The Age of Untruthfulness

Right up front, I should state, as a disclaimer, that my area of “expertise” is not Hindu scriptures (I wish it were). The other day, browsing through the Śrīmad Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, which some misguided souls call the “Hindu Bible” – it seems to me a way to relegate this masterpiece to something less than second best – I was struck by the poignant description of our current epoch of evolution/history in a document that is dated from around 500 AD, or later, although I believe its sources are likely much, much older... probably primordial. Nevertheless, in our confounding times, it does help to give me a little perspective.

Predictions of our current, decadent epoch are not new, but since our cultural decay is so pervasive, these seldom come to the fore. And, you have to admit that when the predictions are spot-on, and they come from a much older source, it does tend to have its impact. 

Subconsciously, and some of us consciously, have come to know that as the “human race” we’re not covering ourselves in glory. And the dissonance and imbalance of our modern existence – our small, vulgar, decadent existence – seems to echo everywhere, rousing our existential fears for the future. We live in a very dark and small age. You know the one I mean, the one mired in nothing but falsehood, and pettiness, the hallmark of the age of Kali Yuga – the Age of Darkness.

According to some, who are far better acquainted with the facts than I, we are either in the aftermath, what could be called the “afterglow,” riding the expansion wave of the final gasp of Kali Yuga (ended in 1899), or in the throes of it for some time to come. The more traditional claim that each Yuga is approximately 12,000 years long. Others, fewer in number, lengthen that timeframe considerably, and they may not be wrong. For they claim that each Yuga extends not over 12,000 solar years, but rather “divine” years. A fair distinction, given that the sacred texts define “divine” yeas as 360 human, solar, or Earth years. The idea is that the gods lived a year of their blessed lives, that is worth 360 of our mortal years.

To be honest, the bummer with the “divine” calculation is that it would meant Kali Yuga extends over a period of 4,230,000 “human” years. It’s a bit of a drag, to say the least. I really don’t have the time to wait...

Another approach is that the Yugas are only 1,200 divine years and therefore 432,000 human years long... Phew! I’m pooped. It all depends on where that nasty decimal point ends up. In either case, with those kinds of time spans, it’d be irrelevant to our short-lived incarnation, which leads me to speculate that perhaps things today happen a little faster than they did in the past (if our world is smaller, and dumber than it was, maybe it’s also blessedly a little shorter... one can always hope!).

Be that as it may, the popularly accepted date for the beginning of the Kali Yuga is 3102 BC, and if each Yuga is as long as popularly or traditionally claimed, we have a long slog ahead of us in this Dark Age. But let’s not get bogged down in the confusion of divine years for human years, since I also tend to confuse them for human ears... (is anyone listening?) How long Kali Yuga lasts is almost irrelevant, since most of us won’t be around to see it end, and that’s not what’s important about this Age of Darkness, Untruthfulness, and Human Weakness.

Perspective is the Thing...

Let us consider the Hindu perspective (again, I’m not an expert, just a dilettante), without concentrating on the “time span” issue, although that can’t be fully removed from the equation. Hinduism does take into account that each great Yuga cycle grows shorter in its duration, as I have said above. Hinduism itself, its philosophy and tradition is part of the Indian civilization originating in the Subcontinent, and is the oldest of which we are aware (in any case the oldest civilization since the Flood, or the Atlantean catastrophe). Perhaps the Hindu tradition can shine some light on our quandary.

There are four great Yugas (periods of time) often referred to as the “Golden Age,” or Satya Yuga, a time of Truth and Perfection, wherein we humans were gods of gigantic proportion that lived an inordinate amount of time (approx. 100,000 years) doing good deeds. The “Silver Age,” or Tetra Yuga, is the second great age, wherein we humans were less godlike, our lives span 10,000 years, or less, and wherein the material arts began that eventually resulted in Agriculture, etc. The third great Yuga is the “Bronze Age” (although not correlative with our own “historical” or “archeological” Bronze Age), known as Dvapara Yuga, wherein lies emerge, disease and illness becomes more common and we humans live only a few brief centuries. The present is the fourth epoch, or Kali Yuga, the “Dark Age,” wherein all the values of the “Golden Age,” have been effectively reversed and we are no longer gods, and our lifespans are risibly brief (so as to make less mischief, I assume).

