Could Space Aliens Be Bad
I heard that recently some big famous Media Scientist… famous for being famous…said that we should be very cautious regarding contact with the Space Aliens. His argument was that since we are civilized and evil, that it is likely that they also would be evil despite their level of civilization.
You know, I really suspect that these scientific sorts don’t do much reading outside of their field. After all, to be acquainted with History takes an awful lot of careful and thoughtful reading. I just don’t see how they would have the time. But they hold themselves as geniuses and therefore think themselves experts about everything.
Years ago I read that scientists had the highest mortality rate as Private Pilots. You see, they wouldn’t take the time to actually learn how to fly… they wouldn’t listen to their instructors who they must of considered quite stupid … and they wouldn’t even read the “stupid” books. They just figured they were smart enough and knew everything already. Then they would take off, crash and die. And when they weren’t doing that, they would comment upon Social Issues and History. Super Nerds pretending to know about People.
Anyway, the difference between the Civilization of Space Aliens and our “civilization” is that they might actually have a Civilization. Here on Earth we have no experience with Civilization dating before the last 10,000 years. Here on Earth we have never had a successful Civilization. We have had unsustainable bursts of population. The Earlier Civilization may have been the most successful, if we measure them by their duration. But resent Civilization rise and fall all in the space of just a few hundred years. So, really, can we even say we have ever been “civilized”.
If an engine cranks, sputters and dies, well, we know it is getting gas because we have some cylinders firing, and we know it has spark for the same reason, but something must be wrong because it won’t keep going. Its not really a car if it can’t run. And what we have been doing on Planet Earth is not running.
But the Space Civilizations are not just 10,000 years old. These Space Societies could be hundreds of millions of years old. We are like babies – pooping ourselves, crying, throwing tantrums. So the Scientific Community supposes that Space Aliens are likewise ‘pooping themselves, crying, and throwing tantrums’. They don’t factor in maturity and experience.
Also, there is the matter that Our Governments are so keen to deny the existence of the Space Aliens. If the Scientists are so smart, why is it that they cannot figure out why our Governments are lying to us. If the Aliens were simply dangerous in the ordinary way, then the Governments would warn us, even to the extent of creating hysteria, and use it all as an excuse for some very profitable Military Buildup. But they resort to complete Denial.
I know why.
The Americans had captured some Space Aliens… I heard this from an Ex-Black Ops Agent… a “Spook”… who had been drinking a bit. Anyway the interrogators asked the Aliens about their Social System. They were hoping that the Aliens believed in Democracy and Capitalism. Well, the Aliens asked for a notebook and great deal of paper and spent a couple of weeks describing their Civilization and History. The notebook was yellow in color and so the book they wrote came to be called the “Yellow Book”. It turns out that the Space Alien Civilization was NOT Democratic, and was NOT Capitalist. But it was undeniably SUCCESSFUL.
So the Democrats and Capitalists buried the information.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Saturday, June 5, 2010
The Approaching End of the World
The Approaching End of the World
Arnold Toynbee, one of the greatest and most well respected Historians who had ever lived, recounted in his works how in the entire history of the World there has been only 21 Civilizations, and they all collapsed. They all failed. And each Collapse was a kind of an End of the World. Huge proportions of the Civilized Population simply died off. Life would slowly come back, but largely sourcing from Barbarians who had wandered in to help with all of the burning and pillaging.
Remember Rome. Well, nobody speaks Latin today… not even in Italy. Not only Languages, but Cultures, Traditions, Morals and Religions can be largely forgotten. Often enough, the Only Thing remembered after a Collapse is exactly the kind of Institutions that lead to the Collapse. Look at Chinese History. It rises and collapses in a cycle that can be counted in just a handful of generations. Swift Rise is always inevitably followed by an even swifter collapse. No New Dynasty had ever learned a single lesson from the Past. This is because each New Civilization is put together largely by the Barbarians who take over afterwards. And ultimately the inclusion of Barbarian Institutions in the formation of a Civilization are what prove eventually and inevitably Fatal.
The Problem today is with Growth Capitalism. You see, after the Collapse of Catholic Civilization, the Barbarians taking over decided to rebuild the World with Usury. Usury had been a Sin, but now it is the Pillar of our System – Capitalism which through Globalization has become almost universal.
The Praise of Capitalism is almost endless. Look how every Economy has ‘grown’. Even Today when it is acknowledged that Capitalism has some very serious Problems, most of the books coming out offer as a solution the not very novel idea that the Cure for Capitalism is simply More and Better Capitalism. “We fail because we are not Competing hard enough”. I suppose their underlying assumption is that the Capitalists were not really trying up until now.
But the basic problem with Growth Capitalism and Usury in general is that a continuously ‘growing system’ cannot reach any stability or equilibrium -- that would imply a cessation of ‘Growth’, which to any Capitalist Economist is the very exact signal of Failure. Leveling off is what they call a Recession. But Growth Capitalism depends entirely upon getting more and more and more…
Now, yes, if Capitalism is imposed upon impoverished barbarians, it does offer a means of producing and providing Wealth, but that is only when the conditions provide a glut of unused resources. Given a newly discoved Mountain of Gold, a Capitalist just starting out can haul away a ton this year and increase his take by 6% every year. It all works fine until the Mountain is worn down to nothing.
The reason I suppose that Civilizations had declared Usury to be a Sin is that any Advanced Civilization would have experience with a closed system with a fixed supply of resources, where just the physics of the situation point out that the Economy cannot do better than Break Even. Given fixed or limited resources, where is the extra Wealth that should pay for Profits and Interest to come from?
A simple example can demonstrate the problem with interest. Suppose we have a closed economy where all money comes from one Bank. Capitalists borrow money from the Bank and pay their Workers to produce Products. For the Products to make money they have to sell for more than was paid to the Workers to make them. Then the Capitalists have to pay the Bank interest on the money. Well, there is still only that fixed amount of money. The only money in the economy that can be spent is that which is given to the Workers. So in a Closed Economy there can be no money left over for Profit or Interest.
Now, in more elaborate examples, there is extra money. But what happens is that the Banks take in more money then they give out until they eventually arrive at the conditions of our simple model… and then it can no longer work.
Now, for the last several hundred years the Growth that Capitalists depended upon came by Exporting their Products. An Economies own Workers could go screw themselves. Capitalism became dependent upon Trade. One’s own Economy could grow only by taking away the Wealth of others.
It worked out fine for Europe and America, while vast regions of the World stood outside of their Monolithic Banking System. Growth was effectively pillaged away from other Societies.
But now with Globalization, we have reached the conditions of the Simple Model. Now, with Globalization, the Same Bank is lending to everybody. The Same Capitalists are employing every Worker. There is no longer any Extra Money outside of the System left over to feed the Growth.
Yes, so some powerful Economies simply start printing money to satisfy the Capitalists and Bankers who depend upon writing in larger numbers every year for what amounts to one fixed amount of Value. Of course it is Inflationary, to continuously multiply Currency that is intended to pay for a certain Fixed Value. It is like when the price of bread goes up simply because the Bakery knows that all the Factory Workers got raises.
Well, inflation can actually be useful. But Bankers hate it. They want more “Bread” and not just more Bills fresh off the State Printing Press.
So we get in Commodities Trading and Equities. They tried to keep the Banks out of it, but they bought Politicians and had the Laws changed. Bankers, given our now Universal System of Politics, where Bankers decide who should run for Office and pay for their Campaigns, well, Bankers are actually the ones in charge and can really do what they like. So it is that Bankers use Equities and Trading in order to convert Money into actual Wealth – Oil, Food Commodities, and Corporate Capital.
