There's a strong element of intuitive thinking in the "new" networked social reality and — historically — people have shown, over and over again, ultimately overwhelming desires for greater order, explicitness and conformity. It has always been dangerous to be a non-conformist and many people, put to the test, chicken out.

Case histories might be found in the optimistic movements of recent history —  like the Spanish Civil War that resulted in Franco's Spain; the Bolshevik Revolution that saw the timely and necessary rising of a myriad of idealistic groups and individuals resolve itself into centralised Stalinism and a grotesquely overweight bureaucracy.

We see similar processes resulting from the interplay of fears and unco-ordinated idealism in the modern histories of former colonial states and in the patterns of demand that have centralised the economies of even very poor states… and oppression and exploitation seem too often to be the deadly phoenixes that rise from the ashes of idealism. The demise of the old European monarchies — corrupt, brutal and exploitative — resulted in not just one but TWO World Wars and even greater militarism among the survivors.

The common corrosives are fear and distrust… and the great religions to which we have looked for the healing of these pathological emotions have, by and large, only exaccerbated and manipulated them. To me, that is a massive betrayal of god and humanity both.

If faith is worth a button, it should bring us inner peace and social peace … it should be able to sideline bigotry, greed and bullying; it should make us sufficiently comfortable spiritually and emotionally to lighten up when it comes to what we think we "need" , what we feel our entitlements are and what the neighbors might think, and realise that, most of all, we need this World and each other. 

I continue to live in hope but I can't help thinking we need to dispose of a few golden calves… and that brings us back to the historical cycle of centralisation - collapse - centralisation; of ideals breaking on the shores of fear like so many ocean waves… we need a faith revolution, in my view. WEe need to eradication of our "enemies" by reforming our hearts, or minds, our histories, our love and trust, and seeing them as co-dependants, instead of attempting to annihilate them with economic policies and armaments. But the sectarian jingoism rattles along in its good-ol', old tanked-up, toxic way. 

Why am I joy-filled and hopeful? I must be mad!