I was, at the time, recovering from a rather unpleasant virus and had repaired to bed considerably earlier than usual – and with a head uncharacteristically unclouded by alcohol.
When I awoke at around 5.30am, my mind was overflowing with the words you will shortly be reading and I immediately rushed downstairs to my computer and began tapping them out, before they were forever lost to me.
Over the following few weeks I looked back over a number of books I had been reading of late, along with the notes I had made from them, and established correlations with themes and rhetoric in the dream text. I have included these probable sources of inspiration as endnotes which I suggest are better read separately; not as an interruption to the main text, but a kind of subsequent commentary, albeit of a rather disjointed kind.
While these literary sources go some way to explaining the presence of certain ideas and arguments, I have little idea as to the origins of the tone in which the essay is expressed. It is not a voice I entirely recognise as my own and seems somehow to belong to a much earlier age, despite the scattering of contemporary references. There is not much more I can say that this; I assume the text was given to me so that I should share it further afield and this I am now doing.
Make of it what you will!
“Anarchy is life; the life that awaits us after we have freed ourselves from the yoke”
Do not be afraid for we are ANARCHANGELS and we have risen up from amongst you to set you free and save our world.
We have known for so long that this realm into which we were forced to become manifest, this civilisation in which we are all suffocating, is corrupt with rank and wretched decay.
We know this from the dead eyes of the human robots thronging the passageways of the commuter rail networks, the factories and the schools.
We know this from the tears of tiny babies propped up in front of television screens and told to learn how to fit in. (3)
We know this from the despairing cries of the fish, the birds, and the animals that are choking on the force-fed toxic excretions of the diabolic god Progress. (4)
We know this from the hellish roar of a billion bulldozers, the tormented wailing of a million passenger jets carrying triumphantly aloft a restless humanity desperately trying to escape the gaping insanity of its soul. (5)
We know this from the computer-readable price tags laser-burnt onto every blade of grass, every butterfly wing, every feeble sapling by the eager adepts of the Cult of Quantity.
We know this from the dripping limbs torn from small children, the blood and the grief and the screams of eternal suffering which are distilled and diverted to fill the bank accounts of the yellow-eyed death-mongers.
We know this from the happy couple Gluttony and Poverty, who march hand in hand round and round the globe to keep up with the daily opening of the international stock exchanges. So sweet together and each so indispensable to the other!
We know this from the fear in the hearts of the powerful, the ignorance in the minds of the dispossessed, the anger in the blood of all those who have seen through it all and yet still can change nothing.
We know this from the prisons, the courts, the surveillance cameras, the baton-wielding slave-thugs always ready to pounce on and destroy any faint stirring of that tender precious freedom called revolt.
We know this from our own despair, our own incomprehension, our own rage, our own failures, our own sorrow, our own deadly yearning to break out of this lonely nightmare for once and for all.
We know this because we know.
And we know that it must all be destroyed.
“Wait!” you cry. “Most likely you are not angels at all, but merely devils taking on the semblance! Destruction is a black force and not to be wielded lightly by those with a claim to higher motivations!”
We will not hear of this shallow argument.
It should be clear from what we just said that our destructive desire flows from the most positive of sources.
Behind our whole critique of this benighted civilisation is a deep sense of value.
This may even once have escaped us ourselves, so caught up were we in the emotion and pain of our spiritual dislocation.
But when we look again at all that hurts us most, we see that underlying it all is the absence of the values that we cherish.
This civilisation is built on nothing but cancerous growth, on its own self-fulfilling prophecy of endless exploitation, destruction, production, standardisation, isolation, separation, specialisation, centralisation. (6)
It has no ethos, no principle behind it save a barely human grunt for “more, more, more!” (7)
Nothing can stand in the way of its addiction as it gorges itself on its own body and spews acid abuse in the face of those who say this cannot go on.
But of course it can never reveal itself to be the beast it is.
Instead it turns the picture upside down and presents itself as the protector of values – and ourselves, we Anarchangels, as the threat to all that is good and proper.
These shallow pseudo-values are so lacking in substance that you would perhaps have imagined that nobody could be idiot enough to take them as real.
But, sadly, it seems that the malaise of our times includes the descent into witless gullibility of a fair proportion of our fellow citizens. (8)
Thus it was that the mass murderer Hitler persuaded the German people that he was the saviour of their noble culture, by cunning use of pomp and propaganda.
Thus it is that the black magicians of contemporary times can have (almost!) an entire people believe that their cultural inheritance, liberties, identity, dignity and future can be represented by a motley collection of historical individuals, events and developments.
Sometimes these are presented proudly in the plastic packaging of globalised consumerism and on other occasions, when it suits, they are all wrapped up in a musty old piece of multi-coloured cloth.
Conveniently in the secure ownership of those who possess wealth and thus power (it works just as well in reverse!), this is presented in itself as a ‘value’ although clearly it is nothing of the sort. (9)
The totem, with nothing in reality behind it other than the need for control over the population, can then be wielded as and when necessary to the desired effect.
