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The End Times
“All the evidence shows that we are nearing the end of man’s tragic experiment in independence from God.”
Wow, I thought. They get it. And suddenly I felt a burst of solidarity with the Jehovah’s Witnesses. The words are from one of their tracts, which was given to me because I have this passion for talking about God — a wild glee, almost, for stepping up to The Big Serious and wrestling theology with the neighborhood proselytizers.
There are other ways to express the urgency of our situation, leaving God out of it. An eco-conscious soul might warn that the human species must reconnect with indigenous wisdom and the circle of life. But no matter. What strikes me is the growing recognition, in so many quarters, of the unsustainability of our global culture and the need for, and inevitability of, profound change.
Indeed, it’s more than mere “recognition” — it’s a primal disorientation. The culture of moneyed interests, war and techno-diversion, which is global in scope, is killing us at the same time that its media apologists, and the anonymous experts and authorities they quote, reassure us that everything is fine and under control.
I think the Christian End Times movement (the message of my Jehovah’s Witness tract), the growing buzz over the Mayan calendar prediction (we shift into a new age on Dec. 21, 2012 . . . you can even order end-of-world mugs and T-shirts) and the science-based urgency of climate-change warnings all emanate from the same rawly intuitive sense: An unprecedented planetary shift is under way, which we can aggravate and perhaps turn into Armageddon if we continue ignoring our own thoughtless contributions to the situation.
“All the evidence shows that we are nearing the end of man’s tragic experiment in independence from God.”
Here’s another way this thought gets put:
“The world’s oceans are faced with an unprecedented loss of species comparable to the great mass extinctions of prehistory, a major report suggests today. The seas are degenerating far faster than anyone has predicted, the report says, because of the cumulative impact of a number of severe individual stresses, ranging from climate warming and sea-water acidification, to widespread chemical pollution and gross overfishing.”
Thus began an article last week in the U.K.’s Independent by environment editor Michael McCarthy, on the recently issued report of a panel of leading marine scientists convened in Oxford earlier this year by the International Programme on the State of the Ocean and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
The human contribution to oceanic dead zones is significant:
“. . . new scientific research suggests that pollutants, including flame-retardant chemicals and synthetic musks found in detergents, are being traced in the polar seas, and that these chemicals can be absorbed by tiny plastic particles in the ocean which are in turn ingested by marine creatures such as bottom-feeding fish.
“Plastic particles also assist the transport of algae from place to place, increasing the occurrence of toxic algal blooms — which are also caused by the influx of nutrient-rich pollution from agricultural land.”
And then there’s the Las Conchas fire, one of several wildfires now tearing across the state of New Mexico. The blaze has already forced the evacuation of thousands of people in Los Alamos, home of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, a vast complex housing much of the nation’s nuclear weapons research.
But not to worry. A Reuters story assures us that — what else? — everything is fine: “Explosive materials on the laboratory’s grounds are stored safely in underground bunkers made of concrete and steel, as well as earthen berms,” according to a spokesman for the lab (and not simply the lab, but the entire military-industrial status quo).
The story abandons us in a state of feel-good pseudo-security, not bothering to report the technical concerns of environmentalists, e.g.: “One (concern) is the fact that over six decades the Lab has blown up a lot of uranium and depleted uranium in dynamic high explosives experiments in the general area in front of the fire,” according to an update from New Mexico’s Nuclear Watch blog, quoted by former lab scientist Subhankar Banerjee. “We don’t know to what extent the shrapnel or debris has been cleaned up and could possibly be aerosolized.”
Speaking of the entire nuclear industry — both the weapons- and energy-production components — which is reeling from environmental disasters from Japan to Nebraska to New Mexico, Harvey Wasserman writes: “We know only two things for certain: Worse is yet to come, and those in charge are lying about it — at least to the extent of what they actually know, which is nowhere near enough.”
In a sense, “those in charge” is all of us. We’re in charge of our own awareness, and we can remain in denial or grope, individually and collectively, for the wisdom that will help us face, and survive, whatever is to come.
