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Advanced Civilizational Design and Our Future
By Chris Freely
When we speak of consciously creating a world of our own making, we are discussing our concept of the design of such a said world. In that discussion somewhere we admit that we are the creators and molders of the future and that we have an interest in seeing the institutions of the future work in a different way than they do presently. When we look at the problems of our world and the many layers of issues we face as a human species we cannot ignore the potential inherent in creating new social systems of relation.
Years ago my main spiritual teacher spoke to a small group of us about a vision he had of what the ancient Egyptians practiced in terms of one aspect of this social design systemology. This idea of his that he gave to us that day stuck with me as a highly effective and mostly likely near perfect way of raising future generations in a manner that fully humanizes them. In his vision he saw that the Egyptian priests and priestess were given a special type of education where peer bonding was formed in such a way that emulates the peer bonding of primitive tribal societies of both Goddess worshipping/Earth worshiping groups and those of more balanced patrifocal societies (societies that are slightly male centric).
Reading the book Saharasia will educate anyone to the fact that Goddess/Earth worshiping (this is a very simple description of complex animist/shamanic social systems few of which still exist) tribal societies had few sexual controls on peer to peer discovery as opposed to patriarchial systems which distort natural sexual self discovery in order to facilitate mating control by aggressive dominant "alpha" males. This meant that young humans would have discovered their sexuality naturally with other young humans beginning at the time of puberty and as they matured further. There was no need for weird "sexual education" or other unnatural approaches to the human body because these expressions of ourselves were not taboo. Understand I am talking about peer relations between young adults of the same age group not some sort of sick perverse patriarchal distortion where young men and women are abused by older males in aggressive negative settings.
While I cannot advocate a completely free approach due to the fact I find such an approach somewhat too primitive and to our understanding, vulgar, for advanced civilizations I believe the Egyptians, based on my teacher's vision, had the correct middle ground sorted out. As far as I understood from hearing the conversation, in this system when an initiate into the mysteries turned 16 he would have been removed from his family to go to what would be a spiritual school for the Egyptians. He would spend a year with a roommate of the same sex. The next year he would spend a year with a roommate of the opposite sex. In the Egyptian hierarchy this created a complex peer bonding ritual that exposed males to other males and females to other females at 16 in a roommate setting and males to females in a roommate setting at 17. While our concepts of gay or straight were not as rigid at that time, those who had such inclinations were likely to discover them within a friendly setting that encouraged the development of human emotional intimacy with others. The key here is not sexual it is emotional because the emotions emerge first and if aligned within a developed social system emulating natural conditions of tribal societies gives human beings a full supportive immersion at the key phase before adulthood. Such socialization would provide the bond that keeps society united because love is easiest to understand and learn through natural intimacy within a peer relationship.
It was presumed that this would teach the initiate self relations and then relation to the opposite sex. In a world where these relations are often severely strained due to unnatural puritan attitudes, it is actually an incredible breath of fresh air. It is during these primary years when our idealistic image of the other sex can be forged in peer bonding into a balanced harmonious relation between the sexes. This would eliminate so much of the world's problems if implemented for every young adult at these ages where a universal experience would exist in which human beings would be able to relate each other at these key times and away from the conditioning of the nuclear family and its potential dysfunction related to blocking the expansion of human consciousness through peer group relations in individual young adults. In other words, this process should be a universal experience, part of what we currently call high school. Variations of this theme are of course possible and could also be encouraged including the idea of group dorms for general socialization such as what exists at the fictional Hogwarts School of Magic in Harry Potter. Another potential I considered was the use of astrology for harmonizing roommate for maximum harmony and compatibility of temperaments, though for those that do not believe in astrology advanced personality tests could provide similar harmonization. Dealing with disharmony of course would also have to be part of the lesson so perhaps people should spend part of their education living with someone who was very different from them to learn how to relate to those who are not like us.
Humans seem to function best in groups of 1000 to 2000 individuals as an extended tribal family. Peer group education can either facilitate the enabling of socialization in young adults to send them forth feeling comfortable and safe in the world about who they are or could facilitate a long term bonding to a particular group depending on how a person wishes to live. For instance if the young adult wished to live in something akin to a large "intentional community" or commune on a group farm as a lifestyle choice exploring relations between people, animals, and nature, these sorts of social systems could be created through egalitarian directives. There are many options.
Extending the concept of advanced civilization design beyond this initial concept brings about many ideas of social transformation into a new paradigm of human interaction. Many of the negative manifestations of recent social systems should be purged from existence in my estimation. My general opinion is that porn should be outlawed except for natural and non vulgar displays of nudity in art whether this art be photography or sculpture. Porn damages human relationships and degrades women and even men. It creates an inhumanity and distorts our natural desires. It is a base and detestable form of addiction that has been forced on us by a society run by idiots. No reasonable society would ever have permitted it in the first place for the reasons I have stated earlier concerning the natural way people learn about sex and should learn in a properly structured civilization system.
Growing up I, like the vast majority of my peer group, were exposed to the addictive and destructive pornography of the internet which I find to be an indictment of our society's inability to police the public space and create a healthy mental climate. While this problem is recoverable with great effort, I would be derelict of my duty as a human being if I thought that this sort of experience is something I wish future generations of humans to go through. It is a disgrace and an abomination that this filth has gone uncorrected in our time and that discussing the matter is even taboo. It shouldn't be. The shit needs to be outlawed.
