CHAT: illuminati (was: Back again)

On Thursday, September 11, 2003, at 11:23 , J Y S Czhang wrote:

> In a message dated 2003:09:11 05:34:34 AM, ray.brown@FREEUK.COM writes:
>>
[snip]

>> While I support freedom of expression, as long as that freedom is
>> responsibly exercised (i.e. not to the harm or detriment of the innocent
>> among one's fellow members of the human race), I have no truck with
>> either
>> hedonism or escapism.
>
>     I think that it's unfortunate that bamboogrove.com choose the words
> "hedonistic escape" ... that's not accurate from either a Taoist or a
> historical
> viewpoint. Most of the Sages were either exiled or self-exiled... and, as
> Taoists, they took the attitude of "shit happens... might as well enjoy
> nature to
> the hilt out here in the backwaters since we have nothing better to do -
> Oh!,
> there's _nothing_ better than appreciating nature and the Music of Nature.
> ..ah,
> the usefulness of being supposedly useless... gotta write poems about all
> of
> this... play music on the _qin_/_ch'in_ [5 or 7 string fretless long-board
> zither] contemplatively imitatin' nature sounds... brew wine... etc."
Yep, hedonism is misleading.  Still sounds a bit escapist to me, however.

[snip]
> [ . . .]
>>  IMO there is so much misery, violence and oppression in the world
>> precisely
>> because too little reason is used.
>>
>> Reason does not produce the horrendous genocides that marked the 20th
>> century nor the obscenity & evil of 9/11.
>
>     That is precisely similar to what many "reasonable types" said about
> conducting the "Great War" - or World War I (1914-1918) - that it was the
> "{reasonable} War to End All {un-reasonable}Wars."
But there were others who spoke out against it.  It was, of course, a
fairly
senseless carnage caused by essentially 5 imperialist powers who drifted
into a war which they then couldn't halt.  In the late Sid Sakson's
excellent
book "A Gamut of Games" there is a game called "Origins of World war 1."
It is a most enlightening game!

But the main problem was, perhaps, the Treaty of Versailles which followed.
Someone - I forget who - has dubbed it "The peace to end all peace."

Ray
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