Now in the Past, all of this Real Wealth was a Growing Thing. More Food could be grown by opening up new Land, or by applying Science to existing Land. They could Explore for New Oil. Corporations could expand into New Markets or New Product Lines. This is from the Golden Age of Capitalism that everybody sings about. But now Resources have been pushed to the limit. There is No New Anything anymore.
The Banks are relatively happy since given all the fixed quantities of Wealth, their Value goes up. But the Value goes up only because of Printed Inflationary Money.
So we arrive at exactly why Growth Capitalism is going to collapse. Out Planet has hit is Resource Saturation.
But why is this Bad? What will happen to us? Well, as Prices spiral upward for an ever decreasing Supply of Resources – Food, Fuel, Clothing. More and more people will be left out and left to die.
Its already happening, or WAS happening. Remember before the most recent Global Economic Disaster, back in 2007 and 2008 when Petroleum Prices were approaching $200 a barrel and Agricultural Economies all around the globe were plowing under Wheat and Rice so that they could plant for Alcohol Fuel Production. It linked the Rising Price of Oil to the World’s Food Commodities Prices. All around the World there was some very grave concern about millions of people starving, and populations going into rebellion. But, ironically, were all saved by the Downturn. The Deep Recession lowered demand and Prices fell again with reach for most of us. Not all of us. The Crisis in Northeast Africa is no accident. That is exactly what happens when a Society can no longer keep up with Internationally Set Prices. Notice that the response of the International Community (America, really. America takes credit for everything Good but distances itself from everything bad) has been to simply throw a cordon around that Killing Field in Africa.
Twenty or thirty years ago there would have been massive amounts of supplies sent in from the World’s Surplus. Capitalists don’t mind giving up on Surplus – it raises the prices on their remaining Product. But now, obviously, there are no Surpluses, or the Surpluses are so precarious that, and the Situation now seen as so dire, that Surpluses are being retained for domestic Contingencies.
This means that not only are Things Bad, but the people in charge know things are bad.
But as I said before, no solutions are on the table. All of the recent books simply recommend More and Better Capitalism – compete harder, compete smarter.
But in One Globalized System, what good will Increased Competition do? Competition is about Winners and Losers. What are the Losers supposed to do?
They talk about it like it is a Game. Or they pretend it doesn’t really matter in human terms. I’ve read in a dozen books various Pompous Capitalists dismissing the pain that comes during Recessions because they were “Necessary Market Corrections” and that Capitalism is eventually healthier afterward – meaning that what is Bad for the People is Great for the Banks. It is like China saying that Dynastic Collapses and the death of hundreds of millions of Chinese is “a necessary correction” and China is ultimately better off for it. Yeah, nothing like killing off a million people to make Real Estate affordable again.
But the Losers in Capitalism’s big competitive Game simply won’t be able to go home without the Trophy. There would be currency devaluations and massive unemployment – most people without jobs and the people still with jobs not being able to buy anything with their cheapened money.
In real terms, there can be two basic Responses. Some Societies will move swiftly in order to cut off their Economies from International Pricing… so that Traders can’t just come in and buy up all the food stocks and ship them out. (It happens. I live on a small island where recently many of the shelves stood bare because a wealthy trader from another island diverted a fleet of cargo ships, offering a penny more than prices and contractual penalties. It was Great Capitalism, but the people of the island were made to be the Losers of it all). Societies convert over to Planned Economies.
The other Response is for Wealthy People to “ride it out”. We’ve seen a rise in systematic food hoarding. I hear that every Mormon is supposed to keep 18 months food supply. Who knows what the Masons are doing. But, yes, most Economies have no Contingency Plan for what would be a major Economic Disaster. Its left to Individuals to make their own way.
You know, History has had 21 Collapsed Civilizations, and it never has worked out like they think. The Rich have never been able to “ride out” a true and final collapse. The Mormon’s 18 month food supply will only last 18 months. The Rich depend upon Private Security Firms, but when the value of the Dollar drops to nothing, then the Security Guy with the Gun will simply take what he wants when he can no longer cash his tiny little checks. People think that hoarding Gold might help, but the value of Gold depends upon honest trade and law and order. But after the Collapse, a single good bullet might have more practical value than a ton of Gold.
So, really, the Planned Economies will stand the best chance in the end of surviving the Collapse. Ironically, those Societies most vilified by the West and condemned for falling so short against the Model of Growth Capitalism to which everybody and everything is compared, will remain intact. The very Isolation of such a North Korea or Cuba will be their insulation and protection. And their already Established Traditions of Planning might stand them in good stead of building a truly Sustainable Civilization afterward.
Of course, in most sectors, the Barbarians (the Americans, the Europeans and the Japanese) will survive, though at highly reduced numbers. Maybe 30% of the Barbarian Populations will survive. Given a few Generations, Law and Order will be re-established, and Banking and Usury will start up again. The whole thing will start over again. Land and Resources will be plentiful. Labor will be valuable. Yes, there will be Competition, but with so few people and so much stuff, for the most part people will not seriously get in each other’s way. Killers looking for trouble will find it, but there will be plenty of room for people who want to mind their own business.
The Living will forget the Dead and songs will be sung glorifying the Rise of a New Capitalism. It’s great to Win. They’ll have a New Golden Age which they think will go on Forever. And then it will all collapse again…
Civilization will never be permanent until it is built on the Model of Sustainability and Equilibrium. That is why the Wisdom of Civilization past had made Usury and Capitalism a Sin.
Arnold Toynbee, one of the greatest and most well respected Historians who had ever lived, recounted in his works how in the entire history of the World there has been only 21 Civilizations, and they all collapsed. They all failed. And each Collapse was a kind of an End of the World. Huge proportions of the Civilized Population simply died off. Life would slowly come back, but largely sourcing from Barbarians who had wandered in to help with all of the burning and pillaging.
Remember Rome. Well, nobody speaks Latin today… not even in Italy. Not only Languages, but Cultures, Traditions, Morals and Religions can be largely forgotten. Often enough, the Only Thing remembered after a Collapse is exactly the kind of Institutions that lead to the Collapse. Look at Chinese History. It rises and collapses in a cycle that can be counted in just a handful of generations. Swift Rise is always inevitably followed by an even swifter collapse. No New Dynasty had ever learned a single lesson from the Past. This is because each New Civilization is put together largely by the Barbarians who take over afterwards. And ultimately the inclusion of Barbarian Institutions in the formation of a Civilization are what prove eventually and inevitably Fatal.
The Problem today is with Growth Capitalism. You see, after the Collapse of Catholic Civilization, the Barbarians taking over decided to rebuild the World with Usury. Usury had been a Sin, but now it is the Pillar of our System – Capitalism which through Globalization has become almost universal.
The Praise of Capitalism is almost endless. Look how every Economy has ‘grown’. Even Today when it is acknowledged that Capitalism has some very serious Problems, most of the books coming out offer as a solution the not very novel idea that the Cure for Capitalism is simply More and Better Capitalism. “We fail because we are not Competing hard enough”. I suppose their underlying assumption is that the Capitalists were not really trying up until now.
But the basic problem with Growth Capitalism and Usury in general is that a continuously ‘growing system’ cannot reach any stability or equilibrium -- that would imply a cessation of ‘Growth’, which to any Capitalist Economist is the very exact signal of Failure. Leveling off is what they call a Recession. But Growth Capitalism depends entirely upon getting more and more and more…
Now, yes, if Capitalism is imposed upon impoverished barbarians, it does offer a means of producing and providing Wealth, but that is only when the conditions provide a glut of unused resources. Given a newly discoved Mountain of Gold, a Capitalist just starting out can haul away a ton this year and increase his take by 6% every year. It all works fine until the Mountain is worn down to nothing.
