Do you mean how do we deprogram people who have been brainwashed in this kind of cult?
I've noticed an evolution in Jewish people over the past forty years or so. Word on the street was ya, they're great people, but just don't bring up Israel. And that seemed to be the norm.
And I remember when the first Jewish person I knew came out and said he didn't support Israel, and it blew us away!
It seems that so many Jewish people now don't support Israel -- the Jewish people online and off are against what Palestine is doing.
However the genocide is still occurring with most in Israel supporting it. I wonder how we speed up the process that I've seen building gradually over the decades.
I also wonder if there's a class component to this. All through history, atrocities have taken place that were justified as civilizing or getting rid of bad people or something, while taking over land and resources. There were people who were aware of this double standard but were comfortable with it. That attitude is hard for me to grasp, but I see it in many ways in some upper middle class people who feel superior and entitled to certain other classes, races, etc.
The "Cult" are the Evangelicals and are the majority of the ChristoZionists as someone once termed. They along with the Zionists are the Eschatological peoples. The only reason the Zionists are as empowered as they is because of Cult support; it's just more blatant today. Without a Jesus as God, the whole redemption tale sinks as does most of it. I'm well aware that most Jewish people are "normal humans;" not all Jews are Zionists.
As the cover picture implies: When genuine Truth is discovered, what was taken for Truth before must be discarded.
lol... it appears i have to come here to read what you have to say at moa!! i missed your post at moa.. nice picture from calvin and hobbs! i don't know the answer here.. at this point i am seeking a higher power to resolve the problems on the planet.. people seem incapable of doing it on their own..
lol - i am in my late 60's so i have no excuse!! although i had a friend who is in his mid 40's.. he grew up on calvin and hobbes and i read a bunch of those books and didn't look closely... thanks for the walk down memory lane!
I quit reading Moa when b couldn’t stand to have the truth plainly and unapologetically stated: the universe has within it NO deities, they’re all made up crap from liars and frauds, before, during, and after the terrorism of mass-murderer Moses as recorded in his own book of lies. Belief in deities has enabled theft and murder throughout the centuries, from the Vikings thinking they’ll get picked up off the battlefield by Valkyries and taken to Valhalla, to ‘god’s chosen’ murdering whomever they please and taking their stuff, to Allah taking ‘martyrs’ to heaven, to Hindus having the right to enslave and murder Dalits because they deserve it for ‘karma’ from a (fictitious) past life, to Aztecs murdering their enemies to appease their fictitious deities. Humanity ought to throw out all this crap, the sooner the better. I saved the image above, “if it can be destroyed by the truth, it deserves to be destroyed by the truth” which I had never seen before, so thank you. Another one along the same lines (although not including other richly-deserving atrocity-excusing myths, only those three) is m1.quebecormedia.com/emp/jdx-prod-images/5d9ec304-de5f-4ee4-9f02-8e132a922a59_ORIGINAL.jpg (add http as needed).
hey dalit... i still find moa a valuable resource of information and knowledge, so i continue to go and read it.. i think b is very insightful and many of the posters are too.. i agree with much of what you say, but i don't think it is going to pan out this way where everyone drops their religion or a lot of other things for that matter.. i'd like to see people realize we are all in this together and that we are all related to one another... these ways of dividing people can never justify murder... there is no way to hide behind any religious god for that.. that's how i see it.. and there are plural truths as opposed to only one truth... cheers james
I'm reading Alan Watts, Exkhart Tolle and Cheri Huber and have a decade's long 'understanding' that we're all god, nature, the force that animates. That we're not separate individuals in bags of skin looking out from our skulls. An optical illusion according to Einstein. We're not separate to nor in control of each other nor the universe.
Theologians call it direct experience, in contrast to mediated experience. Great literature, art, heroism, commends itself to us in direct experience. We don't need anyone to tell us that it is.
That's the negative expression. What is the positive expression, the practical one? Equal love for all? Broadmindedness? Realizing that praise for one reaches God and condemnation of one does as well? And adjusting behavior accordingly?
That's because it's the same love coming and going. The Bible says that God is love. So, when you give love, you give God and get God back. Pretty soon, you experience that it's all He, no me. Not just intellectually, physically and emotionally as well.
"That we're not separate individuals in bags of skin looking out from our skulls."
That is what is called in occultism the "Right Hand Path." There is a "Left Hand Path." You should look it up. People have been arguing over this distinction for centuries.
Thank you for your thoughts. As a corollary to your thesis, for a while I attended a Lutheran church because I am a Protestant Christian and the church is conveniently next door to me, but mostly because there was a wonderful pastor there, very educated and he ran an OT study group, and I appreciated his scholar-level knowledge and his teaching, myself having been away from religion for many years and very ignorant about the Bible. Pastor Paul was later fired, because the congregation decided to "redevelop" in order to receive money from the Synod, and also I think they were simply looking for someone who would "sensationalize" his/her sermons a bit more. In short, I believe they were bored and wanting stimulation and not appreciative of true scholarship. But I stuck with them because I believed in their kindness to one-another which they extended to me, although I was never included in the social life of the women's clique. I attended a monthly church women's meeting called Lydia Circle for years. At one point the group had collected some hundreds of $ and was voting on how to charitably spend it. I tried to get some sent to a Palestinean cause, but was graciously ignored, as were all my mentionings of the Palestine issue which I voiced in congregational prayers but never could get a discussion going. They were so nice and so uncaring about any social justice issues, certainly not a foreign issue, only gun violence and gay rights. The number of poor people who attended services there could be counted on one hand; everyone else was comfortably middle class. After Oct. 7, I could no longer tolerate the placid complacency of this congregation. Even while Israel's genocide became increasingly evident, I still asked myself, do you really want to give up going to a place where you are always welcomed, even if that tie is superficial. But then I listened to Michael Hudson's talk, the very one you Mr. Karlof are referencing in your "Longstanding Thought.' Hudson had uncovered through his truly rigorous study of the writings of Martin Luther, that Luther has advocated for the debt jubilee, but this part of his thought has been redacted from his teachings that were incorporated into the catechism of the Lutheran Church! That clinched it for me. I am through with the smug genocide-deniers of the Our Savior Lutheran Church, and I have no inclination to look back.
The jubilee concept must be applied in The USofA soon. If not by choice, by force. Brother Martin grasped the dynamics of life together. The Nazis went about it impractically. Instead of getting rid of the ledgers, they got rid of the bankers. This was the wrong way round and got them -- Nazis -- destruction.
Thanks very much for your reply. The more you learn, the more damnitol you feel the need to take. I slyly grin as the court formula popped into my head: Swear to tell the Truth, the Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth, so help you God? Sure, where would you like me to start?
Very few students take a college-level introductory Philosophy course where one of the main topics covered is Metaphysics, which aims to prove or disprove the existence of a god, any god, not just Jehovah. Some of that discussion leaks into physical anthropology as the genesis myth screws everyone up. The two best teachers I ever had I never had as a Prof--Carl Sagan and his late ex-wife Lynn Margulis the microbiologist--he examined the outer cosmos and she the inner cosmos. Her discoveries revolutionized biology, although very few people know how or why. All that knowledge and much more ought to be the basis for any Metaphysical systemic hypothesis. Why hasn't there been any rewriting of the Bible based on modern discoveries? Luther's treatment gives you the answer--the Institution can't allow the Truth to be known.
