My observations on: “The Twilight of American Culture”
from Pat Palmer
This book, by Morris Berman, is an outstanding piece of scholarship and an illusion-shattering exposé of the nature and extent of the retreat from traditional values occurring in the USA and the effects of this phenomenon now and in the future. The previously published author is a well-known social critic who has selectively drawn from the previous findings of many other social critics and crafted a message that is, potentially, far greater than the sum of its facts and conclusions. The problem of the erosion of our culture is explained straightforwardly using no academic mumbo-jumbo. The detailing of the losses are heart-breaking to read. The current and ultimate consequence of this erosion makes me fear for the lives of our children. Berman’s proposed solution is elegant and realistic, within the limits he sets on the nature and purpose of culture.
My perspective on this matter differs with the author’s in three areas:
1. His limited definition of culture.
2. Culture’s influence in our lives.
3. The scope of the solution offered.
I’d formulated my opinions long before I read Berman’s book. They are contained in some of my past private correspondence. [Included as an appendix to the end of this commentary] and would be useful to read beforehand in order to understand the basis for my criticisms. To summarize: The “commerce-culture” is destroying life and the solution is in the hands of individuals rather than of institutions. If your imagination was piqued by my brief account then this book will almost overwhelm you with supporting data and observations on the problem.
First, I will acquaint you with a summary of Berman’s argument, using excerpts from the book’s Introduction, in quotation marks and indented. Afterwards, I’ll address these quotes and offer a different perspective from which to appreciate the full work. To wit:
Berman:
“…the documentation… [of] widespread functional illiteracy, of violent crime and gross economic inequality, of apathy, cynicism, and what might be called ’spiritual death’ –is quite overwhelming.”
“Still, we have ways…of hiding this from ourselves…such as the constant outpouring of new technological toys–and the media…keep our minds focused on the trivial and the sensational.”
“…the heart of our decline is, paradoxically enough, the vitality of this culture itself. American energy is quite palpable…There is always busyness in the air…”
“…our much-vaunted American energy is…shadow rather than substance. It is not merely that the swirl of activity masks a core of emptiness but…civilization [is] preserving the form of its central idea, but losing the content, the essential spirit…this phase has been aptly labeled ‘McWorld’ –commercial corporate consumerism for its own sake.”
“We will be able to achieve no distance from business culture since we will no longer have a life, a history, a consciousness apart from it.”
“This notion of invisibility–of no one in this glorious new age of corporate cyberglobalism being to blame because the system is not really located anywhere (but everywhere)–is important for an understanding of the present crisis…”
“…this malaise…developed ‘geologically’ as it were, in slow, cumulative accretions, and trendy formulas for change… [New Age movement, eco-activism or radical politics]… will not cut it…structural problems require structural solutions…”
“…real change is historical…The dissolution of corporate hegemony…is at least forty or fifty years down the road.”
“But until we can see this ‘from the outside’ as it were; until we really grasp that hype and life have merged…we cannot do anything about it.”
“My own solution to our contemporary cultural crisis–what I call the ‘monastic option’–is certainly a long shot, but at least there is some historical precedent for deliberate acts of cultural preservation forming a geological accretion of their own and eventually turning things around.”
“I am referring to…monks who were not able to fit into the disintegrating landscape of the Roman Empire…What Roman culture had discarded, these monks treated as valuable…they sequestered and copied the books and manuscripts that represented the greatest cultural achievements of that civilization.”
“When I speak of a new, contemporary class of monks…I do not mean…monastic orders. But I am talking about renunciation. Today’s ‘monk’ [new monastic individual or “NMI”] is determined to resist the spin and hype…he or she knows the difference between reality and theme parks, integrity and commercial promotion…has no truck with the trendy ‘wisdom’ of the New Age, and instead seeks guidance…from Flaubert or Virginia Woolf…has no trouble being labeled an elitist…The new monk is a sacred/secular humanist, dedicated…to Enlightenment values that lie at the heart of our civilization: the disinterested pursuit of the truth, the cultivation of art, the commitment to critical thinking, inter alia. Above all, he knows the difference between quality and kitsch.”
