Censorship
And the Ace of Pentacles
I encountered1 the following quote from Robert A. Heinlein recently:
“I began to sense faintly that secrecy is the keystone of all tyranny. Not force, but secrecy... censorship. When any government, or any church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, This you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know, the end result is tyranny and oppression, no matter how holy the motives. Mighty little force is needed to control a man whose mind has been hoodwinked; contrariwise, no amount of force can control a free man, a man whose mind is free. No, not the rack, not fission bombs, not anything — you can’t conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him.”
Seeking a perspective of the quote, I shuffled my Tarot deck, and drew the Ace of Pentacles to explore it further.
The Ace of Pentacles, on the pathway to prosperity, material gain.
Secrecy, censorship, tyranny. These things can only exist in the State, or in the Church if they have the support of large numbers of people. Sure, a would be dictator could scream that a news article can’t be published, or a speaker can’t be allowed to speak, but unless that dictator has others who will enforce the edicts, with force if necessary, the edicts will have no actual effect. The dictator’s demands would carry no more power than a tinkling bell.
Tyrants don’t require the support of the majority, but they must have the support of at least a significant minority in order to survive. They need henchmen to carry out their orders, and guards to keep the masses of people at bay.
It’s fair to ask, why would large numbers of people follow a dictator or a tyrant. Surely everyone knows, on some level or another, that eventually all such do fall.
I think the Ace of Pentacles gives us our answer. A belief that one will be rewarded, will prosper, will achieve material gain, if one supports the would be tyrant. Maybe the henchman and guard jobs pay well. Maybe the snitch to the secret police receives a significant reward. Maybe the dictator promises to fix a broken economy, and does. Or not, but distributes what little there is to supporters of the regime.
This can’t be much different from those historical periods when the Church was the tyrant. Those who accused the ‘witches’ whom the Church burned surely stood to gain from doing so. Remove the relatively well off old widow from the village by accusing her of witchcraft or heresy. The Church tortures and murders her, but who gets her stuff? Her home, her livestock, her furniture? Likely all those who accused her, her former neighbors.
No, tyranny can’t exist without the support of a great many in any community. And that support is lent in exchange for the promise, implied or otherwise, of material gain.
But that prosperity comes at a very high cost. At the cost of knowledge. At the cost of liberty. Perhaps most importantly at the cost of one’s soul, as spirit and spirituality are crushed under the weight of oppression.
For how can spirit thrive when one is unable to listen or read, and afraid to speak or think?
Waw, I love the combination of quotes and Tarot, a long with this thoughts on tyrany ✨
To your verry astute observations I wii add but one. The Pentacle is about material security. It can be used, as you have observed, to buy the ascent of those who are willing to gain the world at the cost of loosing their soul. It can also be used as a threat.
As you rightly observe, tyrants, their guards and henchmen can only maim and kill the body (more pentacles), they can not defeat the soul without the consent of the holder thereof. But for many, the weak and vulnerable in body or mind, the innocent ( if innocents there be), these are especially in danger in the realm of tyrany. More over, for those whose honor and duty it is to protect such as these, silence can sometimes be purchased for the price of keeping one's beloved, their elders, children, volunerable dependents and friends, out of harm' s way. I may be willing to lay in front of a tank, but what about my wife, daughters, grand children? Our people are also a kind of material fortune. Many will forgo honor and heroism if it means defending those they love.
Of course, capitulation to evil, even in the name of protecting our beloved, only served to encourage that evil. Given this, there is no real safety. But this IS a way that tyrany can undermine nobility of spirit that we should also consider.