Perhaps one might consider that the central symbol of Christianity is an instrument of torture, primarily, and an instrument of execution secondarily. Now, why would there be a religion with that in front of its historical procession? Who would want that, consider it "appropriate?" Not very attractive, I'd say. Yet, yet, yet . . . . (?)
The aim was to liberate, to set free, not to submit. IMO, the last thing Jesus the Rabbi would want is people worshiping him as a god. He was a messenger revolutionary trying to alter the state of society using words and mores as weapons.
He started out with the consciousness of a Messenger. He emerged in the consciousness of a Son. He emerged finally in the consciousness of Unity with The Father. Each phase the NT text describes and the OT text prefigures. On the summary emergence -- Unity with the Father -- The Church bases Her creeds and the faithful base their piety.
There's evidence he was an Essene, which is where he learned. The Dead Sea Scrolls reveal much, which is why they're muted. The last 35 years have yielded many finds, like those of Hudson and his Peabody Team. The Vedas are extremely old based on the astronomical info they contain. I also suggest digging into Joseph Campbell's work related to mythological evolution, particularly death and resurrection. The knowledge base is vast and almost impossible to be covered by one person if they don't know where to look or even where to start. The problem today is people accept the approved myth without applying any critical thinking.
Yes, your new church institution is the ticket, always has been. Wonderful that the tracks have already been laid down. We just need a mega-catharsis for it to happen. When everything is falling apart, up springs the new expression. Won't happen until we go through the ring of fire. A lot of cleansing will happen, and the old will be cast away. You can bet on it.
Truly amazing to consider that this apocalypse is dead ahead. The center will not hold. It will all happen on the periphery.
Historically, Paradigm Shifts have taken many years from start to finish. It's hard to put a finger on when the current Shift began, perhaps when the Age of Imperialism began dying in 1914 or in 1945 when the Age of Plunder began its slow death. Now we have a situation where the world's nations are dividing into Two Blocs as the above two Ages finally collapse and the Multipolar Age--which began in 1945--finally takes control.
What will become the new Metaphysics? IMO, Humanity should come full circle and return to Nature being the font of Creation as that's where all the evidence points.
The best example of the wealth and hypocrisy of the church becomes clear after a few tours of the Vatican. When followed by a tour of the Medici museum in Rome, our disgust could not be erased.
I've often tried to think of reasons to visit Rome other than gastronomical. Everything at the Vatican was gained via stolen wealth. How Jesus would feel we can probably predict very accurately.
Your estimation about the amount of followers of this cult is IMHO a bit “limping”… Christianity is the largest religion globally, with over 2.3 billion adherents. This includes various denominations such as Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, and others. You see, I met so many people in China confessing in secret that they’re actually “Christian”, and you surly know the huge churches e.g. in Beijing and Shanghai. They’re monitored and as foreigner it would be not clever to join these temples due to huge amount of CCTV around these facilities. G5 and facial recondition, - this can lead to problems for your next visa application or visa extension. Yesterday I saw how Xi was smiling as he spoke to the boy who married his 20 years older teacher. What I want to say is, the non-cultists see more and more through the Christian hypocrisy. These Zionists and Talmudists are just a loose cannon now, knowing they’re actually protected by these various Evangelical tribes. Still, the ethnic cleansing, the forced expulsion and the changes of internal “border” are a crime and must be dealt with in the very same way as it was done with this bunch of sickos coming out of the rudiments of ‘communism with a human touch’ in Yugoslavia. The Nuttyahoo’s must be hold accountable, if not the cultists will turn the so called civilized world into a Orwellian nightmare.
Your point is taken, but my specific point was about those who call themselves Evangelicals and are mostly concentrated within the Outlaw US Empire. They are the Christian Eschatologists allied with the Zionists.
This I understood, just wanted to give a hint about e.g. in China are being lured into this religious cult. We can see how successful these cultist have been among the indigenous in South-Amerika and Afrika….luckily the BRICS are now standing in room like a big Elefant…
China has its own Metaphysical system that's very well entrenched after 5,000+ years. Their goal of Harmony and Balance in all things is attainable provided Humanity recognizes itself as one Tribe and works to advance all members of that one Tribe.
Some are calling for a revolution to replace the rich though I think we have to be careful what we replace them with. Forgiveness, love and peace doesn't come from people who aren't forgiving, loving and peaceful.
Some want to 'reprogram' others. I say we work on taking the planks out of our own eyes first. We're all programmed by our respective conditioning.
Our current situation would be greatly helped if the Christian Churches honestly expressed how they feel about the genocide in Gaza, one way or the other.
Karl Sanchez, HUMAN PEACE WON'T BE SORTED OUT IN THE MENTAL-HOSPITAL by staff or patients.
Please go deeper than the past 7000 years of western 'exogenous' (Latin 'other-generated') Oligarch evil fake 'money' (Greek 'mnemosis' = 'memory') command & control of all 3 Abrahamic descendent fake 'religion' (Latin 'religio' = 'to-relate') serial killers since Babylon's fall to Oligarch rule, perpetual war & desertification. It's just tattered records, which censors have allowed to be published. Kind Religion is not meant to be based in Icons, Images, Idols & Institutions, but in direct interpersonal caring & sharing together in our everyday lives.
Torah is only an Oligarch financed & written, glorification & justification for brutal invasion, genocide & colonization, starting in Babylon, but continuing through the Phoenician brutal colonization of the whole Mediterranean from the Kingdom of Israel with its aligned Philistine, Palestine, Amalec, Canaan, City State Tyre, Byblos, Beirut. As each area is subjugated & economically & ecologically destroyed into desert lands, the same exogenous lineage of Oligarchy packed up their fake money mint & moved westward into lush productive indigenous lands. The New Testament is a weak apology to "be good" & "Give". The Koran continues in this supposed justice vein. All 3 are ignorant of their ancient indigenous roots & therefore have been willing victims to Oligarch colonization with the genocide & murder of over one billion people during this 7000 year period.
All these book foundations of genocide & colonization are Oligarch empire Psychological-indoctrination operations, meant to institutionally subjugate & control colonized populations into brutal submission & based in the negative reactive Noahide Laws or 10 Commandment, "Thou-shalt-not".
Palestine is the LAND-BRIDGE between the mega-continents of Eurasia (Noah's 1st born Japheth) to be controlled by 2nd born Shem (root of Semitic for Levant & Arabic peoples) & Africa for 3rd born Ham justified by Shem to be enslaved. The holy-land is only so much, as its steward inhabitants welcome & economically include the traveler, stranger, trader & refugee, such as Palestinians have for many 1000s of years even including the Ashkenazi (Some-of-my-family in 3 branches) invaders before Ashkenazi nefarious brutal exclusive land grab became apparent by Stern-gang, Lehi-Irgun, Hagenah, Mossad genocidal violence of the past 100 years.
