Contd on page 49 :
Conspiracy and world tyranny
What concerns the One World Order is the raging conspiracies and tyranny. These processes have engulfed humanity to extent that the entire human race is brought under the control of a tiny self serving minority at the expense of individual freedoms and the greater good of the majority. The modern economic system is one where the rich tend to become even richer and further consolidate and extend their economic power through the exercising of political power. The world political power is in bondage with a tiny section of the people said to be just one percent . They are self serving.’ They gained it through financial power and used for financial gain. These small elites are engaged in constant conspiracies often using tools of tyrannies to set up corrupt One World that people have come to accept as fact of life. They have total control over the political, judicial, economic, law enforcement and military institutions of the entire world; perhaps even key religious ones as well. Obviously such a control cannot be achieved without unscrupulous, devious conspiracy and distortion as common man would not accept anything that bound them in slavery. But people hardly know the working of these conspiracies. For example, wars and social crises are often created for economic gains of these few elites. Because wars are often accompanied by lucrative sale of arms. In the same vein unusual overthrow of government has economic and power inspiration. In every step people are ignored. In order to achieve these objectives, there will be hyperactive programmes of forming secret societies and cabals which serve the interests of its members at the expense of non members and the common good. It is true that a part of the human makeup is a certain fixation on power, influence and status. And so many spend a lot of time, energy and resources to come up with ways and means to gain power over other humans.
So if this human tendency is taken a global scale, then the logical conclusion will be that these elites do all these unusual things for global domination. Those who, if given the opportunity, would like to rule the world. Also given that the world is gradually becoming one economically and politically integrated unit, together with all the ingenious, corrupt and conspiratorial means through which power may be obtained, extended and consolidated; then an evil self serving world tyranny is definitely a distinct possibility.
Belief and ideology : The universal decline of true religion and the rise of replacement doctrines
Of course all through history there have always been problems associated with religion. What makes the present situation unique are the unprecedented conditions which have come about through the equally unprecedented rise of scientific rationalism over the past few centuries, accompanied by emergence of the modern technological age.
Taken together with the coming one world order and the environmental/ecological problems of this world, then these are circumstances in which the religions of this world find themselves. So we’ll be talking about the spiritual problems that have arisen from this overall context.
Secularization
This is characterized by a falling away from religion and an increased tendency towards Atheism and Agnosticism. Even though it is claimed that technology is so overwhelming in the life of the people that religion and belief system will ultimately evaporate. A sense of uncertainty, nihilism or meaninglessness, doubt in traditional values and also a certain feeling of malaise are seen as the current trend. The age of reason and the advancement of Science has led to the abandonment of many of the beliefs and tacit assumptions that made life meaningful and gave a sense of purpose to people.
But these assumptions are proved wrong again and again in recent various surveys. Because beliefs, especially in the religious context, give people a sense of security and a certain comfort. Science gave us a cold and sterile clockwork universe and the loving creator God was replaced by Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. The scientific world view is one devoid of purpose, ultimate meaning and one with no room for traditional ideas about God.
Spiritual longing and the ‘God shaped hole’
French Existentialist Philosopher Sartre coined the term ‘The God shaped hole’. It describes an essential aspect of our being that demands some sort of relationship and understanding of the eternal and transcendent. It cannot be satisfied with worldly success, material possessions or Scientific rationalism. When this need isn’t met then we are left with a feeling of incompleteness, unease and lack of fulfillment. Religion was described as the ‘opium of the people’ by Karl Marx, but it is also perhaps a very necessary opium or balm for easing some of the pain, anxiety and suffering of the human condition.
In recent times, study after study has demonstrated the power that religion has to help people cope with stress and adversity. Many Psychiatrists and Psychologists have come to accept that having a religious belief is one of the best predictors for people making a full recovery from clinical depression. Furthermore it is recognized that being actively involved in a religious faith is also an important factor that helps prevent people from becoming clinically depressed in the first place.
The celebrated Psycho-analyst Carl Gustav Jung once said that the primary cause at the heart of many of his patients’ mental problems was a lack of a religious outlook. The World Health Organization estimated a few years back that in a world of 6.7 billion people, perhaps 1.2 billion or so were suffering from a diagnosable psychiatric problem at any one time. Most of these will be stress and anxiety related. This is partly symptomatic of the process of secularization and the malaise of the post modern condition. In years to come when the people of the world are faced with the accumulating problems of this planet then surely the need to fill the ‘God shaped hole’ will become more and more apparent.