The reason I suppose that Civilizations had declared Usury to be a Sin is that any Advanced Civilization would have experience with a closed system with a fixed supply of resources, where just the physics of the situation point out that the Economy cannot do better than Break Even. Given fixed or limited resources, where is the extra Wealth that should pay for Profits and Interest to come from?
A simple example can demonstrate the problem with interest. Suppose we have a closed economy where all money comes from one Bank. Capitalists borrow money from the Bank and pay their Workers to produce Products. For the Products to make money they have to sell for more than was paid to the Workers to make them. Then the Capitalists have to pay the Bank interest on the money. Well, there is still only that fixed amount of money. The only money in the economy that can be spent is that which is given to the Workers. So in a Closed Economy there can be no money left over for Profit or Interest.
Now, in more elaborate examples, there is extra money. But what happens is that the Banks take in more money then they give out until they eventually arrive at the conditions of our simple model… and then it can no longer work.
Now, for the last several hundred years the Growth that Capitalists depended upon came by Exporting their Products. An Economies own Workers could go screw themselves. Capitalism became dependent upon Trade. One’s own Economy could grow only by taking away the Wealth of others.
It worked out fine for Europe and America, while vast regions of the World stood outside of their Monolithic Banking System. Growth was effectively pillaged away from other Societies.
But now with Globalization, we have reached the conditions of the Simple Model. Now, with Globalization, the Same Bank is lending to everybody. The Same Capitalists are employing every Worker. There is no longer any Extra Money outside of the System left over to feed the Growth.
Yes, so some powerful Economies simply start printing money to satisfy the Capitalists and Bankers who depend upon writing in larger numbers every year for what amounts to one fixed amount of Value. Of course it is Inflationary, to continuously multiply Currency that is intended to pay for a certain Fixed Value. It is like when the price of bread goes up simply because the Bakery knows that all the Factory Workers got raises.
Well, inflation can actually be useful. But Bankers hate it. They want more “Bread” and not just more Bills fresh off the State Printing Press.
So we get in Commodities Trading and Equities. They tried to keep the Banks out of it, but they bought Politicians and had the Laws changed. Bankers, given our now Universal System of Politics, where Bankers decide who should run for Office and pay for their Campaigns, well, Bankers are actually the ones in charge and can really do what they like. So it is that Bankers use Equities and Trading in order to convert Money into actual Wealth – Oil, Food Commodities, and Corporate Capital.
Now in the Past, all of this Real Wealth was a Growing Thing. More Food could be grown by opening up new Land, or by applying Science to existing Land. They could Explore for New Oil. Corporations could expand into New Markets or New Product Lines. This is from the Golden Age of Capitalism that everybody sings about. But now Resources have been pushed to the limit. There is No New Anything anymore.
The Banks are relatively happy since given all the fixed quantities of Wealth, their Value goes up. But the Value goes up only because of Printed Inflationary Money.
So we arrive at exactly why Growth Capitalism is going to collapse. Out Planet has hit is Resource Saturation.
But why is this Bad? What will happen to us? Well, as Prices spiral upward for an ever decreasing Supply of Resources – Food, Fuel, Clothing. More and more people will be left out and left to die.
Its already happening, or WAS happening. Remember before the most recent Global Economic Disaster, back in 2007 and 2008 when Petroleum Prices were approaching $200 a barrel and Agricultural Economies all around the globe were plowing under Wheat and Rice so that they could plant for Alcohol Fuel Production. It linked the Rising Price of Oil to the World’s Food Commodities Prices. All around the World there was some very grave concern about millions of people starving, and populations going into rebellion. But, ironically, were all saved by the Downturn. The Deep Recession lowered demand and Prices fell again with reach for most of us. Not all of us. The Crisis in Northeast Africa is no accident. That is exactly what happens when a Society can no longer keep up with Internationally Set Prices. Notice that the response of the International Community (America, really. America takes credit for everything Good but distances itself from everything bad) has been to simply throw a cordon around that Killing Field in Africa.
Twenty or thirty years ago there would have been massive amounts of supplies sent in from the World’s Surplus. Capitalists don’t mind giving up on Surplus – it raises the prices on their remaining Product. But now, obviously, there are no Surpluses, or the Surpluses are so precarious that, and the Situation now seen as so dire, that Surpluses are being retained for domestic Contingencies.
This means that not only are Things Bad, but the people in charge know things are bad.
But as I said before, no solutions are on the table. All of the recent books simply recommend More and Better Capitalism – compete harder, compete smarter.
But in One Globalized System, what good will Increased Competition do? Competition is about Winners and Losers. What are the Losers supposed to do?
They talk about it like it is a Game. Or they pretend it doesn’t really matter in human terms. I’ve read in a dozen books various Pompous Capitalists dismissing the pain that comes during Recessions because they were “Necessary Market Corrections” and that Capitalism is eventually healthier afterward – meaning that what is Bad for the People is Great for the Banks. It is like China saying that Dynastic Collapses and the death of hundreds of millions of Chinese is “a necessary correction” and China is ultimately better off for it. Yeah, nothing like killing off a million people to make Real Estate affordable again.
But the Losers in Capitalism’s big competitive Game simply won’t be able to go home without the Trophy. There would be currency devaluations and massive unemployment – most people without jobs and the people still with jobs not being able to buy anything with their cheapened money.
In real terms, there can be two basic Responses. Some Societies will move swiftly in order to cut off their Economies from International Pricing… so that Traders can’t just come in and buy up all the food stocks and ship them out. (It happens. I live on a small island where recently many of the shelves stood bare because a wealthy trader from another island diverted a fleet of cargo ships, offering a penny more than prices and contractual penalties. It was Great Capitalism, but the people of the island were made to be the Losers of it all). Societies convert over to Planned Economies.
The other Response is for Wealthy People to “ride it out”. We’ve seen a rise in systematic food hoarding. I hear that every Mormon is supposed to keep 18 months food supply. Who knows what the Masons are doing. But, yes, most Economies have no Contingency Plan for what would be a major Economic Disaster. Its left to Individuals to make their own way.
You know, History has had 21 Collapsed Civilizations, and it never has worked out like they think. The Rich have never been able to “ride out” a true and final collapse. The Mormon’s 18 month food supply will only last 18 months. The Rich depend upon Private Security Firms, but when the value of the Dollar drops to nothing, then the Security Guy with the Gun will simply take what he wants when he can no longer cash his tiny little checks. People think that hoarding Gold might help, but the value of Gold depends upon honest trade and law and order. But after the Collapse, a single good bullet might have more practical value than a ton of Gold.
So, really, the Planned Economies will stand the best chance in the end of surviving the Collapse. Ironically, those Societies most vilified by the West and condemned for falling so short against the Model of Growth Capitalism to which everybody and everything is compared, will remain intact. The very Isolation of such a North Korea or Cuba will be their insulation and protection. And their already Established Traditions of Planning might stand them in good stead of building a truly Sustainable Civilization afterward.
Of course, in most sectors, the Barbarians (the Americans, the Europeans and the Japanese) will survive, though at highly reduced numbers. Maybe 30% of the Barbarian Populations will survive. Given a few Generations, Law and Order will be re-established, and Banking and Usury will start up again. The whole thing will start over again. Land and Resources will be plentiful. Labor will be valuable. Yes, there will be Competition, but with so few people and so much stuff, for the most part people will not seriously get in each other’s way. Killers looking for trouble will find it, but there will be plenty of room for people who want to mind their own business.
