overview
Paradigm nowadays refers to the part of our world-view that derives from the societal collective belief system: it structures your comprehension of reality. A paradigm used to be tacit; experientially people just accept the world-view that they've been brought up into is real - not manufactured. Nowadays we know better. It is constellated in layers by parents, the education system, the media.
A clash of paradigms occurs when groups with competing incompatible beliefs interact. When opposed ideologies have stabilised populations in opposition to each other, the people on both sides of the divide become effectively imprisoned by their collective belief system, locked into a hostile polarity. The hostility is due to competing paradigms each purporting to provide an exclusive prescription for the definition of consensus reality, resulting in the stasis of mutual exclusion. The common good is advanced by catalysing changes in outlook, by means of introducing alternatives to both polarised beliefs.
Political relevance derives from how one sees oneself in relation to the power structure of society, and in relation to influential groups, how one interprets the world, and the meanings one imports from others. Each influential social group has it's own distinctive set of beliefs members must subscribe to in order to belong therein. Group-think, brand identification, and the true-believer syndrome are typical consequences. Paragraphs below address key considerations of psyche, identity politics, sprituality & culture, after an initial foray into what's required for better democracy, governance & media.
[Whereas the preceding pages have been written to present the issues from the movement's collective point of view, what follows is personal commentary from this site's designer...]
The paradigm shift that became a prominent feature at the leading edge of contemporary culture back in the '80s now merits an update, but I will only assay that to the extent of specifying relevance to the priorities & project outlined elsewhere on this site. Essentially my view is subjective, but I will try to present it in terms accessible to readers adept at discerning the big picture - framing the more important concepts as candidates for a consensual view. For that reason I will oscillate somewhat between first person singular & plural!
A clash of paradigms occurs when groups with competing incompatible beliefs interact. When opposed ideologies have stabilised populations in opposition to each other, the people on both sides of the divide become effectively imprisoned by their collective belief system, locked into a hostile polarity. The hostility is due to competing paradigms each purporting to provide an exclusive prescription for the definition of consensus reality, resulting in the stasis of mutual exclusion. The common good is advanced by catalysing changes in outlook, by means of introducing alternatives to both polarised beliefs.
Political relevance derives from how one sees oneself in relation to the power structure of society, and in relation to influential groups, how one interprets the world, and the meanings one imports from others. Each influential social group has it's own distinctive set of beliefs members must subscribe to in order to belong therein. Group-think, brand identification, and the true-believer syndrome are typical consequences. Paragraphs below address key considerations of psyche, identity politics, sprituality & culture, after an initial foray into what's required for better democracy, governance & media.
[Whereas the preceding pages have been written to present the issues from the movement's collective point of view, what follows is personal commentary from this site's designer...]
The paradigm shift that became a prominent feature at the leading edge of contemporary culture back in the '80s now merits an update, but I will only assay that to the extent of specifying relevance to the priorities & project outlined elsewhere on this site. Essentially my view is subjective, but I will try to present it in terms accessible to readers adept at discerning the big picture - framing the more important concepts as candidates for a consensual view. For that reason I will oscillate somewhat between first person singular & plural!
democracy
Human beings evolved with a natural right of free speech, but the process of civilisation allowed rulers to eliminate it. The residual laws of the patriarchy allow only a limited right to voice your opinion. This is used by vested interests to prevent certain truths from being told. In order to expose corporate wrong-doing and protect nature, it is essential to guarantee the right of free speech in all political contexts regardless of party rules or libel laws. Making correct judgements has always been the key essential survival skill, and articulating them for the benefit of those affected is required for us to overcome the threats to our survival.
We're currently using an antiquated form of democracy designed in the 18th century and refined in the 19th. Elected representatives were able to be held accountable back when their electors knew them personally, but these days they are accountable only to their party and usually there's no effective removal mechanism when they misbehave. To get better governance we must focus on how democracy is preventing natural justice and social progress, and make sufficient alterations to enable those capable of solving social problems to get those jobs done. Democracy needs to be redesigned for the 21st century! We need to make innovative improvements it so it will better serve our common interests.