Most scientists take the position that the universe is purposeless and devoid of ultimate meaning. Worse still is the rise of Moral Nihilism where morality is seen as mere human construct and therefore completely arbitrary and mutable. These coupled with a narrow and limited perspective on the Theory of Evolution now is dominant in the world today and are exacerbating problems in the social, economic and political realms of human existence. There is the real danger that the widespread adoption of the idea of ‘Survival of the fittest’ and ‘Selfish Genes’ as the belief about the real nature of things, may encourage selfish behaviour and even promote conflict.
Materialistic interpretation of Evolution and Darwinism, if not balanced by evolutionary perspectives that emphasize co-operation and mutual codependence, then this one sided way of looking at things will most certainly lead to more greed, selfishness and corruption in the social, economic as well as political realms.
Religious fundamentalism
Another spiritual problem of the modern age is something of an opposing response to the process of secularization is the rise of religious fundamentalism. It is an attempt to maintain the status quo. . .
It has been suggested that the rise of religious fundamentalism derives from a need in people for certainty in reaction to the metaphysical doubts, moral uncertainties and questions raised by the rise of Scientific rationalism. Religious fundamentalism now demands strict adherence to the certain and infallible views derived from religious scripture. Religious fundamentalism is therefore characterized by a complete rejection of any revisionism. The irony here is that to a large degree, the teachings of Islam are progressive and forward looking as it is generally the case for all the great spiritual teachers. Seen in this light religious fundamentalism can therefore be the very antithesis of what is one of the purposes of religion, i.e. the advancement of humankind towards perfection. Also, where true religion is characterized by tolerance, compassion and peace, all too often religious fundamentalism is described by the opponents as intolerant and full of conflict.
The new age and occult
While from the time of the enlightenment onwards, many have opted for an Atheistic secular humanist outlook, at the same time many others have rejected this world view absent of spirit and devoid of God. Instead this longing for an alternative spirituality has led to the popularity of the new age, the Occult and other spiritual movements in the form of fringe cults. There is diversity here that is myriad and would comprise things like Theosophy, Mormonism, Scientology, Moonies, Witchcraft, Wicca, UFO cults, Satanism to Magic, Fairies and Crystals energies.
While benefit may be derived by some of the adherents of these sorts of beliefs, at the same time all that glitters isn’t gold. While religion and the spiritual outlook has always involved a degree of suspension of disbelief, and an openness to unexplained mysteries taken on faith, some of the ideas making the rounds on the new age circuit or the world of Cults, lend credence to statement by the writer G.K. Chesterton who famously said that, ‘When a man stops believing in God then he doesn’t believe in nothing, he believes in anything’.
Also, a flaw in the whole new age enterprise is that due to its rampant commercialism and fixation on material gain, there is a tendency for the prophets of the new age to tell people what they want to hear rather than what they need to know, in order to sell more books, workshops and merchandise. All too often new age gurus are less interested in freeing the spirit, rather more focused on liberating the contents of peoples wallets.
Taken together these spiritual problems of the present age, i.e the falling away from religion into Atheism, the emergence of religious fundamentalism and the degeneration of spirituality into certain aspects of the new age and the world of cults, can be seen as a general decline in world religion. The age of reason and the rise of secular humanism has brought with it an age of spiritual darkness, as characterized by the process of secularization, the rise of religious fundamentalism, cults and fringe sects; along with the superficiality, not to mention the crass commercialism of the new age.
But what are these problems in the realm of pure ideas. Questions such as what is the meaning of Life, the nature of existence, the puzzle of time, the mystery of the beginning of the Universe and the nature of Consciousness and the question of epistemology or what is knowledge, etc. More recent big questions in the realm of pure ideas include what is the relationship of mathematics to Physical reality, what is the destiny of the universe and the exact workings of the process of evolution of life.
