Weltanschauung

The Philosopher’s Stone

zenothestoic@protonmail.ch

Category: The Human Zoo

  • The Cranmer Prayer Book – does it still have relevance?

    The Cranmer Prayer Book – does it still have relevance?

    It does for me.  Perhaps it’s nostalgia, or a misguided sense of linguistic elitism, a reminder of past privilege. Or maybe all  of these, combined with a genuine love of the language and thought.

    Mattins in a country church or Westminster Abbey, sung evensong in the college chapel at Christ Church, Oxford.

    My flight of fancy turns to John Betjeman, to Sebastian Flyte and Aloysius touring the pre war English countryside in an ancient convertible.  To Jeeves and Worcester, cucumber sandwiches and Earl Grey tea on a sunlit lawn.

    At a deeper level, it fills my soul. I may have no belief but somehow the beauty makes my mind drift to good things.  Even if not towards the arms of the Blessed Virgin and the Son of God. My connection to the Book of Common Prayer is deep, very deep. And deeply held.

    And yet even the lightest dusting of historical awareness must tell us that its birth was far from immaculate. And it’s guiding light twisted and, by any reasonable standard, evil.

    Archbishop Cranmer was a man who tortured and murdered those who did not tow the protestant Zeitgeist.  Paradoxically, when Mary Tudor ascended the throne, she had her revenge and burnt good Cranmer himself at the stake.

    Many will excuse the murders by so many prelates throughout Christian history as being of its time. Those days were different, we are better now.

    I cannot condone such an interpretation.  There must have been men and women, even in those barbaric times, who realised the indecency and horror of what was done in the name of the church.

    Just as there are right thinking Muslims today who abhor the judicial murder and state sponsored terrorism so prevalent in the Middle East and beyond.

    Just as there are right thinking Christians who detest the twisted and vile Christian Right support of the bombing and mutilation of innocent men, women and children in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran.

    I detest and reject any god who can allow such behaviour.  I scorn any religion which turns morality inside out and encourages its followers in perverted cruelty and abject abomination.

    It’s not god’s fault they say: man has twisted his message. Perhaps then, a true god should light the sacrificial fires of his believers and prove his worth by intervening on this godforsaken planet.

    But there I go: round and round the garden path like a teddy bear. Same old gripes, same gobsmacked awe at the ghastliness of life on earth.

    It is a position I am not wholly dissatisfied with. Someone has to say it and keep saying it.

    If there is a god, then, in the immortal words of Randolf Churchill, he is a shit.

    Illustration: Two scenes on one sheet: above Thomas Cranmer being seized from a stage by friars and Catholics, below his burning to death at Oxford; illustration to a 16th-century edition of John Foxe, ‘Acts and Monuments’ (‘Book of Martyrs’).
    Woodcut

  • The tranquil beauty of The Morvan

    The tranquil beauty of The Morvan

    What a deceptive and misleading face it puts on.

    Today, roaming the gentle mountains and bucolic valleys of this remote paradise, I am reminded of nothing so much as the Rupert Bear annuals of my childhood. Alfred Bestall illustrated England as Blake hoped it had once been, and he could just as well have been drawing the Morvan.

    For the Englishman, nothing provides greater relief from the horrors of southern England, with its endless motorways, grim housing estates and omnipresent, tattooed, aggressively unenlightened masses.  Waiting to vote in the violence and pointless prejudice of the far right and it’s MAGA lookalike thugs.

    The historical  reality of the Morvan however, presents another face altogether from that presented to the simple tourist.

    France itself is reeling from the onset of modern Blackshirts, baying for the rights of the true French, using immigration as a tool to stir the less than agile minds of its ignorant supporters.  Once it was Jews, now it is simply foreigners.  The far right has positioned itself to capitalise on the rural economic discontent in this and other depopulated and poor rural areas.

    Was it ever the heaven that Bestall imagined in his drawings? Was it once a green and pleasant land where man lived in peace with his neighbours, cutting trees and rearing cattle?

    Was anywhere on earth? The answer of course is that it never was. And sadly never will be. I am lucky enough to be enjoying its natural beauty at a time of peace, but such periods never last.

    Violence has been a terrifying, structured reality here since it was first desecrated by the human stain.

    Perhaps in the remote, icy wastes of the North and South poles, peace was the norm, where few humans roamed. Or at the bottom of the deep – but no doubt we will get there too.  Perhaps Trump will frac it.

