October 7: Seeing The Future

Current Events First thing, the worst time in the present series of events is going to occur in the fall of 2008. I got the sense it was October 2008. Now worst does not mean that the center will not hold and everything falls apart. It just means the in a series of events, this month will have the suckiest. And it may be all our perceptions; that is, this month will be the month of our greatest fear, not necessarily the worst event. It is our consciousness of the event that will determine how bad it is. I for one did not need John McCain to start going ballistic, adding a horrendous campaign to a list of other worries. It was fated to deteriorate until the people woke up. The ongoing series of arrogant and infamous acts could have no other climax than tragedy; think of all mankind's stories along the ironical lines of the Tower of Babel...prides goes into the revolving door before a fall does. It is also fated to get better. It will not be as bad as some think, yet it will be bad enough. It will get better After October, there will be a desultory decline into recession, and some fields will lie fallow, but then, suddenly, Spring shall return. Have faith and do not, under any circumstances, give into despair. Seeing The Future Second, how does one know these things? A long time ago, it dawned on me that the only difference - grammatical difference, at least- between the past, present, and future were the tenses of the verbs we employed: I saw, I see, I shall see. This struck me as not much difference. There had to be a greater difference. I discovered the Present is the verb, alone and unmodified. The Past modifies the verb somehow ( e.g. "did") , as does the Future ( e.g. "will"). How did this indicate a deep and profound distinction between the Present Now and the Past and Future. It is but a symbol, a symbol alone in the Present and modified in the Past and the Future. Furthermore, the past is a fund of memories: ideas, pictures, images, words, stories, digital traces, all of which are symbolic. When I state " I remember seeing Barry Goldwater give his acceptance speech.", I have created a symbolic structure of words embodying a memory. If I had filmed a documentary, the symbolic structure would be the film, an amalgam of words, actions, and images. When I state " I shall see the Detroit Lions win a championship.", I have created a similar symbolic structure of words, and I could have also created a film of the shape of things to come. It is one of many possible future trends, the one above being outrageously improbable. When I state "I am seeing the sun rise over the river.", I have created a symbolic structure to communicate to you my state of being-in-the-world, my actions, my existence which right now is fully engaged in watching the sunrise. Only the Present is fully engaged in the world, and this is a non-symbolic act or state of being. Only the Present is essentialy non-symbolic as well as symbolic; the Present is our escape from our prison or castle or mansion of symbols. This is what I mean when I do a posting on "Carceri d'Invenzione", or Imaginary Prisons: an escape from the old imagery which is no longer life enhancing, rather it now stifles the living. Hence, the importance of the Present. Only in the Present can we either affect or effect Creation, the Universe in its widest sense. That is why we should try to make the Present as good as possible. God should always be good...in the present. This will thus affect the memories: the Past that we recall of this Present; and will also affect the things to come: the Future that we perceive impinging upon us. This is why I do not like referring to the Book of Revelations: all people are feeling a sense of lesser or greater doom, all people sense a great Irony or reversal as we go get a nudge off the pedestal we built for ourselves. This sense of fear is in the Present, and it is as yet non-symbolic. So to talk about this fear, we must get it a suit of clothes, so to speak, and fit it up properly to go out among the populace. Here is where we reach back in the Past, the storehouse of symbols, and grab the first thing that comes by: the Book of Revelations. Now all premonitions of the future will be symbolized by the Apocalypse: the fear being portrayed by the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and the struggle for the good will be armies in battle and wars against the Anti-Christ. This is not helpful most of the time. I have recounted the story of a friend with Millennial expectations, who was amazed to find his own family's life was the sole thing destroyed. Irony was here. Irony in that he thought himself to be godly, and, thus, somewhat secure from the coming wrath. Instead, he was the focus of the bad events. Irony. Picking the correct Symbols to symbolize and, thus, communicate the Past...AND FUTURE is not an easy task. Now I shall stop here, because I hear you ask: does this lunatic actually think we can foresee the future? To be very brief, my answer is yes. Our sense of fear of the future right now is one excellent example. We cannot yet communicate it because we invariably use a worn-out image set or icons or words, none of which has any validity beyond the fact that we have already invoked them hundreds and hundreds of times in our discourse, and they are easily accessible. When I say the old images have no validity, I mean they have no validity as YOU use them. For example, if old symbols and complex structures had any validity, why would I be watching the Evangelicals of America publicly breaking the law and preaching support for John McCain, the adulterer? I can only see that kind of spectacle when the Evangelicals' symbols have been twisted and perverted from eons of abuse. They go to the old memory storehouse, as usual, and pick out the shop worn items that smell of nauseating senility. Faith is alive. It is the basis of the Present, and thus the Past and Future. If I have Faith now, then God's goodness will color all the images of memory, lifting me from the depression of my past failures. If I have Faith now, then God's goodness will glorify all the possible images and words of the Future, curing me from any despair that comes from my sense of fear. As the symbols of the Future slip into the Now of the Present, they will be as roads already made straight , and our problems will be hills made low, and our lives will be valleys brought high. Amen, My Brothers and Sisters.