RABBIT HOLES AND MEN BEHIND CURTAINS

                                                    

If you're like me, at some point in your life you realized that many of our most cherished beliefs are lies. Westerners are taught that their governments are democratic, that they don't go to war unless they are compelled to (except for past wars, of course) and that we believe in the principles of self-determination for all nations.

As events my eyes have been opened to the fact that none of these things are true, I've embarked on a sometimes frantic search for what is true, in the hope that we can collectively still do something to change the trajectory of human history, which appears to be hurtling toward self-destruction. 

Caitlin Johnstone is a kindred spirit, a particularly gifted writer with a deep understanding of events and an inimitable style of explaining them in the context of a well thought out humanist philosophy and a deep love for all that should be held sacred. If you are not familiar with her work, you will likely be amazed at how she sums up her journey to understand the reality of the power structure of humanity and its significance in the universal scheme of things, suggesting that the only way to accept the truth is to practice a form of radical acceptance.


You dive down rabbit hole after rabbit hole, searching for the man behind the curtain. You’ve seen enough to be convinced that everything you’ve been taught about the world is false, and now it’s just a matter of finding out who’s really responsible for making such a mess of things.

And for a while, your search seems fruitful. You discover that you don’t really live in a democracy like you were taught where the public influences government behavior using their votes, or even in a separate sovereign nation like you learned in school. You discover that your country is part of a globe-spanning power structure which effectively functions as an empire — the most powerful empire ever to exist. And you discover that this empire has drivers who aren’t beholden to the electorate in any meaningful way, acting not to advance the interests of the public but to advance the agenda of planetary domination.

So who are the drivers of the empire? You dive down more rabbit holes. You discover secretive government agencies with longtime operatives who don’t leave with the outgoing official elected government, but stay on, helping to keep the gears of the empire turning regardless of who voters elect to be the face on the operation. You discover a revolving-door system in which the same empire managers are rotated in and out of positions in the official elected government, working in think tanks and military industrial complex advisory boards and mass media punditry when their party is out of office and rotating back in when their turn comes back around. You discover plutocrats who use their vast wealth to influence government policy via campaign donations, influential think tanks, mass media control and corporate lobbying, who often operate with — and profit from — a tremendous amount of overlap with government agencies. You discover organizations and institutions in which the wealthy and powerful congregate and coordinate to advance their agendas, often with a very high degree of secrecy.

But in all this rabbit holing and discovering, you still don’t find any man behind the curtain. You come to see that any of the people you’ve been looking at could die tomorrow and the imperial machine would trudge on uninterrupted. There could be a giant violent revolution and these people could be guillotined by the thousands, and unless drastic changes were made to the systems which gave rise to them, someone else would just step in to fill their shoes.

So you start researching the systems. You start researching economic systems, financial systems, how resources are distributed, how money is allocated, how labor is exploited, how wealth is extracted. You come to see how our civilization has been turned into a giant wealth-generating machine for a class of wealthy exploiters using propaganda, property laws, artificial scarcity, enclosure of the commons and theft from indigenous populations, all wound around this made-up concept of money which translates directly into political power under our current systems. Because the people who are most adept at obtaining massive amounts of wealth/power are those who are sufficiently lacking in empathy to do whatever it takes to obtain it, we naturally find ourselves ruled by sociopaths. And we always will, until those systems change.

You dig even deeper. You discover that you haven’t just been fed false information about how governments and nations work, you’ve been fed false information about even your most basic assumptions about reality. You discover in your own experience that there is no such thing as a separate self; that what we refer to linguistically as “I” and “me” are psychological delusions which underpin most of the suffering and dysfunctionality of the human species. In reality humans are inseparable from the biosphere from whence they emerged, which is in turn inseparable from the universe from whence it emerged, which is in turn inseparable from the Big-Bang-Or-Whatever-It-Was from whence it emerged. Everything is one, and the self is a lie.

And you realize that this is true of all the oligarchs and empire managers you’ve been staring at as well. They’re not separate entities acting with agency in the world, they’re clusters of conditioning and trauma which they inherited from their ancestors, which was passed down through their evolutionary heritage from the chaos and confusion inherent in existence as small prey animals who walked the earth millions of years ago. They’re just swirling eddies in a sea of ineffable energy like anyone else, sleepwalking through life being whipped around by unconscious forces within themselves that they do not understand.

And you realize then that there is no man behind the curtain, and there never was. You ripped aside curtain after curtain hoping to find the man, and all you found was a man-shaped hole in the universe.

And you’re not even mad. In fact, you find it hilarious. You laugh and you laugh at the silliness of it all. You laugh at how seriously we’re all taking this game of separateness and enmity, and how seriously you’d been taking it just moments before. You laugh at how ultimately innocent we all are in all this, even the worst among us. You laugh at our cuteness. You laugh at this play of forms. And the universe laughs back. A laughing buddha, laughing at a universe made of laughing buddhas.

