While recently doing a crossword, the answer to the clue was “kowtow,” which means a formal act of kneeling and touching the forehead to the ground to show total respect, submission, or worship. In Imperial China, - ‘kou’ - to knock + ‘tou’- head = ‘koutou.’ The custom was common in China by the time of the Qin dynasty ( 221 - 206 BC). It was performed by the commoners to magistrates, by the emperor to the shrine of Confucius, and by foreign representatives to the emperor. It was also widely used to show respect for one’s elders or superiors. Confucian philosophy required great reverence to be shown to one’s parents and grandparents. At a wedding, the couple was traditionally required to kowtow to both sets of parents as an acknowledgement of the debt owed for their nurturing. After the trade conflicts in the mid 19thC, the act was abolished for Western envoys but the word was adopted into English. The standing bow has replaced the kowtow and is seen to express profound gratitude, apology, or to be for forgiveness.
The modern meaning of kowtow is to act in a groveling, subservient, or obsequious manner thus showing excessive submission. No modern child would consider kowtowing to their parents or elders as even token respect seems to have been lost. There are, despite the act fading into the mists of history, those individuals who would delight in having others kowtow to them. Power is a heady brew when wielded by mean spirited persons who feel entitled to control the lives of those forced into submission to them. Petty tyrants exist among bosses, world and religious leaders, and in homes where domination is practised.
There’s a fine line between brutality and authority and we must be watchful lest it rear its ugly head. Respect is due the planet and each other but it seems to have been negated. While there are those in power who will seek to have others kowtow to them, ultimately, Mother Nature is far more formidable and having been disrespected, she has true power to bring us to our knees.
I loved this!!!!!!!!!!
Many years ago, I read an article written by an economist who called this dynamic "Mother Earth's invisible hand" . . . which is everywhere right now (and always has been). Until we change our exploitative paradigm, she will increase her unhappy voice with how we are living.
She's calling us all home. Will we hear her? You help us attune to her Trish, for which I'm so grateful.
While I appreciate the point, I am not so sure that there is a really a fine line between brutality and authority, or at least there should not be. Similarly, there is not a particuarly fine line between "positional" authority and "earned" authority: the former stems from such things as rank, promotion, or entitlement while the later stems from merit, capability, or as a result of one's expertise and accomplishment. The key is how the one with authority chooses to exercise that authority . . . for better or for worse . . . for good or for evil . . . whether positional or earned. History is replete with examples of people who used their positional authority for egocentric ends and appeared to enjoy it as an entitlement and for achieving personal ends. Conversely, earned authority is more often granted by others in recognition of what the recipient has done, or is capable of doing, and primarily for the benefit of others rather than self.