“This is a book for oddballs, for men and women who experience themselves as expatriates within their own country…I am convinced that there remains a vital core within us all that hungers for reality…”
This is pretty strong stuff, isn’t it? Now, let’s see how far it can be taken: My argument is for acknowledgement (and utilization) of an expanded definition of culture. A real, natural culture is one whose purpose is the perfection of human consciousness in as many people as possible, as soon as possible, thereby causing the return to a state of “heaven on earth” in Vedic terms, or “getting back to the garden” in Christian terms. I had, in my letters, (written before I read this book) unwittingly taken Berman’s idea to its logical extreme. Why stop short? After all, almost every culture with a knowable history records the existence of an era characterized as ideal society, followed by a loss of knowledge, resulting in devastation and subsequent prophesy about a return to grace.
It strikes me as ironic that a declared socialist like Berman didn’t mention Cuba as a model of success: society free of “McWorld”. Perhaps Cuban culture doesn’t reflect his idea of “…greatest cultural achievements of [western] civilization.” I believe that Cuba’s avoidance of kitsch derives from the state of its collective consciousness rather than from a belief in Flaubert. Another irony: the necessary qualities of the new monastic individual (NMI), as fleshed out in this book, more describe the libertarian world-view than the socialist. At this point I suggest Berman’s limited definition of culture: The sum total of particular intellectual and aesthetic expressions which are supposed to civilize their targeted humans.
According to this definition, western European culture had utterly failed to civilize our forefathers. Consider our history of behavior since the “Dark Ages”: This culture has killed and enslaved many millions of “sophisticated”, civilized enemies and “primitive”, indigenous victims over the centuries. Does our tradition qualify as a real, natural culture, or only as a synthetic justification for treachery? Was Roman culture worth saving for any other reason than its academic, intellectual value? I think not. What the author proposes to save of our western European culture is not, as he claims, the essence of civility and humanity, but only its impotent image. “McWorld” is merely a rough facsimile of that image.
There is a Vedic proverb: “The knowledge found in books stays in the books.” Wisdom, the quality that really needs to be recovered and saved- is not an intellectual asset that can be preserved in memory. Berman inadvertently points to the nature of wisdom with the quote: “…until we can see this ‘from the outside’…” -but describes this “outside” perspective in terms of a contrarian’s belief. There is another proverb: “New cloth can only be made from new thread.” Trying to erase a “false” belief by substituting a “true” belief only keeps one stuck in the mire of relativism, bereft of an absolute point of reference, where mischief is perpetrated in the name of “the good”.
This concept of “outside”, if considered for its most profound interpretation: as a state of consciousness, would indeed be a silent witness, unbiased, disinterested, unattached (renunciation), discriminating and embodying Enlightenment. These conditions, which partially define the means of Vedic knowing, are the very terms Berman used to describe his ideal NMI. Wisdom cannot be found in the greatest intellect, which is the ultimate insider. It cannot be found in the most pious heart, another insider trafficking in “the good”. Humanity is so ignorant of, and alienated from wisdom that we would not recognize it even if it manifested as a lighted bulb in a thought balloon floating over our cartoon heads.
Unfortunately for Berman’s sensibilities, we are obliged to look to the New Age subculture, which has served as an alternative to what’s left of western civilization as well as to “McWorld” ideology. Of course, most of New Age-ism is worthless hucksterism, but so is much of what is found in “traditional culture” (consider the valuation model of the art world). There is a bit of wisdom to be found in New Age thought if one will search diligently and is very discriminating. This wisdom is a re-discovery of a science called “Veda”, from ancient India, and is all about the essence of natural law, which is itself congruent with the definition of “reality”: For something to be real, it must be constant for all times and all places; it would be knowledge that is non-changing and unbounded. The intellect, on the other hand, properly deals with boundaries and labels, attempting to make sense of the objective, relative, material world.
Seeking for knowledge that transcends mere intellect is a valid endeavor because intellectual sophistication is itself part of the problem. The author himself attests to this in his reference to “cyberglobalism”: the genius that provides invisibility to the perpetrators of “McWorld” and preventing direct resolution of the problem. If we can agree that our current, hyped culture is unnatural, and begin to realize that its traditional predecessor was also unnatural, then how far back in time do we have to go in order to find a culture based upon natural law? Farther back, certainly, than the Romans and Greeks. I would propose looking as far back as the era of the Veda in India and then, rather than read about Veda, directly cognize it from an appropriate state of consciousness, as it was designed for.