We're currently using an antiquated form of democracy designed in the 18th century and refined in the 19th. Elected representatives were able to be held accountable back when their electors knew them personally, but these days they are accountable only to their party and usually there's no effective removal mechanism when they misbehave. To get better governance we must focus on how democracy is preventing natural justice and social progress, and make sufficient alterations to enable those capable of solving social problems to get those jobs done. Democracy needs to be redesigned for the 21st century! We need to make innovative improvements it so it will better serve our common interests.
governance
The pacific way is peaceful coexistence of free peoples. However we remain embedded in residual patriarchal systems which limit our natural freedom. Rather than accept the status quo, we need to choose a better way forward. We must fully exercise our rights as autonomous individuals, free to choose how to live our lives provided we adhere to the golden rule. Our responsibility is to act in accord with our conscience, do unto others as we would have others do unto us, and fulfill ourselves by working together in common cause teams & communities to advance our common interests.
We advise abandoning the traditional reliance on government as the primary initiator of social reforms. Instead, we advocate a social system that maximises the opportunity for volunteers with expertise & the natural talent for solving problems to take the lead in public life. We need to create social structures that support this voluntarism.
With respect to current government practice, the return of the public service ethic is essential to regenerate public confidence in government. It will be necessary to make it contractual to ensure that appropriate decisions are made. National & regional governance must empower communities by prioritising the principle of local autonomy and facilitating local decision-making. We need a structure of governance that enables folk to work together constructively and effectively on the basis of evident mutual benefit, acknowledging their social responsibilities and accountability to the community. We seek to redefine our mutual responsibilities via the stewardship ethic, the effective performance of public service, and being accountable for our contribution to our organisations, communities and society at large.
Human groups have the collective right to hold members to account for individual behaviour, and we all have a responsibility for any harm we do to others, the common wealth and the environment. When a group incurs collective costs due to individual or group behaviour, those suffering the harm or costs have a natural right to seek recompense or remedial action, and enforce accountability.
We advise abandoning the traditional reliance on government as the primary initiator of social reforms. Instead, we advocate a social system that maximises the opportunity for volunteers with expertise & the natural talent for solving problems to take the lead in public life. We need to create social structures that support this voluntarism.
With respect to current government practice, the return of the public service ethic is essential to regenerate public confidence in government. It will be necessary to make it contractual to ensure that appropriate decisions are made. National & regional governance must empower communities by prioritising the principle of local autonomy and facilitating local decision-making. We need a structure of governance that enables folk to work together constructively and effectively on the basis of evident mutual benefit, acknowledging their social responsibilities and accountability to the community. We seek to redefine our mutual responsibilities via the stewardship ethic, the effective performance of public service, and being accountable for our contribution to our organisations, communities and society at large.
Human groups have the collective right to hold members to account for individual behaviour, and we all have a responsibility for any harm we do to others, the common wealth and the environment. When a group incurs collective costs due to individual or group behaviour, those suffering the harm or costs have a natural right to seek recompense or remedial action, and enforce accountability.
We urge social collectives to produce their group decisions by consensus, according to the principles of natural justice, so as to foster a social ambience of mutual goodwill. We appreciate that all ethnicities produce people capable of being good role models for all. Those providing valid guidance ought to be able to do so, and those capable of healing are also of great value to all.
We acknowledge that traditional lifestyles have some features that remain useful and helpful to peoples' survival and well-being. We also consider alternative lifestyles to have essential innovative features. Some antiquated habits and the inertia of out-moded beliefs & practices are a threat to our survival, so we must rely on lateral thinkers to provide the solutions to our global problems.
media
We expect the media to focus public debate on the merits of both the traditional and the progressive strands of the emerging pan-cultural world-view in relation to shared values & aspirations, global threats, economy & governance. We encourage the media to join with us in becoming part of the solution instead of remaining part of the problem. This means giving only half their coverage to business as usual, and the other half to the better alternative.
This improvement in media performance will generate collective progress toward a healthier society and sustainable economy. The congenital failure of media professionals and organisations to provide a balanced view of issues - favouring vested interests ahead of the common interest - cannot be allowed to continue any further. The survival of the human race is at stake. Media professionals and corporate media CEOs need to be held accountable for their performance, so effective mechanisms of enforcement will be required. Fairness and natural justice are the essential principles, which means inclusion of relevant bodies of opinion in public debate.
This improvement in media performance will generate collective progress toward a healthier society and sustainable economy. The congenital failure of media professionals and organisations to provide a balanced view of issues - favouring vested interests ahead of the common interest - cannot be allowed to continue any further. The survival of the human race is at stake. Media professionals and corporate media CEOs need to be held accountable for their performance, so effective mechanisms of enforcement will be required. Fairness and natural justice are the essential principles, which means inclusion of relevant bodies of opinion in public debate.
identity politics
People emotionally invest in the validity of their world-view, so when they become adherents to a belief they emotionally attach to it, and become dependent on the security it gives them. When people adhere to competing beliefs they align in opposition to those who attempt to invalidate their paradigm. Because of their emotional attachment to their beliefs, they often talk past each other in a clash about what is real or true. Identification with other adherents secures their sense of self in a group context.
