danielm
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Has anyone read John Ralston Saul’s Voltaire’s Bastards? If I could take a huge liberty and summarize the books message in a few sentences it would be this. Out of the Enlightenment came two main forces, the growing dominance of the ego and the use by the ego of reason and logic to relate to the world. The world seen from the ego’s point of view (which is actually a projection of itself on the world) is soulless, a machine, for our use, our utility. This mode of seeing eventually leads to the development of science, technology (the machine with a capital M) and capitalism. To promote and control this machine culture requires managers, technocrats, trained in the story of control. In many respects these managers are assigned to turn the world (nature and human culture) in to a machine-efficient, unfeeling and eternal.
In many respects Yanis is this kind of technocrat-his removal of religion and other impediments to his efficient, glistening new world, free of the old symbols that cause strife is simply replacing one set of symbols with another, this time of the machine with the story of onward “human progress” used as the thin edge of the wedge to make it plausible and acceptable.When I read the material from the site it sends shivers down my spine.
The way I look at this feature of divide is that we are seeing a unity dissolving or breaking down into a duality. The unity of a belief system-capitalism/american dream/human progress toward a utopia/ science as the arbiter of truth materially/ reason as the arbiter of truth of mind- are all losing their meaning to western people. A feature similar I suspect to the fall of Rome and its world view. The splintering is leading I suspect towards chaos which is necessary for change but not sufficient as the system could spiral out of control and so no new belief system arises rather the human time on earth ends. It is signally a tipping point into something new which we may not like as a species.
I would like to direct readers to Gwynne Dyer’s recent article about the Davos meeting. Particularly his suggestion that automation/AI have been the greater cause behind the decline in employment in western countries not global trade. Instead of giving a long winded account of why I say the following I will just say it. Human culture more so in western countries is being replaced by machines. The natural world is being replaced by machines and humans. The implications of this go far beyond what I consider to be this simplistic article which is mainly talking about the end of growth one of the many stories humans have agreed on to use as a world view of who humans are, what the meaning is for human life and where we are going as a species. I feel anger when I read articles such as this which goes on about growth. My God don’t we get it human beings can’t keep taking from the natural world and treat it as a sewer indefinitely. Our positivistic humanism, our hubris, our Faith in technology is so divorced from what is actually happening to the biosphere as to be a form of insanity. The stories we live by are dying. The planet our home, is dying The elite don’t quite get that , given how immersed they are in maintaining power and control, but they do understand that the masses are dangerous to them, to their power and wealth. They are building a sanctuary in the alps and in other places in the world. I saw an Earthship on an island off the coast of Vancouver Island owned by a very wealthy family. The wealthy and powerful whether globalist or nationalist are preparing. THEY WANT TO SURVIVE. THEY WANT US TO SERVE THEM AS LONG AS POSSIBLE AND THEN GOOD RIDDANCE. THEY SEE THEMSELVES AS THE ELITE, THE FORERUNNERS OF A NEW WORLD ORDER. They are scared but we should be even more. Because we are going to be hammered by so many things which they can ameliorate or control and we can’t. Humanity and especially the masses need new stories to live by. Where do they come from? We can’t solve these problems with the old stories. So where does humanity find them?
One further comment. By savages I refer to the meaning as barbaric not demeaning indigenous peoples. The brutal shadow of a machine minded bureaucratic, managerial humanity is what I refer to.
I have regularly come to read this blog for its insight into a variety of topics. However with the posting of the cartoon above I would have to say there is something foul in the air. I could say many things about this pathetic attempt at scapegoating animals and nature for the ridiculous mess HUMAN BEINGS have got this planet into but this to me is the most important- WITHOUT NATURE HUMAN BEINGS WOULD NOT BE BLOODY-WELL ALIVE. NATURE DID NOT CAUSE HUMAN BEINGS TO KILL EACH OTHER OR LOOK AWAY AS BABIES OR CHILDREN DROWNED IT IS OTHER HUMAN BEINGS-A BLOOD THIRSTY PACK OF SAVAGES.
Scapegoating is as old as the hills and a reminder of how pathetically immature and ignorant humanity is.Ilargi, consider that your body may be expressing long term physical and psychological stress. I have worked with people for over 25 years as a chiropractor and Pilates instructor and time and again have seen that this kind of debilitating injury is a voice, a message to you from your soul-body. The day after my sister was diagnosed with a terminal ALS like illness I bent down to pick up a pencil in my Pilates studio and my back blew out so to speak. I have also undertaken many different kinds of therapies to help with my back. The most useful was Rolfing which is fascial release therapy. I have had many chronic pain clients benefit a great deal from this work. Fascia is where human beings put their pain and stress to be able to keep going as it is a relatively sensation free tissue but it is also a major player in lymphatic flow and in meridian energy balance in the body. Hence acupuncture would be of help too.
If you would like to talk more about this I would be happy to help in any way I can.
John Ralston Saul’s “Voltaire’s Bastards” says it all. These men and women of cold reason, the systems managers, their malignant narcissism, the rotating door between the systems of government and corporations, similar forms of education, the case study method. They are all educated to maintain the system, its power/their power, not to have hearts or common sense, sociopaths gravitate to this system. This is the ascendancy of machine thinking encoded in systems of their own making. The next step is to destroy nations particularly “the concept of the nation”, globalize it all, and turn the world into a giant feed stock to serve their systems. The Matrix as in the real machine world beyond the matrix is at hand. As Elon Musk said to his credit (I am not a fan) AI is the demon.
I tend to agree with the sociopath and fear and fight/flight and would like to add one more- projection. Hoping this doesn’t get too tedious, here is a very simple definition: seeing something positive (e.g., Obama is the best president ever) or negative (that person is evil, a liar,a terrorist) in an Other without true knowledge of the Other. There is usually a fair degree of affect/emotion towards that Other (think Juncker’s speech about the Greeks). The difficult aspect of a projection is that the projector believes deeply that he/she is right ironically because she/he is seeing the truth about something deep inside herself/himself but in the other person. Scary stuff. Individuals, groups and nations (e.g., Nazis) can project. To learn that one is projecting requires an ability to be introspective and feel shame, guilt etc., Sociopaths typically can only learn a bit about themselves so they will never see their own natures except in others. A very difficult problem. There is going to be a lot of suffering before they are brought down.
