The Unconditional Human Spirit

“I hold undying enmity toward everything that enslaves the human mind” (paraphrase of unknown author).

This site continues to present evidence from varied sources affirming that there is no “climate crisis” and hence no need to tax carbon or decarbonize our societies. Basic climate facts show there is no looming climate apocalypse. CO2 is not the “control knob” for climate change. CO2 is not the main influence on climate but is only a “bit player” among a complex of other natural factors. See, for example, the “Sun-Climate Effect: Winter Gatekeeper hypothesis” reports below that show “meridional transport” is the main influence on climate change. Point? There is no need to abandon the fossil fuels that have enabled humanity to prosper as never before in history.

The real “wonder of being human”

The great wonder regarding humanity is not how far we have “fallen” since some imaginary better past (i.e. the myths of original paradise world, Eden, sinless humans, but then the “Fall of humanity into original sinfulness”, and subsequent ruin and loss of paradise). The great wonder regarding humanity is how far we have risen from our barbaric animal past (Bob Brinsmead).

Get the basics of a true narrative of life right, the actual trajectory of life (i.e. not declining, but improving over the long term). Overturn and correct the continuing mythical distortions in the story of life, whether religious or “secular/ideological” distortions. The basic themes of the old narratives are all the same, whether expressed religiously or ideologically/scientifically. Evidence overwhelmingly affirms a new narrative of life improving, based on the growing evidence of humanity solving problems, improving the human condition, and taking better care of nature.

And this critical warning from Jordan Peterson on eco-extremism…

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/10/28/eco-extremists-leading-world-towards-despair-poverty-starvation/

Topics below:

(1) Rejecting rational science, holding a mythical perspective;
(2) Latest summary of the “Sun-climate effect: Winter Gatekeeper hypothesis”;
(3) Counter facts to the climate alarm narrative (there is no evidence of a “climate emergency”);
(4) The climate alarmism crusade is “profoundly religious” (the complex of primitive apocalyptic themes that shape climate alarmism and environmental alarmism/declinism ideology in general);
(5) The Sun-climate effect: Winter Gatekeeper hypothesis” (“meridional transport” is the main influence on climate, not CO2);
(6) We are in the coldest time of the 600-million year history of life on Earth (cold is the far greater threat today in our world where 10 times more people die every year from cold than die from warmth);
(7) Climate physics (the physics of CO2- i.e. the warming effect of CO2 is now “saturated” in physics terms, meaning it won’t contribute much more to further warming as the warming effect of CO2 now declines logarithmically);
(8) Is climate change really a “serious issue”? (taking a poke at a National Post writer);
(9) Greg Gutfeld: “Common sense can no longer defuse absurd situations” (Woke extremism);
(10) Waiting around to be offended (the deranged psychology of outrage culture);
(11) Media obsession in relating all natural weather events to the alarmism narrative of “climate crisis”;
(12) Despite media’s constant crusade to incite ongoing hysteria over all sorts of weather events, there is no evidence that storms, floods, heatwaves, droughts, or other weather disasters are becoming worse (the endless mantra of “the worst on record”) and, in fact, many show trends of decline due to the mild warming of the past century. Global warming produces a decrease in gradient differences between cold and warm areas of the world means less severity and quantity of storms, fewer and less severe tornadoes, etc. This beneficial outcome is due to “meridional transport” that carries tropical warmth to the colder polar regions of Earth thereby “evening out” climate across the world and explaining the “remarkable stability of tropical temperatures” even when Earth was 10 degrees warmer over the paleoclimate past.; and more…

Get the physics of CO2 clear and that will go a long way to defusing the madness of the “profoundly religious” climate alarmism crusade (i.e. enabling “common sense to defuse absurd situations”). Note particularly the research of climate physicists like Richard Lindzen, William Happer, William Wijngaarden, among others. Read the rest of the opening comment here

“I hold undying enmity against everything that enslaves the human mind” (paraphrase of unknown author).

