• Home
  • About
  • The Minotaur Myth

  • Zen Fits
  • It’s Martini Time
  • Reflections on Eckhart Tolle
  • Buddhas in your Landfill
You are here: Home / Buddhas in your Landfill / A Recipe for Fascism

A Recipe for Fascism

August 20, 2018 by admin Leave a Comment

BOURDAIN’S LAST UNKNOWN PART

Last night I watched the last CNN Parts Unknown on Netflix where Bourdain went to Rome. Much of his inquiry, other than food, was on the left overs of Mussolini and Fascism. Amid the ruins of the Roman Empire (a state that was a religion) and under the shadow of the Vatican (the seat of a religion that is a state) you have the remains of another dream of uniting a society under one all encompassing rule where religion and the state are One Mythic unity.

As Bourdain pointed out, Fascist architecture glorifies the monolithic state and erases the value of unique individuals. Stark and massive, like an abstract machine gods, Mussolini’s public works are deserted. One couldn’t help, at least I couldn’t, see in Bourdain’s “food trip” a subtle reference to Trump as an American Mussolini. Reason and the individual’s power of dissent and say NO to authority is devoured by the Fascist monolith.

One comes to Rome to see the left-over dreams of Empire that the people cough up when forced down their throats. All the people really want to do is eat, drink and make love in the Italian sun.

The Choice that makes history a swinging pendulum is between the Many and the One: do you want rule by the many individuals, or rule by the One. Joseph Campbell traces this either/or choice to the mythologies or social order of the Levant (Middle East religions) and pagan Europe before it became Christina under the Holy Roman Church whose center was in Rome. All the tribe of Europe had to bow to this religious emperor. Of course, it all broke up and created the secular nation state of Europe and America. But still the longing for unity is an eternal force. Parts must have a whole. The spokes of a wheel must have a hub. 

When the individual parts get unruly, get violent, the wheel wobbles, and some Authority, some wheelwright is longed for that will restore order to the house. A Father is brought in with a whip to make the children obey. That Liberal Mother has lost control. She just lets the kids do what they want because she loves all of them equally. We need Law and Order. The pendulum of history swings back and forth over who shall control the House, the mother or father. We need an authority who will make us all go to church and be obedient to the Law that is the same in both state and religion. And that is the recipe for Fascism that comes in many uniforms, but it always feels the same. 

When the State comes in as the unifying power, the children that identity with the Father feel his power, and they only feel it when they exercise it, and they exercise it by putting down the children who don’t identify with the father. The good sons are against the bad sons. The irony is the both good and bad sons feels they are the good sons: The sons who are one with the Father are Good because they restore the Law of the Father; the sone who are against the Father are Good because they restore the Law of the individual, who feels the power of being a unique individual by rebelling against the Father. 

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Buddhas in your Landfill

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Ed is a Zen Writer and story teller who finds insights in the truth of his life in everyday mind and events. Learn more

Live without future

Search

Connect to my Facebook Pages

Archives

Top Posts & Pages

  • The Minotaur Myth
  • Pride and Joy
  • Scratches on the Wall
  • The Silent Scream of FB Jail
  • The Search for Noah
  • The Scent of Baba Muktananda
  • God is Androgynous

Subscribe to My Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 68 other subscribers

Awaken Insight Meditation

AIM is a website where I share my Dharma Insights in my everyday mind. My daily experiences are metaphors that point to the Truth that is One. Paths are many, but the Dharma is One. I invite you to walk with me on my journey. I also invite you to enter into creative dialogue with the post, for then we push it forward and get some traction in our life.

The Minotaur Myth

Copyright © 2022 · Lifestyle Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in