The Beam in the Eye
Although the following essay was written in 2007, when the tragedy of the 2003 American invasion of Iraq was already apparent to most Americans, the underlying causes of this unfortunate involvement, and the profound confusion of religious and political ideas at that time characterizing American life, had not yet received due attention.
It is evident that even today, in 2019, this is the case. The desire of the writer is not to beat the dead horse of the war, but to focus on the values and thinking that led to this war, and which, without due correction, could lead to similar debacles in the future.
CONTENTS
THE JUDGMENT OF THE JUDGES
EXPELLING THE CRITIC
THE CRITICAL CRISIS
DEATH AND REGENERATION
THE BEAM IN THE EYE
RED/BLUE POLARIZATION
THE HYDRA
THE EDUCATION OF HERCULES
RED MEAT
THE LIBERATOR
THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST
ACTUAL ATONEMENT
RESPONSIBILITY AND PROJECTION
REAL CHRISTIANITY
THE RESURRECTION OF HUMANITY
"MEN ARE NOT ANGELS"
SHARING
THE FIRST CASUALTY
SPIRITUAL TRUTH
THREE BLIND MICE
THE ORIGIN OF CONSUMERISM
THE CON GAME
THE MODERN SOPHISTS
CORRUPTION IN RELATION TO EVOLUTION
THE EGO-EFFECT
THE JUDGMENT OF THE JUDGES
Certainly the social critic feels usually that his criticism of society is based on a valid judgment; that, if his suggestions were taken to heart, they would result in an improvement of affairs and thus an increase in the general happiness.
When the critical element is emphasized, it implies that something or other might be better transcended. Every death is followed by a new birth. The critic therefore has his eye on the release of this higher potentiality, as he imagines it. However, even if his judgment is accurate (a thing which may always be disputed), others may remain identified precisely with that which he sees as standing in the way of progress.
These others naturally see "the brighter future" in terms of the disappearance of the critic, whence they imagine peace and quiet will reign.
EXPELLING THE CRITIC
We distinguish between valid social criticism based on real insight and the carping of an irritable nature. Without the first, we are doomed to witness the growth of errors that might otherwise be nipped in the bud. The second we regard merely as a personal fault. How are we to distinguish between one and the other?
It is precisely the personal element that is exaggerated in the mal-adjusted critic, making it apparent that the problem is in the see-er. Even if his criticism has relation to genuine problems of an objective character, the personal element intrudes and distorts the understanding.
Since anyone may be capable of manifesting both sides of this critical coin, it behooves us to become aware of this distinction, and to see it not only in others but in ourselves.
When the critical attitude has become too habitual, it is time to reverse course. We see the critic critically. Instead of identifying with him, we see him objectively, as an unpleasant character. Thus externalized, he is deprived of his place of residence within ourselves. He is, as it were, driven out into the cold, there to perish from a lack of sustenance. This may seem cruel. But the result is a kinder nature.
THE CRITICAL CRISIS
When the urge of the soul is toward the expulsion of the critic, failure to act upon it will result in an unconscious externalization. In this case, because one is identified with the critic (which the soul wishes to expel), one imagines that one is repulsive in the eyes of others. Indeed, one may be actually repulsive, but the essence of unconscious externalization is the projection of the soul's wish or will (a repulsive force) onto others. This repulsive magnetism is likely to adversely affect others, who will then reject or turn away from the compulsive critic. Thus one experiences a deepening of the experience of the critical crisis, the problem being exacerbated until it becomes so obvious that one must act in accordance with the soul's wish.
DEATH AND REGENERATION
Astrologically, this type of crisis and psychic regeneration is related to the energy of Pluto. It would be useful to consider how many of our wars are simply the outcome of a failure to pass intelligently through this critical crisis (for the same crises that afflict individuals also afflict nations). Certainly the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and the War against Terror, generally, might be viewed in this light. Their basis is not, as advertised, an objective appraisal of dangers and opportunities, but rather the intelligence problem itself, a psychological problem. Failing to take the steps toward a necessary regeneration (to experience spiritual death and re-birth), we produce instead actual physical death and destruction.
