History is Woven from Fantasy
[Voice from the Other Side - Sha'Tara]
"The world has changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air. Much that once was, is lost; now none lives who remembers... It [the Downfall] began with the forging of the great rings..." [Fellowship of the Ring - J.R.R. Tolkien]
Most are familiar with these opening lines from "Fellowship of the Ring" - the movie. It briefly returns to an earlier time in Middle Earth when Elves, Dwarves and Men fought against Sauron; how Isildur cut the master Ring from Sauron's hand and the great Enemy was defeated. Then Isildur was led by Elrond to the fires of Mount Doom and urged to throw the ring in the fires. Isildur refused. He was killed by rogue orcs and the ring disappeared for 2000 years until found by Gollum. 500 years later Bilbo the Hobbit stole the ring from Gollum and brought it to the Shire. Thus begins the tale of the final war against Sauron.
Tolkien, I believe, did not write to entertain. He wrote an epic tale that describes, through fantasy, our history... certainly from a distant past and perhaps into a distant future. The trick for us is to discern where, in the story, we find ourselves. When we look at the pattern, what part do we recognize and identify with? Who is Mordor? Who is Gondor? Who is Rohan? As for Dwarves, Elves and Hobbits... are they aliens? Angels? Ascended Masters? Spirit guides? Hmmm...
I had a dream last night which was too complex to describe. The gist of it - the lesson - was that a young woman, deemed to be a prostitute, was being chased by two cops when a group of men she had befriended hid her and allowed her to escape. This woman then had a conversation with an interviewer for a women's magazine. "You were lucky to escape. You'd be in jail now." "Yes" she answered. "How strange it is that a world that no longer recognizes morality in any form would still throw a woman in jail simply for giving a man that which he needs and which only she can provide. They call that immorality. But they fight wars over finite resources and kill millions directly or indirectly - and that's just good business, or necessity." The interviewer was less than happy with her response.
"The world has changed..." Yes, in many ways the world has changed. We can see it, smell it, hear it. Some of the old patterns have broken down. Others become totally twisted. New ones have taken their place. Thrift has become debt. Noise is synonymous with power. Success is measured by accumulation. In most modern appurtenances, including housing developments, ugliness and impracticality rule. Numbers have replaced common sense reality. Television and the Internet are considered sources of knowledge and wisdom.
"Much that once was, is lost." Some time ago, not so long, one could go outside and look at a clear blue sky. Hear the wind in the trees or a stream gurgling below a small rise, or smell the air and know it was spring or fall, or whether it was going to rain, snow, clear up, get warmer or colder. At night the stars shone brightly and the sky was alive. One could hear birds singing, even in the night. Frogs and coyotes provided the evening music and singing. The darkness was friendly.
Given, it wasn't an idyllic world. But it had great potential. That potential was taken for granted and lost. Stolen is a better description. Stolen because of apathy to the creeping darkness within the human collective soul that allowed the Great Predators of the modern era to claim the earth and all that dwells therein.
"Now none lives who remembers." Or care to remember. At the time it would have taken a bit of effort to make the world a better place. It would have required knowledge (experience) of what really makes a world a beautiful place. But people chose to believe in information rather than their own wisdom. So within a few generations, all the wisdom of history was scattered, thrown away. To speak wisdom now is as effective as throwing water on a duck's back. If it doesn't come in the form of forcefully loud, screaming information in colourful images, it isn't heard. And if it did come in that format, it wouldn't be wisdom. Today people look to nature, not for wisdom, but in expectation of "earth changes" meaning some violent disaster happening to someone else, somewhere else. Or in the hope of suitable weather for expensive and destructive vacation/week-end escapades.
Current generations are lost, with every "next" being more so. The darkness spreads - pushed inexorably by rising numbers and dwindling "cheap" natural resources. The search for more "resources" accelerates, as do costs, to be shared by the environment (nature) and consumers alike. These exacerbate deteriorating social conditions. Fear, anger, distrust are creating a dangerous latent force now controlled by info-tainment, consumerism and hidden in apathy.
When the System finally implodes from its irrational, voracious greed - as it must - rage will explode. Along with that will come a wave of violence that will make the 20th Century's seem as mere training exercises.
"There is a way that seems right unto a man, but the end of it is death." (Proverbs 14:12)
The most terrible assumption made today is that we can continue in the way that seems right for now, even while fully aware that we cannot.
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