David Hume and the Causal Thread

Everything that happens or exists has a cause right? A+B+C correct? Apparently not. Coincidences and strange synchronicities appear to defy this logic. They seem to represent order arising by chance. For example, When Louis XVI of France was a child, an astrologer warned him to be on his guard on the 21st of each month. Terrified by this, he never undertook any business on this day for the rest of his life. In spite of this, several very important things happened to him when the 21st came around. It was on June 21, 1791 that he was arrested fleeing the French Revolution, on September 21st, 1792 France abolished royalty forcing him to abdicate, and on January 21st 1793, he was executed. How can these seemingly random events all fall upon the same series of days? Was there a cause? The problem with coincidences is that they seem to violate most accepted notions of cause and effect.

Modern Quantum Physics is beginning to provide clues, as well as Unified Field and Chaos Theory, but this is only a start. Many of the important concepts of these black sciences were proposed many years earlier by a fellow named David Hume. He was a Scottish philosopher of the 18th century, whose Treatise of Human Nature has never been fully re-buffed by science, and much of what he espoused remains justified. Since the 5th century, it has been assumed that for everything that happens in this world, there is a cause (normally from the actions of something else). Mr. Hume rejected this. He maintained it is not certain that every object must owe its existence to a cause. Hume professed this is no more valid than believing every husband must have a wife, so therefore every man is married. Hume maintained that the traditional notions of cause and effect are incapable of proof. All we can truly claim is that what seems to be a cause always precedes what seems to be an effect, and there appears to be a connection in our mind. Beyond this, nothing more can be claimed. His view was that a connection between the two was simply nothing more than a habit of the mind. Other than our direct observation, which may or may not be what they appear, the rest is simply a mental assumption.

Hume's theories are remarkably similar the conclusions of the modern Schrodinger's Cat experiment of Quantum Mechanics. This theory basically states that observable phenomenon are simply that; Observations. Any connections beyond this are incapaple of proof and may or may not actually be what we are seeing, if they exist at all. It is all a matter of perspective, which the human species is limited in capacity.

In other words, there may be more there than what we see.

More Ramblings About Raven...

There are many different legends of Raven. This is simply one re-telling, and may not be totally historically accurate to any specific culture. My native heritage is decidedly lacking in Raven stories, as there are no Ravens in the Choctaw homelands. The closest equivalent was the crow, and it is simply seen as a malevolent, evil bird deserting mankind after the great flood. Raven is different. Raven is not a crow. Raven is found in similar (almost identical) stories worldwide. Here is the gist of the main Pacific Northwest American Raven legend.

Legend of Raven

Back in the days before there were men and the world, The spirits lived in a dark world of their own under the Great Chief. Raven was one of these spirits. There was no sun, moon, or stars in this world, and everyone bumped around in the dark. Raven had heard the Great Chief's daughter had some things called the Sun, Moon, and Stars locked away in cedar boxes. But was very jealous and guarded them very well. Raven decided to transform himself into a small hemlock needle and allowed himself to fall into her drinking cup. She drank him down and he became a baby inside her. He eventually was born as the Great Chief's grandchild.

The Great Chief loved Raven very much, thinking Raven was a normal child. Raven screamed and squawked so that he would be allowed to play with the contents of the cedar boxes. Eventually the Great Chief gave in, as all Grandfathers do, and allowed the child to play with the contents of the biggest box. Raven transformed himself back into his normal form and caught the ball of light it contained in his beak. He flew up the smoke-hole of the Chief's lodge, burning and blackening his feathers in the process.

Raven was so distracted by the light he was carrying, and the way the world looked at first sight, that he did not see the Great Chief transform into an eagle and fly after him. This caused him to drop the light and part of it shattered, bouncing back up into the heavens to become the sun, moon, and stars. The sudden light in the world frightened man, causing him to flee to the far corners of the earth, but in the end brought him great knowledge. This allowed man to come into his own and become great, developing the great societies and cultures we now have.

Raven is shown to be the prototypical "Trickster" deity, similar to Loki, Lugh, Prometheus, and even Jesus Christ. He is the also hero-saviour to man born of virgin birth. Joseph Campbell called his sort the "Hero of 1000 Faces" and he can be found in virtually all human cultures, though he is not always represented as a Raven figure. He is the bringer of knowledge (often forbidden) to man, and a saviour who often sacrifices himself or a part of himself in the process.

