The Desire for Purpose

Posted by Tanos on Wed 16 Jan 08, 12:07 AM

Recently I've got interested in general motivations: what is the most general framework for why people do things? Are people following specific drives imposed by evolution, or is there some universal, such as Nietzsche's claim that everyone's motivation is The Will to Power. But how can that be true in a world with consensual submissives?

I've pretty much managed to avoid Nietzsche over the years, but my initial impression is that Nietzsche was biased by his own rather controlling and independent nature, just as Greek philosophers tended to view everything from the point of view of educated men with free time to debate philosophy, which led them to describe slaves and women as flawed versions of free men.

Evolution does provide tempting justifications for the claim that living organisms have a Will to Power rooted in their chemistry, instinct or subconscious. Power in Nietzsche's sense - that is, the occupation and control of space and other resources - seems like exactly the kind of thing organisms need to survive and reproduce. But then it's clear that the world isn't like that, and organisms don't all evolve in the direction of dominance: ivy is quite happy just using tree trunks to climb up towards the sunlight, without feeling the need to evolve into a parasite, dig vampire roots down into the sapwood, and start secreting hormones to direct the tree's growth.

What about humans? Well again, a lot of strategies are possible and whilst being tribal leader can lead to you secretly, and not so secretly, fathering 50% of the next generation in some cultures, not everyone is going to be born into that role or be able to fight for it.

But whatever strategy is best in evolutionary terms for your particular circumstances, it's still a strategy and pursuing that strategy is a purpose: hang on to the leadership inherited from your father; fight your way to the top; make the most desirable arrows and always get a good share of everyone's kills; look after your own family; sow as many wild oats as you can because chances are you'll be dead by twenty anyway.

So it's not hard to see why having a purpose feels so right for people, however serious or trivial the purpose may seem, although most people agree that worthwhile purposes are the most satisfying.

What I've realised recently is that the desire for purpose can apply equally well to leaders and followers: leaders are people who want to choose their own worthwhile purpose; followers are people who want to choose a leader who will provide them with a worthwhile purpose.

I've deliberately used "leaders" and "followers" rather than "dominants" and "submissives" since I think this is a wider point than the world of D/s, which tends to focus on relationships with some kind of sexual basis.

This means that my essay The Women Who Take Their Mate as a Master, about evolution and enslavement relationships between male dominants and female submissives, was describing one example of this general framework of leaders, followers and purpose.

Edited Thu 17 Jan 08, 12:29 PM by Tanos