Terror Before the Abyss

Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.
- Marcus Aurelius

Projections into the near future, both by military think tanks and loud rebels, promise us that there will be tremendous conflicts and great suffering in a world destabilized by warfare, and in the clutch of malicious hands. It is a fantasy world made flesh. Large parts of humanity are besieged by guns and banks, and harbored away from internal strife on a shaking planet are the tiny elite whose protection will surpass high-level government buildings, and other state infrastructure. But could guerrilla war take place in Western cities? How will urban battlefields and false-flag terrorist attacks transform the character of the political system? These questions are being asked by military analysts, but some of the answers are discernible right now, especially the response of Western governments, which has increasingly taken on an authoritarian nature, connected with a global government structure. But leaving aside the police state, how are people going to react in a changing world that seems to be at the mercy of God? That is the most important question facing us in this century. Ask anybody with their head on straight what they make of the impending picture of the world, and they'll respond: "It's Armageddon." And they'll be right.

The days of Tiger Woods gracing the front pages of magazines will soon be missed, because daily life is going to take a haunting turn. I doubt we will look at ourselves the same way again, much less imperfect celebrities. But I urge that we not submit to fear in light of this approaching darkness, or isolate ourselves to our own neck of the woods, but instead, to hold firm to our love for mankind, and to the idea of grace. The trans-formative act that will enable salvation from the abyss will not be like the pulling of a trigger, but the hatching of an egg. So be resilient, and stay hopeful. The future is produced as much by long calculations as by snap judgments, and more so by gut checks than paychecks. It will be a testament to our humanity if we can remain conscious of the good side of Man, and his ability to overcome all pitfalls placed before him, even when we are better served renouncing such thoughts.

Man is at bottom a savage, horrible beast. We know it, if only in the business of taming and restraining him which we call civilization.
- Schopenhauer

The order of events, or the precise narrative of the near future remains unknown, and the fact that we have some idea about what lies ahead only increases our anxiety. But one thing is dramatically clear: things will unmistakably change. The Age of Terrorism, or the War of Terror, which was started by Western governments, may take a new turn as other criminals participate in acts of political violence. It is at that point that the Cheneys of the worlds will boast in front of the cameras that their rhetoric was justified, and mock the naysayers of doom for not submitting to their view of the world. And they won't stop at mocking, but move onto promoting aggressive actions against all heretics of their judgment, or for that matter, anybody that seeks to get a word in that is not theirs.

Cheney will point to the dictatorial laws enacted during the tenor of the Bush administration as our guiding instruments, and demand that his foresightedness be respected by the unflattering chatterers. And most bankrupt commentators will give in to his exaggerated claims, even the quasi-liberals, who will probably be persuaded against the strategy of soft power and fully endorse coercive tactics to quell protests at home, and rising violence in the sacked villages of Afghanistan and elsewhere. Obama's mood will change, and he'll begin to shift his administration into a new phase to help implement the designs of the new world order, while promising the American people old relief from new pressures in the Abyss.

But something tells me that the elite's program will fail. It won't compute with a software that has long threatened to rebel. The American people, long suspected to be naive and impotent, could turn the revolutionary corner, and break free from predatory bondage. The discouragement about the political system can't be half-addressed or justified, and neither can the endless wars or the economic exploitation of every American. There will be a revolution because the instinct of survival demands it, not because a certain section of the population is upset at the outcome of the last election.

No country can suppress the truth and live well.
- Ezra Pound

Once we are plunged into this Abyss, the preceding epoch, when petty political match-ups between two corrupt parties were tolerated by a stupid public, will be no more. The era that signified nothingness will perish into history, and Americans won't be able to curb their enthusiasm for revolution any longer.

During this time, history is made when the period of nothingness is completely dried up, and finally recognized for what it was - the suppression of political instinct, which enabled despotism to advance uncontested. Tyranny ends where resistance begins.

The government's oppression of the people and breaking of the law will be unmasked in the Abyss, but I bet this state of affairs will be better for the soul than the formerly quiet tyranny, which was unobservable during the state of nothingness. So in the years ahead it will not be tyranny that we will be fighting, but oppression, which are two different things in my opinion.