Personal identity has always been conferred by the social matrix someone grows up in. In the original tribal context the resulting identity is unitary - defined by relationships and known to all. However civilisation has provided people with experience in multiple social contexts, so personal identity became multi-dimensional. Each group membership, or social category allocation, provides someone with a further dimension of identity. Each new dimension is likely to be perceived (by self and/or other) as a new identity, depending on the extent of ego-identification. Identity politics looms as a factor in peoples lives when their participation (either active or passive) in social power-plays results in others perceiving particular dimensions of their identity and reacting accordingly. The most relevant socially-defined identities derive from someone's socially-significant group membership contexts (race, gender, profession, beliefs etc).
The social ecosystem generates culture, in which shared meanings form the basis of identity. Socially adept folk have a portfolio of identities which they are able to shape-shift between according to whichever cultural context they participate in, and whatever result they seek to achieve therein. Human society has evolved from a static patriarchal structure, which confers stable identities deriving from one's social class, gender, location and vocation. The past century has seen people become accustomed to occupying various social roles. The human potential movement in the latter half of the 20th century, with its focus on liberating the human spirit and teaching people techniques of personal development, opened up a variety of new social roles as options for identity expansion. Paradigm shifts in science provided people with a more sophisticated world-view, and they saw themselves differently as a result. People realised reality was not as simple as everyone once thought, and theories are merely models of reality. A view of reality as dynamic change replaced the prior static description provided by tradition and indoctrinated into children by parents and the education system.
Tradition always persists via inertia, but increasingly less people are imprisoned in a static identity. Postmodern culture nowadays provides tacit acceptance of the relativity of beliefs and tolerance of people wearing different hats at different times. We still play our roles and come to identify with them as time passes, which is apparently how our ego naturally works in relation to our self-image, but those of us who acquire self-understanding get used to seeing ourselves present a different identity in each role. People who get used to a lifestyle of conscious evolution via personal development strategies become comfortable with accumulating identities. They just see themselves as many-sided. This sophisticated view has yet to filter down into the mainstream, where economists, politicians and the media habitually file people into simple categories in a robotic manner. They need to encounter the fact that personal identity is multi-dimensional.
Readers unfamiliar with these concepts may simply be living instinctively on this basis anyway, changing identities without thought as they move into a different social context much as they might change their clothes to suit the occasion. Others reinforce the identity we present them with, so if you want to change the world for the better be sure to wear the most suitable identity when doing so!!
Personal identity has always been conferred by the social matrix someone grows up in. In the original tribal context the resulting identity is unitary - defined by relationships and known to all. However civilisation has provided people with experience in multiple social contexts, so personal identity became multi-dimensional. Each group membership, or social category allocation, provides someone with a further dimension of identity. Each new dimension is likely to be perceived (by self and/or other) as a new identity, depending on the extent of ego-identification. Identity politics looms as a factor in peoples lives when their participation (either active or passive) in social power-plays results in others perceiving particular dimensions of their identity and reacting accordingly. The most relevant socially-defined identities derive from someone's socially-significant group membership contexts (race, gender, profession, beliefs etc).
The social ecosystem generates culture, in which shared meanings form the basis of identity. Socially adept folk have a portfolio of identities which they are able to shape-shift between according to whichever cultural context they participate in, and whatever result they seek to achieve therein. Human society has evolved from a static patriarchal structure, which confers stable identities deriving from one's social class, gender, location and vocation. The past century has seen people become accustomed to occupying various social roles. The human potential movement in the latter half of the 20th century, with its focus on liberating the human spirit and teaching people techniques of personal development, opened up a variety of new social roles as options for identity expansion. Paradigm shifts in science provided people with a more sophisticated world-view, and they saw themselves differently as a result. People realised reality was not as simple as everyone once thought, and theories are merely models of reality. A view of reality as dynamic change replaced the prior static description provided by tradition and indoctrinated into children by parents and the education system.
Tradition always persists via inertia, but increasingly less people are imprisoned in a static identity. Postmodern culture nowadays provides tacit acceptance of the relativity of beliefs and tolerance of people wearing different hats at different times. We still play our roles and come to identify with them as time passes, which is apparently how our ego naturally works in relation to our self-image, but those of us who acquire self-understanding get used to seeing ourselves present a different identity in each role. People who get used to a lifestyle of conscious evolution via personal development strategies become comfortable with accumulating identities. They just see themselves as many-sided. This sophisticated view has yet to filter down into the mainstream, where economists, politicians and the media habitually file people into simple categories in a robotic manner. They need to encounter the fact that personal identity is multi-dimensional.
