2020 saw the near-deletion of nearly all the worldly causes of hope. Whatever you most appreciate in your life - whatever you looked forward to - chances are it has been suspended with diminishing likelihood of its ever returning.
This is particularly despair-inducing in The West; because there is negligible other-worldly expectation of life-beyond-life.
(As the weeks go by, one after another slender loophole of worldly hope - of some-thing to look-forward-to - meeting family, a fulfilling career, holidays, hobbies, a social life, romance, sports, fellowship, real-education, singing or dancing, arts or crafts or culture... whatever - withers, is closed-off, and tied shut.)
When all institutions have been incorporated into a single, hierarchical and cross-linked, global bureaucracy (The System) - then there is no personal responsibility for any evil - and we are realizing that personal responsibility is the only real responsibility.
In a world where all decisions are ultimately underwritten by committees, by voting; then nobody is responsible for anything.
And when all institutions are part of The System, there is no possibility of replacing evil rule by something genuinely-better.
And since the problem is in the non-responsibility - then some other System is not an answer. And we are learning what should have been obvious; that individuals are not allowed to make a positive difference - because all judgment is ultimately ruled by committee.
Another aspect of the situation is that (because non-responsible) committee systems are intrinsically evil, hence destructive. They will always destroy The Good - overall and through time.
Therefore the mere operation of The System drives the world further and further into an evil for which nobody is responsible, and about-which nothing constructive can be done.
Hence the despair. And hence my name for this demonic strategy which has been unrolling for several generations: Project Despair.
The strategy was very simple: first remove all next-worldly considerations from life (God, the spiritual and creation) - so that people become utterly this-worldly; second, eliminate all this-worldly hope - leaving people with nothing.
To my intuition, despair is settling upon the world is a fashion that is almost palpable; as the reality of our situation settles in - and this is a despair for which (when people are honest with themselves, and this cannot always be avoided - at least unconsciously) there is no conceivable worldly solution.
In other words - logistics and practicality aside; people cannot even imagine, cannot even daydream, a way-out from the situation we are spiraling-down into...
The choice is stark: despair or Christ.
And Christ is necessary, but not sufficient - because each must work actively for his own destiny in this world; and for his own salvation in the next.
