Frodo Baggins at the intersection of Providence and Free Will
I explain this in a post at my Notion Club Papers blog.
Friday, 17 April 2020
Gollum now has the ring (and it's better that way, in the end)
A servant of the Global Establishment depicted shortly after imposing extended lockdown
The worst case spiritual outcome of the recent global totalitarian coup would be a transhumanist-flavoured technocracy of centralised monitoring, surveillance and control - in which life was understood in a wholly materialist fashion, and the highest human value was feeling-pleasure-now; and the greatest moral imperative was the avoidance of immediate suffering (biological-death being seen as preferable).
It is perhaps in order to prevent such an outcome that God has (apparently) allowed ultimate power to fall into the hands of those who look no further than their own glee at their own power - and who will, consequently, pull-down the Global System on their own heads (as a consequence of maximising their petty desires with no regard for the future).
Having crushed the world (excepting themselves) under universal house arrest, deprived of most sources of fulfilment and basic human satisfactions; the Gollum-like glee of the Global Establishment in contemplating this situation of mere possession of power, can see no further than more of the same.
Gollum with the ring is small-minded spite on steroids, supercharged, to the power of ten... The petty spiritual stature remains, only the power to gratify it has been enhanced. That's what we are seeing.
Yet... Just as it is Gollum's petty greed that saves the world from the much worse fate of Sauron possessing The Ring of Power, so - it seems - it is the Gollums of the Global Establishment, who see no further than gratifying their own thrill at more-and-more lock-down and social-distancing for longer-and-longer; that will destroy the technological infrastructure along with 'the economy' and all other large-scale organised activity; and thereby save the world from something that is spiritually much worse.
Note added: Petty selfish short-termist gratification is, indeed, the terminus of all evil; the chaotic scramble of each against all, until one remains who can only kill himself from hatred of creation.
The paradox of evil is that it depends on virtue to be effective. Thus Saruman's Uruk-Hai are obedient and loyal, hence much more effective in abducting Merry and Pippin than Sauron's orcs who simply want to torture and eat them.
The paradox is that obedience and loyalty are virtues that allow long-term strategies; but as evil succeeds and progresses (as it has in the Global Establishment over recent decades), these are undermined by more evil competitors who seek shorter-term tactical and more selfish goals.
This can be seen both in history and in the modern world - it has been very evident over the past several decades. It is a moral version of Gresham's Law - that in a world of evil motivations, the worse drives-out the better; until all value is destroyed.
Note on the Note - We need to recognise that evil is extremely powerful, but it is not all powerful; and precisely because its desire for power is insatiable, at any given time evil is over-extended in the sense that most of its power relies on willing cooperation from those who are much less-thoroughly evil than the leadership.
Thursday, 16 April 2020
God the Father -- some valuable insights from Richard Cocks
Excerpt:
...The Good Father wants his son to be his own man. He hopes the son will be good and kind. That he has a mind of his own, that he is productive and realizes his talents, and hopes to be surprised by his choices and his thoughts. A Good Father would be extremely disappointed were his son to become a fanatic – either ideological or religious – and God forbid, gets into planes and murders strangers imagining that he is doing the Father’s will.
The Good Father hopes his son will be creative. But to command creativity is a self-cancelling affair. He patiently awaits the son’s creative response to life and reality that reflects in some way the Father’s own loving, creative, engagement. There is the revelation of the Father to the son, and the son’s revelation to the Father. This will partly be a matter of what the son chooses to be interested in. No proper Father wants his son living in the basement playing video games wondering why women are not interested in him and becoming resentful.
In strongly paternalistic cultures, the son does not get to be his own man until the father dies. Since God the Father is definitely not dying we better hope God does not subscribe to authoritarianism. In the rather good book Being Mortal, the author describes a pater familias who lived to be over one hundred years old. Every day he would get on his horse and survey his property. His sons were in their seventies and eighties, all waiting to get out from under the thumb of this horrible, never-dying tyrant; waiting to be their own men in charge of their own lives.
It is important that the son be his own man. What father would respect a simpering idiot and want one for a son? It takes two to have a relationship. It takes two for love. The father lets the son tell him who he is, rather than setting up a template and measuring the son by that standard...
By Richard Cocks. Read the whole thing at The Orthosphere
Note: I was particularly struck by the observation that the fact God our Father does not die goes-with the distinctively Christian ideal that we are children of God - and children that God wants to grow-up. Jesus Christ is the example of a fully grown-up Man.
And - with that as the aim - this goes-with our condition as mortals, here on an earth; each in a situation that provides the kind of experiences we most need to learn-from.
This is the nature of our relationship with God. It would not help us grow-up if God contually stepped-in to save us from the consequences of our choices. Neither would it help if he prevented or over-rode those choices. God as a tyrant or dictator demanding obedient submission would not allow us to mature into that full spiritual adulthood he hopes us to achieve.
The first line for God is always to allow us to work-thing-out for ourselves; to let us muddle-through by trial-and-error. Of course, God is always present and (as creator) can do things for us or bail us out of trouble whenever that is for our eternal benefit: so miracles do happen...
Thus, God the ideal Father is the best metaphor to help us understand our relationship with Him - but we must remain to take account of the fact the God, and we ourselves, are eternal - and our relationship is intended to be eternal.
And that makes a difference. Some situations might suffice for the short-term, in specific circumstances of mortal life on earth - but would not be desirable in the context of Heavenly life everlasting.
...The Good Father wants his son to be his own man. He hopes the son will be good and kind. That he has a mind of his own, that he is productive and realizes his talents, and hopes to be surprised by his choices and his thoughts. A Good Father would be extremely disappointed were his son to become a fanatic – either ideological or religious – and God forbid, gets into planes and murders strangers imagining that he is doing the Father’s will.
The Good Father hopes his son will be creative. But to command creativity is a self-cancelling affair. He patiently awaits the son’s creative response to life and reality that reflects in some way the Father’s own loving, creative, engagement. There is the revelation of the Father to the son, and the son’s revelation to the Father. This will partly be a matter of what the son chooses to be interested in. No proper Father wants his son living in the basement playing video games wondering why women are not interested in him and becoming resentful.
