Breadcrumbs: A Collection of Spiritual and Philosophical Essays by Francis J. Shaw (ebook voice reader txt) 📖

Progress—the battle of the ‘isms’ had begun. Communism, Fascism, Nazism, battled with propaganda, fear, and violence. As fortunes rose and fell, opposing sides in numerous conflicts fought for years as new ‘isms’ joined the fray. Capitalism and socialism offered people different carrots and economic philosophies.

The constant changes and action kept everyone busy, with no time to consider that life in the age of kings may not have been perfect, but was easier to understand. We expected a monarch to be opulent, lavish, and rich. We knew the transfer of power through primogeniture was risky and getting a good one was a rarity we accepted. There was also no pretense about the wealthy. The King, Lords, Earls, and Dukes had the wealth—expected and out in the open, you were born into it, or not.

The new power was with the industrialists and bankers. As politicians aligned with big business, conflicts continued. The carrot was an ‘ism’ that had to be defeated, but not included in the rhetoric, was a learning which many keep alive today. There was huge money to be made in wars for those with the right connections. War consolidates power for the winners and the generations of weapons provide an ongoing large income, through sales to the host government, ‘friendly’ governments, and other groups around the world.

In economies, it’s a far more delicate balance and it’s all about commodities, whether it’s products, money, or people. Maximizing exports while providing cheap imports is highly desirable, especially for governments where up to 70% of the economy is based on consumer spending. Jobs and disposable income are critical components at home, as is locating a workforce abroad who can produce goods to import for low wages. Since the rich can always afford to buy, large populations of poor people are needed to produce the goods, with a steady group of middle earners available to do most of the spending. According to a recent report by the charity, Oxfam, the growth in the gap between rich and poor is growing at an ever faster rate. The world’s 62 richest billionaires now own as much wealth as the poorer half of the world’s population—about 3.8 billion people. It’s the GDP of the wealthy on overdrive.

Moving toward the latest century, the world had changed much over the previous hundred years. For the most part, the voice of Fascism faded. Communism, once the great threat, hardly mentioned. The warring siblings, Capitalism and Socialism, continued to spat as always, but a gap formed, and for a short time a door opened to a different path. We didn’t take it. We needed time and a leader to take us through, but the money wasn’t right and the door slammed tight, by people who recognized the real power of ‘isms.’ and the fears they can generate to keep the masses occupied.

Jingoism reappeared—the interference in foreign affairs. A philosophy driven by arrogance and superiority, which argued that protecting national security, decreed any action as valid. The 1950’s ‘reds under the beds’ frenzy given life again as terrorism became the watchword, and the battle over religious models surged back from the past to claim innocent lives on all sides. The fog of war descended as friends and foes became lost in the mist.

One ‘ism’ never materialized—Peace-ism. Leaders emerged to light the path, pursuing social change and freedom from the shackles of empire. They provided glimpses of what could be possible if we slowed down long enough to become learners and not sufferers. For peace is not about the absence of conflict. We need conflict—to be uncomfortable in our thoughts, ideas, and actions, so we can change. No, peace, is a process we use to resolve conflicts.

My visit to the past hundred years illustrated how everything has to fit into the models we pursue. Whether it’s ‘divide and conquer’ economics, the fluidity of who are friends and enemies, which ‘ism’ to battle or support, or how to resolve conflicts. We are often told the issues are complicated, but as I pondered…whatever solutions we choose—all have one critical question to answer—who benefits?

I don’t believe most of us desire wealth and power and what we see in the GPI graphs and happiness scales are too many feelings of powerlessness and fear. Life will always be uncertain, but what we appear to be losing is our ability to slow down and reflect. As Mohandas Gandhi said, long before the Internet, “there is more to life than increasing its speed,” and returning to the present I was left with an uncomfortable conclusion and a curious question. If we keep moving forward ever faster we won’t notice the cost and what’s not working. What if we could guarantee power and wealth to the same people who have it now, by choosing a path of peace? I must admit, I feel uncomfortable proposing it.

History has a long reach, but a short memory. We conclude and move on. I considered given up on my quest to locate a possible solution to our lost progress, when the dog reminds me it’s time for her walk. Entering the calming zone around the corner, she pauses to sniff an interesting tree, when the local church bells chime. Then it hit me. Pulling the disgruntled hound back toward home, I am excited. Perhaps the progress problem is a spiritual disconnection, for God and spirituality don’t exist in the ‘isms.’ Memory...the hippocampus...could it be that simple, the reason for much of the discomfort was because we strayed too far from our spiritual home and the link, once strong, had grown weak?

