Overwhelming Defences

Ann Sorrell BA(Hons), IACH (2022)

14th century moated Bodiam Castle, East Sussex, England.

They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

There are a lot of very old castles in the country where I live. They’ve stood for centuries – most of them – but there are also the ruins of a few that’ve fallen to enemies. All these ancient edifices make for interesting observation; one being that these castles were built to last – with extremely strong defense systems like thick high walls, moats of surrounding water, erected on high hills, and contained a barrage of suitable defense mechanisms with their well-trained soldiers, etc.

However, one rather interesting point is that these ancient castles were not strengthened by the introduction of enemies inside their structures. They were built primarily to keep their enemies outside their walls and their inhabitants safely inside their walls, especially during sieges – only the weaker structures succumbed to invaders.

But theoretically it seems reasonable to assume that a ‘Trojan horse’ scheme mIght seem like a clever idea. Why not teach the soldiers and inhabitants of a castle how to recognize an enemy, at first hand, should the enemy attempt to broach their walls? Wouldn’t that prepare them for an onslaught? It makes sense, doesn’t it? Or does it. On the rare occasion a castle might get away with introducing one or two enemies to train their soldiers how to recognise and deal with an intruder; but the proviso here would be that the castle‘s soldiers and inhabitants were already strong so the intruder would do as little harm as possible.

However it also stands to reason that the repeated additional introduction of enemies with their different weapons designed to stimulate a reaction from the castle’s soldiers and inhabitants will, in time, weaken the castle’s defenses, kill the soldiers and destroy the original inhabitants. The castle will then belong to the invading force: it would no longer represent its original intention.

”In the healthy condition of man, the spiritual vital force (autocracy), the dynamis that animates the material body (organism), rules with unbounded sway, and retains all the parts of the organism in admirable, harmonious, vital operation, as regards both sensations and functions, so that our indwelling, reason-gifted mind can freely employ this living, healthy instrument for the higher purposes of our existence.” Aph 9, Organon 6th Edition by Samuel Hahnemann.