Francis Berger's Blog, page 118
August 4, 2020
The Great Reset Seeks To Usher In A World In Which No Will Want To Escape The Gulag
Alexander Solzhenitsyn's voluminous and damning magnus opus The Gulag Archipelago essentially documents the existence and workings of a smaller prison system embedded within a larger prison system. The larger prison system was comprised of all the social, political, and economic infrastructure and policies that made up the Soviet Union, while the smaller prison system was made up of the various forced-labor camps housing those who had violated the social, political, and economic policies of the larger prison camp. Provable transgressions against the Soviet Union and the communist cause more or less guaranteed removal from the larger prison system of general society, but this by no means meant every incarcerated gulag prisoner had been guilty of a indictable offense. On the contrary, Soviet gulags often overflowed with innocent people who could not understand why they had been singled out from the general prison population of the state and subsequently sentenced to twenty-five years of hard labor.
Most citizens of the Soviet Union understood that they were fundamentally prisoners of a totalitarian state; and they were perpetually reminded of this reality through the steady diet of decrees, regulations, restrictions, shortages, bureaucracy, denouncements, and propaganda that burdened their day-to-day lives. Nevertheless, given the choice, I suspect all Soviet citizens would have chosen to remain in the larger prison system of Soviet society over the smaller prison system of the gulags.
As oppressive and limiting as the Soviet Union was, it still contained small pockets of freedom and happiness. You could, theoretically at least, work in a vocation in which you demonstrated aptitude or talent. If you possessed athletic ability, there was a chance you could be recruited into one of the state's athletic programs. You could enjoy small pleasures like a walk in the park, and so forth. If you welcomed risk, you could still get your hands on banned books and novels or other forms of art. You could pray and read the Bible in the privacy of your own home. You could attempt to defect or escape to the West or some other part of the world.
If you happened to be arrested, all of that disappeared. Life in the smaller prison system of the gulags was harsh and bleak. Whatever freedom you could experience was generally restricted to the space in your heart and the space between your ears. Simply put, the difference between Soviet society and the gulag was the difference between near-total slavery and total slavery.
Earlier totalitarian regimes used concentration camps and gulags to maintain their power. The gulags served as a reminder - no matter how bad things became in society, it was infinitely better than being imprisoned in a forced labor camp. Thus, the social engineering the Soviets managed to achieve was underpinned by the threat of brute force and total enslavement.
Through their Great Reset Agenda, our current totalitarian technocrats are implementing a more insidious form of social engineering to fortify their black iron prison and enslave the world - a form of social engineering that will convince its global citizens to willingly relinquish their current state of near-total slavery in favor of total slavery, which is being packaged and sold as a 'safe and just space for humanity.'
Call me a pessimist, but I feel the Establishment has an excellent chance of pushing this agenda through.* For starters, hardly anyone realizes that a global totalitarian coup has already taken place. The change was so swift, dramatic, and comprehensive that even those who recognized what was unfolding could barely keep up with the pace of events, let alone mobilize or offer resistance against it. As for everyone else - well, most are still waiting for a return to normal. But there will be no return to normal. On the contrary, our global dictators are already feverishly framing the old 'normal' as both unsustainable and undesirable.
What they offer instead is a new normal - a more fair, sustainable, and resilient future founded upon a new social contract centered on social justice, economic equity, racial equality, and environmental protection. This new normal will require drastic 'lifestyle changes' and monumental shifts in human thinking and behavior from individuals and a complete reconceptualization of civilization from all the world's nations. Technology will be at the heart of this 'safe and just space for humanity', and will form the core of a social credit system through which citizens of the world will be rewarded for good behavior.
Unlike the Soviet Union, the Great Reset's 'safe and just space for humanity' will not require the brute force of a small prison system to exist because 'the safe and just space for humanity' will become a comprehensive and all-encompassing prison in of itself - the type of prison most will not even recognize as a prison.
What separates the vast majority of people today from Soviet citizens of the past is ignorance. Most of people do not realize or will not accept that they had been living in a state of near total-slavery that has quickly slipped into a state of total slavery. On the contrary, many will welcome the 'safe and just space for humanity' as an opportunity for a better, safer life and will gladly surrender whatever small freedoms they possess for the promise a more resilient, secure, and equitable future.
The few who do resist will be forced into circumstances where resistance will not only be futile, but utterly unworkable. In the here and now it has become impossible to buy groceries in a shop unless you wear a mask (in most places in the West). Now imagine how impossible shopping for food becomes if you have been 'deactivated' from a digital currency system. Imagine that and you start to get a sense of the kinds of tricks our technocratic tyrants are capable of pulling.
I suspect most will never consider escaping the open air concentration camp the world has become for the simple reason that they like it, crave it, and want more of it. As for the rest of us, any thoughts of physical escape will likely be tempered by the rather cold and harsh reality of having nowhere to go.
Considering the above, the current and developing global totalitarianism appears to be far worse than the totalitarianism people had to endure in the Soviet Union. True, we have not experienced mass starvation and mass executions, but we are slowly being deprived of the state of near-total slavery that Soviet citizens managed to cling to even during the darkest days of Stalin's reign. This realization should alert us to the freedoms that cannot be stolen from us, and motivate us to cultivate those freedoms with every ounce of our being.