For many 10s of 1000s of years, pre-Oligarch colonization, all humanity's 'INDIGENOUS' (L. 'self-generating') ancestors in every nation on every continent, cultivated the positive, proactive GREAT-GOOD-WAY-OF-KINDNESS' aka 'GREAT-LAW-OF-PEACE' aka 'CONSTITUTION' based in Proactive, positive humane inclusive 'economy' (Gk. 'oikos' = 'home' + 'namein' = 'care-&-nurture') welcoming livelihood relations. Three pillars include:
1) intimate, intergenerational, female-male, interdisciplinary, critical-mass, economies-of-scale organization in the ~100 (50-150) person Multihome-Dwelling-Complex (eg. Longhouse-apartment, Pueblo-townhouse & Kanata-village.
2) Time-based equivalency accounting upon the String-shell Value system integrating Capital, Currency, Condolence, Collegial mentored-apprentice Education, time-math Communication & professional Costume. Accounting meaning recognition & celebration of all contributions by all stakeholder contributors forms the foundation of real 'money' = 'memory' motivating & empowering all contributors for their systematic experience, expertise & decision-making-acumen.
3) COUNCIL-PROCESS meaning Both-sides-now, Equal-time, Recorded & Published-Dialogue
There's still one kind loving 1st Nation 'indigenous' sovereignty here & once worldwide, which helps all to re-empower & redistribute a rich humane peace & abundant livelihood among ourselves in harmony with each other & nature.
~110 1st Nations across Turtle-Island/N. America were joined into ~23 Confederacies. LOVINGLY STRONG FROM THE BOTTOM-UP (Organizing from the Tree-roots) 'Kanata' aka 'Canada' means 'Village' being ~100 (50-150) person intimate, intergenerational, female-male, interdisciplinary, critical-mass, economies-of-scale Multihome-Dwelling-Complex (eg. Longhouse-apartment, Pueblo-townhouse & Kanata-village). When French invader Jacques Cartier asks Mohawk people, "What is the name of your nation?", they respond 'Kanata' meaning we’re part of a Multihome & village based continent-wide governance.
70% of people today live in multihomes with an average of 32 dwelling-units = ~100 people. 20% of Multihome-dwellers are extended-families living intentionally in proximity for social & economic collaboration. Multihome-Extended-Family is the largest Essential-Services provider worldwide. On Turtle-Island these caring & essential goods & services contributions amount to some 2 trillion dollars per year as the largest single economy, albeit unrecognized by our colonial governments, institutions & academia.
james wrote "nice picture from calvin and hobbs! i don't know the answer here.. "
Calvin and Hobbs? You don't know Linus van Pelt when you see him? His older sister is Lucy famous for pulling away the football as Charlie Brown tries in vain to kick it. For an answer tho, imo it's mostly not the 150 million jews' fault. They're living under a strain being felt on everyone living in the 'West', which has been described as Mass Formation psychosis. They've been brainwashed, by zionism and imho the answer lies in destroying zionism, which being the root of the problem is a hell'eva lot less than 150 million people. However, to keep any embers from reigniting the plagued ideology, its cousin nazism as practiced by the united states and its vassals has to be destroyed in its entirety also. So, still a lot less than 150 million people, but a formidable task indeed, at hand. Just have to figure out a way to out and arrest both nazis and zionist's for their multiple crimes and then begin teaching the masses the truths they've been deprived of for so long. Easy? No way, but when, winning back your freedom ever is?
The 150 Million are the Evangelicals and the one's whose Cult needs to be shut down so it doesn't get new recruits. The Zionists within Palestine are few, maybe 15 Million. They are sort of like two parasites feeding on each other whose sewage is poisonous for the rest of Humanity.
"As of 2023, the world's core Jewish population (those identifying as Jews above all else) was estimated at 15.7 million, which is approximately 0.2% of the 8 billion worldwide population. Israel hosts the largest core Jewish population in the world with 7.2 million, followed by the United States with 6.3 million"
Just to add: basically, if you get rid of Israel AND the US, problem solved.
WWIII would do that. Remove essentially around 377 million people - 370 in the US plus 7 in Israel - and the rest of the world's almost 8 billion could go on killing each other in peace. LOL
It does seem like someone intends that. I can see the appeal.
As a radical Transhumanist, I don't care which humans die or how many as long as technological progress continues. I cut slack for only two classes of humans: 1) scientists and engineers doing something actually useful for the improvement of the species; and 2) hot babes. (And of course the guys who deliver my stuff from Amazon. :-) )
I would like to address your question: “But how to deprogram the Cult members who continue to recruit new victims?”
My short answer is that it will be as easy to “deprogram the Cult members” as it would be to “reprogram” a heroin addict. The analogy is a true one. Both behaviors are obsessions/addictions to the pleasures of the Now.
To successfully reform an addict requires a two-stage program. First, the pleasure inducing substance must be taken away. (e.g., drug, alcohol, cell phone, etc.) Second, the cleaned-up addict must be put into a culture that is spiritually rich. Isn’t it the case that addictions are responses to spiritually impoverished lives? Lives that have no connection to family, friends, community? Putting the reformed addict back into the same spiritually empty environment from which he came guarantees he returns to his addiction. He has to fill the emptiness with something.
When I speak of the spiritual, I am not speaking of any particular religion. I am speaking of spiritual love, agape. Though I dislike St Paul’s teachings in general, I think he was correct in his description of agape love:
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (NIV 1Corinthians 13:4-7)
This is what is missing in the lives of those who are susceptible to the teachings of the Cult: a spiritual connection to others. The current moral philosophy of the West is one that celebrates individual happiness. Traditional social connections to others are deemed “oppressive.”
How long can a city that is populated exclusively with heroin addicts continue to function? Exactly, it can’t. And this is the answer. The Cult is by its very nature self-destructive. It thrives only as long as there is something to consume. It sacrifices the future to the pleasures of the Now. It is like a plague of locust. It is like a forest fire.
But life always returns after a forest fire, doesn’t it?
Before we in the West can be released from our addiction to the Cult, we have to lose everything of material value. What belongs to Mammon must be given back. It will all be taken away from us, our homes, our jobs, our pensions, our savings, everything. Don’t lament it. It is a necessary cleansing. We will be left with only those things that the Cult does not value: family, friends, community, duty, honor. Then we will have to rebuild the culture in the image of our spiritual values and rebuild capitalism to be a servant rather than the master.
It can be done. It’s been done before. I offer two examples from the last hundred years to prove that we can do it too.
The first example is from Germany. After its defeat in WWI, an internal revolution brought the Cult into power. It ushered in the materialistic, hedonistic culture of the Wiemar Republic. The war reparations drained the country of its productive assets. The destruction of the money finished the job. The German people had to sell everything just to feed their families. They had nothing left. Within ten years of this nadir, the German people were on the path to recovery of their nation and their traditional culture.
The second example is Russia in 1990. The dissolution of the USSR opened up Russia to a takeover by the Cult. Everything was taken from the Russian people. Where is Russia today? It is a strong sovereign nation and its traditional culture is reawakening. The influence of the moral philosophy of the Cult is diminishing daily.
I believe that these two examples are models of hope for the future of the West. We have to go through zero first before our golden chains fall away and we can awaken from addiction to the pleasures of Mammon. We will not voluntarily give them up!
What can we do now? Prepare the way. Reinvent, rehabilitate, restore, recreate a traditional moral philosophy to replace the materialistic, hedonistic moral philosophy that the Cult has imposed on the West. I would suggest, as models to study: the Amish culture and the culture defined by the “Protestant Ethics” described by Max Weber and celebrated by Benjamin Franklin. As a fictional expression of this morality, I recommend Horatio Alger’s 1868 book, “Ragged Dick.”
