Spirit of the times
The domains of human residency, both urban and otherwise, are encapusaltion of energy-density that function as portals into the zeitgeist. The zeitgeist is the storyline of one’s Age, and just as the box office poses a current of screenplays both efficient and otherwise, so the nature of humanity’s cultural experience.
The zeitgeist in itself is evolved, its storyline gradually shifted, by large-scale events that re-inform its priorities- that re-shape its perspective, and therein, the global world-view; these events, or Revolutions, are generally protracted over an extended period of time, a few generations most often, and only assume such a consolidated identity in retrospect.
Each Age constructs its own pantheon of Deities that exemplify the Fetishes re-inforced by social convention; a Revolution is no more than a protracted temporal event signifying the upheaval of an established pantheon, thus, replacing the Old Gods with the New. The human capacity for the informed investment of faith, that translates to the free-will of worship, exalts natural phenomenon to virtual peaks of artificial significance; therein, the birth of Fetish as the unit of human faith, becoming embodied as Deities to personify the cornerstones of culture, and producing the framework of Value that defines the predominant aesthetic of the present zeitgeist, and nature of Desire realised within its adherents.
In the age of globalisation, this predominant aesthetic current is quickly identified, or assimilated, in as the Mainstream; though the zeitgeist is not necessarily this- the mainstream, nevertheless, assumes great contextual significance in the definition of its parameters. In other words, the zeitgeist is understood in terms of one’s association with the cultural mainstream- considering that it’s immensity assures that an appreciation of, or association with, its influence is inescapable.
We exist now, either in the Digital Age, or in some degree of the throes of a Digital Revolution; again, this is a matter better clarified in retrospect. Often, it is the gradual consolidation of technological complexity, in mutual nourishment with the energy-density generated by a domain, that incites Revolution: much as the hands of Effort turn the page, so the human story progresses thus. It is in the nature of technological progress to reconfigure the paradigm of authority assumed within a Domain- the upheaval of the pantheon, the seminal spark of Revolution upon the human stage of time; the human stage of time, that is, society.
A domain is a congregation of Faith: a forest -nay, family!- of trees; society is but the mud that sustains the spirals of tradition that are nourished by rain, sent from the skies, whose source, by our eyes, we will never behold. Each tribe a keeper of Tradition, that, by the progress of technology gathers momentum in Guilds that engineer the generation of cultural glyphs- as droplets of time condensed from the aesthetic of those tribal residents, that pour their Effort unto the experience of the same. A Tradition is no more than the compendium of rituals, a framework of worship, and the context of their significance; that allow for the dominion of its residents to reflect Harmony, Efficiency, and Order in the sublimation of Identity, that pursuit of Liberty, unto the generation of complexity, that purpose, Duty, of existence.
Given this, each Tribe is the tree of life, sprung from the mud of a Domain: its Traditional roots, its Guilds as the branches of its Economy, its Residents as its leaves, and its Glyphs as the fruit of their Efforts, as its harvest of Faith. That complexity is the cosmic design, and each extant system exists but unto complexity, then the purpose of life is, merely to exist; and to sustain the responsibility of this existence, that each of all that is has been invested with, in the utmost reflection of Symmetry: the Harmony, the Efficiency, and Order of Faith.
The paradigm of authority is the pantheon in place, sustained by the Age of society: context for the Effort of its Residents, the very root of its significance; and their realisation, thus. The currency of ideas that nourishes a domain is the Economy sustained by the generation of complexity that displays the investment of Faith by the Guilds of a Tribe, and the Tribes of a Domain.
The birth of a tradition conceives a new Age of authority in heaven, the kingdom of god, that absolute domain: that abode of Deities as prescribed by the aesthetic of the predominant Tribe. A Domain is an assimilation of Engines, and Engines the assimilation of Devices- thus, the Heirarchy of Energy-Density; thus, the structure of a Domain. It’s patterns, as the arboreal aesthetic of a forest’s foliage, are determined by the Cultural Dialogue of it’s Guilds and Tribes; thus, Culture stands to signify the natural translation of the energy-dense encapsulation within a domain into consolidated patterns of complexity: thus, the aging of Faith; nurtured by its Residents, those energy-dense encapsulations, those leaves upon the mango tree, the apple, the fig- those Entities.
Though the complexity of a Domain is furthered and sustained by Tribes and Guilds, Economies and Glyphs, and the traditional fetishism of Effort- this is not the seminal image of Faith. Faith resides at Home: and, home is at the heart of Family. It is that nexus apart from the purpose of life, concerned, instead, simply with its conception; Family is the womb of Identity. The unconditional fertility the family provides is an unparalleled breeding ground for the harvest of Ideas, of one’s Self, and one’s Society. Determined neither by birth or choice, Family finds definition only in acknowledgement: those recognised as residing at Home, at the heart of one’s ideas of self and society, are Family.
We are no more the reflection of god than the skin of all rocks, the many stones of life, and the shapeless form of the whole universe. We are Iotas: agents of currency, as each instance of existence, meant to sustain the generation of complexity, augmented by the sublimation of our self-ish Identities. This is the cosmic design.
