VERSION FRANCOPHONE INTRO & VOCAB
In my readings on government, I came across political theoreticians who
wanted to “fix everything” and almost always failed. Why?
If you were an honest mechanic confronted by a machine that had broken in
the same way for thousands of years, the first question you would have to ask
would not be “How do I fix this?” After
all, that has been what a thousand prior mechanics asked and answered to the
best of their ability, all for nothing.
Otherwise, we wouldn’t be here trying to fix it for the thousandth time;
this problem would already be solved.
No, the questions to ask first must be:
·
Why did the machine break?
·
How did it break?
·
Who broke it?
For example: if it broke because forces were applied to it, during the
normal course of operation, beyond its ability to endure; then no matter how
many parts you replace; the machine will break again, either where it broke
before or at another weak joint. If it
broke because those who should have tended it, abused it instead; again, it
will not matter what parts you replace.
If because it was used for purposes other than those intended; again, no
matter.
If you could answer those three questions accurately, you might find a
new, unforeseen fix that would last; if not, never. You would have to answer them to your
complete satisfaction before you could answer the last one: “How do I fix
this?”
Despite the thousand-year babble of reductionist meliorists (like
Machiavelli, Marx and your neighborhood progressive), around the theme of “How
to fix” government; Learners seeks to
ask and answer these three primary questions – deliberately and first off – in
the hope that its readers may follow it’s example and do a better job. Thereafter, we may “fix” our governance, once
and for all.
I sent away for a free copy of the Bible in French on the Internet (www.bibles.ch). It must be an ample source of style and
inspiration for cultures that adopt it, the way the Koran (Qran) would be for
Muslim cultures, and the Vedas for Hindus.
Never having read the Bible in French, (nor the Qran in what I’m told is
the purest Arabic, nor, alas, the life of Buddha in Pali, nor the Gita in
Sanskrit, nor …), it seemed that my rusty French might benefit. Even though I must admit that I’ve never
found a version of the Bible in French as beautifully written as the King James
version in English.
As long as we understand how much less we know than what we don’t know,
and as long as we can catch a whiff of garlic cooking (per J.G. Ballard),
everything will be alright.
You will find my modest summary of the Koran at the end of Learners’ chapter on Satyagraha—a fitting and timely blend of the best
of religious creeds, by my lights. God
is God; the many different names we use don’t matter.
My request earned me this answer.
“What did you intend to write???”
I replied something like this.
It’s not easy to weave a welcome mat for LEARNERS: On the Move from WeaponWorld to PeaceWorld. So many ideas in so few words!
I foresee a new world soon to be provided with:
· one duly elected World Mayor’s Office with its enormous grass roots Administrative Council also duly elected, (note my italics: no Big Brother need apply. It will be our public responsibility and private pleasure to replace them with worthy tribal leaders);
· one vigilant and humane Judiciary, controlled from beginning to end by randomly selected juries; and
· one well-run, superbly professional Police Force: the best warriors on Earth, hand-picked to guarantee peace.
All by themselves, they would govern this whole planet, the way we run
our best cities.
Nowadays, this planet resembles Mogadishu on a bad day:
· two hundred cruel, ego-freak gang lords,
· two hundred councils of senile elders bickering like spoiled children, and
· two hundred street corners, each with its gang of hoodlums led by decrepit murderers, playing bloody War with AK-47s, M-16s and worse.
Nowadays, the West (America, Europe, Japan...) is like Embassy Row in
Mogadishu: occupying the least damaged, richest, most heavily armed
neighborhoods of a city in ruins. I don’t know the layout of
Mogadishu, so I might be wrong about its “best” neighborhood. My illustration stands.
Me, I’m a cheap stay-at-home and chicken to boot (thus no sainthood
claimed here!). Learners’ sole intent is to instigate a more livable world that
this author (and everyone else) might reincarnate into. There is no way to predict the world’s evolution
in one’s absence; but PeaceWorld seems to be the obvious way to go.