Under tyranny the vast majority are asleep and the awakened few are hesitant to challenge the political weight with their full being, while against oppression we are much freer, and no longer held back by doubts in ourselves, or afraid of repercussions from the forceful powers. Inside the abyss, a spiritual weight is lifted, and here I am only speaking of souls who know their natures, the role they play, and what it is that they want to accomplish in this life.

For some, the chaotic conditions under oppression will be far more unlivable than those under the quiet tyranny, mainly because of the change in lifestyle, but also because they were not attentive to the soul-shaking developments in the prior period, and so they endured a lot less disillusionment. Others will accept the coming chaos, even embracing it, and profiting off it, because all they understand is self-interest and survival. But I hope there are a number of us that will not tolerate either violent chaos or a new, disquieting tyranny in the place of it. Liberty is not a lost cause, but the only cause worth dying for. In an act of resistance there is a sudden change in the character of your life, and the alarming facts about the world can't be as easily dismissed as before. But it will take priceless effort, and the discipline required of soldiers to continue resisting even when failure is imminent. So a petty rebel who vandalizes and steals, taking advantage of lawlessness, and thinks of revolution as a live action video game is not fit to fight. You must remember, I desire order, not disobedience, but not the kind of order that banishes truth and love, and commits itself to domination rather than emancipation.

Few are capable of withstanding oppressive suffering without fighting back violently, I doubt if I am up to it. But we must try peaceful means first. I am not suggesting, however, that we stand in front of imperial stormtroopers as punching bags, and take the punishment in the hope that some potential good will result from our pain and grief. Laying ourselves at the feet of ruthless thugs, and being at the mercy of their judgment is not a display of bodily courage, but an evasion of instinct. True, there are higher principles than self-defense, but not many.

I am fully aware of Gandhi's great quote; "The purer the suffering, the greater is the progress," but will the heartless elites and their foot soldiers recognize the full weight of our suffering and retire from the pursuit of ruling mankind? I am doubtful that they will, not even in the long run. And that is the most disquieting doubt, because it puts into question the success of peaceful means of resistance. Author William T. Vollmann weighs in on the philosophy of Satyagraha in his book Rising Up and Rising Down, and he concludes:

In short, satyagraha is correct only if the sacrifice is for something, and only if the oppressor will eventually be moved to cease his aggression should the sacrifice become of sufficient magnitude. If one or both of these conditions remains unmet, then counterviolence is justified. (Vollmann, Rising Up and Rising Down, Abridged Edition, pg. 77).

In the end, it comes to down faith alone. "There is God or time," Albert Camus said, "that cross or this sword." I'm not yet a man, so I'm hesitant to decide which weapon to take up.

Tyranny is not a fly that can be swatted away, so if you have any hopes about the upcoming elections, then I'm sorry to tell you that not any change will come of it. The nature of America's present tyranny is akin to an eight-legged spider, which can't be tapped out of the air, but must be picked up and thrown in the trash can of history before it has a chance to bite us again and profit from our blood and sweat. And it must be grabbed by Liberty's arm outstretched, using its full-strength and flexibility. If we aim to crush it, a huge mess will be made, so instead, we must try to remove it from our web delicately without damaging the structures of society. Then again, the time for that may have passed already.

Of course, the success of a popular resistance is not certain. A declining middle class may or may not embrace revolutionary politics. Americans may abandon their countrymen, and only look out for themselves. Also, the nature of American repression within its own borders may turn out to be more brutal than its repression against foreigners, making resistance intensely difficult. All this is possible. If you rule out losing then you're also ruling out victory. Victory is attainable by those who can communicate that their ideals is chained to their motives, and be believed by the public, and who are willing to sacrifice their bodies before the sword. Engaging in belligerent violence will surely cement defeat, because if we remember Rollo May's words, "human pride and esteem are offended by a show of force." In his book Power and Innocence, May, the American psychologist, reflected on American character and the sources of violence in society. "Innocence in our day," he said, "is the hope that there are no enemies, that we can move into a new Garden of Eden, a community characterized by freedom from all want, guilty and anxiety. But this also means freedom from responsibility; it means going back prior to the birth of consciousness, for guilt is only the other side of moral consciousness."

