For all of history humanity has utilized a design for human existence which relied on coercion to motivate action, moreover, becoming adept at using force was the necessary prerequisite to the survival of the species.
Currently, humanity is required to go in a philosophical direction that is diametrically opposed to all that has gone before; to survive, to avoid destroying ourselves with the weapons of mass destruction we have devised; we are required to break habits of social interaction that have been practiced for upwards of half a million years; a period of time incomprehensible and unimaginable to the vast majority of human beings, many of whom are incapable of breaking the habit acquired during their lifetimes of smoking or chewing tobacco although medical experts agree that this is always detrimental and often pernicious.
Culture has been described as being 'the conscious and unconscious premises for thinking and action,' but even this definition does not begin to describe how ubiquitous and pervasive is the impact on our lives of this intangible monolith composed of attitudes and patterns of behavior.
We are insulated from fully appreciating the monumental and mostly tragic effects of the practice of that culture on our everyday existences by conditioning that was part and parcel of a socialization that begins for every one of us at an early age, long before we are intelligent enough to make informed choices about how we wanted to live; specifically, about how we wanted to treat with other human beings.
My beloved daughter is outraged on every occasion that I don a shirt that is faded or torn because she is conditioned to be very ashamed of any evidence that would indicate that any member of her family exists in the dread, shameful condition of poverty.
To me, poverty is a badge of honor; that I am poor demonstrates that I have not, and, will not do what is required to be a success in the social system in which I exist.
My poverty, the fact that I have very few possessions, that I have never owned a house, that I have no money in the bank, is a measure of the degree and extent to which I reject and renounce the attitudes and patterns of behavior that together constitute coercion based culture.
Recently, I confessed to an old friend in my daughter's presence that I had not made love to a woman in more than a decade; and, could not help but observe how disturbing that revelation was for her.
But again what is so disturbing to her, is to me a measure of my integrity and the strength of my moral character; because to use the vernacular made popular by Bob Marley, "Jah Kingdom" is so constructed that making love to a woman absolutely requires the practice of deceits and obfuscations that I am incapable of, moreover, that are diametrically opposed to the dictates of my conscience.
The last time I copulated with a woman was on April 23, 1993 so I have abstained from sex with other human beings for more than fifteen years, a decade and one half; and, this confession is not a plea for sympathy nor is it designed to engender pity; it is intended to emphasize the fact that to satisfy every innate or socially learned drive an individual is required to act in ways that are diametrically opposed to the dictates of their consciences.
This dichotomy, this massive inconsistency, is what I have been trying to have the human race examine, and, come to grips with for the past three decades - ever since I first became aware of the implications and tragic effects of this monumental contradiction.
I am doing this because I know that this design for human existence is not working, that based on incontrovertible evidence, it can never work; but it continues to be practiced because we have become habituated to it; because the few for whom it is working have the power to run the most gigantic scam possible and convince the rest that it is working; and, because the vast majority of human beings, like my daughter, are conditioned to be gullible and to pretend and accept that it is working.
Human beings exist in a reality that is very similar to that created in the fairy tale, the "Emperor's New Clothes" by Hans Christian Anderson.
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia describes the plot of that fable:
An emperor who cares too much about clothes hires two swindlers who promise him the finest suit of clothes from the most beautiful cloth. This cloth, they tell him, is invisible to anyone who was either stupid or unfit for his position. The Emperor cannot see the (non-existent) cloth, but pretends that he can for fear of appearing stupid; his ministers do the same. When the swindlers report that the suit is finished, they dress him in mime. The Emperor then goes on a procession through the capital show off his new "clothes". During the course of the procession, a small child cries out, "But he has nothing on!" The crowd realizes the child is telling the truth and begins laughing. The Emperor, however, holds his head high and continues the procession.
To emphasize why this is an example of a fairy tale realistically describing contemporary human existence more accurately than any contemporary journalist I need to make certain substitutions.
When Hans Christian Anderson created this fable Absolutist regimes were the vogue, currently, constitutionally if not in precept, power resides with the people; so in this modern day version the body politic replaces the Emperor; the finest suit of clothes is replaced by morality, since to create functioning democracies the notion that might is right, must be replaced by the prescription that right is might.
As I have been trying to communicate for more than a decade, the notion that 'might was right' was practiced by the species for upwards of half a million years during the period when humanity languished in the 'state of nature' created by the sere and extreme conditions that existed until Planet Earth attained a fragile physical equilibrium.
During this period the species had to become adept at using force; and, having no alternative, they relied on force to motivate the other; and, coercion determined the intrinsic nature of social interaction and the characteristics of the culture to which humanity became habituated in the crucible that was the 'state of nature.'
Behavior psychology and common sense agree that the intensity of the drive determines the strength of the habit, the hotter the stove the more quickly any individual will learn to avoid touching it; and, this learning will extend to avoidance of all hot surfaces.