Readers unfamiliar with these concepts may simply be living instinctively on this basis anyway, changing identities without thought as they move into a different social context much as they might change their clothes to suit the occasion. Others reinforce the identity we present them with, so if you want to change the world for the better be sure to wear the most suitable identity when doing so!!
metaphysics
Symbiosis or coevolution is a metaphysical principle representing a state in which humanity is living in harmony with nature. A new social contract incorporating it as the primary guiding principle of governance is likely to be essential to rectify the damage done by business as usual.
An ethic can be succinctly expressed as the metaphysical principle relevant to a particular ethical issue or quandary. Such guidance helps us make the right choice and act to serve the greater good of all. From such right conduct of social affairs ethical judgments and moral behaviour are more likely to flow. For example, the Golden Rule (do unto others as you would have them do unto you) is known to most of us from the teachings of Jesus in the Bible but is now known to predate him in other cultures: it can be rendered in contemporary succinct form as the principle of reciprocity.
Any progressive political movement ought to premise it's strategy upon this stance: articulate a 3rd alternative when engaging traditional polarities and dichotomies. The principle of triangulation underlies this approach to traditional thinking. When we triangulate a stale duality the new option liberates people from being locked into habitual affiliation with either long-standing polarised position. A new way of looking at the situation enables people to adopt a fresh approach and overcome the inertia of bias and prejudice deriving from traditional allegiances. Discovering a deeper social context helps people to transcend beliefs.
Transcendence is a timely metaphysical concept. The leading edge of the baby-boomer generation got into it as a personal practice, but were never able to translate it into collective action. Subsequent generations merely reverted to consumerism & other animal behaviour. [There is a potential for online social networks to produce mutual-benefit transforms rather than the current torrent of banal crap]. However, collective transcendence of redundant social institutions, beliefs & practices remains essential if we are to manage the 21c transition without widespread harm, damage & trauma.
An ethic can be succinctly expressed as the metaphysical principle relevant to a particular ethical issue or quandary. Such guidance helps us make the right choice and act to serve the greater good of all. From such right conduct of social affairs ethical judgments and moral behaviour are more likely to flow. For example, the Golden Rule (do unto others as you would have them do unto you) is known to most of us from the teachings of Jesus in the Bible but is now known to predate him in other cultures: it can be rendered in contemporary succinct form as the principle of reciprocity.
Any progressive political movement ought to premise it's strategy upon this stance: articulate a 3rd alternative when engaging traditional polarities and dichotomies. The principle of triangulation underlies this approach to traditional thinking. When we triangulate a stale duality the new option liberates people from being locked into habitual affiliation with either long-standing polarised position. A new way of looking at the situation enables people to adopt a fresh approach and overcome the inertia of bias and prejudice deriving from traditional allegiances. Discovering a deeper social context helps people to transcend beliefs.
Transcendence is a timely metaphysical concept. The leading edge of the baby-boomer generation got into it as a personal practice, but were never able to translate it into collective action. Subsequent generations merely reverted to consumerism & other animal behaviour. [There is a potential for online social networks to produce mutual-benefit transforms rather than the current torrent of banal crap]. However, collective transcendence of redundant social institutions, beliefs & practices remains essential if we are to manage the 21c transition without widespread harm, damage & trauma.
Any progressive political movement ought to premise it's strategy upon this stance: articulate a 3rd alternative when engaging traditional polarities and dichotomies. The principle of triangulation underlies this approach to traditional thinking. When we triangulate a stale duality the new option liberates people from being locked into habitual affiliation with either long-standing polarised position. A new way of looking at the situation enables people to adopt a fresh approach and overcome the inertia of bias and prejudice deriving from traditional allegiances. Discovering a deeper social context helps people to transcend beliefs.
Transcendence is a timely metaphysical concept. The leading edge of the baby-boomer generation got into it as a personal practice, but were never able to translate it into collective action. Subsequent generations merely reverted to consumerism & other animal behaviour. [There is a potential for online social networks to produce mutual-benefit transforms rather than the current torrent of banal crap]. However, collective transcendence of redundant social institutions, beliefs & practices remains essential if we are to manage the 21c transition without widespread harm, damage & trauma.