Interim summary
We have just presented a survey of some of the major problems of this world today. We discussed problems that fit into four broad categories, firstly the problems relating to the environment and world ecosystem, secondly the problems concerning social, economic and political matters including the coming one world order. Thirdly we talked about some of the major Ideological Problems including the spiritual problems of the current age. In our fourth and final category we listed some of the outstanding and most major scientific, Theological and Philosophical questions that are still waiting for an answer. We explained how what happens in this more abstract realm of pure ideas affects the formulation of Ideologies which in turn can impact on the social, economic, political, environmental and ecological problems of the world.
Of course it would be quite an undertaking to present an exhaustive list of the worlds problems. What we have tried to do is to describe some of those problems which are most global in scope. We could also include issues such as Nuclear Proliferation or the emergence of super viruses and their potential for causing pandemics that could kill many millions of people. Though our survey is not exhaustive, nonetheless it does cover a very significant proportion of the most pressing concerning facing humanity today.
The solution to the problems of this world
The major problems of this world are many and varied. From problems to do with the environment and planetary ecosystem to those to do with conflicts, political organization and social injustice. Also from issues relating to the process of globalization and the coming One World Order, to those deriving from the often incompatible and sometimes contentious doctrines of some of the world’s major religions. In isolation these problems may seem at best incredibly difficult and at worst completely intractable. When the inter-locking and mutually reinforcing nature of the problems of this world are taken into account then any overall solution to any of these main concerns of the present age may seem like an impossible dream. However, when we deeply analyze all the problems of the world and fully understand the causal relationships that exist between them, then we discover a central problem from which all the other problems ultimately derive.
Once we identify this critical point and underlying vulnerability, then we can clearly see a way that all the really difficult and major problems of this world do indeed unravel into tractable ones that yield to perfectly feasible solutions. And conversely we also come to realize that without tackling this root cause of the problems of this world, then any proposal for lasting solution would be futile and doomed to failure. So where lies the ultimate solution to the problems of the world today ?
The key idea being proposed here is that the root cause of the major problems of this world lies in the realm of ideas and with what people believe. In order to fix the problems of this world then it is necessary to fix the ideas that rule this world and which shape human attitudes and behaviour. Which in turn influences social organization, economic activity and political policy. Therefore the solution to problems of this world lies in the power of the idea.
Many people are familiar with the aphorism that ‘The pen is mightier than the sword’. And it’s also often true that the sword fights on behalf of the pen. What this means is that it is the ideas expressed by the pen which have a power which is more effective and far reaching than the power of physical force and even whole armies. So in order to solve the problems of this world we need to evoke the power of the idea. For as Victor Hugo wrote, ‘Nothing is as powerful as an idea whose time has come.’ But of course the idea without action is impotent, just as action without the idea is often misguided. For it is ideas that really rule this world. ideas shape politics, structure economic activity, influence social organization and determine human behaviour. So in order to solve the problems of this world you really need to evolve or replace all the bad, sometimes terrible and often outdated dominant ideas of this World, from which these problems are ultimately derived in the first place and from which they may also have their maintenance.
Addressing Nihilism and ‘Selfish Genes’
A Nihilistic outlook is where life is considered as meaningless and even morality is seen as arbitrary. Associated with these sorts of views are narrow interpretations of Darwin’s Theory of Evolution by natural selection which sees life as a completely random and purposeless process where the only principle is the ‘survival of the fittest’ and the propagation of ‘Selfish Genes’. We also discussed earlier how these views may naturally be used to justify not only selfishness, nepotism, racism and greed but also, as history has shown, even war and genocide.
So we need to balance out this one sided and limited view of the universe and the process of Life with one that sees the bigger picture and also incorporates spiritual values.
