Radical Noesis - Thinking outside the box

Towards the end of "The Visitor," one of the "small gods" arrives to talk with the protagonists. It addresses them about the "Real One." The god most people and religions think they worship. In this "conversation," the small god makes the following comments"

"The Being whom I worship. The Ultimate who stands apart from time. The Deity some men think they are addressing when they pray with words. The Real One doesn't even perceive words. If IT did, imagine what IT would have to listen to! The Real One sees only the pattern of what is, where it begins and where it comes to rest. The only prayer it perceives is action."

"What does the Real One see? IT sees the maker and making of the device that kills,the buying of the device that kills, the placement of it near the child, the occurrence, the death. Only actions enter the pattern the Real One sees. What is. What was done. IT perceives neither intentions or remorse."

I don't know if the Real One "listens" or not, but Tepper's statement struck a chord with me and my beliefs. That is, that ultimately what matters (or if you are religious, goes in "the book") is actions and outcomes. It really doesn't matter if one had the "best of intentions," but what the outcomes were. Did they help or hurt; did they encourage growth or stunt it; did they encourage life or foster death?

These patterns the Real One watches are not just individual, but societal. What is the society creating and at what cost?

While some may quail at the idea that whole societies may be "judged," I think this is likely. A society, after all, is the collectivity of the people. Despite the governmental form, ultimately it is the people who have control. Do we "go along" because of persuasion and pressure (and sometimes that pressure is extreme), or do we say "No, this is not right." There is an overlap between individual responsibility and collective responsibility.

There are many forces at play in a society, and one of those forces is the shaping of people's lives. Daniel Quinn in Ishmael says that "we are captives of a civilizational system." By that he refers to the "stories" we believe to be real, and the way those stories shape our lives, actions and rules. The "captivity" is both mental, and physical, for the "rules" established means that not following them means personal death. In effect, "participate or you do not eat." But the "stories" go unquestioned by most and the outcomes can be disastrous.

If we take one aspect of the story we learn in the United States, it is that "man" is special - more special than anything else. "Man's" wants and needs supersede all other considerations. Beasts and birds, land and rivers, the very air we breathe must submit to our greater good. Of course, not all humans are equal, as some are less special than "we" are. They are less "civilized" (destructive, consuming, technological, etc.), and therefore closer to "nature" and therefore "beasts" who must submit or be "removed." Sometimes, the squeamish are quieted by "its for their own good," "we are saving them (or "feeing" them)."

Society also structures our lives and imposes other difficult traps. For example, the U.S. has created a society where money stands between self and every need of survival - food, shelter, water, health care, etc. We have also physically structured a society where both having a car, and optimizing time are interlocked. While this is starting to change, many employers used to ask if you had a car - even if there was no need for you travel as part of your job. Just having a car or not could make the difference between having a job or not having a job.

Most of us in the United States know full well that we are destroying the planet. We don't want to, but our society demands that we do. We must consume or our economy will fail. If our economy fails, people will starve (perhaps even us), and "the world will end." For those who do not want to consume, we will make products that break on schedule so that you must replace them. We make fixing them more expensive than replacing them so that we continue to consume.

So we destroy, and we destroy on both small and grand scale. The "Real One" sees the destruction. It matters little than we didn't mean to kill the earth and most of its inhabitants. We may be "captives," but society doesn't just happen. It is created and recreated by decisions and our participation. If we want to see a different outcome, then we must change the pattern.

It is said that "actions speak louder than words." Perhaps Tepper isn't so far off on what "god" is paying heed to.