THE BEAM IN THE EYE
The War against Terror, a reaction to the murder of three or four thousand innocent human beings in New York, has led, in Iraq alone, to the destruction of hundreds of thousands of innocent lives. The slaughter of these innocent Iraqis, nearly all of them Muslims, is the outcome of initiatives by Americans (a majority of whom identify themselves as Christians), who explain their actions as a justifiable response to Islamic extremism. The beam in the eye has never been more evident.
RED/BLUE POLARIZATION
Those who have followed the gist of the argument posed in the above paragraphs will have no difficulty grasping both the reason for and the nature of the extreme polarization characterizing red and blue voters, red psychology and blue psychology. The world views of the two camps are so radically different that they find virtually no common ground. These world views are based on distinctive psychological orientations, one emphasizing external enemies, the other emphasizing the enemy within (and the potential friend, as well). A third group of moderates and compromisers is typically despised by both extreme factions, being regarded by both as unprincipled and lukewarm. The moderates, however, have an important role to play, bridging between the extreme camps. But the leading role must be defined not by a mere compromise opinion or response to polls. The leading role must reflect the actual necessity of our time.
If the red psychology has been over-played; if we have relied so excessively on externally driven reactions that we now see enemies in every shadow; if we have lost sight of our own causal power; then it is clear that we must, as a nation, turn toward the blue of the sky overhead and of the soul within. Our leaders must do the same, if we are to see reflected in them that national destiny which is suitable for a great power within the community of nations.
THE HYDRA
The story of Hercules and the Hydra illustrates the futility of taking towards the War against Terror the direct but naive approach characteristic of red psychology. The terrorists multiply as we exterminate them. More important still, the indirect result of all the thrashing around is the death and destruction of innocent bystanders in numbers that make it clear that our own actions have crossed over a line and may be labeled, without exaggeration, terroristic.
THE EDUCATION OF HERCULES
We do not regard the red psychology as inherently evil, merely mistaken. I recall myself as a twelve year old possessing ideals and values roughly equivalent to the ideals and values currently espoused by our "War President." I was not an evil child. I was merely ignorant. Even today I am not a pacifist and I believe that there are occasions when fighting is appropriate or justifiable. The cases of the first Iraq War, the Bosnian intervention and even the war in Afghanistan may all be debated, but I believe all fall, if not actually within the parameters of reasonable engagement, at least close to the mark. The 2003 invasion of Iraq, having no adequate basis, can only be regarded as an aggressive action that runs contrary to all civilized values. The outcome, readily predictable to those with actual intelligence, illustrates precisely the old computer adage: Garbage in, garbage out. Likewise, many of the policies associated with the "War against Terror" are based on the same blindness.
RED MEAT
The essential error of the red thinking is its excessive reliance on appearances, externals, brute power--the club. The red states are the great believers in military power above all, red meat, flag waving ("My country right or wrong"), and conservative religion; that is, religion in the form in which it has congealed after centuries of degeneration; above all, a Christianity divorced from the actual teachings of the Christ through emphasis on the lesser values and the irrelevant or erroneous, while ignoring or downplaying what is most essential in those teachings. Where is the love? It has disappeared beneath the myths of personal immortality and vicarious atonement. It has been replaced by the type of zealotry and superstitious belief that have been responsible in the past for the Inquisition and the Crusades. The exponents of this type of thinking, or rather, absence of thinking, would bring back to the modern world the Dark Ages.
THE LIBERATOR
While liberation (rather than mere liberty in the external sense) may be an obvious requirement in the life of a nation as well as of an individual, liberation is never in itself a fully adequate goal. For when that goal has been achieved, what then? For what purpose are we liberated?
