The Unconditional Human Spirit

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

“The same mythical themes are repeated across all history and across all the cultures (and ideologies/worldviews/belief systems) of the world” (my paraphrase of Joseph Campbell).

What “most” people believe, Wendell Krossa

The point here- It is not just religious people who believe the ideas/themes listed below but also many/most of those who self-identify as “secular… materialist… scientific… even atheist”. Listen to what most people actually say when they explain how they view life on Earth. Their own statements reveal their core belief system.

Most have embraced highly religious worldviews that are shaped by primitive mythical themes (terms change but core themes remain the same old). Because climate alarmism has embraced such themes, it is a profoundly religious crusade. And because this movement views life through a mythological lens, it profoundly distorts the true state of life on Earth. Read the rest of the opening comment here

Second in reposted series…

Over our lifetime we construct a personal worldview because we are driven by our primary impulse for meaning. In constructing our worldview, we embrace ideas that embody/express how we feel, how we understand and explain the world and life. The ideas that we embrace to construct our personal worldview then influence how we respond or act and influence the policies and programs that we support and advocate. We become what we think, whether consciously or subconsciously.

Project:

The essay below continues my reposting of updated versions of previous essays (i.e. “Bad ideas, better alternatives”, “The Christian contradiction”, “Campbell on the meaning of human life”, “Two main approaches to organizing human societies”). These essays cover varied 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). The primitive mythical themes/ideas referred to 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, for example, “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. Such 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”, how to become the hero of our story or quest (Joseph Campbell).

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

Note: The essay below is not about trashing a world religion but about recognizing the influence of history’s most prominent myth (the Christ myth), the primitive features that it embraces, and the impact of the Christ myth and related mythical themes on human consciousness, life, and society.

Intro comments:

Paul’s Christ myth has been the single most influential myth in history (James Tabor in “Paul and Jesus”, among other researchers). The manufactured Christ myth of Paul is primarily responsible for perpetuating the primitive and destructive myth of apocalyptic in Western consciousness. And yes, there is an “anti-Christ” in Christianity but its not who you think it is. Its someone dear and familiar.

(Insert note: “Manufactured Christ myth”? Yes, manufactured through the process of developing Christology where a common historical person is turned into a god. This process has been outlined, for example, by researchers like Maurice Casey in his book “From Jewish prophet to Gentile God: The origins and development of New Testament Christology”. And “destructive myth of apocalyptic”? Yes, see Arthur Mendel’s “Vision and Violence”.)

What’s at stake in challenging the Christ myth? History’s single most profound insight- i.e. that God is a stunning “no conditions” reality. That insight has been buried for two millennia under Paul’s highly conditional Christ myth.

The insight that God is an unconditional reality goes to the root of humanity’s primal fears. This insight demolishes entirely (1) the fear of behind-life harm (i.e. deity punishing people through natural disaster, disease, or human cruelty) and (2) the fear of death and after-life harm (i.e. ultimate rejection, punishment, and destruction in hell). These primal fears have deformed human lives across millennia.

The Christ myth- separating diamonds from dung (revised) Wendell Krossa

The fundamental problem with Paul’s Christ myth was outlined by Thomas Jefferson and Leo Tolstoy. They stated that the Christ of Paul “buried the diamonds/pearls” of Historical Jesus (“Historical Jesus” is the title used to distinguish the actual historical person from the manufactured Christian version- known commonly as “Jesus Christ”). Read the rest of the opening comment here

Section topics:

A response to Brian Crowley re embracing the climate alarmism narrative;
“Lunacy, insanity, craziness…” Terms too strong to describe climate alarmism? You read and decide;
The misuse of “misinformation”;
Celebrating CO2 (Craig Idso on the benefits of more CO2);
The global warming “Pause” continues;
The uncertainty of climate measurements;
Climate points;
Notes on climate physics;
The hysterical demonization of CO2;
Uncertainty about Earth’s carbon cycles;
Renewables versus fossil fuels;
And more…

This from the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF)…

“The State of the Climate 2021: Empirical observations show no sign of “climate crisis”

“London, 14 April, 2022 – 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.

“In his annual State of the Climate report, Ole Humlum, emeritus professor at the University of Oslo, examined detailed patterns in temperature changes in the atmosphere and oceans together with trends in climate impacts.

“Many of these show no significant trends and suggest that poorly understood natural cycles are involved.

“And while the report finds gentle warming, there is no evidence of dramatic changes, with snow cover stable, sea ice levels recovering, and no change in storm activity.

“Professor Humlum said:

“’A year ago, I warned that there was great risk in using computer modelling and immature science to make extraordinary claims. The empirical observations I have reviewed show very gentle warming and no evidence of a climate crisis.”

GWPF director, Dr Benny Peiser said:

“’It’s extraordinary that anyone should think there is a climate crisis. Year after year our annual assessment of climate trends document just how little has been changing in the last 30 years. The habitual climate alarmism is mainly driven by scientists’ computer modelling rather than observational evidence.’” Read the rest of the opening comment here

First 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.

A reposting of the worst of inherited ideas and better alternatives. A project for true liberation of mind and emotion, an adventure for freedom at the core of human consciousness.

The ideas below have been held by most people across history in mythical/religious versions. They continue to dominate the great world religious traditions in our modern era. Most interesting, these same ideas are also embraced by many people today in “secular/ideological” forms. The terms used differ from religious versions but the core themes remain the same old, same old deforming mythology.

You then get this cognitive dissonance outcome: Many moderns think that they have freed themselves from mythical/religious ideas and are now more secular, materialist, even atheist in orientation. But that may be self-delusion because a close examination of the worldviews of these people reveals that the core themes they hold are often the same old mythical themes as those held across history by fundamentalist religious people.

“The same mythical themes have been repeated across all history and across all the cultures of the world”, Joseph Campbell. Read the rest of the opening comment here

Section topics:

Inciting the madness of crowds with apocalyptic alarmism.

The anti-fossil fuel crusade as a crowd madness episode.

The core climate issue: The physics of CO2 (the CO2 warming influence declines logarithmically with increasing atmospheric levels. A doubling of CO2 from 400 ppm to 800 ppm may contribute another degree or two C to further warming which would be net beneficial. May? Yes, because other natural factors consistently overwhelm the “bit player” role of CO2 in climate change, making most of the climate change that we are observing “natural variation”.

Absurdity (i.e. decarbonization) as government policy.

The true state of the world.

Russian financing of anti-fossil fuel activist groups.

Glen Greenwald on the “Neoliberal war on dissent”.

The death of dreams and a mother’s unsung heroism. And more…

Feeding hope with “true state of life” facts

Hope can be devastated by immediate events in life. Add here the fallacy of “Presentism”- i.e. the feeling that immediate events/situations appear to be the worst ever because we experience them firsthand and conclude that they express the overall truth of life.

Hope needs to be nourished with the facts of the big background picture and long-term trends that present the true overall trajectory of life, the true state of life. Today’s dominant ideology of Declinism (i.e. the belief that life and the world are getting worse), along with the pathology of apocalyptic now expressed in climate alarmism, are fallacies that distort entirely the true trajectory and the true state of life over the long term.

Marian Tupy of Humanprogress.org has reposted comments from his 2013/10/30 Reason article “Progress: Not inevitable, uneven, but indisputable”. Good points.

Human Progress: Not Inevitable, (but) Uneven, and Indisputable

Quotes by Tupy from Humanprogress.org… Read the rest of the opening comment here