Re-reading an old story of mine http://www.abctales.com/story/mykle/end-is-nigh
I realised that with a different twist it might make the basis for a great story.
If we suppose that there are ‘gods’ who are eternal but have no corporeal form and enjoy sensations by entering physical beings (not necessarily human - consider Leda and the swan) it may well be that they could see the time when humanity would be threatening the planet and had already prepared for it by incorporating ‘’end-of-days revelations’’ into our culture via religion.
Realising that mankind would be unable to control its destructive behaviour without outside help the ‘gods’ are now creating the World Economic Crisis, as a means to combat Global warming and Climate Change, and if that isn’t enough then no doubt the full horrors of John the Revelator could be implemented using modern technology and media manipulation.
As I see it the gods enjoy much of what they have inspired and it is they who help create the huge gulf between the super rich and the starving poor – let’s face it if you’re going to have a holiday in a human you might as well make it a luxury holiday :O)
The problem is that the poor aspire to the trappings of the rich and although the process is slow eventually the ecology can’t cope with the added pollution and the whole system starts to collapse.
The gods don’t want to lose their favourite playthings so they influence the rich and powerful and steer the world toward a state where they can control everyone from the top down!
So, should we try to stop them and if so how?
I think it would make a great sci-fi story and I’d love to see the film.
Comments
mykle | March 18, 2009 - 04:51
I've been wondering if it would be okay to use BOb as one of the central characters - since he is president of the United States - or if it would be far more prudent to use a ficticious character.
Any thoughts?
shoebox | March 21, 2009 - 19:31
Very interesting musings. I tend to agree that a great story could be created. Why not use BOb? After all, it's fiction we're talking. Didn't some author recently use Laura Bush or a character thinly disguised as her in a book? It could lend veracity to the story. Get started!
mykle | March 28, 2009 - 05:39
Thanks for the encouragement shoebox!
I remember listening to Kristofferson's Silver Tongued Devil and wondering why he used "...the Silver-tongued-devil's got nothing to lose - I'll only live 'till I die" and wondering why he hadn't said "he'll only live 'till I die." and concluding that there are certain "characters" or maybe simply character traits that live forever - inhabiting suitable hosts.
It made me wonder if perhaps we have misunderstood people of earlier times who simply used the concept of the 'gods' to represent these eternal çharacter traits...
it also left me wondering if people in the future looking back at our super-hero comics and films etc. might jump to the conclusion that we actually believed in super human entities who could fly and were virtually indestructible or whatever :O)
Curiously, modern Western hubris seems to stop the majority of people believing in anything that might be superior to them except perhaps a benevolent, white-haired, grandfather type figure who is somehow all-powerfully powerless.
I think the concept that life and eventually human evolution might have been driven by the selfish desires of a group of largely self-obsessed, uncaring, hedonistic, eternals might seem too far fetched for most people who can't see that these are exactly the characteristics, hidden beneath a fascade of benevolence, that do tend to propel people to the top of the tree :O)
“When a man's willing and eager, the gods join in.” Aeschylus
mykle | April 16, 2009 - 15:46
After doing a bit of research I find that, astoundingly, the facts would lend themselves very nicely to a Dan Brown sequel!
In February 1810, Napoleon... Still no point in spilling the plot :O)
Witches, Romans, Church, gods and power.
I'm sure Dan can figure it out for himself with a bit of effort.
Another film I'm really looking forward to!
Mangone | October 24, 2009 - 09:44
“When a man's willing and eager, the gods join in.” Aeschylus.
I'm not sure that you have the right quote with this...
it is surely a quote about 'divine' inspiration.
Something we tend to term 'talent' nowadays and is often seen in the performance of great artists.
It is perhaps most obvious in musicians where you can actually see their 'inspiration' as they become, as David Carradine termed it, flutes played by the Universe.