Who is the shepherd?

[pilgrim-seeker_tom]

Philosophical Fodder
We live in turbulent times … the demands of simply keeping pace with day to day living leave precious little time for anything else.

Augustine of Hippo wrote almost 1,600 years ago … “Oh! … You torrent of human custom, who can stand against you?”

Perhaps some members of our medical community have recently provided the answer to the dilemma posed by Augustine in 400 AD. The doctors claim that statistics suggest the mortality rate amongst newborn babies is higher for those who do not receive cuddling and affection … “the human touch”. Surely this human characteristic is innate and permanent.

True at birth, seems to me it must hold true throughout our lives … as important at age 80 as at birth. The ‘will’ to live seems predicated on the knowing that we are not alone … we are connected … we belong!

Have you ever asked yourself … What is going on? … Where are we (mankind) headed? … What will we do when we get there?

We often hear the expression ‘the evolution of mankind’. The word evolution infers movement, figuratively speaking, from Point A to Point B. We live in the times referred to as Point A … Where is Point B? … What does life look like at Point B? … and … What is this phenomenon of movement? ( or ‘torrent’ as expressed by Augustine)

For the past several years, the notion of evolution as ‘movement’ tickled my mind. Setting aside historical events, Darwinian theory etc , I reflected only on the notion of ‘movement’. The meditations seemed to be encouraged by the frequent observations of flocks of sheep, while traveling through the Middle East, Europe and most recently Spain.

The first occurrence was in 1996 … on top of a mountain in Bosnia Hertzgovina.

While sitting there, I heard the sound of cow bells … seemed strange … why would there be cow bells ringing on top of this mountain? In a few moments a small flock of sheep and their shepherd arrived on top of the mountain.

How exciting! … having been raised in Canada, I had only read or watched on television about shepherds wandering the countryside and mountains with their sheep.

Here at the dawn of the 21st century was an authentic shepherd and his sheep … wow!

Several years later … after seeing many many flocks of sheep wandering around the countryside with their shepherds … I found myself thinking … when the flock of sheep is on the move most of the sheep … almost all of the sheep … can only see the ‘butt’ of the sheep in front of them.

They have no idea where they are going or what the terrain they are passing through looks like.

A few years later it occurred to me … not only can all they see is the ‘butt’ in front of them … worse yet … they have no choice but keep their nose glued to the ‘butt’ of the sheep walking in front of them … they cannot stop … the sheep behind them would trample them …they cannot move forward … or sideways … there are sheep pressing them on all sides … hmmmm

… and seems they are not willing to leave the flock … seems sheep also feel safe and secure through ‘belonging’.

“Oh! … You torrent of human custom, who can stand against you?”

Are there any parallels with this image and human life?

Global Village … one flock … one direction … one speed … where to??

If so … Who is the shepherd?

[Bane]

Why does there need to be a shepherd? It doesn’t look to me like there is one.

[pilgrim-seeker_tom]

@bdhanes

Why does there need to be a shepherd? It doesn’t look to me like there is one.

For me, the imagery of ‘sheep’ and ‘shepherd’ reduces our immensely complex and incomprehensible universe and existence to something most people can understand.

For example, in the debate “order or chaos” … the shepherd metaphor supports the notion of ‘order’.

Perhaps the ‘shepherd’ for people like Karl Jung is his notion of “collective unconsciousness” …

Today the popularity of the notion of “collective consciousness” seems to be growing.

Seems to me, the next logical step is “collective will”.

Most people agree that ‘thought’ precedes ‘action’ … involuntary action is considered illness … eg epilespy.

Yet … thought is also action!

The laws of physical action(physics) are well known … the laws of conscious and subconscious action are mostly speculation.

For example … How fast does a ‘thought’ travel? How far can a thought travel? What is the lifespan of a “thought”? What polices the movement(entry/exit) of thoughts from one persons conscience to another?

[Bane]

@pilgrim_tom

…immensely complex and incomprehensible universe and existence

Isn’t philosophy the subject dedicated to developing comprehension of the universe and existence?

[Fent]

@pilgrim_tom

Philosophical Fodder
We live in turbulent times … the demands of simply keeping pace with day to day living leave precious little time for anything else.

Augustine of Hippo wrote almost 1,600 years ago … “Oh! … You torrent of human custom, who can stand against you?”

Perhaps some members of our medical community have recently provided the answer to the dilemma posed by Augustine in 400 AD. The doctors claim that statistics suggest the mortality rate amongst newborn babies is higher for those who do not receive cuddling and affection … “the human touch”. Surely this human characteristic is innate and permanent.

True at birth, seems to me it must hold true throughout our lives … as important at age 80 as at birth. The ‘will’ to live seems predicated on the knowing that we are not alone … we are connected … we belong!

