thirteenth etheric dialogue

while mulling how to make an allegory out of it

Rhombus- How goes it, among the Nine Worlds?

Iambus- I think it’s eight these days.

Rhombus- Whatever…

Iambus- Keeping track is important.

Rhombus- And ours is still the best of all possible worlds?

Iambus- Consensus lately tends to downplay the plurality part, at least when it comes to thinking creatures.

Rhombus- Our own example being so non-exemplary.

Iambus- Do you ever wonder, then, that our Psychology wants to posit these Earthling--as they are found--as Normal?

Rhombus- Isn’t it a normal thing to despoil one’s nest, not to mention massacre one’s neighbors high & low?

Iambus- It’s a rotten shame, but it has to be done. Progress depends on it.

Rhombus- Let me start a story here, rather than plunge directly into the terrifying geopolitics of the later Anthropocene.

Iambus- “Cthulhucene”, you mean.

Rhombus- Right.

Iambus- How do you spell that?

Rhombus- You don’t. You curse God & die.

Iambus- But continue—

Rhombus- There is not harmony now, but in the beginning there was.

Iambus- Once upon a time.

Rhombus- Say there were creatures who inserted themselves sideways in the biocycle in order to satisfy their needs, as creatures will. Between the flower & the dropped seed, comes the fruit. Fruit-eating mammals, with opposable thumbs. It was a pretty sweet gig.

Iambus- Surely you’re not going to recap all that jazz.

Rhombus- But wait, there’s more. A meme appears! (Black obelisk from outer space.) It says: “You are not as others are.”

Iambus- Plausible, though untrue.

Rhombus- This meme has some special properties. It confers power-over others, at the same time as it protects its bearer.

Iambus- How does that work?

Rhombus- Actually, it doesn’t. This is just the story-as-it-is-told.

Iambus- One believes oneself separate—a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Rhombus- Look, they’re just dumb apes. (They have yet to develop Critical-Thinking.)

Iambus- And the upshot?

Rhombus- Exponential growth.

Iambus- Oh.

Rhombus- Did I mention that part of its protection (the most important part) is that the meme becomes invisible, unthinkable, unsayable to these creatures, as soon as it is part of them?

Iambus- Unlike other memes?

Rhombus- This is the Boss Meme.

Iambus- Right.

Rhombus- At the same time there’s some nasty side effects, including disenchantment, even self-destruction for the bearers (let’s just call them the Domesticated Apes). As well as (drum-roll)—destruction of the environment!

Iambus- Because of the separation. They can’t tell what they’re doing, to themselves or to others.

Rhombus- Oh, they can tell something’s wrong, alright. But because they cannot perceive the Boss Meme directly, they have to blame something else. Typically: other Domesticated Apes, who perceptibly differ from them in some insignificant way.

Iambus- I see where this is heading. Enemy teams!

Rhombus- Now, if you ever had been asked if you wanted to be a bearer of the Boss Meme & all it entails, no ape in its right mind, seeing what the meme does, would agree. But you can’t refuse if you were never asked.

Iambus- Is that the end of the story? Certainly it accounts for the silence of the stars.

Rhombus- Me, I think they’re waiting to see if we raise the Minimum Wage.

(part 2)

Iambus- I think there’s more to it than separation.

Rhombus- But separation is the root…

Iambus- It seems to me that you could have hierarchy by itself (differing titles but equal power), & competition by itself (see who can complete this task quickest), but once you put them together, something bad happens.

Rhombus- When the real prize is control over the handing out of prizes.

Iambus- Whenever any three of them gather, two begin to plot against the other.

Rhombus- What’s so bad about sharing?

Iambus- Even if they only thought of themselves as separate beings, like siblings, sharing would seem like the thing to do. But don’t forget the Boss Meme. In any isolated being, the Boss Meme says, “You deserve more!”

Rhombus- Even if there isn’t more?

Iambus- Most of all in that case. It gives you the license to take away some of theirs.

Rhombus- I want out of this story.

Iambus- And yet we could still refuse that meme. All we have to do, is perceive what is being asked of us.

(to be continued?)