Why this emphasis on naturalness? Because, by definition, Nature is life-supporting. And because civility ultimately means “supporting life”; that is, living gracefully rather than brutishly. The laws of nature are real and therefore embody wisdom, so this is the obvious point of reference from which to derive a culture. The author states that “…there remains a vital core within us all that hungers for reality…” Is it enough to settle for the reality of a “better idea”? Not when he cites evidence for “spiritual death”, a term referring to the lifelessness he observed in people. The hunger must be for direct experience of the totality of life, of Reality, and to become established in an absolute point of reference. That is an elitist endeavor if there ever was one. It will take all of the qualities of Berman’s new monk, and more, for him/her to become such a lighthouse for a blinded humanity. And that means fulfilling the potential of all cultures, not just a western one.
Berman’s findings and conclusions appear to be sensible enough, but only from within his safe, circumscribed view of reality: as a superior perspective from the top of the genetic evolutionary ladder. I find his reliance upon the “speculative art” of anthropology to be misplaced and short-sighted: the assumption that human intelligence is fully evolved and that we need only to preserve and make use of its best products in order to progress. And because Berman uses scientific opinion to support his deprecation of non-traditional approaches to the problems of culture, I need to remind the reader: Modern scientific disciplines, such as physics, anthropology, psychiatry, etc. and the liberal arts of history, philosophy, sociology and theology are not competent to evaluate concepts or phenomena outside of their defined ranges of investigation. Therefore, declarations on the supposed invalidity of non-traditional and “spiritual” theories and practices are unwarranted, irresponsible and fraudulent on the part of Berman and his bevy of scientific detractors.
Berman has written a trilogy of books on the evolution of human consciousness and indicates his understanding of the subject throughout this book. I feel obliged to call your attention to his relevant remarks [indented and within quotation marks] excerpted from the body of the text. I then respond to each excerpt with my take on the Vedic consciousness dimension in an attempt to indicate the inadequacy of the Western European Cultural perspective. Berman fairly teases us with his terminology, alluding to substantial advances in human evolution, only to retreat time and again, settling for incremental adjustments to our present “waking state” of ignorant consciousness. This state, simply put, means that the knower identifies with the object of perception (the known), but is ignorant, both of the process of knowing and of the unmanifest Self (knower).
Berman:
“There is no substitute for direct personal involvement…”
Why can’t a solitary person’s experience of transcendental consciousness qualify as direct, personal and involved? Especially since its practical utility has been measured scientifically.
“For texts…by themselves, cannot precipitate anything.”
Yes, I agree. And the reason is found in the Vedic sequence of manifestation: consciousness precipitates thought, followed by intellect, followed by perception, followed by the object of perception (in this case-a text), followed by action and culminating in fulfillment.
“…the twelfth century sense of religious renewal presupposed a new type of consciousness…of an inner life and awareness of the self.”
The author, throughout this book, uses the term “consciousness” (a more global state) in the place of more appropriate (localized) terms such as “thought” “idea”, “awareness”, “attention”, “perception”, “intuition” or “altered states”. In this instance he seems to mean: a redirection of ones waking-state attention to increasingly private thoughts and to ones conscience (super ego).
“[In] the early Middle Ages…there are no references to direct spiritual experience.”
The author seems to be referring to the kind of sensory and intuitive experiences described by Augustine and labeled “spiritual” through the Christian cultural filter. Although as exciting as a theme park, these experiences are not transformative in the sense that one becomes free of identification with the object of perception. They, at best, reflect a shift in belief and incremental changes in behavior towards the world.
“…interest in a real intellectual life…could not have arisen without the reemergence of a self to be interested in these things, and that process seems to have had a kind of spiritual or psychological shift at its center.”
The author uses “self” (global state) instead of the more accurate, localized term: “ego”. At least the author is getting the order of manifestation correct and recognizes that the inner precedes the outer. Now, if he can just imagine the source of this increasing abstraction of awareness, and what it must be like.
“…in the early twelfth century…there were suddenly great numbers of individuals interested in new skills and knowledge for personal advancement…”
The author contradicts what he stated elsewhere in the book: all change is incremental. In this observation, the author is inadvertently describing a phenomenon called “phase-transition”. An example from chemistry is found when a crystalline solid suddenly changes to liquid at 32° F. Since collective consciousness is also a system in nature, it should follow the same laws as other natural systems. Indeed it does, consider the “100th Monkey Effect”: Where researchers discovered that a monkey on one island learned a new skill and other monkeys copied it. When a certain number had learned the skill, then other monkeys on a different island suddenly began using that skill as well. This is a macroscopic example of phase-transition; in humans it’s called the “one percent effect”.