Freedom requires a positive content. An exclusive focus on the negative side of the equation is only temporarily valid, when, as in the case of the alcoholic, a diseased condition must be treated with stern counter-measures. Subsequently, however, freedom from compulsion yields the possibility of giving a positive content to life. In this spirit the liberated one may become a liberating force. But since no one can be liberated apart from his own will to be free, we would speak rather of a redemptive spirit, than of one who, by crude force alone, violently effects the liberation of others.
THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST
If we consider the universality of the need for liberation, we may gain a sense of the evolution yet in store for humanity. All higher hopes and visions rest upon the prospect of such a liberation being achieved not merely by one or by a few but by the many, increasingly. It is this prospect that the resurrection of Christ points toward.
By contrast, the idea of the vicarious atonement can only be based upon a misunderstanding of spiritual psychology; if it not based upon something more nefarious, namely, a conscious effort to subvert and hold back the higher spiritual evolution of the human race. It is, in either case, a doctrine peculiarly suited to restraining the forward motion of the race and keeping it in a state of childish irresponsibility. An ignorant and irresponsible humanity is easily shepherded, controlled and exploited. Thus the teachers of vicarious atonement are in fact, if not in intent, supporters of slavery.
Even in the Bible we are told, "By their fruits ye will know them." This means quite simply that the validity of a philosophy or way of thinking is proved by the effects yielded by application of that philosophy. Nothing is proved about a doctrine because it is written or spoken by someone claiming divine inspiration.
If we note how easily American Christians were shepherded into supporting the 2003 invasion of Iraq, we have before our eyes an interesting piece of evidence, and one that may be adduced among the fruits of the debased form of Christianity that has become widespread in America, particularly in the "red" states.
ACTUAL ATONEMENT
If there is no vicarious atonement, where does that leave Christians? No doubt they will have to assume a major responsibility for their own atonement, an actual atonement, instead of foisting all responsibility on an imaginary and illogical version of Deity, the creation of theologians. We do not say that the Christ will not be available for the helping of humanity. We simply assert that He has enough to do without doing for man (an embodied soul, a thinking being) what man is capable of doing for himself.
RESPONSIBILITY AND PROJECTION
Those who abdicate their responsibilities project them upon others. It makes little difference whether this burden is projected upon an imaginary version of Deity, a psychotherapist assumed to be endowed with divine characteristics, one's neighbors, or "the terrorists," as identified by those whose vision is impaired by the Biblical "beam in the eye" of the beholder. In each of these cases, evil is certain to result. It will be a greater evil or a lesser evil, depending on the nature and extent of the projection, because, for each such projection, a corresponding irresponsibility will be manifested.
REAL CHRISTIANITY
If we set aside for the moment the ubiquitous mechanisms and manifestations of evasion and irresponsibility, and if we allow the imagination to suggest to us the possibilities of a real Christianity and of a surge, generally, in the spiritual life of humanity, we may conclude that the following elements will appear as indispensable:
1) a more universally acceptable and meaningful interpretation of the resurrection idea, based upon an intelligent spiritual psychology, rather than a theology; thus making the idea applicable to the actual life of humanity;
2) the fostering, consequently, of human liberation, this being both psychological in nature and physical in expression; including both the necessary "change of heart" that precedes any change in the way of doing things, and those actual changes deemed appropriate to an evolving race;
3) the growth of the sharing idea, as a result of the above; this sharing being both positive ("supply" side) and negative ("demand" side): a sharing of power and responsibility for the welfare of the planet, on the one hand, and a sharing, through identification, with the needs of the neediest and the problems that face humanity.
THE RESURRECTION OF HUMANITY
The resurrection of the Christ may be related to the spoken words in which He expressed His identification with His Father in Heaven: "I and My Father are one." Taking these events—if we may call them that—as an overarching paradigm for human spiritual evolution, and not merely as an unrepeatable miracle, they indicate primarily one thing: as a son, becoming in turn a father, takes on the responsibility formerly held exclusively by his father, so must humanity, coming of age, take on a more conscious responsibility for the planet as a whole; so must individual human beings and groups extend their identification to include one another; these expansions of consciousness will not only indicate a resurrection of the human spirit, they will in turn enable a socialization of behavior, among nations as well as individuals and groups—which could not otherwise be achieved—that will end physical warfare, starvation and slavery.