Also, the longer a pattern of behavior is practiced, the more difficult it will be to break the resulting habit; in essence, what Senator Barack Obama is promoting in his slogan "Change we can believe in" is the breaking of habits, of ways and feeling, thinking and acting which have been practiced for upwards of half a million years.
The other critically important component of coming to the appreciation of this potpourri of misery, suffering and tragedy that is necessary to create contemporary positive social and economic developments - is an understanding of how and why the human mind came to be divided into two compartments, the conscious and the subconscious.
I am suggesting that this was an involuntary development, that the mind unilaterally could, and can, without human volition or intervention, divide into two compartments to protect and secure its ability to function.
This propensity and capability is evidenced by the fact that children who are currently subjected to extreme and sere conditions approximating those that we may reasonably conclude existed in the 'state of nature,' develop multiple personalities to cope with, and survive, these very harsh environments.
The subconscious of the human mind creates an outlet to which can be consigned experiences replete and redolent with extreme stress, so that the individual does not have to continuously relive these experiences; an adaptation which was critical to allowing the species to survive the conditions that existed in the 'state of nature.'
But this adaptation created a near unlimited human capacity for self delusion when human beings learnt to consign experiences at will to the subconscious compartments of their minds; which resulted in duality becoming the most remarkable and obvious feature of the human story.
The ethos of human culture thus became competition, the dominant social roles were territorial predator and prey, and the law of the jungle that might was right precipitated endless intense conflict.
Eventually, the species that had the intelligence to develop language and harness fire, while simultaneously demonstrating a propensity for unrelieved and unrepentant savagery and brutality, as a consequence of this duality became the dominant species on Planet Earth.
And, the division in the human mind, into conscious and subconscious compartments, came to be reflected in every aspect of human experience.
When the species invented agriculture and settled in towns and villages; and began to build cities with comparatively large populations on the deltas of large rivers, conflict instead of being reduced, intensified.
Those tribes of human beings who continued to engage in a pastoral, nomadic existence domesticated horses; and, spawned hordes of armed and lawless horsemen who attacked cities and towns to wrest from them the stores of food and artifacts they produced.
A Fortune Magazine article states:
On national security McCain wins. We saw how that might play out early in the campaign, when one good scare, one timely reminder of the chaos lurking in the world, probably saved McCain in New Hampshire, a state he had to win to save his candidacy - this according to McCain's chief strategist, Charlie Black. The assassination of Benazir Bhutto in December was an "unfortunate event," says Black. "But his knowledge and ability to talk about it reemphasized that this is the guy who's ready to be Commander-in-Chief. And it helped us." As would, Black concedes with startling candor after we raise the issue, another terrorist attack on U.S. soil. "Certainly it would be a big advantage to him," says Black.
What I am saying, what I am endlessly and futilely racking my mind to communicate to Americans, is that there is nothing new under the sun; that the human species became habituated to coercion based culture during the upwards of half a million years they languished in the 'state of nature;' that this design for human existence has endured and continues to be the 'conscious and unconscious premises for thinking and action.'
The institution of kingship and Absolutism evolved in the Ancient Era out of the need to have a strong warrior to protect towns and cities from the depredations of those very mobile marauders.
The major obstacle to the impeachment of President Bush is the fear that he has managed to inculcate in the body politic in the USA subsequent to the 911 attack, an enterprise facilitated and buttressed by powerful and ancient traditions.
But by far the most monumental example of the dichotomies and contradictions that plague human existence, that originated, I suggest, in the division of the human mind into two compartments; is, ambivalence about the origins and development of the human species.
Large numbers of human beings, the Creationists, passionately believe that the progenitors of the human race were Adam and Eve, who were created by God and placed in the Garden of Eden.
On the other side of this controversy are the Evolutionists, who believe in Darwin's Theory and hold that the species evolved during a process that spanned millions of years.
This dichotomy is particularly significant and earthshaking because it led to another astounding contradiction; the schism in Jewish theology that engendered a new sect called Christians who believe that the Messiah predicted in the Jewish Torah was the man called Jesus; a belief that is disputed by the Jews who hold that the Messiah, who will precipitate the redemption of Jews, is yet to come.
This is the core issue because I suggest that the philosophy and teachings created by Jesus did not have a supernatural genesis but was the result of his doing, what I did; he adopted the discipline of truth.
I hold that any individual who tells the truth will, in effect, be reducing the size of the partition that divides their minds into two compartments, and, cause more and more experiences and responses to be informed, limited and made more rational by the action of higher mental processes and dictates of conscience.
I am suggesting that the basis of morality is practicing the discipline of truth; and, that morality is the bridge between fact and function.