Most people, when they peer into the future, see only darkness and destruction. I suggest they are not looking far enough.
You have a good perception of the problem. Marx called religion an opiate. The issue I see as problematic is getting Cult members to see the gross error within what they were taught while also erecting a roadblock to keep others from being waylaid. Of course, there's the much greater problem of the Outlaw US Empire's utter bankruptcy when it comes to wholesome values that build-up and bring together instead of the ongoing process of society's atomization and polarization. The social aspect is one of the big dividers and major factors between the Global Majority and the West.
Good thoughts there Karl. Perhaps Jesus erred when he threw the money changers (or merchants?) out of the temple. IMO the parable might have served us better had he appropriated their wealth and redistributed it to the masses. He might then have built a stronger mass movement and saved himself from his gruesome end.
Perhaps he did redistribute the wealth and destroy the debt records and it was hastily rewritten in order to bury such heretical action against the capitalist class. Or to simply bury the concept of jubilee from debt. Maybe the religious leaders of the day ran a racket whereby merchants were only able to practice inside the temple and not through rented properties throughout the villages thereby holding monopoly rents only at the temple.
Extortion gangs in parts of South America operate on similar principles in some localities by murdering small enterprise operators who dare to venture outside of 'the rules'.
Mafias can exist at any historic time interval. The Romans were one of the worst and those that operated under their togas were just as bad. Of course, the odd point of my exercise is it omits the Metaphysical thoughts of over half Humanity. Earlier in my Gym writings I provided Xi Jinping's major initiatives that reflect on the main aspects of East Asian thought.,
Dr. Seuss tried his own version in 1960 with the story of "The Sneetches." He won many fans but how many adopted the course of action the story suggests? My aim was to get others thinking and to sift their feedback. IMO, the effort's been worthwhile.
If you desacralize Jesus into just another Jewish rabbi promoting honest money, then his name will vanish from collective consciousness in a flash. The message, though a good one, is far too mundane, materialist and dull and doesn't even begin to address bedrock, fundamental issues which all civilizations must somehow tackle in order to promote uplifted, sane social mores. A very few succeed in this, usually only for a few generations; most fail. Slaughter, hypocrisy, greed, dysfunction, corrupt leadership: these are all the norms in most human history. (What is happening in Gaza is horrific, yes, but all too common.) Sometimes with exceptional effort, talent and good fortune such ghastly normal can be transformed into exceptionally good, but this is rare and precious and poorly understood. We decapitated our kings and queens long ago and have lost our way, blundering from one ism to another in secular darkness.
This won't be changed by simply coming up with better materialist monetary policy.
Getting to the point of a world where material attributes are no longer the main goal of acquisition is still decades away as rough equitability must first be attained and political-economy shifted to attaining a steady-state equilibrium regarding inputs and outputs. That time is reached when energy becomes the key commodity that if planned properly could be distributed at very little cost globally. And making fusion work isn't required to do that. What is required is global peace, expert planning and above all trust between all. WE are the Human Tribe and there are no others on this planet. Thus, an evolution in thought and behavior is also required. There once was a time when wisdom was valued over material goods. That ethos must be reborn.
"There once was a time when wisdom was valued over material goods. That ethos must be reborn."
Well, there we can agree, dear Karl!
As you know, my beef is with the over-emphasis of the materialist approach in modern society. We have become unbalanced because of it and this has skewed our value systems out of wack. Of course society, or civilization if you prefer, is a complex multi-variable, multi-layered phenomenon which means there are no end of helpful ways it can be viewed, explained and adjusted. Taking care of material stability and sanity is obviously extremely important, indeed without it any society will founder. So also are things like proper science and engineering, decent money systems, proper courts of law, resilient, natural farming and so on. All of these are reasonable, practical necessities. But also are things like promulgating loving families, multi-generational lineages, advanced arts and crafts which come from advanced culture which comes from some sort of spiritual sophistication which ultimately will involve sacred perception.
We live in such an over-secularized 'modern' age that such thinking seems anachronistic or just downright weird. But I believe this is part of the perennial philosophy, so to speak. One problem we have is that our ancestors took certain things for granted and so didn't spell everything out. The ancient Greeks assumed we could all experience the power and presence of the gods. And yet today such a notion is entirely alien, even fabulist. The Daoists assumed that all reasonable human beings understand that there is nothing in Nature that doesn't continually teach wisdom so all human beings naturally wish to learn from her. They never really explained this because they assumed everyone knew that, just needed help in how to do it. Similarly traditional Christians from a few centuries ago assumed that all human beings naturally understand the power and presence of sacredness, which is a bedrock human experience. And yet today most people regard such notions as extremely strange and remote. So each age has to reinvent the same old wheel in some sense.
One of the ways we are going to get to the other side, I believe, is by relaxing the overly tight hold materialism has on all of us in the modern world (who among us does not believe in a permanent unchanging objective physical reality out there?) so that something more spirit-related can slip in. We don't have to lurch from one extreme to another and all become bible-thumping fundamentalists, but there needs to be a move back to the middle, human experience wise, which includes some sort of relationship with the eternal, the transcendent, the non-material, the heart, the sacred. At least a little.
My two cents!
Keep up the good work. I think your gym is a healthy zone and salute all your hard work and well-developed wisdom!
The government has zero capacity to alter course, let alone go about 180º, which is what is needed.
The people lack exposure to alternatives and wise leaders to even discuss them.
The middle class have only hope. For the rest, fentanyl consumption is still rising and look at their staggering suicide and incarceration rates. Despair is a harbinger of revolution.
Realistically, their best hope is a coup led by a smart, patriotic colonel with good teeth and hair.
Hi Karl,
Do you mean how do we deprogram people who have been brainwashed in this kind of cult?
I've noticed an evolution in Jewish people over the past forty years or so. Word on the street was ya, they're great people, but just don't bring up Israel. And that seemed to be the norm.
And I remember when the first Jewish person I knew came out and said he didn't support Israel, and it blew us away!
It seems that so many Jewish people now don't support Israel -- the Jewish people online and off are against what Palestine is doing.
However the genocide is still occurring with most in Israel supporting it. I wonder how we speed up the process that I've seen building gradually over the decades.
I also wonder if there's a class component to this. All through history, atrocities have taken place that were justified as civilizing or getting rid of bad people or something, while taking over land and resources. There were people who were aware of this double standard but were comfortable with it. That attitude is hard for me to grasp, but I see it in many ways in some upper middle class people who feel superior and entitled to certain other classes, races, etc.
The "Cult" are the Evangelicals and are the majority of the ChristoZionists as someone once termed. They along with the Zionists are the Eschatological peoples. The only reason the Zionists are as empowered as they is because of Cult support; it's just more blatant today. Without a Jesus as God, the whole redemption tale sinks as does most of it. I'm well aware that most Jewish people are "normal humans;" not all Jews are Zionists.
As the cover picture implies: When genuine Truth is discovered, what was taken for Truth before must be discarded.
lol... it appears i have to come here to read what you have to say at moa!! i missed your post at moa.. nice picture from calvin and hobbs! i don't know the answer here.. at this point i am seeking a higher power to resolve the problems on the planet.. people seem incapable of doing it on their own..