From sheer selfishness, I’d rather live quietly in Seattle, Paris or
Geneva (name your favorite city) – even as a poor man – than attempt some
desperate survival as a millionaire in Mogadishu or Grozny. Whether my planet or hometown, the children
and I would be better off growing up in Geneva, than dodging bullets down some
Mogadishu lane. That seems undeniable to
me.
I could care less about those sleek fat cats who swagger down Embassy
Row. Gangsters in sharp-dressed suits,
who cut down and starve children by the million, then turn their back on them. They make me sick. Categorically worthless, like the old regime rulers
of East Germany. Better leaders,
brilliant ones, are out there; we have merely to identify and empower them
honestly. Also diagnose and forbid the least desirable.
Simply put, I intend to transform this world, from Planet Mogadishu into
Planet Geneva. To get away with it, I
will need your cooperation and that of millions more Learners (about seven
million, actually: one in a thousand people on Earth, that ought to do the
trick. Of course, the more the
merrier!).
Imagine the prodigies that generations of better-raised children could
achieve! All the streets would sparkle
with cleanliness and safety; all the parks, well-tended and inviting; all the
artwork, ah, the artwork! And the
scientific discoveries!
Mogadishu could become what it always intended to be: a local capital of
commerce, piety and Learning; a tropical garden famous for its imperial parks
and its thriving, cosmopolitan port; an inviting tourist attraction and center
of abundance and wisdom—where the call to prayer would never again be
interrupted by the disgrace of gunfire.
And the West? Embassy Row of
Planet Mogadishu on a Bad Day? It would
become the same district on Planet Geneva – just super-deluxe. The rising tide would lift all the boats at
once, yachts and dinghies alike.
Yet Mencius,
my favorite Chinese philosopher among those known, taught that it would be wiser
to seek Humanity and Duty than a simple profit that may turn destructive. Humanity, Duty and Learning: those would
secure a more dependable abundance.
After all, what are our incentives today? Should we profit from WeaponWorld by
perfecting it? Criminal expediency. Could PeaceWorld jeopardize our income
without additional return, or could it be too difficult and dangerous? Cruel and gutless denial. Could it be that world peace will not arise
until humanity 2.0 emerges, as perfectly suited for it as our version is not? Circular reasoning to dodge personal
responsibility. Review our common
motives here, without mercy, the way a panhandler might sort and count his fistful
of change in a drizzly twilight.
Of course, we’re going to need these other things, too:
· A brace of peace religions that embrace each other passionately. Are you some religious fanatic preaching exclusion and brutality in the name of God? You’re fired!
· A World Militia on the Swiss plan, that allowed each of us to defend our home, hometown and home planet against any Aggressor. It would stop armed crime and organized aggression in every community that signed up for it.
· A 1-800-my-rights telephone number, direct to the World Court. Through it, every hate crime and act of tyranny would be investigated, and every war criminal, arrested at the source and early. Especially if some local militia started acting like a loose cannon.
· A World Agora of information politics and Learning, operating upward from the grass roots, a hundred thousand times more delicate and responsive than the lashup we are used to, well-coordinated by computer and as reliable as municipal water.
· At least one advanced degree for each child by puberty, the way we honor musical prodigies today. All children would be prodigies in at least one topic of their choosing, provided we encouraged the full range of their interests and never quashed them.
· Child rearing would become a sacred obligation. So would the ritual purification of water by filtering it through biomass, or some other “miraculous” technology. There’d be many more, with so many Learners pursuing their topic of passion in the World Agora …
· A guaranteed public health service, with enough food, clothing, shelter and care for everyone. Simply because. As I say further on, a practical charity. We’d be sharing the wealth of Geneva, here, and not the penury of Mogadishu―both multiplied to planetary scale. Enough to satisfy everyone's needs, with a thousandfold left over.
· Free storefront mediation and arbitration services, faith-based or secular, for any pair holding a grudge or dispute. No civil dispute would go before a jury until it had been adjudged in this manner.
· Climax biome restoration in every available habitat; and
· Space exploration in earnest.