Section topics:

(1) The most destructive pathology to have infected human consciousness- apocalyptic mythology;
(2) Subjective, personal human experience as a credible tool in the fight against primal fears;
(3) Fighting Fear: the panic-mongering of the “climate crisis” crusade (listen to the good science and scientists that contradict alarmist exaggerations);
(4) The continuing endeavors of the Left to criminalize disagreement;
(5) Basic climate facts (there is no “climate crisis”);
(6) From Retaliation to Unconditional: The narrative of human exodus from animal existence to become authentically human (our foundational story);
and more climate facts…

The most destructive pathology to have ever infected human consciousness: How apocalyptic began, where it came from, Wendell Krossa

The primal human impulse for meaning- i.e. to understand reality/life- led our early ancestors to create ideas/myths that would explain the world and how it worked. Hence, in the earliest human writing (Sumerian, Egyptian) we get, for example, the great “Sumerian Flood” myth, the Egyptian “Return to Chaos” and “Destruction of Mankind” myths, all early versions of apocalyptic mythology that told people of the coming punishing destruction of humanity. The message? Angry, threatening gods would punish bad people for their sins.

That mythology was the result of early thought-constraining logic regarding the world. The ancients believed that there were gods/spirits behind all the elements of the world- i.e. gods of storm, lightning and thunder, gods of trees and animals, sun and moon gods. It was then only logical for our ancestors to view the destructive consequences of storms/floods, drought and fire, earthquake, and disease as angry gods acting through nature to punish people for their sins. All the elements fit the constrained logic of early mythology.

Such themes then became the original models/patterns/prototypes that shaped all human consciousness and narratives that would follow down through history. As Joseph Campbell said, the same primitive myths have been embraced all across history and across all the cultures of the world. The early myths were later adopted by more formal religious traditions like Zoroastrianism that would then in turn shape the Western religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The same myths also shaped the Eastern religious traditions. Read the rest of the opening comment here

Contact: wkrossa@shaw.ca

“Lomborg is right that the Earth is not hurtling towards apocalypse due to climate change, rather, the data shows quite the opposite is true: things are getting better.” (see links to Lomborg articles and data below)

Summary of section topics:

1-2 degrees C more warming is not a collapse into climate catastrophe. For most of the history of life, world average temperatures were 3-6 degrees C warmer than today (i.e. 17-20 degrees C on average compared to today’s 14.5 degree C average temperature). Life emerged, developed, and thrived in that much warmer world with much higher levels of CO2 (1000-1500 ppm versus the 400-plus ppm of today’s “CO2 starvation era”); The “Sun-climate relationship” reports- “meridional transport”, not CO2, is the main influence on climate change; Christianity got Jesus all wrong- summary of Bob Brinsmead’s research on Historical Jesus. Quotes from sources- Jesus was the founder of Jewish Christianity. Paul’s Gentile Christianity (based on his Christ myth) contradicted the message of Jesus entirely on all its main points; More climate facts… Read the rest of the opening comment here

Topics below: Anti-fossil fuel crusade is devastating societies like Britain and Germany; “World Climate Declaration” (There is no climate emergency); The benefits of higher CO2 levels; Irrational panic over ice melting and “Arctic greening”; CO2 is not causing a “climate crisis”; Discussing the physics of CO2 with old friends (discussion group posts); and more…

Exaggerated panic-mongering, as with the climate crisis narrative, incites the survival impulse in populations rendering people susceptible to irrational salvation schemes. We are watching this unfold in the widespread embrace of decarbonization to “save the world” from the “end of days”. And like all apocalyptic movements, climate alarmism has become a self-destructive movement that harms the most vulnerable people the most.

The irrational embrace of self-destruction stems in part from the deeply embedded human feeling that we are bad to the bone, we have ruined an original paradise, and we now deserve punishment and must make some sacrifice or payment for our sins (i.e. the abandonment of the good life for a return to a “morally superior” simple lifestyle).

Apocalyptic prophets tell people that if they embrace the full complex of apocalyptic millennial themes and practices, then they may be able to restore the lost paradise or initiate a new millennial paradise. This is pagan mythology at its primitive worst now unfolding in climate alarmism.

