Paradise Valley Uptown

Little People Series : III

At 13 years the Masai kid used to travel his bush world alone, kill a lion and return to his home. It is a rite of passage. It denotes the difference between a child and a man. The universal spirit appears to have placed such a responsibility on itself. ' I am the killer and the one killed in my creation,' says Vasudeva in the Mahabarata.

 

The native African lives among the beasts and learns of God's plan in creation. The King of the jungle, the Lion, is ironically most unlike an anima. He prides himself on his looks, golden apearance, mane and powerful strength. He brings his might to defend beauty, in himself and his pride. He will not tolerate a reckless challenge on his beauty.

 

We see examples of such beauty in women in the world. In many cases it is simply beauty, lovely to behold and brings a quiet assurance to our thoughts on humanity's right and wrong. But not all such women preserve their beauty with the tenacity of a lion. The ones who do win a breathless admiration from men and women alike.

 

By extension the Masai is expected to have less problems with lions than beautiful women. In an urbanized environment he treads very carefully on the social rules that are carefully crafted by the women who bring the icing of approval to social manners and decorum. In that he also comes to build a greater appreciation for man the animal.

 

A young African today is most likely expected to be ambiguous about his identification with the  world, instead confines himself to the cultivation of his individual and tribal identity. As the early Egyptian Sphinx may have suggested, the world is quite provided for by the apparent physical nature of beauty in orderliness, the way a Euclidian perception may have conceptualized the phenomenon. We see this in the vistas of modern cityscapes.

 

There continues to be suggestions that the early Nubian kingdoms of Southern Sudan helped conceive the early civilizations of man. Its a thought the young African wrestles with today. In the mind it seeks to find the beauty of its own achievement. Lion hunting, as a solo hunt and cultural trophy, is no longer permitted by the Masai.

 

Reviews

[Britannia]

Like this a lot. like the play of hunting lion and hunting women. Have you lived in East Africa?

[Dayran]

I figure the hunting of women is for self approval. Where that is recognized by the women themselves it makes for quite a social relation. No, I haven't had the opportunity to serve in East Africa.