    Architectural evidence shows this area of great natural beauty was a scene of brutal and endless violence in the neolithic age.  It has revealed brutal massacres and ritualised violence.

    And so on through the ages (and no doubt further back through the aeons as well).

    The grizzliest (but non exclusive ) episodes seem to have been the Gallic Wars in Roman times, the territorial disputes with England in the middle ages, various religious conflicts, and of course the pointless slaughter of the two world wars.

    Insultingly, the historians wrap these conflicts in the guise of rationality. The Hundred Year’s war, they say, was a 116 year conflict between the Kingdoms of France and England. It was shaped by feudal land disputes and “royal” ambition.  What is a “king” then? How does a king from the 14th Century differ from the tyrants of today, the brutes at the top of the tree in the US, Israel, Russia or China?

    The differences are few.

    Peel back the treaties, royal lineages, and political maneuvering, and you will find that the Hundred Years’ War (like all wars) was driven by raw, deeply destructive human emotions: pride, intense humiliation, existential fear, and greed.

    At the top level it was a toxic struggle for dominance between two groups of rulers.  But the greed and bloodlust was not confined  to the “nobility” — they infected every level of medieval society, though it manifested differently depending on a person’s social class.

    While the lords and knights drove the high-stakes political gambling, the war created a predatory economic ecosystem where commoners, mercenaries, and peasants alike were driven by desperate greed, survival instincts, and a dark appetite for plunder.

    By the time the war ended in 1453, vast regions of France—including the Morvan—had lost up to half of their pre-war population to the grim cycle of raid, ruin, famine by design and sickness.

    I am not the first to rue the sad state of human affairs, nor, while the species survives, will I be the last.

    I wonder if more saw our history in such bleak, accurate terms, we would change our ways?

    I doubt it.

    On with my tour of the Morvan.  Perhaps best not to dwell on it’s dark history.

  • Far Right Extremism in the UK

    Far Right Extremism in the UK

    Extremism is no longer restricted to the Far Right. It is alive and well amongst the “normal” Conservative Party rank and file.

    I am deeply ashamed to admit that I know some of these people.

    I try and avoid discussions with those whose views I find distasteful, but somehow I got drawn in recently.

    Apparently all two million inhabitants of Gaza are terrorists, and genocide is a perfectly reasonable reaction to the recent slaughter of Israeli citizens led by Hamas.

    The endless bombardment of Lebanon by the IDF is fully justified self defense. Asked whether the Sabra and Chatila massacres were also justified, I was met by bewilderment.

    The US is entirely right to bomb Iran and slaughter its leaders and military as well as thousands of innocent civilians. 

    Israeli military operations, escalating settler violence, and the extensive expropriation of Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank have resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians and widespread displacement. Once again, this is all perfectly acceptable to the local Tory politician I was speaking to.

    Talk, negotiation and the barest human decency has, apparently, never worked and never will.

    There is little more I can say.

    I am deeply, deeply disgusted.

  • I see the enemy – and it is legion

    I see the enemy – and it is legion

    I writhe in fear, I am consumed by hatred. I build my own pyre out of the debris of bones which surrounds me and  I seek to drown my dread in the destruction of the hopes of others.  I pile my wagon high with rare earth and good things and I trample on the face of all who dare oppose me.

    You are my enemy, you seek to do me down. To thrust a knife in my belly, destroy my house and my trade. Strangle my offspring and violate my spouse.

    You are the horde of Mongols from the north,  you are the dark skinned immigrants who dare to cross my borders; you are the yellow skinned, almond eyed monster from the east who  challenges my global hegemony.

    You are the Jew who dominates my banking, you are the brown skinned Arab who dares to ask for a land of his own. You are the black who sucks up my aid and folds it deep underneath the pavements of the Bahnhofstrasse.

    Everywhere in every corner of the planet I see my enemy.  He worships an idol and I the True God.

    I destroy his temple, I trample upon his burnt offerings.

    He is Shaitan, the Devil. He is Mara. He is Apophis and Ahriman.

    I have the right to live, to thrive. To conquer, to destroy.

    Each and every one of you is my enemy.

    Image: The Triumph of Death by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

  • And God so loved the world he sent Trump

    And God so loved the world he sent Trump

    To be a light to his people MAGA.

    And seeing the multitudes, the Blessed Trump went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him. There was Pete (called Hegseth) and Vance (the Crusader) and many other blindly loyal followers.