In strongly paternalistic cultures, the son does not get to be his own man until the father dies. Since God the Father is definitely not dying we better hope God does not subscribe to authoritarianism. In the rather good book Being Mortal, the author describes a pater familias who lived to be over one hundred years old. Every day he would get on his horse and survey his property. His sons were in their seventies and eighties, all waiting to get out from under the thumb of this horrible, never-dying tyrant; waiting to be their own men in charge of their own lives.
It is important that the son be his own man. What father would respect a simpering idiot and want one for a son? It takes two to have a relationship. It takes two for love. The father lets the son tell him who he is, rather than setting up a template and measuring the son by that standard...
By Richard Cocks. Read the whole thing at The Orthosphere
Note: I was particularly struck by the observation that the fact God our Father does not die goes-with the distinctively Christian ideal that we are children of God - and children that God wants to grow-up. Jesus Christ is the example of a fully grown-up Man.
And - with that as the aim - this goes-with our condition as mortals, here on an earth; each in a situation that provides the kind of experiences we most need to learn-from.
This is the nature of our relationship with God. It would not help us grow-up if God contually stepped-in to save us from the consequences of our choices. Neither would it help if he prevented or over-rode those choices. God as a tyrant or dictator demanding obedient submission would not allow us to mature into that full spiritual adulthood he hopes us to achieve.
The first line for God is always to allow us to work-thing-out for ourselves; to let us muddle-through by trial-and-error. Of course, God is always present and (as creator) can do things for us or bail us out of trouble whenever that is for our eternal benefit: so miracles do happen...
Thus, God the ideal Father is the best metaphor to help us understand our relationship with Him - but we must remain to take account of the fact the God, and we ourselves, are eternal - and our relationship is intended to be eternal.
And that makes a difference. Some situations might suffice for the short-term, in specific circumstances of mortal life on earth - but would not be desirable in the context of Heavenly life everlasting.
Skeptical about little lies, credulous about the Big Lie
It has been a recurrent experience in my life that big lies and errors - are much more resilient than little ones.
Everyone is pleased, indeed eager, to spot little errors, and little lies. Doing so gets one credit as a shrewd 'sceptic', maybe a wit - but such micro-concern amounts to little more than cynical, self-interested one-upmanship when the little lies are debated in an environment of Living a Big Lie.
I came across this first in science; where there were whole disciplines, whole areas of scientific research, which were wrong, useless, harmful - because they were based upon major errors.
And it was not long before I recognised that major errors pretty soon become major lies - because unrecognised and unrepented errors necessarily lead to the systematic abandonment of honesty - since people are so invested in the dishonesty that they cannot allow themselves to believe in the reality (and resilience of) major errors.
An example in which I was actively-engaged was Evidence-Based Medicine; which was built-upon the fundamental error of assuming that averages of large data sets necessarily provided guidance (and indeed the best guidance) on how to treat individual patients.
Perhaps the best known current example of a Big Error/Lie in 'science' is the hypothesis of human-caused (and human controllable) global warming by carbon dioxide. I don't suppose any error-lie in the history of the world has ever been as big as this one...
Or, at least, not until the birdemic lie of the past few months.
All of these Big Lies turn out to have a common source - which is the assumption that those who are most powerful in our nations and the world are well-motivated: that They want the best for Us.
Once that lie has been swallowed and assimilated, all other Big Lies follow - from EBM, through climate emergency, to the birdemic.
It turns-out (perhaps surprisingly) that despite decades of being lied-to by politicians, lied-to by the mass media, lied-to by all the major bureaucracies - the mass of people remain convinced of the basic good intent and honesty of politicians, the media and bureaucracies - so that lies are explained-away as errors, and evil intent is explained-away as incompetence.
And, apparently, nothing can change this assumption of Establishment Goodness - not even a global totalitarian takeover and the police-state lockdown of billions of people.
As I say, a Big Lie is much easier to believe, but more importantly harder to disbelieve, than a little lie.
Everyone is pleased, indeed eager, to spot little errors, and little lies. Doing so gets one credit as a shrewd 'sceptic', maybe a wit - but such micro-concern amounts to little more than cynical, self-interested one-upmanship when the little lies are debated in an environment of Living a Big Lie.
I came across this first in science; where there were whole disciplines, whole areas of scientific research, which were wrong, useless, harmful - because they were based upon major errors.
And it was not long before I recognised that major errors pretty soon become major lies - because unrecognised and unrepented errors necessarily lead to the systematic abandonment of honesty - since people are so invested in the dishonesty that they cannot allow themselves to believe in the reality (and resilience of) major errors.
An example in which I was actively-engaged was Evidence-Based Medicine; which was built-upon the fundamental error of assuming that averages of large data sets necessarily provided guidance (and indeed the best guidance) on how to treat individual patients.
Perhaps the best known current example of a Big Error/Lie in 'science' is the hypothesis of human-caused (and human controllable) global warming by carbon dioxide. I don't suppose any error-lie in the history of the world has ever been as big as this one...
Or, at least, not until the birdemic lie of the past few months.
All of these Big Lies turn out to have a common source - which is the assumption that those who are most powerful in our nations and the world are well-motivated: that They want the best for Us.
Once that lie has been swallowed and assimilated, all other Big Lies follow - from EBM, through climate emergency, to the birdemic.
It turns-out (perhaps surprisingly) that despite decades of being lied-to by politicians, lied-to by the mass media, lied-to by all the major bureaucracies - the mass of people remain convinced of the basic good intent and honesty of politicians, the media and bureaucracies - so that lies are explained-away as errors, and evil intent is explained-away as incompetence.
And, apparently, nothing can change this assumption of Establishment Goodness - not even a global totalitarian takeover and the police-state lockdown of billions of people.
As I say, a Big Lie is much easier to believe, but more importantly harder to disbelieve, than a little lie.
Wednesday, 15 April 2020
Upcoming - the Antichrist Focus
I think what will be coming soon is what I've termed the Antichrist Focus.
We already know that there is a Global Establishment who have (after running several birdemic-type simulations) successfully imposed the recent multi-national coup; so that nearly all the developed world now lives under totalitarian police state conditions. I presume this is just the beginning of the process, which has to be made both permanent and on-going.
(Now They have a grip on us, they will not let-go, but will want to tighten it...)
What next? Well, if the idea is to run the world in a top-down and centralised fashion; there will need to be some kind of figurehead person and organisation; through-whom the general policies can be announced and from-whom they will be implemented.
