The Anatomy of Power

Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

J.R.R. Tolkien - The Lord of the Rings

The Anatomy of Power

The compulsion to exercise control is a primary factor that separated homo sapiens from, shall we say, the 'inferior' species. I use the term 'inferior' rather than 'other' to underscore the eventual 'superiority' and arrogance we shall see later of western thinking and attitudes as it ultimately evolved from it's common species, the Great Apes.

All species sense fears and reacts to it, fight or flight, very basic defence systems. Man was particularly vulnerable because, like the more passive life forms, e.g. mice, rats, moles, etc. it lacked size, fangs, claws, strength and a tough hide to compete directly with the predators and spent most of their time running, scavenging, gathering and hiding.

It took only one billionth of a second, if that, so long ago, that a component of the brain cell mutated from basic motor and instinctive functions to higher cognitive functions and intelligence. Whether this mutation was induced from the intense stresses of it's fears and environment, or of an action of a higher intelligence, is still only theory and speculation. But consider, science is peeling away these phenomena by means of particle physics. This is leading to the realization that it appears all matter, brain cells being as an example, is really only energy and the forces that interact give us the impression of solid matter, animate and inanimate. Whereas, it is more accurately like a 'nothingness' of 'infinite' proportions, which are also a divine concept of Eastern beliefs and philosophy and the 'magic' of tribal societies.

Naturally, given the faculty of cognitive thinking, it began to recognize patterns and develop logical possibilities and control, albeit swayed by it's still predominant emotions, which were far from being secure. In time the requirements for basic survival were met, food, shelter and warmth, but still elusive was the answer to the fearful reactions towards his environment. He was now plagued with the anxieties of cognitive experience, awesome and mostly terrifying wonder.

How to deal with the shear terror of it all? After all, terror creates confusion and interferes with rational thought, control and therefore survival. In all probability the brain was evolving biologically to ensure it's own survival (as everything has survival mechanisms). This intelligent mutation monitored, by means of the brain, all the information from the 6 senses, more complex emotions and the basic animal instincts.

The first observed patterns were, male/female, then, night/day, moon/sun/stars, cloudy/clear, wet/dry, hot/cold, winter/summer cycles, in some areas rainy seasons/dry seasons, growth, maturity and death of vegetation and so on. But then what of the more individual events; lightning, thunder, fire, eclipse, birth, accidental death, volcanoes, avalanches, shooting and falling stars?
His new ability to observe and recognize patterns compounded by natural curiosity gave rise to the first 'gifted' mind the 'First Thought', simply put, "Why?"

The probable situation of the original "Why" to the cognitive mind was, 'I get up each day, I am hungry. I go look for food, I eat it. If I eat enough, I'm satisfied (pleasure), if not, I am more hungry (pain), and if I can't eat at all, I die very painfully (illness). The same applies to shelter and warmth. I am satisfied, not quite, or not satisfied. Sex, on the other hand, is totally beyond comprehension. It is only understood as an irresistible urge that does not seem to be necessary to living or dying. However, it too is subject to the pain/pleasure process.

Therefore, after having solved his physical needs, his thoughts began to seek out the answers to his psychological needs. How was he to make sense of this all, how could he alleviate this sense of powerlessness, how can these things be controlled? Naturally, as now, there is always the gifted and exceptional mind that has a revelation or gains an insightful perspective and is able to apply it's thinking in relatively extraordinary ways. It tries to begin to make sense of the patterns to which it has been subject to, and observed for much of its short lifespan. It begins to recognize cause and effect and searches for a 'method' to control the subject.

As an example, he must eat or starve. So how best to ensure that he has food. Roots and berries are plentiful during certain times so he might gather extra and cache them somewhere protected. For meat he might carefully follow the game and await the leftovers of the predators. Also most kills occur at or near water, which he eventually discovers more uses of than just drinking.

Discoveries upon discoveries. But probably then, as now, it is the exceptional individual who makes and applies this discovery of cause and effect which allows him to be the first to control, not only his own survival, but to repeat it. His imagination, born of a 'gut instinct', also associates animate and inanimate objects as signs or 'helpers' that aid him, recognized because some significant event occurred around or involved an unusual object, say for example a strange shaped stone lying beside the head of a 'kill' and believes them to have some 'special' force that he can call on.

Now imagine how his family, clan and tribal members perceive it! He becomes an object of wonder and awe, which to all unthinking persons, which would be most, it generates fear! This individual has an advantage over them and many become jealous of his 'gift' and shun him or try to kill him and even his beneficiaries might misunderstand and fear his power to feed them and cloth them. But some survive, because they learn how to manipulate others that they either, willingly follow him, or fear his power (knowledge/magic) to the extent that they are willing to obey, providing they feel they are getting some benefit or protection from his power over their environment.

