Happily Ever After In The Realm of Make Believe

We the People in 1984 BEHOLD! The Pale Horse of Kali Yuga and the Bane of the One Ring of Power in the Fires of Armajihadden

I love a good story. Back from when I was a kid my Grandma would read to me from a collection of Grimm's fairy tales almost every night, on the occasions I would stay, as I went to sleep. "Is this story real?", I had probably asked at some point with the response maybe all children get when they ask such things, "Anything is possible in the realm of make-believe."

I don't claim to be an apologetics writer, but I'm sure the title indicates, as was my intention a "mash-up", so to speak, of a few religious prophecies and two works of fiction. Dystopian 1984, the book of Revelation from the Christian Bible, Canto 12 The Age of Deterioration from the Hindu Srimad Bhagavadam, the fate of the One Ring of Power at the end of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and Jihad: the Holy War of Islam.

I think that any kind of prediction of future events no matter how open to interpretation, held to scientific precedent, or of reputable belief are always open to change especially if the will and means are there to do so in the "realm of make-believe" anything is possible.

I'll briefly describe the circumstances and characteristics of each work and how it may apply to the "Espiritu de la epoca", or spirit of the age, in today's world. I'll begin with 1984 that clearly does not end "happily ever after" unless of course you love Big Brother and don't mind your fellow citizens dumbed-down to cerebral insufficients.

The main character Winston works in the Ministry of Truth, one of four ministries, for the ruling party in the nation of Oceania. The Ministry of Truth's main function is to alter historical records to benefit the party and image of Big Brother. Work is also underway to implement Newspeak, a language meant to prevent political rebellion by taking out all words related to it. Winston knows something is wrong in the Party and they should be stopped. He starts keeping  a secret journal to write his "criminal" thoughts. Oceania is one of three super powers of the world; the other two are Eastasia and Eurasia. The Ministry of Peace actually sustains a perpetual state of war with the other two. The Ministry of Plenty is in control of all the food supply and rations it out. Party members receive more than their share of luxury but are under constant surveillance by the Thought Police.  The proles, or proletariats, in the book live in squalor but live generally unmonitored and have been de-educated enough to not have the capacity or sense of history to rebel against the party. Emmanuel Goldstein is the supposed leader of an underground rebellion called The Brotherhood. The secret journal, an affair with a lady named Julia, and a trap set by a co-worker named O'Brien to catch them in an open act of rebellion send them to the Ministry of Love. In the Ministry of Love, where those who might rebel, are tortured, brainwashed, and ultimately spirit-broken. Winston gets separated from Julia and adamantly resists for months until he pleads to O'Brien for Julia to take his place thus signaling his allegiance, betraying his love for Julia, he loved Big Brother.

Today the media loves to pretend that the Democrats and Republicans are in a constant power struggle for control of the house or senate every two years we see a barrage of commercials and accusations of "smear campaigns and mud slinging". It really heats up in a presidential election year. with the presidential debates as the centerpiece. The supposed non-partisan Commission on Presidential Debates has former chairman of the Republican National Committee, Frank J. Fahrenkopf, Jr., and Mike McCurry, former Democratic press secretary for Bill Clinton as co-chairs of the commission. Sounds bi-partisan not non-partisan to me.  The Commission's mission states it was established in 1987 to ensure that debates, as a permanent part of every general election, provide the best possible information to viewers and listeners. I underlined possible because in Black's Law Dictionary means capable of existing or happening. Any information is capable of existing or happening, the possibilities are endless. It looks like confusing legal language, the Newspeak of 1984, is legalese today capable of making non-issues a tool for dissension among Americans against each other. Top it all off with the final exam needed today to practice law in the US, the BAR exam, whether you get the story of the bar in historical British courts to separate the lawyer to represent their case from the rest, BAR standing for British Accreditation Regency/Registry, or that's a silly suggestion, it's too close for comfort and Americans need to get to the bottom of it. Don't take my word for it, take a part of George Washington's farewell address for it,

"I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the State, with particular reference to the founding of them on geographical discriminations. Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party generally.

This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but, in those of the popular form, it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy.

The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty."