Because Global Problems need Global Solutions, dontcha know!
And this will be overall and on average evil by intent; but presented as idealistic and compassionate - in other words, it will be an Antichrist phenomenon: covertly demonic, but explicitly supporting of 'Christian values' (i.e. a selected few of them, in a distorted form). I am therefore expecting an announcement of this kind of thing.
I guess there will be announced a President of some kind - and it seems likely that Greta has been groomed for this role (although that particular plan may not work out). And a selection from the usual (bought-and-paid-for) international super-star Great and Good; who are well known for supporting liberal, progressive causes - and who are the darlings of Big Government, Big Finance, Big Corporations and the Mass Media - assembled to make-up some kind of committee or parliament.
Anyway, that's what I predict will be around the corner: the Antichrist Focus - the iron fist of bureaucratic centralised totalitarianism in the velvet glove of loveable celebrity do-gooders.
(But, as usual, I hope I'm wrong - and have just made a fool of myself!).
We already know that there is a Global Establishment who have (after running several birdemic-type simulations) successfully imposed the recent multi-national coup; so that nearly all the developed world now lives under totalitarian police state conditions. I presume this is just the beginning of the process, which has to be made both permanent and on-going.
(Now They have a grip on us, they will not let-go, but will want to tighten it...)
What next? Well, if the idea is to run the world in a top-down and centralised fashion; there will need to be some kind of figurehead person and organisation; through-whom the general policies can be announced and from-whom they will be implemented.
Because Global Problems need Global Solutions, dontcha know!
And this will be overall and on average evil by intent; but presented as idealistic and compassionate - in other words, it will be an Antichrist phenomenon: covertly demonic, but explicitly supporting of 'Christian values' (i.e. a selected few of them, in a distorted form). I am therefore expecting an announcement of this kind of thing.
I guess there will be announced a President of some kind - and it seems likely that Greta has been groomed for this role (although that particular plan may not work out). And a selection from the usual (bought-and-paid-for) international super-star Great and Good; who are well known for supporting liberal, progressive causes - and who are the darlings of Big Government, Big Finance, Big Corporations and the Mass Media - assembled to make-up some kind of committee or parliament.
Anyway, that's what I predict will be around the corner: the Antichrist Focus - the iron fist of bureaucratic centralised totalitarianism in the velvet glove of loveable celebrity do-gooders.
(But, as usual, I hope I'm wrong - and have just made a fool of myself!).
Family is an unintended beneficiary of the birdemic
Francis Berger continues his hitting streak today, with a superb post about how - from his own observations - family life has apparently been strengthened by the lock-down-social-distancing response to the birdemic.
He suggests that this was contrary to the (evil) intentions of those behind the crisis and its response; but nonetheless it has happened.
Edited excerpts - but please read the whole thing:
The lockdown and everything associated with it did not originate from Good, but this does not entail that Good cannot arise from it. If any Good has arisen from the birdemic crisis and stay at home measures, I hope it will be in the form of renewed and fortified love within families.
The war against family has been vicious and prolonged, yet the lockdown and stay at home measures appear to have offered some moments of reprieve - a chance for individuals to strip away temporal stupidities and evils plaguing them and deepen their connection to a crucial and fundamental metaphysical and spiritual reality...
The family situation is veritably a very special gift, and it is my deepest hope that many have used the events of the past month of 'staying at home' to rediscover this profound truth.
Everyone seems to understand the temporal and material justifications for family - procreation, protection, economic benefit, etc. - but it seems an increasing number of us are forgetting the spiritual aspects of family... The family situation is the foundation of spiritual learning for it contains all the mysteries of the universe that matter to you as an individual...
Put simply - the family is the bedrock of Truth, Beauty, and Virtue. It has been and remains the foundation of Goodness.
I am reminded of this everyday when I see the young mothers and children or families outside my window or when I spend a sunny afternoon with my wife and son. Evil is working feverishly to foment chaos in the world, but its efforts have generated a most unexpected and, likely, unintended side effect - the potential strengthening of families.
I take this as a sign of grace, and I hope people are taking full advantage of it because I have a feeling family will play an even more vital role going forward.
In fact, I would go as far as to say family (and some trusted close friendships) may be all that matters in the months and years ahead. The seed of any future worth having is nested inside these close, concrete interpersonal relationships based on love.
My comment: As so often God, uses sin to work for good. More exactly, God uses our sins to provide clarification of experience - new opportunities for us to exercise our agency and make good choices in situation with which, otherwise, we would not have been confronted.
This being so, it is likely that soon the powers of evil will (via the state and the mass media and their linked bureaucratic systems) actively try to undo these spiritual benefits of the lockdown world; will resume and redouble its attack on The Family, trying to subvert, destroy and (ideally) invert this strengthened family love - presumably using the new powers of surveillance and control that have been grabbed in the recent coup.
And that will be our next challenge.
He suggests that this was contrary to the (evil) intentions of those behind the crisis and its response; but nonetheless it has happened.
Edited excerpts - but please read the whole thing:
The lockdown and everything associated with it did not originate from Good, but this does not entail that Good cannot arise from it. If any Good has arisen from the birdemic crisis and stay at home measures, I hope it will be in the form of renewed and fortified love within families.
The war against family has been vicious and prolonged, yet the lockdown and stay at home measures appear to have offered some moments of reprieve - a chance for individuals to strip away temporal stupidities and evils plaguing them and deepen their connection to a crucial and fundamental metaphysical and spiritual reality...
The family situation is veritably a very special gift, and it is my deepest hope that many have used the events of the past month of 'staying at home' to rediscover this profound truth.
Everyone seems to understand the temporal and material justifications for family - procreation, protection, economic benefit, etc. - but it seems an increasing number of us are forgetting the spiritual aspects of family... The family situation is the foundation of spiritual learning for it contains all the mysteries of the universe that matter to you as an individual...
Put simply - the family is the bedrock of Truth, Beauty, and Virtue. It has been and remains the foundation of Goodness.
I am reminded of this everyday when I see the young mothers and children or families outside my window or when I spend a sunny afternoon with my wife and son. Evil is working feverishly to foment chaos in the world, but its efforts have generated a most unexpected and, likely, unintended side effect - the potential strengthening of families.