* The Great Reset Agenda may fail for a variety of reasons. For example, the Establishment may push the economic meltdown they are currently orchestrating too far and, thereby, precipitate full-out system failure. Another possibility is a sudden upsurge of good within the otherwise evilly-motivated aparachicks that helped usher in the global coup. Collective spiritual, more specifically Christian, revival is another, albeit extremely faint, possible obstacle.
Most citizens of the Soviet Union understood that they were fundamentally prisoners of a totalitarian state; and they were perpetually reminded of this reality through the steady diet of decrees, regulations, restrictions, shortages, bureaucracy, denouncements, and propaganda that burdened their day-to-day lives. Nevertheless, given the choice, I suspect all Soviet citizens would have chosen to remain in the larger prison system of Soviet society over the smaller prison system of the gulags.
As oppressive and limiting as the Soviet Union was, it still contained small pockets of freedom and happiness. You could, theoretically at least, work in a vocation in which you demonstrated aptitude or talent. If you possessed athletic ability, there was a chance you could be recruited into one of the state's athletic programs. You could enjoy small pleasures like a walk in the park, and so forth. If you welcomed risk, you could still get your hands on banned books and novels or other forms of art. You could pray and read the Bible in the privacy of your own home. You could attempt to defect or escape to the West or some other part of the world.
If you happened to be arrested, all of that disappeared. Life in the smaller prison system of the gulags was harsh and bleak. Whatever freedom you could experience was generally restricted to the space in your heart and the space between your ears. Simply put, the difference between Soviet society and the gulag was the difference between near-total slavery and total slavery.
Earlier totalitarian regimes used concentration camps and gulags to maintain their power. The gulags served as a reminder - no matter how bad things became in society, it was infinitely better than being imprisoned in a forced labor camp. Thus, the social engineering the Soviets managed to achieve was underpinned by the threat of brute force and total enslavement.
Through their Great Reset Agenda, our current totalitarian technocrats are implementing a more insidious form of social engineering to fortify their black iron prison and enslave the world - a form of social engineering that will convince its global citizens to willingly relinquish their current state of near-total slavery in favor of total slavery, which is being packaged and sold as a 'safe and just space for humanity.'
Call me a pessimist, but I feel the Establishment has an excellent chance of pushing this agenda through.* For starters, hardly anyone realizes that a global totalitarian coup has already taken place. The change was so swift, dramatic, and comprehensive that even those who recognized what was unfolding could barely keep up with the pace of events, let alone mobilize or offer resistance against it. As for everyone else - well, most are still waiting for a return to normal. But there will be no return to normal. On the contrary, our global dictators are already feverishly framing the old 'normal' as both unsustainable and undesirable.
What they offer instead is a new normal - a more fair, sustainable, and resilient future founded upon a new social contract centered on social justice, economic equity, racial equality, and environmental protection. This new normal will require drastic 'lifestyle changes' and monumental shifts in human thinking and behavior from individuals and a complete reconceptualization of civilization from all the world's nations. Technology will be at the heart of this 'safe and just space for humanity', and will form the core of a social credit system through which citizens of the world will be rewarded for good behavior.
Unlike the Soviet Union, the Great Reset's 'safe and just space for humanity' will not require the brute force of a small prison system to exist because 'the safe and just space for humanity' will become a comprehensive and all-encompassing prison in of itself - the type of prison most will not even recognize as a prison.
What separates the vast majority of people today from Soviet citizens of the past is ignorance. Most of people do not realize or will not accept that they had been living in a state of near total-slavery that has quickly slipped into a state of total slavery. On the contrary, many will welcome the 'safe and just space for humanity' as an opportunity for a better, safer life and will gladly surrender whatever small freedoms they possess for the promise a more resilient, secure, and equitable future.
The few who do resist will be forced into circumstances where resistance will not only be futile, but utterly unworkable. In the here and now it has become impossible to buy groceries in a shop unless you wear a mask (in most places in the West). Now imagine how impossible shopping for food becomes if you have been 'deactivated' from a digital currency system. Imagine that and you start to get a sense of the kinds of tricks our technocratic tyrants are capable of pulling.
I suspect most will never consider escaping the open air concentration camp the world has become for the simple reason that they like it, crave it, and want more of it. As for the rest of us, any thoughts of physical escape will likely be tempered by the rather cold and harsh reality of having nowhere to go.
Considering the above, the current and developing global totalitarianism appears to be far worse than the totalitarianism people had to endure in the Soviet Union. True, we have not experienced mass starvation and mass executions, but we are slowly being deprived of the state of near-total slavery that Soviet citizens managed to cling to even during the darkest days of Stalin's reign. This realization should alert us to the freedoms that cannot be stolen from us, and motivate us to cultivate those freedoms with every ounce of our being.
* The Great Reset Agenda may fail for a variety of reasons. For example, the Establishment may push the economic meltdown they are currently orchestrating too far and, thereby, precipitate full-out system failure. Another possibility is a sudden upsurge of good within the otherwise evilly-motivated aparachicks that helped usher in the global coup. Collective spiritual, more specifically Christian, revival is another, albeit extremely faint, possible obstacle.
