The Death of 4 European Gods

About the Book

Western civilization has more than earned its nemesis, not because it killed its Gods, but because humankind has failed to take self-sacrifice seriously. This absence of seriousness tempts not a few to turn to violence, even as they advertise life as a picnic in Paradise Islands for the side-blinded middle classes. The author of this book argues that a society in which self-sacrifice is absent fails to grasp reality for what it is, and as a result becomes ever more supernatural, i.e., virtual.

Eso Benjamins looks at the crisis the world faces through the eyes of a citizen of a small country, Latvia. For several centuries Latvians, a long-repressed people, trusted the teachings of a religion that was not their own. They willingly gave up the Gods of their ancestors, who (they failed to realize) had founded their nation through self-sacrifice. Now the people are beginning to discover that they have been suckered, but can do little to save themselves, because there is only one God left, and his name is synonymous with Economy, Money, Globalization and Pop.

Eso Benjamins argues that the demise of reality and the advent of virtualism (supernaturalism) of the Goddess Iananna and her son Iannus. True, Iannus survived through such famous names as John, Jesus and the Latvian Janis, but these were gradually unburdened of the one quality that made them charismatic, namely, self-sacrifice. Now the Latvians are grasping at straws to save themselves, but so is the world, perhaps you, too. Is the situation hopeless? Eso Benjamins discovers a contrarian's amazing answer; so read on.

About the Author

Eso A. Benjamins was born in Latvia. After World War II, he went to live in the United States of America, whence (after forty-six years) he returned to his native country. His life-experiences include the loss of most members of his extended family (eight) to the Soviet Gulags, several near-death events, a witness (from a distance) of the bombing of Dresden, a witness of the near-dead from Buchenwald walking the streets of Weimar, a stint in post-war Korea with the U.S. Marine Corps, activist in Clamshell, a New England anti-nuke organization, order clerk in a Boston brokerage firm, authorship of a poetry broadside, columnist ("Eso's Chronicles") for a Boston weekly newspaper, and still wondering why he has spent ten years round-about Washington, D.C.

Eso Benjamins continues his activities as a writer, painter, sculptor, and observer of the world from his countryside residence "Kalnini", Braslava, Latvia.