Kerdieekrdaad's Manifesto
We are in an imperative hour.
We did not chose the family, town, class, race, gender, country, generation or era into which we were born, and we will live without apologizing for these thing that we cannot control. At the same time, we realize there are many parts of our existence that we can control. We can try to do as little harm to others as possible. We can strive to find honesty in all parts of our life. We can find the power in numbers.
This is not the lost generation. We are stronger than past generations say we are. We are wiser than people believe, we have learned from past mistakes. We are not afraid, we know that things are going to get a lot worse; we cannot be controlled by fear. We have a lot to learn, and a lot to do. If anything were to be our downfall, it would be apathy. There are so many distractive pacifiers in our world today, so many easy, soft, distractions. They are handed to us so effortlessly. Do not take them! They cause laziness, credulousness and, worst of all, dependency.
This is a strange time to be alive. This is a time where most living creatures are suffering for the comfort of a few; where thousands die over the disagreements of a few. A country is not free if that freedom is dictated by the few, and dependent on the enslavement of many. This country's current sense of “freedom,”is fabricated, and at the expense of most of the world.
We as a species have become parasitic and self-destructive. Our spread can be seen from space. From up there, cities look like tumors, with veins that spread constantly outward, following rivers and coastlines as they expand. This is not a profound realization, just a logical observation. As a parasite, we will either destroy our host, or our host's immune system will destroy us. This too is not meant to be profound or melodramatic; every species as an expiration date. But what if the parasite could become beneficial to the host? Where would that change have to come from?
We are not trying to save the world. We are trying to save our little, tiny speck of the world. It's the only place we know where to start. And we know that we are not the only ones. This is happening all over the world. Until I meet my friends thousands of miles away, I will keep them in my thoughts, genuinely.
Maybe we're crazy. Some of us are certainly crazy. I am most likely a little crazy. I'd rather you call it that than naiveté. Crazy is what happens when children don't out-grow their unworldly nature. I'm keeping it for a while, and I'm going to see what happens with it.
There is no certainty that our actions will change anything. Things may very well continue as they have been, but if we do nothing, we'll never know.
A Note on Mythology and Messiahs
A Note on Mythology and Messiahs
Myth brings comfort; it brings a sense of belonging, and place. Myth brings explanation and fear and a sense of duty. Myth is controlling and liberating, archaic and contemporary. As long as there are humans on the earth, there will be stories that tell of their existence. Mythologist Joseph Campbell saw myth as the root of all other human activities. In The Hero With A Thousand Faces, Campbell states, “Religions, philosophies, arts, the social forms of primitive and historic man, prime discoveries in science and technology, the very dreams that blister sleep, boil up from the basic, magic ring of myth.”[1] Nearly every culture of every era has their own creation myth explaining how the world began and how humans came into it. While there are unique aspects to each culture’s myth, symbolically revealing how their culture sees its relationship to the universe, there are common motifs that reappear across cultures.
Right now, we have a few creation myths of our own. One common one is that an omnipresent god made the cosmos in seven days, and then made man in his image and woman from the man’s rib. Another common myth is that the universe, originally in an extremely hot and dense state, expanded rapidly, and continues to expand today. A few billion years later we have earth, and on earth life evolves. This is as good as we can do with the tools at hand. In a few thousand years, our descendants will look at our truths with amusement, curiosity or wistfulness.
There is no story more valid than another. There is science, yes, and until tomorrow’s science people generally will agree to it, but what the mind believes is as powerful as what the universe believes.
To create one’s own mythology is to declare that one is free from the burdens of the past; the truths of the past have much to teach us, but they are not our doctrine. We don’t need to be bound to it or its fate. It is a powerful thing to declare where we came from, to tell stories of our own heroes, our own villains, and our own explanation for existence.
Another archetype throughout cultures is that of the messiah or savior—a single individual who saves the masses from damnation. What a comfort, to believe that our salvation will come to us from an external source. All we have to do then is wait. But how would our behavior change if we knew ourselves to be the messiah? Every human on this planet their own savior.
The Messianic Age exists only within this moment. Let us all attempt to be masters of the universe, and let us all envision the universe as the step before us, or the galaxy that ends at arms’ length. We are grateful for the myths, the tapestries and temples erected in honor the spirit in the sky, but let them now instead keep our bodies warm and dry. Dear Past, we will never stop learning from you, but we are not bound to your beliefs, your mistakes, or you fate.
Let every human find his or her own comforting tale of the birth of light.
I will no longer feel guilt or ambivalence because of my ancestors’ actions. Nor will I feel victimized because of past wrong doings. I am so sorry and I forgive you. Moving on.