And you see, as you wipe the tears from your face, that everything is unfolding as it must. The universe is becoming more and more capable of perceiving itself — first with life, then with humans, then with the steady advancements in science and technology and psychology and awakening — and there’s no reason to assume that this ongoing explosion of perception will stop. We’re going to figure things out eventually. Consciousness keeps expanding. The light keeps getting brighter. The truth can only hide for so long.

This article was originally published in Caitlin's blog on September 12, 2023.

PATTERN RECOGNITION IS THE KEY TO PRECOGNITION

With the Arab Spring and the Revolution that has become visible in the Occupy movement in the US and around the world, many people are beginning to have hope for the first time in their lives that the imposition of a permanent fascist New World Order that would enslave us all can be stopped and reversed.

The question is, is this starry eyed optimism or are the pessimists who dismiss the Revolution as a temporary phenomenon right? The answer may depend on how you view the situation. In any event,the pessimists are guilty of accepting a self-fulfilling prophecy. If they do not believe that democracy or the end of war are possible, they will not see how they may be wrong. Therefore, they will not know how to help the Revolution succeed and even if they try, their efforts could lead to the opposite effect of what they want if they promote division rather than the union of the international front against fascism and war that has the collective power to crush the corporatocracy if enough people believe that it can.

Whether the pessimist or the optimist proves to be the realist depends on whose vision prevails. That is why we must encourage doubters to suspend their disbelief in the possibility that we can save human civilization and join us in convincing others that war can and will end when enough people reject the self-fulfilling prophecy that it is inevitable.

If you wish to know the objective truth of something you must seek to understand it from every point of view and find that which is true from all of them. To understand the world as it is enables one to understand the world as it should and can be, if we apply our collective will to creating that world.

Planning for the future in what seems like a chaotic world situation requires a unified world view that sees the future as one of many possibilities. To develop such a way of looking at the world, you must have a clear grasp of what is important to attend to based on a good understanding of what has led us to the present moment.  

In today’s world of information overload that may seem impossible, but it is not. The key to overcoming America’s Attention Deficit Disorder is to help our neighbors understand what issues are fundamental to the process of taking America back for the people. In selectively focusing attention on information that answers the most pressing questions of how to create a united front against fascism in America and war in the world, patterns begin to emerge that make the importance of new information easier to recognize.

Once enough people understand the pattern of recent history, the collective consciousness will shift in the direction of positive change that is possible only through collective action. It is not true that history repeats itself. History is made by those who refuse to accept this futile proposition.  Those who make history are those who study the mistakes of the past to find new paths that we can take together to a more promising future.

Some look at world history as one of endless warfare and an individualistic struggle for supremacy in a hostile universe. These people implicitly reject the idea of democracy in the belief that selfishness is an indelible part of human nature. Thus, the falsely believe that history repeats itself regardless of the efforts of individuals and societies to change.This worldview is distorted by the failure to recognize the abundant evidence to the contrary.

Those of us with the faith that men and women are capable of governing themselves know that they are wrong. It is those who reject the idea that we cannot individually and collectively change history who will be the agents of the change for which the world is clamoring. The stubborn refusal of pessimists to challenge the self-fulfilling prophecy that their own neighbors cannot be trusted to make sound judgments about what form our society should take is a danger to democracy itself and ultimately, to the survival of human civilization.

There are examples to be found throughout history of social cooperation creating critical positive change. Here are a few:

-There have been many centuries in which Jew, Christian lived in harmony throughout much of the world.
-In the American Revolution, men put aside fundamental differences on the issue of slavery in order to ensure that they did not all become enslaved by the fascist Old World Order of the British Empire.
-Americans came together in crisis of the Great Depression to try social experiments that would have been unthinkable ten years earlier, at the height of the Red Scare.                                                                       
-There was shared sacrifice during WWII and a sharing of the benefits of the economic prosperity that followed, including with the vanquished nations of Germany and Japan.
-Throughout the history of the US there has been an evolution toward democracy punctuated with stunning successes by both the forces of democracy and those of the fascist mindset that currently controls the US government and its military.

When trying to develop a strategy to create the fundamental social and political changes that must be made to save human civilization from the depredations of the selfish elite class, we must keep in mind the lessons that history provides. If we apply to our current situation the lessons of both our successes and failures in the past, we can together create a road map to peace based on mutual respect, empathy and a deep appreciation of our interdependence. Any such map must lead to a world in which all enjoy the benefits of liberty and justice. Only in such a world is democracy possible. Without democracy, there can be neither true freedom nor peace for anyone.