The book of Revelation and the Hindu Kali Yuga bear remarkable similarities despite there fundamental differences. Each have four distinct separations, Revelation in regards to Israel: Alpha, Scattered, Regathered in Unbelief, A Remnant Saved, and Omega/New Jerusalem. Jesus Christ is the Alpha and the Omega with incarnations and resurrections similar to the Hindu Krishna. In Hindu prophecy, Satya Yuga or age of Truth lasts 4,000 divine years, Treta Yuga (3/4 Truth) for 3,000 divine years, Dvapara (1/2 Truth) for 2,000 divine years,  and Kali Yuga (1/4 Truth) for 1,000 divine years. There is 432 earth years to one divine year in Hindu cosmology.

Satya Yuga/Alpha is characterized by 100% self-realization in man and complete meditation on God. Treta Yuga/scattered is characterized by a process of sacrifice for self-realization. Dvapara yuga/regathered in unbelief is characterized by self-realization by the worship of deities in temples. Kali Yuga/ a remnant saved is characterized by quarrel and hypocrisy. Self-realization is found in the chanting or singing of his Holy names.

Armageddon and the Satya Yuga/ Kali Yuga conjunction are almost like brothers of tales as well with Christ's victory,"That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone." Revelation 19 18-20. Krishna in his Kalki avatar incarnation arriving to slay all the treacherous ones in SB 12.2.19-20: "Lord Kalki, the Lord of the universe, will mount His swift horse Devadatta and, sword in hand, travel over the earth exhibiting His eight mystic opulences and eight special qualities of Godhead. Displaying His unequaled effulgence and riding with great speed, He will kill by the millions those thieves who have dared dress as kings".who Revelation 19 11-13 describe,"And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God."

Satya Yuga begins again according to the Srimad Bhagavadam and A new Heaven and a new Earth with New Jerusalem as it's great city in Revelation where everybody lives "Happily ever After".

The other work of fiction in this "mash-up" comes from J.R.R. Tolkien and the story behind the One Ring of Power. In the mythology of Middle Earth there were nineteen rings of power crafted by the Elf Celebrimbor and Sauron who was on good behavior at the time. Three were for the elves and were never touched by Sauron, Seven to the dwarves, and nine given to the rulers of men who later became the Nazgul. Sauron crafted the twentieth One Ring in secret with the motive to contol all the other rings and their possessors. The whole story of the third age of Middle earth revolves around the mission to destroy the One Ring who Bilbo Baggins "stole" from Gollum, later Smaegol, in the Hobbit. The Climactic battle in the Return of the King provides the cover for Frodo to make his way to Mount Doom where Smaegol's last grab, or I should say bite, at it sends him falling to his doom as well as the Ring bringing about the fourth age or the dominion of men.

What could a ring of power symbolize in the real world? Imagine if each society on the globe had a religion, economy, philosophy, something to keep things in order in that culture unique to them. Couldn't it be considered a ring of power? Now what could control those sovereign states all at once with some not even knowing what's happening? Money can do that, not just any money but fiat currency. In fact, America may be like the beast influenced by Britain the dragon from Revelation today or Sauron acting as Melkor's regent in the LOTR. Fiat currency and the abhorrent practice of usury may be the influence of Kali Yuga in a society where paying interest debt justifies the whole business of moral debasement and makes it profitable.

One religion that hates usury and the people that hoard riches worse than adultery, is Islam who seems to be America's sworn enemy on the world stage since the Mujajideen ousted Russia from Afghanistan in the 80's.