In order to find our way back to innocence in our social system it is necessary for us to rebuild our social institutions. The five systems of society, also something I learned from my main spiritual teacher, are currently called government, religion, race, economy, and hierarchy which he described as currently being run by the dark as in the unconscious forces of political maneuvering, masquerading, and general corruption. These five institutions when properly reconstituted are called administration, spirituality and science, culture/tribe/media/education, trade, and family. This is all under the rubric of conscious human choice to create variant social systems for experimental self expression. Culture has many possible expressions, but some rules do apply because of the nature of our world.
One of the issues I have encountered in my analysis is that systems of oppression cannot be granted simple outs when they claim that their culture is what allows them to oppress or negatively impact members of their own society. To the extent politically wise, it is necessary to avoid direct interference and rely on soft power through conscious communication to undo these sorts of unjust formations. However, we must not shirk our duty by remaining silent in the face of true oppression. We must also remain vigilant that the definition of oppression does not become a political tool in the hands of those who are seeking to impose unsound versions of their own oppressiveness in guise of anti-oppression. We do this through dialogue and discussion so that our definitions are as clear as possible, which is a work of knowledge through mental discipline and defined reasoning.
Returning now to the exceptions of what can and cannot be permitted to exist as true free culture expressions. Global warming and issues such as nuclear proliferation is one such area where local culture cannot be used to justify damaging the environment. As such we approach the looming problem of our time as we build our new civilizations on the models that have preceded (to what extent those models can be called civilized at all which is yet another point of contention to explore). Patriarchal modes of relation cannot be completely excluded as a universal expression of human or any sentient development. Patriarchy, when properly structured, is necessary and good. When improperly structured or inflexible in transition to more egalitarian or just systems it becomes detrimental and negative. While the balance of civilization is shifting away from patriarchy it is because of the dis-balances and corruption that has come to define this model of human relation. The spiritual male may be the heart of true patriarchy, but when it denies the female it becomes negative and detrimental. This should not be forgotten in the transition to new bi-focal egalitarian systems and eventually matri-focal and matriarchal systems of the distant future.
In all things, thus, there must be a balance. Imbalance exists when there has been too much of one and not enough of the other. Corruption exists where one side has been denied or when what is natural and just is repressed by what is selfish and ignorant. Where darkness thrives, there one must shine the light to purify what is impure. What is rotten is rotten everywhere. There is no political label for filth. Filth is filth because it is impure, and it is impure because it is vile. And that which is vile cannot thrive and rots away until it is no more leaving what was pure again to rebuild.
We should once again be talking the language of virtue. What has long been banished in our current vulgar dialogue should be brought back. We need cleanness again in our cultural expression. We need new life in our dying societies. We need new order to bring the Earth back into balance before environmental degradation destroys our ability to sustain our population and our systems of order. We cannot allow chaos to overwhelm our systems of order to the extent that our societies become completely imperiled. We need order again. The crooks need to be reined in. But much is crooked in our societies. Much needs to be questioned, challenged, and remade.
Democracy itself is not enough, but it is necessary because of the nature of our systems now. We have agreed to allow collectively the people to decide, but they must be educated to make those decisions wisely. The media is the greatest enemy of an educated public because it has been corrupted by those who wish to hoard power even though this hoarding does them no good. Yet still there is hope, but there is much learning to do. If any of you considers the five institutions as a guide for understanding the layers of the collective process for humanity it would go far in your analysis to understand what is necessary to develop a better vision for yourself and those around you. Intentional communities are one potential outcome of such a process, but this is not an easy task since there are so many variables now we must consider as individuals and as a species.
We cannot create isolated intentional communities. Everything must be part of the whole now. There can be no isolated parts. Everything is part of the change. All things are returning to the center. Our civilization will be global, but culture will remain local. We must all struggle collectively to make this change happen. We must know each other. We must be peer bonded to each other, even if that means redefining ourselves into middle and even old age. The world must be remade so we must remake ourselves. Civilization begins with one, the one that makes the change to fill a more perfect role in the universe he or she lives. This is one way of understanding what the new consciousness is. It is more than just words, words, words. It is a philosophy that you embrace. It is an empowerment that you choose.
We are the change we wish to see in the world. Our relations define who we are. As we remake ourselves to fulfill our role our conscious choices change the future by changing us. We grow more into that which is universal and away from that which is individual. We become less individual and more enmeshed in the lives of others. We forget ourselves and our petty complaints. Ego stops being about us and starts becoming about we. The bigger that we becomes, the more universal our vision and our understanding and the more connected we become to life. This is the spirit of advanced civilization design from the point of view of the individual building the world of the future by changing themselves to allow for greater possibility through unity. This is universalism in action.
We accept what is. We know the truth in all things. We accept our vision of change. We embrace changing and we embrace what is. We become the current of that change. What is changes. This is called flow, and it runs through our process as we grow. We accept the past. We accept the present. We accept the right to change. We accept from ourselves the vision of change. We embrace the change. We become the change. And others join us and we join them offering choices as we move along. Sounds quite civilized, no?