The Living will forget the Dead and songs will be sung glorifying the Rise of a New Capitalism. It’s great to Win. They’ll have a New Golden Age which they think will go on Forever. And then it will all collapse again…
Civilization will never be permanent until it is built on the Model of Sustainability and Equilibrium. That is why the Wisdom of Civilization past had made Usury and Capitalism a Sin.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
The Mindless Tenacity of Barbarism
The Mindless Tenacity of Barbarism
As I have pointed out in numerous essays before, one can easily differentiate between Civilized and Barbarian Institutions simply by applying one objective criteria -- Population, that is, Civilized Institutions allow and provide for high levels of population and population density, while Barbaric Institutions favor depopulation and only thrive when the population densities are relatively low.
What we see in History is a series of Cycles… Cycles composed of Spirals to be more exact… in which Civilizations rise up and Populations grow until they increase beyond a certain point where its Civilized Institutions can no longer manage all of the complexities and requirements involved in housing and feeding so many People. Then the disintegrative and destructive Institutions of Barbarism come into play, reducing the overall population factors to a level where Barbarians can stretch out and again be thoroughly comfortable.
It may appear that I am being over-simplistic, but from the Civilized standpoint anyway, Civilized Institutions can be equated to Goodness and Light, while Barbarism, of course, is Evil – the veritable Reign of Darkness.
It is a terrible moment in any society’s history – the point where Individual Survival is advanced more through Evil than through Good. At that point in time when suddenly a Civilization exceeds its grasp and the advantage goes to Barbarism, then Goodness becomes a liability. Evil rises up wearing two races – first, those best suited to murder and mayhem will be the Big Winners as Civilization collapses. They are cold-blooded demonic thugs, but they call themselves “Warriors”. The other Face of Barbarism makes the best use of its Feet – these are the swiftest and fleetest Refugees – those who can turn their back on their Old Society the quickest and most rapidly abandon their Fellow and Family – these are the Survivors who live to repopulate the Post-Civilized World.
So it is that everybody’s Family Tree takes root in a manure heap.
History shows us that there is not really much of a moral difference between Barbarism’s Murderous Thugs and the Refugees. We have often seen that large Demographic Movements of ‘refugees’ pushed out of one region by overwhelming force, well, that they in turn become the ‘Murderous Thugs’ that push another Group out down the line. You see, once it becomes embedded in a Society’s “Moral View” that “Other People Do Not Matter” and that there is some kind of equivalent ‘Moral Imperative” that Personal Advantage should supersede all else, then it is just as likely that the person, the Refugee, who runs away from his responsibilities, will also not hesitate to kill someone else for their wallet… giving himself a promotion to “Warrior”.
One would expect that the Refugee’s great suffering would purge him of evil and leave him in a state of Purity. But no… Suffering gives way to Vengeance and the character of a Refugee People becomes vindictive. Such victims only swear to never be made such victims again, and then they do their best to become exactly like the Marauders who had victimized them in the first place. Attila the Hun had been a Refugee.
Of course a certain practical ‘leaven’ for Civilization is embedded within Barbarian Societies, and that is simply that the largest band of Thugs generally wins when it comes to violent contests for Territory or Resources. Big Gangs defeat small gangs. It moves up the scale until we are talking about entire Armies. To put that many people together without causing more self-destruction than practical benefit, we would have to have the resurrection of some basic rules, agreements, contracts, and particularly the psychological seed-sprout that a Cooperating Society is more powerful than any group of individuals standing alone. The first ‘virtue’ in any wholly Barbarian Society is Loyalty.
Indeed, the more ‘Civilized’ a Barbarian Society manages to become, the more successful it will actually be… which of course gives us the Rise of our ‘Civilizations’. So we would expect that Civilizations would rise up quickly, no?
Well, yes and no. Civilizations do arise, but there are problems.
Remember how we agreed that Barbarism favors and enjoys low levels of Population. Well, in the worst and most absolute collapses of a Civilization – not just the bottom of one of the ‘Spirals’ as things get worse, but the bottoming of the entire Cycle – the De-population is so extreme that the individual surviving Barbarians have really no effective competition for Land or Resources after the ‘dust settles’, so to speak. After a Deep and Final Collapse of a Civilization, with Population Levels dropping by 80 or 90% in just one or two generations, then Life becomes a veritable ‘Free For All’. Survivors can pick between any two or three Estates or Plantations to move into and take over as uncontested personal property. Food becomes plentiful and cheap. But, most importantly to our point, nobody needs to owe anybody anything – not a single virtue is required to get by well in any Golden Age of Barbarism. But even this total absence of Virtue can be made out to seem like a virtue. Thus it is that Barbarians at their absolute lowest will create a quasi-virtue – really the absence of all real virtue, and they will call it Freedom. Or they will be brazen about it and defy every true model of Morality with such slogans as “Greed is Good”. At such periods in History it is the Antichrist who reigns on Earth.
So it is that Barbarians will enshrine Freedom as the source of all their Wealth and Happiness. But actually looking at the facts, as we have, we see that they only enjoyed such Prosperity and Plenty because everyone else had died. So it is that the Doctrines of Freedom followed closely on the heals of any Black Plague or Major Famine, and of course enjoy a re-invigorating echo after any particularly grisly War. A Few Survivors get to keep what is left behind by the Dead Many. And then The Scheming Beggar who moves into a Palace pretends to his children that he was the one who built it in the first place. Freedom is the Right every pillager claims to keep what he has stolen.
So it is that Barbaric Societies, as they enjoy the Lowest Population Levels immediately after any Major Depopulating Collapse, will hone their doctrines and political theories to justify selfishness and division. As population levels naturally increase, and competition again begins to rise, then we will have practical benefits again accruing to the Communities that can best manage to suppress the Demonic Call to Freedom so that they can multiply their powers through Cooperation. But with Selfishness and Freedom so intrinsically a part of each Society’s kind of “Core Folk Religion”, any institutions built around Cooperation will be qualified and compromised. Civilization will grow up with the original stain of Barbarism, and the more pronounced that stain, then the sooner it will undergo the Next Collapse, where its half-hearted Institutions of Civilization cannot provide for even a moderately high level of Population.
As I have pointed out in numerous essays before, one can easily differentiate between Civilized and Barbarian Institutions simply by applying one objective criteria -- Population, that is, Civilized Institutions allow and provide for high levels of population and population density, while Barbaric Institutions favor depopulation and only thrive when the population densities are relatively low.
What we see in History is a series of Cycles… Cycles composed of Spirals to be more exact… in which Civilizations rise up and Populations grow until they increase beyond a certain point where its Civilized Institutions can no longer manage all of the complexities and requirements involved in housing and feeding so many People. Then the disintegrative and destructive Institutions of Barbarism come into play, reducing the overall population factors to a level where Barbarians can stretch out and again be thoroughly comfortable.
It may appear that I am being over-simplistic, but from the Civilized standpoint anyway, Civilized Institutions can be equated to Goodness and Light, while Barbarism, of course, is Evil – the veritable Reign of Darkness.