The Repentance 9:34-35, "O ye who believe! there are indeed many among the priests and anchorites, who in Falsehood devour the substance of men and hinder (them) from the way of Allah. And there are those who bury gold and silver and spend it not in the way of Allah: announce unto them a most grievous penalty. Proclaim a woeful punishment to those that hoard up gold and silver.... Their treasures shall be heated in the dress of Hell, and their foreheads, sides and backs branded with them. . . . 'Taste then the punishment which is your due."
The Cow 2:275, "Those who consume interest cannot stand [on the Day of Resurrection] except as one stands who is being beaten by Satan into insanity. That is because they say, "Trade is [just] like interest." But Allah has permitted trade and has forbidden interest. So whoever has received an admonition from his Lord and desists may have what is past, and his affair rests with Allah. But whoever returns to [dealing in interest or usury] - those are the companions of the Fire; they will abide eternally therein."
"...They will be paraded before your Lord in ranks: "You have come to Us just as We created you at first. Yes indeed! Even though you claimed that We would not fix a time with you." The Book will be set in place and you will see the evildoers fearful of what is in it. They will say, "Alas for us! What is this Book which does not pass over any action, small or great, without recording it?" They will find there everything they did and your Lord will not wrong anyone at all." (Al-Kahf 18: 48-49)

Islamic Jihadists have a happily ever after too.

All three Abrahamic faiths: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are in a severe state of unrest in 2014 even though they come from the same lineage. All America and it's interests seem to play the situation in the Middle East as a profitable endeavor for the military-industrial complex. The Defense Department acts like a Ministry of Peace. With so many people in the world who have such strong beliefs killing each other, are they make-believing a spiritual war leading to this Armajihadden? Let's make believe a chance to throw the One Ring of Power into Mount Doom and listen to His-story, before a government of total authoritarian control like 1984, where our higher power is "Loved" out of us, can be make-believed into existence?

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, 

One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

Can we all live happily ever after?

A Testimony of The Higher Power Part 1

Birth seems to be the best starting point for something like this.  My birth certificate says that I was born on August 19, 1982 at Portsmouth Naval Hospital in Portsmouth, Va with a Father and a Mother as eye witnesses. I was the only child from that marriage and the first born. My Dad had a previous marriage with child, an older sister.

My earliest memories coincide with a second-story apartment my father and I resided at on Bainbridge boulevard in Norfolk, VA when I was around 2-3 years of age. I remember an attempt of getting my own bowl of cereal which I accidentally spilled on the floor. I remember jumping on my parents' bed and injuring my bottom lip on the foot rail. I remember waking up earlier than my parents on one occasion, turning on the TV, and flipping through the channels until I found a show I enjoyed named Pinwheel that aired on Nickelodeon. I remember opening my toy box located in my Dad's room and seeing what I thought was a live crab. In a startle I ran to get my Dad's future 3rd wife. When she checked the toy box the crab was gone. I remember looking down the staircase that led to the apartment we lived in and feeling apprehensive of making it to the bottom by myself. The incident of the crab in the toy box still puzzles me. Was the crab ever really there or was it just my imagination? 

My biological mother and father divorced before I can remember which led me to believe my Dad's third wife, was my Mom.  A belief I maintained until the age of 7 when the question arose of why I had 3 sets of grandparents. My biological grandfather and stepmother would visit me from time to time which led me to ask that inevitable question. One Sunday before church I remember talking to my biological mom on the phone and discovered I had two more siblings, a brother and a sister, from her new husband. I can't remember exactly how I felt with this discovery but I'm confident it had a positive impact which led me to pursue to learn more about what I didn't know.

I was a young boy attending Great Bridge Church of Christ in Great Bridge, VA the first time I heard the words "Jesus" or "God". The preacher catechized me at my request when I was around 7 or 8 years old and I was baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

Innocence was lost soon thereafter.

The concept of being "born again" alluded me then but may have revealed itself little by little over the course of my life in ways seen strange and often contemptible to the society I live. I could expound on that later. A few words which may, as I sincerely hope, illumine anyone in contemptuous doubt with regards to my ambitions and inspirations for this, prior, and future literary compositions are as follows.

Hari Kari or Seppuku is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. Seppuku was originally reserved only for samurai. Part of the samurai bushido honour code, seppuku was either used voluntarily by samurai to die with honour rather than fall into the hands of their enemies (and likely suffer torture), or as a form of capital punishment for samurai who had committed serious offenses, or performed for other reasons that had brought shame to them.

Benjamin Franklin wrote in his autobiography that it "shall a good deal gratify my own vanity" siting "being persuaded that it is often productive of good to the possessor, and to others that are within his sphere of action." Some of my maternal ancestors inspire me to write autobiographical essays; a 2nd great-grandfather Samuel Willard Saxton, a great grandmother Grace Birgfield, and a great grandfather Robert Murphy. An autobiography at 32 seems a little young so a partial testimony seems most appropriate for the present. 

