another draft of revelation.

Revelation Paper for history

Revelations – these play such an important role. They’ve served as recurring external and internal factors in shaping the world around us, manifesting within the trends of history, literature, and art. It is because of this why coming to a vivid understanding of their existence wields a clearer more lucid view of how things around us work.
There are two dictionary meanings of a revelation, both of which are worthy of being properly explored. They are as follows: “the divine or supernatural disclosure to humans of something relating to human existence or the world”; “a surprising and previously unknown fact, esp. one that is made known in a dramatic way”. As one can see the first one holds religious connotation that most have associated with the word while the second one is less divine and can be more easily adapted for everyday things.
As stated before, the realm of literature is filled with revelations and its tropes. Tropes are critical parts of stories that continue to reappear throughout the plot. Thus they are what express and detail the revelation for the audience. Example of such tropes are: the activist/prophet that goes around spreading their message (the revelation), the dumb masses that the prophet is attempting to wake up, and the opposition that stands in the way of the message striving to stop the prophet’s words before they reach the masses. Most stories have all of these tropes and more. It allows for the most basic of connects to be made between the piece of work and audience.
That being said, it is important to note that referring to the revelation troupe actually implies all of the little components that it is composed of. Thus, revelation is more or of a mega-troupe – the tinier components are fully capable of being divided from the group to be analyzed. Yet at the same time, the mega-troupe seems to fall apart if the commonly understand sections are not played out.
That is not to say, however, that all of those stories follow the same mundane plot line. In order for there to be some idea of uniqueness, they all put their own spin on the otherwise commonly understood tropes. As I will explore later, this manipulation of the troupes allows for the overarching message of the revelation to be understood at a deeper level than it would if it wasn't.


(Description/analysis)
In the play An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen, one can see nice basic revelation tropes in action. The play follows a small town doctor who tries to explain to the masses that their public bathes are infested with germs that can and has made visiting people sick. At first he was able to enlist the help of a few of his friends in the town’s newspaper, but once he came out with the information the vast majority of the towns folk turned against him, including his friends and the mayor, which just so happens to be his own brother. Those who would greatly benefit from the end results reject the doctor’s offer of redemption – having a clean baths that everyone can enjoy without becoming ill.
Like I said before, An Enemy of the People provides a good introduction to the revelation mega-troupe. One example of this is how one could possibly plot out where the characters in the story would stand as the story slowly built up to the climax. We saw how his family members would likely stand by him his side, even if some of them have their doubts. We saw how the town officials (headed by the doctor’s brother, the town mayor) were going to do every thing in their power to silence him and discredit his word. However, we were also should what was one of our first twists in a revelation story - Many of the doctor, Thomas Stockmann’s friends who at first supported him, those who you thought would stand next to him flip flopped at the climax at the story. They choose not to do the right thing and betray the revelation in order to keep with their known way of life. They preferred to turn a blind eye to everything that they heard in order to join with the ignorant masses.
I find it interesting that the first book I read under the veil of looking for the troupes brought forth the subject of the betrayal of the prophet. Betrayal is a very important aspect of revelation. On the surface, whomever commits the act of betrayal is shown not to be able to handle the change the message is trying to bring about. On a deeper level, betrayal is something that most prophets will come up against.


The book Feed by M.T. Anderson also plays with the normal, basic tropes, but in a more sublet manner. The story is told from the point of view of Titus, a teenager growing up in a futuristic world in which many people have little chips placed in their heads called feeds. The feeds are to them are what computers are to us, only more advance; they can shop, communicate with each other, share each other memories, surf the web, go to school – all on the feed. That little device became one of the most pivotal aspects of their lives and therefore culture. Because nearly everyone is hooked up to the feed and the feed is so well controlled by the big companies in the world the wielding result is that of a consumer culture – eerie to what our own may become one day. So Titus and a group of his friends decided to go up to a resort on the moon where they meet Violet. Titus and her eventually end up dating and it is her who is revealed to be the prophet of the story as it continues to unfold.
As with what seems to be a common theme with all of these stories, out of all of those that Titus hangs out with, he is the one that seems to notice things that the others can’t or rather just simply don’t, but still decides to go along with the masses. As Violet pointed out when they were at a hospital after their feeds were hacked into:
“ It’s like…,” I said. ‘It's like a squid in love with the sky.’
She was only looking at me, which was nice, I hadn’t felt anything like that for a long time.
She rubbed my head, and she went, “You’re the only one of them that uses metaphor.”
(Pg. 62-63)

