In the first 2 entries in this series, I have considered the role of the individual search for the magic elixer that will grant immortality through the marketing of health care products Here, and the role that the merging of religion and corporate interests may have played in marketing immortality Here.
Today, I would like to explore the myth of immortality that drives nation states and their various rulers, to delude themselves, and their followers, into believing that they are changing the shape of the world. This myth continues to shape the ruler's actions and decisions for decades, and often has disruptive, if not fatal, consequences for the people under their control.
Whether of the political, geographical, or social order, each is convinced in his turn, that his unique vision will achieve immortality. That he, and his vision will effect the development of humanity for all time.
Anyone who has examined history knows this myth to be false. That has never kept the ideologues form mounting their latest campaign for immortality, however.
To understand the total futility of this myth go to this Link and examine the history of the Middle East over the past 5,000 years. Or, consider the 1,000 year Reich. Communism was to dominate the world. Socialism was to change the shape of civilization. And buried within each of these systems was the caveat that you can't make sausage without grinding a little meat.
None of these leaders could achieve their power base without the acceptance of the myth. The belief, on the part of followers, that this time it will be different. This time it will work. This time, the vision will come to full fruition, the history of the world will change, and people everywhere will bow in obesience to their memory.
It's all quite silly, really - both those who seek to impose their ideology on the world, and those who accept that imposition as right, inevitable, and immutable.
Why do we keep falling for it?
American Exceptionalism is just one variant of this delusional game. From the Roman Empire, which destroyed Persian humanism and Greek culture, as well as the status of women in the Celtic domain, to the British Empire with it's assumptions that it alone knew what constituted civilized behavior, generation after generation has fallen victim to the ideation of immortality, which can be gained through awarding power to political and religious institutions.
It has never worked! Lives are destroyed, knowledge is suppressed or lost, and the evolution of humanity is delayed or distorted. And yet, we continue to believe that a form of immortality can be placed on our shoulders, like a mantle of office, if we just find the right system, the right theology, the right leader, to create a political system that will span the ages.
As always, I value your comments and additions to this theme, more than you may realize.