emptiness within.
We are resources. As a human being, I am a source of meat to animals, a source of work to my employer, a source of immortality to my parents, a source of companionship to my friends and a source of genetic material to my lovers. The Mystical Qabalah lists the virtue of Malkuth as Discrimination. In these politically over-correct times, this virtue may need some explanation. To me, Discrimination means the ability to discern between that which is helpful and that which is harmful. On its basic level, it coincides with imprinting the Anal-Biosurvival circuit where a child learns that mommy is helpful while a hot stove is harmful. More subtly, a rose smells pleasant while poison ivy makes you regret even approaching it. We could go even deeper where investing in Microsoft is safe and profitable while investing in say, Nortel, could have left you penniless.
Something just came to mind and I think it might have something to offer in this contemplation. I recall reading an article on homosexuality through the ages. The author proposed that many of history's greatest geniuses, Leonardo DaVinci for one, were gay. The insight to take from this fact was not that homosexuality makes you creative and intelligent. The point was that heterosexuals almost unanimously pair up and create families. We are finite beings. We only have so much time, money, love and attention to give. Being a parent is a full-time job; add that to the full-time job required to keep the family healthy and most people are exhausted. Now, this is no longer the case, due to options such as adoption, but back then, a homosexual might pair up but there'd be no resulting child and the two could devote themselves to a passion such as art, science, philosophy, etc. Men such as DaVinci may have been genius by birth but their sexual preference gave them the opportunity to be prolific as well.
If we are all resources... if we are humans doing not human beings, we must learn to chart our course with greater awareness and forethought... hehe, sounds like a Jerry Springer Thoughts of the Day, "Don't fuck your sister... especially if she's married to your aunt." Sorry, ran off course there. Down here in Malkuth, we're as far from No Thing as it gets. Everything is a thing and every thing has uses, whether it's a rock or a person and can be manipulated. The world of the many, the cosmic orchestra formed from variety and difference. I have some thoughts on Qliphothic Malkuth but they're not entirely formed as yet. If the Qliphoth are the 'empty shells', what's the empty shell of Malkuth, which strikes me as a nearly empty shell... a mosaic of the many dimly lit by the divine. The core thought, which was the parent of this whole resources notion, was that if everything is useful to something else creating a web of relationships like Indra's Web then perhaps Qliphothic Malkuth begins with those things are ultimately useless... perhaps the web decays with those things that can't be used like toxic waste that has a half-life of 10,000 years or even packaging, a formed plastic shell that goes straight to the garbage, its purpose fulfilled and it spends the next few hundred years trying its best not to rot, useful for nothing and to no one. The less useful a thing is, the less it participates in the orchestra and just takes up space, so to speak.
Well, more food for thought, at least.