These Four Ages of Humanity – a vast expanse of time that is virtually impossible to assimilate – have a declining and an ascending aspect. In other words, we’re in the declining phase (the slope downward), but when we hit bottom, we’ll get a “bump up.” So, nothing to worry about... don’t want people leaping out of windows in tall buildings. The exact timing of these Yugas and events, as I’ve mentioned, is still a bit unwieldy, and though many await the return of Krishna, or his likeness, we in the West can be thankful that the trough has already been reached with the advent of the Christ (another incarnation of Krishna, or the godhead).

Yet, Kali Yuga is the theme today, and I don’t want to stray too far afield... What are the hallmarks of this “Dark Age”? Hey folks, our current epoch doesn’t even rate a metal, it’s that bad! Actually, Kali Yuga is the "Iron Age," or so I am told.

And so it happened, that when I was reading about the war between the Devas and the Asuras (the sun-demons), the Mahabharata War (think of “Lord of the Rings” and the war for Middle-earth) and how Krishna reincarnates as Truth (Hari) that I then came across one of the predictions of the Śrīmad Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa regarding Kali Yuga. Paraphrasing the first “prediction” (I rather call it “description”):

“Religion, truthfulness, cleanliness, tolerance, mercy, duration of life, physical strength and memory will all diminish day by day because of the powerful influence of the age of Kali.”

Wow! Welcome to Reality 101... It hits on all cylinders. Today, Religion is non-existent, Truthfulness likewise is a no-show, and the other descriptions, including cleanliness are rather curiously accurate. We need not get into the natural environment, since that seems to be the preferred latrine for our Corporate masters, and the rest of the lying herd of hypocrites. Yet, the most remarkable “prediction,” from what I see, is that of physical weakness, loss of memory, and the reduced life-span, which by the end of Kali Yuga, will barely reach a decade or two, making for old age and death at 20. Something to look forward to, wouldn’t you say? (Meanwhile, back at the Plantation, everyone dreams of living to be 120... those pesky decimal points again!)

I suppose that it has to do with the inherent “dwarfishness” of modernity... no insult to Dwarfs or Gnomes is intended (although their “greediness” does make them part of the story, of course). I suspect that the “alienation” and the “dehumanization” of our modern age has to do with how flimsy and unreal “modernity” and its materialistic focus is... It’s a reflection of how ugly, fake, and shallow it all is (the Maya of it, anyway). Our age has become purely intellectual and abstract, and yet, paradoxically, completely devoid of all thought, or anything “alive” that will inform it.

But since our decay as a Civilization, as a society, as physical human beings speeds ahead, it’s germane to ask what we can do about it. Well, we can always fight fire with fire... We might consider acting “morally” for a change... What does that mean? Well, that’s up to each individual to discover, but let’s say we have to step back from the cliff edge our Egoism has brought us to, and begin the long road of sacrifice (Dharma) that begins by acting on behalf of others, rather than for our own immediate gratification... In other words, if it “feels good,” don’t do it!

Kali Yuga Ended Moral Action, And Moral Action Produces Longevity

Isn’t it funny how our vacuous culture and society still clings to the “ideal” of longevity as some kind of affirmation of a dim “virtue.” Despite the horrible world we are leaving behind for our children and grandchildren, the herd-animals of today want to live “forever,” perhaps harking back to the “Golden Age” of Satya Yuga... But today, in an age where Morality is non-existent, as opposed to the Satya Yuga, wherein everything was Moral Will, and 100% virtue existed, we have descended in a long, drawn out arc of tribulations. After the Satya Yuga ended and the “Silver Age” of the Tetra Yuga began, the decline in Morality was evident, at 3 parts virtue and one part sin. By the time of the Dvapara Yuga, the “Bronze Age,” it was half-and-half between virtue and sin, until we reach today’s 100% certified sin – our current state of affairs (any wonder why so many can’t wait for the Apocalypse?).

