Go back to the cave

Let us go back to the cave, this new year

Let us move forth

beyond the hypocrisy of New York Times Square's ball-dropping

of those screaming and yelling amidst confetti falling

More than just a night of fireworks in the sky, adorning,

Of drag racing,

Of disco-dancing

Of well-wishing

Of drunk-driving

And next, another year of national forgetting

... a nation in amnesia we are made to be in

Let us not forget what must lie ahead

As we retreat to the "cave"

To think of shadows on its wall

And to reflect upon the "doctrine of reminiscence"

... the river of forgetfulness we drank from, intoxicated therein

In this cave we congregate

And begin to look at this reality we have constructed

Inside and outside of us as we are made to become cogs

in the wheels of industry

Inside and outside of us we build neon gods and bow down to these

and their creators

Inside of us we have become these gods

In the cave we must contemplate

The nature of revolution we must initiate

One that must begin with the mind and end with the mind

And in-between these we gather all those

Not yet intoxicated by the fireworks displays nor the hypocrisy of celebrating

Against the backdrop of world's poor suffering

And in between these - come forth will those be in full force

to bring this corrupt system down its knees

From inside of us, into the outside of this

... a revolt that must begin with the end in mind

In this cave

We are one

We are many

We are the powerful and the powerless and we are once the power abusers

We speak the language of nature

Of one that will bring down this world of materials culture

Of one that will rewrite our history

So that the past will be closer to our primordial nature

So that the future will be close to our heart's desire

This will be our cave

In it we will speak of politics and culture in its most ideal form

So that we may speak of the culture of vultures outside this cave

this vulture culture that is corrupting human nature

making the rich filthier

the poor poorer, trampled upon easier

This will be our cave

Wherein we no longer speak of the national economy

Calibrated by statistical lies only, trumpeted globally

In fine imitation of the language of composite indexes and standards and poor

And how bulls and bears will roam the streets running amuck

to the tune of the velocity of money

as currencies move globally creating national tragedies

This cave will be the place

Wherein we no longer speak of how many billions and gold bullions we will need

To prop up the next emperor with a kris

Nor a place wherein we talk about curbing corruption

Whereas we ourselves are too corrupt to curb ourselves

In this cave

There shall be no fireworks to burn

There shall be no slogans to clutter the timid mind of the people we govern

There shall be no strategies of deception and intrigues of politics to renew

There shall be no plans of monopolising the prime media to honor

the neon gods anew

In this cave

There shall be dialogues our politics and pedagogy once knew

There shall be conversations around the idea of

Who should rule?

Why should we be ruled?

What is a just government?

When does a government become ineffective, abusive, oppressive,

and tyrannical?

and what then must we do?

Must investment bankers become emperors?

Must future leaders ally with global corporate raiders?

Must we disobey unjust laws?

How must we learn to question authority?

How must our children be taught?

How must their intelligence be respected?

Must these young minds be developed by state-conditioned educators?

How must we stop the decay in our universities?

How must we reclaim its prosperity and recapture its dignity?

And vote out those who rule with arrogance and intellectual brutality

What is an ideal society, a perfect government, a philosopher ruler

How might we create a messiah out of wisdom and virtue?

How might we make these possible?

Through a revolution of pure reason

That will overthrow governments run by robber barons

This will be our cave

As what Socrates once spoke of

In which Muhammad the Prophet of Islam found illuminations in

In which Lao Tzu would had also once retreated to

Let us all go back to the cave

Let us first make our way to the mountains

There is no mountain high enough

Come into our cave -

Educators, university professors, vice-chancellor, students, activists, enlightened politicians, social workers, farmers, rubber tappers, fishermen, doctors, lawyers, engineers, entertainers, religious leaders, military officers, artists, artisans, musicians, comedians, petty traders, currency traders, multimedia producers, princes and princesses, schoolchildren...

Come into our cave -

Revolt we must against the gods of materials culture and political vultures

Who reign through the divine right of kings

Reigned through hidden terror

Mandated by the modern state it legitimates

Through the use of the ideological state apparatuses it finely decorates

So that the masses will be cleverly subjugated

Let us, when we are ready, come out of the cave -

To create a new social order

For this world is too much for us.

But we are not merely a speck of dust

We have choices. And we evolve.

This new year, we should be in a cave.