We have been given the warnings for years now that Green anti-fossil fuel policies (i.e. decarbonization) will devastate our societies. We have watched countries like Germany and Britain rushing to wean themselves off fossil fuels in a panic over the discredited climate alarmism narrative (i.e. good climate science shows that there is no “climate emergency”). A series of ongoing reports by agencies like the Global Warming Policy Forum have detailed the massive harm this fear-based policy of decarbonization has wrought on these societies. Pay close attention to the unfolding catastrophe in those countries…

This from the Wall Street Journal…

https://www.wsj.com/articles/net-zero-bankrupts-britain-household-energy-bills-climate-11661523856?mc_cid=8d425871c8&mc_eid=bbd9cad85f

Quotes from above link:

“If you think this couldn’t happen in America, think again. The underlying cause of Britain’s energy misery is its fixation with climate goals, especially the ambition to achieve net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050. To meet that goal Britain has grown hostile to domestic energy exploration, banning shale-gas fracking and slapping windfall-profits taxes on North Sea oil and gas producers that will deter investment. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has hurt, but the U.K.’s policies made its citizens vulnerable to such a global shock…

“This isn’t all that different from the energy policies the Biden Administration and Democrats in Congress, California and New York are imposing via the Inflation Reduction Act and myriad regulatory assaults on fossil fuels and favors for renewables. Britain’s inane innovation is a price cap that causes disastrous price increases to happen twice a year rather than continuously.

“To adapt Hemingway, net zero drives you bankrupt gradually, then suddenly. Britain’s sudden energy agony is a five-alarm warning if the climate progressives continue to have their way.”

See also

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/uk-energy-bills-gas-electricity-price-cap-b2153549.html?mc_cid=8d425871c8&mc_eid=bbd9cad85f

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/08/26/how-governments-cult-net-zero-wrecked-energy-market/?mc_cid=8d425871c8&mc_eid=bbd9cad85f

https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-the-energy-transition-will-fail-11661547051?mc_cid=8d425871c8&mc_eid=bbd9cad85f

Aussie Senator Malcolm Roberts Slams False Net Zero Inflation Claims

Update on “The World Climate Declaration”

‘There is No Climate Emergency’ (1,107 Signatories and Counting)

Main points affirmed by over 1,100 signatories:

“There is no climate emergency.

“Natural as well as anthropogenic factors cause warming. Read the rest of the opening comment here

Note: Some older but still good material on the “dualistic interaction” versus materialism issue can be found in neuroscientist and Nobel laureate John Eccles’ books- “The Wonder of Being Human”, “The Human Mystery”, “The Self and its Brain”, “Evolution of the Brain”.

A “spiritual” thought...

Our invisible conscious self is the most real thing about us, not our physical body. And consciousness may be the most real and fundamental thing in the entire cosmos, with an Ultimate Consciousness giving rise to and sustaining all material reality. Quantum mechanics tells us that we still have no idea what material reality is (see, for example, “Mass: The quest to understand matter from Greek atoms to quantum fields” by Jim Baggott). Mind is fundamental. Matter arises from mind. Philosophical Materialism has this all backwards.

“The stream of knowledge is heading towards a non-mechanical reality; the Universe begins to look more like a great thought than like a great machine. Mind no longer appears to be an accidental intruder into the realm of matter… we ought rather hail it as the creator and governor of the realm of matter”, quantum theorist James Jeans.

Another…

I accept Consciousness as the most fundamental reality, giving rise to all physical reality. But I do not view the creating/sustaining Consciousness as something neutral, such as the laws of nature. I affirm, along with others across history, that the Consciousness that gives rise to and sustains this material cosmos is most fundamentally love, and a form of love that is inexpressibly more wondrous than anything that we experience during our life journeys through this material realm. It is a stunningly transcendent “no conditions love” (non-retaliatory, non-judging, universally inclusive, not punitive or destructive). I find good expressions of this in the attempts of many in the Near-Death Experience movement (a contemporary “spiritual” movement) to tell us of the love and light that they experienced.

Example: “The very atoms of God were unconditional love; the very substance of God was unconditional love”. My conclusion from this NDE insight- If the Ultimate Reality that many call God is the most fundamental reality, the creator and sustainer of all other reality, then that makes no conditions love the most fundamental reality of all realities.