Transcendence is a timely metaphysical concept. The leading edge of the baby-boomer generation got into it as a personal practice, but were never able to translate it into collective action. Subsequent generations merely reverted to consumerism & other animal behaviour. [There is a potential for online social networks to produce mutual-benefit transforms rather than the current torrent of banal crap]. However, collective transcendence of redundant social institutions, beliefs & practices remains essential if we are to manage the 21c transition without widespread harm, damage & trauma.
spirituality
People of all cultures throughout the ages have recognised and celebrated their inherent spiritual relationship with cosmos and nature. Gaia is a timely symbol of our home planet and biosphere, so at a time when it's viability is threatened by industry we are liable to sense a spiritual dimension to our motivation to rectify the situation.
When we seek to protect and conserve nature we are acting upon this spirituality. It is better to make this explicit than allow it to remain tacit, because doing so enables a broadly-shared spiritual motivation to achieve public influence. When we recognise our spiritual link to Gaia & other life-forms, experience an epiphany or a feeling of oneness, we join those who believe that everything is interconnected.
People have an inherent organic relationship to the world that is fundamentally holistic. Unison is one experience of this, but it is a collective experience rare in groups that lack a focus on achieving it. Feelings of oneness feature widely in literature & music. Being in synch with the flow of the world, the Tao, is connected to the concept of the right path to take: the way ahead. Then there are epiphanies, personal moments of transcendence of consciousness, which may be seen in retrospect as turning points in people's lives, and even if not so are often described as a passing sense of being at one with the world. Some folks are more attuned to this type of experience and tend to develop a mystical approach to life in consequence. All around the world, different ethnicities have been found to report this human tendency, which is often expressed as a spiritual connection to the earth and nature.
Our mutual recognition of our personal connection to our home planet is the key to collective survival. I call it gaian spirituality, some call it ecospirituality, but to the extent that people share these experiences, attitudes, values & beliefs we must acknowledge that a pan-cultural religious context is evident.
It always seemed clear to me that caring for the home planet is a spiritual stance - it still puzzles me that the Greens won't acknowledge this. Doing so explicitly would enable many nature-lovers reluctant to identify with the Greens to do so. Perhaps they fear religion, but whereas religions are traditional forms of sharing spiritual affiliations, they are essentially social organisms. Spirituality is essentially personal. Anyone confusing the two is not thinking clearly. Spirituality is subjective - internal. Religion is objective - external. Our spiritual aspiration is to help humanity achieve symbiosis with nature by eliminating all those traditional parasitic exploitation practices which destroy ecosystems.
When we seek to protect and conserve nature we are acting upon this spirituality. It is better to make this explicit than allow it to remain tacit, because doing so enables a broadly-shared spiritual motivation to achieve public influence. When we recognise our spiritual link to Gaia & other life-forms, experience an epiphany or a feeling of oneness, we join those who believe that everything is interconnected.
People have an inherent organic relationship to the world that is fundamentally holistic. Unison is one experience of this, but it is a collective experience rare in groups that lack a focus on achieving it. Feelings of oneness feature widely in literature & music. Being in synch with the flow of the world, the Tao, is connected to the concept of the right path to take: the way ahead. Then there are epiphanies, personal moments of transcendence of consciousness, which may be seen in retrospect as turning points in people's lives, and even if not so are often described as a passing sense of being at one with the world. Some folks are more attuned to this type of experience and tend to develop a mystical approach to life in consequence. All around the world, different ethnicities have been found to report this human tendency, which is often expressed as a spiritual connection to the earth and nature.
Our mutual recognition of our personal connection to our home planet is the key to collective survival. I call it gaian spirituality, some call it ecospirituality, but to the extent that people share these experiences, attitudes, values & beliefs we must acknowledge that a pan-cultural religious context is evident.
It always seemed clear to me that caring for the home planet is a spiritual stance - it still puzzles me that the Greens won't acknowledge this. Doing so explicitly would enable many nature-lovers reluctant to identify with the Greens to do so. Perhaps they fear religion, but whereas religions are traditional forms of sharing spiritual affiliations, they are essentially social organisms. Spirituality is essentially personal. Anyone confusing the two is not thinking clearly. Spirituality is subjective - internal. Religion is objective - external. Our spiritual aspiration is to help humanity achieve symbiosis with nature by eliminating all those traditional parasitic exploitation practices which destroy ecosystems.
psyche
The relation of belief to reality is illuminated when one experiences paradox. The famous cretan paradox is the archetype, surviving cultural transmission since about 600BC when Epimenides said "All Cretans are liars". Epimenides was a Cretan. Go figure the truth content of his assertion and you'll experience the paradox!
