I've felt the decay since childhood. School just taught me the economic and political systems that didn't make sense to me. Not because I didn't understand, but because I saw why it was naive if not rigged to fail. Sadly, most of the other kids didn't think much about it.
Neither do the adults. Why not? Perhaps because they were still having the "dream" sold to them by corporations and the government.
What I can say is that today has such an odd pattern of chaos! It tells me that the powers that be are struggling to keep us distracted. If they only just gave us more, we would go along.
But no, they stole stole stole and even hurt us with absolute garbage.
The medical stuff is coming out now... SSRIs are shit, statins are shit, quackzines don't work (or hurt you).
In a similar fashion, I suspect the truth of the economy will come out.
Then, we can address the elephant in the room that hides behind fake crusades.
The second coming of Christ seemed figurative to me.
Not a coming of a man, but a change of people to live like what Christ taught, and not the major religion interpretation of it.
As he said "the temple is within", people will learn to stand up for themselves and no longer be plugged into a group mind, whether it be politics, science, religion, etc.
I remember wondering why school was so authoritarian while we were supposedly living in a democracy where the freedom of the individual was paramount. I didn't phrase it in those terms when I was ten years old, but the intuition was there.
There's indeed an odd pattern of chaos. Which, I guess, is what chaos (or randomness) means. Odd patterns that cannot easily be explained.
Just like the frauds permeating science will become more and more acknowledged, I think that the truth of the economy might start showing through the cracks. At least the bigger truths - the resource situation and the untenable financial situation.
When I talk to people, these latter things is what seems to be at the forefront in their minds and what they need to talk to someone about. Two random acquaintances just yesterday started up conversations about the problems in the global economy and the untenable "green transition".
I enjoyed the musical selection (reminds me a bit of the Innocence Mission’s earlier gems) – thank you for sharing it. And for your descriptive and resonate words.
You poignantly mused about, “the tragedy unfolding around us.” And our inability to truly perceive and register the evil being visited openly on the majority of Earth’s inhabitants (people, animals, the “natural” world, skies, water, plants, etc. ad infinitum).
We (the species known as the human race – for we are one race and many people groups, ethnicities, etc.) are witnesses to the escalated & now far advanced war on humanity waged by no less than fellow creatures who have successfully carried out their campaign of fear, disillusionment, and hopelessness (as well as isolation) that produces the sense of numb disbelief with an occasional flickering hope for some sort of cataclysmic and righteous correction at a magnitude and scale that will restore us to the idyllic notions we carry around about a past we once inhabited that bears less and less resemblance to the present one in which we find ourselves.
The tragedy is that we have forgotten, in our grief and purposefully perpetrated dread of the next bit of horrific news or actions against the collective or individual “us,” that there is sin and there is profound evil. There is also (though we must apprehend it in with and by faith) absolute good and One who embodies it in ways we spend our lives learning about and experiencing to greater and lesser degrees depending on our belief and our understanding of eternal and unassailable truth.
It is “new” or “nouveau” to us, though generations before us endured horrific and tragic atrocities in their lands and on their persons – unprovoked and unanticipated or desired attempts to manipulate and exterminate, enslave or control them – we are simply not the exception we grew up believing we are or perhaps ought to be or even, for some, deserve to be.
In other words, we are one with history as it repeatedly evidences that we and our world are de-volving, not evolving. The purposeful division being sown into the fabric of society – is not just intentional but also nefarious in its essence and intent. United in perception and resolve, we can be formidable. Drawing from the strength of our common (or even uncommon) bonds, from the inspiration and enabling of our LORD and Savior, our Advocate & the Redeemer of our lives, & from the knowledge that our destiny lies not in the mediocrity and opaque, colorless and dreary circumstances in which we find ourselves, but instead on a gift freely given to us, for us, that enlivens and resets us – transforming us from creaturely victims to victorious saints – sufferers, perhaps, still – but ones who have hope even in the face of the most incarnate evil yet to openly rattle it saber at us and our Hallowed Preserver. And hope defies and dismember darkness – shining in the darkness that does not and cannot comprehend or overtake it.
