Robert Harris Brevig
With a compelling Foreword by Col. L. Fletcher Prouty, U.S.A.F. Ret.Preface
The author of the present treatise was shocked out of the "American Dream" reverie and into an awareness that something was terribly wrong in this country when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. This "life transforming event" eventually led to increasingly serious investigation and research, not to mention an odyssey of adventure and intrigue in the U.S. Army's Special Forces ("Green Berets") and participation in the first "top secret" experimental "Long Range Reconnaissance Patrols", being developed in Southern Germany and whose initial mission was intelligence gathering and "combat espionage" (behind the enemy lines surveillance), the Army's equivalent to the more distinguished and reknowned Navy's Seal Teams. A parachuting accident, and the injuries resulting from a near fatal fall from twelve hundred feet, cut short my military career and launched me on another adventure across Europe and into the Middle East as a journalist during the 1967 Arab/Israeli War.
Little did I know that this early training would set the tone for a life-long quest of research and revelation about what is, and long has been, transpiring in the corridors of ultimate power in my own country. I did not, however, anticipate writing a book on the nature of my discoveries, much less a series of books, at that time.
As I searched and studied, I uncovered important life-influencing facets of history which had either been overlooked, omitted, covered up or even purposely distorted by some "popular" historians and by a media which, as it became increasingly clear to me, was in the grips of a biased agenda. I found myself becoming indignant and outraged toward these sources and "agencies" I had trusted and had sworn to protect and preserve under military (constitutional) oath. Along with this rising indignation and outrage, I also began to sense a growing responsibility toward my fellow countrymen and women who seemed blissfully unaware as they blindly and diligently pursued a multitude of means directed at "getting ahead" or desperately trying to maintain the "status quo" while, in reality, they were plunging headlong toward a "precipice" they did not know lay ahead of them.
The realization came to me also that the world does not need yet another "doomsday chronicle" spreading more paranoia and terror. There is a great deal of well-documented and credible information available for the curious and concerned seeker to examine. History is not only written by the victors, it is also written by the victims and sometimes by those who are just casually passing through. It is simply up to us to take an interest, find it, study it, and form a new perspective on the basis of our own abilities of discernment. It is possible that the victors (the powers that be) will try to persuade us to study and believe that which will popularize their agenda in our minds, but responsibility for finding truth and creating a compatible reality is the responsibility of each and every one of us individually.
If, as stated, the information is already available, why yet another book? I have pondered this question often and, even as I pondered, the questioned treatise continued to unfold. I could say this book wrote itself. It simply used me as a writing instrument. All the information, intrigue, contacts and excitement mysteriously appeared "synchronistically" when I chose to act upon the knowledge life had given me. More and more I began to "feel" as though I was "in the hands of another," yet completely myself...seated at the edge of two eternity's, one fading into the past and the other ever-becoming yet inseparable at the same instant.
If there is one person out there who has it all, and has done it all and is suffering the doldrums of too much success....don't be fooled! There is more....there is always more! Don't be fooled by success and fame, failure or shame! At the bottom line, they are all the same! The fellow who once was a yes-man may now be in no-man’s land. Whether the text-books and reference books from which we "officially" learn our history are even remotely accurate or not we may never know, for often the "real" motivations or intentions which provoke events are not addressed or are misrepresented. We do know that what many "other" writers, researchers, observers and "unofficial" chroniclers wrote, "as they perceived it", sounds very different from what most of us were "taught".
It is not my purpose herein to prove or disprove the accuracy or inaccuracy of either the "official" or "unofficial" versions of history. What is true IS true, be that as it may, and nothing can change that. In today's world, however, we can easily lose sight of what is true since it is so easily obscured simply by intentional omission. What the author is endeavoring to do here is outline and define a paradigm, and explain that it is thinking and believing "from" this paradigm that we have become what we are as individuals and as a society today. A paradigm which is outworn and perishing because it no longer serves the needs of human civilization.
It should also be remembered that it is futile to judge a dying cause, condemning whatever the truth of its circumstances may be. Better that we become aware of it, evaluate it discerningly, relieve ourselves of its hold upon our minds, our lives, and begin to "consciously" create a new paradigm from which to give account to ourselves and our lives upon this earth. We must re-identify and re-define the laws and principles by which we live from what we know to be appropriate, correct and just, not from what we are told and persuaded to believe by morally inferior authorities. We should refrain from hiring or electing others to "explain" such things to us and to "enforce" them on us. Better we should "enforce" what we know is appropriate on ourselves. The term is self-discipline.