With one wave of the magic rag, their eyes are drawn away from the conjuror’s accomplices busy picking their pockets, stealing the food from their tables, corrupting their children.
And so it is with all these ‘traditions’ and ‘values’ paraded before us by those who merely want to hold on to what they already have. They are empty, without moral content. (10)
Don’t ask the meaning of a religion, just obey its rules and keep your mouth and mind closed!
Keep telling yourself that the Emperor has a fine set of new clothes otherwise you may find his Anti-Terrorist Squad kicking in your front door!
The ‘traditions’ and ‘culture’ that (just about) hold this civilisation together have the depth of a cinematic stage set, the authenticity of a theme park ride.
The judge’s wig, the businessman’s suit, the monarch’s crown are all just flimsy substitutes for real content, real tradition, real value.
Given that this is so, it may seem possible that our own authentic values could be nurtured in such a way as to show up their hollow version for the fraud it is.
Why the need for destruction when the new society we crave could be built within the shell of the old and, given its inherent superiority, eventually replace it? (11)
This is a fine idea, and an appealing one, but unfortunately takes no cognisance of the depressing reality at which we have arrived.
The system of power understands all too well the threat of an alternative source of value or tradition, the potential of parallel social or cultural structures arising beyond its control.
It had to understand this, and defeat it, in order to have achieved its monopoly in the first place.
This is why heretics have been put to death, witches burned, land enclosed, restrictions imposed, education controlled, taxes enforced, borders patrolled, media regulated, dissidents imprisoned, organisations infiltrated, initiatives disrupted, authors discredited, travellers moved on, squats evicted, protests banned, email intercepted, web servers seized, public opinion assiduously manipulated.
The hunger of Progress (12) demands spiralling sacrifices of our planet’s living flesh and its servants need ever more power to carry out its orders. If they do not crack the whip and impose its will then they have failed in their appointed task.
Be sure that this system will do just what it has to do in its lust for power. It will stop short of nothing.
It is not going to stand idly by and watch us build its replacement under its very nose.
It is not going to be won over by the niceness of our actions or the kindness of our tone into letting us get on with a project that it knows could undermine its existence.
The malignant growth we term civilisation is not going to allow healthy cells of life to get in the way of its fatal expansion.
It does not threaten and intimidate opponents because they are criminals, though that is inevitably its public justification. It does so because they threaten its monopoly and it cares little whether they do so by way of insurrection or agricultural commune.
The Diggers of George’s Hill had no molotov cocktails concealed beneath their 17th century tunics and still they were crushed under the boot of power.
This does not mean we should not embrace creativity and show by our example that there are better ways to live.
But we will always need to be ready to fight to defend our vision. Indeed, we have always needed to be ready to do that.
We have fought over and over again, throughout history. We have to admit we have generally been defeated – otherwise we would not find ourselves where we are today.
But the struggle itself has been a victory of sorts, a flame kept burning and an inspiration for those to come.
It is these battles, however tragic their conclusion at the hands of the dark forces, that have given birth to each new generation of Anarchangels.
And the overwhelming truth that we draw from these bitter past experiences, in particular from their failure, is that we will never achieve what we want until we have destroyed the system in its entirety. (13)
You don’t need us to tell you this. Deep down you knew already, but were unwilling to face up to the enormity of the implications.
If your house was structurally unsound, right down to the foundations, would you try putting a new roof on it and seeing if that helped?
If the cancer of this civilisation is not cleansed from our collective body it will return to colonise any new growth we have managed to inspire. It will draw strength from the fresh energy, absorb the juices and rise up again to reimpose its vicious stranglehold.
We Anarchangels know it will not be easy to kill this system, this civilisation. If it was easy it would have been accomplished long ago.
But we know that it has to be done and we know that it is our task to try to do it.
We cannot separate in our minds the noble values that inspire us from the means with which we can enable them to prevail against the heavy decay that oppresses us all.
We cannot separate them because they are, in fact, the same thing – two aspects of one incandescent guiding star.
If we create an authentic alternative we are, as the powerful know full well, attempting to destroy the current system.
And if we attempt to destroy the current system we are, as we Anarchangels know full well, trying to allow the authentic alternative to come into being.
Creation is destruction. Destruction is creation. This is our faith and this is what drives us on towards our destinies.
We listen with interest to those who tell us that this is all meant to be and we are living towards the end of a great cycle of history.
The ancient Upanishads tell of a gradual descent from the Golden Age (Satya Yuga) to the Dark Age, known as Kali Yuga. (14)
The age foretold in these writings sounds very much like our own and here we can see its lack of values stripped down and made yet more plain.
Multiplication lies at the heart of it all – move still further from the light of simplicity and everything just falls apart.
Religions focus more and more on the detail and the dogma rather than on the eternal truth that inspired them.
Science splinters and specialises, focusing on smaller and smaller detail and becoming more interested in the material application of its findings than in how they contribute to our understanding of the universe.
Mass society lends the appearance of unity but in fact its bringing-together is a tearing-apart, as individuals become isolated, addicted to their own egos and have no sense of any selfless role in the working of it all.