August 1, 2020
Johnny's In London Talking About The Hopelessness: Stray Thoughts About Mike Leigh's "Naked"
This is not a film recommendation; I am merely sharing some thoughts.I classify Mike Leigh's 1993 film Naked as one of those I hate liking. When I saw the film for the first time shortly after its release, I distinctly remember harboring a favorable impression of it as I was leaving the movie theater, but this acclamatory assessment was simultaneously tempered by a sense of deep revulsion. Though it was an odd sensation to experience, I was not at all surprised by this contradictory response. Though I enjoyed the brilliant acting, clever screenwriting, and effective cinematography, I was repulsed by the world Mike Leigh depicts in the film.
The nausea I experienced did not stem from any gratuitousness or insincerity on Leigh's part, but rather from an acknowledgement of the film's jolting and accurate depiction of contemporary nihilism, alienation, loneliness, and despair. The spiritual darkness and hopelessness Leigh presents is extremely cutting and relevant, and I suspect this underlying darkness and hopelessness has only grown darker and more hopeless in the twenty-seven years since the film's release.
Whether exposure to darkness can help guide one toward the light is questionable. At the same time, being oblivious to the spiritual murk that masquerades as modern society probably does more harm than good in terms of recognizing and remaining in the light. Of course, Leigh offers the viewer very little in the way of light in this film. Cinematographically, the vast majority of the scenes are draped in inky tones of night and shadow; and the daytimes scenes are burdened by diffused, oppressive grayness utterly unblessed by even the slightest ray of sunshine. The locations feel cramped and closed, creating a sense of physical and metaphysical claustrophobia - tight stairwells, narrow alleyways, decaying stretches of urban wasteland. Whatever slivers of metaphysical light manage to penetrate the shadows are quickly eclipsed by the shadows of hopelessness.
The characters themselves exist in a vicious world of predator and prey. Most appear lost and zombified. Grounded in crushing materialism, they are, nonetheless, completely disconnected from the physical places they refer to as homes; unaware and unattached to any of the objects surrounding them. All are starved for love and authentic human connection, yet their attempts to attain these ultimately makes them either victims or victimizers. Johnny, the Mancunian main character, rips through this depressing ensemble of soul-wounded characters like a hurricane. Intellectual and intense, this loquacious, failed-Romantic anti-hero possesses enough perspicacity to pierce through the lies and listlessness of the modern world, but his overreliance on his intellect ultimately leads him into a metaphysical dead end.
Convinced humanity is merely a stage in the evolutionary ladder toward the eventual appearance of form of theosis in the guise of pure, God-like consciousness, Johnny finds no meaning or purpose for contemporary human life outside of this evolutionary role. Put another way, humanity's sole purpose is to prepare the way for an eventual higher form of being - a higher form of being in which humanity's only creative role is to passively live out its own determined, physical existence until the coming of the apocalypse, which will usher in the beginning of the next stage of evolution toward pure consciousness.
The inherent hopelessness of these metaphysical assumptions bleed into the whole film and are reflected by every downcast, deprived, and derelict character Johnny encounters on his pseudo Odyssey around London. Of course, the very notion of metaphysical assumptions are beyond the scope of most of the people Johnny meets, with the only exception being Brian, the middle-aged security guard who grants Johnny a few hours of reprieve from the cold and damp London night. Working in what Johnny describes as 'the most tedious job in England', Brian guards an empty building and spends the majority of each night contemplating the future while the city around him sleeps. Convinced his life has meaning, and that this meaning resides somewhere in the future, Brian ultimately rejects the hopelessness Johnny describes in a memorable metaphysical tirade laced with conspiratorial flourishes.
Over breakfast at a café the following morning, Brian quietly gives Johnny the advice the younger man so sorely needs. Don't waste your life. The words fall on deaf ears, for as far as Johnny is concerned life is already a waste. Thinking a waste cannot be wasted amounts to nothing more than wishful thinking in his mind.
The scene below contains the metaphysical tirade mentioned above. As far as I'm concerned, it's an excellent scene, even if the message it presents is anything but.
Warning: The clip below contains a fair bit of swearing.
Well, As Everyone Knows, Once The Sorcery Gets Started . . .
. . . there's no stopping it.
The line is from Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita. It appears midway through Book One and refers to the black magic-induced chaos Woland and his devilish crew unleash upon the unsuspecting citizens of the Soviet Union. I've been picking away at a rereading of the novel for over a month now, and every time I pick the book up I can't help but draw parallels between the witchcraft contained within Bulgakov's pages and black magic I sense in our own contemporary world. It's not so much a similarity of events, but rather a similarity of essence. As is the case in Bulgakov's novel, the devilry that has started in our world grows more intense (and absurd) with each passing day.
For example, earlier this week we learned that the US economy shrank at 32.9% annual rate between April and June - the steepest decline since the US government began records of this in 1947. How steep is steep? Well, the second steepest decline, which happened in 1958, clocked in at a mere 10%. Despite this awful figure, US stock markets continue push toward record highs, with the Nasdaq making all time highs (if I'm not mistaken). It's good to know the several trillion dollars of stimulus the government pumped into the financial system via the Federal Reserve is being put to good use. Trillions. A trillion contains twelve zeros - a number so big it would take you 31,000 years to count the number out. Where is this money coming from? Where is it going? What is it doing?