Aside from our daily toil, the vast majority of we westerners contribute only moderately to the welfare and improvement of our own lives and the society of which we find ourselves a part. We seem, for the most part, enslaved to our own consumerism and pleasure-seeking habits. What exists in and of civilization as we know it is there only by the grace of a comparatively few curiously insightful and adventurously enterprising souls.
The average human being would probably revert to helpless primitivism were all that modern society offers us not provided and made accessible to us by a few visionary thinkers and industrious creators. The remainder are, for the most part, simply along for the ride. We should be grateful and never take for granted these unique minds, the scientists, the inventors, the technologists, the artists, the entrepreneurs, the sociologists and leaders, who are responsible for the "progress" which has made our lives as comfortable as they are.
At the same time, however, it is important to devote ourselves to gaining a deeper insight and a greater awareness of the kind of world in which this "progress" is contained, as well as the direction in which this "progress" is taking us, who may be influencing it, and why. This suggests it is the responsibility of each of us to cultivate a more penetrating view of our own lives and the influences affecting us. To put it allegorically, a perspective which will allow us to see beyond the "screen", upon which the events and experiences of our lives are "projected", and what goes on behind this "screen" and these "projections" which move and steer our life direction.
We imagine ourselves to be "free and independent" beings, but it is certainly clear that this is so only within those parameters which have already been created for us by someone else.
While it may be possible that many people today may only become irritated or confused by such suggestions, there is a growing number of individuals who are beginning to ponder just where their lives actually fit into this dubiously planned and pre-existing equation, that is, the establishment. To wit: why am I filled with doubts or fears about this or that? Why does this excite me or give me pleasure? Why does my life seem so ritualized and predictable? Why must I be so scheduled and over-worked in order just to survive? These and other questions are beginning to lurk on the side-roads along the "highway" of evolving awareness upon which all we humans travel.
Within the following pages, it is hoped the reader will discern a "map" or set of guidelines. Though perhaps well worn, it covers a fair distance of the journey traveled by man since the first glimmerings of his intelligence to where we are now, noting along the way the many cross-roads, signals and sign posts that indicate how and why we are in our present condition.
As our sub-title infers, we are examining a perishing paradigm, a non-viable mindset or framework of thought, that cannot serve our present needs and aspirations, in the hope that we may recognize the opportunity which stands glaringly before us. The opportunity to begin exploring and laying the ground work for our future a bit more responsibly, on our own initiative and volition. To accomplish this fully, we must pay attention to detail, learn to "read the fine print", and, in most cases, we must also "read between the lines" in order to derive some semblance of truth from what we have, in the past, obligingly accepted as historical fact.
A number of possible destinies await mankind at this significant juncture in time. Whichever one it shall be will be determined by man’s creativity and willingness (or the lack of it) to participate responsibly and enthusiastically in designing and directing his own fate. Fundamentalists will disagree at this point, for the "sheep", of course, will go on grazing in seemingly endless pastoral fields of ignorance and complacency. The "goats", will spend their austere days struggling their way up the rugged slopes of the mountain, determined eventually to take the Kingdom of Heaven by storm.
This writer would like, here, to quote a wonderfully perceptive proverb by a native Hawaiian writer, who lives quietly and simply on the island of Moloka'i in the Hawaiian archipelago, an area still rich in spiritual and practical wisdom retained nobly among the few remaining Kupuna (elders), which summarizes a truth that relates to us all. It is as follows: "History, as anything else, is seen and understood by where a person stands on the mountain. All people climb the same mountain. The mountain, however, has many pathways - each with a different view. A person knows and understands only what he sees from his own pathway and, as he moves, his view will change. Only when he reaches the top of the mountain will he see and understand all the views of mankind. But who among us has reached the top of the mountain? Tomorrow, we too will see a different view. We have not yet finished growing." (See Addendum *authors note)
With the reader’s permission, the author will now indulge in a few words of circumspect melodrama regarding his experience of engaging this literary effort. Writing a book, I have found, is more, much more, than just a task....it is a stormy affair....full of passion and sorrow. It evokes exhilaration and depression, illumination and stupefaction, astonishment and frustration. In a word, it is intense.
