Fiddling While Rome Burns
I feel constrained to strike a sharp contrast, make a very clear distinction, and emphasize the vast and profoundly unbridgeable gulf, between the ideas and intellectual approach that produced this piece, and the others I have written, and the perspective that produces the plethora of information with which ordinary men and women are inundated daily.
Is it possible that one man could be right, and the multitude of individuals thinking and acting together to form the collective persona which comprised the social system in which he exists, could be wrong?
This was true of ancient prophets, it has been true of scientists who have been pioneers in the physical sciences, but could it be true of an ordinary man today?
It could be true; it is true, because I employ a different method, I have practiced the discipline of truth and the practice of that discipline, over an extended period of time has brought me into contact with the existing reality.
Into contact with the sere reality that is the human past; with the tragic matrix that surrounds us today; and, the dire and disastrous future that is the destiny of our race – if we cannot find the moral character to change, if we cannot find the will to confront and overcome the urgent, ubiquitous issues that cause the majority of human beings to languish on a treadmill of despair.
The initial point of departure is the objective of my prescriptions; I am creating solutions that would result, if implemented, in the common good. Politicians to cite one pertinent example, and ordinary men and women everywhere are doing those things that would contribute to their attaining their selfish aims and objectives.
To a superficial observer, these apparently disparate objectives should create a nexus, the common objective of creating an improved quality of life for the majority of citizens.
Under closer scrutiny, it would become clear that my objectives, and, the objectives of politicians, and most human beings, are mutually exclusive.
Let us apply that scrutiny to the issue of global warming. I would contend that the increase in temperature in the planet’s surface is intensifying the scope and virulence of all weather systems; this has precipitated the massive floods in Europe and Massachusetts, the increased destruction caused by tornadoes in the interior of the continental USA, the increased frequency and greater intensity of hurricanes, and, the accelerated pace of the melting of the polar ice caps.
To preserve human civilizations, it is urgently necessary to decrease substantially the burning of fossil fuels. But this is diametrically opposed to the interests of oil companies and the manufacturers of motor vehicles, in the short term, and the body politic, instead of using its energies to serve its interest reducing global warming, is, albeit unconsciously, a slave to the interest of these large conglomerates.
There are other pertinent examples, for instance the invasion of Iraq. It has become obvious that this was a gargantuan error on the part of the Bush Administration. But to admit this would affect the political fortunes of the President and his Party, so they continue to stonewall and prosecute a war that has already been lost, precipitating the futile deaths and injuries to Allied soldiers and Iraqi nationals.
Even as it becomes more and more apparent that the Allied forces can never overcome the insurgents; that Iraqi forces cannot overcome the insurgency, even with the help of the Shia militias; that the insurgency will only be eventually overcome, if it can be overcome, with Iranian help, a consequence that will precipitate a Crescent of Muslim Fundamentalist, an outcome wholly inimical to American interests.
What I am trying to suggest, and focus attention on, is that the problem is cultural; that the fundamental issue is a dichotomy created by the reliance on coercion as the motivating factor relied on in all social systems.
This has produced a difference between concept and precept, between the values, ideals and ways of thinking that human beings aspire to, and the way they actually behave.
I have resolved this issue simply by telling the truth, the vast majority of human beings have not, especially those in leadership positions.
This dichotomy should be palpably obvious in the failure of all social institutions. It is the cause of high rates of divorce, the failure of education, the low levels of productivity in the economy, consequent to a very significant reduction in the levels of coercion that can be applied to citizens in social systems that aspire to democracy.
Without the degree of coercion that was a primitive feature of human history, parents and teachers are no longer able to socialize the young, husbands are no longer able to hold on to their wives, employers are no longer able to galvanize employees to the effort that would create efficient operations, governments are no longer able to implement the policies they craft or achieve of their objectives.
And the most damning bit of evidence, the ‘smoking gun’ that validates beyond reasonable doubt this hypothesis, is the fact that motivation is not taking into consideration when policies are formulated or plans are made at any level of this society. We remain oblivious of the importance of motivation, and the implications of using coercion, as opposed to the application of positive reinforcements.
