Waiting for the innocents to pass.
Oh, tempt not the gods of the desert,
Lest you seek a lonely epitaph.
I do mourn for the death of mythology, for the exodus of a better era, for the coming of organised religion, and for the degeneration of the human condition. We have become absorbed by technology--our world has become quantised with every mystery, every fantasy explained through our precious science. As was once written by Frank Herbert:
The first problem of our society, as I have already mentioned, is science. Through it, we have sufficiently killed mythology. The sun does not rise due to the continued grace of the god Helios, straddling his flaming chariot every morn to bring us a new day. It does not rise at all. It is a ball containing hydrogen and helium with select other trace elements producing light through chemical reactions amongst these that acts as the apex for our solar system, around it all planets orbit in an elliptical path as they maintain their respective rotations.
Due exclusively to science, any traces of a former age of ignorance, as many would undoubtedly say, have been quashed. Any feeling of the ethereal has evaporated. Our universe and its processes have been tamed.
Second to this is the rise of organised religion. Again, from Herbert:
With religion comes fanaticism. With it comes war, strife, control. Under the aegis of religion, in the name of God, men will murder, rape, pillage. The belief in a god absolves the individual from personal responsibility for his actions, for with but an utterance, his all-loving god will absolve him of his sins and return the promise of eternal life to him. It has been in the name of a god that countless wars have been fought, and over what?
The crusades, a single city; the inquisition, religious purity; Islamo-extremism, to cleanse the infidels. And in the name of what? In all cases, an omniscient, all-encompassing, loving god. The Britons cost countless lives in the name of a city, sacred to their god. The Spaniards killed and tortured thousands to purify their country in the name of their god. The Islamic radicals kill innocents in the name of their god.
All promised martyrdom for dying in the name of their lord. All promised to heaven for dying for their god. All in the name of an all-loving god.
"Televangelists," as they have come to be called, swindle the naive with promises of holy cures, with assurances of salvation. And they are followed. They have a following! They know themselves to be swindlers and yet they lead the masses on in blind ignorance! They steal from their believers in the name of god, and for what? To put another penny in their private coffers!
Science. Religion. The death of an era.
And so what is to be done of this? Simply, the creation of an independent state--one that finds a balance between the two, one that accepts both and relies on neither. Yes, science is to be accepted. And why? For the concept of progress acts as a protective mechanism to shield us from the terrors of the future. We must shed this curtain and accept that which is fated to the world. Though technology may be accepted, though science may not be ignored, conventional progress shall not be made. Quarks shall not be analysed, strings not investigated, dimensions not theorised.
Practical progress, however, shall. Where modern science focuses solely on instant gratification, the pursuit of technology need not do such. Sanitation, safety, architecture--all worthy pursuits. Quantum physics, organic chemistry? Useless. Let them fall to myth to explain. Let each be given a deity to reign over it. Let each be dutifully examined and declared incomplete. And we shall chop off what is incomplete, saying: "Now it is complete because it is ended here."
And to us, weaponry shall be limited to that which our smiths can produce in their forges. Machinery limited to that which may be powered by the force of air and water alone, for the power of steam is a deadly one. And from the heavens, the gods shall look down to their altars as a dutiful sacrifice is given and hetacomb presented and prosperity shall ensue under a ruling monarch. And under this monarch, his people divided into the Great Houses and Houses Minor and shall be declared good by the gods from their high perch.
Crazy you call me? Perhaps. Determined? Certainly. For I do not joke of this and swear upon my very honour that before my death, this dream shall be realised. That this frivolous world that we have created shall melt around me and all that shall remain is an age of meaning. I shall see the dawn of a new day, one of prosperity, one of labour and toil that has not been seen for a millennia past. A day that shall usher in the revival of the gods and goddesses of old and shall set steadfast in our resolve a single purpose: existence. Existence which is not governed by the universe; existence in which myth and fancy remain to fill the minds of our youth and the mouths of our old. For to see this day shall begin a new time, one in which we can truly live again.