Others from past history have given us the same insight that “God is love” but often their insights were buried and distorted in religious traditions with all their endless conditions- i.e. conditions of correct belief, required sacrifice/payment, obligatory membership in the religion, proper rituals of the religion, and righteous lifestyle identifying one as a member of the given religion.

While I affirm the valued insights and help that religious traditions have given many people, no religion has ever communicated to humanity this insight that God is absolutely no conditions love. Religious traditions have buried and distorted this insight with endless conditions.

A practical outcome of this insight? “We become just like the god that we believe in”. Most people try to model in their lives what they hold as ultimate ideals and authorities.

Note: Pardon me but I have been recuperating from prostate cancer surgery and slow to put new material up.

Note on exaggeration, distortion, inciting panic in populations that leads to irrational response to problems…

From Aug. 4, 2022 Net Zero Watch newsletter (Global Warming Policy Forum):

“London, 4 August — Official data released today reveals that Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is in excellent health, with coral cover reaching record levels for the second consecutive year.

“The increase will be surprising to members of the public, who are regularly hit with scare stories about coral bleaching and false tales about a reef in long-term decline.

“A new note, published today by the Global Warming Policy Foundation, explains that the data shows clearly how a handful of coral bleaching events that have affected the reef since 2016 have had very limited impact on overall coral cover. Read the rest of the opening comment here

The list below contains some of the most important information/insight that I would pass on to a new generation. The new themes point to the most profound liberation of all- the liberation of human consciousness at the deepest levels thought, emotion, and motivation… liberation of the human spirit from the most primal fears that have burdened humanity across the millennia.

Wendell Krossa wkrossa@shaw.ca

Intro to the short version of “Old Narrative Themes, Better Alternatives” (long-form version available just below this short-form list)

Joseph Campbell noted that a prominent set of primitive myths has been repeated all across human history and across all the cultures of the world. People embracing these mythical themes in their personal worldviews are subjected to a profoundly distorted perception of reality.

The same mythical themes that have dominated human narratives across history continue to dominate human narratives and distort public consciousness today. They continue to deform human perception of reality, distorting our understanding of the true state of our world.

The mythical ideas that Campbell referred to have long been the central beliefs of the world religions. They are now also embraced in “secular” ideological belief systems like “Declinism” a contemporary version of apocalyptic mythology, the fallacy that life is becoming worse and declining toward catastrophe and ending, as propagated in the ideology of Environmental alarmism/climate alarmism. These ideas have even found expression in “scientific” versions. But at core they are the same old primitive pathologies as ever before.

Note, for curiosity’s sake, that many young moderns today claim self-identities as “secular/materialist… even atheist” and yet continue to mouth the very same themes of the primitive mythologies of previous millennia, no different in substance from Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, Zoroastrian, and other ancient belief systems.

You then get this cognitive dissonance outcome: People, thinking that they have freed themselves from mythical/religious ideas and have embraced more secular, materialist, even atheist belief systems, are living in self-delusion because a close examination of the worldviews of such people reveals that the core themes they hold are often the very same old mythical themes as those held across history by fundamentalist religious people.

Psychotherapist Zenon Lotufo states that bad mythical ideas are seriously damaging to human life in terms of unnecessary fear, anxiety, shame/guilt, depression, despair/nihilism, and violence (i.e. his point that Cruel God theories deform human personality- see his book “Cruel God, Kind God”).

Example: The “loss of paradise” myth incites a sense of loss, wrong done, grievance, and the felt need to engage a righteous battle to make things right again (i.e. the urge to engage justice as punitive treatment of an enemy’s failure- the enemy blamed for ruining something pure and good- in order to make things “right” again). The actual trajectory of life reveals there was never any original paradise that has been ruined by humanity but, rather, the long-term trajectory of life shows an ongoing rise from a worse past toward a better future. This trajectory of evolutionary progress encourages hope to continue investing in improving the world because, so far, we have done well in making life ever-better (Julian Simon, Ultimate Resource).

Another (related to Lotufo’s points): If we believe that some deity will judge, punish, exclude and destroy our enemies (i.e. send them to Hell) then we will inevitably end up treating our opponents in the same manner (judging, condemning, excluding, punishing). We become just like the God that we believe in. This “behavior based on belief” relationship operates in both religious and “secular” environments.

