Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Thoughts for Armistice Day 11/11

In the beginning...

"And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him."
(The Bible, Genesis 4:8)


And They Obey by Carl Sandburg (1916).

Smash down the cities.
Knock the walls to pieces.
Break the factories and cathedrals, warehouses
and homes
Into loose piles of stone and lumber and black
burnt wood:
You are the soldiers and we command you.

Build up the cities.
Set up the walls again.
Put together once more the factories and cathedrals,
warehouses and homes
Into buildings for life and labor:
You are workmen and citizens all: We
command you.


Lines from The People, Yes by Carl Sandburg (1936)

The little girl saw her first troop parade and asked,
"What are those?"
"Soldiers."
"What are soldiers?"
"They are for war. They fight and each tries to kill as many of the other side as he can."
The girl held still and studied.
"Do you know . . . I know something?"
"Yes, what is it you know?"
"Sometime they'll give a war and nobody will come."


Some thoughts of my own (21st century):

What if a nuclear conflagration were to take place on Earth resulting, eventually, in the complete annihilation of the human race? The planet would be left devastated for many thousands of years. What if, eventually, after a minor hit from a small asteroid which carried spores from outer space, a form of life began to take root, mingling with whatever remained among the formerly radioactive rubble? Several more millennia would pass with lifeforms becoming more sophisticated and intelligent, though in no way similar in form to the human race. Would the sensibilities of these beings still be governed by the same planets, Sun and Moon, seasons and cycles as we are, we the human race ? Would the same astrological imprints still endow similar benefits and drawbacks. Would there still be that tiny seed of hatred embedded, that same seed which we all carry within us? Are we, as a race, warts and all, simply as we are because of our particular physical place in the universe? And would any other developed race spawned on this planet have the same problems because of the planetary setup?


The price we pay for the beauty of the Earth and its benefits is that its human inhabitants carry a mix of characteristics capable, at worst, of destroying themselves. If, as astrologers believe, these characteristics are governed (in part) by the physical situation of our planet Earth, and how it relates to celestial bodies surrounding it, then nothing will ever change fundamentally - only superficially. Wars and hatred will always be a part of life on Earth, the features of its inhabitants, uniforms and figureheads may change, but the core drive of hatred (and greed) will remain, always.


If this is so, then the only way for a better world would be to find another planet capable of supporting life. A different planetary configuration would surround it. A different planetary configuration would not necessarily be a better one. Humans born on such a planet, if travel and full-scale emigration to it were possible, might have less, or even none, of our Earth-born good traits and more bad ones (traits worse than we could even imagine). We carry on playing with the hand destiny has dealt the human race. It's a gamble. Gamblers do very occasionally win, even with the odds stacked against them.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Animals Kill, but they do not War.
War is something that stupid people do ...

Our Remembrance Day is tomorrow.
Two minutes of silence at 11:00.

kidd.

mike said...

You ponder, "What if a nuclear conflagration were to take place on Earth resulting, eventually, in the complete annihilation of the human race? The planet would be left devastated for many thousands of years." I believe that humans are doing a tremendous job of destroying the Earth WITHOUT any help from a nuclear disaster, though that would expedite matters...and we are taking most other species right along with us, down the tube. Should a nuclear disaster occur and wipe-out our species, then all the better, as there may be hope for Earth and its non-human life forms that survive.

I think that astrology affects all things on Earth and the Earth probably affects the astrology of our fellow solar system planets. The problem with humans is our human nature, not the astrology, though the astrology may enhance undesirable aspects. There have been and still are peaceful cultures, but the malevolent humans upon Earth seek those as appetizers.

We humans enjoy self-adulation and hold the doctrine that we are superior, because our petty, indulgent, schizophrenic beliefs have created a gawd that reiterates back to us that we are superior and the chosen ones. Arrogance to the maximum!

I only hope that we never infect another planet or solar system until we accept and understand our position...oneness...within the natural world. We humans are no more or no less significant than any other life form on Earth...our eventual survival depends on understanding our inter-connection to and with ALL life.

BTW - Saw a very good movie on Netflix last night, "Cruel & Unusual" (2014). Quite different and "Black Mirror"-ish. Try to not read much about it prior to viewing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiR7R316N-M

Twilight said...

