The subversion of the law/admin. of Civil Rights is at the heart of the ruling party's program; they are at present justifying the active pursuit of worldwide imperial hegemony on the basis of "civil rights violations."
None of this benefits the nation - that is not its purpose.
The "United States" is a kind of shell - for an international…
The subversion of the law/admin. of Civil Rights is at the heart of the ruling party's program; they are at present justifying the active pursuit of worldwide imperial hegemony on the basis of "civil rights violations."
None of this benefits the nation - that is not its purpose.
The "United States" is a kind of shell - for an international ideological movement which respects no borders or sovereignties. This has nothing to do with America as a nation; it is a partially-consolidated revolutionary régime acting as a class for-itself.
Yeah this ideology really does wear the skin of other things, using language games to try and mask this. Our democracy, etc. This is why the mask stuff was really symbolic, they really don't want to hear us speak or see us as people. We are to be ruled. Our voice is only to be used to validate them. Otherwise it's a threat to democracy. Irony.
Your post is excellent as always, Tommaso! Seva has been commenting similarly in response to other articles that the United States has ceased to be a country. I would add that the "shell" you mention might no longer exist either, but might consist completely of our wishful thought, our denial that what we are so afraid of losing is already gone.
Sandra, I’m writing from Canada. The denial you spoke of is rampant here too. But you guys watch the leader of the Conservative Party in the future. He’s blowing the whistle. Pray for us too along with all of you. By the way, I think I smell the rats at the base of all our problems. We’ll see.
Thank you ,Sandra. Cristopher’s article tonight really got my brain wound up. I’m gonna sleep on it before I shoot my mouth off. More tomorrow. But one more bit- Pierre is way, way above Trudope in the polls. I believe he’ll be our next PM!!
A terrible thought, and quite possibly true, but one we are not entitled to be dogmatic about - at-least not as to its finality. Italy was reconstituted, and Russia has reconstituted itself after much misery. The Puritans hanged the King, and were yet defeated. The ideologists never regained influence after their fall, despite having institutionalized themselves.
Of the ideological régimes, Germany is the worst case - not only the most malignantly violent, but the most permanently prostrate - it only half-reconstitute itself after the war - it has been an undeclared protectorate, and now nearly an outright vassal.
Our foreign behavior was traced by Athens in the years leading to the Peloponesian War. Ideology is not the only thing going on here - in fact, it is occupying space in the souls of people who are internally collapsing - it is desperate antidote before it is anything else - its religious function.
I agree that we can never be certain about the future. It is unknown in a profound way no matter how much we want to be able to predict the end point of any individual trajectory. I would, however, point out that it is quite legitimate to inquire about the presence of denial, in this case the kind that is often seen in cases of traumatic grief. Unfortunately, there is also some research on depression that shows that a darker than average outlook tends to be more objective than the rose shaded lenses that support a more optimistic one. I find this last conclusion to be amusing :-)
I think that your reference to the inner experience of cultural upheaval or fragmentation is very interesting. I am not clear though about what you are saying in your last paragraph. What do you see as "occupying space in the souls of people who are internally collapsing"?
I have wondered for some time if what I am feeling and what many other Americans appear to be feeling is how people typically feel when their countries are falling apart. Is that part of what you are saying?
I can be abbreviated to the point of unintentionally cryptic - sorry.
I like what you say - a kind of feeling of vertigo, maybe. I feel it, and I'm guessing you do, too - I think that a lot of us do.
I am referring to a kind of spiritual void in our ruling classes that this new religion is rushing in to fill - one does not join a cult unless susceptible. This I do not feel at all, and many of us don't. It is concentrated among that group as part of their class indoctrination at elite universities, etc. - and now everywhere. They are "anti" on-principle; The nation, family, God - you name it.
In the past, we would think of such people as "lost souls," but now they are part of a ruling party/class and their delusions are becoming law. It might as well be Nexium or Scientology. There are weird sub-cults within it - Trans, Race, the Sacklers, the Pritzkers, etc. It is, as they say, "intersectional."