“In the United States today…we see the dissolution of interiority.”
That is true. But if ones’ interior consists only of thoughts, no matter how profound, then they cannot compete against the stimulation of our five senses by the intense, high-tech environment. The solution is to withdraw the senses from that stimuli and provide an alternative: the unbounded experience of the source of thought.
“Today’s monk is committed to a renewed sense of self…”
The author seems to refer to commitment to a different perception of ones’ ego. Again, exchanging one belief for another is not real progress. “Renewed sense” more broadly could mean leaving the ego, id and super-ego behind and experiencing non-changing Self.
“The more individual the activity is, and the more out of the public eye, the more effective it is likely to be in the long run.”
This sounds like a plug for Transcendental Meditation because the author is describing the very nature of that practice and of its measured effects on the individual and on society.
“[There is] a distinction between a ‘good’ Enlightenment and a ‘bad’ one. The former is the Age of Reason…which gave us our notions of critical analysis. The latter is the modern obsession with quantification, control and domination of the natural world.”
I wish the author would apply this distinction to his writing. He rejects the possibility of subjective processes causing objective results, such as research on the effects of meditation on health, for instance. He adheres to the safe notion that mechanical measurement alone can prove correlations of cause and effect. He seems to rely on the intellect alone to determine reality.
“There is no hope except in a new birth of science; that is, in raising it regularly up from experience and building it afresh…For the world is not to be narrowed till it will go into the understanding (which has been done hitherto), but the understanding is to be expanded and opened till it can take in the image of the world…For new discoveries must be sought from the light of nature…” –Francis Bacon, 1620
The scientific method, which is deified in this book, has itself entered into a “formal phase” where it is more religion than science. An example of this: the investigation of consciousness in the light of physics, because it is not in the previous experience of scientists, has met with rejection by the small minds that control research and funding. The author describes this kind of study as “New Age” mysticism, rather than part of a new birth of science. He is guilty of narrowing the world to fit his understanding.
“…an Enlightenment ancestry, the ideal of the pursuit of knowledge and ‘the new’…”
If only the author was as open to “the new” as his grandly eulogized Enlightenment era was.
“At the very least, these ‘new monks’…could provide a kind of record of authentic ways of living that could be preserved and handed down…”
According to the author, only rational ways of living may apply, which means object-oriented, please; and you had better be able to prove the validity of your world-view where he can see it.
“…the Great Books program is really a way of life, not a database…what is required is that it be embodied, preserved through ways of living.”
Embodied, preserved; I wonder if that is like embalming knowledge? How about becoming pure knowledge? The author obviously believes that is impossible, so why consider it.
“…an individual is a vehicle for a healthy culture…”
So true, when the sovereign nature of individuals was honored, our culture was most healthy. I wonder if the author has considered the possibility of training individuals to cognize an entire culture, or all cultures, in seed form, as unmanifest potentials lively in his awareness? The benefit would be: elimination of the illusion of “enemies”.
“In order to grasp the nature of ‘monastic’ psychology, we need to understand the concept of nomadic consciousness, or what might be called ‘spiritual nomadism’…their work breaks with fixed forms, and it is often about the idea of breaking with fixed forms.”
I wish the author would give us a break from his own fixed forms cast in the concrete of empiricism. That world-view depends upon the presumption that the investigator is aware of all possible alternative outcomes and can discriminate between them for the “true” answer. Of course, in the real world, he doesn’t do that at all. After discarding alternatives alien to his beliefs (scientific religion), he chooses the “best” answer from whatever evidence he can partially comprehend. Science then advertises this “best guess” as our new truth.
“`…the experiment of earthly life…may well be hailed as a tragedy, the tragedy being that no device has been found by which these private decencies can be transmitted to public affairs.’ –E.M. Forster”
The author, in employing this reference, betrays his ignorance (or rejection) of the “One Percent Effect” and “Super-radiance Effect” research of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi since 1970. As a scholar of consciousness, it’s difficult to believe that he had not looked at this research which documents the transmittal of “orderliness” in individual consciousness to the collective consciousness in hundreds of communities around the world. The effects were measured by correlating brain-wave “coherence” findings with changed behaviors.
“Calculus…began as a nomadic science…its focus was almost completely on process, on becoming.”
Sounds like a description of the Vedic ideal of meditation: process-oriented and becoming “Being” in the realm of pure subjectivity. The problem is, you couldn’t write it down, so it doesn’t qualify as a nomadic science.