"If any ambitious man have a fancy to revolutionize at one effort the universal world of human thought, human opinion, and human sentiment, the opportunity is his own — the road to immortal renown lies straight, open, and unencumbered before him. All that he has to do is to write and publish a very little book. Its title should be simple — a few plain words — "My Heart Laid Bare." But — this little book must be true to its title."--from "Marginalia," by Edgar Allan Poe 1844.

I have fancied suicide as an honorable way to escape from my own scorn, embarrassments, and burden on others. I have fancied to gratify my own vanity and make humble those in my sphere of action with my thoughts into words. I have fancied a revolution in the world, I know I'm not the only one, and I know that they will fail in the same mire of delusion and vexations that covers our adulterated natures.

I think now I should fancy a revolution, not of myself for the world, but of higher power for the innocent, especially children, while exacting no recourse or payment except my own affirmative action; in the faith, hope, trust, confidence, belief, view, whatever term suits my fellow man to conjure the efforts required for liberation to keep the most corruption in the past and the least corruption at its farthest conceivable distance in the future. If this is conceivable, then the rest is sure to follow.

The Where's Waldo? Conspiracy

Buddha is credited as stating that three things cannot be hidden for long: the Sun, the Moon, and the Truth. The idea that truths can be hidden seems to be absurd and an insult to the intelligence of the average citizen who scoffs at such conspiracy theories. Even more absurd would be the notion that the Truth of the "War on Drugs", 911, the formation and motives behind terrorist groups, agendas to enslave countries are all hidden in plain sight by misinformation and contrivances that serve to sustain the status quo.  

To put this in perspective, consider Waldo as the Truth and all the rest of the picture is the misinformation reported by most journalists and the mainstream media. Waldo is on the page in plain sight but the challenge lies in discerning him from all the other details in the picture. Strategies of misinformation where the truth is disguised like Waldo keep the general public unaware and apprehensive of even questioning "official" reports and commissions; ostracizing any who deny their claims and insist on the Truth of matters whose discovery would openly incriminate many trusted public figures.

Martin Armstrong has an interesting article citing the events of 9/11 and how exaggeration is the "golden rule" of disinformation. "The Feds knew what they were up to and allowed it to happen and used it to their advantage. There was plenty of confirmed evidence that they knew what would happen. Did then stand back and allow that to happen? Most likely. How do you cover that up, you simply exaggerate everything to destroy any credible investigation. This makes anyone who question 911 a conspiracy nut job. Perfect cover to hide the truth right in front of your eyes."

Conspiracy theories happen to aid in masking the truth of matters perhaps more so than crafty contrivances. Many of these theories quickly fail to Ad Hominem when they stray from the principle of the matter and blame the rich, the Illuminati, the masons, the Bilderburgs, the Rothchilds, or just "they/them" causing most to discredit the whole argument. 

Ephesians 6:12 states, "for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities." "They" are the people that live to force others into a framework whose guiding principles are egocentric. 

John Swinton (1829-1901), former chief of staff at the New York Times, had this to say on the independence of the press in 1880, "There is no such thing, at this date of the world's history, in America, as an independent press. You know it and I know it.
There is not one of you who dares to write your honest opinions, and if you did, you know beforehand that it would never appear in print. I am paid weekly for keeping my honest opinion out of the paper I am connected with. Others of you are paid similar salaries for similar things, and any of you who would be so foolish as to write honest opinions would be out on the streets looking for another job. If I allowed my honest opinions to appear in one issue of my paper, before twenty-four hours my occupation would be gone.
The business of the journalists is to destroy the truth, to lie outright, to pervert, to vilify, to fawn at the feet of mammon, and to sell his country and his race for his daily bread. You know it and I know it, and what folly is this toasting an independent press?
We are the tools and vassals of rich men behind the scenes. We are the jumping jacks, they pull the strings and we dance. Our talents, our possibilities and our lives are all the property of other men. We are intellectual prostitutes."