The alternative ideas offered, taken from human insight across history, speak to the profound liberation that is possible- i.e. liberation of mind, consciousness, and spirit at the deepest levels, a liberation initiated by radically changing the core ideas/themes that have long been embedded in back of human minds, hardwired even in human subconscious. Such ideas shape how people perceive and understand the world, how they feel about things, and influence their motivations to respond/behave in life.

The liberation of human mind by reshaping consciousness with entirely new themes then ripples out to impact all of life and society because we become just like the ultimate ideals/themes that we believe in, the themes that we embrace to shape our worldviews. The alternatives listed below point us in the direction of authentically humane existence. They show us how to become the heroes of our stories, how to “tower in stature as maturely human” (Joseph Campbell).

Insert note: Climate alarmism, with its apocalyptic scenarios and salvation schemes, is a contemporary example of a profoundly religious movement fraudulently presented as secular ideology, even science. Climate alarmism embraces the worst of bad ideas/themes from mythical traditions.

Note to our atheist friends regarding the varied themes below that deal with deity features- Suck it up. You are never going to rid humanity of the impulse to God speculation, to create God theories, so rather than deny this primal human impulse, learn to work with it. One option- Purge deity theories of all the primitive mythical/religious features and reshape God theory entirely with scientific, psychological advances, and insights from contemporary “spiritual” movements like the NDE movement with its primary discovery that the “Light” is unconditional love of a stunningly inexpressible nature. That overturns all religious mythology in one stroke. All religions are systems of conditions- i.e. conditions of correct belief, demanded sacrifice, membership in the “true” religion, and required religious lifestyle that evidences membership in the true religion.

Whether defined as God, Light, Universe, Gaia, Universal Mind, Ultimate Consciousness, Mother Earth, karma, or other, most people continue to embrace some version of Ultimate Reality or creating Intelligence (see again the PEW Research Center’s “Global Religious Landscape” survey). God theories continue to contribute some of the most basic features to human meta-narratives and personal worldviews (both in religious and “secular/materialist” versions).

Old narrative themes, better alternatives (short version), Wendell Krossa

1. Old story myth: The idea of deity as a judging, punishing, and destroying reality. Contemporary “secular” versions of judging, punishing deity include “Vengeful Gaia, angry Planet/Mother Earth, retributive Universe, and payback karma”. Read the rest of the opening comment here

The “climate crisis” movement is a “profoundly religious” crusade, impervious to contrary scientific fact on climate. And that is the true “denialism” in this climate issue. So please end the projection of one’s faults on to others. Detail in sections below.

The critical core issue in the climate debate?- The physics of CO2 and its warming influence (i.e. its logarithmically declining influence on climate warming with rising levels in the atmosphere, and the evidence that CO2 is just a “bit player” among a complex of other natural factors that more dominantly influence the natural climate change that we have experienced over past decades and centuries). See especially the research of climate physicists Richard Lindzen and William Happer, among others below.

This worth a repeat, from…

https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/there-is-no-climate-emergency-say-500-experts-in-letter-to-the-united-nations/

“There Is No Climate Emergency, Say 500 Experts in Letter to the United Nations.

“A global network of more than 500 knowledgeable and experienced scientists and professionals in climate and related fields have the honor to address Your Excellencies and attached European Climate Declaration, for which the signatories to this letter are the national ambassadors. The general-circulation models of climate on which international policy is at present founded are unfit for their purpose.

“Therefore, it is cruel as well as imprudent to advocate the squandering of trillions of dollars on the basis of results from such immature models. Current climate policies pointlessly and grievously undermine the economic system, putting lives at risk in countries denied access to affordable, reliable electrical energy. We urge you to follow a climate policy based on sound science, realistic economics, and genuine concern for those harmed by costly but unnecessary attempts at mitigation.”

Points made by the climate experts:

“1. Natural as well as anthropogenic factors cause warming.

“2. Warming is far slower than predicted.

“3. Climate policy relies on inadequate models.

