the ghosts of conspiracy theory...past, present, and future

"Life imitates art far more than art imitates life."

-Oscar Wilde

 

I can attest to the truth of Wilde's statement:  in the third act of my play, Solstice Song: A Christmas Carol for the 21st Century, The Ghost of Conspiracy Theory Future reveals to Andrew Blossom--and to us--a world on fire, with insolvent and disintegrating governments, mass migration, civil wars, and a terrifyingly rapid global ecosystems collapse.  Does any of this sound familiar?  

The first two acts of my play fall more clearly into the category of "art imitating life" --with The Ghost of Conspiracy Theory Past taking Andrew to the frozen north Atlantic and the deck of the SS Californian to witness, from a distance, the demise of the Titanic, while The Ghost of Conspiracy Theory Present takes him to a conference room on the 86th floor of 2WTC on the morning of 9/11--moments after the first plane struck 1WTC.  

Most of us, I think, are not surprised by the ways that art and life mirror each other: as beings who move incessantly between daylight and dreamtime, we intuitively recognize the inextricable weave of the imaginal and the material realms, and how each gives meaning to the other.  In a similar manner, we intuitively recognize that the past, the present, and the future are inextricably woven into a person's sense of themselves, their community, and their wider world--even if we're not yet able to interact generously toward ourselves--or toward each other--from this point of understanding. 

In the case of Andrew Blossom, the past has woven itself so tightly around him that both the present and the future are on the verge of being annihilated...a scenario that--in many ways--also applies to us. But that's a subject for another day.