Popular during medieval and Renaissance Europe, The Great Chain of Being is a hierarchical concept that organizes the entirety of the universe, beginning with God and going down to the lowest of life forms. It ranks every member of creation as a way to understand it and, hence, give deference where deference is due. First, there is the Trinitarian God, and beneath Him, the various orders of angels. After that comes humankind, and then the animal kingdom with its proper order and then the plants followed by the minerals.
On one hand, this cosmic hierarchy is indicative of humankind’s deep urge to organize and classify surrounding creation. We all have a penchant for establishing order out of chaos, which, itself, is indicative of the nature that was bestowed upon us by God. As God established order out of the formless void so, too, do we do the same in our own small but significant ways. On the other hand, however, when we look at what humankind has done with hierarchies, in general, we see quite plainly that their use unleashes in us the baser impulses, namely to assert power over others. We see a hierarchy, and we want to jockey toward the front or, at least, as far as we can go. So we began to expand on the hierarchy. No longer was it just humankind; now the hierarchy broke down to the varieties of humans. I do not want to get into an exploration of colonialism. I have covered it here and still may cover it more down the road. My point is that the lust for power may be humankind’s most prominent Achille’s heel. We as a species are able to look at a thing – in this case, The Great Chain of Being – and manipulate it to the extent that it favors some and not others. We continue to this day to have conversations about inequality in our midst. Not too long ago, the place to jockey for was decidedly male and Caucasian. That was deemed the high point, the favored position. I submit, however, that we are currently in a far worse state of affairs. The goal in this hierarchically-framed contest is to jockey as far to the front as possible. Many decades ago, once again, that position was white and male. What if the new impulse is to jockey even further than that? Toward the angelic? Toward God even?
Consider, dear listeners, what I am proposing.
The Great Chain of Being served humankind well in terms of understanding creation. There is a ranking order. God is at the top. But the stain of sin prompted humankind to abuse that hierarchy – add to it classifications that benefitted some and hurt others. But while we have largely reconciled that wrong, though, admittedly, not perfectly and not completely, the stain of sin remains, which means the Achille’s heel remains. Not vanquished as we have believed. But morphed into an even more dangerous thirst. Being white and male has no more appeal because it has been stamped out by an army of progressives. Now the prize is a higher order. No longer natural but supernatural.
And what would be the result?
What was the result before? The answer is already before us. Abuse. Violence. Degradation of every sort. And though believing that anybody could actually jockey toward and become the angelic or godly is the very height of delusion, this would not impede those who are convinced that they have achieved the impossible from looking down their noses at mere mortals and unleashing a torrent of ill-treatment.
The days of colonization of the outsiders by the insiders are not over. It has only evolved to the point where those in power have god-complexes – have an understanding of themselves that puts them far above the majority in The Great Chain of Being. Therefore, some questions remain: How far will that majority let them run with their delusion? How long before the law of tooth and claw takes over? When will the majority refuse to be pacified by gods of their own making? Though time will certainly tell, history is not without answer.
