In its essence, a "history trap" is the cycle of repeating history. The question is why do we keep on repeating history, especially a series of actions which are not conducive to our greater well-being.
A history trap is a symbolic construction, thus just as money is the basis of a "liquidity trap" in economics, symbols and our use of symbols is the basis of a history trap. A good example in the present day is the "End of Times" historical trap: throughout history people - being focused on the here and now - have thought that their times were the absolutely worst of all possible times, what with earthquakes - not a new phenomenon - volcanoes, meteor, and extinctions of various parts of the biosphere.
And today is no exception. A good proportion of the population thinks things are well on their way to the last trump and the Saints marching in. This is a repetition of a cycle of intelligent symbolism which has occurred probably millions of times over man's time on earth, not just the 2,000 years of Christianity and its eschatological bent concerning last things.
Or there is always the coming of the Messiah, or the Mahdi. The occurrence of false messiahs and mahdis are numerous, and will continue to increase, since we always fall into the "historical trap" : it is a construct made from good and sturdy symbols that we feel comfortable with - just like the carrot greens under the box enticing the innocent rabbit - and we can settle right in with little or no effort. Particularly no effort. We have always preferred that the drudge work of Religion be done by someone else, preferably some charismatic figure from the deep past. They offer everything to us in the simplest manner: read a book, eat a wafer, affirm some dogmas, have a "personal" with God. Not much to it.
As part of Free Creation - Creation able to leap outside the barriers of Law-like Discipline - we are capable of denying the enormous stories of the past and free to go questing to find our own.
If we insist on the exact and precise symbolism of the Past, we shall find ourselves in the Past, living and breathing in the Past, and fighting the battles of the Past, and questing the visions of the Past. And our lives will be encapsulated and diminutive and become as logical as a treatise written with Absolute Truth, absolute truth being a creation of the past, not the future, for it cannot bear the light of volatile intelligence!
Battles of the Past are already won or lost!
Visions of the Past are already seen! Quests of the Past have already reached their goal! We shall only be repeating what has already been done, and we shall delude ourselves into thinking we have explored far shores, when all we have done is to stay at home and applaud the rote opinion-arias of oppressively bombastic operas.
How much of this present world strife is the fruit of ancient grudge and vendetta? The President of Libya invokes the terror of Crusaders; does it still resound after 500 years? The antiquity of the symbols are indicative of the weak-minded fear of the power of creation. My Creator did not create any lily-livered, weak-kneed knaves, fearful of encountering new things without an AK-47 in their hands.
Keep the ancient kernel, and throw away the ancient rind!
Create our new story around the Kernel of the story we received from the Past and our ancestors, and tell it anew! Go and discover it for ourselves! Captain the ship our forebears sent us, drop the old and moss-laden cargo, pump out the bilge and scrub it with caustic! Then let us set sail to the Future!
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2 comments:
But that has been traditionally the municipal of the Shaman: to forge together the will needed to foray into new territory; confronting frightening new visions and paths and rivers and rills and dales. They put themselves at risk, and then bring back their gleaned wisdom to share with the people who do not possess the shamanic qualities. In other words, very few people can summon the courage to take a leap of faith and embark on the "Hero's Journey". It's natural to want to cling to what is known and proven, rather than trying to walk dense scrub that could be writhing with snakes just ready to strike!
I think even the kernel is too little of a guidance to help people along...it's like taking a single bandage on a venture into the wilderness, whilst leaving behind the whole first age kit and assorted dogma: i.e - the instruction manual. Some people will feel okay with a bandage, whilst most, I doubt, will.
Perhaps a group effort will suffice where an individual fails due to uncertainty...
Fear is very paralyzing.
Ben
Yes. I agree.
However, when the world falls apart, who will put it back together? Only those who have conquered their fear.
Mr. Bouazizi changed the Arab world... it only cost him his life.
Sometimes shamans do not come back.
Group effort is interesting. The major problem with a group effort would be the tendency to have leaders and followers. Then you have society and its discontents.
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