That the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa mentions that the length of human life will be short, that physical strength will diminish, and that memory will also, are extremely significant. I’ve already commented on these obvious trends in last year’s blogs. Our modern epoch is already notorious for its short life-expectancy (war, famine, illnesses, malnutrition, poverty, sedate lifestyles, etc.), especially in comparison to the much longer lifespans that human being experienced during the earlier phases of Kali Yuga (let’s say 4,000 years ago). I’ve pointed out that the Black People lived a healthy, youthful life into their 60s and 70s in an “adolescent” physical body. Today, we age from our late teens, and by the time we’re 60 or 70 we look exactly like we deserve to look... to paraphrase Orwell...

As we know, the Ancient Egyptians did not begin to age noticeably until they reached the “venerable” age of 72 (although this may be a symbolic number also, tied to the Precession of the Equinoxes, or the Great “Platonic” Year). They started “looking old” around 120 years of age! In other words, a modern, active man or woman, in excellent health, would at 60 years of age, look very much like an Ancient Egyptian did at 120 years of age. Or putting it another way, at the age of 60 a member of the Black People looked like they were under 20.

And, while I hate to put this in such stark, materialistic terms, as if “external” beauty was something overridingly important (as external appearance is regarded today in our society), it was, nonetheless, in ancient times, an affirmation.

What was physical strength and beauty an affirmation of? Of moral virtue – of Truth, Beauty, and the Good as expressed in actions, in human deeds. Beauty being the manifestation in the physical body of virtuous living (I know, this concept, or “value,” is no longer extant in our times). But don’t jump to conclusions. For the Black People it wasn’t necessarily moral virtue as lived in their lifetime, but rather in a past life, which gave them health and youthfulness. Naturally, the Ancient Egyptian, was smart enough to know that if she wanted to keep a healthy, long-lasting physical body, she’d have to “pass it forward,” by maintain that moral behavior throughout her current life – otherwise, she would become an ill or diseased man, with a short lifespan, in the next life...

What does it mean that the Ancient Egyptians didn’t age or lose their memory at the same rate that we do today? It means that they were closer to “perfection,” which of course, is antithetical and anathema to the current crowd of “exceptionalist” herd-animals cavorting about today. You know the ones I mean, those who lack any semblance of critical thinking, the folks whose entire life-horizon has been shrunk down to zero, to the 4” size of the screen on their Smartphones. These folks want their thumbs to live forever... and, they believe they “merit” that longevity!

Is this the purpose for which Evolution wrought opposing thumbs??

The Real Reason We Have Opposing Thumbs...

Folks who habitually use these devices will have a nasty surprise awaiting them when they reach 40... Think three-packs-a-day cigarette smoking as a means to gain ever-lasting life... (cigarettes are far less pernicious to your health than a Smartphone is, as we’ll discover when young user grow-up to die young).

Those who meander about oblivious to all that surrounds them in the “greater” world, and whose religious dogma is that a Smartphone is a technological “innovation,” because the ad copy says so, are in the greatest peril. The ad-copy or TV spot that has induced them to become joined at the thumbs with the device, will not warn them of the price being paid. And indeed, it’s a high price to pay for lack of self-esteem... But folks want to keep thumbing their way into forgetfulness, sleep, and an early death at all costs, don’t they?

The self-importance the devices impart to the inconsequential rubes of our present time is phenomenal (and it’s not just endorphins that are released by handling the little critters). Everyone is a celebrity while they have a Smartphone. There's something far more insidious afoot, however, very much a Kali Yuga effect... something that kills the soul. Kali being “The Black Night of Time”... if you have an imagination, no translation is required.

Please don’t misunderstand me, it’s not the fault of the user of the device (although a bit of self-control and responsibility might be applied), which has billions of addicts in the state they are in (in a deep, ill sleep, ala “Sleeping Beauty”), it is mostly, OUR fault. It's the elder’s fault, our negligence and weakness (the inability to say "No!" to the demons of Kali Yuga who want us permanently enslaved).

I remember clearly being an adolescent and wanting that same device on my palm because Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock had it, and it was way cool... It was because WE designed those devices, presumably as “tools” to “make life easier,” that we now have our children irredeemably hooked on them, and our children’s children have them too... and that’s all we are bequeathing them... no other “values,” but to shut yourself off from Reality, and go sit in a corner and stroke yourself (warning: it might cause blindness).

Be careful what you wish for when you’re a teenager, because it’s what you’ll get at the end of your life. Something our mothers and fathers forgot to tell us...