Prophets always appear to have a way of gravitating towards those in the masses that have the greatest amount of potential. As with Violet and Titus, she was drawn to him because out of the group of his friends, he stood out. And likewise, the prospective disciples find the prophet to be alluring. A lot of passing on the revelation message to others deals with the art of seduction. In this retrospect revelation is a lot like falling in love. A person can completely fall for it and be head over heels. Or it could be that the prophet and the future follower play a little game of cat and mouse – both not wanting to lose any ground to the other, but at the same time for some inexplicable reason drawn to each other.
Revelations do not always carry the “for the greater good” cogitation that most people have tagged to them, as seen in the Star Wars series. Throughout the movies, both father and son go through their own personal revelations, of which, ends up being apart of a larger, over arching cast of revelations. However, they end up going to opposing sides of the spectrum of good and evil. As I watched this take place, I was wondering why this was allowed to happen – why aren’t all revelations things that change people for the better. As a result, my reasoning is as follows: The outcome of going through a revelation depends on the person that is faced with it.

The idea of the ‘false prophet’ verses the ‘true prophet’ carries back into literature. In the Chocolate War by Robert Cormier, the story takes place in an all-boys private school controlled not only by the teachers and administration but also by an all student underground group called the Virigls. They give out assignments that must be carried out by whomever receive them, or else the rest of the student body would shun that person. Archie, the Virigls’ assignment creator, gives a kid named Jerry an assignment which makes him a marked man – The assignment was to refuse to sell any chocolates during the school’s chocolate sell. At first, one would think that this would not be a big deal at all, its just one child who does not bother to participate. However, the assistant headmaster, Brother Leon aims to have the children sell twice as much chocolates has they had the year before. Because of that goal we went to the Vigils to insure that this task is fulfilled. The Vigils only had wanted Jerry to deny the chocolates the chocolates for ten days, merely to mess with Brother Leon, but after those ten days were up, Jerry came to the realization that he did not have to do what he didn’t want to, and so he continues to hold out on joining everyone else till the bitter end of the book.
When one first beings the book, one starts to see Archie as the prophet figure when the revelation megatroupe is applied. He truly does fit the mold of a prophet – he has his disciples and followers that he expresses his word to, everyone holds whatever he says to some golden standard. But then, at the same time we see how all of that puts a large amount of pressure on Archie’s psyche. He knows he is held to such a standard and feels that if he can’t always keep in par with it, everyone would turn against him. But then after seeing how Archie’s assignments forces innocent people into situations that comprises them, makes you begin to rethink the prophet assessment.
On the other hand is Jerry. In contrast to Archie, when he is first introduced he does not have a prophet-like aura at all – we see his attitude is to merely just go through his four years of high school without drawing much attention to himself. He is more or less a loner, and so when he receives that assignment of disobeying on of the most feared teachers in the school, he does so with fear in his heart. But then we understand that during that time, something clicks in his head. He has his own personal revelation that makes him understand how he didn’t have to do what he didn’t want to. His actions from there on out reflect that of what a true bonafided prophet should do – he makes a stand and in doing so everyone else sees and notices. Some others even began to agree with what Jerry was doing.
This is the point of false prophets – if one is not paying attention, they appear to be the ones with the best revelations. I believe that this warning should be taken and adapted when dealing with real actual prophets. You always have to think about whatever revelation that a person or group is trying to spread. Failing to recognize the actual message and falling for the props will lead one to follow a false prophet.