76 Comments so far
Show All"The culture of moneyed interests, war and techno-diversion, which is global in scope, is killing us at the same time that its media apologists, and the anonymous experts and authorities they quote, reassure us that everything is fine and under control."
Let's name the demon: that "culture" is called Capitalism. And it is indeed destroying the planet.
Are we the people in charge? or are we like the doomed passengers of four airliners that September morning, victims of madmen? We are charge of our awareness, but how does awareness lead to liberation?
Excerpt from “The End Times”by Robert C. Koehler:
In a sense, “those in charge” is all of us. We’re in charge of our own awareness, and we can remain in denial or grope, individually and collectively, for the wisdom that will help us face, and survive, whatever is to come.
- - - - -
Memory_Hole (quoting Robert C. Koehler) wrote:
"The culture of moneyed interests, war and techno-diversion, which is global in scope, is killing us at the same time that its media apologists, and the anonymous experts and authorities they quote, reassure us that everything is fine and under control."
Let's name the demon: that "culture" is called Capitalism. And it is indeed destroying the planet.
Are we the people in charge? or are we like the doomed passengers of four airliners that September morning, victims of madmen? We are charge of our awareness, but how does awareness lead to liberation?
- - - - -
My Reply:
Memory_Hole,
In answer to your second question a change in awareness doesn't necesary lead to liberation, unless (quoting Robert C. Koehler) we “grope, individually and collectively, for the wisdom that will help us face, and survive, whatever is to come.”
I expect that wisdom will include the understanding that what we need to do is both simple and complex.
I agree with you that one of the simpler things we can do is name capitalism as the institutional face and the material fact of any number of the major demons within our culture, but that alone will not lead to liberation unless we figure out how to do the many critical things we need to do in order to dismantle capitalism and establish genuine democracy without destroying ourselves in the process.
Given the past, present, and foreseeable future there are plenty of compelling reasons why we ought to make the effort to grope our way through this. In any case what else are we going to do, party?
We are almost all afraid. Even most of the fools among us are afraid. But in these times for those of us who are not homeless and hungry is denial really a more interesting, more exciting, more engaging, less fearful, more courageous, more playful, more loving, more practical, or even in truth a more comfortable way to live than revolution?
MEMORY: The paragraph you quoted represents a phenomena very much at work on C.D., too. Or has anyone not noticed the apologists for the status quo who try to pretend that Nuclear Energy is safe, that GM (Monsanto products!) are safe, that climate change ain't no big deal, that the US economy will "heal" itself, that the 2-party system is all that's possible, and we voters are to blame for what we get, etc. AD NAUSEUM...
Yep. Psy-ops through the control of consciousness (in part done by adhering to official frames which define the allowable parameters of conversations) is a basic propaganda requirement. It's "necessary" when elites wish to manufacture consent; and to do this, they must marginalize dissent, when not taking aim at those of us who do NOT endorse this false picture of alleged reality.
With so much so evidently coming apart, PR and official lies no longer hold up. We are seeing where free will, vastly departed from intended Universal Law, lead to corruption in everything from the food we eat, to the air we breathe. So much has been compromised by greed, arrogance and ignorance.
Siouxrose,
I've been thinking about what you said in regard to the the nominal christian fundies using the End Times belief as a crutch to avoid reality and responsibility. I agree. I also believe that the elite, being suicidal and stupid, have deliberately fostered this to keep a lid on the masses while the profits roll in and the pollution piles up.
As to the article here, I believe that it's pretty obvious to most people that humans are dooming themselves and a large part of the ecosphere by failing to obey an immutable law of nature:
Thow Shalt Not Shit Where You Eat.
Granted, it's the industrial defecation, not the biological kind, that is doing most of the damage because most of it simply cannot be recycled and keeps piling up while releasing it's death dispensing toxins.
I prefer to look at the really big picture in the universe. I am certain we humans are NOT the top dog in the hierarchy of self aware beings. Among the millions of other life bearing planets, there are bound to be self aware beings too stupid to avoid destroying themselves. It's small consolation that the cassandras in those civilizations a long time ago and far away (or right here) may have warned against the Morlocks trashing the place. But some of those self aware civilizations did not destroy themselves.