It is a terrible moment in any society’s history – the point where Individual Survival is advanced more through Evil than through Good. At that point in time when suddenly a Civilization exceeds its grasp and the advantage goes to Barbarism, then Goodness becomes a liability. Evil rises up wearing two races – first, those best suited to murder and mayhem will be the Big Winners as Civilization collapses. They are cold-blooded demonic thugs, but they call themselves “Warriors”. The other Face of Barbarism makes the best use of its Feet – these are the swiftest and fleetest Refugees – those who can turn their back on their Old Society the quickest and most rapidly abandon their Fellow and Family – these are the Survivors who live to repopulate the Post-Civilized World.
So it is that everybody’s Family Tree takes root in a manure heap.
History shows us that there is not really much of a moral difference between Barbarism’s Murderous Thugs and the Refugees. We have often seen that large Demographic Movements of ‘refugees’ pushed out of one region by overwhelming force, well, that they in turn become the ‘Murderous Thugs’ that push another Group out down the line. You see, once it becomes embedded in a Society’s “Moral View” that “Other People Do Not Matter” and that there is some kind of equivalent ‘Moral Imperative” that Personal Advantage should supersede all else, then it is just as likely that the person, the Refugee, who runs away from his responsibilities, will also not hesitate to kill someone else for their wallet… giving himself a promotion to “Warrior”.
One would expect that the Refugee’s great suffering would purge him of evil and leave him in a state of Purity. But no… Suffering gives way to Vengeance and the character of a Refugee People becomes vindictive. Such victims only swear to never be made such victims again, and then they do their best to become exactly like the Marauders who had victimized them in the first place. Attila the Hun had been a Refugee.
Of course a certain practical ‘leaven’ for Civilization is embedded within Barbarian Societies, and that is simply that the largest band of Thugs generally wins when it comes to violent contests for Territory or Resources. Big Gangs defeat small gangs. It moves up the scale until we are talking about entire Armies. To put that many people together without causing more self-destruction than practical benefit, we would have to have the resurrection of some basic rules, agreements, contracts, and particularly the psychological seed-sprout that a Cooperating Society is more powerful than any group of individuals standing alone. The first ‘virtue’ in any wholly Barbarian Society is Loyalty.
Indeed, the more ‘Civilized’ a Barbarian Society manages to become, the more successful it will actually be… which of course gives us the Rise of our ‘Civilizations’. So we would expect that Civilizations would rise up quickly, no?
Well, yes and no. Civilizations do arise, but there are problems.
Remember how we agreed that Barbarism favors and enjoys low levels of Population. Well, in the worst and most absolute collapses of a Civilization – not just the bottom of one of the ‘Spirals’ as things get worse, but the bottoming of the entire Cycle – the De-population is so extreme that the individual surviving Barbarians have really no effective competition for Land or Resources after the ‘dust settles’, so to speak. After a Deep and Final Collapse of a Civilization, with Population Levels dropping by 80 or 90% in just one or two generations, then Life becomes a veritable ‘Free For All’. Survivors can pick between any two or three Estates or Plantations to move into and take over as uncontested personal property. Food becomes plentiful and cheap. But, most importantly to our point, nobody needs to owe anybody anything – not a single virtue is required to get by well in any Golden Age of Barbarism. But even this total absence of Virtue can be made out to seem like a virtue. Thus it is that Barbarians at their absolute lowest will create a quasi-virtue – really the absence of all real virtue, and they will call it Freedom. Or they will be brazen about it and defy every true model of Morality with such slogans as “Greed is Good”. At such periods in History it is the Antichrist who reigns on Earth.
So it is that Barbarians will enshrine Freedom as the source of all their Wealth and Happiness. But actually looking at the facts, as we have, we see that they only enjoyed such Prosperity and Plenty because everyone else had died. So it is that the Doctrines of Freedom followed closely on the heals of any Black Plague or Major Famine, and of course enjoy a re-invigorating echo after any particularly grisly War. A Few Survivors get to keep what is left behind by the Dead Many. And then The Scheming Beggar who moves into a Palace pretends to his children that he was the one who built it in the first place. Freedom is the Right every pillager claims to keep what he has stolen.
So it is that Barbaric Societies, as they enjoy the Lowest Population Levels immediately after any Major Depopulating Collapse, will hone their doctrines and political theories to justify selfishness and division. As population levels naturally increase, and competition again begins to rise, then we will have practical benefits again accruing to the Communities that can best manage to suppress the Demonic Call to Freedom so that they can multiply their powers through Cooperation. But with Selfishness and Freedom so intrinsically a part of each Society’s kind of “Core Folk Religion”, any institutions built around Cooperation will be qualified and compromised. Civilization will grow up with the original stain of Barbarism, and the more pronounced that stain, then the sooner it will undergo the Next Collapse, where its half-hearted Institutions of Civilization cannot provide for even a moderately high level of Population.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Contingency for World Economic Disaster
It seems that the entire World was caught flatfooted by the 2008 Economic Crisis. It makes me wonder whether it forced anybody to do any serious thinking as to what to do for the next round. And there will be a next round. The way such cycles work is that the swings become more frequent and more severe until it hits a bottom. Capitalists are famous for claiming that every Painful Recession is just a ‘Necessary Correction’. Well, the ‘correction’ for Capitalism, as a World Economic and Political System, may be about to hit ‘bottom’.
The big problem, as I see it, is the Growth Factor that seems necessary to Capitalism. Now, one can either have stability and equilibrium, or one can have Growth. And then Growth is only possible in an Open Ended Non-Saturated System. What is an Open Ended Non-Saturated System? Well, I shall provide an example in reverse and describe a Closed System. Imagine that instead of many Capitalist Banks, it is all just one Big Bank. It has ALL the money. Now it lends out it money expecting 6% interest on the principal. Well, where is this 6% extra money supposed to come from? In a closed System there is no extra money. The same goes in regards to Profits. Suppose there is One Big Factory that makes Everything and employs Everybody. Its Customers would also be its Employees. They would only have as much Purchasing Power as the same money that was paid to them to build what they are about to buy. There would be nothing left over for Profits. So both Interest and Profit are impossible in a Closed System. But Capitalism has not yet ever been ‘closed’. Capitalism always has sought its Growth in Foreign Markets. And then Capitalism also cheats by constantly expanding the Money Supply. Theoretically, some companies are supposed to make profits while other companies go bust. But imagine how happy the World would be if 6% of the Companies went bankrupt every year… it’d always be like it is now… and that’s a big problem. This is because Globalization is becoming a Closed Saturated System.
So far Capitalism had only been lucky. The discovery and opening up of the American and Australian Continents provided an escape valve for European Overpopulation, and then the discovery of Arabian Oil relieved for a while price saturation in the Energy Markets. America benefited by the Wars which virtually wiped out the rest of the World’s advanced economic powers. And the Wars also ‘corrected’ the population somewhat – the survivors after the War not only had their own jobs back, but the jobs of their Dead Buddies also… they had their pick and wages were high.
But now with One Global Economy, with no new open Continents, no new Energy Supplies, and with Machinery, Technology, Robotics and Automation taking over more and more of Labor’s Productivity; well, Commodity Prices will skyrocket just as 99 percent of the population lose their jobs and thus their Purchasing Power. Profits, Growth and Interest will be satisfied with the Cheating of the constant expansion of the Money Supply, but combined with increasing demand and scarcity of Food and Energy Commodities, it will all lead to a Hyper-Inflation and the Death of the American Dollar.
Does anybody have a plan?