I have discerned, quite by accident, the most important social innovation in the human story. I have stumbled upon the most massive and ubiquitous obstacle to human progress that exists, or could exist. If, and this is a very big if, we could overcome this mindset, deeply embedded in human culture, the reliance on coercion and adopt the clear alternative, positive reinforcements, this would reduce to manageable proportions all other social problems, poverty, war, global warming, drug abuse, appreciation of the implications and consequences of relying on coercion would make all these problems amenable to solution.
That I persevere in the futile and quixotic attempt to communicate this dichotomy is the monumental difference between my perspective and that of all the other members of my race.
After thirty years of unrelieved and unremitting poverty, I should be happy to use this information for my selfish ends, and not for the common good. I should attach myself to some politician and use these ideas to advance his or her campaign; I should develop my own contract with some interest group or another; I should apply my intellect to use this information to make me safe and secure. In short, I should engage in one or another of the compromises that constitutes normal adjustment in human culture.
And, I would be really happy to wake up one morning and have that security and safety that I have not enjoyed for thirty years. I would be overjoyed not to have always sitting on my shoulder the ominous specter of having to tell the truth and do the right thing.
As I have become more enlightened about the cultural milieu in which I live, I have become more and more aware that what most individuals and organizations fear most is exposure; that all human beings live with an ever increasing gap between concept and precept in their lives, that all have skeletons in their closets.
I learned to listen well, and had to unlearn this skill, to avoid being inundated with disclosures from other human beings in the most unlikely places, at the beach, in bus or train stations, wherever time permitted; disclosures and deep, dark secrets that I had not the means or authority to precipitate resolution or growth, but which I had to ingest and endure.
I feel constrained to report, as a tragic testimony to the sad state of human affairs, that my telling the truth has never turned out well.
If further evidence were needed that all human beings fear exposure of the extent to which they all ignore their consciences, I depose that on every occasion that I have told the truth or done the right thing I have been subjected to a rigorous schedule of punishments for so doing.
It is a mute testament to my tenacity and determination, and to the insights that practicing the discipline of truth have produced that I continue to appeal to the intellects and consciences of human beings.
I continue to attempt to communicate that citizens of the USA are engaging in a modern version of “fiddling while Rome burns.”
It is not only that they are avoiding at all costs confronting the urgent problems this nation faces, it is that they are preoccupied with the issue of immigration, an issue that pales in significance, that is tainted with the brush of irrelevancy when compared to the real, very urgent issues this nation confronts.
I am intrinsically a very conservative human being who is filled with great disquiet and misgivings at being perennially out of step with those around me; I am very, very uncomfortable with the notion that I am a sane, rational person in a mad world, yet the evidence that such is the case is conclusive, how else could it be possible for social systems to consistently and perennially make paramount the interests of the few and disregard the common good.
So I find myself endlessly and unsuccessfully trying to communicate the same message, telling the truth will create the rationality in the body politic necessary to solve social problems.
I would suggest that the prophets of old used this same methodology; telling the truth produced the metal acuity that seemed remarkable and supernatural then, and, caused these individuals to be idolized and venerated, Jesus was heir to this tradition and applied this methodology to a point where he seemed to enter the supernatural realm. This methodology accounts for the remarkable and praiseworthy achievements of physical scientists of this era who are capable of creating the theories that impel such earthshaking innovations.
I have, with great reluctance become, the conscience of my race, encouraging individuals to the morality that would shatter the delusion that lames their metal processes, and create a world view permissive finding solutions to the most intractable social problem.
My intent is not, and has never been, for these ideas to be used opportunistically, to win an election or attract any material reward, it has always been my objective that these ideas be internalized, to transform the primitive human caterpillar into the civilized human butterfly, a transformation that I have bet my life that every one of us has within us the innate potential and capacity to achieve.
It is time for human beings to pay the high price of freedom; it is time for each individual to use the discipline of truth to dispel the myths, the illusions, and outright delusions that cause us to be fiddling while Rome burns.