This is so, I believe, because, soon after one has embarked along this path of discovery and self-expression, one becomes acutely aware of being vulnerably exposed to the providential specter of responsibility. That is, being accountable for the "truth" which one is attempting to communicate by means of one’s own peculiar assemblage of words and ideas. By the time one becomes aware that one is under the judicious "eye" of responsibility, one has tasted "truth", is inexorably committed to it and its attendant "extremes", and...alas, it is too late to draw back from the project at hand. By this time there is also the realization that there is now something stronger, more compelling than mere curiosity, "moving" one's self.
Depending upon one’s subject matter, one soon becomes aware that a "realm" where truth resides, eternal and unblemished, has been entered. It is not distorted by man’s excuses, guilt or cunning. It stands bare, naked and exposed. When you are privileged to stand in its presence in its natural state, you also begin to grasp what it was our forefathers had discovered which inspired them to found and establish our nation’s government. The documents they drafted, under divine inspiration, shelter us "from" government...the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and our Constitution of the united States of America. Their purpose was to empower the people to keep bureaucracy in check and thwart the "inevitable" tendency of government to overpower and over-run the people, not the other way around.
The American people have failed to recognize "their" right and to exercise "their" power. Thus we have what you see today, a government out of control and arrogant with power. The responsibility for communicating this truth to the American people as clearly and undistorted as our language will allow, is a serious and important one. Members of our armed forces, our domestic police agencies, and our bureaucratic administrators presently "believe" it is important to "follow the orders" of treasonous "leaders" even when it clearly violates the rights they have sworn to uphold under the Constitution and Bill of Rights. These unfortunate beings have become confounded and made fearful of authority, so they "obey" without thought of justice or future consequences.
Since the very first day these concepts were placed before the "promoters" of government, in the time of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and George Washington, nearly every institution fostered by our government, along with many private ones, has twisted and distorted these truths to "their" own advantage.
Occasionally a president who actually "understood" and "advocated" these truths and attempted to actualize them would gain office...men like Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy. Two attempts were made on Jackson’s life and, of course, Lincoln and Kennedy were assassinated. What did these men "advocate" that got them killed? To answer part of this question we might examine a few words from President Lincoln's first inaugural address made on March 4, 1861. He stated: "This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to dismember it or overthrow it." It should be clearly seen that such a position would not be popular among advocates of powerful government.
Yet, to quote another presidential hopeful of later years, Adlai E. Stevenson commented in a 1954 speech at Princeton University: "All progress has resulted from people who took unpopular positions." When a government seeks power over its people, rather than advocacy of its people's rights, we can expect distortion, deception and lies from that government. The people are left no recourse but to remember the advice of men like Lincoln.
Let us not forget the advice of John F. Kennedy as well in his speech at Amherst College, October 26, 1963, the month before he was killed by those who chose to use government in the manner we are presently experiencing. He urged: "When power leads man to arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the areas of man’s concerns, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses, for art establishes the basic human truths which must serve as the touchstone of our judgment."
And as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow informed us in his 1834 work, HYPERION: "Glorious indeed is the world of God around us, but more glorious the world of God within us. There lies the land of song: there lies the poet’s native land." The objective of this book is to attempt to lead the reader to an awareness of this "land". Hereafter it shall be referred to as the "undiscovered country" (also the title of the second book in this "trilogy" of guides, which the author has identified as THE ARCADIAN PRIMER).
We must change our "view of the world" in order to change "the world". There are at least two essential ways in which we might serve our own best interests and, at the same time, the best interests of our society. One is by researching our past history, as our present treatise does, and surmising from our efforts, how best we might amend the old, out-worn and damaged. The other way is to apply our efforts in a forward looking manner by seeking new formulae, patterns and possibilities, as the second treatise in this series will attempt to do. There is a growing need for each of us to direct some of our undivided attention toward one or the other, or to become a "bridge" or facilitator between both. There is as much need for those who seek ways of avoiding further damage as there is for those attempting to repair the damage already done.
Human growth and development is not just a whirlwind of inspired ideas. It is people participating in planning and executing their own futures. When a problem occurs in our personal lives we like to turn our back on it, thinking we may thus escape its consequences. If we would "turn on it" and meet it head on, however, and begin trimming it down to its essential qualities, we would soon recognize that our problem is the result of something previously avoided. Now it has returned to us in the form of an intensified "opportunity" to make the inevitable discomfort dissipate simply by facing and "addressing" it. A problem, then, is an "opportunity" in disguise, an opportunity to discharge positive, creative and beneficial energy.
