The Individual

Now the third function
 Of
 A mythological tradition
 Is to validate
 And maintain
 A certain moral order
 Now these moral orders greatly differ from one society
 To another
 For example
 The requirements
 Of a primitive hunting community
 Are very, very different
 From a primitive planting community
 What is required of the young men and women
 Is in each case quite different
 Likewise, in a complex
 Society
 Of
 Differentiated
 Tasks
 With professional
 Doctors, Medicines, Medical men
 Astronomers
 Or scientists
 Governing people
 Trading people
 All of these coordinated in one society
 We have a quite different
 Social problem
 Quite different moral problem
 From that of a simple
 Primitive community
 The individual must be shaped
 He must be made to react
 In the way that that culture wants (it to)
 The individual must be shaped (oh)
 He must be made to react (oh)
 In the way that that culture wants (it to)
 And so there is this variation
 From society to society
 In terms of the social orders
 Now some of these social orders
 Are extremely
 Ruthless and fierce in their requirements and extremely
 Narrow
 In their demand
 Individuals may be
 Thus divorced
 Separated
 So to say
 From their own nature
 Read some of the descriptions
 In the anthropological works
 Of the primitive
 Initiation rites
 What is done
 To the young people
 In some primitive societies
 In order to
 Test their courage
 In order to integrate them
 In the social group
 Now most societies
 Are extremely
 Dogmatic
 And fierce
 In their
 Integration
 Of the individual
 The individual is born as a separate
 Entity
 He is carved up
 So to say
 And made to fit
 Into a pattern
 That the society requires
 It doesn't require a total man
 It requires a "part man"
 Not an individual
 But a "dividuum"
 Someone who has been divided up and put into a notch
 The individual must be shaped
 He must be made to react
 In the way that that culture wants (it to)
 The individual must be shaped (oh)
 He must be made to react (oh)
 In the way that that culture wants (it to)
 This happens in the most primitive societies, already
 Nature produces
 This wonderfully
 Rich being
 Full of possibilities
 The society and you cannot blame society
 It requires
 A certain
 Specific - Limited - Type
 It's got to have that otherwise it can't exist
 And so
 The individual is so to say
 Carved into shape
 Scarified
 And teeth knocked out
 His body is changed
 So that he will know
 I'm a member of this group
 Not that group
 The individual must be shaped
 He must be made to react
 In the way that that culture wants (wants it to)
 The individual must be shaped (oh)
 He must be made to react (oh)
 In the way that that culture wants (wants it to)
 The individual must be changed
 He must be made to react
 In the way that that culture wants it to
 The individual must be changed (oh)
 He must be made to react (oh)
 In the way that that culture wants it to
 And
 In so
 Shaping the person
 The person is removed
 So to say
 From his own nature
 From his own nature
 From his own nature
 His own nature