Wheels-within-Wheels #5

v. Discarding faith, death is the ever-lasting state after life. Death has been a constant obsession throughout all times and cultures. The ending must be dealt and reconciled with the survivors, who find some comfort in notions of certainty and better places. Oblivion is a difficult concept to grasp, let alone comprehend. Nothing. Perhaps the darkness only obscures something else, a next step, a hope of someone teetering on the brink, grasping for anything, and religions are born. No matter the claims espoused to the contrary, spiritual revelations are not always lofty. Force and cohesion have been employed countless times for religious unity. Once God died in the west and communist east, the same old repressive actions continued in the name of capitalism, the workers, the state, the party, etc. Over time suppression has become more refined and subtle. A new morality arose, advancing the requirements of industrial and eventually consumerist culture, concerning efficiency and technique, or Maximum Advantage[8] in all things. Technical valuations were spawned during the initial days of industrialization, and used to justify massive social upheaval by developing certain myths like progress. The worker and bosses were all just cogs in a grand design, and part of a greater purpose. Methods first employed by totalitarian regimes were adopted and adapted by other competing systems. One falls behind an enemy to their peril. Eventually, drenching the earth in blood becomes inefficient, and the morality progresses--always by the path of least resistance. Propaganda converts without collateral damage. Lacking external references, isolated but immersed, the individual is highly susceptible to influences. Information can even be freely disseminated, because its availability affirms the system. Rebellion died and became a commodity to be consumed. The economy is driven by a continual obsession for material items, which also conveniently distracts the citizenry from the real issues. Mitigation becomes more difficult. Nothing moves. Waste is always bad, and should be avoided at all costs. Hence, all policy debated concerns technical merit. Even charity must be justified. The lowest common denominator mentality becomes ingrained. Even death is a number, and becomes an industry. Death is still an obsession, but without the old comforting lies. The only refuge left is work. On average, a medieval peasant worked less. Life and death are extremes with purchasing between. Comfort and security spawn complacency. Always believing oneself the exception, none would admit it. Only the inefficient admit mistakes. Resources are squandered on death, rather than life. Even the church has more taste. A grave yard is more than just wasted space. Faith promotes acceptance in spirit and ground. The anti-natural moves toward death even while ignoring it. All roads lead to the same destination. The dead are not cradled. Perception is unique. All gods are human ignorance. Desire is not need. Do those desiring death need it? Embracing death is anti-natural. The suicide is called sick, but what of the walking dead? Power is not truth. Even the dead lie. Opportunities are always promoted and advanced by apparent cultural values. Need is often dishonest fear. Degeneration can occur while striding taller and scoring higher on standardized college placement exams. Constraint may cripple and stagnate. Withering is not always immediately noticed. The wait may be a lifetime. Imposed conditions always constrain growth. Sometimes the roots miss the most fertile soil, and possibilities are passed by. All worlds move on, but not always at the same rate. Technical achievement says nothing concerning most facets about human life, except maybe obsession. Accounting schemes removed from reality will eventually be called to task. Entropy may exist in social systems, if only metaphorically. Survival prolongs the inevitable. Why die sooner? Advantage sometimes destroys, as witnessed by all failed empires. Over reliance is the true opiate of the masses, and mediocre elites as well. Choice is usually several bad alternatives, but freedom is a most powerful myth, embraced by all but the strongest. Twisted mentalities may not twist reality, but will destroy much in the attempt. A time does come to quit. One starves on crumbs.

The wheel turns, revealing another wheel-within-wheel ad infinitum. Always meaning sometime different, words flow into sentences, paragraphs, chapters and books. Even when lightest, language is a cumbersome load. Subjectives may always be tailored to suit with a coat of interwoven facts, errors, and even lies. Full definition is a myth that destroys all meaning beyond the base. Is the development of language reduced and even halted by codification of meaning? Coining new words does not imply wisdom or understanding. Presentation does not guarantee content. All play roles. Impact is never uniform. A part-truth does not create a whole truth. Disbelief does not remove the power of the lie. The converse belief is the ultimate detriment. Passivity is conditioned. Placidity cannot act. The universe may continue to expand, thus averting the possibility of heat death, but the local event will still appear the same. A wasteland which can not be crossed is essentially infinity. Decay chains always point toward an end, and many are reached before an ultimate stable state. How may one realize which path is best?

[8] See Part 2...

1996 - January 1, 2001