ultimate fail-safe: the Masada principle

Wikipedia: 

Masada ("fortress") is an ancient fortification in the Southern District of Israel situated on top of an isolated rock plateau... It is located on the eastern edge of the Judaean Desert, overlooking the Dead Sea…

Almost all historical information about Masada comes from the first-century Jewish Roman historian Josephus…

In 66 CE, a group of Jewish rebels, the Sicarii, overcame the Roman garrison of Masada... After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, additional members of the Sicarii fled Jerusalem and settled on the mountaintop after slaughtering the Roman garrison…

In 73 CE, the Roman governor of Iudaea, Lucius Flavius Silva, headed the Roman legion X Fretensis and laid siege to [and] surrounded Masada, built a circumvallation wall and then a siege ramp against the western face of the plateau…

According to Josephus, when Roman troops entered the fortress, they discovered that its defenders had set all the buildings but the food storerooms ablaze and committed mass suicide or killed each other, 960 men, women, and children in total...

The Jewish freedom-fighters failed to oust the Romans from their homeland. Many of the Jews hoped for this, and even some of the men following Jesus supported this spirit of independence.

The Masada colony well understood that, if the assailing Roman legions broke through defense lines, virtually all of them would be killed, tortured, or sold as slaves. Rather than accept this calamitous fate, a spirit of “live free or die” prompted them to choose death by their own hands.

Most of us do not face a choice of such dire strait. However, I believe it’s part of a well crafted life to think about possibilities, remote as they may be, at the moment.

I say “at the moment” because the world is changing, and not so much for the better. Even so, I do not believe, despite many problems on the world scene, that we will be confronted with a “Masada” ultimatum. This acknowledged, I am also surprised just how quickly society has deteriorated in the last ten or even five years. I would not have suspected, even a few years ago, that the country would be facing today’s challenges. The country we knew no longer exists. We are no longer a free people, not to the degree that we enjoyed.

Totalitarianism is on the rise throughout the world. Forces of radical cultism gain the upper hand. Globalism is praised, nationalism is vilified. Patriotic traditions are trampled, an attempt to separate us from heritage and root. Personal freedoms suffer abridgment at an alarming rate, under the banner of safety and security. Big tech keeps all of us under constant surveillance, tagged and flagged. Elections are rigged, banana-republic style. Criminals, with big sloppy grins, rule over us. We’ve now entered a period in our history similar to that of Augustus’ “Principate.” Forms and shadows of the old Republic were maintained, so as not to alarm the people; but, the only real power lay in the hands of an elitist ruling cabal. After a time, even this polite ruse was dispensed with.

How bad will it get? Will one special-interest group gain the hegemony, forcing its will upon others? It’s hard to believe that it could come to that, and I’m not expecting it, but sometimes it feels like it’s Germany in 1932. Educated Germans could not accept that their well-ordered society would soon feel a stomping jackboot in its face. Germany was the most cultured, the most sophisticated, the most well educated society, arguably, since the fifth century BC, the glory days of ancient Greece. If it could happen to Germany, it could happen here, in our dumbed-down society.

The totalitarians in our midst sense “blood in the water,” they feel that total control is finally within reach, and once this dynamic takes hold, history teaches, it never goes back to the way it was – not without violence in the streets. I say this, and yet, I still have trouble believing that things could get worse.

But, let’s talk about worst-case scenario. If one group gains complete political power over others, if persecution begins, of the most sordid kind, then things could change even more, and quickly. It’s already happening on a verbal level: the incessant lies, the non-stop propaganda, the demonizing of rivals. Censorship is common now. All news is slanted and edited. Only one approved narrative is allowed by the “powers that be,” with other opinions condemned and ridiculed. And I think there’s merit to the assessment of historian Paul Johnson:

"When we are dealing with concepts like freedom and equality, it is essential to use words accurately and in good faith... beware of those who seek to win an argument at the expense of the language. For the fact that they do is proof positive that their argument is false, and proof presumptive that they know it is. A man who deliberately inflicts violence on the language will almost certainly inflict violence on human beings if he acquires the power. Those who treasure the meaning of words will treasure truth, and those who bend words to their purposes are very likely in pursuit of anti-social ones."

And, of course, George Orwell dedicated his writings to exposing the power-grasping ways of the totalitarians, in all their guises.

This page is devoted to a discussion of the various aspects of suicide. It's an unpleasant subject. Taking one’s own life, as a general rule, is not advisable. We came here for a purpose, and we should live out our normal course of years. However, there are times in history when other factors come into play. In the 1930s, when the trucks would arrive in German neighborhoods, rounding up the undesirables…

… what should they have done? Allow themselves to be taken as sheep to slaughter? There should have been resistance, there should have been a fight - as Churchill said, in such situations, "take one with you"; but, sometimes it's not possible to fight back.

My point here is not to indulge in the cheap sensational. Could any of this happen again? I think it could. I’m not expecting it to happen - but others have said this, as well, and were mistaken.

The “Masada principle” is sometimes the only way out. We always retain title deed to our own lives: we belong to ourselves and not to some Dear Leader's rapacious agenda. No one can deprive us of this most basic human freedom. There is a time to refuse to be hauled away like cattle or garbage.

99%+ of the chronicle of history features the "jackboot in the face," great oppression, slavery, the "midnight banging on the door," a dearth of human rights, with pompous elites ruling. This is common fare in world history - and why should we presume that we will not be "returning to normal"?

