06-03-2014, 10:21 AM
David, yes, I agree, it's not a recent innovation. We can step back into history and see human nature in all its "red in tooth and claw nature".
Sometimes, we can even look back and see a real civilizing influence poking though too. It is the human condition and unless, or until, human nature is transformed by consciousness, this back and forth is, for me, destined to continue.
If the dark shadow nature of mankind is left to itself, will it eventually gobble up it's own tail and consume itself - and all of us along with it?
That is the danger and the challenge we all face. Can enough men and women become conscious of their own shadow selves and withdrew their energy/libido from the Collective monster?
It's a quandary.
And yet, for me, the whole thing reflects back to us the world as it is. Day and night, winter and summer -- all the usual and obvious opposing poles of the universe as we currently understand it.
It's a designer quandary.
I found the Venus Project well intentioned, for sure, but a little short on reality. I wish it were so easy, but the problem as I see it is as above: our inherent human nature that is built of components of both black and white, perennially swinging from one pole to the other.
To be perfectly honest, this whole, huge philosophical question is the real motivation of a forum like DPF, in my opinion anyway. It's a mirror of man's dark nature. Only by understanding ourselves, and knowing ourselves, will real progress be accomplished.
If not we simply plod along at the pace of grazing cattle - not knowing if we exist or endure. Or why.
Sometimes, we can even look back and see a real civilizing influence poking though too. It is the human condition and unless, or until, human nature is transformed by consciousness, this back and forth is, for me, destined to continue.
If the dark shadow nature of mankind is left to itself, will it eventually gobble up it's own tail and consume itself - and all of us along with it?
That is the danger and the challenge we all face. Can enough men and women become conscious of their own shadow selves and withdrew their energy/libido from the Collective monster?
It's a quandary.
And yet, for me, the whole thing reflects back to us the world as it is. Day and night, winter and summer -- all the usual and obvious opposing poles of the universe as we currently understand it.
It's a designer quandary.
I found the Venus Project well intentioned, for sure, but a little short on reality. I wish it were so easy, but the problem as I see it is as above: our inherent human nature that is built of components of both black and white, perennially swinging from one pole to the other.
To be perfectly honest, this whole, huge philosophical question is the real motivation of a forum like DPF, in my opinion anyway. It's a mirror of man's dark nature. Only by understanding ourselves, and knowing ourselves, will real progress be accomplished.
If not we simply plod along at the pace of grazing cattle - not knowing if we exist or endure. Or why.
The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge.
Carl Jung - Aion (1951). CW 9, Part II: P.14