    And Trump opened his mouth, and taught them, saying:

    • Blessed are the greedy: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
    • Blessed are the vicious: for they shall inherit the earth.
    • Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after violence: for they shall be filled.
    • Blessed are the un-merciful: for they shall obtain their just reward.
    • Blessed are the corrupt: for they shall see God.
    • Blessed are the war-makers: for they shall be called the children of God.
    • Blessed are they which persecute: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
    • Blessed are ye, when you revile men, and persecute them, and say all manner of evil against them, for my sake.
    • Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward here on earth.
    • Ye , MAGA, are the light of the world. A people that is set on an dung – hill cannot be hid.
    •  Let your greed and cruelty so shine before men, that they may see your vile works, and glorify me.
    • Think not that I am come to destroy the law, : I am not come to destroy, but to twist and use it.
    • Whosoever shall do and teach my commandments, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of earth.
    • I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with the world without a cause shall be in receipt of great rewards: and whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in my good books forever.
    • Leave there thy gift before my altar, and go away: for I will spend it on a Bootiful, Bootiful new arch. And ballroom.
    • Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: but this was total bollox.
    • And if thy neighbour’s right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee.
    • It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: but this was also total bollox. Don’t give her anything.
    •  Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: now they got this one dead right.  Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, nuke him and his wife and children and all his family.
    • And if any man will sue thee at the law, take away his coat, and kick him into the gutter.
    • And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, stick it to him.
    • Don’t give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee tell him to fuck right off.
    • Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. This is bollox: hate everyone and cheat them.
    • Be ye therefore a deranged and vicious narcissist, even as I am.
    • But when thou doest alms, let thy left hand take back what thy right hand giveth.
    • But when ye pray, use vain repetitions: the more vain, repetitious, hypocritical crap you use the better.
    •  And lead us into temptation, and evil: For mine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
    • For if ye forgive men their trespasses, I will send ICE round to detain you in a horrible prison. Or maybe just shoot you.
    • Lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth. They are the only type worth having.
    • No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Don’t serve God: suck it up with mammon.
    • Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; idle fuckers. Are ye not much better than they? You betcha: drill baby, drill. Bugger the biosphere.
    • For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. So wipe ’em all out and they’ll never bother you again. Eradicate Gaza and the entire Iranian civilisation.
    • And it is said Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye. Bollox to that.
    • Give not that which is valuable unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you. Fuck ’em.
    • Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: Then I’ll send ICE round. Or Pete here will give you a good seeing to.

    And it came to pass, when Trump had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: even the great people of MAGA said:

    Verily we have a right shit amongst us. Impeach the fucker.

  • The Crusaders

    The Crusaders

    Deus Vult

    There has to be a better way.

    Yet another humanitarian crisis as a greedy  narcissist chases money and a couple of “Christian” extremists seek Armageddon. 

    The brutal Dark Age Theocracy in Iran massacres its own people, but nobody seems too concerned.  Least of all the Zionist government in Israel, which continues the slaughter to maintain its  biblical dominion over land “god” gave the Jews.

    The only imperative is for peace and a cessation of violence. The only relevant issue is how to bring this about.

    Whose fault the current atrocities are is of little consequence beside the need to stop the killing for good. On all sides. The endless revenge and counter revenge, the tit for tat where even small children are taught to hate the perceived enemy. The truth is that we are our own enemy.

    There is no country, no society which can claim to be “good”. There are only degrees of “bad”. And the bad is not Satan, not some external imaginary monster. It is us. We are the monsters, big and small.

    Every aspect of our behaviour is competitive, itself a form of aggression. More money, land, food.  Gold, jewellery, real estate. Be better than the neighbours and if possible take what they have by commerce or it’s near relative, force.

    That is us, that is humanity and it’s time for real change. Time for each of us to reform his own personality and behaviour, to lead by example. To rein in temper and aggression, whether in our driving habits, our profession or business. To forget about the ego, self. To think of the common good instead.

    There will never be agreement on which god is best, which view is right, what is beautiful, what is ugly. And that doesn’t matter if we cease fighting about it.  10 billion people live on a planet owned and controlled by a small minority.  10 billion people are governed by a hierarchy, by an elite. True freedom and democracy doesn’t exist but at least we could improve it by ridding ourselves of hierarchy – both in terms of wealth and government.

    But those are longer term goals. What we need to do immediately is to stop the brutal slaughter and replace bombs with words. Replace ignorant hatred with understanding and compassion.

