The Listening Society: A Metamodern Guide to Politics, Book One

by Hanzi Freinacht

agriculture we have what I call a faustian age; symbol-stage C. I call it “faustian” because people can now reach for power, glory and mastery over others through organized violence and accumulation of military prowess—controlling territories, resources and populations. Like in the story about Faust, you can “sell your soul” for ascension and power. Agriculture brings a first corresponding control over nature, and the end of nomadic life makes possible accumulations of tools created through artisanship, which in turn makes possible and necessitates the differentiation of labor (people become smiths, potters and bakers). In the cultural code produced at this stage you get heroic stories, like Gilgamesh, who in his death lives forever in the walls of Uruk, and the many gods of the Indo-European pantheons, from Greeks to Vikings and Slavs, and their counterparts in e.g. the Aztec faith.