Fire Nation envy is apparently common among Western Christians, and indeed even the "secular Right", for fairly obvious reasons.
Their leader, Advlay Ootinpay, is by far the most competent and effective world leader, the only one who espouses traditional and Christian values.
And the Fire Nation is incrementally re-orientating itself away from suicidal, self-loathing Leftism and towards Christian common sense values; and towards national effectiveness and efficiency rather the the active self-destruction of The West.
It is fairly natural to fantasize about what might be possible in The West if such leadership and policies were applied here.
But such fantasies are not realistic: they cannot happen, and should not be attempted.
The Fire Nation is different from The West: qualitatively different.
Before the 1917 revolution, The Fire Nation was almost certainly the most Christian nation in the world.
Seventy years - more than two generations - followed; of what was quantitatively the most savage and sustained religious oppression in world history; with near-total annihilation of the religious leadership (which apparently numbered an unequalled 2% of the population - about twice that of Medieval Europe - bishops, priests, monks, hermits, and many nuns); plus uncounted tens-of-millions of devout lay Christians.
Even so, after decades of this (albeit varying in intensity) - and also the infiltration and subversion of the remnant church hierarchy by anti-Christian spies; when communism collapsed, Christianity arose like a phoenix; and is again integrated with the running of the nation, permeating society from highest to lowest levels - in a way that continues to increase...
At the most obvious level, The West cannot replicate this, exactly because the Christian social basis of the Fire Nation is utterly lacking. A Christian leader of The West could not lead but only impose; and would be widely and vehemently opposed. Christian laws would neither be obeyed nor implemented.
Why the difference?
Well; in the Fire Nation the hearts of the people are Christian; and the nation is "a people".
Ultimately, this reflects a difference in the innate national consciousness.
The Fire Nation has much more of an unconscious, spontaneous, immersive, communal consciousness - something that has long since dissipated in The West. In the FN is less individualism, and - via their religion - the people feel themselves to be fundamentally a part of their country.
The root of this difference in national consciousness is, I believe, some difference in the divine destiny of the Fire Nation compared with the Western nations.
For The West to try and replicate the Fire Nation (which will not happen anyway, because neither the Western Establishment nor the masses actually want it) would be to go against our divine destiny; and would be trying to put the genie of individual consciousness back into the bottle of group-ism.
The genie would fight against such perceived unfreedom tooth and nail - and rightly so!
Our Western consciousness is set-up differently than in the FN, and our divinely-intended destiny lies with that actual consciousness - not pushing against it.
Our best and only hope is to go beyond the alienated isolation of the materialism and hedonism of Western atomized individualism; by discovering and living a spiritual and Christian individualism - what I call Romantic Christianity.
Whereas the children of the Fire Nation validly regard themselves as obedient sons and daughters of one people; we of The West cannot legitimately avoid accepting a fully personal responsibility for our ultimate beliefs and values.
We can respect or even admire the Fire Nation and its social organization, and their socially-integrated church and religion; but it is not a template for The West.
Following our properly Christian path ahead starts with you and with me, and our relationship to Jesus Christ; that path does not lie with our nation or people, nor with any unified church.
6 comments:
Fire Nation invoked such an overwhelming / instantaneous litmus-test reaction among the godless masses of the West -- immediately apparent to the *humble* Christ-follower what was going on (many here in churches snapped in favour of evil, as with the peck). I recall understanding this immediately -- as though my consciousness went through the same catalytic "snap" as the masses, except that I snapped immediately into the recognition of immense demonic energy at work -- just like ca. March 2020 when I suddenly and instantly aligned with the understanding that the birdemic was not as portrayed.
@Stephen - "many here in churches snapped in favour of evil, as with the peck"
- The same happened in places I have observed here: instant and unwavering support for the alliance of godless totalitarian nihilists hell-bent on destroying the only Christian nation in the world (this intent being absolutely clear and explicit over many years).
The reaction was (and still is, apparently) as extreme and fanatic as anything I have recently seen among our tepid churches - despite the consequence being the utter destruction of the nation supposedly being-supported.
Hello Dr. Charlton, your writing is very helpful and challenges my thinking. I am starting to see how much materialism undergirds my perceptions and the spiritual realities of these late days are becoming evermore apparent. A note of thanks therefore is due you: thank you.
Tim
Karl has left a comment:
Dr Charlton,
I've recently been dipping into a book on the current conflict involving the Fire Nation written by a young English academic who maintains a Wikipedia page on themselves, and instead of a publications section has a 'media appearances' section. It is very representative of our age.
In the book, and in spite of having lived in [the Fire Nation] for five years, this person expresses constant incredulity at FN attitudes, views Oxford as the litmus test for all intellectual and social judgements, and is utterly incredulous when a woman they interview about current events tell them she would rather read Dostoyevsky than watch tv. It is the most revealing zeitgeist book I have seen in years.
I don't know if I've failed to grasp the obvious in your theory, Dr. Charlton, but you've seemed to suggest that the evolutionary change in consciousness in Western man was instigated by God for his own autocratic reasons, and that the West has failed to properly respond.
Suppose it was the other way around? Perhaps the Men of the West wanted to be more individualized of their own accord - more sovereign over the conceptual kingdom of their own souls - and God duly attempted to cooperate in a positive way. This might've even required God and his feudal angels to exercise some creativity in devising a new branching path for the West (which we have subsequently abandoned).
Perhaps this is the form of divine creativity that Berdyaev insists Man would eventually call forth from God?
@Epi - "you've seemed to suggest that the evolutionary change in consciousness in Western man was instigated by God for his own autocratic reasons, and that the West has failed to properly respond."
Not sure what you imply by "autocratic" but otherwise yes.
"Suppose it was the other way around? "
This is metaphysics - the comparison of fundamental assumptions concerning the basic nature of reality. The choice of assumptions cannot be determined by evidence, because what counts as evidence and how it is interpreted are consequences of the assumptions.
Is it part of God's plan of creation that Man's consciousness has changed through history; or is the change of consciousness caused-by... something else. Each assumption has different consequences in terms of coherence and how it fits with other assumptions.
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