Conscience, Time, and Life 109governments are rather unstable. If Fred breaks his neck and dies, then the
whole system of belief is shaken—it too will die. We see this illustrated in
the history of barbarian kingdoms, third world dictatorships, banana
republics and inner city gangs. Whenever the leader dies, then there is
usually civil unrest until some victor can declare himself to be the new
Conqueror.
What happens when we add a sense of time? Let us say for instance
that Frederick the Conqueror states that he is Frederick the First and that he
will be followed by his son John the Magnificent. We now have a solid
Perceiver connection between two experiences which are connected by
time as well as space. John is not just beside Fred, he is also after him. Add
a few more timely connections and you come up with the process of
government. We sometimes call it bureaucracy, and it also develops a life
of its own. Of course, maybe we do not like the type of „life‟ which
develops—that is another question. But, it is „alive.‟ People and laws may
rise and fall, but governments which include time and sequence within
their laws are able to continue.
Let me give you a further example. I may step on a few toes with this
illustration, but I already know that I will not win an award for „politically
correct man of the year.‟
For some time, South Africa was built upon the doctrine of apartheid.
In essence, this system was based upon three fundamental Perceiver
affirmations: First, it was believed that all whites belonged together.
Second, it was asserted that all blacks could also be placed into a single
group. Finally, there was the Perceiver belief that no connection existed
between whites and blacks. Obviously, a system like this was flawed; no
one can live under the curse of being racially
inferior—and no one can survive as a human
being under the delusion of being racially
superior.
So what exactly was the problem with
apartheid? Many people condemned the idea
of using Perceiver belief to classify human
beings: “How dare someone say that one
group of people is superior to another.”
However, I suggest that the flaw did not lie
here. I think we have learned by now that
democracy is one commodity which cannot
easily be exported; it only survives when it is
grown domestically. Furthermore, the history of post-colonial Africa has
taught us that democratic government is incompatible with tribal society.
When the Western powers left, almost every African country turned into a
dictatorship. Therefore, when the Western settlers of South Africa tried to
build a modern society in the middle of tribal Africa, some general
distinction between groups of people had to be made.