I’ve been a newshound and a sort of
political activist from a very young age. It
would be inaccurate to suggest, until the last 5 years,
that I have spent a great deal of time researching world events and being
formally educated on the details of historical and sociological events. But I’ve always had my eyes and ears wide
open as an objective observer.
I am often reminded of a communications
course I attended once where they demonstrated a point about listening and observing.
The demonstration requires a volunteer from
an audience who claims that, no matter what, they can’t catch a tennis ball when
it’s thrown to them. They’ll tell
you, no matter what that they just can’t do it.
So, they’re thrown a ball several
times, and it does, in fact, prove they can not catch a ball.
Then, you take another tennis ball with its
seams highlighted with a black felt-tipped marker. And
you give the “catcher” a new instruction: “Don’t
worry about catching the ball, instead, watch and tell us what direction the threads are
turning.”
The next time the ball is thrown to them,
they accurately explain the direction of the spin. But,
most importantly, they almost always catch the ball from then on, and at first, they
don’t even realize it themselves because they’re more concerned with the spin
and the direction the ball is turning.
That’s the same way I view human,
sociological and cultural events. I
don’t get caught up in the rhetoric and semantical discussions unless I’m
participating in their deconstruction. Instead,
I maintain a personal mental database that distinguishes earmarks of public statements, the realities of the debate
possible or required in order to reach those
conclusions and therefore, and the cultural impacts they have or are intended to cause. It might be easier to say that keep track of what
is the truth and what is perception, understanding the meaning of the phrase that
“perception is reality”.
Since the beginning of human existence, the
effects of the human instinct to survive, illustrated by the personal and factional
manifestations of dominance and submission and communicated perceptions have generated our
lives.
Some may say that looking to the past to see
the future would mean learning the mistakes of the past, and then seeking different ways
to implement leadership strategies in order to accomplish more beneficial results.
It is unfortunate that leadership, and the
“tools” required and used to support it, are like any other tools. They can be used in an honest, compassionate
manner, or they can be used in a way that provides advantage and perpetuates power and
influence. Even in the case of the latter, it
is subjective to conclude whether the perceived result is beneficial or harmful.
Regardless of accepted perceptions, the
actual occurrences and the observations of “the
way the ball spins” are more significant.
Whether looking at kingdoms and religious
influence, banned books and ideologies, the
actual results are the actual results. Objective evaluation of the trends and the results
can allow us to not only learn from the past, but potentially offer clues as to how
repetition and improvement of prior tactics is less desireable than constructing new
strategies that do not rely on modification of older methods, but instead, create a new
strategy to break out of the mobius of former methods that generate predictable results
and difficulties.
That is the inquiry I intend to demonstrate
in this project. I seek to demonstrate my
knowledge and conclusions, to deepen my factual knowledge, and to examine if those
conclusions parallel perceptions and results of the past.
But, more importantly, to examine whether
the compilation and identification of patterns in historical events can lead to new
conclusions that would, in effect break humanity out of the repetitive history that has
lead us to our contemporary confrontations as people and as nations.
Writing From Life
Charles Rehn
Outline
Introduction: Looking To
the Past To See the Future
Part I. Significant Historical Communications
a) Libraria
Prohibitum ? Prohibited books
b) Classifcations
of Prohibited Books
c) Significant
General Concepts
d) Machiavelli
and Repetitive Strategies of Leadership
e) Identifying
Contemporary Trends
Part II. Significant
Religious Movements & Their Impacts
a) Catholicism
b) Christianity
c) Judaism
d) Islamists
e) Calvinism
f) Atheism
g) Hinduism
h) Buddhism
i) Existentialism
j) Metaphysics
k) Fundamentalism
Part III: Government:
Leaders, Theories & Applications
a) Democracy
b) Monarchy/Serfdom
c) Socialism
d) Communism
e) Feudalism
f) Totalitarianism
Part IV: Humanism
a) General
Human Nature: Dominance & Submission
b) Oppression
c) Responses
to oppression
d) Anarchy
e) Propaganda:
Generating Reality through Perception
Note: Though still incomplete, I believe this more clearly identifies
pertinent subject material.