So we are both surrounded by and in the hands of “anesthetized fools” who feel themselves self-important as their life shortens and their memory wanes... It is precisely these delusional herd-animals, the least human of the lot, who consider themselves the very apex of human development. They’re not only in the White House, they’re in 10 Downing St., and in every den of vipers imaginable, running the world into the ground with their thumbs. Literally, “Destroyers of Worlds,” Tweeting air strikes on children, and making war more and more antiseptic... (and then, the hypocrites "cry" about "terrorists" setting off bombs). The hutzpah! There goes our our vaunted “cleanliness” folks! There’s an irony in there somewhere too... trying to get out.

It matters little to me that I may sound like a troglodyte, or some kind of “technology” gainsayer, someone “living in the past”. The funny thing is, that’s where all the “technology buffs” live – in the past – in their childhood years. One day, you have to give up the toys and grow up (I know, that’s asking for too much!). In any case, you can’t take the toys with you... and, you can’t keep living like an adolescent even if you only make it to 20...

Kali Yuga is the epoch when egoism reaches its peak. Are we there yet? How is it expressed in the dying culture, in the obsolete society? It’s in the mania, the zeal, for these devices, as if it were a blossoming sexual drive (in fact, the only “good” thing you can say about Smartphones is that it lowers the sex drive and people fornicate much less than they would otherwise. Think of it as "unplanned parenthood." Tough for people to have time for sex when that "thing" can go off at any moment... (Well, how much time do they need? Does it last more than 30 seconds?).

Is it the color of the chassis of the Smartphone? The electromagnetic field it generates? What is it that brings out this deceptive “self-love” and “exceptionalism”?

It can’t be the praise heaped upon us for using it by our fellow pedestrians and drivers... No one gives you a Nobel Prize for having one. And yet, this anomalous feeling of “self-worth,” seems to extend to unrealistic levels. It used to be that race, country, culture, language, even hair and eye color, and where you sipped your cappuccino, was what defined your place in society... What now defines you, even as a social being, if every 2-year-old has one?

Folks who believe that human beings have never lived better than they do today, do so based on what they see on that 4” screen. They believe themselves smarter, richer, and healthier than any social group or civilization that preceded them, by simply fondling that device (masturbation is certainly cheaper).

Memory Loss Is Never Having To Say “I Forgot!”

In the meantime, memory loss continues day by day... Does anyone remember what they had for lunch yesterday?

If Kali Yuga started in 3102 BC, as some claim, that was approximately 200 years into our Bronze Age (as reckoned by archeologists), at least in Persia and the Middle East. At that time, people had a memory that was probably 1,000 years long – they could remember everything that took place in the preceeding 1,000 years – which explains why "histories" were not necessary and why they weren't written down. Oral traditions and a robust memory obviated that need, and kept everyone on the same page, so to speak. Things had to be written down when memory declined to the next level of degeneration, let's assume, 100 years... I've spoken about this phenomenon before and you're welcome to search back in the archives for how memory has diminished over time. 

From one thousand years of memory at the beginning of Kali Yuga (even memory of our past lives) to less than 24 hours of memory... that's been the stretch. What causes the loss of memory we now enjoy? Memory is tied to the physical body. An inert body has no memory. Think of a rock... Inactivity is the cause of memory loss (in otherwise healthy individuals). 

We’ve gone through the Yugas, and just as the Hindus of far antiquity lived “forever” (100,000 years during the Satya Yuga), we today live a paltry amount of time – that’s a gnat’s life for you – in comparison. If we’re living in the “apex” of Civilization, then we don’t have much time to enjoy it... Seems like a cruel twist of fate, doesn’t it?

Since we “live” less through our Smartphones, we experience less, and we therefore gain fewer real memories thereby (it’s the body that remembers, not the brain). The wonder of these devices is that they’re the perfect “brain washing” mechanism – no soap or water needed. And, although I hate to use the “cigarette” metaphor, the Smartphone is the perfect “delivery platform” for widespread amnesia, in the same way that cigarettes were the perfect delivery system for lung cancer (personally, I don’t believe that any longer, but there’s nonetheless, quite enough scientific evidence to that effect).