"MEN ARE NOT ANGELS"
Pessimists will deny that "human" nature can be altered; they will assert that "men are not angels" and never will be. This point of view is one-sided and extreme, but it cannot be discounted altogether.
We have no wish to suggest, under the encompassing resurrection idea, a fantasy-vision of unlimited and easy progress. Nor would we "make light" of the real obstacles to spiritual evolution and social progress. Of these, the more significant are those attachments and identifications that pertain to the "second nature" of man.
But the "second nature" is a learned nature. That which is learned can be unlearned or developed further into a higher dimension. All educational processes are based on this supposition that the human material, while frequently obtuse, is not altogether intractable.
It would be unintelligent to deny either the higher possibilities that may be opened up through education or the real depth of the problems to be faced by humanity. The "intelligence problem" that led to the invasion of Iraq was not simply a failure of specialists; it was an ideological commitment to mediocrity; a commitment personified by America's "War President," a man clearly unfit for the job for which he was selected. The war-planners had not the least interest in higher human possibilities; nor were they aware of the depth of the problems they would face, or of the disaster they would inadvertently create, in their arrogant attempt to re-make Iraq. The disaster may have been inadvertent, but it was also inevitable, as anyone with actual intelligence could have foreseen.
The resurrection idea may help us to keep in mind both the higher prospect of man—a spiritual prospect—and the depth of his real problems while functioning as an incarnate soul on Earth.
SHARING
A man in the depth of misery seeks to rise up and out of his condition. This is the major incentive, necessarily, for many. A hungry man wants to eat. A homeless man wants a roof over his head. A jobless man wants work. A lonely man wants a companion or a family. Such incentives, while inherently "selfish," are normal. The fulfillment of such normal desires signifies liberation from the negative condition in which they are based. These conditions are basically material.
Others merely have the habit of selfishness. Although they have everything that they need, they are still dissatisfied. Theirs is a psychic problem rather a physical one. The liberation that they seek, albeit confusedly and frequently through experiments of an unfortunate kind, is largely a liberation from the self-interest that has become ingrained through long experience.
These two types of liberation may seem worlds apart—for they are separated by a gulf, when viewed from the under-side, or the problematic side of the equation. But the solution is a simple one: sharing.
Sharing is the win-win solution that promises the best return on the investment of our energies, for it affords to both human groups, the prosperous and the needy, their best prospect of fulfillment.
The synergy of this solution should be obvious to anyone with the slightest understanding of social psychology; and, likewise, the reverse should be equally obvious: the inverted or destructive synergy that must inevitably arise from the non-solution of greed and destructive competition, ultimately manifesting as the warfare inevitably fostered by greedy ambitions, illegitimate claims and the injustice of the powerful. That such warfare is camouflaged by a rhetoric of idealism should fool no one. It is what it is, not what it is said to be.
THE FIRST CASUALTY
The greatest acts of terrorism have always been committed by the powerful, rather than by disempowered malcontents. But when a powerful nation state commits a terroristic atrocity, it is typically not referred to as such, at least not within that nation; a euphemism is discovered. Truth is buried to make easy the path of injustice.
Since the burial of the truth by the advocates of injustice and crime makes impossible the redressing of injustice; the upholding of the truth, particularly the inconvenient truth, is the primary basis of civilization.
Naturally, the same standards must apply universally. A crime is a crime whether we are the doers of the crime or its victim. Intense partisanship, because it creates a prejudicial climate that subverts recognition of the truth, serves the perpetuation of injustice.