Earth and with the planet
Everything in the universe and all life forms emanate and owe their very being to the All Encompassing Wholeness at the end of time that is God fully manifest in the temporal realm. And also that the very process of life and cosmic evolution in turn serves the purpose of reconstituting the all encompassing wholeness that is at the end of time. Therefore the meaning of life is to partake of the process by which this cosmic wholeness or Integrated oneness re-emerges out of a disordered and initially unpatterned universe. Through this process of emergent complexity, parts come together to create bigger wholes, eventually leading up to the coming together of all matter in the universe. It is this process of coming togetherness that is the over arching process that is happening in the universe. Contd on page 52
Conspiracy and world tyranny
What concerns the One World Order is the raging conspiracies and tyranny. These processes have engulfed humanity to extent that the entire human race is brought under the control of a tiny self serving minority at the expense of individual freedoms and the greater good of the majority. The modern economic system is one where the rich tend to become even richer and further consolidate and extend their economic power through the exercising of political power. The world political power is in bondage with a tiny section of the people said to be just one percent . They are self serving.’ They gained it through financial power and used for financial gain. These small elites are engaged in constant conspiracies often using tools of tyrannies to set up corrupt One World that people have come to accept as fact of life. They have total control over the political, judicial, economic, law enforcement and military institutions of the entire world; perhaps even key religious ones as well. Obviously such a control cannot be achieved without unscrupulous, devious conspiracy and distortion as common man would not accept anything that bound them in slavery. But people hardly know the working of these conspiracies. For example, wars and social crises are often created for economic gains of these few elites. Because wars are often accompanied by lucrative sale of arms. In the same vein unusual overthrow of government has economic and power inspiration. In every step people are ignored. In order to achieve these objectives, there will be hyperactive programmes of forming secret societies and cabals which serve the interests of its members at the expense of non members and the common good. It is true that a part of the human makeup is a certain fixation on power, influence and status. And so many spend a lot of time, energy and resources to come up with ways and means to gain power over other humans.
So if this human tendency is taken a global scale, then the logical conclusion will be that these elites do all these unusual things for global domination. Those who, if given the opportunity, would like to rule the world. Also given that the world is gradually becoming one economically and politically integrated unit, together with all the ingenious, corrupt and conspiratorial means through which power may be obtained, extended and consolidated; then an evil self serving world tyranny is definitely a distinct possibility.
Belief and ideology : The universal decline of true religion and the rise of replacement doctrines
Of course all through history there have always been problems associated with religion. What makes the present situation unique are the unprecedented conditions which have come about through the equally unprecedented rise of scientific rationalism over the past few centuries, accompanied by emergence of the modern technological age.
Taken together with the coming one world order and the environmental/ecological problems of this world, then these are circumstances in which the religions of this world find themselves. So we’ll be talking about the spiritual problems that have arisen from this overall context.
Secularization
This is characterized by a falling away from religion and an increased tendency towards Atheism and Agnosticism. Even though it is claimed that technology is so overwhelming in the life of the people that religion and belief system will ultimately evaporate. A sense of uncertainty, nihilism or meaninglessness, doubt in traditional values and also a certain feeling of malaise are seen as the current trend. The age of reason and the advancement of Science has led to the abandonment of many of the beliefs and tacit assumptions that made life meaningful and gave a sense of purpose to people.
But these assumptions are proved wrong again and again in recent various surveys. Because beliefs, especially in the religious context, give people a sense of security and a certain comfort. Science gave us a cold and sterile clockwork universe and the loving creator God was replaced by Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. The scientific world view is one devoid of purpose, ultimate meaning and one with no room for traditional ideas about God.
Spiritual longing and the ‘God shaped hole’
French Existentialist Philosopher Sartre coined the term ‘The God shaped hole’. It describes an essential aspect of our being that demands some sort of relationship and understanding of the eternal and transcendent. It cannot be satisfied with worldly success, material possessions or Scientific rationalism. When this need isn’t met then we are left with a feeling of incompleteness, unease and lack of fulfillment. Religion was described as the ‘opium of the people’ by Karl Marx, but it is also perhaps a very necessary opium or balm for easing some of the pain, anxiety and suffering of the human condition.
In recent times, study after study has demonstrated the power that religion has to help people cope with stress and adversity. Many Psychiatrists and Psychologists have come to accept that having a religious belief is one of the best predictors for people making a full recovery from clinical depression. Furthermore it is recognized that being actively involved in a religious faith is also an important factor that helps prevent people from becoming clinically depressed in the first place.
The celebrated Psycho-analyst Carl Gustav Jung once said that the primary cause at the heart of many of his patients’ mental problems was a lack of a religious outlook. The World Health Organization estimated a few years back that in a world of 6.7 billion people, perhaps 1.2 billion or so were suffering from a diagnosable psychiatric problem at any one time. Most of these will be stress and anxiety related. This is partly symptomatic of the process of secularization and the malaise of the post modern condition. In years to come when the people of the world are faced with the accumulating problems of this planet then surely the need to fill the ‘God shaped hole’ will become more and more apparent.