I take this as a sign of grace, and I hope people are taking full advantage of it because I have a feeling family will play an even more vital role going forward.
In fact, I would go as far as to say family (and some trusted close friendships) may be all that matters in the months and years ahead. The seed of any future worth having is nested inside these close, concrete interpersonal relationships based on love.
My comment: As so often God, uses sin to work for good. More exactly, God uses our sins to provide clarification of experience - new opportunities for us to exercise our agency and make good choices in situation with which, otherwise, we would not have been confronted.
This being so, it is likely that soon the powers of evil will (via the state and the mass media and their linked bureaucratic systems) actively try to undo these spiritual benefits of the lockdown world; will resume and redouble its attack on The Family, trying to subvert, destroy and (ideally) invert this strengthened family love - presumably using the new powers of surveillance and control that have been grabbed in the recent coup.
And that will be our next challenge.
What is your favourite parable in The Gospels?
None so blind as those who will not see
Mine is - as I've said before - The Good Shepherd, in the Fourth Gospel.
Why? Because it is what I regard as Jesus's core teaching, encapsulated.
What's your favourite parable - and why?
Heaven described as static or dynamic
There are two very contrasting views of Heaven that are held by people who regard themselves as Christians - one as a static state, the other as dynamic.
There are, of course, other possible views of how Heaven might be - since the only essential trait is that Heaven must be Heavenly, must be pleasing and enjoyable in an ultimate sense.
But the static and dynamic concepts of Heaven have characteristics that are opposite. Actual Heaven could be a mixture of them only at a superficial level - and deep down, the reality Heaven must be one or the other but not both.
I will explain them in terms of a list of contrasting paired descriptive words:
Static Dynamic
Peace Joy
Completion Creating
Rest Energy
Stillness Developing, growing
Home Family
Presence Friendship
Bliss Love
No questions Evermore answers
Certainty Increasing understanding
Infallible Expanding vistas
Out-of-Time In-Time
Lost individuality The same 'self'
Impersonal Personal
Everybody same Each person different
You can see that the dynamic Heaven has a lot of 'ing' words, representing change; whereas the static Heaven is about an unchanging state of existence.
Regular readers will know that I believe that the Heaven offered us by Jesus Christ (especially in the Fourth Gospel) is the 'dynamic' Heaven.
But the point I wish to make here is simply that there are people who want the static Heaven; they want it deeply - it is the Heaven that they want. Of this I am sure.
Now, whether these people would be satisfied by static Heaven for eternity - I don't really know. It might be suggested that they would become bored at nothing happening. On the other hand, they would not be aware of any passage of Time - so why should they become bored?
But it could be said of dynamic Heaven that people would get exhausted and frustrated by never ever achieving final satisfaction, and the tedium of Time stretching ahead for ever...
One answer is that Heaven has 'many mansions' - in other words, different sub-Heavens for different people. I'm sure that is true - but ultimately the reality cannot be both of the above; if one of them is real, then the other is a subjective illusion. If one is the truth of Heaven the other must be a mistaken interpretation.
Either way, my point is that some people response to the list of characteristics of static Heaven with a heartfelt yearning: that is what they most want for themselves.
This means that any specified description of Heaven we may give to another person - to explain what Jesus has promised to his followers - is likely to put-off some people, even as it attracts others. This might be taken to imply we should keep our description of Heaven very vague and abstract - but that sounds evasive and uncertain - and will put-off those whose deepest hope is for a dynamic Heaven.
So if we are definite and precise concerning Heaven - it will attract some and repel others; but speaking in broad generalisations, or claiming ignorance of something so vitally important, will not work any better!
Thus the nature of Heaven has become one of the key issues for modern Christianity; and a subject which deserves a great deal more attention than it has customarily received in the mainstream and orthodox denominations.
There are, of course, other possible views of how Heaven might be - since the only essential trait is that Heaven must be Heavenly, must be pleasing and enjoyable in an ultimate sense.
But the static and dynamic concepts of Heaven have characteristics that are opposite. Actual Heaven could be a mixture of them only at a superficial level - and deep down, the reality Heaven must be one or the other but not both.
I will explain them in terms of a list of contrasting paired descriptive words:
Static Dynamic
Peace Joy
Completion Creating
Rest Energy
Stillness Developing, growing
Home Family
Presence Friendship
Bliss Love
No questions Evermore answers
Certainty Increasing understanding
Infallible Expanding vistas
Out-of-Time In-Time
Lost individuality The same 'self'
Impersonal Personal
Everybody same Each person different
You can see that the dynamic Heaven has a lot of 'ing' words, representing change; whereas the static Heaven is about an unchanging state of existence.
Regular readers will know that I believe that the Heaven offered us by Jesus Christ (especially in the Fourth Gospel) is the 'dynamic' Heaven.
But the point I wish to make here is simply that there are people who want the static Heaven; they want it deeply - it is the Heaven that they want. Of this I am sure.
Now, whether these people would be satisfied by static Heaven for eternity - I don't really know. It might be suggested that they would become bored at nothing happening. On the other hand, they would not be aware of any passage of Time - so why should they become bored?
But it could be said of dynamic Heaven that people would get exhausted and frustrated by never ever achieving final satisfaction, and the tedium of Time stretching ahead for ever...
One answer is that Heaven has 'many mansions' - in other words, different sub-Heavens for different people. I'm sure that is true - but ultimately the reality cannot be both of the above; if one of them is real, then the other is a subjective illusion. If one is the truth of Heaven the other must be a mistaken interpretation.
Either way, my point is that some people response to the list of characteristics of static Heaven with a heartfelt yearning: that is what they most want for themselves.
This means that any specified description of Heaven we may give to another person - to explain what Jesus has promised to his followers - is likely to put-off some people, even as it attracts others. This might be taken to imply we should keep our description of Heaven very vague and abstract - but that sounds evasive and uncertain - and will put-off those whose deepest hope is for a dynamic Heaven.
So if we are definite and precise concerning Heaven - it will attract some and repel others; but speaking in broad generalisations, or claiming ignorance of something so vitally important, will not work any better!
Thus the nature of Heaven has become one of the key issues for modern Christianity; and a subject which deserves a great deal more attention than it has customarily received in the mainstream and orthodox denominations.