The “collapse” of the synthetic world in its final stages of transformation from the organic paradise it was crated to be – replete with the electronic panopticon, (for those who are not “culled” through the bioweapon jabs, the constant rain of toxic nanoparticulate metals, mircoplastics and the intentional disappearance of food staples, spiritual enoblement & essential resources that are able to, the calculated “wars”, stoking deep reactions and greater division for participants and spectators alike,
We have been influenced and ruled, for many years now (and to an ever-increasing degree as others aggregate and join them) by a cadre of psychopathic, unfeeling, powerful persons who have no inclination towards mercy, grace, compassion or benevolence – only an unshakable and unrelenting dedication to using every resource, every person, every opportunity to at last realize their feverish wet dream – of living forever and of having control of a digitally inventoried and managed every living and material (and if possible, ethereal) “thing” and of doing what they will with it all – ridding themselves of the inconveniences of our resistance, understanding and greater love for self and others guided not by self-interests but by the aspirations of benevolence and of preservation and of supporting and caring, as divine stewards, for everyone and everything that surrounds us, submitted and enabled by our LORD….who alone can bring to fruition the demise of those who despise and wish to devour or forever reduce us to feudal serfs for their entertainment. For He has foreseen their objectives, anticipated their obfuscations and ruses – has seen in advance the worst that they can do and His preserving, loving and more than sufficient response is to see them, in their deranged and demented state, repaid for their plenteous and heinous sins against Him and us.
It is right that we sense the decay and the rot from those who have only themselves and their benefit as a life objective – it is our “natural” defenses informing us that something so altogether “other” has been provided and will both defeat the evil, but also bridge the gap between what we have believed and is and our realization of it.
The catharsis -- the great cleansing, the purging of the world without and within is coming. We can choose to inhabit the role of being victims of it, or to place our trust, faith and hope in One who has already triumphed victoriously and is even now waiting for the moment when the process of revision and reclamation will begin anew and with momentum that is unstoppable and undeniable.
The dominant narratives are only the best mankind can muster, and fall short of the liberating truth and reality that we are spiritual beings, temporarily housed in these often frail bodies, living souls with a legacy and heritage who are beneficiaries of a testamentary trust, those who are rightly related to the spiritual wealth and life that is ours by bequest – the LORD Himself, the Almighty, the One who is before all things and holds all things together – the One who died, rose again, and exited the planet in that form, sending back His pledge for eventual liberation in the form of His Spirit to dwell within and rejuvenate and refresh and to direct and support our transformation and eventual co-habitation with the TRIUNITY of God, Son & Spirit that has pre-existed since before time and has allowed all of this to transpire to extend their open invitation of hope, restoration and new life with them, forever to we who are perishing – psychologically, emotionally, physically and spiritually. The hope that we have that cannot be taken is in the One who made all things, and gave Himself for us. He cannot and will not be defeated or thwarted. We live in the anticipation of what He has yet to do and is now doing, and has already done, knowing that we are no longer slaves of the degradation and sin that once characterized us – we are the new creation, the antithesis of this dark and dying place. Take Heart.
Thanks for the kind words, and for a proper essay in its own right. On the music, I discovered them (Au Revoir Simone) through the final season of Twin Peaks. Worth a watch.
I think your analysis is correct. We're numbed by the impact of the tragedy, and its often naked and remorseless violence, and I think our level of disconnect in comparison to previous generations make things all the worse. Even those who went through the mechanized horrors and compounded propaganda of World War I at least were complete human beings with complex networks of relations behind them. They had (at least to a greater extent) resources to heal, to reflect and to see the bigger picture, spiritually and metaphysically speaking.
And it does seem that all of this is coming to a head. To a turning point.
Thank you for the kind words. It's in some sense like we've both known too much and too little tragedy. We've been exposed to it without really knowing it. It's gotten right through any and all protection and permeated our lives, yet remained undetected, so we haven't really learned anything.