Especially during times of great darkness and duress, we should think about these things because doing so, while, in one sense, we find it very unsettling, a resolve to "live free or die," as our freedom-loving forebears taught, can be a solace and refuge. There's a limit to what despotic others can do to an oppressed people, if we insist on a limit. We ever reserve to ourselves the possibility of a final display of personal independence, one that cannot be bullied or beaten out of us. In truth, no matter how dark things become, we always play a hand of four aces; we never relinquish control, we always get the last word - concerning the fate of our own persons. 

The "Masada principle" ensures this elemental personal authority, what Adrian called the "universal sovereignty of the individual, which cannot be abrogated or delegated away." If necessary to implement, this last defiant expression of dignity, of what it means to be human, surmounts power-mongering stratagems of every generalissimo arrayed against freedom-loving peoples. Moreover, it offers a sense of peace, as we realize, if things were to proceed from bad to much worse, we always reserve and hold closely, answerable to our own sacred selves alone, the ultimate fail-safe option and response.

Editor’s note: Let us also be mindful of “the real world” which is but one missed heartbeat away. That coming world, our eternal home, is built upon the rights of the individual, not the hive, collective, or group, and certainly not that of an elitist cabal, posturing as benefactor. These arrogant and oppressive monsters-of-the-heart-and-soul are headed toward a sewer-pit rat cellar, from which they are unlikely to emerge, possibly, for centuries.

The following point, too, should be noted well, for, as one passes from the mortal shell, the tables might be turned, with once-victims now against smirking potentates. This is not often done, but it's an option. I'll explain what my research reveals HERE.

Editor’s note:

During a reading with a competent psychic-medium, one who was accessing information from Spirit Guides, I was discussing this topic of “transition, dying, and suicide.” If it were possible to enter the congenial atmosphere of Summerland sooner than “scheduled,” would that be a good thing?

The answer I received was much in line with Spirit-Guide Abu’s response (above). It is tempting to desire Summerland on an expedited timetable, but, if we cross over before our time, we would experience certain regrets. Yes, we might escape this difficult world and avail ourselves of the benefits of Summerland, but this enjoyment would not be as full-bodied as it might have been.

If we leave undone certain works of service, areas of contribution to the greater good, we will regret this omission. But, even more, to cut short one’s time here, but for very good reason; to remove oneself from difficult lessons of this “classroom”; is to reduce our future capacity to enjoy life and love as we might have done.

This issue of “reducing one's capacity” to experience joy seems to be linked to enduring one's sufferings while on planet Earth. We don’t really want to do anything that might hinder our future joy; as, later, we’d end up regretting “cutting class.”

'You are getting out, too?'

I am reminded just now of the extremely moving account by Dr. Frankl in the camps who adopted a philosophy of “not pushing to the head of the line” for an extra scrap of bread and similar competitive activity. Instead, he accepted what appeared to be less advantageous positioning, even though it may have appeared to be fraught with danger and death. Read Frankl’s assessment here.

On one occasion, Dr. Frankl was making what he thought were his last rounds in the typhus hut among dying patients. After this, he and another were planning to escape from the camp. However, as he came to an old man, ministering to his needs, the elderly patient, reading Frankl’s demeanor and maybe his thoughts, calmly asserted, “You are getting out, too?” This jarred Frankl, causing him to change his mind about the escape plan; instead, he decided to remain with his service to the dying men. As it happened, however, it did not work out well for those who attempted to break out of the prison.

I thought about this haunting query, “You are getting out, too?” Would someone say this to us, if we left undone our own “assigned charitable duties”? - if we pushed to the head of the exit line, in favor of escaping the unpleasantness of this world.

Editor's last word:

British Pastor Dr. Leslie Weatherhead commented that people have no misgivings about deciding whether to bring life into this world; we do not fret about disrupting cosmic order with, "Only God has the right to decide if a baby should be born"; so too, he thinks, we've been given authority to curtail our time on this planet. Both entrance and exit are up to us, he posits.

I agree, and I think we do have the right to decide when to leave this world; that said, it should be for a good reason. We came here to learn important lessons, ones best learned in the difficult Earth environment and harder to grasp in Summerland where everything's wonderful, and so it's best not to "cut class." And yet, as Solomon instructs, there is a time to die.

For myself, I've already decided that I will never be one of those old people who cannot care for himself, force-fed 20 pills each morning, flattered with toneless expression about how good I look today, propped up, half-alive, in a seniors' storage warehouse; further, I will not be accepting what I consider to be invasive surgeries such as heart operations or cancer treatments or the like. I have no interest in extending my mortal time in this world beyond that which I deem to be reasonable - reasonable as per my own definition. There is a time to die. When is that time? I will decide that; rather, it should not be a choice, as such, but a spiritual knowing.

My health, at age 70+, is good; but, at this stage of the journey, things can happen quickly. I'm alright with that. I know too much about how things work in Summerland to delay my "real life" longer than necessary. As I stated on the "Intuition" page, the more one travels down the path of seeking wisdom and truth, the more out-of-step one becomes with secular society, the more foreign and strange it all seems. 

Brought to mind just now are statements by Spirit Guides who, in the course of service-duty, are required to visit the Earth. How they dislike such dispatching. They say to re-enter this world's dark energy is like wading into a sewer-pit spewing thick clouds of noxious fumes. And yet the immature speak of how much they want to come back to this world - this "world which is another world's hell" - not that they'll have that option. The way some foolish people have it, they can hardly wait to have all this fun again. But just count me out.

I will never return to this planet, but for possible ad hoc service-missions. I wouldn't be caught dead here. My tour of terra-duty is fast approaching curtain-fall, and I look forward to my new life with great anticipation.