Civilization and Beyond
A Metaconscious Mosaic Outline
Civilization is salted through and through with claims of sovereignty: the pharoahs always claim "sovereignty" for themselves, the King or Queen is often called a "Sovereign," and the term "sovereign nation" is frequently encountered.
Black's Law Dictionary has several entries under the heading, sovereignty, which may be worth quoting:
- sovereign power. The power to make and enforce laws.
- sovereign state. A political community whose members are bound together by the tie of common subjection to some central authority, whose commands the bulk of those members must habitually obey.
- sovereignty. 1. Supreme dominion, authority, or rule. 2. The supreme political authority of an independent state. 3. The state itself.1
Not surprisingly, all these definitions spring from "inside the box" established by civilization; which is to say, they all rely upon pre-emptive force, and are based upon the operating assumptions of the Takers, who take the Law of Life out of "the hands of the gods" and assume it as their own prerogative. The dictionary definition of sovereignty, therefore, is decidedly a myth that doesn't work, and is being unavoidably and irrevocably obliterated in the self-destruction of civilization. Therefore, if sovereignty has any meaning at all, and we want to know (or decide!) what it is, we shall have to start at "Square One."
"Square One" is the "given" that we (you and I) exist. We can state this with a fair degree of confidence, because if we imagine that it might not be so, we shall have difficulty identifying "who" or "what" is doing the "imagining." How it is that we exist, or why, are shrouded in mystery; which means that we shall have to resort to myth in order to proceed further. This of course presents no difficulty, as everything we "know" or believe is myth already.
An integral part of the mythology being given expression here is the metaconsciousness myth, which accounts for metaconsciousness as naturally associated with richness, diversity, variety, complexity, and liberty, in information-sharing systems. Metaconsciousness manifests in human experience as consciousness, intelligence, and creativity, which we are describing as a "narrow band" in the immeasurably wider "spectrum" of the Metaconsciousness of the Gods, or of "All That Is."
The metaconsciousness myth implies that "All That Is," or everything that exists, is a "meta-intentional" product of The Gods, or of the "universal metaconsciousness;" and therefore that everything that exists is a peer of everything else that exists. In other words, all existing beings and things share a common "Source," which we speculate to be infinite; yet all that share said "Source" must also be "One." As I have written elsewhere,
Now this matter of all are One is attended by certain "problems." It's easy enough to say, but what does it mean? It actually means a very great deal; unfortunately neither I nor anyone else can tell you exactly or completely what that is. You'll have to search within – if you're interested – and ferret out the meaning for yourself. The best I can do is highlight a few things it means to me.
One of the most important things all are One means to me is that we all, everyone and everything, share a common Source. Whatever "it" is that "spawned" "Life, the Universe, and Everything," ("God," "Allah," the "Big Bang," "Chaos," the "Label of Your Choice") we all share "it" in common. Therefore, no one and nothing is any more or less "important" than anyone or anything else. As A Course in Miracles puts it, "No one is special." This unavoidable and necessary Truth [myth] bears numerous corollary implications, among which I can list the following:
- An "atom" is no less or more significant than a "galaxy."
- A "tiny, nameless flower" is no less or more significant than a "continent."
- A "microbe" is no less or more significant than a "metropolis."
- A "common infant" is no less or more significant than an "emperor."
Yet another corollary is that existence justifies itself; which is to say in sum that anything or anyone, by the "mere fact" of its, her, or his presence in Cosmos, bears sufficient "credentials" to "justify" or "validate" its existence. No one requires "permission" or the "blessing" of anyone else; and conversely, no one is qualified to "grant" such "permission" or "blessing" as a prerequisite for anyone's, or anything's presence in Cosmos. We're all here alike by fiat of "That Which Creates" everything that exists. This is entirely sufficient, and nothing further is required.
This implies in turn that all efforts to gain or maintain control over the will and action of anyone other than oneself are without legitimacy or validity, whatsoever. All such efforts are hostile, pre-emptive actions which it is legitimate to meet by any effective possible means. That is, any being in Cosmos pre-emptively attacked or threatened by another may legitimately defend itself. This must be so, because existence is self-justifying, and anything that exists has an intrinsic right to preserve its existence in the face of any circumstance that threatens it.2
Now if sovereignty can be said to mean anything at all, a) it isn't "the power to make and enforce laws," and b) it must be the intrinsic capacity of any entirely self-justifying existing being or thing to be what it is, and to make choices freely within its inherent "design parameters." "The power to make and enforce laws" is merely the power to exercise pre-emptive force – which is an option that history discloses leads to war and self-destruction. The exercise of "power to make and enforce laws" is an act of "war with the gods," or "war on metaconsciousness." Is this what sovereignty means to you? It is not what it means to me.
Bottom line, a sovereign being is what she, he, or it is, by fiat of "That Which Creates," and is therefore a peer of all likewise "created beings and things." The only possible basis for claiming "greater sovereignty" than that inherent to everything that exists is pre-emptive force – which is no legitimate basis whatsoever, and is an act of war against "All That Is."
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* Source: Original piece, written for A Metaconscious Mosaic.
1. Black's Law Dictionary Pocket Edition, Bryan A. Garner, Editor-in Chief, Becky R. McDaniel, Assistant Editor, David W. Schultz, Assistant Editor, West Group, West Publishing Co., 1996, pp. 583-4.
2. Dear Friends, 27 November 2003.
Civilization and Beyond copyright 2004, 2005 by J. Harmon Grahn. Copying and redistribution, in whole or in part, are permitted in any medium provided this notice is included.