The Gods of the Valley of the Wind-the third, the Forester

Jalyn 2021-11-13 08:01:25



The setting of Forester can be said to be a bright spot in Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. How can people live? How big is our desire? How can we be satisfied? Since ancient times, these problems have been plagued countless people of all generations. No one seems to be able to answer these questions.

The forest man appeared 7 times. The first was when he was hunted down by the monks in Yuba and his party. When the spacecraft was shot down, just as the insect trainers were about to chop off the hand of the fainted Yuba as evidence, they heard the forest man's flute. . The worm trainer respected and feared these ghost-like people, and quickly ran away, and Yuba and his party were saved as a result. In fact, the first time I saw this place, I thought Yuba and the others would be captured and eaten (laughs) The

forest people are actually the most noble family among the ancestors of insect trainers, and they are descendants of the ancient Ivda people. When the tsunami happened 300 years ago, they followed the blue men into the forest. Since then, they gave up using fire, wore insect casings, ate insect eggs, and lived in foam tents formed by insect body fluids... They completely abandoned the city life and chose to integrate with the sea of ​​rot. For the outsiders, the sea of ​​corruption is the object of fear, and for the foresters, it is a warm and comfortable home. On the other hand, the forest also gave them rewards, not only provided them with the food, clothing, shelter, and transportation they needed, but also gave them superpowers, free to talk with their thoughts, and the spirit to escape from the body and wander around... They were still very satisfied with their living conditions. It is, especially far away from the hustle and bustle of the city, and even after the symbol of civilization-fire-is also abandoned, the kind of peace in the heart-tranquility, serenity, full of joy and gratitude, as if under a breeze The calm lake water occasionally produces slight ripples...In fact, such peace and satisfaction is happiness.

There is an experiment on the polyculture of Paramecium, which is very enlightening: the first experimenter mixed the large Paramecium and the small Paramecium in a bottle, exceeding the allowable density, and the result was the result of interspecies competition. , The big paramecium died. For the second time, the experimenter mixed the large paramecium with another species of bag-shaped paramecium. Interspecies competition also occurred this time, but none of them perished. One week later, the two paramecium species that were originally camped for swimming, the large paramecium continued to swim and live in the upper half of the bottle, while the bag-shaped paramecium changed to camp bottom-dwelling life and lived on the bottom of the bottle. Both, especially the bag-shaped paramecium, have changed their habits and living environment, allowing themselves to continue to survive when the environment changes.

Life itself is resilient, which is the manifestation of the greatness of life. Whenever the environment changes and the living conditions of living beings are reduced, the remaining living things can do only two things: fight each other for the remaining resources, and the strong can survive; or adapt to the new environment. Change your habits of living, feeding, giving birth, and even breathing, and get everything you need for survival from the new environment. The former, in order to compete with their close relatives, over time, they become more pointed, claws, and horns larger...; in the latter, they grow lungs, give birth to feet, and spread wings in order to survive in a new environment. ...... This is called evolution.

In the laboratory, the paramecium was like this; the fish that came ashore in the late Devonian period was like this; so did the forest people led by the blue-clothed people when the "big tsunami" occurred. It's just that the subject of evolution at this time is no longer genes, but another important evolutionary factor in biological society in addition to genes-Mi Mi, which is commonly referred to as a "cultural" unit. For a detailed discussion of this, you can see Susan Blackmel's "Mimi Machine", the author is a student of Richard Dawkins I mentioned in "One".

It is conceivable that the forest people must be extremely painful and uncomfortable when they first entered the sea of ​​rot, just like a fish landing on land for the first time. The rotten sea is full of miasma, so you have to wear a mask all day long. You can’t use fire, and you can’t eat the usual delicacy. There are huge and dangerous insects around, and if you accidentally anger them, they will suffer The siege... Amidst so many dangers, it is very difficult to survive. Even with the leadership of the blue-clothed people, it must have suffered a lot and sacrificed a lot. But in the end, they finally adapted to the forest environment, got acquainted with the habits of insects and survived, and felt the joy of life and peace of mind, as well as unprecedented happiness.

So, what exactly is happiness? Are the bag-like paramecium in the laboratory happy? Are the fish that land happy? How many people spend their entire lives in pursuit of happiness, but never find it; how many people smash what they have been struggling to achieve in order to find "true happiness"? What is happiness? Wife? House? vehicle? Is it the heater in winter, or the kitten in your arms? It is happiness to be held by a loved one, and it is also happiness to eat the long-lost red cabbage soup that my mother cooks. Some people say that relaxing in the sun by the sea is happiness. What can be done by the rich and beggars, why should they pursue other things?

In fact, happiness is just a feeling. Everyone's happiness is different. The same person can have completely different happiness in different periods. Therefore, it is impossible to have a unified definition of happiness, just like the concept of "beauty". When you feel that your heart and desires are finally calm and satisfied, that is happiness. In other words, when your heart says "I am happy" to yourself, then you are happy.

Every person living in the world, or every kind of creature, lives in a specific environment. Then, living beings also have an "expectation", or "requirement" for this environment. This "requirement" was originally the stress to natural conditions such as temperature, salinity, and light, and the reason was the optimal conditions for DNA replication and the action of various enzymes. For example, Paramecium has the most primitive salt avoidance and phototaxis, and various organisms have their own survival temperature (freezing to death is actually the weakening of enzyme activity and the stop of metabolism). When it comes to higher animals, because the organizational structure between cells is extremely complex, they have thoughts and formed a society, so the requirements have become more complicated. But no matter what kind of human needs, in the final analysis, it can be considered as a derivative of several basic survival instincts. There are still many works in this area, such as Freud's theory. Then, when the environment is consistent with the "requirements" of organisms, for lower organisms, it is adaptation; for higher organisms, such as humans, it is "happiness".

However, for people, the entire society is also the environment, even more important than the natural environment. The complexity of society and culture makes the standards required by people higher and more complicated. Therefore, sometimes it is not as happy as animals such as cats and dogs. In fact, it is quite sad. It is our civilization that has created so many gaps in our desires, and it seems that it will never be possible to fill them. What is happiness? For us, it can be a car, a house, a spoiled wife, a filial son, or a decent job, being respected, possessing scarce resources, doing what others can't, or all of the above. For other creatures, such as cats and dogs, it's much simpler: three delicious meals a day, a master who takes care of it, and the opposite sex. Many times, we sigh with the innocence of children, and then question what we need? In fact, it is not necessary. When you let go of the complex desires in your heart and return the goal you pursued to the state before the desire was disrupted by the many things you heard and seen, you can also appreciate the innocence and happiness that you have lost.

There are two ways for a person to achieve happiness: work towards and achieve the goal set by oneself, or lower one's goal. Although this latter one sounds incredible, it is factual and more practical. Because civilization brings us too many desires, when you realize one after all the hardships, the other will appear again, and there will never be an end. And if you can recognize the deepest desires in your heart and concentrate on working hard, then you will find that they are not so difficult to satisfy. It should be noted that the reason why children and other small animals are easy to be happy is precisely because their desires are simple. Russell once said: "All I need is plenty of sunshine, fresh air, a quiet environment, delicious food, and a gentle and considerate woman."

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Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind quotes

  • Yupa: [about Kushana's arm] An insect did that?

    Kushana: Yes, and whatever lucky man becomes my husband shall see far worse than that.

  • Kurotowa: She's alive. There goes that dream.