The Poisoning of the Well
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Of Paradoxes and Manna from Heaven
The rise of Christian fundamentalism in the United States is a profound paradox, a reality that in the natural evolution of human endeavor should not exist, an anathema to the inevitable progression of humanity and civilization, a manifestation that is at odds with what we would expect to exist in the wealthiest, most open and some would say the most learned nation the world has ever seen. Yet, not only does this variant of extremist religion exist in the land of plenty, it thrives, becoming a growing threat to the continued vitality of the nation.
Indeed, a movement already clandestinely growing and attracting more souls before 9/11 was given a gift from the heavens, quite literally, on that fateful day, creating images and emotions that transformed the way millions of Americans saw the world. Suddenly, and unexpectedly, terror fell from the sky like the vengeance-filled thunderbolts of Zeus, spawning a fear and insecurity never before seen inside a nation that had never been attacked on its continental soil. The world was transformed, along with the psyches of millions of people whose beliefs ratified in their minds that the destruction of the World Trade Center was a religious manifestation conjured up by God himself. Paranoid, afraid, uncertain and insecure, thinking themselves living in a troubled world on the verge of its last throes, millions traumatized by the events of 9/11 turned to fundamentalist religion for the salvation reserved for the end of days, answers to most troubling questions and the false comfort that religion offers in times of cataclysm and need.
The profound psychological shift in the minds of tens of millions in the aftermath of 9/11 cannot be underestimated, and must be seen as a monumental trigger that has unleashed the myriad of problems now afflicting America. The trauma, stress, fear and hatred engendered transformed America and its people in ways that have yet to be fully understood.
Comment from Signs of the Times: Much of Valenzeula's critique is spot on. Yes, religion is a control system for keeping the flock in step, cowed with fear over God's potential wrath, or spaced out on wishful thinking in hopes that the Savior will return and save the true believers before things get too bad for the heathen and the heretic. Jesus as the original space brother. We think, however, that Valenzeula has his own ideological blind spots, for he preaches the very same materialism that he is denouncing, he has accepted the materialist notion of progress, he does not mention the in-fighting among scientific circles over the anthropological and genetic squabbles over man's evolution, dismisses the Middle Ages as a backwater of Church-dominated thought when in fact there were very progressive societies that were crushed by this same Church, among other shortcomings. Indeed, the situation of fundamentalist religion in the US is dire for those who wish to bring reason and fact to the debate on our future as opposed to belief and fairy tales masquerading as science. But there is no understanding in this piece of the nature of psychopathy and pathocracy, so he falls back onto the common sense notion of human nature, as if we were all nothing more than animals with a grain of rational thought struggling to keep our beastial depths in check. Furthermore, his analysis of just how bad the situation really is stops short. He appears to still accept the idea that it was a small gang of Islamic fundamentalists, guided by Osama Underthebed, who pulled off 9/11. Is this a case of his own rational side being stifled by his beliefs and preconceptions? Freeing oneself from the programming of society is no easy task. Reason alone will not do it for we are more than reason. The entire personality must be brought into play. But that, too, is not enough because we are blind to ourselves in countless ways. It takes the viewpoint of an objective observer to help us see ourselves. That objective observer can be a network of like-minded people. By that, we mean people who have made the commitment to do the work, not that they think and believe the same things. It is our BEing that must be transformed. True progress is the progress of the soul, not in the terms dictated by the milk doctrine of religion designed to keep us beholden to our psychopathic leaders, but in our work to become that which we have today only in potential, masters of ourselves.
Of Paradoxes and Manna from Heaven
The rise of Christian fundamentalism in the United States is a profound paradox, a reality that in the natural evolution of human endeavor should not exist, an anathema to the inevitable progression of humanity and civilization, a manifestation that is at odds with what we would expect to exist in the wealthiest, most open and some would say the most learned nation the world has ever seen. Yet, not only does this variant of extremist religion exist in the land of plenty, it thrives, becoming a growing threat to the continued vitality of the nation.
Indeed, a movement already clandestinely growing and attracting more souls before 9/11 was given a gift from the heavens, quite literally, on that fateful day, creating images and emotions that transformed the way millions of Americans saw the world. Suddenly, and unexpectedly, terror fell from the sky like the vengeance-filled thunderbolts of Zeus, spawning a fear and insecurity never before seen inside a nation that had never been attacked on its continental soil. The world was transformed, along with the psyches of millions of people whose beliefs ratified in their minds that the destruction of the World Trade Center was a religious manifestation conjured up by God himself. Paranoid, afraid, uncertain and insecure, thinking themselves living in a troubled world on the verge of its last throes, millions traumatized by the events of 9/11 turned to fundamentalist religion for the salvation reserved for the end of days, answers to most troubling questions and the false comfort that religion offers in times of cataclysm and need.
The profound psychological shift in the minds of tens of millions in the aftermath of 9/11 cannot be underestimated, and must be seen as a monumental trigger that has unleashed the myriad of problems now afflicting America. The trauma, stress, fear and hatred engendered transformed America and its people in ways that have yet to be fully understood.
Comment from Signs of the Times: Much of Valenzeula's critique is spot on. Yes, religion is a control system for keeping the flock in step, cowed with fear over God's potential wrath, or spaced out on wishful thinking in hopes that the Savior will return and save the true believers before things get too bad for the heathen and the heretic. Jesus as the original space brother. We think, however, that Valenzeula has his own ideological blind spots, for he preaches the very same materialism that he is denouncing, he has accepted the materialist notion of progress, he does not mention the in-fighting among scientific circles over the anthropological and genetic squabbles over man's evolution, dismisses the Middle Ages as a backwater of Church-dominated thought when in fact there were very progressive societies that were crushed by this same Church, among other shortcomings. Indeed, the situation of fundamentalist religion in the US is dire for those who wish to bring reason and fact to the debate on our future as opposed to belief and fairy tales masquerading as science. But there is no understanding in this piece of the nature of psychopathy and pathocracy, so he falls back onto the common sense notion of human nature, as if we were all nothing more than animals with a grain of rational thought struggling to keep our beastial depths in check. Furthermore, his analysis of just how bad the situation really is stops short. He appears to still accept the idea that it was a small gang of Islamic fundamentalists, guided by Osama Underthebed, who pulled off 9/11. Is this a case of his own rational side being stifled by his beliefs and preconceptions? Freeing oneself from the programming of society is no easy task. Reason alone will not do it for we are more than reason. The entire personality must be brought into play. But that, too, is not enough because we are blind to ourselves in countless ways. It takes the viewpoint of an objective observer to help us see ourselves. That objective observer can be a network of like-minded people. By that, we mean people who have made the commitment to do the work, not that they think and believe the same things. It is our BEing that must be transformed. True progress is the progress of the soul, not in the terms dictated by the milk doctrine of religion designed to keep us beholden to our psychopathic leaders, but in our work to become that which we have today only in potential, masters of ourselves.
posted by Traveller at
1:02 p.m.
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