The Plutocrat

Those of you who may regularly read what I write will be aware of my love of poetry and of a few references to writers and composers of verse.

In this instance I quote from the Lebanese American poet and author, Kahlil Gibran – he who wrote the well-known book, “The Prophet”.

This is a very short tale from another of Gibran’s books, “The Forerunner”:-

The Plutocrat

In my wanderings I once saw upon an island a man-headed, iron-hoofed monster who ate the earth and drank the sea incessantly. And for a long time I watched him. Then I approached him and said, “Have you never enough; is your hunger never satisfied and your thirst never quenched?”

And he answered saying, “Yes, I am satisfied, nay, I am weary of eating and drinking; but I am afraid that tomorrow there will be no more earth to eat and no more sea to drink.”

Anyone you know to which this may apply? 

Is this the new world paradigm?

I wonder if the current method of communicating (in no more than140 characters) is affecting how we see and react to the world about us?

It used to be that when we communicated, face to face or by that, now very “old fashioned” letter writing, we were aware of the need to be polite, to be humble, to show self-restraint and to be discrete, particularly when dealing with those personally unknown to us.

In this regard, you may not be aware of this, but I have more than a passing interest in other religions and beliefs – that is other than Christianity. They are important I feel, as they (these other religions) influence some 6 billion people. That is a fair number!

In this connection I offer a very abbreviated (hopefully reasonably accurate) synopsis of an aspect of Hinduism that I find quite interesting. This is interesting as what has been believed for thousands of years (Hinduism, and it derivatives, is the oldest surviving religion in the world - I understand it even predates Judaism) is strangely applicable in todays rather unsettled world.

The Hindus believe in the “Yugas” – or the different ages that human beings have experienced in the world since we first became human. We are, according to these beliefs, now about 3000 years into the last of the four Yugas - the Kali Yuga wherein civilization degenerates into chaos.

Some of the (alleged) attributes of the Kali Yuga, are that:

•    Rulers will become unreasonable.

•    Rulers will no longer see it as their duty to promote spirituality, or to protect their subjects: they will become a danger to the world.

•    People will start migrating.

•    There will exist no topics on the subject of spirituality or God, even at the residences of so-called saints and respectable gentlemen and nothing will be known of the need for sacrifice, even by word.

With regard to human relationships:

•    Avarice and wrath will be common. Humans will openly display animosity towards each other. Ignorance will be widespread.

•    People will have thoughts of murder with no justification and will see nothing wrong in that.

•    Lust will be viewed as socially acceptable and sexual activity will be seen as the central requirement of life.

•    Sin will increase exponentially, while virtue will fade and cease to flourish.

•    People will take vows and break them soon after.

•    People will become addicted to intoxicating drinks and drugs.

An interesting future! It used to be that facts were facts and news was news. No more!

Quite appropriately, Nietzsche, admittedly not my favorite philosopher, said: “Anyone who fights with monsters should take care that he does not in the process become a monster.”