Idolatry in Modern Society

"God is spirit and we must worship him in spirit and in truth." - a old-time call to worship

Attention must be paid to the area of general human failings that exist in all political, religious, social and business entities.  We must become aware that these are learned behaviors and we must unlearn them. Idolatry is a most noxious learned behavior.  One of the root causes of idolatry is belief without reason or examination and it is ubiquitous.  One must realize that idolatry is a two-way street.  For example, a cult leader cannot be a cult leader without followers, a god cannot be a god without worshipers, a capitalist cannot be a capitalist without wage slaves and all are caught in the web of idolatry.  Some other forms of idolatry include the pecking order, one-upsmanship and keeping up with the Jones.

No one is exempt from the phenomenon of idolatry.

No one person can be right all the time.  We are all human and therefore, we are sometimes wrong.  To idolize someone, to the point that everything they say is gospel, is an example of not being able to think for yourself.   You must gain the ability to glean out that which is true and correct, ignoring that which is not.  Those who become idols (or claim to represent them) want to teach you what to think, not how to think, because if they taught you how to think, you may find some disagreement with their precepts and that would erode their power base.  There can be a fine line between learning how to think and what to think, often when we feel that were are learning how to think, we are just being fed regurgitated rhetoric on what to think.

An idol should strive to be a teacher not an idol, because one has the responsibility to try to bring others up to their level, and not to glare down at them from above.  I would like to make the following point about teaching. It is the most noble of professions, but it has been compromised by economic expediency.  Teachers are reduced to churning out cogs to maintain the status quo.  We are trained to go out and spend money in order to keep the socio-economic machine running.

 If we cannot overcome such failings, humankind will not evolve.  Those who claim to have the answer for betterment of humankind use these human failing in their rhetoric, dogma and practice.  Proclaiming they will make the world a better place for everyone, but because they are caught in the web of these human failings as well, they are no better than potential Oprichniki* who would be destined to become more oppressive and cruel than those they strive to supplant.

Human needs must be put ahead of economic expediency.   The expectations that people learn to have about relationships are linked into economic need, not human need.  The epitome of relationships in modern culture is marriage, but look at the history of marriage.  Just within the last few hundred years, marriage was used by patriarchal societies to amass wealth and power; women and children were mere chattel.  The reality is that marriage is not about love; it is about what's best for the socio-economic system.  Marriage is an archaic institution that should be abolished.  Marriage attempts to force you into a mutually exclusive relationship with underlying dynamics of ownership of one's partner.  To expect one person to meet all (or even a majority ) of the physical and emotional needs of another is an exacting demand and there are few people capable of this.  One may find that having a small number of stable, on-going non-primary relationships of a platonic and/or sexual nature would replace or eliminate the need for a primary relationship.

 The essence of politics is working together for the common good and tactics in politics is politics. Theoretically, politics is the will of the people. If your tactics do not serve the will of the people they are suspect; if your tactics are suspect than your politics are suspect, as well, and everything you do is tainted. 

The idea is firmly entrenched in the whole political spectrum that changing the political system will change the social structure of society for the better.  Have they forgotten their dialectics?  It is more likely that it will happen in the reverse manner: an awakened and mobilized people will change the political system - the way people get things done... and whatever change that comes from this historic force will be better (more advanced) than what we have in the present....

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* The Oprichniki were responsible for the torture and murder of internal enemies of the Tsar. Notorious for their violent means of enforcement, they could be compared to modern "death squads" or even secret police. Guided by Ivan, they laid waste to civilian populations. They dressed in black garb, similar to a monastic habit, and bore the strange insignia of a severed dog's head (to sniff out treason and the enemies of the Tsar) and a broom (to sweep them away). The dog's head was also symbolic of "nipping at the heels of the Tsar's enemies." They were sometimes called the "Tsar's Dogs" on account of their loyalty to him. They also rode black horses in order to inspire greater terror. The Oprichniki were given orders to execute anyone who was disloyal to Ivan IV.