“4. CO2 is not a pollutant. It is a plant food that is essential to all life on Earth. Photosynthesis is a blessing. More CO2 is beneficial for nature, greening the Earth: additional CO2 in the atmosphere has promoted growth in global plant biomass. It is also good for agriculture, increasing the yields of crops worldwide.

“5. Global warming has not increased natural disasters.

“6. Climate policy must respect scientific and economic realities.

“7. There is no climate emergency. Therefore, there is no cause for panic.” Read the rest of the opening comment here

Section topics further below:
Green policies ruining societies,
The real “righteous battle” of life takes place inside each of us,
Endless eruptions of hysterical outrage,
YouTube discussion- Jordan Peterson with Africa Brooke,
All human beings are imperfect- forgiveness in our stories,
Metaphysical basis of equality?,
Posts to old friends on climate facts,
One post on some features of the dying process (personal story),
The SEC disclosure rule and the Lindzen/Happer (climate physicists) exposure of the unscientific basis of the rule,
True egalitarianism,
Study: Cold in China kills 45 times as many people as heat,
Pushback against ESG undemocratic infiltration of the business world,
Joseph Campbell’s insights on human development,
Bjorn Lomborg on cold killing far more people than heat,
Defining themes of profoundly religious crusades like climate alarmism,
Scientist Lennart Bengtsson: “There is no climate crisis”.

Green policies ruining societies with the decarbonization crusade, Wendell Krossa

An apocalyptic/millennial narrative, a doom story, has possessed our world. The story of “climate crisis”. And despite claims of climate alarmists that their story is scientific, it is actually thoroughly anti-science, a quite profoundly religious story, no different from myriad similar apocalyptic stories across human history that also led societies to self-inflicted ruin (see, for example, Richard Landes’ “Heaven On Earth” for detail). Read the rest of the opening comment here

Section topics below:

The insanity of endless apocalyptic alarmism;

Father of modern environmentalism, James Lovelock’s late-in-life apology and rejection of climate alarmism;

The cost of opposing and restricting US fossil fuel resources;

Climate alarmism: A profoundly religious crusade based on unscientific/mythical assumptions;

Site splainin: Explaining my persistent focus on the single greatest breakthrough insight of humanity re unconditional reality (the cohering center of a new meta-narrative);

Project: Basic themes of a new meta-narrative;

ESG ideology dominating financial institutions and ruining economies;

Encourage empathy: The irresponsible panic-mongering over natural climate change is traumatizing and destroying the lives of children (loss of hope, nothing to live for, no future), so think about and try to feel what you are doing to children with exaggerated climate alarmism;

Origins of apocalypse myth (Notes on Pfeiffer’s “Explosion: Inquiry into the Origins of Art and Religion”);

Media obsession with affirming the climate apocalypse narrative;

The true state of climate;

Some of the 6,000 essential products based on crude oil derivatives, many essential to human well-being;

Great Replacement Theory;

My Jefferson/Tolstoy view of the New Testament (only for those not afraid of a blunt assessment of Christianity);

The liberating potency of love in alleviating fear;

Affirming love in human life (the great discovery of unconditional);

End the panic-mongering- free people from fear; and more…

Endless exaggerated alarmism distorts the true state of life on Earth. Alarmists frame even manageable problems with exaggerated extremist terms like “catastrophe, existential crisis, looming disaster” and this distorts our understanding of the real nature of those problems. Note this in regard to the mild warming that we have experienced over the past century- roughly 1 degree C warming in a still too cold world where 10 times more people die every year from cold than die from warmth. As for extreme weather events- heat waves, droughts, storms, floods- they have not become more frequent or severe and even the IPCC admits this. Yet this normal, natural climate change has been seized upon by apocalyptic prophets as portending the end of the world.

Alarmism has become a shrill note in the background of daily life, bleating mainly through news media, and dangerously inciting the survival impulse in populations. That aroused fear opens people to irrationality in response to life’s problems, making them susceptible to irrational salvation schemes like decarbonization. Alarmed people readily fall for scam saviors that promise to lead them out of purported danger and into a restored “lost original paradise” or some millennial utopia.