But there's no virtue without resistance. There's no faith without courage in the face of the abyss.
Very gracious of you and I concur with your observations - our limited resources, including the almost complete absence of the extended family, close community and meaningful spiritual connections over the unassailable truths of our faith lived out have made us much more vulnerable and susceptible to despair and to the darkness that we see increasingly prominent in our society, in our perceptions of one another and in the depictions (well-manipulated and propagandized) of reality and some kind of synthetic, manufactured, inorganic and digitized future wherein we are simply tools, no longer dynamic individuals, to be used then discarded by would be owners. Our hope has been and remains in the ONE who has foreseen and prescribed for us His solution -- the one that ties us back to our prior generations, to the very foundation of this world and stretches forward into what it for us, yet to come -- our faith must apprehend and hold fast to Him and His promises and the true nature of the irrevocable, unspeakably magnificent gift we've been given and the unshakable hope that lies with Him alone (that become the common place of community and sharing amongst the remnant who have trusted and believed and who are now able to solace and comfort those who are perishing and do not yet realize their destiny if they would but choose it). The hope that lies in Jesus is the one lasting and eternally viable reality to which we both cling and proclaim to those who ask us to explain the hope we possess and are happy to share, to cheer, to comfort and to convince them not to go silently into the night but to "rage rage against the dying light" (perception) and instead shine the true light on all we can while we are able. Blessings.
I always say 9/11 is Year 0 for me but I also add that I remember feeling that the increased speed of change we saw in the post 9-11 days started in the latter part of the 90s.
(As an expat in the US since the early 90s oh man what a change..) also often say the 90s were the last Golden Age, from my own experience at least, being born on Schickstalstag in the middle of Italy's Strategy of Tension, in the city of both Franco Freda AND Antonio Negri.
I've felt the decay since childhood. School just taught me the economic and political systems that didn't make sense to me. Not because I didn't understand, but because I saw why it was naive if not rigged to fail. Sadly, most of the other kids didn't think much about it.
Neither do the adults. Why not? Perhaps because they were still having the "dream" sold to them by corporations and the government.
What I can say is that today has such an odd pattern of chaos! It tells me that the powers that be are struggling to keep us distracted. If they only just gave us more, we would go along.
But no, they stole stole stole and even hurt us with absolute garbage.
The medical stuff is coming out now... SSRIs are shit, statins are shit, quackzines don't work (or hurt you).
In a similar fashion, I suspect the truth of the economy will come out.
Then, we can address the elephant in the room that hides behind fake crusades.
The second coming of Christ seemed figurative to me.
Not a coming of a man, but a change of people to live like what Christ taught, and not the major religion interpretation of it.
As he said "the temple is within", people will learn to stand up for themselves and no longer be plugged into a group mind, whether it be politics, science, religion, etc.
I remember wondering why school was so authoritarian while we were supposedly living in a democracy where the freedom of the individual was paramount. I didn't phrase it in those terms when I was ten years old, but the intuition was there.
There's indeed an odd pattern of chaos. Which, I guess, is what chaos (or randomness) means. Odd patterns that cannot easily be explained.
Just like the frauds permeating science will become more and more acknowledged, I think that the truth of the economy might start showing through the cracks. At least the bigger truths - the resource situation and the untenable financial situation.
When I talk to people, these latter things is what seems to be at the forefront in their minds and what they need to talk to someone about. Two random acquaintances just yesterday started up conversations about the problems in the global economy and the untenable "green transition".
I enjoyed the musical selection (reminds me a bit of the Innocence Mission’s earlier gems) – thank you for sharing it. And for your descriptive and resonate words.
You poignantly mused about, “the tragedy unfolding around us.” And our inability to truly perceive and register the evil being visited openly on the majority of Earth’s inhabitants (people, animals, the “natural” world, skies, water, plants, etc. ad infinitum).