That contemporary economics is voodoo should surprise no one, but the dark sorcery does not end there. It spills into nearly everything, and it shows no signs of stopping. On the contrary, it looks like the bulk of it is just getting started . . .
The line is from Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita. It appears midway through Book One and refers to the black magic-induced chaos Woland and his devilish crew unleash upon the unsuspecting citizens of the Soviet Union. I've been picking away at a rereading of the novel for over a month now, and every time I pick the book up I can't help but draw parallels between the witchcraft contained within Bulgakov's pages and black magic I sense in our own contemporary world. It's not so much a similarity of events, but rather a similarity of essence. As is the case in Bulgakov's novel, the devilry that has started in our world grows more intense (and absurd) with each passing day.
For example, earlier this week we learned that the US economy shrank at 32.9% annual rate between April and June - the steepest decline since the US government began records of this in 1947. How steep is steep? Well, the second steepest decline, which happened in 1958, clocked in at a mere 10%. Despite this awful figure, US stock markets continue push toward record highs, with the Nasdaq making all time highs (if I'm not mistaken). It's good to know the several trillion dollars of stimulus the government pumped into the financial system via the Federal Reserve is being put to good use. Trillions. A trillion contains twelve zeros - a number so big it would take you 31,000 years to count the number out. Where is this money coming from? Where is it going? What is it doing?
That contemporary economics is voodoo should surprise no one, but the dark sorcery does not end there. It spills into nearly everything, and it shows no signs of stopping. On the contrary, it looks like the bulk of it is just getting started . . .
July 30, 2020
Don't Bind Yourself To Joy, But Kiss It As It Flies
I spent a bit of time contemplating the nature of joy today and arrived at the following thoughts:
1. Christianity is a religion of joy. How could it not be? But the joy permeating Christianity extends well beyond the joy we experience during our transitory mortal lives.
2. Christians must not limit their experience and comprehension of joy to this world in much the same way they must not limit their experience and comprehension of life to this world. To do so would entail restriction and over-attachment to the joys of this world, nearly all of which are ephemeral. Over-attachment to temporal joys could perhaps even lead to the pursuit of hedonism and a subsequent weakening of Christian life.
3. Detachment from and denial of temporal joy is not the answer. Christians should embrace all worldly joys that are aligned with Divine Will and Creation, but they should do so from the perspective of love. In other words, allow themselves to 'enjoy' worldly joy as an unenduring blessing/experience. They should not try to trap, preserve, or cling to the blessing/experience, but grant it the freedom to live out its course. Doing so should provide a glimpse of the enduring joy of eternal life based in freedom.
As I finished thinking about these things, it quickly dawned on me that the thoughts were not my own (which is the case with about 99.7635% of my thoughts), but rather the reformulated lines of William Blake's short poem, Eternity:
He who binds himself to joy
Does the winged life destroy
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity's sunrise
1. Christianity is a religion of joy. How could it not be? But the joy permeating Christianity extends well beyond the joy we experience during our transitory mortal lives.
2. Christians must not limit their experience and comprehension of joy to this world in much the same way they must not limit their experience and comprehension of life to this world. To do so would entail restriction and over-attachment to the joys of this world, nearly all of which are ephemeral. Over-attachment to temporal joys could perhaps even lead to the pursuit of hedonism and a subsequent weakening of Christian life.
3. Detachment from and denial of temporal joy is not the answer. Christians should embrace all worldly joys that are aligned with Divine Will and Creation, but they should do so from the perspective of love. In other words, allow themselves to 'enjoy' worldly joy as an unenduring blessing/experience. They should not try to trap, preserve, or cling to the blessing/experience, but grant it the freedom to live out its course. Doing so should provide a glimpse of the enduring joy of eternal life based in freedom.
As I finished thinking about these things, it quickly dawned on me that the thoughts were not my own (which is the case with about 99.7635% of my thoughts), but rather the reformulated lines of William Blake's short poem, Eternity:
He who binds himself to joy
Does the winged life destroy
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity's sunrise
July 29, 2020
Magyars Make A Mockery of Mask Wearing
Nearly every school I worked in back in my high school teaching days had some form of mandatory uniform policy in effect; and nearly every student at every one of those schools made a point of violating the policy every chance he or she could. Ties were loosened or lost, shirts were wrinkled or untucked, school crest patches were vandalized or blotted out, skirts were hiked or cut along the sides, and inappropriate leggings or jewelry were worn. Though some of these infractions could be attributed to teenager slovenliness, most were the result of a quiet, premeditated, but glaringly obvious form of protest and rebellion against authority.I see the same phenomenon in play here in western Hungary with the mandatory wearing of face masks. As is the case elsewhere, Hungarians are required to wear face masks every time they enter a public place or private business. This includes most stores, offices, and forms of public transport. Hungarians in this area technically abide by the face mask rules, but like the uniform-wearing high school students I used to teach, the vast majority of Hungarians here make an absolute mockery of the mandatory policy that has been forced upon them.