Quote:
Deep in the human unconscious is a pervasive need for a logical universe that makes sense. But the real universe is always one step beyond logic.
The first problem of our society, as I have already mentioned, is science. Through it, we have sufficiently killed mythology. The sun does not rise due to the continued grace of the god Helios, straddling his flaming chariot every morn to bring us a new day. It does not rise at all. It is a ball containing hydrogen and helium with select other trace elements producing light through chemical reactions amongst these that acts as the apex for our solar system, around it all planets orbit in an elliptical path as they maintain their respective rotations.
Due exclusively to science, any traces of a former age of ignorance, as many would undoubtedly say, have been quashed. Any feeling of the ethereal has evaporated. Our universe and its processes have been tamed.
Second to this is the rise of organised religion. Again, from Herbert:
Quote:
When law and duty are one, united by religion, you never become fully conscious, fully aware of yourself. You are always a little less than an individual.
With religion comes fanaticism. With it comes war, strife, control. Under the aegis of religion, in the name of God, men will murder, rape, pillage. The belief in a god absolves the individual from personal responsibility for his actions, for with but an utterance, his all-loving god will absolve him of his sins and return the promise of eternal life to him. It has been in the name of a god that countless wars have been fought, and over what?
The crusades, a single city; the inquisition, religious purity; Islamo-extremism, to cleanse the infidels. And in the name of what? In all cases, an omniscient, all-encompassing, loving god. The Britons cost countless lives in the name of a city, sacred to their god. The Spaniards killed and tortured thousands to purify their country in the name of their god. The Islamic radicals kill innocents in the name of their god.
All promised martyrdom for dying in the name of their lord. All promised to heaven for dying for their god. All in the name of an all-loving god.
"Televangelists," as they have come to be called, swindle the naive with promises of holy cures, with assurances of salvation. And they are followed. They have a following! They know themselves to be swindlers and yet they lead the masses on in blind ignorance! They steal from their believers in the name of god, and for what? To put another penny in their private coffers!
Science. Religion. The death of an era.
And so what is to be done of this? Simply, the creation of an independent state--one that finds a balance between the two, one that accepts both and relies on neither. Yes, science is to be accepted. And why? For the concept of progress acts as a protective mechanism to shield us from the terrors of the future. We must shed this curtain and accept that which is fated to the world. Though technology may be accepted, though science may not be ignored, conventional progress shall not be made. Quarks shall not be analysed, strings not investigated, dimensions not theorised.
Practical progress, however, shall. Where modern science focuses solely on instant gratification, the pursuit of technology need not do such. Sanitation, safety, architecture--all worthy pursuits. Quantum physics, organic chemistry? Useless. Let them fall to myth to explain. Let each be given a deity to reign over it. Let each be dutifully examined and declared incomplete. And we shall chop off what is incomplete, saying: "Now it is complete because it is ended here."
And to us, weaponry shall be limited to that which our smiths can produce in their forges. Machinery limited to that which may be powered by the force of air and water alone, for the power of steam is a deadly one. And from the heavens, the gods shall look down to their altars as a dutiful sacrifice is given and hetacomb presented and prosperity shall ensue under a ruling monarch. And under this monarch, his people divided into the Great Houses and Houses Minor and shall be declared good by the gods from their high perch.
Crazy you call me? Perhaps. Determined? Certainly. For I do not joke of this and swear upon my very honour that before my death, this dream shall be realised. That this frivolous world that we have created shall melt around me and all that shall remain is an age of meaning. I shall see the dawn of a new day, one of prosperity, one of labour and toil that has not been seen for a millennia past. A day that shall usher in the revival of the gods and goddesses of old and shall set steadfast in our resolve a single purpose: existence. Existence which is not governed by the universe; existence in which myth and fancy remain to fill the minds of our youth and the mouths of our old. For to see this day shall begin a new time, one in which we can truly live again.
O you who know what we suffer here,
Do not forget us in your prayers.
Do not forget us in your prayers.
