Verbatim quote · from the corpus

“Eventually, some individual seizes the ritual and distributive center: this first adventurer or usurper is the “Big Man” widely noted in anthropological accounts. The apotheosis of this development is sacral kingship, in which the king, as mediator between the community and the cosmos, serves as both power center and ritual center. Needless to say, the configurations vary widely, but the sacral king, I am assuming, is the first object of scapegoating and human sacrifice. Failures of the community are failures to match otherworldly configurations, to do on earth as is done in heaven, and for this the king bears complete responsibility. The unity of paradoxical, signifying center and the central figure first evident on the originary scene remains intact in sacral kingship, which no doubt accounts for the pervasiveness and longevity of this social form, and even in the extension of its ramifications into modern political leadership.”

— Adam Katz, The Generativity of the Center · 2020 · Anthropomorphics