The illustration above offers a good visual representation of what I tend to encounter whenever I enter a grocery store. For every person who properly wears a mask there are five others doggedly making a mess of it. The most common purposive mask fail is the exposed nose, which is quite popular among the elderly and women. A lot of men - yours truly among them - opt for the 'mask the chin' look, which keeps the mask somewhat on the face while simultaneously keeping the appearance of machismo and toughness intact. The masking of the nose but leaving the mouth exposed is a hit among smokers and the loquacious. A great many employees within the stores are big fans of the 'mask hanging from my neck like a chain' style. If there is an improper way to wear a mask, you can bet your bottom dollar a Magyar will take advantage of it.
Though I'm sure this sort of mask semi-compliance/disobedience is universal to some degree, here in Hungary it has taken on a luster all its own. Improper mask wearing has become a sort of duty abiding by some unwritten code of honor. Yes, I have seen store employees and security guards scold others for not having masks, but I have yet to hear anyone criticize anyone else for improper mask wearing. Moreover, scornful looks tend to be reserved for those who have the audacity to wear a mask properly in public. Sometimes I feel like I'm living in a nation full of surly, uniform-hating teenagers.
I occasionally wonder if this blatant form of pretending to follow the rules while simultaneously breaking them can be traced to the residual effects of communism. Then again, it might run much deeper than that. After all, Hungary has a long history of enduring and somehow surviving foreign occupations and totalitarian regimes. I have heard some refer to Hungary's history as 'a long tale of victory through defeat.' Maybe this is an example of that dynamic in action. Perhaps the quiet refusal of obedience I witness now with masks is something that has hardwired itself into the Magyar DNA over the millenia.
Who knows? Whatever the case, it's fun to see and experience even if it does nothing to nullify the reality of the successful global totalitarian coup under which we are all currently living.
July 28, 2020
I Have Some Strange (But Great) Friends
So yesterday was my birthday, and here's the greeting I received from one of oldest and dearest friends.
Thanks, Tom! (No, that's not Tom in the video.)
Thanks, Tom! (No, that's not Tom in the video.)
July 27, 2020
No Utopias, Please
"Utopias now appear much more realizable than one used to think. We are now faced with a different new worry: How to prevent their realization."
- Nikolai Berdyaev
- Nikolai Berdyaev
July 25, 2020
The World's Greatest Threat Is Not A Virus or Racism- It's Affluence
Back in March, the birdemic was the greatest threat in the world, and it was uniformly heralded as a harbinger of unprecedented destruction and death. This in turn prompted the implementation of an unprecedented series of draconian measures meant to save the world from imminent doom.
A mere two months later in May, racism suddenly and unexpectedly eclipsed the birdemic as the world's greatest threat. The global threat of racism was so immediate and profound that anyone rallying for cause of anti-racism was immediately exempted from having to follow and obey the social distancing and lockdown measures that had, until then, kept the world safe from unimaginable megadeth. The menace racism posed back in May also required the granting of special privileges and powers such as the right to loot, riot, vandalize, and terrorize with wild abandon.
We are now in July, and there's a new (actually, old) greatest threat in town - affluence. Make no mistake - the birdemic virus is scary and racism is evil, but the biggest danger the world faces today is people possessing a deal of money and accumulated wealth.
How is this a threat?
Well, a person with money buys things, and the more money a person has, the more things he or she will buy.
I still don't get it. How is this a bad thing? People with money buying things are called consumers and consumers are the engine of the economy.
Yes, yes, but most people with money are not really consumers, but over-consumers; hence, our economy is not really about consumption, but over-consumption. Overconsumption is killing the environment and creates global inequality - and we can't have that now, can we?
Before going any further, it is important to recall that the birdemic was never primarily about providing protection from a virus, but was instead a cover the Establishment utilized to obscure their successful de facto global totalitarian takeover.
Now at first glance, this defacto totalitarian takeover seems superfluous. After all, the global elite represents the famous top 1% of the world's population who control 50% of the world's wealth. This top 1% not only outrightly own half the world, but they effectively 'control' the 30% of the world population that effectively 'owns' the other half of the world. This, in essence, is the System.
The remaining 70% of the world's population - those who earn less than about 8000 euros annually - essentially owns less than 1% of the world's wealth. Though the people in this portion of the world's population have seen their standards of living and life expectancies improve in the past half-century, they continue to exist on the fringes of the System. In a set up such as this, what possible advantage could the Establishment gain from an outright global takeover? More importantly, why would these global dictators actively seek to transform the System that has served them so effectively and well?
From a purely material perspective, the global dictatorship's rallying cries against affluence and consumption make no sense at all. After all, the global elite owes a great deal of its accumulated wealth and power to the mass consumerism it has created and generated. On top of that, the Establishment has invested an inestimable amount of time, energy, and resources into encouraging people of the world to acquire goods and services in ever increasing amounts. This, in turn, has allowed the Establishment to grow even more wealthy and powerful. Following this logic, it would be in the Establishment's best interest to intensify consumerism rather than dampen it, especially since the bulk of the world's population are on the cusp of becoming functional consumers themselves.