Right now things are very touchy. Everybody seems to forget that just two short years ago the World was experiencing the beginnings of such a Commodity Price driven Inflationary Crunch. Indeed, that is what precipitated the Economic Downturn – so many Americans had to stop paying their mortgages because they needed the money they were earning for Food and Gas. The Downturn cut off the big demand for Commodities. But what will happen IMMEDIATELY after the mildest Recovery? The Commodities Crunch will pick up exactly where it left off. And the Swing will be worst because Prices will go far higher… all that New Money will go into circulation to buy the same limited supply of Stuff, leaving the Poor further behind than every before.
And it looks like everybody is just going to let it happen.
I suspect that China has some kind of a Secret Contingency drawn up. It doesn’t make sense that China lend America more money than America provides in payment for goods and services. It is as though China is both sending America goods and services AND they money to pay for them. In the short-term this may be necessary for China. China is holding so many trillions of American Dollars, that it thinks it necessary to jump into the breach to protect their value. But the continuous throwing away of its Wealth in order to float America can not continue forever. China must know that it is bankrupting itself by such a policy. Therefore, it is necessary to believe that such intelligent people as the Chinese must have decided on a point where they will Bail Out – where they will Cash Out on what dollars they have left, and use Emergency Powers to immediately transform over to a Planned Economy. We might be able to discern hints about such a move in the way China allocates funding for its Economic Infrastructure. When we see preparations for increased Domestic Consumption, large scale agriculture and transportation projects, then we can guess that China is about to Pull the Plug on the Dollar and weather the storm with its saved resources.
Europe, with absolutely no Leadership or resources, will simply collapse into another Dark Age, but this time with no Church to bail it out.
America also has no plans. Really, there should be Report to Work drills, where it is made clear to people that Employed or Not, people simply can’t just ‘stay home’. If the police ‘stayed home’… if the truck drivers who transport all the food ‘stayed home’… if the utility workers who provide electricity and water ‘stayed home’, well, the East and West Coast Urban Population Centers would collapse into starvation and food riots. The flow of refugees would be met by the Armed Resistance of all those American Gun Nuts. When it would be over not two out of a hundred Americans would still be alive.
But maybe THAT is the Plan. I’ve always said that Capitalism is Barbarism and Barbarism requires a low population density. Once 98% of everybody is dead, Capitalism will work just fine again. Don’t you just love these ‘healthy corrections’ that Capitalism is so famous for?
The big problem, as I see it, is the Growth Factor that seems necessary to Capitalism. Now, one can either have stability and equilibrium, or one can have Growth. And then Growth is only possible in an Open Ended Non-Saturated System. What is an Open Ended Non-Saturated System? Well, I shall provide an example in reverse and describe a Closed System. Imagine that instead of many Capitalist Banks, it is all just one Big Bank. It has ALL the money. Now it lends out it money expecting 6% interest on the principal. Well, where is this 6% extra money supposed to come from? In a closed System there is no extra money. The same goes in regards to Profits. Suppose there is One Big Factory that makes Everything and employs Everybody. Its Customers would also be its Employees. They would only have as much Purchasing Power as the same money that was paid to them to build what they are about to buy. There would be nothing left over for Profits. So both Interest and Profit are impossible in a Closed System. But Capitalism has not yet ever been ‘closed’. Capitalism always has sought its Growth in Foreign Markets. And then Capitalism also cheats by constantly expanding the Money Supply. Theoretically, some companies are supposed to make profits while other companies go bust. But imagine how happy the World would be if 6% of the Companies went bankrupt every year… it’d always be like it is now… and that’s a big problem. This is because Globalization is becoming a Closed Saturated System.
So far Capitalism had only been lucky. The discovery and opening up of the American and Australian Continents provided an escape valve for European Overpopulation, and then the discovery of Arabian Oil relieved for a while price saturation in the Energy Markets. America benefited by the Wars which virtually wiped out the rest of the World’s advanced economic powers. And the Wars also ‘corrected’ the population somewhat – the survivors after the War not only had their own jobs back, but the jobs of their Dead Buddies also… they had their pick and wages were high.
But now with One Global Economy, with no new open Continents, no new Energy Supplies, and with Machinery, Technology, Robotics and Automation taking over more and more of Labor’s Productivity; well, Commodity Prices will skyrocket just as 99 percent of the population lose their jobs and thus their Purchasing Power. Profits, Growth and Interest will be satisfied with the Cheating of the constant expansion of the Money Supply, but combined with increasing demand and scarcity of Food and Energy Commodities, it will all lead to a Hyper-Inflation and the Death of the American Dollar.
Does anybody have a plan?
Right now things are very touchy. Everybody seems to forget that just two short years ago the World was experiencing the beginnings of such a Commodity Price driven Inflationary Crunch. Indeed, that is what precipitated the Economic Downturn – so many Americans had to stop paying their mortgages because they needed the money they were earning for Food and Gas. The Downturn cut off the big demand for Commodities. But what will happen IMMEDIATELY after the mildest Recovery? The Commodities Crunch will pick up exactly where it left off. And the Swing will be worst because Prices will go far higher… all that New Money will go into circulation to buy the same limited supply of Stuff, leaving the Poor further behind than every before.
And it looks like everybody is just going to let it happen.
I suspect that China has some kind of a Secret Contingency drawn up. It doesn’t make sense that China lend America more money than America provides in payment for goods and services. It is as though China is both sending America goods and services AND they money to pay for them. In the short-term this may be necessary for China. China is holding so many trillions of American Dollars, that it thinks it necessary to jump into the breach to protect their value. But the continuous throwing away of its Wealth in order to float America can not continue forever. China must know that it is bankrupting itself by such a policy. Therefore, it is necessary to believe that such intelligent people as the Chinese must have decided on a point where they will Bail Out – where they will Cash Out on what dollars they have left, and use Emergency Powers to immediately transform over to a Planned Economy. We might be able to discern hints about such a move in the way China allocates funding for its Economic Infrastructure. When we see preparations for increased Domestic Consumption, large scale agriculture and transportation projects, then we can guess that China is about to Pull the Plug on the Dollar and weather the storm with its saved resources.
Europe, with absolutely no Leadership or resources, will simply collapse into another Dark Age, but this time with no Church to bail it out.
America also has no plans. Really, there should be Report to Work drills, where it is made clear to people that Employed or Not, people simply can’t just ‘stay home’. If the police ‘stayed home’… if the truck drivers who transport all the food ‘stayed home’… if the utility workers who provide electricity and water ‘stayed home’, well, the East and West Coast Urban Population Centers would collapse into starvation and food riots. The flow of refugees would be met by the Armed Resistance of all those American Gun Nuts. When it would be over not two out of a hundred Americans would still be alive.
But maybe THAT is the Plan. I’ve always said that Capitalism is Barbarism and Barbarism requires a low population density. Once 98% of everybody is dead, Capitalism will work just fine again. Don’t you just love these ‘healthy corrections’ that Capitalism is so famous for?
Sunday, April 18, 2010
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.
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.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
The Capacity of Saints Messiahs and Avatars
I once saw an interesting argument put forward by Jews attempting to defend themselves from the members of the “Jews For Jesus” Organization. They pointed out that Jesus could not have been the Messiah because he was not a successful Messiah, that is, a Messiah can only be defined in the context of some rather convincing Messianic results. But in the case of Jesus we find that he was executed as a subversive troublemaker on his very first official visit to the Jewish Capital. This was thought to represent a clear and convincing rebuke to any of his Messianic pretensions. If God had sent him then he would not have failed so dismally.
At first this Argument seems logical enough, but it troubles me for two reasons.
