“Humanity is asleep, concerned only with what is useless, living in a wrong world....Do not prattle before the People of the Path, rather consume yourself. You have an inverted knowledge and religion if you are upside down in relation to Reality. Man is wrapping his net around himself. A lion (the man of the Way) bursts his cage asunder." - The Sufi Master Sanai, teacher of Rumi, in The Walled Garden of Truth (1131 C.E.).
What role does conspiracy and cover-up play in the multifarious facets of life in the closing years of this twentieth century? Are powerful groups manipulating events as part of a long-range strategy to bring about a totally controlled global society? Does recognition of conspiracies lead to paranoia and delusion? Or does it actually explain events and thereby empower people?It is not the purpose of this short article to examine the range of crimes, cabals and secret plots broadly covered by the word conspiracy. Nor do we intend to prove the existence of some international conspiracy at work in the crisis torn world of the 90s. What we want to touch on is the implications of conspiracy theories for personal transformation. What we want to explore here is a different way of seeing the world.
First let us define the meaning of that seemingly disturbing word: "conspiracy". Webster's International dictionary gives, as one connotation, "a combination of men for an evil purpose; a plot". The Oxford Dictionary of English agrees, defining conspiracy as "a combination of persons for an evil or unlawful purpose; an agreement between two or more to do something criminal, illegal or reprehensible; a plot".
If, as a significant number of researchers claim, it can be shown that influential - largely hidden - elites have knowingly combined their efforts in a plot(s) to manipulate and control people and events, then on the basis of the standard definition just cited, a conspiracy does indeed exist.
Readers who are accustomed (or is it conditioned?) to automatically regard any mention of conspiracy as irrational paranoia, will find this very subject a 'problem'.
Jonathon Vankin, the author of two excellent books exploring a host of conspiracy theories, observes that, "The word 'conspiracy' may be a 'problem' for some, but only because it represents the unknown, mystery, and risk. Those are the things that grip the human mind and bring it to life. These ideas can only be a problem for those who wish to keep our minds under control."
Last century the British politician, Benjamin Disraeli, a man of wide political experience, declared that "the world is governed by very different personages from what is imagined by those who are not behind the scenes." This century U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt has been quoted as saying: "In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, it was planned that way."
"Ruling elites will use conspiracy," states political scientist and activist Dr. Michael Parenti. "They will finance elections, publicity campaigns, publishing houses, wire services, and academic studies. They will use surveillance, mobsters, terrorists, assassins and death squads."
Conspiracy researchers 'look behind the dark curtain' that shrouds history and the sacrosanct assumptions reinforcing contemporary society.
There really are, as investigative author Jim Hougan says, two kinds of history, the safe, sanitized "'Disney version,' so widely available as to be unavoidable...and a second one that remains secret, buried, and unnamed."
This "second" version of history, Jonathon Vankin and John Whalen argue, does indeed have a name: "conspiracy theory." According to the co-authors of 50 Greatest Conspiracies of All Time the official, safe "Disney" version of history "could just as easily be called the 'New York Times version' or the 'TV news version' or the 'college textbook version.' The main resistance to conspiracy theories comes not from people on the street, but from the media, academia, and government - people who manage the national and global economy of information."
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