Awaken the lion within you

In my father's name,

‍

My father passed away in 2014 from widespread cancer. He fought like a lion for sixteen years while living with the disease, but one day he decided to let go. He stopped his treatments and allowed himself to drift away. I watched him wither away in body and soul, fading little by little amidst pain, suffering, morphine, and a lack of nourishment. Despite the emotional journey I went through following his death—a small Freudian nod to the name of the Father—what I take away from this experience is not the loss of a loved one, since he is still with me, but rather the sense of courage and strength he demonstrated. He made me feel and understand the paradox of the dynamics of opposites: greatness/smallness, joy/sorrow, finitude/eternity, pain/pleasure. Thus, upon his death, he had given me everything: the capacity for clear thinking (mental strength), integrity (ethical strength), and above all, the courage to lead my life as an intelligent warrior (body/mind balance).

‍

For us as beings of nature, death represents nothing, and it is certainly not a tragedy. It is a natural part of the cycle of life, which blindly reproduces the model of its source: creating humans for the preservation of the species. However, in terms of culture, death is a bereavement, a social event with a predetermined moral framework. This meaning assigned to death (rational, emotional, and moral) represents the transition from nature to culture through this entry process, which applies to any other element that appears in the cultural space-time.

‍

Nature, for its part, is wild, without order or promise. Its beauty is elusive and mysterious. Everything natural is bound to the necessity of the whole that contains it. Once born or cast into nature, no one can save us from the danger of death except for our own vital impulse. As Nietzsche aptly put it: "The animal lives at the tether of the moment", because it can only manage what immediately threatens its "being-there," its existential realm. It is in this sense that we can say instinct does not require explanation or analysis, as it is part of a random chain of events whose causes and components (the law of the jungle) it ignores.

‍

Culture, on the other hand, is our creation. It embodies our desire to banish the fear of death while taming nature through the power of our reason (inventiveness, creativity). We have established the rules for its proper functioning, development, and sustainability. It represents everything our reason has built over the centuries with the dexterity of our bodies. From shelter and tools to clothing, man has bypassed the offerings of nature to then transform his daily life, stripping it as much as possible of its animal texture. When man crafted the first tools, he did not yet know that he was inadvertently and indefinitely opening up the commerce of men, the market of products and services. The simple reason for this mutation was the principle of utility (means to an end), which generated three modalities:

- subject / actor

- object / means

- objective / realization

Scientific advancements, technology, profit maximization, capital gains, investments, and entertainment are all forms of celebrating culture. However, this trend has led to a sort of standardization of individuals for the sake of participating in a common future, while excluding their uniqueness. We must not forget that culture is a system, and like any system, it needs to implement models (norms) whose repetition ensures the control of its maintenance. This is why we have become points on geometric shapes (school, work, couple, family, vacations...), which shout "culture" without listening to the raw effects of the soul: instinct, spontaneity, and authenticity.

Inside each of us burns the fire of our reason for being; it is the power of our desire that makes us sovereign in the narrative of our own story. It is the force that drives us to fulfill ourselves in order to remain alive in the way we choose. We did not create culture just to soften our ties with death. We built a framework to better record the beating of our hearts when passion leads us toward unknown horizons that bear our name, rather than a number in a crowd. 

The lion is considered the king of animals because it embodies courage, inner strength, and a majestic presence. Let us make it the reminder, the awakening, and the reflection of the solar and sovereign power of our spirit, which transforms us into explorers of our own impetuous and sensitive drive.

‍

Thanks, Dad!

‍

‍

‍

‍