Introspections and Queries—the Square Wheel Society (article) by Regis Auffray on AuthorsDen

Introspections and Queries—the Square Wheel Society

[thoughts from ~burning woman~ by Sha'Tara]

"The unexamined life is not worth living." (Socrates)

"Linus Larrabee thinks that morals are paintings on walls and scruples are money in Russia" (from Sabrina – the movie)

In "Helliconia Spring" (a novel by Brian Aldiss) the sorceress Shay Tal, after describing her discovery of underground tunnels and ruins expanding from their current location, explains her thoughts to the oppressed women of her village: "This 'farmyard'*** in which we now live was once a grand place, filled with arts and sciences, and people that were better than we. There were more people, there must have been—all now transformed into [ghosts] who dressed grandly. And they had many thoughts like brilliant birds in their heads. We are all that remains, us, with mud in our heads." [Paraphrased for some of the terms would be meaningless to any not familiar with the Helliconia trilogy.]

We have yet to decide whether we are (a)an ineluctable product of evolution; (b)progeny of creatures custom made by aliens to supply them with slaves; or (c)descendants of a couple created by God in a Middle Eastern garden circa ten thousand years ago. It's not difficult to figure that one out, but so much so-called erudite teaching has gone on that people refuse to make the attempt, choosing instead to take sides in the feuding of the pseudo-religions of Science and the Church: evolution versus creation. Over time these extreme views grind and polish away all accretions of intelligence that may expose their nonsensical inimical stance. Bullies in the sandbox who basically deny there is any other place than their particular sandbox. So it comes down to "faith" over honest personal inquiry and common sense.

So the social cart trundles on its square wheels, and woe to anyone who would offer to round them out for a smoother and faster ride. If you listen to religion, which equipped society with the first set of 2 square wheels, round wheels are an invention of the Devil. If you listen to science, which equipped society with the next set of 2 square wheels, they are the product of science fiction and fantasy writers with very fertile imaginations. Round wheels indeed! Why not perpetual motion while we're at it!

Long ago I sensed that all religion or education would give me was what had already been spewed out by the rich and famous square wheel inventors, promoters and charioteers. But I wasn't exactly alone. I found myself within a minuscule bubble of events that led some youthful members of my time to actually question the dictates of the status quo. Unfortunately and as usual nobody had a handle on how to proceed with this questioning of the status quo, so what didn't die in mindless violence and drug abuse found itself farther down the garden path than it had been when the noisy rebellion began. Predictably it followed the usual circular pattern of revolution: re-inventing and re-establishing the establishment, testablishment or restablishment!

Illustration: If someone plagues you with weather predictions, it's utterly stupid to enter the argument with counter statistics! She says, 'It's going to be sunny all this week'—and is convinced because her long range weather forecast for which she pays a monthly fee, says so. If it's raining and I counter with, 'This time of year you can expect rain; it's going to rain most of the week' you can see the square wheel turning, can't you? Much better to shrug your shoulders and say, 'Unless you can do something about it, it's best to leave the weather to take care of itself and adapt to the conditions.' And that's simple wisdom. Simple, certainly, and probably even wise, but it doesn't make for good ads and doesn't sell weather-related items at Wal-Mart and Home Depot. Bottom line. The one certain thing that killed the hippie "movement" was its return to the dogged belief that "change" can only happen by working within the System. And here's a story I just received that demonstrates the truth of it:

There's an old sea story about a ship's Captain who inspected his sailors, and told the first mate that his men smelled bad. The Captain suggested perhaps it would help if the sailors would change underwear occasionally.

The first mate responded, "Aye, aye sir, I'll see to it." So he went to the sailors' berth deck and announced, "The Captain thinks you guys smell bad and wants you to change your underwear, so Leo you change with Jerry....... Tony you change with Bert and Bob you change with Ed ."

And that is what working within the system to change the system amounts to. Different pile, perhaps, but definitely the same stink.

Now then, what if, as on Helliconia, we are the remnants of what was once a wonderfully intelligent civilization built from a knowledge we can only guess at or write about in fiction? This amazing civilization would not be of Earth but linked to others among the stars around us and it could perform some of the ancient wonders still in evidence, like the Great Pyramid (and we are in the process of discovering edifices of perhaps an even earlier time that will make this one look like a toy) which the square wheel thinkers insist were built by hunter-gatherer stone age tribes in loin cloths using wooden rollers and stone axes. Right. Let's see.

One unremarkable and unrecorded pre-historical morning, a bunch of bored boar hunters with massive headaches from imbibing too much gathered and fermented grain hooch, were huddled miserably together when the head hunter stood up, burped, farted and grunted: "Me have dream to make great big hut. Me call it pyramid." "Duh, what is pyramid?" "Pyramid is what I say." He points at his mates with his spiny club. "You Gworp, chop down trees; Tharf, you cut stones from big hill. Me direct work. All you build me pyramid or get whacked on head with club." And so, without further ado or necessary inducement, the Great Pyramid was built in the middle of a desert with no trees and no stones anywhere near. Don't ask why cave-dwelling ape-men would think building pyramids would be a fun past-time, and doing it with no handy material that much more of a challenge, just agree that it makes perfect sense, just like playing football, but that's another story, from other tribes of ape men no longer smart enough to build great big useless stone hut called pyramid. How many football fields should a proper pyramid be anyway?

