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;void(0)) I named this column after the "religion" started by the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhanaton. Prior to his dynasty most cultures were polytheistic or worshipped more than one god. Akhanaton introduced the concept of the one god. His dynasty met with a hasty demise and the concept of a one God never emerged again until the arrival of Moses and the followers of Yahweh. The more I tried to figure out the nature of our current affairs the more confused I became. So I decided to consult the writings and philosophy of the ancients. The Aton religion introduced a god that emanated from the rays of the Sun and therefore did not simply rule over one people but all people and all of nature. They therefore believed that there are certain universals that apply to all people of the world and all of nature. These are a few of the constants that seem to apply to the world we live in: #1. The world is not made up of totally distinct and independent things. When we change the temperature of water it changes its form. It can become steam or turn into ice. As far as social factors are concerned, the sub-prime mortgage crisis has not only effected the home owner but it has caused ripples throughout the world because the mortgages were bought and sold by investors throughout the world. The rise in gasoline prices has caused a ripple effect in various areas of retail sales because gasoline is needed in order to get goods to the market. #2. Nothing in the world is really static. Everything is always changing, rising, declining, or dying away. When you hear the name housing projects these days most people are likely to associate the very name with crime, drugs and urban blight. Few are aware of the fact that during the late '40s and early '50s the housing projects were an ideal place to live for upwardly mobile working class members of society. They did not start to make a turn for the worse until around the mid-60s. During the mid-1960s many black people in this country were not allowed to vote. Today, with several black elected officials throughout the country we are now on the threshold of electing the first African-American president in the nation's history. #3. The development that takes place in most things is not simple, but is broken at certain points in a very sharp way. In child development there is a theory that adolescents and pre-adolescents go through periods of mild depression as they go through certain major changes in their anatomical and psychological development, somehow directly related to inherent conflicts associated with these processes. Before our country became the nation that it is today it had to go through major conflicts (the revolutionary war; the civil war; the civil rights era; etc.) to get to this point. #4. Everything has its positive and its negative side. As I have mentioned in earlier Aton Project articles, due to major improvements in science, we are living longer due to scientific breakthroughs and better nutrition, however, the quality of that longer life span is racked with pain and suffering for many of us. Cardiovascular diseases that used to kill its victims within a short span of time is now hanging around for years. There are also more virulent and hideous diseases that are presenting more challenges to the victims and to scientists. In a country that prides itself on freedom and carrying the banner of democracy in its war on terror we have an ever widening gap between its working people and the rich. While the world has made substantial leaps into mastering nature and outter space we are all standing at the threshold of disaster due to our inability to master the threats presented by global warming. These are principles that can be observed in processing our own lives and can be helpful when it comes to dealing with the world we live in. It is not some ideological dogma that states that "this is the way it is and will always be". It places us all in concert with the world that we live in, thus placing our lives in a proper and rational perspective with events. From this starting point we can move on with most challenges and deal with it in a more reasonable manner. Please e-mail me and let me know your thoughts on this matter. Oh yeah, don't forget your autographed copy of “The Ackee Chronicles”. Tony VanSluytman - the Author  Newsletter Directory The Aton Project - Home Page Tony VanSluytman info Tony VanSluytman - the Author | Return Home | The BOOK DOCTOR | The BANYON NETWORK | The Banyon Buzz Newsletters | The Aton Project Newsletters | Contact Us | |
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