Many argue the Establishment have recognized that post-World War II levels of consumption are no longer sustainable, and that the environment simply cannot sustain another two or three billion rabid, Western-style consumers. The Establishment are quick to push this narrative as well, as evident in a recent post in one of its premiere public relations outlets, the World Economic Forum (bold added):
Affluence is the biggest threat to our world, according to a new scientific report.True sustainability will only be achieved through drastic lifestyle changes, it argues.The World Economic Forum has called for a great reset of capitalism in the wake of the pandemic.
A detailed analysis of environmental research has revealed the greatest threat to the world: affluence.
That one of the main conclusions of a team of scientists from Australia, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, who have warned that tackling overconsumption has to become a priority. Their report, titled Scientists' Warning on Affluence, explains that true sustainability calls for significant lifestyle changes, rather than hoping for efficient use of resources will be enough.
The irony in all of the above is too glaring to dismiss or ignore. To begin with, it immediately dispels any notions of an eventual return to normal so many are counting on. Secondly, it lays bare the Establishment's main objectives in this birdemic era. The birdemic is not a temporary blip, but a turning point.
For decades the Establishment have promulgated affluence and consumption as a veritable panacea for mortal life. 'Getting and spending' was not only promoted as an ultimate virtue, but was deemed a genuine duty; the highest mark of success; a grand expression of personal freedom. It formed the foundation upon which everything else was measured. Though affluence and consumption were not without benefits, the Establishment has wielded both as weapons to ground man in the material and coax him to reject the spiritual, as the Elder Zosima so accurately observes in Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov (bold added):
Look at the worldly and all who set themselves up above the people of God, has not God's image and His truth been distorted in them? They have science; but in science there is nothing but what is the object of sense. The spiritual world, the higher part of man's being is rejected altogether, dismissed with a sort of triumph, even with hatred. The world has proclaimed the reign of freedom, especially of late, but what do we see in this freedom of theirs? Nothing but slavery and self-destruction! For the world says:
“You have desires and so satisfy them, for you have the same rights as the most rich and powerful. Don't be afraid of satisfying them and even multiply your desires.” That is the modern doctrine of the world. In that they see freedom. And what follows from this right of multiplication of desires? In the rich, isolation and spiritual suicide; in the poor, envy and murder; for they have been given rights, but have not been shown the means of satisfying their wants. They maintain that the world is getting more and more united, more and more bound together in brotherly community, as it overcomes distance and sets thoughts flying through the air.
Alas, put no faith in such a bond of union. Interpreting freedom as the multiplication and rapid satisfaction of desires, men distort their own nature, for many senseless and foolish desires and habits and ridiculous fancies are fostered in them. They live only for mutual envy, for luxury and ostentation. To have dinners, visits, carriages, rank and slaves to wait on one is looked upon as a necessity, for which life, honor and human feeling are sacrificed, and men even commit suicide if they are unable to satisfy it. We see the same thing among those who are not rich, while the poor drown their unsatisfied need and their envy in drunkenness. But soon they will drink blood instead of wine, they are being led on to it. I ask you is such a man free?
Zosima's insights shed light on the metaphysical confusion caused by the dissemination of affluence and consumption. Demonic forces have used this metaphysical confusion to reap damnation for centuries. Our own contemporary world demonstrates that affluence and consumption alone cause malaise, as exemplified by the term affluenza, which refers to a lack of motivation, a sense of guilt, and a feeling of isolation among those who have acquired a certain degree of wealth. On the whole, all of Western civilization is currently suffering from this malaise, which, at its core, is spiritual in nature. In this sense, the obsessive push of the affluence/consumption agenda has been extremely effective tactic for soul damnation. Despite its success, this tactic is now coming to an end.
The Establishment have flipped their stance. What was once considered virtue will now be treated as vice. More metaphysical confusion will ensue. Having said that, I do not believe this alone will be enough to convince most modern people to abandon their materialist/hedonistic ways. As a result, I expect the needed lifestyle changes the Establishment are advertising will be forced upon us in the same manner social distancing, mask-wearing, and lockdowns were forced upon us. It will become extremely difficult to maintain affluence and consumption when the mechanisms that create affluence and consumption are systematically dismantled and destroyed, which is exactly what the Establishment is currently doing within the fog of the birdemic and subsequent racism nonsense.
Despite entire ideologies erected in opposition to it, capitalism - another word for affluence and consumption - is not a wholly negative phenomenon. Utilized in the proper manner, with the correct moral and ethical (ultimately, spiritual) foundations in place, capitalism can provide individuals and society at large certain degrees of personal autonomy and freedom. The demonic forces guiding our global dictators are now working to eliminate this autonomy and freedom altogether.
Needless to say, the lifestyle changes the Establishment will demand of average citizens in the West - changes like the expectation of air travel, car-driving, dairy and meat consumption (check the linked essay above for more details) - will certainly not apply to them. I simply cannot imagine any of our elite giving up their affluence, their private jets, multiple homes, or animal-protein rich dinners for the sake of anything, but they will insist we give up our cars, houses, and overseas vacations for the good of humanity and the planet.
Then again, they won't to need to insist. They will simply remove the mechanisms that make those things possible. Thus, the influenza will cure us of our affluenza and help establish a 'safe and just space for humanity', which to me sounds like thinly-veiled code for hell on earth followed by eternal damnation.