We (the species known as the human race – for we are one race and many people groups, ethnicities, etc.) are witnesses to the escalated & now far advanced war on humanity waged by no less than fellow creatures who have successfully carried out their campaign of fear, disillusionment, and hopelessness (as well as isolation) that produces the sense of numb disbelief with an occasional flickering hope for some sort of cataclysmic and righteous correction at a magnitude and scale that will restore us to the idyllic notions we carry around about a past we once inhabited that bears less and less resemblance to the present one in which we find ourselves.
The tragedy is that we have forgotten, in our grief and purposefully perpetrated dread of the next bit of horrific news or actions against the collective or individual “us,” that there is sin and there is profound evil. There is also (though we must apprehend it in with and by faith) absolute good and One who embodies it in ways we spend our lives learning about and experiencing to greater and lesser degrees depending on our belief and our understanding of eternal and unassailable truth.
It is “new” or “nouveau” to us, though generations before us endured horrific and tragic atrocities in their lands and on their persons – unprovoked and unanticipated or desired attempts to manipulate and exterminate, enslave or control them – we are simply not the exception we grew up believing we are or perhaps ought to be or even, for some, deserve to be.
In other words, we are one with history as it repeatedly evidences that we and our world are de-volving, not evolving. The purposeful division being sown into the fabric of society – is not just intentional but also nefarious in its essence and intent. United in perception and resolve, we can be formidable. Drawing from the strength of our common (or even uncommon) bonds, from the inspiration and enabling of our LORD and Savior, our Advocate & the Redeemer of our lives, & from the knowledge that our destiny lies not in the mediocrity and opaque, colorless and dreary circumstances in which we find ourselves, but instead on a gift freely given to us, for us, that enlivens and resets us – transforming us from creaturely victims to victorious saints – sufferers, perhaps, still – but ones who have hope even in the face of the most incarnate evil yet to openly rattle it saber at us and our Hallowed Preserver. And hope defies and dismember darkness – shining in the darkness that does not and cannot comprehend or overtake it.
The “collapse” of the synthetic world in its final stages of transformation from the organic paradise it was crated to be – replete with the electronic panopticon, (for those who are not “culled” through the bioweapon jabs, the constant rain of toxic nanoparticulate metals, mircoplastics and the intentional disappearance of food staples, spiritual enoblement & essential resources that are able to, the calculated “wars”, stoking deep reactions and greater division for participants and spectators alike,
We have been influenced and ruled, for many years now (and to an ever-increasing degree as others aggregate and join them) by a cadre of psychopathic, unfeeling, powerful persons who have no inclination towards mercy, grace, compassion or benevolence – only an unshakable and unrelenting dedication to using every resource, every person, every opportunity to at last realize their feverish wet dream – of living forever and of having control of a digitally inventoried and managed every living and material (and if possible, ethereal) “thing” and of doing what they will with it all – ridding themselves of the inconveniences of our resistance, understanding and greater love for self and others guided not by self-interests but by the aspirations of benevolence and of preservation and of supporting and caring, as divine stewards, for everyone and everything that surrounds us, submitted and enabled by our LORD….who alone can bring to fruition the demise of those who despise and wish to devour or forever reduce us to feudal serfs for their entertainment. For He has foreseen their objectives, anticipated their obfuscations and ruses – has seen in advance the worst that they can do and His preserving, loving and more than sufficient response is to see them, in their deranged and demented state, repaid for their plenteous and heinous sins against Him and us.
It is right that we sense the decay and the rot from those who have only themselves and their benefit as a life objective – it is our “natural” defenses informing us that something so altogether “other” has been provided and will both defeat the evil, but also bridge the gap between what we have believed and is and our realization of it.
The catharsis -- the great cleansing, the purging of the world without and within is coming. We can choose to inhabit the role of being victims of it, or to place our trust, faith and hope in One who has already triumphed victoriously and is even now waiting for the moment when the process of revision and reclamation will begin anew and with momentum that is unstoppable and undeniable.