The exceptionalism mankind so showers on himself may be as illogical and devoid of rational basis as the exceptionalism that our politicians and propagandists in the USA continually claim gives the USA the right to be a major league asshat (it's okay if we do it).
In other words, it is arrogant to believe that it's the "End Times" because the human race is ending. It would be more practical to say that the wages of sin are death and leave it at that.
Have I given up on humanity?
As long as I keep posting, I believe there is still a slim chance of our civilization joining the other self aware civilizations in the unverse.
Agelbert, i just responded to your post today on yesterday's article. As far as i am concerned, it gets the best discouse award on CD!
A wise man once said:
"Determine, then do the highest possible duty of each moment."
(your moment, no one else)
http://www.theonion.com/video/christian-groups-biblical-armageddon-must-be-taugh,17491/
I fear God has gone away somewhere and left us here alone to kill each other.
I thought you said that 'god was dead'? ;)
In truth, there was only one Christian, and he died on the cross.
Friedrich Nietzsche
He was born Jewish according to the various testaments and as far as I know he was Jewish when he died on the cross. Perhaps Nietzsche had access to better sources?
Actually, I met the only extant follower of Jesus in the world. He was a Muslim mystic in the mountains behind Trabzon, Turkey in the early 60s. All the rest of the people who claim to be followers of Jesus are just blowing smoke. All of them. Absolutely. [I make no such claim, since I doubt he actually existed ...]
God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?
—Nietzsche, The Gay Science, Section 125, tr. Walter Kaufmann
Ignorance is unbelievable! The whole POINT of the resurrection was to show that the Spirit survives the body. No one killed Jesus! He continued on! And related teachings that would live after him.
AGELBERT: There are some who believe that our planet is watched over by higher forms of alien life. I can't say either way. However, if that is a possibility, then surely they must see the burning forests, and nuclear holocaust from their space-based vantage points? I hope that some force, be it God-based, emissaries of the angelic kingdom, or alien/intelligent life DOES step in. If they have more advanced technology, and have (as some poster often related in this forum) overcome their own impulses at self-annihilation, then perhaps they will aid our misguided species.
In my view, Earth Mother waited a long time to let loose with the battery of violent changes now becoming an everyday event. And possibly Divine Internvention won't come until enough people wake up. We know the precepts... the Teachings of Masters are remarkably similar from one religious sect to another. The problem is, just as we see America's laws BENT to satisfy the corrupt goals of compromised leaders, spiritual teachings have been similarly inverted. And therein lies the karmic rub.
Life does not give up easily... it's amazing to observe even a creature with a handicap fight as hard as it does to live. The life force is inexorable... and it's a power to be reckoned with, within most of us. There may yet be a light in the tunnel... hopefully not an especially radioactive one!
Siouxrose, Some good observations there.
Thanks for your input.
Bill in Dubuque
Jesus and the Tooth Fairy have one thing in common. They are myths. And you are correct that "life does not give up easily." You should see the buttercups in my garden.
Every thing human is a myth depending on how you understand it.
Leea, Global warming, endless wars and starving children are not myths, no matter how you look at them.
Actually I don't agree with you. The framing of the imbalance that humans have caused as "Global warming" is a huge myth, that I don't buy into. Global destruction is more appropriate to reality. "Warming" being the mythological word in my opinion. Endless wars are also a myth. No war is "endless" and waring will not be any more endless than our existence on this planet. Someone's interest is served in convincing us of the myth that wars are "endless". Children don't "starve" they are starved. Starved children is a real term. When we say starving children we make no connection to the fact of what or who it is caused by and it is as if it magically manifests of it's own accord. This is one of the worst myths of all. Feed the starving children is the slogan of the greedy, feed the children we are starving would not fit some very greedy people's agenda of staying innocent of their crimes.
The people who want to perpetuate these myths are the people who are causing all of our problems, and a majority of them have a personal belief in God.
Let me repeat, everything human is a myth, depending on how you look at it.
Leea, your definition of myth is itself a myth. Couching the horrors committed by humans in hazy philosophical terms makes them no less real.
Another of your myths that you prescribe in is "Couching the horrors committed by humans in hazy philosophical terms" The horrors committed by humans cannot be couched nor put in hazy philosophical terms. This is your myth.
You don't like my myth because it unveils the truth?
God's away on business
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9mhsW5aWJM
In our poor world, as terrible times slouch towards us, truth is despised as the stuff of dreams even as we stand, mesmerizsed, before a grand illusion - will we be able to break the spell?
Humanity has thrown a nearly infinite amount of poop into a nearly infinite number of fans all over the globe. When the poop starts hitting the wealthy, and there are no more serfs to hose them off, then, maybe, something will get done. For the wealthy. Have a nice day.
I followed Bible prophecy for years until I discovered that ALL prophecy found in the Bible having to do with "end times" was fulfilled with the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Don't look for anything related to what's in the Bible happening now. These disasters are strictly man-made. They have nothing whatsoever to do with God, who merely allows man to continue on his destructive course until it reaches its inevitable cataclysmic conclusion.
In the end it always does! >^^<
I agree with the point of the article -- the need for profound change in our lives. But the author missed a golden opportunity to pose it in a different way. After briefly mentioning God, he's quickly back to science. The problem is that most people aren't motivated by science. But many are by religion.
What we're seeing today are portents from God: floods, fires, tornadoes, droughts, barren seas, vanishing glaciers, vanishing species... And it's directly the result of a sinful life -- a life that puts personal wealth and immediate consumption ahead of living simply for our children and grandchildren.
Unless god magically comes down and tells these people who would be motivated to change, to change, what about how humans are generally motivated by god today tells us we can rely on that for helping bring change about? Since Constantine, humans have been motivated to behave as they are behaving regarding god. Many are realizing that this is not the healthy way to relate to the powers that be, but they are yet a minority. President Obama in his own words is motivated by secret understandings of the bible such as in the story of Abraham and his decision to sacrifice his son for god. Obama intimates that only certain elite people understand what he does about that story and how it motivates believers.
[What we're seeing today are portents from God: ]
Bullshit. The bible, and every other 'holy' book is nothing more than fiction. I'd sooner believe that unicorns existed than I would believe in a malicious monster that is depicted in any of the 'holy' books. The question Epicurious raised 2 thousand years ago is still valid.
"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?"
Those 'portents' aren't from any god, they're the result of thinking that a finite ball bopping about a small sun in an out of the way solar system is really an infinite plane that will support endless expansion and exploitation. We're making that crap happen, but not because of any 'sin'.
That being said, I do agree that greed is an evil thing. Not because of any religious belief either.
Death is not the end. Birth is not the beginning. Suffering, like happiness, is a dream of only so many years/decades/centuries, then interrupted by death...and another birth to re-play it again, in perhaps a different way, and a different lifeform. God has all eternity, as do we. God is patient with Her/His childrens' dreams &follies, be they good dreams, or nightmares; these too shall pass. One day, we (the soul), will wake up and see we've been sitting right in God's lap (our AllMother/AllFather) the whole time, dreaming the dreams of this great creation of many lives lived, with many great stories to tell one another, when we awake.
Just another alternative P.O.V. to offer. Take it or leave it. Doesn't matter.
So how do the rebirthers view the destruction of the world's atmosphere that will make it impossible to be reborn? Are we all to be reborn as cockroaches?
Well, the PLAY is the thing, in this Creator's GAME. There are those of us who want to make this world a paradise,; the protagonists. There are those who are cast in the role of "villain", and will oppose us every step of the way. Will the good duys win? Will the villains prevail and send us all to our doom? High drama indeed. The PLAY is the thing.
Some of us are tired of the PLAY, and are looking for the exit from the stage. That's when the Mystics show up to point the way out, for those who are ready to leave.
hey, nosurrender!
old thread, but I wanted to second your post...too many do their future figuring as if the planet was not undergoing slow, widespread death...
always find that interesting, as well...like how we're going to have population booms while we're all going sterile, gender-vague, or stillborn...
any spirit wishing to incarnate requires parts...viable parts...and a viable world to follow...
"Bullshit. The bible, and every other 'holy' book is nothing more than fiction." Man I couldn't agree more. If you spend just a modest amount of time examining god and religion he whole idea of it becomes completely unbelievable and quite delusional.
For thousands of years different groups of people have believed in different gods, all with no proof, only faith. Believers believe their god is the "real" god and all others are false gods.
A trip around a Free To Air satellite system will show most of the major religions. Different people dressed in different costumes, pushing their dogma onto their faithful. God is everywhere, he know is you have been good or bad, he keeps score, just like Santa Clause I guess.
Then there is the whole belief in an eternal life, that is supposed to be better than a peaceful dreamless death. Seriously really THINK what an eternal life would be like. The 235 years that the US existed is but a second in eternity. The 4+ billion years the Earth has been around is again but a second in eternities time frame. So is the 16 billion years the entire universe has been around.
Yea people want to die then be reunited with all their dead relatives for all eternity. Heck most families cant make it through a Thanksgiving dinner without an argument breaking out. Do you REALLY want to spend the next 100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 +infinity years with them? Really? That's a hell of a lot of harp playing...
Then there is the whole belief in an eternal life
you got that right. If there was an eternal afterlife, it would be hellish. It could not be otherwise. How many times could you try to talk to someone about whatever?
How's your death, Joe?
Fine, Earl, thanks for asking again. Not like you haven't asked the same damn question every frickin day for the last 250 years tho is it? Couldn't you come up with a new question?
I tried that 750 years ago, Joe, you yelled at me then too.
hey, Denruter!
science reveres observable phenomena...
religion voids observable phenomena...
why would one wish to void observable phenomena?
perhaps because much else is voided along with...
Bravo Robert! Excellent presentation and feel.
Sometimes I think of WWII and how ordinary people, in one way or another, were mowed down by the bombs and assaults of the war machine. In addtion, there was the deliberate holocaust --for Jews and so many others. Even World leaders (Europe and US) seem to have underestimated Hitler (it would be hard to believe that someone, a country, could be so deteminedly evil) and perhaps Japan's intentions and potential ferocity were dismissed. The average European and especially Jews and other minorities targeted by Hitler, had few defenses. What stood out, was the acts of kindness during that war, for example, shelter offered at great risk to oneself. It remains to be seen but with the composition of the Supreme Court, the puppet President strategy, the security spy system, and generally speaking, the psychopaths in charge, that a lot has been put in place to block citizen action. Note the arrest of food servers for the needy in a park in Florida (was it?)
All this is said not to further discourage action but to discern what type of action to take. There are no easy answers but acts of kindness are at the top of the list. We can see that the PTB beleive that violence is the answer and we can see what this has wrought...even to the extent that many don't believe that kindess has power. Think what the world might be like if we had relied far more on the Peace Corps and far less on military interventions.
From the Peace Pilgrim: “There is no greater block to world peace or inner peace than fear. ... through such negative concentration, we tend to attract the things we fear. If we fear nothing and radiate love, we can expect good things to come. When evil is attacked, it mobilizes, although it may have been weak and unorganized before, the attack gives it validity and strength."
Doing good, or the right thing, isn't easy! but neither is war... One time working at a psychiatric hospital, I cried out (during a break) "Why does God allow this?" And the answer seemed clear--it is not God, it is us.
Janis: Wise words. Thank you for your post.
Who here has heard of Permaculture? Please be honest.
My point, no one really knows about it. There is a movement to design societies with the leading innovations in green energy and the leading innovations in sustainable settings. Like, Equatorial tropical vertical gardening with LED UV lighting, living soil using fungi, water capture systems that reuses water over and over, radiant heating walls, Termite effect air flow tunnels under structures that cool hot air with metal pipes that create condensation water capture.
This is the new paradigm, its coming, a freight train roaring at high speed. This is what the elders of the native tribes have told me, the leading ecologists, and the leading mentors in green energy. What you are seeing is a descent in elements all tied together. Peak oil leads to peak water from peak civilization. I don't know how I am going to get this civilization, which is completely lost in this paradigm of lost expectations? But any preservation of technology or modernity is completely lost without this great expedition to demonstrations within Ecosutra's plan. Green Energy + Permaculture Design, / Efficiency= Royalties.