For this reason the primary advocates of terrorism, if they are able to do so, are ever ready to stoke the fires of prejudice and bigotry for the purpose of concealing their crimes or making them appear in a better light. They are happy to underscore the crimes of their enemies, for they have no better justification to rely upon.
Thus, the justification of the destruction of hundreds of thousands of innocent lives in Iraq—caused directly or indirectly by the American-led invasion—is that Saddam was an evil tyrant.
Such reasoning is of course imbecilic. In fact, it is simply an emotional appeal, which succeeds to the extent that the public is not yet out-fitted with the proper armor to resist this type of assault.
SPIRITUAL TRUTH
In approaching the truth of the resurrection story, we are less interested in the biographical facts of the life of Jesus than we are in the spiritual significance of the idea itself. One approach would lead us to the rind of truth, the other to its essence.
But it is equally necessary to get beyond the poor fabrications of theology and the mystery-mongering of a corrupt church, with its doctrine of vicarious atonement. This doctrine, being so patently absurd, is naturally followed by the dead hand of skeptical science, asking, "Did Jesus really live at all? Where was the cave to which his corpse was supposedly assigned after the crucifixion, assuming the latter event occurred at all?"
Both approaches are sterile. One masks a great essential truth in a fraudulent counterfeit; the other does not and cannot get anywhere near the essence of the story.
This sterility of the two familiar approaches to the resurrection story is based on their common subjection to the blinding bias of the Western attachment to the physical body. For this reason one is more likely to find wisdom on this subject in the East, in India. The continuing presence in that land of so many great yogis makes it clear, to anyone who has investigated this subject with a more than casual interest, that Jesus was not as unique as many Westerners have been led to believe.
Resurrection of the spirit is an aspect of the logoic purpose underlying all life on our planet; it is a universal human destiny. That destiny will not and cannot be realized in a single lifetime; hence the innumerable incarnations of the soul. The incarnated soul typically forgets its high destiny and must, while incarnate, recollect itself. Until it does so, the conclusions it draws concerning God, human nature and destiny are unreliable.
These conclusions will be erroneous, because conditioned by the veil of flesh, rather than by the omniscience of the soul. Materialistic religion and materialistic science suffer in almost equal degrees from the degradation of essential truth, each being consigned to an inferior realm: the realm of materiality, or "the three worlds" of ordinary human experience within "the great illusion." Each is therefore a poor guide to the essential seeker, the blind leading the blind.
Even psychology, that new and hopeful science, only touches the fringe of the mystery here. When psychologists discover and admit the reality of the soul, they will make better progress, forging essential agreement between the upward or inward seeking spirit of religion and the down-turned or outward spirit of science.
THREE BLIND MICE
While the blindness of materialistic religion and science makes each a poor guide to matters of essential truth, the human problem is further exacerbated by the attitude toward truth taken by corrupt government.
The arrogance of power is such that its exponents believe that they can either manufacture truth or adjust it for the convenience of their pre-determined policy requirements. They are great believers in "public relations" or "spinning," or, as it used to be called, lying. Masters of the careful selection of bits of information or mis-information, stitched together to construct a plausible scenario, they know well how to play on the gullibility of the great, uninformed public in the marketplace of ideas, so-called.
Under the guidance of the three blind mice, man's lot is a sorry one.
It is cause for rejoicing when the true statesman appears, the true religious man or scientist. All alike rise above conventional prejudices. Each in his own way will have a great respect for the truth.
The statesman knows that sound policy is based on truth, not the reverse.
The religious man discovers and affirms the truth of the soul. The scientist discovers and affirms the truth of the material world, including the material bodies in which the soul is enveloped while incarnate.
The dual nature of the individual human being is expressed also by nations on a grander or macrocosmic stage. This the statesman must understand, if he is to effectively articulate the best path for his people. He cannot lead if he cannot see.
