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Chapter 11: The Environment to Defeat Political Apathy.Political apathy may well be mankind's most widely spread disease. It is symbolized in Christ Jesus' parable (wrongfully) called the parable of the "good Samaritan." The parable should be called the parable of man. It presents us with three distinct identities for humanity. A traveller has been attacked, robed, and left by the wayside to die. A priest comes on the scene, recognizes the injured man, but walks by on the "other side." The same is said about a Levite, one of the elite of the day. Next comes one of the people of Samaria who were held in low esteem by society. The Samaritan tends to the man's wounds, pouring in oil and wine. He put him on his own beast and takes him to an inn where he provides for the man's upkeep and recovery. The idealization that was attached to this parable, calling it the parable of the "good" Samaritan, distorts Christ Jesus' presentation of the inherent status of man. It turns it into an example of an exceptional humanity, which the phrase "good" Samaritan implies. The effect has been that the scientifically normal response, that Christ Jesus had highlighted, has been made an exceptional quality by the distorted perception. The scientifically normal status, thus, has become isolated from the identity of humanity. The soul of humanity, its spiritual sense of identity, which naturally urges a response of pouring 'oil' and 'wine' into the human scene, has thereby been negated. By the same process, the spiritual poverty which reflects itself in apathy, as illustrated by the priest and the Levite walking by on the other side, has be elevated into the realm of was has been deemed 'normal' human behavior. The parable was presented by Christ Jesus in response to the question, "And who is my neighbor?" Isn't it he, who is closest to representing the true identity of man? This identity is one of worth and respect for man's spiritual reflection of the absolute and infinite, associated with the term God on the human scene. The apathy that is expressed by the priest and Levite is the manifest of special kind of deep poverty, a type of spiritual starvation. The actions of the priest and Levite are very much symbolic of the political apathy that still is found today throughout the world, where people are simply walking by on the other side in the face of the human need and unfolding tragedies. The condition in the world, today, is not a normal one as Christ Jesus had pointed out. It is one that has been carefully cultivated. This type of scene has been illustrated by Christ Jesus as the outgrowth of oligarchism, represented symbolically by the priest and Levite, which where the two main representatives at his time of people immersed in an environment of oligarchism, who were thus drawn into active participation or submission to its underlying spiritual poverty. Christ Jesus presented two major examples of the forces that cultivate this spiritual poverty. One of the forces that he symbolized as priest - a professional who rules the masses with dogma - is the force on consciousness that demands obedience to oligarchic control rather than to scientific thought, discovery, and creativity. It is this cultivated obedience to dogma, rather than intelligence, which develops political apathy and its impotence towards addressing the human need. The wide proliferation of authorized political dogma that are spouted out by the media, today, in the service of today's oligarchy, is the modern equivalent to the priesthood of old, and its influence. Note, the media doesn't inspire human development, nor alertness to underlying principles. It inspires apathy on the whole front. By means of this apathy, the oligarchic media destroys the soul or identity of man from within. It prevents human development. It hinders further discoveries of underlying principles. It promotes an "information age" ideology, according to which only 5% of the population need to be educated who control the remaining masses. || - page index - || - chapter index - || - Exit - ||
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