We counter the endlessly erupting alarmism of our current age by seeking good data sources on the main indicators of the world- i.e. soils, forests, land species, ocean species, the atmosphere, etc.- indicators that inform us about the true state of life. Julian Simon gave us the template on how to do this in his brilliant Ultimate Resource. Others followed- Greg Easterbrook in A Moment On Earth, Bjorn Lomborg in Skeptical Environmentalist, Indur Goklany in The Improving State of the World, Desrochers and Szurmak in Population Bombed, and varied others like the folks at Humanprogress.org. They provide good evidence that, while problems remain, we (humanity) have done well in tackling the problems and maintaining life on an improving trajectory toward a better future over the long term. As Julian Simon said, we have done well. Read the rest of the opening comment here

Section topics: Patterns in alarmism movements; State of Climate 2021, “A systematic review of climate trends and observational data by an eminent climate scientist has found no evidence to support the claim of a climate crisis”; Notes on the panic over giving everyone freedom of speech; John McWhorter on Woke Racism (Third-wave anti-racism is not Martin Luther King’s anti-racism and is harmful to blacks); The problem with mythical and religious explanations of greater or ultimate Reality (a defense of the “spiritual” as critical to the human search for meaning); Doug Murray on War on the West, and more…

More on ‘The big picture perspective’ of this site, Wendell Krossa

Mythical and religious narrative themes have dominated human consciousness across history and shaped all other thinking in societies, even purportedly non-religious thinking. And this influence of mythical/religious thinking has continued unabated into the present world. Note, just for one example, Einstein’s repeated religious responses to Niels Bohr in their back-and-forth discussion of quantum mechanics (source: “Quantum: Einstein, Bohr, and the great debate about the nature of reality” by Manjit Kumar). None of us is as “secular, materialist, scientific” as we like to imagine we are. (Note particularly Einstein’s traditionally religious ideas as per his comments that “God does not play dice with the universe… God does not use telepathy…” etc.)

Mythical/religious thinking has profoundly shaped the ideology of Declinism, the most dominant worldview in the modern world- i.e. the belief that life is becoming worse, a notable theme in environmental alarmism, climate alarmism, Woke Progressivism in general, etc. (See Arthur Herman’s “The Idea of Decline in Western History”). Declinism is an essential element in the primitive mythology of apocalyptic.

This site offers some liberating responses to the inherited mythical/religious themes that have too long dominated human worldviews/narratives and consciousness. See “An adventure/quest for ultimate freedom” (“Humanity’s worst ideas, better alternatives”) in a section below.

The alternatives offered, from human insight across history, point to a radical reshaping of humanity’s dominant mythical/religious/secular narratives. The point of such fundamental alteration of narrative themes is the liberation of human consciousness and emotion at the most profound levels of perception, including the level of subconscious ‘archetypes’ (i.e. primal impulses and related validating ideas). Read the rest of the opening comment here

(Fourth in a series)

The Two Main Approaches to Organizing Human Societies across history- Collectivism versus the free individual Wendell Krossa

Intro

The comment below comes from a “fiercely Independent” viewpoint. Kinda like Goldilocks- not too far Left, not too far Right. Sort of Libertarianish, or better- Classic Liberalism. Floating like a butterfly, free to alight wherever, enjoy the nectar and then move on. A self that is free in an open process and not fixed too rigidly on any “object” (i.e. not finding cemented identity in some immutable ideology, religion, nationality, race/ethnicity, or other objects of human identity). Open and free like ‘The Mutable Self’ of Louis Zurcher.

Independent because while both sides have commendable features and concerns, neither side gets it all right (and this is not “bothsideism”). David Boaz, for example, said regarding the US situation that Republicans needed to embrace more freedom in the social realm and Democrats needed to embrace more freedom in the economic realm. Neither side held a monopoly on good. My ‘Free Floating’ stance also keeps me from the dogmatic tribalism that locks into loyalty to one side only and views the other side as an enemy to be conquered or cancelled.

Interesting note: While some claim that the US Democratic party has previously been more centrist, many on both the Conservative and Liberal sides of the US situation now note that US Democrats/Liberals are being pulled further toward Leftist collectivist ideologies (“Woke Progressivism”). US Republicans continue also to be pulled toward coercive state intervention on social issues (i.e. women’s rights, choices, and freedoms).

