"Don't let THEM immanentize the Eschaton!"
-Discordian Saying
Perhaps the metastasizing of Islamic terrorist cells has given you pause to think about what the hell might be really going on in today's world. Perhaps the fact that societies all over the face of the Earth are being ruled by ignorant crackpots has made you wonder about the various groups of rude and loud self-proclaimed liberators and activists who dedicate their lives to overthrowing the crackpots for a better share of their own stupidity has given you pause to reflect upon the world in which we live. Perhaps not.
You can laugh or give yourself an assumed air of superiority when faced with people like the Tibetans who have been invaded and nearly destroyed by an enemy that seeks to be the reigning stupidity on this Earth. The fact that they gave up fighting violently in the early days of the invasion and now refuse military methods of regaining their country has opened them up to a lot of criticism. But have you ever paused to think that maybe the Tibetans have simply decided to remain sentient and intelligent, no matter the cost. It's a tall order to do as the Tibetans have done: Remain humanely intelligent in the face of unrelenting and violent stupidity. Most of us when faced with the same would crumble over in a puddle of blaming the no-good shits or we would choose the reactive slavery of doing exactly what our opponents have done to us, or something equally stupid.
A stupid act to counter a stupid act just increases stupidity. Perhaps the Tibetans have been smart enough to see through this game and are refusing to play, no matter the cost, because doing so would lessen both their intelligence and their ability to choose. How many of you, when faced with even a little discomfort could say you have done the same thing: Remained intelligent and human in the face of whatever version of the "machine" you feel is dragging at your heels?
In all of the world's problems and violence and power and inequalities and threats and anxieties and fears and hatreds, have you become convinced that there is not a damned thing you can do? "Heaven on Earth is impossible," THEY say as THEY work in the open and behind the scenes to make a heaven for the few and a misery for the rest. And you may discover that you have bought this lie wholesale. Or maybe you have convinced yourself that if you play along at the choices stupidity (DUMB) has given you- cooperating or rebelling, which are merely the two sides of the same movement against intelligence- that you will be able to find for yourself and others some means of remaining comfortable, even as millions more will suffer.
The Eschaton is being immanentized, people. The question is: Are we going to keep letting THEM do it, or are we going to do it for ourselves and for every other person that would like to breathe some fresh air with their head held high for once? It is not written in stone. The Eschaton merely means heaven on Earth: The end of the bullshit that has been going on for the past few thousand years. THEY want to make sure THEY will be able to control this movement so that new forms of THEIR bullshit can be created. THEY care little to nothing about any of the millions of people who THEY have to enslave or destroy to achieve THEIR version of heaven on Earth: Endless servitude for a majority who will be so browbeaten that they won't even have a right to recognize their own faces. And endless wealth and enjoyment for THEM. THEY will use anything THEY can to achieve this. Whether terrorism, or wars on terrorism. Whether drugs, or wars on (some) drugs. Whether Christianity, or Islam. Whether Capitalism, or some new form of State-Capitalism. Whether a stable economy that keeps people numb and entertained, or a volatile economy of endless crisis and recessions. Whether through superstition, or through certain forms of science. It doesn't matter what it is to THEM, it can be used as a tool to not only get the control THEY claim to have, but also to convince you that such control is necessary and natural.
No one seems to want to tell you, or no one seems to want to admit to themselves, that we are each responsible for immanentizing the Eschaton. We are the Eschaton, the heaven on Earth, the ones who have a choice or a say in how we feel and behave. Every time you choose intelligence in the face of stupidity, you are taking away just a little bit more of THEIR means of control, or at least of direction. Every time you realize that joy is yours by right of simply choosing to feel joyful, you are giving yourself more options than THEY would have you see. Obviously, I agree with the Tibetan Buddhist observation that when one becomes free enough to be able to choose joy, one is becoming liberated. You may disagree with the way that it is expressed, but at least look at it for a moment. If we are intelligent, doesn't that mean we are looking for ways of being fulfilled and joyful from the infinitely more possible approach of not being stupid enough to make others suffer for it?
You can say that this is all a bunch of mystical hogwash, but it's actually psychological hogwash and if you are ready to clean the bullshit from your minds, you may find this wash to be of benefit. Or you may find a better way of expressing it. I am not saying we should blind ourselves in an assumed posture of ecstatic love-joy new age all is right sentiment. I am saying that choosing intelligence goes hand in hand with joy. The two cannot exist separately. Look around at the world and its inhabitants (including yourself, or selves) and see if this is true for you, not true, or maybe. You can obviously point to all sorts of individuals who are doing stupid things to themselves or to others (at some point the difference gets blurred) that seem joyful. But are they really joyful, or is it an act because they think they have to put on that show to prove how much better they are than others around them? Something to think about.
If you really want to, you can immanentize your own damned Eschaton, and the forces of DUMB can't do crap to control you once that process starts to happen. You can use any of the techniques that intelligent and sentient beings have developed or you can develop some of your own. But if you should seek the help of a mentor or friends, remember that real mentors seek no acolytes or followers and real friends will seek to share their own joy with you. And as always, don't let THEM (you know who THEY are by now) immanentize the Eschaton...at least until we can do it first.
-Irreverend Hugh, KSC
(Under the influence of reading Damned Things.)
August 15th, 2005