Scope, Structure, Approach.

Introduction

Part I – Preaching Oneness.

In this section we encounter the idea of Oneness as a dominant perspective, and begin to set the stage for the ideas and arguments in Game of Gods.

Chapter One: Visions of One.

We start by attending an educational conference in 1997, the Global Citizenship 2000 Youth Congress, an event that sought to embed Oneness into the curriculum base. But what is Oneness? And how is it conceived, anticipated, experienced, advanced? Chapter one explores the concept of Oneness as a leading paradigm and worldview, even as it is often unrealized or unacknowledged as such.

Topics: global citizenship, Oprah and new spirituality, flow states, Oneness, One-ism, G.O.D., paganism, myth, world transformation.

Chapter Two: The Planetized Generation.

We return to the Global Citizenship congress, unpacking how this event influenced attendees, and how it reflected the worldview patterns of the first truly planetized generation. This chapter is an important window into what it means to think and act as global citizens – emissaries of Oneness.

Topics: Global Citizenship 2000 Youth Congress, generational mind shift, Mother Earth, world community, exemplifying Oneness, global worldview, collective ideal.

Part II – Changing Epochs.

Part II provides an essential survey of the many factors that transformed Western civilization; the turbulent transition from Christendom to Modernity, from Postmodernism to Re-Enchantment – the Age of Oneness.

Chapter 3: Shifting Faiths.

Our survey starts with a brief overview of Christendom’s historical and internal crisis, the impact of the Renaissance and Reformation, and the shift to secularization.

Topics: Age of Faith, Papal excesses, Roman Catholicism, Renaissance, Reformation, Protestantism, naturalism, secularization. 

Chapter 4: The Temple of Man.

From the guillotines of the French Revolution to the Great Leap Forward, from Rousseau and Saint Simon to Marx and Darwin, from the shell holes of the Great War to the bright promises of the New Deal, we take a whirlwind tour through the causes and consequences of Modernity.

“Yes, we are going to destroy everything,” proclaimed the Soviet high priest, V.I. Lenin, “and on the ruins we will build our temple!”

Topics: French Revolution, Modernity, state planning, New Christianity, August Comte, Positivism, group integration, individualism, systems thinking, evolution, Soviet Union, Chairman Mao, communism, the Great War, World Fairs and Expositions, consumerism, materialism, technocracy, bureaucracy, secularization.

Chapter 5: Fuzzy Daze.

As the Twentieth Century progressed, the Judeo-Christian ethos was increasingly pushed to the cultural sidelines. Forms and symbols of Modernity were also being challenged. By the 1960s a profound social shift was taking place, foreshadowed – as we explore in chapter five – by artistic movements and intellectual discussions. But as prior foundations and guiding institutions were being undermined, Western civilization wandered in a fuzzy daze of lost meaning and purpose. We questioned but were incapable – or unwilling – to accept answers grounded in past realities and traditions. The Postmodern mood was upon us.

Topics: Postmodernism, Selfism, political correctness, social narratives, cultural value of art, scientific philosophy, intellectual attitudes, Nietzsche, Ortega, Foucault, Heidegger, 1960s social change, New Left, Modernity and war, Vietnam War, America’s domestic unrest, “revolution in mind.” 

Chapter 6: Enchanting Ourselves.

While the Postmodern attitude was soaking into the pores of civilization, novel forms of spirituality were making inroads. Psychedelic visions, Eastern metaphysics, theosophical teachings, and mystical conceptions were wedded to human potential thinking – the New Age movement sprouted and took hold. New gatekeepers of meaning and influence arose, highlighting Self-expansion and the experiential. Even the bulwark of Modernity, the Soviet Union, found itself pulled toward the New Thinking. But could the narrative of a spiritually aggrandized Self bring the world into Oneness?