(Compares)
In the Enemy of the People, the awake is the Doctor, along with the few people who agree with him. The others around him who disagree (his brother – the mayor and the rest of the town) are asleep. In that story, to be asleep means to not want realize that germs exist and not wanting to shut things down for a while to clean up the baths. They think that the Doctor is just making up lies.

In Feed, the awake are Violet and Titus (though this is to an extent). The asleep is all of his friends, along with most of the others in society. Those who are like Violet and are a bit more radical in their methods of resisting the dependency on the feed society is enforcing are thought of as crazy and foolish. To be awake in Feed means that one is aware of just how messed up their world is (for example, their dying and corroding earth) and at the very least noticing how the feed and the corporations behind the feed are controlling things.

In both Feed and Enemy of the People, we have that great line separating people to awake to asleep. However, that is not fully true. People as a whole can’t fall into those two categories so neatly. Instead of having things as an A and B situation, it is more like a scope or a range. In Enemy of the People, we have people who are in strict opposition to the doctor, but then we have those that fall somewhere in between – those that see and can on some level understand what Doctor Thomas is saying. This is also true in Feed – There are people that see what is going on and on some level can reflect upon it, but choose to turn a blind eye to it. Yet, still these people will most of the time choose to side against their would be prophets and revealers, and this is largely in part to societal pressure. The vast majority of individuals who don’t understand the message and reject it create this sort of mass consciousness that has a lot of leverage in making others follow it. People that are on the fence with their decision of whether or not to believe in the prophet(s) message, sometimes have a tendency to go with the crowd. It takes a person that is ready or at least willing to bear the scolding of the masses.

When you apply the ideals behind revelations that we just explored to real life, we see that it does not really work as well as what was hoped. Just like in the novels and movies, people fight against revelation for a number of different reasons. These can include being afraid of the change that the revelation will bring – the uncomfortable shift that will occur. They are already use to the current way things are around them, so they can’t think about anything past their situation.
I know that I personally fight against revelations when they do not go in sync with what I wanted / already believe. I don’t care for ideas that contradict my own personal interests. I also tend to resist when the revelation masks itself into something that just seems to be wrong and does not fit what I think are my needs. Yet still, I noticed that just like in movies and books, the revelation keeps starting you in the face until you choose to deal with it. And I know full well that I would be one of those fools who put off coming to terms with it until it finally whacked me in the head a few too many times. I don’t think most people can’t help but to be hard headed because everyone likes to feel in control of their own lives, their own destiny. Revelation, to a degree, forces one to concede and fit into its own rules.

(deconstruction)
In the movie They Live, there is a lot of talk between two opposing forces – they and us. Now in the basic plot line of the film, the word they refers to the aliens that are taking over the world by using subconscious messaging in the things that we all take for granted as merely entertainment – ads, tv, posters, etc. The us refers to the human race – those that the intended slaves and who must band together.
The movie depends on that line in between the “they” and “us”. It's a crucial element in bringing the intended revelation out to the forefront. As a matter of fact, many revelation stories is heavily reliant on such segregation between the two.
Now there are some deeper levels to this separation that will show that the two are not that clear cut from each other as they appear. One example is how the aliens are going about taking over and why. It seems like they go from planet to planet, sucking the natural resources of each. This seems to be similar to how we Americans (or any other highly regarded country) go about doing the same to lesser countries for our own corporate gain. In addition to that I’ve noticed quite a few ways of how both For example the method of the cutting deals with people of a higher social level, promising them a piece of whatever profit is generated can be seen in both instances. In the movie many privileged individuals knew about the existence of the aliens and their plans. Yet they allowed themselves to be hushed, turning a blind eye to the earth’s takeover.
From this standpoint, its fairly clear how those terms of “they” and “us” can be mixed. Such a distinction falls apart and blends in when you look under the hood and check the patterns.


Is the revelation troup just a bunch of lies or does it really work (evaluation).
At this point I would like to question and offer my thoughts on whether or not the mega-troupe of revelation is merely just a lie or if it really does work. This question is one of the most important ones that has come up all year because we’ve spent so much time and effort into reading all of these stories and watching movies that perfect fit into this groove of literature that it is crucial I make an effort to reflect.

