newkid8

Consciousness in the species was carried forward, probably from the Middle Paleolithic, bit by bit through descent and ascent explorations and chartings, usually in ritual by shamans, but also spontaneously by uninitiated �laity.� (This dating controverts most of modern scholarship, such as that of Julian Jaynes, who places the emergence of ego consciousness within the past few millennia, during the early Hellenic period. For the bulk of the species, Jaynes is probably correct. But independent, ego �consciousness,� as well as extra-somatic projection, has been an ongoing project of certain men, alone and in groups, for far longer.)

Academics like Jaynes lack phenomenology in pre-historic ways of knowledge. They have muy mucho data points but no been-there. Analytical thought and the scientific method are tools of consciousness, not consciousness itself � and most certainly not the Deity science has become.

Like all of material Creation, humans are not only primarily, but overwhelmingly, unconscious beings, both in their physical and psycho-spiritual processes. Beings and nations that are primarily unconscious require leaders who have walked those roads, open-eyed. The politicians and experts upon whom we rely are in way over their heads.

A Report Card for the Species

The Paleo-shamanic tradition of descent and ascent is intertwined with the development of ego consciousness, masculinity, fraternal groups, secret societies, fatherhood, technology, and modern civilization or �patriarchy.� The shamanic tradition was conserved in the �heroic journeys� of the masculine so typical of literature and myth, first documented in the descent narrative, �The Epic of Gilgamesh,� on Sumerian cuneiform.

The �making� of the Philosopher Kings was already an ancient project when the Paleo-shamanic tradition arrived at Sumer, where it was first documented as grapho-literature (again, review the Sumerian �King-Lists,� with particular attention to longevity). Plato entered his allegorical cave -- allegorical only if one is not in it! -- circa 370 B.C.E.

King Solomon preceded Plato by more than five hundred years, Gilgamesh King of Uruk (the historical, not mythological, version) by more than two millennia. Both kings represent unfinished animals, evolutionary ancestors, prototypes of the Philosopher King. Like their Chaldean peers, they were magi -- not merely political leaders, but shamans of varying knowledge, development, and potency. Veritable handbooks of the descent and ascent traditions -- for example, the Egyptian Book of the Dead (ca.1240 B.C.E.) -- preceded Plato�s Dialogues by almost a thousand years.

The Dialogues summarize unknown millennia � probably hundreds-of-thousands, perhaps millions of years � of human psycho-spiritual progress. (�Spirituality� and ego-consciousness, of course, can only be inferred, not �proven� or dated by any empiricism, including archaeology.)

In the Dialogues Plato measures Athens, and humanity, in its immaturity and corruption, against the ideal of the Philosopher King, who leads a united, diverse, sane State � that is, a State we have not yet created more than two millennia later.

America, however, may be this State in potentia, or the catalyst to found such a State.

The Dialogues offer a report card for the species to the fourth century B.C.E., and continue blueprints for a homo noeticus that would keep the mystics scratching their noggins, and the alchemists hunched over their beakers, for the next 2,400 years, sweating out the bloodstone -- generating befuddled, blinking homunculi and nearly impermeable prose.

In the Republic, Part III: �The Philosopher King,� the paradox lands on us with both feet. Plato breaks the nasty news:

Until philosophers are kings, or the kings and princes of this world have the spirit and power of philosophy, and political greatness and wisdom meet in one, and those commoner natures who pursue either to the exclusion of the other are compelled to stand aside, cities will never have rest from their evils -- nor the human race, as I believe -- and then only will this our State have a possibility of life and behold the light of day.

Okay, one last chance. Does anyone out there want to argue that we�ve already arrived? Would anyone like to maintain that Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter or George Bush, Jr. qualifies as a Philosopher King?

Anyone? Press aides, campaign coordinators, revisionist historians, talk-show hosts, photo opportunists?

Step forward.

How about Spiro Agnew? Spiro T. Agnew. Last chance. Former Vice-President Spiro T. (�Go Ahead, Make My Bribe�) Agnew for Philosopher King. An American icon. Instrumental in founding our war on Evildoers. Any takers?

We could name more names, and will. But enough for now. King Junior, even if he�s filling our pockets with gold, is a pitiful reflection of a farcical America. Alas, the Bulldog�s stomach is empty and growling.

For all our crowing, for all our post-9/11 fake unity, America is a cracked egg, a dying State.

Having found the leadership of Athens wanting, Plato likely would agree that the American State has perverted its ideals and bungled its mission, achieving neither his �possibility of life� nor beholding his �light of day.� Instead, our leaders propagandize us with visions of a �city on a hill� even as they bind us to their petty power schemes.