“In the nomadic mind…The road to truth is always under construction; the going is the goal…`Thought is loyal to itself only when it moves against the incline.’ And this is the great legacy of the ‘good’ Enlightenment tradition—that it is always moving against the grain, always asking us to look deeper into life.”
Regarding investigating pure consciousness, you either are the truth, or you aren’t. Its acquisition is known as the “pathless path” for a reason. Attention moving in the opposite direction of the normal flow of thoughts is the process of transcending. This is the very definition of “depth” in life, of the vertical (inward, more abstract) expansion of knowledge. Experience of this precipitated the 16th -19th centuries Enlightenment periods and deserves to be considered as necessary for the New Enlightenment.
“The NMI (new monastic individual) is the purist embodiment of the human spirit.”
The author is either unaware of the possibility of advanced levels of consciousness, as evidenced by the enlightened saints of India (and a few of the early Catholic saints), or he simply refuses to acknowledge the validity of non-western cultures. Even in his own back yard, the life of Peace Pilgrim would serve as a definitive example of the true frontier of purity and power of the human spirit. Her world-view was, inadvertently, Vedic and enlightened.
“…Nietzsche once remarked, ‘It is the mark of a higher culture to value the little unpretentious truths.’”
Again, the contributions of non-western cultures are being dismissed as “New Age” garbage. And again, Peace Pilgrim’s simple message was largely ignored. So I would conclude that ours is not a higher culture.
“…the key concept [of the Enlightenment] was that of improvement.”
The key concept of the “New Age” sub-culture was that of improvement, also. And it is likely that both sub-cultures contained their fair share of worthless pedagogy and failed notions. If the author wants to skim the cream from one and eulogize it, then he is obliged to at least look for any cream in the other.
“The Enlightenment vision of unlimited improvement and total knowledge of the world, is no longer credible.”
If such a vision was credible 500 years ago, what specification of human potential has changed since then -to eliminate that possibility for today? I guess the author feels that everything that is worth discovering has already been discovered.
“The notion that one day all knowledge will be unified in a few basic principles…is just not tenable anymore.”
Unified Field Theory of quantum physics has proved to be the most successful investigation into the nature of reality in the history of science; and its application to the description and function of the field of consciousness has been successful as well. Again, unification was more tenable 500 years ago, huh?
“The truth, surely, is that we can know some things, and that that knowledge is worth having.”
The guardians of academia will inform you of what those “some things” are. The “other things” cannot be known, and are worthless. The boundaries are the truth, and we all know that limits are absolute. There is only one valid means of gaining knowledge-intellectual. Therefore, Albert Einstein’s belief, that his discoveries represented only a small fraction of his mental potential, must be delusional because the author knows that humans are as evolved as they ever will be.
“…it does seem to be the case that E=mc²…really is universal knowledge valid for all time…”
The author allows, for this one time only, the possibility of absolute knowledge—proven true by the successful detonation of thousands of atomic bombs—providing that such knowledge can only spawn from the scientific method. (As if Einstein used that to create his theory.)
“`To the extent that philosophical positions both confuse and close doors to further inquiry, they are likely to be wrong.’-E.O.Wilson”
It is ironic that western philosophy, an art form that is entirely subjective, would deny the validity of Vedic Science, which investigates the experience of pure subjectivity. The wholesale rejection of cultural contributions from outside of the western European is wrong-headed, especially in light of the large pool of non-European cultures resident in the USA and in Europe. No culture functions alone, not in these days of easy travel and rapid information transfer.
“The knower is part of the known, and the knowledge is probably provisional.”
I could not have described the waking state of consciousness, the Vedic “state of ignorance” better. And the author calls this bit of NMI genius “reflexive thinking”.
“…the individual reflexively sees through his or her own cultural conditioning and refuses to be blindly driven any longer…”
Mission Impossible: to remain identified with the object of perception and at the same time deny ones attachment to it; therefore becoming objective in ones perception. -–This message will become “post-modern” in 30 seconds. The world’s spiritual and scientific traditions are filled with prescriptions like this and all have failed to bring freedom from attachment and an unbiased perspective. The “principle of the second element” must be adopted in order for real freedom to be lived. In other words, the solution to any problem is transcendental to that problem.
“At this point, of liberation from the conditioning of culture, the individual comes face-to-face with the problem of the meaning of life, and can find no secure answer.”
