Heaven on Earth and Gov as God

Heaven on Earth and Gov as God

There is a long-standing paradox regarding Civilization and Barbarism, familiar to Historians and Sociologists alike, that Civilizations rise out of war-torn and troubled zones of Barbarism, because the peoples pull together and create institutions and develop attitudes that foster Social Cooperation. Once there is a significant level of Social Cooperation, then everything is set for the creation, development, storage and distribution of Wealth. Civilization rises up. The other side of the Paradox is that Civilizations fall into Barbarism. Once the Times of Trouble are passed, and all the Enemies lay dead, then the Institutions and Attitudes of Cooperation are allowed to decline. Ideas that had pulled Society together are now cast in the light of holding back the Individual. Next, institutions are redrawn to favor Individuality and to effectively punish Cooperation. The Social Economy becomes a free fire zone of competitive hoarding and opportunistic pillaging. Of course, Civilization minus the Institutions and Attitudes of Cooperation, is unsustainable. The last gasp before a Civilization collapses back into the Troubled Times of perpetual War of every Man against all others, that is, the last Words written on the Wall just before the bonafide Return to Barbarism is, and we’ve all heard it a thousand times by now – “nice guys finish last”.

Civilization is the rise of the Collective over the Individual, and Barbarism is the Triumph of the Individual. It is sort of like Angels and Demons… you know, how the ancient legends bespeak of the Fallen Angels becoming Demons because of their Pride of Individuality. Heaven, with all of Its collective institutions really had no room for Individuality, or perhaps God had the sense to know where Individuality would take Heaven. You see, Lucifer was the first Free Enterprise Growth Capitalist, actually more Greedy than Proud. Exploiting the Poor, Hoarding Wealth, massive unemployment and chronically repetitive ‘Crashes’ would have to be an Earthly problem since God had decided to forbid such goings on in Heaven.

Anyway, well-studied and capable Social Planners have stood puzzled by this Paradox of Civilization – that as soon as things get ‘Good’, the People, or rather the succeeding Generations of People, want to forget all about the Good Things that got them to a Good Place, and they want to go back to the very same Bad Things that had caused all of the previous Badness. They forget that once you ‘burn down the Cathedral to steal a Candlestick’, that the Cathedral is gone, and likewise the candlestick.

Some perceptive Intellectuals have even noticed that some Moments of Social Crisis seem to be deliberately engineered in order to arouse some momentary Social Cohesion so that Special Interests can take advantage of the temporary spirit of political consensus to order to push through their self- seeking agendas. You see, although it seems necessary to have some sort of Big Problem for the People to face in order for them to maintain the Spirit of Unity and Cooperation, still, most responsible Social Planners are loath about deliberately engineering such Big Problems, and they are very cynical about it when they see it being done.

But, then I was thinking about the ‘Heaven on Earth’ essay I wanted to write and I was turning in my mind how I would deploy the notion that Heaven’s Virtues were being treated like the World’s Vices, that is, that God being All Knowing is a good thing, but that if Government were All Knowing then it would be a bad thing. The same in regards to being All Powerful – Good for God, but Bad for Government.

Then I remembered the old Biblical Quote, “the Beginning of Wisdom is the Fear of God”. Well, THAT’S IT! People don’t like God and never did! All the Love and Worship was a front for their Fear – that God would be somewhat less Terrible if they pretended to Love and Respect Him.

Nowadays everybody hates Government just as they used to hate God, but Democracy has given them the tools to actually be able to destroy Government. Popular Government becomes the dismantling of Government – a School without Teachers, a Prison without Guards, an Insane Asylum turned over to the Lunatics. Popular Government is Chaos – Civilization in its Last Stage – Dead but still to fall down.

Myself and other Social Planners had been stuck on trying to figure out how to make Government seem appealing… just as Theologians worry about making God seem appealing. But the Big Answer seems to be to LET Government be the Bad Guy. If the People need to face a Common Problem before they will willingly adopt and maintain Institutions of Social Cohesion and Attitudes of Cooperation, then set it up so that their Worst Nightmares will be all about Their Government.

Really, once Absolute Government is established, it would not take much effort in order to make it People’s Biggest Problem. Just think about it… if everything in your Life – residence, job, status – depended on what the Government knew about you, and you knew for a fact that the Government really did know Everything, then it would definitely have your attention, wouldn’t it?

The Trick for Government would be to hit Individuality very hard while promoting everything that is Collective and Cooperative. It’s like herding wild animals by beating the bushes where you DON’T want them to be. Beat on Areas of Individuality and people will take refuge in Cooperation.

Yes, I know that as a sheer matter of form, that such a Government would exercise every propaganda in order to be Universally Loved, and so they should, as that would certainly appeal to a wide enough demographic to make it well worth their trouble. Indeed, such a Government would require a Cadre of Bureaucrats and Functionaries who could be enlisted from the ranks of those who can be convinced that Government is actually a Good Thing (the Highest of Esoteric Teaching, as it turns out). But for most of the People, the Fear that Power inspires will be enough to keep them on the Straight and Narrow.

Yes, modern political sensitivities would cry out that the People would rise up against such tyranny. But I would argue back that I am speaking of a Government which tracks all movements, all transactions, and has every house, room, car, sidewalk or park wired for Sound. To make the first twitch of a Revolt would be tantamount to losing all Status as a Respected Citizen and being shipped to some Labor Intensive Re-Education Camp. As long as Absolute Government STAYED Absolute, it would have no problem in maintaining itself within its established Jurisdictions.

Oh, but people would certainly ague the old clique “Absolute Power corrupts absolutely” – that I should not want the only thing that could save us because it might be abused. Well, I’d answer that Power is either collected or it is dispersed. We can remember what Louis the IVX had said, that “One Big Tyrant is better than a thousand Petty Tyrants”. That Caste of Thinkers who have held with “Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely”, only managed to replace Effective Government with a Regime of dirty little Petty Tyrants – Corporations, Employers, Special Interests making all the Rules and collecting all the Wealth.

Really, we need something approaching Absolute Power just to contain all the Selfish Barbarism we see all about us in the World today. It is probably why God had to be All Powerful. Lucifer and the other Evil Angels could not have been sufficiently dealt with God had confined Himself merely to Political Compromise and Election Campaigns that would appeal the Center.