SHIFT IN WESTERN THOUGHT CLOSE AT HAND
In my frequent referral to the gender imbalance of Western thought it might be perceived that I do not appreciate all that it has accomplished. To the contrary, I am well aware that the industrious nature of Western thought has literally moved mountains and produced an unprecedented amount of material development. The feminine principle reflects industriousness; therefore, feminine, materialistic, Western thought will by its nature produce great quantities of material product.
Western man has exhibited an almost superhuman intensity of thought and physical activity in his efforts to produce more goods and services for the world. Whether climbing frigid mountains with 100 pounds of belongings strapped to his back in order to enter the Yukon and search for gold, or forging a path through mosquito infested tropical forests of Panama to build a canal, he has endured severe physical hardship to reach his goals. His prodigious mental achievements exhibit similar stamina. Authors such as Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and Turgenev wrote their voluminous works in longhand in pen and ink. John A Roebling, builder of the Brooklyn Bridge designed every component of the bridge himself. Superhuman efforts and their resultant achievements permeate the history of Western man.
However, for all his industriousness, pioneering efforts, and inventiveness, and the huge material accumulations that they have produced, Western man has not found truth or peace—the ingredients for happiness. He has looked in the wrong places. The following parable will shed some light on his misdirected efforts.
A man searched every corner of his garden for his keys. After a few hours of this activity his wife came to the window and calling out to him asked what he was looking for. He told her that he had misplaced his keys. When she asked him where he had seen them last he replied that he last saw them in the house. She then asked why he didn’t look in the house and he replied, “I see better out here.”
Western thought functions best in the material world that it sees; therefore its activities relate to external pursuits. Truth and peace however, reside within, and cannot be found through the external searches of Western thought. Unable to find truth, even after diligent search, Western man developed theories, which are guesses as to what the truth might be. He especially likes to develop economic theories, which he hopes will give meaning and justification to his material pursuits. Keynes, Friedman, Malthus, Galbraith, Smith, Marx, and Veblen have all espoused economic theory and their names have migrated into the common Western lexicon. None of these economic theories ever work, and as I write this article an international meeting is taking place to determine what to do about the deepening world economic crises.
Western thought creates theories about all observable phenomena and academic disciplines. Some of the more famous are Einstein’s theory of relativity and Darwin’s theory of evolution, but there are psychiatric, medical, nutritional, and political theories as well. All theories eventually pass away as new observations are made along with the development of supporting data.
At this point my sons and daughters I interject that my message about the universal principle of gender and the patriarchal structure is not a theory; it is a truth. It does not require proof, only understanding. Western thought has difficulty with understanding because it has made a god of the material world and has developed a belief structure based upon what it can “see.” A collection of what it sees has been given the fancy name of “empirical data” and is used as “supporting evidence” for its theories.
Getting back to the thread of this essay, there are two approaches that the man in the garden can use to find his keys. He can start to look inside the house where he would more easily find the keys, or he can increase the intensity of his search on the outside. He can pull out all the weeds, then the flowers, and then every bit of vegetation until he leaves the garden completely barren. He will then deduce that if the keys are not on the outside they must be on the inside where he last had a glimpse of them.
Western man has chosen the latter option. He will develop one theory after another, as he continues to exploit the material world in his quest for peace and truth. Only after he has significantly disrupted the natural order of things without coming any closer to peace and truth, will he come to the realization that maybe he has been looking in the wrong place.
He is close to that point now as he sees the earth deteriorating from the ravaging of its resources and his own life suffering from increasing economic exploitation and environmental pollution.
Once he decides to go inside he will find the keys that will unlock the door to peace and truth; which will enable him to get on the road to happiness. The inner quest requires the same diligence and passion that accompanied his material accomplishments. It will require service, devotion and an expression of love in all that he does. He will come to the realization that just as everything seen outside the house in the parable—its color, state of repair, type of garden, and condition of the property—depends upon the unseen thinking inside the house, so does all that he sees in this world come from unseen influences. He will come to realize the necessity of maintaining a balance between the inner and outer, between the seen and the unseen.
As he changes his direction and begins to spend more time looking within he will come to the further realization that he couldn’t be on this new path if he wasn’t here; therefore, in order to make it possible for others to gain access to the same path the primary activity and objective of humankind must be its propagation and preservation.
The propagation and preservation of the species requires the efforts of a receptive adaptable, responsive, and caring entity that will bring forth life and nurture it. In order to function properly that entity requires a secure environment and the means with which to conduct its nurturing. It is the responsibility of man to provide the environment and means for this function to take place. It can only be done through the interplay and balance of gender called patriarchy.