Most scientists take the position that the universe is purposeless and devoid of ultimate meaning. Worse still is the rise of Moral Nihilism where morality is seen as mere human construct and therefore completely arbitrary and mutable. These coupled with a narrow and limited perspective on the Theory of Evolution now is dominant in the world today and are exacerbating problems in the social, economic and political realms of human existence. There is the real danger that the widespread adoption of the idea of ‘Survival of the fittest’ and ‘Selfish Genes’ as the belief about the real nature of things, may encourage selfish behaviour and even promote conflict.
Materialistic interpretation of Evolution and Darwinism, if not balanced by evolutionary perspectives that emphasize co-operation and mutual codependence, then this one sided way of looking at things will most certainly lead to more greed, selfishness and corruption in the social, economic as well as political realms.
Religious fundamentalism
Another spiritual problem of the modern age is something of an opposing response to the process of secularization is the rise of religious fundamentalism. It is an attempt to maintain the status quo. . .
It has been suggested that the rise of religious fundamentalism derives from a need in people for certainty in reaction to the metaphysical doubts, moral uncertainties and questions raised by the rise of Scientific rationalism. Religious fundamentalism now demands strict adherence to the certain and infallible views derived from religious scripture. Religious fundamentalism is therefore characterized by a complete rejection of any revisionism. The irony here is that to a large degree, the teachings of Islam are progressive and forward looking as it is generally the case for all the great spiritual teachers. Seen in this light religious fundamentalism can therefore be the very antithesis of what is one of the purposes of religion, i.e. the advancement of humankind towards perfection. Also, where true religion is characterized by tolerance, compassion and peace, all too often religious fundamentalism is described by the opponents as intolerant and full of conflict.
The new age and occult
While from the time of the enlightenment onwards, many have opted for an Atheistic secular humanist outlook, at the same time many others have rejected this world view absent of spirit and devoid of God. Instead this longing for an alternative spirituality has led to the popularity of the new age, the Occult and other spiritual movements in the form of fringe cults. There is diversity here that is myriad and would comprise things like Theosophy, Mormonism, Scientology, Moonies, Witchcraft, Wicca, UFO cults, Satanism to Magic, Fairies and Crystals energies.
While benefit may be derived by some of the adherents of these sorts of beliefs, at the same time all that glitters isn’t gold. While religion and the spiritual outlook has always involved a degree of suspension of disbelief, and an openness to unexplained mysteries taken on faith, some of the ideas making the rounds on the new age circuit or the world of Cults, lend credence to statement by the writer G.K. Chesterton who famously said that, ‘When a man stops believing in God then he doesn’t believe in nothing, he believes in anything’.
Also, a flaw in the whole new age enterprise is that due to its rampant commercialism and fixation on material gain, there is a tendency for the prophets of the new age to tell people what they want to hear rather than what they need to know, in order to sell more books, workshops and merchandise. All too often new age gurus are less interested in freeing the spirit, rather more focused on liberating the contents of peoples wallets.
Taken together these spiritual problems of the present age, i.e the falling away from religion into Atheism, the emergence of religious fundamentalism and the degeneration of spirituality into certain aspects of the new age and the world of cults, can be seen as a general decline in world religion. The age of reason and the rise of secular humanism has brought with it an age of spiritual darkness, as characterized by the process of secularization, the rise of religious fundamentalism, cults and fringe sects; along with the superficiality, not to mention the crass commercialism of the new age.
But what are these problems in the realm of pure ideas. Questions such as what is the meaning of Life, the nature of existence, the puzzle of time, the mystery of the beginning of the Universe and the nature of Consciousness and the question of epistemology or what is knowledge, etc. More recent big questions in the realm of pure ideas include what is the relationship of mathematics to Physical reality, what is the destiny of the universe and the exact workings of the process of evolution of life.