Acutely, James,that was Lionus from an old Peanuts comic.
Not to be one that criticizes over much, unless you're in your late 60s you'd not know the difference.
Though Calvin and Hobbes is a most interesting misread.
And one of my all time favorites for sure!
it's brilliant.
lol - i am in my late 60's so i have no excuse!! although i had a friend who is in his mid 40's.. he grew up on calvin and hobbes and i read a bunch of those books and didn't look closely... thanks for the walk down memory lane!
I quit reading Moa when b couldn’t stand to have the truth plainly and unapologetically stated: the universe has within it NO deities, they’re all made up crap from liars and frauds, before, during, and after the terrorism of mass-murderer Moses as recorded in his own book of lies. Belief in deities has enabled theft and murder throughout the centuries, from the Vikings thinking they’ll get picked up off the battlefield by Valkyries and taken to Valhalla, to ‘god’s chosen’ murdering whomever they please and taking their stuff, to Allah taking ‘martyrs’ to heaven, to Hindus having the right to enslave and murder Dalits because they deserve it for ‘karma’ from a (fictitious) past life, to Aztecs murdering their enemies to appease their fictitious deities. Humanity ought to throw out all this crap, the sooner the better. I saved the image above, “if it can be destroyed by the truth, it deserves to be destroyed by the truth” which I had never seen before, so thank you. Another one along the same lines (although not including other richly-deserving atrocity-excusing myths, only those three) is m1.quebecormedia.com/emp/jdx-prod-images/5d9ec304-de5f-4ee4-9f02-8e132a922a59_ORIGINAL.jpg (add http as needed).
Dalit
hey dalit... i still find moa a valuable resource of information and knowledge, so i continue to go and read it.. i think b is very insightful and many of the posters are too.. i agree with much of what you say, but i don't think it is going to pan out this way where everyone drops their religion or a lot of other things for that matter.. i'd like to see people realize we are all in this together and that we are all related to one another... these ways of dividing people can never justify murder... there is no way to hide behind any religious god for that.. that's how i see it.. and there are plural truths as opposed to only one truth... cheers james
Recall Conan saying: "Oh, it's just another snake cult."
I'm reading Alan Watts, Exkhart Tolle and Cheri Huber and have a decade's long 'understanding' that we're all god, nature, the force that animates. That we're not separate individuals in bags of skin looking out from our skulls. An optical illusion according to Einstein. We're not separate to nor in control of each other nor the universe.
* the more we think we understand, stand under, the further from the truth we get!
What's the easiest method of always approaching the truth? Namasmarana? Ramanam? Prayer without ceasing?
Knowing what formulates it, what makes it true versus that which also professes to be true. Facts; empirical proof.
Theologians call it direct experience, in contrast to mediated experience. Great literature, art, heroism, commends itself to us in direct experience. We don't need anyone to tell us that it is.
That's the negative expression. What is the positive expression, the practical one? Equal love for all? Broadmindedness? Realizing that praise for one reaches God and condemnation of one does as well? And adjusting behavior accordingly?
The more love you give the more you get.
That's because it's the same love coming and going. The Bible says that God is love. So, when you give love, you give God and get God back. Pretty soon, you experience that it's all He, no me. Not just intellectually, physically and emotionally as well.
"That we're not separate individuals in bags of skin looking out from our skulls."
That is what is called in occultism the "Right Hand Path." There is a "Left Hand Path." You should look it up. People have been arguing over this distinction for centuries.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-hand_path_and_right-hand_path
Thank you for your thoughts. As a corollary to your thesis, for a while I attended a Lutheran church because I am a Protestant Christian and the church is conveniently next door to me, but mostly because there was a wonderful pastor there, very educated and he ran an OT study group, and I appreciated his scholar-level knowledge and his teaching, myself having been away from religion for many years and very ignorant about the Bible. Pastor Paul was later fired, because the congregation decided to "redevelop" in order to receive money from the Synod, and also I think they were simply looking for someone who would "sensationalize" his/her sermons a bit more. In short, I believe they were bored and wanting stimulation and not appreciative of true scholarship. But I stuck with them because I believed in their kindness to one-another which they extended to me, although I was never included in the social life of the women's clique. I attended a monthly church women's meeting called Lydia Circle for years. At one point the group had collected some hundreds of $ and was voting on how to charitably spend it. I tried to get some sent to a Palestinean cause, but was graciously ignored, as were all my mentionings of the Palestine issue which I voiced in congregational prayers but never could get a discussion going. They were so nice and so uncaring about any social justice issues, certainly not a foreign issue, only gun violence and gay rights. The number of poor people who attended services there could be counted on one hand; everyone else was comfortably middle class. After Oct. 7, I could no longer tolerate the placid complacency of this congregation. Even while Israel's genocide became increasingly evident, I still asked myself, do you really want to give up going to a place where you are always welcomed, even if that tie is superficial. But then I listened to Michael Hudson's talk, the very one you Mr. Karlof are referencing in your "Longstanding Thought.' Hudson had uncovered through his truly rigorous study of the writings of Martin Luther, that Luther has advocated for the debt jubilee, but this part of his thought has been redacted from his teachings that were incorporated into the catechism of the Lutheran Church! That clinched it for me. I am through with the smug genocide-deniers of the Our Savior Lutheran Church, and I have no inclination to look back.
Cora.
The jubilee concept must be applied in The USofA soon. If not by choice, by force. Brother Martin grasped the dynamics of life together. The Nazis went about it impractically. Instead of getting rid of the ledgers, they got rid of the bankers. This was the wrong way round and got them -- Nazis -- destruction.
Thanks very much for your reply. The more you learn, the more damnitol you feel the need to take. I slyly grin as the court formula popped into my head: Swear to tell the Truth, the Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth, so help you God? Sure, where would you like me to start?
Very few students take a college-level introductory Philosophy course where one of the main topics covered is Metaphysics, which aims to prove or disprove the existence of a god, any god, not just Jehovah. Some of that discussion leaks into physical anthropology as the genesis myth screws everyone up. The two best teachers I ever had I never had as a Prof--Carl Sagan and his late ex-wife Lynn Margulis the microbiologist--he examined the outer cosmos and she the inner cosmos. Her discoveries revolutionized biology, although very few people know how or why. All that knowledge and much more ought to be the basis for any Metaphysical systemic hypothesis. Why hasn't there been any rewriting of the Bible based on modern discoveries? Luther's treatment gives you the answer--the Institution can't allow the Truth to be known.
Perhaps one might consider that the central symbol of Christianity is an instrument of torture, primarily, and an instrument of execution secondarily. Now, why would there be a religion with that in front of its historical procession? Who would want that, consider it "appropriate?" Not very attractive, I'd say. Yet, yet, yet . . . . (?)
The aim was to liberate, to set free, not to submit. IMO, the last thing Jesus the Rabbi would want is people worshiping him as a god. He was a messenger revolutionary trying to alter the state of society using words and mores as weapons.
He started out with the consciousness of a Messenger. He emerged in the consciousness of a Son. He emerged finally in the consciousness of Unity with The Father. Each phase the NT text describes and the OT text prefigures. On the summary emergence -- Unity with the Father -- The Church bases Her creeds and the faithful base their piety.