That’s the truth.
E.G.
Western man has exhibited an almost superhuman intensity of thought and physical activity in his efforts to produce more goods and services for the world. Whether climbing frigid mountains with 100 pounds of belongings strapped to his back in order to enter the Yukon and search for gold, or forging a path through mosquito infested tropical forests of Panama to build a canal, he has endured severe physical hardship to reach his goals. His prodigious mental achievements exhibit similar stamina. Authors such as Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and Turgenev wrote their voluminous works in longhand in pen and ink. John A Roebling, builder of the Brooklyn Bridge designed every component of the bridge himself. Superhuman efforts and their resultant achievements permeate the history of Western man.
However, for all his industriousness, pioneering efforts, and inventiveness, and the huge material accumulations that they have produced, Western man has not found truth or peace—the ingredients for happiness. He has looked in the wrong places. The following parable will shed some light on his misdirected efforts.
A man searched every corner of his garden for his keys. After a few hours of this activity his wife came to the window and calling out to him asked what he was looking for. He told her that he had misplaced his keys. When she asked him where he had seen them last he replied that he last saw them in the house. She then asked why he didn’t look in the house and he replied, “I see better out here.”
Western thought functions best in the material world that it sees; therefore its activities relate to external pursuits. Truth and peace however, reside within, and cannot be found through the external searches of Western thought. Unable to find truth, even after diligent search, Western man developed theories, which are guesses as to what the truth might be. He especially likes to develop economic theories, which he hopes will give meaning and justification to his material pursuits. Keynes, Friedman, Malthus, Galbraith, Smith, Marx, and Veblen have all espoused economic theory and their names have migrated into the common Western lexicon. None of these economic theories ever work, and as I write this article an international meeting is taking place to determine what to do about the deepening world economic crises.
Western thought creates theories about all observable phenomena and academic disciplines. Some of the more famous are Einstein’s theory of relativity and Darwin’s theory of evolution, but there are psychiatric, medical, nutritional, and political theories as well. All theories eventually pass away as new observations are made along with the development of supporting data.
At this point my sons and daughters I interject that my message about the universal principle of gender and the patriarchal structure is not a theory; it is a truth. It does not require proof, only understanding. Western thought has difficulty with understanding because it has made a god of the material world and has developed a belief structure based upon what it can “see.” A collection of what it sees has been given the fancy name of “empirical data” and is used as “supporting evidence” for its theories.
Getting back to the thread of this essay, there are two approaches that the man in the garden can use to find his keys. He can start to look inside the house where he would more easily find the keys, or he can increase the intensity of his search on the outside. He can pull out all the weeds, then the flowers, and then every bit of vegetation until he leaves the garden completely barren. He will then deduce that if the keys are not on the outside they must be on the inside where he last had a glimpse of them.
Western man has chosen the latter option. He will develop one theory after another, as he continues to exploit the material world in his quest for peace and truth. Only after he has significantly disrupted the natural order of things without coming any closer to peace and truth, will he come to the realization that maybe he has been looking in the wrong place.
He is close to that point now as he sees the earth deteriorating from the ravaging of its resources and his own life suffering from increasing economic exploitation and environmental pollution.
Once he decides to go inside he will find the keys that will unlock the door to peace and truth; which will enable him to get on the road to happiness. The inner quest requires the same diligence and passion that accompanied his material accomplishments. It will require service, devotion and an expression of love in all that he does. He will come to the realization that just as everything seen outside the house in the parable—its color, state of repair, type of garden, and condition of the property—depends upon the unseen thinking inside the house, so does all that he sees in this world come from unseen influences. He will come to realize the necessity of maintaining a balance between the inner and outer, between the seen and the unseen.
As he changes his direction and begins to spend more time looking within he will come to the further realization that he couldn’t be on this new path if he wasn’t here; therefore, in order to make it possible for others to gain access to the same path the primary activity and objective of humankind must be its propagation and preservation.
The propagation and preservation of the species requires the efforts of a receptive adaptable, responsive, and caring entity that will bring forth life and nurture it. In order to function properly that entity requires a secure environment and the means with which to conduct its nurturing. It is the responsibility of man to provide the environment and means for this function to take place. It can only be done through the interplay and balance of gender called patriarchy.
That’s the truth.
E.G.
posted by Elder George at
4:05 AM
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