A writer, for instance, may perceive a problem and direct his talents toward it to achieve a certain desired end. There ensues a strong connection between the writer and the object of his writing. Writing is an active form of meditation..."contemplation objectified", as it were. The writer is a meditator who assembles and creates worlds out of his own mind-stuff, using "resources" that have come to him in the form of words, ideas, experiences and events. The words and language are pre-existing conditions. The experiences and events lie waiting in our past-life and history for interpretation. For the most part, they are speculative because our interpretation of them will be "tinged" by the attitudes and positioning of those who record them. Give two different people the same book and a "Highliter", for instance, and each will find different passages relevant and worthy of note to themselves, depending upon where they are with respect to what is presented.
The choice of "assemblage", with the exception of quotes which in themselves were "interpretations" by those who made them, is the responsibility of the writer, the meaning conveyed and the vision imparted. The acceptance or rejection of the assemblage is the responsibility of the reader.
The information contained on the following pages has been gleaned from many sources. The sources themselves can be confirmed easily enough, but it is up to the reader to determine the ultimate underlying truth of what is presented here, whatever its source. It would be irresponsible of the reader not to do so.
It is with complete sincerity and honesty, and to the best of his ability, that the author has shared what he has learned and what he suspects may be the facts concerning both the past and the present circumstances of human society. The same is true regarding the means which he "suggests" and "believes" the adversity experienced, because of being "at the mercy" of such circumstances, might be ameliorated. The reader is advised once again, however, to question, seek and confirm for himself or herself whether any statements or suggestions presented herein are true and valid, or viable and worthwhile undertaking. It is only by so doing that any true benefit can be derived from such knowledge. What is presented here is the result of many years of observation, study and contemplation. The author "believes" it to be true, but also realizes and advises that "beliefs" are not always true.
This work is here for your examination and consideration, not your persuasion and conversion. The author hopes to incite a questioning disposition and to "excite curiosity" in the mind of the reader. Rather than presuming that such disclosures are claimed to be true, we suggest it would be more prudent for the reader to accept the author’s invitation to check out the facts for themselves. Determine whether our current circumstances are possibly the result of these lesser known, past circumstances and events, or whether we are simply, haphazardly, plunging into hopeless chaos without any design or intent behind it.
One of our modern classical writers, Ernest Hemingway, made the statement: "Not all things are true, yet everything is truth." Such may be said of the material in this book since much of it can be found in the lesser-read annals of history (i.e.,Congressional Records, political speeches, Encyclopedic references, etc.) for those who choose to search for it. And though it may be that details seem to "connect-up" differently for different researchers, the fact that such things are recorded make them a part of the overall "truth" (and resulting paradigm) which embraces our lives in this world "as it is." Thus it behooves us, out of fair sensibility, to note it all in our awareness and apply it to who and what we are as living "executors" of causal determination, as we endeavor to improve our lot.
With regard to the author’s style of treating certain points of special consideration, the reader will note that on numerous occasions throughout the text special emphasis has been given to the term private. It will be emphasized with italics because it is hoped that the reader will note to whom the term most often actually applies. A pattern may be noted which reveals that we may have been conditioned (educated) to accept, or even revere, a term as if it referred to "us", the common people, as opposed (we are encouraged to imagine) to the bureaucracy, when, in fact, it seems to apply more appropriately to a particularly advantaged and secretive intellectual elite. What emerges, in reality, is somewhat different from what we were taught and urged to "believe", for it becomes conspicuously evident that the "private sector" is, in fact, a highly "select and advantaged few" who have managed to become disproportionately rewarded by the efforts of the toiling and plodding "working classes". The "private sector" then, it would seem, is more closely associated with a hidden but wealthy and powerful "guiding" elite, than it is with "us", (identified in America as the striving, working class and just above them the professional, middle class; in post revolution, Bolshevik, Russia as the struggling proletariat and above them the advantaged bourgeoisie *authors note). As long as we erroneously "believe" that we are the "private sector", however, such a "Power Elite" could go on enjoying the utmost protection achievable, even though our erroneous belief is an imaginary deception fostered in our own minds. The author encourages the reader to be alert to this interesting possibility and see whether they eventually agree or not.
