The last chapter in Chris Hedges' masterful book War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning discusses Freud's fascinating theory that human nature is torn between two motivating forces: love and death (annihilation).
"...the Eros instinct, the impulse within us that propels us to become close to others, to preserve and conserve, and the Thanatos, or death instinct, the impulse that works towards the annihilation of all living things, including ourselves. "
Regarding war, Freud was pessimistic that it would ever be eradicated. The inner-drive of death is too strong.
This chapter consists of some incredibly poignant and disturbing stories told by people who have witnessed war and death first hand (i.e. Sen. Bob Kerrey who revealed in 2001 that he was involved in the slaughter of a village full of women and children).
Hedges also discusses our role in the perpetuation of Thanatos by buying into the myths of war. He contrasts this with the dichotomy that exists between soldiers and citizens at home, specifically that the soldiers find they can't fit back into society because of how society is lost in a fog of myths and lies.
"There is among many who fight in war a sense of shame, one that is made worse by the patriotic drivel used to justify the act of killing in war. Those who seek meaning in patriotism do not want to hear the truth of war, wary of bursting the bubble. The tensions between those who were there and those who were not, those who refuse to let go of the myth and those that know it to be a lie feed into the dislocation and malaise after war."(page176)
In light of this, Hedges frames this chapter with an amazing yet disturbing poem by Philip Larkin that addresses our nature to go along with life and avoid the realities of war and death.
Beyond all this, the wish to be alone
However the sky grows dark with invitation-cards
However we follow the printed directions of sex
However the family is photographed under the
flagstaff--
Beyond all this, the wish to be alone
Beneath it all desire of oblivion runs
Despite the artful tensions of the calendar,
The life insurance, the tabled fertility rites,
The costly aversion of the eyes from death--
Beneath it all desire of oblivion runs.
If you have not picked up your copy of this book, run out and get it now.
P.s. Have I told you that this book was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction?