If we begin with the assumption that democracy is possible, then we must assume that we are capable of achieving the consensus necessary to create a government and a society that will function according to the wishes of We the People. One of the fundamental contradictions in the American collective consciousness is that we can somehow force the other side to accept our vision of America through waging a Civil War for the hearts and minds of our neighbors using weapons of ridicule and invective.  This has led to a social psychological disorder I call America’s Borderline Split.

US society has the characteristics to merit the diagnosis: Idealization and devaluation of our leaders, self-destructive anger, generally unstable emotions, and a disturbing tendency to be preoccupied with death while doing little to help ourselves overcome our self-destructive behaviors. Like the individual with borderline personality disorder, we feel profoundly empty and as a society struggle to maintain a coherent image of ourselves and others as basically worthy of love despite the imperfections all humans share.

We are so busy fighting each other that we cannot come together to fight the real enemy: fascism. Our common enemy is not those who vote for leaders whose policies we despise, or even the corporate Puppets in Congress. The real enemy is the small group of counter-Revolutionaries that was never happy that the US government was designed with a view toward creating a society in which each citizen had an equal voice in the operation of the government. From the Hamiltonian Federalists to the modern Republican Party, there has been a never-ending battle between those who believe that democracy is necessary and possible and those who have no faith in We the People to decide our collective or even individual destinies.

Those who reject the notion that we can achieve the consensus necessary to assure the continuity of progress toward democracy are the COINTELPRO agents among us. Wittingly or unwittingly, they serve as agents of the State in helping to divide us, just as the survival of human civilization depends on our coming together. Some might assume that these are those who would consider themselves “conservative,” but they would be wrong. Many self-identified liberals are so used to despairing at the corporate media and politicians manipulating the public discourse that they have given up hope of reasoning with those with whom they disagree. The truth is that both sides are entrenched in a pit of despair and loathing. Only we can free ourselves from this trap. The time for recriminations is over. Politics does not have to be a battlefield if we learn to think of each other as fellow Americans and citizens of the world.

A world in which everyone has the right to the benefits of freedom, justice and peace starts with the idea that such a world is possible. If you do not believe that it is then you cannot conceive of how to help create it. If you do not consider what it would take than you will miss the obvious signs that such a world is right in front of us in the near future, if we work to get there from here. If you believe as I do that the pattern of history is coming to a dramatic punctuation point, the signs are all around you.

The pattern of change is unmistakable if you know what to look for. The Occupy movement is the most obvious sign of a Tectonic Paradigm Shift that is taking place in human consciousness. At the same time, international activist communities are learning better how to unify their efforts, a world ecumenical movement is building and vast networks are forming that are connecting the dots that represent our individual interests. Projects like John Perkins' Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream are painting a picture of a world in which it is generally recognized that the interest of each of us is intimately connected to the best interests of all.

All humans are much more alike than they are different. The commonalities that we share make us human. Our differences give rise to the variation in thought that can help us adapt to a world that is changing in dangerous ways. As long as we continue to think of ourselves as members of this or that group first rather than fellow travelers on Earth, we constrain our individual and collective power. Only by uniting can we realize our potential to change the world into one fit to leave our children.

DIVISION AND CONQUEST

Ever since the advent of war, those who would force others to submit to their will have used the technique of dividing the enemy in order to conquer them. When a People cannot put aside lesser differences to fight the threat of slavery, they are helpless against a united enemy. When a People are willing to risk all to preserve their freedom by fighting together in common cause, they can wage the type of asymmetric warfare that has proven to be highly effective in wars from the American Revolution to Afghanistan.  

In defending against a common enemy, traditional enemies must unite just as traditional enemies unite to wage war against them. In the American colonies in 1775, there were great divisions between the states, who were competing to pay the Crown its due under the conditions of the corporate charters that created them. Of these divisions, the greatest by far was over the question of slavery. Abolition societies had already been formed and sentiment against slavery in the North ran so high several colonies had banned slave importation prior to the battle of Bunker Hill. By 1777, Vermont had become the first state to abolish slavery. In an interesting twist of history, Vermont is also the first state to declare its intent to end economic enslavement by calling for a constitutional amendment to abolish corporate personhood.

Colonial Americans put aside the basic question of whether an ostensibly free nation would countenance slavery in order to fight against the united power of corporation and state that was Imperial Britain. Though visionaries like Thomas Jefferson realized that the question would fatally divide the United States if not addressed, this fundamental difference was put aside to fight in common cause against the fascist aggressor that had invaded the new nation. The result was the world’s first example of asymmetric warfare where a small and weak but determined opponent succeeded in defeating the power of the Empire of its day. 



In victory, the people of the newly united states of America quickly resumed their struggles against each other. Political parties arose in disregard of Washington’s warning to “beware the rise of factionalism.” Slave owners defended their prerogative in defiance of America’s claim of equality of all men. Bankers began plotting how to control the new nation as Britain was largely controlled by the Rothschilds, principle financiers of the East India Company. Women like Abigail Adams continued to be subjugated to men.
Eventually, each of these divisions led to upheaval as those who were left out of the American dream fought for their rights. 