You know, all those things we make mighty
noises about, yet carefully sabotage in favor of our weapon technologies? Please note:
“OUR weapon technologies, OUR responsibility”―no one else’s. If we agreed to play this game honestly, with
all our might and that of God, it could turn out better than the fatal one we
practice today, blaming others for the outcome of our sins.
In so doing, we lead a life of misery: stripped of civility, charity,
true faith, serious education, useful infrastructure, high art, climax biome,
good taste and dependable security.
Indeed, we’ve stripped our conscience bare—both as individuals and
communities. We are stripping the planet
bare when we could be gardening Eden.
It’s time we grew back a new conscience and a healthier one.
The worst problem? Our culture
honors weapon mentality more than that of peace. Most of our social habits should honor peace,
instead of merely rehearsing what it’s gonna take to survive another bad day on
Planet Mogadishu. If we rendered full
honor to peace, it would be better for us in so many ways we refuse to admit! We are frightened to death of peace.
Me, I’m eager to launch the project of world peace we fear most.
We submit more or less consciously to this mass-induced if disgraceful
stupidity, because our societies evolved through Darwinian selection, to fear
peace as much as cholera. Both are
lethal to primitive cultures and both are banned by them.
Our culture trains us, from infancy under fulltime hypnosis, to shun
peace and holy spirit as much as shit and piss. Social
collectives and lone philosophers who chose not to train their children in
this manner – who sought honest peace, true sainthood and real merit instead –
got their throats cut by more militant communities, both abroad and at home.
We are the worst weapon demons, and our societies, the deadliest weapon
technologies, that five (?) thousand years of Darwinian selection could
produce. Do you recall the Orcs in Tolkien’s
fantasy? Well, the real-world Orcs,
that’s us: so-called lovers of peace who never manage to set it up.
Our modern culture is only good at optimizing the following Threat
Formula:
body count x
(distance/time)2
Nuclear, biological and perhaps meteorological omnicide, that’s our
ultimate cultural achievement and manifest destiny if we don’t transform
ourselves on every scale: social, personal and spiritual. Otherwise, that’s all we’re good at and all
we’re destined to accomplish.
Humanity = 0, Omnicide = -1.
What a sorry score for such a carefully tended, wisely hardened,
perfectly nursed species. We are perched
on a blue-green planet that’s good for us in every way (though probably not our
planet of origin, given that our biological cycle was never comfortably 24
hours long), under a vast black firmament studded with diamond
solitaires veiling much more abundance.
Come on, Learners! We can do
better than that!
For the first time in history, we have all the tools we need for World
Peace: global communications, mutual recognition and universal thirst for
peace. For the first time, humanity
(even if it is not yet willing) could recognize the Other as a worthy
equal. All of us could start from the
same page. Up ‘til now, we lacked those
vital tools in common. All we require,
at this point, is consensus, will, faith and guts. Have we got enough?
Have we had enough?
Note, at the top of my list, new peace religions. I believe that standard Christianity is
weapon-based and thus defective as a peace religion. The same applies to our other weapon
religions; each requires a better role model to become truly peaceful. I ask you: what better role model than
Christ?
Jesus often noted his disciples’ inability (or unwillingness) to
understand. Our Christian faiths rely on
the words of Apostle Paul, John of Revelation and St. Augustine and his Confessions. Somehow, the direct word of Jesus is lost in
the background, decorative but overruled.
We heed the words of men, not the Word of God. That which all of us should adore in pure
faith, almost no one can stomach, so thoroughly has it been corrupted. Learners should compensate for this obvious
want of faith.
Jesus’ instructions were deliberately corrupted during the Roman
persecution, the Nicene Council and the extermination of the Cathars. The Nicene Council erased every reference to
reincarnation in the Bible. A permanent
putsch of weapon reactionaries took over every creed calling itself Christian,
in addition to other surviving ones.
This happened for the same stupid, inevitable reasons listed
above.
I believe that Jesus taught us to live well and die one last time as
clueless meat puppets. Seek to be reborn
in Him, literally. Reincarnate into His
Perfect Life and live it out. Learn from
it exactly what was needed to be saved.
