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Chapter 1 : CAGED ANIMALS
In order to find and study caged animals one should go to the zoo. While there are more and less modern and 'natural' zoos, they all share the common feature of possessing animals of disparate origins enclosed in fences and boxes of various sizes. The animals that one finds in the zoo superficially resemble their wild relatives but, on more careful examination, they reveal themselves to be virtually different species of beings.
What applies to other animals is relevant for human animals as well. We are a caged species and collectively we, too, find ourselves in a very large zoo, one of our own making. Similarly, caged and wild human animals are as different from each other as are caged and wild tigers. Actually, the human animals are even more different in their caged and wild forms, since they have been caged for a much longer time than the average zoo animal and have been reproducing in this caged environment now for many generations - a feat often not achieved successfully by other caged species.
One of the principle characteristics of an animal that has lived in a cage for some time is that after a while it internalizes the boundaries that the cage creates. As a result, even if the walls of the cage come down it still remains within the area created previously by these walls.
When a young wild elephant is captured, typically it is tied with heavy chains to a huge tree. Struggle as it might, it cannot break the chains nor pull down the tree. Eventually, it gives up trying to break free. Once this point has been reached, simply by putting a rope around the elephant's neck and tying it to a stake in the ground, the elephant is prevented from escaping. It perceives itself to be in the same situation that it was in before and so it does not even attempt escape despite the reality that it could do so easily.
Likewise humans. Generations of our species, bred and raised in captivity, have internalized the external cages created frequently thousands of years ago and stand there with the walls down and the gates open, inside the boxes which sometimes exist only within ourselves, not daring or even imagining that we could take those steps forward.
When I indicate that zoo and wild animals are very different, for anyone who has ever been to a zoo and who has had the opportunity to observe animals in the wild, it should be obvious that the zoo version of the animal is clearly the much inferior of the two. In addition, despite the apparent safety and security of food supply within the zoo, its existence there is pitiful. Many zoo animals cannot make the adjustment and simply die. Those that do survive appear to be all but dead, in spirit at least. So, too, the humans.
Caged existence has a profound effect upon the character and health of the human animal. This is most notably so when the animal has given up hope of escape. The most pronounced feature of this state is depression. Understanding at some fundamental level the inevitable destruction that caged existence represents, the creature perceives no solution to the fulfillment of its genetic imperative. An overriding state of sadness and hopelessness takes possession of its being. This depression is often combined with panic and anxiety as the individual glimpses the meaning of the pit in which it finds itself. Its energy is diminished or it becomes hyperkinetic in response to its restrictions. Its sleep is disturbed again either becoming excessive or insufficient. Its eating is altered in some form. Its sexual pattern is impaired and perverted.
Due to the painful reality of the cage, it seeks out means to cope with the pain. The coping mechanisms come in many forms - food, sex, drugs, religion, fantasy, status and materialistic pursuits, obsessive attempts at control internally or externally - but they all have the same purpose. They are developed to kill the pain that caged reality brings so as to achieve some form of internal escape for a creature that perceives no real option to get out of its cage. All of these coping mechanisms have their destructive side-effects which simply compound the hell in which the individual finds itself.
Due to these side-effects and simply due to the non-expression of the basic genetic program, the animal develops organ dysfunction - physical disorders of one kind or another. Virtually every physical medical disorder has a component which directly or indirectly is caused or exacerbated by the caged form of being. Some of the more obvious and common conditions directly due to being caged are headaches, digestive problems, asthma, allergies, skin disorders, chronic musculoskeletal dysfunction, and immune system disorders.
The character of the caged human is affected as well. While obviously varying from individual to individual, certain patterns emerge. Above all, it betrays its genetic program and as a function of that strives to be that which it is not, hating what it actually is.
It attempts to hide from confronting itself and reality in general in order to escape the pain that such confrontation will bring. It procrastinates, avoids setting goals, and tends to feel overwhelmed when a problem eventually catches up with it. It is fearful, lacking confidence in itself, and in its ability to function adequately, sometimes deservedly, sometimes not. It is dependent on others both physically and emotionally and wishes to enslave others to it in dependency as well. Caged existence has led to its becoming less and less intelligent. Commonsense diminishes and stupidity increases unchecked as it can only within the cage. It makes unhealthy choices, leading to its further demise.
It lives in a world of shame and guilt. It is dishonest and indirect in dealing with others. Its creativity declines and, when expressed, is directed either toward the generation of some new coping mechanism or as an expression of its painful state.
It is careless in every respect. It does not value its own life and if and when it does invest itself in other humans typically does so to its own detriment and generally to theirs as well. Its relationships are either non-existent, or shallow, or pathological, and are had with others who have similar low anti-life standards and values. Having betrayed its genetic agenda, its relationships with those who are most significant from the genetic perspective tend to be the most pathological of all.
Its sexuality is in disarray. It has difficulty defining its sexual identity and its healthy gender roles. It tends to be hyper or hyposexual and, in the perverse reality in which it dwells, is drawn to perversity in its sexual activity as well. As a result, its sexual life is generally unsatisfying and problematic, as are the dynamics between the sexes. Its existence tends to be one of frustration and disillusionment.
It lives with emptiness and regret. Little real evolution takes place within its life. It defines itself early on and spends the rest of its days stuck in the same loops, trying to justify them. As a result, whatever vitality that may have miraculously sprouted through the cracks in the concrete of the cage withers and dies, so that long before taking the final breath only a shell or shadow remains.
Life becomes an exercise in suffering and pain. Managing to exist and control the pain becomes the best possible outcome aspired to. A dullness and grayness of being and experience becomes the norm. And so it is to some greater or lesser extent for the caged human animals. Locked in and blocked with no apparent exit, they pass their days waiting for the end.
It should be noted that there exists a subspecies of human that truly prefers caged existence.
I call these Homo Sapiens Domesticus.
This group has selectively survived and evolved within the zoo, outside of this reality this creature perishes - and it recognizes this to be so. It loves the bars and walls and the security that they bring. It hates and is fearful of the wild.
Domesticus has appeared over the history of human caged existence and affirms all that is the cage. As part of this, the characteristics of the caged ones just described are developed to the highest extent possible by this subspecies and are redefined - instead of being deficiencies and vices, they are considered to be values and virtues.
As time goes by and humans stay longer and longer in their cages, domesticus becomes less and less a subspecies of homo sapiens and more and more the predominant version of who we have become. Like birds that evolve to have gray feathers as their camouflage to survive in polluted environments, we are adapting to fit into the zoo that we have created.
There are still some humans, however, who do not aspire to adapt to the caged environment, who do not long to become part of the domesticus subspecies. At present they exist in great conflict, both internally and externally, as they continue to exist within the zoo while seeking a way out.
This book was written to facilitate the accomplishment of this goal. It can be done.
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