Page 52 - Psychoceramics and the Test of Fire

Cabalocracy and the Hall of Mirrors

over not another small group but whole nations of strangers for
whom one felt no sympathy or obligation. As the reins of power have
almost always been in the hands of a clique or dynasty, human history
has devolved to a series of coups followed by periods of calm in
which the new rulers consolidate their power in vain hopes of
forestalling the next coup. This pattern persists, claimed Capra, right
into the present, the only significant difference between now and
prior centuries being the tremendous price mankind and the
biosphere increasingly pay for the ascendance of unthinking
competitive struggles for short-term advantage. Republican forms of
government have the potential to neutralize conspiracies by opening
the structures of power to public ownership and scrutiny, but are
constantly under pressure of subversion by the ubiquitous irrational
desire for a superior position in the obtainment of material
possessions and social status. The price of liberty, said Patrick Henry,
is eternal vigilance.
So Capra’s “cabalocracy” came down to this: conspiracies will
continue to happen unless people impose rational discipline upon
themselves. He thought that eventuality unlikely, as it would require
enforced education of the masses into their responsibilities. Neither
the current kleptocrats nor those waiting in the wings for their
opportunity would ever seriously support the creation of an informed
and watchful citizenry, and they had many ways of undermining its
development. Another end to conspiracies would be the final
breakdown of nation-states into clan-based hunter-gatherer groups
following the destruction of our high technology-dependent
elephantine infrastructure. As a pessimist, he favored the latter
possibility. Until the last light went out, one could only hope to
overturn whatever conspiracies were flourishing or about to hatch by
exposing them. How to do that formed most of the last section of his
book. And there he had to re-enter the hall of mirrors in order to
lead us out in the right direction.
Those who would chase conspiracies, wrote Capra, must find
themselves first; that topic he had covered already, and supposed that
anyone reading this far had prepared themselves by shattering their
own illusions and arriving at a certain clarity of mind. Then they
could do battle with the minds of the guardians of the cabal. First,
50