First, the argument rests on an implied premise that God is All-Powerful and All-Knowing, even to the extent of knowing the Future in all of its details. Of course, this is not surprising to any Westerner versed in the Philosophies and Theologies after the Greek Hellenistic model, where all things Divine are defined in terms of Quasi-Mathematical Absolutes – Omni-This and All-of-That. But the Argument is being used by Jews. Jewish Theology as well as the Zoroastrianism upon which it was based never imagined that God was ALL powerful. Indeed, the Moral Innovation of Zoroastrianism was to posit the existence of Evil and to deduce from that the possibility that Heaven Itself was contested between Divine and Demonic Principalities. There was a Fair and Square Universal Battle between Good and Evil. And nowhere was there any guarantee that Good would triumph… at least not in the short term. Failure and Defeat are always a possibility. Just ask Joan of Arc – ‘Smokin Joan’, who had a wonderfully blessed career up to the point where she was burned at the stake… by the English of course.
Now, our Jewish Logicians must have already known this, that is, their own Theological Backgrounds. Besides, in their perspective how else could the rather bumpy History of the Jewish Diaspora be explained otherwise than by supposing that the Forces that favor the Chosen People are countered by opposing Forces that almost at times seem to be the superior of the Two? Up until very recently the Jews had not been so well known for their invincibility.
The Second reason why the Argument for Messianic Effect troubles me is that it equates Success in Worldly Conquest with Divinity and Divine Blessing. It alls sounds so much more like John Calvin than Maimonides. God chooses Winners because they Win, and he doesn’t care about the details. So we would have Messiahs confirmed entirely on the basis of their Military Power or their ability to extort or demand obedience or compliance. Such an Argument would make a perfectly good Messiah out of Attila the Hun or Genghis Khan or Bill Gates.
Most of us would have a hard time wrapping our heads around the idea of an Evil but Effective “Messiah”. But most of us, at least tacitly, support our Winner Take All Society. Really, what choice do we have?
But we as Spiritualists take upon ourselves certain Moral and Ethical boundaries. Triumph BY Evil is the same as the triumph OF Evil. Any Real Messiah should come to save us FROM such events – to put the whirlwind of Evil into a jar and bury it forever – not just to wield Evil better than all the other Competition for whatever Ethnic or Territorial Agenda the Messiah sees as worthy of his attention.
But unfortunately we are left wondering why God seems to do so next to nothing for the sake of the Good. Even after acknowledging that God has no Absolute Powers to completely and instantly conquer Evil, we would still expect some kind of a Token Gesture of Moral Support. We can legitimately be puzzled that God did so little to support the Messianic Candidacy of Jesus. There were some Miracles and some Protections early in his Career, but it was all just suddenly withdrawn before he was even 40 year old… not even really an adult yet. It was “Jesus meet Joan of Arc. Thank you so much for your dedicated Service, and now here is your Reward.”
So what is missing?
In the Bhagavad Gita it is said “by Sacrifice you will nourish the Gods, and then the Gods will nourish you”. Then, in our Modern Era we have nearly all of the Divine Marian Apparitions over the last 500 years, seeming to be speaking characteristically in one Voice, saying that Divine Grace can only be delivered down to Humanity in some determined proportion as the Prayers, and Penances that come up from Humanity. No Prayers, No Fasting, No Messiah… or at least no very effective Messiah.
There is one very amazing instance in History of the conjunction of Prayer and Penance to Divine Potency. Saint Vincent Ferrer traveled about Latin Europe with what was estimated to be “10,000” Flagellants – people who traveled from town to town, city to city, with Vincent Ferrer, bare foot, flogging themselves the entire way, fasting, and going without sleep. And in the History of the World there has never been recorded a greater Saint. One feel uncomfortable saying it, but objectively speaking, Jesus was almost nothing compared to Vincent Ferrer. It was said of him that any day without 10,000 Miracles would have had to have been a miracle, that is, miracles became the common place thing and everybody began to forget what Reality had been like. Vincent Ferrer emptied entire urban hospitals, curing everybody… and those were the Plague Years.
Vincent Ferrer would speak with pride of his 10,000 Flagellants. He would observe that even with the extreme fasting, the daily marches, and the constant flogging, not a single man or woman among the 10,000 ever became ill. Nobody slowed down. Nobody dropped out.
These People were the Power Battery behind this greatest Campaign of Miracles in History. Nowadays people wonder what it was all good for. Well, it is true that when the Protestant Rebellion fired up in the next Century, the districts where Vincent Ferrer had gone on Tour were to remain Catholic, that is the Barons and Aristocrats in the Vincent Zone foreswore murdering every Priest, Monk and Nun in their district in order to confiscate their Monastic Estates and Church Properties. In Germany and England we simply had Blood Baths and Land Grabs. Where Vincent Ferrer and his Righteous 10,000 had trod, even 3 or 4 generations prior, Morality and Ethical Self Restraint was able to hold sway over Predatory Self Interest.
It’s a shame that Vincent Ferrer had not been better traveled. A few more miles might have saved our Civilization.
At first this Argument seems logical enough, but it troubles me for two reasons.
First, the argument rests on an implied premise that God is All-Powerful and All-Knowing, even to the extent of knowing the Future in all of its details. Of course, this is not surprising to any Westerner versed in the Philosophies and Theologies after the Greek Hellenistic model, where all things Divine are defined in terms of Quasi-Mathematical Absolutes – Omni-This and All-of-That. But the Argument is being used by Jews. Jewish Theology as well as the Zoroastrianism upon which it was based never imagined that God was ALL powerful. Indeed, the Moral Innovation of Zoroastrianism was to posit the existence of Evil and to deduce from that the possibility that Heaven Itself was contested between Divine and Demonic Principalities. There was a Fair and Square Universal Battle between Good and Evil. And nowhere was there any guarantee that Good would triumph… at least not in the short term. Failure and Defeat are always a possibility. Just ask Joan of Arc – ‘Smokin Joan’, who had a wonderfully blessed career up to the point where she was burned at the stake… by the English of course.
Now, our Jewish Logicians must have already known this, that is, their own Theological Backgrounds. Besides, in their perspective how else could the rather bumpy History of the Jewish Diaspora be explained otherwise than by supposing that the Forces that favor the Chosen People are countered by opposing Forces that almost at times seem to be the superior of the Two? Up until very recently the Jews had not been so well known for their invincibility.
The Second reason why the Argument for Messianic Effect troubles me is that it equates Success in Worldly Conquest with Divinity and Divine Blessing. It alls sounds so much more like John Calvin than Maimonides. God chooses Winners because they Win, and he doesn’t care about the details. So we would have Messiahs confirmed entirely on the basis of their Military Power or their ability to extort or demand obedience or compliance. Such an Argument would make a perfectly good Messiah out of Attila the Hun or Genghis Khan or Bill Gates.
Most of us would have a hard time wrapping our heads around the idea of an Evil but Effective “Messiah”. But most of us, at least tacitly, support our Winner Take All Society. Really, what choice do we have?
But we as Spiritualists take upon ourselves certain Moral and Ethical boundaries. Triumph BY Evil is the same as the triumph OF Evil. Any Real Messiah should come to save us FROM such events – to put the whirlwind of Evil into a jar and bury it forever – not just to wield Evil better than all the other Competition for whatever Ethnic or Territorial Agenda the Messiah sees as worthy of his attention.
But unfortunately we are left wondering why God seems to do so next to nothing for the sake of the Good. Even after acknowledging that God has no Absolute Powers to completely and instantly conquer Evil, we would still expect some kind of a Token Gesture of Moral Support. We can legitimately be puzzled that God did so little to support the Messianic Candidacy of Jesus. There were some Miracles and some Protections early in his Career, but it was all just suddenly withdrawn before he was even 40 year old… not even really an adult yet. It was “Jesus meet Joan of Arc. Thank you so much for your dedicated Service, and now here is your Reward.”
