How things change in a week. The Olympians are home. The election has been called. The denials get more strident and the promises get more outrageous. And all of this as we enter the footy finals. It’s almost enough to drive one to distraction. One thing remains static however. The rising of the sun and the going down of the same. Regardless of what we humans do to, with and on each other, the great vastness of the cosmos ignores us. Yet some among us claim that we are the highest life form in the universe. I state with certainty, our cat doesn’t think so. He knows we are lesser beings. If the universe, and Spike the cat, has no time for the follies of the human race, and we educated, enlightened humans continue to believe in our own infallibility, what are the possible ramifications for us, as a species, and what could this portend?
Before addressing this, I want to go back a bit. The enlightenment was supposed to be the beginning of the emancipation of the human race. The great thinkers, inventors, theorists and philosophers began to move us away from the shackles of religious belief that taught the inherent sinfulness of humankind and the idea of a retributive god who kept the cosmic clock ticking. The advances in technology, medicine and agriculture promised to free us from the burden of heavy labour, improve our health and fill our bellies. Three hundred years on, one must ask, "what went wrong with the great enlightenment experiment?"
On a global scale, over 2/3rds of us live in poverty, the vast majority doesn’t have access to phone lines, reliable electricity, clean water or simple vaccines. In the ‘developed’ west, the majority is threatened by job insecurity, failing infrastructure, increased risk of violence and a general sense of malaise. The gap between the wealthy and poor increases each month, the majority of our disabled, sick and aged in the west are forced to endure conditions that are not much better than those in the ‘developing’ east. Yet, on rich and poor, healthy or sick, as sure as death and taxes, the sun will rise tomorrow morning and shine on all of us.
I am arguing that what has occurred to the enlightenment experiment is that we, in the ‘enlightened’, emancipated, wealthy developed societies have become arrogant and, paradoxically, more ignorant. We now rely more than at any time in our past on a limited range of knowledges. As evidence for this I point to the growth in ‘spirituality’ "awareness". The Da Vinci Code is a case in point.
While it masquerades as a semi-historical fiction novel the book will, ultimately fail to sate the thirst for an alternative perspective or explanation for what is going on around us. Doctoral theses are already being written that are based on the book and numerous discussion groups and on-line forums have sprung up. Yet, I argue that the reason this novel will fail to ‘enlighten’ is because it does nothing to challenge the status quo. Sure, it throws up some good cases for re-examining the fundamentals of the Christian religion but this is nothing new. It has been done before, numerous times by numerous authors – many of whom suffered a lot more than being pilloried by conservative Christian reviewers. All this book has done is cast another distraction along the way in the struggle to establish a social system that is based on universal justice, equality and peace.
The distractions we face in the upcoming election, the latest TV program or best selling book, will do nothing more than demonstrate to us, if we care to observe, that the last three hundred years of human development and the enlightenment experiment have done nothing to prevent human suffering and misery. It certainly hasn’t taught us how to look into the infinite possibilities that are revealed in the eyes of a newborn child and realise that what we dream of can be achieved and that the cost is worth it.
We are lesser beings than the animals that we keep simply because we have forgotten how to take advantage of the vast array of knowledges that sustained the human race through millennia but which have been educated out of us in the last three hundred years. Replacing the higher order knowledges are the lower order techniques of brute power, fear and retribution. Evidence for this can be found everywhere, just take note of the election campaign. Based on the way they conduct themselves, why vote for any of them? But even more easy to see are the conditions around us every day. The social conditions in which we live didn’t just fall out of the clouds. They were created. They were created by the conditions we have allowed to grow up around us fertilised by the detritus of the ‘lifestyle’ choices and consumer mentality we are coerced into adopting.
The sun will rise tomorrow and the day after and the day after that. Yet humans will continue to suffer, most of them needlessly. Do you think the cosmos cares? I don’t think so. While some may claim that a god will set everything right, I refuse to adhere to any form of barbaric belief that is prepared to allow the suffering to continue while those who adhere to these beliefs remain as passive observers waiting for a place in the sky in the sweet bye and bye.
Active engagement and pro-active, co-operative action is the only way forward. If we as a society refuse to act we only reinforce the argument that human beings are a lower order life form. The "oceans of milk" and "butter mountains" of the 70’s have not been redistributed. Fuelled by an economic system that trickles upwards, the greed and avarice of the few hold sway at the moment. But it can be overthrown. The lies and deceit can be successfully challenged and defeated. But! But it will come at a cost. A personal cost that will redistribute the pain of the many more evenly. The question for each of us, individually, is how much of the pain are we willing to bear?
Most of us have heard the story of the flock of migrating ducks and how the ‘V’ formation provides a more effective and efficient use of flight energy allowing each individual bird to benefit. We have heard how when the lead bird gets tired it falls back and another takes over and by rotating around this way each bird experiences the range of stresses the journey presents. The leaders who tire of the struggle in taking the journey to a better society, have, on many occasions found themselves easy prey for those who would ‘shoot’ them down. Our flock instinct has been beaten out of us to the point that rampant individualism has replaced a sense of connectedness and unity. The divide and conquer strategy of buying a change in loyalty is accepted all to easily for some. Each time one is bought off the whole is weakened.
Losing touch with our brothers and sisters is just a small reflection of how we have forgotten the greater cosmic understandings. That is, that we can create a better world. We can harness the energy sources in better, more ecologically friendly way. We can redistribute the common wealth released through the effort of our sweat, ingenuity and technical sophistication. And we can create the conditions under which a more equitable and just global society to arise. Until then the sun will continue in its daily arc and Spike the cat will retain his position as the highest form of life in our house.