William E. Virtue
Copyright Retained
Web site: voiceofpeace.net
Email: vox_pacis@hotmail.net
Ph: 954-594-2192
Memphis, TN
I feel constrained to strike a sharp contrast, make a very clear distinction, and emphasize the vast and profoundly unbridgeable gulf, between the ideas and intellectual approach that produced this piece, and the others I have written, and the perspective that produces the plethora of information with which ordinary men and women are inundated daily.
Is it possible that one man could be right, and the multitude of individuals thinking and acting together to form the collective persona which comprised the social system in which he exists, could be wrong?
This was true of ancient prophets, it has been true of scientists who have been pioneers in the physical sciences, but could it be true of an ordinary man today?
It could be true; it is true, because I employ a different method, I have practiced the discipline of truth and the practice of that discipline, over an extended period of time has brought me into contact with the existing reality.
Into contact with the sere reality that is the human past; with the tragic matrix that surrounds us today; and, the dire and disastrous future that is the destiny of our race – if we cannot find the moral character to change, if we cannot find the will to confront and overcome the urgent, ubiquitous issues that cause the majority of human beings to languish on a treadmill of despair.
The initial point of departure is the objective of my prescriptions; I am creating solutions that would result, if implemented, in the common good. Politicians to cite one pertinent example, and ordinary men and women everywhere are doing those things that would contribute to their attaining their selfish aims and objectives.
To a superficial observer, these apparently disparate objectives should create a nexus, the common objective of creating an improved quality of life for the majority of citizens.
Under closer scrutiny, it would become clear that my objectives, and, the objectives of politicians, and most human beings, are mutually exclusive.
Let us apply that scrutiny to the issue of global warming. I would contend that the increase in temperature in the planet’s surface is intensifying the scope and virulence of all weather systems; this has precipitated the massive floods in Europe and Massachusetts, the increased destruction caused by tornadoes in the interior of the continental USA, the increased frequency and greater intensity of hurricanes, and, the accelerated pace of the melting of the polar ice caps.
To preserve human civilizations, it is urgently necessary to decrease substantially the burning of fossil fuels. But this is diametrically opposed to the interests of oil companies and the manufacturers of motor vehicles, in the short term, and the body politic, instead of using its energies to serve its interest reducing global warming, is, albeit unconsciously, a slave to the interest of these large conglomerates.
There are other pertinent examples, for instance the invasion of Iraq. It has become obvious that this was a gargantuan error on the part of the Bush Administration. But to admit this would affect the political fortunes of the President and his Party, so they continue to stonewall and prosecute a war that has already been lost, precipitating the futile deaths and injuries to Allied soldiers and Iraqi nationals.
Even as it becomes more and more apparent that the Allied forces can never overcome the insurgents; that Iraqi forces cannot overcome the insurgency, even with the help of the Shia militias; that the insurgency will only be eventually overcome, if it can be overcome, with Iranian help, a consequence that will precipitate a Crescent of Muslim Fundamentalist, an outcome wholly inimical to American interests.
What I am trying to suggest, and focus attention on, is that the problem is cultural; that the fundamental issue is a dichotomy created by the reliance on coercion as the motivating factor relied on in all social systems.
This has produced a difference between concept and precept, between the values, ideals and ways of thinking that human beings aspire to, and the way they actually behave.
I have resolved this issue simply by telling the truth, the vast majority of human beings have not, especially those in leadership positions.
This dichotomy should be palpably obvious in the failure of all social institutions. It is the cause of high rates of divorce, the failure of education, the low levels of productivity in the economy, consequent to a very significant reduction in the levels of coercion that can be applied to citizens in social systems that aspire to democracy.
Without the degree of coercion that was a primitive feature of human history, parents and teachers are no longer able to socialize the young, husbands are no longer able to hold on to their wives, employers are no longer able to galvanize employees to the effort that would create efficient operations, governments are no longer able to implement the policies they craft or achieve of their objectives.
And the most damning bit of evidence, the ‘smoking gun’ that validates beyond reasonable doubt this hypothesis, is the fact that motivation is not taking into consideration when policies are formulated or plans are made at any level of this society. We remain oblivious of the importance of motivation, and the implications of using coercion, as opposed to the application of positive reinforcements.