This illustrates for us the dichotomy between our personal truth (subjective) and what is generally held to be true (relatively objective). Back in the 1920s leading physicists `proved' that objective reality doesn't exist. The popular notion of absolute reality was invalidated. Not only that, the concept of proof was invalidated. Perception rules interpretation at all times - doesn't matter if you think something is a fact, that's just a matter of opinion. Sometimes it is merely your subjective opinion, other times it's a widely held opinion which can therefore be accurately described as relatively objective due to the consensus that it's true. Consequent trickle-down led later last century to postmodernism but many people still equate truth and reality regardless. They just don't get it!!
The individual/collective interface internalises within the psyche according to the concord between one's grasp of reality and the group belief system. If you're a sceptic by nature, the group is liable to seem afflicted by a collective hallucination unless their paradigm is consistent with yours. Once one joins a group, one becomes bound by the rules and shared beliefs & values of that group. If the group prioritises a particular view of reality, the true-believer syndrome forms in the minds of adherents to that paradigm. Liberation from that internal prison comes only via transcendence, after one awakens to the realisation that there are profound dimensions of the wider world that the group belief system fails to explain or even acknowledge. People must then move beyond that realisation, accept the deeper truth revelation and participate in the world outside the group on that basis.
In the '80s the influence of archetypes on the psyche became evident to the avante garde, and it has since become more widely understood. The save-the-world syndrome is driven by the hero archetype, most obviously in males. The hero's journey requires dragon-slaying or some such similar overcoming of massive adversity involving rescue of others. That heroic endeavour connects a young man to community. The greek origin of idiosyncrasy is `private temperament' - an idiot is someone lost therein. A fool need not be stupid (or a medieval entertainer). The tarot card for the fool represents everyman starting out on the journey of life, with naive optimism. This is the archetypal hero before the adventure, crisis, and mature entry into community. Psyche/community is the public/private divide. Mediating one's personal world with the social world we share remains a challenge for us all.
This illustrates for us the dichotomy between our personal truth (subjective) and what is generally held to be true (relatively objective). Back in the 1920s leading physicists `proved' that objective reality doesn't exist. The popular notion of absolute reality was invalidated. Not only that, the concept of proof was invalidated. Perception rules interpretation at all times - doesn't matter if you think something is a fact, that's just a matter of opinion. Sometimes it is merely your subjective opinion, other times it's a widely held opinion which can therefore be accurately described as relatively objective due to the consensus that it's true. Consequent trickle-down led later last century to postmodernism but many people still equate truth and reality regardless. They just don't get it!!
The individual/collective interface internalises within the psyche according to the concord between one's grasp of reality and the group belief system. If you're a sceptic by nature, the group is liable to seem afflicted by a collective hallucination unless their paradigm is consistent with yours. Once one joins a group, one becomes bound by the rules and shared beliefs & values of that group. If the group prioritises a particular view of reality, the true-believer syndrome forms in the minds of adherents to that paradigm. Liberation from that internal prison comes only via transcendence, after one awakens to the realisation that there are profound dimensions of the wider world that the group belief system fails to explain or even acknowledge. People must then move beyond that realisation, accept the deeper truth revelation and participate in the world outside the group on that basis.
In the '80s the influence of archetypes on the psyche became evident to the avante garde, and it has since become more widely understood. The save-the-world syndrome is driven by the hero archetype, most obviously in males. The hero's journey requires dragon-slaying or some such similar overcoming of massive adversity involving rescue of others. That heroic endeavour connects a young man to community. The greek origin of idiosyncrasy is `private temperament' - an idiot is someone lost therein. A fool need not be stupid (or a medieval entertainer). The tarot card for the fool represents everyman starting out on the journey of life, with naive optimism. This is the archetypal hero before the adventure, crisis, and mature entry into community. Psyche/community is the public/private divide. Mediating one's personal world with the social world we share remains a challenge for us all.
culture
Seems to me culture is best viewed as ambience - a social matrix. You could call it a ferment, which certainly identifies its characteristic process. In this sense it is ever fertile. We pick up messages from this ambient ether continually: the media bombards us with commercially-driven signals, technology saturates us with electromagnetic radiation, subliminal signals arrive via memes, hormones, and body language.
Memes that go viral globally are the most important to collective survival now, so we must focus on them. I have prioritised symbiosis for that reason, but you may be able to identify others of comparable importance. If so, please let me know!