Dividing the mind like this makes it difficult to focus on the problem. This is especially true if meaning is sought before identification of the object is established. Put another way: before we can know the “why” (meaning) of something, we must know the “how” of it; and before we can know how something became what it is, we must know “what” it is; and before we can know what something is, we must, as the author himself stated, “…see this from the outside…”. Yes folks, IT must be transcended-completely, absolutely, experientially. What mere intellect cannot accomplish.
“`It is only at this point that one can speak of an authentic religious consciousness for our time…’ –Ernest Becker”
Because we are living during the lowest point of Kali Yuga, the most ignorant epoch of the four Yugas, or Vedic time-cycles, it is appropriate to ascribe “authentic” to a religious awareness characterized by uncertainty and subsequently, fear; for the former indeed causes the latter.
“The monastic option…combines the Enlightenment search for truth with radical unknowing.”
I applaud the author’s humility: admitting his inability to know anything approximating truth. This is appropriate for those NMIs who prefer to limit their search to the rational and empirical. The historical record is filled with citations about direct experience of the unbounded, non-changing field of consciousness where an absolute point of reference is cognized. The author can call it mythology or “New Age” imagination. But recent research, correlating subjective experiences with objective effects, cannot so easily be dismissed.
“Unless the human race can really break with…the tendency to deal with its fear by means of wielding power, the post-Great Collapse society I have described probably will not amount to anything more than wishful thinking.”
The last Roman philosopher left standing, may have uttered similar words just before the Dark Ages descended upon him, and his prophesy would have stood the test of time. Here again, the author is asking too much of a society that he has limited to, at best, “radical unknowing”. The notion of “dealing with its fear” is itself a “New Age” sham. This suggestion amounts to a pathetic rear-guard action that has no chance of success, but does serve as a convenient “out” for the prophet of uncertainty.
Fear is the product of ignorance, the very state of our consciousness today. We are fear. Until a significant minority of each nation’s population (square-root of one percent) causes a phase-transition in its consciousness, so that the collective “we” transcends this sphere of not-knowing, we will remain fearful of the unknown.
The “fight-or-flight” reaction to fear is completely natural in our present state of consciousness and will not respond to rational dealings. Western philosophers and scientists are hopelessly stuck in the “formal phase” of knowledge and I would not like to see NMIs embark on their pilgrimage with that handicap. The new frontier is “inner space” and the mainstream ideology, including this book, is not going to help you to search there. That is the weakness of western European culture.
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APPENDIX
(excerpts from two letters to family, from Panama -on culture, 2005)
“Commerce-as-culture” is facilitating the final disintegration of any remnant of “real” culture in the USA (and every developed country). I submit a definition of REAL culture: To borrow from Maharishi: each distinct area on earth constitutes a unique combination of geography and climate. The laws of nature governing the maintenance and evolution of everything and everyone located in that area are different from the laws found elsewhere. All local entities, whether mineral, plant or animal, follow those laws (adapt to that geography/climate) in order to evolve in their unique ways. They follow their cultures.
That is why there are different cultures on different: continents, countries, provinces, districts, cities and villages. A culture exists (especially if it retains a lively “transcending” component) for the purpose of refining the senses of its members. Using this tool, they increasingly appreciate and follow the natural laws that are expressed in their unique location on earth. The payoff for a society living in tune with natural law is enjoyment of increased support of Nature for fulfilling their individual and collective desires, resulting in acceleration of that society’s progress. Isn’t this the common goal of all human societies?
The original motive for mans’ invention of republic, the political system that is regarded as the most civilized on earth, was to promote human diversity. Think about it: Ancient Greece enjoyed artistic and academic progress by encouraging the free expression of new and alien ideas generated both from within its own varied populations and imported from outside cultures.
The modern Republic was designed to support local cultures by extending supreme governing power to the smallest group entity, the county (district), which was directly ruled by its sovereigns (citizens). Exercising their power to create local laws would ensure cultural preservation for a unique population. The next broader entity, the state (province) only governed inter-county relationships; it did not deal directly with individuals. The next broader entity, the nation, only governed inter-state relationships; it did not deal directly with counties or individuals. In addition, the national entity protected its cultural integrity from debasement by neighboring countries.