Topics: Lotus Temple, Hinduism, Romanticism, new religions, Mormonism, Spiritualism, Baha’i faith, esotericism, Freemasonry, Theosophy, Parliament of the World’s Religions, Swami Vivekananda, East/West contact, Soka Gakkai, Timothy Leary, psychedelics, Eastern spirituality, DMT, Soma, Esalen Institute, New Age movement, First Earth Battalion, Soviet-American Citizens’ Summit, Center for Soviet-American Dialogue, Gorbachev, State of the World Forum, Millennium gatherings, cultural acceptance, Self and We.

Chapter 7: Magical Re-Enchantment.

Paralleling the Postmodern mood and the New Age movement was the desire for a harmonizing story, a framework upon which to build the practical edifices of One World – or at least, a guiding narrative for global citizenship. What would be the unifying myth? How would a deeper sense of community unfold? Might a return to the primal and archaic point the way forward? Could a renewed sense of mystery and wonder provide meaning and purpose?

Oneness would be mythically situated; the quest for re-enchantment led us into the depths of a pagan garden.

Topics: Deity statues, disenchantment, meaning of myth, role of ritual, Club of Rome, Stanford Research Institute, Changing Images of Man, meaning of Re-enchantment, occulture, Nazi Germany, Spaceship Earth, Earth Day, Green Revolution, Findhorn, Gaia, United Nations Earth Summit, four Christian responses, Paganicon and Paganistan, neo-Paganism, Ark of Hope.

Part III – The Genesis Factor.

In this section we unpack some of the historic, Biblical events illuminating humanity’s Three Great desires; to be as God, to be masters of Meaning and Destiny, to build Heaven on Earth. Juxtaposed is the Biblical argument of God’s otherness, our special position within creation, and the ultimate reason for hope.

Chapter 8: Agonizing Transcendence.

Chapter 8 acknowledges the special hold that Oneness has on humanity – that it tugs at us, offering mankind an alternative paradigm based on the veneration of creation. Fundamental questions arise: Is Oneness true and Separation an illusion, or is it the other way round? Is everything part of a cosmic whole, or is God the ultimate other? Is reality One or Two? And where does our hope come from?

Topics: Oneness and Separation, mystical moods, God’s otherness, material distinctions, Genesis 1, creation, Isaiah 40, I AM, Israel’s pagan struggle, love of God and exclusivity of Jesus Christ, early church under Rome, religious differences, faith in action, pain of death, promise of resurrection. 

Chapter 9: Circle of Gods.

Genesis 3 presents us with an earth-shaking promise; that through transgression we will transform into something greater. As chapter 9 fleshes out, this pledge – first given by an angel of light – remains at the center of our human experience. Around and around we go: playing a game that spans generations, with eternal consequences. 

Topics: Spiritual Unity of Nations, Genesis 2-3, Fall of Man, problem of evil, eating the fruit as spiritual revolution, New Age movement, Rosicrucianism, Mormonism, Freemasonry, alien encounters, Solara, alien re-enchantment, god-voices.

Chapter 10: Building Cosmopolis.

 The World City, that symbolic expression of power-in-unity, is a dream compelling us to action. From the first city mentioned in the Bible – no, it’s not Babel – to the never-built Tower of Progress, from the Palace of the Soviets to the “new architecture” preaching Oneness, a discernible theme courses through human history: Together we build the City, together we erect the Temple of Man.

Topics: Global Peoples Assembly, Lucile Green, Genesis 4, meaning of the city, Cosmopolis as an ideal, Genesis 11, Babel, Tower of Progress, Palace of the Soviets, skyscrapers, Astana, Canadian Museum of Human Rights, European Parliament, European integration, United Nations World Urban Forum, Babel overthrown and the New City.

Part IV – Going Deeper.

Four intensely documented essays detail how Oneness corresponds to practical and theoretical ambitions: World Government, Interfaithism, Transhumanism, and Evolutionary Culture. 

Chapter 11: The Cult of World Order.