Note added: A single blog post is not enough to cover this topic. I will have to return to it many times in the near future in order to properly flesh out the implications, but the general thrust of what has been outlined above must not be callously dismissed. The powers-that-should-not-be are insisting there will be no return to normal. As always, the spiritual aspects of these developments should be our primary focus.
A mere two months later in May, racism suddenly and unexpectedly eclipsed the birdemic as the world's greatest threat. The global threat of racism was so immediate and profound that anyone rallying for cause of anti-racism was immediately exempted from having to follow and obey the social distancing and lockdown measures that had, until then, kept the world safe from unimaginable megadeth. The menace racism posed back in May also required the granting of special privileges and powers such as the right to loot, riot, vandalize, and terrorize with wild abandon.
We are now in July, and there's a new (actually, old) greatest threat in town - affluence. Make no mistake - the birdemic virus is scary and racism is evil, but the biggest danger the world faces today is people possessing a deal of money and accumulated wealth.
How is this a threat?
Well, a person with money buys things, and the more money a person has, the more things he or she will buy.
I still don't get it. How is this a bad thing? People with money buying things are called consumers and consumers are the engine of the economy.
Yes, yes, but most people with money are not really consumers, but over-consumers; hence, our economy is not really about consumption, but over-consumption. Overconsumption is killing the environment and creates global inequality - and we can't have that now, can we?
Before going any further, it is important to recall that the birdemic was never primarily about providing protection from a virus, but was instead a cover the Establishment utilized to obscure their successful de facto global totalitarian takeover.
Now at first glance, this defacto totalitarian takeover seems superfluous. After all, the global elite represents the famous top 1% of the world's population who control 50% of the world's wealth. This top 1% not only outrightly own half the world, but they effectively 'control' the 30% of the world population that effectively 'owns' the other half of the world. This, in essence, is the System.
The remaining 70% of the world's population - those who earn less than about 8000 euros annually - essentially owns less than 1% of the world's wealth. Though the people in this portion of the world's population have seen their standards of living and life expectancies improve in the past half-century, they continue to exist on the fringes of the System. In a set up such as this, what possible advantage could the Establishment gain from an outright global takeover? More importantly, why would these global dictators actively seek to transform the System that has served them so effectively and well?
From a purely material perspective, the global dictatorship's rallying cries against affluence and consumption make no sense at all. After all, the global elite owes a great deal of its accumulated wealth and power to the mass consumerism it has created and generated. On top of that, the Establishment has invested an inestimable amount of time, energy, and resources into encouraging people of the world to acquire goods and services in ever increasing amounts. This, in turn, has allowed the Establishment to grow even more wealthy and powerful. Following this logic, it would be in the Establishment's best interest to intensify consumerism rather than dampen it, especially since the bulk of the world's population are on the cusp of becoming functional consumers themselves.
Many argue the Establishment have recognized that post-World War II levels of consumption are no longer sustainable, and that the environment simply cannot sustain another two or three billion rabid, Western-style consumers. The Establishment are quick to push this narrative as well, as evident in a recent post in one of its premiere public relations outlets, the World Economic Forum (bold added):
Affluence is the biggest threat to our world, according to a new scientific report.True sustainability will only be achieved through drastic lifestyle changes, it argues.The World Economic Forum has called for a great reset of capitalism in the wake of the pandemic.
A detailed analysis of environmental research has revealed the greatest threat to the world: affluence.
That one of the main conclusions of a team of scientists from Australia, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, who have warned that tackling overconsumption has to become a priority. Their report, titled Scientists' Warning on Affluence, explains that true sustainability calls for significant lifestyle changes, rather than hoping for efficient use of resources will be enough.
The irony in all of the above is too glaring to dismiss or ignore. To begin with, it immediately dispels any notions of an eventual return to normal so many are counting on. Secondly, it lays bare the Establishment's main objectives in this birdemic era. The birdemic is not a temporary blip, but a turning point.
For decades the Establishment have promulgated affluence and consumption as a veritable panacea for mortal life. 'Getting and spending' was not only promoted as an ultimate virtue, but was deemed a genuine duty; the highest mark of success; a grand expression of personal freedom. It formed the foundation upon which everything else was measured. Though affluence and consumption were not without benefits, the Establishment has wielded both as weapons to ground man in the material and coax him to reject the spiritual, as the Elder Zosima so accurately observes in Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov (bold added):
Look at the worldly and all who set themselves up above the people of God, has not God's image and His truth been distorted in them? They have science; but in science there is nothing but what is the object of sense. The spiritual world, the higher part of man's being is rejected altogether, dismissed with a sort of triumph, even with hatred. The world has proclaimed the reign of freedom, especially of late, but what do we see in this freedom of theirs? Nothing but slavery and self-destruction! For the world says:
“You have desires and so satisfy them, for you have the same rights as the most rich and powerful. Don't be afraid of satisfying them and even multiply your desires.” That is the modern doctrine of the world. In that they see freedom. And what follows from this right of multiplication of desires? In the rich, isolation and spiritual suicide; in the poor, envy and murder; for they have been given rights, but have not been shown the means of satisfying their wants. They maintain that the world is getting more and more united, more and more bound together in brotherly community, as it overcomes distance and sets thoughts flying through the air.