My answer to that question is as follows. I think that it does work. It has been said that if the revelation is merely helping people see something they already had an inkling of, then it can’t really be a revelation. But I don’t fully agree with that. I believe that the revelation not only helps them to see whatever it is that they have to, but it also gives them a chance to actually put what they learned into action. I think that you can have all the knowledge in the world, but if you decide to do nothing at all with it, then you fall out of the revelation category.
Another reason why I believe that the revelation trope works is how long its been used. The basic outline of the trope has been recycled so many times into so many different cultures and is still prevalent today, as you’ve seen here. If this troupe did not have as much applications or no truth to it, then it would not have survived all this time. People have value into
There may be a psychological purpose as to why the trope appeals to so many creative thinkers and the masses. Plato’s “The Republic” is what caused me to consider this possibility. In The Republic, Plato talks about a cave in which men are imprisoned in chairs by shackles. Their backs are facing the only source of light in the cave – a fire – and they can’t turn their heads around to see what is behind them. Thus, they can only look straight ahead at the cave wall. As a result of this, they are forever seeing the shadows on the wall and thinking that that is reality, while in fact the shadows are just that – shadows of the actual reality. To me this situation reflects our natural way of seeing the world. To a certain extent there is a part of us that perceives reality in that manner – just mere reflections of what’s really there, never the object itself. And because of that, using the revelation trope in stories will then allow for a psychological connection between the readers and the medium that the story is being told to.

Part II Chapter III, first draft (incomplete)

So far it had seemed that he was indeed getting what he wished for; For the most part at least. He had gone through meeting relatives he rarely saw – many of which annoyed him quite a bit. He noticed the way they were treating his aunt Judy oddly. Almost as if she was cursed by the old man’s passing. From what David had learn via somewhat listening to conversations people took for granted he wasn’t paying attention to, his grandfather had just come to visit his daughter, Judy three days before his death. She said she did not notice anything strange about him, he was just his usual self. However, she did say that there was an almost tranquil tone to his voice when he spoke. And that he would look at her for a while, only issue was that he was more looking through her than at her. A day before the old man’s death David’s grandmother had made it to see him. Judy had said they spent a lot of time together, almost as if they were saying their last goodbyes. But the way things had happened was that it was Judy who came across his dead body first, not his wife. And because of that, the others now somehow thought that she was contaminated by such a discovery.

David came back from his own little world to find that just about an hour and a half had past. The s
The old man himself was quite something during his venture alive. It was well known that he liked to travel all over the world. It was amazing – he could never stay in one place for long, but he always came back home, no matter what. Every since his death, David heard more and more about the man he called ‘grandfather’.

He never let his pride get the best of him. Even as a child, he had wisdom beyond his years. And that wisdom only got larger as he grew older…

All of these and more were a part of the numerous anecdotes that had been floating around family and friends. David’s own mother though, had been the source of what David thought to be the most interesting story of all. She had picked on her son’s vague display of emotion and decided to have a few words with him, right before

Part II, Chapter II second draft

David sat in the last row of his mother’s mini-van. His closest family members were all surrounding him, all of them wearing the same basic ensemble most appropriate for grieving. The black and white pieces of various clothing, mixed and matched in ways that varied from person to person. Even David was dressed to play his part.

He looked around quietly to take in the scene in front of him. The air within the car held a sort of somber tone, as they made their way to the funeral home. Everyone was together yet separated. Trapped within their own little worlds of sorrow. David understood that the adults, being the only ones to really remember his grandfather were in fact truly taking this the hardest. But it was his cousins that he wondered about the most. Whether or not their behavior was out of respect or a collective state of melancholy influenced by their parents had yet to be determined.

David then shifted his attention to the window directly to his left, deciding that focusing too much on it would be a waste. Instead he preferred his head to go on about the past two weeks’ activities…

He had almost turned into a madman. He kept rolling the events of that day in his mind, over and over again, adamant on figuring out what it was and how to re-induce it. His many online searches and New-Age book readings finally brought him some kind of an outcome. Four days after the news of his Grandfather’s passing, David sat in bed thinking about all he had read. His investigation had lead him to the topic of out of body experiences or OBEs for short and so he began to weigh out the possibilities of it being the answer to his problems.