Western civilisation has distinguished itself by technology, industry, and the myth of progress. Western societies generate an avante garde sub-culture consisting of people on the leading edge who are innovative, creative, inventive, unconventional, and who collectively catalyse the progress of the whole society. When a society is locked in stasis, and social forms fail to meet peoples' needs, the potential for liberation and transformation is evident. It's a creative challenge and opportunity for the avante garde. Our society is mired in antique economic and political forms which prevent progress. We need to do better.
People are inclined to hope for the best, so faith plays an eternal part in the ferment of culture. If we collectively transcend that passive stance and try to steer society toward progress, we will encounter perennial inertia unless we use memes that go viral via their own alchemy. Seems to me a pan-generational consensus for movement away from the status quo is most likely to be triggered by harnessing the psychodynamics of tribal affiliation: in the parlance of contemporary culture, this means brand identification! Identity politics is driven by the political brands we identify with & the tribes we belong to. An avante garde movement can only achieve success by snow-balling the concept of a new tribe amongst the populace that makes everyone feel they want to join up to because it promises to deliver them a better world.
It's 40 years since I first delved into conspiracy theories. Since they've become such a force in cultural development the past decade I must rectify media-driven misapprehensions that you may have become victim of! Key points: conspiracies can be found throughout the historical record, however the most successful ones are those that have managed to remain invisible. It has been fashionable for those too lazy to read history (such as journalists) to dismiss conspiracy theories as fantasy. Whilst it's true that many conspiracy theorists likewise don't read history, and may seem (or even be) delusional, that's no excuse for blanket dismissal of conspiracy theories. Such behaviour is evidence of their need for a security blanket: we ought to tell media professionals to grow up and open their mind to new input. It's also worth recycling the old line `he may be paranoid, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're not out to get him'!
In regard to history, one should always keep in mind another old line; it only ever gets written by the winners. All those power-plays in the political arena that failed, resulting in entire tribes, cities, countries being eliminated - none of the vanquished ever got to pass on their history to us. Anyone who has read a history of secret societies will be aware how complex that arena has always been. Even the insiders are kept in ignorance by the operators of the hierarchy. Any speculation published about what's really going on is merely opinion. So I arrived at the view that conspiracy theories are the natural consequence of primal human needs: the need to make sense of the world, and the need to tell stories. Better to view this sector of culture as a competition to see who can devise the most likely scenarios. Historians strive for credibility, and we are used to assuming they represent past reality quite well - but conspiracy theorists also aspire to plausibility, and they have the merit of including all the anomalous information that those attached to conventional reality (using it like a security blanket) prefer to avoid. Historical revisionism has become acceptable in acadaemia due to the spread of postmodernism, which recognises that all culture is story-telling. Fact-based belief systems are suspect, as so many apparent facts turn out to be merely opinion, and nobody ever really knows what happened.
Sceptics unfortunately get just as emotionally attached to their pet belief system as conspiracy theorists. Media professionals need to get hip to the syndrome & excersise balance for a change. I've been reading history since age 7, when I took 2 weeks to get through my grandad's 500 page History of the British Empire (1899) after school. Academic history tends to be boring, if not sterile. Alternative history has always been a fertile field, once you learn to spot those literary entrepeneurs with no authentic motivation to present the most credible model of the past. In my opinion, the best conspiracy theories are usually feasible, to be modified or discarded if contradictory evidence presents. I'm a sceptic with an open mind. Beware the true-believer syndrome!
Relevance to political movements lies in the historical context. Sceptics are obliged to admit the verified existence and ongoing operation of various long-standing secret societies. The cabal of bankers who set up the Federal Reserve a century ago (see source text #24) openly acknowledge that it is a private operation because they are aware that media professionals will keep informing the public that it is part of the government regardless. Secrecy is non-essential when the truth is irrelevant.
Probably the key point is that this is an area of cultural convergence where the extreme left meets the extreme right: frequently one observes writers or paranoid friends depicting the same top-level secret organisation as a socialist conspiracy or a capitalist conspiracy depending on their personal oppositionist viewpoint. Evidence of this intriguing phenomenon of social psychology can be found amongst the following sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberger http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_World_Order_(conspiracy_theory)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illuminati http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabian_Society
Use of popular trends for mind control has been going on for generations. Not just the advertising industry. Co-opting the new-age movement was a smart ploy by the powers that be, but since it's credibility had been mostly already shredded by it's commerce and trend-followers there was little of substance left to derail anyway. Fast learners had moved on by then.
Memes that go viral globally are the most important to collective survival now, so we must focus on them. I have prioritised symbiosis for that reason, but you may be able to identify others of comparable importance. If so, please let me know!