Anon/kidd ~ Maybe humans "advanced" in evolution a step too far to the point where very, very good meets very, very stupid. :-/

Twilight said...

mike ~ Agreed - mostly, kind of... but you wrote " The problem with humans is our human nature not the astrology, though the astrology may enhance undesirable aspects." But I think our human nature is our Earth-bound astrology brought to life. As I see it we grew here with our human "flavour" because of Earth's place in the Solar System. Certain soils and atmospheres are good for certain plants (for instance); Earth's metaphorical soil and atmosphere bred us - made us what we are, for better or worse. What I wondered was if humans did manage to reach another planet capable of sustaining life, and bred and bred and bred over many generations, the nature eventually change due to different metaphorical "soil and atmosphere".

Thanks for the recommendation of "Cruel and Unusual" - will look for it tonight. We watched "Finding Neverland" last night. Enjoyed it - it's based on fact - how James Barrie came to write the Peter Pan Story. Johnny Depp plays James Barrie, with a passable Scots accent too!

mike (again) said...

I understand your hypothesis and of course, it will remain unanswered in our lifetimes. We humans have managed to visit the Moon temporarily and orbit the Earth for long durations, but that doesn't quite count, since the same outer influences prevail. It's likely that our genes have an Earthly, Homo sapiens stamp upon them: we are what we are, regardless where we are. Understanding how evolution operates here on Earth, it may be that we could genetically (and astrologically) evolve on another planet or solar system, but then we wouldn't be Homo sapiens or humans as we know us to be.

As you indicate, being on another planet or in another solar system would involve a different set of astrological influences. The point I was attempting regarding our human nature is that astrology involves available energy that is dependent upon the user to employ for good or ill, and the distinction can become fuzzy depending on the view, or the side one is on. Unfortunately, our human nature typically tends toward non-altruistic pursuits with flairs of aggressive behavior. There isn't anything preventing us humans from taking the astrological energy on tap right now and making the best of things from such, except for our human nature and choice of free-will. There have been and are cultures that manage to soothe their aggressive side and operate within a peaceful consensus.

Should there be a spiritual or universal plan in place, who knows on that one, it may be our destiny to HAVE to experience this Earth-plane-existence as part of some weird maturation or evolutionary step. It seems apropos to wallow in our self-made misery and not be allowed to take refuge within some distant solar system. "Be here now" may be very appropriate to our situation and level of karma. Kismet is a bitch...LOL. Colonizing a planet or some distant solar system is as likely to happen as "peace on Earth and goodwill toward all".

The film, "Cruel & Unusual" has threads of similarity to this topic.

Twilight said...

mike (again) ~ Many thanks for your additional thoughts on the topic - which is many-stranded and part-fantasy anyway, but always fascinating to me. I suppose that, at heart, it's a matter of questioning "what is astrology?" - Is it what we think it is, or something else? Another unanswerable question. My head's full of 'em! :-)

There's something in our nature that puts our aggressive characteristics ahead - in a majority of us (as a species). Mars. The Mars instinct in most of us appears strong. Yes, these instincts can be used/harnessed in sport and in fighting for "the good", but I suspect the true nature of what astrology calls Mars is aggressive when left unharnessed, and that it's not possible to totally harness it - not on Planet Earth anyway.

Twilight said...

From JD (via e-mail)~

This was in the English language version of El Pais this morning-
http://elpais.com/elpais/2015/11/11/inenglish/1447202999_099149.html
Spanish newspaper and probably a coincidence because 11/11 has no significance in Spain but it seems appropriate for today as a reminder of the price of the 'glorious' victory.

And your musings on 'what if' and would it be different or the same next time....?
It's worth reading John Michell who wrote that the cycle repeats itself over and over endlessly-
http://www.innertraditions.com/the-john-michell-reader.html
108 essays in total all of which are taken from his regular column in The Oldie magazine. I don't need to buy the book coz I used to buy that magazine and cut out and kept his essays every month :)

buenas noches
JD
p.s.
Can you guess why there are 108 essays? I'm pretty sure you can if you think about it :)

Twilight said...

JD ~ Thank you for the links - will peruse them a little later. I haven't read any of John Michell's stuff, but will chase some up - sounds interesting. :-)

108 essays - 9 x 12? 9 years' worth in a monthly mag?

Buenas noches back atcha!