Around a good five minutes into his mental debate, he felt the sweet of call of sleep begin to set in. He did not bother to fight it, he merely just embraced it and fell into a merry slumber, or so he thought. The next thing he remembered was that he awoke. Only thing was it was not his body that was awake. He could feel that part of himself still in the same position he dozed off in, but this, this was something new. This new part of him, the him he embodied now was slightly hovering over the bed. There was a sort of dual presence within him. One that knew and understood the shape that was still on the bed and another that was really just a blob of conciseness. They were in so many ways connected and distant. And he felt all of it. After the brief sense of interest and amusement he held towards being in this state, the bubble of enthusiasm soon broke. He was over come by a sense of fear that accompanied being exposed in such a way. His mind started to think about all of the negative stories he read about people never re-attaching themselves, apparent demons that walked the earth in search of opportunities for harm. All of this made him scramble – for lack of a better word – back to his body, eager to fix the semi-spilt pieces of himself. That panic stayed with him long after he was safely grounded back into his rightful place. And yet, through all of that anxiety his sense of wonder returned. He seemed even more fascinated now, confidant that he was on the right path.

His bout of reminiscence had ended. He looked around himself again to find that everyone was starting to pile out of the car. They had reached the home. One of his younger cousins had turned to him and asked if he was coming. David quickly murmured a sound of affirmation and followed behind, wishing that the day would be over as quickly and painlessly as possible.

Part II, Chapter II first draft

David sat in the last row of his mother’s mini-van. His closest family members were all surrounding him, all of them wearing the same basic ensemble most appropriate for grieving. The black and white pieces of various clothing, mixed and matched in ways that varied from person to person. Even David was dressed to play his part.

He looked around quietly to take in the scene in front of him. The air within the car held a sort of somber tone, as they made their way to the funeral home. Everyone was together yet separated. Trapped within their own little worlds of sorrow. David understood that the adults, being the only ones to really remember his grandfather were in fact truly taking this the hardest. But it was his cousins that he wondered about the most. Whether or not their behavior was out of respect or a collective state of melancholy influenced by their parents had yet to be determined.

David then shifted his attention to the window directly to his left, deciding that focusing too much on it would be a waste. Instead he preferred his head to go on about the past two weeks’ activities…

He had almost turned into a madman. He kept rolling the events of that day in his mind, over and over again, adamant on figuring out what it was and how to re-induce it. His many online searches and New-Age book readings finally brought him some kind of an outcome. Four days after the news of his Grandfather’s passing, David sat in bed thinking about all he had read. His investigation had lead him to the topic of out of body experiences or OBEs for short and so he began to weigh out the possibilities of it being the answer to his problems.

Around a good five minutes into his mental debate, he felt the sweet of call of sleep begin to set in. He did not bother to fight it, he merely just embraced it feel into a merry slumber, or so he thought. The next thing he remembered was that he awoke. Only thing was it was not his body that was awake. He could feel that part of himself still in the same position he dozed off in, but this, this was something new. This new part of him, the him he embodied now was slightly hovering over the bed. There was a sort of dual presence within him. One that knew and understood the shape that was still on the bed and another that was really just a blob of conciseness. They were in so many ways connected and distant. And he felt all of it. After the brief sense of interest and amusment he held towards being in this state, the bubble of enthusiasm soon broke. He was over come by a sense of fear that accompanied being exposed in such a way. His mind started to think about all of the negative stories he read about people never re-attaching themselves, apparent demons that walked the earth in search of opportunities for harm. All of this made him scramble – for lack of a better word – back to his body, eager to fix the semi-spilt pieces of himself.

Part I, Chapter I, First draft

Part I
Chapter I

And so he’s dead, hmm?

Thought David, a 16 year old who just entered his sophomore year of high school. His aunt, the sister of his father was on the other end of phone. David held it in his hands albeit rather loosely. He felt numb. Not sad nor angry, just simply numb. Did that explain his bout of apathy? The lackluster thought he’d just had?