What you are saying is certainly true of the people I know who endorse the woke platform. They usually are atheists, or simply say that they aren't interested in religion. When I was first in the process of discovering why I felt hatred for "Democrats," I posted on the WSJ that I thought the woke movement was a cult. Someone responded, "No. We are atheists and secular humanists." I thought that a person in that belief situation might have more reason to want to join a cult.
They flatter themselves by saying that they are atheists - no way. Atheism is a philosophical conclusion - an answer to the question: why reality and not nothing? The answer is either theism or atheism - that all is particles/accident. Being philosophical, it cannot be dogmatic - the question must always remain open. Secular Humanism has nothing to do with this - it is the appropriation of Divine Providence (or "History" if you like) by humans - atheism denies the existence of any Providence whatsoever.
They are ordinary moralists caught up in the process of secularization - "Secular Humanism." Within the Catholic Church, these people end up in a kind of mawkish cult of Suffering Humanity - they blame God for every misery. Their next step is to hate the Church and join all the other "Secular Humanists" - God speed.
"They are ordinary moralists caught up in the process of secularization"
You are so right about this! I need to keep remembering that these are people who are following a new version of conventional morality, and they are doing it in a way that is rigid and mean, and which wards off the open, objective inquiry of science. It's really so "old fashioned" in its conventionality that you could literally in your post rattle off a list of similar social phenomena in other times and places.
The language used by the cult is relentlessly confusing in its reversals of meanings and in the certainty with which it is wielded. There is an appearance of intellectual and moral reasoning, but it mostly consists of pseudo-religious repetition of sacred phrases and of following rules prescribed by the cult. In reality, the level of thought that is typical of the woke is shallow and not intended to function as a strategy to reach any truth, but is in fact mostly a kind of an act, albeit one that is motivated by "good" intentions in many cases.
In the past, such people stuck to the conventions of traditional custom/culture and morality, and it was fine - that is what it is for - to educate people to a minimum level of civilization. Occasionally, you get a nasty person - but that's always.
Now, they are conforming to a kind of private, intersubjective mysticism.
They are pretty much the "Good Burghers" of today - with a heinous culture whose center is a deranged religion.
We could say that the woke are obsessed to an extreme degree with creating new forms and new rules. Chris Rufo has previously observed that this cult is associated with bureaucracies, and that the ultimate level to which its members aspire is to remain a bureaucrat.
The woke practice the law but don't know how to connect with the spirit, and you are saying that they then connect with the experience of no-spirit instead, which feels terrible to them. To solve this they try to worship idols constructed from idealized images of "persecuted" minority identities.
If they don't take care, they will be involved in crimes, and perhaps even war crimes; it is a foreseeable outcome, and quite a few are demonstrating the temperament.
Don't be surprised if this happens. I suspect that it will, given the cruelty of Trans, the border and the foreign wars to "remake the world." We'll see...
Yes, I am seeing that the woke are very drawn to charismatic narcissists, even if the narcissists are bizarrely exhibitionistic, or even perverted. Narcissists are less influenced than are average conventional people by ethical principles or empathy. They use aggression to enhance their sense of superiority and power, or just because they like to be aggressive and to hurt people. I think that "DEI" could easily evolve into the Department of the Inquisition.
True. And atheism (the "conclude there is nothing" version) is also a belief - as reason only brings one to agnosticism. One's conviction from there, is a personal choice.
I would certainly prefer to be mistaken - we'll have to watch and see if this holds true. There is certainly an explanation for what we see, though - and this is clearly part of it.
This does not mean that it acts rationally or competently according to its own purposes, or in a unitary or consistent manner.
For instance, its ideology is not altogether congruent with its own interests. It is, to some extent, "flying by the seat of ifs pants." There is, however, a discernable class and a discernable ideology involved - start from there.
True. And America, Canada and parts of Europe are under the same kind of attack. But it is self-destructing, in part because it is distorted and dysfunctional at its foundations. The forces of Rebirth are already moving in the deep.
The Soviet and National Socialism examples point to very difficult periods; the Russians reconstituted only after a very long and painful period of ideological supremacy/aftermath, and the Germans went from horror to aftermath to American satellite to finally, today, having less sovereignty than Canada.
