Katrina's Journal, 09 January 2022, 1/2
The Penitent
Continuing with my inadvertent, but clearly necessary and timely delve into something spiritual, I have come to a tentative hypothesis.
Given the state of the world in which I find myself – you know, dystopian zombie nation kind of thing – and given I am only here to do my penance, my tentative hypothesis is that this is the Underworld, and everyone around me is already dead.
Yes, I am surrounded by dead people. And they don’t even know they are dead. Perhaps they all drank a full draught from Lethe, the river of forgetfulness, and have even forgotten that they died.
It would, indeed, explain a lot.
You see I get the impression that this deliberately orchestrated atomisation of society (destroying the social fabric and the sense of communalism that is intrinsic to a healthy human living) is epitomised most of all in the fact that everyone is so self-absorbed. That’s to say the chronic psychological stress inflicted on them has effectively encaged them all in their own little cells where they are forced to think only for themselves, for their own self-survival. They have no freedom and no guile and no time to care for others. That is, perhaps, a deception in the idea of penance – it is, after all, a deeply personal thing. I say deceptive, because the crucial lesson of penance is to not think of yourself all the time, but primarily of others.
So I would not be surprised in the slightest to discover that this is, indeed, the Underworld.
It’s an interesting philosophical question, though, isn’t it? It’s not unrelated to this other question I gather has been doing the rounds, namely the so-called simulation hypothesis – the idea that we’re all living in some kind of artificially generated and maintained computer simulation (like there’s some trickster super-advanced alien god playing Civilisation or some shit like that – actually I love that game, don’t get me wrong there; Sid Meier is no relation, though, I should add, lest you think I’ve been sponsored to say that). Naturally, this is all dressed up in the latest sci-fi, technological jargon (like The Matrix of course – I nearly starred in our world’s version of that movie, by the way – yet another story for another time). My reaction to this, at least at this current personal development juncture, is simply ‘whatever’.
The so-called simulation hypothesis is not new, by the way. Plato wrote about it in The Republic, for example (the ‘cave’ allegory, that is – it’s on our national curriculum, of course; note well the part concerning credulous people watching shadowplay on the walls created by scheming puppeteers – this should be familiar to you all in this dystopia; I chose that link, by the way, because it relates the allegory to screenwriting and narrative theory/storytelling, the hero’s journey and all that, which I know all about, being such a celebrated writer myself -yeah, keep thinking I’m a fantasist, until you see my movies and eat yourself; anyway – do take a look). That’s one of my favourite books, as it happens – I just love the magical realist feel of the whole thing. It’s kind of a floaty feeling, actually. Quite strange. I think it reminds me of Atlantis, and I would not be surprised at all if that’s where Plato got it from. In Atlantis children were ‘assessed’ at a young age, their calling in life was discovered and acknowledged and that’s the pathway on which they were placed. This is how the society was stratified. In the case of Atlantis, however, this was all done benevolently. If you want some modern terminology to describe the kind of society it was, then something like ‘spiritual, sacerdotal socialism’ might be apt. And it was utterly perfect for true human nature, organised as it was in accordance with the human spectrum of needs. As opposed to this alien system you have going on.
People were eminently happy in Atlantis. They didn’t use money, for a start. In a civilised, benevolently organised society everything is shared and free at the point of use. If you needed a doctor, they would come round and treat you. Or priestly advice, you go to the temple. Everyone had their designated roles, whether that was producing food, looking after the animals, or artisanship. And then there were the lovely festival days and days of leisure. Later, when things got more sophisticated with science and learning and so on the diversity of roles expanded – bright young people would become researchers and philosophers and engineers, constructing and maintaining and operating the technological products of that science. Given they had a different, holistic and harmonious attitude towards life and the environment, that science pursued a quite different path to the materialistic nonsense that passes for science these days. Our world is reverting to this, by the way. Although I am reminded again that in this world scepticism about Atlantis and the genius of ancient humanity rules the day, and knowledge of it is suppressed and discouraged, alongside the truth about anthropology – instead, this monstrous bellicose projection onto the human story likewise rules. I say projection because it’s the monsters who are bellicose, not normal people. Understanding this, needless to say, is crucial to resolving all your problems. Think of them as chimps, and you as bonobos.
Humans have, recall, been humans for some three hundred thousand years. That means they’ve lived through three interglacial periods, each of which is conducive to a neolithic revolution. Food for thought, that is.
Yeah, I’ll have to write about all that too sometime, it seems. But when I say that our world’s science is changing accordingly, since we finally solved the monster problem, all those intelligent, older souls who remembered their lives as researchers in Atlantis are now gratefully able to make themselves known, where before they kept themselves hidden, well knowing their knowledge and understanding would’ve been used by the monsters for ill and evil purpose. Sonics, for example. And likewise, now we have a benevolent world, more of those older souls are finding a place conducive to their sensibilities, and are newly incarnating again in droves – having, quite sensibly, stayed away. Likewise, there’s the similar extraterrestrial phenomenon of those claiming to have experienced lives on other worlds, in other species. They seem to be called ‘Starseeds’ in this world. We call them, simply, Visitors.
Everything changes, you see, when you eliminate evil. Everything. Everyone suddenly realises and understands that they had been living with a demon on their back that they never knew was there.
