Why cannot people perceive the reality of a malign, covert top-down strategy - considering that it has been so successful for more than 200 years, and is still running according to plan? And - one might be tempted to add - considering that there is so much evidence for its reality?
Well, as I have often said; evidence is secondary to metaphysics; and the Evil Global Conspiracy is invisible because of our metaphysical assumptions; therefore its existence can never be proved by evidence.
More precisely the Conspiracy is spiritual, and has spiritual goals; whereas mainstream modern thinking is materialist/ positivist/ scientist/ reductionist - which means that it excludes even the possibility of a spiritual dimension.
So a Global Spiritual Conspiracy cannot exist for most modern materialist people, because such things are not real. Evidence is irrelevant.
Things are - in actuality - even more extreme than that; because mainstream modern people cannot even conceptualise the goals of strategic evil, because such goals are spiritual not material.
By contrast; the modern notion of 'evil' is simply 'material selfishness' pursued with indifference to the means (i.e. being prepared to inflict suffering and death as a means to that end). Modern people cannot really conceptualise evil 'for its own sake' - but only as a means to self-gratification; and therefore actual evil is reinterpreted or invisible.
The mass of Mainstream Conspiracy Theorists are generally correct about the identity and actions of the Global Establishment - but because they too are materialists, they utterly misunderstand the motives of The Conspiracy; and nearly-always emphasise that the Evil Elite want power, pleasure, sex, luxury for themselves... whereas genuine evil would desire primarily to harm others. Thus evil is more like spite than greed.
MCTs point at problems such as poverty, violence, disease and death - and explain them in terns of being deliberate inflictions of the Global Establishment. But against any specific examples of such sufferings; the world population continues to rise, life expectancy continues to rise, standards of living continue to rise, and the prevalence of inter-national and civil-wars is much lower than it could be.
The 'evidence' is ambiguous - as would be expected if what is being measured is not what is being aimed-at.
The reality of the situation is that of course there Is a Global Conspiracy, and there always has been - the side of evil in the spiritual war. It's just that they are far more successful, powerful, pervasive than ever before.
So, in a world of evil triumphant-but-invisible; what does it mean, from the individual perspective? We are each and individually challenged to perceive reality and to respond appropriately.
Much of what happens in public discourse has the fingerprints of strategic evil all over it for those with eyes to see; and if we fail to observe that fact, then our failure is spiritual. But if we do notice, and do not respond as the manipulation intends; but instead think as as we ought to think, know waht is real rather than fake - then we have grown spiritually. Which is the point of an extended mortal life.
One of the great manipulations of evil has been to make most people regard Good in terms of specific, atomic, detached acts (such as giving money to someone poor, diseased or miserable); whereas in modern reality such acts are more likely to promote evil than Good.
But (as a generalisation) each individual person, and act, is a balance of Good and evil; terefore in an ultimate sense ther are extremely-few-and-rare Good or evil persons or acts.
Good and evil are sides - they are not people or what people do.
The primary way to be Good and to do Good is to be on the side of Good.
Therefore, we need to acknowledge the reality and nature of the Global Conspiracy, and be able to discern the fingerprints of evil. And on the other side, we need to discern, without our-selves and the world; the impulses of Good - to acknowledge and value them.
We need to join the side of Good.
That is one of the most important things for us to learn; hereand-now; in the modern world. It is remarkable how very few people have learned it yet; it is remarkable how few people are able (or willing) to make this vital discernment. These are the facts we live-with.
Well.. no matter how many are on the side of evil; we cannot be like them, nor serve them, nor advance their causes.
No matter how few are on the side of Good, we must join them.
And nothing can stop us - except our-selves.
4 comments:
Great piece, Bruce. What I take from it principally is that because of our materialistic metaphysics we fundamentally misconceive good and evil, framing them in materialistic terms rather than true spiritual ones. Thus we are easily manipulated into regarding good as evil and evil as good. But I have to say we wouldn't be so easily manipulated if there were not something wrong within us in the first place.
@William - Of course you are right. Each is individually responsible. That is what is dismaying about the past 200 years; more and more individuals are making the wrong basic choice.
It is an interesting aspect of evil that it does require a minimal consent - and indeed, probably in every case, evil actually tells us what it is going to do; and then if there is no dissent or refusal, takes it as implicit consent, tacit agreement. Which, indeed, it is.
People can be destroyed without consent - but not corrupted. In a deep sense, all corruption is self-corruption.
Mostly because few people in former ages had the chance to choose materialism over wisdom. The conspiracy of evil has always been something of a Nigerian prince, and remains so today. But the vast material wealth of global civilization, created by the major moral breakthroughs of the free market and the free republic, have made it less easy to discern the inherent hopelessness of materialism for the great majority of humanity.
Of course, the invariable moves to abolish freedom, both economic and political, also destroy the wealth on which the apparent viability of materialism is predicated. But that doesn't mean that freedom is bad. It just means that there is a practical limit to how bad people can be without it.
But no spiritual limit. The idea that people with no material wealth or power cannot be spiritually evil is of course an entirely materialist outlook on what spirituality is, it is seen as merely the absence of materialistic satisfactions.
The truth is, despairing of materialism may lead some to strengthen their search for spiritual solace. But they had to have valued spiritual strength in the first place. Material wealth can tempt most to neglect spiritual development. But they must have preferred indulging in materialism over spirituality in the first place. In the middle ground (where the majority of humans exist) material blessings and hardships can affect the inclination to seek God to some degree. But at either end you have those one the one hand who want nothing else so much as God and on the other those who want nothing so much as to deny God.
Then again, saying "God" really oversimplifies things. There are many things to desire about God, and the inversion of those desires means as many things to avoid. After all, the moral concepts that produce material wealth and power also are from God, hence the paradox of materialism which rejects the creative principles while coveting the resulting blessings.
"It is an interesting aspect of evil that it does require a minimal consent…"
True. The devil winks at us and we wink back.
Post a Comment