Spiritual prepping: The fable of the ant and the locusts

While it is certainly provident to be prepared for short term or focused disasters or discontinuities in The System; the commonly expressed notion of 'prepping' is delusional nonsense when it comes to the kind of societal/ civilizational collapse that threatens The West (and probably The World). 

The preppers see themselves as the ants in Aesop's fable of the ants and the grasshopper. When times get tough, the ants will eat their supplies and the 'good-time' grasshopper will sing until he starves to death. 

But this fable has it that there is only one grasshopper and plenty of ants; whereas the equivalent in The West is a just a few ants, often just one ant - but a vast swarm of locusts. 

The fable of the ant and the locusts; raises the question of whether the vast swarm of locusts will immediately lie down and die of starvation - leaving the ant to subsist on his stores and build a new world. 

Or whether the locust swarm will immediately eat all the supplies of the ant at their first feelings of serious hunger; and probably eat the ant himself. 

Some preppers make a big deal of their supplies of 'guns and ammo' - but the locusts have plenty of those too, and vastly outnumber the ant. 

And some of the chief locusts also have bombs and rockets; and locusts will support their own kind. 

As I have said before, if things get really tough - as I believe they will; then prepping will merely serve to keep the locusts alive for a little bit longer.  

A Man should not aspire to be a metaphorical ant! - concerned only with bodily survival and reproduction; survival for what can only be a little bit longer, because all shall and should die. 

The 'prepping' we, each of us, absolutely need to do is spiritual - not physical; and that means being able to discern, detect, and understand the difference between the sides of Good and evil.

And it means knowing when, on a timescale of eternity; there are more important things than staying-alive for a bit longer than one's improvident neighbours. 

Furthermore: if/ when your faith in God is strong; you will realize that the perceived material realm is (merely) a sub-set of the spiritual; and that a single Man whose thinking, striving and choosing are in spiritual harmony with God; has a far more powerfully-beneficial effect on The World - than any conceivable number of well-armed but dubiously-motivated ants ever would or could. 

The prepper delusion

This is from last year - but the delusion is getting worse: more common, more deeply deluded. 

This is because prepping is fear and pride based; fearfully aiming to save our mortal skins (for a bit longer...); and smugness at (mistakenly) regarding oneself as able to do so (with a sufficient supply of preserved foods, 'guns and ammo'.

(wrt. 'Guns and ammo'; there is also, very evidently, a covert lustful anticipation of having a 'good excuse' to shoot, maim and kill lots of other people against-whom one harbours a burning resentment.) 

'Prepping' is of value for a limited span of possibilities, and when it comes to the main possibility confronting us here-and-now - which is civilizational Collapse; Prep is essentially irrelevant... If we regard the current world crisis, the totalitarian takeover, the increasingly overt and aggressive civilizational suicide; as essentially a spiritual phenomenon; then it becomes primarily important to think about salvation rather than survival; and about theosis rather than preparedness.

The great and urgent need is for people to deal-with their overpowering (and sinful) emotions and motivations of fear and resentment; and to stop using these as a way of temporarily staving-off incipient despair. 

It is for this fear-less-ness that we should be striving - and not for the delusory goal of a world with nothing to fear. 

The proper answer to fear is simple but not easy. Not easy yet within the capacity of every individual; no matter how physically un-prepared they may be (and for most people, prepping is not even an option due to their age, health, physical condition, environment or other circumstances). 

The answer is Christian faith - and from that faith comes hope - and that hope is directed beyond our inevitable death and at the resurrected life in Heaven which no earthly power can take from us - should we choose to accept the gift. 

The evidence of history, and - if we try it - our own experience; is that Christian faith absolutely abolishes fear - always and everywhere. 

Of course we cannot individually always (or even mostly) be paragons of faith (we are, after all, all sinners); yet when we cannot have faith we can always repent its lack - and that will suffice. 

When we fear or experience resentment, we can always repent it - and that will suffice. 

Even if we despair (which amounts to a total loss of faith in the promises of Jesus Christ); we can always recognize and repent it - and that also will suffice. 