Tuesday, 14 April 2020
Something we need to be clear about concerning the birdemic
The real reason for the global lockdown is that it is part of the successful global totalitarian coup. And if you can't see that - when nothing could possibly be clearer - then I'm afraid that is your problem; and you need to work on it. It is not my job to point-out the blazingly obvious to the self-blinded.
But, we need to be clear that the response to the birdemic was not an "over-reaction" as so many people keep saying. Universal lock-down and universal social-distancing (ULDSD) is not an over reaction, it is the wrong reaction.
More than that - the ULDSD reaction makes the epidemic worse; which is to say that it leads to more deaths from the birdemic, as well as (many) more deaths from other causes of dying (cancer, strokes, heart disease, diabetes, autoimmune disroders, suicides, other infections etc).
In the context of understanding how respiratory disease epidemics are survived - why they have not wiped-out the human species long since, despite the fact they they cannot be 'contained'; and that sooner or later everyone will be exposed until the herd immunity is high-enough that the disease dies-out - you need to comrehend that the mantra of 'flattening the curve' necessarily leads to more deaths due to lengthening the epidemic.
If you don't understand why, then a blog post is insufficient to explain it. However, it has been explained clearly, coherently and accurately by one of those increasingly rare individuals who is both honest and competent - if you can set aside 40 minutes to pay attention:
If you can follow Knut Wittkowski's explanation, you will see that lock-down and social distancing is not an 'over-reaction', nor is the strategy 'useless' - but it is actively harmful.
Which is not in the slightest degree unexpected; considering the real purpose of ULDSC, and the motivation of the entities who are behind it.
Note added: If you try to protect everybody, you will kill the vulnerable (the old, and with other illnesses) - as is happening; because by extending the epidemic (aka flattening the curve) the virus will get to them sooner or later. If you genuinely want to protect the vulnerable - the large majority of not vulnerable (especially children and their parents) need to be exposed to the virus while the minority of vulnerable are protected until the epidemic burns-out due to a high percentage of the exposed becoming immune. This shortens the epidemic. If you are young and healthy and genuinely want to protect the old and unhealthy; your sacrifice is to be exposed to the virus, sooner rather than later, and become immune either through getting an illness or (more often) simply by fighting it off. Sheltering isolated at home, (or behind a mask), is selfishness.
But, we need to be clear that the response to the birdemic was not an "over-reaction" as so many people keep saying. Universal lock-down and universal social-distancing (ULDSD) is not an over reaction, it is the wrong reaction.
More than that - the ULDSD reaction makes the epidemic worse; which is to say that it leads to more deaths from the birdemic, as well as (many) more deaths from other causes of dying (cancer, strokes, heart disease, diabetes, autoimmune disroders, suicides, other infections etc).
In the context of understanding how respiratory disease epidemics are survived - why they have not wiped-out the human species long since, despite the fact they they cannot be 'contained'; and that sooner or later everyone will be exposed until the herd immunity is high-enough that the disease dies-out - you need to comrehend that the mantra of 'flattening the curve' necessarily leads to more deaths due to lengthening the epidemic.
If you don't understand why, then a blog post is insufficient to explain it. However, it has been explained clearly, coherently and accurately by one of those increasingly rare individuals who is both honest and competent - if you can set aside 40 minutes to pay attention:
If you can follow Knut Wittkowski's explanation, you will see that lock-down and social distancing is not an 'over-reaction', nor is the strategy 'useless' - but it is actively harmful.
Which is not in the slightest degree unexpected; considering the real purpose of ULDSC, and the motivation of the entities who are behind it.
Note added: If you try to protect everybody, you will kill the vulnerable (the old, and with other illnesses) - as is happening; because by extending the epidemic (aka flattening the curve) the virus will get to them sooner or later. If you genuinely want to protect the vulnerable - the large majority of not vulnerable (especially children and their parents) need to be exposed to the virus while the minority of vulnerable are protected until the epidemic burns-out due to a high percentage of the exposed becoming immune. This shortens the epidemic. If you are young and healthy and genuinely want to protect the old and unhealthy; your sacrifice is to be exposed to the virus, sooner rather than later, and become immune either through getting an illness or (more often) simply by fighting it off. Sheltering isolated at home, (or behind a mask), is selfishness.
Eyes without faces - on the current rampant demonic dehumanisation.
From Francis Berger:
Lockdowns, social-distancing, work-from-home, church closures, face masks, and all the rest of it can all be rationally explained away at the temporal level; and this is exactly what most people appear to be doing as they passively accept whatever restrictions are imposed upon them. But can the same be said for the spiritual level?
I view the birdemic response as an intrinsic part of our current spiritual war. Seen from this perspective, the demonically-inspired dehumanizing elements within most of the measures we have all been ordered to take become glaringly obvious. A trace of humiliation stains all of it.
Humans are social creatures, yet we are being ordered to social distance; to limit all non-essential travel and meetings with others; to avoid gathering in groups of more than two or three. Even when we are in public, we are being mandated to keep a two meter distance between ourselves and others.
And when we are out in public, what do we see? Masked people. Eyes without faces.
All the while, less visible forms of pernicious dehumanization are quietly taking place in the background as people are deprived of their jobs, businesses, and livelihoods.
As Francis says, the dehumanising intent behind this pattern is, one would have supposed, "glaringly obvious". Any monomania is always and intrinsically evil - but perhaps a monomania of self-preservation from a particular illness is one of the worst - because more easily "explained away" and rationalised.
But it is not glaringly obvious. The evil intent is missed.
Indeed, most people cannot conceive that the largest, most powerful, most influential people and organisations can have evil intent - except perhaps some of the large corporations. When it comes to Western Governments, mainstream mass media, charities and NGOs, Global Establishments such as the United Nations and its World Health Organisation - people will not recognise evil intent; and no amount of evidence will ever change their minds; because they assume (metaphysically) that these organsations are necessarily well-motivated.
My understanding of this is two-fold. First is that extremely few people have an understanding that is rooted outside-of their finite mortal lives in this planetary world. In other words, very few are genuinely taking an eternal, immortal and Heavenly perspective.
In a single word, it is the lack of hope for Heaven that cripples us. We would need to perceive our lives in this world, imaginatively and with conviction, from the perspective of Heaven - in order correctly to evaluate it.
Therefore modern people cannot judge worldly things, but can only choose-between them - and therefore naturally (for reasons of self-preservation and status) they choose to take sides with power.
