Both, in my opinion, suffer from an undiagnosed disease; both
are victims of unhealthy worldviews. One major conflict today may be described in the following
way: on one side, fear-ridden techno-chicken-hawks with unprecedented power – lined
up against psychopathic apocalyptics, disaffected outcasts hungry for power and
lusting for vendetta.
Both sides suffer from worldviews that systematically
dehumanize their victims. We are of course in the subtle realm of metaphysical
crime. It seems correct to say
that history is the slaughterhouse
where the victims of other people’s pictures of reality are continually piling
up, and with no end in sight.
In America, the dominant picture of reality is manufactured
by corporate interests. Among the so-called terrorists, the working worldview
is contrived by distortions of religious traditions. The disease infects both worldviews
by systematically justifying violence.
Sick worldviews that dominate the mass mind are the root
causes of the growing misery and instability of the world. Is there a way to cope with this epidemic
of metaphysical disease?
We may have to just wait for history to play itself
out. This is how it looks when
we observe the world of nations at this junction of spring in 2016.
The greatest power on Earth is on the threshold of endgame,
suffering from what Vico called the “barbarism of reflection”. That
is when reason turns malicious and works to dissolve society. The sensus communis or common human bond withers
on the vine. Sect and schism
multiply, individuals behave like raging beasts, the people descend to chaos and civil warfare.
Roughly, in Vico’s model, barbarians inspired by a poetry that
justifies atrocity will take full advantage of the empire’s divided, fractious
self.
Or else renewal must come from within, according to Vico, through
poetic rebirth of consciousness. The present course of the nation points toward a downward
phase of the cycle, driven as it is by a selfish minority with technical power
and intelligence, but lacking all poetic sense. Is there anything we can do?
I suppose we could call for a National Contest.
A call to the American people to think about their working picture
of reality. What are our life-enhancing
aims, ideas, values. Do we cherish them? Are we happy with them? Are there weak spots, sore spots, or
possibly sick spots?
What can we do to heal our demented life-vision? Deconstruct and refurbish the American
Dream? How about a few new mock
ups of the ugly American idol, Exceptionalism? Surely, something must be done about the moribund state of life, beauty,
courage, justice, freedom, and other causalities of deconstructed virtue.
The undiagnosed disease can strike when you least expect it.
The calculated moves, the smooth routines you rely on suddenly fail. In the excitement of novelty or terror, old
beliefs are shattered and old skills dropped by the wayside. The vertigo of existence is no longer a
metaphor. The ground tilts, you
stumble, swivel off balance, feel yourself being pushed over the edge.
What then? Are your saving resources at the ready? Any fortress (a cave will do) you can
retreat to or mount an attack from? A vantage point in your soul – a place where you can surmount
the obstacles that seem suddenly to be rushing at you from all directions?
How to come up with a saving vision? This is the main
problem we face today. Let this be the chief challenge we might all respond
to. A competition meant to
liberate the saving imagination. It would be a contest where we all stand
to become winners.