Only he who is in the truth remains always living.
- Jesus, (as quoted in Tolstoy's The Gospel in Brief)

In the Abyss we will experience the national breakdown of tradition, the social breakdown of law, and the psychological breakdown of morality. A police state will attempt to maintain an ungodly order, but the inevitability of maximum resistance will be too much pressure on the State's resources, forcing the evil system to completely collapse. The the characteristics of the Abyss will constantly fluctuate throughout the period, testing our relation to ourselves, God, and the greater cosmos. And a lengthy War of Terror will undoubtedly have lasting effects on the future generations of humanity. But all this must pass, is it not true? That without ruin renewal is impossible.

A Last Judgment is Necessary because Fools flourish. Nations Flourish under Wise Rulers & are depress'd under foolish Rulers. - William Blake

On a fundamental level the Terror Before the Abyss is the terror of collective Judgment. Which is a Terror before an unknown verdict by an unknown God. This is a Terror that is purely psychological in nature, it resembles the cry before the cliff, under which everything is consumed in darkness, and where grave sinners are cast. The other kind of Terror is more flashy, and is manifested through acts of violence by state and non-state agents, which can be compared to a huge car crash before a long tunnel, where there are more crashes expected.

Years ahead, the political Terror Before the Abyss will be viewed as the dying eagle's first flights from a free society. 9/11 was only the opening act of government-sponsored horror. What's waiting in the wings is a towering fascism, which has crept all these years to its unbearable height, and if it is not defeated, the Western concept of liberty could be destroyed forever. Those in the East may look on the events in America discouragingly and shocked at first, but they'll probably change their minds about the need for progress to be democratic, because they've never embraced the idea that the individual is supreme, and that freedom is everything, so they'll find traditional reasons to support the new structures of power. And, in contradiction to my earlier assessment, there is a good possibility that many Americans will also be sympathetic to a global government, and perceive old American liberties as backward and an obstacle to solving urgent problems like "global warming," and "terrorism."

And this shouldn't surprise us. Not all Americans desire freedom, especially not when they think their safety is at stake. The slave who has been conscious of his slavery all his life is more resolute in the face of oppression than the slave who only begins to realize his condition when there are tanks on the streets. I figure that the first type will resist more aggressively than the second because his suffering is much deeper, which has created in him a hardened spirit. While the second type of slave will not only come to accept the complete cover of the maternal state, and the promises of the new world order, but demand that its benefits be permanent, even if it means they will be marked with a chip, or that the rebelling slaves are crushed to pieces.

The apocalypse, and the Abyss that comes with it, is an equally significant time for us slaves, as well as the callous elites, because the future of the entire species is at stake. Maybe God's interference will protect us against annihilation but who is willing to take such a risk? I'm certainly not. If He comes, great, but if he doesn't, will the world end? I think not. In the meantime we have work to do. We must begin the task ourselves, and intensify our efforts to heal Mankind, by allowing Truth to reign supreme, and recognizing the fact that the Kingdom of God is within our hearts. If we fail in this mission, then the world will continue to drag on along the current terrible path and all hopes for liberty will eventually be terminated by Lucifer's restless hand.

Mankind, which in Homer's time was an object of contemplation for the Olympian gods, now is one for itself. Its self-alienation has reached such a degree that it can experience its own destruction as an aesthetic pleasure of the first order. - Walter Benjamin (The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction)

For freedom to be gained out of the Abyss, the culture's reservoir of Zeus energy, which American poet Robert Bly describes as honest male authority accepted for the sake of community, must be used to assist the virtues that are presently in danger of being destroyed, like honor, trust, and justice. Showing a little bit of aggression for the sake of these building blocks of civilization is healthy, and very necessary. So let's not forsake male power as our society crumbles, this is exactly the time to positively integrate our wild natures with one other, and embrace our guarding instincts. Because if we find ourselves without the assertiveness of a warrior, then kiss liberty goodbye.

The fools, who do not understand that actual rank does not matter at all and that he who occupies the top very rarely plays the chief role. How often a king is ruled by a minister; how many ministers by their secretaries! And who is then the first? I believe it is the man who knows his fellowmen at a glance and has sufficient power or shrewdness to harness their forces and passions to the execution of his plans. - Goethe's Werther, (The Sorrows of Young Werther, p. 59)