I would have to go back further this time—long before 1856, to when God appeared, but when exactly was that? Judaism, Christianity, and Islam trace their origins to Abraham. They were inspiring times—the change from multiple Gods to the personal God. No longer banished to the sun, sky, and thunder, he was within us—in our hearts and minds. It should have been all we needed. We took this new God from the universe and gave him a home in glorious buildings we created, carved in stone and gold. He would be happy there; worshiped and adored. He would reveal to us the written word, which would light the path home. Then, it all went wrong.

We ‘personalized’ the personal God and created truth from his words. Truths which everyone needed to follow, whether they believed or not. Kings, Princes, and overlords fought and conquered and non-believers given the choice to convert or die. The various belief systems wrestled for hearts and minds and when internal quarrels flared, they separated into different factions, creating further reasons for persecution and death. Just like the ‘isms,’ we always found the rationale to destroy, except this time the hypocrisy couldn’t easily be hidden. It’s difficult to be believed when one open palm offers the love, peace, and forgiveness of our chosen God, and the other, extreme violence, when you don’t switch sides.

Creating religions hadn’t delivered progress—I would continue the search. This time, back further, before the written word muddled minds—prior to self-serving Roman Emperors and Greek philosophers—to the Egyptians and the land of hieroglyphic symbols. They were an organized people and for Egyptians the real journey began after death, where 42 judges awaited them in the Hall of Judgment. A successful outcome led them to the Weighing of Heart ceremony, where good and bad deeds were examined, and if all went well, onto to heaven in the Field of Rushes. Life wasn’t less complicated. With over 1,400 Gods and Goddesses, an Egyptian would have to pray to at least four a day just to keep up! Their beliefs provided structure, but progress?—I would have to look elsewhere.

It felt right to keep going back, but I hesitated. My 21st century brain cautioned a journey back further in time. Progress, it reminded me, was the modern world, not the past, but the more I had uncovered, the less confidant I felt the ‘now’ and all its speed could provide the answers.

Little is known about the distant past, but since the earliest times, I believe we have been searchers. Beginning with the daily quest for food, clothing, and shelter, our forbearers must have marveled at all they encountered. Perhaps, in a cave, long ago, flint or twigs created the first spark and the magic of fire was born. A eureka moment, which provided a sense of belonging and the impetus to consider the possibility of survival. The grunts and sounds no longer enough to express their observations and feelings, they needed a new magic. The first words slipping in unnoticed—a new name for themselves or the sun and moon sparkling in the sky.

Their discovery brought new power and a need to explain the forces behind the words. When the sun shone, they worshiped it; when the thunder boomed and lightning struck, they asked for forgiveness for perceived wrongdoing. With no modern distractions and immersed in nature, we can only wonder what Gods they created. They left few clues about their thoughts and beliefs, except for images, adorning the caves they inhabited, but what were they communicating?

The most common subjects were animals. Not surprising, given the role they had in providing the two necessities of food and clothing. With such importance, we would have to consider the possibility they saw animals as gifts from their Gods or even Gods themselves. In stark contrast to the detailed depictions of creatures, self-portraits are missing and pictures of people usually rendered as stick figures a three year old would draw. Did they see themselves as less significant and unattractive or did taboo have a part to play?

The other common theme was handprints, often drawn in clusters. An ancient artist’s signature or just the easiest part of the body to draw around, it would appear there is little to go on, to illuminate the ancient world of our ancestors. The smelly ones we don’t talk about at family gatherings. We can only speculate and before dismissing ‘guessing’ as having value, most of our concepts begin passage with a hypothesize, especially in our notion of a God.

In our journey thus far, we have observed part of what separates us humans from the other creatures who roam the earth, in our ability to develop new ideas, concepts, and understanding. Taking a fresh look at our cave dwellers, what might we uncover?

I am guessing you haven’t been checking out cave drawings between updating your Facebook page and tweeting, but I encourage you to conduct a quick search. You don’t have to be an artist to notice—they are really good! So? Maybe, they had nothing better to do after long day hunting or the men wanted to record a version of the great beast they killed. An ancient equivalent of a photograph of an angler holding his catch (less the distracting human). It’s not what’s there, but what’s not there that bothered me. Where are the practice drawings? We know we need a huge number of hours to become good at anything, even for those with talent. Given the primitive tools at their disposal and a good chance, they may not have even had a language at the time; it seems unlikely and impractical they only kept