I think Plato understood this. It would’ve been in those beautiful ancient libraries, like the one at Alexandria. Not surprising that imperialist monsters had to destroy that archive. It really wouldn’t do for the people to remember a better world or to understand that this new empire, despite what it claims, is not some kind of pinnacle of civilisation, some self-styled master race. And you, too, in this world today, would do well to acknowledge the same about the evil empire that rules you. So yeah, I can really imagine that kind of otherworldly society. Some people call it a dystopia. Not true. Whether something is a utopia or a dystopia depends entirely on the character of the people governing that society. In this world, you have evil monsters in control, so you have a dystopia. In our world, we destroyed the monsters and now have benevolent people in charge, so we have a utopia. As I said, a world in which no one is scared anymore. That’s the simple definition – you may have noticed how one of the primary mechanisms of subjugation employed by the monsters is making people feel unsafe? Human beings did not evolve in an environment characterised by a feeling of permanent unsafety – thus, our old friend cognitive dissonance. The human brain is not adapted to such an environment, and so finds itself utterly lost and self-defensive the whole time. So the monsters set themselves up as the strong, authoritarian type who will keep you safe and people get into line. Of course it’s all a lie, and that should be obvious – it’s the monsters themselves – those so-called strong authoritarian types – who created the lack of safety and the repeated crises in the first place.
We don’t have crises in our world. Which just goes to show – all of them are artificial. Therefore, they are arbitrary. Many of them aren’t even real!
Anyhow, I kind of digress. Kind of not. It reminds me of a movie I once made, called The Penitent (2014), which I both wrote and starred in. Given that I would love to remake this movie so you all get to see it, I’ll not tell you too much about it as there is a beautiful and unexpected twist at the end, and no one likes a spoiler. The movie was, largely, our homage to those beautiful 1970s sci-fi dystopias (we made a lot of knowing visual references to them) – movies like Logan’s Run, and George Lucas’ masterful THX 1138.
Yeah, I really must remake that movie. It’s one of my faves. If I say so myself. Won awards too, don’t you know.
The basic setup, synopsis, whatever, is one of my typical admittedly self-indulgent postmodernist notions. So I, as me, wake up in the first scene to find myself in a padded cell. As it transpires I am in some mental hospital being treated for being one of the ‘Disaffected’. I calm down after a short while and discover where I am. Or perhaps more aptly, when I am. Some distant future in which, following some unspecified catastrophe, the remnants of humanity live in sealed underground habitats, with only a little dome above the surface to remind people of the uninhabitability of the world. The Disaffected are predominantly women (yeah, there’s a distinct feminist element running through it) who can no longer cope with this situation of living in these subterranean cities, and so dissociate completely from reality. First they become somewhat catatonic, then they kind of wake up but claim to be some important person from an ancient time when the air was breathable and the skies were blue and white and the land was green and pleasant. Simply in order to survive, and to not be forced to remain inside some padded cell I start cooperating with my ‘therapy’, in the hope of being moved from intensive care to the rehabilitation section, where I may be able to readjust to life. Obviously, it doesn’t all go to plan, and I cannot help but encourage iconoclasm and rebellion. So that’s your typical cool sci-fi dystopia setup. Not telling you any more about it, of course, just in case I ever get the chance to remake this beautiful piece of art.
I did talk to Malcolm about this movie – you can well imagine, I’m sure, that for a psychologist he couldn’t not notice the blatantly obvious parallels with my own situation here in your world. Like I wake up to find myself in a dystopia claiming to be an important person from my world but am predictably diagnosed as ‘disaffected’. As for the iconoclasm and all that, well, that’s where I’ll have to be careful, of course – those monsters would get just a little threatened, don’t you think? If so, then the obvious solution to ‘what to do about Katrina’ is, well, snuff her out.
And I really, really don’t want that.
All of this likewise reminds me of a further, philosophical and spiritual consequence of our Multiversal Molecule Theory idea of parallel worlds. Namely that all these worlds lie on some spectrum between utopia (heaven) and dystopia (hell), with a kind of purgatory in the middle (and just as our world is moving towards the heaven end of this spectrum, yours, perhaps in an almost inversely proportional rate, is moving towards the other side). Where you end up in your next life depends entirely on how you conduct yourself in this one. Understanding how to get through a life in a dystopia is, in fact, much easier than you might realise – you simply need to remember the art of being good, whatever they throw at you. You don’t give in, even if resistance is ultimately futile. Unless you remain with a good and pure heart, then you will frankly continue reincarnating in worlds like this until you get it right. Until you learn the lesson.
Perhaps the ones I meet along the way will remember this lesson, simply by virtue of meeting me. Perhaps that’s all my purpose really is here. Do I really, actually, want to change your world? Or is it supposed to remain a purgatorial dystopia, as if only to preserve the multiversal balance? I’m sure I’ll find out sometime.
But in the meantime, I’ll just keep on doing what I do and saying what I have to say. If anyone listens, all good and well. And if, as I expect, most people are too far gone to listen, then so be it. All the good souls will end up in worlds like mine anyway, and all the bad souls, well, you’ll be lumbered with them, eh? Call it the great filter, if you like.
Get used to it.
For I believe, even with merely a few months of being here and observing the way your world is, I think it really is beyond redemption, and there is little that little old me can do about it. Although I cannot escape my Eurydikean pathology, for it is genuinely a character-pathology, I will not labour under any illusion that I myself can make your world a better place, or lead you all out of your Underworld. Why? Because people don’t want to hear it, and they do not have the energetic love, or the freedom or the guile, to do what must be done, as we did in our world. So, I shall get used to that myself and stop trying. It’s not that I will be selfish, oh no, not me, for I will care about those ones I meet along the way.
But as for the rest of you, you have ultimately brought this state of affairs upon yourselves. And well, to hell with you.
Why am I a penitent? Well, let’s just say that you can’t resolve the problem of monsters without breaking a few eggs, eh?
But that’s classified. And you don’t have a need to know…
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