zeus' law

Zeus’ Law

Civilisation is founded upon principles, not written or coded, but nevertheless immutable. Uphold these principles and civilisation evolves and flourishes.  Treat these principles with contempt and chaotic consequences are inevitable.  Order becomes disorder. This is the presupposition behind Zeus’ law.

Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is his interpretation of Homer’ epic tale, scholars and movie buffs have every right to question his insights and accuracy; however, Nolan has brought this epic tale into commentary with the age through which we and civilisation as we have known it, are journeying.

Mythological story telling is not about the past, but a means of interpreting the present.  In Nolan’s movie, as Odysseus journeys home from the Trojan war, he faces the consequences that follow his serious breach of Zeus’ law in the manner of his victory. The trojan horse was not the problem, the massacre that followed was the problem. Principles of mercy, respect for the other and the sanctity of life were abandoned.   The crisis created by this breach of immutable laws is that the levies that hold back disorder have been breached.  How is order now to be restored?

In this Greek mythological epic, Homer (and Nolan) struggle with the same dilemma addressed in the creation narrative of Adam and Eve, Noah and the flood.  Humanity’s paradox is that while we long for order, our desire for possession and power distances us from what we need and desire the most, intimacy and the comfort of meaningful relationship with others, and with the created order.

It is difficult to believe that in scripting the movie Nolan did not have Trump and the MAGA movement in mind.  Trump, those who support him, and those who play his soundtrack, are cutting down principles upon which Western civilisation is founded and reshaping the world after his image.

A rules-based order is essential to enable cooperation, shared responsibility and openness.  A rules-based order treats all people equally. To enable full-hearted engagement with community, nation, and international community, we need assurance that the rules are the same for everyone.

Under Trump, commitment to a rules-based order is not simply abandoned, its existence is despised.   The incursion into Iran was not legal.  There was no immediate threat to the US that needed to be countered. Support for Israel, necessitates support for behaviours that justified condemnation by the international criminal court.  The total global community is suffering the consequences of this illegality through the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump’s Tariffs have been declared illegal by his own supreme court.  The new tariffs, justified on the basis that traders have used forced labour is a sham, a devise to inappropriately apply a long-forgotten provision in US trade regulations.

Manipulating the law to serve vengeance has become established practice.  

Manipulation of the justice system to serve sectional interest undermines confidence in the rule of law. Those who support the political aspirations of Trump are pardoned despite serious breaches of the law, while his critics face persecution and contrived charges.

Most seriously, wealth has become the end game.  Those who use their power to accumulate wealth are lauded, even though their wealth has been accumulated at the expense of others. Those who seek to serve are derided. Trump’s deriding of the late Senator John McCain who was shot down and imprisoned while on service in Vietnam illustrates, in the most distasteful manner, how Trump measures winners and losers.

When virtue is replaced by monetary value as the standard of success, civilisation is corrupted.   “The art of the deal” is undermining the meaning of alliance, trust, friendship, loyalty.

That something is wrong, is intuitively felt in the general population, and is reflected in current political upheaval. 

The irony is that in finding a way out we look in the wrong direction.   It is the wrong direction to applaud those who invest in grievance. Grievance is personal, it is also a tool for manipulation, not renewal. The way forward cannot be personal but must be communal.  We are who we are because of where and to whom we belong. Contentment and fulfilment depend less on our personal wealth and more on the wealth of the community.

In the Christian tradition, the circuit breaker is the cross: generosity of spirit, grace, and a preparedness to pay the necessary cost of reform and renewal. The way forward is honesty and respect of the other.  Human life is always transitional.  What was possible, desirable, yesterday cannot remain the same today.  Honesty is required as a desired tomorrow is envisaged and resources invested to enable its arrival.

We are living through a period on par with a Greek tragedy.  It need not be so. We know what the problems are. Power and wealth are held by the few, who, never sated, seek more at the expense of long-term harmony and sustainability.  The ‘art of the deal’ needs to be named for what it is – the tool of the greedy and vacuous.
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Visit any third world community, even Gaza, even now, experience the strength of community and the laughter of children and realise that what matters most lies in plain sight.