As their immediate family benefits and the 'secret' of his power is taught to them, the family then grows to a clan, which eventually attracts neighboring clans and becomes the tribe, of which they are the most powerful. These families then become the Kings/Gods and priest clans, and maintain their power by limiting the knowledge to them or people who are chosen to receive it. Ultimately, if the general populace see them as being beneficial, e.g. successful hunts and harvests, they can go about their daily lives with some guarantee of relative ease. Otherwise they will be seen as false Gods and be subject to the wrath of the tribe and another King and priests to replace them.

As societies and civilizations develop, greater systems of control need to be developed as well. Obviously, the longer a society exists the more successful and generally beneficial its control is. But there will always be abuses of this power that plague the systems, either temporarily or terminal, resulting in the decline and fall of their society. The larger and more complex a society, the more sophisticated the systems of controlling the people. Again it is crucial that it is psychology that becomes more important, as successful societies have already solved their 'physical needs'. People are manipulated or generally motivated by their need for 'happiness' whether it is spiritual, material or both, and since the invention of the printing press, more information was available to more people in a position of influence, especially the church (it as the Gutenburg Bible that was first off the press) to 'manufacture' the perceptions required to maintain control, either for good or bad.

As we are now in the Information Age, the world is rapidly shrinking and all the multitudes of States of the past are being drawn into the blender of the "Global Village"! This realignment of power has been made possible by the availability of information as a result of the World Wide Web which originally was the'absurd' idea that information should be free too anybody who could reach a computer. The demand in the developed countries for computers at work, school and at home was so high that the technology was made available for dramatically reducing prices.

Inexpensive access to free information! Universal knowledge! This is the stuff of man's ideal towards a 'new society'!

Now just what is this 'new society'? Technology might be cheap and equipment several years old could be affordable to even the lowest level of society, but the 'web' is becoming expensive and more restrictive. We are at the point of 'pay per view'. Information is now being bought up by multinationals, the freedom and anarchy of the web in the earlier days are virtually over. And as each economic hiccup is felt, it affects the whole planet, and those who are falling by the wayside and those who never had a chance to get on the path to start with, are being joined more and more by the developing countries and middle classes. And as the wealth is flowing upwards to those who make the rules, who are any entity involved in global trading, such as the multinationals, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and World Trade Organization.
Never before has wealth flowed upwards on a global scale to this degree! And this wealth is the end result of governments kowtowing to big business rather than representing it's own peoples, who have in turn, been left with a sense of powerlessness. To these institutions, power is what drives them and control is essential for their existence. Technology is the latest tool to exercise control, and as the late Marshall McLuhan visualized and taught, "The Medium is the message." And I am saying, He who controls the 'Medium' controls the 'Message'!

But human nature being what it is, there will always be a reaction sooner or later, as experienced all too graphically during the last year, from violent protests at world trade talks, to the horrendous September 11th 2001 'wake up' call of the World Trade Center massacre, to the excessive slaughter of civilians in an American dirty war on the pretense of hunting down a few totally 'off-the-wall' fundamentalist individuals.

And also, human nature being what it is, there will also be a 'gifted' individual, or several, who will give birth to new perceptions for others too see, because remember, and it has been historically been proven true, that anything the human mind can dream can become reality. All dreams come from the "infinite nothingness" from which All is born, nothing is real, all is illusion and that is where the real power lies, for better or for worse alternating ad infinitum......

1 In the beginning Man created God; and in the image of man created he him.

2. And Man gave unto God a multitude of names, that he may be Lord over all the earth when it was suited to Man.

3. And on the seven millionth day Man rested and leaned heavily on his God and saw that it was good.

4. And Man formed Aqualung of the dust of the ground, and a host of others likened unto his kind.

5. And these lesser men Man did cast into the void. And some were burned; and some were put apart from their kind.

6. And Man became the God that he created and with his miracles did reign over all the earth.

7. But as all these things did come to pass, the Spirit that did cause Man to create his God lived on within all men: even within Aqualung.

8. And Man saw it not.

9. But for Christ's sake he'd better start looking.

- Aqualung (Jethro Tull, 1984) - Ian Anderson

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More links to open your eyes

John Pilger: pilger.carlton.com
Independent journalist, former chief foreign correspondent, UK Mirror.

Michael Ruppert:www.copvcia.com/
This former US cop (LAPD) has been exposing CIA involvement in
covert operations, also publishes From The Wilderness magazine

Richard Saunders: www.ncf.ca/coat
Coordinator, Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT)

Centre for Research on Globalisation: globalresearch.ca
Behind the News, Analysis, Commentary and
Intelligence on the New World Order

Now Toronto: www.nowtoronto.com
we are the largest alternative weekly period
-- and we are independent.

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