Genius versus Oligarchism

Recently, I had the pleasure of reading an article that convincingly argued that Jan Van Eyk was commissioned by the Duke of Burgundy to paint a copy of a famous Italian Annunciation altarpiece for the purpose of producing  what amounted to miracle so that the Duke would be "blessed" with an heir. It speaks volumes that this exact superstition was was parodied by Machievelli in his play The Mandragola.

 It is instructive to note that the dark ages in Europe had a iron grip on the beliefs of the "nobility." Kepler's office as court astrologer is a case in point. It is truly ironic in the classical sense that the greatest scientific leaps (Brunelleschi's perspective, for example) were uplifting such cultural backwardness at the same time. The fact the the mastery of the method of Socratic dialogue by figures like Nicholas of Cusa is telling as well. For the equivalent of the ritualistic worship of the Olympian gods and the Delphic oracle were deeply embedded in the rituals of both Catholics and Protestants alike.

Today, while there are pockets of magical believers here and there, the biggest cult worship is the supposedly ever so rational worship of money. All our pretentious political "dialogue" is at bottom motivated by nothing other than the irrational belief in the very same magical power of money. This often takes the form of some bombastic "talking head" intoning "We all agree, of course, that we must live within our means..." The fact is it is only by ending this stupefaction of our people that we may end the tyranny imposed on us by the modern day would be gods of Olympus: the incestuous royal families behind the city of London and Wall Street that so hate the great unwashed masses they think nothing of hatching wars and economic policies that will wipe them out.