Most Destructive Force in the Universe

“The enlightenment impulse can sometimes be like a stranger that knocks on the door and seems pleasant, so you let them in the living room. Then it accuses you of being completely asleep at the wheel and the most destructive force in the universe. It then starts turning over furniture.”  ~ Adyashanti, Garrison, New York April 13, 2017.

 

Image ~ Berserkers were champion Norse warriors who are primarily reported in Icelandic sagas to have fought in a trance-like fury, a characteristic which later gave rise to the English word berserk. These champions would often go into battle without mail coats.

Bersekr’ literally means ‘bear shirt’ or one who ran into battle in a crazed confidence wearing only an animal skin as armor. In battle, the berserkers were subject to fits of frenzy. They would howl like wild beasts, foamed at the mouth, and gnawed the iron rim of their shields. According to belief, during these fits they were immune to steel and fire, and made great havoc in the ranks of the enemy. When the fever abated they were weak and tame. Accounts can be found in the sagas. To "go berserk" was to "hamask", which translates as "change form", in this case, as with the sense "enter a state of wild fury". One who could transform as a berserker was typically thought of as "hamrammr" or "shapestrong".

Some scholars propose that certain examples of berserker rage had been induced voluntarily by the consumption of drugs such as the hallucinogenic mushroom Amanita muscaria or massive amounts of alcohol or henbane. Given that crushing and rubbing henbane petals onto the skin provides a numbing effect along with a mild sensation of flying, this finding has led to the theory that henbane rather than mushrooms or alcohol was used to incite the legendary rage. While such practices would fit in with ritual usages, other explanations for the berserker's madness have been put forward, including self-induced hysteria, epilepsy, mental illness, or genetics.

Jonathan Shay makes an explicit connection between the berserker rage of soldiers and the hyperarousal of post-traumatic stress disorder.  In Achilles in Vietnam, he writes:

“If a soldier survives the berserk state, it imparts emotional deadness and vulnerability to explosive rage to his psychology and permanent hyperarousal to his physiology — hallmarks of post-traumatic stress disorder in combat veterans. My clinical experience with Vietnam combat veterans prompts me to place the berserk state at the heart of their most severe psychological and psychophysiological injuries.^”