Italy came out of it better than the others; its mania was also more short-lived and less malign than the others. The Americans are blowing past Italian Fascism and approaching Puritan Revolution-grade gnosticism.
Yes indeed. We might be looking at 20-30 years of upheaval, or more. At least in America. But it does seem to be right at the cusp now. Maybe 2024 is the year of Revolution or more deeper tectonic shifts.
Another factor is the success of the new global system that China is building incrementally and meticulously. It's soon likely to become a dominant force, at least short-medium term. And hopefully that will force the West to become functional again. The counter-forces in Europe are evident in many countries (Italy, Hungary, Sweden, Finland, increasingly France & Spain), at some point it might tip the EU as well. So based on the last 3-5 years, the dynamic for a Rebirth seems to be well underway.
Your remark concerning 20-30 years or more of upheaval "happily" confirms my impression that you are being realistic - optimism and pessimism can be sometimes faulted for not being strict in this way.
This isn't to say that hope is wrong - you have objective reasons for what you say; the future is unknown and unknowable always - and also undecided. It is also subject to the strangest reversals and unintended consequences, as God Himself promised those who contradict His Divine Providence (Genesis: The Tower of Babel). It is therefore our responsibility to make the most of what we can, knowing that we may not witness beyond protracted conflict.
(For the very very few who are actual, self-understanding atheists and can live in peace with Catholics and Jews, I observe that the underlying universal realities of Accident and Contingency are a permanent feature of reality, from which humans cannot escape; they are its children (for the moment).
For myself, I have the consolation of knowing that the City of God is "not of this world," and so my expectations are limited and my horizon very long. That said, my vocation obligates me to generosity to people of good will who might be neighbors - and who might yet come to sense the presence of His Kingdom.
We can hope, and we can say the truth, and we can try to live that life - bear witness.
Fully agreed. I think the argument that making ideologies and utopian aspirations a counterfeit of the Spiritual Paradise (or Kingdom of G-d) is causing tremendous damage to societies, and is doomed to repeated failure. It might be the overall problem of the last few centuries.
At the same time, in the long term the forces of Good will always prevail and persevere - simply because they are the ones that work (even from the secular perspective). Petty Babel building will always collapse under its own hubris. Which is what is about to/is already happening now in the US I think. (Or one could use the "I will Rise my Throne above the Stars of G-d" as a warning, as well.)
And I share the optimistic perspective of participating in the Good while keeping a long term perspective or horizon - but even if the fruits might come in the very far future, spending one's days in service of the Good is a gift in itself, in my opinion (and experience).
Btw. your vocation - is that as a practicing Catholic Priest?
Penrenial, I am a lay Carmelite, and happily married.
I was for many years an Epicurean - an atheist. My life was reading novels and poetry, mostly. I was a quietist - non-private social life was to me what Socrates says - a great, stupid roaring beast, to be carefully avoided.
I read Plotinus and was impressed by neoplatonism. Then, I read St. Augustine's City of God and changed my mind about the question of atheism. It is my work to understand above-all Genesis and The City of God and to defend them as true - which I believe them to be. God is either altogether present, or we are making unseemly noises about nothing.
It would be fair to say that I am fully post-modern; I have not avoided modernity, but rather have been defecated out the back end of it.
Great to hear, a friend of mine use to spend some days in a Carmelite cloister from time to time in California, once as a prepartion for a lecture series on Dante's Paradiso!
As for being pre/post(behind)-modern, it seems to have become increasingly relevant to revive the balance of the spiritual and rational that was so integral to the incredible spirit of the Florentine Renaissance - through elevating the Spiritual again. It sounds like some of your process might be of appeal to many other secular/athiest people today. A part of my own vocation and passion is to use the Divine Comedy to try to contribute to some of the same.
Which will also bring forth a good amount of Plotinus as well.
And indeed - la gloria di colui che tutto move per l'universo penetra e risplende - that seems to be the Truth.
The subversion of the law/admin. of Civil Rights is at the heart of the ruling party's program; they are at present justifying the active pursuit of worldwide imperial hegemony on the basis of "civil rights violations."