Unfortunately, there is no living example of a republic. 200 years ago the USA was the model for this new politic. Today, it is debased, twisted upside-down into a top-down ruled oligarchy that behaves like a royal empire with imperialistic designs. Our centrally controlled bureaucracy, like that of China and the former USSR, has been systematically breaking down all of our unique cultures and homogenizing them into one standard. In our case, this standard is a synthetic culture called “commerce”; synthetic because it is not derived from Nature. It is non-adaptive (monolithic and rigid), unstable (no foundation in reality), disintegrating (eliminating diversity), polluting (on physical and psychological levels) and deadly (not life-supporting). This decadent phase is going to last for some time, but it will go the way of all dinosaurs much sooner than most suspect.
This “commerce-as-culture” works the opposite of real culture: it dulls the senses. It’s obvious to anyone who bothers to stop and observe: the music, fashions, foods, TV and films, advertising, acceptable behaviors, politics and militarism; all are becoming increasingly coarse, loud, invasive, indecent and all-pervasive. This experiential overload dulls our senses of perception and interferes with refinement of the senses, awareness and the process of transcending. On the other hand, as a consequence of the cultural isolation and economic suppression caused by the USA, Cuba is largely free of this form of capitalistic “progress”. What about overt militarism? My source insisted that he never once saw soldiers anywhere on that island; and the rarely seen police are unarmed.
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SIDEBAR: Where is this freedom that the USA so proudly “defends” against third-world “enemies”? Here at home, wherever local cultures try to prevent commerce-culture from polluting its own, our society efficiently strangles that resistance in the name of “progress”, “morality”, “community standards”, “integration”, “democracy”, “freedom of [my] expression [in your space]” or any other catchphrase. This kind of repression is inflicted on the ethnic minorities, the religious minorities, the political minorities and the sub-cultural minorities (affiliated groups such as artists, nudists, organic farmers, alternative health consumers, home-schoolers, etc.). This centralized, majority-rules pogrom represents the opposite of the original intent of the USA. It is designed to destroy uniqueness, individuality, privacy and “the unalienable right to pursue happiness” (enlightenment –in whatever form you can appreciate the notion). All of this is occurring on a more fundamental and subtle level than the familiar police-state efforts of our neo-con controlled government.
END SIDEBAR
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In contrast to Cuba, Panamá enjoys a constant barrage of commercial enticements in all of the media, just like in the USA. What makes this kind of exposure especially cruel is that the gap between the goal (possessing all the trappings of the “good life”) and the reality is so extreme and unbridgeable that it causes a sense of frustration to permeate society. This is caused by a perception of deprivation: to be constantly reminded of what you are missing; to be defined as a success or failure by the cultural yardstick of commerce. This is truly debilitating; to Panamanians and to any under-developed society.
The result of this kind of frustration is a society of economic cripples. The victims’ choices are:
A. Giving up and living a “life of quiet desperation” where the desire to progress, even on the spiritual level, is extinguished. Or
B. Aggressively competing legally and illegally to take whatever one can from whomever one can, damaging individuals and society in the process.
Any concept of spiritual refinement is too abstract to be perceived by one whose senses are so dulled by such activity. But the “bell-curve” of population distribution demands that there be some relatively enlightened folks here, as in any other country. I will keep my ears open for wisdom and intelligence.
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SIDEBAR: Capitalism can lead to individual fulfillment, but only under the Darwinian principal of “survival of the fittest”. That is only natural, isn’t it? So what’s not to like? I’ll tell you: In nature, the king of the forest can only capitalize on what he can defend in person. Therefore, the unequal distribution of wealth is localized and temporary. The less fit competitors have options: either bide their time until the king is unfit, or move to unclaimed or lesser-defended territory. In other words, there is no permanent ruler or permanent underclass of “have-nots”. Authority shifts around to different groups at different times, depending on their changing powers and ingenuities.
In humans, the capitalist’s domain can extend well beyond his personal reach, absorbing the wealth of thousands or millions of people. He can eliminate competitors and control his business sector for decades. How can this be possible in a free market? By using a tool called government. This tool, created to preserve unique cultures, has been hijacked by private parties to artificially extend and defend their economic turfs. That is because government alone is empowered to defend culture by the use of force, even deadly force. It’s a devastatingly useful tool for creating and protecting ones hegemony, if one can gain control of it (And many capitalists have).
Under natural law, private persons (including corporations) cannot use force or fraud to acquire others’ property. The perpetrators would be punished; the jails are full of them (at least of the individual kind). The real culprit is not the capitalist who is naturally competing to acquire and defend his turf in the face of equals operating on a level, localized playing field. It is the politician and bureaucrat who together usurp and auction off to criminal capitalists, those fearsome government powers. Only then do the “officially” empowered capitalists proceed to eliminate their competition and rob the public. Banking is the most egregious example of such behavior.