Commenting further on the author's style of treating certain points of "special consideration", it is his wish to state clearly from the beginning to those readers who might be offended by what may appear to be "gender biased writing" that it is not the writers intent to do so. Wherever in the text of this book, the masculine pronouns "man", "his", "he" or "him" are used, unless it is indicated that it should be understood otherwise, it is meant to include both sexes. In some cases the masculine pronoun will also be used in reference to "God" or the "Creator" and in these cases the words "He", "His" or "Him" may be used. While it has become fashionable or "politically correct" to avoid such gender references, it suits neither the writer's style nor inclination to engage in such polite redundancies. If the reader deems it necessary to be specific on these issues, I invite them to add or delete the desired gender specifies themselves as they see fit.
As we finally approach the text before us, the author would like to share a thought from C.S. Lewis in his "tome", GOD IN THE DOCK: "Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent busy bodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."
The author has, for nearly half his life, lived and traveled throughout the remote islands of the South Pacific. During a cultural and educational exchange visit to the "friendly isles" of Tonga, on one occasion he happened to develop a close friendship with a Tongan Chief of some noteworthy stature. It occurred to the author to ask his chiefly friend about socio-political functions in the Polynesian chiefdom. His chiefly friend smiled with mischief and wisdom at the same time and replied: "Let me say it to you in this manner. There is a story about a palangi (foreigner) who observed one of our native fishermen carrying his basket full of fish back from the reef where he had just caught them. He noted that the fisherman had no cover on it to keep the still live fish from flip-flopping out. When he questioned the fisherman about this, the fisherman responded simply: `I have not to worry. The fish on the top always keep the fish on the bottom from escaping the basket.'" If we judiciously scrutinize with genuine concern and intelligent discernment we may be surprised to discover that the shrewd sagacity of the previous allegory applies not only to the Polynesian socio-political "system", but to literally every "government" on earth.
So, my friends and countrymen, the "words" that follow are simply the initial stirrings, the prophetic tremors of an ever expanding literary quest in search of truth. A contemplative narration and introspective adventure that knows not where its probe will lead or what will ultimately be found.
Barely conscious of its own necessity, it begins a tenuous journey through the mysteries of life, carried forth only by a dedication to its own curiosity. This work is as life itself, as unmapped as the universe....a means and an end unto itself. Aware only that nowhere is man’s destiny "set in stone", it arrives where it began and, having completed its journey, will begin again, hopefully in a finer form....an ascending spiral of literary unfoldment ever seeking the highest good.
It's purpose is born out of apparent purposelessness...yet ever slashing new footholds in its steadfast ascent upon its own experience in form and essence, order and substance. This work, as life, is simply a study of human experiences and events, influences and intentions in their persevering qualities and their transforming effects upon the lives of humanity.
It has been, for the author, the living content increasingly defined, within the boundless context of life. The question of being and non-being is confronted, and responded to, only to be faced again with ever increasing awareness. This is a journey of return from the place of no-return.
The author "feels" as though he has been to the "mountain-top" many times. For him it is no longer a place to go to, nor is it a place to be from. It is simply a place to BE! Each word spoken or written about it is a step away from it, not towards it. But yea, still he goes on writing, for ultimately he returns....weary, bruised and bleeding, but freer still....to know more deeply, more intimately....the nature of truth.
*ADDENDUM
This wonderfully profound and perceptive proverb has been excerpted from a fascinating documentary entitled TALES FROM THE NIGHT RAINBOW ("Mo'olelo ona Po Ma Kole"). The story of a Woman, a People, and an Island. It has been recorded from an oral history as told in the spirit we have made every effort to show respectful credence to by Kaili'ohe Kame'ekua of Kamalo, Moloka'i (1816-1931). We have reprinted this excerpt with the kind permission of Night Rainbow Publishing, P.O. Box 10706; Honolulu, Hawai'i, 96816.
Click the links below to continue reading "BEYOND OUR CONSENT"
{ BACK TO "CONTENTS" } { NEXT - ACKNOWLEDGMENTS & DEDICATION }
CLICK HERE FOR YOUR FREE E-BOOK!
Readers comments are welcome and encouraged. They can submitted by Email to cfpress@nationmakers.com or discussed in the NATIONMAKERS INTERNATIONAL DISCUSSION GROUP.
All Written Materials Copyright, 1997, Robert H. Brevig
All Rights Are Reserved, Without Prejudice.
U.C.C. 1-207.4 U.C.C. 1-103.6,.7