In the previous Kali (let’s say from the Dvapara Yuga period and farther back in time) people held their memories longer because they had lived through them in their bodies – by the actions their bodies carried out as a result of an “act” of will, which requires waking up first! At that time, people retained the memory of their past lives, so you can see how much more functional memory was.

Physical strength and physical action is a memory builder. We used to have Physical Education in schools, and that helped many kids memorize the multiplication tables (yeah, I know, I’m a dinosaur). Today, no kid can memorize them without a beating, and those are no longer permitted in school... therefore, no one can multiply without their – you got it! – without their Smartphones (I knew they called them “smart” for a reason).

Memory, if it can be said to reside anywhere, it is not in the brain, or head, as modern scientists believe (yep, science is just a bunch of risible beliefs and opinions), but rather over the entire extent of the ka, what the Black People called their “shadow,” or life-force double, which accompanies the physical body until death. It is in our double that we memorize and remember, and that double is not active if the physical body is not (a sedentary life is a forgottetable life).

Therefore, memory, although a spiritual phenomenon mostly, is intimately related to the physical body. The sounder, the stronger your physical body, the better your memory is (and, this includes suffers of Alzheimer’s, and why it’s recommended that sufferers continue to exercise and be active physically).

I Want Your Money, Honey!

That money rules the world, or that it is the “root of all evil,” seem almost quaint axioms today. In our financialized economy, money not only rules, but if you think about it, and think it through, people no longer do anything that’s not for money. While random acts of kindness occur every day, and there are everywhere people who do good, we have to learn not to fall prey to optimism as a result. To generalize, to formulate rules by the exceptions to the case, is often just the result of shoddy thinking.

The authors of the Śrīmad Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa wrote about Kali Yuga at time in History when money was not used, nor was it a measure of wealth. There was no coinage in general circulation as there is today, and people traded goods rather than bought and sold with tokens, as we do. And money, as an abstract concept, as it is thought of today, was non-existent. This is why I was especially smitten by another of Kali Yuga’s attributes in vogue in our modern day.

“In Kali Yuga, wealth alone will be considered the sign of a man’s good birth, proper behavior and fine qualities. And law and justice will be applied only on the basis of one’s power.”

Sounds like the Beltway, doesn’t it?

I realize that the “marketing” hype – the underlying lies of Kali Yuga – are that modern technology and medicine will cure cancer and all other maladies, thus extending life to over 125 years, or more. But there are not only limits to hype, and lies in general, there are also biological limits which our modern science has no clue about.

So don’t expect to have your old carcass remodeled, or “upgraded” with other people’s organs or synthetic materials – even if you’re among the 0.001% of the superrich elite. That’s not going to happen, any more than the other lies we were told, are going to happen (like we’d get Social Security when we’d get old, or that we’d get paid without having to work, or get a job, etc.). 

Immortality is a moving goalpost, and just like the other sick dreams of the parasitic “elites,” their money and private spaceships won’t get them to the Moon or Mars either. And, isn’t that one of our most modern conceits, that with our decadent, meaningless, do-nothing lives, that we should live “forever”? Rather a selfish and shallow expectation...

This longevity “foundational myth” of modern civilization is the most pathetic of the lies current in Western culture (and today, with Globalization, it’d be safe to say de jour everywhere around the planet). In reality, on Earth, human beings have never lived such short lives in all of human existence. If already taken up this matter in past blog entries, and the reader is welcome to go back into that to get clear on the reasoning behind my affirmation. The fact that modern materialists point to life-expectancy figures (to statistics, no less) doesn’t help their case for the truthfulness of their contention that we live longer than anyone before in History. 

So how deep does untruthfulness run in our modern culture? Well, if you ask me, calling how we live today “civilized” is already a lie, and at best a bad definition... I suppose it runs all the way down to the abyss... and if you stare into that abyss, it does stare back at you! Since we’re pretty far down the “entropy” scale and the decadence rat hole as it is, if you simply look at your surroundings, with less subjectivity than normal (i.e., without being under the spell of the current mass media, for example), it pretty soon become undeniable. If we haven’t hit bottom yet, we’re darn close to it.

If there’s anything reassuring about the writings of the Śrīmad Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, or Hindu Philosophy in general, is that once Kali Yuga is over, we’re heading back up the ladder of Evolution (spiritual, at least) toward the next Golden Age (or Age of Gold).