A bloody Civil War was fought to preserve the Union that tolerated slavery because the ideal of freedom was more important than the fact that it had not yet been realized. In the course of this war that determined the viability of democracy in America, a decision was made to directly address the injustice that led to the proxy war between industrialists of the North and slave holders in the South. The proxies were of course the poor young men of the south who were unwittingly fighting for those who would willingly enslave them against the largely poor young men of the North who would become economic slaves of the rising class of fascists in America. 


Enslavement of African-Americans was ended because Lincoln and most of the nation had realized that it was not just Blacks who were enslaved. All men and women living in a system where slavery is tolerated themselves become slaves to the system. Unfortunately, few but Lincoln understood the danger of the rise of the Robber Barons, who gained power by profiteering during the Civil War, prospering as all corporate terrorists do from the blood, sweat and misery of the generations of youths who fight their wars for them.


When fascism was at its peak at the turn of the 20^th century, the great nations of the world had aligned themselves with traditional enemies in order to fight for control of the world in the global game of Risk that was cynically marketed as the War to End All Wars. In the aftermath, the fascist nations who were victorious collected the spoils of victory from the dazed citizens of the defeated fascist nations. 

Fascism in the world grew stronger than ever as the essential ingredients of racial prejudice, nationalism, poverty and class warfare were stirred into the stewing consciousness of Germany, the US and other nations enduring the fallout of the Great Depression that was the legacy of the first attempt to establish a New World Order. In victory, the US was magnanimous and it seemed that under Franklin Roosevelt fascism had been defeated in the US. Who could have known that a generation later the son of a war profiteering traitor would become first the Chief of the CIA and then be selected President?
 

WWII was the result of the unfinished business of determining who would lead the fascist new World Order. Under existential threat once again, the people of the United States rose up to help defeat fascism in the world, only to ultimately collaborate with the rising tide of fascism in America and set the stage for today’s final assault on freedom in the world. In their satisfaction with material wealth the nation’s citizens became complacent about the actions of their government and accepted prosperity as their due.  For decades most Americans lived in blissful ignorance that their gains were at the cost of the life, liberty and happiness of most of the rest of the world.


In its naïve belief in American exceptionalism, the people of the United States have allowed corporate control of their government, which is the defining characteristic of a fascist nation. As in Nazi Germany, when things are going well most citizens are content not to know what is going on behind the curtain of government. As good Germans learned in 1945, such willful ignorance has a horrible price to pay.


Now is the time to rise and demand payment for the blood of the patriots who died that we might remain free in wars from 1775 to 1945. We must fight a bloodless war against the soulless vampires who are sucking the lifeblood of America to maintain an Empire that has cost the lives of tens of thousands of our youth from Korea to Afghanistan. We have a duty to them and to our children to assure that the last, greatest hope for Mankind does not perish from the Earth. If we are good enough to rule ourselves then we must prove it by putting aside our political differences to Take Back America for the People. 


Americans are very experienced at division but in this generation we must relearn the importance of unity. To finish the American Revolution, we must remember that to be American is to value liberty over life itself. When all the people of the nation are at once at risk of being enslaved by ruthless fascists with utter power over the government, it is time for us to fight together to restore power to the People. No single issue is important enough to divide us in this, our hour of crisis and opportunity.


It is time that we use the principle of division as a means of conquest to our own advantage. The military strategy of dividing forces can be dangerous if the opposition can destroy a large part of a rebel Army, but in asymmetrical warfare the rebel Army must be everywhere at once. Forming Divisions that operate openly on every street corner would not only protect the troops of our virtual Army but increase our visibility and sense of our presence everywhere and at all times. An America Uncut by political divisions is an America that cannot be defeated by the machinations of politicians and their corporate Puppetmasters.


With small bands of guerilla protesters on every corner of every street at random intervals, the reality of the renascent and growing American Revolution will become apparent to even the most sheepish American. If done in a proper spirit of fun and camaraderie, we can even employ this strategy of division to multiply our forces, educating our fellow citizens about the need to join the movement to guarantee the survival of freedom in the United States and in the world. This is how the Revolution began, when men and women spoke to their neighbors about their common problems without fear of offending those who might believe in different solutions. If there is one best answer then we must find it together.


If Americans can unite in the common cause of restoring democracy to the United States by calling for the passage of a constitutional amendment to abolish corporate personhood, they will end economic slavery not only in the US but in the world. A People once truly united can never be divided. I look forward to the coming day when I will stand shoulder to shoulder with my brothers and sisters in a free nation that is part of a globally interconnected free world. Together we can watch the destruction and fall of the Imperial Death Star to the strains of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture.