The Answer To your Dreams Is To stop Dreaming.
Have you ever wondered why life is becoming ever more complicated? The pace of modern existence seems to be an insane treadmill few people can avoid. Why is that? What is it that we’re all after and is it attainable?
There seems to be a dream that the media and society at large are persuing which involves becoming someone, achieving something. It’s based on an idea that who we are is measurable by the standards of the times. We live in a materially obsessed civilisation that values possessions, prestige, fame, celebrity and anyone that doesn’t accept those standards is whacky, flaky, weak.
To be anyone in our times is to be successful, driven, motivated, and know who you are. You can find out who you are by doing some research and practising a few tips and advice from the experts. There seems to be quite a few around and as with the variety of canned beans or cornflakes in our hypermarkets, the choice grows daily.
The highest ideal of our times is to be rich and if possible, quickly, without much effort and yet you may have to do some ‘Groundwork’. This involves learning the rules of the algorithms which are set by mysterious forces that are obviously there to oversee the delicate balance needed to keep the correct dynamics that produce maximum return for said relatively little effort.
Allied to the highest ideal at present, due to unforeseen, ever-present calamities that happen to also be arising in similar numbers to the can of beans metaphor, is to be a ‘Good Person’. These value judgements are not based on deep, ethical morality having roots in fundamental principles, born out of the search for order, harmony, grace, beauty. Rather they are a mirror of what is trending.
To be a good person is to fit in with the zeitgeist of the prevailing modes of societal mores and expectations. These can be discussed, added to within reason and shared with friends, family and the whole of humanity. A person with such a rounded outlook will prevail and succeed or at least be respected and sure to have plenty of ‘likes’. She or he will be appropriate to the occasion, know how to respond from an acceptable bias that is lauded, applauded and known to be apposite and reasonable.
Could it be that we are creating a nightmare scenario where we all fit in to the belief that there is only one way of seeing things and that anyone who dares to do otherwise is utterly insane and must be prohibited from speaking such profanity? No! Surely not. We are the educated, discerning new. We are the graduates and professors who care and are utterly different from those who came before us. We may be motivated by the same selfistic urges of greed and self-centred survival but our perceptions are nuanced, considered and our vision inclusive.
Could it be that in order for the system, which is not a system, to appear to be benevolent, sagacious in its overarching goodness and concern for the equally good people from whom it makes a return, must always encourage and foster openness, the highest ideals of the trending zeitgeist, always adhering, promulgating and championing the aforementioned modes of civilised behaviour?
The champions of the new era have willfully forgotten the tale of the Emperor’s new clothes. It’s merely a fable that’s overused by the sad and the lonely. Here, in our shiny new Babylon, our castles in the air, we weave the destiny of the multitude and they are happy and we, the wizards, are faceless. The ultimate force is always so. Has ever been so. Witness the Wizard of Oz who hides behind the curtain. Who knows the true face of royalty, presidents, despots? They present the masks the people know and love and are untouchable.
Of course, no one escapes the dreadful tide of the cult of self. Live by its sword and it eventually cuts you and yours down. This is the ignominy of having been born. All of our empires crumble. Our children turn into embarrassing monsters. Our sweet dreams of youth are obliterated. Our relationships are dead, dying or merely an outright lie that festers. We cannot look in the mirror for fear of seeing the ugly truth.
So. There are things to do. Planets to save and people to feed with new methods of agriculture. There are wonderfully designed living spaces, prisons and stations on the Moon and Mars. There are so many things to sort out in a new and holistic manner that is nothing like the travesty of our parents and theirs in turn. The sins of the fathers' bucket stops here. And… soon we’ll have AI to help. Wonderful.
Right then, all ye naysayers. You don’t get to play. You can go away and be holier than thou somewhere else. We are the dreamers and we are asleep. After all, you can’t dream while you’re awake, can you? Silly.
Originally published at http://beforetheend740510286.wordpress.com on February 10, 2020.