What has often been relegated to a conspiracy theory is ripped open for all to see; a long running and deeply rooted political movement, but with a twist – the belief that it can save the world. In the words of actress and advocate, Jean Stapleton, “The goal of the World Federalists is peace through unity of government. We must support their vision of oneness in diversity for it is the salvation of humanity.”

Topics: United Nations Millennium Forum, role of NGOs, World Federalist Movement, Subgroup Six, new world order, Hague process, League to Enforce Peace, League of Nations, Social Gospel, Union Now, Federal Council of Churches, churches for world government, ideas for world order, United World Federalists, World Movement for World Federal Government, international authority, ecology and global governance, UN Conference on the Human Environment, UN Conference of Environment and Development, Agenda 21, Sustainable Development for a New World Agenda, World Federalist Association, WFM International Congress, world unity in response to threats, collective salvation.

Chapter 12: Spiritual Politics.

This chapter probes a profoundly important modern development, the interfaith movement. In these heavily documented pages, we travel to global summits and parliaments where religious leaders gather… to enchant one another, to embrace the new global myth, to reinforce progressive narratives, to play politics. “Oneness is the key,” it was said at the 2015 Parliament. “And if oneness is there, things change. Fast.”

Topics: World Federalist Association, United Religions Initiative, Bishop William Swing, URI Global Charter Summit, 1893 Parliament of the World’s Religions, Masonic universalism, Perennial philosophy, mystical feelings, religious differences, experiential spirituality, war and religion, death tabulations, G8 World Religions Summit, Christian problems with interfaithism, 2015 Parliament of the World’s Religions.

Chapter 13: Machines of Loving Grace.

Deifying information and the power of technology, we seek to shape humanity into our ideal image, and proclaim ascension through the works of our hands. Chapter 13 tracks the transhuman dream, its robust history, and the religious orientation it inevitably takes.

Topics: Global Future 2045 International Congress, transhumanism, eugenics, technical advancements, crowd-gnosis, politicized science, attitudes to science, scientific control of society, Colloquium on the Law of the Futuristic Persons, virtual reality, BCI, criticisms and concerns, secular transhumanism, Julian Huxley, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, techno-shamanism, perfectibility, Freemasonry, Theosophy, Singularity, Cosmism, Terasem Movement, Mormon Transhumanist Association, Christian criticism of religious transhumanism, techno-immortality, techno-gods.

Chapter 14: Celebrating Oneness.

The following is taken from chapter 14: “Evolutionary culture, also couched as transformational culture, is an indicator of the West’s acceptance of a new outlook: The rejection of the Christian claim, and the desire for enchantment. It is aesthetic and experimental, exploring and shaping – even transgressing and repackaging – the attitudes aligned with Post-modernism, the Self of human potential, and New Age spirituality. Evolutionary culture, grounded in revolutionary social moods, reflects and refines the worldview already embedded in society.”

Topics: Dimensional Rift, Temporary Autonomous Zones, evolutionary culture, transformational festivals, Boom Festival, TomorrowLand, personal transformation, Aleister Crowley, Dada, Happenings Movement, Ken Kesey, Merry Band of Pranksters, LSD, Trips Festival, Human Be-In, Woodstock, New Age Travelers, teknivals, Goa, psytrance, Rainbow Family of Living Light, Rainbow Gatherings, Moontribe, Burning Man, Larry Harvey, Silicon Valley elites, Camp of the Unknown God.

Part V – Transformation.

Part 5 is comprised of one chapter, an overview with reflections and calls to action.

Chapter 15: Choosing Freedom.

“What will you put your faith in? The cult of world order? Spiritual politics? Technology? Will you look for meaning in a mystical feeling? Are you trusting in an ancient-future vision? Will you, as a compliant global citizen, proclaim the myth of Re-enchantment?

The Temple of Man beckons; come, let us build our Babel – let us play our game of gods.

Or will you place your hope in Someone who is eternally greater?”

Topics: Future scenarios, general responses, options for Christians, freedom and faith.