Martial Arts and the Hacker Ethos of the Body
Whether present in our conscious awareness or not, there are certain archetypes that capture the our imagination. The dynamic has been remarked at at least as far back as Carl Jung, and elaborated upon by Joseph Campbell. These pioneers were most interested in deep-seated cross-cultural archetypes like the hero, the wise old woman, and countless others. However, just as each culture has specific trappings that are idiomatic to the people who practice it, there are localized archetypes that possess especial resonance to those of a certain time and place. Ironically, the blossoming of a global contemporary culture has propelled universal archetypes into conscious awareness in a way Jung and Campbell could scarcely have foreseen. Two new archetypes—new when measured against the breadth of the human species—which enjoy cachet in today’s Western-inflected global culture are the “martial artist” and the “hacker”. These seem distinct and, of cour...
