Misguided enthusiasm or cultural excitement – which will it be

Shalom friends,

I usually sit down to write a letter after having an experience which has impressed me so much that I want to share it with as many people as possible, but on going over the experiences of the last month, since my last letter I can’t find any that really shook me or thrilled me. Then, not finding any of my own experiences I took a look at the experiences of others and the one that glares out mostly from the news headlines is demonstrators fighting against a regime; Syria and Egypt especially.

I came across an Egyptian cartoon which shows what is happening in Egypt as opposed to what is happening in America (and Israel also for that matter).

Basically it says that while the world is waking up (referring to the demonstrations in Egypt) the America people only care about McDonalds, entertainment, motor cars, smartphones, money etc. (If you want to see the cartoon click here)

Of course it made me think of my situation and my dull experiences as opposed to all the exciting and apparently meaningful  experiences of the Egyptians. So once again I ask myself what is more important in life? To demonstrate, throw bombs, fight wars and other multifarious activities or to seek out the things that excite us because of their beauty, creativity and kindness?

Doing the latter and not doing the former aren’t we escaping from doing the really important things in life, like fighting for justice?

Let’s face it shooting; throwing bombs, killing etc are an easier way to get a thrill than looking at art, reading literature or poetry, visiting theatre, listening to music etc. One must be involved in these things for a long time for a feeling of appreciates to develop and even longer for a feeling of excitement to come over one when experienced.

Any idiot can get a thrill from throwing a bomb and if you give him a cause that sounds good like fighting for God or fighting for a moral society the thrill is even greater because you get more people doing it, even intelligent people can be misguided. It’s usually the smart, intelligent people who use the rallying cry “in the name of God” or “in the name of Allah” to get the masses of less intelligent people to follow them and get worked up to a frenzy of excitement. Creating a kind of tsunami that will sweep new leaders into power.

The masses don’t realize that the pictures of McDonalds , piles of money, dancing girls, shown in the Egyptian cartoon are only outward representations of inner cultural riches, not cultural poverty, as the Egyptian media says. Inner cultural riches cannot easily be depicted in pictures, they need the outward trappings.

So to the average Egyptian it looks like American society is materialistic and is in opposition to the aspirations of Islam which is spiritualistic and puritanical. So it’s held up to the masses of poor people in Egypt as an illustration of the way not to be. And the poor people who don’t have those things are ready to believe that that is the wrong way and spiritualism and puritanism is the right way.

So combine the thrill of throwing a bomb with the philosophy of promoting spirituality through destruction of the things they don’t have it’s easy to get the masses to boiling point frenzy that will raise fanatic Islam to the leadership of Egypt.

Then these will proceed to turn all Egyptians into one amorphous mass subservient to one ruler, God or His representative on earth. Creativity is completely suppressed, banned as an expression of materiality which distances the religious person from the spirituality of God.

This is why they even burn down mosques and churches. They are anti-materialism. They aspire to total spiritualism. This is why they approve of creating an atom bomb, the ultimate vanquisher of materialism.

The flames of this religious fanaticism burn most fiercely among the poverty stricken masses. If you take a look at the demonstrators against the regime in Egypt those are the ones who are demonstrating. They will turn all of Egypt into the same non-materialistic mess as the one they live in.

I don’t know whether it’s true or not that Israel is helping the regime in Egypt to fight against the Moslem Brotherhood on the grounds that they would be a serious threat against Israel if they came to power in Egypt, but I don’t believe that a bunch of raving maniacs, including Iran and local Palestinians, especially Hamas are a threat to a well-oiled military machine like Israel’s, as long as it’s in the hands of a pragmatic, non-fanatic government. (I’m sorry to say that I don’t regard the present government like that, hopefully I’m wrong.)

Fanatics of any kind aren’t a threat to level headed people.

Wishing you a good day

Yours truly

Leon Gork