EPISODE THREE:

LIFE BEYOND THE WALL

There seems to be a wall out there. Recently I attended a video presentation of Roger Water’s THE WALL concert. Young people seem to  recognize there’s a wall. (Unfortunately, Rogers has expropriated the larger concept as a vehicle to make a personal protest against war and his dysfunctional family.)  But  Pink Floyd’s THE WALL is  a lot bigger than that— it represents everything  we humans beings run up against in our search for  meaning, happiness, and freedom

Our frustrations with life and REALITY, our existential conflicts, have a universal source, even though we  all battle on different fronts. We all tend to have our personal demons, our pet conspiracies— but there is one universal source for them all— and when this one is  identified all the pieces fall into place

For instance,  the various phrases in popular music, and the lines from movie scripts and memorable quotes from books which fill our heads and which we can’t seem to  forget— these are examples of a common theme that runs throughout all human art and  literature— glimpses of a common interest and a common existential bond:  why do we have to die? Why don’t we live forever? What’s the purpose of  this  short and fleeting  life that must be lived within sight of the shadow of death?   “Sad creature nailed upon the cupboard door of time!”[1]

My LOGAN’S RUN ANALOGIES are not intended to make you paranoid, or to get you running off in all directions. They are intended to focus you toward a REAL AND LASTING SOLUTION. These episodes aren’t written to turn you into anarchists.   They’re designed to get you to think outside the box— beyond The Wall that Roger Waters discovered—  beyond Carrousel, beyond the Underground City— out into the realm where Sanctuary really and truly waits for you.

“It’s hard to be calm, when you’ve found something going on,” sang Cat Stevens in Father and Son. You’ve got to be calm. You’ve got to think a lot.

“I was once like you are now, and I know that it’s not easy,
To be calm when you’ve found something going on.
But take your time, think a lot,  think of everything you’ve got,
For you will still be here tomorrow, but your dreams may not.”

Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdMPuMeTxzY

There’s somethin’ happening here, what it is ain’t exactly clear,” sang the Buffalo Springfield in the song “For What It’s Worth”: 

There’s something happening here
But what it is ain’t exactly clear
There’s a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware
I think it’s time we stop
Children, what’s that sound?
Everybody look – what’s going down?
There’s battle lines being drawn
Nobody’s right if everybody’s wrong
Young people speaking’ their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind
It’s time we stop
Hey, what’s that sound?
Everybody look – what’s going down?
What a field day for the heat
A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and carrying signs
Mostly saying, “hooray for our side”
It’s time we stop
Hey, what’s that sound?
Everybody look – what’s going down?
Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you’re always afraid
Step out of line, the men come and take you away
We better stop
Hey, what’s that sound?
Everybody look – what’s going down?

Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gp5JCrSXkJY

The musicians in my generation were fighting in a generational war— the young people were feeling manipulated by the older generation—  and the kids were feeling lied to. Sound familiar?

I’m not up-to-date on the lyrics of the songs in this current generation— the music of the 21^st century. But I’ve not been blind to the films. Hunger Games, Elysium, Maze Runner, Ender’s Game, Divergent— and films aimed at an even younger audience—  City of Ember and The Giver—   for instance— all touch on the same theme. The last generation has screwed it up big time and has left young people scrambling to save the planet, the ecosystem, the society, the economy… take a close look at the poster for The Giver, for instance: search for truth, find freedom.

Young people can maybe forgive the last few generations for making mistakes…but can they ever forgive them for withholding pieces of the puzzle? Suppressing truths that are absolutely vital for survival?

What am I talking about?

It’s hard to see my point in your own everyday life— but when you see Logan’s situation, the lights come on.

Logan is hindered by lies.

It’s so easy to see in Logan’s case, but not so easy in your own life. That’s why Logan’s Run is so effective. That’s why it’s considered a classic by those of us who’ve seen it.  It touches a nerve. It alerts us to reconsider an odd thought—  that what we suspect (that something’s wrong with the System) isn’t just true in Logan’s case, it’s actually true in our own  case too.

Trouble is, it’s almost  impossible to put your finger on what’s wrong.

Why is it so hard to pin down the System?

Because the normal approach, folks, doesn’t work any more. The normal approach— the linear approach from philosophy, history, science, theology, etc— isn’t enough —it can’t help us any more.

Why not? Because it’s now such a tangled web. There’s so much error mixed in with the truth, and so much detail to wade through, it’s impossible to convince people trapped by the system’s lies to dig their way out.

Even worse is the resurgence of an ancient dialectic [2] art-form called sophistry.  The Greeks taught sophistry [3] initially to permit all sides of an argument to be addressed in a systematic, orderly way, to allow all parties to determine the absolute truth of any matter. But then they discovered techniques for disarming their opponents with tricks. A sophist would pride himself for his ability to win a debate by taking a side against his opponent— and then, after having won the debate, he would reverse his position and argue what was his former opponent’s position, and win again. Sophistry is like that— it’s the art and science of winning an argument by semantic tricks and  using carefully engineered logical ambiguities.

So in our day— and I have seen dozens of examples of this in high school and university philosophy classes — teachers armed with evasive arguments demolish  young people’s attempts to find absolute truth. Watch the film GOD’S NOT DEAD, for instance. It’s true to life and typical of what’s going on in our education system.