"Prepping" for Disaster, Collapse or Total Destruction

There is a considerable literature on disaster preparedness. The idea of a Disaster is one of some limited catastrophe that leaves intact the basic structures of civilization; and the problem is a matter of bridging the temporary gap that exists before civilization regrows to restore normality.

Beyond a Disaster is what currently is very likely: Collapse.

In a Collapse the basic structure of civilization is destroyed. This may be permanent (ie. may last many human generations) - or the gap may be filled, to a greater or lesser degree, by assimilation into a surviving external civilization - by being invaded, colonized, or whatever.


The gap caused by Collapse is far too great for preparations to be relevant - not to recognise this is to fail to understand the nature of a Collapse.

When a civilization goes-down, problems are too many, too unpredictable, and too severe, for planning survival. Think of being an Ancient Briton/ Celtic family when the Roman legions departed c. 410 AD. Trade almost ceased, the standard of living plummeted by half (which meant about half as much food), government evaporated, bandits and feuding warlords arose, technologies broke and could not be replaced...  

And if Collapse is Global, as it will be, nowadays; then it is essentially permanent.


Of course, if Total (planetary) Destruction is the prospect - something like a solar incineration, or an impact from space, or some kind of cataclysmic volcano-earthquake scenario; then nothing could be done to ensure survival.


So, what's the point of this discussion? Well, partly that 'Prepping' is of value for a limited span of possibilities, and when it comes to the main possibility confronting us here-and-now - which is civilizational Collapse; Prep is essentially irrelevant.

I also have a problem with the Prepping mind-set; which is focused on material, physical survival - on 'saving our skins'. Most Preppers are thoroughly materialist and hedonic in their world-view - they are 'survivalists' who regard death as annihilation and 'therefore' something to be postponed for as long as possible.

(Actually that 'therefore' doesn't follow; because if death is inevitable, it is also possible to infer that one might as well get death over and done-with; especially if the situation is one of suffering, fear, misery, boredom, despair...)

A further problem is that the survivalist mindset will lead to Christian Apsotasy in a world where evil controls all the social systems, all the institutions for survival. Sooner or later, the Christian will find himself in a situation where to survive would entail actively supporting institutions with evil motivations.

Indeed, we are surely here already? Anyone in doubt now knows-for-sure - from their explicit statements over the past couple of weeks - that all governments, bureaucracies, mass media... all the major social institutions are actively supporting Evil Liars - the forces of value-inversion. Yet we all rely upon these institutions to keep us alive...


If we regard the current world crisis, the totalitarian takeover, the increasingly overt and aggressive civilizational suicide; as essentially a spiritual phenomenon; then it becomes primarily important to think about salvation rather than survival; and about theosis rather than preparedness. 


The challenges are, or soon will be, to remain Christian when there are so many forces encouraging the support of that which is evil in its nature and motivation; and to learn the personal spiritual lessons from the many unprecedented experiences of this era.

Because our situation is unprecedented. The entire world leadership is corrupt and on the side of evil - and the mass majority are either supportive or passively compliant.

Hence we absolutely-must think for our-selves; each individual person must discern and evaluate the situation because (almost certainly) there is nobody else that we can (or should) trust to do it for us.


This is Not really "Preparedness", because we do not know what will happen nor when. Nor is it a matter of being prepared for a disaster 'at any moment' - which (if we are honest) would not be compatible with a good daily life.

It is more a matter of you and me being awake and aware, of learning from our actual daily experiences, of attuning to our own deepest thinking and genuine intuitions.

A matter of Not 'putting off' the main business of life.

If we don't do it now - we may never get the chance to do it at all.

 

No Man is an island - Not Even if he uses Linux on his home computer! ("Prepping" as psychotherapy.).

The smug-to-the-point-of-self-blinded idiocy of the dissident "right" was on display in spades last week, with respect to the global computer shut-down. 

We, especially in The West, live in the most interconnected and outsourced society the world has ever known By Far. 

