Fantastic Planet is running a fascinating series of articles on how the Slow Crash can be viewed in the context of gnostic religion. The latest installment focuses on the role of the Archons. The whole thing is worth reading, but here's a snippet to whet your appetite:

Eventually, the ultimate goal of the Archons would be to excise the divine spark from the Materia completely. How better to do this than to establish control systems in which humans are completely at their mercy, and how better to do that than draw out any crisis currently facing the planet indefinitely? That’s far more worrisome for the long term than any societal crash could be.

Well, not necessarily indefinitely. Once all of the dissenters have been "taken care of," the Archonic Utopia would doubtless be a sort of soulless Eden, similar to Huxley’s Brave New World, where everyone is at the mercy of the State and consequently the Rulers -- no need for independent thought or freedom. It may not look anything like what you think of as a "police state." It might even be some kind of weird "ecotopia"-- they might have to shift the focus once resources run out even for them. Remember, their goal isn’t destruction, it’s preservation.

Plus, they’re super good at manipulating their control systems by reading which way the public wind blows. If the public starts to lean left, the Archons are pushing them that way. If the public verges to the right, the Archons are just a few steps ahead. The point is that the Archons will always manipulate people into believing that they’re not being influenced. They’re masterful propagandists. Hijacking via co-op is their specialty. Peak Oil a valid concern? Just wait until the Archons get their hands on it. Worried about environmental change? Wait until you’re not allowed to leave the compund on odd numbered days.

How do they want us to react right now? If their ultimate goal is to keep us in, and to stay in power by keeping us under control, they need to address the threat of the Logos. The best way to do this is via distraction and misdirection, something else at which they’re really skilled. They want us to expend our passions, be they anger, fear, love, greed, outrage, emotional investment or what have you, on staged systems and day-to-day existence. They want us to wake up, go to work, read the news and get outraged, attend political gatherings, go home and go to bed feeling as though we’ve accomplished something special, when the opposite is the case. That way we won’t notice the Crash, or recognize it for what it is. They’d like us to hate one another for stupid, external reasons, because every time we do, we fall just a few steps behind. They want us to see others in terms of objects. They know that every time they slip up and lose just a modicum of control over an independent being, that being might see behind the facade and open his or her arms to the Logos.