My point is that it’s almost impossible by normal linear arguments to convince anybody of the ultimate truths so vital to survival. The System is rotten to the core, and the professors maintain their stranglehold by sophist tricks.  They raise issues in class that are loaded. The cards are stacked against the students. The teachers load them down with voluminous reading assignments  and fill their syllabi with detail that assures that every class is doomed to bury  students in filler. And if a student does stand up against the teacher, he is invariably told, “you make some good points, but there won’t be time to deal with them here…got to stick to the curriculum.”  Much curriculum is simply systematic indoctrination— and to fight detail with detail is well-nigh impossible.

       “Oh what a tangled web we weave, when we first practice to deceive.”  [4]

So it’s getting harder and harder  to  uncover and dispell lies  by the normal, linear approach.  One  LIE can overturn volumes of truth— and to expose and correct the lie,  often requires a whole library  full of books. Using linear argument makes the task of exposing and correcting a lie so tedious it’s almost impossible. I mean the facts are all out there— there are entire websites devoted to economic, political, philosophical, scientific and spiritual truth— but  to lead you to the truth by linear means is now an uphill battle.

Remember what I told you earlier about linear arguments? Linear argument involves  piling scientific fact on scientific fact until you are convinced. It is the process of bringing you to TRUTH and understanding by DETAIL.

So when people are suffering from years of indoctrination, is there any way they can be led to the truth without years of counter-indoctrination?

Think about this very carefully. A high school grad has spent an average of 10,000 hours in school since kindergarten. During this time he’s been taught a lot of good stuff— but he’s  also been indoctrinated by certain erroneous teachings. Can we undo these errors linearly by reviewing all he’s learned and teaching him otherwise?  The task is nearly impossible.

So how can people who have been taught error be corrected? be led to the truth?

Laterally.

By art, rather than just science.

By analogy.

Which is why we are discussing the LOGAN’S RUN ANALOGIES. They will bring you to see the big picture without going through all  the endless,  bottomless details. And then, when you’ve seen the big picture, it should be easy to put all the details into perspective. ( As the saying goes— “understand the big picture, and all the details will fall into place” )

It’s possible to undo 10,000 hours of error by using analogy, because analogy compares the big picture in your own life, with the big picture painted by the plot in a story or a film. The reason this works is because, although we can’t get a birds-eye view of our own life, we can get a bird’s eye view of somebody else’s life, especially when it’s presented in the amazing format of a 2-hour film. A lifetime in 2 hours— now that’s a pretty amazing feat!

That’s why 2 hours of LOGAN’S RUN has the power to overturn a lifetime of indoctrination— if somebody will take the time to make the analogy— and you take the time to listen to it.  An analogy can lead you to the ultimate solution by opening your eyes to ultimate truths that have been kept from you for years.

But before I can lead you to those ultimate truths, you yourself will have to be thoroughly convinced that you’ve been manipulated by the System. If you’ve watched LOGAN’S RUN, it’s pretty obvious that the System has manipulated  it’s citizens. The catch is, why would a System do this? And how could a person manipulated by a System ever detect that he’s being manipulated?  This may be hard to explain in linear terms, but not so hard in lateral terms.

In LOGAN’S RUN lateral terms, it’s obvious that  nobody can  convince Logan  the System’s been lying to him until he’s shown a little of the System’s hidden agenda. In the movie, Logan suspects something is wrong— but he can’t put his finger on what it is until he’s tipped off to the Agenda.

This happens when the System enrols him in the task of finding Sanctuary.

When he’s called in his role as a Sandman into the presence of the System,   the System suddenly resets his Life-clock to flashing red. When Logan realizes what has happened, he cries in shock,  “Question: do I get my four years back?”  But the System doesn’t answer him. It simply ignores him, and demands that he follow orders.

It’s then that he suspects that something’s wrong. It seems the System has a hidden agenda it’s unwilling to share with Logan, who’s beginning to suspect he’s being used as a pawn in a bigger game.

We who are watching the film  are given a clue very early that the System has a hidden agenda— simply because the public ritual of Carrousel is so foreign to our sensibilities. But Logan can’t see it, because he’s been indoctrinated to believe Carrousel is the gateway to renewal.

QUESTION:  Is there a hidden agenda in the System which controls your life? In the next episode I will reveal the hidden agenda at the heart of your own society, your own “underground city”.

LINK TO EPISODE FOUR: THE MANIFESTO OF OUR SYSTEM’S AGENDA

[1] Or as some fans insist the lyrics say: “sad preacher nailed upon the colored door of time”— the metaphor is the same in both instances!

[2] Dialectic: the art or practice of logical discussion as a means of examining critically the truth of a theory or opinion

[3] Sophistry: unsound reasoning; a clever but misleading argument; the “science of obfuscation”— what the lawyers use to get the guilty mobster free, and what the accountants used to get the American people to foot the bill for the greatest inside job in history—( watch “INSIDE JOB”: http://documentary-movie.com/inside-job/ ) and what the education system does to milk the public while eviscerating the public education system— (watch “WAITING FOR SUPERMAN”)
http://documentarylovers.com/film/waiting-for-superman/

[4] Sir Walter Scott, Marion, Canto Six, Stanza 17