| |
|
Re: Chevy: My knowledge of arcana is not solid enough that I would dare debate you. I don't even know where I'd begin.
To VV: No, I'm not saying that we're all going to Thunderdome, just that I think the importance of being able to take care of oneself and one's basic needs without the mediation of conglomerates is going to be among the foremost changes in attitudes in the coming times. I think current events are going to push our dependence on those few who hold power until there's a breaking point, after which those who need less from the ruling class will epitomize the "paradigm shift" (I know, I know, shoot me). Presently, we depend so much on a few sources for food, clothing, energy, shelter, etc. that they wield far too much influence over our daily activities and how we view the world and ourselves within it. Believe me, I'm not touting myself as the prototype for such an individual, at least not in my state at this time. As soon as my encrypted DNA programming sent back from the moment of my original death worms its way into my more influential subconscious and autonomic nervous system, then we'll see.
At the same time, current events would also seem to be setting us up for a breakdown in barriers, and a victory over those neuroses that cause us to ultimately do ourselves harm, both on a macro and micro scale. Little stories that we tell ourselves as to why we're better or, ironically more often, worse than any other group that tells different stories about themselves, which contribute to animosities over borders, religion, political ideologies, all of those are going to become irrelevant once we remember that stories have only as much influence over our lives now as we allow them to. Why is there quite so much conflict over this tiny piece of land in the Middle East called Israel? Because one group tells one story about that land, and another tells another story much like the first one only with some details changed, and a third group incorporates the first group's story into their story, so backing them up lends verity to their own story... you can spin me yarns about who has a better claim to that land than who, but the truth is that everyone is entitled to live where they are NOW. There's a difference between learning from experience and allowing hazy anecdotes from millennia ago decide the actions you take and who you'll hate. As much as we might teach The Golden Rule to our children, we never seem to operate on the policy that what makes us all alike is far more important than what makes us different, thus to harm another is akin to harming ourselves; such a perspective would put lie to so much that is taken for granted. We somehow believe this perspective is dehumanizing, when it is anything but: it is empowering, for we'd actually have to confront some fundamental operational irregularities in the species, and then stop making these excuses in the form of history and fable (the line between which is verrry fuzzy) and actually fulfill our promise.
Religions, nationalities, ethnicities, etc., these are all surrogates for the true unity, for they focus on superficial similarities for only the purpose of implementing the will of an autonomous few, easiest of which is to point the finger and say, "THEY'RE the ones holding us back from being the best we can be. Once we crush them beneath our heel, nothing will stand between us and glory." Yet none of them really understand what it is they're striving for. Much is made of a supposed Messiah, but no one takes the time to understand what the promised Rapture is: a release from the confines of one's social conditioning to make decisions based on how much good they can bring, be it to ourselves or others. (Yeah, I read Prometheus Rising recently, too, VV.  ) Once you have no one but yourself to blame for your lot in life, you can either fold in on yourself and become an utterly comatose, supplicant baby, you can continue kidding yourself with external justifications for your actions, or you can rise above that and see the playing field from another vantage point and "yourself" within that field.
So yeah, that's what I think eschaton, the coming of the Aeon of Horus, the Age of Aquarius, the Great Big Tea-Time of the Soul (I know I'm misciting that, but fuck it), WHATEVER, that's what's going to carry us forward, if anything is.
VJB2 |
|
|