None of this benefits the nation - that is not its purpose.
The "United States" is a kind of shell - for an international ideological movement which respects no borders or sovereignties. This has nothing to do with America as a nation; it is a partially-consolidated revolutionary régime acting as a class for-itself.
Yeah this ideology really does wear the skin of other things, using language games to try and mask this. Our democracy, etc. This is why the mask stuff was really symbolic, they really don't want to hear us speak or see us as people. We are to be ruled. Our voice is only to be used to validate them. Otherwise it's a threat to democracy. Irony.
Your post is excellent as always, Tommaso! Seva has been commenting similarly in response to other articles that the United States has ceased to be a country. I would add that the "shell" you mention might no longer exist either, but might consist completely of our wishful thought, our denial that what we are so afraid of losing is already gone.
Sandra, I’m writing from Canada. The denial you spoke of is rampant here too. But you guys watch the leader of the Conservative Party in the future. He’s blowing the whistle. Pray for us too along with all of you. By the way, I think I smell the rats at the base of all our problems. We’ll see.
I do and will pray for the people of Canada. The tyranny we hear about from the outside is a far cry from the freedom that you once had.
Thank you ,Sandra. Cristopher’s article tonight really got my brain wound up. I’m gonna sleep on it before I shoot my mouth off. More tomorrow. But one more bit- Pierre is way, way above Trudope in the polls. I believe he’ll be our next PM!!
A terrible thought, and quite possibly true, but one we are not entitled to be dogmatic about - at-least not as to its finality. Italy was reconstituted, and Russia has reconstituted itself after much misery. The Puritans hanged the King, and were yet defeated. The ideologists never regained influence after their fall, despite having institutionalized themselves.
Of the ideological régimes, Germany is the worst case - not only the most malignantly violent, but the most permanently prostrate - it only half-reconstitute itself after the war - it has been an undeclared protectorate, and now nearly an outright vassal.
Our foreign behavior was traced by Athens in the years leading to the Peloponesian War. Ideology is not the only thing going on here - in fact, it is occupying space in the souls of people who are internally collapsing - it is desperate antidote before it is anything else - its religious function.
I agree that we can never be certain about the future. It is unknown in a profound way no matter how much we want to be able to predict the end point of any individual trajectory. I would, however, point out that it is quite legitimate to inquire about the presence of denial, in this case the kind that is often seen in cases of traumatic grief. Unfortunately, there is also some research on depression that shows that a darker than average outlook tends to be more objective than the rose shaded lenses that support a more optimistic one. I find this last conclusion to be amusing :-)
I think that your reference to the inner experience of cultural upheaval or fragmentation is very interesting. I am not clear though about what you are saying in your last paragraph. What do you see as "occupying space in the souls of people who are internally collapsing"?
I have wondered for some time if what I am feeling and what many other Americans appear to be feeling is how people typically feel when their countries are falling apart. Is that part of what you are saying?
I can be abbreviated to the point of unintentionally cryptic - sorry.
I like what you say - a kind of feeling of vertigo, maybe. I feel it, and I'm guessing you do, too - I think that a lot of us do.
I am referring to a kind of spiritual void in our ruling classes that this new religion is rushing in to fill - one does not join a cult unless susceptible. This I do not feel at all, and many of us don't. It is concentrated among that group as part of their class indoctrination at elite universities, etc. - and now everywhere. They are "anti" on-principle; The nation, family, God - you name it.
In the past, we would think of such people as "lost souls," but now they are part of a ruling party/class and their delusions are becoming law. It might as well be Nexium or Scientology. There are weird sub-cults within it - Trans, Race, the Sacklers, the Pritzkers, etc. It is, as they say, "intersectional."
What you are saying is certainly true of the people I know who endorse the woke platform. They usually are atheists, or simply say that they aren't interested in religion. When I was first in the process of discovering why I felt hatred for "Democrats," I posted on the WSJ that I thought the woke movement was a cult. Someone responded, "No. We are atheists and secular humanists." I thought that a person in that belief situation might have more reason to want to join a cult.
