This thread began as a reply to another
thread, which being on the 10th page probably
won't be seen by light thread skimmers. So here goes...
IMO the things that are fundamentally 'wrong' with our world are not new (oppression/exploitation of people and the planet, and a system built on
double standards.) First, there's the problem of resources, or rather the way they’re managed. The accelerated funneling of wealth/resources from
the many to the few is the same M.O. as a cancerous tumor. I don't like to label or judge a human being as a tumor, but unlike cancer cells on the
tiny scale, we have the ability to notice the damage we're doing to our larger body, the earth.
Secondly, we’re having a cultural identity crisis in many different forms. For example, science seems to clash with spirituality, and technology
grows exponentially while spiritual views are made to seem obsolete by comparison. As I mentioned, the roots of these and all cultural clashes are not
new. The difference is that lately we're more conscious of these problems as a whole. It is my observation that identity consolidates over time, more
or less as follows:
1. Atoms/subatomic particles >>> DNA/cell components (not technically alive)
2. Single cells >>> multicelled life (alive but but not technically self-aware)
3. Self aware being >>> Group Identities (more sophisticated over time based on needs and benefits)
3a. Individual identity ("I am me; I am not you.")
3b. Family identity (often Family A vs. Family B with tragic results)
3c. Tribal/National identity ("I am not a Virginian, but an American" - Patrick Henry)
4. Unity consciousness ("I am you and you are me and we are all together" - The Beatles)
Humanity is currently in the third stage, on the verge of the fourth. But for now, duality is our default mode of perception. As the strain of
culture clash becomes compounded by mismanaged resources and environmental pollution/disasters, we will have to choose between empathy (imagining
oneself as another and cooperating like cells in a healthy body to survive), or dying in a pile of our own filth.
Consolidation of identity also reconciles scientific and religious perspectives. We adapt physically and socially over time, but based on a rule
(self-similarity or scaling identity) that never ever changes. In the next stage, people would assume the role of single cells, giving birth to a new
form of consciousness as much more advanced than our present operating system is as we are to pond scum. Such a presence would be rightfully
considered supernatural, God- or Christ-like, while not conflicting with any natural laws (except our flimsy standards of duality.) It is the
apocalypse most major religions call for, and it is inevitable.