It is also startling co-incidental (or is it really?) that the Pacific Coast and Alaska peoples celebrate his birthday at Christmas .

This leads me to a a few quotes I think are worth mentioning:

In the later stages of many mythologies, the key images hide like needles in great haystacks of secondary anecdote and rationalization; for when a civilization has passed from a mythological to a secular point of view, the older images are no longer felt . . .

Wherever the poetry of myth is interpreted as biography, history, or science, it is killed. The living images become only remote facts of a distant time or sky. . . . temples become museums, and the link between the two perspectives is dissolved. (Joseph Campbell)

Dark Deities of the New Age

What rules our world? Are they God's or Demons? The new divine entities are unrecognizable to most average citizens. Those poor souls caught in the consumer nightmare currently eating up the Earth for cash. The modern divine are a new type never seen before in human history, and their grasp is proving inescapable for your average human. These new deities are none other than Wal-Mart, Exxon, Texaco, and other insidious multi-national money-making organizations. How can this be? A company is not a God. Just because it is not listed in the Bible or Koran does not mean it does not fit the definition of one. Lets take a look at this...

What are these companies in truth? They are a self generating self supporting (living) entity. Their sole purpose is to grow bigger and stronger. This is done by their employees and the customers they bring under their control. The employees operate under a common mindset, creating a corporate mentality that operates as a single entity. It is devoted to one thing. Getting money. These companies generate profits that are more than the Gross National Product of most small countries, and in some cases more than that of the US government. In essence, these organizations are beyond all controls of human society, save that of public image, which can be manipulated and does not really count. The humans that make up these organizations become in effect, the body/nerve cells of the corporate entities body structure. If this does not qualify as a "god" I don't know what does. Human society and governments are shaped by them. Wars are fought for them. People are dying for them as I write this article. All of human society and thinking is being manipulated by them to create a civilization of subservients working at a minimum wage slave job with the sole life goal of spending more money on their products. The new purpose of life is now to consume. Period. Sure, lots of people will tell you otherwise, but they are simply parroting the voices of these hidden entities from years of conditioning. The biblical gods are dead. Long live the hidden corporate deities! Or are they demons?

These demons want us to hold on to outmoded ways of thought and to remain fighting amongst ourselves. Divide and conquer at it's finest. The current war in the Middle East is the result of two of these entities clashing (the oil/industrial complex of the US, and the Muslim fundamentalist complex). These are the real gods of this world, and human society as a whole cannot see it. If you don't think so, try talking about this subject and see how taboo it really is. The Sci-Fi movie The Matrix was dead on, just change a few names and a few of the sets.

I really get bothered when I see people using the government as a scapegoat for perceptions of things like global UN domination, one world government, etc. The fact of the matter is these corporate entities are the real enemy. They have surpassed the UN, and are in fact in almost total control right now. We will never see a global one world government, as capitalism (what they are based off of) always has to have a structure of haves and have not's to work correctly. There will always be some enemy to fight so that profits can be made. The world's governments and the United Nations are simply irrelevant and are pawns in the game. Even the mighty US Government is simply a pawn to these larger entities. All the strife from the conspiracy theories, UN Hating, One World Government, Christian/Muslim/Jewish warfare are simply distractions to keep our attention aimed at a different subject and off of our corporate overlords. As a matter of fact, MOST politics, especially at the national level, are simply distractions to keep our mind from seeing the real issues. Isn't it funny how the same issues seem to be carried on for years and years. The US is still divided over crap that was an issue 30 years ago when Reagan was in office. A nation that can put a man on the moon can solve issues like these if they really want to. Something is keeping them going without resolution for a reason.

The saddest thing about this mess is that we created it. The only way to stop them is to take away their power. We can do this by refusing to buy their products, their throw-away consumer lifestyle, and to quit shitting in our food bowl by letting them destroy the planet for money. The strongest vote is with our cash! Make yourself heard! Capitalism only understands capitalism. Not participating in their consumer bullshit is the only way to do it.