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Kingsley Dennis, Ph.D.

Kingsley Dennis, Ph.D.

Posted: December 1, 2010 01:05 PM

From the Renaissance to the November 2010 G-20 Meeting -- and how far have we come? Well, we started in the 16th Century by creating a manifesto for a birth of the new human self with possibilities for exploring and unveiling creative horizons. This energetic spurt, however, instead of leading to a new golden age of civilization eventually morphed into the hungry coal pits of England and the grab for industrial resources as nations entered the rapid spurt of mechanical growth. The technological age in which we are now living is a product of this expansion - from wood, coal, steam, oil, electronics to the digital age - all the time fuelled by the declining resources of fossil fuels. Humanity is now at a critical crossroads where another energetic spurt is required in order for us not to enter a post-industrial period of decline and contraction, much like what occurred after the fall of the Roman Empire.

Ours is now largely an interconnected global civilization that has a case of 'the shakes' as it wobbles between a possible transmutation from a now deteriorating materially-based culture into a more conscious-orientated ideational culture; or further into decline. This transition can be metaphorically outlined as similar to a rites of passage, an initiatory period, a hero's dark journey through the underworld, as the collective consciousness of humanity interiorizes this transition from old world to new world. Many of the leading nations are attempting to keep a reign on the old world and its heavier energies of materiality, consumption, fear and insecurity, in order to remain in control. This strategy, in the face of deteriorating systems (financial, social and political) and infrastructures (energy and food/water resources) is a recipe for greater strife and breakdown. However, these last ditch attempts (a dying gasp) to retain control over a rising consciousness within humanity will eventually fail. Or, rather, it must.

Plato wrote that humanity could only know the 'real' world in the form of memories; by what he termed anamnesis, meaning the recovery of buried memories, both individual and collective. Plato insisted that all thought was recollection, and that humankind generally existed within a state of collective amnesia, having only fragments of recollection as reference points for reality. Human consciousness today is akin to a fragmented mind trying to regain its full memory -- to return to a full working capacity. Its slumber has been supported by our social systems that have until now provided for most people in the developed nations... but now that is changing. The slumber is being disturbed - and this is good. These times will act as a catalyst, an alarm bell, to dispel our collective amnesia. However, first, we need to lose something -- something of value. Perhaps these coming years will see that loss... in exchange for an awakening? The alternative would be something akin to what well-known sociologist Anthony Giddens described as a 'juggernaut careering at full-speed towards the edge of a cliff'.

And then the G20 will be in a whole different ball-park: and we'll be in another. Let us remember the words of Buckminster Fuller:

"You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete."

 
 
 
From the Renaissance to the November 2010 G-20 Meeting -- and how far have we come? Well, we started in the 16th Century by creating a manifesto for a birth of the new human self with possibilities fo...
From the Renaissance to the November 2010 G-20 Meeting -- and how far have we come? Well, we started in the 16th Century by creating a manifesto for a birth of the new human self with possibilities fo...
 
 
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researcher
researcher
12:58 PM on 12/02/2010
"Many of the leading nations are attempting to keep a reign on the old world and its heavier energies of materiality, consumption, fear and insecurity, in order to remain in control. This strategy, in the face of deteriorating systems (financial, social and political) and infrastructures (energy and food/water resources) is a recipe for greater strife and breakdown. However, these last ditch attempts (a dying gasp) to retain control over a rising consciousness within humanity will eventually fail. Or, rather, it must."

when vitality and substance mixed and created form universal laws were created. we are experiencing the effects of those universal laws but so far we hear not. but we will but only after profound economic hardships.

one would think with our prisons overflowing and our ongoing wars we might consider a new mental model but one would be in error. we hang on to our paradigms in spite of the evidence.
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03:52 PM on 12/02/2010
change is too much to do

it seems impossible to all that have

there is so much that is put together that gives this result, too much has been invested in the structure especially on the psychological level for many individuals

but again that is only from the centric view of that failing system's world

in fact the world is much larger and in fact most of that much larger world for a while get better off through that failing system's world's fall from decadence
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mommadona
I paint. I blog. Therefore, I am.
10:16 PM on 12/01/2010
I would suggest learning how to surf time. ASAP
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Daleri Rileda
Jungle Jargon
06:27 PM on 12/01/2010
Corruption and degradation of a nation comes from within the nation itself.

Righteousness exalts a nation but sin is a reproach to any people.
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JohnFromCensornati
Free your mind and your ass will follow.
06:02 PM on 12/01/2010
"This strategy, in the face of deteriorating systems (financial, social and political) and infrastructures (energy and food/water resources) is a recipe for greater strife and breakdown. However, these last ditch attempts (a dying gasp) to retain control over a rising consciousness within humanity will eventually fail."

Agreed. If we'd all just embrace the Quantum Consciousness Spiritual Energy Flow, our overpopulation problem would be unobservable. People need to give up on materialist stuff like food and water anyway. All you need is love. Love is all you need. And synchronicity.
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04:18 PM on 12/01/2010
that is the big picture, but still suffers from this collectivist "we" which really only means "us" and not humanity

"The Decline of The West" is nigh; no use crying about it, it's the way of history
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JohnFromCensornati
Free your mind and your ass will follow.
06:02 PM on 12/01/2010
The End is near.
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03:29 PM on 12/02/2010
my point is that The End is not near, only the end of the west's dominance:

the author's choice is between the end of the west's lead, which would only be a new chapter for humanity, the world; and the other option of the west invigorating itself for one last dash, which for the world would mean simply turning the page
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Richard Pearce
Atheistic-agnostic Canadian polymath
12:07 AM on 12/02/2010
Yes, for a sociologist, he seems to have limited his world to that small part north of 45 degrees north.