What happens to The System therefore happens to everyone - sooner or not-very-much later. 

The notion that individuals or small groups can separate themselves from any general collapse is risible. 

Therefore; the fact that someone, or some company or institution, was able to avoid direct harm when the world computer system shut down for several hours is irrelevant.

What is on view here is that the ideal of "prepping" is no more significant than any other form of self-psychotherapy. 

It may make you feel safe and smug and superior for a few hours or days; but that is its only significance.

There is no safe path to salvation - the way is by zig-zags

It has become rather obvious that anything pushed as safe today is bound to be dangerous, whereas "dangerous" things may actually prove to be "safe". This applies to Christianity and society. 

From a comment made by Francis Berger

To understand the truth of Francis Berger's comment requires making a very basic acknowledgement concerning the world of power and public discourse in 2020 - the recognition of purposive and pervasive global evil; which is an acknowledgment that, apparently, extremely few self-identified Christians are prepared to countenance.  

Yet, even among those Christians who do perceive the spiritual war, and realize that evil is now in control of the nations and social institutions; too-many are too-often still deeply-motivated by the desire to find a 'safe path' to salvation.

Even though salvation is always and necessarily rooted in an individual choice to follow Jesus Christ; safe paths to salvation were probably possible, and even normal, at various times and places in the past. One who diligently followed the path of his church was (more or less) 'guaranteed' (or at least highly-likely) to attain salvation - while those who rejected the path were probably/ usually aiming towards the choice of hell.  

But such safe paths always amounted to the individual being subordinated to some group who were substantially net-good - a valid church, in essence. The church described the path, assisted those who wanted to follow the path; and it was up to each individual to follow. 

This model of salvation assumes that the church is always (or, at least, nearly-always) likely to be the divinely-inspired and -regulated repository of Truth; whereas individuals were assumed to be more highly prone to sin. 

In other words - at the minimum - the 'safe path' assumption was that the individual was much-more liable to sin and error than was the church. 

Therefore, the 'safe' path was for individuals to follow the path set-out by the church. Anyone who strayed was behaving in an un-safe fashion. 

The Big Question is whether this assumption that the individual is more sin-prone than the church holds in our world post-2020? 

Does it seem true that institutions, or individuals, are more likely to follow truth? 

Are institutions advocating what is safe, while individuals are not? 

To ask is to answer:

All institutions - including all major churches - are corruptly-led and (overall) on the side of Satan - which evil strategy is implemented by the post 2020 totalitarian global establishment.

While at least some individuals have chosen to repent and reject corruption, and take the side of God and creation. 

All churches on the side of evil; some individuals on the side of good. 

Here and now; for an individual to follow a self-discerned path may lead to salvation; but for an individual to follow the church-prescribed path is to reject salvation and embrace hell. 

But is 'safety' even a valid goal for Christians? 

Was safety the basis of Jesus's life? (Or of the Apostles, the Saints; or anyone regarded as exemplary?)  

To ask that is again to answer: obviously not! 

(The ones who believed that safety was primary and believed in a safe path - were enemies of Jesus.) 

Safety is a snare - now more than ever. 

That does not mean that recklessness is a virtue! But that we should strive to be indifferent to safety.

Clearly we ought not to strive to be safe in this mortal world - that path leads to ineffectual birdemic-phobia on the left-hand, and futile prepping against global collapse on the right. But either way; the focus on mortal safety leads to a life of fear, a running-away-from life. 

Yet equally we ought not to strive for a safe route to the next world - a safe path to salvation. Why? Because this amounts to a refusal of personal responsibility for our own salvation - which amounts to handing-over our souls to the corrupted and evil institutions of this world.

We need instead to strive to understand what is right, get-on-with-it; then be prepared to acknowledge and repent our errors. 

Need to be decisive is thought and action; and humble enough to admit the inevitable sins and failures. 

Thus motivated; we shall zig-zag our way to salvation!  

  

The major test of these times is Fear - the temptation is Safety

We are tested every day by the sin of fear. And the temptation - offering a delusory escape from fear - is safety. 

