I’ve recently come across a book, A Theory of Power by Jeff Vail, which explores the nature of hierarchical relationships. The problem of hierarchy is central to the underlying assumptions of the Domination System and civilization, because much of these things are predicated on the empowering of some people at the expense of others, or the domination and control of some life forms by others. Therefore, understanding hierarchy is a key to finding an alternative to the violence of civilization.

Power takes on a more elemental meaning in Vail’s book than the political definition of power as domination over another; the “power corrupts” idea wouldn’t necessarily apply here. He defines a power-relationship simply as “the ability of one entity to influence the action of another entity.” This is a broad meaning that encompasses everything from the influence of one subatomic particle on another to the effects of the state-governed system. I think it’s useful because some of the primitivist arguments I’ve encountered rather simplistically oppose power, which is seen as evidence of hierarchy; the ideal state of being is therefore one that is without power. But what other kinds of power exist? How they can power be reconceptualized? Are there other ways of organizing numbers of individuals in harmonious ways without relying on unequal, hierarchical power-relationships?

I think this kind of power begins to approach subtler concepts of life-energy. Vail describes aggregates of power-relationships as entities that behave in lifelike ways.

Look to nature: sand dunes, for example … appear as shapes that can act like life forms. Some dunes will channel turbulent wind flows to continuously increase the size of the dune. Other dune shapes will create vortexes that propagate a chain of repetitive dunes extending off from the first. These spectacular dunes consist only superficially of particles of sand. Dig deeper and it becomes clear that their essential substance consists of a network of connections, a pattern of power-relationships. Sand and wind merely represent resources that this entity harnesses. The organizing pattern itself most essentially defines their identity. The pattern-entity of a sand dune serves as an example of a “body without organs”, the concept that the organizing process, the underlying pattern of power relationships represents the true essence and identity of anything.

I think this kind of thing can be readily seen in any field of study — because the relationship of two or more individual objects inevitably begins to form a totality greater than the sum of its parts. Water molecules collectively form tremendously diverse forms — ripples, waves, vortices, storms, hurricanes — that have their own basic personalities and characteristics. You can also see it in human behavior, such as in the stock market, in politics, in consumer behavior. People tend to act as a herd. We readily form ourselves into groups and identify with the larger group, whether in the form of school pride or religious fervor or nationalism.

Vail again:

This group-entity, or culture, is in effect a meta-individual, and is subject to similar internal evolutionary structures as an individual human. Richard Dawkins [author of The Selfish Gene] suggests the name for a component building block in the structure of culture: the meme. The meme is the cultural equivalent of the gene, but unlike the gene we cannot reduce the meme to a tangible particle. It exists only as a pattern of power-relationships — but it acts as one of the most powerful patterns in existence …

Memes drove individuals to act just as genes could: for the benefit of the survival of the meme, even if the meme’s survival came at the expense of the individual. Unlike the gene, however, the meme resides in the group as a whole. It more readily sacrifices a component individual in order to enhance the survivability of the group. Flocks of Seychelles Warblers provide an excellent example of memetic self-sacrifice. Some warblers who have failed as individuals to nest and reproduce will sacrifice an entire mating season acting as tender and assistant to the nest of another warbler in the group. In the process, they deny their own genetic instinct to procreate. Such adaptive altruism ensures propagation of the group’s genetic — and memetic — code …

Memes — ideas or values that reflect or express the inner nature of a group or culture and manifest in behaviors ranging from passing fads to ancient traditions — tend to take on lives of their own; and in so doing, they begin to act in symbiotic ways to the groups that gave them birth. Almost like gods or spirits. So a primitive tribe carries its traditions for hundreds of thousands of years, traditions that include such meme-forces. So we in the modern age are also affected by memes — fashion ideals, stereotypes, beliefs, abstract ideals such as loyalty to the nation, or romantic love. We are moved by these things and they perpetuate themselves within us.

Are we truly free, or are we the agents of other forces — genetic, memetic, or otherwise — acting upon us? When I am thirsty or hungry, when I seek the approval of others, when I act the way my parents do, when I am willing to die for my country — who is really in control?

I am fascinated by this because it begins to resemble something I have alluded to in a previous post. I was drawing from Christian theologian Walter Wink’s book, Engaging the Powers, which was examining the violence of our civilization from an intelligent Christian and nonviolent-resistance point of view.

Wink writes about the concept of Powers that operate in the world:

I am … convinced that no social ethic can be constructed on New Testament grounds without recognition of the role of these Powers in sustaining and subverting human life.

The Powers, unfortunately, have long since been identified as an order of angelic beings in heaven, or as demons flapping about in the sky. Most people have simply consigned them to the dustbin of superstition. Others, sensing the tremendous potential in the concept of the Powers for interpreting social reality, have identified them without remainder as institutions, structures, and systems. The Powers certainly are the latter, but they are more, and it is that “more” that holds the clue to their profundity. In the biblical view they are both visible and invisible, earthly and heavenly, spiritual and institutional. The Powers possess an outer, physical manifestation (buildings, portfolios, personnel, trucks, fax machines) and an inner spirituality, or corporate culture, or collective personality. The Powers are the simultaneity of an outer, visible structure and an inner, spiritual reality.

There seems to be a consonance between the concept of memes and Wink’s concept of Powers. The one describes things from a perspective derived from evolutionary theory, the other from a spiritual perspective, but in essence they each point to one thing: There is a psychic reality underlying the aggregation of individuals that points to more than just the sum of the individuals. There are forces that move through the group, that in many ways seem to drive and control the group rather than being under human control. No wonder that they have been described as demonic entities.

These entities — memes or Powers — are completely natural, being the result of any kind of aggregation of individuals — from atoms to stars. But on a human level, they take on psychological implications, residing as they do in the subconscious; they function to preserve themselves. So in order to truly be free and conscious of the totality of our potential, we must examine the very foundation of our thinking and our behavior, we must look at who we are and who we strive to be. We must ask ourselves what, really, comprises our identity, above and apart from these forces that operate within us, whatever we call them. The existence of such forces, and their influence on our thinking and behavior, should make us look at ourselves and ask why we are who we are, and how to become free from these forces.

I think this is the heart of enlightenment, salvation, or whatever else you want to term it: The freedom to be fully who we are. Such freedom develops in turn from awareness of what makes us who we think we are. The keen capacity to perceive what is real, to discern the illusory creations of our own psyches as well as the illusion that is tradition or egregore formed out of group tradition. Being willing and able to directly perceive the essential meaning of our lives forms the key to freedom and true power.

I don’t really know yet how this all applies to dealing with hierarchy (though Vail gives his own ideas in his book) … But in my mind the heart of freedom and harmonious anarchy seems to be the strength and enlightenment of the individual, so that’s one good starting point.