There's evidence he was an Essene, which is where he learned. The Dead Sea Scrolls reveal much, which is why they're muted. The last 35 years have yielded many finds, like those of Hudson and his Peabody Team. The Vedas are extremely old based on the astronomical info they contain. I also suggest digging into Joseph Campbell's work related to mythological evolution, particularly death and resurrection. The knowledge base is vast and almost impossible to be covered by one person if they don't know where to look or even where to start. The problem today is people accept the approved myth without applying any critical thinking.
Where do the clouds and rivers fit in your schema? I miss their lilt.
Yes, your new church institution is the ticket, always has been. Wonderful that the tracks have already been laid down. We just need a mega-catharsis for it to happen. When everything is falling apart, up springs the new expression. Won't happen until we go through the ring of fire. A lot of cleansing will happen, and the old will be cast away. You can bet on it.
Truly amazing to consider that this apocalypse is dead ahead. The center will not hold. It will all happen on the periphery.
What an amazing time to be alive.
Historically, Paradigm Shifts have taken many years from start to finish. It's hard to put a finger on when the current Shift began, perhaps when the Age of Imperialism began dying in 1914 or in 1945 when the Age of Plunder began its slow death. Now we have a situation where the world's nations are dividing into Two Blocs as the above two Ages finally collapse and the Multipolar Age--which began in 1945--finally takes control.
What will become the new Metaphysics? IMO, Humanity should come full circle and return to Nature being the font of Creation as that's where all the evidence points.
The best example of the wealth and hypocrisy of the church becomes clear after a few tours of the Vatican. When followed by a tour of the Medici museum in Rome, our disgust could not be erased.
I've often tried to think of reasons to visit Rome other than gastronomical. Everything at the Vatican was gained via stolen wealth. How Jesus would feel we can probably predict very accurately.
Your estimation about the amount of followers of this cult is IMHO a bit “limping”… Christianity is the largest religion globally, with over 2.3 billion adherents. This includes various denominations such as Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, and others. You see, I met so many people in China confessing in secret that they’re actually “Christian”, and you surly know the huge churches e.g. in Beijing and Shanghai. They’re monitored and as foreigner it would be not clever to join these temples due to huge amount of CCTV around these facilities. G5 and facial recondition, - this can lead to problems for your next visa application or visa extension. Yesterday I saw how Xi was smiling as he spoke to the boy who married his 20 years older teacher. What I want to say is, the non-cultists see more and more through the Christian hypocrisy. These Zionists and Talmudists are just a loose cannon now, knowing they’re actually protected by these various Evangelical tribes. Still, the ethnic cleansing, the forced expulsion and the changes of internal “border” are a crime and must be dealt with in the very same way as it was done with this bunch of sickos coming out of the rudiments of ‘communism with a human touch’ in Yugoslavia. The Nuttyahoo’s must be hold accountable, if not the cultists will turn the so called civilized world into a Orwellian nightmare.
Your point is taken, but my specific point was about those who call themselves Evangelicals and are mostly concentrated within the Outlaw US Empire. They are the Christian Eschatologists allied with the Zionists.
This I understood, just wanted to give a hint about e.g. in China are being lured into this religious cult. We can see how successful these cultist have been among the indigenous in South-Amerika and Afrika….luckily the BRICS are now standing in room like a big Elefant…
China has its own Metaphysical system that's very well entrenched after 5,000+ years. Their goal of Harmony and Balance in all things is attainable provided Humanity recognizes itself as one Tribe and works to advance all members of that one Tribe.
Some are calling for a revolution to replace the rich though I think we have to be careful what we replace them with. Forgiveness, love and peace doesn't come from people who aren't forgiving, loving and peaceful.
Some want to 'reprogram' others. I say we work on taking the planks out of our own eyes first. We're all programmed by our respective conditioning.
Our current situation would be greatly helped if the Christian Churches honestly expressed how they feel about the genocide in Gaza, one way or the other.
Karl Sanchez, HUMAN PEACE WON'T BE SORTED OUT IN THE MENTAL-HOSPITAL by staff or patients.
Please go deeper than the past 7000 years of western 'exogenous' (Latin 'other-generated') Oligarch evil fake 'money' (Greek 'mnemosis' = 'memory') command & control of all 3 Abrahamic descendent fake 'religion' (Latin 'religio' = 'to-relate') serial killers since Babylon's fall to Oligarch rule, perpetual war & desertification. It's just tattered records, which censors have allowed to be published. Kind Religion is not meant to be based in Icons, Images, Idols & Institutions, but in direct interpersonal caring & sharing together in our everyday lives.
Torah is only an Oligarch financed & written, glorification & justification for brutal invasion, genocide & colonization, starting in Babylon, but continuing through the Phoenician brutal colonization of the whole Mediterranean from the Kingdom of Israel with its aligned Philistine, Palestine, Amalec, Canaan, City State Tyre, Byblos, Beirut. As each area is subjugated & economically & ecologically destroyed into desert lands, the same exogenous lineage of Oligarchy packed up their fake money mint & moved westward into lush productive indigenous lands. The New Testament is a weak apology to "be good" & "Give". The Koran continues in this supposed justice vein. All 3 are ignorant of their ancient indigenous roots & therefore have been willing victims to Oligarch colonization with the genocide & murder of over one billion people during this 7000 year period.
All these book foundations of genocide & colonization are Oligarch empire Psychological-indoctrination operations, meant to institutionally subjugate & control colonized populations into brutal submission & based in the negative reactive Noahide Laws or 10 Commandment, "Thou-shalt-not".
Palestine is the LAND-BRIDGE between the mega-continents of Eurasia (Noah's 1st born Japheth) to be controlled by 2nd born Shem (root of Semitic for Levant & Arabic peoples) & Africa for 3rd born Ham justified by Shem to be enslaved. The holy-land is only so much, as its steward inhabitants welcome & economically include the traveler, stranger, trader & refugee, such as Palestinians have for many 1000s of years even including the Ashkenazi (Some-of-my-family in 3 branches) invaders before Ashkenazi nefarious brutal exclusive land grab became apparent by Stern-gang, Lehi-Irgun, Hagenah, Mossad genocidal violence of the past 100 years.
For many 10s of 1000s of years, pre-Oligarch colonization, all humanity's 'INDIGENOUS' (L. 'self-generating') ancestors in every nation on every continent, cultivated the positive, proactive GREAT-GOOD-WAY-OF-KINDNESS' aka 'GREAT-LAW-OF-PEACE' aka 'CONSTITUTION' based in Proactive, positive humane inclusive 'economy' (Gk. 'oikos' = 'home' + 'namein' = 'care-&-nurture') welcoming livelihood relations. Three pillars include:
1) intimate, intergenerational, female-male, interdisciplinary, critical-mass, economies-of-scale organization in the ~100 (50-150) person Multihome-Dwelling-Complex (eg. Longhouse-apartment, Pueblo-townhouse & Kanata-village.
2) Time-based equivalency accounting upon the String-shell Value system integrating Capital, Currency, Condolence, Collegial mentored-apprentice Education, time-math Communication & professional Costume. Accounting meaning recognition & celebration of all contributions by all stakeholder contributors forms the foundation of real 'money' = 'memory' motivating & empowering all contributors for their systematic experience, expertise & decision-making-acumen.
