I Have No Idea
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Anybody who has awareness of the current situation on our world knows there is something wrong here, something out of place. There are crosscurrents of hard feelings and outright hatred unbecoming in a so-called civilized society. Where did these strong feelings come from? What is happening here?
Dumbing down process
Part of this process has been called the Dumbing Down of America. This is a gradual process aimed at bringing down the general awareness of our sisters and brothers. There are dark forces operating on our society that want to lessen our thinking process; their goal is to defeat those working for righteousness on the native planet of our Creator Son, Jesus. Another part of the process is what happens when people find they have been disenfranchised from society.
The usual reaction to such a gradual process as this dumbing down is to attempt to make the best we can of the situation; we don’t want to make a big thing of it and so we let it slide. As a consequence we drift deeper and deeper into the trap; but this is a purposively driven system of pushing us downward continuing year after year and eventually a crucial breaking point is reached for the individual and for society.
A book by Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt nicely catches the concept of gradual introduction of fascism, this dumbing down process; it is titled “The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America.”[1] While her focus is upon our educational system, this dumbing down is pervasive in many parts of our society. This is a deliberate campaign to lessen our propensity to think for ourselves. If we cannot think for ourselves we are more likely to accept whatever sophistry those who are driving the process want us to accept and we will thereby accept the subtle introduction of fascism.
The main question is: why America? This dumbing process appears to be strongest in our own country, why here?
Why here?
One answer to this question is that America has been a beacon of freedom to the entire world for a long time. Starting nearly four hundred years ago at what is now Plymouth Massachusetts people have come to this land seeking religious freedom, seeking liberty and a new life; all through the ages people have come from Ireland, England, Germany, China and other parts of Asia to our shores. They have come from Japan and many parts of Europe. Countless have also come from Africa, most of these not very willingly. Every one of these individuals arrived on our shores looking for a better life; they wanted a life of meaning for themselves, for their family, for their progeny. America has been the preferred destination for those seeking freedom for hundreds of years; that is one reason those seeking to counteract truth have been trying to gradually bring us down. This is a retribution for our country having been a bastion of freedom for our world.
The other answer to the question “why America” is this is the country where the Fifth Epochal Revelation, The Urantia Book, was chosen to appear. Perhaps we were chosen because we have been a beacon of freedom for the world, but for whatever reason, we were chosen to receive this revelation of truth. Possibly because of this, those who oppose truth seek to undermine this revelation by bringing discredit to the entire country it appeared in; they hope to drown these new concepts of love and joy and brotherhood beneath a tide of civil unrest, hatred for anybody who is different, and a general pitting of one segment of society against another. While it could be argued that our dumbing down may be a natural process, merely the way the cycles of history work out; it seems too much of a coincidence the current wave of unrest amongst broad segments of society should be centered in the land where the greatest revelation of truth since Jesus appeared.
A deliberate process
In her book “The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America,” Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt describes in detail the pervasive ways in which the establishment has sought to remove any incentive to think from our educational system. This process is called a “war which produces the death of intellect and freedom.”[2] We are at war with insidious forces desiring to bring down our society. This war began gradually without any notice whatsoever. Our opponents in this battle want us to stop thinking and sink into nothingness. That is their goal.
In the introduction to this book Sarah Leslie states that “the dumbing down of a nation inevitably leads to the death of a culture.”[3] Again this is what the process is all about, the death of our culture; we need to wake up to what is going on. And again from the introduction: “try as one might, the reader cannot escape the consistent, deliberate, 100-year plan to dumb down the populace.”[4] This process has undoubtedly been going on for far longer.
Next is our media. There was a time when our media performed a valuable service, they informed the public about what was actually going on and occasionally dug deeply into important stories, witness Woodward and Bernstein’s classic investigation into the Watergate affair. Those were the days when reporters actually reported. Nowadays, even though there are countless media outlets on radio, TV, as well as on the web and social media, one story always seems to permeate everything. Whatever the story of the day might be it will be everywhere, on all the outlets; it is as if the entire world ceased to exist but for this one tidbit. Perhaps it might be a politician saying something out of place or maybe a fanatic blowing himself up. It does not matter what the story might be, it will be everywhere.
The goal of our media appears to be to sell products, to make advertisers happy by attracting as many viewers as possible. Their goal is no longer to report on a story or to present new information but rather to attract viewers to their commercials. Indeed the dumbing down of America is most evident in the decay of our media.[5]
Dan Rather has been quoted as saying that “television news has been dumbed down and tarted up.”[6] Indeed the main purpose of the news is to sell advertising rather than to inform the people.