The writings say that Kali Yuga is accelerating ever faster towards its doom, like a stone rolling down a mountainside (15) and that it will end in destruction (16), followed by the dawning of a new Satya Yuga.
We welcome this prediction. But we are also wary of falling for the notion that this is all inevitable and all we must do is sit and wait for epochal fate to run its course. (17)
For we know that we have work to do. The water wheel of history will not turn by itself and we are the droplets who must converge to power the change.
We have no real choice in the matter, for this is simply what we have to be – in the same way as an antibody in our blood must set out to combat disease and infection. (18)
But that doesn’t mean it comes easily, lazily, without effort – and there are some who will drop back, useless and unfulfilled, like a spermatozoon unfit to fertilise an egg.
A fallen anarchangel will plunge, wither and be sucked back into a dark vortex of their own unopened potential, now turned inwards to bitterness and a stunted self.
But we others – we angel-droplets, we swim-sprinting spermatozoa, we creative destroyers of the Kali Yuga – will play out our role with determination and pride.
How many Anarchangels does it take to bring down a civilisation?
More than we are now, that is for sure. But we will swell in size and strength as others flow into our stream and turn it into a mighty river.
Don’t forget that it rains all the time. Life-moisture expended and drawn up into the ether is formed again and joins us here on Earth.
Regeneration means new generations and these are born to play their part in the ending of an age.
The death-power is strong and could not be defeated by the energy of risings past.
But each time we come back stronger and in greater numbers. Each time we know less fear and we understand more fully just how far we have to go.
This will happen again and again until we have won.
Sin miedo (19). Nothing can stop us.
Anarchangels don’t just fight to win, we fight to show the way, to sound the trumpet of revolt (20).
Our rage inspires an electric force that draws in others to our rebellion – even babies in the womb are infused with its necessity and grow up to discover why it is they are here and what it is they now must do.
Through this resonance we can transmit from our halo-antennae not just the riotous fury of our cause but the joyful values we uphold.
These values we hold dear contain the knowledge that the corrupted present must be rent asunder.
Birth and death. Death and birth. Neither comes first, neither is more important than the other. They are one and that knowledge is what binds us to our duty.
And what a duty it is, what a heavy load for any weak mortal to bear. (21)
We must make ourselves strong, fellow Anarchangels, through some alchemy of the soul!
First we must descend into the depths of our inner selves to see all that is there and then rise up high and let the dross all drop away. (22)
Purified, we float above – but here we cannot rest. Down again, down into the world of men and women so we can be just what we’re meant to be. (23)
Now we must speak of our values and how it is that we would hold on to them throughout the great falling of the Darkest Age.
Deep down, we know, these values are as much a part of us as we of them and must forever lie inside our souls, all ready to unfold.
All would not be lost, therefore, if every memory of culture were wiped out and we began again, in naked innocence. Eventually, it would all come back to us in our dreams.
But we need not waste the precious heritage we own and our aim is to carry it with us through the coming storm.
Just as a civilisation at its peak carries the seed of its own destruction, so a civilisation at its lowest point contains the seed of a future rebirth.
We anarchangels must be custodians of this seed so that we can plant the tree of wisdom in the coming Golden Age.
In one hand we carry the black flag of revolt, in the other the ancient book of wisdom that will serve our children well. (24)
Like Ariadne’s thread, this knowledge can lead them and us away out of the dark and perplexing labyrinth of earthly existence and into the light of understanding.
These sacred values can’t be found on the surface of this dying age. The books that teach them won’t be stacked up in Tesco, turned into a three-part mini-series on Channel 4 or liked by millions on Facebook.
Our values won’t be taught on the National Curriculum or trumpeted by state religions or wrapped up in plastic in the glossy supplement of your bulging Sunday paper. (25)
How could they be? These are the values that our civilisation has to suppress in order to maintain its hegemony! (26)
These are the values we began by defending, before the fury of the struggle itself left us drifting without sight of how it all began.
But although these values are not spelled out in neon lights or declaimed by the high priests of football at half-time in the Champions League Final, they do still exist and can be found.
Look – there they are in those old esoteric texts! And there they are in pagan folklore, in gnostic scriptures (27), in indigenous wisdom! (28)
There they are on the lips of a wise woman, there they are between the lines of the world’s religions, there they are in that inauspicious tome in a secondhand bookshop that somehow, for reasons you can never explain, you find yourself reaching for and taking home to read!
And there they are disguised in the clothing of myth! (29)
These are our human values, these are our natural values, these are the values by which we are intended to live.
If that were not so, they would by now have disappeared down the plughole of the millennia and drained away into a forgotten past.
And when this system is destroyed, when we have played our appointed part in the ending of this Kali Yuga, when anarchy has prevailed, when the blockage in the fountainhead has been removed and the spring of life is flowing as it should (30), then those values will surface again, triumphant and supreme.
The Golden Age will have returned and we Anarchangels will rejoice!
Fascinating, reading, Paul… thanks for posting this extraordinary ‘channelling'(?) Helen Moore