[MD] new blog

[Arlo Bensinger]

[Michael]
I'm reacting that if you want this mystical esotericism, theism (g*d) 
is necessarily going to be part of it.

[Arlo]
Ah, well then this is the root of our disagreement. And I'd say its 
one of the pernicious fallacies arising out of mainstream Occidental 
religion. Rather than seeing "God" as one face painted on the mural 
of the Mythos, it tries to move "God" back and conflate the image 
with the Void.

[Michael]
Then I'd wager he was wrong.

[Arlo]
This is kind of a tangential topic, but if Pirsig was wrong in 
thinking that a cultural shift to a MOQ view would not change how 
humanity "operates", then what's the point?

[Michael]
Man, the *optimist* in me says no. You don't want to know what the 
cynic in me thinks about it.

[Arlo]
Brother, I hear you. The rapid rise of fundamentalist religion has 
left me in serious doubt as to man's ability to overcome his 
paranoiac, nationalistic, "sheep-like" (to use the Apostle Paul's 
description) nature. Witnessing modern politics gives me the same 
doubt. At a time when we have every ability to disseminate 
information, when access to information and participation in dialogue 
with others outside of one's limited cultural gaze has never been 
greater, when we have the benefit of libraries full of ideas and 
"fingers" pointing away from this mindset, with museums of art 
readily accessible by the masses, we are instead retreating into a 
"pre-Enlightenment" era of fear, nationalism, and anti-education 
fueled by commodity fetishism (to use a Marxist term) and xenophobia. 
At a time when the "gods" should be ushering man into the human 
museum of the Mythos, they are instead ordering wars, demanding 
servitude, and justifying self-congratulatory righteousness. And this 
just underscores the larger cultural movements in politics, art, 
education, labor, and citizenship that all reflect the same decline; 
a decline (to get back to Pirsig) I think can be firmly traced to a 
post-60's regression into entrenched SOM (Pirsig's words indicate 
this as well).

Okay, now my cynicism has moved into full gear. Time for some coffee 
and a chapter of the book on Norse Myths I am reading, hopefully that 
will return a hint of my previous optimism.

[Arlo previously]
(Of course, Hall (and Paul) would say such a world is impossible, 
that invariably the masses will reflock to the exoteric doctrines 
offered by those seeking power.)

[Michael]
As do I.

[Arlo]
Along with Manly Hall and the Apostle Paul, this quote comes from the 
BBC series "The Power of Nightmare". Seems to sum up this idea. "It 
was for politicians to assert powerful and inspiring myths that 
everyone could believe in. They might not be true, but they were 
necessary illusions. One of these was religion; the other was the 
myth of the nation." (BBC)

Sigh.