Wake Of Liberty: 1 – Flicker In The Dark
August 28th. Sunday
“The spark behind the Enlightenment. What was it? What turned on the light that tore up the darkness and invited progress in? What broke our chains of ignorance, setting us free in a boundless universe?
“There are various theories and opinions; let me go into none of them. I prefer to keep things tasty and go for the bone marrow. Here goes.
“The light that set us free was turned on by the passion in our psyche. We threw caution to the wind, challenging the unchallengeable with fiery and unreasonable passion, and the horizon opened up to new possibilities. It only took a millennium, but we did it.
“The grueling and thousand-year-long nature of our enlightenment process, though, could account for another, opposite explanation. Logic – that’s what did it. Burning slowly, secretly within each and every one of us, or throughout the whole of society, Lady Logic kept hope alive long enough for her sibling, Common Sense, to resurface, letting her gather her strength and gradually grow into a prodigious mother. Her offspring? Modern Science, the Age of Reason, and a whole new way of life.
“Then again how about a combination of the two? Both passion and logic turned on the light. No room for eggs or chickens here. True beginnings are very elusive, as I pointed out when I was still alive and teaching at the University of Michigan.
“The process began as a simple thought exercise. I was trying to trace the beginnings of modern life, bouncing from one point to the next, looking for some kind of definitive answer, when I realized I could go on forever. First I thought I could trace modern life back to the Industrial Revolution, maybe even further back to the invention of the steam engine. Then I thought of patent schemes, perhaps they got everything going in the first place. But this led me to the greater unified society, a social structure suitable for an expanding market. Modern life had its roots there, surely. Then again, what about the abolition of feudalism and the end of exploitation? Couldn’t that be regarded as the beginning of modern life?
“I kept bouncing from point to point, tracing history through the years, dissecting and analyzing past events, until I ended up cascading down the ages.
“Hello. My name is Cooley. I am a volatile spirit roaming through space and time. I used to be human many years ago, back in the early 20th century, when life was simpler and humane. I was born in Michigan and spent a wonderful life there, and studied political economics and sociology, and got a job at the University of Michigan. I got married to a lovely wife and became father to three beautiful children. They are floating in the Field now, to each their own, independent but never alone, all four of them. That is how spirit life works, we are always connected. Part of the current that keeps life charged.
“As much as I have given myself over to this fluent level of existence, and have gotten used to it over time, there are moments when it seems odd. I sometimes forget I am here, that I have passed away, going about my business speaking as if I am still human. You’d think a century of ethereal existence would have dispelled all notions of solid flesh, but spirits don’t measure time the same way humans do. Besides, I enjoy my human memories – and my visits to earth even more, infrequent as they may be. It’s a trip I can’t make too often, but which I thoroughly enjoy.
“I am now here on an important mission. I have come to take Mr. Smyth for a spin through time and show him a thing or two about the world’s revolutions. Shed some light on what is happening now, in his day and age, by focusing on what happened some time ago, somewhere far away. See if we can find some parallels and find out what is going on in this little round blue world I find so fascinating.
“Let me start by saying a thing or two about how you got here. Humanity I mean.”
FOR MORE: Wake Of Liberty
The chicken or the egghead? Brilliant, never thought of that! Cooley is certainly an egghead with attitude and will lay it all out, no holds barred.
It makes sense. But please do stay in touch with ones emotions. The 1st, prenatal, very human feeling is not reasonable, is it? A quarter of a millenium passed the so called start of Enlightment Reason's starter still is an emotional (gut?)feeling. It still is the Egg, dear chicken, or if one prefers: Dear Egghead . . . .
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