If we compare our post 2020 world with life a few decades ago; it is clear that we are now controlled primarily by the negative sin of fear (with a side-order of spiteful resentment: the stock-in-trade of socialism, feminism, antiracism and the other leftisms). These are negative sins because they are directed-against. 

By contrast to the fear-dominated present, in the past other, and more 'positive' sins - desires-for-something rather than resistance-to-something - were often more dominant: sins such as power/ conquest, (capitalist) greed and (sexual) lust.

 

It is pretty obvious that nowadays the world is 'managed' primarily by the inculcation of fears; and by attempting to trigger those in fear, to 'escape' by means of fake-solutions that promote the totalitarian-demonic agenda.  

Major examples are the birdemic fear - with totalitarian lockdown/ masking/ social-distancing and the (unnecessary, ineffective, harmful) peck offering pseudo-safety. And global warming as the fear - with world economic destruction with totalitarian control (aka. the 'sustainable' Green Economy) as fake-escape. 

(Non-coincidentally; 'economic suicide' is also the major policy-answer to fear of the recent Fire Nation/ Earth Nation.)  

Fear is also the stock-in-trade of the 'secular Right': fear of mass immigration, violent social breakdown, starvation, civil war, mass poisoning and other health threats... 

The temptations, the fake solutions, on the secular Right include personal survivalism (prepping), a type of rigorous healthism/ body-building, organized aggressive political resistance, a Strong Man leader restoring militaristic patriarchy...

The difference between the left and the non-religious Right; is that secular Right fears are based on broadly realistic threats and potentially effective answers; while the mainstream Left fears are manufactured from very little - or nothing at all; and the proffered 'escapes' from fear make matters worse. 

Also, in general, among those who are living in fear and strategizing to escape; the typical leftist advocates passive and Establishment-obedient responses; while the secular Rightist is more likely to respond to his own fear with (at least verbal) aggression and (at least threats of) defiance. 

Yet, discourse concerning the reality or fakery of the fear, and the effectiveness or counter-productiveness of proposed escapes, are themselves part of the problem. 

Because fear is a sin in and of itself, it compounds the sin to try and escape fear by attempting to eliminate that which is feared. 

In a practical sense; it will not work - because yielding to any fear creates vulnerability to other fears; so that all escapes lead into a positive-feedback loop of fear generating fear. 

Since, on the one hand, the supply of fears is unlimited; whereas, on the other hand, mounting any potentially-effective response to even a single fear is time-, effort- and resource-consuming; constrained by multiple personal, societal and technical factors. 

But in a spiritual sense, matters are simple - fear is a sin and must be identified as such; then repented, then itself defeated. 

The one-and-only appropriate and effective response to any and all fears - and a response that has unbounded scope - is to trust in the power and love of God; and to frame the fears of this mortal life in the context of eternal Heaven. 

The proper spiritual response to fear is to eliminate fear - the sinful delusion is to address the supposed cause of the fear. 

(Whether or not we, personally, should engage in an active or passive attempt to remove the specific source of any specific fear; is a secondary, contingent, pragmatic matter - and thus always contentious.) 

This, therefore, is the nature of the test of these times. On a daily basis we will be assaulted by fears, and probably these assaults will have some effect - and we will experience fear. 

We therefore need to identify 'the latest fear' as always an evil - whether it is real or fake. 

And instead of immediately seeking for 'safety' and escape-from-the-fear in some physical activity (regardless of whether that activity is potentially-effective, or not)...

The proper response is that we need to repent fear (any fear) and bring to mind that God is our loving parent and the ongoing-creator of this world - and that those who desire it, may follow Jesus Christ to everlasting resurrection after this mortal life. 

Fear is the recurring test, and love of God is the proper response. 

Only after fear has been thus conquered, may we attempt to address its supposed cause.  

As such; then testing-times may become learning-times; and every repeated and novel demonic assault and delusion, may be converted to an increase in the strength of our Christian orientation.