Political Religiosity and Religious Politics.

by Alexander Braun
Thursday, 30 May 2013

UVARTS, Queen Street East, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

The difference between the one and the many; young, adult, and mature; with the emphasis on prioritizing necessity of the needs vs wants.



Part 1.

The political process represents things that we do together, the religious in this dichotomy is what one does alone and what is personal in nature and how it relates with the self, as a point of reference and hence being at the centre of the universe, micro and macro, as in old proverb, the universe has its centre everywhere and its circumference nowhere. 

So, if we want to build a bridge, that's politics. if we want to pray, meditate, give thanks etc that's religion. that said, the mainstream book religions today are also filling the role of old political systems that governed societies in the ancient past when tribalism and religious law was the political discourse of the day. 

Thus today the what is referred to as pure religion is in part also political in its heritage reflected in large by numerous rules and prescriptions of what one shalt do onto others that one wants to be done one thyself, that's in traditional Western canon, and in traditional Chinese that would be a reverse of itself, thus don't do onto others that thy don't want to be done onto thyself. A subtle but big difference.

In any case, the point is that there are things that are applicable to one, the individual, and the things that are related to the group(s). Hence the religious and political systems. And then there is economy. However, before we even get to the economy, another difference has to be noted, the prioritized critical path for provisions of the critical needs -- physical, mental, space & time.

Only after all the needs are satisfied when the sorting out of what is wanted can ensue, i.e. one will not go to see a movie if one wants to sleep, then of course what is wanted, can be afforded, acquired, and that is where the forces of the free market economy of popular demand/supply provided by the private sector's watchful eye.

While all the common denominator human needs, such as shelter, basic healthy food distribution, water treatment/sewage, establishing and upholding standards of ethics, law, and order, transportation, foreign affairs and trade, etc, is provided by the government, obviously democratic with the proportional representation and ranking voting methods of determining the elected public officials utopia wet dream.

To summarize, while the governments public mandate is to represent public needs they are in bed with the corporations playing with the not-so free anymore market economy, as it is heavily regulated and subsidized and infiltrated by the private sector whose only concerns are for itself and its shareholders, its market shares, and the wants of its consumer base.

However here is the government conveniently with lots of budget to burn on what people need and they ignore the priorities of the needs while wasting public money and time on the things that they want but don't really need, and pay for it usually an inflated price in contrast to what it would actually cost in the properly managed open market economy.

The fix is obvious. The government should focus on things that people need, the society at large, the same things that people agree on that the government must look after, again such as critical infrastructure and basic life support functionality, while the private sector can supply what people want, the individuals that is, who are quiet different in what they want vs similarities in what they need. And that's that. That said, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for it. Again, it is philosophy, theory, I am not sure it will ever make it to practice all things considering, human nature including.

Part 2.

Section two. Square, Triangle, Circle -- Young, Adult, Old -- Past, Present, Future -- dependent, hierarchical, equal -- people/things, events, ideas/poetic truth -- simple, busy, free. 

The Square. The foundation of the pyramid, two dimensional plane, a square play area where children play in a safe environment with adults towering watching over their safety -- it represents the past, all available options and is mainly matriarchal in its nature. The narrative of the children's tale is fantastic magical adventures of great characters and magnificent creatures and things.

The Triangle. The sides of the pyramid bringing on top of the past an extra dimension of the present, transition from 2D to 3D, from past to present, now+here=nowhere. The four sides of the tower are rising and on any of the sides of it one can only see part of it. It's a temple culture. Anywhere where people climb on a podium, would it be political or religious etc, is where the temple culture is at. This is the realm of personal priorities and ambitions. 

It's realm of adults with their concerns fixed in the present moment and their methodical attendance to the needs and wants of the children in the square play area below and their own inside their temple pyramid culture. The narrative for the adults is hero quests on amazing adventures full of exciting events where the hero has to go through various challenges, learning punishment and ripping rewards for the completed tasks, finding the princes locked up in a tower, or finding a pirate treasure map and then the treasure too, etc. 

However the temple environment is very competitive as the slopes of the pyramid are getting closer to each other narrowing down the playing field.
It is hierarchical and patriarchal for most part.

The Circle. Finally, after a life-long journey and trials one can reach the top, the few lucky ones who make it, make their way to the summit of life where (proverb) one has only their soul for a company, however that is reference to the self as the individual, the religious/spiritual nature, the circle in reference to the group represents the poetic truth of the old age -- the summit of the pyramid, the cap stone, the CEO/HQ with the round table, where the wisdom of the elders is shared and plans for the future of the entire tribe is made.

_\|/_ namaste _\|/_