World Through a Keyhole: Conspiracy Theory as a form of Mysticism

Viewing The World Through A Keyhole:

~~~~~ The Vast Majority of Conspiracy Theory is a form of Mysticism...





Looking at Escher's Relativity: What is it you see?




Just as the defintion of god has evolved throughout humanities own ongoing evolution, so too do our individual world-views change as we mature as people. But what if you get stuck?

Some Things Just Is, But They Aren't:
The world is infinitely complex with a mind-boggling level of interconnectedness [1.][2.]. To thoroughly explain anything of depth requires knowledge and understanding of a great variety of interconnected topics, so things become compartmentalised. If I wanted to start explaining the keyboard I'm currently typing on, where would I begin? It's appearance? History? Brand? Circuitry? Layout? Chemical structure? Components? It's mechanics? - I guess the obvious answer would be it would depend on who you're talking to. A keyboard designer might be interested in its appearance and a computer historian in it's history. But for all intents and purposes the most any of us need to know about a keyboard is that it has 26 characters and a space bar.

It's like why most school kids only need to know this:
Instead of this:

mys·ti·cism n.

Immediate consciousness of the transcendent or ultimate reality.

This is where the mysticism comes in, IMO the majority of conspiracy theorists are merely those who seek to find order in the chaos and become content with the simplified diagram, or create one.



Illuminati & The New World Order:
These terms have as many definitions as people who use them but they're not much more than broad brushes people use to paint world events with. Some to the point where there is only 2 big splotches on any given canvas. It's too much for some people, the complexity of the worlds events, trends and activities trigger anxiety for some - so they prefer their glass ceiling.

Illuminati & The New World Order are like multiple-choice answers you've written on an essay question you've asked for yourself. You're using a fold-out leaflet instead of a library.

The vast majority of conspiracy-theory is a symptom of sort of cultural time-lag. We're so much more exposed to what goes on in the world, we are even pre-exposed - science fiction is predicting parts of possible futures. But it's only just now a post-racial generation is being born - and race is an ancient thing. There's too much to make sense of for those that want to.

The problems we see in society and attribute to the Illuminati or NWO aren't by their design. They exist because of our collective failure redesign the playground that is life quick enough. Most of us don't go to the doctor or the mechanic or the dentist etc unless their is something wrong right? Think of your experience as a microcosm for the world.

There are movers and shakers in the world though. But they are usually of that status because of past events and/or present circumstance and/or talent in their chosen field.


I dunno, I've lost interest and cohesion in what I'm trying to say at the moment. But there should be enough to start discussion.



Basically what I'm trying to say is the world as it is today is born from the fractal of the past, advancements are exponential. But human culture stagnates at comfortable intervals. Conspiracy Theory is born out of people born into stagnate cultures attempting to explain things that interrupted that stagnation because of a lack of knowledge, it becomes part of an evolving culture in of itself. I just think its worrisome that some find comfort in the conspiracy rather than addressing the illness that gave birth to it.



Thoughts?

Very valid points. Nice OP. Maybe, thats why when people start to research a certain "iffy" theory, they may find that its probably not a conspiracy at all....just a terrible event. Or the outcome of other events. Thats just the way the world works sometimes. But, Im fixing to doze off, will check back tomorrow...

Interesting angle. I see your point and agree to an extent. There are many conspiracy theories that don't require any transcendence of any paradigm, including reality. Like the JFK assassination - I don't think anybody would be terribly shocked to discover that Oswald was just a patsy. Most conspiracy theories are of this mundane type.

But you definitely have a point - as a society we are super-saturated with all kinds of conflicting information. To this day we can't even agree if milk, or eggs, are good for us or not. The more confliction that enters into the equation, the more we tend to give up, and rely on intuition. Problem is, intuition has nothing to do with truth. It tends to come from emotion, not logic, reason, nor critical thinking.

So we have a society of people who, when confronted with more or less the some body of data, will interpret that data in wildly different fashions, assuming there's confliction present. Subjects like 9/11, or the nature of God, or ETs, etc. will naturally show division in opinion.

reply to post by ghostsoldier

Thoughts?

If you're saying that conspiracy theories are basically the result of simpleminded folk trying to make sense of the personal failures and defeats that they have suffered due to their inability to understand the world and develop a successful strategy for living in it, you are almost certainly right.

Which begs the question of what people like you and I, who do not believe in and are somewhat contemptuous of conspiracy theories, are doing on this absurd web site.

reply to post by Astyanax


We'll in my case, ATS is one of the only forums that covers a broad-range of topics I find interesting. And I like to put my spin on things and hope that wakes some people up.

And I don't think conspiracy theorists are necessarily trying to make sense of personal failures, but more so systematic failures in society. But you can't really think about failure without thinking about ways to have prevented it. And this is where the "ultimate reality" stuff comes back in.

An example would be a student failing a test. The conspiracy theory student will say "its because I'm dumb" - the non-conspiracy student will say "its because I didn't study" - The world is wrecked because of "Illuminati" - The world is wrecked because of "A, B, C and the absence of X, Y, Z". One's an enemy the other is a challenge, and for some, the two are synonymous.

Conspiracy Theory serves a purpose though, for some its a stepping stone to greater understanding. But it's when it becomes a crutch its a problem.

M.C. Escher is my favorite artist.
Such a great mind, Belvedere and snakes are my favorites...
Thanks for that reminder...


The problem with all conspiracy theories that I see is where does theory end and truth begin.
In the opinion of the reader? Or in the passed down information from person to person.
There are theories I will never subscribe to, but then there are some I can't let go.
I guess my conspiracy theory is what you see in the world.


Maybe it's all in the eye of the beholder....