(And people are exceptionally astute at judging where worldly power really lies; even when worldly power disguises itself by claiming to be weak and persecuted 'minorities' - people see through such claims and take that side.)
Secondly is that modern evil is different from the evil of the past, and the evil we are taught to recognise and resist. Modern evil is Ahrimanic - that is, it is based in impersonal abstract systems, in bureaucracy, in laws and rules and obedience; in exactly that reductionistic, pseudo-scientific, materialistic, non-spiritual and anti-human perspective which Francis Berger sees as epitomised by the face mask.
It is the combination of a narrowly this-worldly perspective and blindness to the prevalent form of evil; which enables so many Antichrist phenomena to take-root and thrive in these days. And that is what we see: evil motivation successfully presenting itself as benign, totalitarian takeover masked as caring therapy; a calculatedly-impersonal reduction of individuals to statistics of disease vectors and victims.
All cheered-on by a populace whose hold on their own humanity is tenuous; and who increasingly regard-themselves as merely units in a Global System, benignly ruled by therapeutic dictators who work for "the good of all the world" - for which many, many specific person's well-being, health and life must therefore - and justly! - be sacrificed.
Lockdowns, social-distancing, work-from-home, church closures, face masks, and all the rest of it can all be rationally explained away at the temporal level; and this is exactly what most people appear to be doing as they passively accept whatever restrictions are imposed upon them. But can the same be said for the spiritual level?
I view the birdemic response as an intrinsic part of our current spiritual war. Seen from this perspective, the demonically-inspired dehumanizing elements within most of the measures we have all been ordered to take become glaringly obvious. A trace of humiliation stains all of it.
Humans are social creatures, yet we are being ordered to social distance; to limit all non-essential travel and meetings with others; to avoid gathering in groups of more than two or three. Even when we are in public, we are being mandated to keep a two meter distance between ourselves and others.
And when we are out in public, what do we see? Masked people. Eyes without faces.
All the while, less visible forms of pernicious dehumanization are quietly taking place in the background as people are deprived of their jobs, businesses, and livelihoods.
As Francis says, the dehumanising intent behind this pattern is, one would have supposed, "glaringly obvious". Any monomania is always and intrinsically evil - but perhaps a monomania of self-preservation from a particular illness is one of the worst - because more easily "explained away" and rationalised.
But it is not glaringly obvious. The evil intent is missed.
Indeed, most people cannot conceive that the largest, most powerful, most influential people and organisations can have evil intent - except perhaps some of the large corporations. When it comes to Western Governments, mainstream mass media, charities and NGOs, Global Establishments such as the United Nations and its World Health Organisation - people will not recognise evil intent; and no amount of evidence will ever change their minds; because they assume (metaphysically) that these organsations are necessarily well-motivated.
My understanding of this is two-fold. First is that extremely few people have an understanding that is rooted outside-of their finite mortal lives in this planetary world. In other words, very few are genuinely taking an eternal, immortal and Heavenly perspective.
In a single word, it is the lack of hope for Heaven that cripples us. We would need to perceive our lives in this world, imaginatively and with conviction, from the perspective of Heaven - in order correctly to evaluate it.
Therefore modern people cannot judge worldly things, but can only choose-between them - and therefore naturally (for reasons of self-preservation and status) they choose to take sides with power.
(And people are exceptionally astute at judging where worldly power really lies; even when worldly power disguises itself by claiming to be weak and persecuted 'minorities' - people see through such claims and take that side.)
Secondly is that modern evil is different from the evil of the past, and the evil we are taught to recognise and resist. Modern evil is Ahrimanic - that is, it is based in impersonal abstract systems, in bureaucracy, in laws and rules and obedience; in exactly that reductionistic, pseudo-scientific, materialistic, non-spiritual and anti-human perspective which Francis Berger sees as epitomised by the face mask.
It is the combination of a narrowly this-worldly perspective and blindness to the prevalent form of evil; which enables so many Antichrist phenomena to take-root and thrive in these days. And that is what we see: evil motivation successfully presenting itself as benign, totalitarian takeover masked as caring therapy; a calculatedly-impersonal reduction of individuals to statistics of disease vectors and victims.
All cheered-on by a populace whose hold on their own humanity is tenuous; and who increasingly regard-themselves as merely units in a Global System, benignly ruled by therapeutic dictators who work for "the good of all the world" - for which many, many specific person's well-being, health and life must therefore - and justly! - be sacrificed.
Defining a conspiracy theory - and explaining why the term is now so commonly-used
After observing the usage of the 'conspiracy theory' slur by the modern media and officialdom; I have realised that it has a simple definition.
Conspiracy theory is a term used by The Establishment or its servants to characterise any explanation that assumes malign intent by The Establishment or its servants.
Since The Establishment is indeed of malign intent on average and overall; it can be seen that many true theories will be characterised as conspiracy theories; and as The Establishment becomes more powerful, more-and-more true theories will be labelled conspiracy theories.
This presumably explains why the term "conspiracy theory" has become so much commoner over the past few months.
Conspiracy theory is a term used by The Establishment or its servants to characterise any explanation that assumes malign intent by The Establishment or its servants.
Since The Establishment is indeed of malign intent on average and overall; it can be seen that many true theories will be characterised as conspiracy theories; and as The Establishment becomes more powerful, more-and-more true theories will be labelled conspiracy theories.
This presumably explains why the term "conspiracy theory" has become so much commoner over the past few months.
Five Year Google Trends in usage of "conspiracy theory"
Monday, 13 April 2020
Ahrimanic over-reach and salvation, in a world of the (mostly) self-damned
If it is agreed that we are now into our second month of an Ahrimanic coup, a totalitarian world Establishment that has taken-over most of the world nations (and all those of wealth and power) - which is to say: a takeover that entails the exclusion of all genuinely humane, spiritual and religious aspects from public/ official life - then we need to understand the grounds for Christian hope in this situation in which we find our-selves.
One of the most challenging aspects is to account for the fact that most people are unaware of what has happened - and by 'most' I means almost-everybody. One might have supposed that a world in lockdown and in self-created collapse over a trivial birdemic would have been (ahem) rather obvious even to the meanest intelligence... After all, everybody is involved.