Alas, put no faith in such a bond of union. Interpreting freedom as the multiplication and rapid satisfaction of desires, men distort their own nature, for many senseless and foolish desires and habits and ridiculous fancies are fostered in them. They live only for mutual envy, for luxury and ostentation. To have dinners, visits, carriages, rank and slaves to wait on one is looked upon as a necessity, for which life, honor and human feeling are sacrificed, and men even commit suicide if they are unable to satisfy it. We see the same thing among those who are not rich, while the poor drown their unsatisfied need and their envy in drunkenness. But soon they will drink blood instead of wine, they are being led on to it. I ask you is such a man free?
Zosima's insights shed light on the metaphysical confusion caused by the dissemination of affluence and consumption. Demonic forces have used this metaphysical confusion to reap damnation for centuries. Our own contemporary world demonstrates that affluence and consumption alone cause malaise, as exemplified by the term affluenza, which refers to a lack of motivation, a sense of guilt, and a feeling of isolation among those who have acquired a certain degree of wealth. On the whole, all of Western civilization is currently suffering from this malaise, which, at its core, is spiritual in nature. In this sense, the obsessive push of the affluence/consumption agenda has been extremely effective tactic for soul damnation. Despite its success, this tactic is now coming to an end.
The Establishment have flipped their stance. What was once considered virtue will now be treated as vice. More metaphysical confusion will ensue. Having said that, I do not believe this alone will be enough to convince most modern people to abandon their materialist/hedonistic ways. As a result, I expect the needed lifestyle changes the Establishment are advertising will be forced upon us in the same manner social distancing, mask-wearing, and lockdowns were forced upon us. It will become extremely difficult to maintain affluence and consumption when the mechanisms that create affluence and consumption are systematically dismantled and destroyed, which is exactly what the Establishment is currently doing within the fog of the birdemic and subsequent racism nonsense.
Despite entire ideologies erected in opposition to it, capitalism - another word for affluence and consumption - is not a wholly negative phenomenon. Utilized in the proper manner, with the correct moral and ethical (ultimately, spiritual) foundations in place, capitalism can provide individuals and society at large certain degrees of personal autonomy and freedom. The demonic forces guiding our global dictators are now working to eliminate this autonomy and freedom altogether.
Needless to say, the lifestyle changes the Establishment will demand of average citizens in the West - changes like the expectation of air travel, car-driving, dairy and meat consumption (check the linked essay above for more details) - will certainly not apply to them. I simply cannot imagine any of our elite giving up their affluence, their private jets, multiple homes, or animal-protein rich dinners for the sake of anything, but they will insist we give up our cars, houses, and overseas vacations for the good of humanity and the planet.
Then again, they won't to need to insist. They will simply remove the mechanisms that make those things possible. Thus, the influenza will cure us of our affluenza and help establish a 'safe and just space for humanity', which to me sounds like thinly-veiled code for hell on earth followed by eternal damnation.
Note added: A single blog post is not enough to cover this topic. I will have to return to it many times in the near future in order to properly flesh out the implications, but the general thrust of what has been outlined above must not be callously dismissed. The powers-that-should-not-be are insisting there will be no return to normal. As always, the spiritual aspects of these developments should be our primary focus.
July 23, 2020
László Paál - Seeing The Forest For The Trees
Being unable to see the forest for the trees refers to the state of being caught up in details of a situation or problem to the point that it renders one unable to see the situation or problem as a whole. I generally agree with this sentiment of being blinded by details, but I have found the opposite can also be true - that involvement with details might actually shed more light on the whole than a general awareness of the whole ever could. László Paál (1846-1879) is a good example of a painter whose involvement with detail - contrary to the popular expression - tended to add to the whole rather than detract from it. Appropriately enough, the details Paál became involved with were trees, but this thorough treatment of trees did not blind him to the existence of the forest.
July 22, 2020
The Cuckoos Are Gone
Being locked down in rural western Hungary this spring provided me the opportunity to assess the accuracy of the old nursery rhyme regarding the spring/summer cuckoo cycle.
Cuckoo, cuckoo, what do you do?
In April I open my bill;
In May I sing all day;
In June I change my tune;
In July away I fly
In August away I must.
Adhering to the formula above, the cuckoos in my area began singing in April, filled the air with their calls all through May and early June, and changed their tune in the latter part of June and early July. Moreover, I have not heard any cuckoo calls at all in the past two weeks, which suggests the cuckoos here have flown away, just as the nursery rhyme said they would. The last line in the rhyme is still a bit of a mystery to me. Perhaps it refers to the young cuckoos leaving the nests of their host parents?
Cuckoo, cuckoo, what do you do?
In April I open my bill;
In May I sing all day;
In June I change my tune;
In July away I fly
In August away I must.
Adhering to the formula above, the cuckoos in my area began singing in April, filled the air with their calls all through May and early June, and changed their tune in the latter part of June and early July. Moreover, I have not heard any cuckoo calls at all in the past two weeks, which suggests the cuckoos here have flown away, just as the nursery rhyme said they would. The last line in the rhyme is still a bit of a mystery to me. Perhaps it refers to the young cuckoos leaving the nests of their host parents?
