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Story 14 - Mission Africa.
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91
I took a deep breath and nodded. "You are a
slow learner, Tony. Yes, this is the reason why the world needs Africa. No lesser impetus will be sufficient to break our marriage to Adam Smith. It appears that this marriage was designed never to be broken. And that's where we stand. We have come to the end phase of an awesome divergence that began several centuries before Christ, that is typified by the divergence between the Platonic
method of thinking, that has been largely lost, and the Aristotelian method that pulled us away from our heart and soul as human beings,
that culminated into Adam Smith. We are now in the end phase of this decline from man to Adam Smith, and to the puppets we have become on his strings. Only on rare occasions, Tony, and only in times of horrendous calamities, did mankind pull itself out this
kind of a decline by a reverse paradigm shift to the tallest previously established traditions. This occurred
once during the mid 1300s when the Adam Smiths of that age had destroyed the economies of Europe until the looting banks themselves collapsed. As a result, the weakened populations could not resist the black plaque that soon swept like wildfire with such a ferocity that in some places there weren't enough people alive to bury the dead. After half of the populations of Europe died in this catastrophe the impetus existed to link back to the Platonic and Socratic tradition
of thinking. Out of this process of linking back to the Greek classical civilization, the Golden Renaissance was born. A similar process occurred in the early 1600s when after eighty years of wars, which were designed to destroy the Renaissance, half of the population had perished once again. The reverse paradigm shift that resulted from this tragedy culminated in the Peace of Westphalia and the development of the nation-state, including the founding of the USA as the first true nation state republic on the planet. The destruction of Africa in today's age matches in scope all the horrendous historic calamities that opened the door to a reverse paradigm shift in the past. We can achieve this again, Tony, with the requisite passion for Africa. If we can do this, we will survive, if not, we are doomed. In this context, the dangers that we may face during our mission, will be far less than the dangers that we will face if we fail."
I looked Tony into the eye. "So what do you say now? Do you still insist that I am dreaming?"
Tony just shook his head. "Peter, you're
nuts. You have your head stuck in the clouds. None of this will happen. The world
will go to hell before the nations commit four-hundred billion a year to save
Africa. It simply won't happen. I just haven't figured out whether you are
serious in what you say, or whether you are joking. I always thought you were
a bit impractical, but this is way out in left field. You can't be
series."
"I couldn't be more serious," I said
to him. "What I am proposing is no joke. It has the most solid grounding
in the principles of the universe. What I am proposing reflects the principle
of the universal unity of good. That's the most deeply rooted principle there
is, as far as I can tell."
Tony began to laugh. "Sure, Pete? Now I am
sure you're dreaming."
"Don't judge the future by what you see
today!" I cautioned him. "Most of the present institutions that are running
the world today, that drove us to the point of the present collapse, will be
swept away, Tony. We are almost at this point now. The entire global system,
with a few exceptions, is bankrupt, Tony. Otherwise we wouldn't be in this
mess. The world is bankrupt physically, financially, morally, even
intellectually and religiously. Everything is gone. Nothing works anymore. The
powers that be, are desperately trying to hold the thing together by the skin
of their teeth, but they can't prevent it from disintegrating. It finished,
gone, Kaput!
"The problem with you is, Tony," I said, "that you are trying
to see a future that is modeled on the totally bankrupt system of today, the
same model by which everything has been ruined. If that is what you see, I
will have to agree with you that hell will freeze over before anything
constructive gets done. On that basis nothing will ever happen for the
redevelopment of Africa, that's certain. Fortunately, this is not the basis
that our future will be built on. The real future will be built on something
solid, on something real.
"When all the world fancy dreams disintegrate,
Tony, and much of the people's livelihood with them, people will look for
something that is real, something they can trust. They have no choice. They
won't survive a second screw-up. People will look for a new system that isn't
bankrupt from the outset, like the present greed based system has been, that
is based on the privatization of society's wealth. They will look for a new
system in the opposite direction. There, they will discover the principle of
the universal unity of good. They will discover that good is indivisible, and
that they had been foolish in trying to divide the indivisible. They will
discover that the principle of the universal unity of good is a foundation
they can rely on, that they must rely on if they want to survive and have a
new civilization.