THE ORIGIN OF CONSUMERISM
The reform-minded critic of the status quo is always inherently an optimist, a believer in education, in higher human possibilities. The defenders of the status quo have a more pessimistic (or hypocritical) view of human nature. They fear the potential of chaos, should the discipline of an existing structure be undermined. Thus they are more tolerant of the evils inherent in that structure.
Those who believe in the higher potentiality are more critical of the existing thing. Those who lack this higher vision or faith tend to be more proud of what has been already achieved.
These psychological biases (which become political ideologies) hinge on an assessment of the human capacity to question, learn, grow, and adapt existing structures in correlation with the development of knowledge, wisdom and understanding.
Consumerism arises out of the victory of the conservative principal, which seeks to limit human freedom to one controllable channel, the market of base desire. The psychological counterpart of this channeling is the inflation of the lowest element in human nature: the self-indulgent, selfish, pandering, greedy and anti-social element.
When we spoke of the three blind mice, we said nothing about the business ideology, out of which consumerism and public relations have developed. These constitute the external form in which the three errors find their quintessential embodiment.
The superficialities of materialistic science, the confusions of materialistic religion and the cynicism of corrupt government coalesce to constitute that amalgamation of many of the worst tendencies of contemporary man: the consumer. In the consumer we have the personification of an ideology of selfishness. In the consumer society we have the full-scale manifestation of that ideology.
The irony is that the resulting condition of human slavery is called freedom.
Mind-control, which serves the convenience or efficiency of a set program rather than human development, is attractive to those who favor the status quo. The human cattle are moved along by means of a pervasive process of hypnotic suggestion, creating a controlled situation in which the prisoners enjoy the illusion of being free.
As slavery is to freedom, so is mind-control to education. Real education, because it implies a lengthier and more uncertain process, is only embraced by the optimistic; that is, those biased toward freedom.
THE CON GAME
The ideal of spiritual service is distinct from the ideal of gain, as exemplified by the material society. The ideal of gain, by virtue of its selfish emphasis, is satisfied with the appearance of serving.
In the absence of a vital educational effort sufficient to endow the population with the discrimination that will enable consumers to distinguish real benefit from mirage, the consumer society becomes a vast confidence game.
It will be apparent, then, that the advocates of real education will have an agenda not altogether to the liking of those who profit from the weaknesses of the consumer. A confusion concerning the distinction between beliefs and facts makes the consumer fairly easy to manipulate; his liberation from this confusion can only be inconvenient for the purveyors of dubious products.
Since today the dubious products sold to the public include not merely drugs of every description—now marketed on television—but elective wars as well as other public policies almost as counter-productive, this is no trifling point. The purveyors of dubious products include many of the most powerful people in America.
MODERN SOPHISTS
The modern sophists are those "educators" who play a supporting role in relation to the whole system of corruption. They achieve this by confusing every issue. Thus they create that uncertainty in which an absolute relativism (a truth-free environment) reigns. By "truth-free" we mean freedom from the annoying handicap imposed by facts: freedom not in the philosophical sense of the word ("Know the truth; the truth will make you free."), but freedom as experienced by the adolescent who has no experience of truth and therefore no responsibility.
If truth and falsehood are seen for what they are, the truth is accepted and the falsehood is rejected. But if doubt can be cast upon the truth, then the falsehood will gain in value by virtue of the obscurity effected by doubt. In this circumstance truth and falsehood may actually acquire equal weight. To be fair and balanced we must cede to each—truth and falsehood—equal respect.
True impartiality, of course, is something else. True impartiality is that unprejudiced attitude which favors the discovery of the truth. But in the world of corruption every genuine value has its counterfeit. We should not be surprised, therefore, to discover that not only twenty dollar bills, but even education and impartiality have counterfeit forms.
Once falsehood has become just as good as truth, it is only a small step to make it even better! From the corrupt, we proceed to the more corrupt still.
News and journalism, for example, used to be the province of people who had a reasonable interest in the truth. This is no longer the case. Today, the "news" is largely filtered through the hired guns of big business, whose interest dictates what will be told and how, and what not told at all. Look for the agenda that lurks behind the "issues" that come to the fore.