They flatter themselves by saying that they are atheists - no way. Atheism is a philosophical conclusion - an answer to the question: why reality and not nothing? The answer is either theism or atheism - that all is particles/accident. Being philosophical, it cannot be dogmatic - the question must always remain open. Secular Humanism has nothing to do with this - it is the appropriation of Divine Providence (or "History" if you like) by humans - atheism denies the existence of any Providence whatsoever.
They are ordinary moralists caught up in the process of secularization - "Secular Humanism." Within the Catholic Church, these people end up in a kind of mawkish cult of Suffering Humanity - they blame God for every misery. Their next step is to hate the Church and join all the other "Secular Humanists" - God speed.
"They are ordinary moralists caught up in the process of secularization"
You are so right about this! I need to keep remembering that these are people who are following a new version of conventional morality, and they are doing it in a way that is rigid and mean, and which wards off the open, objective inquiry of science. It's really so "old fashioned" in its conventionality that you could literally in your post rattle off a list of similar social phenomena in other times and places.
The language used by the cult is relentlessly confusing in its reversals of meanings and in the certainty with which it is wielded. There is an appearance of intellectual and moral reasoning, but it mostly consists of pseudo-religious repetition of sacred phrases and of following rules prescribed by the cult. In reality, the level of thought that is typical of the woke is shallow and not intended to function as a strategy to reach any truth, but is in fact mostly a kind of an act, albeit one that is motivated by "good" intentions in many cases.
LOL exactly what I mean.
In the past, such people stuck to the conventions of traditional custom/culture and morality, and it was fine - that is what it is for - to educate people to a minimum level of civilization. Occasionally, you get a nasty person - but that's always.
Now, they are conforming to a kind of private, intersubjective mysticism.
They are pretty much the "Good Burghers" of today - with a heinous culture whose center is a deranged religion.
We could say that the woke are obsessed to an extreme degree with creating new forms and new rules. Chris Rufo has previously observed that this cult is associated with bureaucracies, and that the ultimate level to which its members aspire is to remain a bureaucrat.
The woke practice the law but don't know how to connect with the spirit, and you are saying that they then connect with the experience of no-spirit instead, which feels terrible to them. To solve this they try to worship idols constructed from idealized images of "persecuted" minority identities.
If they don't take care, they will be involved in crimes, and perhaps even war crimes; it is a foreseeable outcome, and quite a few are demonstrating the temperament.
Don't be surprised if this happens. I suspect that it will, given the cruelty of Trans, the border and the foreign wars to "remake the world." We'll see...
Yes, I am seeing that the woke are very drawn to charismatic narcissists, even if the narcissists are bizarrely exhibitionistic, or even perverted. Narcissists are less influenced than are average conventional people by ethical principles or empathy. They use aggression to enhance their sense of superiority and power, or just because they like to be aggressive and to hurt people. I think that "DEI" could easily evolve into the Department of the Inquisition.
True. And atheism (the "conclude there is nothing" version) is also a belief - as reason only brings one to agnosticism. One's conviction from there, is a personal choice.
Or an intuition.
Absolutely. Or, a direct experience.
Excellent assessment. Couldn’t agree more
I would certainly prefer to be mistaken - we'll have to watch and see if this holds true. There is certainly an explanation for what we see, though - and this is clearly part of it.
This does not mean that it acts rationally or competently according to its own purposes, or in a unitary or consistent manner.
For instance, its ideology is not altogether congruent with its own interests. It is, to some extent, "flying by the seat of ifs pants." There is, however, a discernable class and a discernable ideology involved - start from there.
That’s my observation, as well. Controlled chaos
True. And America, Canada and parts of Europe are under the same kind of attack. But it is self-destructing, in part because it is distorted and dysfunctional at its foundations. The forces of Rebirth are already moving in the deep.
I certainly hope that you are correct.
The Soviet and National Socialism examples point to very difficult periods; the Russians reconstituted only after a very long and painful period of ideological supremacy/aftermath, and the Germans went from horror to aftermath to American satellite to finally, today, having less sovereignty than Canada.