Yet, apparently not so. Apparently, nearly everybody takes the incoherent and clearly wickedly-motivated nonsense of the politicians/officialdom/mass-media as the plain and simple reality.
Is it really possible that so many people could be so very wrong - that so many people are so lacking in basic reasoning capacity and spiritual insight as to fail to understand something so blazingly obvious as this?
Well - yes: it is possible, and the fact of it should not really surprise anyone. That is, after all, the way things have been going - and pretty rapidly - for many decades. We do, after all, live in an insane world - that insists on the false and denies the obvious on a daily basis, as a matter of policy, as a matter of law.
The surprise is not that the masses have accepted their Eloi status so meekly, but that this didn't happen many years ago. And this is what is so hard to accept.
It is hard to accept that almost everybody is evil, stupid or both. It is hard to live in a world where this is a plain fact (and a fact that is plainer every day).
More exactly, it is hard to do this in the necessary spirit of faith, hope and charity - which Christians simply must do. Therefor it is not sufficient to be disgusted by (nearly) everybody, to despise (nearly) everybody. This response may happen quite naturally on surveying the world around us, it may be inescapable, it is indeed not necessarily wicked for us to do so when such responses are justified... but it is not sufficient.
Yet we should not be unrealistic. To be dishonest is a sin - whether that dishonesty be overt lying or any form of thinking or asserting which fails to represent our genuine understanding of truth. So we must be honest - and when we perceive ourselves to be surrounded by evil and stupidity, we ought-to acknowledge the fact.
But neither should we be cast-down by this: we must not succumb to despair - which is also a sin (and one of the worst).
What then? I think one way forward is to firstly acknowledge that each person (of whatever age, intelligence or experience) is responsible for his or her own salvation. This is a divine right, and it is the best way things can be - all other alternatives are unacceptable.
And secondly (as a Christian) to reflect that when God is both our loving Father and the Creator; he will naturally ensure that the possibility of salvation is always open for all of his children.
We need to take this as a central fact of the world; and be confident that every-body who finally and ultimately chooses to reject God, the Good or the gifts of Jesus Christ; does so by his or her own existential choice (and not because of ignorance or lack of experience). God (through his work as creator) will ensure that each and all have sufficient knowledge and experience to make this choice.
Thus we can see the current situation as an over-reach by the Ahrimanic powers; who have succeeded in imposing a monomania on the world and in numbing all opposition - spiritual and temporal. But God will (and of this we can be 100% confident) ensure that this crushing of the human spirit will lead to situations in which the sharpness of choices concerning perceptions of reality is made absolutely clear to each and every person.
We are not talking about the level of short-termist politics, where evil may continue to triumph indefinitely: the world may be self-condemned to live under tyranny for a long time. But the sheer extent and thoroughness of the victory of evil will be used against it at the spiritual level.
By being compelled to live-out the consequences of reductionist, materialistic atheism - an actively anti-Christian world where there are no real churches and in which most of the higher forms of human activity (art, science, philosophy etc.) are either crushed or co-opted to The Agenda,
We will see that, at the eternal and spiritual level, the Ahrimanic demons have over-reached, and will induce (in those souls capable of discerning truth, beauty and goodness) the development of that insight which is necessary to repentance and the embrace of that real Christianity of the heart which is immune to the world.
One of the most challenging aspects is to account for the fact that most people are unaware of what has happened - and by 'most' I means almost-everybody. One might have supposed that a world in lockdown and in self-created collapse over a trivial birdemic would have been (ahem) rather obvious even to the meanest intelligence... After all, everybody is involved.
Yet, apparently not so. Apparently, nearly everybody takes the incoherent and clearly wickedly-motivated nonsense of the politicians/officialdom/mass-media as the plain and simple reality.
Is it really possible that so many people could be so very wrong - that so many people are so lacking in basic reasoning capacity and spiritual insight as to fail to understand something so blazingly obvious as this?
Well - yes: it is possible, and the fact of it should not really surprise anyone. That is, after all, the way things have been going - and pretty rapidly - for many decades. We do, after all, live in an insane world - that insists on the false and denies the obvious on a daily basis, as a matter of policy, as a matter of law.
The surprise is not that the masses have accepted their Eloi status so meekly, but that this didn't happen many years ago. And this is what is so hard to accept.
It is hard to accept that almost everybody is evil, stupid or both. It is hard to live in a world where this is a plain fact (and a fact that is plainer every day).
More exactly, it is hard to do this in the necessary spirit of faith, hope and charity - which Christians simply must do. Therefor it is not sufficient to be disgusted by (nearly) everybody, to despise (nearly) everybody. This response may happen quite naturally on surveying the world around us, it may be inescapable, it is indeed not necessarily wicked for us to do so when such responses are justified... but it is not sufficient.
Yet we should not be unrealistic. To be dishonest is a sin - whether that dishonesty be overt lying or any form of thinking or asserting which fails to represent our genuine understanding of truth. So we must be honest - and when we perceive ourselves to be surrounded by evil and stupidity, we ought-to acknowledge the fact.
But neither should we be cast-down by this: we must not succumb to despair - which is also a sin (and one of the worst).
What then? I think one way forward is to firstly acknowledge that each person (of whatever age, intelligence or experience) is responsible for his or her own salvation. This is a divine right, and it is the best way things can be - all other alternatives are unacceptable.
And secondly (as a Christian) to reflect that when God is both our loving Father and the Creator; he will naturally ensure that the possibility of salvation is always open for all of his children.
We need to take this as a central fact of the world; and be confident that every-body who finally and ultimately chooses to reject God, the Good or the gifts of Jesus Christ; does so by his or her own existential choice (and not because of ignorance or lack of experience). God (through his work as creator) will ensure that each and all have sufficient knowledge and experience to make this choice.
Thus we can see the current situation as an over-reach by the Ahrimanic powers; who have succeeded in imposing a monomania on the world and in numbing all opposition - spiritual and temporal. But God will (and of this we can be 100% confident) ensure that this crushing of the human spirit will lead to situations in which the sharpness of choices concerning perceptions of reality is made absolutely clear to each and every person.
We are not talking about the level of short-termist politics, where evil may continue to triumph indefinitely: the world may be self-condemned to live under tyranny for a long time. But the sheer extent and thoroughness of the victory of evil will be used against it at the spiritual level.