Have you ever asked yourself … What is going on? … Where are we (mankind) headed? … What will we do when we get there?

We often hear the expression ‘the evolution of mankind’. The word evolution infers movement, figuratively speaking, from Point A to Point B. We live in the times referred to as Point A … Where is Point B? … What does life look like at Point B? … and … What is this phenomenon of movement? ( or ‘torrent’ as expressed by Augustine)

For the past several years, the notion of evolution as ‘movement’ tickled my mind. Setting aside historical events, Darwinian theory etc , I reflected only on the notion of ‘movement’. The meditations seemed to be encouraged by the frequent observations of flocks of sheep, while traveling through the Middle East, Europe and most recently Spain.

The first occurrence was in 1996 … on top of a mountain in Bosnia Hertzgovina.

While sitting there, I heard the sound of cow bells … seemed strange … why would there be cow bells ringing on top of this mountain? In a few moments a small flock of sheep and their shepherd arrived on top of the mountain.

How exciting! … having been raised in Canada, I had only read or watched on television about shepherds wandering the countryside and mountains with their sheep.

Here at the dawn of the 21st century was an authentic shepherd and his sheep … wow!

Several years later … after seeing many many flocks of sheep wandering around the countryside with their shepherds … I found myself thinking … when the flock of sheep is on the move most of the sheep … almost all of the sheep … can only see the ‘butt’ of the sheep in front of them.

They have no idea where they are going or what the terrain they are passing through looks like.

A few years later it occurred to me … not only can all they see is the ‘butt’ in front of them … worse yet … they have no choice but keep their nose glued to the ‘butt’ of the sheep walking in front of them … they cannot stop … the sheep behind them would trample them …they cannot move forward … or sideways … there are sheep pressing them on all sides … hmmmm

… and seems they are not willing to leave the flock … seems sheep also feel safe and secure through ‘belonging’.

“Oh! … You torrent of human custom, who can stand against you?”

Are there any parallels with this image and human life?

Global Village … one flock … one direction … one speed … where to??

If so … Who is the shepherd?

The shepard is economic growth and materialism. The herd or flock perceive economic growth and consumerism to be the modern day Platonic form of the “Good”. The more growth, money and material possession one possesses, the closer to the “Good” they have become. Previously, striving towards the Platonic “Good” was a noble endeavour, it required asceticism and deep-thought, whereas today’s “Good” requires no such effort, all that is required is that you produce some commodity that will end up on the market to satiate the shallow desire of some Philistine which in turn creates for you a higher income based on supply and demand. Little does the flock realize that they puppets in a game.

This tablet of economic growth as the way to the “Good life” needs to be smashed.

[pilgrim-seeker_tom]

Isn’t philosophy the subject dedicated to developing comprehension of the universe and existence?
[/quote]

Yes I agree … and today we have access to the ‘genius’ of great thinkers for more than 2,500 years.

Yet perhaps by microscopically examining every tree in the forest we overlook the essence of the forest … perhaps there is wisdom in the axiom ’ you can’t see the forest for the trees’

For me … reflection on the ‘forest’ involves a serious look at the planet and its’ inhabitants today … vis a vis 150 years ago.

[pilgrim-seeker_tom]

@Fent

The shepard is economic growth and materialism. The herd or flock perceive economic growth and consumerism to be the modern day Platonic form of the “Good”. The more growth, money and material possession one possesses, the closer to the “Good” they have become. Previously, striving towards the Platonic “Good” was a noble endeavour, it required asceticism and deep-thought, whereas today’s “Good” requires no such effort, all that is required is that you produce some commodity that will end up on the market to satiate the shallow desire of some Philistine which in turn creates for you a higher income based on supply and demand. Little does the flock realize that they puppets in a game.

This tablet of economic growth as the way to the “Good life” needs to be smashed.

Thanks … your example is a much better illustration of my intentions in using the metaphor of a flock of sheep and a shepherd.

Your use of the word ‘smashed’ triggered some new thoughts.

Perhaps any anti-capitalist activity … actions … words … even thoughts … is futile. The result being that our consciousness simply gets tossed around inside the massive ‘collective consciousness’ supporting capitalism.

An image a young Spanish woman shared with me a few years ago may help to illustrate my thought.

‘Collective consciousness’ may be likened to a large river flowing very fast in a certain direction. Trying to change the flow of the river by placing a stick in the middle of the river will not work.

Going back to my flock of sheep metaphor … same image … a very large flock of sheep moving very fast in a certain direction …

Seems to me the only practical way to alter the direction of the flock is for one of the sheep on the peripheal to walk away from the flock … to head in a new direction … and hope that another member of the flock will notice and follow … and so on until critical mass is achieved and the direction of the entire flock is altered.