Suffer a second death by taking up His Cross, and go directly to Heaven
with Him, (though His Mercy might spare us this last Agony).
Go read His words and see for yourself.
Otherwise, we condemn ourselves to an endless series of purposeless
reincarnations, circular abstractions, insignificant rituals, empty sins and
futile deaths—apart from the one He taught us, pending our compliance with His
clear and simple instruction.
Inventory the content of your current life as see for yourself.
All religions would be equally valid – Christian, Buddhist, Muslim,
Vedic, Atheist, Deist, Pagan or other – if they allowed us a better life and
didn’t get too upset if we opted to commit our souls, after dying, into the
life of Jesus Christ, with a conscience somewhat less flayed by remorse. After this death, we would be perfectly free
to choose Him and His path to Heaven, for the first time in our many
lives.
I challenge you to find such a miraculous freedom to choose, perfect and
divine, under any other circumstance.
Certainly not among the officious and enslaving prescriptions of mere
ape-men stuck on WeaponWorld: “Do me this, do me that, or be damned. By the way, allow us to snuff you and your
benighted progeny unless you consent to kill them over there and theirs.”
Every weapon preacher of cowardly lies, brutality, exclusion,
compulsion, betrayal and damnation by our infinite Loving God—that creature
just refines suicidal weapon mentality devoid of faith, love and God. May God forgive him and may I find some way
to ape God's infinite mercy.
Instead, we could have eternal temples of peace. Surely our Lord has enough mercy for every
soul, with more to spare. I seek this
apocatastasis, this universalism. The
saints required to establish it are underemployed all around us.
With no such faith – no real hope – no valid government – no true peace.
Know this, then. All the souls
can save themselves: yours, mine, some latter-day Hitler’s, anyone’s. Thus toughened and fearless of anything, we
must do our duty; thus armored, create Peace on Earth.
This summary will bother many people, especially those too well trained
as children to fear World Peace and block it as adults. It will infuriate many more who expect their
warmonger rubbish to be endorsed without opposition. It will bruise the stout egos of those who
declare themselves eager for peace—just as soon as everyone has reached their
dizzying height of puritanical pacifism.
It will confound many pet pupils who have memorized their lessons
repudiating peace, and who repeat them today like parrots.
This text is revolutionary and at odds with orthodoxy; as am I. According to Learners, the most
patriotic and admirable nationalist is not much more than a jumped-up Crip or
Blood who claims gangland supremacy by flashing his idiot gang signs. The devoted pacifist
who claims moral superiority over the average guy, will achieve no better
result than he (since he is lying to himself—at least the average warmonger is
an honest monster). Learners should
expect fierce opposition from every
philosophical quarter.
To achieve peace, we must understand how much we fear it, how much our
institutions are averse to it and how completely our current thoughts and
actions thwart it. Whether we call
ourselves warriors or lovers of peace; whether we’re young or old, rich or
poor, learned or ignorant, pious or not; whether our institutions appear benign
and sacred to us, or just mediocre or even infernal. Every institution, every down-home cliché,
every cultural checkpoint will have to be taken by frontal assault and cleared
hand-to-hand in this intellectual Stalingrad; no-one and nothing will be
spared.
What will PeaceWorld look like, once the smoke clears? It will delight our Loving God, who will
bless it with miracles of approbation; unlike WeaponWorld despised by God, who
lets it survive through infinite forbearance for our unforgivable sins. We could become true servants of God: athirst for, drunk with and slaked by the peace of God;
wisely caring for every child; regrowing Eden and
leaping for the stars. Justice. Compassion.
Peace. You could leave your door
unlocked in perfect safety.
Think about that.
What if we stopped fearing peace?
What if we understood it, instead?
Taught it to the children in pure truth, to revere peace and uphold it
forever, on our honor, with all our might?
Once Learners rally, the heavens themselves will come to our aid.
This is a summary of Learners.
LEARNERS: On the Move from WeaponWorld to PeaceWorld