SUMMARY OF LEARNERS INTRO & VOCAB
Everyone has his own trip, right? You’ve got yours, I’ve got mine, everyone’s
got theirs: each of them a carefully crafted custom job, for better or for
worse. Hitler and his henchmen had
theirs, too. Some new tyrant might smash
ours like yachts in harbor during a hurricane.
History has warned us.
But haven't we grown cagey enough to recognize the worst
gangsters and shut them down? Haven’t we
all the creeps of history to compare them against? Is there anything new they could try to get
away with, that we couldn’t read through?
Learners will tap into everything known. That will make them smarter. Smarter people, fewer mistakes; fewer
mistakes, less pain; less human pain, greater productivity. A quick investment for unlimited profit. Do we have enough Humanity and the Duty, per
Mencius, to see this through? Have we
got the guts to do what I’m suggesting?
Where could we find the guts; in the faith that our souls are saved in Jesus, perhaps?
Could it be we’ve grown too cagey for our own good? Today, we find it easier to believe in
nothing—to trust no new ideology, whatever the cost. Fanaticophobia is such a sorry habit. “The opposite of illusions is not disillusion
but the truth.” A Course in Miracles,
Foundation for Inner Peace, p. 438.
So here’s my agenda in clear and simple, for your
consideration.
FIRST THINGS FIRST!
WORLD PEACE FIRST!
I’m shouting this from the rooftops so far unheard,
drowned in denial’s meanders.
You may have noticed three things taking place all at
once for the first time in history.
·
There’s a truly global
communication network out there. Instead
of a conglomeration of alien and alienating nation-states, we are fast becoming
One World. Tarzan-like, I’m swinging my
message along the jungle vines of this World Wide Web to get it out to
you.
·
We like-minded Learners throng
this planet. Regardless of our
provenance, religion and ideology, each of us craves peace. Exquisitely trained and ready for anything,
we outnumber the tyrants and their accomplices by thousands to one.
·
Finally, we’re teetering on a
cliff edge of omnicide ("Kill everything!") that’s getting scarier
and nearer every day.
Why not exploit this cracked-open, triple-pane window of
opportunity, recruits and crises? It was
sealed shut in the past since essential peace components were missing. Every prior effort at peace was doomed to
fail in their absence, so often that we have convinced ourselves all such
efforts are useless with or without those essential components. That window will close once again when those
peace efforts’ evil twin weapon components execute their final mission. We only have this current, fleeting
opportunity.
In order to exploit it, we will need to share one ideal
and harmonize our constructive activities with it. An ideal that’s not on the tip of everyone’s
tongue, yet that everyone could adopt after careful consideration. One that embraces the best and worst of who
we are, that would brace us to fear, exclude and censor nothing and no
one. It should shield us from ice storms
of recrimination, blame games, aggression and untruth. Finally, it should allow us to forgive everyone
and everything including ourselves and the worst we’ve done in the past—as
cultures, religions and individuals.
Allow us to forgive ourselves and repent of our unholy
ways; do we have what that takes? Could
we wrap our minds around that?
Learners will call that ideal PeaceWorld.
For the first time in history, we have every means,
motive and opportunity to make it happen.
Once we go for it, the volume of our peace song may swell even louder
than the bad brass band blare of WeaponWorld.
Quotes from:
http://sunsite.org.uk/packages/Online-Book-Initiative/Adolph.Hitler/unpacked/mkv1ch04.html.
[Author’s note: a neutral academic web page, now
offline. I’d rather not refer you to
alternate pro-Nazi websites. My family fought
the Nazis, tooth and nail. I despise
them. But this is WeaponWorld and I must
harvest my quotes where I can find them.
Reading LEARNERS will require that you to broaden your mind].
“In every case where there are exigencies or tasks that
seem impossible to deal with successfully, public opinion must be concentrated
on the one problem ... Only in this way
can public interest be aroused to such a pitch as will urge people to combine
in a great voluntary effort and achieve important results.
“This fundamental
truth applies also to the individual ... He must always concentrate his efforts
to one definitely limited stage of his progress, which has to be completed
before the next step be attempted … This systematic way of approaching an
objective is an art in itself and always calls for the expenditure of every
ounce of energy...” Hitler,
Adolph, Mein Kampf, Vol.
I, Chap. 10.
“… all effective propaganda must be confined to a few
bare essentials and those must be expressed as far as possible in stereotyped
formulas. These slogans should be
repeated persistently until the very last individual has come to grasp the idea
that has been put forward.” Vol. I, Chap. 6.
“The more the militant energies of the people are
directed towards one objective, the more will new recruits join the movement,
attracted by the magnetism of its unified actions, ...” Vol. I, Chap.
3.
“Any Weltanschauung,
though a thousandfold right and supremely beneficial to humanity, will be of no
practical service for the maintenance of a people, as long as its principles
have not yet become the rallying point of a militant movement.” Vol. II, Chap. 1.
Shouldn’t
Yet when we mimic worn-out
It’s time we cultivated PeaceWorld, our truest
calling. Any other option is mere death
by the sword.
“To these three forms of law, a fourth one links up, the most important
of all. It isn’t engraved in marble or
bronze, but in the hearts of the citizenry.
It is the real constitution of the State, which grows stronger every
day; when other laws grow old or expire, it revives and replaces them. It sustains the people in the spirit of their
institutions; it substitutes, unawares, the force of authority with that of
habit. I speak of morals, customs and
especially opinion: that overlooked part of our politics but on which all the
rest depends; that part which preoccupies the great statesman in secret, while
he seems to focus on personal regulations.
Those are but the girdle of the dome, of which morals – born more slowly
– end up forming the unshakable key.” Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Du
contrat social, (The Social Contract). Book II, Chapter 11.
I may invite you into PeaceWorld but I can’t cram you
inside. I can only suggest the melody
and trust you will choose to harmonize.
What PeaceWorld may repay us is immaterial—no matter how
much we may long to bask in its glory.
Our conscience somewhat revived at last, the glory of our favorite God,
reverence for long-dead ancestors, the welfare of posterity and our military
honor as guarantors of Peace, all demand it of us.
That should be enough.
LEARNERS: On the Move from
WeaponWorld to PeaceWorld
CONTACT PAGE (under
development)