It is clear that to perpetuate the status quo, the dominance of the social roles of territorial predator and prey; which was based on the law of the jungle that might was right; and, perpetuated a situation in which human beings consigned to the role of prey, exist to satisfy the needs, wants of desires of the predator; to perpetuate this design for human existence which was essentially and intrinsically irrational and inequitable, required that the prescription of adopting the discipline of truth be suppressed and its impact diluted.
The dogma and rituals of Christianity have succeeded in this nefarious enterprise, aided and abetted by the power to condition human beings to blind faith; to the point where the human species is totally and blissfully unaware of the functional value of telling the truth; but believes that telling the truth is a component of the what is required to enter Heaven and attain life everlasting.
When I accurately and realistically interpret the facts that together constitute social reality, whether these facts describe past, present, or future events or circumstances; a capacity which was inaccurately labeled prophesy and was supposed to have supernatural connotations; what I am doing is demonstrating the increased mental acuity created by telling the truth, I am suggesting by example that there exists a superior, more functional mental approach to social problems.
A methodology that is vastly superior to using the higher mental processes to justify and rationalize the consequences of the application of arbitrary power; and, to put the best spin on irrational and unjust policies to perpetuate a culture based on the notion that might is right.
What I am doing is trying to galvanize a bare majority in every social system to simply tell the truth and experience the impact this discipline has on their lives.
I am certain, based on my own experiences, that the practice of this discipline will substantially increase their ability to function by making them able to create the accurate and realistic description of problems that are the necessary prerequisite to fashioning viable solutions; also, the practice of this discipline will have the effect of significantly reducing conflict and drama in their lives because it will make them adept at using positive reinforcements to motivate the other.
When, in October, 1975, I made the decision to adopt the discipline of truth no matter what were the consequences for myself or for others, I thought I was making atonement and subjecting myself to cruel and unusual punishment for the pain and suffering I had inflicted on my children by engaging in extramarital affairs that had eventually and inevitably resulted in the destruction of my marriage.
But I soon discovered that I had stumbled upon the means to acquire wisdom in the conduct of my affairs; and, with that discovery telling the truth became the most important thing to me.
A very wise human being, the current husband of my former wife and the mother of my children, whom I lost because of my promiscuity and stupidity; made an observation during the same family get together during which my daughter demonstrated her disquiet at my disclosure - that it seemed ridiculous, meaningless and pointless that the print and electronic media should be so preoccupied with a pregnancy pact entered into by teenaged girls in some rural area.
This predilection by the media, to be preoccupied and preoccupy Americans with minutia, is just another means used by coercion based culture to invent and reinvent itself.
Because the one thing it cannot abide, the one thing that is certain to result in its destruction, is, if a bare majority in every social system began telling the truth.
It is the practice of this discipline that will overcome the dichotomies and ambivalence this produces; that is the most remarkable feature of human existence, that causes us to procrastinate and be incapable of acting incisively and decisively to overcome our problems.
Despite the fact that the polar ice caps are melting apace the discussion over the impact of global warming continues:
Now that most scientists agree that human activity is causing earth to warm, the central debate has shifted to whether climate change is progressing so rapidly that, within decades, humans may be helpless to slow or reverse the trend.
This ''tipping point" question has begun to consume many prominent researchers in the United States and abroad, because the answer could determine how drastically countries need to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in the coming years. (Boston Globe)
And:
In the same way, assumptions of dubious quality or certainty that presuppose AGW beyond the bounds of anything we have see historically are plugged into the models, and, shazam, the models say that there will be a lot of anthropogenic global warming. These dubious assumptions, which are pulled out of thin air, are laundered by being passed through these complex black boxes we call climate models and suddenly the results are somehow scientific proof of AGW. The quality hasn't changed, but the paper trail looks better, at least in the press. (Skeptics Guide to Global Warming)
I say again, there is only one social reality, one physical reality and telling the truth is the means that will allow any individual to be able to connect the dots and create viable solutions to problems.
It is implicit in the time and money spent on the Presidential Election, that it is widely believed that the winner will produce solutions to the massive problems which beset this nation.
I suggest that the facts indicate that this is yet another component of the gigantic scam that I referred to earlier.
I suggest that the winner of this election will have no more impact on the status quo than the winners of the several elections that have been held in the past three hundred years.
But this election could serve a very positive purpose, it should cause Americans to reflect on the legacy that their children will inherit.
Will it be a massive, gargantuan national debt, an economy in secular decline, Americans soldiers still trapped in the crossfire of civil war in Iraq, the most corrupt government conceivable, a very expensive health care system that does not work, an education system that causes the USA to be described as the dropout nation of the world, escalating rates of crime and drug abuse; or, can this moral decline be reversed before a "tipping point" occurs?
The answer to that question depends on whether Americans, or, at least a bare majority of Americans; have the capacity to become moral beings and renounce and reject the practice and application of coercion based culture.
I have, can You?
