THE GREAT SPIRAL DOWN: HOW THE WORLD IS DEVOLVING BEFORE OUR VERY EYES

Devolution is something rarely seen in the world, at least not in the total collapse, Holy Crap I can't believe that just happened, kind of way. But it can be seen in almost every avenue of our planet and in ourselves. And if we want to survive this coming apocalypse, we have to change. The sad part is that it almost certainly won't happen.

Plato's Allegory of the Caves is a prime example of what is happening to humankind. In the parable, a group of people are forced to sit facing one side of a cave wall. A fire is lit behind them but they cannot see it, only the shadows being thrown against the wall. Those shadows would be as real to them as actual reality and a mythology would grow as to its origins, almost of all of which would be completely wrong but believed by many. Even if shown the fire and the shadows, some would deny it's existence, even thought they can see it with their own eyes. Taking it further, what if people were taken outside of the cave and shown the outdoors and the sun? Some would have to be taken kicking and screaming into the light as their entire belief system would shatter. And that is what we need to do now to the most hard core religious fanatics out there.

Spirituality should be an important part of anyone's life. I believe in a God, just not the same one that the religions worship which is always some deranged, schizophrenic lunatic bent on killing, incest, and death. No my God is something much greater. He (the pronoun used to recognize existence not gender as God has no gender but using "It" seems wrong somehow) is a power in us all, and he does speak to us if you listen. I'm not saying I hear voices from God and I would hasten to guess that most of those claiming that are seriously deluded, which is odd because many a politician seems to talk to God on a regular basis, or so they say. No, God speaks to us through our friends, our family, our news, even our pets. You just have to listen.

The problem isn't a belief in God or heaven or magic underwear. It's the idiots out there who believe they are so right, that everyone must share in their delusion. I have friends who are devout Catholics, Jews, Mormons, even Muslim. What people choose to believe is their own business and no one should be told to stop believing in anything that isn't harming anyone. But the fundamentalists are destroying this world and that idiocy needs to stop.

Let's look at Afghanistan for a quick tutorial. Our forces accidentally burned some Korans. The Taliban and local imams whipped the less than intelligent public into a fury and American soldiers got hurt. You can tell most of the cave dwellers never read the book as it says in plain text that this kind of behavior should not be tolerated. True, like every religious book, double speak reigns depending on the passage, which means that if Mohamed really did write the whole book himself as claimed, he was completely insane because he contradicts himself on a regular basis. But for the most part the Koran is clear that this is not tolerable behavior.

So in return for their idiocy, the US had to show how to really go ape shit, and a lone soldier (or several depending on whose telling the story) killed a whole bunch of innocent people. If fundamentalists weren't exploiting the situation, this tragedy would never have happened.

In this country, we have much the same with Rick Santorum leading the charge for the "How stupid can we get," contest. This man thinks birth control and abortion is evil, people should be having dozens of kids apiece, and not have government pay for any of it. If you want society to collapse, this is exactly the kind of nonsense you sprout. Yet, a segment of the public is lapping it up. These are the same mouth breathers who keep insisting Obama is not a citizen and it will be a dark day in hell before he becomes President, somehow forgetting that he is running for his second term. Talk about fighting the last battle.

We, as a people, need to start turning away from religion and toward spirituality. We should lead by these tenants: "Be nice to everyone you meet," "Don't kill ever in the name of God," and "If it's none of your business, it's none of your business." The world would be a must better place if we started living by them, wouldn't it?