I have discerned, quite by accident, the most important social innovation in the human story. I have stumbled upon the most massive and ubiquitous obstacle to human progress that exists, or could exist. If, and this is a very big if, we could overcome this mindset, deeply embedded in human culture, the reliance on coercion and adopt the clear alternative, positive reinforcements, this would reduce to manageable proportions all other social problems, poverty, war, global warming, drug abuse, appreciation of the implications and consequences of relying on coercion would make all these problems amenable to solution.
That I persevere in the futile and quixotic attempt to communicate this dichotomy is the monumental difference between my perspective and that of all the other members of my race.
After thirty years of unrelieved and unremitting poverty, I should be happy to use this information for my selfish ends, and not for the common good. I should attach myself to some politician and use these ideas to advance his or her campaign; I should develop my own contract with some interest group or another; I should apply my intellect to use this information to make me safe and secure. In short, I should engage in one or another of the compromises that constitutes normal adjustment in human culture.
And, I would be really happy to wake up one morning and have that security and safety that I have not enjoyed for thirty years. I would be overjoyed not to have always sitting on my shoulder the ominous specter of having to tell the truth and do the right thing.
As I have become more enlightened about the cultural milieu in which I live, I have become more and more aware that what most individuals and organizations fear most is exposure; that all human beings live with an ever increasing gap between concept and precept in their lives, that all have skeletons in their closets.
I learned to listen well, and had to unlearn this skill, to avoid being inundated with disclosures from other human beings in the most unlikely places, at the beach, in bus or train stations, wherever time permitted; disclosures and deep, dark secrets that I had not the means or authority to precipitate resolution or growth, but which I had to ingest and endure.
I feel constrained to report, as a tragic testimony to the sad state of human affairs, that my telling the truth has never turned out well.
If further evidence were needed that all human beings fear exposure of the extent to which they all ignore their consciences, I depose that on every occasion that I have told the truth or done the right thing I have been subjected to a rigorous schedule of punishments for so doing.
It is a mute testament to my tenacity and determination, and to the insights that practicing the discipline of truth have produced that I continue to appeal to the intellects and consciences of human beings.
I continue to attempt to communicate that citizens of the USA are engaging in a modern version of “fiddling while Rome burns.”
It is not only that they are avoiding at all costs confronting the urgent problems this nation faces, it is that they are preoccupied with the issue of immigration, an issue that pales in significance, that is tainted with the brush of irrelevancy when compared to the real, very urgent issues this nation confronts.
I am intrinsically a very conservative human being who is filled with great disquiet and misgivings at being perennially out of step with those around me; I am very, very uncomfortable with the notion that I am a sane, rational person in a mad world, yet the evidence that such is the case is conclusive, how else could it be possible for social systems to consistently and perennially make paramount the interests of the few and disregard the common good.
So I find myself endlessly and unsuccessfully trying to communicate the same message, telling the truth will create the rationality in the body politic necessary to solve social problems.
I would suggest that the prophets of old used this same methodology; telling the truth produced the metal acuity that seemed remarkable and supernatural then, and, caused these individuals to be idolized and venerated, Jesus was heir to this tradition and applied this methodology to a point where he seemed to enter the supernatural realm. This methodology accounts for the remarkable and praiseworthy achievements of physical scientists of this era who are capable of creating the theories that impel such earthshaking innovations.
I have, with great reluctance become, the conscience of my race, encouraging individuals to the morality that would shatter the delusion that lames their metal processes, and create a world view permissive finding solutions to the most intractable social problem.
My intent is not, and has never been, for these ideas to be used opportunistically, to win an election or attract any material reward, it has always been my objective that these ideas be internalized, to transform the primitive human caterpillar into the civilized human butterfly, a transformation that I have bet my life that every one of us has within us the innate potential and capacity to achieve.
It is time for human beings to pay the high price of freedom; it is time for each individual to use the discipline of truth to dispel the myths, the illusions, and outright delusions that cause us to be fiddling while Rome burns.
William E. Virtue
Copyright Retained
Web site: voiceofpeace.net
Email: vox_pacis@hotmail.net
Ph: 954-594-2192
Memphis, TN
posted by voiceofpeace at 12:30 PM
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