    Negotiate, even with the Theocracy. Bring them round, help them. Lift the sanctions making life so difficult for a mostly blameless people. Bring back diplomacy and reason.

    Above all, give kindness and hope. Do unto others.

  • Middle East Slaughterhouse

    Middle East Slaughterhouse

    Who’re you rootin’ for?

    A vicious and bigoted Dark Age Theocracy? A bunch of murdering thugs in the Likud Party? The Hesbollox religious nutters? The delightful Houthis? Or perhaps the Ginger Pygmy and his ill educated rednecks?

    Let’s face it, it’s not much of a choice. The similarities are more striking than the differences and god help us if the November mid terms are high jacked by the moron in the orange toupee.

    So much for the War to End All Wars. So much for the UN and all the rest of the useless related paraphernalia.

    So much for the equally absurd religions of the US Christian Right, the insane Jewish extremists (whose god promised them dominion over the entire Middle East) and the Arabs.  Hilarious to think they all worship the same god, and all believe god is with them in their murderous endeavours.

    Equally amusing to realise the Jews of Israel and the Arabs of the Middle East are of the same racial stock.

    I was at evensong last night, listening to Numbers 21. Guess what, the Jews kicked the shit out of King Og of Bashan – a Syrian gent.

    “And they turned and went up by the way of Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan went out against them, he, and all his people, to the battle at Edrei. And the LORD said unto Moses, Fear him not: for I have delivered him into thy hand, and all his people, and his land; and thou shalt do to him as thou didst unto Sihon king of the Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon. So they smote him, and his sons, and all his people, until there was none left him alive: and they possessed his land.”

    Nice bloke old Yahweh, innit. Trouble is he’s playing a double game. Whose side is he on? God knows (no pun intended).  The US and the Jews? Or the equally pleasantly behaved Mohammedans?

    It’s anyone’s guess really, and always has been.  Some god eh? The treacherous swine.

    How sadly pathetic that the past is endlessly repeated. How sick and evil our species is.

    Endless wars over endless thousands of years and all over the same petty human concerns.

  • Trump Uber Alles

    Trump Uber Alles

    Heil Donald.

    I went to evensong last night and I find myself wondering why.

    The answer is assuredly that I find comfort in the extraordinary beauty of the high Anglican tradition.

    I have done so throughout my life – from prep school aged 8 when I sang in a glorious Saxon church, through public school when I attended daily morning prayer in Westminster Abbey, through to university when I would sit in the ancient college chapel which doubles as Oxford’s cathedral.

    Does this sound snobby, smug and self congratulatory? Highly probably, and there is a certain element, even in my conscious thoughts, of economic and class privilege which has enabled me to lead a life which most would find highly privileged and pampered.

    My privileged life is not something I regret and I feel no need to apologise for it. And yet I am very, very grateful. I acknowledge my enormous luck, the random chance of having been born into an environment which has given me so many advantages.  Which I have done nothing to earn.

    I was reluctant to go out in the freezing cold last night, but I had a hankering to hear what our good natured priest might have to say about the state of the world.  And in particular the ominous rebirth of fascism in the US and throughout Europe.

    For some the church is all about doctrine and so it transpired last night. Had I bothered to reflect a while before going, I would have realised that yesterday was the date for the celebration of the Pauline Ephipnay.

    I have to say I have always found good old Saul grating in the extreme. Pompous, bombastic and nonsensical. Jargon ridden hogwash.  I’m a Jesus man, me.  The Sermon on the Mount says it all – all the rest I find absurd.

    I cannot and will not believe in god in any conventional sense, and as for the “love” of god, where is it to be found in this brave new Trumpian world?

    Although of course there is nothing whatsoever new about the mean Ginger Tyrant’s base behaviour and sick motives.

    My heart sank last night when the good preacher mentioned nothing about the state of the world but instead droned out St Saul’s tedious doctrinal balderdash.

    What would Jesus the man have made of our world?  Perhaps he would suggest “rendering unto” Trump, Putin and Jinping. Some say the historical Jesus sought not change on earth but adherence to a separate world of god. I’m not so sure. I prefer to imagine the historical Jesus would have suggested practical and positive ways to improve earthly happiness and to achieve an egalitarian and just society.

    Even if only by way of example. By the life which he and his disciples led. And that, for me is what Jesus was all about. And is about. And as such he has much in common with many of the world’s spiritual leaders, not least the Buddha.