Western civilisation has distinguished itself by technology, industry, and the myth of progress. Western societies generate an avante garde sub-culture consisting of people on the leading edge who are innovative, creative, inventive, unconventional, and who collectively catalyse the progress of the whole society. When a society is locked in stasis, and social forms fail to meet peoples' needs, the potential for liberation and transformation is evident. It's a creative challenge and opportunity for the avante garde. Our society is mired in antique economic and political forms which prevent progress. We need to do better.
People are inclined to hope for the best, so faith plays an eternal part in the ferment of culture. If we collectively transcend that passive stance and try to steer society toward progress, we will encounter perennial inertia unless we use memes that go viral via their own alchemy. Seems to me a pan-generational consensus for movement away from the status quo is most likely to be triggered by harnessing the psychodynamics of tribal affiliation: in the parlance of contemporary culture, this means brand identification! Identity politics is driven by the political brands we identify with & the tribes we belong to. An avante garde movement can only achieve success by snow-balling the concept of a new tribe amongst the populace that makes everyone feel they want to join up to because it promises to deliver them a better world.
It's 40 years since I first delved into conspiracy theories. Since they've become such a force in cultural development the past decade I must rectify media-driven misapprehensions that you may have become victim of! Key points: conspiracies can be found throughout the historical record, however the most successful ones are those that have managed to remain invisible. It has been fashionable for those too lazy to read history (such as journalists) to dismiss conspiracy theories as fantasy. Whilst it's true that many conspiracy theorists likewise don't read history, and may seem (or even be) delusional, that's no excuse for blanket dismissal of conspiracy theories. Such behaviour is evidence of their need for a security blanket: we ought to tell media professionals to grow up and open their mind to new input. It's also worth recycling the old line `he may be paranoid, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're not out to get him'!
In regard to history, one should always keep in mind another old line; it only ever gets written by the winners. All those power-plays in the political arena that failed, resulting in entire tribes, cities, countries being eliminated - none of the vanquished ever got to pass on their history to us. Anyone who has read a history of secret societies will be aware how complex that arena has always been. Even the insiders are kept in ignorance by the operators of the hierarchy. Any speculation published about what's really going on is merely opinion. So I arrived at the view that conspiracy theories are the natural consequence of primal human needs: the need to make sense of the world, and the need to tell stories. Better to view this sector of culture as a competition to see who can devise the most likely scenarios. Historians strive for credibility, and we are used to assuming they represent past reality quite well - but conspiracy theorists also aspire to plausibility, and they have the merit of including all the anomalous information that those attached to conventional reality (using it like a security blanket) prefer to avoid. Historical revisionism has become acceptable in acadaemia due to the spread of postmodernism, which recognises that all culture is story-telling. Fact-based belief systems are suspect, as so many apparent facts turn out to be merely opinion, and nobody ever really knows what happened.
Sceptics unfortunately get just as emotionally attached to their pet belief system as conspiracy theorists. Media professionals need to get hip to the syndrome & excersise balance for a change. I've been reading history since age 7, when I took 2 weeks to get through my grandad's 500 page History of the British Empire (1899) after school. Academic history tends to be boring, if not sterile. Alternative history has always been a fertile field, once you learn to spot those literary entrepeneurs with no authentic motivation to present the most credible model of the past. In my opinion, the best conspiracy theories are usually feasible, to be modified or discarded if contradictory evidence presents. I'm a sceptic with an open mind. Beware the true-believer syndrome!
Relevance to political movements lies in the historical context. Sceptics are obliged to admit the verified existence and ongoing operation of various long-standing secret societies. The cabal of bankers who set up the Federal Reserve a century ago (see source text #24) openly acknowledge that it is a private operation because they are aware that media professionals will keep informing the public that it is part of the government regardless. Secrecy is non-essential when the truth is irrelevant.
Probably the key point is that this is an area of cultural convergence where the extreme left meets the extreme right: frequently one observes writers or paranoid friends depicting the same top-level secret organisation as a socialist conspiracy or a capitalist conspiracy depending on their personal oppositionist viewpoint. Evidence of this intriguing phenomenon of social psychology can be found amongst the following sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberger http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_World_Order_(conspiracy_theory)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illuminati http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabian_Society
Use of popular trends for mind control has been going on for generations. Not just the advertising industry. Co-opting the new-age movement was a smart ploy by the powers that be, but since it's credibility had been mostly already shredded by it's commerce and trend-followers there was little of substance left to derail anyway. Fast learners had moved on by then.