The dominant narratives are only the best mankind can muster, and fall short of the liberating truth and reality that we are spiritual beings, temporarily housed in these often frail bodies, living souls with a legacy and heritage who are beneficiaries of a testamentary trust, those who are rightly related to the spiritual wealth and life that is ours by bequest – the LORD Himself, the Almighty, the One who is before all things and holds all things together – the One who died, rose again, and exited the planet in that form, sending back His pledge for eventual liberation in the form of His Spirit to dwell within and rejuvenate and refresh and to direct and support our transformation and eventual co-habitation with the TRIUNITY of God, Son & Spirit that has pre-existed since before time and has allowed all of this to transpire to extend their open invitation of hope, restoration and new life with them, forever to we who are perishing – psychologically, emotionally, physically and spiritually. The hope that we have that cannot be taken is in the One who made all things, and gave Himself for us. He cannot and will not be defeated or thwarted. We live in the anticipation of what He has yet to do and is now doing, and has already done, knowing that we are no longer slaves of the degradation and sin that once characterized us – we are the new creation, the antithesis of this dark and dying place. Take Heart.
More than beautiful. Thank you. All glory to God.
Thanks for the kind words, and for a proper essay in its own right. On the music, I discovered them (Au Revoir Simone) through the final season of Twin Peaks. Worth a watch.
I think your analysis is correct. We're numbed by the impact of the tragedy, and its often naked and remorseless violence, and I think our level of disconnect in comparison to previous generations make things all the worse. Even those who went through the mechanized horrors and compounded propaganda of World War I at least were complete human beings with complex networks of relations behind them. They had (at least to a greater extent) resources to heal, to reflect and to see the bigger picture, spiritually and metaphysically speaking.
And it does seem that all of this is coming to a head. To a turning point.
Watch and pray.
Here in the US we have known so little tragedy we need to "learn how to swim". And quickly.
Thank you, beautiful article. All glory to God.
Thank you for the kind words. It's in some sense like we've both known too much and too little tragedy. We've been exposed to it without really knowing it. It's gotten right through any and all protection and permeated our lives, yet remained undetected, so we haven't really learned anything.
But there's no virtue without resistance. There's no faith without courage in the face of the abyss.
Very gracious of you and I concur with your observations - our limited resources, including the almost complete absence of the extended family, close community and meaningful spiritual connections over the unassailable truths of our faith lived out have made us much more vulnerable and susceptible to despair and to the darkness that we see increasingly prominent in our society, in our perceptions of one another and in the depictions (well-manipulated and propagandized) of reality and some kind of synthetic, manufactured, inorganic and digitized future wherein we are simply tools, no longer dynamic individuals, to be used then discarded by would be owners. Our hope has been and remains in the ONE who has foreseen and prescribed for us His solution -- the one that ties us back to our prior generations, to the very foundation of this world and stretches forward into what it for us, yet to come -- our faith must apprehend and hold fast to Him and His promises and the true nature of the irrevocable, unspeakably magnificent gift we've been given and the unshakable hope that lies with Him alone (that become the common place of community and sharing amongst the remnant who have trusted and believed and who are now able to solace and comfort those who are perishing and do not yet realize their destiny if they would but choose it). The hope that lies in Jesus is the one lasting and eternally viable reality to which we both cling and proclaim to those who ask us to explain the hope we possess and are happy to share, to cheer, to comfort and to convince them not to go silently into the night but to "rage rage against the dying light" (perception) and instead shine the true light on all we can while we are able. Blessings.
I always say 9/11 is Year 0 for me but I also add that I remember feeling that the increased speed of change we saw in the post 9-11 days started in the latter part of the 90s.
(As an expat in the US since the early 90s oh man what a change..) also often say the 90s were the last Golden Age, from my own experience at least, being born on Schickstalstag in the middle of Italy's Strategy of Tension, in the city of both Franco Freda AND Antonio Negri.
You and the Indian fellow are the deeper two of the Aesthetic Resistance podcast. ✨️ 😊