    The trouble is it is rather hard to render unto Trump when he has his boot in your face. When he is dismantling the US Constitution and its precious safeguards.

    Just as it must have been hard to render unto Hitler when he was herding you to the death camps.

    But if the church is to remain relevant, it cannot, in my view, stand by and preach some imaginary heavenly kingdom when the likes of Trump are creating a real, visceral hell on earth.

    It should not be preaching preposterous, convoluted Pauline gibberish when the stormtroopers are marching the streets once again intent on murder and mayhem.

    Perhaps the separation of church and state is a mistake. I do not think we should be rendering unto Caesar.

    I am with Bonhoeffer. I don’t want to assassinate anybody (even the evil ginger pigmy) but I would like to see the church pushing for more relevance. For egality, for justice, for the rights of man.

    I would like to see “my” church, “our” church calling for jam now rather than jam tomorrow. I would like to see our church in all its beauty and majesty contributing to a vision of what life on earth could and should be like.

    I have no doubt my views will cause great offence to those of a more doctrinal disposition, and for that I apologise. But I do have “Faith” of a sort and I maintain my right to proclaim it.

    My god may be that of Spinoza and Einstein but my god has a profound belief in justice, democracy and “love”.

    You will never see any politician up to the job – so perhaps the preachers could make more of a positive and active effort to transform society.

    I admit that I have no idea quite how but I must give the matter further thought.

    I will continue to reap the enormous benefit I find in High Anglicanism. I will continue to sit in our beautiful churches and listen to the extraordinary music Christianity has created. I will continue to be bowled over by the beauty and vision of our art and our architecture.

    And I will hope that the spirit of Bonhoeffer will encourage us all to work towards a world where the meek can inherit the earth.

  • Man is born free and everywhere he is in chains

    Man is born free and everywhere he is in chains

    As the world writhes in the grip of rapidly increasing extremism and greed, it would be well to imagine what a better world would look like.

    A peaceful but profound revolution is needed in the way society is organised to achieve the highest possible degree of equality.

    It is sad to witness the behavior of the ruling US political class, and it would be unfair to blame the appalling shift in emphasis on the President alone. Primarily one must blame the voters, although once in, it is difficult to dislodge a rogue president, especially when his own party has a majority in both Houses.

    Behind Trump stand men and women equal or worse, ready and no doubt willing to take his place as age withers him. The talk is of aggression and power: we shall take what we want from the rest of the world whether you like it or not. Their playbook is depressingly familiar.

    Not satisfied with inflicting violence on foreign sovereign states, the ruling elite is also intent on coercing and subduing its own people. Those who dissent are swiftly dealt with by branches of the state which ought to be separate and impartial, but which are quickly becoming part of the political machine. How many times in history have we seen the same moves played out. Fear is rampant and the state has its boot on the face of the people.

    ICE and the National Guard send chilling reminders of the jackboots which paraded roughshod over people in another century. Killings are no longer to be investigated – might is right. The elite is right and woe betide anyone who gets in the way.

    The US has been riding down this brutal road for a while. Guantanamo Bay and extraordinary rendition, torture and murder come to mind. Now the ruling elite seems to be turning on its own people.

    Leaders in Europe and elsewhere refuse to call a spade a spade. Refuse to express their disgust and distaste for what is happening in the US. So far, no action is being taken on the threats to Greenland and elsewhere, and it is difficult to see much that can be done if the military juggernaut and its violent drivers are determined to invade.

    But it is certainly time to cut dependence on the US. Time to cease being yes men. Time to stand up for decency against greed, violence and hypocrisy.

    Time to accept that what is happening is inherently evil, and that such evil is by no means new. And by no means an American monopoly. What country in the past has not relied on violence to subdue both its own population and that of its neighbours. What country has not invaded, enslaved, stolen. Murdered.

    And so I come to the point of my post once again – the need for draconian reform of human society. Everywhere. The need to make sure that people like Trump cannot rule over us.

    The need to make sure that no one can: that we have rules but no rulers. I am a Utopian but it does no harm to dream.

    So here are a few well rehearsed ideas on egalitarianism. Which will, of course, never see the light of day.

    Tax Reform

    Establish global high progressive wealth and income taxes, close tax loopholes, shut tax havens. Abolish inheritance to prevent the inter-generational concentration of wealth. Abolish “wealth mountains”.