The world needs a Permaculture State of emergency. We need to redesign landscape to bring back the balance of nature. Swale will create the bio char for fertilization and water capture for food foresting .
We can not change until we change the value of currency to natural capital.
We will never change as long as the Corporate right wing holds the religious right's agenda.
So I don't understand religious people and their disregard to seeing the incentives and royalty for village, and in that mission we repair earth systems. Either we do it this way or we will be forced to repair earth as slaves. Somehow the religious groups would like to enslave people to judge them. When they should be judging themselves with how they are set up with nature. This is the alien complex, Jesus infests culture with. The disconnection to earth and our place on it.
Very well stated ecosutra-
I too am of the opinion that only science, technology and wisdom, the kind of wisdom that Indiginous Tribes practiced in their management of the land and respect for the earth in Pre-Colombian times can salvage us...
High production, high profit and wastefully greedy technology got us into this mess. Now is the time to use Green Technologies to rescue this sinking vessel...
And the Value of Fiat play money currency is rearing it's ugly head and will soon have less value and less use than toilet paper-Natural Capital is the real Value Currency...
ecosutra wrote:
Who here has heard of Permaculture? Please be honest.
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My Reply:
I have heard of permaculture. I attended a BioRegionalist conference in Traverse City, Michigan some twenty years ago now I guess, which is probably where I first heard of permaculture. A short time later I attended a much smaller gathering somewhere around Keene, New Hampshire with a focus on permaculture. I agree that permaculture and other similar practices has an important role to play in what we need to do next.
Peak oil isn't necessarily a bad thing, unless you want to keep capitalism going. We use way way too much oil now. It does, however, pose and epochal systemic malfunction - which could precipitate a chain of bad behavior and bad decisions.
We are lucky and living in wonderful times. Sadly, we all know things will become more difficult. Overpopulation, climate change, resource depletion (especially energy and water) will make our future grim. Balance joy and work for betterment. Giving up is for losers and those whose minds are unable to cope. It does take all kinds and some do not have the strength.
I actually find it extremely offensive and disgusting to conflate the religionists' idea that we're in the End Times and scientific warnings against human caused climate change.
They do NOT stem from the same thing. The religionists' idea, which I understand since I used to be one, is based on REJECTING evidence to rely on authority. Science is based on evidence. The religionists' idea is based on hatred of progress, hatred of the "other," and lots of shame, guilt and fear. Those of us who take seriously the scientific warnings base our concerns on the need for progress, concern for all including the "other" and peace, justice and human dignity.
No. They are not based on the same "intuition."
God despises the human race.
No, just the humans who believe in God despise the human race.
This is not snark, I really mean it.
We have to distinguish between words written to identify a problem and words written to further a career.
The former leads to answers and makes effective action possible while the latter inevitably, sooner or later, leads to talk of God and talk of God places answers outside human reach. The latter is always to the benefit of the man of God showing well enough that talk of God is self-worship..
The career part of all this is a serious problem associated with an inflated understanding of the significance of the individual that has somehow become a core tenet of freedom.
In a way the world is suffering from a disease best called bad thinking. There are cures for this disease. The most effective and most dire is death. Unfortunately it is a cure that is indiscriminate.
The behavioral trajectory of consumer capitalism trying to replicate itself across all of humanity by force, fraud and complicity will lead to a catastrophic population decline if not corrected soon. The bottom line is, the process of capital reproduction needs to be stopped.
It is a suicidal cultural trajectory encouraged by mass communications to foster constant culturally-induced striving for perennially unsatisfiable desires that often conflict with basic bio-cultural needs. The result is the hominid at the end of the evolutionary sequence.
It is junky mentality on a mass-scale.
Conflating the crudity of "man's independence from God" with the rape of the environment and the political oppression of average citizens is a sign either of serious intellectual impoverishment or intellectual dishonesty. I'm not sure which this is.