"For the last few centuries, Tony, society
has chosen to mock this foundation, this universal principle, with the
arrogance of its deranged will, but it couldn't avoid the consequences. I am
betting that humanity will be looking at this reality when a complete phase
shift is required as people rebuild their life, and so humanity will build
itself a new future on that reality.
"That, Tony, is inevitable once the
present global bankruptcy of the entire system has finally destroyed all of
society's fancy illusions, together with its physical economic structures that
supports its living today, as these fall apart one one by one. That is also
the reason why our Africa project will work. It is built on the future. Tony.
We are on our way to build on the platform of that future that has not yet
unfolded. We can build on this platform safely, because it will come. This
platform is real. We are going to Africa in order to lay the first groundwork
for raising Africa into the realm of universal good. We are going to Africa to
build a mental foundation there, on which the required economic help, which
will be forthcoming, can be accepted.
"That, all by itself, is as big a
challenge," I said, "as it is to get this help for them. For that we
have to make the people to understand that the only principle that can save
humanity as a whole and its civilization, is the principle of the universal
unity of good. On this platform the rescue of Africa is automatically included
as an essential aspect of the redevelopment of the world."
"Man, you are dreaming," Tony repeated after I
had finished my little speech. He began to laugh.
"No, you are dreaming," I replied. "You are
stuck in the old world that is bankrupt beyond repair. Also, you are dreaming when you believe that we can survive in any other
way than on a world wide platform built on the principle of the universal unity
of good. You are dreaming if you think for one minute that this won't be our
future. The fact is, the whole of humanity has been stuck in its present rut on all of these
issues for far too long, just as we had once been stuck. That is why the
inevitable presently appears miraculous, though we should accept it as the most
natural thing like the rain. That is also why you don't want to face reality,
yourself, Tony. You don't see the principle of this future yet. You are stuck in
a dream world together with everyone else. Naturally, for all of these things to happen,
we also have to change our own
private world, and bring it also into line with the same principle of the
universal unity of good. That may be biggest challenge of all. Still, I have a
feeling that we have made a good start on this already. In that respect the
future has already begun. A few of the old bankrupt social systems and
traditions have already been swept aside."
"We have already begun, you say?" said Tony and began to laugh. "And how did we do this?" he asked?
"Oh, come on Tony! You know the answer. You are
involved yourself," I said. "Would Dag and Al be living with you if we
hadn't swept aside some of these old bankrupts social systems and traditions? Or
would Heather have kissed me good bye before leaving with Nicolai? We have made
big breakthroughs by becoming more honest with ourselves. What else could have changed us? Name me anything else that can break the
kind of chain of denial and self-denial, that had corrupted us. You can't, can
you?"
"So it all comes back down to you and Heather, doesn't it?" said Tony astonished. "We're back to
that, to repeating what the two of you had once attempted and couldn't pull off. God help us if that's all we've got."
I shook my head. "We have come a long way since then, Tony. Besides, do you have a better idea? People want to be honest with themselves, especially in regard to their sexual feelings for one another. It shouldn't take that much to break the stranglehold of denial
in the sexual domain. That domain isn't exempted, you know, from the principle
of the universal unity of good. If we make breakthroughs in this domain,
on a broad basis, I can almost guarantee you that we will see a spill-over happening into all sorts areas, even into areas where the deepest form of denial reigns supreme today. Once people become honest with themselves at the home gate, they will probably extent this
honesty quite naturally into the arenas of finance, economics, statecraft; covering the whole world; uplifting the world, especially in respect to Africa. Then, people will likely react in a very human manner, and in a meaningful manner. They may even decide that four-hundred billion, or even eight-hundred billion are not enough as an initial emergency response to this unfolding
crisis that has gripped Africa and the world. That is how the principle of the
universal unity of good will likely begin to unfold universally."
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