Italy came out of it better than the others; its mania was also more short-lived and less malign than the others. The Americans are blowing past Italian Fascism and approaching Puritan Revolution-grade gnosticism.
Yes indeed. We might be looking at 20-30 years of upheaval, or more. At least in America. But it does seem to be right at the cusp now. Maybe 2024 is the year of Revolution or more deeper tectonic shifts.
Another factor is the success of the new global system that China is building incrementally and meticulously. It's soon likely to become a dominant force, at least short-medium term. And hopefully that will force the West to become functional again. The counter-forces in Europe are evident in many countries (Italy, Hungary, Sweden, Finland, increasingly France & Spain), at some point it might tip the EU as well. So based on the last 3-5 years, the dynamic for a Rebirth seems to be well underway.
Your remark concerning 20-30 years or more of upheaval "happily" confirms my impression that you are being realistic - optimism and pessimism can be sometimes faulted for not being strict in this way.
This isn't to say that hope is wrong - you have objective reasons for what you say; the future is unknown and unknowable always - and also undecided. It is also subject to the strangest reversals and unintended consequences, as God Himself promised those who contradict His Divine Providence (Genesis: The Tower of Babel). It is therefore our responsibility to make the most of what we can, knowing that we may not witness beyond protracted conflict.
(For the very very few who are actual, self-understanding atheists and can live in peace with Catholics and Jews, I observe that the underlying universal realities of Accident and Contingency are a permanent feature of reality, from which humans cannot escape; they are its children (for the moment).
For myself, I have the consolation of knowing that the City of God is "not of this world," and so my expectations are limited and my horizon very long. That said, my vocation obligates me to generosity to people of good will who might be neighbors - and who might yet come to sense the presence of His Kingdom.
We can hope, and we can say the truth, and we can try to live that life - bear witness.
A presto,
Fully agreed. I think the argument that making ideologies and utopian aspirations a counterfeit of the Spiritual Paradise (or Kingdom of G-d) is causing tremendous damage to societies, and is doomed to repeated failure. It might be the overall problem of the last few centuries.
At the same time, in the long term the forces of Good will always prevail and persevere - simply because they are the ones that work (even from the secular perspective). Petty Babel building will always collapse under its own hubris. Which is what is about to/is already happening now in the US I think. (Or one could use the "I will Rise my Throne above the Stars of G-d" as a warning, as well.)
And I share the optimistic perspective of participating in the Good while keeping a long term perspective or horizon - but even if the fruits might come in the very far future, spending one's days in service of the Good is a gift in itself, in my opinion (and experience).
Btw. your vocation - is that as a practicing Catholic Priest?
Ciao a presto, grazie 🙏🙏
Penrenial, I am a lay Carmelite, and happily married.
I was for many years an Epicurean - an atheist. My life was reading novels and poetry, mostly. I was a quietist - non-private social life was to me what Socrates says - a great, stupid roaring beast, to be carefully avoided.
I read Plotinus and was impressed by neoplatonism. Then, I read St. Augustine's City of God and changed my mind about the question of atheism. It is my work to understand above-all Genesis and The City of God and to defend them as true - which I believe them to be. God is either altogether present, or we are making unseemly noises about nothing.
It would be fair to say that I am fully post-modern; I have not avoided modernity, but rather have been defecated out the back end of it.
Ci vediamo presto.
Great to hear, a friend of mine use to spend some days in a Carmelite cloister from time to time in California, once as a prepartion for a lecture series on Dante's Paradiso!
As for being pre/post(behind)-modern, it seems to have become increasingly relevant to revive the balance of the spiritual and rational that was so integral to the incredible spirit of the Florentine Renaissance - through elevating the Spiritual again. It sounds like some of your process might be of appeal to many other secular/athiest people today. A part of my own vocation and passion is to use the Divine Comedy to try to contribute to some of the same.
Which will also bring forth a good amount of Plotinus as well.
And indeed - la gloria di colui che tutto move per l'universo penetra e risplende - that seems to be the Truth.
Ci vediamo vi ringrazio ciao!
We understand one another!
Very glad to hear- mi fa molto piacere!