His aunt, now breaking down continued. “I’m sorry to tell you first David. I’d meant to get your mother or father - your father especially – but you picked up the phone and…. Oh my god your grandfather is dead…” Her voice trailed off, the stream of tears blocking any coherent thought.

“Auntie Judy,” David started. “I know, I know. I’ll get my dad for you, please just give me a moment.”

He put the phone down slowly, as if a sound would disrupt her. As he moved further away from the living room, he could still hear her wails of sorrow for her lost father. For this, he began to feel horrible. He began to understand what this would put his family through, and he had no choice but to inform the others.

He found his father in the back yard. He looked at his dad for a moment before calling for his attention.

“Hey, I just heard the phone ring. Who was it?”
“Auntie Judy,” he replied. “Dad it’s really important. Granddad - something happened.”

He watched the look on his father’s face. It went from it’s usual bright-eyed self to a look that epitomized worry and confusion.

They both hurried back silently to the phone where Judy had been waiting, all the while David was still in a state of detachment. He saw as his father picked up the phone, asked a few questions, and fell into the same distress as his sister.

He kept watching and watching, wondering why he could not do more. Why he couldn’t feel anything. But then, it happened. The corners of his vision started to blacken. The darkness ate away at the light until the only thing he could see was what fell within a circle. He began to blink in an futile attempt to fix whatever has happening but it didn’t work. Next everything around him started to break down. He could not see what should have been around him – instead the image that replaced it was quite mesmerizing. It was of what looked to be a stream of luminous treads. The treads were just floating in front of him, moving like wavelengths on a chart. He then simply forgot about everything. He forgot about his grandfather, his dad, even his almost apathetic behavior towards the horrible news. All that mattered now were the thread-like objects here. So close he could almost touch them. So close in fact that….
The jerk came suddenly, harsh and unforgiving. Reality came swirling back into view, giving him whiplash in the process. His breathing became shot, coming in at uneven paces and he felt frantic.

“Hey, hey David. Get up! Get up!”

He was hearing his father’s voice, faint like a whisper. As he inched closer and closer to proper consciousness, he found himself on the floor with his father kneeling over him.

“Look, I know today has been very stressful and all.” His father looked at him, desperately trying to keep himself calm for what he thought to be the sake of his son. “ Go to bed. I’ll take care of very thing else and wait for you mom to get home.”

He then helped David up and helped him to his room. After his father had left the room with one more worried glance, David began to ponder.

What was that? He asked himself. That – whatever it was – has never happened before. Maybe that's why I didn’t feel anything about the news of his death. Maybe it took its toll on me mentally…

He laid back on his bed, eyes struck on the ceiling. He really did not like this, any of it. But somehow he could not get that feeling out of his head. The feeling that he had a fleeting glimpse of something more. Something that had to be explained.

For some time he went on like this, flipping the day’s event over and over in his mind. As sleep finally drew closer, he fell into it with one thought and one thought only:

I’m going to find out what it was. No matter what.

Modern Day Prophet 5/4/08

In class, we have been discussion the revelation troupe and its prophets in terms of literature, film, and music. From all of that work, we see how the troupe and its accompanying elements play out in a realm of the authors’ creation. But what about living, breathing prophets? Where in our world today can we find such individuals? Well, after looking hi and low, I have found one I believe is worthy of being discussed. His name is George Soros, one of the world’s most successful investors. But he is not only interested in matters of finances, he is also interested in leaving the world with a brand new way of thinking – he wants to reconnect the dots that we all have so obediently fastened together to show us just how our old methods just aren't cutting it.
Before actually getting into George and his revelation(s), it’s important to go over his past. He was born in Hungary in 1930 into a Jewish family and was able to escape the Nazi’s advancement into his country. He then moved to England, and soon afterwards moved to America, all the while gaining more and more experience as an investor.
One of his main theories is the theory of reflexivity. As described in a nutshell in a New York Times article gave this explanation of it, in relation to the economy:

[Reflexivity is] The idea is that people’s biases and actions can affect the direction of the underlying economy, undermining the conventional theory that markets tend toward some sort of equilibrium.

