Tag Archives: Roman Empire

The Summer of Rising Tides, Day 3: Fascism, Part 1

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Posted by on in Historical, impediments, Social

June 3, 2020-

The word “fascism” has been bandied about so freely, these days, it seems useful to take a look at what the term means (Part 1); how it has been applied in the past (Part 2); how, if at all, it is being applied now (Part 3).

Here is a commonly-accepted definition of the term:

“One common definition of the term, frequently cited by reliable sources as a standard definition, is that of historian Stanley G. Payne. He focuses on three concepts:

  1. the ‘fascist negations’: anti-liberalism, anti-communism, and anti-conservatism;
  2. ‘fascist goals’: the creation of a nationalist dictatorship to regulate economic structure and to transform social relations within a modern, self-determined culture, and the expansion of the nation into an empire; and
  3. ‘fascist style’: a political aesthetic of romantic symbolism, mass mobilization, a positive view of violence, and promotion of masculinity, youth, and charismatic authoritarian leadership.[27][28]“[29][30]

Fasci were bundles of sticks, fastened together around an axe handle, in Roman times. The tool was used by lectors, who served Imperial Magistrates, as a means of corporal or capital punishment. Although Fascism, as a system, is not commonly associated with the Roman Empire, the ‘fascist style’ certainly could describe the cults of personality that sprung up, during the rules of Julius Caesar, Octavian (Augustus), Claudius and, even more to the extreme, in the days of Caligula and Nero.

Thus has Fascism come to suggest a regime that purports to signify a government of high efficiency, yet often is marked by high levels of caprice and corruption-with the chief civil authority figure and the chief operating officer, underneath him (so far, no women have been identified as Fascist figures), running the affairs of state, virtually by decree.

NEXT: A look at three Fascist states of the Twentieth Century

He Is Risen, and Now It’s Our Turn

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

April 12, 2020-

When Jesus the Christ was slain on the cross, He did not give up the ghost and simply resurrect Himself, on the third day after His demise.  More importantly, He rekindled the Faith of His disciples and sent them forth to spread His Teachings, which alone were able to redirect a distracted and frightened world, as the Roman Empire was starting to witness the seeds of its hubris grow into the trees of destruction.

Millions around the world take solace, each Spring/Fall, in the knowledge that we are never left alone, by our Creator.  Buddhists have recently commemorated the Birth of Gautama Siddhartha.  For Jews, this comfort comes with Pesach(Passover).  Christians find it in today’s observance of Resurrection Sunday and next Sunday’s Pascha, the Day of Resurrection observed by Orthodox Christians. Muslims will begin Ramadan at the end of this month.  We Baha’is will observe Ridvan, the twelve day festival, commemorating Baha’u’llah’s first proclamation of His Station, from April 20-May 1, the time when He and His family were preparing for  exile from Baghdad to Istanbul (then still called Constantinople).

This sacred time, if we see with open eyes and hearts, blesses humanity, and our earthly home, as a whole.  Naturists and animists recognize the Divine Presence that comes around the time of the Vernal Equinox and which revisits us, in Autumn.  Thus has the Resurrection of Christ had implications for all humanity, from the day of its occurrence on forward.  God has blessed us with bounty and fertility, which are apparent to all who see with unclouded eyes.

It is now our turn to resurrect all that is sacred about life on Earth:  Compassion, listening with both ear and heart, a collective consciousness and plan of action, a workable and universal plan for distribution of the Earth’s bounty-so that none feel useless, starve or go without a measure of comfort. These cannot be accomplished from the top down, as some have suggested. Things which are forced on people, breed resentment and a desire for vengeance.  This is something that both “high” and “low” alike need to bear in mind.  It is essential that neither greed, nor a false sense of superiority, motivate the former.  It is also needful that neither envy nor despair compel the latter to act in ways that will bring everyone down further.  We need look no further than the French Revolution, or the rise and fall of the totalitarians of mid-20th Century Europe and Japan, to draw the necessary lessons.

Our resurrection, and that of Earth itself, will require heartfelt movement from both top and bottom.

A blessed season to all!

Pandering

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Posted by on in Community, impediments, Inner Struggles, Social

December 9, 2015, Prescott- One of the things that harkened the collapse of the Roman Empire was the degree to which the elite maintained power by appealing to the baser instincts and cravings of the  masses.  I see a fair number of parallels between Rome, and both the United States and the Islamic State.  Both current entities maintain their status quo by pandering to the xenophobia and self-absorption of those who have struggled to merely make ends meet. How odd, that the worst of politicians maintain control by villifying those who are just like them.  I see little difference between the xenophobes here, and those in Iraq and Syria.

I am seeing this unfold, too, in local communities.  Those who grasp at power will obfuscate, dissemble and spread rumours, to keep those they fear from getting involved too intimately with their public.  This happens both in government and in business- especially in “non-profit” enterprises.  I have been invited to join an effort, and have seen others be so invited, only to have the leadership who issued the invitations devolve into games of “gotcha”.  They, too, pander  to the fears of some whom they serve.

True public service puts the needs of those who are being served above all other considerations.  When last I checked, such needs did not include having one’s baser instincts honed and exacerbated.