3 Dec 2006 @ 12:28, by John Oates
Endless television programmes and newspaper articles, churned out day by day, are of no fundamental significance because they concern the Machine, our wrong reality. Our political and diplomatic actions and reactions refer to problems that they cannot solve on their own terms, because those problems lie at the root of human society and can be solved only by complete change, not by political tinkering with the Machine, for the Machine is itself a root cause of our problems.
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Similarly, our interests in life sciences, eg spirituality, designed to make personal life good and whole, are misplaced because it is the simple basics of life that should suffice to bring basic happiness, and the abstract exercises of the mind should be those added satisfactions, such as music, that are intelligent life’s further, deep satisfactions when, and only when raised on true foundations.
At the end of a court case, sometimes following years of investigations, one man is convicted of murdering another. Outside the courtroom, surrounded by cameramen, the murdered man’s wife and family describe how they fought tooth and nail to have the guilty man arrested and punished. The cameras home in on their emotionally stressed faces, enough to bring tears to the eyes of the viewing public
Events do not occur for no reason. Murder might be committed for a material reason such as robbery, or to silence a witness, or out of extreme jealousy. It might be prompted by other strong emotional urges, such as to prove manhood conferred by possession of a knife or gun, or for revenge, or to strike a blow against a society that denies us freedom and equal opportunity.
All these reasons can be related to the Machine and its influences. In an ideal community that did not support a competitive money economy there would be no real motive to rob. Any crime would be self-confessed and require no witnesses or battles for justice. Feelings such as jealousy would be tempered by communal trust and would carry less weight than repugnance for violence such as murder
The relatives of crime victims normally feel compelled to seek punishment for the perpetrators, although doubtful that it does any good in the long run. There is more concern now to rehabilitate criminals and more recognition of some causes of crime like unsatisfactory upbringing, but it is not generally admitted that the whole structure and nature of the Machine is not only the cause of crime but is also the main provider of both incentives and opportunities for it.
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