3) COUNCIL-PROCESS meaning Both-sides-now, Equal-time, Recorded & Published-Dialogue
These 3 are described worldwide as part of the indigenous 'CIRCLE-OF-LIFE'. https://sites.google.com/site/indigenecommunity/a-home/3-indigenous-circle-of-life
There's still one kind loving 1st Nation 'indigenous' sovereignty here & once worldwide, which helps all to re-empower & redistribute a rich humane peace & abundant livelihood among ourselves in harmony with each other & nature.
~110 1st Nations across Turtle-Island/N. America were joined into ~23 Confederacies. LOVINGLY STRONG FROM THE BOTTOM-UP (Organizing from the Tree-roots) 'Kanata' aka 'Canada' means 'Village' being ~100 (50-150) person intimate, intergenerational, female-male, interdisciplinary, critical-mass, economies-of-scale Multihome-Dwelling-Complex (eg. Longhouse-apartment, Pueblo-townhouse & Kanata-village). When French invader Jacques Cartier asks Mohawk people, "What is the name of your nation?", they respond 'Kanata' meaning we’re part of a Multihome & village based continent-wide governance.
70% of people today live in multihomes with an average of 32 dwelling-units = ~100 people. 20% of Multihome-dwellers are extended-families living intentionally in proximity for social & economic collaboration. Multihome-Extended-Family is the largest Essential-Services provider worldwide. On Turtle-Island these caring & essential goods & services contributions amount to some 2 trillion dollars per year as the largest single economy, albeit unrecognized by our colonial governments, institutions & academia.
REAL WORK OF 'NATION' (French 'naitre' = 'to be born')-HOOD Multihome-extended-family contribute 2 trillions $ of the most individually appropriate goods, services, sharing caring/year, as Turtle-Island, largest essential Economic sector, albeit unrecognized by government, education & institutions. https://sites.google.com/site/indigenecommunity/c-relational-economy/1-extending-our-welcome-participatory-multihome-cohousing
DO-WE-KNOW-WHO-WE-ARE-? http://sites.google.com/site/indigenecommunity/d-participatory-structure/9-do-we-know-who-we-are web-based Community-Circular-Economy software supports individuals, family, extended-family & community in recognition of each person & entity's contribution, experience, expertise & decision-making-acumen in real education & real medicine through:
A) CATALOGUE intake form. https://sites.google.com/site/indigenecommunity/a-home/7-membership
B) MAP local proximal collaborative relations for complementary economic concertation. Historical example: Baseline mapping of 105 Mohawk, Wendat & Algonquian Placenames in the Tiohtiake (greater Montreal archipelago) region https://sites.google.com/site/indigenecommunity/a-home/5-tiohtiake-mohawk-placenames
C) ACCOUNT for collective contributions, buying, selling & co-investment. https://sites.google.com/site/indigenecommunity/c-relational-economy
D) COMMUNICATE such as formally through COUNCIL PROCESS for creating Constructive Agreements & for Conflict Resolution. https://sites.google.com/site/indigenecommunity/d-participatory-structure/1-both-sides-now-equal-time-recorded-dialogues
james wrote "nice picture from calvin and hobbs! i don't know the answer here.. "
Calvin and Hobbs? You don't know Linus van Pelt when you see him? His older sister is Lucy famous for pulling away the football as Charlie Brown tries in vain to kick it. For an answer tho, imo it's mostly not the 150 million jews' fault. They're living under a strain being felt on everyone living in the 'West', which has been described as Mass Formation psychosis. They've been brainwashed, by zionism and imho the answer lies in destroying zionism, which being the root of the problem is a hell'eva lot less than 150 million people. However, to keep any embers from reigniting the plagued ideology, its cousin nazism as practiced by the united states and its vassals has to be destroyed in its entirety also. So, still a lot less than 150 million people, but a formidable task indeed, at hand. Just have to figure out a way to out and arrest both nazis and zionist's for their multiple crimes and then begin teaching the masses the truths they've been deprived of for so long. Easy? No way, but when, winning back your freedom ever is?
The 150 Million are the Evangelicals and the one's whose Cult needs to be shut down so it doesn't get new recruits. The Zionists within Palestine are few, maybe 15 Million. They are sort of like two parasites feeding on each other whose sewage is poisonous for the rest of Humanity.
Your 15 million figure is wrong:
"As of 2023, the world's core Jewish population (those identifying as Jews above all else) was estimated at 15.7 million, which is approximately 0.2% of the 8 billion worldwide population. Israel hosts the largest core Jewish population in the world with 7.2 million, followed by the United States with 6.3 million"
Thanks. Clearly, I took the whole population of Occupied Palestine and halved it.
Just to add: basically, if you get rid of Israel AND the US, problem solved.
WWIII would do that. Remove essentially around 377 million people - 370 in the US plus 7 in Israel - and the rest of the world's almost 8 billion could go on killing each other in peace. LOL
It does seem like someone intends that. I can see the appeal.
As a radical Transhumanist, I don't care which humans die or how many as long as technological progress continues. I cut slack for only two classes of humans: 1) scientists and engineers doing something actually useful for the improvement of the species; and 2) hot babes. (And of course the guys who deliver my stuff from Amazon. :-) )
Excellent post, thanks.
My 2 cents-I believe your prose would be easier to read if you provided paragraphs and you did end a sentence with a preposition
Thanks. Points well taken.
Sir:
I would like to address your question: “But how to deprogram the Cult members who continue to recruit new victims?”
My short answer is that it will be as easy to “deprogram the Cult members” as it would be to “reprogram” a heroin addict. The analogy is a true one. Both behaviors are obsessions/addictions to the pleasures of the Now.
To successfully reform an addict requires a two-stage program. First, the pleasure inducing substance must be taken away. (e.g., drug, alcohol, cell phone, etc.) Second, the cleaned-up addict must be put into a culture that is spiritually rich. Isn’t it the case that addictions are responses to spiritually impoverished lives? Lives that have no connection to family, friends, community? Putting the reformed addict back into the same spiritually empty environment from which he came guarantees he returns to his addiction. He has to fill the emptiness with something.
When I speak of the spiritual, I am not speaking of any particular religion. I am speaking of spiritual love, agape. Though I dislike St Paul’s teachings in general, I think he was correct in his description of agape love:
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (NIV 1Corinthians 13:4-7)
This is what is missing in the lives of those who are susceptible to the teachings of the Cult: a spiritual connection to others. The current moral philosophy of the West is one that celebrates individual happiness. Traditional social connections to others are deemed “oppressive.”
How long can a city that is populated exclusively with heroin addicts continue to function? Exactly, it can’t. And this is the answer. The Cult is by its very nature self-destructive. It thrives only as long as there is something to consume. It sacrifices the future to the pleasures of the Now. It is like a plague of locust. It is like a forest fire.
But life always returns after a forest fire, doesn’t it?
Before we in the West can be released from our addiction to the Cult, we have to lose everything of material value. What belongs to Mammon must be given back. It will all be taken away from us, our homes, our jobs, our pensions, our savings, everything. Don’t lament it. It is a necessary cleansing. We will be left with only those things that the Cult does not value: family, friends, community, duty, honor. Then we will have to rebuild the culture in the image of our spiritual values and rebuild capitalism to be a servant rather than the master.