The solution to this selling of advantage is simple: trim government authority back to its original scope and purpose (no power, except judicial oversight, over markets) so that this “tool” will no longer be available to the economic cheaters. Consequently, their ill-gotten power and advantage will become diluted by fair competition and the wealth will become more widely distributed. This is economic democracy, which is far superior to political democracy because the latter deals in power that can be stolen without being missed. Such is the case in the USA and in every other so-called “democracy”.
Commerce-culture was originally crafted to justify and preserve the usurpation of government power by central bankers, the controlling owners of virtually all corporations. Their successful strategy: brain-wash the now permanent class of have-nots into thinking that if they only play along—and not rock the boat, they too will enjoy life like their media idols. As a result, there is no political diversity, nor territorial options; only a relatively few permanent masters who exert control over nations of slaves. END SIDEBAR
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I can understand Maharishi’s current focus on the wealthy people in every country. The situation I described before the sidebar applies to the middle-class, working-class and the poor. He has noted the failure of TM to make significant inroads in these latter demographics. I suspect that in the beginning, He saw the potential usefulness of the “leisure time” that existed in the western developed societies. These efficient economies had provided a promising environment for evolution of the masses by generating and distributing wealth to a majority of the people. This permitted them to make time free to rest and recreate. Consequently, the arts, sports and academic pursuits gained general acceptance and increasing popularity; but the vision of possibilities for “rest” had not been realized.
The highest use of leisure time, the ultimate purpose of leisure time, is also the ultimate purpose of culture: to spiritually enlighten the humans who live within it. Leisure time is a gift to those few souls who deserved to be born into a culture that provided that resource. Rest, not activity, is the purpose of leisure. All activity is some form of labor, whether enjoyable or not. Labor is tiring and dulling to the mind and senses. It is a complete waste of leisure time to spend it in some form of activity when the highest use of such time is for rest; the deeper the rest, the better. The deepest rest is found in transcendental consciousness, whose physical artifacts measure out to be far deeper than the deepest sleep, but without losing awareness.
Those fortunate souls who have been born into a leisure culture, but who elect to stay busy acquiring wealth or power, have wasted their entire lives by squandering this opportunity to spiritually evolve. Culturing the mind, senses and nervous system requires free time and a rested body. These conditions do not exist in the lives of the vast majority of struggling humans on this planet. It would be the great exception, if not a miracle, to see someone from those ranks emerge enlightened by the end of their life. On the other hand, with these living conditions appearing to be commonplace in modern, developed societies, one should expect legions of enlightened beings emerging in each generation. Because such advancement of the human race is not happening in our leisure cultures, the opportunity is being wasted and those wasted souls will be demoted to lives of hard labor (which they so obviously enjoy) in their next life.
Unfortunately, commerce-culture advanced too rapidly over the last 50 years to allow for the emerging “rest technology” to gain acceptance. Workers, driven by advertising-induced obsession, worked overtime and took second jobs. The spouse and sometimes the children were recruited into jobs and/or home businesses in order to fulfill material desires instilled by the messages/images of “MORE, MORE, and MORE”. Natural cultures, with their philosophies and practices designed to create balance in life, were abandoned. “Wasted” time was put to “practical use” and leisure time shrank until most people didn’t know what it was. Planned activities, especially for children, replaced silence and free-form play (idleness). Introspection and even deep thinking became suspect in mixed company, in the workplace and especially in schools.
The life-style change required to meditate for 20 minutes twice a day became too much of a burden to commerce-culture brain-washed people. It is considered to be a New Age-style personal breakthrough to make the time to sit and do nothing for a few minutes, even once a day. Today, only the idle rich have the leisure time that was once available to the middle class–they who are trained to relentlessly chase the carrot on the stick.
ADDENDUM:
For the best logical description of higher states of consciousness and how to experience them, read the first section of “The Science of Being and Art of Living” by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
For the best first-person account of spontaneous transcendance into higher states of consciousness, read “Pathways Through To Space” by Franklin Merrell Wolff
For the best description of the practical application of an enlightened state of consciousness, read the second section of “The Science of Being and Art of Living”
For the best live account of living in enlightenment, read “Peace Pilgrim : Her Life and Work in Her Own Words”
