What’s The Plan? To Save or Destroy

It is an intuitively easy answer to suppose that Rom Bomjon will revive himself from his deep meditation in 2012, do something entirely wondrous to capture both international attention and then universal support, with which he will forge a combination of institutions that will Save the World. But in the context of human history, we should realize that any significantly positive development would be almost unprecedented. Usually such things work out much for the worst.

You see, in most cases new or reinvigorated Religious or Philosophical Movements cast their ambient Civilizations in the somber light of being morally corrupt, or the enemies of True Religion – as with that Chinese Cult that couldn’t resist making enemies of their Government (and how was that supposed to help?). By vilifying their Ambient Civilizations, the effective results are that the New Religion or New Philosophical Movement ends up in creating a set of Institutions or a Matrix of Beliefs designed explicitly for Destroying Civilizations in general, or at least designed to weaken and subvert Civilization. The way it happens is that the Prophet, or Messiah or Whoever It Is speaks against his present Enemies, or actually takes well documented action against them. Well, all of these Anti-Authoritarian measures become part and parcel of the Next New Religion. When the Leader had made particular threats and fulminations against particular individuals of his time, well, they are generalized upon so that future believers suppose they simply have to threaten and fulminate in order to be Good Believers.

But what happens when this Next New Religion BECOMES the Authority. In its very bosom are its own seeds of destruction. The best example is Islam and its ubiquitous Swords and all of those thousands of quasi-religious injunctions to kill all those who aren’t in total agreement on what are some rather vague points; and so it is that Islam has never been able to yet sheath its Sword that it drew over 13 centuries ago. Then we have Taoism and Original Buddhism that could not survive an Institutionalized Escapism. It seems a huge paradox, but its true that when a Religion tells every responsible citizen to care only for eradicating their egos, that attention goes from the Collective Community to everybody’s Egos just as certainly as if they were the worst of all possible egotists – there is little effective difference between Positive Egotists and Negative Egotists, as neither are very good at going to work, paying their taxes and keeping up on their house and car payments – the kind of stuff that Civilization depends upon.

So, the Trick that any New Religion would have to achieve would be to effectively Co-opt the Present Civilization. A Founding Religious Leader CAN NOT attack his Civilization, no matter how corrupt or hostile it is to himself, or set up institutions that would subvert or weaken the holds of that Civilization, because it would only set up echoes and repercussions that would reverberate down through the future Generations until it is the New Civilization – His OWN Civilization that is being hurt and undermined. For instance, several centuries ago during the so-called ‘Age of Enlightenment’, in order to destroy the Ancient Regimes and the last institutional vestiges of Catholic Civilization, we had the glorification of some rather destructive new institutions – Political Demagoguery and Factionalism (which they call Democracy), the Private Press (designed to propagate Anti-government propagandas), and the unrestricted flow of Armaments to private citizens. Well, since then, that is, since the American and French Revolutions, has the World yet even had a moment’s Peace and stability. Review History. The Institutions founded to Destroy the Ancient Regimes have continued to De-Stabilize those Regimes that have followed.

Well, it can be argued that these Unstable and Chaotic Regimes have been Prosperous to an unprecedented degree. Well, that is a deceptive argument. Certainly the Historical Data is clouded by the unexpected Event of the Americas being discovered, which opened up so much new land. More empty land is always good. But, even apart from that, we must see how such Prosperity is attained and whether it is worth the price.

The effective difference between Civilized Institutions and Barbaric Institutions is in the Population Densities which they can sustain. Civilization, by promoting Peace and Community Spirit, assure for the most population density. Barbarism, by default of Institutions, or by actually having purposely dangerous institutions, allowes for Wars and Plagues and Civil Strife to periodically carry off large segments of the Population. Well, what happens after a great many people DIE, is that the survivors are able to re-divide basically the same Level of Existing Wealth so that the Survivors really can believe themselves better off than before. So it is that the Capitalist Prosperity that the West is so boastful of is easily enough had, if you’re careful to always have World War Ones and World War Twos, and all of those other Smaller Conflicts that have worked so well for thinning the herd, so to speak. Would the West be so prosperous today if all those people murdered off while they were so young had been allowed to live and reproduce. Today wouldn’t everybody’s slice of the Pie be so much smaller?

So, yes, Barbarism can be appealing enough, but only if one is one of the Survivors.

Now, even Civilizations can get overcrowded, and so Civilizations require some institutions for leveling the Population Density, but they are more voluntary in nature – for instance, the Institutions of Monastic Celibacy in both East and West were largely calculated to insure that a significant portion of the population would not procreate or add to the demand for limited parcels of Land. Catholic Civilization lasted a thousand years with that formula for success.

But, so far in History, NO Civilization has yet survived. What has happened was that population densities exceeded the ability of the Institutions to cope with them, and that the concentration of Wealth into morally irresponsible private hands strangled off the public funds necessary for the public infrastructures – transportation, education, police and security. Once these major institutions unraveled – Civilization Collapsing – then Population would of necessarily fall back down to Barbaric levels of far lighter density. Millions of people die. In today’s terms, we would have to talk of Billions of people dying. Do we really want this cycle to continue – each new and seemingly Prosperous Civilization rising on the bones of the last, all falling from simple lack of effective institutionalized planning.

Anyway, what does this mean to us as we hope that Ram Bomjon will come out of his Meditation in 2012 with some major Epiphany for the World? Well, it means that he should immediately reach out and find allies and friends in the Existing Order, without setting up the slightest Religious precedent for encouraging divisiveness or glorifying the making of enemies. Not a single Negative Word or Deed to spoil the Next Bible. He should put forward institutions that emphasize sharing and cooperation should be put forward on their own merit, as these will allow for the highest densities of Population and thus the Highest Civilization known to History, while also advancing Institutions which will envision a natural and peaceful equilibrium in Population Level. And here I would again suggest the resurgence of the Monastic Orders on a wide scale.