Civilization as a Martial Endeavor

To the layperson, the task of civilization seems to constitute a finite effort with a clearly defined endpoint.  This illusion stems from the physical manifestations of civilized human interaction such as roads, buildings, transportation methods, and tools.  However, these objects are mere relics of the behavioral and martial origins of civilization.  To achieve a civilization requires 2 elements: control of sexuality and control of violence.

These preconditions are mutually dependent.  When sexuality runs amok, violence follows.  For example, consider how criminal violence seems to parasitically accompany prostitution.  In equal measure, when violence is widespread, sexuality is unhinged.  Consider any war zone where a country's men are killed off and their women raped.  Soldiers who can kill at ease need not respect social control of sexuality.  When a society loses control of sexuality, its means of reproduction, including reproduction of socially important ideas and habits, is compromised.

The process of civilization is an inherently gendered effort due to the roles played by men and women in the means of reproducing people and ideas.  Women act as gatekeepers who hold the social responsibility of choosing fathers and giving birth.  Men act as supporters in the birthing process and assume a crucial later role in civilizing their children by transmitting ideas and habits which enable them to best control violence and sexuality in their own lives.  This cycle either repeats across generations or is interrupted, leading to the original state of nature where violence and sexuality are unrestrained.

Maintaining the enterprise of civilization requires both women and men of autonomy.  The herd takes comfort in the state of nature leaving the weakest to fend for themselves against merciless death and suffering.  Women and men who can live separately from the herd, control their own sexual selection, and refine their responses to violence are able to transcend the state of nature to engage in productive behavior which creates all the physical manifestations of civilization: from the wheel to the rocket ship.

In women, civilization is best expressed through the selection of appropriate fathers for their children.  You can judge a woman's savagery by the quality of her mates.  Women who seek out and copulate with drug users and deadbeats are savages who will produce unsuccessful offspring.  They are actively choosing a society of greater violence and promiscuity by rewarding and reproducing men who are impulsively violent and ultimately carrying children who will repeat this cycle.  Women who seek out and copulate with men who invest in future generations are forces of civilization.  They ensure that their children will be shown civilized conduct and educated in ways that accentuate autonomy and strength.

In men, civilization is best expressed through control of violence, which requires martial strength and bravery.  This does not mean a proclivity to engage in violence, but to neutralize conflict.  Men who use aggression to force the compliance of others are savages.  Men who can anticipate, prevent, and neutralize violence are forces of civilization.  At the physical level, this demands fighting ability.  At the verbal level, this requires diplomacy.  Both are necessary attributes of a man with the strength to maintain and transmit civilization.  You can judge a man by his awareness, will, and skill in conflict.

This post should reflect that civilization is not a 'thing' in the objectified sense, but is an ongoing pattern of behavior between women and men.  Walking the martial way can help people of both genders to fulfill their roles in reducing conflict and developing their self control to become forces of civilization strong enough to persist across generations.