© Eso Antons Benjamins, a.k.a. Jaņdžs

NOT-VIOLENT TERROR
63 The Future of The Wuerzeltod (I)

When Bishop Albert sent his knights to burn and destroys Jersika, he was hoping not only to destroy a kingdom, but to disembody proto-Latvians who were its inhabitants by burning their idols. If he were to succeed in his endeavor, the exercise would not kill so many people as make those not killed “Wuerzeltod”. Wuerzeltod means, in this setting, a people become spiritually-psychologically dead to their roots, an uprooted people in their own garden. That is how a people can keep their language, but the language loses much of its spirit, which is replaced by, let us say, a foreign object.

Without their idols (cultural objects instilled over the centuries with memories of traditions, which had the power to heal the soul every time some defeat, including illness, visited the people) the Jersiks would be unable to re-embody their bodies with their former spiritual selves. In effect, Bishop Albert hoped to make the Jersiks obedient to him and other lords in Riga. Under Riga’s tutelage [Riga, the new para-normal Jerusalem] the defeated and humiliated Jersiks would be denied the right to repossess their former and own spirits. They would be remade as neo-Christians, i.e., post-Jersika Jersiks become Wuerzeltod to their old spirit as well as spirits.

The burnt idols of Jersika were replaced by various neo-Christian saints, all of who implicitly and explicitly denied their predecessors, the itinerant Johns, existence. Denied, too, were the shamans-healers (dziednieki, literally sing-healers), priests, and all that was sacred to those who—through struggles of many millennia—had created their own vision of Jerusalem*. The Jersiks and all people about were caused to pray to a chronal mirage sent by Rome. The mirage was of the head of a man enveloped by a circle, a halo laid down by goldleaf, which gave it a para-normal appearance. But whereas the Jersiks would have called the icon the head of John (Jānis), Son of the Sun, the man from Rome, the Pope, called it Jesus Christ, Son of God. No doubt, the Wuerzeltod, that is to say, the body with little or no memory of its past, transferred its need for a spirit to Jesus. The process of transference was made easier through many para-psychological tricks, violence being its primary tool. Because Jesus himself had been one of the Johns and was killed by the Brotherbund of Rome, John was reembodied in Jesus by violent conversion, which was then glued to the communal memory through the demand of continuous confession and a written history that never was. Since the art of writing and the art of printing belonged to the powers that be, the Brotherbund was able to force the graft to grow roots.

Given such a background, we now must move forward in our reconstruction of the Latvian myth as it might have moved forward had the making of myth not been forbidden to proto-Latvians. We must return to John Visvaldis, King of Jersika, and ask: Why had the Jersiks followed this leader? What was his magic attraction?

If the Children of Johns in King John Visvaldis’ keep had followed their “John Awesome” [Visvaldis = (literally) Ruler Over Allness, an Allness that is an equivalence not of ‘all’ (viss), but Visums (Allness)], they most likely did so in deference to the not-violent terror the King inspired. Such an inspiration from the King came by way of the King’s forebears, all of who had ended their life at a ripe old age, but which age was ended by way of what the Cathars called the endura. When the Cathar perfecti or priests felt that their hour had come, they called for their descendant-to-be to offer them consolamentum (literally to consol them), after which they no longer took food. The offering of consolamentum was also a form of oath-taking by the one who offered it, that is, he-she swore to uphold not-violent rule in the same manner than the one who was taking the consolance and was departing. When a perfecti died, he transferred to his-her descendant(s) great charismatic authority. Similar practices were in existence among most of the heredici—including (we surmise) the Children of Johns of Jersika.

The neo-Christian brethren were able to destroy the old bonds of loyalty among the Children of Johns because they were in effect aliens. They were not of the culture of Johns, but belonged to what in our own day is known as capitalist culture, a culture that enriches its adherents and not the temple. In due course, the para-normal sheen of gold on the halo of the icon is scraped off and converted to coin.

To be awesome is to inspire no ordinary respect, but to be inspired by terror, not-violent terror. Even if appearing fearless before death may not be all that it seems (all are apprehensive before it), it, nevertheless, has enough traction-terror to prevent a community of which John(s) are the leaders from dissolving into Wuerzeltodness—rootlesness.

King John Visvaldis was the root, stem, and branch of the Children of Johns. We might say, that the Jersiks, the Children of Johns, were the leaves of the tree trunk that represented the king. Neither leaves could be without the trunk, nor the trunk could be without the leaves. Ideally speaking, if a storm felled a tree, the roots would send forth new shoots, and the kingdom, the stem (or the Donjon, Don-Jon, who stands for ‘John of Johns’) would have another go at sprouting and growing into a tree peopled by a society of leaves.

At the same time that not-violent terror created, bonded, and maintained a society, no one who was of it ever forgot that both individuals and society are not immortal. Before immortality immortalized itself upon society with such violence as overcame the Jersiks and has become commonplace in our day, mortality was accepted as a reality of the Great Being itself. This is why a seed was and remains such a wonder. It flies to the winds of fate, and fate finds it another place to root or not. Meanwhile, King John Visvaldis held the community of the Children of Johns together whether the community was in situ or in motion, travelling.


Asterisk & Notes of Interest:

*Jerusalem = Yaroslav. The meaning of this name is hid behind a thick veil, but it becomes easier to decipher if we split the word into yaro + slav. Yaro is somehow related to ‘year’, which may reflect a tradition of an ancient annual sacrifice ritual. In Latvian the word ‘yehrs’ (jērs) means lamb. For ‘slav’ see here and read under Ethnonyms until you come to the theory that the name may once have meant worshippers. In my interpretation the name stands for ‘the lamb of peace’ sacrificed at an ancient ritual invoking peace. Thus, the name ‘Jersika’ in Latvian may once have meant “the land of peace”.

On material depravation material depravation  in Latvia.


On the theme of “more-equal-than-others”, re Animal Farm.
An eyeball view of Latvia (and its forests) company map; satellite map. While some sources claim that Latvia is 47% covered by forests, none of it is old growth forest. The Latvian news media provides little coverage of the rapid pace of deforestation. Anecdotal evidence of deforestation in progress from a neighbor: “There were fewer mushrooms this fall than last year. Forests we used to visit are gone.”

Google software to tell effects of deforestation deforestation. 

Of great interest to me this and like articles this and like articles. It presents some of my reasons for supporting the growing of Johns Grass in Latvia.

Favored serendipidous click or “chronal mirage” on the internet. I was searching for a relationship between the burning of Jersika and heretics in Lanquedoc, France. You must read the text at near the end of the scroll, re image of “The Burning of St. Joan”, Monday, September 03, 2007, to get the point. 

My most unappreciated work—so far, re “Tiresias’ Revenge”, my reinterpretation of Sophocles’ “Oedipus Rex”. I believe that Sophocles had to hide the true meaning of his play for political reasons. It is apropos of the political situation in the world today, also in Latvia. The play may be found at Blogs 40 through 47. Start read with Blog 40.

These blogs tend to be a continuum of an idea or thought, which is why—if you are interested in what you read—you are encouraged to consider reading the previous blog and the blog hereafter.

Partial entries of my blogs may be found at LatviansOnline LatviansOnline + Forum Home + Open Forum –ONLATVIANPOPULISM vs LATVIJASLABEJIE. If you copy this blog for your files, or copy to forward, or otherwise mention its content, please credit the author and http://esoschroniclnes.blogspot.com/