Lol.

Em,

If you are really worried about the expansionists, look to Western banking.

The last few thousand years have been a slow process of cultural evolution, up from the tribal societies in which humanity developed and functioned for millions of years.

Judaism essentially institutionalized the basic premise, as a monoculture. One people, one rule, one god.

What Christianity and Islam have tried to do, is take that monocultural ideal global.

The problem is that a healthy system is the feedback between organisms and ecosystems, not just one global organism, one world order.

One is the node, oneness is the network.

This goes to the sciences as well as culture. In that Western culture tends to focus on the object, from atoms to individuals and see context as emergent, rather than feedback between the two sides of the coin.

That dimple in the middle of your stomach is where you popped off the vine.

Here is another of my essay's trying to peel some of the layers;

https://medium.com/@johnbrodixmerrymanjr/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-western-mind-906dc73cffe2

So the problem for Israel is that the strength of Diaspora Judaism arose from being a significant part of the networking mechanisms of Western Civilization. The traders, bankers, doctors, writers, intellectuals, etc. The ones making the connections, because, 1), the tight cultural bond of Judaism. 2) That they were sitting back and observing and not being the the biggest egos, so they could be the most effective networkers.

The problem for Israel is that cultural egotism has come to the fore. Where it is all about being holy warriors for the cause, the tribe, the Chosen. The religion and the rabbis have taken charge.

So that tension between the power of the Diaspora and the obsession of the religious vortex was quite evident before Oct 7th. Such that what has happened since has become a holy war, to bring the centripetal and centrifugal sides back together.

Yet even though Judaic Israel is very inward focused, go it alone, their biggest foreign constituency are the Christian Zionists in the US. Who see both the rise and the destruction of Israel as necessary to the Second Coming. Which is not exactly the sort you want to have your back.

My view of formal religions in general, is as, "Opiate of the masses," to quote Marx. Basically the larger the crowd, the lower the common denominator required to include everyone. Basically most people are not deep thinkers, so they need simple, basic concepts to hold them together. Fear, greed, clear directions and goals, etc. Trying to explain processes like feedback and balancing various factors tends to break apart that larger human herd, tribe.

So the problem is that our technology has evolved far more than our sociology. Our customs are still wrapped up in stories and ideas from thousands of years ago, but we are no longer fighting over them with chariots and bronze tipped spears.