Advertising has gone the same way. I am old enough to remember when advertising actually talked about the product, expounded upon the product’s virtues and gave specific reasons why we must rush out and purchase the product; now when we see a commercial it is sometimes difficult to determine exactly what they want us to purchase. It is rare nowadays to see a commercial that does not insult our intelligence in some way. Advertisements have talking owls, talking camels and all kinds of silliness. It appears that those who place commercials on the air only want to sell to those who have already been dumbed down and do not know any better.
Democracy
The discussion about democracy in our revelation gives us assistance in dealing with these matters. The Urantia Book says while a democracy such as ours is a good system we should be careful. The dangers of democracy are glorification of mediocrity, choosing base and ignorant leaders, not recognizing social evolution, universal suffrage for uneducated and indolent majorities and slavery to public opinion because the majority isn’t always right.[7] It says poplar elections are the right way to do even a wrong thing.[8] Specific remedies are proposed to minimize these dangers. Paper 72, “Government on a Neighboring Planet” for example says that those who run for public office should have certain educational credentials specifying they are qualified.[9] This paper also has other suggestions for improving upon democracy.[10]
Our society is focused upon each individual accepting whatever situation we find ourselves in. We accept the stupid commercials, we accept the politicians who have no clue about real governance, and we accept the total lack of any true substance in our existence. We accept.
We accept because there is no reason for us to strive for anything better. We accept because God has been taken out of our lives by a Godless humanism. We accept because we have been disconnected from universal reality, disconnected from any awareness of our eternal spiritual potential. We accept.
The Urantia Book describes schools on a portion of a neighboring planet by stating “The chief object of education on this continent is to make every pupil a self-supporting citizen.”[11] Our schools need to have a specific goal and this certainly is a worthy one. The apparent goal of our schools is for students to pass the tests. The proper goal of our educational system should be specific, well publicized, attainable with some difficulty, and emphasis should be placed on reaching them so that schools and students will be properly motivated to realize those goals.
An interesting aspect of the schools on a neighboring planet is students participate in the teaching process by assisting in the instruction of other students in the grade just behind them.[12] This is beneficial to everyone because the students giving the instructions will be more likely to remember the concepts if they must explain them to another student. It helps the younger students because they have a more personalized instruction. It also helps society because they will gain members who are better educated.
What do we do about it?
We have been given the enlarged truth of The Urantia Book; we have studied it and seek to incorporate it into our daily living. Because we have accepted it and have used its teachings to enhance our faith, it is now our duty to so live our lives we spread love and joy in our daily encounters with our brothers and sisters. We have a responsibility to those who do not have these teachings, to show in our lives the fruits of the spirit.
There are certainly spiritual reasons for us to seek improvement, a better life. Life eternal is freely given to those who believe in God. This bestowal of eternal life is conditioned solely upon faith but if we wish to ascend in the life of divine fellowship we must manifest the fruits of the spirit.[13] These fruits of the spirit are love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance.[14] If we wish an eternal life filled with adventure, progression, ever higher levels of service we need to unconsciously manifest these fruits of the spirit, these evidences of our faith. It behooves us to assist our sisters and brothers who have fallen victim to this dumbing down, the system of sophistry and lies enveloping them; we need to grow and share spiritually.
Our society in general is not known for particularly deep thinking because we are caught up in the materialistic whorl around us. In the procession of pressing everyday events we think there is no time for deep thoughts; because of this there is no plan for our lives, no goal, and no direction. In order to have a more balanced civilization there is a need for incorporating philosophy, wisdom seeking, into our lives. A balanced person and a balanced society will give equal attention to science, religion and philosophy. When we are thus balanced we will be less susceptible to the falsehoods of those spreading lies.
Each one of us Urantians can do better, each of us can improve, become better individuals. The goal of this website is to give assistance in this improvement process.
Further Reading
“Light of Truth: Anticipating the Triumph of Righteousness”
Chapter 4 Dark Influences, Dumbing Down of America
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“The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America” by Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt, Conscience Press, 1999. ↑
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Iserbyt, p xix ↑
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Sarah Leslie in Iserbyt, p xxvi ↑
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Sarah Leslie in Iserbyt p xxvii ↑
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“The Demon-Haunted World – Science as a Candle in the Dark” by Carl Sagan, Ballantine Books, New York, 1996, p 25-26. ↑
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“The Assault on Reason” by Al Gore, The Penguin Press New York, 2007, p 17 ↑
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All references are to The Urantia Book unless otherwise stated. The number refers to the single column version in the format page.paragraph ; 801.14-18 ↑
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802.2 ↑
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816.7 ↑
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See for example section 9 “The Plan of Universal Suffrage” starting at 817.5 ↑
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812.7 ↑
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812.3 ↑
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1569.1 ↑
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381.7 ↑