Interim summary
We have just presented a survey of some of the major problems of this world today. We discussed problems that fit into four broad categories, firstly the problems relating to the environment and world ecosystem, secondly the problems concerning social, economic and political matters including the coming one world order. Thirdly we talked about some of the major Ideological Problems including the spiritual problems of the current age. In our fourth and final category we listed some of the outstanding and most major scientific, Theological and Philosophical questions that are still waiting for an answer. We explained how what happens in this more abstract realm of pure ideas affects the formulation of Ideologies which in turn can impact on the social, economic, political, environmental and ecological problems of the world.
Of course it would be quite an undertaking to present an exhaustive list of the worlds problems. What we have tried to do is to describe some of those problems which are most global in scope. We could also include issues such as Nuclear Proliferation or the emergence of super viruses and their potential for causing pandemics that could kill many millions of people. Though our survey is not exhaustive, nonetheless it does cover a very significant proportion of the most pressing concerning facing humanity today.
The solution to the problems of this world
The major problems of this world are many and varied. From problems to do with the environment and planetary ecosystem to those to do with conflicts, political organization and social injustice. Also from issues relating to the process of globalization and the coming One World Order, to those deriving from the often incompatible and sometimes contentious doctrines of some of the world’s major religions. In isolation these problems may seem at best incredibly difficult and at worst completely intractable. When the inter-locking and mutually reinforcing nature of the problems of this world are taken into account then any overall solution to any of these main concerns of the present age may seem like an impossible dream. However, when we deeply analyze all the problems of the world and fully understand the causal relationships that exist between them, then we discover a central problem from which all the other problems ultimately derive.
Once we identify this critical point and underlying vulnerability, then we can clearly see a way that all the really difficult and major problems of this world do indeed unravel into tractable ones that yield to perfectly feasible solutions. And conversely we also come to realize that without tackling this root cause of the problems of this world, then any proposal for lasting solution would be futile and doomed to failure. So where lies the ultimate solution to the problems of the world today ?
The key idea being proposed here is that the root cause of the major problems of this world lies in the realm of ideas and with what people believe. In order to fix the problems of this world then it is necessary to fix the ideas that rule this world and which shape human attitudes and behaviour. Which in turn influences social organization, economic activity and political policy. Therefore the solution to problems of this world lies in the power of the idea.
Many people are familiar with the aphorism that ‘The pen is mightier than the sword’. And it’s also often true that the sword fights on behalf of the pen. What this means is that it is the ideas expressed by the pen which have a power which is more effective and far reaching than the power of physical force and even whole armies. So in order to solve the problems of this world we need to evoke the power of the idea. For as Victor Hugo wrote, ‘Nothing is as powerful as an idea whose time has come.’ But of course the idea without action is impotent, just as action without the idea is often misguided. For it is ideas that really rule this world. ideas shape politics, structure economic activity, influence social organization and determine human behaviour. So in order to solve the problems of this world you really need to evolve or replace all the bad, sometimes terrible and often outdated dominant ideas of this World, from which these problems are ultimately derived in the first place and from which they may also have their maintenance.
Addressing Nihilism and ‘Selfish Genes’
A Nihilistic outlook is where life is considered as meaningless and even morality is seen as arbitrary. Associated with these sorts of views are narrow interpretations of Darwin’s Theory of Evolution by natural selection which sees life as a completely random and purposeless process where the only principle is the ‘survival of the fittest’ and the propagation of ‘Selfish Genes’. We also discussed earlier how these views may naturally be used to justify not only selfishness, nepotism, racism and greed but also, as history has shown, even war and genocide.
So we need to balance out this one sided and limited view of the universe and the process of Life with one that sees the bigger picture and also incorporates spiritual values.
Earth and with the planet
Everything in the universe and all life forms emanate and owe their very being to the All Encompassing Wholeness at the end of time that is God fully manifest in the temporal realm. And also that the very process of life and cosmic evolution in turn serves the purpose of reconstituting the all encompassing wholeness that is at the end of time. Therefore the meaning of life is to partake of the process by which this cosmic wholeness or Integrated oneness re-emerges out of a disordered and initially unpatterned universe. Through this process of emergent complexity, parts come together to create bigger wholes, eventually leading up to the coming together of all matter in the universe. It is this process of coming togetherness that is the over arching process that is happening in the universe. Contd on page 52