To recap, trading markets and the like are influenced by people’s actions and likes and dislikes. When you take the basics of reflexivity without applying it to anything, you end up with the explanation of it being how the cause and effect of something is in fact circular and not linear, as is what is popularly thought. The normally labeled “causes” and “effects” then end up begin closely tied together, influencing each other’s state of existence.
The premise behind reflexivity appears similar to deconstruction. Deconstruction aims to take two binary oppositions and show that they are in fact not binary at all. They are both interconnected. Reflexivity seems to be doing the same general idea with causation. Cause and effect, while not exactly holding a binary opposition to them are still tried as two fairly separate objects. Because A happens B will then also happen as a result. But with reflexivity, B does indeed happen because of A but A within itself is also affected by the end result of B. The degrees of separation are broken down to show how it is a circle of influence between the two or more occurrences. A is dependent on B as much as B is dependent on A.
Soros has also demonstrated a completely faithful following to his own message. He has repeatedly stated that through the use of reflexivity, he has been able to become the mogul that is he. He has also spent a lot of time advocating spreading out the message, like a proper prophet should. Here is an excerpt from a speech of his:

When Rudi Dornbusch invited me to speak at this conference, he gave me a totally free hand in deciding what I wanted to talk about. Well, I want to discuss a subject which fascinates me but doesn’t seem to interest others very much. That is my theory of reflexivity, which has guided me both in making money and in giving money away, but has received very little serious consideration from anybody else… It has been out of print for the last several years but demand has been building up as a result of my increased visibility, not to say notoriety, and now the book is being re-issued. I think this is a good time to get the theory seriously considered.

As he himself states, he has not been taken seriously with the theory, but he still continues to preach its ideals in his writings. In addition to this, he also utilizes it in his actions. When one looks into what he has been able to accomplish, it is difficult not to say that maybe he knows what he saying. I believe that a prophet living in accordance to his own message is a vital part of conveying whatever it may be to the masses – It gives evidence to their target audience of how things can turn out if they listen and follow.
I myself do think that there is some truth to reflexivity. I can see how it applies to the situations that I’ve tested it on, but I do feel that there may be some holes in the theory. One question I have is just what makes an event lead into another event, while it would have gone into any number of other perfectly reasonable actions (why does A lead into B, when it could have gone to C, D, or even E)? Does reflexivity take this into consideration or does it just deal with what did in fact happen and not the possibility of other outcomes? Also when you draw the lines of influence from the result to the cause, can you look beyond the point of the event itself to see how the cause and the result perpetuate themselves in later incidents? Even though I have these questions, I think that reflexivity is worth continuing to explore, if for nothing more than finding answers to my questions.

Start of Modern Day Prophet paper

In class, we have been discussion the revelation troupe and its prophets in terms of literature, film, and music. From all of that work, we see how the troupe and its accompanying elements play out in a realm of the authors’ creation. But what about living, breathing prophets? Where in our world today can we find such individuals? Well, after looking hi and low, I have found one I believe is worthy of being discussed. His name is George Soros, one of the world’s most successful investors. But he is not only interested in matters of finances, he is also interested in leaving the world with a brand new way of thinking – he wants to reconnect the dots that we all have so obediently fastened together to show us just how our old methods just aren't cutting it.

Before actually getting into George and his revelation(s), it’s important to go over his past. He was born in Hungary in 1930 into a Jewish family and was able to escape the Nazi’s advancement into his country. He then moved to England, and soon afterwards moved to America, all the while gaining more and more experience as an investor.

One of his main theories is the theory of reflexivity. As described in a nutshell in a New York Times article gave this explanation of it:
Mr. Soros sad all aspects of his life – finance, philanthropy, even politics – are driven by reflexivity, whish has to do with the feedback loop between people’s understanding of reality and their own actions. Society as a while could learn from his theory he said.
To recap, the