The world is constantly morphing. The nations' populations and power vary, religions battle for adherents and the business world creates and taps wealth. Cultural cues are generated by corporate interests and technology slowly changes the usage of non-working time.

There is very little difference between an middle class child in Los Angeles who can recite Yu-gi-oh characters and their strengths, the Iranian child who recites parts of the Koran or the bible-belt youth espousing the miracles performed by Jesus Christ to neighbors in an effort to spread the gospel. All 3 are illustrating the power of external structures to influence their mind and control how they spend their time.

The religions have the power of centuries of dogmatic repetition behind them and Yu-gi-oh has the power of television and a competent marketing department. The results and devotions in all three kids are identical.

The world is constantly engaged in a war - a war for your mind.

Your time, money, efforts and thoughts are in demand. The four of these form a square of interlinked angles - each angle is targeted by various religions, corporations, political organizations and other groups:

In a capitalist society power is linked to money. So in America and in much of the world, the goal is to accumulate money. It doesn't matter where it comes from, the accumulation of wealth is a goal for many people. This is not just money too survive, feed and shelter one's body but this money is desired for power. More power=more influence, money and a better life. Money in essence is used to CONTROL one's circumstances or one's environment. A bigger house, a better car, a better neighborhood are all part of the desire of the individuals to control and exert mastery over their environment.

Corporations promote music, invent toys, craft television shows and invent characters that start exploiting the psychological needs and desires of children at the earliest ages. They exploit the parents of the children simultaneously. All this is done so as to acquire MONEY. This continues from birth to death in a non-stop barrage of needs and desires. Who needs a Lamborghini Murcielago? Nobody. In parts of the world no one even knows what it is, much less that they should desire one or envy the individual who owns one. This is the magic of the market cycle of inventing things, marketing them and creating desire for them. Corporations hire folks who can produce goods, market those goods and create desire. The goods must be profitable and the more profitable the better. Built-in obsolescence or a scale of quality and options is all presented to increase profitability. Why buy a Yukon when you can have a Yukon XL? A 12.0 amp vacuum when a 13.0 amp is available? A 2.2ghz chip when you can have a 2.8ghz?

So there is always a goal to shoot for. The western world has filled up your life with things you NEED. You need a house and a car and as you move up and age these should increase in quality and cost. You should buy braces for your kids and clothe them in fashionable styles. (they'll tell you what you need to buy them ;-) You should always buy lots of insurance to protect the money you've spent for all these needed things.

This is contrasted somewhat with other parts of the world where money isn't yet as powerful. In the Middle East we see religion is power, much as it was in the middle ages in Europe, Islam is many nations not-so-silent partner. Moving up the ladder in the religious orders is what CONTROLS the environment. Of course to have power over others they must have belief first. So the religion makes sure the folks TIME is consumed with religious activities. Praying towards Mecca daily is an invaluable ritualistic ball and chain to literally keep the masses cowed down. As children see their parents cowed and fearful, so to do they mimic their parents and the chain of ritual remains unbroken, asides from the few who escape due to exposure of vastly different and more desirable lifestyles.

So for these folks, who have little money or ambition to acquire lots of the same, their lives are devoted to that which consumes them - religion. Religion is their master and religion swallows up their time and thoughts. It has 3 sides of the square wrapped up and naturally these people are far more devoted to their religion than is the westerner to a Lamborghini. This is primarily because the westerner has all sorts of options and replacements should anything happen to his/her possesions. The poor religionists only have faith and if that is stripped from them they are even more poor than the westerner who has the enjoyment of hoping and working towards his material goals.

This same devotion spurs suicides and terrorism. Material rewards which seem impossibly out of reach in this life are promised in the afterlife. This built-in CONTROLLING mechanism allows the leaders of the religion to create armies of willing suicides. These folks look forward to death the same way the westerner looks forwards to being handed the keys to a new car.

So what does all this mean? Is it possible for religion to be supplanted by materialism? Clearly the Islamist feel that the western materialism will eventually be supplanted by Sharia.

Power is the goal of both. Iranian leadership wants the bomb because the bomb represents power and control over others. It represents the power to thumb your nose at western ideals and wade through bloody barbarism unchecked by progress. This same power is what Kim il Jung wanted so desperately to protect his regime. Power to feel immune and live in the manner they are accustomed to - calling the shots and controlling others.

The left rail against the right and the right against the left all because they want power.

World war III is not around the corner. The western desire to enjoy life excludes the suicidal nature of many middle easterners who look forward to death for their reward. The west enjoys a massive education gap with the middle east. This education gap is what keeps the west at an advantage in this classic struggle for power. The west will do what it needs to do in order to either convert, incapacitate and strip power from those who threaten the west.

In this they will be successful. How do I know this?

First off, it is easier to make folks enjoy life and fear death rather than fear life and enjoy death. The media is the tool of the west to inform and make folks aware of all they are missing. Most of these nations live in a media bubble wherein provincial news is fed them in small doses like Ritalin to keep them docile and subserviant. The media walls have come crashing down in much of the middle east and corporate interests are slowly making inroads.

And the next reason is because religion is the reality of the uneducated. Education exposes the countless logical fallacies of all religions. The higher the level of education, the less tenable religion generally becomes. It is much easier to educate people than to strip them of their education.

Even the left falls in line when it sees its own survival and powerbase threatened by Islam. In the United Press slideshow link of Tom's we saw the media focus on signs which would frighten and scare the residents of Denmark, France and the west in general. Instead of suppressing them, they chose to highlight them. They realize that public outcry against Islamic censorship means their continued powerbase and income. A good scare story and controversy also increase revenues in the short term.

So the world will continue to morph and different nations and groups will always be playing some angle of the power square to control humanity and have power to morph their environment to suit their real or perceived needs. As a nation's wealth grows so do its ambitions for power and material things. India, China, South America and Russia have not yet come close to matching the consumption and NEEDS of America or western Europe.

WWIII could only occur among those nations where death is preferable to life. Few nations qualify. Perhaps an Israeli/Iranian nuclear exchange is coming. However, I suspect this too will be avoided.

Fear keeps folks cowed. Have no fear. Look forward to life and yet always try to see the big picture. Realize that materialism is swell and fine but must be seen in perspective. Always realize that someone is trying to manipulate your power square fo their own ends.