Years later, Edward Bernays, who was actually Sigmund Freud's nephew, was a pioneer of public relations and is known as the first to draw upon the social sciences to shape the response of a general or specific audience. Bernays' most influential books include Crystallizing Public Opinion, Propaganda, Public Relations, and The Engineering of Consent. By the titles alone, it is easy to surmise that such knowledge could be instrumental in any endeavor concerning the public. The manipulation of public opinion with strategic employment of misinformation turns "the Truth will set you free" to an inconvenient nuisance.

If that weren't enough to maintain control of the populace, there is game theory. Game Theory is the branch of mathematics concerned with the analysis of strategies for dealing with competitive situations where the outcome of a participant's choice of action depends critically on the actions of other participants. In psychology, game theory is referred to the theory of social situations. There are two main branches of game theory: cooperative and non-cooperative game theory. A cooperative game is a game where groups of players may enforce cooperative behavior. Non-cooperative game theory deals largely with how intelligent individuals interact with one another in an effort to achieve their own goals. In this video, Richard Dawkins explains the prisoner's dilemna, tit for tat, and other strategies with examples from computer programs, World War 1, and the behavior of bats.

                                                                                                                                             

Cooperative and non-cooperative game theory appear to both have merits when their principles are employed in the proper context of human experience. Studies show that competition does produce faster results than a cooperative effort where cooperation's strength is long-term sustainability. 

Matthew 7:16-20 provides a trustworthy benchmark for discerning whether a train of thought is good or corrupt that is idiot-proof. Jesus metaphorically uses trees and the fruits they produce to resemble teachings of a predacious or righteous nature. I'll attempt to compare rules of the game in play as the trees. If the game is good, then good results will follow; and if corrupt, then ill results will follow. A good tree cannot bear corrupt fruit just like a good game cannot have corrupt results. The system as it now exists is corrupted and it's results are made to appear like good results through misinformation, the exultation of materialism, and the ability of money to buy anything from jury's to child prostitutes provided this non-cooperative game is played to such successes. The top players have access to Truth, eat it too, and defecate on the future. 

Money as the convenient tool for the exchange of valuables between consenting parties and it's honest operation has been engineered to a new set of rules of which value, necessity, property, stewardship of human rights, the importance of Truth and honest dealings, and the esteem of the People themselves are all manipulable with money and who or what has it. Those who can make out the semblance of Truth present little threat to the status quo where misinformation and vice are the diet and foods for thought of a society where money does all the driving. 

"When money does all the driving

No one is steering

Everybody has their six shooters

Playing poker in the backseat

The only thing they agree upon

Is no one touches the deck

and no one touches the wheel

This is empire baby

And this train ain't stopping until it derails"-Wu-Li

                                                            

As grim, tyrannical, and conspiratorial as this all might seem; in the grand scheme of things, the movement of Truth and the illumination it brings may be just like the movements of the Sun and Moon; appearing and disappearing from human sight in a predictable manner. It's natural for misinformation to exist and over time quantitatively overcome Truth until the work of filtering and discarding it is undertaken. It could be as simple as changing the rules of a game. Making the ambition for virtue as profitable as egocentric materialism is made to be now. Alexander Pope once stated that, "men must be taught as if you taught them not, and things unknown proposed as things forgot." The overlooked rules and principles that constitute Truth could be made profitable. A sequel to the "Age of Enlightenment" could be just on the other side of the horizon. 

Adults may be disadvantaged to learn new things and accustomed to a game approaching obsolescence, but the children of the world possess the ability to learn anything they are exposed to; a sacred blank slate that could be the best resource to introduce new incentives and rules into play to transform society into the best that can be presently deduced from history.

"Time is money". Time is similar to money. Just as inflation over time makes money worth less, the Time we have to spend alive, as we know it, loses value with every passing day we fail to be true to the best that we know.

Truth is in plain sight obscured by all kinds of non-truths just like Waldo is somewhere on the page with a myriad of distractions. If it were too easy to find Waldo, the books would never of sold as well as they did and I would bet the Truth would not sell either if the challenge of it's acquisition was the same.