    Asset and Resource Redistribution

    Abolish land ownership to ensure that all individuals have equal access to essential resources and opportunities; provide fair use rather than ownership. Establish a Universal Basic Income to cover basic needs and Universal Basic Services including housing, education, food and healthcare.


    Political Reform

    Abolish elitism, elite institutions and the political class to give equal participation to all citizens. Move to proportional representation. Moving decision-making power away from central “corridors of power” toward local and regional bodies. Expose and outlaw vested interests. Establish and enforce credible legal sanctions for corruption.


    Legal Reform

    Abolish all forms of legal immunity for elites and ensure every human has access to the same quality of legal defense and due process.

    Environmental Reform

    Treat natural resources and the atmosphere as a “global commons” – a paradigm shift away from national sovereignty and private ownership toward collective stewardship and equitable distribution.


    Social Reform

    Enforce anti-discrimination laws that dismantle hierarchies based on race, gender, religion, and sexual orientation.


    Workplace Reform

    Mandate the transition of corporations into worker-owned cooperatives where employees have an equal vote in management and profit-sharing.


    Technological Reform

    Ensure that life-saving innovations and AI advancements are open-source and publicly owned to prevent a “digital divide” in human capability.


    Relational Reform

    Shift societal norms away from status-seeking and meritocratic elitism toward a culture of mutual respect, co-operation and horizontal social relations.

    Environment

    Encourage a severe reduction in the world population. Give rights to animals and prevent their use as food. Stop the concretisation of land and restore a nature based landscape. Stop pollution.


  • Peace and Love

    Peace and Love

    They were right all along, the peaceniks and beatniks, the hippies and the ban the bombers. Flower Power could heal the world, given the chance. But armed forces can never make either peace, or love, for that is not their purpose.

    The tin-pot, demented dictator with the ginger wig looks set to take over Greenland and with the most powerful army on earth, no one can stop him.

    You thought you didn’t like Putin very much. Another hair brained maniac intent on empire and conflict.  And what of Benjamin Netanyahu, determined to inflict holocaust, having learnt nothing from the suffering of his own race.

    So much for international law, for NATO, for the US constitution. A geriatric thug with a bad case of narcissism and incipient dementia has pissed all over all of it and no one is stopping him.

    So much for Peace and Love.

    The trumpets of war sound in every corner. Armies are to be increased and paraded and manoeuvred and given their head once again.

    And all on the pretext of “peace” and “security”.  Such lame excuses justify the murder of untried people in fast boats on the ocean. The kidnap and imprisonment of heads of state. The invasion of neighbours and foreign lands.

    The Empires Strike Back! Russian or American, what difference, who cares.  Lebensraum.  Theft of oil and minerals.  The demonisation of the “enemy” who must be conquered, eliminated, overrun.

    If any of this sounds familiar, then it ought  to. It has happened with monotonous regularity over thousands and thousands of years.  Again, and again and again.

    Only Flower Power can stop it.

    Or at least the underlying philosophy which brought out mass demonstrations against war, brutality and greed.

    It was Vietnam in those days and it was the Russian communist bogyman who had to be defeated.  With napalm and vast fleets of bombers.

    And so on through the ages back to the dawn of humanity and on to our eventual demise; in all probability.

    For those determined not to get caught up in the feverish nonsense of humanity it looks so absurd and unnecessary. So avoidable. 

    The world is a bubbling, heaving mass of unnecessary “doing”. Whereas all we need “do” is to “be”.

    To want what we have, not what others have got. To understand ourselves, to see what mean and ugly motives generally drive us.  To spend our time improving life by looking after our people, not filling our own pockets.

    By ditching armies and war and by concentrating on science and improving our planet. By preventing the obscene injustice whereby the rich own the world and the rest lie in the dirt.

    It isn’t politics, it’s simply decency.

    So very little of what goes on in the world matters. Nothing matters really – except peace and love. What a silly phrase and yet how true.  The endless grubbing around like pigs in the dirt for more of this and that. The absurdity of economic growth and the destruction of the very base of our survival – a fragile planet.

    How little we need to live a good life and yet we endlessly seek more. Always at somebody else’s expense.

    Commerce is a zero sum game – someone is always on the take.  Trying to convince the losers he is on their side.

    How often has all this been said. How many religions have taught all this and failed.

    Lay down in front of the tanks. Even if only metaphorically. Vote for peace not war. Vote for equality not capitalism and commerce.

    Lay down flowers. Look within to better understand the view without.

    It’s never too late.