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Monday, February 11, 2008

It is in our Nature to destroy History

After taking philosophy courses in college, I learned to observe the world with some more acute types of cause-and-effect revelations. One was observing human behaviour, and to find a non-stop trend of this behaviour for most of mankind's history. A couple great revelations for me were:

Every Human Being must deal with their Sexuality.

You can't go be a priest and declare celibacy. It doesn't work that way. Nevertheless, we end up with scandal after scandal in church after church with priests molesting boys. You have to express your sexuality, it's not something you can turn off. With rich and powerful people allowing themselves to be be compromised, you might think since they are such intelligent and calculating people, how they could allow this to happen. It is very unfortunate when people can't be comfortable with their sexuality and it comes out in an unacceptable fashion.

It is Man's Nature to Destroy History

Whenever I see images of ancient structures from around the world, they all have one thing in common. They have been nearly destroyed. The only ones that have stood the test of time are the solid rock structures, and even they are still damaged. There once was a huge library in Egypt, containing the fruits of knowledge at the time, with an ability for society to rise above feudalism. It was destroyed, and every single book inside burned. When the invasion of Iraq in 2003 reached Baghdad, the museum there was also looted. Today in the news, I read that an art gallery in Switzerland was robbed of extremely valuable works of art by Picasso, Cezanne, Degas, Monet, and Van Gogh. These stolen paintings are rarely ever found.

It Is Nature's Nature to Destroy History

I phrased my observation that it is "Man's Nature", because nature, left to itself, also tries it's best to destroy history. But Nature isn't being unkind, it is merely taking back the pieces of earth used to construct the structure. Any house left that is abandoned will eventually be taken over by plant growth and the elements. Wind and rain will eventually permeate the interior. Vines and the like are capable of breaking concrete and making their way through cracks. Birds and other other animals will take it over. However, it is man's own folly to not preserve pinnacles of achievement, the only artifacts left to teach us about a different age, thousands of years ago. When the Taliban took over in Afghanistan, they gleefully destroyed museums full of artifacts, and blew up two large statues of Buddhas carved into a mountain. What is most disturbing is another related axiom:

Those who do not Learn from History are Condemned to Repeat it.

Most people know this phrase from images of Jim Jones at Jonestown. But these words have been spoken also about the Iraq war in 2003. There were many in Washington D.C., including Viet-nam war veteran Colin Powell, warning about learning from the mistakes made during the Viet-nam war. So there are two forces of Nature that are working against retaining wisdom through the ages. We have it in ourselves to destroy old things, such as breaking the windows of an old farm house. We also have it in ourselves to deny our own history, forcing us to suffer the unneeded consequences of not heeding our own warnings.

The Truth Shall Set You Free

One thing that has become the electronic version of cosmic consciousness, is the world wide web. It is bringing open thinking to places in the world where it is forbidden. It is making the large corporate media lose control of their version of the news. Most importantly, it is preventing secrets from being hidden, and allowing the truth to be known. (Unless, of course, countries force corporations to take control of content on the internet). My blog handle is "KG Prophet", which is merely my initials paired with my favourite analogue synthesiser. However, the idea of being a forecaster, whether it be for business, weather, or intelligence, you need to keep your ear to the ground. To spot trends, or be able to see the forest for the trees, you need to compare the present to similar situations in the past. In the case of the Iraq war in 2003, many people, including Colin Powell and George H Bush, made accurate predictions about the chaotic results of the invasion.

How to Be a Prophet for Fun and Profit

Perhaps we can calmly look at the trends, and make pragmatic decisions about preventing new problems. Global Warming and it's consequences are one obvious concern. But, also the increase of military aggression by our country, causing other countries to change from a peaceful profile to a war posture. What caused my concern today is the proliferation of art museums being robbed of pieces of history, since most museums cannot afford the proper security. Lost to future generations is a chance to witness these works, (except once removed as a copy). The same will also be for many other landmarks, which have succumbed to Man and Nature over Time.