Of Men, Kings and Gods

One of my favourite films is the Man Who Would be King (it is a bit of a "dad" movie so I can now watch it with satisfaction rather than a mild feeling of being older than my time). Anyway, the story which inspired Rudyard Kipling the author (by the way a Freemason) of the book upon which the file was based, was that of Josiah Harlan (also a Mason by the way) who was a wild adventuring sort of chap. He was born in Chester County Pennsylvania and after travelling in Asia then returning and jilted by his sweetheart decided to leave America and try his luck in the East. After much more travelling and mishap he was made Prince of Ghor in Afghanistan and had a pretty happy time of things until the Kingdom was plunged into turbulence by the machinations of Russian Agents and British Armies. He eventually died, back in America, in the 1870's.

Musing on Harlan got me to thinking about other people whose lives have been dramatically transformed and there are two I would like to draw to your attention.

The first is the Frenchman and one-time king of the Mapuche indians - Orelie-Antoine de Tounens (one of my ancestors is Mapuche so their fate is close to my heart). The Mapuche had managed to hold off the Spanish colonial forces for several hundred years - being the only aboriginal South Americans to remain independent (admittedly perhaps aided by living in the most remote part of the continent). However, once Chile was established they were steadily plundered and their land stolen (receiving similar treatment to that dealt to the Plains Indians of North America). This treatment inspired the bold French Lawyer named above to travel and organise a defence of the Mapuche - proving himself a highly capable figure. He was anointed King but sadly captured by a Chilean patrol, tried and would have been freed if the court had not decided that no sane white man could believe that the "savage" Mapuche deserved their freedom, or to control their own land - therefore he must be insane. Thus a great and noble man has gone down in history as mad. He died a broken man, although remembered fondly in Mapuche lands.

Finally, last year, a British chap called Stephen Louis Cooper who had dropped out of university degree and then drifted through jobs in the UK decided to travel to India. His time in the country proved rather fruitful. At last note, he had been recognised by the people of Becharaji in Gujarat as Pema (Lotus), a recognised messenger of the god Bahuchur, and thus something of a "living god" himself. He seemed darn happy in his role and old pals from Britain wished him well but I think he was having difficulty with the Indian immigration authorities in extending his 6 month leave to remain in the country. It seems that nowadays even the divine suffer with bureaucracy.

It may not be obvious, but these three men go to the heart of my purpose with this blog. Each of them sought, or has apparently sought, to help their fellow man and has travelled to do so. They are not conventional in any meaningful sense but I feel are more civilised than much that surrounds us. The French historian, politician and writer Francois Guizot remarked that civilisation is "the amelioration of society by means of the (moral) amelioration of the individual". All of the above would (to my mind) meet this definition better than most people (like myself) in the developed cities of the West, where we now mark progress less in terms of "moral amelioration" than by trivial concerns or conspicuous consumption. The cities of the developing world make this even more stark - for the poor survival itself is such a struggle that Guizot's "amelioration" is not really feasible, whilst the wealthy seem to become increasingly corpulent and ever further from grace. Anyway, I had better get my supper and close this pontification.