Continuing with our alien civilization, what if it collapsed when "things changed" and its inventors and directors had to leave the planet? And what if, instead of being "evolved" beings as is claimed, Earthians are in fact the de-evolving descendants of that civilization? Survivors of a series of natural cataclysms? Of social upheaval brought about by the alien "makers" having gone off the deep end from staying on this planet too long in vain attempts to establish dynasties in this solar system? What if these "gods" turned on each other and using their Earthian slaves as soldiers, engaged in horrible wars using nuclear and chemical weapons until what remained of them finally packed up and left? Isn't that what is hinted at in the Bible and what the Bhagavad-Gita describes in great detail?

I realize that after thousands of years of brainwashing from ruling elites and the deliberate destruction of ancient records (such as the burning of the library of Alexandria—and there were many such events world-wide) it seems sacrilegious to think the way I do, never mind writing it down. But of course it's not the first time I do so, nor am I the first to see it this way. The story has been passed down and kept alive by the survivors who re-discovered the ability to record their thoughts, their tribal memories, their discoveries. Oh, we suspect, but we don't want to suspect; we know, but we don't want to know. We are comfortable with the mud in our heads. And why? Because true knowledge entails taking responsibility instead of relegating it all to God-pushers, governments, demagogues, professional educators, scientists and "others" in general. Whom should I trust? is the question on the list. If unsure, just put a checkmark beside "others" and go back to watching TV.

Long ago the Teachers taught me to look at things using this tool: "As below, so above." Most fail to see how critically different taking this vantage point is from the common one taught by the System which is, "As above, so below." Maybe I can explain.

If you take the view that things are "as above, so below" that leaves you nowhere because you have no idea what's "above" and your "faith" is essentially meaningless. To compare one thing with another it is absolutely necessary that you be familiar with your comparative yardstick.

If you turn this upside down however, you do know in some gross sense what goes on down here. You see the machinations of the greedy corporate world and all those who imitate them. You are the daily victims of political shenanigans. You've heard of the violence, the bloodshed, the horror some of your forebears suffered to better their world and now helplessly watch as all of their gains are being taken from you once more as was done time and again in the past. You know about the wars. You are aware of those who suffer and die from global injustice. So you know what "as below" means. Now project that to "up there" and what do you see? The things of earth are no longer just the things of earth, but of the galaxy... and the universe. You are no longer either special or alone. Everything you are, everything you feel, everything you understand, everything you fear is a legacy of the "gods" for you are made in their image.

Now you understand why you can say, "as below, so above" and not vice-versa.

That I know this as fact isn't about to convince anyone. And that is not the question. The question is, can Earthians change themselves fast enough by sheer power of will, by self-empowered choice, to make their world a just and caring society before the madness of their ruling System (inherited from the makers) brings the whole thing down?

If one relies on God, or a Son of God, or such superhuman savior to make things right, it isn't going to happen, and if it did, according to unverifiable prophecies, it would still entail the destruction of most people on earth, and of the planet in the long run, per the "Word of God" in the biblical book called Revelation. If one relies instead on the process of evolution, let's keep in mind that evolution works in million year increments to establish a minor permanent change in a species. Earthians are not able to reason such enormous time spans to complete some small and apparently meaningless change. They do not comprehend evolutionary steps as would an earthworm or a bear. Earthians are a designed race, a hyped-up mix of earth and star stuff with no real home as yet anywhere in the Cosmos; a species of creatures who have had neither the time needed, nor the inclination, to adapt properly to the world they were manufactured upon. They are a mutant and defective species which, like its X-Men super heroes, exhibits non-natural power when relying on their mental deficiencies to deal with their environment. Prolific and predatory, they are vicious, violent, unscrupulous, degenerate and amoral. Take away religious and legal taboos; the fear of retribution; bring in a war or some other catastrophe and watch what they do to each other.

Their only chance to overcome these terrible deficiencies; to bring in meaningful and lasting change lies in the practice of compassion. that is what I've been taught and what I've studied "within."

Why compassion? Because only the self-empowered can know and practice this form of social healing and transforming. Compassion can only be practiced individually, never in collectives or groups, therefore it cannot be subverted. Compassion is a mind force expressed in singular choice, not dependent on feelings or emotions. One must never make the mistake of confusing compassion with what people call "love" for the two have nothing in common. Compassion is the tool whereby an individual can round out society's square wheels without resorting to mindless violence or other self-defeating methods previously used to bring about change. And one more thing: compassion is never dependent on social status, health or wealth. Or location. Compassion is always in the right place and at the right moment.