Moreover, we live in a world in which we are surrounded, inundated and pummeled with commercial messages that reach us through every possible avenue. Apart from their individual texts, these messages share a common philosophy and convey a pervasive and larger message that is composed by the sum of these miniature messengers, each of them as blithely irresponsible as they have a right to be. It is in this grand totality that one may recognize a social cancer.
CORRUPTION IN RELATION TO EVOLUTION
In order to understand the significance of corruption, it would be useful to take a step back from the immediate social, political and economic phenomena, and to consider the larger scheme of things within which those phenomena occur.
Evolution proceeds in two distinct periods or cycles. First is the involutionary cycle, in which innocence is apparently lost. Paradise is apparently lost, and man finds himself in a cold, harsh world in which he must hustle merely to survive. He is individualized as a result of the efforts he makes: first, to survive, and subsequently to "make something" of himself.
Naturally, he is proud of his achievements in this respect. At the same time, however, he has the unhappy feeling that what he has lost is actually more precious than what he has gained. He feels, consequently, like a man who has made a bad bargain. Moreover, this feeling is apt to come to him in its most acute form precisely when he most enjoys what the world (and what he himself) calls "success." For his success not only does not fulfill him, it reveals to him that he has been chasing a mirage.
At this point he has reached rock bottom, so far as the involutionary cycle is concerned. He is aware of alienation as the principle fact of his existence—aware of himself as the prodigal son, at the turning point.
It is from this point that the conscious evolutionary cycle begins. The involutionary cycle takes place instinctively, so far as the experiencer is concerned. Consciousness and understanding are only developed as consequences of instinctive developments.
The true evolutionary cycle begins with this developed consciousness.
As the involutionary cycle produced a loss of innocence, the evolutionary cycle seeks to restore the original innocence. But in addition to this restoration of an original perfection, there will be added qualities acquired as a result of the sojourn in "the far country."
Native innocence, for example, is completely vulnerable and unable to protect itself. But innocence endowed with conscious wisdom has no such vulnerability.
It is in relation to this conscious evolution that the resurrection idea has application as an overarching theme. This is not primarily the evolution of the material form, as described by the Darwinian theory, but a psychological and spiritual evolution that produces inevitably physical effects. (These effects are of a secondary significance and are not the point of the process.) This conscious evolution is self-initiated.
In the light of this understanding of the great process of human life on planet Earth, we may now understand corruption. Original corruption or "original sin" is simply the effect of the involutionary process: an intended effect, created with a purpose, and therefore not really a sin at all, in the sense that anyone should feel guilt about it.
Having acquired consciousness, and therefore responsibility, man is in a different position. A secondary form of corruption arises when man, knowing better, chooses the worse. Guilt may naturally arise in connection with such choices. Such guilt, or conscience, is simply a healthy sign pointing to a better path.
THE EGO-EFFECT
The horrified reaction and close attention to the loss of American lives through bombings and mass shootings may be compared to the relative indifference evoked, in America, by similar events in Iraq. This might be called the ego-effect. The relativism thus expressed suggests the distorted perspective imposed by a natural limitation of the range of interest. Another expression of the same effect is the constantly re-iterated importance of the American war casualties, while the Iraqi casualties of America's elective war, most of them civilians, receive scant attention or sympathy in the American media.
This is important to note because in this natural phenomenon, experienced by all human beings, we have a primary basis of injustice. This being recognized, the course of wisdom is to take steps to eradicate it. Those steps consist essentially in underscoring the equal humanity of all victims of insanity, violence and injustice.
The opposite course is taken by those who would stoke these prejudicial fires. When we magnify "our own" losses unreasonably and simultaneously discount the losses of "others," we effectively create the climate in which injustice and insanity thrive; we sow, unthinkingly, the seeds of future violence and terror.