It can be done. It’s been done before. I offer two examples from the last hundred years to prove that we can do it too.
The first example is from Germany. After its defeat in WWI, an internal revolution brought the Cult into power. It ushered in the materialistic, hedonistic culture of the Wiemar Republic. The war reparations drained the country of its productive assets. The destruction of the money finished the job. The German people had to sell everything just to feed their families. They had nothing left. Within ten years of this nadir, the German people were on the path to recovery of their nation and their traditional culture.
The second example is Russia in 1990. The dissolution of the USSR opened up Russia to a takeover by the Cult. Everything was taken from the Russian people. Where is Russia today? It is a strong sovereign nation and its traditional culture is reawakening. The influence of the moral philosophy of the Cult is diminishing daily.
I believe that these two examples are models of hope for the future of the West. We have to go through zero first before our golden chains fall away and we can awaken from addiction to the pleasures of Mammon. We will not voluntarily give them up!
What can we do now? Prepare the way. Reinvent, rehabilitate, restore, recreate a traditional moral philosophy to replace the materialistic, hedonistic moral philosophy that the Cult has imposed on the West. I would suggest, as models to study: the Amish culture and the culture defined by the “Protestant Ethics” described by Max Weber and celebrated by Benjamin Franklin. As a fictional expression of this morality, I recommend Horatio Alger’s 1868 book, “Ragged Dick.”
Most people, when they peer into the future, see only darkness and destruction. I suggest they are not looking far enough.
You have a good perception of the problem. Marx called religion an opiate. The issue I see as problematic is getting Cult members to see the gross error within what they were taught while also erecting a roadblock to keep others from being waylaid. Of course, there's the much greater problem of the Outlaw US Empire's utter bankruptcy when it comes to wholesome values that build-up and bring together instead of the ongoing process of society's atomization and polarization. The social aspect is one of the big dividers and major factors between the Global Majority and the West.
Good thoughts there Karl. Perhaps Jesus erred when he threw the money changers (or merchants?) out of the temple. IMO the parable might have served us better had he appropriated their wealth and redistributed it to the masses. He might then have built a stronger mass movement and saved himself from his gruesome end.
Perhaps he did redistribute the wealth and destroy the debt records and it was hastily rewritten in order to bury such heretical action against the capitalist class. Or to simply bury the concept of jubilee from debt. Maybe the religious leaders of the day ran a racket whereby merchants were only able to practice inside the temple and not through rented properties throughout the villages thereby holding monopoly rents only at the temple.
Extortion gangs in parts of South America operate on similar principles in some localities by murdering small enterprise operators who dare to venture outside of 'the rules'.
Mafias can exist at any historic time interval. The Romans were one of the worst and those that operated under their togas were just as bad. Of course, the odd point of my exercise is it omits the Metaphysical thoughts of over half Humanity. Earlier in my Gym writings I provided Xi Jinping's major initiatives that reflect on the main aspects of East Asian thought.,
Dr. Seuss tried his own version in 1960 with the story of "The Sneetches." He won many fans but how many adopted the course of action the story suggests? My aim was to get others thinking and to sift their feedback. IMO, the effort's been worthwhile.
If you desacralize Jesus into just another Jewish rabbi promoting honest money, then his name will vanish from collective consciousness in a flash. The message, though a good one, is far too mundane, materialist and dull and doesn't even begin to address bedrock, fundamental issues which all civilizations must somehow tackle in order to promote uplifted, sane social mores. A very few succeed in this, usually only for a few generations; most fail. Slaughter, hypocrisy, greed, dysfunction, corrupt leadership: these are all the norms in most human history. (What is happening in Gaza is horrific, yes, but all too common.) Sometimes with exceptional effort, talent and good fortune such ghastly normal can be transformed into exceptionally good, but this is rare and precious and poorly understood. We decapitated our kings and queens long ago and have lost our way, blundering from one ism to another in secular darkness.
This won't be changed by simply coming up with better materialist monetary policy.
Getting to the point of a world where material attributes are no longer the main goal of acquisition is still decades away as rough equitability must first be attained and political-economy shifted to attaining a steady-state equilibrium regarding inputs and outputs. That time is reached when energy becomes the key commodity that if planned properly could be distributed at very little cost globally. And making fusion work isn't required to do that. What is required is global peace, expert planning and above all trust between all. WE are the Human Tribe and there are no others on this planet. Thus, an evolution in thought and behavior is also required. There once was a time when wisdom was valued over material goods. That ethos must be reborn.
"There once was a time when wisdom was valued over material goods. That ethos must be reborn."
Well, there we can agree, dear Karl!
As you know, my beef is with the over-emphasis of the materialist approach in modern society. We have become unbalanced because of it and this has skewed our value systems out of wack. Of course society, or civilization if you prefer, is a complex multi-variable, multi-layered phenomenon which means there are no end of helpful ways it can be viewed, explained and adjusted. Taking care of material stability and sanity is obviously extremely important, indeed without it any society will founder. So also are things like proper science and engineering, decent money systems, proper courts of law, resilient, natural farming and so on. All of these are reasonable, practical necessities. But also are things like promulgating loving families, multi-generational lineages, advanced arts and crafts which come from advanced culture which comes from some sort of spiritual sophistication which ultimately will involve sacred perception.
We live in such an over-secularized 'modern' age that such thinking seems anachronistic or just downright weird. But I believe this is part of the perennial philosophy, so to speak. One problem we have is that our ancestors took certain things for granted and so didn't spell everything out. The ancient Greeks assumed we could all experience the power and presence of the gods. And yet today such a notion is entirely alien, even fabulist. The Daoists assumed that all reasonable human beings understand that there is nothing in Nature that doesn't continually teach wisdom so all human beings naturally wish to learn from her. They never really explained this because they assumed everyone knew that, just needed help in how to do it. Similarly traditional Christians from a few centuries ago assumed that all human beings naturally understand the power and presence of sacredness, which is a bedrock human experience. And yet today most people regard such notions as extremely strange and remote. So each age has to reinvent the same old wheel in some sense.
One of the ways we are going to get to the other side, I believe, is by relaxing the overly tight hold materialism has on all of us in the modern world (who among us does not believe in a permanent unchanging objective physical reality out there?) so that something more spirit-related can slip in. We don't have to lurch from one extreme to another and all become bible-thumping fundamentalists, but there needs to be a move back to the middle, human experience wise, which includes some sort of relationship with the eternal, the transcendent, the non-material, the heart, the sacred. At least a little.
My two cents!
Keep up the good work. I think your gym is a healthy zone and salute all your hard work and well-developed wisdom!
If Jesus failed, I see little hope for our clueless bunnies.
What hope do they have now?
The government has zero capacity to alter course, let alone go about 180º, which is what is needed.
The people lack exposure to alternatives and wise leaders to even discuss them.
The middle class have only hope. For the rest, fentanyl consumption is still rising and look at their staggering suicide and incarceration rates. Despair is a harbinger of revolution.
Realistically, their best hope is a coup led by a smart, patriotic colonel with good teeth and hair.
If they were to read what Russia plans to accomplish by 2030-2036--that there's even a plan--it's hard to say what would happen.