The foundations of modern freedom and equality trace back centuries to developing principles that advocated that all people in a society should be treated equally under law (i.e. Magna Carta and earlier documents/practises). Contemporary views on freedom and equality are grounded in beliefs that every person deserves the same rights and protections as all others.

These beliefs include a foundational plank in modern freedom- i.e. protected property rights. That is the principle that you can create or improve something, and if you invest effort/resources in that something, then the resulting outcome of your investment is protected. You will reap the reward of your investment. Elites/powerholders, whether monarchy, lords, or government officials, cannot confiscate the outcome of your creativity and work. The protection of personal property under law is absolutely basic to equality and freedom. Protected property rights unleashed the modern burst of human creativity and progress with outcomes in an immensely improved human condition that we all value.

Balancing both sides and what works best:

(1) The primary orientation to the collective, or (2) a primary orientation to the individual. We never get all that we want on either side of these political divides hence, both sides are obligated out of common decency (“peace and love”) to make some compromise with, basically, what is often the other half of our societies. And there are enough major issues that both sides can agree to cooperate on (e.g. basic health care for all, criminal-justice reform, public safety priority, growing economies/jobs and good income for all, etc.).

The Left/Right or Liberal/Conservative dualism in our societies often becomes infected with the residual tribal impulse that we have inherited from our animal past. The tribal impulse continues to erupt in today’s societies, along with a dose of hardening dogmatism, to the detriment of the necessary cooperation to maintain peace. Fortunately, surveys show that most people on both sides identify with the more moderate/centrist positions on most social issues.

Is there some healthy balance between the free individual approach and the collectivist approach? Our societies continue the multiple-millennia back and forth tug between these two approaches to organizing human societies (see Arthur Herman’s “The Cave and The Light” for the long-term history of this tug-of-war, traced from the Greeks on down through subsequent millennia). It appears that most people will continue to embrace some mixed version of these two approaches that encompasses the concerns of both sides. Read the rest of the opening comment here

Third in a series...

I am reposting updated versions of previous essays (i.e. “Humanity’s worst ideas, better alternatives”, “The Christian contradiction”, “Campbell on the meaning of human life”, “Two main approaches to organizing human societies”) because they go to the root themes that incite and validate our baser inherited impulses (i.e. impulses to tribalism, exclusion of differing others, domination/control of others, and punitive destruction of failing others). These primitive mythical themes have persisted across history in religious traditions and now also dominate the “secular” ideological narratives of our modern era (i.e. Declinism being a prominent example. See “The Idea of Decline in Western History” by Arthur Herman).

The alternative ideas offered, from human insight across history, speak to the profound liberation possible- i.e. liberation of mind, consciousness, and spirit at the deepest levels (i.e. subconscious). This liberation then reverberates out to impact all of life and society because we become just like the ultimate ideals/themes that we believe in, the ideals that we embrace to shape our worldviews. The alternatives point us in the direction of authentically humane existence. They show us how to “tower in stature as maturely human” (Joseph Campbell).

The project here is to probe resolutions to problems by dealing with the full complex of root contributing factors behind recurring social issues, notably, the recurrence of irrational apocalyptic themes in destructive movements like climate alarmism.

Speculating with Campbell on the meaning of human life and experience Wendell Krossa

Or: How to tower in stature as maturely human, how to become the hero of your story or quest.

Joseph Campbell said that we all live a “hero’s quest or adventure”. Our lives and life experiences can be understood in terms of “the hero’s journey”. We all live heroic stories of adventure, struggle, suffering, conquest of monsters/problems, disintegration/re-integration, transformation, discovery and gaining insights that benefit others. I have added to Campbell’s basic framework, revising, paraphrasing, and changing some things.

Going right to the point on the big question- What is the greater goal or meaning of human life? Above all else that we might accomplish in life, I would suggest that we are here to learn what love is and how to love. Love is the fundamental reason/purpose for the cosmos, our world, and conscious human life. Read the rest of the opening comment here