By being compelled to live-out the consequences of reductionist, materialistic atheism - an actively anti-Christian world where there are no real churches and in which most of the higher forms of human activity (art, science, philosophy etc.) are either crushed or co-opted to The Agenda,
We will see that, at the eternal and spiritual level, the Ahrimanic demons have over-reached, and will induce (in those souls capable of discerning truth, beauty and goodness) the development of that insight which is necessary to repentance and the embrace of that real Christianity of the heart which is immune to the world.
Sunday, 12 April 2020
High points in Gilbert and Sullivan's Princess Ida
Overall, Princess Ida is one of the less successful Gilbert and Sullivan Savoy Operas, needing an excellent production to come-off well.
Perhaps this is because the dialogue is in blank verse, and because the musical quality is uneven. However, at its highest points, several of the songs are unsurpassed.
Indeed this trio of three young rascals pretending to be girls, in order to break-into a women's college (which I have written about before), is IMO probably the best of any G&S opera. Listen to the melodic continuo-style bass; the deft modulation for the baritone's third verse; the joyous re-harmonisation of the final chorus repeat.
Sullivan uses the same style of Handelian pastiche in a bass-baritone aria, which has brilliantly clever lyrics by Gilbert:
This helmet, I suppose
Was meant to ward off blows
It's very hot
And weighs a lot
As many a guardsman knows
So off that helmet goes
Yes, yes, yes! So off that helmet goes
This tight-fitting cuirass
Is but a useless mass
It's made of steel
And weighs a deal
This tight-fitting cuirass
Is but a useless mass
A man is but an ass
Who fights in a cuirass
So off goes that cuirass
Yes, yes, yes So off goes that cuirass
These brassets, truth to tell
May look uncommon well
But in a fight
They're much too tight
They're like a lobster shell
Yes, yes, yes They're like a lobster shell
These things I treat the same
I quite forget their name
They turn one's legs
To cribbage pegs
Their aid I thus disclaim
Though I forget their name
Their aid I thus disclaim
The other of my gems comes in the middle of the Act 1 Finale: on this recording it commences at 1:25 with some introductory recitative from the first/ highest tenor (unusually, there are two tenor leads in this opera - a reason why the show is difficult for amateurs to produce, since even one decent singing and acting tenor is hard to find...).
The song with chorus (by the same three chaps who later sing the trio above) begins at 2:03 with "Expressive glances/ Will be our lances" and is - for my money - absolutely unique in its style and completely successful. The orchestration is gorgeous - the rising arpeggiated (harp-like) string figure during the chorus adds so much. But it is the sheer melodic beauty that I love so much.
All combined with delightfully 'flowery' lyrics:
Hilarion:
Expressive glances
Shall be our lances,
And pops of Sillery
Our light artillery.
We'll storm their bowers
With scented showers
Of fairest flowers
That we can buy!
Chorus:
Oh, dainty triolet!
Oh, fragrant violet!
Oh, gentle heigho-let!
(Or little sigh).
On sweet urbanity,
Tho' mere inanity,
To touch their vanity
We will rely!
Cyril:
When day is fading,
With serenading
And such frivolity
We'll prove our quality.
A sweet profusion
Of soft allusion
This bold intrusion
Shall justify.
This bold intrusion
Shall justify.
Chorus: Repeat
Florian:
We'll charm their senses
With verbal fences,
With ballads amatory
And declamatory.
Little heeding
Their pretty pleading,
Our love exceeding
We'll justify!
Our love exceeding
We'll justify!
Chorus: Repeat.
Perhaps this is because the dialogue is in blank verse, and because the musical quality is uneven. However, at its highest points, several of the songs are unsurpassed.
Indeed this trio of three young rascals pretending to be girls, in order to break-into a women's college (which I have written about before), is IMO probably the best of any G&S opera. Listen to the melodic continuo-style bass; the deft modulation for the baritone's third verse; the joyous re-harmonisation of the final chorus repeat.
Sullivan uses the same style of Handelian pastiche in a bass-baritone aria, which has brilliantly clever lyrics by Gilbert:
This helmet, I suppose
Was meant to ward off blows
It's very hot
And weighs a lot
As many a guardsman knows
So off that helmet goes
Yes, yes, yes! So off that helmet goes
This tight-fitting cuirass
Is but a useless mass
It's made of steel
And weighs a deal
This tight-fitting cuirass
Is but a useless mass
A man is but an ass
Who fights in a cuirass
So off goes that cuirass
Yes, yes, yes So off goes that cuirass
These brassets, truth to tell
May look uncommon well
But in a fight
They're much too tight
They're like a lobster shell
Yes, yes, yes They're like a lobster shell
These things I treat the same
I quite forget their name
They turn one's legs
To cribbage pegs
Their aid I thus disclaim
Though I forget their name
Their aid I thus disclaim
The other of my gems comes in the middle of the Act 1 Finale: on this recording it commences at 1:25 with some introductory recitative from the first/ highest tenor (unusually, there are two tenor leads in this opera - a reason why the show is difficult for amateurs to produce, since even one decent singing and acting tenor is hard to find...).
The song with chorus (by the same three chaps who later sing the trio above) begins at 2:03 with "Expressive glances/ Will be our lances" and is - for my money - absolutely unique in its style and completely successful. The orchestration is gorgeous - the rising arpeggiated (harp-like) string figure during the chorus adds so much. But it is the sheer melodic beauty that I love so much.
All combined with delightfully 'flowery' lyrics:
Hilarion:
Expressive glances
Shall be our lances,
And pops of Sillery
Our light artillery.
We'll storm their bowers
With scented showers
Of fairest flowers
That we can buy!
Chorus:
Oh, dainty triolet!
Oh, fragrant violet!
Oh, gentle heigho-let!
(Or little sigh).
On sweet urbanity,
Tho' mere inanity,
To touch their vanity
We will rely!
Cyril:
When day is fading,
With serenading
And such frivolity
We'll prove our quality.
A sweet profusion
Of soft allusion
This bold intrusion
Shall justify.
This bold intrusion
Shall justify.
Chorus: Repeat
Florian:
We'll charm their senses
With verbal fences,
With ballads amatory
And declamatory.
Little heeding
Their pretty pleading,
Our love exceeding
We'll justify!
Our love exceeding
We'll justify!
Chorus: Repeat.
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