So what is missing?
In the Bhagavad Gita it is said “by Sacrifice you will nourish the Gods, and then the Gods will nourish you”. Then, in our Modern Era we have nearly all of the Divine Marian Apparitions over the last 500 years, seeming to be speaking characteristically in one Voice, saying that Divine Grace can only be delivered down to Humanity in some determined proportion as the Prayers, and Penances that come up from Humanity. No Prayers, No Fasting, No Messiah… or at least no very effective Messiah.
There is one very amazing instance in History of the conjunction of Prayer and Penance to Divine Potency. Saint Vincent Ferrer traveled about Latin Europe with what was estimated to be “10,000” Flagellants – people who traveled from town to town, city to city, with Vincent Ferrer, bare foot, flogging themselves the entire way, fasting, and going without sleep. And in the History of the World there has never been recorded a greater Saint. One feel uncomfortable saying it, but objectively speaking, Jesus was almost nothing compared to Vincent Ferrer. It was said of him that any day without 10,000 Miracles would have had to have been a miracle, that is, miracles became the common place thing and everybody began to forget what Reality had been like. Vincent Ferrer emptied entire urban hospitals, curing everybody… and those were the Plague Years.
Vincent Ferrer would speak with pride of his 10,000 Flagellants. He would observe that even with the extreme fasting, the daily marches, and the constant flogging, not a single man or woman among the 10,000 ever became ill. Nobody slowed down. Nobody dropped out.
These People were the Power Battery behind this greatest Campaign of Miracles in History. Nowadays people wonder what it was all good for. Well, it is true that when the Protestant Rebellion fired up in the next Century, the districts where Vincent Ferrer had gone on Tour were to remain Catholic, that is the Barons and Aristocrats in the Vincent Zone foreswore murdering every Priest, Monk and Nun in their district in order to confiscate their Monastic Estates and Church Properties. In Germany and England we simply had Blood Baths and Land Grabs. Where Vincent Ferrer and his Righteous 10,000 had trod, even 3 or 4 generations prior, Morality and Ethical Self Restraint was able to hold sway over Predatory Self Interest.
It’s a shame that Vincent Ferrer had not been better traveled. A few more miles might have saved our Civilization.
Friday, March 12, 2010
A Dangerous Economic Cycle
A Dangerous Economic Cycle
Does anybody remember how bad it was BEFORE the present economic collapse?
The World Economy had been so overheated that commodities prices were shooting above the range of a great many people to even be able to afford ordinary food. With Wars raging in the World’s Oil Zones, and with new demands for Oil coming from the growing Economies of India and China, it was understandable that Petroleum prices would sky-rocket. But then it was learned that grains and other foodstuffs could be boiled down and fomented into Bio-fuels, effectively linking Oil Prices to Food Prices, which would henceforth until forever rise or fall in tandem.
Some experts had projected that if Oil hit just $200 (and it had gotten as high as $150) a barrel, then over half of the World Population would be priced out of being able to eat a bare 800 calories a day. Combined with petrol-driven soaring transportation costs, some depressed areas of the Globe would not even see Relief Supplies – too expensive to buy and too expensive to deliver. Starvation would be massive.
The Financial Crisis rescued us from these hyper-inflating commodities prices, but at the cost of the loss of millions of jobs. With the collapse of production and employment commodities again became affordable, for those who still had jobs…Or the Capitalists who still had plenty of leisure savings.
We hear very little anymore about how the one crisis had sparked the other – how the Financial Crisis followed causally from the Commodities Crunch. With the upwardly spiraling food and energy costs, a lot of people could no longer afford to pay their mortgages… not with also being able to drive to work and eat food. People were driven to impossible choices. And for many people, paying off the Banks was not their top priority. Eating food or heating their homes was… while they still had homes.
So the Banks fell. Western Capitalism collapsed. The People of the World took on a crippling debt so that Capitalists could write themselves huge bonus checks and go back to business as usual. And it could all happen again tomorrow, albeit with so far fewer resources than we had the first time.
Now, the News Media, so concentrated in the hands of one or two of the World’s wealthiest Capitalists, is entirely behind Capitalism and never fails to present an optimistic view to our Future. We are told the World Economy is in the process of Recovery. But Recovery from what?
As soon as the Production and Employment picture improves, the commodity prices will begin to soar again. Millions of people still need to drive a great distance to work. These people still need to eat food. A lot of these same people have adjustable mortgages, so as soon as the Economies reach some real level of Recovery, then the adjustable Interest Rates will go up at the same time as fuel and food prices. The World Bankers automatically raise interest rates to suppress Inflationary trends. Recovery will inevitably trigger its own Recession. The Financial Crisis will simply repeat. It’s Cyclic! As long as none of the Variables are changed… as long as the basic factors remain in place, then we will all effectively be Damned if we Do and Damned if we Don’t.
Does anybody remember how bad it was BEFORE the present economic collapse?
The World Economy had been so overheated that commodities prices were shooting above the range of a great many people to even be able to afford ordinary food. With Wars raging in the World’s Oil Zones, and with new demands for Oil coming from the growing Economies of India and China, it was understandable that Petroleum prices would sky-rocket. But then it was learned that grains and other foodstuffs could be boiled down and fomented into Bio-fuels, effectively linking Oil Prices to Food Prices, which would henceforth until forever rise or fall in tandem.
Some experts had projected that if Oil hit just $200 (and it had gotten as high as $150) a barrel, then over half of the World Population would be priced out of being able to eat a bare 800 calories a day. Combined with petrol-driven soaring transportation costs, some depressed areas of the Globe would not even see Relief Supplies – too expensive to buy and too expensive to deliver. Starvation would be massive.
The Financial Crisis rescued us from these hyper-inflating commodities prices, but at the cost of the loss of millions of jobs. With the collapse of production and employment commodities again became affordable, for those who still had jobs…Or the Capitalists who still had plenty of leisure savings.
We hear very little anymore about how the one crisis had sparked the other – how the Financial Crisis followed causally from the Commodities Crunch. With the upwardly spiraling food and energy costs, a lot of people could no longer afford to pay their mortgages… not with also being able to drive to work and eat food. People were driven to impossible choices. And for many people, paying off the Banks was not their top priority. Eating food or heating their homes was… while they still had homes.
So the Banks fell. Western Capitalism collapsed. The People of the World took on a crippling debt so that Capitalists could write themselves huge bonus checks and go back to business as usual. And it could all happen again tomorrow, albeit with so far fewer resources than we had the first time.
Now, the News Media, so concentrated in the hands of one or two of the World’s wealthiest Capitalists, is entirely behind Capitalism and never fails to present an optimistic view to our Future. We are told the World Economy is in the process of Recovery. But Recovery from what?
As soon as the Production and Employment picture improves, the commodity prices will begin to soar again. Millions of people still need to drive a great distance to work. These people still need to eat food. A lot of these same people have adjustable mortgages, so as soon as the Economies reach some real level of Recovery, then the adjustable Interest Rates will go up at the same time as fuel and food prices. The World Bankers automatically raise interest rates to suppress Inflationary trends. Recovery will inevitably trigger its own Recession. The Financial Crisis will simply repeat. It’s Cyclic! As long as none of the Variables are changed… as long as the basic factors remain in place, then we will all effectively be Damned if we Do and Damned if we Don’t.
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